David Sasaki

IGF in Athens: searching globally for the Internet’s common ground

Writing from Athens, Jose Murilo Junior sets the stage for the first meeting of the Internet Governance Forum, a “multi-stakeholder policy dialogue” that emerged from last year’s stalled talks at the World Summit on the Information Society in Tunisia. Will the cradle of western democracy hold the key to more democratic policy making to govern the world wide web as one Australian blogger suggests? Judge for yourself.

Voices from Zimbabwe

Zimpundit is back to get us up to date on the latest conversations from the Zimbabwean cyberspace. Zimbabwe leads all of Africa in condoms sold, we learn, and business owners are being cited for failing to display price tags.

Arabisc: Sexual Harrassment and the Egyptian Blogosphere

“After a month of abstinence (from sex naturally) during daylight hours in the holy month of Ramadhan, a mob of sex-starved Egyptians decided to celebrate Eid by attacking and sexually harassing women on the streets of Cairo,” writes Amira Al Hussaini who has translated here the startled reactions and first-hand accounts of local bloggers.

Violence and Misinformation Abound in Oaxaca

Now to southern Mexico where escalating political pressure in the tourist city of Oaxaca erupted over the weekend as federal police were ordered in by President Fox just one month before his term expires. Here is a history of the conflict with initial reactions by Mexican bloggers as federal troops continue to face off with remaining anti-government insurgents.

Mexico: The last moments of Bradley Roland Will

One of the victims of this past weekend’s violence in Oaxaca was Indymedia activist and reporter, Brad Will, who filmed the last seconds of his life as he was shot down by pro-government gunmen. Sameer Padania links to the heart-rending video and describes the dangers of working as a journalist in Mexico.

Roundups

Lula wins Brazil, Hong Kong’s disappearing trees, Sri Lanka without cell phones, and much more can be found in today’s Global Roundups.

More evidence that Oakland is cooler than Berkeley. "Trader Joe's is a nonunion store owned by a secretive German family that sells specialty food and low-cost alcohol," said Steve Wollmer. "Do we really need this in our neighborhood?"

China: How blogging has changed my life

The Chinese Blogger conference took place this weekend in Hangzhou and two of the attendees were given free tickets after winning an essay contest about how blogging has changed their lives. Oiwan Lam has translated excerpts from the winning entries.

Philippines: Reflections on blogging

Online diarists in China aren’t the only ones reflecting on the impact of their participation in the worldwide community of conversation. Filipino bloggers give the discussion a political slant as they wonder why blogging has so far made little impact on Philippine politics and why politicians themselves don’t blog.

Ethiopian blogger scoops mainstream media

Andrew Heavens describes how “Ethio-Zagol, one of the most mysterious and well-connected writers in the Ethiopian blogosphere, scored an old-fashioned scoop over the rest of the mainstream press” when he broke a story on the arrest of human rights activist Yalemzewd Bekele near Ethiopia’s border with Kenya. Other political developments include a leaked document about last year’s post-election violence and Prime Minister Meles Zenawi’s declaration that Ethiopia is now “technically at war” with Islamic fundamentalists in Somalia.

Dispatch from Uganda

Bloggers in Uganda focus their attention on neighboring Sudan, writes Joshua Goldstein, as Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni travels to Juba to take part in peace talks. Also, a criticism of First Lady Janet Museveni’s controversial family planning method called “Moon Beads.”

The Week That Was in Bahrain

Bloggers in Bahrain give us more descriptions of Eid, explaining what the end of Ramadan means for them personally. Additionally, why the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights website was blocked by the government and the reality of being a woman in a man’s world.

Russia: LJ and Politics

On October 25 Russian blogger Evgeny Morozov wrote an Op-Ed for the International Herald Tribune titled “Meanwhile: Russia’s last refuge: the blogosphere.” The piece finally gave mainstream media coverage to Six Apart’s controversial business agreement with the Russian web company Sup. It also generated some criticism, writes Veronica Khokhlova in a post which spins Russia’s complex web of politicians, gallery owners, and LiveJournal users.

Venezuelan Bloggers: A Lot More Than Politics

Venezuela has long been a hotbed of political activism and commentary, both online and off. It also turns out to have one of the most festive and social blogging communities … both online and off.

Bangladesh in Turmoil

“Bangladesh is going through turbulent times,” writes Rezwan after a weekend of violent protests, charges of government corruption, and widespread anxiety over who will next run the nation. One blogger goes so far as to bid farewell to Bangladeshi democracy while others contemplate the possible call for martial law.

Prominent Bahraini Blog, Blocked!

Writing from Bahrain, Haitham Sabbah informs us that the website of fellow prominent blogger Mahmood Al-Yousif has been blocked by all of Bahrain’s internet service providers after a memo was sent out by the Ministry of Information.

Roundups

Free hugs in Beijing, sexual health semantics in Barbados, beards and cricket in Pakistan, and much more can be found in today’s Global Roundups.

