Photo by Journey 1972 and used under Creative Commons license. http://www.flickr.com/photos/thejourney1972/3389473220/

Luis Alberto Chavez of Polithika [es] writes about his opinion about the position from the Bolivian president, especially after reading an interview in the international press:

Sumiso ante Chile y provocador con el Perú. Así se muestra Evo Morales en la entrevista ofrecida al diario chileno La Tercera. No opina sobre coyuntura política chilena, se expresa con amabilidad cuando recuerda sus primeros tratos con el Presidente Lagos y la agenda de 13 puntos que mantiene con el país del sur. Con el Perú, en cambio, se va de boca. Se encona. Llega al extremo de decir que tiene información de que nuestro país perderá en la demanda por establecer el límite marítimo planteado ante La Haya. Alucinante. Evo está en el mejor momento de su relación con Chile y al mismo tiempo en el peor con el nuestro, traicionando lo que ha sido siempre el comportamiento del pueblo boliviano.

Cesar Reyna of the blog Reserva Moral [es] sees the reason why Morales makes these types of statements:

Si opinó provocativamente fue para crear un incidente que justifique la ruptura de relaciones diplomáticas (al buscar la reacción de las autoridades peruanas). Culpar a Perú de que sus acciones legales obstaculizan las aspiraciones bolivianas de obtener salida al mar también le sirve para transmitirle a su electorado que las negociaciones con Chile se han estancado por motivos ajenos a su gestión. Ambas lecturas de la situación son válidas porque el mandatario altiplánico mencionó que su país podría romper relaciones con el nuestro a raíz de la concesión de asilo a tres ex funcionarios del Gobierno de Sánchez de Losada. Evo ha calculado cada una de sus palabras -aunque no lo parezca- ya que después de retirar a su embajador en Lima el siguiente paso sería desmembrar a la CAN (Comunidad Andina de Naciones).

At El Blog Que Tal Raza [es], the blogger focuses on previous statements made by Morales on the subject of former Bolivian ministers who were granted asylum in Peru:

Quiere demandar al Perú ante La Haya por conceder asilo a ex ministros. El anuncio del presidente de Bolivia, Evo Morales, sobre una eventual demanda contra el Perú ante la Corte Internacional de Justicia de La Haya, para revertir el asilo concedido a los tres ex ministros bolivianos del gobierno de Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada, es considerado “una posición de ignorancia” por parte de expertos y autoridades peruanas, quienes señalan que de concretarse dicha querella el mandatario boliviano hará un “papelón internacional”.

Finally, at the blog Renatto Real Politik [es] doesn't believe that the Bolivian people share Morales' opinions about their neighbor:

Me causa bastante extraneza que Evo Morales sea tan “amistoso” con los chilenos. Yo no se… pero, ¿Por qué tanto afin con el pueblo sureño? Esta claro que la ambición de todo gobernante boliviano, post “Guerra del Pacifico” quizo, a todo costa, recuperar la salida al mar. ¿Qué dirán los bolivianos? No, realmente no creo que los bolivianos compartan el sentimiento “antiperuano” de Evo Morales.

For more information in Spanish, Guillermo Tejada Dapuetto has collected several newspaper articles [es] on the subject. Also the post by Silvio Rendón at Gran Combo Club [es] provides links to previous posts analyzing the complicated relationship between Peru, Chile and Bolivia. For now, it is still far too early to know the consequences of the above statements, but officially both Chile and Peru have remained cautious in this regard.

Photo by Americo Verme/WWS Brazil

Like Brunei and many other countries, Brazil joined Earth Hour for the first time. Reactions ranged from optimistic and supportive to critical and cynical posts. Guilherme Nascimento Valadares, from Papo de Homem [pt] blog, spent some time monitoring reactions on Twitter and counted over 8,000 posts related to relevant tags between 20:45 on Saturday 29 and 6:00 am on Sunday 30th. He concludes:

Fato peculiar. O mais críticos eram justamente os mais conectados, jovens, hypes, espertos. Me corrijam se estiver errado, mas tenho uma forte impressão de que o retrato da juventude produtiva brasileira de hoje - estou falando da turma que saiu da faculdade e já faz o seu $$$ - é um tremendo bundão, cético, hedonista, indolente, inseguro, maria-vai-com-as-outras.

