The compulsory display of a symbol of a given confession in premises used by the public authorities… restricted the right of parents to educate their children in conformity with their convictions.

The Polish parliament, however, has decided [POL] to continue allowing handing out crosses in Polish classrooms and on other public premises. And a Polish association of Catholics, Unum Principium, has also proposed including the symbol of the cross in the national emblem of Poland. Currently, the emblem has a white eagle in a golden crown on red background, but Krzysztof Zagozda, the association's spokesman, refers to the national emblem from 1927, when the eagle's crown had a cross incorporated on top of it. He explains the group's proposal [POL]:

Including cross in national symbols is important for patriotic reasons. For many Polish citizens it expresses separateness of a kind or fight for independence. Hence why we need to restore it.

Image source: Wikipedia

This proposal has generated over 500 reactions on the forum of Poland's main daily, Gazeta.pl.

Maruda.r questions the above statement [POL]:

It's not entirely right, as Polish eagles were wearing different crowns: […] Emblems, coats of arms change - they reflect certain status, which is not there any more. We might as well reach out for the chicken placed on coins in Piast times.

Feurig59 states [POL]:

Carry the crosses in your hearts. Not everything has to be shown off - worn off symbols, whose meaning is carried by very few in this country, but everyone is scrubbing and polishing their ‘gods', so everyone could see how strongly they feel about ‘tradition' and what a good Pole and Catholic they are. Makes me sick:(

Michelange75 points out [POL]:

As a Catholic I say - No. Those people do not understand that this leads to antagonisms within Polish society and a loss of trust in the church for many Poles. Are we to experience the mistake of Western countries, where churches stand empty. That is what those chauvinists and pseudo-Catholics want. If so, than in this entire war over the cross and entire aspect of moving crosses away from school ordered by Europe, and which we do not seem to have to respect, Polish Catholic church will lose. It's totally irresponsible.

This statement is followed up by a response from ludwigvanbeethoven, who is a Protestant [POL]:

Catholics believe themselves as the only right faith, but I am asking - why? As a protestant, I demand all churches in Europe to look like protestant ones. […] Religion should be an inner business of each citizen, and not a huge balloon and sour faces, that Brussels does not want to include common values into their constitution.

On another site, AdamM sounds very sarcastic [POL]:

But Poland is to be a province of Vatican, so it's easier this way. Of course during GCSA exams we will pass religion too, and on our CV's we will need to put dates of our baptism, first communion and confirmation as well as the exact amount of money given during each mass. We will let out on our streets policemen who will check if we all carry crosses and know how to pray, and for those who protest, we will build stakes. We could also do with dusting off the Middle Ages torture machines so that the conversion is smoother.

A Northern Irish Polish forum contains a discussion on how having a cross in the emblem differs from having it next to it one wall; the main thoughts are expressed by 33lncr [POL]:

Aaa, those are the guys from the Madonna concert affair [cancelled due to protest of Catholics], so the case is clear… Seriously, though, for me it's only an add-on to a picture with a bird. But when I think of it rationally, what has the cross to do with Poles - atheists or Poles-other-believers, who are also patriots, what does it have to do with Poles-Catholics who are not patriots at all (I know the last one is in our country almost an oxymoron, but logically speaking quite possible)?

There are a few supportive opinions, though, like the one expressed by Krzysiek [POL]:

I support them. Poland is a Catholic country and we should protect our faith and show it somehow. If someone is unhappy, they should go to France where Catholics have practically nothing to say, and the majority of people believes in Islam.

On Nov. 3, I noticed that a new Twitter account was following me on that microblogging site, and its name intrigued me: @czyIKEAjestOK [is IKEA OK?]. It turns out that the account set up only a day before, on Nov. 2, belongs to an initiative of Polish citizens who work for IKEA via another, smaller, company called Solid Security, and who claim to be mistreated by those. They claim to be earning amounts below the national minimal wage, being assigned to work up to 16 hours daily and lacking the basic benefits, as we read on their Facebook page [POL]:

Our employers lower our wages, but also make us sign fictional contracts depriving us of the basic rights like annual leave or sick leave benefits.

When representatives of the employees entered IKEA building to turn in a copy of their petition containing the above-mentioned issues and signed by all of the affected, hoping to be able to talk to an IKEA spokesman, they were asked to leave the building by the head of security himself. This situation was filmed and is available on all of their social media sites.

The initiative's blog explains the main question they are raising via the on-line campaign [POL]:

We work for IKEA, but officially we are employed by another company. We earn low wages, we have no social fund. Buying medicine, illness is a financial catastrophe for us. IKEA washed their hands off it - officially they are not responsible. Is this OK?

It also hosts a voting where you can choose between ‘I am not bothered' and ‘ I think it's not OK' options.

‘And you, what do you think? Do you think IKEA is OK? Have your say:

I am not bothered. / It's not OK.'

On their site, in the FAQ section, we find a reason why the citizens have decided to contact IKEA directly to address their issues [POL]:

Of course we wanted to talk to Solid Security, the company which employed us, first, but we were ignored. Solid are aware of their position and the advantage they have over their employees, so any conversation is very difficult. That's why we decided to seek support at the company that pays Solid and thus can have a huge impact on their operations.

This initiative was picked up by a few on-line news portals, and was described by Interaktywnie.com (a Polish social media marketing portal)  in a news article, where commentators praised the neat build-up of the on-line campaign. Generally, however, there is a small amount of reactions on-line, which focus mainly on questioning why IKEA was targeted instead of Solid Security, pointing out that no-one is forced to work there, and waiting to see how the initiative develops.

On a portal dedicated to the industry news, Abenador states [POL]:

I have no idea if IKEA is OK or not, but when it comes to work conditions at SOLID, their employees should talk to … SOLID. Including IKEA in this argument is probably unnecessary and makes no sense (they are not the employers).

Aaa2 responds to this on a different forum [POL]:

Of course the employees did go to SOLID, too. IKEA is one of the largest clients of Solid and it is also said to be socially responsible. It cannot avoid the responsibility for employees working on their grounds, if it is so sensitive socially.

Dink points out in a board discussion:

work at IKEA is not mandatory

On Wykop (a Polish version of Digg.com), crea says [POL]:

I must say it's not a good situation…but it's a corporation, so it will be difficult to win with them..

Przemek postshis opinion on an HR portal:

As I understand, Mr Roman and his company do understand the amount of brand damage they are causing… But it's not the scale of brand damage which requires serious treatment of similar cases. I will watch with interest how this case develops, mainly in the social media.

This action conduced mainly via social media channels with usage of both visual and textual content grows in followers on Twitter, Facebook and in views on YouTube, as well as in numbers of votes on the main site. Representatives of Global Union from Sweden, USA, Italy, Ireland, Holland and other countries have expressed their concerns about the case of the Polish employees in a document published on Facebook. After four weeks since the original incident, both companies remain silent.

Daniel Pádua was a well-known digital activist in Brazil. Photo brought by Cátia Kitahara in Wordpress-BR.

Brazil lost today one of its pioneers digital activists. Daniel Pádua [pt] (also known as @dpadua on Twitter) had been recently diagnosed with cancer and lost the battle this morning, in Brasília. Always present in open source software and free culture events in Brazil, he was a strong reference for many bloggers in posts about ciberactivism and freedom of speech on the Internet.

