Global Voices Online

Francisco Giglio has posted photos from the Casa de la Culture in La Paz by a group of female anarchist artists called Mujeres Creando (”Women Creating”) protesting Evo Morales' government. Rosario Lizana has transcribed the text [ES] from one of the photographs.

Vutha in Cambodia highlights the problems faced by rape victims and blogs about some recommendations to help prevent rapes.

SaigonNezumi has some pictures of night time Saigon and he feels that Saigon's nightscene is no different from any big western city. Saigon also known as Ho Chi Minh City is Vietnam's commercial hub and one of the fastest growing cities in Asia.

The Burmese authorities have accuses pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi of tax evasion. The Yangoon Thublog is amused at this accusation on the leader who is currently under house arrest. The blogger conjures up a scenario on how the authorities came up with this seemingly absurd accusation.

Investigators are still trying to figure out the cause of the Adam Air's plane earlier this month. Indonesia Matters looks at the possible scenarios.

Reflecting on Haiti's recent defeat at the hands of the Trinidad & Tobago soccer/football team, Collectif Haiti de Provence writes (Fr): “Yes, formerly our regional rivals had names like Mexico. Today we align with difficulty with nations where soccer/football has no popularity and hence no budget: Cuba, Martinique, Dominican Republic. … We must continue working hard to recuperate the time we have lost. … We have what matters most: talent!”

United We Blog! has a great photo post on the First Day of Arms Management. “Photographs of the first day of registration and storage of weapons and registration of Maoist combatants, at the Maoist 3rd Divisional cantonment site in Chitwan, Nepal on 17 January 2006.”

At digg.com, a user links to the President of India's question at Yahoo! Answers. Watch out for the interesting discussion at digg, where a wide range of issues - including Bush, internet penetration in India, efforts to reach out by the government etc. are raised.

An ancient symbol appears to forever lose its meaning because of the Nazi connection. Inspirations and Creative Thoughts on the Swastika. “European Union is planning to ban the symbol of Swastika, infamously used by the Nazi. But hindus are opposing the move because despite its being adopted as symbol of Nazism, it is one of the most ancient and sacred symbol in Dharmic religion such as Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism.”

Drishtipat on street vendors being evicted and if the government had given any thought to their livelihood. “Should the authority have thought of some alternative for these people with day to day incomes?”

White Sun of the Desert posts pictures of the Soviet-time murals that have survived at one of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk children's summer camps.

A lengthy Novaya Gazeta article on “the institutionalization of murder as a political tactic in Vladimir Putin's Russia” - translated at La Russophobe.

Digenis.org writes about this winter's weather in Moscow: “The warm weather has been throwing Muscovites for a loop. Many are having trouble getting out of bed in the mornings with the constant grey weather.”

YakimaGulagLiteraryGazett marks the “sad anniversary” of the Sarajevo Markale Massacre: “I had forgotten the date, but I remember well about the event, seeing it on the news made me angry. I began lobbying actively for intervention in BiH somewhat before that time. I remember being really angry with people who accused the Bosnians of shelling themselves etc.”

Wu Wei reports: “The Students Independent Association of the Judicial Faculty of Belgrade has begun an initiative for Serbia to give Kosovo to Russia for the price of one Euro for 99 years. As compensation, Russia is obliged to assure peace and stability in Kosovo, security for the remaining Serbs and the safe return of all Serbs and non-Albanians to Kosovo.”

Stepping Stones writes about spitting and other problems one faces in Albania's capital.

Even the country's oldest resident - aged 108 - is somewhat annoyed with the Czech government's failure to materialize, writes Bored in Brno.

Four Bees writes about Slovakia's Spis region, which “has always been a melting pot of cultures and religions in a positive way.”

Finding Karadzic comments on the thoughts of US Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes about the Balkan tribunals: “Williamson's most astonishing comment, buried in the west but on front pages in Belgrade and Podgorica, was that Karadzic was probably in Serbia.”

The World Bank's Private Sector Development Blog now has a blogger writing from Tajikistan who has already posted first impressions of Tajikistan.

Kyrgyz Report writes on the importance of remittances from emigrants to Kyrgyzstan.

Blogrel reports that just after Armenia received a fairly positive economic freedom ranking, it has been ranked as very weak on the Global Integrity index.

Ziva demands that ailing Cuban president Fidel Castro stand up and be accounted for: “Where the hell is fidel? He's healing? Show us a photo, send us a current tape that proves he's alive, not something that looks photo-shopped. Adidas? Where the hell is his uniform? If you want people to believe he's returning to power, put him in the uniform and force him to make a public appearance.“

Armenia Blog notes that ArmenTel, Armenia's telephone monopoly, will disconnect VoIP services.

