A song in honour of refugees and the ones that are not allowed to come back because of repression.

Juan Exiliado in the Spanish language, was written in the mid 80s inspired by social freedom workers from Chile and to celebrate a day in honour of the many people that becomes refugees because of their ideals.

Gracias Victoria Undurriaga por tu inspiracion.

Juan Exiliado is on public domain and can be downloaded from:
http://asia.cnet.com/music/0,39058993,39262879p,00.htm

To me, the Blog is an incredible tool that allows me to share immediately the photograph of the day, without invading and exploding other people’s emails. I have seen very interesting blogs from people that live in their native countries. For me it is not a traveller’s privilegdge, but a time priviledge. It is more related with immediacy than to geography. Granted it allows the users to post from anywhere in the world, but their success – my humble opinion- is that anyone could have a blog without having to be knowledgeable of html or hardcore graphic design. And that’s the sweet thing about it.

Thank you very much for making me part of the list of bloggers. I appreaciate it very much.

My last home was London, an ethnically diverse and cosmopolitan city where I felt very comfortable and at home. Moving to Spain particularly rural Spain was not easy especially with the added issue of language (I spoke little Spanish at the time – not that it’s great now!). Though I enjoyed living in a quiet rural environment I found that I very much missed the vibrant African and African Caribbean community that was part of my London life. Living without some kind of connection to my own ethnic, cultural and political background was difficult. Blogging was a way for me to reconnect to all of those and to the world in general in indulge in some of the “nostalgia” that Sebastian and David refer to. I find that in some ways the blogosphere replicates travelling as it provides the opportunity to meet new people and connect on different levels.

I relate to a lot of what Sebastian says here. And as someone who reads through about 500 blogs every day, it’s impossible to not notice that the most highly regarded bloggers (and the most prolific ones) tend to be living in a country where they were not born. In fact, half of the regional editors here at Global Voices live in countries where they were not born.

So I think that Sebastian did the blogging community a big service by trying to understand the correlation between living abroad and blogging extensively. I also think that he was very right to note two intertwined possibilities: that 1.) bloggers have a distinct personality which drives them to experience new lands and cultures and that 2.) new lands and cultures inspire a sense curiosity and nostalgia that motivates them to blog. It seems to me that there is a third trend happening as well and that is bloggers using the medium as a way to connect to their roots. I see it in American-based blogs like Loteria Chicana, Barrio Flores, and Visulumbres.

Personally, I can easily identify with both of Sebastian’s suggestions. In fact, I recently wrote that the reason I love to travel and the reason I love to blog so much come from the same characteristic of being a curious person who always wants to learn more about the world and people around me. But his second point – that living abroad is painted in nostalgia – is also true. While living in Monterrey, Mexico, my blog became a central part of my life because it let me stay connected to my friends and culture in California. But also, because it allowed me to enter a community of like-minded people in my new city and to learn from them about the people, culture, and customs.

Editor’s Translation: I’ve now been abroad for 9 years and have been writing since before I left. A weblog is just one part of how I express worry and nostalgia. Salutations!

Forty years after, that “problem” become a larger-than-life tragedy, in wich religious fundamentalism, Jewish people, Zionism and Israel-US military policy, pretend to be just one thing, and any dissent is labelled as anti-Semitic, i.e. the Chavez comment on those collaborationists who delivered Jesus to the to the occupation Roman army.
Educated on anti racism with Ana Frank, “Exodus”, “Mila 18″ or the revolt of the Warsaw Ghetto, I resents the blackmail of being called “anti-Semitic” because I disagree with Israel being the violent Curator of the Museum of Horrors of Underdeveloped Arab countries.
Let’s stop the universal paranoia: it is false that Chávez or the Venezuelans hate Jews. But it is a fact that most of the people of the world, left, or right, oppose the Bush Administration and the State of Israel Palestinian policy.
I dream of a non religious Israel-Palestine Nation (not a State) with equal rights for everybody (including today’s segregated Ethiopian Jews) and full respect for all human beings, including those who worship their gods.
SHALOM! SALUD!