On the Wordpress-Br blog, Cátia Kitahara wrote [pt]:

Hoje perdemos um amigo queridíssimo, aqui da comunidade, o Daniel Pádua. Sentiremos muito sua falta, não só pelo grande talento e inteligência que ele possuia, mas principalmente pelo seu caráter. Queremos manifestar nosso carinho para sua família e amigos.

As the news spreads all over the web, Twitter users who known his work and commitment are honoring him and saying a last goodbye:

This is Global Voices tribute to Daniel Pádua. Rest in peace.

Town of Kraskovo coat of arms (from the official site)

Russian activists gathered in Kraskovo, a small town near Moscow, to call for increasing broadband Internet access and protest against Internet provider monopoly.  The activists also talked about superficial regulations that slow down the development of wide Internet access in the country.

The story goes back to the beginning of 2008 when an Internet service provider (ISP) “CDMS, Ltd” ( “Creative Direct Marketing Solutions”) announced its plans to offer broadband Internet access to the residents of Kraskovo.  Russian laws require an ISP to obtain a permission from municipal authorities before offering its services in any town. An ISP also has to get an approval of the Federal Security Service (FSB) and install a hardware that would potentially allow to sniff the Internet traffic.

With 10 years of experience in business, the CDMS got used to all sorts of bureaucratic hurdles. The vice-president of the company Vladimir Korvatsky (lj-user korvatsky [RUS]) writes on his blog that minor problems with local authorities are nothing new but Kraskovo case is different.

According to a Russian newspaper Moskovski Komsomolets [RUS], when the CDMS applied for a permission to install Ethernet-network in Kraskovo, Mikhail Chuiko, a newly elected mayor, sent the application back with a note that the process should be coordinated with the FSB “to ensure protection against terrorists.” When the FSB finally authorized the application, the mayor requested another approval from the security service. This time he wanted the FSB to investigate the company.

This shouldn't surprise anyone in Russia. Government officials usually come up with many excuses to delay the approval process so they can make businesses pay a bribe to speed it up. But, unlike in many similar cases, the Kraskovo authorities did not want any bribes from the CDMS. They stopped all contacts with the company representatives and showed that they did not want the CDMS to enter local ISP market.

Kraskovo currently has two ISPs offering a broadband access: netts.ru and avk-wellcom.ru. Korvatsky states [RUS] that his and other companies are not allowed into the town because of strong ties and commercial interests uniting local ISPs and the town authorities.

Vladimir Korvatsky and the youth organization “Our Yard” organized a protest against the status quo with ISPs in the town:

The Moscow Region Anti-monopoly Service recently issued a statement [RUS] declaring that the Kraskovo authorities violate anti-monopoly law.

This case is far from being unique. There are thousands of small Russian towns where people don't have a luxury of the broadband services. Very often geographical isolation and the lack of initiative are just excuses for widespread corruption of local administrations in those towns. The example of Kraskovo shows how ISPs try to overcome those issues by taking public actions. At the same time,  it gives an additional reason for local authorities to accuse the ISPs of astroturfing.

However, Venezuelan authorities claim that the soccer players were paramiltaries, and these claims have added to the conflict between the countries. Besides the “incidents” already described above, Colombian intelligence officials or “spies” as the Venezuelan government refers to them, have been “captured” in Venezuelan territory, 8 “paramilitaries” were arrested in Táchira, two Venezuelan national guards were killed by gunmen on the Colombian side of the border, and another was expelled [es] by the Colombian government. Colombia's intelligence agency even admitted that documents showed by Venezuelan Interior Minister Tareck El Aissami, seized from the “spies” captured in Maracay, were authentic [es].

Venezuela's government is upset for the agreement between United States and Colombia, which allows the former to use several military bases in the latter's territory, which has been presented as a “co-operation accord”. The pact was signed in early November, but it already has been the subject of an extraordinary UNASUR meeting past August to discuss the matter.

On November 8, Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez told the Venezuelan military, on his weekly program Aló, Presidente that “the best way to avoid war is by preparing for it”. (see the video on the Adam Isacson post linked at the end of this post). Around 15,000 troops have already been sent to the border by Chávez. Colombia, which planned to send 12,000 troops, took the case to the Organization of American States and the United Nations, but the letter send by the Colombian government did not ask for actions against Caracas.

Meanwhile, President Chávez softened his rhetoric, claiming his words had been “manipulated.” In addition, its Public Works minister, who is also the president of the Communications Commission, announced it will sanction [es] the media which “manipulate” Chávez's words. However, a few days later, the Venezuelan president again raised his tone against the Colombian government, blaming the U.S. base pact for his country's tensions with its neighbor. Chávez insulted the Colombian Defense Minister Gabriel Silva by calling him“mentally retarded”, the Colombian Foreign Minister Jaime Bermúdez as being “disgraceful”, after Mr, Bermúdez “regretted” UNASUR's silence over Chávez's words. He also called President Álvaro Uribe Vélez by calling him“mafioso” and a “traitor” for delivering “the motherland to the yankees” [es]. Brazil, Spain, and even the United States have offered to mediate.

In the blog Atrabilioso [es], Jaime Restrepo writes:

Si hay algo repetitivo en el accionar de la dictadura venezolana es el lanzamiento de cortinas de humo. Los venezolanos están tan acostumbrados, ya vencidos por la fuerza de la repetición del mecanismo, que terminan aceptando los torpes montajes que elaboran desde Miraflores, para desviar la atención nacional e internacional.

La última cortina de humo es una ignominia: para tratar de ocultar el secuestro y ajusticiamiento de nueve colombianos en Venezuela, el dictador y su ministro del interior han armado un alboroto sobre la captura de tres presuntos funcionarios del DAS, que estarían haciendo “inteligencia” para “desestabilizar” al progresista de Miraflores.

Restrepo also criticizes the passiveness of the Colombian government. In another piece [es] published on the blog Atrabilioso, Eduardo Mackenzie writes about “Anti-Colombian pogroms” in Chavez's Venezuela:

Ese hecho y la matanza de los diez muchachos pone al orden del día un nuevo fenómeno: hay un ambiente de pogrom anticolombiano en Venezuela. Pues no sólo alguien los está asesinando sino que ahora algunos están perdiendo sus propiedades y huyendo de Venezuela. Es lo que le ocurrió a la pereirana Sonia Restrepo quien el 15 de mayo de 2009 tuvo que abandonar su fábrica de telas estampadas y huir de Guarenas, cerca de Caracas. Unas 40 personas armadas irrumpieron en su casa en nombre de un “círculo bolivariano” y la acusaron de ser una “extranjera explotadora”. Sin que ninguna autoridad la protegiera, ella perdió así la empresa que había construido durante 30 años.

Valentina Díaz, from the blog Realidades Colombianas [es] , slams Chávez and, without mentioning him by name, praises Brazilian president Lula:

El hecho de que solo hasta hace unos días Chávez haya descubierto la existencia de las teorías de Marx, socialismo comunista, no lo hace una novedad. Fueron escritas en el Siglo 19 (sic). Si no fueron capaces de sostener la revolución bolchevique a sangre y fuego en Rusia, guerra tras guerra, menos lo lograran en América un alocado y despistado mandatario latino. Obsérvese como en el Brasil su gobierno está introduciendo exitosamente lo “social”. Nadie evade a su gobernante, por el contrario, lo aplauden y le buscan para que contribuya a solucionar problemas de otros países. Es una persona que no se siente amenazado porque sabe que lo esta haciendo bien, nunca arremete ni inventa guerras con sus vecinos. Se trata de un señor, un estadista, que juzga observando primero el respeto a la dignidad humana de los pueblos, las instituciones y personas. La diferencia es muy grande y por eso al contrario de Chávez en Colombia se le quiere y aprecia.

