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The Week that Was - Bolivian Blogs

Bolivia celebrated her Independence Day on August 6th complete with the usual fanfare and outward displays of civic pride. Many Bolivians marked this 181st birthday with family and friends, while others were miles away in other parts of the globe far from their loved ones. Isabella Fuente did not hide her melancholy around this date. She currently lives in Spain and maintains the blog Ergoth (ES).

Willy Andres Ortega, a Cruceño (from Santa Cruz) remains very hopeful and this day stands out to him as a new beginning, “Today, history begins. Today, we would like to start anew. Looking out at new horizons, we want to show a different Bolivia, one that has not been seen, one that knows no boundaries, and one that is not afraid of change for a brighter future.” The national holiday was different this year because it coincided with the launch of the Constitutent Assembly. Rolando Lopez of Rocko Weblog (ES) looks forward to this process to rewrite the country’s Constitution because it will “create a new, inclusive nation of those that have been relegated for thousands of years and to give decision-making power to those people during a time of socio-political phenomenon that has never been seen before.”

The assembly will begin on August 15th because the hall where the congress will take place is still under construction. The 255 delegates elected on July 2 have been debating rules of order and also elected the presiding officers. The President of this Assembly is Silvia Lazarte, from the Movimiento Al Socialismo (MAS). Jaime Humérez Seleme of Boliviscopio (ES) identifies some bad, early signals. Lazarte is a close confidant of President Evo Morales and goes back to the early 1980s during their days of syndicalism in the Tropics of Cochabamba (Chapare). There have been some concerns that the Assembly will simply be an extension of the MAS government, especially because the President of the Assembly is so close to Morales. There has also been speculation that some want to give the Assembly extraordinary powers, which could mean the closing of the current legislature.

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India In Blog Posts: Cola, Newly Weds, Travel and Bollywood

Kamla Bhatt · 19:52 · South Asia

The cola affair, wifi, newly weds, travel, and Bollywood are some of the themes that we look in this week's round-up about India. Pepsi and Coke have been feeling the heat or should I say some really chilling response from its customers in India. Why is that? Tests reveal that both the beverages have very high amounts of pesticide in them.

This so called pesticide cocktail in major colas is a cocktail indeed - a cocktail of politics, psuedo science, posturing and bad economics. Arjun writes in The Indian Economy Blog that "This so called pesticide cocktail in major colas is a cocktail indeed - a cocktail of politics, psuedo science, posturing and bad economics." Read his post "Cola Can," to find out what he has to say on this subject.

Jacob of the Great Indian Mutiny in his post titled, Pesticola, dare for more? writes, "However, I do wonder why is ‘drinking’ water is never tested in India, as it is within the span of control (and responsibility) of our bureaucrats and politicians? We drink so much more of it than soft drinks, which are mostly out of reach for the average Indian? Why are Indian brands of ‘mineral’ water never tested? And what about milk and BEER???? Doesn't it smell more of cheap xenophobia than pesticides?"

“First Cadbury's peddles you the “fruit and worm” then coke pepsi dispense you the antidote. wash down with some grade a pesticide. gotta love them multinationals. JK of Indian Idle takes a swipe at the multinationals in India and writes, "First Cadbury's peddles you the "Fruit and worm" then Coke and Pepsi dispense you the antidote. Wash down the worm with some grade A pesticide. You gotta love them multinationals." Find out why he nursed a non-cola drink instead of a Pepsi or a Coke all these years.

From the cola war we move to the world of wifi. Ravi Kumar of Bangalore Metroblogging wonders what this fuss about wifi is all about? Bangalore apparently is going to be the first Indian city to be completely wifi enabled and Ravi wonders "how many would really take the risk of lugging around / using a laptop in a public place where people can really throng?" Read his post to find out what else he has to say on this subject.

From wifi connectivity, we move away from India to the USA. There is a pretty sizeable Indian community in the USA, and Suyog of Stupendous Man writes about an important aspect of the community. Newly weds. How can you spot the newly married couple? A quick visit to Wal-mart or Costco might reveal some surprising results. What are the pros and cons of hanging out with newly wed couples? Read his post to find out. Suyog, of course, is footloose and fancy free at the moment.

We remain in the USA and look at two topics that Indians love to talk and blog about: travel and film. Recently both these topics have created quite a bit of buzz in the world of blogs. One is a post by Xeni Jardin of BoingBoing and the other is KANK, a new Bollywood film. Xeni Jardin's blog and audio post is about a nomadic group called Gaddhi located in the North India. Xeni traveled up to Dharamshala in Himachal Pradesh to speak to a group of Gaddis. You can read Xeni's blog post here, and listen to the NPR audio post, which is in English. Dharamshala is also the home of the Dalai Lama.

We love acronyms, and boy do we love our acronyms for our films. So "Kabhi Alvida Na Kahna," which means Don't Ever Say Goodbye is better known as KANK. Hindi movie fans, aka Bollywood film fans, are gearing up for the release of KANK this week. New York-based Maria writes in her blog Filmholic that " When tickets went on sale last week for KANK, I heard rumors that there was going to be a midnight showing on Thursday night at Cineplaza 13 in North Bergen, NJ, on six of their screens, but since then cannot get anyone at the theater to confirm or deny that." I was taken aback to read that tickets for this film went on sale a week ago!
Sweta Mogra writes in her blog that she and her friends have been fabricating a whole bunch of storylines for KANK. Read to find out what their combined verdict is about this yet-to-be released film. The film, by the way, was shot extensively in New York state.

