Archive for
April 3rd, 2007
Stories
Ukraine: Betting on Yushchenko
On Saturday, tens of thousands of people attended two major rallies in Kyiv: supporters of prime minister Victor Yanukovych and his ruling coalition were brought to European Square to protest president Victor Yushchenko's plans to dissolve the parliament; supporters of Yushchenko and his current allies stood at Maidan Nezalezhnosti, voicing their approval of this tough measure.
On Sunday, all was perfectly quiet and uneventful in Kyiv.
Then on Monday, Yushchenko dissolved the parliament, accusing Yanukovych of usurping power. The ruling coalition reacted to the president's order by defying it; the parliament continued its work throughout Tuesday.
How the situation is going to develop and whether the early election, scheduled for May 27, would take place, is anyone's guess right now. But Ukrainians seem to be used to such unpredictability. After all, it wasn't clear until the very last moment whether the president and the prime minister would reach compromise, and hardly anyone seemed too surprised when they didn't - but even if they had, it wouldn't have been a complete shock to many.
LJ user chernikovsun (Ukrainian journalist Andrey Chernikov) has written this (RUS) about the risky business of betting on Ukraine's president:
A political totalizer
I've got some political forecasting skills. But at a bookmaker's office, I wouldn't bet on the parliament's dissolution or its non-dissolution. Because our president is an unpredictable person. I haven't been able to figure out what determines the decisions he makes. And I would've lost on any stake I'd made.
Funny, but some gambling did take place (RUS) - at the forum of Ukrainska Pravda, one of Ukraine's most popular news sites, founded by Georgiy Gongadze: Yushchenko's firmness allowed three forum dwellers to win 50 hryvnias ($10) and two more twice as much; one of the bettors who didn't believe the president would dissolve the parliament lost 200 hryvnias ($40).
Turkey is Typing…Film and Other Arts
Pursuits of the artistic type seemed to be on the fingertips of the Turkish bloggers this week from film reviews to art galleries and music.
Film
Athanasia's Daily gives us her review of the film Apocalypto, which she gave a 7 out of 10:
That is to say, that man is just an ordinary man who may have lived any time and in any society. The movie is not about Maya culture. I dont think that the movie should tell us more about Maya civilization since it is not a documentary but a movie however we need more information to understand what is happening. Maya is nothing to do with the film. The territory that the man lives in is inside Maya territory, that's all. Besides we dont have to know anything about Maya but I felt like people including me watch the movie as we know basic information about the civilization. If you dont know what's happening inside the empire, then the movie only appears as an adventure of a man who is escaping from his enemies.
Erkan's Field Diary posts an interview from Özer Kiziltan, filmmaker of the controversial film Takva:
“Takva” is originally an Arabic word. It means “A man's fear of God” which is also the subtitle of the film in English.
Nepal: Cautious Welcome to Rebels in Government
The Maoists of Nepal, who ended 12-year-long armed insurgency to come to the mainstream politics, joined the government on April 1 taking up five ministries under premiership of Girija Prasad Koirala. More than 13,000 people lost their lives due to the insurgency and that was something peaceful poluation of the country hated most. Now with the Maoists joining the interim parliament and now the interim government, people are looking ahead for the peace. Dedicated to Daniel Pearl writes:
With the induction of Maoist in the government and the current unity among the political parties, I hope we will see a new Nepal in near future. The violence will stop, parties will act responsibly and we are proceeding towards bright and prosperous Nepal.
United We Blog! has the minute-by-minute updates of the rebels sworning in at the parliament. Satyakura has the list of all the ministers and the common program put forward by the main seven political parties and the Maoists. The most important task for the interim government is the election of Constitient Assembly which will then determine the future of the monarchy in its first meeting. The date annouced for the election is June 20.
While the Nepali bloggers were thrilled by the hopes of peaceful future, they cautiously welcomed the Maoists inclusion in the government. United We Blog! represented the feeling of all people:
The induction of the Maoists in the government has sent waves of hope to Nepali people who are desperately looking forward to the successful completion of the peace process.
And, Nepali Perspectives says the choice of ministries by the Maoists is interesting because they all are directly related to the people. It calls it a ploy to gain (more…)
Global Voices is now on Twitter!
Global Voices updates are now available via Twitter!
We can't guarantee you'll learn much about what we've had for lunch or why our computer is belching black smoke from one of its USB ports (that's what the other people on Twitter are there for), but we will keep you updated on what bloggers all over the world are talking about. Twitter updates are also available for the Chinese and Spanish versions of Global Voices.
So add Global Voices, GV in Chinese or GV en Español to your Twitter Friends list today!
You can also receive Global Voices updates via RSS and JSS feeds, e-mail and by subscribing to our fabulous Daily Digest.
African Path: Weaving Tales of Africa's Past, Present and Future
African Path is one of the most exciting African citizen media projects. It is an online platform whose content comes from bloggers, readers, artists, and specialists. It also aggregates news on Africa from different sources.
At the moment, African Path has 24 bloggers writing articles on various topics such as politics, music, gender, history, popular culture, social activism, and identity politics.
Joshua Wanyama, a Kenyan entrepreneur based in the US, is the co-founder of African Path. In 2003, after finishing his B.S in Architecture, he started Interactive Spectrum, a technology firm based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. In January 1st, 2007 he officially launched African Path. A digital path of woven tales of Africa's past, present, and future.
Recently, Joshua Wanyama spoke with Global Voices Online about the project.
