Global Voices · Citizen media stories from 2007 September 06

6 September 2007

Daily archive · 6 posts

Stories from 6 September 2007

Afghanistan: Culture, Clash

Written by Joshua Foust · Central Asia & Caucasus

In this week's Afghanistan blog tour, Joshua Foust reports about culturally insensitive footballs, the beautiful city of Herat, suicide bombs in Kabul and a lack of foreign investment.

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Russia: Beslan Anniversary

Written by Veronica Khokhlova · Eastern & Central Europe

Moscow City Day celebrations this year coincided with the third anniversary of the Beslan school siege. Some Russian bloggers discussed the regime's attempts to make people forget the unforgettable tragic event of September 1-3, 2004.

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Kazakhstan: Sham Elections

Written by Adil Nurmakov · Central Asia & Caucasus

The fallout from the 18 August 2007 parliamentary elections is still having an impact on local and international bloggers. Apathy, resignation, anger, surprise - there were many emotions for a poll many Kazakhs called a sham election. Adam Kesher collects some voices.

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Japan: It's in the Milk

Written by Chris Salzberg · East Asia

A group of scientists announced yesterday that Japanese women's breast milk has been found to contain a toxin similar to the pollutant PCB, with possible sources including a contaminated fish supply, fumes from garbage incinerators, and factory wastewater. Bloggers outline the issues surrounding the findings, reacting with shock and fear for the future.

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Colombia: Dutch Woman's Secret FARC Guerrilla Diary

Written by Juliana Rincón Parra · Latin America

During a raid on a FARC guerrilla camp, the Colombian army found part of a diary kept by a Dutch woman who for the past 5 years has been living and working with the FARC. Colombian bloggers react to this discovery by lamenting the misguided ideas of these foreigners and others wonder what is the fascination with adventures like these.

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Landing at the Iraqi Blogodrome

Written by Salam Adil · Middle East & North Africa

It has been a while since I last wrote my roundup but today I will only write about three blogs. There is so much to report and, yet, at the same time I feel there is so little. You hear a lot about Iraq in the news, about military surges and oil laws, benchmarks and statistics, political disagreements and security. There is a whole maze of paths and blind alleys that one can travel down considering the situation in Iraq. But all this boils down to one thing and that is the everyday life and hopes of the people living in Iraq.

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Updates from 6 September 2007

Israel

Aussie Dave, from Israel, wraps up reactions on the latest developments about the possible shooting of an Israeli warplane, which flew over Syrian airspace and dropped ammunition, by Syria.

• Amira Al Hussaini

Israel

From Israel, David Bogner writes about his son Yohana in this personal post. He says: “Our little boy isn't sick in the conventional sense so wishes of ‘I hope he gets better' are not really called for. He isn't retarded… in fact the doctors all agree he is smart as a whip. Yonah just experiences the world around him a little bit differently than most of us.”

• Amira Al Hussaini

Iraq

Iraq the Model asks : Is Islam the solution for ending the violence in Iraq? His answer is: “(R)eality proved that political Islam is in fact the problem, not the solution. And this is true not only in Iraq but in many other countries in the region that are full of political Islamist movements. They build their rhetoric on what they like to call the golden age of Islam and promise that a new golden age could come if people returned to the roots of Islam…but what happened when Islamists ruled? Definitely not a golden age of any sort.”

• Amira Al Hussaini

Iraq

Iraqi blogger Riverbend writes a very touching post about escaping Iraq and its war to Syria. “My aunt and uncle watched us sorrowfully. There’s no other word to describe it. It was the same look I got in my eyes when I watched other relatives and friends prepare to leave. It was a feeling of helplessness and hopelessness, tinged with anger. Why did the good people have to go?” she writes.

• Amira Al Hussaini

Ukraine

A TV host of the once oppositional station almost gets fired for reporting on the cost of education for president Yushchenko's children. Ukrainiana asks: “Is Channel 5 — held in high esteem as the ice-breaker of the Orange Revolution, in what was then a tightly knit ensemble of Big Brother media — reversing course?”

• Veronica Khokhlova

Bahrain

Bahraini blogger Esra'a writes a follow up on the case of a South African film maker who alleges that she was recruited to Bahrain, duped, kidnapped and deported, after her contract with her sponsor fell apart. Blogger Mahmood Al Yousif chimes in.