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Palestine: “Diwan Ghazza” and the Gaza Book Club · Global Voices
Yasmeen El Khoudary

This post is the first by our new author, Palestinian blogger Yasmeen El Khoudary, in which she introduces an initiative set up by a group of bloggers in Gaza called Diwan Ghazza.
It's quite surprising to see that people are quite surprised to hear that there's a book club in Gaza, but I guess that's exactly why we started Diwan Ghazza. Let me tell you our story.
A group of my friends and I are fed up with the way the world regards Gaza (with the usual media coverage on the negative side of life here) and disregards the other face: the historic, the beautiful, the educated, and the inspirational. We decided that Gaza is a city no less capable than other cities, and the fact that we have gone through so much should add to our credit. Gaza breeds thinkers, and the only thing it teaches them is that they should do the thinking themselves. There are no cultural centers, theatres, cinemas or updated public libraries in Gaza, but that wasn’t going to stop us.
So we decided to put our thoughts, time and energy into creating a group that we would be proud of belonging to. Its quite funny actually, that whenever people ask us what “Diwan Ghazza” is, our answer, “we're a group of friends interested in knowledge and in improving Gaza's image in the world”, they don't get it. How can we not be a registered society or an NGO?! Why are we not asking for funding?! How can you not have an office!?
But Diwan Ghazza is much simpler than that. We're not willing to be subject to boring NGO or donor regulations. Why should we seek to become “officially registered” and ask for donations when we can do great work without any money?
Our first activity was the first Gaza Tweet-Up in July 2011, which gathered about 30 tweeps from Gaza, many of them meeting for the first time. We discussed everything from our role and responsibility as Gaza tweeps to future activities by Diwan. Later, we organized an online tweet up with Frode Mauring, Special Representative of the Administrator in the occupied Palestinian territories. We also organized several meetings between youth activists in Gaza and UNDP and other diplomats, including a diplomatic and cultural mission from Sweden.
Simultaneously, in July 2011, I became the Gaza Coordinator for the amazing Palestine Writing Workshop. We organized several writing e-workshops (generously hosted by the British Council), which were attended by an array of students and professionals who greatly benefited from the experiences of renowned authors from around the globe.
Later, we started the Gaza Book Club chapter with two novels: “Zabelle” by Nancy Kricorian and “The Road from Damascus” by Robin Yassin-Kassab. We also had a very insightful discussion about Zabelle with Nancy Kricorian after reading the novel, and are looking forward to a discussion with Robin Yassin-Kassab soon!
The Gaza Book Club
Our group started growing, and more and more people became interested in Diwan Ghazza and in the book club. But we didn't want to limit ourselves to English books or to novels, or to a small group of people. Neither did we have an updated library or bookstore option. Thus, we decided to start the Diwan Ghazza Book Exchange Club. And we did.
Our first meeting was in January, and was attended by 18 people, and yielded over 25 books. From books about Gaza's Christian history, to a translated Norwegian novel “Hunger”, by Knut Hamsun, to Charles Dickens, to Sahar Khalife, the books were a beautiful assortment. We met again last week, with more people and more books (we did not count, but the pile was HUGE).
This time, Ahmed Matar's poetry, fresh books about the Egyptian revolution, and Paulo Coelhos’ books were among the collection. We swapped books again, but were left with a huge pile. Thankfully, the place that hosts our events, Almat'haf Hotel (Gaza's first museum of archeology and cultural house) offered to host our mini library in the hotel's business center. Anyone who's interested can check out our virtual shelf on Good Reads but our only condition is that you write a book review!
And by doing that, we are slowly building a model to show that a LOT can be done in Gaza without any donations. All you need is genuine commitment and mutual interests. I hope I was able to answer your questions about Diwan Ghazza, our book club and on how we're attempting to restore our Gaza, to which Choricius of Gaza (491-518 AD) [pdf] once belonged, and established Gaza's School of Rhetoric – a beacon of knowledge during Late Antiquity!
About Diwan Ghazza: we are a group of friends who seek to show the world a better image of Gaza (an image that exists, but has been ignored for so long), by: empowerment through knowledge and by providing a venue for youth to speak out about Gaza's forgotten face. As for our name, the diwan in Palestinian culture is the guesthouse of families, where relatives and friends gather to talk and discuss issues. Our Diwan is a venue for exchanging and discussing ideas, thoughts and knowledge. For more information, see our website, and Facebook page.
Our team is composed of 5 ambitious Palestinians from Gaza, Ola Anan, Jehan Al Farra, Bashar Lubbad, Omar Ghraieb, and Yasmeen El Khoudary.
Cross-posted from Yasmeen's blog, Gaza, out of the blue.

author: Yasmeen El Khoudary


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Sri Lanka: Abductions On The Rise In Sri Lanka · Global Voices
Rezwan

Groundviews reports that there has been a disturbing rise in the number of abductions in Sri Lanka, especially in and around the capital, Colombo.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Rezwan


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St. Lucia, Trinidad & Tobago: Priestly Poetry & A New Literature Partnership · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Caribbean Book Blog interviews priest and poet Fr. Lambert St Rose, while Bocas Lit Fest announces “a new partnership that will work towards enhancing the Caribbean literary scene and help kick-start an infrastructure to support writers, writing, and publishing.”

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Syria: Homage to American Journalist Marie Colvin Killed in Homs  · Global Voices
Ahmed Medien

This post is part of our special coverage Syria Protests 2011/12.
Marie Colvin and Rémi Olchik were killed last week, when the makeshift media centre they were at in Baba Amr, in Homs, Syria, was attacked. Both were journalists on a mission. She was the Sunday Times’ foreign correspondent and he was her photographer.
On Thursday, February 23, 2012, the world woke up to the news of their death under the debris of the press center that was targeted by pro-Assad forces. Both international media outlets and netizens around the world paid homage to the murdered journalists, whose death captured headlines, drawing attention to the plight of Syrians being killed on a daily basis for protesting against the Assad regime.
On Facebook, users created a page called Marie Colvin's Eyepatch, in reference to her left-eye patch from an injury she had received more than ten years ago while covering the conflict between the government and the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka.
Hundreds of Facebook users from across the world expressed their condolences on the group. Some were fans, others were former colleagues and the rest were journalists whom she had worked with on other battlefields, such as in Misrata, Libya.
Here is a sample of reactions from the Facebook page:
Ruhe in Frieden… Heldin!
we don't forget u libyan rebels we love u i remember when u was with in front line
What a courageous woman you were…I truly admire you …youre legacy will live on..RIP
The commentators remembered Colvin as a brave journalist who had the courage to cover wars from the front lines, from Chennai, India, to Misrata, Libya to Homs, Syria.
Many other known personalities in the media also used social media to pay tribute to Colvin by sharing her latest's journalistic work.
Piers Morgan notes:
@piersmorgan: Just read a quite brilliant tribute to Marie Colvin by her Sunday Times Editor, John Witherow, in tonight's paper. Really superb.
And Shadi Hamid adds:
@ShadidHalid: Colvin died on Wednesday. This is her last, heart-breaking dispatch from Baba Amr: thetim.es/yLem2w #Syria
But, only two days after the tragic death of Olchik and Colvin, the Syrian state television Al Ikhbaria Suria released a video denying any responsibility over the murder of both Journalists.
The video (link above) suggested that Colvin and Ochlik could have been intelligence agents who got into the country secretly – which they did – to help support armed groups in the opposition.
A few days after the attack, the Syrian regime said the slain journalist will be buried in Syria and will not be extradited back to the United States.
Christiane Amanpour tweets:
@camanpour OFFICIALS REFUSE TO LET MARIE COLVIN'S BODY BE RECOVERED. SIEGE CONTINUES. SHE'LL BE BURIED WHERE SHE FELL
At the same time, CNN – Anderson Cooper's AC360 – just released a video of Colvin's mother Rosanne Colvin: “I want my daughter home.”
In the preview video of Anderson Cooper's Monday night show, Rosanne Clovin asserted that “they [Colvin's family] are going to do it no matter how difficult it is or how long it will take.”
The death of Colvin was a sad news for the media world and news junkies who had lost a great female journalist who clearly understood the essence of journalism.
This post is part of our special coverage Syria Protests 2011/12.

author: Ahmed Medien


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Syria: Injured French Journalist Edith Bouvier Still Trapped in Besieged Homs · Global Voices
Ahmed Medien

This post is part of our special coverage Syria Protests 2011/12.
On 22 February, 2012, four Western journalists were attacked in a house – thought to be safe – in Baba Amr, Homs, by Syrian regime forces. American Sunday Times’ journalist Marie Colvin and French photographer Remi Olchik died when the makeshift media centre frequented by mainstream and citizen journalists was shelled.
The two remaining journalists, Le Figaro's Edith Bouvier and British photographer Paul Conroy, were injured and managed to survive the attack.
This graphic video (WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT) shows the charred remains of the occupants of the house.
The following video (WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT) is the first video to surface on video sharing sites which shows Bouvier and Conroy. It appeared online on February 22, on the same day that both journalists were targeted by regime forces.
The video shows both victims in a Syrian hospital with two Syrian doctors describing the circumstances of the attack. The doctors talk about the medical condition of the two victims, the bad shape of the hospital – due to lack of equipment – and voice serious criticism against the Assad regime, which accuses foreign journalists of being agents.
Are the infants and these innocent foreign journalists all criminals and terrorists, too?
These were the sharp words of the two doctors – who are also referred to in other videos as Free Syrian Army doctors.
The world showed great sympathy to the attack on these journalists and videos showing their injuries went viral on YouTube and Facebook. The videos were soon translated from Arabic to French and English to inform the world about the atrocities happening in Syria.
The day after the attack, February 23, new videos showing Bouvier and Conroy appeared on YouTube. The videos went viral once again with hundreds of thousands of views across social media networks and were even translated to many languages, including Korean.
Conroy speaks here about the attack and his injuries:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPMrPGLDAD4
While Bouvier tells the world about her injuries in this video [fr]:
Most videos seeping from Syria are taken by phone cameras. The original owner of such videos is often hard to find since thousands of YouTube users often use the same content to share with the rest of the world the war crimes committed by the Syrian regime.
Netizens, including Twitter users from around the world, showed great support to both journalists. Bouvier's Twitter account – @danslesrues received hundreds of support tweets in many languages, which she retweets and marks as favorites.
@LyraMckee: Good luck. We need more great reporters. You're one of them. Keep hope up; you still have so much great work to do.
A good point to raise, though, is that Bouvier hasn't sent a single tweet since January 27. Yet, since February 22, i.e. the day of the assault, her account started recording dozens of tweets and retweets per day, none of which are hers.
Today, French authorities confirmed that Conroy has made it out of Homs to Lebanon while Bouvier was still trapped in besieged Homs.
Atrocities in Syria have touched netizens across the world as the human tragedy mounts. To date, the death toll in Syria surpasses 8,000.
On YouTube, MaximilienWolfgang shares his thoughts about Syria:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GweN-qKto_Y
Syria has been under a government crackdown for nearly a year now. NGOs report the death of dozens of people everyday across the country. Freedom of press is still oppressed as very little information is trickled out of the country.
The Committee to Protect Journalists yesterday reported the death of Anas al-Tarsha, 17, a netizen killed instantly while filming the bombardment in Qarabees, a district in Homs under heavy attack, when a mortar shell fell on him.
This post is part of our special coverage Syria Protests 2011/12.


