Global Voices Online

On illegal African immigration Senegal Diaw (Fr) writes that “the reasons that push young, able men to risk death to come to Europe…are many and complex, and are not necessarily linked to [Senegal's] poverty,” but are rather a product of a country that is not advancing fast enough, whose youth can only look forward to a “bleak future.”

October 6 will be the mid autumn festival, Hung Huang tells her readers why she hates moon cakes.

A Jamaican newspaper article about the pan-Caribbean arts festival Carifesta confirms Nicolette Bethel's view that Caribbean governments fail to take culture seriously.

The Chinese cartoonist Liao Bingxiong passed away on 22 September 2006. ESWN translates an articles from the Southern people weekly about the end of traditional Chinese Cartoon style with some typical Liao's political cartoons.

JP in Japundit reports that the new Abe Cabinet announces that the Japanese Imperial law needs to be revised in order to “ensure a stable male-line succession of emperors.” Although the public poll shows that 63 percent of Japanese favor revision of the Imperial House Law, with 72 percent supporting the concept of female emperors.

Debito reports that the new Japanese Cabinet opposes primary school English education. The new education minister Ibuki believes that Japanese language ability is going down and they should work on their mother tongue than foreign languages.

Alexander Sadikov reports on the decision of Tajikistan's three most powerful opposition parties to sit out the upcoming presidential election and the decision of four smaller ones to field candidates though it is obvious the current president will be reelected. The decision of these four parties to compete, he says, is likely a display of loyalty to the government because their decision provides a democratic facade for the election.

Onnik Krikorian has photos of an Yezidi wedding in Armenia.

KZBlog has a detailed post about Nomad, currently appearing in theaters in Kazakhstan. The movie, as the blogger explains, is based on one part of a larger book telling the story of the creation of the Kazakh nation.

Candide says that the news that Tajikistan's president is going after gold teeth in the country, while seemingly a quirky decision, is a very bad sign for the country.

Burnell at Blogrel is happy that salaries for state employees are rising in Armenia because the costs of corruption have been on the rise recently.

Alexa writes that Mongolia's education system is expanding for the first time so that students will be able to start at younger ages.

“The alarming thing about this document is the amount of extra power it concentrates in a president's hands,” writes Jeremy Taylor, reviewing the scary new draft constitution being proposed by the Trinidad & Tobago government.

Barbados Free Press asks why Barbados' efforts to market to American tourists are failing; Linda Thompkins provides an answer.

Jeremy Taylor assesses Carifesta, the pan-Caribbean arts festival which ended in Trinidad on Oct 1.

“I love being honked at by people I barely know. I enjoy feeling that I belong to something even when the guy selling newspapers, and the one hawking hub-caps, and the nearby gardener all ask me for school-fee money for their kids,” writes Francis Wade of the daily interactions that remind him that “I now belong to this Jamaican fabric” — and which he finds dramatically absent on a recent trip to New York.

Geoffrey Philp touches upon the complicated relationship Jamaicans have with the land, and how it influences the country's ability to find a balance between “economic progress and a healthy ecology”.

Alex Harrowell writes on the Russian-Georgian conflict for A Fistful Of Euros.

Declan Butler posts an update on the Tripoli Six case and links to blogs involved in the campaign to free five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor facing execution in Libya.

Our Man In Tirana posts photos and an update from one of the capital's construction sites: visitors pass it as they enter Tirana on their way from the airport.

East Ethnia writes about an interesting twist in the Oct. 1 Bosnia and Herzegovina: “It looks increasingly likely that Zeljko Komsic from the non-nationalist SDP might be elected Croat member of Bosnia's three-member presidency, with a substantial chunk of his vote coming from ethnic Bosniaks.”

Wu Wei reads Ismail Kadare's novel, The Successor: “The Successor is about the ways totalitarian leaders keep their colleagues in check, by invoking the good of the Party. Or perhaps the ways in which the colleagues keep themselves in check by their own fear, having given their leader all power.”

