Cos-maux-polis has several posts about the trip criticizing certain statements made by Sarkozy as racist:

Décidément les déclarations de Nicolas Sarkozy sur le sol africain ont de quoi interroger. Voici qu'à l'occasion de son voyage officiel en Tunisie, le Président de la République a laissé percevoir sa conception du partenariat Nord-Sud : « Vous avez une main d'œuvre qui ne demande qu'à être formée, nous avons beaucoup d'intelligence et beaucoup de formation (…) ».

Clearly the statements of Nicolas Sarkozy on African soil are worth questioning. On the occasion of his official visit to Tunisia, the President of the Republic revealed his concept of a North-South partnership: “You have a workforce who do waiting to be trained, we have a lot intelligence and a lot of training (…).”

She also reported statements from Bakchich :

lors du voyage officiel en Tunisie, Nicolas Sarkozy aurait déclaré en off : « à chaque fois que je viens (en Tunisie), il y a une grève de la faim. Chaque fois que je pars, la grève s'arrête. Je le constate, c'est tout ». Il aurait ajouté: « bien sûr qu'il n'y a pas de démocratie en Tunisie. Mais on n'y a pas les mêmes critères qu'en France ».

during the official visit to Tunisia, Nicolas Sarkozy declared, off the record: “whenever I come (in Tunisia), there is a hunger strike. Whenever I go, the strike ends. I'm just saying, that's what I see.” He reportedly added: “Of course there is no democracy in Tunisia. But the criteria here are not the same as in France “.

Tunisian blogger Zizou from Djerba writes about the fall of the Tunisian opposition, which coincided with Sarkozy's visit, and insisted on the need for change while Sarkozy demonstrated his pragmatism:

Comme tout le monde l'a constate, le president francais a choisi son camps et l'a montre clairement. Sarkozy a choisi de jouer la carte du gouvernement alors que la partie visible de l'opposition , gonflee a bloc apres les evenements de Redeyef l'attendait comme un messie. Une enieme greve de la faim a ete organise et les contacts ont ete pris bien a l'avance avec des journalistes qui connaissent deja le pitch….Les propos du president Francais avaient le merite d'etre clairs et sa position est tout a fait comprehensible et limite previsible.

As everyone has noted, the French president chose his camp and showed it clearly. Sarkozy has chosen to play the government's card while the visible part of the opposition bloc, which has swelled since the [food protests] in Redeyef, received him like a messiah. For the umpteenth time, a hunger strike was organized and journalists, who already know the drill, were contacted well in advance…. The remarks of the French president had the merit of being clear and his position is entirely understandable and unsurprisingly limited.

Global Voices Advocacy Director Sami Ben Gharbia writes with irony about this visit in a post titled “Sarkozy has voted Ben Ali” (”Sarkozy a voté Ben Ali”), even embedding a video of famous French muppets ‘”les guignols de l'info”:

He writes:

Au deuxième jour de sa deuxième visite d'Etat en Tunisie, Nicolas Sarkozy est resté fidèle à la diplomatie des contrats, que certains veulent qualifier de “Realpolitik”, et nous apporte la bonne nouvelle : “l'espace des libertés progresse en Tunisie”. Enfin ! Ben Ali a eu droit aux louanges de la part de quelqu'un qui ne veut pas s'ériger “en donneur de leçons” sur les droits de l'Homme.

On the second day of his second state visit to Tunisia, Nicolas Sarkozy has remained faithful to the diplomacy of contracts, which some people want to characterize as “realpolitik”; he brings us some good news: “the space for freedoms progresses in Tunisia”. Finally! Ben Ali has been entitled to praise from someone who does not want to “lecture” others on human rights.

Taras Kalapun's Beginning of a Music

A Japanese instrument maker with his trumpet made from a bell pepper and a cucumber has been making its rounds on the internet, so I'll bring a few other interesting instruments from elsewhere in the world. YouTube user 13strings (account currently closed) made an open call: to have everyone show their own home-made instruments on YouTube, and replies have rolled in including the following three: a whole orchestra made from recycled cans and plastic soda-bottles, how to make didgeridoos, a bottle wind and water organ. From another place in the world, an instrument that may not be home made but certainly has a distinctive sound: the hurdy gurdy.

From Brazil, jamilgiudice has at least 5 different instruments made from recycled soft drink cans and bottles.

