Global Voices Online

JD Clarke has launched a website dedicated to the 2006 presidential elections in Costa Rica called elecciones2006.com (ES). On its front page is an announcement which seeks volunteer photographers, pundits, and bloggers who want to help cover the election.

Bob Glass writes that for every 1,000 Costa Rican inhabitants, there are only 10 high speed connections, compared to South Korea's 248 or even Chile's 59.

Sinosplice points us to some pretty, Flash patriotic propaganda for China.

Genuinely Bored is a new blog by a Kuching, Malaysia-based graphic designer. She's putting up drawings she's made over the past decade that are themselves thoughtful comments. Call it graphic posting.

Jim Shultz has some PR advice for Bechtel: admit that they made a mistake in their administration of Cochabamba's water supply.

Jessica Zafra is on her way to Utah from Manila for the Sundance Film Festival. Her first adventure: a cancelled flight in Manila that forces her to stay overnight at a cockroach-infested hotel with Filipino immigrants to the U.S. who say “Tell dem we are prom di Istates and we are not use to mabaho (stink).” Follow her further adventures beginning here.

Recently, several prominent Singapore bloggers were invited to a “closed door” meeting held by a well-connected think tank. The meeting was called “Blogging and the Law.” Sintercom. org wonders if the meeting was a prelude to government legislation against bloggers, while Singabloodypore thinks “it was probably just a cosy chat. But why the silence? A lot of 'silence' around the sg blogosphere these days from the so called ‘elite'.”

The annotated budak writes down his thoughts about Singapore blog aggregator tomorrow.sg: as it becomes a one-stop shop for the Singapore blogosphere, people are expecting far more than it can deliver. Has it become a victim of its own success?

The Asia Pages writes about how poorly North Korean defectors are treated in South Korea: “for all the rhetoric of love South Koreans speak of when referring to North Koreans, there are too many cases of Southerners talking the talk but not walking the walk.”

Juan Arellano reviews (ES) two Peruvian political blogs as the election season heats up. Peru Election 2006 is written in English and Spanish by political science students at the University of British Columbia. Perú Político is written solely in Spanish by two Peruvian and one German political science students with the advice of Peruvian philosophy professor, Raúl Valenzuela.

Ian clarifies that he's not joking when, in a post entitled “Argentina's Ruthless Efficiency” he writes that it only took 20 minutes to get a three month working visa. Roberto Bobrow is back with another comic about the state of cultural consumption in Argentina. But in his bilingual explanation, he says he's skeptical of the survey.

What will really change India? Post-graduates placed in MNCs, or more people listening to their inner voice and taking up more risky careers like writing and politics? Rashmi on the recent news of some students from a top ranked technology institute opting to go into politics.

Spanish In India reads an article on labour laws reforms in India and goes on to compare the scenario with Spain to understand how reforms may or may not work.

Unheard Voices on Human Rights Watch World Report 2006 with excerpts on sections on Bangladesh.

United We Blog! has images from Khatmandu which is currently under curfew in two parts.

The Olive Ream, a GV contributor - is interviewed by Radio Open Source and has a quite a tale to tell.

After the sad passing of the Kuwait Emir earlier this week, everything was supposed to be figured out within the week or so to clear the view for us as Kuwaitis to know what is the future of our leadership.
The new Emir, Sheikh Sa'ad, is physically in very bad shape. There was an argument on wether it is possible for Sheikh Sa'ad to be Emir without saying the oath.
Everybody in Kuwait was hoping for the ruling family to agree on something very quickly so everything can go back to normal. Unfortunately, it has gone the opposite way so far, Kuwaitism said.

A special fund raising tour for Theban Mapping Project will cost you $5,000 not including flights plus a donation of $500, Tour Egypt said. The tour promise to take you to visit Nefertari and other closed tombs like KV5 and Seti I.

Journalist and blogger Ahmad Reza Shiri (Persian) will have a permanent threat hanging over him as a result of the suspended sentence (used to silence journalists who bother the authorities) of three years in prison handed down by a court in the northern city of Mashhad, Reporters Without Borders said today. He was reportedly accused of writing articles in his blog calling for a boycott of last February’s legislative elections.

