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Syria: We Stand Against Occupation

Razan Ghazzawi · 23:49, March 7th, 2008 · Middle East & North Africa

lingua → pt · mg · zht · zhs

I am excited to join Global Voices Online Middle East and North Africa team and will be happy to cover the Syrian blogsphere alongside Yazan Badran. GVO is one of my favorite websites and I am happy to be part of its Global Voices Advocacy and Lingua Arabic projects as well. I hope my posts would be fairly representative to both of the Syrian bloggers and to their readers.

Yaman Salahi, an undergrad student of UC Berkeley and an active member of Students for Justice in Palestine club there, has posted a series of reactions to the club's die-in protest that took place on campus few days ago in solidarity with the 116 Palestinians killed by the Israeli army. You can view pictures of the die-in protest on Isabel's Flickr account.

The Daily Californian's covered the die-in protest publishing this photo and these words:

Yaman criticized the newspaper's tagging of the protest as “stand[ing] against conflict” and addressed the newspaper as follows:

Actually, Daily Cal, yesterday [3rd of March] students participated in a die-in in solidarity with the 116 Palestinians that the Israeli army killed over the weekend in Gaza. We did not stand against “conflict,” but the Israeli occupation. Can you say those words, or is that a little too informative?

One of the commentators disapproved of Yaman's use of the word ‘occupation' and thus accused him of being “anti-semetic.”

Allison, another commentator, responded to this accusation as follows:

Calling Yaman an anti-Semite and assuming he finds Haifa and Tel Aviv to be occupied is really low. There is nothing in what he has written that would suggest those were the things he was thinking or intending. If so he would have been involved in a great big “free occupied haifa and tel aviv” demonstration where he would announce himself as a Jew-hater. The reality is that the demonstration was to recognize the loss of life that has occurred due to the excessive, unequal use of force by Israel, on Palestinians. You only jump to those conclusions as an attempt to discredit him and show him to have violent intentions. Those are your words, not his, he is talking about a government sanctioned military occupation over a civilian population, not irrationally hating or wishing harm to Jews.

116 people died in the past few days and that pains us; we lay on the ground to grieve, we lay on the ground out of compassion for human life. None of which is anti-semetic.

In another post, Yaman writes about a counter-protest to the die-in protest held by HaTikva: Students for Israel. He notes:

Their counter-protest consisted of a sign displayed ahead of our protest that read, “Victims of Palestinian Terror,” meant to confuse passers-by as to the purpose of our action.

Yaman expresses his worries of the students group's rhetoric when they ignore the civilian deaths of the Palestinian side, categorizing all of the dead under “terrorists”:

According to B’tselem on March 3 (before the death toll rose by another dozen), over half of those killed by the Israeli military in Gaza were civilians. According to Maan News, at least 1/3rd were children. On the other hand, according to Tikvah …Israel “eliminated about 110 terrorists.”

Tikvah’s message is clear: all the Palestinians killed by the Israeli military, be they children, be they unarmed civilians, are terrorists. Further, Tikvah has dehumanized Palestinians to the extent that they do not even die. They are not killed or murdered; they are not even casualties. Like pests, they are “eliminated.”

Finally, Yaman concluded his post by asserting that the real issue is not whose lives are more valuable in both sides' deaths, but stopping the violence is. He explains:

To stop the violence, step back from it. Recognize the legitimate grievances of all people in Israel and Palestine. The United States will not solve this issue; there will be no impartial or neutral arbitrator or judge who will issue a verdict that all people will follow. Cheer-leading squads for Israel like Tikvah will do nothing that can even change the status quo, let alone construct a path towards resolution and reconciliation. It is up to us to escape the suffocating influence of state narratives and to create opportunities and possibilities for the future with our own hands.

9 comments · read »

Kuwait: R.I.P Ahmad AlRubi'e

Abdullatif AlOmar · 23:38 · Middle East & North Africa

Kuwaiti bloggers lament the death of leading intellectual and politician
Dr Ahmad AlRubi'e. Many bloggers posted condolences to his family on their blogs and some others wrote passionately about how connected to him they were.

