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Egypt: Another strike and many protests

Eman AbdElRahman · 23:57 · Middle East & North Africa

lingua → es

Egyptian doctors and university faculty have joined the crowds and decided to protest against their low salaries.

Hossam El Hamalawy, wrote about the on going protests and sit-ins in front of the Doctors’ Syndicate, which have been organized by Doctors without Rights:

The sit in at the Doctors’ Syndicate, called for by Doctors Without Rights, has started, coupled with protests in several hospitals across the country… The protests are to continue until the 21st of March, when the General Assembly of the Syndicate meets again, amid fury among the rank and file over the Syndicate Board’s decision to postpone indefinitely the strike planned on the 15th….

And quoting Kareem El Behery, Hossam wrote:

كانت نقابة الاطباء العامة بالقاهرة قد اصدرت بيان الاسبوع الماضى تطالب فيه كل الاطباء عن طريق النقابات الفرعية بتنظيم وقفة احتجاجية امس السبت للمطالبة بتحسين الاجر

Last week, the Doctors’ Syndicate issued a statement asking all the doctors to have a sit in last Saturday demanding a raise in salaries.

As for Egyptian university teaching staff, the situation is very similar.

From the blog “Egyptian Universities Strike”, quoting Q & A’s for the March 23rd Strike:

س: ما هي الجامعات التي يشملها الإضراب؟
ج: يشمل الإضراب جميع الجامعات الحكومية المصرية.
س: كيف أشارك في الإضراب؟
ج: المشاركة في الإضراب تعني:
‌أ. التواجد في محل العمل من بداية اليوم الدراسي.
‌ب. الامتناع عن أداء جميع الأعمال التعليمية.
‌ج. إعلان المشاركة في الإضراب.
س: أنا عضو هيئة تدريس بكلية الطب، هل أتوقف عن أداء الخدمات الطبية بالمستشفى الجامعي يوم الإضراب؟
ج: لا، الأعمال الطبية في المستشفيات الجامعية مستمرة ولا يشملها الإضراب.
س: كيف أعلن مشاركتي في الإضراب؟
ج: إعلان المشاركة في الإضراب تتم بإحدى الوسائل التالية:
‌أ. تعليق شارة الإضراب.
‌ب. تعليق علامة الإضراب على باب المكتب أو المعمل.
‌ج. التجمع في مكان ظاهر تحت لافتة الإضراب.
س: كيف أشارك في الإضراب إذا لم يكن لدي واجبات تدريسية يوم 23 مارس؟
ج: يكفي التواجد في الجامعة وتعليق شارة الإضراب.

1. Which universities are included in the strike?
All Egyptian Government universities.

2. How can I take part in this strike?
To take part in the strike means:
a. you would attend your working place at the start of the day.
b. not do any of your educational duties.
c. publicize that you are taking part in the strike.

3. I am a member in the teaching staff in the faculty of medicine, so should I stop my medical duties at the university’s hospital on the day of the strike?
No, the medical duties in the universities’ hospitals should continue.

4. How to publicize taking part in the strike?
You can do so by:
a. Holding up the strike sign.
b. Placing the strike sign on the door of your lab or your office.
c. Gathering near the sign at the protest place.

5. How can I take part in the strike if I didn’t have teaching duties on that day?
It’s enough to be there and to hold the sign.

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Bangladesh: Fighting the cycle of poverty

Rezwan · 20:07 · South Asia

In this week's roundup we will highlight some of the discussions happening in the Bangladeshi Blogosphere on the issues of Poverty, LGBT and Travel .

Poverty:

Bangladesh is a developing country and the main problem of this country is overpopulation. It has one of the highest population density among the worlds big countries. Although the reduction in the growth of population to 1.7 percent (3% in the '70s) is a miracle its vast rural population with their simple style of living are dropping its per capita income average to make it a poor country. It is almost self-sufficient in food for its population of 140 million (over 90%) if no natural calamity strikes in a year. We look at the Blogosphere to see how the country is fighting to get out of the cycle of poverty.

Shawn Ahmed of The Uncultured Project posts an investigative video report on the young hardworking Poor of Rural Bangladesh. He comments:

If poverty could be eliminated solely by the hard work and determination of the poor, then third world poverty would have ended a long time ago. The poor in the developing world are some of the hardest working people on the planet….I once again point out something I learned long ago: the poor aren’t lazy.

