Global Voices Online » 2007 » October

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Egypt: 80 Lashes = An Upside Down Country

D B Shobrawy · 23:51

lingua → pt · es

What happens when you mix a desperate dictator, a corrupt religious leader, opposition voices and a vulnerable nation? A dysfunctional union between Hosni Mubarak, Al Azhar University and their anti-freedom condemnations, say Egyptian bloggers.

Here's part of my analysis from earlier today…

The most recent mess is this insane so called “Fatwa” (Islamic religious edict) by the Egyptian Sheikh of Al Azhar, Mohammed Tantawy. He gave a speech Monday in front of an audience that included Hosni Mubarak, stating that “those who spread rumors” should receive 80 lashes, in reference to the recent indictment of journalists.

Eighty lashes?! Maybe there's something about Sharia law that might interest Mubarak after all.

From Nora Younis…

sheikh of Azhar mosque preached a crowd of state officials including President Mubarak, finding religious grounds for whipping rumors spreaders 80 times

This comes as editors and journalists of independent media are sentenced to jail for publishing a wide spread talk-of-the-town on President Mubarak’s death

Mubaraks persecution of free press isnt exactly new as Baheyya points out but it has certainly sped up.

the two incidents do not herald an impending crackdown on the press, for the simple reason that Mubarak’s regime has been continuously cracking down on and intimidating independent journalists, from at least the early 1990s to the present. So I would caution against spinning these cases as unprecedented curbs on the freedom of the press. What’s more interesting to me about these recent events is what they reveal about the development of an adversarial press in Egypt.

Supression of opposition voices has been mounting quickly in the last year, its general desperation felt by the regime. Kareem Amer was the most notable victim and a couple days ago he released his most recent letter from prison…

Apparently, a quite long time has passed since the day of unjustly sentencing me to four years in prison. Until recently, I was not able to comment on the event because I had no access to media and I was deprived from exchanging mails or talking. I spent more than two months in the cells dedicated to those sentenced to death and serving punitive penalties. The prison officials claimed that there was no other proper place for me. They prevented me from having pens. Whenever I wanted to write a letter, I had no choice but to dictate it!

Now, things have changed greatly. At least, I can write and exchange mails, not with complete freedom though.

Not all is lost, the people have a voice thanks to the World Wide Web. The Arabist presents some videos by the people and for the people. Prepare yourself to laugh, here's a sample…

2 comments · »»

China: Freak rain floods Hangzhou

John Kennedy · 16:43

lingua → pt · es

Hangzhou in eastern China's Zhejiang province is home to the Qiantang River, which each year plays host to the world's largest tidal bore; large enough that it occasionally washes bore-watchers away when it comes. This year's bore has come and gone, but the biggest water story in Hangzhou this season is the city's largest rain shower in nearly half a century that left hundreds of thousands fleeing their homes and caused millions of RMB in damage when typhoon Krosa bombed through the China's southeast last weekend.

Netease blogger Zhou Jianguang brings some photos from the streets of downtown Hangzhou dated October 8:

今天水满杭州

Water filled Hangzhou today

到杭州十年了，没遇见过这样的大雨，真是历史罕见，说3个小时下了90cm。6：30起床，一大早去上班，撑伞很困难，行走也不方便，基本上只能保证头部不淋湿。上班路上看到还有几个起电动车的同志，基本上半个轮胎被淹没了。雨太大了，到了单位早饭也不想去吃了，饿了一个上午。中午有幸搭车去吃了一顿饭。一整天都是狂风暴雨，鬼哭狼嚎似的，建筑物也乒乒乓乓的响。老公幸福的很，早上打算出门的时候就接到电话，继续休息一天，后来才知道，去上班的路被淹了。雨大，断电，无聊的他一直给我打电话让我早点回家。到了下午来电了，杭州电视台一直在报道罗莎，他给我电话直播，说什么城里车被淹了，用上求生圈、冲锋船了，有人在马路上游泳了。到了下班时刻，QQ上好友突然发了条消息：你还能回得了家吗？还给我发了不少的照片，车被淹的，路被淹，车库和学校也被淹没了亚。我才意识到，这雨真是下大了。赶紧给家里打了好几个电话，让他们注意安全，家里造房子也中途停止了。