From Australia, gwdidg shows us how aborigines harvest from termite hollowed-out gum trees what is possibly the world's oldest wind instrument, the didgeridoo:

From Singapore, einrahseinraw blows into tuned bottles, takes pictures of himself and proceeds to mix them up to play Toccata et Fugue in D Minor by Bach:

And to wrap things up, thanks to avinograd from Russia comes a beautifully rhythmic traditional folk song played in an instrument I had never seen in my life, the hurdy gurdy or gironde:

April 26th, 2008 should be a usual day, no more.
However, this March, Wenwei mentioned about a 24-hr photo activity held in 1992, and Yangphoto decided to hold a 24-hr photo blogging relay on April 26th:

照片具有歷史意義
影像能表達生命力
相機掌握在你手上
按下生命感動的快門

In response to this call,

來自台灣各個角落的一百九十位攝影者在當天拿起相機，按下快門，接力記錄台灣的24小時。
這些照片與連結將在今天（5月5日）在網路部落格完整呈現….

00:00-07:00:People finishing yesterday's work, people preparing for a new day, and people supporting the the former two groups of people.
07:00-11:00:People eating breakfast, people starting working, and people taking a day off.
11:00-15:00:Young people and cats waking up and hanging around, people keeping working, and people attending activities.
15:00-17:00:People keeping working, people playing, and more people playing.
16:54-21:00:People with their family, people with their friends, people with themselves, and people with food.
21:00-24:00:People keeping working, people going home, and people trying to find their home.

Yangphoto said,

而從這些照片來看，參與這次活動有媒體的攝影記者、高度使用網路部落格的學生、為人師表的老師、一般的市井小民…等[…]容或影像水準不一，容或是負面的台灣，但他們真實呈現了所看到的台灣。

Wenwei said this kind of activity can

使在台灣的每一人有命運共同體的體認。

He also hopes that in the future we can have

台灣企業的２４小時、台灣勞工的２４小時、台灣婦女的２４小時.

There is also a video including some photos in this activity on youtube (uploaded by ohho0625):

Orkut

A very large part of Brazil's online life is going on inside Orkut. Still, most of the Brazilian mainstream media and the blogosphere don't pay much attention to this social networking service, unless there's something bad to be said about it. News about hate-groups meeting at Orkut, or about pedophiles using of the social networking service to exchange child pornography or to hunt for potential victims, are fairly common on both the Brazilian media and blogosphere. But what else is going on there? Who might be all these Brazilians at Orkut, and what are they doing there?

To give Global Voices Online readers some insight into the answers to these questions, let's take a quick look at some of the Brazilian activity at Orkut, and you're invited to come along if you have an Orkut profile or a Google account - you need at least a basic registration — in order to follow the links:

First of all, let's take a look at some profiles. The first thing you notice is… Brazilians have a lot of friends. It's very common in Brazil to add everyone you know — or even just heard of — and fake or “non-person” profiles to your friend's list. More than that, it's usual to add people you don't know and don't even want to know, just in case you wish to visit their profiles someday. It's also easy to notice how fond we are of showing pictures of ourselves and our friends, except when we want to look particularly cool (and that's fairly less common). Most profiles are very colorful in language and imagery, and show a lot about what it's intended for the profile viewers to know about the people behind them. It's easy to feel that despite personal taste differences, Brazilians feel very “at home” at Orkut and their profiles are testimony to this.

Gigi is famous on the scene. Lots of friends, lots of pictures, long description, busy scrapbook: Typical Brazil.

The scrapbooks, places where users can leave open short messages to others on their profiles, are heavily used not only to chat, sometimes to many people at a time — is if everyone was in a house meeting or a party — but are also usual places to advertise parties, events and share quotes and textual fragments. It's a matter of opinion whether these are spam or just free-form personal advertising.

Fake profiles, as well as bogus communities — like this one named “it must be boring to be a tree” — are very common. However, more than causing mayhem, these are more commonly put to mostly healthy humorous uses. Some even say Brazilians rise fake profiles and bogus communities to a work of art.

On the “I woke up somewhat bilingual today” they don't even have forum topics. The community was made just for the fun of having it's banner on their profiles.

Now, let's take a look at the communities. Besides the vast majority of communities aimed more to provide humorous or ideological “badges” for their members to show on their profiles than places for real conversations, there are a lot of serious communities too, and a lot of interesting and passionate debates are going on there. Let's take two examples. one from a community discussing the women's right do decide on abortion and the other from a community discussing Brazilian ban on WordPress.

Abortion is only legal in Brazil in cases of sexual abuse or pregnancy that endangers the mother's life. In this thread about whose interests were behind the legalization of abortion in Brazil, on the community “Aborto: um tema em debate” [”Abortion: a matter under discussion”], mor@ngoღღ says [Pt]:

“[…]Hoje li um texto* que no mínimo aguçou essa minha vontade de esclarecer a questão. Trata-se dos dizeres do Professor Humberto Vieira presidente da PROVIDAFAMILIA.

De acordo com sua pesquisa, ele mostra que existem correntes eugenistas que pregam o controle populacional usando entre outros recursos o aborto.

