Global Voices Online

IGFWatch brings the latest updates from the third day of the Internet Governance Forum, where he heard Mr H Chengquing (from the Internet Society of China) explaining that “the view that government should keep the hands off the Internet is wrong”; a sure indication, if you didn't know already, that that body is not actually a chapter of the Internet Society, as its name suggests”.

“I took this picture of Madeira River a few hours ago, when the airplane flew over Porto Velho city (RO). This landscape will have disappeared in a few years, to make room for a huge dam that will feed two hydroelectric plants.” Altino Machado also reports [pt] on the FestCine Amazônia, an environmental film festival that will showcase films and movies from all over Brazil from filmmakers that tackle climate change.

Raising concerns about corruption, Nazarian says he is unsure whether to donate to the annual telethon held in the Diaspora to raise funds for Armenia.

Israeli blogger Stephanie links to another blog post by Zabaj, which discusses the Israeli education system and why university tuition fees should be tripled.

Mothers are not allowed to be sick, writes Khadeja Teri from Libya. Find out why in this post.

Al Jazeera's Qatar headquarters is under virtual attack! Find out how here.

The Arabist, from Egypt, draws our attention to a rather convenient fatwa (religious edict) being used to protect police in this post.

Jordanian Batir Wardam writes a sharp satirical post on what is required from candidates to guarantee a seat in the Jordanian parliament.

Abu Dhabi will soon have its own Ferrari theme park, writes Palestinian blogger Haitham Sabbah.

Asking Tough Questions in Tough Places is skeptical about the way last month's foiled attempt to stage terrorist attacks on government offices and diplomatic missions in Baku, capital of the Republic of Azerbaijan, was reported.

Resistance Georgia comments on reports that News International owned Imedia TV has had its license revoked following last week's clashes between opposition supporters and police in downtown Tbilisi. The blog concludes that the move “is one of the most painful blows to democracy in Georgia.”

In Grito Argentino [es], Daniel Marquez and Daniel de Michele write about the Botnia paper mill conflict between Uruguay and Argentina.

De Todo Un Poco [es] writes about the paper mill controversy brewing between Argentina and Uruguay and its side effects, where he writes, “today it is very common to find a Uruguayan talk poorly about Argentines, which is something that wouldn't have been so common four years ago.“

After public backlash against bars in El Alto, which was accused of corrupting the city's youth, Vilma Colque of Cultura en Bibliotecas [es] proposes that culture in the form of libraries be alternatives for the youth to pass their time in a positive manner.

Dora Romero of Las Ideas Son Primero [es] writes about road projects that are left unfinished in El Alto, Bolivia. This criticism is directed at the mayor because it causes great inconveniences for the citizens, especially when it rains.

A student protest in Islamabad voicing opinion against the emergency imposed in Pakistan [YouTube Link]. The high school kids got lathi-charged (Baton Charge) right after the footage finished according to Chapati Mystery.

Robert Wright and Marcelo Metayar recently launched a blog called AfterLife, which documents and tell the stories behind the Recoleta Cemetery in Buenos Aires, Argentina and is geared towards English-speaking visitors.

Cuckoo's Call has the transcript of an interview with Arab-American psychologist, Wafa Sultan, shown on Al Jazeera TV, where she talks of being a secular human being and the idea of “clash of civilizations”.

Metroblogging Lahore has an account of the arrest of Imran Khan at the University of Punjab.

Support for people opposing Musharraf comes in various ways. All Things Pakistan on Harvard Law School's decision to award (former) Chief Justice Iftikar Chaudhary with the Medal of Freedom.

Mahaguru writes “If this nation is to progress and be a fully developed nation by 2020, the people of Malaysia need to spring clean Parliament“

Ktemoc figures out the winners and losers in the last weekend's rally in Malaysian capital city.

Beware of the crocodiles if you are taking a trip to central Vietnam.

Tinta Fantasma [es] writes that Microsoft is celebrating the Free-Trade Agreement between the U.S. and Peru because the deal will help protect copyrighted material targeting pirated copies of their software.

Belgrade 2.0 corrects the Sunday Times on their view of Belgrade: “Milan is the fashion city, Amsterdam is the weed city, Paris is the love city, Berlin is the wall city, and New York is New York” - and Belgrade is the “party city.”

Each deputy of Serbia's national assembly might be given a laptop - “in order to replace paper comsumption and increase effectiveness.” While many Serbian bloggers don't think it's a good idea, Viktor Marković of Belgrade 2.0 thinks it is. He also believes that the war in Yugaslavia could've been avoided if internet had been as popular back then as it is now.

LimbicNutrition Weblog writes about witnessing a domestic violence incident in Belgrade.

Cynthia Semírami [pt] comments on the latest Global Gender Gap Report by the World Economic Forum covering a total of 128 countries, representing over 90% of the world’s population. Brazil is 74th position in the ranking: “It is interesting to note that women are the expressive force behind social movements, but rarely ascend to positions of leadership, or go directly into politics. Changing this situation is fundamental to have gender equality”.

Anegdote writes about Serbian “political analysts” and some of their views on fascism and anti-fascism.