Here is the video produced by Shawn (used under creative commons license):

Bangladesh's fight back to reduce poverty is largely contributed by its clothing industries which flourished from the late eighties. Lower income class women used to have no options other than working as housemaids for food, lodging and a small amount of money, now work in thousand of garments and other factories. And the proliferation of micro-credit introduced by the Nobel Laureate Dr. Muhammad Yunus targeted women to help them get out of poverty. And this had impacted a great deal in empowering women in a predominantly Muslim society.

Dr. Kathryn Ward of Bideshi Blue is a co-founder of Nari Jibon project, a provider of alternative skills for women, which has done commendable job in providing low cost classes in Bangla, tailoring, English, and computers. Kathy informs:

Many of our students have gone on to develop their own businesses, improve their salaries from literacy in Bangla and skills, jobs in offices and NGOs, and pursue their higher education with computer and improved skills in English and Bangla speaking, writing, and reading.

Although there are many such organization working in Bangladesh Nari Jibon has done a bit more. With a Rising Voices grant it has brought working class women of Dhaka towards blogging who are telling the world the stories their lives, struggles and joys. Listen to Kathy discussing the benefits of blogging for Bangladeshi Women in a radio interview.

Gay Community

From Drishtipat blog we are pointed to an article published in Himal South Asian magazine which sheds a light into the Bangladeshi gay community. As homosexuality is still a taboo in the society people are using the internet to form a virtual community and meeting place of the gay-identified men in Bangladesh.

It was in late 2002 that the first online gay group for Bangladeshis – a Yahoo group called BOB, for Boys Only Bangladesh – was started by a handful of educated men. Tired of looking for other gay men in public places such as the Ramna Park hangout, they were hoping to build friendship ties online so as to begin talking about their sexuality comfortably. Since BOB is the biggest congregation of gay-identified men in Bangladesh, it has since come to be seen as something of a barometer of the gay community in the country. As such, BOB helps to gauge the political aspirations of this group – and, more recently, has provided a window into how the past year of emergency rule has affected the gay community of Bangladesh.

Travel:

Joybangla.info, a travel blog from Bangladesh informs:

After many delays, interruptions, disagreements and a fence, the train ride between Kolkata and Dhaka will begin running again on 14 April.

Bodda in Scattered Words Blog had taken a new year's resolution that he will visit places in Bangladesh and blog about it. The blogger visits Kushtia, which is famous for the famous ‘chalan bil', the largest wetland of the country and Lalon, the singing mystic of Bengal and Rabindranath Tagore, the Bengali Nobel Laureate. Raza Rumi has more on Lalon Fakir.

Ahmed Sharif writes a photo essay in his PhotoBlog “Desher Chobi” after his visit to Lawachara Rain Forest & Sreemangal.

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Welcome German, Albanian and Macedonian into Lingua Family

Portnoy · 16:55 · About GVO , Projects

lingua → mk · bn · mg · es · sq

Global Voices Lingua is honored to announce today that German, Albanian and Macedonian have launched officially. A new chapter is turned.

Since the initiation of Lingua, we have gathered an enormous group of enthusiastic editors and volunteers to translate their passion into words. Because of their precious efforts, Global Voices is heard by more people in more languages around the world. Lingua has also reflected the variety and diversity of multilingual World Wide Web.

These translators (not machine translation!) has contributed their time and intelligence to fulfill the mission of Global Voices – to “shine light on places and people other media often ignore.” Their greate translations have also helped Global Voices reach new audience.

Now, Lingua has a dozen translation versions. Of course it is not enough! There are many other languages not covered by Lingua yet, and this is the way we are progressing. More languages are coming. Welcome to join us! If you are interested in getting involved, please visit Lingua page for further information and contacts.

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Uzbekistan: Foreign Policy Perturbations

Tolkun · 12:48 · Central Asia & Caucasus

lingua → zht · zhs

The Uzbek regime's violent suppression of the uprising in Andijan in May 2005 was a turning point in the country's foreign policy. The government did not allow EU to investigate the case and then, after the U.S. administration's strong opposition to “non-observation of basic human rights”, Tashkent forced American airbase in Khanabad to shut down.

However, there have been some positive changes in fragile relations between Uzbekistan and the West recently. The consent to let the United States and NATO use airbase in Termez was an expected result of Tashkent's current foreign policy, aimed at rapprochement with the West. As reported, now Uzbekistan allows certain NATO countries, including U.S., to use the airbase in Termez (which has been used by Germany since 2001), although they all can fly to Termez only aboard German aircraft.