Certainly not a project I'd expect USAID to support. I wonder if they're stylish.

Welcome to the new el-oso.net, now with more nonsense and less seriousness.

Hallelujah.

First, the world: in South Yorkshire a man blew up a highway speeding detector.

Using thermite, a pyrotechnic substance often used in underwater welding, Mr. Moore succeeded in wrecking the camera, but its hard drive survived - along with videotape of his van driving toward it and then driving away, as the picture disolved in a cloud of fiery sparks. He was sentenced to four months in jail.

That’s my kind of man. What an unlucky break. When I’m in my 60’s I’m definitely going to start blowing things up. Hopefully that’s finally got the Homeland Security Department reading this blog. Welcome friends.

In Brussels people stopped traffic to protest the candidature of Congolese incumbent Joseph Kabila. His opponent in this Sunday’s runoff election is Jean-Pierre Bemba who, beyond having a sophisticated porn star name, has been accused of war crimes. The Democratic Republic of Congo is different from the Republic of Congo and is no longer Zaire. It’s tough to keep these things straight.

“Bemba” reminds me of “Bim,” a 1970’s flick from Trinidad and Tobago that I saw in the public library with homies Georgia and Nicholas. Later that night we were served delicious Indian food by a Venezuelan woman wearing a sari and speaking perfect English. Nicholas declared that it was time for a Bim remake and by the end of my last bite of sweet naan, a script had been written and the cast was … ummm, cast. So … you know … keep your eyes out.

Good news for sentimental rapists and practitioners of incest in Nicaragua; bad news for pregnant moms facing death. Just two weeks before some seriously crazy presidential elections, a total ban on abortion was passed 52 to 0 in Nicaragua’s parliamentary. Nicaragua now joins El Salvador and Chile as Latin American countries that value fetuses over living beings.

HP, dance sister, dance.

Lastly, I never realized how achingly beautiful Wilco’s “A Shot in the Arm” is until I heard Jeff Tweedy sing it solo and acoustic in Eugene.

Download of the Day/Weekend/Until Whenever Sparshles finishes our podcast: A Shot in the Arm by Jeff Tweedy.

hells yes. [via nathan via cindylu]

I'm not sure what surprises me most ... that Madonna is the second most admired woman by surveyed Buenos Aires residents or that Chilean President Michelle Bachelet is number one.

"''They're very much enthused by Morales, Chávez and the Democratic Pole. They analyzed the political situation, and that has been the reason they're moving toward the political arena,'' he added." ~ always interesting to see what politicizes rebel group

Voices from South Asia

A photo essay on Bangladesh’s Grameen Bank, Bhutan’s first ever general elections, privatized media in the Maldives, dead dogs in Nepal, and affordable hit squads in Sri Lanka are just a few of the stories in this week’s South Asian wrap-up by Rezwan.

DRC, Belgium: Anti-Kabila Demonstration

Alice Backer displays once again how weblogs bridge domestic politics and diaspora activism. Before this weekend’s runoff election in the Democratic Republic of Congo, protesters converged on the streets of Brussels in support of opposition candidate Jean-Pierre Bemba and against incumbent Joseph Kabila.

Torture in Gambia, “Militocracy” in Africa, Press Freedom and Dirty Water and Gold

We move northwest now to the Gambia where a blogger’s high school acquaintance claims he was tortured and forced to make a confessional about an alleged coup plot. David Ajao also brings us up to date on the privatization of gold mining in Burkina Faso, electricity outages in Ghana, and the state of press freedom and militocracy throughout Africa.

Arabisc: Rebellious Behaviour and the Quest for Intellectuals

A Jordanian blogger needs help composing a list of the 100 most influential intellectuals of the Arab world. In Egypt, Kareem Amer drops a bombshell when he publicly admits he didn’t observe Ramadan for the first time in his life. And in Palestine pictures speak louder than words.

Bosnia & Herzegovina: Exploring the Pyramid

The archeological discovery of what could be Europe’s only step pyramid complex in Bosnia and Herzegovina has brought unexpected attention and cash flow to the region. But local bloggers are mixed in their reactions to the discovery and its consequences. Read their responses here thanks to the translations of Ljubisa Bojic.

Voices from Central Asia and the Caucasus

Ben Paarmann now takes us for our biweekly virtual tour of Central Asia, where medical care can be Russian Roulette in Armenia, political uncertainty hits Kyrgyzstan, and, yes, Borat is still causing trouble in Kazakhstan.

Chilean Cycling Bloggers

In one of South America’s most polluted cities, a group of cyber-cyclists are trying to peddle their movement and lifestyle to the rest of the net.

Roundups

Blogger polemics in Singapore, flash memory textbooks in the United Arab Emirates, free rock and roll from Trinidad and Tobago, and much more can be found in today’s Global Roundups.

There my homies.