Given a chance to ask former Brazilian president, Fernando Henrique Cardoso a question at a recent presentation at the University of Austin, Vikrum Sequeira compares Brazil's global presence with Russia, India, and China and asks: “Do you think Brazil position in the world would be stronger if its military capacities were similar to those of India's? When you represented Brazil abroad, did you ever feel that Brazil would have more bargaining power if the military were stronger?” Find out how Cardoso responded.

A.M. Mora y Leon has an overwhelmingly thorough roundup of roundups on yesterday's Brazilian election (ES).

Ricardo Carreón, based in Sao Paulo, takes a look at “How Lula lost his chance to win on the first round and is now in risk of losing a second term.”

Robert Wright tries to make sense of President Kirchner's recent statement that the constitution should be reformed so that the President serves for 6 years without the possibility of an immediate re-election.

Liz Henry gives a brief introduction to Costa Rican blogger, Julia Ardón and her various online projects and weblogs.

Congo-Brazzaville is repatriating the remains of Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza, the French-Italian colonialist, and interring them in a mausoleum built at the government's expense. Togolese blogger, Kangni Alem, rebukes those would defend de Brazza and call him a “good colonizer,” quoting one historian's take on why Brazzaville would decide to venerate such a controversial figure: “There is no politician in the Congo worth considering, and so for the Congolese, it's only normal that out of an inferiority complex, they would love a foreigner, a foreigner who was a colonialist…” (Fr)

Geoffrey Philp continues his series of Five Questions with Caribbean writers — this week he chats with Caribbean/South Florida poet Adrian Castro.

Dubai Sunshine grew up in the UAE. “It's kind of sad when you realise that most girls end up growing accustomed to getting stared at, no matter what they are wearing. This behaviour, as despicable as it is, is a fact of life here in the Emirates,” she said. But what's even more despicable is when the staring turns into acts of lewdness. Read some stories!

It is the season to pick the olive crop. There is a race of time in Palestine as Israeli settlers and troops destroy the groves, making it impossible to harvest the rich crops.
If you are a visitor to the region, if you live here… this can be your biggest boost to International Solidarity DesertPeace said. “Don't allow the crop to fail…“

Perhaps the single biggest problem of some branches (certainly not all) of the Tamazight (Berber) movement: they talk about developing Tamazight, but they talk and write and think in French, Lameen Souag said.

This blog is an attempt to present to the reader points of benefit concerning various aspects of the Arabic Language, with the aim of encouraging the non-Arabic speaker to embark upon his learning voyage, or to guide the current student through its various seas that may not have yet been explored, for the sake of deepening their understanding and appreciation of the miraculous nature of the Qur’anic language.

“What is it about men not wanting or allowing their wives and such to be themselves? Is it that they want these women stupid? Is it control? Is it all in the name of religion? I think many use religion as an excuse! Or is it that girls, some girls, take it too far? Is it that they aren't in love and married because it was arranged and don't like the controlling natures of the men? Do men, in the ME, become much more aggressive or jealous once they get married?” an American lady married to a Bahraini said.

Yael went to the Kol Nidre service last night with some friends, but left after about an hour. It was so not happening. In New York, London, and anywhere else she've been to Yom Kippur services and the places were packed to the gills. This beit-knesset was one of many big ones they've got in Tel Aviv. It was absolutely not filled to the gills last night. Outside on the streets though, it was fun. It was really really fun. And it was inspirational, she said.

Hatem Abunimeh wonder whether the gripe by the federation of the labor unions is something that will have some grave consequences on the long run, or is it going to end up being just a tempest in the tea pot.! “Getting wrangled in legal proceedings can be very arduous thorny & costly process. I'm not even sure that Jordan has the wherewithal to withstand standing up to these giant labor federations and their highly paid elite lawyer,” he said.

It's said that during the Ramadhan period, that the Devil clan is chained up, sent to Hell behind locked doors until the end of the month.
Literally looked at, it's an excellent opportunity for anyone who has sinned during the past to ask for forgiveness and remorse on what is upcoming. But to what end is it really true that a person's devious personality is hidden for a full 29/30 days? Sleepless In Muscat asks.