好在很顺利回到了家，吃了晚饭，看看电视，还是满屏幕的抗击台风罗莎的报道，触目惊心：

I've been in Hangzhou for ten years, and I've never seen a rain as big as this, it's really a historical occurrence; they're saying 90 cm came down in just three ours. I got up at 6:30 and left early to go to work, holding the umbrella was really difficult, and so was walking; the best I could do was keep my head from getting soaked. On the way to work I saw a few comrades riding their electric bikes, with pretty much half the tire underwater. The rain was too heavy, and when I got to the office I didn't feel like going out to get breakfast, so I was hungry all morning. At noon I was lucky enough to get a ride to go get something to eat. It was violent wind and rain the whole day, screaming and howling outside like ghosts and wolves, even the building was rattling, ping-pong, ping-pong. Hubby was lucky; just as he was planning to head out this morning he got a call, got another day off, and only found out later that the road to work was underwater. Heavy rain, the power went off, and bored, he kept calling me at work telling me to hurry home early. The power came back on in the afternoon, and Hangzhou TV kept reporting on Krosa, so I got live updates over the phone, that cars were submerged downtown, that people were using live preservers, rubber rafts, that people were swimming down the street. By the time it came to get off work, I suddenly got a burst of messages from friends on QQ: ‘are you gonna be able to get home okay?' and they sent me a lot of photos, of cars underwater, streets flooded over, parking garages and schools submerged too. Only then did I realize just how heavy the rain had been. I rushed to make a few phone calls home, telling them to keep safe; our home renovations had to stop halfway-through.

Luckily I got home okay, had dinner, watched TV, and the screen is still full of reports of the fight against typhoon Krosa, a shocking sight:

妈妈呀，都淹没了

Mommy! I'm stuck!

乖乖，这个车自己飘起来拉

Good boy. This car floated to the surface.

雨中真情啊！

Loving in the rain!

这车灯竟然还亮的，莫非车主还在开？

This car's lights were actually still on, I wonder if the owner was still driving..

高校的门口就这样被淹了

The school gates were flooded too

只留下人民，没有政府了

The government's gone, only the people remain

杭州有个美丽的传说，白蛇传，当年白蛇为了寻夫水漫金山，今天又是谁满了杭州？

Hangzhou has a beautiful legend, Tale of the White Snake, where Madame White Snake flood the lands looking for her man; but who was it that flooded Hangzhou today?

2 comments · »»

China: The Richest of the Rich

Bob Chen · 16:03

lingua → pt

The feast of the richest

Hurun and Forbes have recently put forward their 2007 lists of Mainland Chinese magnates. The two lists share a common perspective that the wealth of the well-offs has radically increased. The combined net worth of the top 40 on Forbes rose sharply from $38 billion in 2006 to $120 billion this year and the richest, Yang Huiyan, has a net worth of $16.2 billion that is more than seven times that of last year's richest person, appliance retailer Huang Guangyu, though Huang’s wealth has a $14 billion increment.

Another point the two lists share is that real estate has been a billionaire-cradle last year because 6 of the top 10 on both lists have business related to property development. Many newcomers gained bonanza on this lucrative field as well. It’s in accordance to the heat on Chinese property market.

The notable richest person, Yang huiyan（杨惠妍）, a 26-year-old married woman was a typical case. Her father Yang guoqiang is the founder of Country Garden Holdings Ltd, a real estate developer related to numbers of sales miracles and path-breaking marketing methods. On its IPO in Hong Kong in 2007, the company quickly gained dazing wealth and then Yang transformed 70% of shares to his daughter, a graduate from Ohio State University.
The richest mainlander

Another feature worth concern is that the rich from southern area of China have not been eclipsed by those from Beijing and Shanghai that have developed quickly by dint of Olympics. 13 on Forbes come from Guangdong province, including Ma Huateng, the founder of Tencent and QQ.

From the lists, people can find the rich on new-tech area on the shade of property developers. Only three persons come from dot.com field. As the founder of LDK Solar which is an energy company that engages in solar power application, Peng xiaofeng took the 6th place on both lists and was considered a leader of high-tech sector. His company IPO on New York exchange this year.

Anxiety behind prosperity

Though property developers gain a big success as reflected on the lists, their wealth derived from the real estate market are disputable.

