Global Voices Online

Salam Dhaka muses on election time decisions. On what basis is the government judged, and what cards are played to maximum effect?

imperct world 2006 on the changing perception of Bangladeshi Diaspora in the UK.

Hayti outlines the reasons certain parties think Haiti should re-instate its army, and why others think the opposite.”Whether it is an army, a national police force, or a combination thereof, it is the poor of Haiti who are the best gauge as to whether it is a good idea for the country,” says Hayti, “because they have been the ones at the end of the batons, the bullets and the machetes.”

“High cost of living; small size; restrictive immigration policy; poor state education system; lack of IT professionalism and work ethic issues; reliance of IT sector on expats; prohibitive telecoms costs; shortage of accommodation; expensive airfares; “political instability” and racial tension; punitive and indiscriminate customs duties; and the Island's location in a hurricane zone.” These, according to one report, are the reasons Bermuda's e-commerce potential is compromised. The Limey reports.

Mexican blogger Leon Felipe Sanchez asks if free and open source software is, paradoxically, also elitist software.

Pac Mclaurin posts a lovely photo of a Cuban fisherman, his girlfriend, and the “pneumático” or inner tube which is his fishing vessel.

US blogger Boz disagrees with US policy as regards Cuba, but isn't in favour either of the internet access restrictions Cuba places on its citizens.

Tim Muth has one last rundown of El Salvador election analysis.

Adam Isacson gives his assessment of last week’s indictment of fifty FARC leaders for drug trafficking.

Onnik Krikorian notes that the US plans to release significant aid to Armenia despite the Armenian government's failure to demonstrate a commitment to democratic reforms.

After highlighting the attention on gay rights in Colombia's presidential campaigning, Andrés Duque says that presidential candidate Antanas Mockus backs marriage for gays.

Thomas Terry, in charge of Mongolia's Eagle TV, posts photos and notes from studio expansion after which the station will offer greatly expanded news broadcasts.

Ben Paarmann discusses Uzbekistan's relations with Germany, the only Western state that still has a significant relationship with Uzbekistan, and adds to a recent media report on the relationship.

…yuu bna? writes about Ulaanbaatar's traffic problems.

Writing from Bishkek, David Read discusses the muted public reaction in Kyrgyzstan on the first anniversary of last year's revolution and the lack of notable progress under the new government.

Rush-Mush links to a LiveJournal translation of the diary of Dasha Kostenko, a Minsk protester who has recently been sentenced to ten days in jail.

Daniel Ginsberg of The Native Speaker gives an honest answer to this question from an anonymous commenter: “will you be honest and say what (or who) makes you really angry here in serbia? be honest… how do you like people here?”

Viktor of Belgrade Blog writes about what it felt like to be in Belgrade during the bombing seven years ago.

LJ user kapitan_tanaka translates a letter written by Valyantsina Palyavikova and Larysa Bukholenka, two female prisoners who were jailed for their participation in the post-election protest in Minsk.

German-language Media-Ocean switches into English to write about a short video from a polling station in Belarus, which conveys repressive atmosphere during the count and shows how one observer, despite being barred from the table with stacks of bulletins on it, catches a violation that could've benefited Aleksandr Lukashenko, the acting president. The transcript's English-language translations are here.

“It's many years now–I might even say decades–since I've considered myself a real birder, and I stopped keeping a lifelist ages ago, but birds continue to have a special fascination for me–their colours, their songs, the effortlessness of their flight,” writes Nicholas Laughlin in the prelude to his overview of Caribbean birding guides at the Caribbean Beat weblog.

The Marmot Hole's Robert Koehler fingers North Korean apologists in the South Korean government with a look at the smash new musical Yodok Story, which portray's life in North Korea's Yodok camp for political prisoners.

Joshua from The Korea Liberator examines the relevant labor issues leading up to the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions' general strike planned for next week.

Zeng Jinyan, wife of AIDS activist Hu Jia—detained last month during a nation-wide hunger strike in protest at the government's alleged hiring of thugs in February to beat up a civil rights campaigner in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong—posts on her blog Searching for Hu Jia that after forty days, Hu has been released. [ZH]

BigWhiteGuy Randall van der Woning lambasts Hong Kong media following a plea for respect from the wife of the suspect in last week's fatal police-on-police shootout. “Decency? Such as local station ATV airing a rerun of the couple when they appeared on Hong Kong's version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire?“

Simon World's namesake criticizes the Hong Kong government for continuing to remain silent two weeks after the discovery earlier this month of the accidental posting online of the names, ages, addresses and ID numbers of the approximately 20,000 people who filed complaints with Hong Kong police from 1996 to 2004.

China Confidential's Confidential Reporter notices an increasing intolerance of left-wing language on the internet in China. “From Marx to Mao, communist keywords constitute potential red flags in the eyes of the hyper-sensitive e-police—thousands of trained analysts armed with the latest (American made) censor- and spy-ware,” the post says.

A year after violent anti-Japanese demonstrations swept across China, The Angry Chinese Blogger argues that anti-Japan sentiment is stronger now than ever. “Over the last few years…things appear to have steadily deteriorated, and the rot appears to have filtered down. Spreading beyond the political sphere and into the public domain,” the blogger writes.

Filmmaker Frankenbilly posts a music video he created for a lovely reggae-flavoured song by the Haitian singer Belo.

On the cancellation of Feelin' Good, a party organised by gay and lesbian media and events company Fridae, Mr. Brown quotes and links to conflicting statements from Fridae and the police. Fridae says the Ministry of Sound informed them that the police demanded the cancellation of the event because it would “promote gay activities”; the police says they merely advised the Ministry of Sound to address possible traffic problems.

