Archive for
May 15th, 2006
Stories
Interview with Afghan Warrior
Global Voices has started a series of interviews with Afghan bloggers. Our first guest is Waheed from Afghan Warrior.
1 Q: How long have you started to blogging and why an English one?
1 A .I have been blogging since March 8, 2005. I wanted to raise my voice, and my people's voice, to the world. Since the English language is an international language I decided to write my blog in English so people from different countries should be able to read it.
2Q: Are there any statistics to provide any estimation about the number of afghan bloggers and the language that they use?
2 A : I do not have any statistics estimation to provide about the number of Afghan bloggers and the language they use, but I think there are more than 10 Afghan bloggers that are blogging in 3 languages - English, Dari and Pashtu.
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Bruna Little Surfer: blog turns into book, call girl turns into writer
Bruna Little Surfer is how she is now known. Rachel Pacheco, the Brazilian blogger, became a celebrity while posting details about her job as a call girl in her online diary which was then published in book form as, “The Scorpion's Sweet Poison” (PDF available in Portuguese). Recently, Larry Rohter reported in the NY Times that her writing is responsible for “upending convention and setting off a vigorous debate about sexual values and practices, revealing a country that is not always as uninhibited as the world often assumes.” This may be true, and it has been echoed by some of the blogs around. But it only touches across the surface and misses the deeper meaning of the conversations that are being stimulated in Brazil.
“Bear in mind, of course, that Brazil is itself a land of contradictions: an environment filled with religiosity and Catholic iconography, offset by promiscuity, rampant prostitution and an ‘anything goes' lifestyle among the young. Expect Bruna's tale to generate widespread interest, both critical and supportive. She may be Brazil's latest symbol of empowerment, shame and recognition. That stuff is great copy!”
The Real Deal Sells: The Scorpion's Sweet Poison - Lawyers and Business Executives in the News™“It's sad that the New York Times, the most respected newspaper in the world (until then), announced Bruna Surfistinha as a Brazilian ‘cultural phenomenon'. Her merit would be of waking up the country to a debate about sexual practices, which also revealed a society not as liberal as is shown during the carnival. They went to the point of calling her a 'sexual guru'! No pseudo-moralist speeches, please. This whole thing has gone too far.”
Brazilian program for export - Infoblog - Ana Maria Brambilla - Ibest
China: New political campaign shows sarcasm is alive and well
A strange custom of every Communist Party of China leader is for them to come up with their own theory or “ism”. Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping had their own respective variations of Socialist theory. Jiang Zemin has his Three Represents. And what about the current Chinese president Hu Jintao? His, just released earlier this year, is often translated as the Eight Dos and Don'ts, or ‘Eight Honors and Eight Shames,' and emphasizes the moral education of citizens—particularly the young generation—with the basis of conventional moral values like diligence and patriotism. The weirdest part of this theory is that all the Dos and Don'ts are nothing more than common sense and seem unworthy of the overwhelming propaganda in recent days:
以热爱祖国为荣、以危害祖国为耻，
以服务人民为荣、以背离人民为耻，
以崇尚科学为荣、以愚昧无知为耻，
以辛勤劳动为荣、以好逸恶劳为耻，
以团结互助为荣、以损人利己为耻，
以诚实守信为荣、以见利忘义为耻，
以遵纪守法为荣、以违法乱纪为耻，
以艰苦奋斗为荣、以骄奢淫逸为耻。
Serve, don't disserve the people
Uphold science, don't be ignorant and unenlightened
Work hard, don't be lazy
Be united and help each other, don't benefit at the expense of others
Be honest, not profit-mongering
Be disciplined and law-abiding, not chaotic and lawless
Know plain living and hard struggle, do not wallow in luxuries.
This Week In Palestinian Blogs: Al-Nakba Continues
Al-Nakba (or ‘the catastrophe'), the day Israel declared its independence on May 14th 1948, has been the main topic of this past week. For many Palestinian bloggers Al-Nakba means remembering this important moment in history, which set the stage for an ongoing struggle and tragedy; where both past and present are commemorated side by side. Laila El-Haddad from Raising Yusuf illustrates this in a post suitably entitled Days of Catastrophe.
