Global Voices Online

As Abeni recognizes World AIDS Day on December 1st, she observes that, in spite of high infection rates, the Caribbean seems to be doing something right in combating HIV/AIDS.

Barbados Free Press is highly critical of the Barbados Labour Party's wholehearted endorsement of Deputy Prime Minister Mia Mottley's call for the censoring of blogs and radio call-in programmes.

Brian writes about his World Aids Day frustrations in Bots Blog, “Speeches, marches, buying a red Ipod (or 100,000 of them), etc. won't make a bit of difference in the struggle against HIV on this continent.”

In a post titled, [They] don’t say “Malawi”; they just say “Africa.”, Sotho writes, “If I were not African, I wonder whether it would be clear to me that Africa is a place where the people do not need limp gifts of fish but sturdy fishing rods and fair access to the pond. I wonder whether I would realize that while African nations have a failure of leadership, they also have dynamic people with agency and voices.”

Nicolette Bethel republishes a tribute to the late Bahamian intellectual, Winston V. Saunders, by Rex Nettleford, Vice Chancellor Emeritus of the University of the West Indies and founder of the Jamaica National Dance Theatre.

Le Blog d'Olivier Gabirault points to a Jeune Afrique L'Intelligent article stating (Fr): “A consultant to Prime Minister Charles Konan Banny denounced the shortcomings of President Laurent Gbagbo in a recent toxic waste scandal, confirming tensions between the two men two days from an international summit on the Ivoirian peace process.”

Edward Popoola, who won the award for Top ICT Educator in Africa recently, writes, “Remarkable in that, I got an award I least expected I was going to win. My application was strong, at least I considered it strong enough, but I did not know who the other nominees were.”

A leading Kenyan blogger, Kenyan Pundit, is one of the speakers at an international conference taking place in Arusha, Tanzania next year. The list includes inventors, business-leaders, entrepreneurs, scientists, designers, artists, writers, and activists who are contributing to Africa's development.

“Charity begins at home,” writes Grandiose Parlor, describing Emeka Okafor’s One Million African Lives Initiative, “The initiative is a collaboration between him and the Safe Blood for Africa Foundation, a leading international non-profit organization working with 34 sub-Saharan African countries.”

Sepia Mutiny on the status of HIV/ AIDS in India - including recent positive news in securing treatment. However, the issue of awareness remains a problem. “Meanwhile, a study of 252 Indian truckers finds that over 40 percent have passed an STD to their wives, and that many believe that AIDS is a white man’s disease from which they are racially immune. Only 11 percent use condoms.”

The desecration of a statue causes unrest and violence. a reader's words writes “Once again, it is the rage against the Dalit rage that makes me side with those who are at the receiving end of society. There are dozens of blog posts expressing anger against the riots, very few that introspect or distinguish between the violence of the powerful and the violence of the dispossessed.”

All Things Pakistan looks at some lines of poetry written on the back of a bus with initial amusement and then with a slight sense of horror. The post and the comments discuss expectations from Pakistani women. “Roughly translated, it says: Girls these days are so proud of their beauty. They don’t know the first kalma, but speak in English.”

Metroblogs the world over are focusing on the gifts each city has given to the world. Metroblogging Lahore has a wonderful post focusing on the cuisine and delights for the foodies and Metroblogging Chennai has a series of delightful posts - including this one on Chennai's gift of Indo Saracenic Architecture.

On World AIDS Day, Metroblogging Islamabad on why Pakistan needs to be careful about HIV and get its awareness programs going. “A third of Pakistani truck drivers recently surveyed had never heard of condoms and 19 out of 20 who bought sex from women did not use condoms, according to UNAIDS.”

morris the pen on a ten year old child who was rescued from a life of abuse. “Let’s not forget: we are talking here about a very young child, whose life experience already includes beating, torture and the threat of murder.

Salam Dhaka in a very brief post points to the growing number of videos on video sharing sites relating to Bangladesh. “On-line video is becoming a political tool for the growing web savy youths of Bangladesh. Political parties, social organizations, musicians are using it to spread their messages.”