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Trinidad & Tobago: Carnival is My Time  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“In an attempt to imitate art…culture in T&T seems to have perverted itself and in trying to become something else, may have succeeded all too well; the business model of Tribe and the other new ‘Rio’ styled bands seems to be built on encouraging excess for profit”: Plain Talk suggests that Carnival is now all about “Me”, while Mark Lyndersay, tongue firmly in cheek, shares similar sentiments – from a photographer's point of view.


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Uzbekistan: Well-Known Uzbek Cleric Shot in Sweden  · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Nathan Hamm informs that a well-known imam from Uzbekistan who has been living as a refugee in Sweden, was shot outside his home, and that police rules out Swedish nationalists and investigates the crime internationally.

author: Adil Nurmakov


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Uzbekistan: Why Did Uzbekistan Ban Wikipedia?  · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Sarah Kendzior reports that Uzbekistan’s ban on Wikipedia, enacted late last month, blocks all articles written in Uzbek while leaving articles in other languages accessible.


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Video Highlights: Defending Human Rights · Global Voices
Juliana Rincón Parra

This section aims to showcase interesting and recent posts in Global Voices that show the many ways in which videos are helping people tell stories all around the world. You can follow the activity by regions in our YouTube channel.
Several stories using video this month have focused on human rights violations and the steps being taken to speak out on the abuses and try to protect minorities and disadvantaged communities. Click through to the stories to see more videos and learn more about each case.
The right to life and non-discrimination
Guatemala: Speaking Out on the Genocide of Indigenous Women
Thanks to activists the international courts following the genocide proceedings against Guatemala will be taking into account the violence indigenous women faced for more than 36 years where they were victims because they were women and because they were indigenous.
A documentary and several video testimonials tell their harrowing stories, stories that due to the discrimination the victims faced in their communities and the fear of retribution many kept silent for decades.
Fighting for sexual diversity
Uganda: The Anti-Gay Bill That Won't Go Away
The same bill that was presented in 2009 is showing up again for voting in Uganda:
Uganda has again re-tabled the controversial anti-gay bill. Ugandan member of parliament, David Bahati, who proposed the bill back in 2009 has again considered tabling the draconian bill but with changes. He claims to have dropped the death penalty and jailing of family members who fail to report homosexuals to the authorities.
However, under further scrutiny it has been noted that no changes have been made in the bill, and it is still exactly the same one presented back in 2009. The following video  explains the impact this bill will have on the LGBT community as well as their families and friends:
Hong Kong: Videos Against Homophobic Bullying in Schools
In Hong Kong, students in schools admit that homosexual students are bullied and discriminated, so an organization has spearheaded a campaign to raise awareness on this issue, focusing on producing online videos of interviews with sexually diverse students and experts on the topic.
The right for an education
Spain: Police Violence Against Students in Valencia
and
Spain: Crackdown Against Students Continues in Valencia
In Valencia, school children decided to protest budget cuts that affected their schools, forcing them to carry blankets with them due to lack of heating, in what has been a particularly cold winter in Europe. Police reacted to the protests violently with students injured and detained; many videos have been made showing the abuses against minors, females and the elderly.
Just a few days after the brutal police crackdown at the Luis Vives Institute of Secondary Education in Valencia [es], students have again been the target of beatings, pushing and violence from the police at a pacific protest in which they were, precisely, demonstrating against police violence. This time,the crackdown started on the afternoon with unexpected force.
The right to a home
Brazil: Quilombo Community in Bahia About to Be Evicted
One of the oldest slave descendent communities in Brazil, Quilombo Rio dos Macacos, where around 50 families live, has a date for eviction: March 4, 2012. The claim for the land comes from the Navy of Brazil, that intends to broaden a condo for its officers in that territory, in the border area between Salvador and Simões Filho, state of Bahia…
Descendants of original peoples from Africa who, during colonialism, were taken from their land to become slaves in Brazil, the Quilombolas now see themselves under threat of losing their homes again, despite their right to the land they inhabit enshrined in the constitution.
This short documentary [pt] shows the situation the Quilombolas are facing: afraid to leave their houses, unable to move freely and fearing for their well-being, their families and their homes.
Colombia: Citizen Journalist Threatened Over Viral Video
A video [es] made of the violent response the government had to peaceful protesters standing up against the rerouting of a river in their community for a dam construction has caused the citizen journalist to receive death threats.
Brazil: The Deficient Prison Systems of the Americas
Recent events in Latin American prisons that cost the life of hundreds of inmates have people looking into the living situation and overcrowding faced in many penitentiary centers, and analyzing if they are tragedies waiting to happen. People who are being deprived of their liberty as punishment for their crimes should be guaranteed minimum living conditions, and sometimes these aren't met, as shown in the documentary of life in Brazilian prisons, which also provides possible solutions for this difficult situation.

author: Juliana Rincón Parra


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Armenia: Sumgait Pogrom Anniversary · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

The Armenian Observer posts the harrowing details of at least 26 ethnic Armenian victims of the Sumgait pogrom which took place on 27 February 1988 and which seriously escalated the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed territory of Nagorno Karabakh. Six Azerbaijanis were also killed in the inter-ethnic violence which broke out after reports of violence against ethnic Azeris in Southern Armenia reached the industrial town in Azerbaijan. Meanwhile, a day earlier, Azerbaijanis marked the 20th anniversary of the massacre of their ethnic kin in Khojaly during the height of fighting in Nagorno Karabakh.

author: Onnik Krikorian


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Azerbaijan: Khojaly Massacre Anniversary · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

As Azerbaijanis worldwide, as well as Turks in Istanbul, commemorated the 20th Anniversary of the Khojaly massacre, the most serious during the fighting with Armenia in Nagorno Karabakh during the early 1990s which left 613 civilians dead, Tamada Tales comments on the release of the full transcript of an interview with Serge Sargsyan, currently the Armenian president, in which he admits the tragedy albeit while also mentioning that a humanitarian corridor had been left for Azerbaijani civilians to leave before ethnic Armenian forces entered the town. A day later Armenians also marked the 24th anniversary of the 1988 anti-Armenian pogrom in the Azerbaijani industrial town of Sumgait.


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Bangladesh: Boycotting Indian Products to Protest Brutality at Border · Global Voices
Rezwan

In January 2012, a 12 minute long uncut video of brutality on a Bangladeshi cattle trader by the Indian Border Security Force (BSF) (Warning: Graphic content) went viral on the Internet. Originally uploaded by an Indian human rights organization Masum, this video attracted widespread condemnation from Bangladeshis.
According to reports by Human Rights organizations Indian BSF has killed more than 1,000 Bangladeshis in last ten years which has been condemned by international communities.
The Indian media were quick to point fingers [bn] at Pakistan for the release of the video, which spread more fuel to the fire. Himu at Sachalayatan quips [bn]:
কিন্তু আনন্দবাজারের রিপোর্টে বিএসএফের এই মারধরের সমালোচনার কোনো গন্ধ নেই, তার ভিডিও ছড়িয়ে পড়া নিয়েই তাদের যত মাথাব্যথা।
Graph showing the number of killings by BSF from March 2009 to February 2012. Image courtesy Dhushor Godhuli
He adds [bn]:
আমাদের দেশের লোককে বিএসএফ এভাবে পেটায় বাংলাদেশীদের ব্যাপারে তাদের সামাজিক ধারণা, প্রশিক্ষণ, নির্দেশনা আর অভিজ্ঞতার ওপর ভর দিয়ে দাঁড়িয়ে। বিএসএফ বাংলাদেশীদের সমপর্যায়ের মানুষ জ্ঞান করে না। পৃথিবীতে বহু বড় দেশের সাথে ছোটো গরীব দেশের সীমান্ত রয়েছে, সেখানে সীমান্ত রক্ষীরা কিশোরদের গুলি করে মারে না, যুবকদের ন্যাংটা করে পিটায় না। এই মার বিএসএফ গরুচালানীদের দিচ্ছে না, এই মার ভারতের আমলাযন্ত্র দিচ্ছে বাংলাদেশ রাষ্ট্রের নাগরিককে। [..] এই পীড়নের পেছনে সবচেয়ে বড় যে চালিকাশক্তি, সেটা যত না ঘৃণা, তারচেয়ে বেশি তাচ্ছিল্য।
Blogger Dhushor Godhuli [bn] talks about an archive where all the atrocities of BSF are being chronicled. The blogger points out that the claims of the number of deaths are different between Indian and Bangladeshi authorities. The actual numbers quoted by the human rights organizations are much higher.
The recent remarks by the BSF chief that the shootings will not stop has created much more anger amongst Bangladeshis. So the netizens have decided to launch a campaign to stop the killings at border. Blogger Himu writes [bn]:
মার্চ ১ হোক আমাদের ভারত বনধের দিন। এই দিন আমরা ভারতের কোনো জিনিস কিনবো না, ভারতের কোনো সেবা নেবো না, ভারতের কোনো চ্যানেল দেখবো না। আগের আটত্রিশ দিন আসুন আমরা এই ডাক ছড়িয়ে দিই, সবাইকে জানাই। পরিচিত সবাইকে বলি, নিজেদের আত্মসম্মানের কথা স্মরণ করিয়ে দিই। আমরা কুকুর নই, আমরা মানুষ। আমাদের মানুষের মর্যাদা দিতে হবে।
Image courtesy Oli Syed Mahbub
In another post Himu explains [bn] why the boycott is needed:
এই কর্মসূচি সীমান্তে বাংলাদেশী নাগরিকদের ভারতীয় সীমান্তরক্ষী বাহিনী কর্তৃক নির্বিচার হত্যা ও নির্যাতনের প্রতিবাদ হিসেবে পালিত হচ্ছে।
[..] প্রশ্ন উঠতে পারে, আমরা অল্প কয়েকজন মানুষ এই কর্মসূচি পালন করলে ভারতের কী এসে যাবে? [..] এর উত্তর হচ্ছে, এই বর্জন কর্মসূচিতে আমরা যেন একদিনেই অভীষ্ট লাভের স্বপ্ন না দেখি।[..] এই বর্জন আমাদের হাতে একটি শান্তিপূর্ণ কিন্তু শক্তিশালী অস্ত্র, এর নিয়মিত চর্চা এবং প্রচার আমাদের শক্তিবৃদ্ধি করবে, এবং ভারতের রাজনীতিক ও আমলাযন্ত্রের কাছে ক্রমশ শক্তিশালী বার্তা পৌঁছাবে।
Mukti blog  does not think that such boycott is really going to work up the Indian businesses enough to lobby the Indian government to discipline BSF. However, the blogger adds:
Hmm, I suppose some folks will still believe that, just as others will continue to believe that Indian foreign policy establishment is always scheming to subjugate Bangladesh. But to the more reality-based-people, I submit that boycotting Indian goods has limited effectiveness beyond symbolism.
And yet, the energy and passion behind this activism shouldn’t be underestimated. This kind of citizens’ activism — initiated by bloggers — can actually make a difference.
Diganta responds in a comment in the above post:
BSF has built up what I can call world’s largest extortion racket. Only way to stop this could be to legalize cattle trade between India and Bangladesh. [..]
Image courtesy Asif Mohiuddin
Blogger Asif Mohiuddinat Somehwhereinblog.net endorses the boycott saying people should join it out of humanity, not nationalist jingoism. He appeals to Indians:
ভারতীয় নাগরিক বন্ধুদের কাছে অনুরোধ জানাচ্ছি, অবিলম্বে মানবতাবিরোধী এইসকল কর্মকান্ড বন্ধ করতে আপনারা সোচ্চার হন। আপনারা আমাদের বুকে গুলি চালাতে আপনার ট্যাক্সের টাকা দেবেন না। আপনাদের সরকারকে বলুন অবিলম্বে এসব বন্ধ করতে। আমরা জানি আপনারা কখনই আপনাদের বিএসএফ এর পৈশাচিক বর্বরতার পক্ষের নন, কিন্তু সেটা পরিষ্কার ভাষায় আমরা শুনতে চাই।


