Amid controversy, tension, uncertainty, and violence, incumbent Mwai Kibaki has been officially announced as victor of last week’s presidential elections in Kenya. Sub-Saharan Africa Editor Ndesanjo Macha turns to Kenya’s blogosphere for the latest updates as riots begin to erupt in the streets.
The news of Benazir Bhutto’s death seems to have finally settled in and local bloggers are now focusing their attention on what Bhutto’s legacy might be, writes Neha Viswanathan.
In Bahrain rioting took place last week after one demonstrator was killed and many others arrested during a commemoration of Martyrs’ Day, an unofficial day of mourning and remembrance for pro-democracy activists who were killed throughout the 1990’s.
Afghan bloggers lament the treatment of young girls who are married off for dowry and young boys whose sexual favors are bought and sold in illegal parties.
What were the top ten stories of 2007 in Hong Kong? Oiwan Lam translates a year-in-review post by local blogger “Sidekick”.
Onnik Krikorian also takes a look at the year in review, though with a cyber-savvy focus on some of the blogging highlights that took place throughout the Caucasus.
Rookie Global Voices contributor Brenda Zulu brings us into 2008 with her first round-up of the Zambian blogosphere. We discover a focus on education, telecommunications, and political stability; all with the end-goal of more efficient development.
The new year is inevitably upon us and the Lusosphere is booming with posts about traditions, resolutions, wishes, and reflections. Here is a short roundup of Portuguese-speaking blogs from Brazil, Cape Verde, East Timor, Mozambique and Portugal - although countries far apart, they share the language and hopes for a better future, writes Paula Góes.
News of the murder of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was received with shock across the Middle East. Amira Al Huissaini brings us some of those reactions from Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Israel.
An Iraqi blog acted out on stage, homophobia in Barbados, photos of a “most spectacular nail house in Guangxi, China … and lots more in today’s Global Roundups.
Cross-posted on Global Voices and Rising Voices
We can assume that ever since language was first given physical form, poetry (from the Greek poiesis, “making” or “creating”) has been a vehicle to express our saddest laments, our giddiest joys, and our most enigmatic secrets of love and mourning. Though there is no shortage of concern that the tradition of poetry will be lost among the bits and bytes of a digital age, there is also a growing mountain of evidence (in the form of blogging poets, or poetic bloggers) that the aesthetics and muse of prose can now reach farther and wider than ever before.
The new bloggers of Rising Voices outreach projects in Colombia, Bolivia, and Bangladesh are more than just up-and-coming citizen journalists. They have also discovered the power of prose to reveal glimpses of the human emotions that bring us together and the local differences that make each of our communities unique.
Poetry is always the most difficult of texts to translate and for this reason we have left the original Spanish and Bangla text followed by our best attempts of English translations.
Tribute by Carmen Elena Paniagua of HiperBarrio:
Homenaje
Con este breve poema quiero expresar mi gratitud a una vieja amiga.
Canción ausente
No llores cuando me marche y tenga que dejarte sóla en el rincón de siempre;
no olvides que mi voz quedó grabada en tu vientre;
no olvides que mis huellas están por todo tu cuerpo.
Ya de memoria sabes entonar nuestra melodía;
tu tristeza y mi llanto se confundieron muchas veces en acordes menores y mis lágrimas caían sobre tus cuerdas, apagando violentamente el eco de tus lamentos.
No te angusties por mi ausencia; deja que tu cuerpo esbelto repose, hasta que una noche regrese y juntas entonemos nuevamente la canción de siempre.
Absent song
Don’t cry when I depart and must leave you alone in the corner of forever;
don’t forget that my voice remains recorded within your abdomen;
don’t forget that my footprints are all over your body.
And of memories, you know how to sing our melody;
your sadness and my crying have been confused many times in minor chords and my tears fall about your strings, violently halting the echo of your laments.
Do not distress for my absence; let your slender body rest, until one night I return and together we sing once again the song of forever.
Medellín, Colombia, una ciudad hermosa con paisajes impresionantes y gente amable que te hace sentir bienvenido. Pero hay una cosa que nos deja confundido. Por que a nosotros todos los paisas nos llaman monos?
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