Dejan Čabrilo of Anegdote writes about Slavija, a Belgrade neighborhood he grew up in: “Seen the kids who offer to wait in line for visas at the German embassy in exchange for a small fee? That was us, and probably still is – the perks of living in the capital city.”

Carlos Serra from Diário de um Sociólogo spreads about [pt] a seminar on the lynch law, that happens today in Mozambique. The talk is promoted by the UDS blog [pt].

Omar Basawad is encouraged by the news media's coverage of climate change, citing the programs from CNN, BBC and Al-Jazeera. In watching the CNN special ‘Planet in Peril' Omar is pertubed and shocked in part because…”Most saddening of all, is that - the poorest part of the World: Africa, which contributes least to the World's Climate Change and which uses the least of the World's resources, is, and will be, the most adversely affected.”

Cheese-on-bread has a few tips on how to speak like a Bajan.

Adeola writes about the rise and fall of Festac town in Nigeria: “This year 2007 marks the 30th Anniversary of Festac Town as a residential area. Festac is still one of the largest residential estates south of Saharan Africa. When I started living in Festac Town in 1977 with the rest of my family, I was only 5 years old.”

Geoffrey Philp features Our Caribbean: “an anthology of lesbian and gay writing from across the Antilles”.

Abeni's heart goes out to a grieving friend whom she only knows through blogging, making her realise “that just maybe friendship needs no definition, no qualifiers”.

Babalu Blog posts a poem by Marielena Jané-Prats about what it means to be a Cuban-American.

Trinbago Forever acknowledges that the outcome of the recently-held elections in Trinidad and Tobago means the country is still entrenched in the ruling party's vision of achieving developed nation status, but says: “A thriving economy…is untenable, if we are constantly ever fearful of bandits…Development is untenable, without healthy citizens, healthy in mind and body.”

Kumekucha posts a video of an advertisement that, according to him, Kenyan TV stations have been warned against airing it: “The following advert was reportedly intercepted by government agents who warned media houses in Kenya, especially TV stations, of dire consequences should it find its way onto the airwaves.”

Rebecca Wanjiku shows how mobile phones give relevance to rural folks: “…woman had received an SMS indicating that she has been entered into a draw and she could win shs 6,000. But the sight of the figures spured new excitement as they thought they had hit a minor jackpot.”

Chronicles from a Caribbean Cubicle is convinced that “companies…are good as how they treat their vendors.”

The Armenian Observer reports that Armenia's first president, Levon Ter Petrosian, will hold a rally on Friday to respond to critics of his time in power. Meanwhile, the Armenia Election Monitor 2008 comments on a Russian analysis highlighting why he might need to.

Roland compares and analyzes the background and policy advocacy of the district council election candidates in his district. Can get a glimpse of the election culture in Hong Kong.

Diumanpark pointed out that Putonghua is just one of the Chinese Languages. He criticized the Hong Kong government language policy for equalizing Putonghua as “The” Chinese languages and killing all the Chinese language diversity (zh).

Charles Mok gives a live report from the Internet Governance Forum 2007.

Joel Martinsen from DANWEI reports on the legal action by a law PhD student, Dong Yanbin, against UME International Cineplex and SARFT over the edited Mainland Chinese version of Lust, Caution.

Mrzhang criticized the local mainstream media report that the Shenzhen Property Market has dropped for 40%. In reality, the property market is still suffered from the bubbles (zh).

Kenneth Tan from Shanghaiist reports on how condoms are recycled into hair bands.

TOL Georgia reports that the pre-election campaign in Georgia has already unofficially started, but asks why bother to have elections at all, especially as the only media allowed to operate is supportive of the Georgian president. In a second post, TOL Georgia takes a look at how Mikhail Saakashvili hopes to secure a second term in office.

Referring to sources in Tbilisi, Resistance Georgia alleges that mass detentions and arrests are occurring in the aftermath of last week's disturbances in the Georgian capital. Meanwhile, the BBC's Matthew Collin posts his latest article on the protests written for The Moscow Times on his blog, This is Tbilisi Calling.

Bboyd reviews the recent report from Swisspeace that discusses private security contracting in Afghanistan, and says that the research -due to its extensiveness and care - gives some bona-fide examination of the issues.

Ian is also worried by the slight diplomatic reverence, paid by the U.S. ambassador in Tashkent to the Uzbekistan's authorities. “It simply isn’t clear to me why the US should be interested in earning back Karimov’s love”, he says.

Joshua Foust opines on the news article, in which it was said about a meeting of the new U.S. ambassador to Uzbekistan with the governmental official in Tashkent.

Nasim Fekrat reports that Ghows Zalmay, a media professional from Afghanistan, was arrested on the border on Sunday while trying to flee into Pakistan. He is accused of that his new edition of Koran is allegedly un-Islamic.

Some neighborhoods in Buenos Aires are off-limits because some taxi drivers refuse to enter due to security reasons. Juan Pablo Meneses of Cronicas Argentinas [es] writes about the views of these taxi drivers and one who says, “There are many neighborhoods that I would only enter driving a tank.”

Tomás Dinges of Chile from Within is excited about the series of Chilean films being shown in New York City.

La Gringa's Blogicito writes about drug raids in her neighborhood in La Ceiba, Honduras.