Global Voices Online

Stories

Presidential Election: Blogs and politics

Chilean Elections We are 13 days from the presidential election. Every night, on TV, before the news hour, the 4 presidential candidates, belonging to different parties or coalitions, have the legal option to publicize their campaign and proposals for 5 minutes each, in all the open channels, at the same time.

There are four in competition, Michelle Bachelet, Tomás Hirsch Joaquín Lavín and Sebastián Piñera.

Chile is full of advertising for the potential presidents. All the marketing strategies are exposed, all candidates have their webs, but not all have their own personal blogs. País Digital, as it was mentioned, is hosting their blogs under Presidential Blog Forum.

Sebastián Piñera, posts about his vision, or to reply to the media on news about himself, or to talk about what he is doing in his campaign. He posted in his blog a question related to the evaluation of his TV campaign, most of the people commented that there was not enough time to express concerns in a deeper way.

In Michelle Bachelet´s blog, the are post of supporting groups and herself about main political issues.

Supporters of Joaquín Lavín, have created a blog for him not as successful as the ones of Michelle Bachelet or Sebastián Piñera.

For a quick browse on the political environment click here.

1 comment · read »

This Week in Palestinian Blogs: Ending Occupation is What Really Matters to US

Shaden Abdul Rahman · 13:25 · Middle East & North Africa

Rafah border was opened on the 25th of Nov, congratulations to all Palestinians!

On Rafah crossing, Rafah Pundits say the agreement reached between Palestinian and Israeli authorities state that Israel has no physical presence in the Rafah crossing except for reserving some sort of remote control, and the right to stop, search, arrest, detain or deny entry of anyone deemed by Israel as a “Palestinian suspect”.

As the January parliamentary elections approaches, a public opinion poll conducted by Al-Najah University showed that 75.5% of Palestinians will take part in the voting and only 66.8% believe that the elections will be held on its scheduled date. Moreover, 39.5% of the voters will vote for Fateh while 19.9% said will vote for Hamas. 53 % of participants said that they believe the elections will be fair and free.

Following up on some one-week-old news, peacepalestine has made an excellent attempt at Deconstructing Condi, offering us a good read. Check out the interesting feedback on the document. Condoleeza Rice visited Israel on the 13th of Nov to revive a peace process that had never been alive. Hillary, who had the same thoughts as Condoleeza's about the Wall, was sent a letter from Human Rights Watch, explaining to her what does the Wall really mean. By the way, neither did Hillary nor Condoleeza visit the occupied Palestinian territories.

On the same matter, umkahlil makes a wild guess at what Sinator Hillary Clinton will think of the criminal act of this lady.

Talking about Main Stream Media manipulation, Sabbah's Blog writes that BBC sanctions a journalist for insensitively feeling puzzled and shedding some tears upon watching a helicopter carry Arafat from his headquarters to a hospital in France.

Back to peacepalestine, a very interesting lesson in Hebrew teaches us how shalom is not peace (even though Judaism might disagree). Shalom means the freedom of conflict while achieving the maximum level of security. Peace is so much more than that, but then again nobody can blame Sharon for the mistranslation.

Inexplicable hatred of Israelis combined with shameless hatred of some Arabs and topped with the brutal practices of the Israeli occupation will definitely ruin even the bestest of mornings. davereed reports that the Israeli government is planning to demolish more houses in Anata, Beit Hanina and Silwan. Imagine one cold and rainy late night, in which you have to wake up and start removing all your belongings, not knowing where you should spend the night (chances are you'll spend it on the street). Either that or your house will be brought down by rockets while still inhibited, and oh, they might as well use one of your family as a shield.

From Sugar Cubes, a secret British document accuses Israel of taking measurements such as building illegal settlements and the Apartheid wall which jeopardize the peace process and prevent Jerusalem from becoming the capital of the Palestinian State, violating human rights all the way. I wonder what took them so long? and are they sick and fed up as we all are?

FromOccupiedPalestine, Bush has a vision for the future Palestinian State that resembles Dubai! what matters according to Bush, is not whether or not the occupation ends but rather the possibility of Gaza becoming a Dubai on the Mediterranean.

Students in Hebron protesting the electronic gates and x-ray screening systems

Israel violates human rights -again- by installing electronic gates and x-ray screeing systems in Hebron (Al-Khalil). Students, who were protesting non-violently last Thursday were attacked by gas canisters and percussion grenades used by the Israeli occupational forces. Needless to say, the inhumane practices of Israel occupational forces have their negative health effects on Palestinians. Teachers held classes outside at the checkpoints in protest to all the trouble their students have to go through everyday in order to reach school.See pictures on BBC.