Krakatoa q8 talks about AlRubi'e in this post:

لازلت اتذكر عندما كنا معاً وكانت معنا ثلة من الشباب المثقف..حين تسامرنا حول دفىء النار في ذلك المكان المعزول..ولا زلت اتذكر كلماتك..ونصائحك لنا..انصاتك..لطيشنا..وحرقة قلبنا على الكويت..كنت تستمع وتبعث الامل فينا..تجعلنا نرى التفائل يحيط بنا

I still remember when we were together, along with a gathering of cultured youth, as we sat around a camp fire, in that distant place. I still remember your words, and your advice for us. You listened to our words which were filled with recklessness and sorrow for Kuwait; you listened and gave us hope; and you made us see optimism around us.

لازلت اتذكر مشاحناتي معك..وغضبي عليك واختلافي معك ولازلت اتذكر كيف كنت تحاول ان تهدئني..ولكن لا فائده..تركتك..وباعدت بيننا السنون..والظروف..وكنت ولا ازال واقرا ما تكتب..نعم اراقب ولكن بحسرة على تلك الايام الجميلة..ولكن تبقى في القلب يا دكتور..يا ابا قتيبة..يا احمد الربعي.

I still remember my fights with you and my anger towards you and I still remember how you tried to clam me down with no use. I left you, and the years and circumstances took us further away from each other. I still followed you from afar and read what you wrote. Yes, I was observing but with sadness on those beautiful days.. but you remain in my heart Dr Abu Qutaiba, Ahmad AlRubi'e

Enter-q8 too writes about his relationship with Dr AlRubi'e. He says:

كل منا يحب الكويت وكل منا يحبها بطريقته ولكن بالاخر يجمعنا حبها
عندما تعشق فأنك تعشق اسم أو طبع أو كلمات
كلمات تقف عند هذه الكلمات و تقرئها حرف حرف كلمة كلمة جملة جملة
و تقف بالاخير عند من سطرها وهو كاتبها
خطأ نعم خطأ
هذا ما علمنا أياه هذا الشخص الكبير

All of us love Kuwait. Everyone loves it in his won way, but in the end its love unites us all. When you love something, you love a name or print or words - words you stop at and read letter by letter, word by word, and sentence by sentence. At the end, you stop and ask who penned those words. Wrong, yes, it's wrong. This is what this great man taught us.

فقد تختلف مع كاتبها لطبع او سلوك او انتماء او حتى مذهب
هكذا قالها بو قتيبه
كما قال الكثير مما لا ينسى
عملت معه بعد أول انتخابات بعد تحرير الكويت
كلنا للكويت فلتكن الكويت لنا كلنا

You may disagree with their author because of habit, conduct, affiliation, or even doctrine. This is how Abu Qutaiba said it and he has said a lot which can not be forgotten. I worked with him during the first election after the liberation of Kuwait. We are all for Kuwait, let Kuwait be for us all.

عندما كنا نتحرك بمشرف و نركب الهاف لوري مع العمال و نروح نوزع اللفتات الانتخابية
ليست شركة دعاية او اعلان
بل نحن شباب كويتييون
و بوقتيبة معانا
و داق التلثومه
و تمر سيارات عند الاشارة و بعلو صوتهم ناجح يا بوقتيبة ناجح
ما زلت اتذكر المراه العجوز البدوية بصوتها
ونحن نخرج من الديوانية بمشرف
والله يا (توكتور) دكتور لو ان نصوت محنا مخلينك
باختصار
رجل أحبته الكويت
أحبه شيعة و سنة بدو حضر
و ايضا حكومة و معارضة
أحبته الكويت
من القلب و داعا بو قتيبة

When we moved in Mishref (the constituency in which AlRubi'e ran for elections), we rode the back of a truck with the workers, delivering election leaflets. We were not an advertising agency but simply Kuwaiti youth, and Abu Qutaiba was with us. Cars would pass by us at traffic lights and their drivers would shout: “You are a winner Abu Qutaiba! A winner!” I still remember that old bedouin lady that shouted while we were exiting a dewaniya (gathering hall) in Kuwait:
“Dr, if we could vote, we would vote for you!” she said.
In short, he is a man loved by everyone in Kuwait - by the Shiites, Sunnis, bedouins and city dwellers as well as the government and opposition.
From the heart, Goodbye Abu Qutaiba.