Indonesia Today says the armed forces is so powerful that it has amassed its own business empire that include interests in luxury hotels, golf courses and commercial banks. The military has promised to divest itself of such interests. The sale of its share in one of these banks is valued at US$15 million.

True-blue Malaysians, not imported talents, won 4 gold medals in badminton in the recently concluded Melbourne XVIII Commonwealth Games. Wormie of A Worm's Perspectives says the way to go is to keep on training Malaysian nationals instead of relying on imported talents.

A survey conducted by Merdeka Center, a research firm made up of professionals from various social science fields, draws a shuddering reaction from Brand New Malaysian. The survey respondents agreed with the characerterization of the the three largest ethnic groups in Malaysia as follows–Malays are lazy, Chinese are greedy and Indians cannot be trusted.

Over at Thai-blogs, Richard Barrow, an English expat living in Thailand for 10 years learns about Thai food and cooking, including the different kinds of rice. He recommends one cooking school in particular.

Still on the “material support” issue that denies entry to Burmese refugees and asylum seekers to the U.S., Burma Underground writes a letter to U.S. President George W. Bush, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Department of State, and encourages readers to copy the letter and send it to U.S. Senators and Congressmen.

A few disgruntled S'poreans are reacting vehemently over the ruling party's tactic of scaring voters that if the ruling party loses, housing subsidies will be lost and residential areas will eventually become slums.

From Leon Robinson, a rather dispassionate discourse on the “war” being waged between rival Kingston high school teams in the “Champs”, the VMBS/ISSA Boys & Girls Athletic Championships. “We even have “territories”, places where rival schools are not welcome, at least not in frequency or numbers. . . . We share an uneasy truce since our schools are close to each other. . . . There are even “nesting grounds”, girls' schools or co-ed schools that we get our females from.”

United We Blog! on the hopes of the “April Revolution” which pushes for democracy through peaceful means - surprisingly coming from the top ranks of the Maoists.

Samudaya.org on Maoists in Nepal and their standpoint -”While the Maoists’ end goal remain a full-fledged communist state, their open yet standard rhetoric of transforming a feudal society like Nepal to an ideal communist state apparently involve the process of passing through multiple stages of capitalism and socialism—an idea that comes right out of Marx’s historical materialism theory.”

Where are the more balanced views on the conflict in Sri Lanka and the accounts on the impact it has had on civillian life? Moju says - “I’d like to hear from people who think they can give a BALANCED view on what the SL army and LTTE (and also perhaps LTTE police, SLMM, and citizens groups) are doing in Jaffna/N-E, and how they affect the people.”

A huge store shuts down, and leaves its workers on the streets. Saakshi reports on the closure of AkbarAllys.

Kamla travels around Bangalore and comments on the infrastructure, politics and issues that are crucial for Bangalore as it grows at breakneck speed.

Photographer Stefan Falke profiles Trinidad-based Jamaican jewelery designer Jasmine Thomas-Girvan, and posts some gorgeous photos.

Grandiose Parlor comments on “the anomalies of the Nigerian psyche: we all want to start from the top of the leader. Even when we can hardly crawl, we want to not climb the ladder but sit at the very top!

Ethnic Loft posts on the growth of Christianity in Africa…”Banners for revivals, sermons and blessings dot nearly every street in Lagos, a teeming flatland of tin-roof shanties and rain-streaked concrete high rises.”

Weichegud!ET comments on the waste of aid money to Ethiopia which has not alliviated poverty and the country is in the midst of yet another drought. She asks why does Ethiopia want to be a “permanent welfare mother” “International aid comes with more strings attached to it than Donald Trump’s pre-nup. Debt canceling might seem like an achievement until you realize you have a lower credit rating and no sane institution will let you borrow money ever again”

Kim Gjerstad who works in the DRC “saving animals and trees” explains how animals are counted..Our teams that cumulate 30 people split themselves in small groups and walk “transects” (straight line) kilometers on end. GPS, digital camera, and notebooks are used to witness all the details and location of interesting findings: turds, bonbo nests, traps, hunting camp, rivers, openings in the forest (bais), and villages”

Eddie Cross writing in Zimbabwean Pundit comments on the mining and financial services sector in Zimbabwe which has survived Zanu PF but have been battered and bruised in the process.

Agathon Rwasi calls for the creation of a war crimes tribunal in Burundi and comments on the release of “thousands of people classified as “political prisoners” by a new political commission.”

African Migrants reports that 6 of the missing athletes have asked the Australian government for political asylum. Six of the 15 Sierra Leonean have been issued “Temporary Protection Visas”.

Andrés Duque, noting the recent changes in the presidential polls, says that Peru's LGBT community is worried about what a Humala victory would mean for them. Humala's mother was recently quotes as saying “I bet you that if you execute two rapists by shooting, there won't be any additional rapes, and by shooting two homosexuals, there wouldn't be so much immorality in the streets.” Duque has translated an Op-Ed piece by openly bisexual Peruvian commentator, Jaime Bayly, which says that Ollanta Humala has long been homophobic. A commenter from Peru's largest LGBT website emphasizes: “What gets to me, is that in the foreign media Humala is portrayed as a ‘leftist'. Well the truth is that there is nothing ‘leftist' about Humala–he is simply another in a long line of military men who have established autocratic and dictatorial regimes in Peru.”

Sean Donahue lists several reasons why he is concerned that General Mario Montoya was appointed by President Uribe to head Colombia’s armed forces.