Global Voices Online

The Limey returns home after waiting out hurricane Florence in Bermuda's capital. He's pleased to report that the damage is “nowhere near as bad as it was after [2003 hurricane] Fabian.”

Luis M. Garcia wonders if the tight security around the summit of the Non-Aligned Movement in Havana is to keep intruders out — or the delegates in.

US-based La Reunion-origined blogger Sandy of Reunion-USA2 posts several cartoons illustrating that (Fr): “In the USA, the cost of living is so high that only a minority of lucky ones can afford to work only one job. Case in point, these two cartoons explaining that having multiple jobs has become par for the course.”

Collectif Haiti de Provence points to an Alterpresse article which highlights an important Haitian film event (Fr): “The second edition of the International Festival of Haitian Film (FIFHM) was launched Wednesday September 6 at the Canadian National Film Office (ONF) in the St Denis neighborhood of Montreal. This initiative of the Fabienne Colas Foundation is the most important festival dedicated to Haitian cinema on non-haitian soil. It will be held from September 15 to 24 and will offer Montreal cinephiles about 40 Haitian films made in Haiti, the USA, France and Canada. “

Carpetblogger introduces a new feature, Ask Carpetblogger, in which she'll be answering “questions about life in Crapistan.” The first question is this: “Carpetblogger, how can I tell if I am on a flight to, from or within the Former Soviet Union? How can I be culturally sensitive while on board?”

Vilhelm Konnander writes on how the media treat Vladimir Putin's repeated assurances that he is not considering staying for the third presidential term: “Still, international media continues to report that Putin will leave power in 2008, in the anticipation that somewhere along the line he will change his mind.”

Snowsquare.com writes about a bizarre event held in Moscow last week: the World Toilet Summit & Expo 2006.

Russia Blog compares two Harvard speakers: Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn in 1978 and Mohammed Khatami this year.

Russia Blog writes about oil and gas development on Sakhalin.

Russia Blog writes about the tragic death of an Omsk journalist and his family: “Ruslan noticed a nice Mitsubishi car parked by a tent, with no potential witnesses around. Driving a foreign-made vehicle was his childhood dream. So he went to the tent and shot Aleksandr Petrov in the face and his wife in the back.”

Copydude writes about “a giant can of Baltic Sprats” sculpture soon to appear in a town near Kaliningrad; about German ads - possibly, a scam - offering “assisted resettlement package to Kaliningrad, including subsidised bills, free train travel, free phone installation, a chance to collect Russian and German pensions and dual citizenship”; and about Russian “ripping [as] a Pavlovian reflex.”

Owlspotting writes about journalism education in Romania.

Owlspotting writes about translating movie titles into Romanian. The Accidental Russophile gives advice on finding and watching Russian DVDs in the United States.

Halfway Down the Danube compares Bulgaria's capital Sofia to Romania's capital Bucharest: “Bucharest has more cars; Sofia has better drivers.”

The beatroot writes about the opening of a 9/11 memorial in a Polish town that saw a pogrom against Jews in 1946 - and about the effects of the 9/11 “media hysteria.”

The beatroot writes about Socialist Realism: “…mostly a patronizing celebration of all things ugly and pompous.”

Moju on the various dichotomies between religion and the politics of domination. “however, what cannot be explained, nor justified, is the frenzied nationalist who screams for sinhala domination and also calls himself a sinhalese buddhist.”

Or How I Learnt To Stop Worrying on the events of 9/11 - including the worry for people, the anxiety and the frenzied calls. “I later found out that both of my college housemates were in the towers that day. My other friend was having breakfast in Morgan Stanley’s cafeteria on the 43rd floor of one of the towers. That trip to the cafeteria may have saved his life.”

While 9/11 appears to have the dominant connotation of a terror attack, Sepia Mutiny explores the other 9/11 - celebrating a hundred years of Satyagraha - or Gandhi's non violent resistance movement.

The Bengali Fob Says… on remembering the victims of 9/11, and the consequences of the tragedy. “Another thing that annoys me about 9/11 tributes is the fact that the Americans never show the ethnic Americans who died. “

The Olive Ream spins a sarcastic post ridiculing the government (in)action on September 11. “9-11 (nine hundred and eleven) also refers to the number of times Bush has read the book, ‘The Pet Goat' since September the 11th, 2001. Laura admits that “he still doesn't get it”.”

Eduardo Arcos informs his readers that López Obrador, who lost the presidential election to Felipe Calderón will give el grito [a ceremonious scream on independence eve] in Mexico City's zócalo (ES). The annual ceremony, to take place the night of September 15, has always been led by the president. According to Arcos, President Vicente Fox is also planning on giving el grito. Ana Maria Salazar has her own explanation of “The Battle of the Gritos” in English. Meanwhile, Michelle Dion explains her disappointment with how the election unfolded.

Patrick of the Guatemala Solidarity Network asks, “what is Guatemala's place in the new order in Latin America?

Andrew of Comings Communiqué has photos and descriptive captions of the small village of Vacaria.

Who knew!? According to Proyecto Colombia, Colombia is number one in the 2006 World Roller Speed Skating Championships.