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Barbados: Leap Day  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

B.C. Pires “couldn’t let the leap day go unobserved”.


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Bermuda: Economic Debate  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“This Friday parliamentarians will hold the annual economic debate against the backdrop of a sustained global recession and two competing views about how to get out of it”: Respice Finem debates the value of austerity measures as opposed to economic stimulus.


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Brazil: Dispute Over the Falklands Opens Debate on Economic Perspectives · Global Voices
Richard de Araújo

[All links lead to Portuguese language pages except when otherwise noted.]
The 30th anniversary of the start of the war that led Argentina and Britain into battle over the Falkland Islands and the recent public statements by Argentine president [en] Cristina Kirchner have sent us back in time to evaluate those events from a new perspective, and thus shine a light on the current implications for Brazil as the largest economy in Mercosur.
Along these lines, Professor of International Relations Gilberto Rodrigues, draws attention to the new geopolitical design within which the dispute over the Falklands now finds itself:
Passadas três décadas, a Argentina segue reivindicando com barulho a soberania sobre as Ilhas Malvinas (“Las Malvinas son Argentinas”) e os britânicos continuam fleumáticos e impassíveis nas Ilhas Falkland. Porém, fatos novos entram em cena e estão alterando o equilíbrio de forças políticas e diplomáticas nesse embate.
Historic map of Johnston (1893), shared by Douglas Fernandes on Flickr (CC BY 2.0)
This is indeed a new era, and a lot has changed since 1982: the Berlin Wall fell, taking with it the Iron Curtain that separated capitalists from Marxists, the world split up into economic blocs (the EU, Mercosur, NAFTA) and the British victory in the Falklands War cemented the United Kingdom's alliance with the USA, its greatest ally.
In terms of the two economic blocs to which the two countries belong, the European Union is facing its worst crisis since its creation and announced that the dispute over the Falkland Islands is a bilateral issue [en]. Domestically, the United Kingdom is struggling to contain public unrest over policies of cutting public spending. Politically, London is fighting to quell the outcries of the Scottish, who are prepared to go to a referendum to decide if Scotland will or will not continue to be one of the kingdoms that make up this “united kingdom”.
Mercosur is currently experiencing prosperous times due primarily to the growth of the Brazilian economy (which, as Global Voices reported [en] at the end of 2011, has already overtaken that of the United Kingdom), which has been reflected in trade with other members of the bloc. It was in this context that Argentina won the support of its neighbours and managed to get those countries then to close their ports to vessels flying the Falklands flag, amongst other forms of boycott.
"They were, are and will be Argentine". Photo by Brian Allen on Flickr (CC BY 2.0)
In her speech at the last Mercosur summit meeting, the Argentine president referred to the global cause of the Falklands issue. Alexandre Rocha reproduced the news on his blog:
“As Malvinas não são uma causa argentina, mas uma causa global, pois nas Malvinas estão tomando nosso petróleo e nossos recursos de pesca”, afirmou a presidente argentina, Cristina Kirchner, após o anúncio tomado na cúpula do Mercosul, nessa terça-feira. “Quero agradecer a todos a imensa solidariedade para com as Malvinas, e saibam que quando estão firmando algo sobre as Malvinas a favor da Argentina também o estão fazendo em defesa própria”.
It seems that Cristina Kirshner has counted on her country's importance within the South American bloc, especially for Brazil, the country with which it has extremely strong trade links. Ironically, when you put in perspective the evolution of Argentine–Brazilian relations it is clear that the Falklands War was the driving force that encouraged the two countries to grow closer as well as the subsequent creation of Mercosur. Lucas Kerr de Oliveira, a political science PhD student, explains:
40th Mercosur Summit. Photo by the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Relations on Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
Com o embargo europeu aos produtos argentinos, o Brasil passou a comprar grandes quantidades de carne, trigo e outros produtos produzidos por aquele país. O processo de aproximação resultou em um acordo nuclear bilateral, para fins pacíficos; passo fundamental para acabar com as desconfianças mútuas no plano político-militar. Este tratado foi seguido de uma série de tratados bilaterais no período dos Presidentes Sarney e Alfonsín, que resultaram na criação do Mercosul.
Brazil's support of Argentina after the Falklands War didn't just pay dividends through commerce, but also transformed what was previously a rivalry into a strong alliance, which made significant reductions in defence spending possible. Once the Brazilians no longer feared an “Argentine invasion”, they were able to redirect those resources to the Amazon region.
Once part of Mercosur, this unity led also to the sale of military equipment to Argentina, particularly aeroplanes produced by the Brazilian firm Embraer, which began recently to include Argentine parts, as Michel Medeiros from O Informante (The Informant) blog notes:
A Embraer Segurança e Defesa assinou nesta quarta-feira contrato de parceria com a empresa argentina FAdeA, que será responsável pela produção de spoilers –superfícies móveis de controle de sustentação na asa– e portas do trem de pouso, entre outras peças do KC-390.
Brazil's alignment with Argentina has caused problems for David Cameron's government's strategy of increasing its presence in the emerging country. In that respect, the Ronaldo-Livreiro blog quotes an interview with Peter Lee, an expert on defence from King's College London, for whom the recent visit of British politician William Hague to Brazil “forms another part of this strategy”.
As for Britain's position with regards to the islands, Peter Lee still believes that:
Falkland Islands Flag. Photo by Liam Quinn on Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0)
[…] para que tenhamos uma mudança na posição britânica necessitaríamos uma ação econômica coordenada do Mercosul e da Unasul. Nisto o Brasil terá que fazer seu próprio cálculo de custo-benefício na relação com a Argentina, o Mercosul e o Reino Unido. Mas, ainda que houvesse uma política coordenada, não acho que teria êxito e, além disso, em nível comercial e econômico, todos perderiam. O que o Mercosul fez até agora foi a parte mais fácil porque na verdade o acordo de não permitir barcos de bandeira das Malvinas só afeta poucos barcos que também podem navegar com a bandeira inglesa, de modo que foi uma decisão mais simbólica que substantiva.
What is certain is that the current interest in the Falklands has some interesting features, such as national credibility – since wars have already been waged for the islands – proximity to Antarctica, and the existence of oil reserves. In this sense, the Argentines, British and Brazilians foresee a period of economic growth for the islands along with oil exploration, as Professor of Political Science Israel Aparecido Gonçalves indicates in his Real Política Brasileira (Real Brazilian Politics) blog:
[…] há uma perspectiva de forte impacto na economia local. Claro, o governo argentino está preocupado com a escassez do petróleo no mar do norte. A descoberta e exploração de petróleo na região, trará (novamente) relevância às esquecidas ilhas, que por um longo período da história só gerou gastos e produziu lã.
Argentina's integration in Mercosur and the United Kingdom's participation in the EU may have reduced the likelihood of new military conflict, but not economic conflict. Brazil's support of the Argentine cause seems advantageous, but not risk free. If, on the one hand, it wishes to see British competitors for oil exploration on the South American coast pushed aside, the country also seems to have found a privileged position amongst UK investors.
It is now time for Brazilian diplomats to pay close attention to how the issue continues to unfold, especially as this new stage in the dispute is just beginning.

author: Richard de Araújo


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Chile: The Role of Public Libraries in Post-Earthquake Reconstruction · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

Several Chilean bloggers are sharing their thoughts on the second anniversary of the 8.8-magnitude earthquake that hit Chile on February 27, 2010. Enzo Abbagliati [es] looks at how public libraries can help people “rebuild their lives.” He argues that restoring or building people's deep bond with reading is “probably the main contribution that [public libraries] can make to each of its users so that they can be the protagonists of their personal reconstructions.”

author: Silvia Viñas


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Costa Rica: Turning to Facebook to Fund TV Show · Global Voices
Juliana Rincón Parra

Sürrealista is a media producer in Costa Rica that has worked with many local bands. Now they want to have a 30 minute TV Show and to make that happen[es], they are asking for people to watch their pilot show online, give it a “like” on facebook and share it.