In a subsequent piece, Valentina outspokenly criticizes [es] Chávez's war rhetoric:

Si quiere estrenar las armas que les compró a negociantes de la muerte, que las estrenen pero no con sangre colombiana ni gente inocente venezolana. Si Bolívar viviera hoy, habría sacado a Chávez a patadas del palacio de Moraflores.

However, Salomon [es] thinks that the Venezuelan president's warmongering has a “goal”:

El llamado a la guerra de Hugo Chavez Frias, solo es una medida de distracción a su verdadero objetivo: Controlar a Colombia, para expandir la influencia ideológica de su revolución, y para conseguirlo, está dispuesto a lo que sea, incluso a llevar a la guerra a dos pueblos hermanos.

Alejogalvis of Censurados: Cero [es] is “ashamed” of the Venezuelan president:

Eso de cerrar frontera cada vez que se le viene en gana deja ver la ridícula posición de este tipo, que en vez de buscar una solución, lo que intenta es enemistar a dos pueblos que se han criado de la mano, antes de la era Uribe ó de la era Chávez. Pena es lo que debería darle a Chávez que amenaza con guerra cuando su país está en pleno racionamiento de agua, luz y quién sabe qué otra plaga falta por caerle a ese país.

Blanca Rolón claims [es] Chávez is, unintentionally, helping to increase Uribe's popularity in Colombia:

1. No quiere a Uribe como presidente, pero le está haciendo la mejor campaña posible.
2. MERCOSUR está estudiando milimétricamente el ingreso de Venezuela a este organismo, pues Argentina y Paraguay no son tan retrógrados y ciegos como para no darse cuenta que Chávez no encaja por ser tan imprudente.
3. Si los organismos internacionales intervienen (OEA, ONU), pues Estados Unidos se mete en Venezuela acusándolo de auxiliar terroristas o algo así, y Colombia obviamente será su base militar.
4. El miedo de Venezuela a Estados Unidos tiene fundamento, ya que no sólo es por el petróleo, a lo mejor tiene cola de paja y, conociendo el modo de operar EE. UU., fácilmente lo acusará de peligroso para la paz de América, y más rápido lo va a invadir que como hizo con Irak.
5. Queremos a Estados Unidos fuera del dominio en América, pero con todo esto, lo que se logra es fortalecer su imperio y salvarlo de la crisis económica que tanto bien le hace en este momento a su industria militar un conflicto bélico.

Even political cartoon blogs from opposite sides, such as pro-Uribe Mamertoons [es] and anti-government Uribestiario [es], echo these opinions against a war with Venezuela.

But Plan Colombia and Beyond's Adam Isacson does not believe a war is likely, despite Chávez's rhetoric:

1. Both countries’ postures are defensive. […] Both sides are preparing to defend themselves from an attack by the other side – but neither appears to be planning an actual attack. Terms like “pre-emption” are not being used. Though each may be daring the other to make the first move, neither side is playing offense.

2. There is no definition of “victory.” It is hard to imagine a war scenario that either side can define as successful. Would Venezuela take over a few Colombian border towns? Would Colombia drop bombs on the presidential palace in Caracas? If so, then what? The scenarios themselves hardly make sense.

3. Both populations lack “war fever.” In neither Colombia nor Venezuela do we see people taking to the streets to call for war. Neither nation’s newspapers have been publishing editorials or columns demanding blood and sacrifice. There aren’t even any significant Facebook groups calling for a Colombo-Venezuelan conflict. […]

4. Much of this is about domestic politics. Both countries happen to be in a make-or-break election season.

Even so, Miguel Bernal criticizes the media coverage of the issue [es]:

Qué pereza los periódicos caldeando los ánimos. Estoy jarto de titulares tipo “Chávez le echó la madre a no se quién”

Incidents continue along the border, whose inhabitants are afraid “that the current tensions could escalate into a conflict with Venezuela.” On Thursday, November 19, three people were murdered in Arauca, near the border with Venezuela, while two civilian bridges were blown up by Venezuelan guards in Táchira, as Colombia's People's Ombudsman and Defense Minister denounced the incident [es]. The Venezuelan government claims that these bridges [es] were “hallways for contraband,” used by drug traffickers, paramilitaries, and smugglers. Colombian Defense Minister told local radio that Venezuela uses “imaginative excuses” [es] to justify the destruction of the bridges.

Ricardo Ladino had his say over this last incident [es]:

Yo también espero que los puentes de diciembre sean legales, de lo contrario Chávez nos acaba el día de las velitas y la navidad.

The latest attack on record has been a jail sentence pronounced on Monday from a court in Casablanca against Said Laâjal, a journalist in Al Massa'e, a widely read daily newspaper, and his publisher Rachid Nini, a popular columnist. Both journalists have been accused of “publication of false information” in connection with an article on a case of drug trafficking. Nini has declared that he won't be appealing the verdict (source: AFP). Bloggers have been reflecting on the case and the state of affairs.

eatbees, an American novelist, photographer and blogger who lives in Morocco has his suspicions about the real motivation of the prosecutors. He writes:

This is the criminalization of journalism, pure and simple. Reporters sometimes make mistakes and report things that turn out to be false. There are ways to handle that, but sending the journalists to jail is not one of them. I have the strong suspicion that Nini and Laâjal were prosecuted, not because of the facts of the case, but because they embarrassed someone important. Or maybe this was just a convenient way to go after Nini, who as publisher of Morocco’s most widely read newspaper and author of Morocco’s most widely read opinion column, is becoming a power center in his own right.

If Nini follows through on his commitment not to appeal, and goes to prison, it will be an act of courage and of civil disobedience. It will make him a martyr for press freedom in the eyes of millions of Moroccans. Good luck with that, Moroccan state.

It is worth mentioning that the journalist is already under a heavy fine for libel, threatening to bankrupt the whole publication, as blogger Ibn Kafka wrote recently [Fr], referring to a letter alleged to be written by Nini, pleading for a royal pardon:

Rachid Nini vit légitimement fort bien de cette florissante entreprise de presse (dans le contexte ravagé de la presse marocaine)…
[Il] aurait adressé une supplique au Roi […] dans laquelle il demande l’absolution des pêchés – en clair, la grâce pour son journal. Rien ne permet de garantir cette information, qui en soi n’est pas infâmante.

