Global Voices Online

Dave Pentecost wonders what caused the roadblocks in Chiapas to later find via Google News that a protest took place yesterday to commemorate the 87th anniversary of the assassination of Emiliano Zapata, namesake of the Zapatista rebels.

Registan.net writes about Bakhodir Choriev, the Uzbek revolutionary of St. Louis, who is trying to organize protest against the Uzbek government from the United States.

At Blogrel, Harmick writes that Armenia's speaker of the parliament has stepped down and that his party has resigned from the ruling coalition government. He goes on to say that this may be the start of a credible opposition in Armenia.

Onnik Krikorian attended a Yezidi funeral and has photos from it as well as an interview about Yezidi music's role in the culture and its relation to Muslim Kurdish music.

Kevin Sites' coverage of Colombia inspires a conversation at PoorButHappy.

Neesuna remembers achieving independence in Armenia.

James at neweurasia has an event summary of Carnegie Endowment conference on Uzbekistan and the one year anniversary of last year's uprising in Andijon.

Noting that “Colombia is a very Catholic country,” Steven Taylor mentions yesterday's decision by the constitutional court to allow abortions “in cases of rape, incest or if the life of the mother or foetus is in danger.” BlueElephant opines (ES) that “hypocrisy remains latent, but this small step should be applauded and welcomed. Others will follow it.”

Expat Argentina has a very clear explanation of Argentina's undervalued peso.

Justin Delacour links to an article on Upside Down World about the international press' reaction to Bolivia's nationalization of gas resources. Jim Shultz reminds readers to ” not lose track of the big picture: At the end of the day Bolivia will develop its gas and oil through some kind of partnership between the Bolivian government and foreign oil companies.” Boli-Nica on Bolivia takes a look at how the gas nationalization could affect the federal pension fund.

Tanya Hernandez, focusing on Brazil, asks “is There Racism in Latin America and What Does That Mean for Race Relations in the United States?” One commenter responds, “If I must choose my poison (racism), I'll choose the American brand. Latin American racism is made more pernicious by the fact that it is unacknowledged.” Randy Paul tries to get to the bottom of a rumor that US president George W. Bush once asked Brazil's former president, “Do you have blacks, too?” And finally, Risa - who says she wants to take photos of racist advertising in Ecuador - posts an ad from Vogue Latinoámerica that she calls “disturbing.”

ICT for Peacebuilding has a feature on women and ICT. “ICT4Peace needs to embrace this rich texture of gender dynamics in the development of cutting-edge ICT solutions for strengthening peace processes.”

Windy Skies on the hawkers in Bombay who call themselves medicine men and sell remedies by the street.

Mezba remembers an afternoon spent with her family tracing her family tree in a notebook when on a vacation in a village in Bangladesh.

According to a local legend, the falls at Salazie, says (Fr) Audrey at Reunion Passion, are shaped like a bride's veil because a runaway bride once fell along the mountain's side. The blogger posts breathtaking pictures.

As high school students in St. Vincent gear up for the CXC exams and observe last-day traditions such as the signing of each other's school shirts, Abeni waxes nostalgic about her own school leaving. With employment at more than 20%, however, she finds it hard to feel optimistic about the future of the current crop of school-leavers.

At the Trinidad & Tobago World Cup blog Stacy-Marie Ishmael parses some of the mixed reactions to the new West Indies anthem, which was sung for the first time at yesterday's Trinidad & Tobago v. Peru football match in Trinidad.

Frances at Supernaut describes the choreographing process in preparation for her co-produced death metal Cantonese opera set to show this weekend:

“I'm working in a way that is far more satisfying choreographically, and profoundly more interesting and involving as a performer and as an audience, but quite inimical to the idea of temporal, procedural and mechanical choreography. So there is a barely-conscious, long-term attempt to actually choreograph, that is, to make concatenations of movement using specific vocabularies in a way that has this pre-historic ballet intellectualisation of body-as-(Baroque)-machine, and do it in a way that owes more to present-day methods of doing things, that is to say, executing code.

Afghan Penlog is a new collective blog which wants to bring afghan blogs together. On its last writing, we read about freedom of expression and Afghanistan's mafia problem. According to blog, country is on the edge to fall in mafia's trap completely.

