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Serbia, Slovenia: Relationship with the Roma People

Ljubisa Bojic · 16:17 · Eastern & Central Europe

“I ja sam Rom!” (”I'm Roma, too!”) - by Nune

In her B92 blog, Jelica Greganovic reports on the latest racism case against the Roma that occurred in Slovenia (SRP):

[…] We shouldn’t be only ashamed. We should be scared, too. I am already terrified. Slovenians were working during anti-fascism and anti-Semitism days. Someone stole a power aggregator from a family of Slovenian Roma today. They were moved to the center for foreigners. Recently, someone stole the rights from them, why would they need power. I watch [similar] news coming for the second week in a row and I am getting petrified. If you could do that to the Roma people today, you would be able to do the same to the blue-eyed individuals, those smarter persons, anyone. They say it isn’t racism, they were protected by the state. […] If somebody hasn’t heard about it, here is the story.

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Arabisc: Culprits, Democracy and the Rule of Law

Amira Al Hussaini · 16:07 · Middle East & North Africa

Choosing links from 22 different Arab countries for translation is no easy feat..for however much you try and be selective, you cannot be doing the region and its bloggers any justice.

Today I have selected the following links, each highlighting a different woe Arab bloggers have to deal with.

Our first stop is at a hot spot with Shalash Al Iraqi from Iraq, who gives us a bitter taste of the reality he lives in as he sees his country being torn apart in front of his very own eyes.

تجي اربعين سيارة وينزلون مسلحين بنص المنطقة الحساسة من بغداد، ويخطفون اكثر من ميت شخص ويرحون، وبعدين تجي الداخلية تحرر اغلب المختطفين، وكل هذا ورئيس الوزراء طلب البحث عن الجناة، والداخلية كاعد تبحث عنهم، شنو هذا فيلم باكستاني، لان حتى الافلام الهندية مترابطة شوية،ـ
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الجناة يا دولة رئيس الوزراء، كما يسميك على الدباغ، هم اعضاء حكومتك، واجهزتك وعصابات احزاب حكومتك، الجناة هم انتم لانكم جئتم الى الحكومة على قرع طبولهم، الجناة يعرفهم الصغير والكبير الا انتم، ما ادري شبيكم ليش متعرفوهم، والله ما ادريـ

“Forty cars stop suddenly and armed men get out of them in a sensitive area in the middle of Baghdad and kidnap 100 people and leave. Later on, the Interior Ministry personnel arrive and free most of those kidnapped. All this is happening at a time when the Prime Minister is calling for finding the culprits and the Interior Ministry is looking for them. What is this Pakistani movie? Even the plot of an Indian movie is more coherent than this!

The culprits Your Excellency are members of your government and agencies as well as gangs run by political parties in your government. You are the culprits for you came to office at the beat of their drums. The young and the old know who the culprits are except for you. I don't know why you don't know them, I swear to Allah (God) I don't,” wrote Shalash.

From Iraq we move to its more affluent and secure neighbour Kuwait, where Sahat Al Safat wonders whether the Kuwaiti parliament would be dissolved or not, following a run in with the government.
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Tongan Capital Burns

Preetam Rai · 12:07 · Oceania

Riots broke out this afternoon in Tongan capital city Nuku'alofa.

Tonga Burning
Image from Tonga Now Portal

Samiuela LV Taufa on Nomoa.com, a community site in Tonga posted this email

Today we finally hit the bottom of the bucket. It started with the stoning of the Prime Ministers office at 3:30pm and then quickly led to stoning of the Finance Ministry, a smash and grab raid of Molisi Supermarket (PMs private business), smashing of front of Pacific Royale and burning down of the Shoreline offices. This led to the stripping of Leiola Duty Free shop and then burning of Molisi supermarket, ANZ Bank, Tonghua, Taumoepeau family business, …

A market in Nuku'alofa city centre on a regular day

Ms. Vakaivisavosa in neighbouring Fiji Island says the Tongan Prime Minister Feleti Sevele was targetted by the mob because they felt disappointment at the pace of democratic reforms in Tonga. Pro-Democracy groups in the islands want a lesser role for the royal family in running the country. The blogger remembers the 2000 riots in Fiji where the protests ended up in looting.

I am reminded of the riots that took place in Fiji in 2000 where looting became a crime of opportunity and organised gangs of robbers led the smashing of showglass windows and burnt selected businesses.

Chinese businesses were also the target of the mob and the Chinese families who own the shops had to seek refuge in the Chinese embassy.
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Philippines: Toxic trade with Japan

Mong Palatino · 04:07 · East Asia

lingua → zht · zhs

Last September 9, Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi signed the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement or JPEPA in Helsinki, Finland during the Association of Southeast Asian Nations-Europe meeting.

