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The Week that Was - Bolivian Blogs

Eduardo Avila · 22:58

Este artículo también está disponible en español en el sitio Blogs de Bolivia

Commemorations and anniversaries were on the minds of a handful of Bolivian blogger this week. Twenty-six years ago on July 17th, politician and writer Marcelo Quiroga Santa Cruz (ES) was kidnapped and murdered by the dictatorship government of Luis Garcia Meza. What he left behind was a legacy of defending the country and his name has been invoked by the recent MAS government. The proposal for the Marcelo Quiroga Santa Cruz law calls for increased governmental transparency and investigations in the fortunes of past and present public servants. Javier Rodríguez, the blogger at Diario de un Demente Frustrado (ES), provides homage to the man and includes one of his quotes, “No hay peor enemigo que una conciencia culpable.”(There is no worse enemy than a guilty conscious”)

A day earlier in the capital city of La Paz on the 16th of July, it celebrated the anniversary of its independence. Throughout the city, parades, celebrations and various public events took place on the public holiday. However, in Santa Cruz, which is located in the eastern part of the country and is one of the fastest growing cities in Bolivia and the home of many internal migrants, many still celebrated in their own way. The blogger by the name of Ron del Día described his 16th of July in his post “Llegó La Paz a Santa Cruz (ES),” (La Paz Arrives to Santa Cruz) complete with usual events such as hymns, folkloric groups and music, as if he were in La Paz. His entry was tainted by a commenter who chose to use racist and other demeaning language.

Rolando Lopez, a proud Paceño (resident of La Paz) and author of Rocko Weblog (ES) pieced together a homage to his hometown, with colorful descriptions of downtown scenes, as well as the sights and sounds of a famous corridor near the city center.

Mas abajo, en el centro mestizo de La Paz, la catedral de San Francisco es testigo de la unión de lo religioso y lo pagano, en plena calle empinada y empedrada se encuentra “la calle de las brujas”, el refugio alternativo de los médicos dubitativos, las parejas inseguras, los enfermos adoloridos y comerciantes ambiciosos buscan en ella hierbas que le pondrán remedio a sus males, acabarán con sus miedos o harán realidad sus aspiraciones.

La catedral de San Francisco no solo es testigo de la unión entre lo religioso y lo pagano, también es testigo del mestizaje en pleno donde el indio, gringo, blanco, negro y todos buscan el remedio alternativo contra los males o buscan también otros medios para el éxito. Los nombres de las plantas suenan a misterio: tojlolo, huayruru, curucuru, coa, huillca, lampaya, tillicoa, pupusa, tikacoa, entre otras que con ese halo de misterio también van cargadas de poderes ocultos que causan o liberan de lo males. Juntos con las hierbas, los fetos de animales son buenos para la suerte, la salud, el amor y el dinero.

Farther down, in the mestizo center of La Paz, the San Francisco Cathedral is testimony to the union of the religious and the pagan. In the middle of the cobblestone road, one can find the “Witches’ Street,” the alternative refuge of the dubitative doctors, insecure couples, those in pain and ambitious vendors that all look for the herbs that will cure their ills, end their fears or make their dreams come true.

The San Francisco Cathedral is not only a testimony between the religious and the pagan, but also a testimony to the mixture where the Indian, foreigner, white, black and all look for an alternative medicine for the cure. The names of the plants have a mysterious ring: tojlolo, huayruru, curucuru, coa, huillca, lampaya, tillicoa, pupusa, tikacoa , which also have hidden powers that can cause or free them from all ills. In addition to herbs, the animal fetuses are also good for luck, health, love and money.

This seemingly peaceful co-existence between the Roman Catholic Church and traditional pagan beliefs has become a topic of controversy in the debate over education in Bolivia. The government is sending mixed messages whether religious teachings should be eliminated from the public schools. President Evo Morales has self-professed himself to be Roman Catholic and respectful of the church. However, a recent educational congress led by Bolivian Education Minister Felix Patzi (ES) has attracted a lot of criticism, as many of the participants are not directly involved in the educational system of Bolivia and are pushing for the elimination of any religious teachings.