Gukira and MentalAcrobatics both write eloquently on the subject of domestic violence… MA writes “As a man I feel disgrace that on what is essentially my watch, i.e. in my years of manhood, it has become more dangerous for women to be women in our cities, in our towns, in our villages, in our homes. Rape, beatings, domestic violence on the increase.” and Gukira “I am haunted by the cries of a high school teacher’s wife. Her voice punctuated my evening prep, as her husband, a history instructor, struck her again and again. No one intervened. Not his fellow teachers and certainly not students. “

Musings of a Naijman comments on the passing of a bill outlawing same sex marriage in Nigeria…”He caps it by reiterating that oft repeated triteness espoused by such eminences as the venerable Mugabe that homosexuality is “unAfrican”

Molara Wood has an excerpt from a novel by British/Ghanian poetNii Ayikwei Parkes - a novel in progress.

Weichegud! ET Politics comments on an interview she watched on US TV with actress Felicity Huffman who recently became a mother. Huffman through the spanner in the works by coming out and saying first she resents being asked if motherhood is the greatest thing that ever happened to her and secondly no its not.. I with her on this one!
“Motherhood is not the most beautiful thing I have done in my life. Rather, it has been the most uncertain, destabilizing entity to hit my life. All of a sudden my confidence plummeted, I lost my footing, I was filled with doubt and dread about being responsible for the wellbeing of another living, breathing human being.”

Babycatcher - midwife based in Malawi writes movingly on the death of a 17 year old woman during child birth…..“The 17-year-old mother died under our noses and now I’m trying to provide hope and help by giving cans of formula. One word - inadequate.”

The Trials & Tribulations of a Freshly-Arrived Denizen reminds us that we should not forget Patrice Lumumba...”Today, I say SHAME to Belgium for having killed this man, and SHAME to the US for having had a President under the name of Eisenhower who ordered his death because of the distorted view that the man, fighting for his country, was a Communist.”

One Afrikan celebrates 4 years of living in London.….”If anything, the past 4 years have been something of a pilgrimage, and with any pilgrimage (not that I’ve done one mind) there is a sense of satisfaction that starts surfacing as you start feeling that the pilgrimage itself is worth it.”

EMDHR from Eritrea writes on the lack of press freedom in Eritrea….”Nowadays, in Eritrea, the government in power controls the mass media. Newspapers, radio and television stations are predominantly government owned or censored. As a result of this, an atmosphere of phobia and lack of interest is created among journalists and those individuals who want to express their views and concerns through this avenue. Being denied this inalienable right, the people are not sincere at all in expressing their views about how they really feel about an administration when asked”

Anti-Bakili Muluzi reports on the move by a MP to withdraw the impeachment notice against President Bingu wa Mutharika of Malawi

The Limey abandons the idea of guest contributors and invites readers instead to send in their comments by e-mail. He's already received two responses. And Valentine Michael Smith announces that Bermuda is to launch an official program of cloning.

Karen Walrond unveils her ambitious new venture, a Salon.com type web site called Indigo Leaf magazine featuring work by writers and artists previously unpublished in the US.

“At the time of this writing a convicted murderer escaped from the prison is still on the loose in Nassau and our son and I are at home with the doors locked,” writes Lynn Sweeting in a post highly critical of prison conditions and the state of the police force in the Bahamas. And Larry Smith discusses the ups and downs of the Bahamas' offshore financial sector in light of the global crackdown on money laundering.

YingYang reports that today, trade unions in Grenada will be observing a day of protest in reaction to a Reconstruction Levy being imposed by the government. The bus associations are also expected to participate. For the benefit of Grenadians living outside of the country, YingYang emphasizes that the country is not on the brink of another revolution.

Stunner attempts to set the record straight on Jamaica's attitude toward homosexuality. “Yes homosexuality is illegal in Jamaica,” he says “and it ought to remain like that! Like me most Jamaicans believe that it is wrong, immoral and nasty!” And Scratchie offers an overview of the political scene.

Remolacha.net announces that the Dominican Republic's first podcast will be coming soon.

Iran graffiti exposes a couple of stencils (Persian) of Islamic Revolution on the walls. There are images of Khomeini & Beheshti.