Global Voices

English

The world is talking, are you listening?

Updates

South Asia:
Dina Metha has a photo essay of village women in India. (photo: Dina Metha)

The Corporate Social Responsibility weblog points to a report that there are 315,000 child laborers in Pakistan.

Eurasia:
Blogrel summarizes Armenian media reports about the U.S. billionaire Kirk Kirkorian, who is of Armenian descent, and whose foundation is said in Armenia to have contributed to “a large part” of the country's economic growth.
Onnik also asks: “Is a ‘velvet' revolution ripe in Armenia?”

Voch Me Ban has more on possible reforms in Armenia.

Registan.net posts on Azerbaijan's Beleaguered Opposition, amid news that an Azeri opposition leader has died under mysterious circumstances. He links to a post by the Democracy Guy, who believes Azerbaijan will be a test for the Bush Administration “in which the democracy doctrine will either be shown as real policy, or merely neo-con happy talk.”

Central Asia:
On Uzbekistan, Nathan at Registan has his usual thorough roundup, then asks some tough questions about U.S. policy.

There is a new Uzbekistan blog: Radio Silence.

Thinking-East is covering the Mongolian elections (scheduled for Sunday) here and here.

East Asia:
ESWN has a full English translation of the original article in the Chinese-language Nanfang Weekly about Chinese “undercover internet commentators” that got picked up quickly by the international press. ESWN reports: “these news reports came to the attention of the almighty Internet nanny, and the original article has been removed from the Nanfang Weekend website.” Fortunately you can read the whole thing in both languages on his blog.
… ESWN has another interesting post on how statistics get hyped in China.

Bingfeng Teahouse has a photo essay on media brainwashing.

Chinadigitaltimes.net has a good collection of links today on the currency issue.

According to Slashdot: Asia is the “next frontier” in blogging.

Middle East:
Joshua Landis at Syriacomment.com describes the Syrian blogging scene.

Mohammed in Cairo asks: “what about Egyptian bloggers?”

Iranscan links to an interview with presidential candidate Hooshang Amirahmadi, and a Human Rights Watch report about abuse of dissident members by an exiled Iranian group.

Adventures with Mr.Behi reacts to the report with the headline: “Exchanging monarchs for monsters? Hell NO!”

Iranian Truth challenges the assumption that good Muslim women must wear headscarves.

Aref-Adib thinks Khomeini and Connery look kind of alike.

Iraqi bloggers have much to say about the Saddam underpants photo:
Kurdo's world is gleeful. So is the Kurdistan Bloggers Union.

Raed in the Middle (who generally wants the U.S. out) did not comment directly, but posted the underpants cover photo along with enlarged photos of the dead faces of Saddam's sons which were part of an Israeli photo exhibit.

A Free Writer posts a survey on Iraqi living conditions.

Iraq the Model has the first in a series of posts following the drafting process of Iraq's new constitution.

Africa:
Thinker's Room explains how some people seem to be more equal than others in Kenya.

African Bullets & Honey believes “the Kenyan government is at war with its own people,” and asks where Africa's heroes have gone.

Black Looks describes a “shocking story” of Cassava wars in Nigeria.

Afrotecnik links to new gadgetry for places with limited electricity: a self-winding mobile phone charger and foot charger that works with some laptops.

Timbuktu chronicles has some links about how the spread of mobile phones in Africa will help create a new middle class.

Updates

Southeast Asia:
Kennysia in Malaysia speculates on an upcoming Singapore bloggers' meeting this summer, with some great programming suggestions and hilarious graphics! (Featured on mock poster: Mr. Brown and Xiaxue. ) How come nobody ever made these for the BloggerCons???

Mack at Brandmalaysia discusses Malaysia's “worst managed company.”

Sarasonteh points out that the Thai government is trying to discourage the international media from reporting about ongoing violence in predominantly Muslim Southern Thailand. (Incidentally, the International Crisis group thinks it's an important story.) [UPDATE: the blog's author has posted some clarifications in the comments section here.]

Disni in the Philippines has a long critique of the Business Software Alliance's report on software piracy worldwide, which claims one third of the world's software is pirated.

Republic of Free Cyberspace:
Meanwhile, Turkish Torque points out that a Beykent University student has developed a free flash editor for Linux users. Yay Beykent!

South Asia:
Uzz Buzz at “United We Blog” describes his recent audio conference on disinformation in Nepal.

Vantage point is enthusing about a movie… and it's NOT Star Wars.

East Asia:
Japan Window Photo Blog has great pictures and a long account of the Design Festa in Tokyo.

Are you feeling blogger-burnout? Gen Kanai has found a great new tool: Autoblogger. Be sure to watch the quicktime video…

Congratulations to Dottocomu for well-deserved praise from PC Magazine.

Marmot and Oranckay on how the scars of the 1980 Gwangju massacre remain raw.

Chattergarden reports that Hong Kong is cracking down on users of BitTorrent.

Danwei thinks China's state news agency, Xinhua, is obsessed with hot babes.

Central Asia:
Two Uzbekistan-based Peace Corps volunteers with blogs have reacted differently to a Peace Corps directive telling them not to talk about the political situation. Working Definition has decided to keep blogging but avoid giving any more analysis on the Andijon situation. Wanderlustress has decided to stop blogging.

Scraps of Moscow has more on the Uzbekistan situation, thanks to his continued translation of Russian media reports.

Eurasia:
Workhorse in the Ukraine writes about the Crimean Tartars, who were deported by Stalin 61 years ago and still seek justice.

Orange Ukraine takes a look at Ukraine's economic problems, and suspects Russia is overcharging Ukraine for oil.

The Russian Dilettante says there are too many cars with St.Petersburg license plates in Moscow these days…

Siberianlight has an interesting post on the Eurovision song contest in Kiev, pointing out that the Russian lyrics seem somewhat anti-American.

Europe:
Barcepundit has been translating (here and here) material from the Spanish press on what is now being called “Spain's Terrorgate.”

Africa:
Wayne Wides at South Africa's Commentary.co.za gives President Mbeki some advice on how to make the economy grow faster, but wonders if Mbeki is willing to really do what it takes.

Black Looks reports that Nigeria is the first African nation with professional womens' football (soccer).

Latin America:
Venezuela News & Views holds forth on the “neglected Venezuelan provinces.”

Middle East:
The Angry Arab describes being photographed for an LA Times profile. He has also written a silly song about Lebanon's Hariri.

We have reports on the 3rd Jordanian bloggers' meetup from “And far away…”

Semitism.net now has streaming audio.

Kurdistan Bloggers Union has an interview with a Syrian Kurd.

Hammorabi discusses newspaper reports that Syrian forces have joined insurgents against U.S. and Iraqi forces.

Iraq the Model defends Spirit of America and Friends of Democracy against critics.

In Iran, Syamak Moattari is scared about the prospect of a U.S. attack.

Mr. Behi has done his first radio interview, available online. …and, by the way, it was done with Skype.

Iran Scan lets us in on what Iranians are saying in taxis… and what the newspapers are saying.

Mahmoud was interviewed by the BBC from Bahrain.