“…as Israelis celebrate their “independence” this month, Palestinians commemorate their “days of catastrophe”. Usually this is May 14, but “filisteenyit il-dakhil”..1948 Palestinians, mark it to parallel Israeli Independence Day, when they march to a different ethnically cleansed Palestinian village each year.”
Umkhalil also writes:
“There is a land. Golda was right about that. There is a people who belong to the land. The old will die. David Ben Gurion was right about that. The old have passed on the torch to the young, who remember.”
The passing of the torch is indeed a fitting metaphor, especially for Al-Falasteenyia, a Palestinian-American college student who manages to relate to her people's history while packing.
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Voices From Zimbabwe and the Great Lakes
Zimbabwe:A whirlwind tour of Europe by Arthur Mutambara the leader of the “pro-senate” faction of Zimbabwe's oppposition the MDC was the center of the nation's largest “cyber controversies” over the last two weeks. In an attempt to reach out to Zimbabweans in the diaspora, Mutambara, the robotics scholar-cum-politician stumbled into the center of diasporans' sharply divided opinions of him.
It all started after Mutambara addressed what turned out to be a poorly attended rally on his first leg through the UK in Manchester and online newspaper Zimdaily posted a citizen authored report from a Zimbabwean who had attended the rally claiming,
I have always read contrasting news in many publications on, Mutambara, Mugabe and Tsvangirai and didn’t know what to believe. As to whether Arthur is popular or not I don’t know but, certainly he didn’t draw any crowd in Manchester and i bet our boozers team (Zimbabwe Saints) of Moston Cemetery Park draws huge crowds than Mutambara and guess what, this was right on a bank holiday weekend only 35 Zimbabweans turn up when thousands live in the same area.
This in response to reports by NewZimbabwe and Zimbabwe Journalists claiming the rally had drawn an attendence of over 300 people.
What followed in the comments of the Zimdaily post was an impressive barrage of opinions from Zimbabweans on either side of the Mutambara divide which impressed Enough is Enough
This is a milestone in Zimbawe’s journey towards democracy. Zimbabweans care about the politics of their country. They have opinions, and want to have a say about what’s going on. Most importantly, Zimbabweans in the diaspora are showing that they care deeply despite their physical absence from home.The internet is the next frontier were the Zimbabwean battle will play out and there ordinary Zimbos will have their say.
When Mutambara returned to the UK for a second rally, the rally was under close scrutiny. Zimdaily liveblogged the event complete with video clips here.
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Oil Pipeline Blast in Nigeria as Nigerian bloggers see it
A devastating oil pipeline blast hit Nigeria yet again, last week resulting in the death of over 200 people. I have compiled the perspective of some Nigerian bloggers about the sad event.
Ore's Notes reports that Over 200 Die in Pipeline Fire
“Over 200 people died in an explosion this morning in Ilado, an island about 30 miles east of Lagos. It was believed that the victims were siphoning fuel from a petrol pipeline when it exploded killing all the people within 20 metres.”
Links for Mon, 2006-05
Onnik Krikorian rounds up the Armenian blogosphere.
Registan.net discusses Uzbekistan's “one family - one cow” program under which entrepreneurs are coerced into donating livestock or cows to the poor, or as is more often the case, money to bank accounts of local officials.
neweurasia reports that, a week after being forced out, protesters are returning to Sukhbaatar Square in Ulaanbaatar.
Christian Garbis raves about his favorite Indian restaurant in Yerevan and says that it has been so successful that it is taking over the kitchen at another location.
Harmick plugs his site, Andre For Armenia, promoting Armenia's entry into the Eurovision contest and rounds up Armenian pop culture news at Blogrel.
Luke Distelhorst says that racist violence–mostly between Mongols and Chinese–is on the rise in Mongolia.
Saakshi is extremely angry. Her work from her blog appears to have been flicked and plagiarised by a US based magazine website.
The quota and reservation issue heats up on the streets of India. Dateline Bombay on why it is that students of medicine who appear to be protesting far more than students studying other subjects.
Days Go By… wonders where the women's activists are when it come to the issue of the LTTE using female suicide bombers.
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