Ali Mazroi, reformist politician & blogger, says Iranian economy is a command economy where government controls 80% of it. Blogger adds according to statistics 20 percent of Iranian households receives 48% of national income (Persian).

The Chinese government released a memo recently which calls for a crackdown on foreign law firms operating in China and involved in what it labels as “illegal” activities which include hiring large numbers of Chinese lawyers, drafting contracts according to Chinese law and engaging in negotiations regarding investments, mergers and acquisitions.

The China Confidential blogger sees the move as part of a larger governmental backlash against the perceived foreign threat to its rule, while Dan Harris at China Law Blog looks towards disgruntled local competitors and emphasizes that current restrictions on foreign law firms in China are far from draconian.

In a comment on sister of illegally-detained Beijing or Bust blogger Wu Hao's blog, formerly frequent poster Nancy Yingwang laments the shutdown today of her MSN Spaces blog:

“My blog has broken down and I feel sick. I can't find a way out. If freedom needs so long a time before just a little can be got, what are those being held captive to do in the meantime? This is just a flash in this country's history, but it's a small part of their lives, maybe even a large part. A person's life could never be so lowly. With life in this kind of society, one must degenerate into an animal before even a facade of ‘freedom' can be attained. But if we're talking about humans, how is one supposed to live?” [zh]

EastSouthWestNorth blogger Roland Soong translates an essay from Chinese exile Wan Runnan which gives some answers to those who wonder why the Chinese Communist Party has not gone the way of the former Soviet bloc:

“Some people think that the Chinese Communists are still in China because the western governments were appeasing and tolerant, and the overseas businesses abandoned justice for profit. They ignored the totalitarian dictatorship in China and the dreadful human rights situation…But if we calmly review the historical trends over the past seventeen years, we may have a different conclusion.”

Danwei's Jeremy Goldkorn looks at some copyright-infringeing trademark applications from various companies in China, and a new release can be seen on Danwei TV.

The American Professor at OneManBandwith writes from the Southern Chinese city of Guangzhou on what he and many in China see as entrenched racism in educational institutions who seek to hire non-Chinese English teachers:

“These Chinese schools that reject non-whites are cheating their students of international influences [and] will negatively impact China's growth and give critics something very tangible to chide. Yes, America, Australia and others are rife with racism, but at least have laws to create some interference for the narrow-minded and ill-willed destructionists who practice it.”

This is one way to feel small. Read blogs by small people! Rohan is a a very young Indian blogger in second grade.

A brilliant set of photographs by rangi changi chha profiling a group of Maoists he met in Nepal. He says “about an hour outside of janakpur in the south east of nepal, i was invited to meet a group of maoists. they were on their way back from kathmandu where they had been waiting outside of the ringroad for the duration of the strike. poised for an attack on the capital that fortunately never came, they had walked for six days to get back to the terai region.”

Guyana Resource Centre reproduces a Stabroek News article revealing that one of Guyana's political parties has hired political consultant Dick Morris. Morris managed US President Bill Clinton's successful re-election bid in 1996.

Tinta Digital attends a conference (ES) entitled “Domestic violence in modern communications media” at the University of Puerto Rico where one of the speakers is 19 year-old Ada Alvarez, Puerto Rico's youngest ever novelist, author of Lo que no dije (What isn't said). Alvarez also maintains a blog (ES) by the same name devoted to the subject of domestic violence.

aka_lol offers a personal assessment of the performance thus far of Irish-owned cellular service provider Digicel, which entered the Trinidad & Tobago market in April 2006.

Finding Karadzic pays a heartbreaking tribute to “a dedicated reader and contributor to this blog” who died on March 3 “as a direct result of the illness she was given by her inhumane captors in Bosnia a decade ago.”

TOL's Belarus Blog writes about a 2-year prison sentence just given to a young activist for spraying political graffiti. Leaders of the opposition, on the other hand, are now being released. David McDuff of A Step At A Time has more on the graffiti activist, Artur Finkevich - here and here.

