Stories about English from April, 2010
Ghana: The Premier of Professor Azumah Nelson documentary
Ghanaian blogger Mac Jordan attended the the premiere of Professor Azumah Nelson‘s documentary, “ZOOM ZOOM – The Career of Azumah Nelson.” The documentar is written and directed Sam Kessie; a Ghanaian film-maker based in Atlanta, USA.
India, Pakistan: Please Discuss
Adil Najam at All Things Pakistan urges the prime ministers of India and Pakistan, who are in Bhutan to attend the SAARC Summit, to start bilateral talks and to keep talking.
Nigeria: Forced marriages and the age of consent
Sokari discusses forced marriages and the age of consent after the former Governor of Zamfara State, Senator Sani Yerima marries a 13 year old Egyptian girl for whom he paid her family $100,000.
South Africa: The woes of a South African blogger
Project Me blogs about the woes of a South African blogger: “I know, it’s nearly half way through the day and still ni blog. Well that’s because I’m a South African blogger who has days when I wake up to no electricity or no internet connection.”
Africa: Good news for Internet users in East Africa
Codrin Arsene has good news for Internet users in East Africa: “The second major fiber optic cable linking East Africa to the rest of the world, and specifically to Europe, known as the East African Submarine Cable System, was completed on Tuesday.”
India: Crowdsourcing Advertising Ideas From Consumers
Bhatnaturally discusses about a recent effort by a multinational brand in India to crowdsource advertising ideas from consumers and wonders whether it will really work or not.
Africa: Driving With Fanon
Driving with Fanon is a new film by a South African artist Kwena Mokwena. It is about violence, memory and the human condition in post-colonial Africa.
Sudan: We will never know who won the election?
Discussing the official results of election in Sudan Muawia Abdel Karim argues that nobody will ever know who really won the election: “The counting of votes has been so chaotic that it is simply impossible to find out the true number of votes cast for each candidate.”
Egypt: Gearing up for May 2 Protests
Egyptian blogger Zeinobia is urging her readers to mark May 2 on their calendars. A massive sit-in is being planned to call for a higher minimum wage in front of the Egyptian Cabinet. The official minimum wage has been LE35 ($6) for the last 26 years.
Sudan: Using Ushahidi to monitor Sudanese elections
Fareed Zein, the Project Leader for the Sudan VoteMonitor project Uswrites about using Ushahidi to monitor Sudanese elections: “The purpose of this initiative was to utilize the Ushahidi platform to support the independent monitoring and reporting of Sudan’s first multi-party election in 26 years.”
Egypt: Saudi Arabia Blocks ElBaradei's Site
Bikya Masr quotes the Arabic Network of Human Rights information saying that Saudi Arabia has “blocked the Internet website promoting Egypt’s leading opposition figure Mohamed ElBaradei’s National Coalition for Change.”
Tunisia: Killing the Web
Tunisian Rafik describes censorship in Tunisia as “webcide.” He tweets: “what is happening in Tunisia with massive censorship these last days is webcide : kill the web.”
Bahrain: Mideast Tunes Launched
Mideast Youth has launched a new project Mideast Tunes – which is dedicated to providing a platform for emerging musicians in the Middle East. “Our aim is to encourage, inspire and expose talented young artists across the region,” they write.
Jordan: The Nursing Profession
Emi, an American in Amman, reflects on the nursing profession in Jordan in this post.
Bahrain: Salman and Threatened Voices
From Bahrain, the Free Hasan Salman blog noted the inclusion of Salman in Global Voices Online's Threatened Voices. Salman was arrested on May 14, 2009, for allegedly leaking the names of security personnel to websites.
China: New Avatar theme song inspired by forced evictions
Avatar director James Cameron admits he found inspiration for the film in China, and Chinese viewers saw a common story from today's China being told in the film. Somewhere in between, mashup artists have now imagined a theme song for Avatar as one might have been sung in Chinese.
Video: Three Latin American Viral Sensations Unite for Israel
Through the Latin American social networks there is a new video spreading like wildfire: it unites three of the most recent viral video sensations in one. Peruvian La Tigresa del Oriente, Wendy Sulca and Ecuadorian Delfin Quishpe virtually united to sing "I'll dance in your lands", a song about Israel. None of them have visited Israel, but that didn't stop them from singing about the beauty of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.
Japan: Remove the U.S. Marine Base From Ginowan
Martin from Kurashi blogs about the recent protest in Tokyo calling for the Japanese Parliament to remove the U.S. marine air base from Futenma, Okinawa in the city of Ginowan.
China: Reflection on bridge-blogging
Kai Pan from China Divide reflects on the non-Chinese China blogs's bridging effort.
China: Hospital holds newborn hostage
DANWEI translated a frontpage story from Dongguan Times about a local hospital holding newborn hostage when the parent can't pay the bill.
Russia: Russian Authorities Want to Block 2,000 Web sites
Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs plans to make addition to the law “On Information” allowing Russian authorities to block an access to around 2,000 Web sites with extremist, pirated and pornographic content, Russian information agency “New region” reported.