According to Manila Standard Today:

“The JPEPA provides that almost 95 percent of Philippine exports to Japan will be slapped zero duties. It binds both parties to eliminate the tariffs on almost all industrial goods within 10 years from the date of entry into force. It ensures access to the Japanese market of Filipino service providers. It will pave the way for the deployment of Filipino nurses and caregivers to Japan.”

But environmentalists believe JPEPA will be used to transport toxic or hazardous wastes from Japan to the Philippines.

While the Philippine government has already denied reports that it will allow toxic materials to enter Philippine soil, Blurry Rain thinks the government must address the following issues:

1. The emergency action provisions (safeguard measures) in JPEPA provide less protection than that provided for by Philippine laws and the World Trade Organization (and note that the domestic cement, steel, and ceramic industries have sought or been seeking safeguard measures from imports),

2. The Rule of Origin provisions allow the use of three methodologies that could create a bureaucratic quandary resulting in more transhipment and technical smuggling concerns,

3. The inclusion of the ‘Singapore issues' in JPEPA, which we rejected in the WTO, thus putting in question the consistency of our trade policy.

Gerry Albert Corpuz Presents accuses the government of duplicity. He said JPEPA “will further empower Japan to flood the local market with surplus fish products contaminated with Mercury and other toxic materials dangerous to public health.”
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Blogging About India, NRIs, Bollywood and Ice Cricket

Kamla Bhatt · 03:05 · South Asia

New blog aggregator, what does it take to buy a home in Bangalore, NRIs, English Bollywood , ice cricket are some of the things we look in this round-up.

There is a new blog aggregator from India with a different voice. Check it out, it is called Blog Bharti.

The Human Development Report for 2006 was recently published. Alex Thomas has a nice summary of India and the HDR report and wonders if some of the recommendations make sense. He writes, “The Indian populace has been repeatedly told that India is reducing its poverty and that it is well under 30%. They are right. Keeping in mind the needs of the people for a decent livelihood a family needs at least an income of 2000 rupees per month!”

Here is a different perspective about living in India and the challenges of buying a home. Anita Bora wonders how people are buying homes in Bangalore? She finds that she has been priced out of the market. Do you know what one square foot costs in this city? Rs. 3,000, which translates to about $75 approximately.

What happens to NRIs or Non-Resident Indians when they are back in India on a short visit? Their whole world revolves round food. GV Krishnan of Desicritics has a great post aptly titled: The Way To NRI's Wallet Is Through Their Tummies.

Talking of NRI's here is what Brajesh of Scaling New Heights has to say about what he learnt in America: equal respect for all jobs in the USA.

We move from NRI's to English and Indlish.

Robo calls…you remember hearing that phrase in the recently concluded American mid-term elections, right? Grandmastales has an explanation of what a robo call is and it makes for an interesting read.

Indlish. Know what Indlish is? Well, read Plus Ultra's post about it. Hint: it has something to do with English.

Bollywood. Route 79 has a short review of a new Indian movie that was released a couple of weeks ago.

Huzaifa has a really interesting post about Ice Cricket in Estonia complete with pictures. Whoever thought of ice cricket?

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Kurdistance: Picking up the pieces

Deborah Ann Dilley · 01:25 · Middle East & North Africa

After a month's hiatus, Kurdistance is back up and running…and attempting to pick up the pieces of Kurdish opinion floating out there in the blogosphere. The big issues this month have been the Saddam Hussein verdict, the US in Iraq, and the flooding in Northern Kurdistan/Southeast Turkey.

The Saddam Verdict: covered around the world and here on Global Voices, the Kurdish reaction to the Saddam Verdict has been muted at best. The primary question posed by Kurds is not whether Saddam Hussein should die, but rather if his death will really give the Kurdish people the closure that they need. Iraqi Kurdistan refers to the judgment as “fair and just”. Rasti is disappointed that the death sentence might be carried out before the end of the second trial: the Anfal genocide campaign against the Kurds. Mizgin believes that all of the evidence of Saddam's atrocities need to be brought to light and she suspects that the United States will push for a quick execution before US involvement in the Anfal campaign comes to the forefront of media attention.

So the Americans, for the sake of their own interests, are planning on dropping Saddam from the gallows before he drops a dime on them. In other words, it's much safer for the US and the rest of the international community that Saddam be dispatched before evidence of wholehearted support for him sees the light of day in an Iraqi courtroom.

Hiwa's viewpoint strikes me as the most poignant, he states that the verdict ‘doesn't really mean that much' because the trial really reflects on the new Iraqi government and the future that it is trying to create. (more…)

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