A senior member of Bermuda's opposition party resigns, citing racism in the party ranks. But the Limey finds the senior member's claims self-contradictory and thinks the party could have responded more promptly and decisively to the situation.

Tolkun Umaraliev writes that police in Bishkek have resolved to inject kindness and compassion into their dealings with the public. He says that given the lack of public trust of the police, realizing this resolution will take much longer than a year.

Alexa writes about the tremendous cold of winters in Mongolia and how homeless children survive them by living next to heating pipes in the sewers.

In light of the recent withdrawal of state-sponsored advertising from the Guyana news daily The Stabroek News (an act condemned by Reporters Sans Frontières), Guyana360 writes a series of posts (one, two, three, four) on press freedom in Guyana.

GuyanaGyal recounts her struggles with a ledger known in her household as “The Brown Book”: “When I read about accountants cooking books I does imagine that they get so vex with they Brown Book they does reach boiling point and when they touch the book, it boil too, and that is how the book get cook.“

Inspired by Barack Obama's recent announcement that he was exploring the idea of running for the US presidency, and Wyclef Jean's appointment as roving ambassador for Haiti, The Nightshift Chronicler announces his intention to run for President of the Caribbean. . . .

Andrew Heavens writes about his two photos of Addis Ababa's little Mogadishu, “My two Reuters photos of Addis Ababa's ‘Little Mogadishu' district have sparked quite a discussion over at Nazret.com.”

In response to some questions posed to him in December, Jamaican writer Geoffrey Philp writes an open letter recounting a visit to a Colombian restaurant in Florida with his (part-Colombian) family: “Of course, I’ve chosen to blog about it and this is one way about talking about your questions, which are really questions about identity.This story is merely to set the groundwork for the discussion, and an example of how a choice in creating an identity can have a positive result.”

White African interviews Emeka Okafor: “Emeka Okafor is the first in the African Digerati series of interviews. He is a well established member of the African blogosphere, a leading thinker, and a doer.”

Gavin Chait, blogging at whythawkratings, examines “the other losing battle: Africa's war on talent.”

Zimscoop writes about the increasing number of Zimbabweans fleeing the country, “Walking along Abel Street in Johannesburg's sprawling suburb of Berea, one might think he or she is in the Joburg Lines in Harare's Mbare high density suburb. But alas, this is South Africa where you here Zimbabwean music from almost each and every household. Is this because South African love Zimbabwean music most or what? Its because several Zimbabweans are making their way here every day as the economic situation is getting worse every day in Zimbabwe.”

Sanjaghak talks about inflation and high prices in Iran. The blogger writes the price of tomato has become so expensive that a deputy in Iranian Parliament said tomato is a luxury product, all people are not supposed to eat it [Fa].

Karakuri dolls are ancient little robots from Edo made out of wood and porcelain with no metal screws or anything. Paul Nicholls from Japundit introduces a website that sells the doll.

China Media Project reports on the national ordinance on information disclosure passed on 17 of Jan by China's top administrative authority, the State Council.

Imagethief discusses about the recent attack at Starbucks at the Forbidden City by a CCTV celebrity Rui Chenggang: The nice thing about singling out the easy target of Starbucks is that it plays on cheap, nationalist sentiment while completely avoiding a related but much larger and more important discussion about the preservation of China's national patrimony and the history of its defilement.

Zeng jingyan wrote an article in response to a famous rural reformist Wen Tiejun's comment that once land is privatized, peasants in China are going to sell their land and results in social instability and urban slum. She asks is Chinese peasant stupid? (zh)

Dan Washburn in Shanghaiist reports about the smoking ban policy in major cities : If “World Cities” are banning smoking, then China must follow. It’s also relatively easy – much easier than say lowering toxic emissions or letting people CENSORED their government.

A piece written by Bruce Humes in DANWEI which highlights information deleted by a Chinese business digest, Cankao Xiaoxi, in the translation of Brandon Zatt’s article on the African trading community in Guangzhou.

Raymond zhou translates Wang Xiao feng's article in China Daily on “Chinese sense of humor? You've got to be joking”.

Lyn Jeffery from Virtual China notes that the QQ BBS editors put out a request(zh) about a week ago asking people to send in their Spring Festival travel stories from now until 1/25. He also translates a few responses in his post.