Essas correntes seriam responsáveis por discursos bem parecidos com o que vemos aqui. Por detrás de um feminismo de fachada querem reduzir-nos em número para que não representemos uma ameaça ao domínio dos países imperialistas.[…]“

“[…]I read an article today that sharpened my urge to clarify [this] matter. It was about what professor Humberto Vieira, president of PROVIDAFAMILIA [roughly: “PRO-LIFE-AND-FAMILY”] association, says. According to his researches, he shows that there are some eugenic factions that preach the population control using, among other methods, abortion. These factions were responsible for speeches that are very similar to the [pro-choice] ones we see here. Hiding behind a facade of shallow feminism, they want to reduce our numbers so we don't represent a menace to the imperialist countries domination.[…]”

Then Jose Guilherme furiously retorts [Pt]:

“[…]se vc levou a sério esse texto mediocre e paranoico por favor vai pra comunidade do Olavo de Carvalho. Pq lá é que eles gostam dessas teorias de dominação mundial.

E se for verdade ? Vamos deixar de fazer algo pq os outros querem isso ? Vamos ditar as nossas políticas públicas para contrariar aos supostos “imperialistas” e não pq interessa ou não ao país ? E como diminuir população ajuda os “imperialistas” ? Tudo vago e sem explicação… claro…“

“[…]if u took this mediocre and paranoid article seriously, u should go to the Olavo de Carvalho community. ‘Cos they really like these world-domination theories over there. And what if it's true? Should we refrain from doing something just because someone else wants us to? Should we modify our public policies just to counteract some supposed ‘imperialists', and not because it is in our country's best interests? And how does reducing the population help the ‘imperialists'? All very vague and with no explanations… of course…”

Politely, mor@ngoღღ tries to support her point:

“Eu entendo controle de natalidade como determinar quantos filhos cada pessoa deve ter. Diferente de planejamento familiar. Pelo menos era o que eu pensava. Eu via planejamento familiar como dar ferramentas para que as pessoas escolhessem quantos filhos querem ter…
Mas se a campanha vier acompanhada de atos proibitivos ou punitivos vira controle de natalidade, isso eu sou contra.“

“I understand birth control as the determination of to how many kids a person is allowed to give birth. It's not the same as family planning. At least, that's what I used to believe. I used to see family planning as bestowing tools for people to choose how many children they want to have… but if the campaign includes prohibitive or punitive acts, it becomes birth control, and I am against that.”

Kelli joins the conversation saying [Pt]:

” Meio incoerente não?
[…]
Aborto criminalizado é um ato proibitivo e punitivo, então vc tbm é contra?“

“Doesn't it sound a little incoherent? […] The ban on the abortion is a prohibitive and punitive act. So, you're against this [ban]?”

Then José Guilherme delivers his coup-de-grâce:

“Morango […] Esse discurso é meramente uma forma de atacar a legitimidade de quem é a favor da legalização. Pintar essas pessoas ou como capachos de “agentes” externos… ou como ingenuos manipulados. Ou seja… ao invês de debater as questões… buscam atacar as pessoas e suas motivações. Ad Hominem em escala grande.
Na ANDSC menos de 25% das mulheres disseram que abortariam/abortaram… então ao menos 75% realmente acreditam que as OUTRAS devem ter esse direito sem que isso seja reflexo de interesse proprio.
As teorias ditas “Freakonomics” de controle da natalidade tambem foram rejeitadas pela ANDSC.“

“Morango […] your speech is merely a way to undermine the legitimacy of those who fight for the legalization [of the abortion]. To make them look like servants to external ‘agents'… or like manipulated naive people. So… instead of discussing the important matters… [you] seek to attack people and their motivations. It's a mass Ad Hominem [argument]. At the ANDSC [Aborto não deve ser crime - “abortion should not be a crime” [Pt], a pro-choice Orkut community] less than 25% of the women said they would eventually get an abortion, or have already had one… so, at least 75% of them really believe the OTHER ones should have this right [to choose], without any personal interest involved. The mentioned ‘Freakonomics‘ birth control theories were rejected, too, at ANDSC.”

