Global Voices Online

“We are the people of the plateau—we work as much as is necessary to reach a flat, safe place,” says Jamaican novelist Marlon James of his compatriots. “Then we stay there for thirty years.“

Francis Wade considers what could happen if Jamaica were suddenly to strike it rich.

Valentine Michael Smith leaves aside satire for a moment and considers the opportunity that lies before Bermuda's newly elected Premier, Dr. Ewart Brown.

Nyasha Lang reports on a visit to Dangriga Town, Belize, where she visits a radio station run by a Garifuna perfomer and learns how easy it is to fall into the habit of wearing several hats.

Yesterday, he advocated that those Caribbean islands that haven't yet done so detach should themselves from the British monarchy. Today, Jeremy Taylor makes the case for the abolition of “faith schools”.

Alan Baumler at China history group blog goes into the text of Sunu jing–The Classic of the White Girl, to discuss about Chinese thought.

Lee at Tokyo Times introduces a confession service in Japan. Most of the clients are men in 30s who want to express their love but are afraid of being rejected.

Dave and Stefan notice that tress from Nathan road at Kowloon Peninsular have been disappearing gradually over the past decades. So where have all the trees gone?

Robert Koehler in Marmot's Hole blogs about the details of spy case against the general secretary of the Democratic Labor Party (DLP) and a former DLP central committee member.

KZBlog reports on Kazakhstan's plan to found “social business corporations” in the country's regions to drive economic growth and meet social needs. Though the idea behind them is seemingly similar to “social entrepreneurship,” KZBlog notes that no one seems too interested in the social end of the things with the SBCs. Rather, these will be businesses that capitalize on state property to create profits that will fulfill certain financial obligations of the state.

Tolkun Umaraliev reports on corruption in Kyrgyzstan's education system.

Shohruh says that China and Russia cannot save Islam Karimov, the president of Uzbekistan.

Sean Roberts notes that next is a big week for three Central Asian countries. Three very different events will take place that show how different their politics have become since independence from the Soviet Union.

Alexander Sadikov reports on divisions within Tajikistan's Democratic party which he says have developed into a political stalemate.

Onnik Krikorian has posted his first Armenian parliamentary election monitor, a weekly roundup of news regarding the coming election.

At neweurasia, Leila translates a Russian language post on press freedom in Kazakhstan.

Dan O'Huiginn profiles Dariga Nazarbaeva, the politically powerful daughter of Kazakhstan' president.

Mirsulzhan Namazaliev writes that both the government and the opposition in Kyrgyzstan are destabilizing the country by failing to engage in dialogue. He says that only well-known and respectable centrist politicians can fix this situation.

The guest blogger at Brunei Resources explains why the new GDP figure for Brunei is both a good news as well as bad news.

30in2005 on the recent media frenzy over Madonna adopting a child. “As she lives here and apparently wanted to adopt a child why couldn’t she have done so here (country of her husband Guy) or in America (her own country). Are these children not needy enough or is it that the media frenzy is greater with an African child? Children are not accessories and I fear no matter how noble the intention, by doing this she has created an ill required storm.”

LirneAsia on telecom in Sri Lanka suffering because of the conflict. “Now, Dialog and the people of the North are paying the price of the path of war. For two months, the mobile networks have been shut down in the North, with service being allowed intermittently in the East. This means that approximately 220,000 families are unable to communicate with their loved ones in the North and that another 200,000 or so families are not sure their phone will work when they most need it. “

Sean's Russia Blog writes about youth extremism.

Light Within on people in Pakistan celebrating Halloween. “The festival has recently become popular with children and young people in Pakistan and is especially celebrated in Lahore with delicious food and music.”

Copydude posts pictures of a WWII memorial in Novgorod.

Itching for Eestimaa writes about Estonia's history.

Arellanes.com translates another article on yet another political scandal.