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Cuba, USA: Blogger Perspectives on the Embargo’s 50th Anniversary (Part 1) · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

This is the first part of a two part series on Cuban perspectives on the 50th anniversary of the embargo. Please read the second part here.
The United States’ (US) economic embargo against Cuba has been in existence for 50 years. Several bloggers marked the “embargo-versary” with noticeably opposing commentary.
Earlier this month, The Cuban Triangle noted the inherent discrepancies in the system:
If you enjoy celebrating big old failures, the 50th anniversary of the US embargo against Cuba has just passed. Get yourself some rum and have a ball.
One feature of the embargo has been its changing justifications over time: a response to expropriations, an instrument with which to demand that Cuba break its ties to the Soviet bloc and its projection of military power outside its borders, a tool for pressure for the release of political prisoners. These days, the honest justification of it on the part of its partisans seems to be that it will one day serve as leverage over a future Cuban government when Fidel and Raul are no longer around.
Meanwhile, more than 300,000 Cuban Americans per year are traveling to an island they still consider in some measure to be home. Some are just visiting, many are investing at the family level.
Notes from the Exile Quarter, on the other hand, published a post titled “Don't end economic sanctions on Castro regime”, explaining:
Unfortunately the trade embargo on Cuba for all practical purposes was ended in 2000. Economic sanctions remain but since 2001 there has been over $3.5 billion dollars in trade between American businesses and the Cuban dictatorship. The human rights situation on the island has not improved.
These differences of opinion about an issue that is so complex and multi-layered got Global Voices Spanish Language Editor Firuzeh Shokooh-Valle and I wondering whether members of the Cuban diaspora in the United States and Cubans still living on the island could be at loggerheads over the effectiveness of the embargo. Is it still relevant? Is it accomplishing anything? Are the measures hurting the Cuban government or the Cuban people? So we decided to ask.
For the diaspora perspective, I interviewed Alberto de la Cruz, managing editor of babalu blog, which describes itself as “an island on the net without a bearded dictator” and routinely agitates for political and human rights freedoms on the island. This is the viewpoint that we'll focus on first (Alberto's interview follows, below). Then, to give you an idea of how Cubans on-island feel, Firuzeh will publish the second part of this post – an interview that she conducted with Elaine Diaz (full disclosure: she's a Global Voices contributor), who teaches at the University of Havana and blogs here [es].
Global Voices (GV): The US embargo on Cuba – probably the longest-running economic ban in history – recently turned 50! Supporters see it as a necessary measure against a communist government; critics say that the policy is a failure that is really not hurting the regime, but instead, the average Cuban. Where do you stand on the issue?
Cuban diaspora blogger, Alberto de la Cruz
Alberto de la Cruz (AC): It is hard to argue the US embargo against the Castro dictatorship hurts the Cuban people when in 2010 (the latest figures available), the Cuban government imported over $400-million in food from the US. While the embargo limits trade, it allows food to be sold to the Cuban government on a cash basis. If that food is not reaching the average Cuban and is instead being sent to the Cuban military owned hotels and resorts to feed tourists, that is not because of the embargo, it is because of the Castro regime [which] ultimately controls the distribution of all food on the island.
It is interesting to note that none of those who suggest the trade embargo against the Castro dictatorship hurts only the average Cuban can explain why the vast majority of Cubans continue to live in abject poverty when the Castro government, according to their own figures, had over $8-billion dollars in imports in 2010. While Cubans struggle to feed their families, Cuban children are denied milk once they turn six, the most basic items are nearly impossible to find, and ration books are still in use.
In Cuba’s tourist hotels and resorts, which again, are owned by the Cuban military, there is no shortage of food, soap, milk, or anything else. If an embargo is hurting the Cuban people, it is the embargo placed upon them by the Castro regime.
The sign says: 3 days of the blockade is equivalent to the pencils, paper and other materials for a whole school course
What the US “embargo” actually does is prevent the Castro government from adding the US to its long list of debtors who are currently owed billions of dollars with no hope of getting paid in the foreseeable future. From that perspective, the embargo has been a phenomenal success. We are perhaps the only nation in the world that does business with Cuba who is not owed millions of dollars by a regime with a decades-long history of not honoring their financial commitments.
GV: What do you think the embargo has accomplished, if anything?
AC: In addition to precluding the US from becoming another victim of the Castro regime’s propensity for borrowing money and not paying it back, the US embargo is the only leverage the US has against the Castro dictatorship. As history indicates, the countries that have normalized relations and business dealings with the Castro government are severely limited in their ability to demand respect for human rights on the island. When these countries have attempted to pressure the Cuban dictatorship into stopping their repressive tactics, their economic interests on the island are immediately threatened. Therefore, their decision to promote respect for human rights in Cuba ceases to be a moral one and becomes an economic decision instead. Since, because of the embargo, the US has zero investments on the island that can be threatened, it can maintain its firm stance on human rights and democracy for the Cuban people.
GV: Do you think the embargo, as it stands now, is doing anything to improve the political or human rights situation in Cuba?
AC: In essence, yes. The US embargo has deprived the Castro dictatorship of hundreds of millions, if not billions of dollars it can use to maintain and fuel its machine of repression. For the past fifty years, the Cuban regime has used hard currency provided by other countries – beginning with the former Soviet Union and now Venezuela – to fund its brutal, East German Stasi-trained State Security apparatus. By denying the Castro regime US dollars from American tourism, credit, and normalized trade, they have less cash to maintain, strengthen, and expand their repressive policies.
GV: What effect do you think the embargo has had on the Cuban economy and do you see a better alternative?
AC: Cuba and its economy are run and completely controlled by a totalitarian military dictatorship. The Castro regime has taken a country and an economy that was once productive and vibrant, and whose standard of living in 1958 surpassed that of some Western European nations, and has turned it into a third-world country. A better question, I believe, would be what effects the economic policies and decisions of the Castro government over the past five decades have had on the Cuban economy.
The only viable alternative that exists is for the Cuban people to rid themselves of the dictatorial regime that enslaves and represses them. History has shown that engagement with this brutal and criminal regime produces zero positive results. The entrenched dictatorship has no interest in true reform or limiting its power, let alone relinquishing it.
GV: How do you feel about the recent lifting of travel restrictions to Cuba and making remittances easier?
AC: The lifting of travel restrictions and increased remittances to Cuba from the US [has] been a financial boon for the Cuban dictatorship and has unleashed a wave of repression against Cuba’s opposition movement. In the two years since the Obama administration unilaterally relaxed sanctions against Cuba, the Castro regime’s cash reserves have grown by more than $2-billion, while politically motivated arrests on the island have increased almost threefold. Visiting American tourists on the island are led on Potemkin Village-like tours, denied any interaction with Cuba's democracy activists. In the end, American tourists visiting Cuba will provide the same help in fostering democracy on the island that the 2-million+ yearly tourists from other countries have had, which is to say, none.
GV: What have been some of the “creative” responses to the embargo from Cubans outside the island?
AC: Since the Obama administration unilaterally relaxed travel restrictions to Cuba, Cuban exiles no longer have to come up with “creative” ways to evade the law. In the past, however, the most common method of circumventing US travel restrictions was to visit the island through a third country. The most popular were Mexico and the Bahamas, although Cubans living in the northern part of the US could also use Canada as an intermediary stop on their way to Cuba.
GV: Do you think there a generational shift in attitudes about the embargo for Cubans inside and outside the island?
AC: In regards to Cubans in exile, for almost two decades now, we have been hearing and reading about this community’s supposed generational shift in attitude regarding the US embargo on the Castro dictatorship. It seems that every year several polls are published showing a softening in the so-called “hard line and intransigent” stance against the Castro regime by Cuban exiles. However, while these polls claim to accurately gauge the sentiment amongst Cubans in the US, the most accurate and reliable poll, the voting booth, shows a different outcome. Year after year, election cycle after election cycle, Cuban exiles have overwhelmingly voted for representatives that echo a hard line approach towards the dictatorship in Havana.
In terms of Cubans on the island, I find it difficult to get an accurate reading on their opinions regarding the embargo. Cubans are forced to live in an information-deprived society and therefore, their attitudes are colored by the false reality created by the regime. For instance, the vast majority of Cubans on the island are not aware the US is one of the island’s major food suppliers, mainly because very few of them ever see any of the food shipped to Cuba from the US. Through no fault of their own, they are left to formulate opinions regarding the US embargo without knowing the facts. Personally, I would put more stock in any generational shift occurring in attitudes in Cuba towards the embargo if the population had access to all the information it needed to form an educated opinion.
"Department Store, Cuba-Style" – Does the embargo really make consumer goods hard to come by?
GV: While we're on the topic of access to information, how has the embargo affected the Internet in Cuba?
AC: Since all “legitimate” internet access in Cuba is severely restricted by the Castro government, I cannot see how US policy plays any role in average Cubans accessing the internet. Consider the recently completed fiber-optic cable between Venezuela and Cuba offering improved internet access to the island. After connecting the cable, the Cuban regime immediately quashed any hopes of internet access for its citizens by declaring all internet access would be reserved for government entities only.
Moreover, in January of 2010, a Miami-based company, TeleCuba, was granted permission by US authorities to lay a fiber-optic cable between Key West and Havana, but according to reports, the Castro regime has refused to strike a deal with this company. Add to this the fact that American aid worker Alan Gross was arrested in 2009 and sentenced to 15 years in prison for providing Cubans with unfiltered Internet access and the obvious becomes more obvious: The Castro dictatorship is not interested in providing Cubans with unfiltered or unrestricted Internet access, regardless of US policy towards the island.
GV: Is the embargo an important issue for you in the upcoming US presidential elections? Why or why not?
AC: For me, personally, Cuba is an important issue in the upcoming US presidential elections. I would like to see a president that is committed to defending the human rights of the Cuban people and maintains a firm stance against a tyrannical regime just ninety miles from our shores. From a diplomatic perspective, the embargo remains a tool that can help an administration stand up to tyranny and defend human rights.
GV: Who would stand to benefit from a lifting of the embargo? And who would stand to lose?
AC: The first and foremost benefactor of any lifting of the embargo would be the Castro dictatorship. Such an act would provide an economic boon to the regime, flushing them with cash and political capital, which history has proven time and again they will use to perpetuate their iron-grip on power and maintain the Cuban people enslaved. The second benefactors would be US corporations who would be given the opportunity to strike deals with the Cuban government that would give them exclusivity in the marketplace and eliminate any competition normally found in a free marketplace. The Cuban consumers, as always, will receive little to no benefit, as the regime’s business deals with the rest of the world have clearly indicated.
The first and foremost loser would be the Cuban people and democracy activists on the island. With the Castro regime given a new lease on life with cash revenues and political clout, the government will be free to repress and quash any dissent with impunity, while maintaining the rest of the population enslaved. If the US finally bowed to the Castro regime and removed the embargo, there would be no leverage left to demand the Cuban government respect human rights. The US would become like Canada, Spain, or the European Union: another country or union more interested in protecting its economic interests in Cuba than protecting the human rights of the Cuban people.
A reminder to look out for Part 2 of this post, which will examine the embargo from the point of view of a Cuban blogger who lives in Havana.


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Cuba: Worry about Hunger Striker  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Uncommon Sense hopes that political prisoner Ernesto Borges’ fate will not go the way of so many other hunger strikers, saying: “He needs you to learn his story and to spread it so that his life can be saved.”