Rachid Nini has raised controversy recently when he publicly disavowed one of his journalists who showed support for colleagues who were being harrassed and prosecuted by the government. Larbi, who is blogging on Comme une bouteille jetée à la mer!, argues [Fr] this doesn't make Nini worthy of a jail sentence nor should the journalist be considered a hero. He writes:

[H]eureusement que tout le monde n’a pas la même conception de la liberté d’expression et liberté de la presse que celle de Monsieur Nini. La place des journalistes n’est pas la prison mais dans leurs rédactions. Cela vaut pour tous les journalistes. Cela vaut pour Monsieur Nini . Et encore plus pour le journaliste Saïd Laâjal. La place de Rachid Nini et de Saïd Laâjal n’est pas la prison mais dans leur rédaction. Je suis bien entendu solidaire avec Rachid Nini et Saïd Laâjal. Parce que la peine de prison ferme qui leur est infligée est injuste au vu de ce qui leur est reproché. Et parce que même Monsieur Nini a a droit à ce qu’il a toujours dénié aux autres : exercer son métier de journaliste et s’exprimer librement, sans intimidations et sans procès arbitraires débouchant sur des peines infamantes.

An opinion shared by Naoufel who explains [Ar] that Press freedom should apply to everyone, even to Mr Nini. He writes:

هو بالنسبة لي شخص وقح .. انتهازي و متملق، يكتب ضد أي شيء إلا الملك..يحاكم الحكومة و الشعب و زملائه في الصحافة لكنه لا يتجرأ أن يقترب من مربع القصر رغم أن اصغر طفل في المملكة التي لم تعد شريفة يعرف أن أصغر قرار لا يمر دون دراية الملك..كتب ضد من كانوا زملائه[…]
الآن..هل نتضامن معه؟
لا خيار آخر

Filip Stojanovski is a Global Voices author and translator based in Skopje, Macedonia. He is the Program Coordinator of Metamorphosis, a think tank which seeks the development of democracy and prosperity by promoting knowledge-based economy and information society. He has been blogging in both English and Macedonian since 2003 and has written a number of essays and research papers. His essay “Some Sources Of Bias In Reporting About Macedonia” is especially relevant to those interested in global perceptions of Macedonia.

You might be surprised to learn that the Japanese cherry blossom festival, Sakura, is celebrated in Macedonia's capital, Skopje. Among Filip's other blog posts: the use of new media in Macedonia's 2008 election, Facebook's removal of the personal profile of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and a recent boat accident on Lake Ohrid. His post about Greece's opposition to Macedonia's entry into NATO attracted nearly 100 long, passionate comments.

Transcript:

My name is Filip Stojanovski. I am living in Skopje, Macedonia. I contribute to Global Voices through articles usually about the Macedonian blogosphere, and I also translate some for the Macedonian version of Global Voices.

Blogs in Macedonia didn't really take off until 2004 - and especially 2005 - and as far as I know the first blog from Macedonia was founded in 2001 by a young woman called Ana Maria who is living in Poland, and then the real impulse for development of the Macedonian blogosphere came from the development of a local Macedonian-language platform called Blogerei - blog.com.mk - which also used other, offline media to promote it's functionality.

David: You told me that Global Voices is one of the key aspects in your strategy
for more e-content in Macedonia. Why is that?

Filip: Well, generally Macedonian media do not provide much content
about the situation abroad that is different from the few mainstream agencies
that are dominant on the world market. Because some of the Macedonian media are connected to say Reuters or AP through their networks of ownership. Generally we lack a lot of information which is provided by Global Voices - information by regular people about events which are not only sensationalist, but are also often
interesting for the Macedonian public because they refer to things happening which are similar to situations here, and are not covered by the media. So it is very important for us that we have the perspective of how various problems are solved and various issues are raised elsewhere which can also be replicated here. And also to share our experiences.

David: So when you translate content into Macedonian, how do you choose which content you translate?

Filip: Well, all of our translators have the latitude to choose what they will translate. Because we are all volunteers and there is no central authority delegating which article to be translated. So if somebody wants to translate an article about a topic, they do it on their own. So, for me, myself, I usually have been translating articles which are about topics that I find interesting. And which I feel need further exposure within the Macedonian public. Especially because sometimes there are parallels that can be drawn but are not exploited by the traditional media.

David: What have you learned during your time as a Global Voices author and translator?

Filip: In general, I've learned more about the diversity of various citizen journalists around the world. And also about the need for the further spreading of information because what we have now is an experience where there are more people out there with whom you can do good things together than you would suppose before. It is probably the most important thing - that there is the possibility to do more and better things in the future.

David: What do you hope to see as the future of Global Voices over the next five years?

Filip: Well, generally I hope to have a bigger influence and more influence which would be connected to maybe offline activities within various communities. Generally, the content of Global Voices I think is great and should continue in the same direction. Maybe to attract even more authors and even more translators. Because it is not only beneficial at a social level - promoting progressive changes around the world - but also beneficial at a personal level. I find it very interesting that my Global Voices profile has a higher Google ranking than most of the things that I've done over the last 10 years online. And I think that as more translators get more global in a way of trying to find customers worldwide and not just in their own little business circle then this would provide a good incentive to attract more volunteers who are professional and willing to contribute their time. But in general it would also be interesting and very beneficial to continue with Rising Voices-like initiatives that would empower more users in more diverse communities worldwide especially those with less opportunities.

Photo by Sylvar. Reprinted under CC License.

Days after the murder, 26 year-old Juan Martínez Matos confessed. According to local news reports, Martínez Matos said he went looking for a prostitute in the streets of Caguas, Puerto Rico, when Steven approached him. Martínez Matos said he “didn't know” Steven Mercado was a man until they arrived at his apartment in an another town (the victim was allegedly dressed as a woman). Gay activists Ada Conde and Pedro Julio Serrano have publicly stated that the sector where Steven Mercado was picked up is mostly frequented by transsexual and transvestite men. Martínez Matos said he killed Steven in “self defense” after they got into a fight. He then mutilated his body, and left it in a desolated area miles away from his house. Martínez Matos also stated he hated homosexuals because he had been raped when he was in jail for committing domestic violence. Gay activists were outraged when the police officer in charge of the investigation said: “Someone like that, who does those kind of things, and goes out in public, knows full well that this might happen to him.” They have demanded the officer's immediate removal from the case. Martínez Matos has been charged with murder and bail was set at $4 million USD.

Since Puerto Rico is a United States territory, federal laws apply. Two Puerto Rican United States Congress Members from New York have asked for this crime to be prosecuted under new federal hate crimes laws. The Federal Investigations Bureau (FBI) is monitoring the investigation. In the 1980s the serial murderer Ángel Colón Maldonado, known as the “Angel of the Bachelors”, killed 27 homosexuals in the Island. Recently, gay actvists have also warned about another murder against a gay man in San Juan, the country's capital.

Bloggers have reacted to this terrible crime. The human rights actvists and spokesperson of the LGBT organization Puerto Rico para Tod@s (Puerto Rico for Everyone), Pedro Julio Serrano [ES], condemned the religious leaders' and the politicians' silence:

Ante uno de los asesinatos más horrendos en la historia del País, el silencio ensordecedor de los líderes políticos y religiosos es una vergüenza de marca mayor. Les tiene que dar vergüenza de no hacer expresiones de solidaridad hacia la familia y allegados de Jorge Steven. Les tiene que dar vergüenza de no solidarizarse con las comunidades lésbica, gay, bisexual y transgénero (LGBT) ante el odio que produjo este crimen. Les tiene que dar vergüenza de no condenar la homofobia en este caso y las acciones prejuiciadas del agente investigador. Les tiene que dar vergüenza que han olvidado su obligación constitucional de instrumentar la igualdad para todos los seres humanos.