Ansam over at Gather ye rosebuds while ye may posts some information about Dr Ahmad AlRubi'e. She writes:

Last night, Kuwait lost one of its prominent men! A politician, an educator, an academic, a mentor, an amazing writer, and a dear friend to many people. A man loved by a large number of people! He died but did not leave us! He will always be remembered by many of us!

• Born in 1949.
• Graduated in 1976 from Kuwait University - Philosophy.
• PhD in 1984 - Harvard.
• Member in the Council 1985.
• Member in the Council 1992.
• Minister of Education and Higher Education - 1992 - 1996.
• Member in the Council 1999.
• Active member in the Press - Al Seyasa - Al-Watan - Al-Qabas - Middle East

Picture Credit : Shurouq

1 comment · read »

Azerbaijan: Death Star Hotel

Onnik Krikorian · 20:36 · Central Asia & Caucasus

lingua → jp · es

It looks quite impressive and futuristic on first glance — a hotel that bears an uncanny resemblance to the Death Star from the Star Wars films. Remarkably, however, the hotel will not be built in Las Vegas or Dubai. It is instead planned for Baku, capital of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

Fan IQ thinks that the project is an attempt to increase Baku's chances of hosting the 2016 Olympic Games, and if so, the sports blog believes it might just have succeeded.

So although the 2016 Games are a long way off, if you're a city that wants to host them, you better get your act together.

Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, officially has it's #$%@ together. They're in the intense running for the 2016 Games - which will be announced next year - and I think they just took the lead.

How so?

Well, my friends, they're going to build a hotel based off of the Death Star from Star Wars for the Games.

The Geeky Traveler seems impressed too.

Azerbaijan is not a country that is usually top on the list for people desperately wanting a vacation, but they’re working on a concept hotel that may draw attention and interest. Although it’s designed in such a way that it changes appearance depending on the angle, from the front it looks remarkably like the Death Star from Star Wars, and I have to say that if I did end up needing to travel there for some reason, I would totally want to stay in the Death Star hotel!

The Gadgets Blog, however, wonders if there isn't more to the futuristic hotel than meets the eye.

I personally just think it’s a cover up for things to come and I’m taking the proper precautions.

The last time someone planned to build a Death Star, there was a little guy named Anakin walking around claiming to bring a balance in the force. And well, we all know how that one turned out.

If anyone needs me, I’ll be in a bunker in Iceland rounding up Wookies and Ewoks.

May the Force be with you.

Gizmodo gets equally excited, but then notices an important difference between the hotel and the intergalactic space station than can obliterate entire planets.

They call it “Full Moon” but they are not fooling us: this is a fully armed, fully operational battle station. And it shall be destroyed before it's too late, with a bunch of small fighters that can escape its turbolasers and drop proton torpedoes down an exhaust port. Or maybe not, if you look at it from its side.

Vagabondish also notes that the resemblance stops on further inspection, but brings us all back down to earth by sharing information that might actually be of more interest to potential tourists. The blog also remarks that it's interesting to note that the further east you travel, the more futuristic architectural design gets.

[O]n to the actual living conditions, and the interiors promise to be lavishly spacious - just 382 rooms spread across 35 floors and 104,182 square meters of space. The Full Moon Hotel sits on a wavy podium with two apartment complexes at either side, named, quite fittingly, Palace of Wind 1 and 2.

It’s interesting to see how so many of these futuristic looking designs are moving eastward. Traditionalists may cringe at the Full Moon Hotel’s design with thousands of hexagonal honeycombs running through its back, but you have to admit, it is a change from conventional tall, drab blocks of concrete with no defining features for miles.