Registan was the first in the Uzbek blogosphere to write about this. (more…)

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Japan: Support for Tibet

Chris Salzberg · 09:47 · East Asia

lingua → zht · zhs

As fires rage on in the streets of Lhasa, bloggers in another part of the world have been anxiously following developments in Tibet with open eyes and open ears. Over the weekend, as mainstream media [ja] in Japan presented what many criticized as toned-down coverage of ongoing events in Lhasa, the word “Tibet” climbed to number one on Japanese blog search engines with thousands of entries largely in support of the uprising. Meanwhile on the streets, groups of the Tibet Support Network Japan (TSNJ), members of the Tibetan community and other supporters hit the streets on March 8th to celebrate the anniversary of the Tibetan uprising in March, 1959, and a week later on March 16th to demonstrate at Tokyo's Yoyogi park.

As events in Tibet have escalated over the past few days, these and other groups have come together to bring out the message. The TSNJ has put together a blog where they post news updates and messages in Japanese and English. Well-known podcaster [ja], DJ and blogger Morley Robertson has brought attention to Tibet with his project Tibetronica, and over the last few days his listeners have been getting involved through a project called Rave Tibet. [ja] One of the contributions is an embeddable “Tibet Clock” [ja] which, in addition to telling the time, also streams video content about Tibet. Another listener ~~yayoi~~ yayoyi sent in the following map of China:

Listener 筮竹 submitted this skateboard:

Elsewhere in blogs, many were critical of politicians and the mass media for not drawing enough attention to the uprising in Tibet. Blogger yula22 writes:

日頃「人権」を叫ぶ政治家、マスコミ、各種組織・団体に言いたいです。

チベット人に対する中共の、これほどの人権弾圧を黙って見過ごしているなら、
その人たちは紛れもない『偽』人権派でしょう。

This is what I want to say to the politicians, mass media, and every kind of organization and group who cry every day for “human rights”.

These people, who shut up and let the human rights oppression against Tibetans go on, what these people are [talking about] is nothing but “imitation” human rights.

Blogger 酔夢ing Voice points the finger squarely at the Japanese media:

世界中でチベットの抗議活動と支那の弾圧が大きなニュースになっているのに、日本ではＮＨＫが早朝のニュースで申し訳程度に最低限の情報を伝えただけ。新聞はwebで報じているが、速報性が身上のテレビは惨々たるもので、テレビ報道の劣化が著しい。しかも、ＮＨＫのこのニュースは新華社が名指ししてダライ・ラマ14世を非難する謀略報道を伝える一方、ダライラマ14世が支那を警告するリリースは報道していない。一見、支那側を非難する報道に見えながら、巧みにチベット人やダライラマ側の情報を隠蔽しているのである。

While in Shina [China] the Tibetan protests and Chinese oppression are big news, in Japan on NHK's early morning news there is only a token bare minimum of information being transmitted. Newspapers are transmitting [the information] on the web, but TV news, whose speed is essential, has been terrible on this — it is remarkable how much TV coverage has deteriorated. On top of this, while NHK news is transmitting propaganda from Xinhua that directly criticizes the 14th Dalai Lama, they have not reported the statement of the 14th Dalai Lama cautioning China. It seems like, while coverage is critical of Shina [China], at the same time it is also cleverly concealing information about the Tibetan people and the Dalai Lama.

(Note: The word “Shina” (支那) is a derogatory term meaning “China”. NHK is Japan's national broadcaster.)

Blogger and former journalist Hara Junjirou meanwhile considers the nature of the demonstration and questions how long the Chinese government can hold on to Tibet:

　暴動の映像では中国系土産物店やホテルが襲撃の対象になっている。歴史も文化も違う国を中国の版図に組み入れること自体に無理がある。チベットは庇護すべき少数民族ではない。ウズベキスタン、カザフスタン、キルギスタン。いずれもロシアから独立した。中国政府もそろそろ気づくべき時だ。

In images of the uprising, it is the souvenir stores and hotels of Chinese that have become the target of attack. Incorporating a country with a different history and culture into China's territory is really impossible. Tibetans are not a minority people that need to be given sanctuary. Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, they all declared independence from Russia. It is time now for the Chinese government to also recognize this.