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Hunger strike, a filtered journal & a banned NGO

Farid Pouya · 17:38 · Middle East & North Africa

Many Iranian bloggers are worried about Ahmad Batebi, activist student who is on hunger strike in prison for about ten days. Many compared his case to Akbar Mohammadi’s, another student activist who died in prison while he was on hunger strike. Several bloggers have written that Mohammadi is gone we should save Batebi’s life. Ahmad Batebi was first arrested during the student protest movement in 1999 and he was rearrested about two weeks ago.

Looking for help

Fm Sokhan blogger & journalist quotes a letter from Ahmad Batebi’s father [Fa].

Come and reveal your crimes and we reveal ours, and then we see who the criminal is. You should know this fact that Ahmad Batebi is not alone, he is son of Iran. Iran is full of Ahmad Batebi. Have courage to talk with us face to face. What is our fault?

Man Iranyam, in his turn quotes Ahmad Batebi's wife who is desperately trying to meet her husband [Fa]. The blogger says (more…)

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China: Hooker unions, uniting bloggers and qualitative and quantitative data from the Chinese blogsphere

John Kennedy · 15:34 · East Asia

One stock narrative for MSM reports on China is the untabooing of sex since Mao died. Indeed, a trip to the countryside reveals unsettling numbers of STD treatment posters and abortion hotline ads can frequently be seen on the rear windows of taxis in most cities.

While sensationalist stories about exotic Asian sexuality might help sell WASP-y Western newspapers, China these days is just as kinky a country as anywhere else.

Not the sort of tone found in Chinese media, as seen in a post today from Bokee blogger smilefish which looks at a Guangzhou newspaper's recent report on the gritty life of male prostitutes in the Southern Chinese city, some reportedly as young as seventeen:

“这是一种边缘游戏！”用报料人阿东的话说，这群为社会上某些男同性恋提供性服务的男青年就是一群边缘人，他们有些人是在玩一种他们不情愿的游戏，就像行话里对他们的称谓是“MB(Money-Boy)”，他们纯粹是为金钱在铤而走险。“他们和我们(单纯的同性性取向者)根本不是一类人，这段经历将影响他们的一生。”阿东说。

另据了解，这类组织有着看似温馨的称谓——“家”，为首的叫作“妈咪”，而被操控的男青年也被称为“孩子”。在这温情脉脉的面纱后面，到底藏着一个什么样的群体？社会应该对他们给以什么样的关注？为了弄清这许多疑惑，本报记者对他们进行了深入暗访……

“This is a kind of fringe game!” In the words of the article interviewee Ah Dong, for this group of young boys providing sex services for society's male homosexuals, people on the fringes is exactly what they are. Some of them are playing a kind of non-consenting game; just as their jargon terms them ‘MB' (Money Boy), they do this purely for the money, out of desperation. “They are a totally different kind of people from us (pure homosexuals). This experience will affect them for their entire lives,” Ah Dong says.

Furthermore, these kinds of organizations sort of match their warm description of ‘home', led by a ‘mommy', with the young boys under ['her'] control known as ‘the kids'. But what kind of group is actually hidden behind this warm and sentimental-sounding veil? What kind of attention should society pay to them? In order to clarify these many questions, this newspaper's reporter carried out a secret investigation into them…… [zh]

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Pana-Blogs Report

Melissa De Leòn Douglass · 09:00 · Americas

#1: Tatiana Salazar visits Chicá, Parque Nacional de Campana (ES):

Chicá is close to the Parque Nacional de Campana, a national ecological reserve with excellent weather, great roads, and a marvelous landscape. ANAM (Autoridad Nacional del Ambiente) has cabins for rent and the area is excellent for camping. Anyone interested?

Read the complete post and admire the views by visiting Tatiana's blog.

#2: PanPan's exposition of the military badges from the extinct Fuerzas de Defensa (ES) is a historic review of the military times in Panama. All of those companies were active when the 1989 invasion to Panama took place. The thoughts and comments to this post by the readers are mixed. One group cries out a complaint for the long gone military days, especially because of the street violence that takes so many lives every day. People want justice, and they do not see a satisfactory response from the police right now. The second group rejects even the thought militarizing Panama, and the third group just loves the colorful showcase of badges and names that remind us all the military days.

#3: ColterYahn visits the Sarigua Desert (El Desierto de Sarigua)

Scorched by the relentless sun and twisted by the salty wind that erodes away the precious little topsoil there is, trees with their roots left exposed quickly wither and die. Rain then erodes away more of the the salty earth, which dries rapidly and is swept by the wind into new forest, devastating the sensitive ecosystems that surround the Sarigua desert. Continue reading and admire the amazing photography!

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Death of Joseph Sankara, Drug menace in Ghana, Prof Chike Obi and Prez Election in Gambia

David Ajao · 07:57 · Sub-Saharan Africa

Under the Acacias writes about Burkina Faso's Independence anniversary and the death of Joseph Sankara, father of former President Thomas Sankara: What a difference a week makes in Burkina Faso

The death of Joseph Sankara, father of former president Thomas
Sankara,this week has added to a week already full of emotive memories
for Burkina Faso.

Yesterday, August 5th, was Burkina Faso's Independence Day. On Aug. 5,
1960, Upper Volta, as it was then called, achieved full independence
from France, and the country is therefore just 68 days older than me!
The new president Maurice Yameogo inherited an impoverished country that
had lacked the kind of investment France had given to neighbouring Cote
d'Ivoire, and he was later deposed in a coup in 1966.

The Trials & Tribulations of a Freshly-Arrived Denizen…of Ghana blogs about three issues: “The Unbearable Lightness of Being West African; Liberia’s 150-year anniversary; Menacing Problem of Drugs”. We are however highlighting The Drug Menace

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