At another community, about the Brazilian justice threat to ban Wordpress.com domain [Pt] (already discussed here and in many other places), there's a thread where the members show their discontent at the idea of one million users being punished for just one blogger's misdeeds. Paulo calls its peers into action:

“Calar a boca de 1 milhão pelo erro de um ?
Não podemos deixar isto acontecer. Se alguém errou, que pague-se pelo ato cometido, mas não se pode penalizar uma coletividade, devido o erro de um indivíduo.
Temos que chamar a atenção da mídia e da sociedade para este cerceamento da liberdade que querem cometer.
Mande e-mails para os amigos, para a imprensa, para autoridades.
Se nos omitirmos, teremos nossa boca calada. E depois não adianta chorar. “

“Silencing one million [users] to punish for just one's mistake? We can't let it happen. If someone misbehaved, he or she should pay for his/her acts, but you can't punish the entire collective for just one individual's misdeeds. We must call the media and the society attention to this violation of our freedoms that they want to commit. Send emails to your friends, to the media and to the authorities. If we omit ourselves, we will have our mouth shut, and then it will be no use to crying over this.”

Athos seems to agree with Pedro, and vents his frustration over his faceless suspect [Pt]:

” Se verem um blog de pornografia,denunciem.
Vai ver é ele que fez toda a merda.“

“If you see a pornographic blog, report it. Maybe it was the responsible for all this shit.”

There's always a lot to say about Brazilian use of Orkut. On my next articles, I'll try to keep track of it, and use it together with the Brazilian conversations on the blogosphere, to amplify Brazilian voices on the Internet. This will surely provide a better picture of what we have to say to each other, and to the world.

As a bonus, here is a video, provided by José Murilo in his blog Ecologia Digital [Pt], where we can watch John Perry Barlow — political activist, social thinker and mythical band Grateful Dead's lyrics writer — explaining his views on Orkut and Brazil, and telling us how he may have been an important part of all this Brazilian online party:

—

The author of this article is on Orkut too. He may be found here. Don't forget to leave your opinion about his cat. Both man and cat appreciate it a lot.

(author's note: most of Orkut links in this article are in Portuguese)

Reasons not to Overeat by BreezeDebris

In YouTube, toddgsapp shows us a video of the process by which a family makes mud cakes, not only to eat themselves, but also to sell. These dirt cookies or mud cakes are made out of dirt, shortening and salt, and is sometimes their only means of sustenance.

Food for thought, isn't it?

However, it seems that most seem aware of the problem, but there is precious few that we can do to help out. lovinitwithhim uploaded a video on the Haitian Food crisis for Kids Against Hunger you can see here.

With the following Current TV video by robhill_productions for Meds and Food for Kids (MFK) in Haiti we are given an insight into an NGO seeking and testing a possible solution for malnutrition in children, based on a high energy peanut butter product that is ready to use and to be given to the children. This boosted peanut butter is said to contain peanuts, powdered milk, sugar, oil, vitamins and minerals and is produced locally using Haitian peanuts harvested from local farmers and all the other supplements are purchased locally as well, helping the economy. According to MFK, it costs $68 for a full dosage of the ready to use therapeutic food, or Medikal Mamba as it is known locally, to be given to a child and bring them back to life.

Mahmood gives us a taste of Haifa Wehbe's music in a vlog:

He adds:

So what’s so special about this lady then, that would make her so damnably dangerous that they’re all frothing at the mouth to bar her from performing in Bahrain?
Well my friends, I hope this vlog will demonstrate that there is really nothing unusual about her, other than being a beautiful lady who can’t sing! But those qualities could hardly be held against her, she is not the first and most certainly not the last person to use what Allah has given her to her advantage.

Munther was offended by the high price of tickets - for a concert which happened to be on International Workers' Day:

Oh and bringing Haifa Wahbi to celebrate the day is the biggest insult to the working class especially with tickets starting from BD 50 ($132.642) - who are you kidding?

What's Up Bahrain is also shocked by the ticket prices:

WHO IN THEIR RIGHT MIND WOULD PAY 200 DINARS TO SEE A TALENTLESS WOMAN SING ON STAGE !!!!!!!! Seriously what's up with those ticket prices, if you're willing to charge that much for a hayfa wehbe concert why not get someone who deserves it.

Nevertheless, the concert sold out - and Mahmood has a theory why:

In spite of the 'severe' objections from Islamist MPs, Hayfa sang last night at the Gulf Hotel and thrilled the audience who filled the hall with all tickets sold! What does this demonstrate? Does it demonstrate that the MPs have no authority whatsoever, or is it that the government chose - in its wisdom - to simply stall and ignore them completely and do nothing to let the concert go on? To me, I think it clearly demonstrates that at the very least the MPs did not choose their battle wisely, they rushed things, polarised opinions, stepped on multiple toes and in the end, the lady sang despite all their objections, resolutely poking her fingers in their wandering eyes while thanking them, even subliminally, for making her show a memorable sellout concert. Hang on, maybe it was that in the first place, both Hayfa and the MPs were in cahoots. It was a planned PR and marketing exercise to ensure that the tickets - even the expensive ones - sell out completely! Smart! Those MPs are very very smart!