In the way that the Chinese government is treating the demonstration, blogger warabidaniyuukoku sees similarities with the Japanese government:

今回のチベット人デモの中にも中共政府のスパイが大量に送り込まれていた。
彼らが自作自演して騒ぎ出し、待ち受けていた武装警官隊がデモ隊を虐殺したのである。日本軍の戦法を真似したのだろうか？

A large number of spies from the Chinese Communist party were sent to this Tibetan demonstration.
These guys put on a performance and made a disturbance, and the riot police were waiting to slaughter the demonstrators. Copying the tactics of the Japanese army, perhaps?

Many bloggers connected events in Tibet with the independence movement in Taiwan. Blogger para1002n wonders what the effect will be on upcoming Taiwanese elections:

今月22日に台湾総統選挙が行われる。やがてチベット暴動の話と、この選挙が結びついて表面化すると思う。台湾が独立しようとすればこんな目に遭うぞという脅しのようなものだ。チベットの自治を訴える勢力が直接台湾選挙を支援しているわけではないが、底流で結びつくように仕向けられてしまう。

On the 22nd of this month, presidential elections will take place in Taiwan. The uprising in Tibet and the elections in Taiwan will soon join together and come to a head. It is like a threat: if Taiwan tries to declare independence, this is the kind of thing that they will go through. Although the force of the appeal for self-government in Tibet is not directly supporting the elections in Taiwan, through a [common] undercurrent they are induced to join together.

Others proposed a boycott of the Beijing Olympics. Blogger shibaken2 describes the boycott:

独裁共産国家でのオリンピックに参加することを反対します。
そして中国製品を買うことも控えましょう。
奴隷のように働かされている子供・女達が作ったことを思うと購入を躊躇します。
なぜそのような国に他の国は群がるのでしょう？

I am against participating in Olympics that are in a country that is a communist dictatorship.
Also let's not buy any goods that are manufactured in China.
I hesitate to buy things when I think that children and women were worked like slaves to make them.
Why do other countries flock around this kind of country?

Blogger romery-chan considers the idea but doesn't think it's feasible:

まじボイコットしたくなる人たちの気持ちわかります。
でもね、人間が十億人以上もいる国で、世界各国の企業がビジネスチャンス到来と胸に期待をふくらませてる以上、ボイコットは無理っすよ。

台湾の人たちは、どう思ってるんだろう…？

I seriously understand people who want to boycott.
But in a country with more than a billion people, and corporations across the world inflating expectations of an influx of business opportunities, a boycott is impossible.

I wonder, what do people from Taiwan think about this…?

Blogger asu-he wonders about the Olympics as well:

今日は天気も良く暖かいです、私は元気です。
春らしいなぁと感じますね、穏やかな時間の流れはいいものです。
なのに「中国のチベット暴動」なんて新聞に出ています。
オリンピックも開催されるというのに大丈夫なんでしょうか・・・

It's warm today and the weather is nice. I feel good.
It feels like it's spring, and it's nice to have some peaceful time.
But then, the newspapers are talking about the “Tibetan uprising in China”.
I wonder, will they really be able to host the Olympics?

Blogger nakahitosi goes as far as to compare the Beijing Olympics to the Berlin Olympics under Hitler:

北京オリンピックは、ヒトラー政権下でのベルリンオリンピックとは比べられないほど、多くの人の血で真っ赤に染まった、血塗られたオリンピックなのである。

The Beijing Olympics, more so even than the Berlin Olympics under the Hitler administration, are smeared deep red with the blood of many many people.

Others responded to the blocking of YouTube by the Chinese government. Blogger blue_k_i comments:

「安全上の懸念」でないことは明らかです。
現地の情報が海外へ流出することを防ぐ為の措置でしょう。
そして、目の届かない所で弾圧が行われる。

It's clear that it's not about “worries over safety”.
It's a measure to block on-the-scene information from flowing overseas.
Then they can crackdown [on people] without being watched.

Finally, one blogger pointed the finger at Japanese peace groups, who they claim do not criticize China enough for human rights abuses:

日本の平和団体は、日本・アメリカは批判しますが中国は一切批判しません。
その証拠に、平和団体ホームページでは一切、チベット虐殺・弾圧問題には触れられていないことがわかりますね。
中国政府がチベット虐殺・弾圧問題を「人民戦争」と表現し、チベット王国・チベット亡命政府に宣戦布告してますが、知らないんでしょうか？

Japanese peace groups criticize Japan and America, but they don't criticize China at all.
For proof just go to the homepage of peace groups, there is nothing about the massacres and oppression in Tibet.
The Chinese government calls the massacres and oppression the “people's war”, and they have declared war against the Tibetan kingdom and against the Tibetan exile government — do these peace groups not know this?

