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Egypt: Hijacked ship will be blown up

Eman AbdElRahman · 22:59 · Middle East & North Africa

lingua → zht · zhs · ar

A few weeks after confirming the hijacking of an Egyptian ship by pirates of Somalia, Zeinobia reminds us again with the current status.
On one hand, according to the crew's families, negotiations have stopped regarding the ransom because the pirates refuse to lower it and because the owners of the ship, the “Blue Marine” company, are refusing to pay more than $100,000. Additionally, the food rations on board for the crew ran out over a week ago and there is no medical care for a crew member who was shot in his leg by the pirates.
On the other hand, the pirates already announced that they will blow the ship if their demands are not met by Saturday.

The pirates already announced tomorrow Saturday as a deadline ,if their demands are not met , they will blow the ship !! Yes in less than 48 hours the Blue star ship will be bombed and its crew will be killed if the demands of the Somali pirates are not met
Yesterday Thursday the families of the crew protested in front of the Blue Marine Company in the middle of Alexandria over the news that the company will abandon the ship

She further questions the Egyptian foreign ministry’s rule, as well who is responsible for this:

There 28 crew members on the board of the Blue star
I do not know where the hell is the Foreign Ministry?? Where are our army and our navy?? where are our naval special forces ??
I pray to God that the crew members return back to their families safe and the company gives the pirates the ransom they want even if they have to sell the company itself , we are talking about people , if those 28 crew members are killed their blood will be distributed equally between Blue Marine Co., Foreign Ministry ,the Egyptian Navy and any party who can help them in this crisis and did not do it.

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French Caribbean: Carnival 2009 is launched

Fabienne Flessel · 21:26 · Americas

lingua → es · sw

Carnival is a tradition, a part of every West Indian soul and the French Caribbean is no exception.

Here is a review of blogs from Martinique, French Guiana, Haiti and Guadeloupe, which highlights the features of Carnival there.

In brevesdeguyane, we learn about the kick-off of Carnival in French Guiana and discover pictures illustrating the French Guianese tradition of the “Touloulous“. The term originally refers to small colorful earth crabs, which swiftly run and hide under the ground whenever they feel threatened. So what is the connection with those wonderfully disguised women? Lilie Belle in MaGuyane decribes Carnival in French Guiana and provides an answer to the question [Fr]:

Le touloulou se pavane devant les hommes. ils arrivent seuls ou en groupe dans le dancing. Ce qui veut dire que monsieur ne sait pas comment est habillée sa femme. Le touloulou peut narguer son mari ou voir même son patron !! Ce sont les touloulous qui invitent les hommes à dancer. […]Depuis quelques années, il existe la version homme : les Tololos. Ce sont les hommes qui se déguisent et invitent les femmes à danser.

“Touloulous” prance in front of men, who come to the party by themselves or in a group of friends. It means that husbands usually don't know how their wives are disguised. Touloulous can therefore taunt their husbands and even their bosses!! Touloulous invite men to dance and not the opposite.
[…] For a few years, there has been a new trend: the Tololos. Men, all in disguise, invite women to dance.

Darlie's words echo Lillie Belle's and Eric Leon 's in 97320, a French Guianese blog, when she states that the launching of Carnival is a much awaited event [Fr]:

Ça y est mesdames et messieurs, à l'instant même, le coup d'envoi est donné, le carnaval haïtien est lancé et c'est parti pour un mois et demi d'ambiance populaire.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Haitian Carnival is officially kicked-off. It is going to be one month and a half of popular jubilation.

In a few words, Darlie explains what (Haitian) Carnival is about [Fr]:

Couleur, Costume, masque, majorette, danse, humour, Charles Oscar, Char, spectacle… un menu très varié et pimenté vous attend mesdames, messieurs dans la capitale haïtienne et à Jamel à partir de ce dimanche jusqu'au mercredi des cendres avant le levé du soleil.

Colors, costumes, masks, cheerleaders, dances, humor, Charles Oscar, floats, shows…ladies and gentlemen, you can expect a diverse and spiced menu in the Haitian capital and in Jacmel, from this Sunday until the dawn of Ash Wednesday.

When she talks about diversity, Darlie tackles a core aspect of the French Caribbean Carnival: the expression of its various influences and origins. Nowadays, in Guadeloupe, French Guiana and Martinique, Carnival is celebrated every Sunday with popular parades of well-organized mas bands, of different sorts. Some bands are influenced by European carnival and wear very colorful, feathery, beady, sparkling and shimmering costumes, as in most Latin Carnivals, like the famous one in Rio de Janeiro. These bands always take part in competitions to elect the best band, the best music, the best choreography and eventually the King and the Queen of Carnival. This webpage from “la Mairie de Fort-de-France“, in Martinique shows pictures of this election which gathers different generations: Baby Queen, Mini Queen, Queen and Queen Mother.