Fabricio Loayza Puch, a Bolivian living in Japan, studied in a Catholic school. Even though the majority of Bolivians are of the Christian faith, he believes that there should be no discrimination or preference of one faith over another. He also fails to see the logic that a state that considers itself pluralistic to be in the business of teaching religion. He also compares the system in Japan, where the majority of Japanese professes one faith, but the schools still do not include any religious teachings. His blog is called El Pit (ES). Martin P. Gutierrez, Vitrina de Realidad Boliviana (ES), wonders about Morales’ rhetoric of “decolonizing” Bolivia’s educational system, coupled with his double-speak about not eliminating religious teachings from the school. “Between these incongruencies, exists the double talk, supporting one idea and at the same time, sending a Minister to do the opposite.” Finally, Bolivia Eclipse’s (ES) Briegel Busch believes that the country would gain a lot by the resignation of Minister Patzi because of this uneven and mixed messages. However, the one bright spot, according to Busch, was when Patzi opposed the Bolivian Foreign Minister’s suggestion that schoolchildren should be given coca leaves for breakfast.

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Kurdistance: Lebanon's Legacy?

Deborah Ann Dilley · 18:24

While the world's media eye is focused on Lebanon, other potential conflicts are arising in the Middle East; but they are arising using Lebanon as the primary example for conflict justification. The Counterrorism Blog says it best:

Turkey is currently making a lot of noise about launching a cross-border incursion into Iraq to engage the Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK) in combat operations. On July 18, Professor Sedat Laciner published an article in the Turkish Weekly comparing the situation that Turkey faces from the PKK to the threat Israel faces from Hamas and Hizballah. After stating that Western countries have defended Israel's right to self-defense, Prof. Laciner asks, “But, does the right of self defence just belong to Israel in the Middle East? For example, doesn’t Turkey have such a right?”

Needless to say the Kurdish blogosphere is up in arms over the potential prospect of Turkey crossing the borders of Syria, Iraq and Iran to pursue Kurdish “terrorists” (you'll have to wait until Saturday on GV for the Turkish blogosphere response)—and as expected there is not a solid Kurdish opinion as to whether or not this is a good idea.

Roj Bash! put it thus:

Strangely, the situation is quite similar, concerning the casus belli, to the current Israeli attack against Lebanon : the former country, for it shelters Hebollah militias which attacked Israël, is now obliged to state in which camp it places itself.

If we only regard International rules, it is quite impossible to tolerate armed groups leading raids from its own soil against a neighbored country, without being considered as directly responsible and facing reprisals.

It is exactly the same problem in Southern Kurdistan. As so long as the PKK stays in Quandil Mountains and leads attacks in Turkey, de facto, the Region of Kurdistan, and then Iraq, could be officially considered as patronizing acts of war against its northern neighbours.

Soon or late, Lebanon will be obliged to adopt a clear position, against or the Hezbollah. But what will happen for Hewlêr ? The Israeli-Lebanese case is definitively an encouragement for a Turkish invasion.

Hiwa from Hiwa Hopes referred to the possible incursion of the Turks into Northern Iraq as Turkey's Second Blunder:
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Israeli Women Blog the War, in Russian

Veronica Khokhlova · 16:54

The Israeli blogosphere has a Russian-language corner: quite vocal, it is populated mainly by those who emigrated from the former Soviet states in the past few decades.

Below is a selection of posts about the war, written by Israeli women, in Russian.

LJ user gollitely (Lena Lagutina, Jerusalem) - July 14, 2006:

Real

A dear childhood friend [LJ user] dzogaba, who specializes in making reality shows for television, has sent me an SMS, asking: “Are you having a war over there? For real?” So I'm sitting here and thinking how to respond. Meanwhile, my friends, shabat shalom from Jerusalem to all! For real.

LJ user pepel (Yelena Pepel) - July 19, 2006:

On girls and bombs

Very moving discussions are taking place in LJ regarding the photos of the girls signing missiles with “To Nasrullah from Israel with Love.” Incredible discussions, cave mentality, along the lines of “and you drink the blood of Christian infants […].” Seemingly normal people are fighting each other on both sides of the barricade.

But do you know that in Israel there is such an army profession as a military clown? It's a person who entertains children in bomb shelters. And there's also such a branch of child psychology as the psychology of stress. And a child on whose house fall Katyushas, who hears sirens ten times a day and has a class on “how to hide from missiles” at school, is taken to paint missiles, by psychologists. The missiles, which, by the way, aren't going to be used to bomb a specific Nasrullah - because these are artillery missiles. But children don't care. This is therapy. It'll just help them stutter less and sleep better at night - yes, until the first siren, but still - and not to hide under the table for 20 hours each day as the children of Sderot do.

By the way, they changed the missile alert code in Israel (”the scarlet dawn” - “shachar adom“), because of a request from a 4-year-old girl called Shachar (Dawn). The army has changed the missile alert code because a 4-year-old Shachar gets teased at the kindergarten - they call her name “a bad sign.”

Everyone has, of course, forgotten about bombs with flowers and words written in chalk: “On to Berlin!” Even though it's our - our common - history textbooks.

