Global Voices Online

Melissa De Leon is dizzy with anger that you have been lied to about the so-called dangerous impurities of panela. But then, just what is panela?

Libertarian expat Jacqueline Passey is gleeful that Costa Rica's high court rejected a proposed, new tax plan.

Enjoy the tango-influenced melody of Fantasía, a downloadable track by Argentine bilingual musician, Pablo Dacal.

Boz has posted his weekly poll numbers from across Latin America with three new polls that have Peruvian leftist, Ollanta Humala in the lead. Peru Election 2006 has graphics illustrating the poll data. Andres Oppenheimer offers two explanations of why a leftist is leading despite Peru's recent economic growth.

A Fistful of Euros reports on a weird blog called Belarus Today: A News Service Dedicated to Belarus and the Belarusian People. It covers such an unlikely event as Lukashenko's assassination - and its pretty violent aftermath. There's a disclaimer at the bottom of the page, however, which reads: “This website is part of a foreign policy simulation. The events depicted are not actually taking place.”

Does Fidel Castro really incinerate his underwear? And exactly how partial is he to pata negra Serrano ham? Pondblog comments on a Miami Herald article in which a former aide to “El Lider Maximo” spills the beans on Castro's alleged personal habits and other matters.

AwayTeam is the weblog of Jorge Gooding, a Colombian engineer who is currently living in Munich. Not surprisingly, many of his posts focus on football.

Both Sean and the Limey attend the New Vision rally of the United Bermuda Party. Both gentlemen leave the event duly impressed.

Unlike the Bermudian government, Valentine Michael Smith thinks that 436 reported cases of child abuse in Bermuda in 2005 is “an alarming trend”, and calls for action.

“I haven't worn shoes for 6 years now and offically have ‘Beach Feet,'” writes Belize Caribbean Colors, an American transplanted to Belize. “Beach feet are a definite separation between the big toe and the second toe. Its also when your toes are more permanently spread apart from walking barefoot in the sand.”

Digenis posts part 2 of a series on Moscow's Stalin-era skyscrapers, the Seven Sisters. “The exact number of apartments [in the building on Kotelnicheskaya Naberezhnaya] has been rather difficult to track down. […] anywhere from 344 to ‘about 800′.”

Barbados Free Press links to an Australian newspaper article highlighting the mother and daughter who are members of the Barbadian netball team contesting the Commonwealth Games.

Peoplehouse is a recently-started blog which appears to be by Ugandan journalist David Kaiza and consists, so far, of selected pieces of his writing. His most recent post is an appreciation of the novelist V.S. Naipaul written in the year that Naipaul won the Nobel prize for literature.

There are great pictures of Nigerian census-takers on Edward Popoola's Jangbalajugbu-Homeland Stories but he feels the operation, while necessary, could be better organised.

Msanii XL has posted a hip-hop podcast which features artists from a range of countries, but if you want your hip-hop in Swahili don't forget to check his radio blog player in the sidebar.

At Congo Watch there's the announcement of a new website called Friends of the Congo. There is also a Friends of the Congo Blog. Both sites have as their masthead a quotation from famous former Congolese leader Patrice Lumumba:

“We are not alone. Africa, Asia, and free and liberated people from every corner of the world will always be found at the side of the Congolese”

Most articles about blogging emphasise the positive empowering aspects, but as black looks points out it also gives freedom to abuse. She says speaking out is the best way to combat the bullying.

The Accidental Russophile examines life and work of Russian illustrator Ivan Bilibin.

French journalist writing for Liberation has just been arrested in Minsk; actually so many people have been arrested that, unprecedentally, Minsk courts will be working on Saturday, reports br23 blog. Andrei Khrapavitski posts a picture from today's flash mob event that took place in Minsk to criticize the performance of the state-controlled media.

Six Months in Hanoi asks for help identifying the imagery in two painted scrolls he brought back with him from Vietnam.

Wormie takes issue with those in Singapore complaining it was a waste of money to send a losing team to the Commonwealth Games. “Winning or losing is not everything in sports, it is about participating to the best of one's ability. Along the way in our quest for excellence we seem to have forgotten about this.”

Mr. Wang Bakes Good Karma, commenting on the rising prominence of local bloggers in the media, thinks the old belief that bloggers are anonymous is no longer true: “So I don't think it's fair at all for the MSM to keep harping on the point that bloggers are anonymous. They're not - at least, the prominent ones usually are not. Even if they do not use their real names on their blogs, it's relatively easy to find out. One common way is to ask them.”

Ivan Lenin - formerly of Minsk, now of New York - translates a post by LJ user lipski, a Minsk resident, on who benefits from the Oktyabrskaya Sq. crackdown, and shares his thoughts on the country's future: “If anything, the West should engage Belarus as much as possible. Isolation would make Belarus more like North Korea.”

Singapore Election Watch reposts a forum comment by someone pointing out that the value of state-owned Temasek Holdings' controversial investment in Thailand's Shin Corp. — which triggered a political crisis in Bangkok — has plummeted, costing Singaporeans $2.21 billion in three days.

agrain of sand has a dilemma: “How to tell my parents that Singapore isn’t really my home anymore? I mean, yes, they are back there, I grew up there, they took care of me there, but how do you call home a place where you haven’t lived in years, and do not intend to live in for the next few years?”

OhmyNews! reports on the ordination as cardinal of outspoken Catholic Bishop Joseph Zen, who has been dubbed “the conscience of Hong Kong”.

China Information Center posts a statement by Tibetan nun Phuntsog Nyidron on her release from prison and arrival in the United States. “In 1993, along with 13 other political prisoners I secretly recorded songs in prison that were in praise of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and about the situation of the political prisoners. On account of this, my sentence was extended by eight years, making my total sentence 17 years,” she says.

The Opposite End of China streams a clip from the NPR program “Marketplace” about an increase in demand for the services of rabbis in China, who can certify kosher food.

ESWN rounds up news from the Chinese blogosphere that has happened during a busy stretch, including the shutdown of the Aegean Sea Web site, the Chinese Angry Youth forum and the Chinese Election and Governance Web.

Chinese Law Prof breaks down its readership statistics by country, with the lion's share coming from the United States.

Danwei reviews a new blog from film producer John Chan, called Who Said You Have To Love Me< /em>.

View from Iran says about her flight from Iran. Blogger writes ” the flight from Iran was uneventful. By the end of our flight, not one woman was wearing a headscarf. You would see more women in headscarves on any flight in Europe or the US.”

Through negligence, LJ user czalex, a foreign citizen once registered in Belarus (1995-96), was registered to vote in this election. He didn't vote, of course, but visited several polling stations as an observer, and noted a few violations (RUS). This photo, for example, shows how it was made impossible for the observers to observe the count of the votes: they had to sit 10 meters away from the table with the ballots.

Lj user _frut_ has photos of what remains of the tent camp after the riot police attacked it at night and took away all the protestes.

Riot police began their operation at 3 am Minsk time and after 15 minutes the camp was demolished and the protesters arrested. br23 blog and Rush-Mush have updates on the aftermath: the amazingly slanted coverage on the Russian-language EuroNews; Minsk residents' approval of the regime's actions; a sample leaflet distributed by the opposition in Minsk now; translation of LJ user kurt-belarus‘ post-operation appeal; translation of one protester's account of the operation on Radio Liberty's Belarusian Service.