The second type of band was first developed in Guadeloupe: they are generally called cultural movements, the aim of which is to bring French Caribbeans closer to their African roots. They promote a Carnival based on spiritual traditions, authenticity and nature and a more traditional music with local drums, made with young goat skins (”mas a pô”). They are announced by whips and incense and do not play rhythmical music, nor do they perform choreographies in the street. Their trademark is marching in a spiritual, almost mystical atmosphere. Here are pictures of “Kléla” (the key), a “mas a pô” band from Guadeloupe.

Those two main types of bands are in the streets from Epiphany Sunday until Ash Wednesday, when Vaval (the effigy of the King of Carnival) is burnt symbolically as the end of Carnival and the beginning of Lent. In Guadeloupe though, people go back for one more parade 15 days later, on “Jeudi de la Mi-Carême” at mid-Lent. The colors of this parade are red and black to show that Vaval is dead but is going to live again the next year.

All photos in this post are of 2008 Carnival and Dimanche Gras in Guadeloupe, courtesy the author. See the whole set in her Facebook album, here.

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India: Blogger silenced

Rezwan · 20:49, January 30th, 2009 · South Asia

lingua → pt · nl · sr · es

Chyetanya Kunte is an Indian blogger living in the Netherlands. On 27th of November, 2008 during the terror attacks in Mumbai he wrote a blog post (now available through Google cache) criticizing Indian private television channel New Delhi Television (NDTV) and particularly their group editor Barkha Dutt's coverage of the incident.

The post was deleted from Chyetanya's blog, and on 26th of January, 2009 he posted this apology confirming unconditional withdrawal of the post. This has sparked anger and strong condemnations in the Indian blogosphere.

Gaurav Sabnis at Vantage point predicts:

It does not take a PhD in reading between the lines to guess what happened. NDTV probably sent Kunte a legal notice, asking him to pull the post down, apologize, never write about them again, and pay an absurdly massive amount of money.

Retributions confirms quoting Barkha Dutts's Facebook message that Chyetanya Kunte was indeed served with a legal notice on 3rd of January. She apparently wrote:

Just because some random bloke can sit at a computer and make up stuff doesn't mean he or others like him need to be dignified with responding to their utter and total rubbish. rubbish is what it is. And as already mentioned. Mr. Kunte has been served a legal notice for libel by NDTV. That should give you some indication of where we and I stand. The freedom afforded by the Internet cannot be used to fling allegations at individuals or groups in the hope that they will then respond to things that aren't worthy of engagement.

Gaurav Mishra at Gauravonomics Blog compiles a roundup of condemnations by Indian bloggers for silencing Chyetanya. He also reveals:

Chyetanya sent me an email on January 25th, requesting me to take down the link to his post in my roundup of reactions to media coverage of the 11/26 Mumbai terror attack. I haven’t taken down the link and excerpt yet, but I have refrained from blogging about the issue so far out of concern for complicating Chyetanya’s and, perhaps, my own legal situation.

The fact is that Chyetanya wasn't the only one criticizing NDTV. According to Gaurav:

Bloggers were scathing in their criticism of Barkha Dutt’s sensationalistic coverage of the 11/26 Mumbai terror attack, accusing her of broadcasting sensitive information about the position of hostages and security troops, sensationalizing the news coverage, and being borderline hysterical, in general.

Nanopolitan tells NDTV in the post “congratulations NDTV“:

The apology you extracted reminds us of re-education programs that totalitarian regimes impose on dissidents. Or of re-induction rituals in third rate gangster movies.

Gargi at POV writes:

Amongst the institutions that has rapidly lost my trust, especially in the last two years, is the broadcast news media. Between the Prince episode, the Arushi Murder Case, running recorded footage with live bugs, with the 26/11 coverage - i have stopped watching TV news. I read magazines, i read newspapers and I read blogs. I do these because i have far more faith in the credibility of those who write - than the credibility of those who produce and package news on TV.

Updates of the Indian bloggers' reactions can be found at Desipundit. Blogbharti posts an appeal:

We urge all bloggers to send us their views on this issue. And to protest NDTV’s highhanded efforts to curb our freedom of speech.

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Indonesia: Fatwa against smoking, yoga, vasectomies….

Mong Palatino · 20:34 · East Asia

lingua → it · fr · it · sr

The Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI), the country’s highest Islamic authority, has issued a Fatwa against the following last week:

1. A ban on aspects of yoga that contain Hindu elements.

2. A ban on vote abstention if “qualified” candidates exist.

3. A ban on smoking by children and pregnant women, and in public places.

4. A ban on abortion unless the mother is a rape victim, the pregnancy endangers her life, or the fetus is aged less than 5 weeks.