God willing, you won't find out what a war in your house is - the house that you have nowhere to go from. Nowhere to go because you don't have thousands of kilometers for retreat. And, God willing, YOUR army will listen to little girls' requests. And there'll be a profession of a military clown in your army. […]

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The Lusosphere reports on the 10 years of CPLP

Jose Murilo Junior · 14:47

Family Picture - CPLP The Community of the Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLP) celebrated its tenth anniversary last Monday, July 17th, in a summit that gathered its Heads of State in Guine-Bissau. It was created aiming at the solidarity of the Portuguese-speaking countries and the promotion of the Portuguese language in the international arena. Currently, Portuguese ranks eighth among the world's most commonly spoken languages and third among the western languages, after English and Castilian. The Lusosphere is reporting the event and commenting on the organizational role and its actual meaning. We sense a feeling that bloggers think that it should be performing in some different ways.

A Comunidade dos Países de Língua Portuguesa (CPLP), cuja presidência actual é de São Tomé e Príncipe, vai reunir-se em Cimeira de amanhã e até ao dia 17. Espera-se que o papel dos indivíduos passe a figurar nas agendas das Cimeiras da CPLP. Dez anos depois, qual é o real papel da CPLP? E mais concretamente o que é a CPLP? Esta segunda pergunta pode parecer provocadora, mas impõe-se. Há tempos, durante um lançamento de uma obra de um angolano, por sinal alguém que já teve não só responsabilidades governativas como no governo de um Banco Central fazia esta mesma pergunta “CP… quê? Ah! Sim uma tal CPLP e uma tal Lusofonia”. Um desabafo que vale o que vale mas que não deixa de ser sintomático por ter vindo de quem veio.”
CPLP permanece falida, decrépita e inoperativa - Notícias Lusófonas

“The Community of the Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLP), which now has Sao Tome and Principe in control of its presidency, is gathering in a Summit that will be happening from tomorrow through the 17th. We hope that individuals start to be heard on CPLP's agendas, as ten years later we are still asking about its real meaning. In fact, what is CPLP, really? This question must seem provocative, but it is necessary. A long time ago, during the launch of a book by a big Angolan author, someone who not only already had governmental responsibilities but also governed over a Central Bank was asking the same question, “CP… what? Oh, yeah! Something called CPLP and something called Lusophony”. A rant stands for what it means, but its sound is a symptom coming from who it comes.”

“Países tão desiguais reúnem-se por estes dias em Bissau. A cimeira como é hábito não trará novidades. Esta organização não tem a força política que devia como se viu na recente crise em Timor Lorossai. Para que serve esta organização se não é capaz de auxiliar os seus membros nos momentos decisivos?”
C.P.L.P. O que é? - De corpo e alma

“Such unequal countries are gathering these days in Bissau. The summit won't bring novelties, as expected. This organization does not have the political strength it should have, as we could witness during the recent crisis in East Timor. What is this organization for if not capable to help its members in decisive moments?”

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Argentina: My First PC Program and its Detractors

David Sasaki · 02:15

lingua → zht · zhs

The Argentine government has relaunched its federal program MiPC [My First Personal Computer], or as Mariano Amartino refers to it (ES), MiPC Reloaded. The original incarnation of the program, which hoped to narrow the digital divide by distributing affordable computers nationwide, debuted last April where it was met with severe criticism (ES) by the blogging community due to the government's exclusive relationship with Intel and Microsoft. Longtime readers of Global Voices will remember that an almost identical situation took place in Chile, spawning the grassroots “My First PC, But For Real” campaign by Chilean bloggers.

This time around, however, Amartino says the program offers consumers more choices:

Los equipos pueden ser con procesadores AMD o con Intel; y con la opción de usar Windows Starter o Linux de Pixart… y con financiación de varios bancos. Esta vez, el plan, es un poco mejor y evita algunas críticas al primer plan Mi PC.. al menos es abierto en cuanto a Procesadores y OS (me dejaron jugar con Windows Starter y es realmente un desastre) y, los precios, que en efectivo son altos, cuando los mirás en forma de cuotas son accesibles y eso es lo importante.

The computers can include AMD or Intel processors; and have the option of using Windows Starter or Pixart Linux. Several banks are offering financing. This time, the plan is a little better and avoids some of the criticisms of the first MiPC plan … at least it's open as far as processors and operating systems go (they let to me play with Starter Windows and it is really a disaster) and, the prices, which in cash are high, are accessible with financing and that's what is important.

Pablo M. Beca also sees the second version of the program as an improvement over the first:

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