Yang Gengshen, a financial commentator worries about the blossom of property industry:

当三分之一强的房地产开发商扎堆于这个榜单、风光无限之时，无数国民或因不得不背负巨额的银行债务，而沦为房奴，或不得不向开发商交付出自己大半生的心血。……一个主要由房产商把持的富豪俱乐部，其实也正喻示着一个由房地产经济“把持”的国民经济。……无论如何，一张挤满房产商名字的榜单绝不应成为一个行业集体的狂欢，而必须成为现实的警示。

When 1/3 richest are occupied by real-estate developers that are enjoying their prosperity, myriads citizens have to suffer the great bank debts like slaves of their houses, shelling out their lifetime accumulation to developers. A wealthy club that commanded by developers actually means a national economy controlled by them. Whatever, a list crammed with property developers shouldn’t be a carnival of a certain industry but an alarm.

Tang Xuepeng expresses his questions of property industry:

这是一个危险的征兆。就像已故的经济学家加尔布雷斯说的，如果一个国家(地区)最有钱的富豪是倒卖土地和造房子的商人，那就很危险。依照我们的解读，那是因为东亚的土地以及非洲的矿产基本都是垄断性资源，是最容易被“寻租”的资产。比如开发商通过捂盘惜售等方式推高房价，深圳市的房价今年前5个月涨幅最高接近70％，全国房价涨声一片，民众忧心忡忡.
另一方面，伴随着房价的飞涨，房地产开发企业的纳税状况依然饱受质疑，“财富巨人纳税侏儒”的评价，如影随形地跟着众多房地产富豪们。

This is quite a dangerous signal. As Galbraith said, if the richest in a country are all business man that speculate on lands and houses, the country is in danger. I interpret it as this: the land and mines are monopolized resources that are readily under rent-seeking.
By hoarding the houses developers pushed up the housing price that, for example, in Shenzhen which has gone up by 70％ during five months. The public worry so much about the skyrocketing price.
On the other hand, their rate payings are questionable. The infamous title “wealth giant, taxpaying dwarf” has been following them

Wang Qing directly points out developers’immorality:

地产商囤积居奇、捂盘惜售、违规认购、内部炒作，甚至官商勾结、哄抬房价，已到了明火执仗的地步，完全撇开了企业应该承担的社会责任，理所当然受到大众的反感。
大部分城市居民为了一套住房，倾家荡产，东挪西借，把牙缝里省下的财富拱手奉献给房地产商人，许多人自此过着“房奴”生活，承受着经济和精神上的双重压力；更有中低收入的家庭，只能够“望房兴叹”，倾其一辈子血汗也换不回一个屋角地盘。西安市一位50多岁的母亲因无力给儿子买房而跳入护城河结束自己的生命，其抗争的不是自己的无能、命运的不公和人生的无奈，而是对操作房价节节攀升的房地产集团的滴血声讨。

The developers openly forestalled, made illegal subscription, had under-the-counter speculation and conspired with corrupted officials, putting aside the responsibility enterprises should take.
Meanwhile, most citizens nevertheless have to toil much and suffer from mental and financial pressure for a single set of apartment. They are called the slaves of houses. Some low-income people pay their lifetime but get not a corner of a house. A 50-year-old woman in Xi’an drowned herself because she could not afford the housing for her son. Her struggle is not for her incompetence or the injustice of fate, but as a bleeding complaint of the raising price manipulated by developer group.

A carnival in capital market
According to Forbes, the IPO of Country Garden spawned 5 people on the list. Also, Beijing celebrity developer Zhang Xin has cashed in by listing SOHO China in Hong Kong. Capital market becomes the rich’s bonanza from which they quickly accumulated large amounts of money. Public opinions approve that enterprises thrive on the capital market though some analysts admonish an abuse of this tool.

Ye Tan commented on 1st Finance Daily:

资本市场的主要作用是给财富公开定价，其作用类似于产权交易平台。但是，由于我国的资本市场仍具有初级市场的特性，因此通过资本游戏炒作股价获得高身价者屡见不鲜，财富增值成为纯粹的虚拟泡沫，终归要打回原形。……资本市场是实体经济的助推器，不过从我国富豪对于资本市场的倚赖之深，资本市场创富神话之多，说明我国资本市场的财富作用有被夸大之嫌。

Capital market should mainly evaluate the worth of wealth as a platform for ownership exchange. But because the capital market of China is still on the elementary stage, many capital players speculated to gain a high worth. When the increment on property worth comes to be pure bubble, the wealth will have to be turned back to what it really is.……
The capital market might be a roll booster of entity economy. However, as the Chinese wealthy rely so much on it and that it has created so many mythologies, its function has been exaggerated.