We are before one of the most horrendous murders committed in the history of this country, therefore the silence of political and religious leaders is even more shameful. They should feel embarrassed for not expressing their solidarity with Jorge Steven’s family and friends. They should feel embarrassed for not expressing solidarity with the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community for the hatred that this crime has produced. They should feel embarrassed for not condemning the police officer in charge of the investigation. They should feel embarrassed for having forgotten their constitutional duty of defending equality for every human being.

In Saadaya [ES], Hiram, a Puerto Rican blogger from Chicago, lamented the long history of homophobia in Puerto Rico:

Pero el crimen no es lo único chocante. Nada sucede en un vacío: todo tiene raíces, todo tiene causas y efectos, y Puerto Rico como sociedad ha nutrido por generaciones el odio hacia los gays, lo han nutrido los líderes cristianos desde los púlpitos, los padres al criar a sus hijos, las autoridades policíacas y jurídicas […] y los políticos que tienen un convenio ilícito con las iglesias que no es muy bien disimulado. En una isla así, que quepa en el pecho de un muchacho matar a otro por ser gay del modo tan mórbido en que lo hizo no debería ser chocante: es algo que Puerto Rico llevaba tiempo cocinando.

But the crime is not the only shocking thing. Nothing happens in a vacuum: Everything has its roots, its cause and effect. Puerto Rico as a society has promoted hatred against the gay community to generations of people. Christian leaders have promoted hatred from their pulpits. Parents have instilled hatred in their children. Law and order agencies…and politicians have an illicit agreement with the church that they do not conceal very well. It should not shock us that in an Island like this, a man can murder another man for being gay in such a horrendous way. This hatred has been brewing in Puerto Rico for a long time.

This Sunday there will be a vigil in New York City in remembrance of Jorge Steven Mercado.

*Photo by Sylvar republished under a CC License. Please visit Sylvar's photostream on Flickr.

Politics aside, however, in some of Russia's regions winter has been there since around mid-September. In Yakutia, for example: Russia's largest federal region, close to India in size, with a population of less than a million, though, home to the Northern Hemisphere's Pole of Cold, the land rich in natural resources, including diamonds, oil and gas.

On Sept. 15, Yakutsk-based journalist and blogger Bolot Bochkarev posted two Flickr slide shows of autumn in Yakutia - in Yakutsk and in Pokrovsk - on his blog, AskYakutia.com, and wrote this (ENG):

At my Flickr account I received a good question from an Australian user, tanetahi. In his comment to one of my first autumn pics he wrote:

Do people get depressed or complain much about the cold as you progress from summer to winter in Yakutsk, or is the severe climate just accepted as an inevitable part of life there?

My answer was “September and the early October are very depressive. No, we don’t complain about the upcoming cold. We just regret sunny summer days are over, and we have to prepare to the long winter.” That’s actually depressive. […]

One day later, Bolot was forced to update his autumn post:

[…] UPDATE: Sept 16, 2009, The first snowfall happened in southern Yakutia!!! That’s in Nerungri, Tommot, Aldan! It can mean one thing only.WINTER IS HERE!!! )))

In Yakutsk it is too chilly and muddy. I wish to have snow right now, because it would be warmer a little.

Some two months later, on Nov. 18, Bolot posted this note (ENG) on his Twitter page, @yakutia:

next week we gonna have the first -40c days in yakutsk. too early. hard to believe.

(-40 degrees Celsius is -40 degrees Fahrenheit.)

Earlier this month, Bolot re-posted photos of “Yakutsk in November” taken two years ago by photographer Björn Steinz. And there is also plenty of practical travel information on Bolot's blog, including a review of a Yakutsk hostel and a “description of the standard tour to the officially acknowledged coldest Siberian place” - Oymyakon - provided by “Semen Baishev, an Oymyakon-based travel enthusiast,” who “arranges all the travel program in the Pole of Cold for individual tourists and travel agencies’ groups.”

In addition to blogging at AskYakutia.com, Bolot runs YakutiaToday.com portal (ENG) (which includes, among many other things, an editor's blog), and contributes to ColdUnited.com, “an international online project […] dedicated to the cold and everything related to the cold.” At this latter venue, Bolot has recently shared his “Don’ts in Cold Weather” - and below are a few of them:

[…] 1. I don’t smoke outdoors, when the temp is below -20C. Breathing cold air is not good for my throat. Sorry, but I smoke. I am trying to cease smoking.

[…] 4. I don’t stay outdoors longer than 20-30 minutes, when it is cold, like -40C. Even in reindeer fur boots and super warm Arctic Canada Goose parka I will start feeling chill.

5. I don’t talk much by a cellphone outdoors either. I like expressing emotions and being heard (btw, when a mobile is frozen, the microphone and speakers work terrible, as low as it can be possible). If I do that, I can get cold. Again it is not good for my throat.

7. I don’t spare money on taxi at late night. I will pay 100-200 rubles for one ride rather than 14 rubles for the public transportation. Taxi brings me straight to home in a short span of time. In case with buses, it’s always a long waiting at bus stops, and unsafe… street hooligans, you know, tend to appear at nights. […]

Elsewhere in the Russian blogosphere, Yakutia has been recently featured on LJ user sergeydolya's blog (ranked #21 on Yandex Blogs portal). The blogger posted two photo reports (RUS), on Oct. 20 and 29: one from the diamond-mining town of Udachny (the name translates from Russian as “lucky”) and the other from a deer-hunting trip (which involved lots of waiting and looking around, some drinking, but no actual hunting, as the deer never showed up).

Finally, here is what Russian photographer Oleg Klimov wrote about turning ice into drinking water in Yakutia, in his Nov. 18 post (RUS), which includes three photos:

[photo]

Traditionally, the Yakuts use proper names for any significant natural phenomena. […] [The Lena River] is known as “Grandmother Lena” and has a status of a respected grandma, while the Russians have been traditionally referring to [the Volga River] simply as “mother Volga.”

Since the Yakuts live in the permafrost conditions, they are extracting water from frozen areas, too, and they are doing it today the same way they were doing it 200 years ago. Tap water is still a luxury here. The thing is, it is a very labor-consuming process to dig up water wells in permafrost and it is not profitable in the age of “black capitalism,” so water is produced from ice that's cut from the Lena River with a [Soviet-made Druzhba gasoline-powered saw] or with specialized sawing devices. One ton of ice costs 500 rubles [approx. $17]. A truck is capable of carrying some 3 tons [of ice], which is not enough to last the whole winter. Water produced from ice is valued nearly as much as mineral water, because, it is said, crystallization freezes off all possible types of bacteria and infection.

[photo]

In villages and outside Yakutsk, they begin to store this “mineral” water in autumn, when the ice is still not too thick. And it is being delivered like stacks of firewood along the banks of the lakes and tributaries of the Lena. You're walking down by the river and see: here's the ice that belongs to the family of the Ivanovs, and here's the Petrovs' ice, etc. The best ice comes from the running water. No one is stealing other people's ice. […] If you need water (drinking or for washing), head of the household takes a crowbar […], splits the thinner ice, carries it inside the house and places it into a special barrel, where ice slowly turns into water. If you spend a week living in such a house, it is possible to forget that it's the 21st century out there, but you also begin to feel as if you are part of the nature, which, actually, we still are. Even though not its best part…

[photo]

Wiadomości24.pl, a Polish citizen journalism portal, wrote (POL) that, according to the blogger, Fakt’s success on the Polish market was mostly achieved by violating journalism ethics.