Regardless, as About:Blank points out, whether it's officially called the Full Moon Rising Hotel or not, it will probably be referred to by everyone as “that Death Star Hotel.” Olympics or not, there will likely be a few Star Wars conventions in Baku. If so, count me in. The Hotel looks cool.

20 comments · read »

China: Photojournalist Fired for “Political Incident”

Meng Zhang · 18:11 · East Asia

Wang Lili, a 52-year old photojournalist, received his pink slip from Tongzhou Newsletter where he had been working more than 3 years and the only reason for the dismissal was an incomprehensible “political incident” that in one of his picture reports for the local People's Congress, the warden of Beijing Tongzhou District “bowed the head with closed eyes, presenting an off-colored image”, Southern Metropolis Weekly Reported last Friday. The problem photo taken by Wang was concluded as a picture report which biased its readers against the government, exerting extremely bad political influence.

The Report on Wang Lili's inexplicable misfortune was abundantly reproduced and linked to in Chinese blogosphere. Although some of the portal sites had deleted the relevant news, the story sill quickly became a hot topic in all sorts of BBS and online communities.

Blogger Marcher, a guy living in Tongzhou District, showed his opinions on Wang Lili's cause which just occurred around himself:

说说俺们通州最近的牛逼事儿。
领导们开会读稿子的时候，千万别拍照，要是拍了就自己留着好了，要不跟 CGX 同志一样流传出去，事情就闹大了。正所谓，领导很生气，后果很严重。
看看这位可怜的《通州时讯》报的摄影记者，因为咱通州区的区长一愤怒，挂了。

该报社给王力利的辞退告知书上有这样的话——“经查，2008年1月10日《通州时讯》第二版刊登你拍摄的邓乃平区长代表区政府向大会做政府工作报告的图片新闻出现导向性偏差，政治影响极其不好，属于严重失职，是一起政治事故。经研究决定，即日起本公司与你解除劳动合同。”

至于这张照片怎么出了偏差，偏差到了什么样子，看看就知道，反正不黄不暴力。

虽然是早在今年一月份的事儿，但是直到前几天事情才传开。看看网易新闻上的报道，是这么说的。

《通州时讯》一位报社领导在电话里解释了这张照片的政治事故含义：“这张照片作为图片新闻，传达大会的精神是错误的，不振奋的，难道照片想告诉读者，通州区去年的工作没做好，区长在低头认罪？”

报社领导的这一句话完美地诠释了照片的“导向性”错误。领导就是领导。
更多消息，可以参见百度新闻的低头照专题。
还好，百度这回没把这种领导的新闻屏蔽掉。值得夸奖。
之所以用百度，是因为 google.cn 都打不开了。

