Global Voices Online

Nik Nazmi in Malaysia asks whether the speech made by pope was really an attempt at dialogue. “While, yes, the Pope has now apologised, what is glaring is the fact that when he quoted Manuel II, there was no hint of qualification and seemingly tacit approval.”

The South Pacific Travel Blog has the latest from Solomon Islands where the Australian high commissioner was forced to leave country after he was declared a persona non grata.

The Samakomlao blog posts pictures of a Laotian pop duo in concert in Japan. Laos is one of the least visited countries in Asia and only recently rest of Asia is getting interested in Lao's pop-culture and travel destinations.

Mythical Dude is missing Cambodia and he is staying in touch by reading blogs from Cambodia.

African Painters on the late Ugandan artist, Henry Lutalo Lumu, “Henry Lutalo Lumu is credited by many of Uganda's artists as being one of the country's brightest and most widely influential talents of modern Ugandan art from as early as the 1950s until his death in 1989.”

Cora has news and photos from the 8th Lagos Book and Art Festival (September 15 -17, 2006).

So the President of Tanzania, Jakaya Kikwete, can play the African drum! He was the guest of honor at the opening ceremony of the 25th Bagamoyo Arts Festival, which took place on September 11th - 16th, 2006 in the coastal town of Bagamoyo at the Bagamoyo College of Arts.

Kumekucha has an idea about what the President of Kenya, Mwai Kibaki and his closest aides think of younger generation leaders, “My firm conviction is that the younger generation in this nation will confound critics and rise to the occasion, at this, the nation’s hour of need. It does not matter what newspaper surveys say about how ignorant they are.”

Death and funeral announcement is a poem written in support of the Global Day for Darfur:
Here lies eighty thousand souls
names and identities- unknown
passions and pains- unknown
feelings and fears- unknown
Origin and nationality- Western Sudan Darfur region
Now buried in a mass grave known as Darfur Crisis….

“With allies like this, who needs enemies?,” Weichegud asks, and continues to write: “The neighboring Ethiopian government, led by a rabid Marxist ethnicologist who got the Bill Clinton “Enlightened African leader” stamp of approval, was sanguine with the lawlessness in Somalia, even encouraging it, believing that a fractured Somalia was in the Meles government’s best interest. It postured itself as a fighter of terrorism, and an understandably skittish post-9/11 Bush Administration poured money and expertise into Prime Minister Meles’s “terror fighting” apparatus. (Sadly, US-made Humvees meant for this purpose were later used to gun down unarmed protestors. Awkward.)”

Jose Murilo Junior describes the “cultural hotspot” workshop of Digital Varjão, which encourages young people in Varjão do Torto - a low income informal settlement in the outskirts of Brasília - to use open source software to express themselves creatively and share their day to day experiences online. You can see a slideshow of the workshop and examples of works done by the children.

Caracas Connect has one last summary from their recent delegation to Caracas while francisco describes the voting poll wars and Oil Wars examines Venezuela's crime problem.

Jim Schultz on the ironies of a reeking modern airport and coca-chewing DEA guards in Cochabamba.

Melanie, a volunteer in Honduras describes the 3-day workshops on HIV that she gives to junior high students: “The only potential problem I had was with a 17-year-old 7th grader who took to preaching like the Evangelical preachers and didn’t want to stop talking. He went on for at least an hour and probably would have kept preaching to those poor kids if the rest of us hadn’t left him to go eat lunch.”

Tim Muth describes the festivities in El Salvador as Central Americans celebrated 185 years of independence from Spain. In Costa Rica, apparently it is Independence Eve when the real parties get started. Uri Ridelman links to a YouTube video of the Patriotica Costarricense: “one of the most important songs of our country after the National Anthem.” From Guatemala, DesdeGuate.com asks why patriotism must be related to the military (ES).

Writer Rob Rivera articulates why he believes “Panama is coming into its own in terms of culture, after laying dormant for many years.”

Homosexuality in India is illegal because of a law that is largely part of a British legacy. Vikram Seth, a prominent author has written an open letter to the Government on the issue, and this has found consent with quite a few other prominent people. Amardeep Singh on the law, the context and the issue at hand. “Who exactly defines what is “against the order of nature”? I believe the earlier versions of the Penal Code didn't include the “explanation,” so one obvious question is whether it includes, to be quite direct, everything but the heterosexual missionary position.”

Metroblogging Lahore takes a closer look at what the Pope actually said, and in the context of the entire speech, wonders what the Pope's intent is. “Specially after reading the last paragraph, I do not think he himself agrees with the views of Emperor Manuel Paleologos II but he was just quoting it to start a debate. I am not sure though that he used enough or right words to convey his intentions clearly and that's where I personally see the problem.”

iFaqeer on the Pope's statement about Islam. “And in that sense, the complaints from the Muslim world have some basis; poking folks in the eye ain't the best way to make friends. Now if we had an official Caliph, he could challenge the man to a duel and we could be done with it and lots of people wouldn't have to be affected by riots and suchlike.”

Blogdai with a rather caustic note on how the King blew his opportunity in Nepal. “Kept looking for the Maoists, kept up the fight and kept marginalizing and ignoring the parties. The fickle world community would have lost interest in Nepal soon enough and would have moved onto something more “news worthy.”"

Or how I Learned to Stop Worrying with a brief context to the Pope's remarks on Islam and how the Vatican handled the consequences. “His statement fell short of the apology demanded by Muslim leaders and in classic macaca-esque style he apologized for how his speech was perceived rather than the content of his speech.”

Sadiq on debunking the Pope's statement on Islam. “His allegation is incorrect. Surah 2 is a Medinan surah revealed when Muhammad was already established as the leader of the city of Yathrib (later known as Medina or “the city” of the Prophet). The pope imagines that a young Muhammad in Mecca before 622 (lacking power) permitted freedom of conscience, but later in life ordered that his religion be spread by the sword.”

Estavisti reports on the Serbian hip-hop, the Anti-Belgrade Front and the ideas of Serbia's decentralization.

Belgrade Blog writes about a military parade recently held in Serbia's capital. Also, there's a short video showing celebrations in Belgrade following victory of the Serbian waterpolo team: “…but this is the first time we did it under the name of Serbia, so cheers for that :)”

Russia Blog reports on the recent killing of Andrei Kozlov, vice president of Central Bank: “The equivalent crime in America would be killing the Vice Chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank in Washington, D.C.”

J. Otto Pohl covers another tragic date in the history of the Russian-Germans: the 65th anniversary of the forced deportation of those living in Rostov Region.

YakimaGulagLiteraryGazett recommends videos that “show what it's like in BiH for ordinary people, it's very telling and it's real, I know this from my own experience.”

A recent dispute between a songwriter/performer and a record label prompts Yardflex.com to say — in good Jamaican patois — that Jamaican recording artists need to get smart about the business side of entertainment.

Chhay Vet at Khmer440 blog remembers the day in 1979 when as a child he witnessed Vietnamese soldiers chase away the Khmer Rouge. “I remember the Vietnamese soldiers as being small and thin but tough fighting men. They were well armed, wore French style helmets covered in camouflaged cloth and leaves and had their rations of cooked rice strapped around their uniforms This first wave of Vietnamese soldiers were experienced veterans from Hanoi and the North of Vietnam who has spent years fighting in the American War. They treated us well and later on fed us with cake plus in the coming weeks they allowed us to take rice from the vast stores that had been abandoned by the Khmer Rouge.”