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Evo Morales: Bolivia's New President

David Sasaki · 23:16

Este artículo también está disponible en español.

It would seem that Bolivia has found itself a new president-elect in Evo Morales, the leftist candidate of the MAS (Movement Toward Socialism) party. For the latest vote count, Miguel Buitrago of MABB directs readers to the website of the National Electoral Court (ES) and specifically, this very nifty Java-powered graphic. Miguel Centallas has also been posting the latest election results graphics to his flickr account.

Jim Shultz, on Blog From Bolivia, says “headline writers in the foreign press have had a field day trying to pin a label on Morales’ surprise victory” and then tries to get beneath the rhetoric with his own analysis of the meaning behind the elections. Shultz also writes that he was disappointed with Evo Morales' victory speech in Cochabamba which was more campaign-like than visionary and presidential. Dan Moriarty, currently in Bolivia for the holidays, agrees and notes in a comment that:

Alvaro Garcia Linera, Evo's VP, just gave the speech Jim rightly says Evo should have given - all about unity and working together, going beyond the campaign. I think it was pretty clear that Evo had no speech prepared. He seemed as surprised by this as anyone. Understandable.

Blogs de Bolivia has the most thorough summary of bilingual blogger analysis. It is absolutely worthwhile to check out Miguel's collection of excerpts from the English and Spanish-speaking bloggers that make up Bolivia's ever-growing community of online commentators.

Dan Glaister, of The Guardian notes, as does Nick Buxton, that “for the first time in modern electoral history a president has been elected in Bolivia with a majority of the popular vote.” Juan Forero of the New York Times points out that “President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela and President Néstor Kirchner of Argentina, two of the continent's leading left-leaning leaders, quickly offered their congratulations, as did Chile, Spain and the European Union.” But that the U.S. administration “offered cautious congratulations to Mr. Morales and to the Bolivian people “for carrying out a successful election.”

Jonathan Lieberman takes a break from his fun-loving commentary on Argentine and Chilean politics to give the Bolivian elections “a serious look” in his weblog, World Unfurled. Comparing U.S. and Bolivian voting procedures, he writes:

The ballots are huge, maybe 11 by 17 inches. They are full color, with the Candidate name, party, logo, photo and a check box fill a tall rectangle about 2 inches by 6 inches. You put an “X” in the very clearly marked box by the candidate. Perhaps [Americans] could learn a thing or two.

Maintaining his promised new standard of reporting, Jonathan still manages to stay true to his sense of humor when describing his quest to find a taxi driver and photograph a polling station.

Reuters reporter Angus MacSwan, writing from Sao Paulo, poses the question of whether Morales will be “a Lula or Chavez,” referring to Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's moderate brand of social reform compared to the more militant Venezuelan president, Hugo Chavez. Luís Afonso Assumpção of swimming against the red tide recently noted that Morales is on friendly terms with both Lula da Silva and Chavez in his argument that the Sao Paulo Forum is much more than a debate club.

One of the seemingly most important and underreported stories is being tracked by Eduardo Avila, currently in Cochabamba, who links to an article in Univision claiming that some voters were wrongly erased from the voter registry:

Today with the campaign, we found cases of voters who did vote in the municipal elections, but were still subsequently erased. As a result, a member of the OAS electoral observation team came out from the city of Cochabamba to dialogue with party officials and disappointed voters who had all of the documentation, including voter card which showed that they did in fact vote in 2004. A laptop computer from the Corte Nacional was brought out, but no resolution was reached.

The BBC's radio program, Have Your Say discussed the Bolivian elections on today's show. And if you would like to have your own say, Robin Amer of Radio Open Source is currently seeking input on an upcoming show centered on Morales' victory. She asks, “what’s the new moment for Bolivia, and for the continent? Why is socialism back in vogue? And how far will it go?”

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Afghan Blogs: Justice & War Crimes, Fighting Drugs and Parliament

Farid Pouya · 20:56

Afghanistan's government recently announced it plans to address war crimes and other abuses that took place during the decades of conflict in the country. Afghan Reality writes about the importance of such a plan and problems that can block it.

It is clear that an ambitious plan dealing with such topics as truth and justice that encompass a constellation of meanings and interpretations is not an easy task.
An important question rises whether the Afghan government and the international community would be willing to compromise some political instability at the cost of bringing to justice the perpetrators.

In other words, how is the government going to deal with the aftermath of holding these influential officials responsible for their brutal crimes against the Afghan society? While some are already dead, most of these individuals enjoy enormous respect, support and backing from their respective communities.

Most important, nowhere within this action plan, as it stands, have I come across the question of crimes committed by external states.

Most of today’s Afghan problems could be traced to the external intervention and exploitation. Who is responsible for making Afghanistan one of the most mined country? Which country is prepared to take responsibility and compensate for the loss of thousands of innocent lives, predominantly children?

Drugs have long been a major problem for Afghanistan. Recently British forces joined the Afghan army to fight against drugs and smugglers. Afghan Warrior welcomes this initiative and writes about it:

Although Afghan anti-narcotics forces are fighting against the drugs smuggling, they do not have enough forces and equipment to defeat the drugs traffickers. Many Afghan people believe that some warlords and some traffickers linked to the Taliban are involved in the drugs trade and they think some police forces are bribed by the smugglers because their salaries are very low. One policeman only makes US$75 to US$100 a month which is not enough to support themselves and their family. So the British forces will play a key role against the drugs smugglers. Most drug traffickers operate in rural and mountainous areas which are hard for Afghan forces to reach, but the British paratroops-led unit will easily reach those areas

Afghanistan firs post-war parliament met in Kabul. Afghan Lordsays today is a historical day in Afghanistan's political history.

