Travels in the Kurdish Blogosphere · Global Voices
Deborah Ann Dilley

Well it has been a busy week in the Kurdish Blogosphere. Perhaps the most startling is the infighting between the members of the group blog the Kurdistan Bloggers Union. Having been a prominent blog for over a year, KBU has spawned a forum and a news site, however lately disagreements in leadership have lead to some reorganization of the blog, namely being the separation of association of the KBU name from the forum and news site. Now that the major issues have been worked out the blog is back to its normal form. A new piece has been posted discussing a recent political speech that was given by George Gallaway in the UK as part of his RESPECT project.
If we are talking about people’s lands being invaded then I think RESPECT should cover the whole globe. Can I humbly say, as Kurds we would be very happy for such an initiative, but I thought it was specific for some people because I heard words like Muslims, Palestinians, Arabs, Congo a couple of times Africa and NEVER Kurds,(omit as you like) Chechens, Kashmir etc! I think RESPECT cares about bits of Balfour treaty and doesn’t care about the rest of it!
Hiwa from Hiwa Hope's has been discussing a wide variety of issues. He received a reply to a letter he had sent regarding misinformation about the Kurds in a recent article, the original letter was covered in last week's post. He also discusses how the roads in Turkey are so bad, especially in the Southeast/Kurdish areas that it must be true that traffic accidents cause more deaths than terrorist violence in the region. Also there was a young Kurdish man from Iran who was recently sentenced to death for the crime of drinking alcohol.
Pearls of Iraq, a new blog discussed last week, has an interesting discussion on fuel shortages this winter in Iraq. She also clarifies her roots, she wanted everyone to know that she isn't Kurdish or Iraqi but someone who cares deeply about the people of that region. I think that most Kurds would have no problem adopting her into their family.
After a long haitus Kardox is back to blogging again. His most recent post praises Kurdish activist Kani Xulam, who is the founder and director of the American Kurdish Information Network (AKIN), for Kani's recent article about the current state of Kurdish nationalism in Turkey.
Vladimir from From Holland to Kurdistan writes about a pro-Palestinian and pro-suicide bomber cartoon made and promoted by the Iranian government and the irony surrounding a propaganda piece that supports the Arab cause coming from a country that actively suppresses them within their borders. He also posts about a Kurdish party that he recently attended. The pictures are superb! The post notes that no matter how “bad” things have gotten for the Kurds, they still manage to dance in the good times and the bad. And anyone who has been to any Kurdish function where dancing is involves can understand the power and solidarity that dancing can create.