Global Voices Online

Archive for
August 20th, 2005

Stories

Khmer Dance

Video of a Cambodian dance troupe performing a blessing dance at the opening of the Lowell Water Festival, one of the largest Southeast Asian festivals in the US, organized jointly by the local Cambodian, Lao, Vietnamese and Thai communities.

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Profile of Tunisian Blogosphere

Mohamed Marwen Meddah · 16:19 · Middle East & North Africa

The Tunisian blogosphere must be one of the most vibrant and fastest growing blogospheres in the Arab world. At the time being, there are over 70 active blogs, maintained by Tunisians in Tunisia, France, Canada, USA, Saudi Arabia and Romania.

TN-Blogs is a directory that groups most of these blogs, and features an aggregator that collects and publishes posts from all these blogs.

Among these blogs, only 30% belong to female bloggers.
The ages of Tunisian bloggers range from 18 to the early 30's.
Most Tunisian blogs are in French, with only 11 in English and 2 in Arabic.

When it comes to hosting, most Tunisian blogs are hosted on free blogging services, mainly blogger, then hautetfort.

The topics discussed on these blogs mostly cover personal issues, social affairs, comments on news and various thoughts and opinions.

Most Tunisian bloggers link to each other and leave comments and carry discussions within the boundaries of the Tunisian blogosphere, creating a sort of community-like feeling that welcomes new bloggers and encourages them to keep on blogging.

Blogger meetups are being held on a monthly basis as an opportunity for bloggers to get to know each other, carry some online discussions into the real world, talk about blogging and how to spread it, and just have fun.

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Jordan: Jordanian Bloggers Response to Aqaba Rocket Attacks

Haitham Sabbah · 14:37 · Middle East & North Africa

Jordanian bloggers said it in one voice. No To Terrorism!

madas expressed her feeling in one sentence:

We don't want any more death… No for Terrorism in all its different shapes.

While Ammar writes:

for those who think that they're fighting our freedom, please give me a break, it's just like playing back a low level IQ American’s comment after WTC attacks. Things happen for a reason, scratch your head, go to the basic facts and you'd figure it out.

Amin Matalqa hopes that they catch those guys and dip them in a pool of boiling olive oil upside down…slowly…head first.

As for Naseem Tarawnah of Black Iris he said:

the fact that it was rockets and not bombs suggests that this wasn't exactly Sharm Al-Sheik. Bombs require more planning; bombs require a lack of security to have them put together, to install them in their targets, to detonate. Bombs offer efficiency, the human flaws are low. Rockets suggest that our terrorists didn't exactly have the luxury of the above, which could say something about how tough it was to pull this off.

Hareega wonders what god they follow?

The terrorists who attacked Aqaba and previously hit other places definitely believe in a god which is not God. It's a god they made, a god they worship and a god they are willing to die for, but it's not God.

While Natasha says, to hell with them:

Those al-Qaeda blood suckers are now roaming freely In Jordan, intent on disrupting the security of the country and intimidating its people. I say to hell with them.

Isam asks: