Global Voices Online

Harinjaka is happy that a local French NGO is flying Francia, a local girl in need of specialized surgery, to France for the operation but thinks (Fr): “the best way to help Madagascar is to give Malagasies the means to develop their own thinking and methods, rather than offering them the key to projects that will rarely address real needs … Let's hope that in coming years the country will manage to obtain adequate surgical equipment.”

La Reunion is an overseas department of France situated in the Indian Ocean. Of the department's President, Nassimah Dindar, blogger Pierrot Dupuy writes that (Fr): “she is capable of cynicism and has a propensity for sitting on rules and laws.” He then relates anecdotes that illustrate his point.

Karel McIntosh provides an overview of corporate social responsibility in the Trinidad and Tobago context. And Francomenz asserts that “It’s sad that we may have to actually legislate magnanimity in order for businesses to understand the weight of their corporate responsibility, but in a climate where industry makes no apologies for having narrow interests and wide profit margins, perhaps it’s time to remind them that those margins are made possible primarily because of stakeholders rather than shareholders.“

With a general election coming up in his native St. Lucia, Matthew Hunte muses on Sting's departure from The Police and politicians who overstay their welcome in office.

In ArubaGirl's neck of the woods, the rumour that Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands is going to pay a visit to their church fills the pews on Sunday.

Ria Bacon comments on the clash of cultures taking place in the discussions surrounding the ultra-popular “dutty wine” dance since moves associated with the latter allegedly caused the death of a young woman. She also links to a YouTube video and reports that there are 2000+ similar examples to be found on the video-sharing site.

For Taran Rampersad, knowledge of the existence of a “brushing cutlass” — or a lack thereof — provides a useful metaphor for the digital divide.

The subject of Geoffrey Philp's latest installment in his “In My Own Words” series is Jamaica-born poet Shara McCallum.

Blogrel notes the passing of Aram Asatryan, a famous Armenian musician.

KZ Blog writes that the fake national anthem featured in the Borat movie is good satire of some of the things in which the Kazakhstani government takes pride.

John Guzman at Proyecto Colombia congratulates Shakira who took home four Latin Grammy’s. Tim Muth says that just a couple days later the Colombian pop diva was in San Salvador as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador promoting anti-violence activities among the youth of the country.

Adding to his public transportation reviews of Los Angeles, Mexico City, Bogotá, and Caracas, David of A Ride for the Climate (who is cycling throughout Latin America) offers a transport review of Lima.

Life in Armenia says that the results of US congressional elections is good for Armenian causes.

Citing the most recent Invamer-Gallup poll of 1,000 Colombians in four cities and notes that President Álvaro Uribe's popularity fell six percentage points.

Senator and vetaran blogger, Fernando Flores, has posted a letter [ES] he sent to Party For Democracy head Sergio Bitar announcing his withdrawal from the political party, which has been accused of political corruption. Fellow veteran blogger Leo Prieto applauds the decision: “We need transparent politicians, giving an example to follow, respecting the laws, and working for us. We need politicians with clean hands [ES].'

Tanzania In Focus discusses Samsung's economic interests in Tanzania.

Both Tomas Sancio and Miguel Octavio have links to a video (Octavio also links to an English translation) of Minister of Energy and Oil and President of PDVSA Rafael Ramirez saying that employees of the state-owned oil company that do not support Chavez's Bolivarian Revolution are free to quit. Luigino Bracci Roa says that the opposition-dominated media is purposefully misconstruing Ramirez's statement [ES] and Oil Wars believes the opposition is to blame for turning PDVSA into a political weapon. Daniel Duquenal, meanwhile, thinks that “watching how chavismo is trying to cover for the terrible Ramirez speech is perhaps even more degrading than the speech itself.”

Leftside takes a look at how the US reacted to Ortega's victory in Nicaragua's presidential elections. Erwin Cifuentes has lots of informative election-related links. “Goyo and Juanita” at Pura Vida take a diplomatic stance on the results while Boz gives his usual five talking points.

With a light touch, Soyapi Mumba writes about free software developed in Malawi, “Fortunately, in the software world, with special thanks to free and open source software licences and the Internet, it is hassle-free to get software developed from Malawi. Within seconds, you can have an application downloaded and running on your computer. No human rights organisations going to court to stop you, no passport requirements and no mind-changing father or developer to bother you!”

Sokhwanele compares Zanu PF's election promises with reality on the ground in Zimbabwe.

Pestcentric disagrees with a fellow blogger on the meaning of the 1956 revolution: “The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 was primarily against Soviet domination and not just an internal conflict between Hungarian communists that spiraled onto the streets, where it became the failed fight for freedom you all have read/seen/heard so much about this past month.”

Robert Wright reviews Pablo Trapero's newest film, “Born and Raised”. But beware, Wright warns that “if you plan to see it, don’t read any further…”

Foreign Notes writes about what awaits Ukrainians starting Dec. 1: “This winter Ukrainians are being hit with massive price increases - a doubling and more of their housing-communal-services tariffs and utility charges.”

It's winter in Moscow. Snowsquare posts a photo of a Beware - Icicles sign, and Two-Zero shares a few views of Moscow's snow-covered streets.

A Step At A Time links to a recording of a Finnish song for Anna Politkovskaya.

An interesting (doubtless that it will be controversial) way to look at women's empowerment. By looking at back issues of the Cosmopolitan! Kamla Bhatt writes “Now, comes the important $60 billion question. Has the role of women changed or is it just a cosmetic change that we are witnessing in India? They have a quote from Urvashi Bhutalia, a well-know feminist who says that the changes are at the moment confined to the cosmetic level.”

Quite a few blogs have had a reaction to the elections in the US. Sepia Mutiny reflects on the Macaca incident that was widely blogged. “There was a bit of gallows humor following the “macaca” gaffe that the use of racial slurs might actually help George Allen, but that turned out to be totally false: Virginia is changing. There are now a decent number of South Asians in Virginia - 77,000 - and a significant subset of them are voting American citizens.”

United We Blog! comments on the nature and importance of the agreement between the Maoists and the Ruling Alliance. “This is probably the best year in centuries for our country Nepal where we are seeing series of ground breaking decisions and agreements that will have long lasting impact on the future of Nepalis.”

Wagle Street Journal posts videos of the Maoists after a historic agreement with the ruling alliance in Nepal. “Protestors had stopped the vehicular movement in front of the office saying rebels were forcing the residents of the city to feed their comrades who have arrived in Kathmandu from different parts of the country to take part in a Mass Rally scheduled for Friday, Nov 10, 2006″

Boing Boing reports on a bill to be voted in the Brazilian Congress that would force every user and provider under its jurisdiction to identify them self in every transaction. The vote was scheduled for today but it was suspended.

Sanaga Peregrinations builds on Ethan Zuckerman's recent post on African regional integration and asks (Fr): “In the same vein, does each country need its own airline? Why do exports from African countries to other African countries only represent 10% of the continent's total exports? Ethan proposes arguments in favor of a pan-african free market.”

Living on the edge of the earth: “Northern Uganda has been at the centre of one of the most brutal conflicts in Africa. For the last twenty years, the Ugandan government has been battling a notoriously brutal rebel force called the Lord’s Resistance Army.”

Monkeyfruit, a mainstream journalist, has launched an effort to network with Brunei bloggers. “We are looking to arrange more fun collaborations with Bruneian bloggers in future, so if I have your URL, there's a good chance of you being invited to participate :).”

Myanmar's neighbours and other powers must take responsibility of state of things in Myanmar says the blogger at Macam-Macam. “The fish always rots from the head. Always. But Than Shwe gets to play the big fish in the small pond so long as Burma's neighbours - such as India and China - or further-flung nations such as the United States and Europe, do nothing about it. These foreign governments must share the responsibility for Burma's plight. And for the fact that Aung San Suu Kyi remains under house arrest.”. Than Shwe is the military leader of Myanmar.

Lam Chun See, a senior blogger in Singapore is conducting a talk on blogging for senior citizens.

Diligence China discusses about the possible changes in future China when the new Chinese generation (1990s) become the major decision makers in the country.

Chinese Law professor blog found two articles, one in China Daily and one in Southern weekend, discuss about legalization of prostitution with a positive attitude.

Granitestudio has an interesting historical account of the relation between Chinese empire and the west (Xingjiang and Tibet) since modern time.

November 8 is the journalist's day in China. China media project has a detailed report on how various news institutes talk about the journalist's day.

Vadim rounds up some of the discussions in the Tajik blogosphere.

Alexander Sadikov says that those reporting that there were no surprises in Tajikistan's election are missing a few things.

Zarchka of Life Around Me explains why she decided not to participate in “Hye Superstar 2.”

Registan.net discusses the calls of NGOs for the European Union to extend its sanctions against Uzbekistan and analyzes what choices are available to Europe and the consequences of those choices.

Onnik Krikorian notes Armenia's lack of change in perceived corruption according to Transparency International's new report. He compares Armenia's performance with that of its other neighbors in the South Caucasus.