Brigid of Laughter in the Dark writes about a cab driver in Krasnodar, a southern Russian city: ““Where in the hell did you learn to speak Russian?” and “How did your husband ever permit you to travel alone?” The standard taxi-conversation fare. As I anticipated the next standard question – a variant of: “what the hell were you Americans thinking when you elected that jerk?” – Ivan Ivanovich shocked me by replacing it with a new one: “So, do you have kids? No? Well, how old are you? Young lady, you’d better get busy as you’re running out of time….””

Jane Keeler of From Russia With Blog posts part 2 of her Siberian photo-travelogue: “From Irkutsk to Olkhon.”

All About Latvia reports that in November, the government plans to make public the names of those who worked for the KGB. Ironically, some of these people in the KGB database still work in the Latvian government.

Michael of The Glory of Carniola explains why he doesn't ski and what it's like to be a non-skier in Slovenia: “Being a non-skiier in Slovenia is a bit like being an atheist in America: you automatically belong to a distrusted minority. If a Slovene asks you if you ski, you say yes. You shouldn't say that you don't and, for the love of God, don't tell them you have no intention of learning. I've done the latter a few times and it's never been pretty.”

Estonia in the World Media (RUS) cites a Save the Children report on infant mortality, according to which there are four infant deaths per 1,000 births in Estonia and Lithuania, a pretty good indicator. All About Latvia writes about a woman who tried selling her 7-month-old daughter for $3,800 by placing an ad on the web; the woman couldn't afford taking care of her child.

In his comment to Yuri Mamchur's post on Russia Blog, Ivan Lenin of Rush-Mush argues that the Russian government encourages intolerance.

Rethabile posts from Mzansi Afrika on the day France remembers its role in the Atlantic slave trade. ..“France was Europe's fourth largest slave trader after Portugal, England and Spain and transported about 1.25 million slaves. France abolished slavery in 1794, after a successful revolt by slaves in the island colony of Haiti.”

Our Man In Hanoi looks at Vietnam from the point of view of an expat and also that of a tourist. There is plenty of good advice for the first time visitor like this on what to do in Hanoi. “What should you do in Hanoi? My advice is nothing. Just walk (if it's cool enough) and drink lots of coffee and watch the world go by. Eat well and soak up the madness.”

Silent Storms in an Ocean of One comments on the Nigerian government's revoking of AIT's TV licence..”its live coverage of the ongoing senatorial (or should i say in-sane-torial) debate over the constitutional amendments that will allow obasanjo serve a third term in office.”

Black Star Journal reports that aid workers, peaceworkers and business men have been sexually abusing young girls in Liberia..

Exodusfalls does not agree with a ruling party MP who questioned the role of opposition in Singapore's parliament. “If we are to be a mature society, we as Singaporeans should not view the opposition as troublemakers, but as equally credible representatives of the people who also serve as a check-and-balance for the government in Parliament. But if we continue rather radical mindsets about the opposition, we may stifle what might truly be best for our society.”

“In mid century 2200, the oppressed male population of the earth started to rise for male emancipation, which is pushed by the technology that enables male to be pregnant and to breastfeed.” Rani is inviting co-authors to her wiki to help her write a story about a future where women dominate the world.

Bankelele reports that India's largest private bank (ICICI) is planning to move to Kenya.

Sarapanekonomi compares the time it takes to incorporate a new firm in several South East Asian countries and urges Indonesian government to make it easier for entrepreneurs to start a business.

Kenyan Pundit points to an MIT project “OpenCourseware” in partnership with Cameroon, Kenya, Zambia and Rwanda…The aim of this project, OpenAfrica, is to adopt innovative technologies that can bypass the educational challenges faced by sub-Saharan Africa.

Environmentalist, Kim Gjerstad goes looking for gorillias in the DRC. Instead they come across “Interhamwe, “Those Who Fight Together”, hiding in Congo after they committed Rwanda’s genocide in 1994. They appear no worse than any other faction.”

Enough is Enough posts an audio interview with Brian Kagoro, who is a Zimbabwean activist. He discusses the split in the MDC into two parties, one led by Morgan Tsvangirai and the other by Arthur Mutambara.

According to IraneFarda, Iranian government tries to put all three major news agencies, (ISNA, ILNA & IRNA), on the same political path to back government. Blogger says many journalists have already been fired on ILNA and directors were changed in two other agencies (Persian).