For more Japanese views: hienkouhou comments on Bjork [ja], negaigoto writes about their experience meeting the Dalai Lama [ja], and blogger Fukushima Kaori (福島香織) gets lots of comments on a piece about why the Olympics should not take place in Beijing [ja].

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Tanzania: To quit or not to quit?

Ndesanjo Macha · 08:54 · Sub-Saharan Africa

lingua → es

Pernille is a well-known blogger from Denmark. She entered the African blogosphere scene when she started working in Uganda and blogging at “I've Left Copenhagen for Uganda”. She now lives in Tanzania and blogs under a new name, Louder than Swahili. Last week she decided to put her blog on stand-by following comments she received via email, SMS, and phone calls, which made her uncomfortable. The issue that has generated such comments is the image of Tanzania she is displaying on her blog:

The reason is that over the weekend I have been receiving comments, e-mails, text messages and a phone call telling me various things, which I am far from comfortable with. Someone even made a Facebook group with the aim of boycotting my blog.
Basic message is that I am not giving the right impression of Tanzania. That the image I display of Tanzania to the world is damaging Tanzania's image. To me there simply is no right impression, but apparently there is, and I am not meeting these standards. I am highly aware that Africa is not just Africa, that Tanzania differs from other African countries and vice versa. I also know that the image of Tanzania in for instance European media often does not correspond with the one of the Tanzanians. But again 35 million Tanzanians do not make one idea, but many. I am an ex-pat, I blog from my perspective.
I find different viewpoints expressed on different blogs inspiring, which is why I read different blogs. I have only ever intended to reflect my impressions, which I have emphasised over and over. I have also emphasised that my views are mine and do not necessarily correspond with the NGO I work for.

One of her readers posted a message on the popular Tanzanian photo blog, Issa Michuzi, about the page he has set up on Facebook asking people to join in. This person wants her to apologise and promises to expand his campaign:

If you haven't heard yet, Pernille from Denmark and living in Tanzania, an Information Officer at MS Tanzania, posted on her blog, http://pernille.typepad.com/ comments that compared a Tanzanian female traffic officer's legs to ‘tree trunks'.

The purpose of this group is to condemn those unacceptable comments, and demand a formal apology.

SPREAD THE WORD!!

Currently, the group has 62 members. These are some of discussions going on the group's page:

All we Members in this Group are Boycotting the Public Statement of the Girl Pernille.
I wonder how people like KIFIMBO CHEZA join this gruop to try brainwash us on our stands.
I advice you KC, better you open your own Group PROTECT PERNILLE then “get Off” you ideas there, so that they can vary… So plze live us and our Administrator Andrew Shayo Mushi to continue with what we think is right for us.
Message - Report

Alex Kenkuto (Tanzania) wrote
at 5:11pm yesterday

How long these people been in Africa being so-called Foreign Aid Worker, which most of them are SPY. Guys you see them in high life; they are there enjoy life and use Africa like guinea pig, I would love to debate Pernille

ZeBahati Frederick (Toronto, ON) wrote
at 3:00pm on March 8th, 2008
So we are a bit touchy that some creature with a superiority complex dares to compare one of our own's legs to tree trunks..May be we should always laugh about it and be the mature ones, maybe we should forgive her for being human with all human faults..maybe we should just turn the other cheek because the bible says that..afterall, we are more mature than to get offended by such a minor issue..you know what? with a name like SHAYO-MUSHI I will be surprised if he was not offended..matter of fact he like myself should be PISSED beyond reason..For years Africans and if I may say; Tanzanians have been too passive in the way they react to obscene comments/acts and a shit load of other “minor” be-littling things; Slavery, colonization, neo-colonization, economic thuggery and a so on.

After her announcement, her readers had this to say:

This is part of a bigger dynamic wish i hope you will understand. It's okay for you to give up or be quiet. It won't effect you, if things get crazy in tanzania, then you can always pack up and leave, like your doing with the blog. others do not have that fortune.

Posted by: blackstone | March 16, 2008 at 05:42 PM

I didnt see any offense on that statement, may be just because it was written by white, but we should ask our selves how many statement like that appear in our Blogs?

Posted by: Pope | March 14, 2008 at 12:13 PM

Oh, Pernille. I'm so sorry. Please let us know if/when you decide to start blogging again. In the meantime, you will be sorely missed.