Here is an excerpt from one of the first posts (POL) on BrukowiecStory:

I think that the creation of Fakt was the biggest hit on the free Polish media since [1989]. Before 2003, there was only Super Express, an easy, light and somehow nice tabloid. It had one advantage – they always were writing the truth. In the tabloid way, but one could still call it journalism. And the status quo remained until Fakt entered the market.

For the first time in the Polish media history we experienced a new term – creating the truth. “Nothing happens? Then create the events,” the editor-in-chief was supposed to shout to working journalists. […]

The blogger also states that he wants to register an association for people damaged by Fakt, and also that a mass lawsuit for mobbing is being planned. As of now, he has not yet published concrete information about breaking the law by the newspaper’s staff.

According to the filmmakers, the experiment showed that the metal detector doors are in fact activated by the banks' security guards. In other words, the security method currently employed by banks is based on their personnel's pre-judgment, often plagued with preconceptions, stereotypes and discrimination against certain types of people. On their blog, Circo Voador [Flying Circus, pt] invites readers to join forces, sending their own videos of as many different banks as possible. They explain the experiment:

Na primeira cena aparecem várias pessoas ao redor da bolsa. Todas elas fizeram o teste com a mesma bolsa, algumas foram barradas outras não. Em nenhum momento alguém alterou o conteúdo dos pertences na bolsa. A escolha da imagem do MC Shackal não se deveu ao fato dele ser negro e sim, por termos nos utilizado de câmeras escondidas e o momento em que o registramos, não sofreu interferências externas, como carros ou pessoas paradas na frente da câmera.

Many people reacted on the Circo Voador blog's comment box. Some of the readers shared similar experiences, such as Dona Biologia [pt], a teacher:

Coloquei chaves, celular, bolsinha de moedas no local indicado e a porta apitava e travava. Por fim, o rapaz chamou um pseudo gerente que atravessou a porta e, dentro do caixa eletrônico da agência, me fez abrir a bolsa de provas e quando não viu nada que justificasse, teve a audácia de dizer que fora a minha bolsinha de lápis. Me arrependo até hoje de não ter processado o banco pelo constrangimento.

Christiano J. Jabur [pt], who was once barred at a metal detector door in São Paulo because of a digital camera, claims that discrimination against people in the same revolving doors happens in banks regardless of the colour of the skin:

Tive que colocá-la numa caixinha para conseguir entrar no banco. Mas uma senhora de idade, também branca, que tentou entrar na agência da Nossa Caixa, na mesma cidade, foi barrada e não conseguiu entrar de jeito nenhum, mesmo chamando a polícia. O gerente do banco ininuou que ela poderia ser criminosa, pois existem muitas pessoas hoje, acima dos 50 e 60 anos de idade, cometendo crimes (o que não deixa de ser verdade). Não vou dizer que não exista preconceito contra negros e pardos nos bancos, por parte de vigilantes e atendentes. Mas dizer que são só os negros que são barrados nas portas giratórias é uma bela de uma mentira.

On the other hand, a security guard called Leandro [pt] explains in the same comment box how the system works, and criticizes the way the video has been interpreted by some:

Sou Vigilante (segurança), e posso afirmar, este sistema é falho, mas este vídeo esta sendo usado para sujar a imagem de profissionais que estão apenas cumprindo ordens… os ‘controles’ podem sim travar e destravar as portas giratórias, mas isso não é valido para todas as agencias, são sistemas diferenciados pra cada agencia ou cada porta giratória… e não temos controle sobre o “Nível de travamento“ de cada porta (isso é de responsabilidade do gerente), que costuma variar de 4 a 7 níveis, por isso vc pode entrar em uma agencia e ficar travado e em outra passar sem problema algum…
Sei que intenção de vc's não é esta, li o que estão propondo e apoio totalmente, mas não esta sendo divulgado desta forma, outros sites e meios de comunicação estão colocando informações “picadas”, pela metade… eu mesmo recebi um Email como Titulo: “Vigilantes racistas?”

The video has gone viral on the blogosphere too. Rafael Cesar [pt] says that whether the doors shut on white or black people is besides the point:

A questão é que sabemos que aquele detector de metais é muito mais uma desculpa para os seguranças fazerem o controle da forma como julgam apropriada do que qualquer outra coisa. O que trava, mesmo, é aquele controlezinho que eles carregam. Comigo é rotineiro, sem qualquer exagero, passar por aquela porra sem metal nenhum na mochila (já deixei até estojo naquela caixinha ao lado por causa de lapiseira) e me travarem. Ou seja: o que volta e meia detectam em mim é um meliante em potencial, porque por várias vezes não havia qualquer metal a ser detectado. Se eu não tinha metal, por que ‘a porta’ travou? E, se eu tenho metal, por que logo em seguida ‘a porta’ destrava?E nessa de o crivo da segurança passar pelos olhos dos seguranças, é claro que o indivíduo negro leva a pior. Assim como leva a pior com a polícia, com emprego etc.

Helio Ventura [pt] takes the opportunity to republish a text written in March 2007 asking if revolving doors detected metal or melanin after a black customer was killed inside the bank in Rio de Janeiro:

Rio de Janeiro, sexta-feira, 22 de dezembro de 2006, 13 horas e 20 minutos. O micro-empresário negro Jonas Eduardo Santos de Souza, 34 anos, estava na fila da agência do banco Itaú da Av. Rio Branco, da qual era cliente há 10 anos, para operações de rotina. Mas ele foi vítima do racismo que persiste em existir em nosso país, apesar de muitas vozes da elite e da intelectualidade negarem. Ele foi morto com um tiro no peito por Natalício de Souza Marins, 29 anos, vigilante da agência.
Ao tentar entrar na agência bancária, Jonas foi parado pela conhecida e constrangedora porta giratória. Ele foi abordado por Natalício e obrigado a pôr na bandeja todos os objetos que possuía. Como a porta continuava travando, Jonas foi obrigado a tirar inclusive o cinto. O gerente foi acionado por Natalício, e só autorizou o acesso do jovem micro-empresário à agência após exigir que Jonas provasse ser cliente da agência, mostrando um cartão do banco. Após o constrangimento, já dentro da agência, Jonas e Natalício continuaram a discutir, até que o vigilante, demonstrando total despreparo para o exercício da função, sacou seu revólver e matou Jonas, que não teve chance de defesa. […]
Assim como também poderíamos estar do outro lado, o de Natalício, também negro, um pai de família que teve suprimidas as oportunidades de acessar uma profissão que pudesse dar melhores condições à sua filha de 5 anos, que se viu obrigado a pleitear apenas funções que exigem menor qualificação, como a de vigilante. Ele também foi atingido pelo racismo estrutural que assola este país. Isso em nada muda o fato dele ter agido equivocadamente: é um homicida e deve receber as sanções legalmente previstas. E ser também negro não atenua o crime. Mas nos faz perguntar: que sistema é este que coloca dois semelhantes em lados opostos, fazendo com que um tire a vida do outro? Até quando fatos como este acontecerão? Percebemos o quão perverso é este “racismo à brasileira”, uma política de extermínio silenciosa, disfarçada de risco social e fatalidade.