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International Mother Language Day in Francophone Regions · Global Voices
Suzanne Lehn

The original article in French was written jointly by Samy Boutayeb, Claire Ulrich, and Suzanne Lehn.
International Mother Language Day was celebrated worldwide on February 21, 2012. [Note: the original article in French was published on February 21.] It is an officially recognized festival or celebration which showcases languages and the efforts which have been made to preserve them.
A little known fact is that the celebration of  Mother Language Day originated in Bengladesh to honor an act of patriotism:
The date, February 21, was chosen as International Mother Language Day to commemorate the martyrs who sacrificed their lives to uphold the dignity of their Mother Language Bangla, on this very day in 1952. This was one of the rare instances in world history where people fearlessly gave up their lives for the sake of their mother language.
February 21 is a holiday in Bangladesh; though it is celebrated worldwide, it is not an official holiday elsewhere. This day was proclaimed an International Day by UNESCO in 1999.
The occasion is so meaningful in the region that it has inspired a joint celebration at the border of India and Bangladesh to strengthen the existing ties between the two countries.
India and Bangladesh will jointly observe International Mother Language Day in the no-man's-land along their borders, in an initiative to encourage individual relations between the two nations.
Africa : the rise of African languages
The theme of the Day this year is the introduction of mother languages in school instruction. With the re-awakening of local identities and cultures in Francophone Africa and elsewhere, one can see a resurgence and a renewed effort to promote African languages.
In Côte d'Ivoire, the action of the Ivorian Academy of Mother Languages resulted in the drafting of a decree [fr], concerning the teaching of mother languages.
On the island of Mauritius, social workers describe [fr] their hopes and concerns about the impact of optional courses in creole language on the long-term success and fundamental development of children:
L’introduction du kreol prévient donc les torts qu’on peut causer à un enfant en lui niant sa langue maternelle… Ces méfaits sont connus : baisse de la confiance en soi et impact négatif sur l’apprentissage des autres langues.
In Guinea, Global Voices author Abdoulaye Bah notes [fr] on his personal blog, Konakry Express:
Depuis quelques jours, le bruit courait que le gouvernement du Président Condé allait bientôt introduire l’enseignement des langues nationales dans le système d’enseignement dans le pays. C’est bien étrange que dans le monde entier, il n’y a rien de nouveau dans cette initiative. Mais le 25 avril, j’ai reçu un message d’une amie me disant:
“Le décret vient d’être signé pour créer un ministère des langues nationales et de l’alphabétisation.”
In recent days, it had been rumored that the government of President Condé would soon introduce the instruction of national languages into our country's educational system. This is quite strange, in that worldwide, there is nothing new about this initiative. But on April 25th, I received a message from a friend, saying:
“A decree has just been signed to create a Ministry of National Languages and Literacy.”
The Internet in the service of endangered languages
It is on the Internet that mother languages which are rare, endangered, or little-used because of the lack of computer keyboards adapted to their calligraphy, are progressing. For example, the project “Enduring Voices” launched by the National Geographic Society in America, which puts “talking dictionaries” online:
giving listeners across the world a chance to hear sounds which are among the least-known in human discourse.
There are eight dictionaries thus far: Tuvan, Ho, Siletz Dee-Ni, Matukar Panau, Chamacoco, Remo, Muniche and Saura.
A new alliance has been born between African languages and technology, thanks to podcasts. It is through them that a very old form of popular culture, the folk story, is being reborn in Apple Stores and in other audio-file libraries. For example, this story in the Bambara language (from Mali)  “L'écureuil et le serpent (The Squirrel and the Snake)” recorded by another member of  the Global Voices Francophone community, Boukary Konaté:
The French version can be found here.
Other signs of a new alliance between technology and African mother languages, previously little-appreciated in business and in society: the increasingly frequent appearance of iPhone applications written in African languages, for example in Yoruba.
Young girls in Bretagne, France. By ghislainedarmor on Flickr (Creative Commons license)
In metropolitan France, linguistic regions also have a renewed interest in their mother languages, and the city of Quimper marked the occasion with a Breton-language tour [fr] of the sights of the village. Meanwhile, the city of Parthenay celebrates “Parlanjhe“, its own regional language, or langue d'oïl.
As maybe a sign of the times,  the album Bretonne by French singer Nolwenn Leroy, sung in Breton, has sold more than one million records, without raising an eyebrow among the French. Today, in the era of mixed families and languages, it is possible to have more than one mother language, without causing jealousy. And it's all for the better.

author: Suzanne Lehn


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Iran: A pro-animal blog was filtered · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Sepehr Salimi writes another pro-animal and pro-environment blog got filtered in Iran.Dadkhahi Heyvanat az Ensanha (animals ask people for justice) used to write about pets.

author: Fred Petrossian


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Jamaica: Nicknames  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Grasshopper Eyes The Potomac blogs about Jamaicans and their nicknames, explaining that it's an eccentricity with “meaning and real origins that mark a key characteristic of a person or their background.”


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Macedonia: Skopje’s Pollution Monitoring Saga Continues · Global Voices
Filip Stojanovski

NGO Greenbox is compensating for the lack of web interface for the air pollution measuring system in Skopje by posting photos of the display on their blog.
The system for measuring air pollution in the capital of Macedonia stopped providing online data at the beginning of 2012. The city government, which owns the system, was slow to react, and this fueled the dissatisfaction of the local residents, who expressed doubts about the motives behind the discontinuation of this transparent practice.
Greenbox continued to track the progress of this case, posting regular updates on their blog and Facebook profile. On February 15, 2012, the measuring station's display malfunctioned [mk] also, causing a new wave of citizen dissatisfaction.
The message on the Skopje Breathing display declaring that something went wrong on Feb. 15, 2012. Photo: Greenbox blog.
The city finally reacted by hiring a company to repair the display two days later [mk], and after that published a tender for maintenance services [mk] during the year. Greenbox wrote:
According to the documentation published by the City of Skopje on the electronic system for public procurement, the companies should submit offers by March 2, and the cheapest offer will be selected. The available tender documentation does not specify if the tender winner will be obliged to re-activate the webpage “Skopje Breathing”, which published live data feed based on the measurements. This page enabled thousands of citizens to get first-hand information about the air pollution, which at times was up to 10 times higher than the allowed maximum. […]
Screenshot of a post from Greenbox blog with photos of the Skopje Breathing display.
In the meantime, Greenbox declared [mk] that their members will provide the data from the display via their blog, and have been doing that every morning for the past ten days.
They also invite citizens to take snapshots of the display at other times of the day and send them to Greenbox, because the levels of pollution may vary, depending on the intensity of industrial and traffic activity. The recorded measurements published in the “Skopje Breathing” category [mk] of the Greenbox blog showed various levels of air quality in the past few days, from “unhealthy” to “moderately polluted” to “clean.”

author: Filip Stojanovski


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Paraguay: An Interview on the Land Conflict in Alto Parana · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

Landowners are opposing review of land titles in the department of Alto Paraná “to determine if the lands are ‘ill-gotten,’ whose title deeds could be forged or faked or simply seized from the times of the Stroessner dictatorship” Ignacio Cirio explains. Upside Down World published a translation of Cirio's interview [es] with Magui Balbuena of the National Council of Organizations of Rural and Indigenous Workers on the conflict in Alto Paraná.


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Puerto Rico: March Against the Pipeline · Global Voices
Ángel Carrión

Hundreds of people across the whole island joined the “National March: Puerto Rico stands firm against the Pipeline” that took place on Sunday 19 February, 2012, in the city of San Juan, the capital of Puerto Rico. The demonstrators marched from the Capitol (the Legislature) to the Governors Mansion (La Fortaleza) in rejection of the so-called “Green Way,” a project proposed by the administration of the governor Luis Fortuño, which is looking to build a 92-mile-long tube to carry natural gas from the south coast of the island to San Juan, on the north coast, through the central mountain range.
The march was organized by the community organization Casa Pueblo [en] based in the town of Adjuntas. Casa Pueblo has led the attempts to put a stop to the so-called “Green Way”. Environmentalists have argued that, if the project goes ahead, it would have a negative impact on the aquifers and rain forests on its path, causing irreparable damage to the island's ecosystem. Grassroots organizations and people against the construction of the pipeline have called it the “Pipeline of Death.”
Photojournalist Ricardo Alcaraz shares some of the images he shot of the demonstration. All photographs have been published with his permission.
People from all sectors of civil society joined the demonstration.
The protesters marched from the Capitol to the Fortaleza. In the background you can see the west side of Olympic House, the headquarters of the national Olympic committee.
Various sectors have complained that the project would cause serious damage to the flora and fauna of the island. Several endangered species live on the proposed pipeline route.
Congressman Luis Gutiérrez also joined the demonstration.
There were a number of performances along the march.
Wrapped with the Puerto Rican flag
No Puerto Rican protest goes ahead without la plena, the favourite rythmic drumbeat on demonstrations.

author: Ángel Carrión


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Russia: An Overview of the Pre-Election Anglophone Blogging · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

