Archive for
November 7th, 2006
Stories
Are companies being socially responsible in your country? Let us know!!
On Thursday November 9th, at 6:30pm EST (23:30 GMT / 07:30am Friday Beijing time), Reuters will be hosting a live conversation about corporate social responsibility at its New York headquarters.
According to the special web page built for the event: “Corporate responsibility is increasingly important in today’s global landscape, with companies taking a greater role in developing communities, working to reduce poverty and addressing the health of our planet.”
But are companies - multinational as well as local - making nearly enough effort to be socially responsible? You, our dear readers and community members, likely have a few opinions on this subject.
We hope you will express your views on your own blog (please tag your posts with CSR for “corporate social responsibility” in Technorati) or let us know what you think in the comments section of this post. We will be feeding relevant blog posts into a special section of the event page. Also, I will be in the room on Thursday and will relay your views to the panelists.
We also hope that the Global Voices community will join us live on the day by listening to the webcast (link tba on the event web page) and participating on the live chat. Your participation will bring some badly-needed perspectives from developing countries and non-Western nations.
Your participation is especially important because if you click on the event web page, you will see that the panel of speakers is, well, not exactly the most geographically, economically, or ethnically diverse panel we've ever seen - to put it mildly.
If you'd like, please help us spread the word and get more friends to participate by putting a badge for the event on your blog:
LINK TO THIS DEBATE
See you on Thursday!!
Lebanon: Sweet and Sour
Iraq, Palestine, Israel, and an alternative drink to the regular carbonated soda were topics discussed in the Lebanese blogs this week.
The reconvening of the internal political discussion among rival Lebanese politicians in the form of “the consultations” was also the focus of many blogs.
Before embarking on the tiresome task of reading about the various conflicts in the Middle East it is advisable to start with the refreshing “jallab” drink which is described graphically by Jamal:
In Lebanon, well in the Middle East to be more precise, the ultimate thirst quencher is Jallab.
Jallab is two parts. The chilled liquid part is made from a syrup concocted (yes I love the verb concoct and all of its concoctions) from dates, grapes, and rose water. Part two is best described by…
The issue of female/male relationships in Lebanon (and maybe elsewhere) is a thorny one. An article was published in the New York Times discussing just that. Among the many bloggers who critiqued this article was Rampurple who blasted (more…)
Interview with Jordan Halevi, a Canadian Researcher on Iranian Blogs
Jordan Halevi (online alias) is a young Canadian researcher who has conducted a survey on Iranian blogs. In this interview conducted by Global Voices‘ Farsi language editor Farid Pouya, he discusses, among other things, his research project and the Iranian reaction to the questions in his survey.
FP: Can you introduce yourself and your research project?
JH: Certainly. My name’s Jordan. I’m a Canadian graduate student with a research interest in how new media are shaping socio-political realities in the Middle East.
Not long ago, I became intrigued with the phenomenon of Iranian blogging, and decided to conduct a bit of independent research on the topic. My main aim was to gather some basic quantitative data on the demographics and surfing patterns of the readers of a few popular Iranian weblogs. My hope was that such information, however incomplete, could add some richness to our understanding of how blogging, as a medium, is coming to play a role in the Iranian public sphere.
Saddam at the Iraqi Blogodrome
Goodbye Iraq's butcher;
may you never grow in our dreams.
You were the farce that placed itself
where lives were torn apart.
You called out to our country,
and you tormented those already in pain.
Now you belong to hell,
and in shame we spell out your name.
…
And even though we try,
the truth brings us to tears;
all our words cannot express
the nightmares you brought us through the years.
Goodbye Iraq's butcher,
from a country lost with or without you,
we won't miss your iron fist
not that you ever cared.
Iraqi bloggers all reacted immediately to the announcement of the death penalty for former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. The responses are as varied as there are bloggers but I see out of these one common thread comes through. That there is a sense of some relief that one painful chapter of Iraqi history has passed even though some do not see an end to the current one.
If you read no other posts read these:
Hala_s gives her support to the execution verdict and roundly criticizes those who complain about the trial.
So what! This is what he deserves. A theatrical court! Again so what isn’t it better than no court at all? (more…)
Bangladesh blog buzz
Here are the latest buzz from blogs on Bangladesh:
* Diaspora: Zubaer in Drishtipat blog gives an insight into the Bangladeshi Diaspora worldwide and how their remittances are contributing to Bangladesh's economy.