Ndesanjo Macha: Tell us about yourself and how/why you started blogging
Joshua Wanyama: At the heart of all things, I am an entrepreneur. I seize the opportunities presented to me and try to make something of them. My partner and I had done a blog before to highlight the services our company, Spectrum Interactive, offered. I didn’t do much on that site. There were too many other things that I needed to accomplish and I couldn’t keep up with the blogging. I started blogging again once we decided to create African Path. It was a lot easier with content on Africa since I didn’t need to do a lot of research to understand the audience. I have been observing and participating in African culture since I was born.
I have felt that knowledge is a key source of growth for humans in general and a necessary ingredient in the development of Africa. I felt a site like African Path would help the people who had experienced success and failure, want and excess to tell their stories. And those who were looking for such content could find it at a central point. The beauty of providing a working solution in Lesotho since it is already being executed in Chad is helpful in developing not just one country or ethnic group, but the knowledge can be shared and used in all countries thus fueling economic growth that we all seek in Africa.
NM: What is African Path?
JW: African Path is really a network of different knowledge bases that provide human connections and interactions. These knowledge bases cover as many fields as we could provide content for. The platform is online and the providers of content are bloggers, specialists, readers and artists who weave tales of our past, present and future. Hopefully what is put up influences someone to think further than what they have thought before, to network with people who share their vision or to create the ideal connection to enable one to elevate their living standards and give them a sense of dignity.
Iraq: Shada, Shada, Shada
So chanted Nibras Kazimi on the victory of the Iraqi Shada Hassoun, winner of Star Academy Middle East. What better than a trashy TV show to unite a divided country and get the blogs buzzing?
Today I have a mixed selection. A lifetime in a week of Iraqi blogger Konfused Kid, bloggers getting quoted by President Bush, and of course Shada.
If you read no other post this week read this
Konfused Kid has a fight with his father and learns more about life, friendship and people. He writes:
It all started when my father hit me with his fist.at about 5:30 PM today, my father came out grumbling, and then began to reproach me for talking too loud on the phone with my friend, as always when he was reproaching me for something, my father was cathartically relieving his frustration and anger… However, this time, he was too angry, I usually know that any dialogue or reply whatsoever will not satisfy his craving, so I tend to murmur something about not doing it again and then I just freeze. This time, after the first few yells, his fist came POW on my head…I played it perfectly, I didn't reply or do anything, I just calmly endured his fists, until my mother came and told him to stop, he stopped but his yelling did not. He went to the kitchen, I came back, sat on the half-broken plastic chair, and finished my work on the computer, after half an hour, I took my passports, my money, and hit the streets.
Now homeless, the Kid goes for a walk with a friend who nearly gets gets arrested for not having the right papers. But being a good talker and a Sunni saves him. The Kid ends his day with this:
and so here I am, homeless, about to start my life as a single person, posting this to you from an Internet cafe which I am going to spend the night in, I called my mother and assured her I am all right, and then I went out with my friend to get dinner, the street was filled with policemen setting up checkpoints, the contraption our Iraqi lives seem to fearfully revolve upon.
Links for Tue, 2007-04
Vous Reprendrez Bien Un Peu d'Humanisme is upset [Fr] that veteran sailor Florence Arthaud has accepted the Sassou-Nguesso government's offer to participate in a sailing event there in less than 2 weeks for an event that is designed to boost local tourism. Says the blogger: “Are French sailors naive? Does Florence Arthaud lack critical thinking skills to the point of being had by any old crook?… This decision is a bad one because it cautions a violent dictatorial regime. “
Says Le Pangolin [Fr]: “Marthe Moumié is the widow of Cameroonian nationalist Félix Moumié, assassinated in Geneva by the French Secret Service in 1960. Marthe writes a book prefaced by [Algerian President] Ahmed Ben Bella… In the book, Victime du Colonialisme Français [ i.e “Victim of French Colonialism”], Marthe explains how after her husband's death she was tortured in Equatorial Guinean jails for 5 years. “
The blogger at a Japanese popular culture site J-List side blog explains why his daughter was surprised that the maids at a home that they were visiting in Malaysia were cleaning the house.
The blogger at Old Man's Blog relates the story of a friend whose marriage is on the rocks. The blogger who is himself a divorcee hopes for his friend to reconcile with her husband and get back together. The blogger laments the increase in marriages falling apart in Brunei.
Algerian blogger Nouri cautions the West of misreading recent Saudi manoeuvres in leading Arab states. “The Americans should encourage Saudi leadership, because if their reaction to the Saudi drive for organization is mismanaged or misinterpreted, the consequences are potentially dire. And the consequences of continued Arab ambiguity and disunity are even more explosive and dangerous,” he writes.
The movie Blood Diamond reminds blogger Man Actually of his younger mining days in Myanmar. “And being once a miner myself deep in the jungle far north Myanmar's very own Jade Mines, you guess! how this movie would be so special to me..Along with the Archer and Solomon, the whole week I was thinking and wondering about Dee Rum, Hong Hkong, my dear comrades, the miners and how they are doing? I have always wanted to write about my experience in the jade land but whenever I tried to start the story I felt mentally draining and lost in translation emotionally hence never been able to materialize the story.”
This site is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License
Please read our attribution policy.
Sponsors
| Korea content supported by |
 |
Japan content supported by |
 |
Eduardo Avila1426 posts 
Javits Rajendran8 posts 
Lina Ben Mhenni2 posts 
Nermeen Edrees5 posts 
Oiwan Lam2827 posts 
Ismail Dhorat1 posts 
Vilhelm Konnander262 posts 
Jennifer Brea332 posts 
Jon Gosier1 posts 
Elena Ignatova5 posts