Update：
一位网易网友的评论。

网易上海市浦东新区网友 ip：124.78.*.*：
2008-03-03 17:34:56 发表
区长猛于虎，拍照需谨慎

我觉得，真是说到点儿上了。

I want to talk about a piece of recent damn news happening in Tongzhou.
Never take photos while the leading cadres are reading their speech notes in a meeting. If you have done it, just keep them for yourself because once the photos go around like Edison Chen's case, you will wake a sleeping dog. It's said that the cadre was very angry and the consequences would be severe.
Let's have a look at this poor photojournalist of Tongzhou Newsletter. He was finished as soon as our Tongzhou District warden flew into a rage.
.
A quote from the dismissal letter which sent by the newspaper office to Wang Lili–”Through investigation, the photo which you took for warden Deng Naiping who was on behalf of the District Government to make the work report for the Congress, being published in the second page of Tongzhou Newsletter on January 10, 2008, turns out to be a guiding bias and has exerted extremely bad political influence. Your action is considered as a serious negligence of duty and the case is identified as a political incident. After a good deal of discussion, the company decides to terminate the contract with you as from today.”
.
As to what bias the photo has made and how serious the bias is, just see it by yourself. It's not so yellow, so violent anyway.
.
A head of the Tongzhou Newsletter explained the political incident of the photo through telephone, “this photo, as picture report, had conveyed the spirit of the Congress in a wrong and uninspiring way. Did it intend to show the readers that the government of Tongzhou District had not done a good job last year and our warden bowed his head to plead guilty?”
.
What the head of the newspaper office said above has perfectly annotate the photo's “guiding” fault. Leadership is to lead.
You may see the special of 低头照（bowed head photo）in Baidu News.
Luckily, this time Baidu didn't block the criticizing news about the leadership. It really deserves a pat on the back.
Of course, we use Baidu because we can't visit google.cn.
.
The comment by a Netease Nitizen.
Netease netizen from Pudong New Area in Shanghai, ip：124.78.*.*：
2008-03-03 17:34:56 Published
The District Chief is fiercer than a tiger, so please be careful to take photo of him.
.
I think it has hit the nail on the head.

Netease Blogger Li Gaosheng expressed his worry on China's press circles which are full of “hidden rules” and “forbidden grounds”:

前一段时间，西丰县委书记要到北京抓记者，沦为笑谈，那是因为记者并非他治下的媒体从业者，而是《法制日报》的记者。现在北京市通州区区长就给其辖下的一名记者上了一课——《通州时讯》摄影记者王力利因为在报道该区“两会”时拍摄的区长“低着头，闭着眼，形象不佳”而被辞退。
…
看来，记者是“无冕之王”的说法是偏颇的，甚至是滑稽的。
区长很生气，后果很严重！
看最近的新闻，我感到“铁饭碗”并不铁，只要“一把手”看不惯、看不顺，照样摘你的乌纱、砸你的饭碗，法律、规章在这里显得异常脆弱！
这是中国特色，还是习惯使然？
看着老王离去时没落的背影，背后他的同事还在抽泣。
这是记者的悲哀还是媒体的悲哀？
曾经读过一篇文章，名叫《我是弱者，因为我是记者》，一直以为记者掌握“话语权”，现在看来并非如此。原来理想和现实的距离还很长，新闻工作和其他工作一样，也有很多不得不遵守的“规则”和“潜规则”，有各种各样的“禁区”和“雷区”。
…

Not long ago, the Party committee secretary of Xifeng County let his local police go to Beijing to arrest the journalists, which has been standing jokes, because the journalists are not the media practitioners working under his power, but the reporters of Legal Daily (法制日报) in Beijing. Now, the warden of Beijing Tongzhou District has given a reporter under his authority a lesson–Wang Lili, the photojournalist of Tongzhou Newsletter, was fired because the district warden in his “two grand meeting” picture report “bowed the head with closed eyes, presenting an off-colored image”.
…
It seems, to call the journalists “uncrowned kings” is biased and even ridiculous.
The district warden was very angry and the consequences would be severe.
According to the recent news, I have a feeling that “iron rice bowl” is not iron. Once the “top leaders” take huff at you, they can give you the sack at will. Laws and regulations here are extremely fragile!
Is it the Chinese characteristics or the result of habit?
Watching old Wang's declining back, his colleagues were still sniveling.
Is it the grief of reporters or the media?
I used to read an article entitled I am weak, because I am a reporter. For a long time, I thought it was the reporters that hold the “right to speak”; now it appears that is not the case. The disparity between ideal and reality is extraordinary. Like other work, the journalism also have to abide by lots of “rules” and “hidden rules”, and elude a variety of “forbidden areas” and “minefields”.
…

On KDNET which started the topic on Wang Lili's cause rapidly, the netizens vied with each other in airing their own views:

文章提交者：lihailin118
弄得普通工作人员人心惶惶，你还是共产党员吗？还是人民区长吗？
就这张照片，算个啥，也没鞠躬呀。即使鞠躬了，又算什么呀。
想起布什，他敢这样干？
布莱尔，他敢这样干？
连最简单的人道主义都不讲，简直就是土皇帝。
还在北京呢，都敢这么干，要在外地，在小地方，下面更没法活了。

Author: lihailin118
To make the average workers disquieted, are you a qualified Communist? Are you a qualified district warden for the people.
There's nothing special in the picture! No one bowed. Even if the warden had bowed, what of it?
Dare Bush do that?
Dare Blair do that?
We can't see the most basic humanism in the warden's eyes. He is just a local despot.
If the leading cadre dare do such a terrible thing in Beijing, the situation in other parts of China will be worse.