From Baqa'a Refugee Camp, Israli occupational forces opened fire at anti-Wall rally in which Internationals, Israeli activists and Palestinians participated resulting with four persons wounded. At the rally, participants protested the Wall, the bullodizing of vast areas of olive trees, and turning villages into big jails.

Being familiar with oppression, dozens of Palestinian journalists demanded an International investigation regarding the recent news of Bush wanting to bomb Al-Jazeera office in Qatar. Al-Jazeera staffers started a blog to condemn the plan and ask for support.

Mordechai Vanunu, the Israeli Nuclear Whistle Blower has a letter for you. He talks about his latest arrest and the harassments by the Israeli authorities. Vanunu has offered his email, please do show your support and do not let Israel get away with this!

The little things that matter…

As a Palestinian I've heared a lot about the Nabulsi soap from my parents. Sadly the art and industry of making soap are dying slowly under the occupation, as it continues to suffer due to the stranglehod of the Palestinian economy and the regulations on International free trade.

On the 26th of this month, Nov, a conference will be held in Ireland to launch a divestment campaign that aims at getting Irish pension funds to divest from CRH, an Irish company which owns 25% of the only Israeli cement-manufacturing company until/unless it provides an absolute guarantee that it is no longer involved in the supply of materials used in illegal Israeli construction projects in the West Bank.

Lulu of CafeLulu describes what was it like to attend one of Ibdaa's performances, Ibdaa' created something out of nothing.

Imaan had a wonderful day out with her son in Gaza city, check out the pictures. Imaan, like everyone who roamed the street of the city, came face to face with poverty.

6 comments · read »

Welcome To The Lebanese Blogosphere

Mustapha · 13:22 · Middle East & North Africa

Yesterday, Anton Efendi from Across the Bay, posted this picture:

It shows the Prime Minister planting a fatherly kiss on May Chidiac's forehead. May Chidiac is the Journalist who lost a foot and an arm in a terrorist car bomb.

To Anton, this kiss symbolizes the story of Lebanon: a country that throughout its history, survived by countering devastating acts of violence and adversity with great compassion.

The Lebanese have a strange relationship with their country. Most of them leave to find opportunity somewhere else, they complain constantly of its wrongs, they are very vocal of its shortcomings and have built a reputation worldwide for self-hate. Yet at the same time, they all harbor an unbridled sense of belonging, a sense of passion for their motherland, an optimism that one day, the sun of the land of the Cedars will rise again.

It is this paradox that defines what it truly means to be Lebanese, and it is in this context that we have to look at the Lebanese Blogosphere.

My name is Mustapha, and I'll be writing about the Lebanese side of the Blogosphere for the Global Voices project. I'll try every week to summarize what various Lebanese Bloggers are writing, but today, please allow me to introduce you to a lovely bunch: The Lebanon Bloggers.

What makes someone a Lebanon blogger?

Some Lebanese only write about their personal lives, but deserve the title for the cheer fact of them being Lebanese. Take Lala for instance, she wrote yesterday about how upset she is that her best friend is devoting her entire time to her boyfriend. If Lala didn't occasionally mention her Lebanese heritage, you couldn't possibly tell from her blog that she's Lebanese. The same can be said of Opinion From Bloggistan, or The Suffragettes.

Some bloggers lay claim to the title not because they're Lebanese, but because they write about Lebanon. One example is Micheal Totten, an American who lives in and writes about Lebanon. Another is Unfrozen-Caveman-Linguist (UCL), author of Bliss Street Journal. UCL is also an American who lived for a while in Lebanon, but who still blogs about it even after he left.

There are many Lebanon Bloggers out there, and thanks to the great effort of people like Eve, Rampurple, Delirious, Liminal, Tempest, Maldolor, Ramzi and others, they can be found in Lebanon Heart Blogs, a blog about the Lebanon bloggers.
But For the Purpose of the Global Voices project, I found it useful to introduce the bloggers who post regular commentary about current affairs. I already mentioned Anton Efendi, who writes in Across The Bay, a rather highbrow blog that sees current events as the manifestation of Machiavellian machinations of the political class.

Across The Bay has been around for a while, but a significant chunk of blogs came to light right after the colossal Assassination of Rafic Hariri, Lebanon's previous Prime Minister, and the ensuing “Cedar Revolution”. Those bloggers sometimes like to call themselves the March 14 bloggers, in reference to the day where the Lebanese from all sects and regions stood together to ask for The Truth and for the Syrians to leave.

Raja and Doha from The Lebanese Bloggers, Lebanon.profile from Lebanese Political Journal, and Mustapha from The Beirut Spring (yours truly), started their blogs right after the Hariri Assassination.
This is how The Lebanese Bloggers explain the raison-d'etre of their blog:

This blog was created to honor the memory of heroes of all the Lebanese sects who were assassinated for their patriotic stands…. May God bless their souls and bless Lebanon.

