Global Voices Online

Pondering the tension between integration and now fashionable identity politics, Fenetres Sur/Windows On writes (Fr): “Can we really demand recognition of our “community”, desire to live as such, outside of the common trunk of citizens and at the same time ask for the same rights as everybody else? We need to frame our demands in terms of equal rights.”

Collectif Haiti de Provence laments (Fr) that local soccer team The Racing Club d'Haiti is on its way to extinction for lack of sponsorship by both government and alums in the diaspora.

Amardeep Singh on the myth of martial races in colonial India. “And recently I've been reading a book on the Gurkha regiments, (Byron Farwell's The Gurkhas), and after reading a number of chapters I'm ready to throw out the designation entirely. “

Indian Muslims on exclusive spaces in Higher Education for minorities. “I do not support exclusive schools and colleges for a particular community because they just are a blow to the secular ethics of this country.”

Having affected large parts of India, chikungunya is now in Sri Lanka. indi.ca says “When I first heard of Chikungunya I thought it was a joke. It is a laughable name given to a very serious disease, now an epidemic in Sri Lanka.”

Democracy For Nepal on the 100,000 refugees from Bhutan. “The same chauvinistic thinking among the Nepali elite that has kept some five million Madhesis deprived of citizenship papers for decades worked among the Bhutani elite to kick these people out of Bhutan”

See Trinidad & Tobago from some interesting angles in this Flickr photoset by klj_francis.

“Aussie cricket fans are furious about new visa entry requirements to go to World Cup matches in Antigua, Jamaica and Barbados. It's the first time they have ever needed such visas, and they go at a whopping $128 a piece.” The Caribbean Beat blog wonders about the wisdom of the move.

“After 31 years, Harold Hoyte is retiring from The Nation News…the largest circulation newspaper in the country is still a major influence in Barbados - but it is no longer owned and controlled by Barbados citizens.” Does that matter? Barbados Free Press thinks so.

Ukraine List posts satellite photos of the Black Sea.

Ukraine List writes about the first photographer on the scene in Chernobyl.

MoldovAnn writes about the most recent Chernobyl scare: “One guy had a chance to check the news on the internet before dinner, and read a report that a wall on the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant had collapsed, releasing a bunch of radioactive dust into the air. The report advised to keep children indoors. No official government statement had been made. My first thought was ‘Shit, what an idiot I am to be living in this place, so close to this disaster waiting to happen.' […] Within a short time our colleagues were in contact with numerous officials, both at the station and in the town of Slavutych, where all the station workers live, and we were assured that it was all a rumor, nothing had happened. We all relaxed, sighed with relief, and then the jokes started - it must be a coping mechanism, joking about horribly frightening things. I couldn’t quite lose the feeling though that I’m playing with fire here. I like Ukraine, I’d like to stay here for a long time to come, but I’d like to live farther away from Chornobyl!”

Foreign Notes documents yet another step on Ukraine's path back to the pre-Orange Revolution past: “If the bill is approved it will enable the pre-OR guys in the CEC, including its chairman Serhiy Kivalov [now a PoR VR deputy,] and the other cheats to return.”

Csikszereda Musings writes about unreliability of the Romanian post office.

Itching for Eestimaa doesn't understand the logic of Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov: “Because I just can't grasp how outlawing the symbol of fascism makes one part of a fascist revival.”

Srebrenica Genocide Blog posts “an e-mail from Srebrenica genocide survivor, Mr. Hasan Nuhanovic, who submitted the following opinion on recently awarded ‘medal of honor' for those in Dutchbat who betrayed Srebrenica.”

Finding Karadzic writes about a Belgrade paper's attempt to help find Karadzic and Mladic: “Belgrade's Glas Javnosti has just outed the top 99 aiders and abettors of Karadzic and Mladic. Such a move will doubtlessly put more pressure on these cronies, most of whom are not well known public figures. I've published the list of 99 names and where they live below.”

Eric Gordy of East Ethnia lists things he likes about Belgrade - as well as “other things”: “Beogradski radio: Every station, including the ones I don't like, has its individual character.”

Abtahi, a reformist politician, writes about Holocaust seminar in Iran.The blogger says :what is the reasoning behind the idea that the Iranian nation should pay for a historical research on a topic that has got nothing to do with Iran?It is really cruel that the people around the world consider Iranians with their great civilization as the accompanies of Nazis and Fascists.

According to SosSanjari blog, Kianoosh Sanjari, a jailed blogger, was ordered by Islamic judge to accept and confirm all his accusations. Sanajri refused thais order and was sent back to jail. According to the blog judge told Sanjari: you will stay in the isolated cell until accept it [Fa].

Indonesia matters looks at the situation that Indonesian oil industry finds itself in. The last couple of years has seen Indonesia become an oil importer.

Sotho remembers South Africa's Steve Biko.

Hacktivate has a post about a practical approach for getting Internet access in Malawi.

Steve Ntwiga's musical link takes us to East Africa's Orchestra Mangelepa and Jamhuri Jazz Band.

Christmas in Trinidad and Tobago is Parang season (from the Spanish Parranda, meaning “the action of merry making” or “group of serenaders”): The Trinidad and Tobago News Blog posts video and pictures from this year's Paramin Parang Festival.

As Trinidad and Tobago's indigenous airline comes to the end of its life (BWIA will cease operations at the end of the year and reopen on January 1 under a new moniker, Caribbean Airlines), Thebookman refers to a BWIA ad from 1972 and says, “Perhaps in a couple of decades, the blend of the peoples of this small Caribbean nation will…have their own identity, and probably their independence.”

The Full Belly Project is a non-profit organization that designs and provides simple agricultural machines for people in developing countries: Taran Rampersad thinks it's “probably the best technology use” he's heard of all year.

The Voice of the Taino People reports on the UN-backed international treaty to preserve global cultural diversity, which will come into effect in March 2007.

According to Jamaican Blogger, the island's citrus industry is under attack by a new species of butterfly.

Justin Delacour posts an article written by Alexander Billet, which examines Pinochet's legacy as it relates to “radicals” like Victor Jara, “a songwriter and poet; a deadly combination to any iron-fisted regime…”

Jewelle, a former librarian now living in Brunei is asking the librarians to get up to date with what library visitors want. “From working with books and printed matters, we now have multimedia. From providing reading materials we now have to offer information. From being a place to relax and enjoy the air-conditioned room, we now have to provide a library that people can read, do research, find information, get entertain, work on projects and have fun.”

Manshark's Random Rants on soldiers in Sri Lanka. “In reality then, doesn’t that one soldier, that one person who died forever, or in bits and pieces as he was de-limbed, therefore remain to me forever nameless? Faceless?”

Me, Myself and Bangladesh on secularism in the context of Islam, South Asia and Bangladesh. “Now the problem gets even complicated when it comes to Islam and secularism. The first conflict is ideological. Islam is a complete way of life and since most Muslims are Sunnis and to them Islam, historically, is not just spiritual but also political.”

United We Blog! on the Maoist reaction to a list of names of nominated ambassadors. “Maoists said that they called the instant banda (closure) of the Kathmandu Valley to protest Nepal government’s decision to nominate 14 ambassadors for different countries including the US, India, China and Russia.”

Metroblogging Islamabad on healthcare in the city. “Although you can get a prompt emergency check up for Rs 5 registration charges, but the medicines are very expensive, and I am wondering how the poor manage it all.”

Drishtipat on the possible impact of submarine cables on the economy. “I think IT offshore work and back-end BPO can really be that much needed strong second industry to textile that our economy is so depended on and narrowly focused on.”