文章提交者：夜半临深池
唉，哀民之艰辛，能找到这类“政治事故”的另外一个国家全世界就只剩下朝鲜了，如果真的是民意决定官员前途的话，会有多少这样的官员由于类似事件而激发起民愤而下台，官员自己认为是影响自己个人形象的照片，也可以政治无限发挥扩大化上升到“政治事件”，个人利益等同于国家利益。

Author: Visiting the Deep Pond at Midnight
Alas, how hard the people's life is! Besides China, such kind of “Political Incident” can only appear in North Korea. If the will of people can really decide the leadership's future，how many cadres will be ousted by the public indignation aroused by the similar things? If a leading cadre can freely strain his power to make the picture report a “Political Incident” because he is personally not satisfied with his image in the photo, the country will be controlled by the personal volition.

文章提交者：四月的某时
可见新闻有多么自由

Author: Some Time in April
It has revealed how free our press is.

文章提交者：tty66
拍出精髓了哈，本来就是在闭着眼睛说瞎话嘛．

Author: tty66
The photo has shown the essence that the district warden is closing his eyes to tell lies (to tell a bare-faced lie).

文章提交者：掐出去捏死

报社脑子也是死的，像我这样PS一下不就好了，不但两眼囧囧有神，看着还漂亮了几分呢！

Author: Nipping it out and killing it by pinch
The newspaper office was too rigid. Why not PS (use the photoshop to edit) the photo like me? It has not only let the two eyes glaring but also more beautiful.

文章提交者：南北东西行客
这类事，在新闻界司空见惯。
因为把地方领导人名单排序错了的，总编被撤。
因为第二把手的发言刊登的比第一把手多几十字，总编被撤。
因为报案件侦破通讯时涉及地方领导人秘书，总编被撤。
俺耳闻目睹了十几起。
所以，俺们互相提醒，如果你去当记者，一定要懂什么叫“政治家办报”

Author: South-North-East-West Traveler
It's by no means unusual to see such things in press circles.
The chief editor would be dismissed because the name list was out of order, the words of the first chair's speech was less than the second's in the paper, or the crime news involved the local leader's secretary。
I have seen and heard a dozen similar events.
So, we remind each other that if you are going to be a journalist, you must understand what “Politician running newspaper” is.

文章提交者：mldtk
感觉有点可怕。文革前期就陆续有各种政治事件。
什么人有权做出这样的定性？
医疗事故，有鉴定委员会；打官司有法律；政治事件谁有权定性？发生在自己身上的事情，应该由上级调整吧？
记者没有专业组织吗？

Author: mldtk
I feel a little scared. It was before the Cultural Revolution that all sorts of political incidents continually appeared.
Who has the right to give such a judgment?
There is investigative commission dealing with the medical accidents and the court working on the lawsuits, but who has the power to judge the political incidents? As usual, the things should be found by the head in their own trade, right? Don't the journalists have their own professional organization?

文章提交者:血海飞霞
这位老兄是替罪羊,被人牺牲掉的,干过报纸的都知道,拍什么照片是摄影记者的事,但版面上上什么照片则是报社领导的事,明显地替领导在背黑锅

Author:Xuehai Feixia
The guy is a scapegoat that has been victimized by others. Anyone who has worked in the press knows that to take what kind of photos is the photojournalist's job, but to decide which one should be published is his head's work. Obviously, that guy is forced to assume total responsibility for his boss.