Andréia Freitas [pt], who once managed to get undisturbed inside a bank with a kitchen knife she had bought earlier on in the day, says that the sad conclusion is that people only see each others' surfaces:

Por que será que cresceram os assaltos a banco realizados por homens de terno e gravata? Por que será que hoje existe o roubo de carros em estacionamentos e os assaltantes chegam no local pra assaltar de carro importado? Golpes de estelionatários em hotéis de luxo, em lojas de grife, em restaurantes cinco estrelas…

A resposta é óbvia: O mundo é movido por “aparências”! Sim… se você é considerada uma pessoa “bem apessoada” a vida fica mais fácil pra você em todos os aspectos. Agora… se você não está tão “bem vestido”, ou seu cabelo “acordou” num dia ruim, ou seu sapato tá meio surrado, pode apostar que a vida não será bolinho pra você.

O ser humano vê as aparências! Se as portas dos bancos fossem realmente controladas por uma máquina, por um dispositivo eletrônico de segurança, os dois caras do vídeo do YouTube tinham sido barrados! E nada mais justo do que barrar OS DOIS, que portavam objetos de metal.

An online petiton [pt] launched with the experiment demanding that Brazilian banks stop using revolving doors and invest in x-ray systems or safety equipment that shows customers' real belongings has been signed by over 2,000 people so far. Over all, the plea is that everyone is treated with respect by the banks.

People may be too embarrassed to openly talk about it, but everyone does it, toilet or not. World Toilet Day helps people celebrate the importance of sanitation and raise awareness for the 2.5 billion people who don't have access to toilets and proper sanitation. This video by the nonprofit WaterAid highlights the luxury of having a toilet.

Celebrating your can may seem silly, but not having one can not only lead to embarrassment, lack of dignity and safety issues, but also preventable diseases and even death. When people don't have toilets, they're forced to relieve themselves in open streets, fields, or back alleys. The result? The contamination of drinking water and food sources, which leads to a slew of health risks. Lack of sanitation is the world’s biggest cause of infection and kills 1.8 million people, mostly children, a year. Even countries with abundant toilets have to deal with problems ranging from unhygienic public toilets to waterway-destroying sewage disposal.

Vanilla, blogging on Let's Look At It This Way from Singapore, says that people should care about toilets:

“I know this is a crappy topic to most people. It is unfortunate that it is a ‘taboo' topic to talk about openly and many people remain ignorant about the scale of the problem. I fail to understand how this can be an unimportant topic when, on an average, we visit the toilet 2500 times a year, or 6-8 times a day. In our life time, we would have spent 3 years in the toilet.”

Organized by the nonprofit The World Toilet Organization, World Toilet Day is being celebrated globally with various events. To further increase awareness, WaterAid announced the launch of its new ToiletFinder UK App for iPhone users this week. The free app helps Brits find the nearest public toilet while reminding them how lucky they are to have clean and safe toilets. The largest event today, called The Big Squat, asks people to stop and squat for one minute in a public place to raise awareness. These photos show people squatting globally, including this one of preschoolers in Singapore:

A blog from Brunei, the world according to panyaluru …, also shows appreciation for the toilet by putting it into perspective:

“Imagine if we are walking along in the row of shops in Kiulap or Gadong. Suddenly the tummy grumbles, just like the worst ribut you can think off. No rest bite. Grumble and grumble. Rumblings. The light is on amber and ready to turn green. But no toilets in sight. Not a single public toilet in the rows of shops…Add to that no water, no tissue, nothing! That could be the worst day of your life, your worst nightmare, ever worse than the nightmares those kids have in the Nightmare on Elm Street Movies. On this day, let’s show our appreciation to our toilets.”

Despite its serious side, many people have used humor to celebrate World Toilet Day. In the U.K., the blog London City Drains features a 10-question toilet quiz, while in this video high school teacher Matt Cheplic sings about the day.

Some bloggers point out that toilets alone may not be the answer. Sandhya, blogging on Maradhi Manni in India, says many men don't use available toilets:

“In a city like Chennai, where the climate is hot nearly 10 months of the year, I see men urinating on the roadside all the time. When women can control and go home and relieve themselves, why can't men do so, I don't know. So, first of all people should be fined heavily for doing this crime (yes, it is crime) on the spot. I have seen them doing this on the wall of the public toilets! In Srirangam, I saw them urinating on the compound wall of the temple even though every street surrounding the temple had toilets, which were clean, but pay toilets!”

While lack of sanitation impacts everyone, the taboo around toilets can disproportionately affect women. In some countries, modesty forces women do their business in fields before sunrise or to hold it until after the sun sets, leading to health and safety concerns. Joanne Sprague, blogging on Overturning Boulders in India, observes that women are absent from the morning toilet run in Chennai, while in Ethiopia the blog AN ADVENTURE IN ADDIS notices a similar situation:

“I’ve heard so often about the lack of toilet facilities for women or lack of toilets in general; that teenage girls in the countryside get up at 4 am to go out in the dark to do their business so they don’t get bullied by the boys at school or stop going to school altogether. Men just pee anywhere, cigarette in hand and there’s an assumption that women don’t need to, if they are thought about at all….I want to see a huge billboard in Amharic saying ‘Girls go too’ with a picture of Barbie sitting on a toilet.”

To celebrate World Toilet Day, blogger Jonathan Stray, takes readers on an international tour of toilets he's visited, from Thailand and the U.K. to West Africa and Oman, concluding:

“We in the west with our flush toilets and toilet paper and sparkling shower stalls are the exception; the rest of the world thinks a bathroom is a wet, smelly place, when they have a bathroom at all. A good toilet means you probably have a very good quality of life, so enjoy yours. Happy World Toilet Day!”

Photo of Tiled Toilet by nedrichards on Flickr, Creative Commons.

on October 16 when a boatload of 78 Sri Lankan asylum seekers, all ethnic Tamils, were rescued from their sinking boat by the Australian ship, but in Indonesia’s search and rescue zone.

Initially Indonesia refused to allow the boat to dock at an Indonesian port, but after negotiations … Indonesia took the boat “on humanitarian grounds” because there was a sick child on board.

But the asylum seekers refused to leave the Australian ship, demanding they be taken to Christmas Island for processing by Australian authorities.

Oceanic Viking breakthrough: asylum seekers to come ashore

There has been a spike in asylum seekers coming to Australia by boat following the increasing violence in Afghanistan and the defeat of the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka. Kevin Rudd’s government has been heavily criticised for both its handling of the Oceanic Viking incident and refugee policy in general. His stance is supposed to be tough on people smugglers and border security but humane towards refugees. Critics see it as either too hard or too soft. It’s either encouraging so-called boatpeople or abusing the rights of asylum seekers.

Veteran News Limited journalist Piers Ackerman prides himself on his right wing zeal. Never a friend of Labor governments, he rarely misses a chance to go for the throat:

The Rudd Government has only succeeded in making Australia a more enticing destination for wannabe migrants who don’t meet the nation’s needs, it has helped people jump the queue of refugees seeking resettlement and it has boosted the bank balances of international people smugglers.

Rudd’s red carpet to asylum seekers

Jeremy Sears of An Onymous Lefty is a regular critic of Ackerman. He addressed his remarks to those whom he sees as driven by xenophobia:

One of the most obvious questions I’d like to ask the “THEY’D BETTER NOT LAND HERE” crowd is – where would you like to send them?