Other bloggers immediately followed. While they don't see eye to eye on some issues, they write with obvious passion and strong wit. Kais author of From Beirut To The Beltway, Carine from Chercheuse D'or, Vox from The Federal Republic of Lebanon (who also writes in French), Ramzi from Ramzi’s Blah Blah, Jose Wales from Lebanonesque, Maya in her space and Abu Takla all have their distinctive personalities and styles.

Those and many more constitute the wonderful world of the Lebanon Bloggers. You will hopefully hear from them all soon.

3 comments · read »

This week in the African Women’s Blogsphere

Nish Matenjwa · 05:09 · Sub-Saharan Africa

November 25 is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women and marks the beginning of 16 Days of Activism on violence against women and children in which women and their organisations organise activities around the world aimed at ending gender violence.

Some African women bloggers have been blogging to raise awareness on this issue.

Black Looks writes about a report from the World Health Organisation on domestic violence that contains disturbing and alarming statistics and that indicates that domestic violence is more prevalent than had been realised. She goes on to say that the reality of gender violence is that ’there is no country where abuse is not taking place’ and violence against women is not just an issue for women but is an issue for all.

Although she believes drawing attention to the campaign against violence against women is important, Bronwyn writes that more needs to be done such as establishing an on-going media campaign, women’s shelters, outreach programmes and other relevant actions and asks a pertinent question: ‘what happens on day 17′ when the media spotlight is turned off and politicians move on to other issues?

Making the link between gender violence and HIV infection, AfroFeminista highlights the campaigning activities being undertaken by some organisations in Kenya and says gender violence ‘is leaving many women and girls at risk of HIV infection and by extension the men and children in our lives'.

African women are also blogging about other issues.

Because she feels culture and social background, usually taken for granted, should be constantly questioned, Helenism writes about a debate regarding an archaic and sexist marriage ritual and the resulting excellent and thoughtful explanation on why she considers herself a feminist.

In the aftermath of the recently-held Referendum on the Constitution, Kenyan Pundit writes about her concern regarding the absence of women in the campaigning and the fact that some members ‘of the Orange team campaigned strongly against the [draft constitution] on the basis that women will be allowed to “take all the land” and other inaccuracies'.

In light of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf becoming the president of Liberia, Mama JunkYard is impressed by the rising numbers of African women in leadership and says a developed country such as the United Kingdom has ‘to contend with falling out of the top 50 (19.8% places them at 51) and also deal with the realisation that they have been out ranked by Iraq 31.5%) and Tunisa'.

3 comments · read »

China: Water Crisis in Harbin

Frank Dai · 00:23 · East Asia

Harbin, a city in northeast China, has been suspended from water supply for four days due to contamination over its water by spill from a local chemical factory after an explosion. During the period of shortage, which started from Nov 23 and ended yesterday, the water for both livelihood and commercial production is suspended. It affected 3.8 million inhabitants of Harbin.

ESWN post with some photos showing that local resident rushed to supermarket for buying drinks and purified water. He links to some of the major media coverages of the water crisis.

Howard French observed the rumor of water crisis and earthquake as well before official annoucement. (Later the earthquake confirmed to be wrong ). He thought there is a problem of coordination and efficiency in government handling the crisis.

Inertia (in ZH) said the rapid economic development of China is at the high cost of environment pollution while fairly no one pay attention to this point. Liberalism and WTO accelerate this process.

Tango (in ZH) criticize 3 different and confusing documents issued concerning the suspending of water, which eventually caused general panic among residents. They simply do not know what the government has not yet revealed about the fact. When everybody rushed for water, the official newspaper and TV just said, “the city is in order and people are calming down”

Fanjun (in ZH) reviewed the Chinese media coverage that put their primary focus on transparency of government. He thought that many of the stories written were short-sighted. He asked the CNPC, to which the chemical factory belongs, to take responsibilities of compensation and treatment afterward.

From yesterday the water supply has been recovered partly. Some water-consuming enterprises are still limited.

Further Reading:

Technorati Search for “Harbin”
Bingfeng: Governor explains why Harbin lied about water pollution
T-Salon: The Way Government Agencies Handled Harbin Chemical Spill
NYT: Water Crisis Shows China's Pollution Risks
Guardian: Harbin's poor left out in the cold as city runs dry
Washington Post: Chinese Officials Sought to Hide Toxic Spill
Financial Times: Harbin authorities seek to win back confidence

Photo:
Photo taken by a resident via BBS
Photo Via Flickr