5. A ban on vasectomy because the process is “irreversible”.

6. A ban on marriage with minors, based on a 1974 law that forbids men under 19 and women under 16 years old from marrying.

The edict against yoga has captured the attention of many people in the world. A few weeks ago, Malaysia also banned the mantras associated with yoga. Indonesians are debating the fatwa in an online forum. As expected, yoga teachers criticized the ban on yoga:

“To me, yoga is not something that can be regulated by clerics. It’s up to the individual how they practice it,” said Pujiastuti Sindhu, a Muslim and the owner of the Yoga Leaf Studio in Bandung, south of the capital Jakarta.

“The clerics are afraid that people who practice yoga are worshipping another god but we are not. It’s only because they don’t understand what yoga is and they feel it’s a threat. They should go to yoga class and try it.”

Via Twitter, here are some of the comments on the Fatwa:

astrid_amalia: If yoga is a sin, then let me live in my own sin. Yoga has proven 2 open my eyes about God, so where's the sin?

ifahmi: I do read the Fatwa. And for me all of them are stupid, because it's none of their bussiness. Smoking, Yoga, vasectomy, voting.

kapkap: Very very embarrassing. While people are striving to overcome global crisis, here MUI talking stuffs such as yoga is evil

LeonnieFM: I read many tweets about MUI tonight saying about they ban yoga? I suggest they ban them selves for being such hypocrite

Everything Indonesia reminds the Ulema Council that there are other more important issues than yoga:

I have no particular beef with the Ulema Council that recently banned yoga for Indonesian Muslims. But don't they have better things to do, than touring the country's gym classes and coming out against Hindu chanting?

The fatwa was also criticized by the Nahdlatul Ulama, Indonesia’s biggest Islamic organization:

Nahdlatul Ulama, Indonesia’s biggest Islamic organisation, slammed the edicts as “excessive.”

NU deputy head Masdar F. Mas’udi said the MUI should not have dragged religion into the three matters.

Yoga, as it is practiced in Indonesia, he said, was a pastime and must not be seen in the context of religious worship.

To discourage people from smoking, he added, the MUI should not use “Islamic law” as a tool.

He also said the MUI should “not bring in God and threaten people with hell” if it wanted to encourage Muslims to vote.

My Busy Brain believes there is no teaching against abstinence from voting:

“Regarding the abstinence from voting, I don’t see anything from the teaching in Islam, which is clearly written in the Qur’an, that says not voting is haram(sinful act). What Islam teaches is to pick the right leader (with all the description of what a good leader should be like). Islam also teaches about choices. It teaches about freedom.”

Multibrand says the fatwa cannot be enforced legally:

“I say that although according to our legal system a Fatwa of MUI is not part of our positive law, therefore could not be enforced legally, however considering MUI is the highest Moslem religious authority said Fatwa will surely have moral impact especially among people living in rural area.”

Smokers were disappointed with the fatwa against smoking:

“I am angry about the fatwa, because both my father and grandfather are smokers and the new fatwa now makes them sinners,” said Abdul Hardiyanto, 38, a Muslim stock broker.

“I am going to keep smoking, because religion must stay away from this matter. We have government regulation for this kind of thing,” added Wisena, 33, a Muslim who works in a fish shop.

The photo that appeared in the homepage was taken from the My Yoga Online.

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Cambodia: Internet censorship targets artists

Tharum Bun · 18:44, January 30th, 2009 · East Asia

lingua → nl · sw · zhs · zht

As the number of Internet users has been growing rapidly in Southeast Asia in recent years, online censorship has proliferated, from China to Cambodia, as if it runs through the Mekong river.

Not only the “Great Firewall of China” that is known to many people, democratic country like Thailand also blocks a large number of Web sites; in Vietnam, its Ministry of Information and Communication has recently released a circular to regulate and enforce blogging rules in the country in late 2008. With rules and regulations in place, these governments have developed and deployed their own censorship machine to control how citizens publish and access online contents.

Although Cambodia has the lowest Internet penetration rate (70,000 users as of 2007), artists, however, are more recognized not through offline exhibitions, but their presence on the world wide web. This increasing use of blog to reach out larger audiences attracts more than attention and support.

A former freelance editorial cartoonist for Far Eastern Economic Review from 1997-1999, Bun Heang Ung presently lives in Australia. Observing his home country Cambodia from the other side, the 57-year-old cartoonist launched Sacrava Toons blog in 2004, nearly a decade after he published ‘The Murderous Revolution : Life and Death in Pol Pot's Kampuchea,' his first book of black and white line illustrations that tells his very own experiences of the Khmer Rouge regime. In voicing his opinions, the talented cartoonist publish his drawings of all things that matter to him on the Web. In one of his recent posts, he used ‘I have a dream' as a backdrop for his illustration of Barack Obama, the 44th President of the United States.

sacrava
Barack Obama, illustrated by Bun Heang Ung

Recently, according to Wikileaks, the political cartoonist's blog is being blocked in Thailand, where its Ministry of Information and Communication Technology is in charge of banning Internet sites that violates its Kingdom's lèse majesté.