Posted by: Rebekah | March 12, 2008 at 10:40 PM

The beauty of blogs by white girls in Africa is that they remind all those bleeding white liberals back home what they are missing.

Are you blogging for Tanzanians or are you blogging for the kids back at home that need to be convinced they can make a difference in Africa?

The Tanzanians want you to stop but the kids back home are spellbound. Who are you gonna chose?

If you asked me, I would say the silly Africans can go fly a kite. After all if they knew the least bit about what is good for them then you wouldn't even need to be hear writing about their issues.

Blog on

Posted by: POTASH | March 12, 2008 at 08:51 PM

I'm very sorry to see you go! I understand why you're going but I'm hoping you wont stay away for too long. All the best. Bye Danish Pernille!

-DeTamble

Posted by: DeTamble | March 12, 2008 at 02:41 PM

Bummer. I'm sorry you're getting flak.

I wish people would realise, it's like television. If you don't like it, you can change the channel.

And I will miss your blog while it's down.

Posted by: Anne-Marie Weeden | March 12, 2008 at 04:15 AM

Pernille,

Putting your blog on stand by as you say it is giving victory to haters of free speech and rights to opinion.

An Information Officer working in Tanzania is not necessarily a Public Relations or Marketing executive for Tanzania.

Don't give up, so your right of opinion a big favour by blogging soonest!

Yours up in arms,

From Uganda, and in Southern Sudan,

Your Peace, Salam Taki

Glenna discussed Pernille's decision on her blog, Uganda Scarlettlion:

This post is not my announcement about switching to moderated comments, as I have long threatened to do when there's too much name-calling using this web page as its forum.  It's about Pernille, who used to live and blog in Uganda, and now does so in Tanzania. Louder than Swahili is her great blog documenting her daily life, work, and impressions of Tanzania. I've enjoyed reading about her life there as much as I did when she was in Arua.  Every blogger gets their fair share of flack, but the higher your blog visibility, the more flack you take. And Pernille has a lot of readers. And apparently, not all of them are happy.
There are a lot of people who take issue with how expats represent Africa, regardless of any disclaimers each blogger may have about a blog representing only his or her views. In general, I think, there are a lot of people who are (rightly) angry about the havoc wrought by the West in Africa, and they tend to take out that disenfranchisement in the form of anonymous comments on blogs. (A statement for which I plan to take plenty of flack.)

Expats in Africa are one of the nearest and most tangible embodiment of that divide. I think it's easy for people here to be mad at bloggers, like me or Pernille, when that's not really the problem. Anger directed at my meager blog, or even Pernille's more robust one, are just the surface manifestations of problems no blog can ever solve.

But it's hard to remember that, when the angry comments are directed at you personally, rather than at a historical legacy or a global divide for which none of us is individually responsible, yet all are complicit.

Pernille, I will eagerly await your return to blogging.

This week, Pernille changed her decision and resumed blogging:

I'm still relatively speechless in terms of formulating an exact written explanation to what happened this week; The Facebook Group and the manic text messages from the US telling me to ‘apologise in a certain way, or…'; the ways I have been quoted on a wide range of Swahili blogs, including photos from my blog being copied and then pasted into other contexts on other blogs. I have definitely realised that here is an outstanding lack of decency in the way people debate on blogs - or for that matter use Facebook. Not to forget the way people just steal text and photos from another without quoting correctly.

It has never been my intention to offend any Tanzanian in particular. And interpretating my blog as an overall offence towards Tanzania is below my understanding. I quite like the place, but there simply is a limit to how many positive adjectives I intend to use, because things are usually more complex than that. Someone wrote that it is okay to be critical as long as you are patriotic. I personally don't believe in patriotism, not even regarding my home country.

And I can honestly say that whatever I've blogged about during my time in Africa, the times where I have felt an actual strong and deliberate intention to insult anyone, it has been targeted towards the xenophobic Danish People's Party and the Danish right-winged government for their treatment of asylum seekers, refugees and immigrants, their admiration for President Bush, for entering the war in Iraq, for not allowing Christiania, and for its massive lack of understanding of what it takes to make decent information about development work in Africa.

As one of my readers commented: Flick the channel - there is a million other blogs out there, why don't you read another one, if you don't like this one?! I won't give this more airtime on my blog. I have got work to do, and real life is taking place out there, not in the blogosphere.

I'm back.

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