Ammaro looks at the bigger picture:

I wasn't even going to go into the whole Haifa Wahbi issue, since I believed the whole fuss raised about her was, to say the least, ludicrous. But when I … just mentioned the fact that I thought our MPs were being really, very silly by trying to ban the concert, I get our dear Mr. Anon arguing at how he didn't like what I said. Well, the truth is, the are unfortunately a number of people who are with our MPs on this, and who believe banning a singer was the right thing to do. This isn't a reply to you, Anon, but it's a reply to all Islamists who believe our country should turn into a mini Saudi Arabia, all those who believe our MPs have a job to enforce their religious extremist beliefs on us, and is a direct message to all our MPs to stop their stupid antics and do the job they were hired to do. Anon, you mentioned that Bahrain is supposed to be an ‘Islamic Country'. Well allow me to say that really has no relevance; countries don't go to heaven or hell, countries don't get judged under of the eyes of God. People do. It doesn't matter how ‘Islamic' you try to make a country, it won't affect the people in it; the good people will be good, and the bad people will be bad, regardless of where they live. … Now let's jump back to our MPs. Trying to ban a singer? Bahrain has ISSUES, guys! From unemployment problems, to housing, to corruption, to figuring out who stole what from where.. We didn't hire you to do religion, we hired you to do politics. But you guys focus on a bloody singer, and you're giving me Islam as an excuse? Islam is about behaviour, actions, and what's inside your heart first before anything else. Things banned are only a small part of it, but you've turned it into a HUGE issue. When you guys sit in a parliament session swearing at each other, that's not Islamic. When you guys skip a session to fulfil your own agendas while the people who trusted and elected you wait, that's not Islamic. Hell, when you try to do a job you're unqualified for, sitting on your butts earning a salary that you don't deserve, that's not Islamic. So get off our backs and start doing your jobs, or resign and let someone whose qualified to create progress do them.

And in a follow-up post, Ammaro has some disappointing news for the MPs:

Here's to our MPs and everyone else trying to ban Haifa Wahbi thinking THAT will solve all our morality issues. A big slap in the face for you, Manama has been ranked as the NUMBER EIGHT sin city in the world.

SubVerso

Bachelet lo sabe bien porque aprendió de los gringos Estudiando con los milicos allá en los Estados Unidos Hizo un magíster en defensa y seguridad nacional Así que no le compren na’ su falsa imagen maternal
Tiene ADN familiar militar y dirigente Y aunque incompetente armó un equipo potente pa’ disparar Contra el enemigo interno, que no es el ladrón de terno Sino tus primos, tus vecinos y tus niños pequeños
Te lo enseño en estos versos que son como yo, SubVerso Pa’ que no nos hagan lesos como en el cuento de los “quesos” Si querís adelgazar, bota el peso de tus cadenas Y vamos a romper ventanas de las empresas extranjeras
CORO
Infórmate antes que te formatee la TV Lee, y aprende de la calle también Al rico le conviene mantenerte ignorante Y ocultarte información con la función de esclavizarte

Bachelet knows it well because she learned from the gringos studying with the military there in the USA. She earned a degree in defense and national security so don´t buy that false maternal image.
Her DNA is familiar, military and directive and though incompetent she formed a potent team to shoot against the internal enemy, which isn´t the thief in a 3 piece suit but your cousins, your neighbors and your small children.
I teach you with these verses that are like me, SubVerso so that you don´t play stupid like it happened with the story of the “cheese”. If you wish to lose weight then eliminate the weight of the chains and let´s go break the windows of foreign companies.
Chorus
Inform yourself before the TV re-formats you, read and learn from the street as well The rich ones would rather have you ignorant and hide information from you in order to enslave you.

Inform Yourself could possibly be the Chilean equivalent to Billy Joel's We didn´t start the fire, completely loaded with names, places and events relevant to the current political situation in Chile. This video has come out at a time when the 111 day hunger strike Patricia Troncoso started on behalf of Mapuche Indians rights, the longest one in Chile's history, came to a close and following the death of Mapuche activist and student Matías Catrileo by Chile's Special Police Forces.

On an interview Sebastián Larraín Saá had with SubVerso [es], Vicente Durán explains how the video was built collectively by all the people who uploaded the material used on YouTube, and that his idea was to denounce explicitly the corruption in Chile, using examples from real life and not just making veiled references to what is going on: instead, he uses names and events so that listeners can check and corroborate… and inform themselves.