More voices in 163 net café.

Let’s finally watch how commons in 163.com have reacted to the new lists.

A netizen from Shandong argue against the developers

就是中国的强大是靠实实在在的技术和高素质的人来实现的.如果靠盖房子的这样的投机分子,那么真是民族的悲哀.

The power of China should be gained by solid technology and talents with high quality instead of the speculators that build houses. It’s a misfortune of Chinese people.

A netizen from Tianjing argues

网易天津网友：合法财产受法律保护，不在多寡，地球人都知道！可财产是否合法？谁来界定呢？

:
Legal belongs are protected by laws, no matter much or little. People on this planet all know that! But are their possessions legal? Who should come to define that?

But a Beijing netizen rebuked:

网易北京海淀网友
得了红眼病的民族！
靠你们这帮叫嚣着强国愤青强国，简直是做梦

We are a red-eye nation! (Red-eye means jealousy in Chinese)
To rely on you such fanatically clamorous young men to thrive our nation is nothing but a pipe-dream.

A long way to go

The wealthy list of Mainland China is volatile. Some famous names enrolled on the lists years ago have vanished and some people have even been put into prisons because of their original sin during their causes. That’s why many rich refuse to be exposed on the list since it incurs them more concerns. As the gap between the rich and the poor is going wider, the Enmity between the two is also intensifying. The mission to really build a harmonious society still has a long way to go.

1 comment · »»

Uganda: Of Cons, Cars And Losing a Job Because Of a Blog

Glenna Gordon · 15:52

lingua → pt · es

This week, Ugandan Insomniac poses an always pressing question that sets the tone for much discourse:

Why are millions of Ugandans still living in abject poverty when an increasing number of people in the country can afford a brand new set of wheels and personalized number plates every year?

Meanwhile, Daniel Kalinaki has a different opinion: that everyone’s trying to con everyone else, and especially him:

Why is it next-to-impossible to find honest contractors in Uganda? Of course we know that government wastes a lot of our taxes on all sorts of schemes, school children are thrown out of their schools, buildings are razed and the ground is let to fallow, awaiting some hotelier to make up his mind. We know that people displaced by war are given rotten seeds when they finally get to return to their homes, complete with flexi-pangas to help them till the land and start new lives. We know all that, and more.
What irks me the most are the smaller things; the micro-corruption, the cutting corners that we are subjected to daily…

And Ivan is tired of other things Ugandan:

I’ve gotten tired of saying we are not ready for CHOGM. I can only go on and about a topic for so long. What do you take me for? The Red Pepper? Harry Sagara? I will say this, the visitors are obliged to say they are crazy about our country no matter what. Sure we have people on the job, guys who started planting trees last week. Not to worry, the Ugandan variety of tree is the quick growing kind. We should see some sort of progress some time next year. While the visitors are here, we shall be encouraged to refer to them as “baby trees”. It will be politically incorrect to refer to them as “little”.

But the person who really has a right to complain is GayUgandan, who lost his job (almost) because of his blog:

As a good suspicious employee, I will suspect that something is happening. I have worked too long for my dear employer to be summarily dismissed. But, that can be done in increments. And I may decide to resign to prevent further embarassment. Not being needed, but you hang on desperately.

Pathetic?
Maybe, and maybe not. Ok, I was outed by the Red rug. That was last month. I thought that I had done something to create a soft landing for myself. I talked to my immediate boss. I talked to my ultimate boss. And things seemed to be cool.
A few days to the end of the month, I get the ‘bad' news. Lots of apologies, lots of sorries, but it all adds up to me losing part of my income. And being left with this suspicious feeling that it is because of my damned sexuality. Or the sudden suspicion of it that my colleagues at work have!