文章提交者：阿赛尔
有些人总是为这些官僚的霸道寻找借口，要让老百姓忍耐，出了问题，就怪老百姓素质低。他们说，“中国目前的情况已经不错了，相比于3000多年的历史，是伟大的时代，要对执政者理解，不能发出杂音”。他们还把中国不民主的责任，归结为老百姓的素质差。
大家看看这个事实，坐在这位记者的身份上想想，究竟该怎么样，才能做到既不违反新闻职业道德，还要人家满意呢？新闻毕竟要讲事实的阿。
干脆，以后官员们直接发广告好了，搞什么新闻发布呢！你这是新闻么？把你拍真实了，你都踹人啊!

Author: Asser
Some persons always seek excuses for those bureaucrats' overbearing behavior, asking the public to endure all the time and once there is something wrong, they will shift the blame to the low quality of the people. They would like to say, “compared to the past 3000 years, the present China is excellent and we are living in a great era, so we must understand the rulers and not give any opposing voice.” What's more, they impute China's undemocratic conditions to the common people's poor quality.
Let's pay attention to the fact and think from the reporter's view. How should we do to comply with the journalism ethics and the political officials' requests at the same time? Anyway, the news must be based on the truth.
Why don't the bureaucrats simply put up an advertisement from now on? There is no need to use the news media for them. Can we see the reports under their order as real news? Even honestly taking photos of them would become a disaster.

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FOKO: Bloggers put Madagascar in the spotlight

Rezwan · 16:56, March 7th, 2008 · Sub-Saharan Africa

lingua → de

Last month Madagascar was devastated by Cyclone Ivan and the world press barely noticed it. The Force and destruction of the tropical storm was comparable to Hurricane Katrina, yet Andriankoto of Foko Madagascar tells us that the coverage by the US and French press was “bare minimum”. Malagasy bloggers took to the task of filling the information void:

Mainstream media may have dropped the ball on covering the cyclonic season in the Indian Ocean but alternative citizen media filled the void and try their best to keep the lines of communication open within the country and with the rest of the world.

The combined efforts of bloggers covering the aftermath of the storm resulted in an interactive map of the current status of many regions in Madagascar after Ivan as well as a comprehensive slideshow illustrating the extend of flooding in Antanarivo and its surroundings.

Malagasy bloggers at FOKO blog club, a blog outreach initiative of FOKO, were also phenomenal in response. From the FOKO Blog:

One of our most enthusiastic bloggers, Avylavitra…has showered us with pictures from cyclone Ivan that devastated Madagascar.

Avylavitra also applied his recent learning of video-blogging by posting some videos on YouTube of the tidal surges Cyclone Ivan caused.

FOKO was busy last month with a lot of activities, including their first video and photo workshop.

For an example of the outcome, take a look at Avylavitra's Flickr account for coverage of the riots outside Mahamasina Municipal stadium during a football match.

FOKO also planted trees in the region of Andranovelona with the Namana SeraSera Youth Group. Avylavitra, a member of Namana SeraSera posted some pictures of the tree planting which can be found in his Flickr album.

They also initiated a blog commenting exercise. More seasoned bloggers are encouraging new ones by following up others' posts with tips and encouraging comments. So we have seen an increased flow of comments in participant blogs and a boost in the morale of budding bloggers..

A selection of three posts from January were translated for the international audience of Foko which can be found here. Please don't miss gazety_adaladala's translated post to learn about the indiscriminate parking of cars in Antananarivo from early morning to late at night.

Despite the cyclone, FOKO carried on with its expansion plan in Madagascar’s second largest town, Toamasina.

“Our interest in bringing the Foko Blog Club to Toamasina resides in bringing more attention to a very dynamic region where the youth and the communities are highly skilled and have many stories to share with the world. Our Toamasina group will be of course driving attention to environmental echues that are not commonly talked about on the web or even on the ground. With their charming accent is different, their wonderful seafront and kindness, this group will very quickly surprise us!”

The workshop went on well and you can get the feeds of the newly trained Toamasina Bloggers here.