BlogDai comments on the Maoists and the People. “An actual “People's Movement” is starting to take hold. For the first time, we see what appears to be mass, spontaneous outrage and intolerance of Maoist cruelty. Just a few days ago, thousands of citizens took to the streets in Jhapa in a mass display of disgust at Maoist atrocities.”

TOL's Belarus Blog writes about yet another arrest; prize for Milinkevich, and the Belarusian language museum.

Neretva River writes about Macedonia's plans to join the EU.

Blog coverage of the referendum on the new Serbian constitution: at East Ethnia, here and here; at South East Europe Online, here; at Belgrade 2.0, here, here and here; at Dictionary of the Serbian Mess, here; and at Estavisti, here.

Ethan discusses the clash between the Ethiopian government and Starbucks over trademark, “Last year, the Ethiopian government filed trademark applications to protect the names “Sidaro”, “Harar” and “Yirgacheffe” - the hope was to prevent unscrupulous coffee dealers from buying inexpensive beans from other countries and selling them as “Sidaro”, whether or not they emerged from the region.”

A statement in support of gay and lesbian citizens of Kenya, “It is time to scrap the laws that the British imposed upon us and left us with, laws that the colonizers themselves scrapped long ago. Let Kenya move out from the shadows of her colonial past and recognise the rights of her gay and lesbian citizens.”

Declan Butler posts an update on “the buildup of international pressure” in the Tripoli Six case.

You Missed This explains why the president of Kenya, Mwai Kibaki, has already won re-election, “Two gentlemen by the name of Al Ries and Jack Trout wrote what in my view is the most important marketing book ever written in the 60s called Positioning. This book changed marketing forever and every Kenyan needs to understand the basic principle behind positioning as presented in this book before it is too late. This is because the Kibaki campaign machine is about to steal an election based on this simple principle of marketing and human behaviour.”

Actualite Culturelle Malgache is working on making available through its blog (Fr): “A novel published in 1897 and authored by Adolphe Badin, Une Famille Parisienne a Madagascar Avant et Apres l'Expedition [A Parisian Family in Madagascar Before and After the Expedition ].” The blog explains: ” Of course the text should be read with a grain of salt: it is of its time and carries prejudices common to the end of the 19th century.”

Following the plane crash in Nigeria last week, Ore's Notes lists other recent plane crashes in the country, “Nigerians may have been deemed the “happiest people in the world”, but perhaps it's time we started facing our issues with a greater degree of seriousness and less laughter.”

The Bearded Man posts latest news from Zimbabwe, “A church-authored national vision document could be the start of efforts to end Zimbabwe’s fast deteriorating crisis but analysts say it fell short of directly putting the blame on President Robert Mugabe’s government and questioned the veteran leader’s commitment to implementing its recommendations.”

How about steamed blood for dinner?, “I think that is quite an overexcited statement. I lost my motivation on page 85 when I found this recipe on how to cook a dish called 'steamed blood':
* ½ litre of blood
* ½ teaspoon salt
* Drain the plasma from the solid blood. Add salt. Place the blood in a metallic container with a cover or wrap in a banana leaf. Steam for 30 minutes. Cut in nice dices and serve as a side dish,” writes a Danish development worker in Uganda.

“I have not been in Nairobi in October in a long time and the explosion of colour has caught me by surprise. Well it isn’t really an explosion of colour but an explosion of purple,” writes Mental Acrobatics.

Iranian Truth discusses the current draft Security Council resolution on Iran which states, in part: “all States shall prohibit specialized teaching or training of Iranian nationals, within their territories or by their nationals, of disciplines which would contribute to Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile program”, The blogger says the expansive and broad language of the resolution and the potential impact it may have on innocent students and families is breathtaking. This is nothing short of a resolution designed not only to cripple Iran's nuclear program, but Iranians altogether, regardless of their association with the current government.

Publiu's Pundit reports that Brazil’s incumbent President Luiz Inacio “Lula” da Silva has cruised on to an easy victory in Brazil’s runoff election. With 94% of the tally counted, the final score was 61-39, a very strong showing.