This post is part of our special coverage Russia Elections 2011/12.
The pre-election month of February has been filled with reports of large-scale gatherings of both the opponents and the supporters of Russia's current regime. On Monday, February 27, 2012, however, as the countdown to the March 4 presidential vote entered its final stages, the news of the foiled attempt to assassinate Vladimir Putin, the Russian prime minister and one of the presidential candidates, temporarily succeeded in shifting the spotlight onto the person who may re-enter Russia's political scene as the head of state quite soon – and away from the citizens, their hopes, fears and demands.
Below is a quick overview of what some of the Anglophone bloggers have been writing about the pre-election politics in Russia this past month.
Mark Galeotti of In Moscow's Shadows shared initial thoughts on the Putin assassination plot:
[…] I’m willing to accept that this was a real plot, not some complete fabrication (as some seem to imply). On the other hand, the news was obviously held back with the aim of seizing the news cycle just before the elections. This is not exactly unique to Russians, but considering the wide scale skepticism, even downright disbelief with which the revelation has been greeted in Russia, this does not seem to have been an especially effective tactic. To be honest, how many times can you play the same kind of card? […]
Mark Adomanis wrote this on the same issue:
[…] Discussion has already turned to the political significance of this plot, and it is fully possible that it augurs for a “tightening of the screws” and that Putin will once again use the threat of terrorism as an excuse to tighten political control (recall that the most dramatic re-centralization of political power occurred in the aftermath of the attack on Beslan). However I lean towards a slightly less malign interpretation in which the thwarting of this plot is merely a PR stunt and an opportunity for some (mostly harmless) pre-election chest thumping: Putin will get a chance to play the aggrieved victim of aggression, a role he plays very well, and say a few things about the tenacity and determination of his government in confronting and defeating terror. We’ll see what happens, but given the totality of the political situation in Russia and the obvious weakening of Putin’s position I don’t think a dramatic re-centralization of power is even possible, at least without the widespread use of force. […]
St. Petersburg: "For Putin" banners inside a bus that has brought people to a presidential campaign rally in support of the Russian PM. Photo by YURY GOLDENSHTEYN, copyright © Demotix (18/02/12).
Eugene Ivanov of The Ivanov Report has produced a series of posts on the upcoming election: The Dinosaur (on Vladimir Zhirinovsky, Feb. 9) Putin and the Polls (Feb. 16), Putin and Elites (Feb. 21), and Putin and Protesters (Feb. 26). In the latest post, he put the recent rallies into perspective and explained their significance for Putin's political future:
I’m puzzled when someone begins comparing the number of people participating in pro- and anti-Putin demonstrations in Russia: to me, it’s like comparing the number of apples with the size of oranges. I get even more puzzled when I hear that by putting more people on the streets, the Kremlin “has won” over its opponents. It’s about the same as to say that because the admirers of Yo-Yo Ma can be comfortably accommodated in the Carnegie Hall with its 2,800 seats whereas Britney Spears can easily attract a crowd of 30,000 fans at a sports arena, the pop diva is ten-time better musician than the venerable cellist.
[…]
What the protesters should really pay attention to is their message. Brought together by the power of a single emotion – the outrage at the rigged Duma elections – they now need to transform their “raw feelings” into a set of comprehensive political goals and demands. Far from trying to beat the Kremlin in the game of numbers, the protesters should actually reduce the size of their columns by decisively parting with the nationalists, monarchists and the like. And if they want to broaden their appeal, they would better outreach to industrial workers whose loyalty to Putin is only conditional and may rapidly disappear should Russia’s economic situation deteriorate.
[…]
Yet, the major reason Putin so far hasn’t made any attempt to start a dialog with the protesters is that he doesn’t understand them. Putin seems to be genuinely at a loss to figure out why a bunch of well fed people would go on a protest action, especially if their grievances are caused by such a nuisance as “irregularities” in the parliamentary elections. The concept that some people may value their principles and their dignity over material well-being seems to be completely foreign to Putin. (Apparently, there are no such people in the close circle of Putin’s associates.) That’s why he tries to explain their behavior by something he can comprehend: money, directives from the State Department, or “orange leprosy.” […]
Following the February 4 opposition rallies, Mark Adomanis compared the turnout in Moscow with that in other Russian cities:
[…] One thing that does seem noteworthy, though, is that the protests in other Russian cities seem to have been rather underwhelming. […]
[…]
What does this mean for the future of the protests? Well, probably nothing good. Putin and his team are not going to be easy to displace, and I think only a sustained and truly nation-wide popular mobilization could possibly compel them to do so. As always, the situation is fluid and should be watched closely, but there are certainly indications that Putin’s grip on power remains quite secure in large sections of the country. His image has taken a very big and very noteworthy dent, but at this juncture it seems improper to project the palpable anger and frustration of Muscovites onto all Russians. […]
Kevin Rothrock of A Good Treaty moved a few levels down from the overly familiar nationwide politics story, taking a closer look at the relatively obscure local confrontation that occurred in the town of Lermontov in Stavropol region; not surprisingly, he discovered that the latter shared its most important elements with the former:
Yesterday, the town of Lermontov (located in Russia’s North Caucasus) experienced what some are calling “a small revolution.” As the state municipal building was preparing to close for the evening, a collection of townsfolk and former members of the city council gathered and eventually forced their way into the main lobby. Once inside, reporters accompanying the activists took turns interviewing ex-deputies and disgruntled locals. Acting head of the city’s government Viktor Vasil’ev warned protesters that they were breaking the law by illegally occupying state property. Undeterred, the former deputies announced the beginning of an indefinite hunger strike, promising to occupy Lermontov’s municipal building night and day, until their demands are met: chiefly, the cancelation of the city’s upcoming local elections, which the ex-deputies consider to be illegitimate because they were denied the right to participate.
[…]
The Lermontov ‘crisis’ has something for everyone. If you’re a diehard enemy of the Putin regime, there are former city officials protesting in the open, linking local regional corruption to the Kremlin’s evil influence. Certainly, many aspects of the Lermontov election — barred candidates, political control of the courts, and the squashing of local independence — echo the larger criticisms commonly made of ‘Putinism.’
On the other hand, fans of the Prime Minister seem to find it inspiring that several of the assembled protesters are reaching out to Putin in the tradition of ‘good tsarism,’ hoping that he’ll notice their plight and swoop in to right the city’s wrongs. […]
This post is part of our special coverage Russia Elections 2011/12.

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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Russia: Great Lent Has Begun  · Global Voices
Donna Welles

Citizen media outlets have captured the multidimensional essence of the Russian Orthodox Lenten season, which began Monday, including issues such the religiosity of post-USSR Russia, the liturgical calendar, the peculiarities of the Orthodox traditions and fasting rituals compared to those observed in the West, and the public statements made by prominent church officials.
Holy Transfiguration Monastery Publications blog contextualizedthe Lenten Triodion among the other three liturgical books recognized by the Russian Orthodox Church:
Four books contain the festal services necessary for the liturgical year.
The Menaion contains the feasts of the Lord, the Mother of God, and the Saints, for every day of the year.
The Triodion contains the services for Great Lent, the three weeks before, and Holy Week.
The Pentecostarion contains the feasts of Pascha through Pentecost and All Saints.
The Octoëchos provides eight one-week cycles of services in one of each of the eight tones.
Pancake week/Maslenitsa celebration in St. Petersburg. Photo by YURY GOLDENSHTEYN, copyright © Demotix (26/02/12).
Irina Bakaeva, a teacher of English from the village of Dergachi in Saratov region, described last Sunday the Russian festivities surrounding “Pancake Week,” which occurs just before the start of Great Lent:
Russia is celebrating Shrovetide, or Pancake week, one of the jolliest, most vivid and fun-filled feasts here.
The tradition of celebrating Shrovetide came to us from pre-Christian Russia. This is a feast of bidding farewell to winter, injected with the joyful anticipation of spring’s arrival, Nature’s awakening and the renewal of life. Shrovetide was the name of a straw effigy, dresses in women’s garments, which was first used in the general merriment, and at the end of the feast – burnt in a bonfire.
An invariable attribute of Shrovetide were pancakes, round in shape – symbolizing the sun, and as such – a ritual dish.
Sophia's bilingual LiveJournal blog discussed last week how the Eastern and Western branches of Christianity observe different traditions in celebrating the beginning of Lent:
Ash Wednesday, in the [Gregorian] calendar of Western Christianity, is the first day of Lent and occurs 46 days before Easter. It is a moveable fast, falling on a different date each year because it is dependent on the date of Easter. It can occur as early as February 4 or as late as March 10.
In Russia we have Clean Monday instead of Ash wednesday, it is also known as Pure Monday, Ash Monday, or Green Monday, is the first day of the Eastern Orthodox Christian and Eastern Catholic Great Lent.
St. Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church blog provides recipes for Lenten Main Dishes, while Orthodox Education Blog includes a link to printable Lenten coloring books for children.
People fight with swords during celebrations of Maslenitsa or Pancake week, a traditional Russian holiday marking the end of winter, St Petersburg. Image by Yury Goldenshteyn, copyright Demotix (26/02/12).
“Why We Were Created” Blog by Catholic Eric Sammons introduced some of the differences between how the Lenten season is celebrated by the Eastern and Western traditions:
The Eastern Lent is similar in intention to the Western Lent, except it is much more severe in practice. [Russian Orthodox Christians] are asked to give up all meat, dairy products and alcohol throughout the entire season (think of that when you are complaining about not eating meat this Friday). They also calculate the days differently than in the West – [Western Christianity does] not count Sundays, whereas [Orthodox Christians] do and they end the counting before Psalm Sunday and consider Holy Week a whole different penitential “season.”
Ancient Faith Radio Blog posted a 15-minute audio recording of Fr. Andrew Damick's discussion on the differences between the Eastern and Western Lenten traditions. In it he emphasized that Orthodox Christians observe lent more as a community and with the assistance of a confessor with the ultimate goal being to become more receptive to God's grace. For Orthodox Christians, he added, Great Lent represents a lifestyle that is merely intensified during this season.
Aleks’ bilingual blog summarized the author's understanding of why fasting is a necessary component of the Christian faith:
I do not know the official teachings of the Orthodox Church regarding fasting, but I'm sure that my views expressed here are not far from the truth. There are a lot of reasons for fasting, but the most obvious to me are (in order of importance):
1. Christians by definition must imitate Christ. Jesus, before starting His Ministry of the Good News, fasted for 40 days. […]
2. Food, and, most importantly delicious, food by itself is a very good thing (trust me, I know). The problem is that its ubiquity has the potential to become the most easily accessible temptation. […] Although I have to mention that not eating is not the essence, the reason, or the purpose of fasting. Physical fast will be useless if we, for example, continue to ignore neighbor's needs, if we continue to swear and be angry, etc. […]
3. Easter is the most important holiday for Christians. Without it there would be no Church, nor the saving Gospel. Therefore, Christians try to prepare for this very special celebration in very special manner. […]
Global Voices introduced Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin as well as Patriarch Kirill in a January 2012 post entitled, “The Russian Orthodox Church Re-Enters Politics.” Similarly, both men have made public their views on how the Great Lent should be observed by Russians.
While Patriarch Kirill urged Russians to meditate on their own futures as well as the future of Russia, Archpriest Chaplin, according to the Moscow News, said that “people observing lent should refrain from watching talk shows or using online social networks.”
Fr. Oliver Herbel mirrored such thoughts on the importance of moderation in internet usage during Great Lent in a March 2011 post for Pravmir.com blog:
Some in Orthodoxy pride themselves on being “luddites,” that is, as those who are generally against technological progress. This parallels those non-Orthodox Christians in America who see “www” as standing for “666.” On the other hand, some in Orthodoxy, including clergy, are quick to grab the first gadget to hit the market. With regard to the use of the internet, similar patterns may be seen amongst the Orthodox. Some Orthodox will avoid nearly all Orthodox-specific sites or at least any site that dares to address contemporary issues, believing that what matters is only “spiritual” things that can affect one’s soul and that there is nothing one can do to help with current difficulties within the Church. Others will engage any Orthodox site and/or blog and comment frequently, believing that such engagement is contributing to Orthodoxy or sometimes that such engagement is a healthy way to “vent” frustrations. Both approaches to the internet are wrong, even during Great Lent. What is needed is balance.

author: Donna Welles


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Slovakia: Chuck Norris Bridge · Global Voices
Tibor Blazko

In the situation when the U.S. action film star Chuck Norris leads in the public vote for the name of the bridge across the Morava River into Austria [en], blogger Ondrej Horváth recommends [sk] asking Mr. Norris before making the final decision, because otherwise it is possible that the bridge will not last there for a long time.