The Inform Yourself video [es] , as uploaded by conspirazion, the collective SubVerso belongs to:

SubVerso performed live last March 6th in front of the London 38 house, a torture and detention center in downtown Santiago run by the Chilean Secret Police during the Pinochet regime. The concert was organized by Memoria 119 [es], a collective which wishes to turn this house into a “memory house” to honour the victims of the brutal tortures which took place. SubVerso's performance was uploaded by pavelaravena:

SubVerso has joined with other Hip-hop artists in his hometown of Villa Francia as part of the CoN$PiRaZioN group and they have put out a CD, Apaga la tele (Turn off the TV) which can be downloaded free from the group's MySpace page.

The Japanese leg of the Olympic torch relay came to an end on Saturday without serious incident, but many Japanese bloggers who attended the event were left with lasting — and often bitter — impressions. The story of a Tibetan exile living in Taiwan, who jumped at the runner and was taken down by police, sparked hundreds of posts on 2channel, as did the choice of police to block protesters holding Tibetan flags from entering the area around the finish line.

Clash of flags at the Olympic torch relay in Nagano. (from Mousan's Flickr page)

Many bloggers pointed out how Nagano, for one day, seemed to transform into China. Blogger shuyan writes:

私の印象は「この一日だけ長野は完全に中国と化した」ということです。
テレビや写真などで確認できる映像は、とにかく赤い国旗のオンパレードでした。
物々しい警備などを見て「本当にこれが日本？」と思われた方も多いでしょう。
この異様な雰囲気は、平和の祭典とあまりにかけ離れているといった感じです。

In a post entitled “Nagano was red”, blogger Vasi (ヴァスィ) writes:

真っ赤に染まった沿道。
ぶつかり合うチベット支援者と中国人。
何重にも取り囲まれて走る聖火ランナー。
ゴール地点に中国人しか入れさせない長野県警。
弱腰で偏向なマスコミ。(これは異様ってこともないか…)

Olympic torch relay in Nagano. (from Mousan's Flickr page)

Many bloggers expressed frustration at the police presence. Blogger ae0800 writes about their own experience:

僕はスタートの約2時間前、午前6時前後にスタート地点を通過したんですが、その際も持っていたメッセージボードをバッグにしまうよう、警察から指示を受けました。曰く「君たちをトラブルから守るため。それに従えないなら、ここを通すことは出来ない。」ということ。スタート地点周辺は既に中国の国旗が多数はためいている状況でしたが、それでも「埋めつくされている」という状態ではなくむしろスペースかなりがある状態だったにも関わらず、チベット支援者が国旗やボードを掲げる行為、あるいは「そこに留まること」は許されませんでした。同行していた何人かが抗議の声を挙げましたが、「それはここで話す内容ではない。説明や質問は一切受け付けない。」という形でかなり高圧的な対応をされていました。

Olympic torch relay in Nagano. (from Mousan's Flickr page)

An article at OhmyNews cast suspicions, however, on the motivations of some of the pro-Tibet protesters. As writer Fujikura Yoshiro explains:

26日、長野市で行われた聖火リレーのスタート前に見かけた「チベット側支援者」の小競り合いには、現場で取材していて、ある不自然さを感じた。というのも、その場の「チベット側支援者」の言葉や態度が、これまでオーマイニュースでリポートされてきたチベット人のデモ行進や関係者の発言とは、明らかに違ったのだ。

The article goes on to explain that these “Tibet supporters” were actually Japanese “fake Tibet supporters” deliberately trying to cause problems:

スタート地点にいたチベット側支援者たちは、中国人に向かって「帰れ！」「虐殺糾弾！」など、強い調子で非難の言葉を吐いていた。「帰れ」という言葉が、ここでの小競り合いの原因にもなっている。しかし、これまでオーマイニュースでリポートされてきたチベット人のデモなどには、これほどの攻撃性が感じられなかった。ただひたすら「フリーチベット」とコールしているだけで、中国への非難や恨みをモチベーションに活動しているといった印象をまったく受けなかった。

The article concludes with these thoughts:

　チベット人グループと主張が違っていたとしても、チベット旗を掲げ、「フリーチベット」を唱えていた以上、チベット人を支援する意思はあるのだろう。しかし、果たして彼らの存在はチベット人のためになるのだろうか。

　むしろ彼らの行動や態度が、「似非チベットvs中国人」のトラブルを「チベット人vs中国人」であるかのようにメディアや世間に見せつけ、チベット人の足を引っ張ることになりはしないか。

　今回の聖火リレー騒動では、長野市が北京に見えてしまうほどの中国人の動員力と統率力に驚かされ、チベット人グループのまじめで悲痛な訴えにシンパシーを感じた。しかし同時に、“似非チベット”の醜さも見せつけられたイベントでもあったように思う。

Meanwhile, a 40-year-old truck driver, blogging at Kurukichi no hitorigoto, was fed up with both sides:

正直、中国人留学生とチベット支援者がバカ騒ぎするだけの集まりにしか見えませんでした。
留学生も支援者たちも行けばどんな風になるか、わかっているようなものなのに、現地に行って、いざ小競り合いになって怪我人出してたら世話ないですね。

スタート前、右翼の関係者ともめて、怪我をした留学生もいるようですが、これは右翼側が悪いにしても、そんなところに行って御騒ぎすればどうなるかわかると思います。
また、チベット支援者も物を投げたり、乱入しようとしたりと、ただただ迷惑をかけているようにしか見えませんでした。

いろんな言い分はあるにしても、私は双方どちらともいいことをしたとは思えません。
正直、このリレーより善光寺で行われた、チベット騒動の犠牲者の追悼法要の方が落ち着いた感じで視れました。

Finally, blogger OTO tried to move beyond the dispute and hoped for a resolution of the conflict:

北京五輪聖火リレーで少し問題があったみたいです。でも、日本ですから大丈夫です。中国とチベットの問題は２国で解決してし欲しいです。聖火リレーはみんなの人たちにして欲しいです。

Video footage of Nagano torch relay from Channel Sakura. (via i-morley.com [ja])

Because PangeaDay is about bringing people together, an invitation made for audiences to upload their own videos on the pangeaday video channel where you can view the 1037 videos people uploaded in reply.

As an example, one of the uploaded videos is about an Art student in Tanzania, telling his story of his day to day life and how he wants to teach homeless kids about art. Following, the story of Chado by jamesstephenbrown:

The logistics of PangeaDay are awe inspiring: from Cairo, Kigali, London, Los Angeles, Mumbai and Rio de Janeiro, films, live music and speakers will come together to inspire the whole world. The films chosen have been selected from more than 25000 films from over 100 hundred countries.These movies all share some characteristics such as being able to inspire, transform and enabling us to experience life through another's eyes. Queen Noor of Jordan, will be one of the speakers, along with musician and activist Bob Geldorf, Christiane Amanpour from CNN and the Iranian rock group Hypernova. While at these locations people will be getting together, all around the world parties and groups of friends can sign up and show that they will be tuned in: you can attend an open event in your hometown or even host your own.

However, Pangea Day isn't just about getting together during 4 hours. The idea is for the event to get people inspired, talking and making changes. It has also allowed others to participate not only as viewers. Through partner organization Nokia, aspiring filmmakers in different locations throughout the world have been given video enabled mobile devices to some people in rural areas, refugee camps, and film schools, so they too can portray their stories. People can also upload their own videos for a chance to win a Nokia N95 8GB mobile device. This partnership brings us a Myanmar refugee in India recording children's laughter, an Iranian family in a refugee camp in Afghanistan recording their idea of Hope, and an Indian in Bangalore filming the cutting down of Banyan trees… and children planting new trees. You can view these and other videos on this page.

So there are many different ways to participate. Don't miss the chance to be a part of this and make sure to tell others and spread the word.

It was a beautiful party
I was very pleased
I've still kept stubbornly
an old carnation for me
They have wilted your party
But they must have forgotten a seed
in some corner of the garden
(Song by Chico Buarque, to whom I beg forgiveness for my translation)

On April 25 1974, 34 years today, Portugal's 40-year fascist dictatorship, the longest in the history of Western Europe, came to an end with the Carnation Revolution, a leftist, military-led coup d'état. On that morning people went out to the streets despite the advice to stay at home, but instead of blood shed, bullets were swapped for flowers. There was a surprisingly peaceful overthrow of the dictatorship of Antônio de Oliveira Salazar and his successor, Marcelo Caetano, in which the population held red carnations and tucked them into the soldiers' rifle barrels. The second aim of the revolution was the cessation of the war in Africa.

With the too rapid independence for its African colonies, a violent civil war shook Angola, Mozambique was made independent the year after but only found peace in 1992 and East Timor was seized by force by Indonesia a year later. Other colonies, like Cape Verde, were left poor to despair. Despite the decolonization process being considered a shambles, the revolution enjoys popular support today and many Portuguese speaking bloggers, from these countries and around the world, dedicated a post to it.

Lusofolia [pt] publishes the video above, ‘Tanto Mar' is a song-homage composed by Brazilian Chico Buarque, which was later censored as Brazil was enduring its own dictatorship. The blogger says:

… tão distante já, é comovente relembrar daqui de longe o dia em que foram as mulheres que ofereceram flores aos homens. Um abraço a todos e a todas.

… it is so distant now, it is moving to remember from here, so far away, the day on which it was the women who offered flowers to men. A hug to all ladies and gentlemen.

CBugarim [pt], who was born under the Portuguese rule in Angola, says:

Festejo a Paz e o Progresso em Angola e o facto de a distância não me ter separado da minha Família e amigos mais queridos. Presto a minha homenagem a todos aqueles que pagaram com as suas vidas a factura da Liberdade e da Paz.