Of those who turned the lights off, many Flickr users took pictures to pass the time. See below a selection of photos uploaded under Creative Commons licenses from Brazil, India, Malaysia, Australia, Singapore and Chile:

Photo by Alexandre E Silva's - Brazil

“Transmitindo a Hora do Planeta ao vivo pelo Ustream.”

Earth Hour in Bangalore, India - Photo by Earth Hour Global. For a local blogger who reminds us that the country faces a chronic power shortage on a daily basis, observing Earth Hour was a symbol of foolishness. View of My World says:

Bangalore, and large parts of India, have been observing earth hour / earth day / earth night for many many years now. Even this morning there was no power supply to my home between 9 AM - 11 AM.

Photo by Dani Pontes, Brazil

“Nós participamos!!
E aproveitamos pra namorar a luz de velas!! rs”

Photo by Luciano Joaquim, Brazil

Give earth a chance… photo by CW Ye- Malaysia

Photo by Max y Miliano, Chile

Photo by Mondayne. Sydney, Australia.

Earth Hour was both disappointing and pointless in Sydney. They didn't even turn the lights off on the Opera House or Bridge really… just a few lights were shut down. I can't imagine they really saved that much power.

A self portrait by Hsien-Ku, Australia.

Photo by Nathan Hayag, Singapore

A Cactus Flower for Capt. Suresh by http://www.flickr.com/photos/kkoshy/

International Women's Day has been celebrated since the early 1900s: at first as a reminder of all the wrongs done to womankind and the long hard row necessary to achieve equality and fight for women's rights. However, for the past few years, many of the original points of dissention have been resolved and right now the day is used to celebrate the positive improvements instead of a reminder of the bad events. And through poetry marches and songs, we'll see how people around the world do just that.

The Chilean Planning Ministry is venturing online for their Women's Day Campaign, and for today, they bring us a poem read by several women. The poem is Ode to the Washerwoman by Pablo Neruda, which paints us the image of a woman washing laundry for a living at night, with a lit candle and the moon as company:

La nocturna
lavandera
a veces
levantaba
la cabeza
y ardían en su pelo
las estrellas
porque
la sombra
confundía
su cabeza
y era la noche, el cielo
de la noche
la cabellera
de la lavandera,
y su vela
un astro
diminuto
que encendía
sus manos
que alzaban
y movían
la ropa,
subiendo
descendiendo,
enarbolando
el aire, el agua,
el jabón vivo,
la magnética espuma.

In Peru, women members of the Colective Canto a la Vida marched in Lima, demanding the respect of women's rights as well as sexual and reproductive rights: the right to therapeutic abortions, against forced sterilizations and for access to the Day After Pill.

Peruvian women are not the only ones marching. Nepalnews.com an online Nepali news channel also tells us about a walkathon organized by women in the capital city of Kathmandu:

And last but not least, Bielorussian singer Dmitry Koldum, an Eurovision contestant for 2007, uploaded a video of himself singing a song for “all the girls in the world”, on their day:

To all women in the world, happy Women's Day!

As told on their site, Their campaign began in 2006, after the family Fuenzalida Urzúa was attacked by a band of robbers who broke into their house, stole their belongings and grabbed the couple's 8 month baby from its mother's arms and threatened to kill it.  When the media arrived at their doorstep to get the scoop on the assault, the couple decided they had two possibilities, hide away from the media, or face them and tell their story. A few days later the website was born, and a month later, a 3000 person march took place in the city, requesting more security for citizens, and protection to victims of delinquency.

The following video tells the organization's story:

This next video, sent in by luchitosnachitos, a member of the community, shows the effects of fear on the lives of regular citizens. As a woman searches her room for her car keys, we can see weapons stashed in every corner of the room. At the end a message flashes on the black screen: We aren't violent. We are afraid. Let's strengthen our laws.”

What laws are they speaking of? This next video shows us what watamerigonzu thinks of the actual penalties for delinquency:

In this last video, also created by a citizen, shows how delinquents view their crimes and the law: as just another game.