A selection of five of the February posts of the FOKO bloggers were translated on the Foko Blog Club page. Two of the featured Toamasina bloggers reveal how quickly they have begun expressing themselves via blogs.

Karenichia, from FBC-Tana-Youth group, continues with her excellent posts and is now also writing in English. She shares her concern about the Malagasy society and also wonders “Why is it so important for Malagasy societies and companies to have employees who have spent some years abroad?”

Meanwhile FOKO has resolved to strengthen their ties with the other Rising Voices grantees, learn from their experiences and apply their tips to running workshops successfully. They have put up posts about Nari Jibon, Hyperbarrio andVoces Bolivianas in their Blog.

Hery, a member of the Serasera Namana Group, is planning to bring teens and will teach them blogging himself. Read an interview with Hery on ICT and Youth in Madagascar.

Please check the FOKO project blog on Rising Voices and the FOKO Club Blog (or subscribe to their feeds) regularly for more updates on this exciting project.

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Hindi: Cricket victory and foodie delights in Old Delhi

Amit Gupta · 13:17, March 7th, 2008 · South Asia

Every Indian cricket fan is over the moon as India handed down two successive defeats to four times and current world champions Australia in first two (of three) final matches of the Commonwealth Bank Series which saw the third team Sri Lanka make a flamboyant exit by defeating Australia in their last match of the series and the last one before the finals. Pankaj at Cricket Fever writes that this record maker win for India has come after a period of 24 years as the Indian tigers beat Aussie kangaroos right in the Aussies' backyard, kinda way off the track for a team which has crushed just about every international team on the planet and has maintained its hold on the World Cup for last 12 years.

Pankaj mentions how the complacent Aussie skipper Ricky ‘Punter' Ponting had said before the first final match that the third final won't be played, clearly giving the message in hidden words that his team will wrap off the series in first two matches. Little did Ponting know that his words will come true word for word but not in a way he wanted or that he'd end up on the badly beaten side, a side on which many believe would've ended up in the test match series earlier had it not been for poor (many say ‘biased') umpiring against the Indian team!

Pankaj mentions that this one day match series was very successful as far as the Indian team is concerned as it found many young talented players, a captain with a ‘never say die' attitude who wouldn't give in. According to him, if the young gun fast bowler Ishant Sharma was the find of the series, it was also the series which showed that there's no alternative to the master blaster Sachin Tendulkar who gunned India's thrust towards victory with his unparalleled stroke play.

Dipanshu at Musafir narrates his foodie exploration experiences of old Delhi, the Chandni Chowk area where he goes on to eat the mouth-watering and yummy paranthas at Paranthe wali Gali which used to be full of shops selling only paranthas many years back but now has only a few shops which sell freshly made paranthas of different types and tastes (I'm already feelin hungry, eh!).

Then he moves on to tell about the famous chaat shop thats on the other end of the Paranthe wali Gali which sells absolutely yummy “aloo tikki” and “dahi bhalle”. And just a bit ahead from there is, he says, the famous sweet shop of Ghantewala which got its name from a big bell (called “ghanta” in hindi) which used to hang outside the shop in the Mughal times.

He further notes that he came across another great “chaat” shop near Fatehpuri Mosque further up and if one is fond of non-vegetarian food then they should try out the famous Karim's, near Jama Masjid, for Mughlai delicacies at this almost a century old restaurant which is said to be opened in 1913 by a descendant of a royal cook of last Mughal King Bahadur Shah Zafar.

Abhishek at Shabdarth remembers the old days when the first ever television serial(made by Ramanand Sagar) on the hindu epic Ramayana used to air on Doordarshan, a remake of the epic serial (made by Ramanand Sagar's son Prem Sagar) currently airs on NDTV Imagine which has caught Abhishek's fancy as did the earlier version years back as he recalls his old memories when a huge crowd used to assemble in the outer room of his house in his village during the showtime as only they had a TV in the whole village.

Links courtesy: Narad

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