0 comments · »»

Egypt: The King Farouq Series

Lasto Adri · 15:10

lingua → pt · es · de · jp

If you visited the Egyptian blogsphere these days, you might notice a buzz around the last Egyptian King Farouk; and no wonder, it's because “The king Farouk” series, written by Lamis Jabber, is broadcast on MBC1 satellite channel. You can guess from the title that the series is mainly focusing on King Farouk, presenting his personal life as well as the life style of Egyptians during his era.

The Big Pharaoh writes:

“After years of being tarnished, justice is being done to King Farouk. A splendid television series that started to air at the beginning of Ramadan almost accurately portrays the life of Egypt’s last monarch with its positives and its downfalls. The series has received very positive feedback especially the performance of the Syrian actor Taym Hasan who plays Farouk.”

Actually, you won’t find bloggers only writing their observations and reservations concerning the series, but also writing down comparisons between Egypt’s status now and then, especially if you knew that King Farouk left the country after the last armed Egyptian revolution, back on the 23rd of July, 1952.

Farida, another female Egyptian blogger wrote a detailed blog post entitled “The King and I.. and the revolution of the hungry” where she said:

في هذه الأيام.. أيامنا .. ايام عام 2007
يكثر الحديث بين الناس عن “الثوره” لأنه و كما تعلمون جميعا زيادة الأسعار صارت غير محتمله و غير مبرره
و الأوضاع تتردى من سيء الى أسوأ و الناس مشنوقه بمعنى الكلمه … و الجيل القديم قد علم أن ثورة 23 يوليو كانت مقلب و كل أهدافها لم تحقق
[…..]
مصر قبل الثورة كانت تزرع تصدر الآن تستورد لتأكل

During our current days in the year 2007, people talk a lot about a “revolution”, for as you know, prices became unbearable and the conditions are going from bad to worst; people are suffocating by the literal meaning of the word. And by now, the older generation knows that almost most of the July 23rd revolution’s goals weren’t achieved.
[…]
Egypt before the revolution used to plant and export, now it imports to eat.

المشكله أنه عندما تقوم ثورة الجياع ستقوم كثوره عشوائيه متخبطه لا هدف لها
ثورة 23 يولو كان لها هدف و جهه تحقق هذا الهدف
لكن ثورة الجياع أي جهة ستحقق مطالبها؟؟

The problem is that when the revolution of the hungry starts, it will be a random revolution with no purpose. The July 23 Revolution had a goal and a sector to achieve it but with this Revolution of the Hungry - who will fulfill its demands??

ما يلفت نظري حقا هو
كيف كان الملك فاروق بهذا الضعف و الطيبه والسذاجه .. ان خرج من مصر دون اراقة دم فرد واحد من الشعب
هل لأنه كما قالت لنا الثوره في كتب التاريخ .. كان خلاص الناس طهقت و كان لازم حيخرج و الجيش كان اقوى!!؟
أم لأن فاروق كان كما رسمته الدكتوره لميس جابر.. شخصيه ضعيفه مهزوزه.. اعتقد ان تلك رغبة المصريين فنفذها؟؟
أم لأنه الملك ملك ..و الظابط ظابط؟؟ ..

What makes me wonder, how can King Farouk who was weak, kind and naïve, be expelled out of Egypt without shedding a single citizen’s blood?
Is because –as written in history books- people were really fed up and he had to go out and the army was much stronger? Or was it because Farouk himself, and as how described by Lamis Jaber, a weak and hesitant person, believed it was the people’s wish so he fulfilled it?
Or was it because the king is king, and the officer is an officer?

3 comments · »»

Pakistan: Blog-o-detention

Omer Alvie · 06:13

lingua → bn · mg

I must begin this post by extending my sincere apologies to the readers of GV for my disappearance of the GV radar for the past several months.. Unfortunately, for me I do not have valid excuse for this prolonged absence except to tell you the truth. I was abducted by aliens. No, not the extraterrestrial kind but illegal kind and it turned out to be only a few degrees worse than watching Fox News. They demanded ransom but my family refused to pay. Months went by and my family even stopped answering their phone calls. Just last week I was released after a final negotiation effort in which the abductors agreed to pay a million dollars (in 20 easy installments) to my family just so they could get rid of me. They, apparently, had had enough.

Now to the business of highlighting some interesting posts from the Pakistani bloggers, Sabahat, who happens to be one of my favourite bloggers, writes about the voice of the confused and the politically unsavvy.