author: Tibor Blazko


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Taiwan: Say No to Ractopamine Tainted American Meat · Global Voices
I-fan Lin

Ractopamine, a leanness-enhancing feed additive, is banned in Taiwan and more than 150 other countries; some shipments of United States (US) beef were banned from entering Taiwan upon discovering traces of ractopamine in meat last year.
However, under pressure from the US government, the newly elected Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou is now considering lifting the ban. Taiwanese consumers and farmers are unhappy about such a move and a civic coalition has been established to counteract it.
Additive controversy
Ractopamine was developed by an American pharmaceutical company, Elanco Animal Health, a division of Eli Lilly and Company. It is used in the feeding of pigs, cows and turkeys for improving “feed efficiency” and enhancing “carcass leanness” in meat. The Food Standards Agency, Codex Alimentarius, did not have a consensus on the maximal residual level (MRL) of ractopamine yet. The Codex Alimentarius will continue its discussion on the MRL of ractopamine in July, 2012.
Taiwanese farmer protests against Ractopamine use in 2007. Photo by Flickr User munch999 (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
US beef has been one of the most controversial issues in its free trade negotiations with other countries. Recently, Japan has also opened its beef market and allowed ractopamine to be present in the imported meat, but banning the use of ractopamine in domestic pork and beef production.
A similar understanding has taken place between the US and Taiwan under the Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) since mid 2000. The US government has been pressuring Taiwan to lift the ban on ractopamine and the restriction imposed on US beef after the outbreak of mad cow disease in 2003.
However, the evaluation of the MRL of ractopamine in 2006 failed to remove ractopamine as banned drug against the background of the social panic raised by the clenbuterol poisoning incidence that happened in China. In 2007, when the government again tried to lift the ban on ractopamine, the then opposing party, Kuomingtang, in Legislative Yuan stood by the country's pig farmers [zh] and stopped the motion.
Don Shapiro from the American Chamber of Commerce in Taipei revealed that the Kuomingtang, under the pressure from the US government, would started to work on lifting the ban on ractopmine again after they won the presidential election in 2012:
The U.S. government by early 2011 was willing to start preparations to resume TIFA talks. Then another obstacle arose when Taiwan rejected some shipments of beef found to contain traces of the leanness-enhancing feed additive ractopamine…Whenever questions were raised last year about finding a solution to the impasse, Taiwan officials responded that nothing could be done before this January’s elections, for fear of sparking protests from consumer and farming groups that could escalate into a campaign issue.
An international academic conference on the additive organized by the Department of Health in April and May 2012, has been criticized [zh] as the government's attempt to educate the public on the safety of ractopamine and create a public consensus on the ban lifting. In reaction to the government's move, more than 20 civic groups, from the consumer, animal rights, environment and agriculture sectors, have formed a coalition [zh] to stop it.
Citizen media reactions
One of anti-US beef corner's concern is about the adverse effect of the additive on human health and food security. Although there are studies showing that the acceptable daily intake of ractopamine is up to 60mg, Taiwanese toxicology expert, Dr. Lin has pointed out [zh] that this level is set for healthy people because the human study of ractopamine is not considered to be complete. For those who have cardiovascular disease, a 6mg acceptable daily intake might still be too much.
Citizen reporter, Cliteir Chen from News Market points out [zh] that the government should not betray people's health for diplomatic consideration:
許多人質疑，瘦肉精開放與否，從來就不是「能不能添加」、「要不要進口」那麼單純的問題，而是被外交、貿易政策綁在一起的複雜問題。但對全民來說，這僅僅就是最單純的食品安全議題，當我們強調飲食回復天然、少吃添加物之際，為何不是維持十多年來「零瘦肉精的」堅持？
即使萊克多巴胺「沒那麼毒」，但不要忘記國人有不吃有毒肉品的權益，這也應是政府的義務。
Because the FDA has received a lot of complaints from the pig raisers who fed their pigs with ractopamine, animal rights activists have also joined the debate [zh]:
這種「速養」以換得「快錢」的邏輯，正彰顯出資本主義體制最殘酷的一面。也就是，為了追求最快速、最大量的利潤，可以以動物的痛苦、人類的健康、生存環境的破壞做為代價。…反對美牛，還包括反對這樣的生命態度！
Yu Fu-Ching from News Market reflects upon [zh] modern people's eating habit:
當大家激烈討論「瘦肉精到底有沒有毒」、「瘦肉精安全用量」之際，大家有沒有想過，我們難道不該回到源頭問：為什麼飼養動物需要使用瘦肉精？為什麼人們對肥肉避之唯恐不及？難道肥肉對健康的危害高過萊克多巴胺？過去我們認為肥肉一無是處、是健康危害的想法真正的正確嗎？
一個簡單的邏輯：吃好的食材，是健康飲食的第一步。蔬果如此，肉品也如此。而什麼是好食材？毫無疑問，天然不添加是構成好食材的第一要件。因此，自然養殖、不使用瘦肉精，呈現天然肥瘦比的肉品，無疑是最佳的脂肪與蛋白質來源。

author: I-fan Lin


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Thailand: Facebook Blamed for Teen Pregnancies · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Thailand has one of the highest rate of teenage pregnancies in the world. It’s estimated that 120,000 unplanned teen pregnancies happen each year, and it seems popular social networking site Facebook is partly to blame for the unwanted pregnancies, if we are to believe the conclusion of the National Economic and Social Development Board (NESDB):
The NESDB has revealed that people in the age group of 18-24 are the biggest group of facebook users, accounting for 40% of all users.
The Board said that the social media growth is partly to blame for the teen pregnancy problems as some youngsters post seducing messages or video clips online.
Image from Pattaya Daily News
Saksith Saiyasombut, on the other hand, highlights the inadequacies of Thailand’s sexual education program:
Of course the largest social network is to be blamed for the all the steamy content that drive teenagers to have unprotected sex. Or it could be the much more simple explanation – Thailand has a severe problem with sexual education.
If the moral outrage could be put to one side, the powers that be might be able to see that the only reasonable solution to avoid teen pregnancies is to have proper sexual education and face the naked truth about the existence of sexuality instead of tucking it away.
Ricefieldradio comments that social media has nothing to do with teen pregnancies:
Facebook and other Social media has nothing to do with teen pregnancies or sex. It's hormones. Young people managed to have sex way before any of the social network founders mothers was even inseminated.
Tasty Thailand also points out the reduced sex education classes in Thailand:
After all, 18 may be technically a ‘teen’ but, by law, it's actually the age of an adult. So that doesn't fit the ‘blame Facebook’ camp for teen pregnancies at all
Because, after all, Thailand's growing teen pregnancy rate can't be because sex education classes in Thai schools have been drastically reduced in recent years, or because Thai parents don't teach their kids about contraception now can it?
FACT – Freedom Against Censorship Thailand recognizes the role of parenting:
Sure, Facebook may make it easier for our kids to hook up. But it’s bad parenting which fails to supervise your kid on a computer. Maybe kids just need to play football with friends…a lot of football!]
Here are some reactions on Twitter. From @thaimythbuster:
#THailand #Facebook did it and shares the blame for Thailand's teen pregnancies. Wondering who was to blame ten years ago… Prem?
@CoconutsBangkok To think, we always thought unprotected sex causes teen pregnancies. Apparently Facebook does actually!
This is not the first time that Facebook was blamed for rising teen pregnancies. Last year, a religious leader in Central Java, Indonesia also blamed the giant social network for the rise of underage marriages and unwanted teen pregnancies in the country.

author: Mong Palatino


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Trinidad & Tobago: Battle with Media  · Global Voices
Matthew Hunte

Afra Raymond outlines what he believes is a “sinister pattern” towards the media in Trinidad & Tobago, since the People's Partnership has been in government.
According to Raymond, who elaborated on his views in an accompanying webcast, “…given the boundless nature of the new technology, we are going to see a sharper, more wily, battle to reduce the strength and clarity of our media. I greet it.”

author: Matthew Hunte


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Uruguay: Scenes From the Longest Carnival in the World · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

Percussionists and dancers in colorful costumes signaled the beginning of carnival during the traditional inaugural parade on January 26, 2012–but carnival in Uruguay is not over yet. The performances and contests that make up the longest carnival in the world will continue well into March.
This, in part, is because carnival in Uruguay involves a lot more than parades. In stages called tablados performers compete in different musical and theatrical categories, like murga, negros y lubolos [es] (playing candombe), parodists [es] and humorists [es].
As we reported two years ago, blogs and websites dedicated to carnival allow people from all over the world to see what Uruguayan carnival is all about. During this time of the year, these sites ramp up their coverage to keep up with the daily events taking place in the country. This year has been no exception.
The site Carnaval del Uruguay [es], for example, provides forums [es] and a chat room [es] where users can discuss different aspects of carnival. The site is also on Facebook [es] and Twitter [es]. Blogs like Uruguay Carnavalero [es] cover the parades and competitions, re-post news, and share important announcements and event schedules. At the same time foreigners and Uruguayans dedicate blog posts to the event, share photos, videos and thoughts on the world’s longest carnival.
Llamadas parade, Montevideo, Uruguay. Photo courtesy of carnaval.com (CC BY 2.0)
This year, Solange González Henott wrote about Uruguay’s carnival in El Blog de la Ruta [es], a travel blog from news site Otramérica.
Cada verano, en medio del Carnaval de Montevideo, el más largo del mundo, el país se envuelve en un torbellino de colores, de humor ácido y del otro, de música, de expresiones culturales propias de los uruguayos y de comparsas de negros y lubolos -blancos disfrazados de negros- en dichas Llamadas.
Solange goes one to explain Llamadas, a parade where Uruguay’s African roots are celebrated to the rhythm of candombe:
Pero de seguro, el momento más esperado son las dos jornadas de competencia que tiran a las calles de los barrios Palermo y Sur, los pasos lentos del esclavo simulado por la cuerda de tambores de las Llamadas, el grupo de músicos que candombean tocando el tambor chico, repique y piano, que guían el baile de el resto de la comparsa en competencia y de todo el público que fielmente, llega cada año a vibrar con los sonidos y el regocijo de ver a las bailarinas y personajes que dan vida a esta gran fiesta del pueblo uruguayo.
Flickr user sfmission of carnaval.com dedicates a set of photos, licensed under Creative Commons, to the Llamadas parade:
Llamadas means “calls” which was how blacks in Montevideo would meet up for candomble. Calls might be chanting or handclapping but more often it would be drum beats and it meant candomble was about to start.
Many Uruguayans keep up with carnival from abroad, like Leo Bar from the blog Pix in Motion. He writes:
This time of the year, I miss Montevideo the most. The joy of the holiday – Carnaval – the way people forget their worries, party, enjoy life… The colors and sounds can be seen and heard through every neighborhood. A real celebration of culture, roots, friendship and integration.
Leo produced a video titled “Candombe and Llamadas – Carnaval Uruguay,” with video footage of the parades and photos by Flickr user Adriana Cabrera Esteve.
You can see a lot more photos of the different events that make up Uruguay's carnival on Carnaval del Uruguay's Facebook page.


