Global Voices

English

The world is talking, are you listening?

Russia

Cyber-Generation reports that it's the busiest time of year in Moscow as people prepare for the holidays and has photos of some of the horrible traffic.

Trinidad & Tobago

Some of us prepare for a vacation by poring over travel books, but not the South African tourist who wrote to Caribbean Beat magazine requesting information on “wining” (the gyrating dance Caribbean people do to soca and calypso music - an inability to do it properly is one of the markers of foreignness). As Nicholas Laughlin remarks on the Caribbean Beat Blog, “Video footage would certainly give a better idea than a written description.” Caribbean Free Radio continues the discussion by pointing to an actual medical case study of a wining-related injury co-written by a Trinidadian surgeon who, earlier this year, was freed of the charge of murdering his wife. The same surgeon is pictured in the article demonstrating the action which may have led to the injury.

China

Sun Bin suggests that China ought to create a Caribbean-style banking and tax haven to add 0.1% to its GDP. He maps out some places in the Pearl River Delta a short trip from Hong Kong that Beijing could consider.

Philippines

Jessica Zafra is discombobulated meeting musician and artist David Byrne in Manila. The ex-leader of the Talking Heads was in town researching a new musical he's writing on Imelda Marcos.

Singapore

Oppositionist politician Goh Meng Seng on his blog Singapore Alternatives writes about the price of freedom: “Freedom is not free. And most importantly, freedom has the element of free ridership in it. Everyone may want it, but all waiting for someone to get it for them.”

South Korea

As the Seoul Arts Center hosts an exhibit about Barbie dolls, The Asia Pages reminisces about her first encounters and swift disappointment with “Oriental Barbie.”

Vietnam

At diacritic.org, R. Streitmatter-Tran discusses the embarrassment to Vietnamese art when local award-winning works are revealed to have been plagiarized including one from a work that won an award in Vietnam six years earlier.

Bangladesh

Unheard Voices has a post on press freedom in Bangladesh and provides some links that discuss the issue extensively.

India

Lives in Focus has a profile of Shabana and a webcast of an interview with her

Shabana, 20, realized she was HIV+ after her husband’s health began rapidly deteriorating. A Muslim woman, she now serves as a counselor trying to educate those in her community about the dangers of HIV/AIDS and how it spreads.

Bangladesh

Blog-a-rhythm smells many rats in the recent wave of generosity of Bill and Melinda Gates towards Bangladesh.