Musharraf may not exactly be as charismatic as Bhutto but in his initial days he too captured a lot of people's imagination and as the foregone conclusion to today's elections was announced i was hit with a strong sense of dejavu. Shades of not Bhutto but Zia-ul-Haq's sham referendum and Musharraf's own a few years back. What kind of ‘election' is this that took place today? Another 5 years for Musharraf? What exactly do I feel about it.

Anwaar Hussain, pens another impeccable piece, this time he give us a detailed insight into that notorious US government contractor, Blackwater USA.

Blackwater is currently the largest of the U.S. State Department’s three private security contractors deployed in Iraq. At least 90% of its revenue comes from government contracts, two-thirds of which are no-bid contracts. The cost for each Blackwater guard, a foot soldier, in Iraq is estimated to be around $445,000 per year, more than twice that of a U.S. General’s salary with 26 years of service.

Windmill of my mind has posted some interesting interviews with several (Karachi) bloggers discussing the flaws and dangers of the proposed CyberCrime Bill.

During my recent captivity, courtesy the illegal aliens, I passed my time in solitary confinement by launching yet another site, with my blogger friend Awab and my brother (who doesn't blog for religious reasons or so he says). The site is called Quinge, and it has exclusive podcast interviews with some very prominent personalities, such as Dr. Arma Barlas, Professor Ziauddin Sardar, Musicians Sajid and Zeeshan and more. You will get to hear discussion on religion (Islam), politics, art and music in a way that you have not heard it before, especially in the mainstream media. In addition we've got some original essays and short stories that are exclusive to quinge.com. I hope you all will take the time to check this site out.

Finally, I'd like to highlight my own recent blog post, which I should warn, should not be viewed by anyone under the age of 18. It has been rated R by the Motion Picture Association of America.

That's me done for this post. I hope to return again with another post in the future but without such a prolonged break. Neha's made sure of that as she has just promised to ship 2 cans of solid ‘whoop-ass' for me in case I procrastinate again.

2 comments · »»

Ecuador: Microsoft and Other Companies Closed for Tax Evasion

Milton Ramirez · 03:20

lingua → mg · pt · es

One of the most recognized newspapers in Ecuador published a note about the local Microsoft branch being closed for at least seven days. Other Ecuadorian companies like Norberto Odebrecht and Noboa's Banana Exporter are also under suspicion. The reason that Microsoft was closed was that it did not fill out or submit tax information since February 2007.

The SRI (Servicio de Rentas Internas) accused the company of not presenting requested tax information on two occasions. This is associated to a national campaign headed by Carlos Carrasco, Director of Internal Revenue Services, who indicated that tributary evasion is costing nearly 3 billion dollars, which represents 28.6% of the national budget scheduled for the 2008.

El Universo first published the story, and was soon followed by CNN (Who for unknown reason is not linking the note anymore) and bloggers such Erebe.net [ES] and Linux en Ecuador [ES] group.

Eduardo Palacios [ES] writes:

La inteligente sanción del SRI: cerrar las compañías siete días. Siete días que los negocios dejan de producir y que los clientes no recibirán una atención adecuada. No sería una multa lo más conveniente?

The smart SRI decision: close the companies for seven days. It will be seven days that companies do not produce and the customers wouldn't receive proper attention. Wouldn't be more convenient to issue a fine?

Carlos Jumbo [ES] also mentions the other companies in fault with the Ecuadorian government:

Además de Microsoft del Ecuador, otras empresas como Mega Santa María, Panificadora Ambato, Agape S.A., y Laar Cía. Ltda cumplirán con la misma sanción temporal por los mismos motivos.

Beyond Microsoft of Ecuador, another companies like Mega Saint Mary, Ambato Bakery, Agape S.A. and Laar Cia Ltd. will be temporarily sanctioned because of the same reasons.

Blog for Spanish Readers [ES], however points out that Microsoft is back in business:

De todas maneras para los que quieren encubrir el asunto ya existe la nota que la empresa del Sr. Gates está trabajando nuevamente y hasta se publica la nota acalaratoria donde reconocen haber sido sancionados.

Anyway, for those who doesn't want to know the truth, there is already a note that Mr. Gate's Company is working again and even an explanaratory note is published where they recognized being sanctioned.

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