Ulysses at Back to Bangladesh, an NRB himself had decided to return to Bangladesh despite many apprehensions and discusses why Bangladesh needs them badly.
However, Rajputro shares a story of disappointment where a talented NRB was refused a job in the Dhaka University.
* Politics: Nazzina of a nikonian's blog dissects Nobel laureate Dr. Muhammad Yunus's recent speech giving advice to the president and chief adviser of the caretaker government on how to tackle the current political situation in Bangladesh.
* Media: Niraj slams the international media accusing that every time a political disturbance occurs in Bangladesh they try to prove that Islamists are going to take control and turn Bangladesh into Afghanistan. He explains why Bangladesh is not going Islamic.
* Tour: Rumi of Drishtipat blog takes us to a virtual tour of Dhaka with Google Earth.
* Photographs: Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, well known as city of mosques, rickshaws and fine muslins has many historical architectures. Ershad tries (more…)
Recently in Peru
Senor de los Milagros by Juan Arellano
A Doce Horas De Distancia (”12 Hours Away”) is the weblog of a Peruvian mother of two living in Maryland and married to a Jewish American man. In a post titled “Prejudice, Discrimination, or Simply a Mistake?” she describes the faulty assumption of her daughter's teacher.
– Honey, show your nanny the picture you painted yesterday…
– Excuse me, I am not her nanny, I am her mom.
– Ah, oh, uh…I heard you speak Spanish so I thought you were her nanny …I am sorry…uh…my twin’s nanny is from Peru…she is such a good nanny…I am sorry…
Hacia una semana que habiamos matriculado a mi hija en ese colegio. Ese dia habiamos llegado temprano y estabamos sentadas pintando con crayolas cuando llego la profesora y nos escucho hablar en espanol. Su logica me resulto muy interesante “como hablas espanol, entonces eres su nana”. Su pre juicio: todas las hispanas son nineras. Existen millones de nineras hispanas en los Estados Unidos. Son baratas, por eso la ninera de sus trillizos era hispana. Las nineras hispanas hablan a los ninos que tienen a su cuidado en espanol, porque no saben hablar ingles, y como los ninos pasan la mayor parte del tiempo con ellas, tambien aprenden a hablar espanol.
No solo fue la confusion la que me incomodo, si no ese airecito de discriminacion que soplo en mi cara cuando me hablo. Poco despues retire a mi nina de ese colegio, por otras razones, claro. De todo esto lo que mas recuerdo son son las suplicas de esa profesora diciendome que piense en mi hija antes de cambiarla de colegio, y yo mirandola a los ojos y diciendole en el mas perfecto ingles que jamas ha articulado mi lengua, pero con mi acento hispano bien pronunciado, que “of course I am only thinking of my daughter”.
It wasn't just the confusion that discomforted me, but rather the hint of discrimination she blew in my face when she spoke to me. A little later I withdrew my girl from that school, but for other reasons, clearly. Of all this, what I remember most is the imploring way the teacher told me to think of my daughter before changing schools. I looked at her in the eyes and said in the most perfect English I've ever spoken, yet with my Hispanic accent clearly pronounced, “of course I am only thinking of my daughter.”
Links for Tue, 2006-11
Candide looks at the pros and cons involved in choosing to give birth in the United States and Tajikistan.
Guyanese Imran Khan purports to present a picture of “the other India” on a new photoblog named for a Pepsi cricket slogan.
Maldito Flow, a “Spanglish”-language comic strip about a group of struggling Latin artists trying to make a name for their independent label, is now being distributed via weblog. Blog posts are occasionally accompanied by music clips.
The Caribbeat says that Barbados is not an independent country.
“a 21st century child not much different from the Victorian: one whose circumstances have forced him to grow up too fast,” writes Jamaican novelist Marlon James in his analysis of the effects of certain forms of mass media on young people.
“‘Corporate' and ‘responsibility' involve a contradiction in terms, of course, but I guess there's no harm in trying to imagine what a progressive corporate boss might do (as opposed to say), should such a creature exist,” writes Trinidad blogger Jeremy Taylor in the preamble to “The Responsible Executive's Manifesto”.
Belgrade 2.0 posts a list of 44 bad things in Belgrade and readers are adding to it in the comments section.
Belgrade 2.0 lists Serbia's previous constitutions.
The beatroot isn't surprised at the Polish governement's unwillingness to fight homophobia: “A more shocking post would be: ‘Polish Education Ministry funds gay rights campaign!’”
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