How bad is it going to be? Where is this heading? Naj explains some factors of the recent clashes between Hamas and Fatah.

In a good election roundup, A.M. Mora y Leon at Publius Pundit reports: “Brazil’s voters have sent a message tonight - Lula, we love you, but not quite the way we used to! You’ve got to change!”.

What has women's nakedness got to do with political activism in Africa? And are there lessons for the women in the US? Read “Nakedness and Power” in My Heart's in Accra.

Sociolingo writes about Geekcorps in Mali,
“Geekcorps Mali has done sterling work here in rural communities developing sustainable ICT solutions through radio stations improving content creation and delivery. They have also given technical assistance to local NGOs and USAID partners. Their results have been impressive.”

“Discourses about Africa continue to be infected by what we used to call in the 1980s and 1990s Afropessimism, the belief that Africa is irredeemably doomed to backwardness and chaos. Afropessimism embodies two tendencies—vilification of African experiences and valorization of Euroamerican engagements with Africa, that Africa is incapable by itself of historical progress and that any progress evident there is the result of Euroamerican interventions,” continue reading.

Africa Unchained writes about the Anti-Corruption Internet Database in Nigeria, “This website is part of a multi-media outreach campaign which aims to educate Nigerians on the systems and processes that exist for the budgeting and accounting of public funds, Inform the public on government’s efforts and shortfalls in managing these vast funds and Empower all citizens to demand their basic rights to see these funds spent on their needs…”

Jamaa Poa posts a feature article, The Strong Shall Always Be the Weak, by Onyango Obbo, the Nation Media Group’s managing editor for Convergence and New Products: “The authoritarian politics of the likes of Banda, which was the rule in most of Africa in the 1970s and 1980s, also gave rise to another irritating feature of African politics – the long speech. A speaker needs to take his audience for granted – or to hold them to a degree of fear – for him to bludgeon them with a dull speech for hours without protest.”

The Nervous Voter would like to know when the South African Health Minister, Dr Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, is going to jail for her “garlic can save your life (from Aids) nonsense”. The Nervous Voter writes,
“What we need is a good class-action lawsuit from the families of AIDS victims against the government followed by a criminal investigation into culpable homicide (for negligence) against the Health Minister.”

View from Iran has published an image from Iranian TV where you can read Arab States urge UN to condom Israel. Click here to see the photo and do not miss comments.The blogger adds this image illustrates why I tell my foreign friends never ever to use spellcheck.

Whisk on what concerns Pakistanis and what doesn't quite make the list.

A reader's words on a child prodigy of the 1930s. “Among the early popularizers of music in India was Master Madan, a child prodigy who died at the age of 15 in 1942. Few of his recordings survive, though he was a precocious and prolific performer.”

Temple murals, while an important aspect of heritage fades fast thanks to negligence. Nina Paley points to an online initiative to document murals in Tamil Nadu temples. “he is behind an ambitious project to digitally archive the ancient temple murals of Tamil Nadu. Many of these murals depict stories from the Ramayana. “

Or how I learned to stop Worrying on war, Bush, Iraq and the World. “We are where we are because of Mr. Bush’s “order”.We are living today in the chaos of Mr. Bush’s war.”

On the occassion of Dashain, United We Blog! had a wonderful post outlining Hinduism and ethnic realities in Nepal in order to understand the secular nature of society and culture.

Michael Hurt explains why it is good for foreign expats in South Korea go blogging.

David Weber blogs about Madonna's concert in Tokyo in Japundit.

The colour of depose Bien campaign is red. So what does the meaning of red in Taiwan political context? Chen Kuan Hsing tries to read into the meaning. The Chinese original version is at inmediahk.net and a translated English version is at interlocals.net.

The Shanghai corruption case was related with the abusive use of social pension fund. Lang Xianping was among the first person to point that out. ESWN has translated an unpublished interview with Lang.

October 1 is the national day of People's Republic of China. Han Song is brainstorming about his new science fiction storyline: if the deads become alive again, what would they have done during the one week vacation? (zh)