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Venezuela: Singer Onechot Becomes Victim of Violence He Decried · Global Voices
Luis Carlos Diaz

Juan David Chacón is a reggae singer, his stage name being Onechot [es], which pronounced in Spanish sounds very much like a Latin “Juancho” and in English as “One shot”. As a reggae artist he has dedicated much of his work in spreading messages of peace.
On the night of Monday, February 27, 2012, on returning to pick up some of his recorded material, Onechot was attacked by a group of criminals who shot him, wounding him in the head. Tuesday was meant to see the artist begin his national tour of his new album, however, due to the incident he has been in intensive care following surgery to remove the bullet from his brain.
Photo of Onechot, taken by David Maris
Onechot recorded a video called Rotten Town, denouncing the violence in Venezuela. The lyrics of his music describes the situation:
Let me introduce you to Caracas, embassy of hell, land of murderers and shottas. Hundred people die every week, we nuh live in war, country is full of freaks
In 2011 alone 19,000 people were killed in Venezuela, a country that has 28 million inhabitants and is not currently facing a war on drugs such as in Mexico or an armed conflict currently affecting Colombia. In 2008, Venezuela had one of the highest homicide rates in the world and the situation has not improved. This is the crisis that Onechot reported on in his video that at the time was criticised by the Venezuelan Government:
When Rotten Town was released in 2010, the former Venezuelan Minister for Communication and Information, Tania Diaz, launched a threat of legal action [es] against Onechot for, according to official sources, the music video's showing of “sensationalist images of violence”.
The criminal act against the singer led to a protest on social networks, producing Twitter Trending Topics such as #Onechot and #FuerzaOnechot (‘We support Onechot’). Most of the messages showed the surprise and indignation felt towards the fact that a peace activist had now become a victim of what he had previously denounced in his music.
Jogreg Henriquez demonstrated this with his post “Onechot saw it coming” [es]:
Onechot entró a formar parte de las estadísticas de las víctimas de los actos criminales que tienen a Caracas como una de las más peligrosas del mundo. Decenas de asesinatos cada fin de semana así lo atestiguan. Decenas de familias de luto frente a una morgue colapsada por tanto dolor y tanto olor a muerte.
In the blog Panfleto Negro, the oldest blog in Venezuela, the author Luis1210 has warned that for months now the Government has tried to blame society for the violence currently seen in the country. He describes this in his post titled “Oneshot, it's your fault” [es]:
El gobierno desde hace tiempo nos quiere vender una gran falacia con respecto a la inseguridad. Quiere convertirnos en corresponsables de la seguridad ciudadana para de esa forma echarnos los muertos a nosotros. Si aceptamos esa responsabilidad de manera automática aceptamos también la culpa. Y he ahí el porqué del título, no he dejado de leer en twitter estupideces como que OneChot se lo buscó o lo atrajo cósmicamente por haber elegido ese nombre artístico o que andaba “ostentando riqueza” o cualquier estupidez. Cuando lo cierto es que OneChot es un tipo que se atreve a hacer reggae de protesta, algo que hoy en día parece olvidado.
Inti Acevedo is of the same opinion (@Inti) [es], criticising the self-censorship of other artists who denounce the social problems in Venezuela:
Cuando @Oneshot sacó el video que denuncia la violencia en Venezuela se ganó mi respeto. Un rebelde de verdad en un país de rockeros cobardes
Meanwhile, the poet @WillyMcKey wrote a post for the blog Prodavinci [es] about how the country should leave its violence in the past and move on:
Quienes deben asegurarnos la vida ven llover sangre ajena, pisan nuestros charcos y se esconden detrás de sí mismos, como si el país fuese un hombre hospitalizado, como si la ciudad solamente necesitara condiciones antisépticas. Como si el miedo fuera una estrategia.
Mientras inventan una guerra en el espejo, afuera disparan consecuencias de la ineficacia.
Mientras buscan a quien echarle la culpa, afuera toma forma la muerte cada noche.
¿Cuándo vamos a poder cerrar los ojos para que la lluvia nos permita una sonrisa nueva? Sólo cuando mudemos Rotten Town muy lejos, a ese lugar donde reposa lo podrido: el pasado.
Jaqueline Goldberg [es] is a writer and friend of Onechot's parents. In her Facebook account she posted:
I don't know how I will be able to sleep tonight, knowing that Juan David Chacón Benítez, the son and brother of dear friends, is in therapy with a bullet in his memory. How can I leave tomorrow and pronounce the words “country” and “night” without anger. Right now I am scared, I have the desire to flee, I feel clumsy and dumb. Citizen disgust.
In 2010 the filmaker Sergio Monsalve praised the quality of the video of the singer, in spite of the official criticism, for which he came back to his original post on the subject [es] and added:
This is my reason for why “Rotten Town” is one of the best Venezuelan video clips of the third millennium and one of the greatest in Venezuela's history. I return to it here because of the recent incidents affecting Onechot. I published it in August 2010. Unfortunately today it takes on a new life. In Venezuela, time continues to pass yet the problems get worse, above all the unleashing of the underworld. Our real social cancer is the lack of safety. Is this a disease without a remedy? It is time to urgently seek a cure.
Meanwhile, as the country awaits the outcome of Onechot in intensive care, the protests continue to increase on social networking sites and physical artists such as Ricardo Crovato portray Caracas as being Rotten Town, until the situation improves.
Photo of Caracas as Rotten Town, image by Ricardo Crovato

author: Luis Carlos Diaz


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Zambia: Ban Ki-moon Calls on Nation to Respect Gay Rights · Global Voices
Gershom Ndhlovu

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon visited Zambia recently, addressed parliament, met key political figures among them the first republican President Kenneth Kaunda and visited the country’s prime tourism destination, the Victoria Falls in the southern city of Livingstone. None of these have made as much news as his call on the nation to respect gay rights.
Reported the Lusaka Times:
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon says people with different cultural backgrounds need dignity and respect. Mr. Ban notes homosexuals, lesbians and gays are people whose rights need to be dignified and respected by mankind.
The UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon speaking in Lusaka, Zambia. Photo courtesy of zambianwatchdog.com.
In his address to the Zambian National Assembly, Mr Ban said:
Now you have embarked on a transformation agenda – a process for a new people-driven Constitution that will be a foundation for Zambia’s progress, a Constitution that will stand the test of time.This offers Zambia an opportunity to lead once more by enshrining the highest standards of human rights and protections for all people – regardless of race, religion, gender, sexual orientation or disability.
His statement brought back into focus the issue of homosexuality  for which the then ruling MMD nearly destroyed the then opposition leader, now republican President Michael Sata, during the campaigns leading to last September’s elections which saw him beat former President Rupiah Banda.
Zambia netizens on most social networking sites have reacted differently to Ban’s statement, with most of them invoking the “Christian Nation” tag, which is enshrined in the country’s constitution.
Reacting to the Lusaka Times story (quoted above), Mambala wrote:
hehehe!!!!! Mr Ban, we expected to hear that from you. Infact that was yo main agenda… to advance the cause of the homosexual and lesbians. Listen Zambia is a sovereign state, we dont have to be told how to live. We knw those homos and lesbians have always been part of our society. They do their acts in secrecy and we are ok with that. If they dare come out in the open to advance their evils, we will deal with them ruthlessly!!!!
A map showing penalties targeting gays and lesbians in Africa. Image source: ilga.org
Citizen wrote:
Please Mr Secretary General, we as Zambians have accepted that we are a Christian Nation, it is in our constitution and so becomes our Right. Being such means respect for all persons as they are God’s imagery creation – including criminals, homosexuals,lesbians, liars, prostitutes and the like, while at the same time condemning their sinful activities, so that they turn away. Mr SG, we know you want us to follow other nations by not criminalising homosexuality. That we shall refuse. We shall never de-criminalise such acts. Let those nations copy from us because it is the most sensible thing to do
One of the few contrary voices, Observer, wrote:
Mr Ban is talking about BASIC rights. He is not talking about gay marrriage or that kind of thing. Have some of you read the story before commenting? Basic rights is like the right to clean water or education. He is saying these people should be allowed to live life free from physical danger and enjoy same basic rights without discrimination. I do not see anything wrong with that. These are people too. Our churches and families should work hard to ensure young people stay away from homosexuality and other negative stuff. Government can not be tasked with supervising lives of individuals. It is nice to have our country visited by Mr Ban.
On Zambian Facebook group, 90 days (Government thumbs up/down every 90 days), Sidique Abdullah Gondwe Geloo made a distinction between a sin and a crime:
HOMOSEXUALITY IS A SIN, NOT A CRIME. FORNICATION IS A SIN NOT A CRIME. Should an unmarried man go to jail for having sex with another unmarried women? No. They sinned but its not a crime, they made the decision. Should gay people go to jail for dating…It is a filthy filthy SIN but not a crime…They have rights not be stoned, killed or harrassed, but they shouldnt have rights to get married, display their feelings publicly because we are a very PROUDLY HOMOPHOBIC COUNTRY…So when someone says gay people have rights, that shouldnt scare you as long as they keep their gayism at home
On Twitter, one tweep addressed Ban Ki-moon saying:
@chikwe1: Ban Ki Moona If denouncing #Homosexuality makes me a #Savage then I'd rather #Live and #Die a savage than otherwise. Stay away from #Zambia
While debate over homosexuality rages in Africa, Liberia and Uganda introduced anti-gay bills recently making homosexuality liable to a death sentence. Homosexuality is outlawed in 38 African countries and it can be punishable by death in Mauritania, Sudan, and northern Nigeria.

author: Gershom Ndhlovu


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Azerbaijan: Massive protests in Quba · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Emin Milli's blog posts photos and video of massive protests in Quba, a regional center in Northeast Azerbaijan. The blog says the house of the governor of the region has been burned down and that military units are reportedly being dispatched to the city.


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Chile: Netizens Speak Out Against Mall in Chiloé · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

With the hashtag #malldecastro [es] Chilean netizens are reacting to a project to build a mall in Castro, Chiloe, in an archipelago in Southern Chile. Gerárdo Espíndola of Mi Voz wrote a post [es] on the project, showing pictures of the mall's current state. El Repuertero, a citizen newspaper of Mi Voz, also posts pictures [es] of the mall altered by Twitter users to show their discontent with the project.