Cambodian blogger Thom Vanak, at Blog By Khmer, made his point on the issue:

Regarding Lèse majesté, although I think it's archaic and outdated law in this day and age, but nevertheless, it's still Thai's law. If I ever set my foot on Thai soil I would respect their laws. The same if I'm to visit any other country, I would respect the local laws of that country.

While the prominent cartoonist's blog appears on censorship list (as of 20 Dec 2008) by Thailand, the Cambodian Ministry of Women's Affairs, in December last year, threatened to block a Web site that contains artistic illustrations of bare-breasted Apsara dancers and a Khmer Rouge soldier. The attempt to shut down reahu.net (or at least to filter it by Internet Service Providers in the Cambodian capital) was echoed by a human rights activist, who was quoted as saying that “the Web site should be shut down because it appealed too much to young Cambodians.”

Reahu.net is currently not accessible by Internet visitors in Cambodia, while there is no issue with access in the U.S. The error message appears:

Screenshot of reahu.net site being filtered by Cambodia's Internet Service Providers

Cambodia's most prominent anonymous blog author at ‘Cambodia: Details are Sketchy' wrote about the controversial issue:

“If anyone should understand the value of free speech, the deputy director of communication and advocacy at Licadho seems a likely candidate. It is disheartening that Vann Sophath supports censoring Reahu’s illustrations”

Artist Reahu posted a note on his site, recently becoming popular after gaining media attentions in the past few months, in response to his critics:

Judging from the complaints, I wonder how we as Khmer will be able to make it in the 21st Century. Please be open-minded, you must be able to see beyond the four walls surrounding your hut.

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Kyrgyzstan: What Did the President Mean?

Elena Skochilo · 14:01 · Central Asia & Caucasus

lingua → ru

On January, 27th the President Kurmanbek Bakiev addressed to citizens of Kyrgyzstan. In his speech the President declared that created strategic documents must be realizing more actively. He also identified national interests and told about creation of two new structures (Secretary and Institute of the Strategic Analysis). In addition Bakiev declared about necessity to improve an efficiency of a system of management and power system in the country.

… once again I want to stress that at the present moment the participation of all interested forces, citizens is especially important in the advancement of Kyrgyzstan but not the separate political positions and personal preferences. We all have one home country, one land and any voice with constructive suggestions will be heard. Regardless of party and political preferences”, - Bakiev told [ru].

Both simple citizens and the majority of politicians couldn’t conclude anything unambiguous from the speech of the President.

Livejournal user, communist Sergey Kozhemjakin aka kojemyakin wrote [ru] in his blog:

“All past week, since morning till the night it was repeated to all Kyrgyzstanis: on January, 27th the President will address to the people. All held breath. Such event doesn’t happen too often. About what will Bakiev tell us? About shifts in the government? About changes of foreign policy vector? Here it is! On all TV to channels, including the Russian. And … - nothing! I listened to it, I read the text … Water! True water! Nothing concrete”.

The user of Diesel forum Befs understood nothing [ru].

“I started reading and stopped after 4 phrases … Was there anything written smart? Or all was of the sort? Intricate sentences with beautiful words which were written not for understanding? Can anybody tell me the main point of that message? I am sure; it is possible to place the main point in one simple sentence.”

The deputy of Social-democratic party in parliament Isa Omurkulov supports [ru] Befs:

“I didn’t understand what he wanted to say. Nothing concrete. Now we all know that the Secretary of the president is created. That is all. Nothing more”.

The director of Institute of the Strategic Analysis and Estimation Sergey Masaulov was impressed [ru] by brevity and capacity of a statement of the basic ideas of the message:

“The most important part of president’s message was that Kurmanbek Bakiev offers an idea of balance between traditions and innovations, democracy and some order, future movement and present support. It is good, when the country has development strategy”.

Livejournal user Azamat Imanaliev aka azzzik asked[ru] some questions after speech of the President:

There are questions about the organization of the appeal of the President.
Why did he stand against a ladder? IMHO, the office would look better.
There red color prevailed on the screen during his speech. As for me, it gives some impression of aggression.
Why was the message shown not only on the state and other local tv-channels, but also, for example, on the Russian First channel?
Why was the speech in the Kyrgyz language broad casted at 20:00, and in Russian - on an hour later?
Why were the Russian subtitles with spelling errors during performance?

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