You realise that what the people on the boats are doing is precisely what you would do in the same circumstances.
And yet you want them STOPPED. You want them LOCKED UP. You want them SENT HOME.
And the party that promises to treat these people the worst, that party will get your vote?

I’m not scared of the “boat people”. I’m scared of YOU.

Mark Thompson blogs at Seeking Asylum Down Under. His detailed responses to the current situation have looked for the positives in a sea of negativity:

Rudd is between a rock and hard place, politically speaking, as the Coalition [Liberal and National parties opposition] and its conga line of fear mongers in the media whip up the refugee issue yet again. Many people are very prone to xenophobic responses on ‘boat people', choosing to believe the fear drum beaten relentlessly by Turnbull, Stone, Andrews and Ruddock et al. There appears to be something in a large slice of the collective psyche that responds negatively to people arriving on boats.

His hope is for multi-lateral approaches to asylum seekers:

Australia must model best practice in this area, ensuring the provisions of international legal instruments and human rights conventions are followed to the letter. This can be a win/win for asylum seekers, the respective processing authorities, and the countries in the firing line. Opening a regional dialogue and developing a well-resourced multilateral approach, empowering all parties with a stake in a solution to this growing human crisis, would be a good start.

Labor all at sea on asylum seekers - but an opportunity presents itself.

Although this issue has generated a lot of heat and was a crucial part of the 2001 Australian Federal election, very few bloggers have posted about it lately. Perhaps it’s just too complex or a case of Tampa déjà vu.

Beckii Cruel started to gain popularity at the end of this year thanks to some videos posted on YouTube where she appears dancing in her room, to the tune of anime songs, attracting the interest of inveterate fans of anime and manga.
After becoming a celebrity on the Internet as user xBextahx, she was invited to perform in Akihabara, the district in eastern Tokyo that is widely acknowledged as the symbol of the otaku culture [en].

bluecafe09k48 sums up Beckii's profile for us.

イギリス・マン島在住の美少女、１４歳ですね～。
マンガ「フルーツバスケット」を読んで以来、
日本のオタク文化に嵌ったのが３年前とのこと。
ベッキー・クルーエル自身が日本のアニメソングなどで踊っている動画を
ＹｏｕＴｕｂｅで公開したのが今年の３月くらいから。
「男女」がニコニコ動画に転載されたのが５月頃で、人気が爆発。

PV of Danjo (男女)

Beckii Cruel's popularity is certainly a Japanese phenomenon, as demonstrated by the fact that the only Wikipedia entry on her is in Japanese. However, the word of mouth has spread also among those foreigners who are passionate fans of Akihabara and the otaku culture in general.

GodLen, at Animevice. com, for example, comments with a bit of mock jealousy on the British idol's career.

Beckii Cruel, oh how I wish I were her, for she is the Cinderella story of the otaku world. This 14-year-old girl from England has won over the hearts of moe-loving otaku in Japan by posting videos of herself dancing to anime and Jpop songs on youtube. Yesterday she had the opportunity to dance in front of over 600 fans at the Enta Matsuri in Akihabara; amazing, and it all started with a youtube video. Now she has a DVD coming out in Japan (which you can pre-order now) that features her dancing her dance, and being overall moe.

Sankei News interview to Beckii Cruel at Akihabara Enta Festival

Beckii Cruel, who was recently chosen by candy and sweets maker Lotte to promote the Fit's Dance Contest together with other celebrities, performed live for the first time at Akihabara Enta Festival on October 25 [here are some pictures of the show].

Elena Ignatova covers Macedonia on Global Voices, is in charge of Global Voices in Macedonian, and works for the Metamorphosis Foundation, which seeks to seeks to enhance the use of information in Macedonian government and society. Among the posts we mention in the interview are: Macedonia: Use Facebook If You Want to Flirt With Politicians, The Balkans: “Whose Is This Song?”, and Macedonia: Student Protest Ends in Violence.

Transcript:

I'm Elena Ignatova. I'm an author for Global Voices and the Lingua Editor for Macedonian and I'm working at Metamorphosis Foundation, which is an organization for the development of information society.

So, Macedonia is in the Balkans and it's the country that has problems with Greece and the name, but we are hoping that we will solve the problem very soon.

David: OK, so that's probably what it is best known for in an international sphere, but what do people not know about Macedonia that you have to tell them?

Elena: Well, it is a country that is very small. It has two million inhabitants. And it's very pleasant to live here because everybody knows each other and you will always find a person who welcomes you while you're walking through the streets.

David: You wrote a post about politicians on Facebook - Macedonian politicians - and I think there was a newspaper article that said “here's a way that Macedonians can flirt with politicians online.” But have you seen any evidence that people are using it to engage with their politicians and become more active politically?

Elena: I don't know. I didn't check the campaign afterward so I don't know what's actually happened. Because we had a research that we did about election campaigns for president and local elections. And most of the politicians didn't use new media or Facebook to react for their campaigns. So I'm not sure that they are using it so much.

David: Have you been in touch with any politicians via Facebook?

Elena: No.

David: Why?

Elena: Because they are not answering questions. Because we were sending them questions through new media … not through new media only … but with emails, Facebook, Twitter but we didn't receive any feedback so I don't try anymore.

David: OK, so another story that you wrote about Facebook had to do
with a protest and a counter-protest about a proposed church that they want to build in the main plaza. Can you describe that?

Elena: Well, the protest was actually because the students of the architectural faculty didn't want that they build a church on the main square and the problem was that some people that were for the church came to the protest also and there was a conflict between the two groups so it ended badly.

David: How did it end?

Elena: Well, some of the students were beaten well, not beaten really, but they were attacked.

David: Do you think that in this case Facebook was a productive use to protest?

Elena: Yes because they were organizing everything through Facebook. Like sending invitations, planning the event, and everything. They didn't have a web page or email. Everything went through Facebook.

David: And now it looks likely that the church won't be build, right?
Elena: Yeah, probably.

David: You published another post about reactions to a documentary called “Whose Song is This” and I thought it was a really insightful look at the role of identity in Macedonia and the former Yugoslavia. Can you describe a little bit about the documentary itself and then also the reactions to it.

Elena: Well, the documentary was about a song that is translated into several languages in countries throughout the Balkans. And each country said that the song was theirs. And there were very good reactions because most of them were accepting the song. Like, “oh really? There is a song in that country?” It was very interesting. None of them were like, “this is our song.” Or something like that. But everyone was pleasantly surprised that the song was translated into other languages.

David: How do you choose what articles you translate into Macedonian?

Elena: Well I choose articles that are interesting for me. Basically, if there is some article connected with ICT or something like that I translate it. Because it is connected with my work. If not, I choose some article that is about new culture or somehow connected with new media or something like that. And some of the articles need to be short.

David: And what have you learned as a GV author and translator?

Elena: Well, I learned about many cultures and very important things about the lives of people in other countries because our main newspapers and portals don't report about stuff happening in other countries so it is very interesting to know what is happening in the world.

David: And you'll be seeing some other GV authors soon, right? At a conference?

Elena: Yeah, we will have a conference e-Society.mk which will be on the theme iMedia … actually, more about active citizen participation through new media. And Onnik and Sylwia will come to present.