Archive for
October 17th, 2006


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Rumblings at the Iraqi Blogodrome

A small portrait of the translator Salam Adil · 11:14 · Middle East & North Africa

There is a huge argument going on between Iraqi bloggers this week. Much of it in private emails but some spilling out in public blogs. It started with a number. But more on that in a moment.

Condolences

First, my heartfelt condolences goes out to Zeyad who lost a close friend to the violence in Iraq. He writes:

I can't concentrate on anything any more. I should not be here in New York running around a stupid neighbourhood, asking people about their ‘issues'.

I now officially regret supporting this war back in 2003. The guilt is too much for me to handle.

And further condolences to Maas who tell us of the unspeakable grief following the unspeakable loss of her Uncle K to a bomb while praying at his mosque. She writes: “It was avery hard news to my father … when my mam told us I didn't believe and start to cry and I was going to a lecture of English but I can't go and my tears full of tears I would not understand anything because my mind think of what heppened.”

If you read no other blog post this week read this

Nabil returns to Iraq through the Amman-Baghdad highway - “one of the most dangerous roads in the world”. (more…)

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Travelling with “Tro-Tro” in Ghana

A small portrait of the translator Emmanuel.K. Bensah · 10:55 · Sub-Saharan Africa

Ghana voices this week are from entries written about Ghana by non-Ghanaians. The first, by Leanne, writing in her blog An American in Africa, marvels at the “ever-evolving, always under repair, rarely striped or shouldered” roads that dot the country and the capital. She posts a few pictures of the roads in Accra, including some that are near her house, which was miraculously paved one day. She attributes this miracle to “road crews”:

Hundreds of them. As the rain eases, hordes of cheap Ghanaian road crews spread out all over town and start filling potholes. Sometimes with the asphalt-like stuff, sometimes with cement(!), sometimes with just more dirt, hard packed. Labor is cheap here and it's astonishing how much they can get done in a day

I'm Ghana go to Accra writes a thoughtful, descriptive, and realistic account of his experience with the tro-tro, which he describes as:

The generic name for anything larger than a taxi that carries passenger along a strictly adhered to route. I ride in a tro-tro about three times a day and have been in everything from small mini-vans to old school busses (no description could envelop the lot.

(more…)

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Russia: Treatment of Georgians

A small portrait of the translator Dan O'Huiginn · 06:00 · Eastern & Central Europe

Blogger Sukhumi has been following the coverage of the persecution of Georgians in Russia (previous Global Voices posts are here and here). He writes (RUS):

On the TV channel “Imedi” I saw a demonstration in St. Petersburg against the persecution of Georgians. To my delight, I caught sight of my friend Valiko. I am very grateful that, unafraid of the consequences, she took to the streets and made her stand as a citizen. It's in times like this that you learn who is a real person, and who is just an empty shell.

But most of the news is bad. It seems even sport is becoming politicised. The ‘Kremlin Cup' tennis tournament, Sukhumi writes, has just been won by ethnic Georgian Anna Chakvetadze - in the face of a crowd shouting taunts like “Georgians go to Georgia!” (Edit: Irina, in the comments below, says this wasn't the case). And another Georgian sports star has fled Russia:

Yesterday Elena Gedevanishvili returned to Tbilisi. She is a Georgian figure-skater, trained in Moscow, who has won sixth place at the Winter Olympics. Her parents were deported from Russia on the first plane; Elena herself went [first] to Vienna, where she won some big competition…

(more…)

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