I'm cheering for the Peace and Progress in Angola and the fact that the distance has not separated me from my dearest family and friends. I pay my homage to all those who paid the bill of Freedom and Peace with their lives

From Maputo, Mozambique, Marta [pt] has been publishing April 25 inspired posts all day with poems, links to video and images, such as the one above.

From Macau, Leocardo [pt] explains the relationship society has with the historic day:

Em Macau o Dia de Cravos bateu com pouca força. É uma sociedade muito conservadora que se pela pelos santinhos, missas e procissões. Talvez seja por isso que alguma da beatada da metrópole se deu tão bem com os ares de cá. Talvez por isso não compreendam que afinal é o povo quem mais ordenha (ordena, bolas!). As actividades do 25/4 resumem-se ao feriado no Consulado, da Escola Portuguesa, e ao protocolo da praxe. Sempre presentes estão os habituais papa-eventos, que vão lá seja qual for o orador.

In Macau, the Carnations Day hit with little impact. It is a very conservative society which goes after little saint images, masses and processions. Perhaps it is why some of the church-blissful ones from the metropolis did so well with the airs over here. Perhaps that is why they don't understand that it actually is the people who do most milking (I mean who order!). The activities of the 25/4 holiday are held in the consulate, in the Portuguese School, and follow the usual protocol. There will be the usual party-goes, who will be there whoever the speaker is.

[Note: the blogger makes a very difficult to translate wordplay with ordenha/ordena, which sound very similar in Portuguese but the first means to milk an animal, and the second to order, to be in charge. The word Ordena was used in a then banned song by José Afonso, Grândola Vila Morena, broadcast on a radio station as a kind of password on the morning of April 25 to signalize to the troops that the day had come, as Brazilian blogger Elisabete Cunha [pt] quotes in a very elaborated post].

From East Timor, Frederico Duarte Carvalho [pt] suggests a book by Nuno Simas which shows how the US knew exactly what was going on in Portugal, unlike the popular belief:

Podem encontrar aqui os originais dos arquivos norte-americanos. O Nuno Simas, contudo, começa o livro com a defesa da versão oficial de que os EUA estavam a “leste” em relação ao golpe que preparava para o dia 25 de Abril de 1974 e, mais à frente, cita Henry Kissinger a queixar-se de que os EUA não tinham de andar a prever golpes pelo mundo fora. Dito assim, parece mesmo que nada se sabia…

You can find the original US archives here. Nuno Simas, however, starts the book defending the official version that the U.S. were “east” when time came to the coup that was being prepared for April 25, 1974, and later, cites Henry Kissinger complaining that the U.S. did not have to to anticipate coups by the outside world. Putting it like this, it seems that they knew nothing…

From Portugal, Alder Pinoca [pt] publishes the image above, says that he remembers little of the sheer happiness around from the day in his childhood and asks when the promised ‘Freedom Day' will actually come:

E diziam que a liberdade estava a passar por ali e que tinha vindo para ficar porque a defenderiam.
Era o 25 de Abril de 1974. Tantas palavras promissoras eu ouvi, a tantas alegrias eu assisti.
E agora, hoje, neste momento, onde estará a liberdade e a alegria que guardei no cofre das minhas memórias de criança?
É isto a liberdade? É isto a democracia? A justiça?
O 25 de Abril, sempre! É isto?

And they said that freedom was coming through and that it was there to stay because they would defend it.
It was April 25, 1974. So many promising words I heard, I watched so much joy.
And now, today, today, where is the freedom and joy that I kept safe in my childhood memories?
Is this freedom? Is this democracy? Justice?
April 25, always! Is that all?

On the other hand, also from Portugal, Tiago R Cardoso [pt] laments that the young generation of today do not appreciate April 25 and do not know how to protest when they need to do so:

A actual juventude está afastada do 25 de Abril, dá-lhe pouca importância, acha que a liberdade e todos estes direitos que tem caíram do céu, quando são fruto de anos de lutas, de acumular de frustrações e injustiça, que culminou na a revolta contra “o estado a que chegamos” […] “O 25 de Abril não é monopólio de uma geração nem de uma força política”, quem me dera que muitos ouvissem e entendessem..

The youth of today is far away from April 25, they give it little attention, they believe that freedom and all the rights that they have have dropped from the sky, whereas they are the result of years of struggles, accumulated frustration and injustice, which culminated in the revolt against “the state we have reached” […] “April 25 is not the monopoly of a generation or a political force,” I wish many people would hear and understand this.

You can read an article by Mozambican author Mia Couto about the revolution here.