Chilean web designer Christian Ocampo lists the most-paid-for advertising keywords in Spanish (ES) according to PRS Marketing, SL. “Hotels in Mallorca” ranks fifth, “English courses” is at number six, and “translation companies” squeezes in at number ten.

Expat Argentina describes his first protest in Argentina when he saw Juan Carlos Blumberg - whose son was killed by kidnappers - speak about crime and security in Argentina. On a related note, Cintra has an unfortunate update on the “Palermo crime wave.” Meanwhile the city government blog Pasa en Buenos Aires reports on the findings on a recent survey about trash in the city (ES).

Both Ben and Eduardo Ávila begin their descriptions of La Paz and the current state of Bolivia with meditations on the programming of local TV. Jim Shultz offers his opinions on the four-department general strike by political opponents of Evo Morales' MAS government and Miguel Buitrago has the latest on continuing protests.

Liza is worried that Israel is losing her way. She said: “The more I hear about Israel's actions in the recent conflict in Lebanon, the more horrified and disgusted I become. How must the world perceive us? How arrogant are our politicians and our military? Our leaders claim to want peace, but sometimes I wonder. Actions speak louder than words, and when we say that our war was not with the people of Lebanon, but it is then revealed that our military may have dropped upwards of 1,800 cluster bombs (which apparently works out to approximately 1.2 MILLION cluster bomblets), it makes me more inclined than ever to question my government's intentions. I cannot imagine any possible scenario in this conflict that could justify such action, and it destroys any legitimacy there might be in Israel's desire to demolish the Hizbollah infrastructure.”

Samir reports that a growing number of Moroccan Internet surfers have become bloggers this year due to cheaper Internet access, the general availability of ADSL and the launch of a number of local blog platforms. Current developments in the already diverse Moroccan blogosphere include the creation of an Arabic-language blog platform and an Internet portal combining news, a subject directory and a blog platform. Sadly English language blogs are still rare.

With so many criticizing Saudi Arabia over different issues these days, Nzingha reads such news in different way. She says: “Are there good things in this country? Yes of course. Are there some great people? Yuppers. Maybe I should focus more on that on this blog least we forget that this country is a bit more diverse than it is given credit for. Now bravo to the leaders who rejected the proposal I do believe the voices of women were heard. Both in this country and abroad.” talking about a proposal for women's safe prayer Areas in Mecca.

Mardi from Palestine Free Voice blog has an interview with Huda Ghalyia - the Girl who became the symbol of the Palestinian sorrow.

The American teacher is Syria describe his first reaction to today's terrorist attack on American Embassy at Damascus. He says: “It was breaktime, and a group of students were refreshing my memory about the plot of the Julia Roberts classic, “Runaway Bride” when my student Ahmad broke in abruptly. “There was a battle,” he interjected. I probed my mind trying to recall that part, a battle. I had seen that film on my honeymoon so the particular details were lost amidst more important lifetime memories. “No,” Ahmad said, “I was outside having a cigarette and I heard explosions and gunfire.” We all went to the window and stuck our ears out, but heard nothing. We shrugged our shoulders and went back to our exegesis of “Runaway Bride”. A few minutes later, I got an SMS from my manager saying that the American embassy had been attacked.”

Fojrega writes (Fr): “As the crucial October 1 date nears, the majority anglophone provinces of the North West and South West are under high surveillance. Police and government authorities fear an increase in influence of SCNC activists who demand the independence of ex-Western Cameroon.“

The Rights Action Group T&T blog, which promotes and documents the work of a group fighting against the construction of an aluminium smelter in south-western Trinidad, is reporting that two residents of the area, a member of the Rights Action Group and a university lecturer were arrested in the early hours of this morning. The report also states that “women are being pushed out of the way to allow workers from Alcoa and Bechtel” to enter the area.

Afflictedyard posts two curious photos of slogans spray-painted on walls in Kingston, Jamaica, referring to what would appear to be a plot involving hormone therapy. “Hormone imbalance cause cancer and gay-ism lesbianism,” reads one of the signs.

Nik Nazmi in Malaysia applauds his prime minister for urging to the United States that the two Malaysian detainees in Guantanamo Bay get a fair open trial. But the blogger also questions whether Malaysia would apply the same standards to its own detainees held under the ISA (Internal Security Act).

Merek, a blogger who is himself a non-native English speaker, is amused by Indonesian billboards.

Wendy at Babasiga blog pays homage to the King of Tonga Taufa'ahau Tupou IV. The ailing King died on Sunday. In the comment, the blogger says “The Tongan people are in a quandery because they want to show respect for tradition but at the same time many want a fair go for ordinary people. The democracy movement there is persisting and eventually there will be a fairer outcome.”

Ye Ying blogs about a Chinese fashion design show in mindmeter. The design show took place in a factory studio in China. The blogger discusses about the challenge of Chinese design: as the oriental imagination is becoming cliche, how can the young generation designers explore a more diversified path? (zh)

In response to a blog post concerning the power of netizen (pageviews) in defence of Baidu, Keso criticizes that the meaning of “netizen” is now similar to “people”, both are flexible and empty concepts (zh).