Today is a public holiday in Afghanistan in respect of inauguration of parliament. People seem happy although suffered of injustice and war in the last 24 years. In their faces you can read; no war after this, brotherly and friendly living.

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This Week in Palestinian Blogs: Once Upon a Time

Shaden Abdul Rahman · 12:26

Photo credit: Raising Yousuf

Little Yousuf (one year and 8 months old) played in a pumpkin patch in Maryland and fed some pet goats while in the US. Few days later he was shaking, terrified and disoriented.

Photo credit: Angela

CafeLulu paused to appreciate the breath-taking sunset she probably needed in the middle of a demanding life.

Photo credit: AquaCool

Eman recalled her recent trip to London, the summit and the bloggers she has met.

Photo credit: Living in Gaza City

Amal and Maryam like their kinder garten in Gaza, just the night before this picture was taken though, they couldn't sleep, Imaan -their mother- had to explain what was that boom sound they heard.

Photo credit: Standing Witness

Sahar's friend Omar was arrested by the Israelis, he's twenty year-old, had just found out he won a scholarship and was glad he could finally get out of this place. After what happened, he's probably not going anywhere now.

I keep changing faces and I'm really ticked off, my friend Ohoud said she saw a ring hovering in the sky but I don't believe her! the other day she complained about buses being made for shorties…
Ohoud has a very nice voice, it is always good to be around her and listen to her passionately singing for her people and the land, or playing some of her favortie tunes.

The Tower Keeper showed some pictures of “Israel” to his students in Gaza, and showed some pictures of Gaza to Israelis, both couldn't believe they are looking at the area on the other side of fence. After three months in Palestine, Bob has said good bye to his friends, he's back home now.

About the rest of us, well, our production of olives in Tubas has rotten because the only checkpoint we were allowed to sell olives to the Israeli traders at,has been closed. By the way, our olive oil was mentioned as an ethical xmas present by The Times.

Oh, and before I forget, PHALASTEEN team wishes you a merry christmas!

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Links

Eastern & Central Europe

Q. A. Shah of Kabulog writes that seeing AfghaniStar (think American Idol, Pop Idol, or Eurovision) makes him wonder that if Afghanistan is to have this type of pop culture, whether or not it could use a cynical hipster culture to go along with it.

Middle East & North Africa

A former USC student now living in Iran has turned a class project into a unique cultural effort: Inside Iran, a blog that offers a personal, small-scale look at Iranian life and society. Under the name of “Shiva the Spy” she promises to “be your eyes and ears in Iran. … You'll have a window into the social, cultural, political and historical aspects of the country. I will bring you the stuff that American media can't … or won't.”

Sub-Saharan Africa

In the last couple of months there has been a huge growth spat in Ethiopian blogs - one trend is they seem to be reviewing each other - Meskel Square on Weichegud! ET Politics and him on One Ethiopia ….”This is a log of the lonely thoughts of a man who has grown old in a foreign land. Come and explore with me the good and honorable in the Ethiopian predisposition to patriotism and love of country.” I like that.

Sub-Saharan Africa

The new scourge in Kenya is ” animals are suffering”. Kenyan wildlife is being exported to Thailand! African Bullets and Honey has some dreams around this subject. “From the slopes of Mt Kenya to the palm trees of Lamu, I dream that this land will be emptied of its detritus of selfish humans who have transformed an oasis of noble beasts into a desert sweltering with the rot of poaching and tourism. My friends, I have a dream that our apes, fauna and snakes will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their hides or the texture of their scales, but by the amount of conservation funding they attract to our shores. I have a dream today. By any means necessary”.

Sub-Saharan Africa

Afrika-Aphukira criticises an article by Paul Theroux in the New York Times in which he discusses Malawi and Africa in general……….”Mr. Theroux has done remarkably well to point out how Africa can in fact be self-sufficient, and is not given credit for its resilience, but his effort leaves one with the impression that all is well in the West. He talks about bad governance, corruption and rigged election as if they are a peculiar African phenomenon, when in fact these very vices are alive and thriving in the West itself.”

Sub-Saharan Africa

Afromusing writes about the concept of “micro-financing“……By eliminating the red tape that banks and financial institutions bring with them, this really simplifies the implimentation of grassroot projects that could help a lot of deserving rural folks

Sub-Saharan Africa

Carpe Diem, Ethiopian blog remembers the Red Terror of former Ethiopian dictator, Mengistu……”In addition to the firing squads, security forces used other, more gruesome tactics to suppress opposition. One tool was a nylon rope, or “Mengistu necktie,” used to slowly strangle prisoners or torture them into revealing acquaintances or plots. Other officers were fond of using the bastinado, which was used to brace the feet before smashing them into stumps. Tens of thousands of Ethiopians were permanently crippled in this manner.”

Sub-Saharan Africa

African Migrants and African refugees both based in Australia discuss the race riots in Australia…..“Threat of Race War” and “The Dream of Racial Harmony“…

South Asia

The subcontinent has a complex history, and it reflects on the current struggle for identity - both as South Asia and the country. An example of this is the way people perceive the history of nations. What was India's role in the formation of Bangladesh? An excellent post by Razib, where he collates great data and opinions.

South Asia

United We Blog! has a slightly different post this time. They cover the night-life scene in Khatmandu. What is incredible is that despite the clampdown on media, the violence and the Maoists, the night-life continues unabated. The comments section on this post is full - and extremely interesting.