Stories about LANGUAGES from February, 2008
Egypt: Praying against Mubarak in the Metro
From an offer to give up a seat at the metro, to an impromptu protest against Egyptian President Mohamed Hosni Mubarak. Eman Abdurahman brings us the story from Egypt.
A book about political murders in Brazil
The Brazilian IndyMedia site is reporting about a new book by the Brazilian journalist Natália Viana about the political murders of human-rights activists in Brazil in the last decades. The report says the entire book is available to be downloaded here. All the links in this roundup are in portuguese.
Taiwan: Land Right
A Taiwanese aboriginal group, hunter motion, calls for an action on 28 of February to defend their right to preserve their hunting life style in their own land. The group has an advocacy blog for recording their activities.
Iran: Islamist bloggers hail Imad Mughniyeh
Iranian leaders, including the supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, expressed their condolences to Hezbullah's chief Hassan Nasrallah, after the killing of Imad Mughniyeh, one of the militant group's top commanders, hailing him as a “great man”. Islamist bloggers in Iran share their ideas.
China: Harmonious Olympic Make-up
Angel apple from Duller feels sick of local Beijing Olympic news report. Some local newspapers keep on publishing guidelines and reminding citizens how to behave harmoniously during Olympic. For example, women are advised to wear light make-up.
China: Model Opera in Education
Zhanbin criticizes the inclusion of model Beijing opera in elementary education because of its political nature (zh).
Taiwan: Hope Map Project
A month before the presidential election, a group of internet and new media activists launched a hope map project for visualizing common hopes for Taiwan future.
Serbia: Ambassadorial Discontent
While some of the foreign embassies were being set on fire in Belgrade in protest to the unilateral proclamation of independence of Kosovo, Serbian embassies in Belgium and Russia were having diplomatic activities of a different kind - and Serbian bloggers took interest in them. Sinisa Boljanovic translates.
Yemen: Gaza, My Grandmother and Candles
Yemeni blogger Maysaa Shuja has written a profoundly thoughtful post about candles, electricity, and the possible introduction of nuclear energy to her native country - a country which cannot supply a steady stream of electricity. And while the outpour of sympathy for Gaza and its electricity problems continue, Maysaa Shuja talks about how her enterprising grandmother, may Allah rest her soul in peace, taught them the value of candles at their greatest hours of need.
Brazil: Sexual tourism, dreams-come-true, sour goodbyes and illegality
Sandra Paulsen writes[PT] from Stockholm at Blog do Noblat[PT] about Swedish sexual tourism in Brazil and Tailand and sad stories about Brazilian women that travel back with their “boyfriends” to their home Sweden, just to face a hard and bitter break-up and illegality in a foreign and lawful land. Blog...
Sharing music for free is not a crime, in Spain
Miguel Caetano, who faithfully writes at his blog Remixtures, blogs about[PT] the relative freedom to share music non-commercialy through P2P enjoyed in Spain, and compliments Spanish judges for their fine understanding of the net and it's social dynamics.
China: Temporary Residential Card
In order to prepare for the Olympic, all residents without permanent household registration in Beijing will require to apply for a temporary residential card, even if they have their own apartment in Beijing city. Liu Xiao Yuan points out that the regulation is outdated and should be abolished (zh).
China: Call for the Abolition of Household Registration System
Wen Yun Chao posts a joint signature statement by Chinese public intellectuals, which calls for the abolition of dual social structure (rural and urban household registration) in China (zh).
Ecuador: My Mobile Voice and Citizen Journalism
Mi Voz Móvil (My Mobile Voice) is a project in citizen journalism from the newspaper Ultimas Noticias in Quito, Ecuador. The mobile van travels to neighborhoods where they conduct workshops for aspiring citizen journalists. In many cases, individuals that have submitted news see their stories side-by-side with the professional journalists. Here is a short video of the paper's editor explaining the mobile reporting room.
China: Photoshop Era
Wangxiaofeng talks about the coming of Photoshop era and how such tool is serving the redistribution of interest (zh).
Kuwait: Celebrating National Day through Art
5roofa, from Kuwait, posts the art works of students from the class she teaches to mark her country's National Day.
Korea: Debates over Privatizing Insurance
One of the hottest issues just before the next administration took office in Korea was about the privatization of health insurance. With the new administration, the national health insurance seems to be not logical anymore and will switch to privatization so that other private companies can step in the medical...
What does make them come to Campus Party?
Donizete Soares from Sentimentos e Pensamentos [Feelings and Toughts, PT] asked some campuseros at Campus Party Brasil 2008 [PT] about their motivations to leave behind their diary lives and flock to meetings like the one held in São Paulo two weeks ago — and released the full audio of these...
Lusospheric Literature: Sabedoria de Improviso
Czarina writes in short, razor-sharp, words in her Sabedoria de Improviso [Makeshift Wisdom, PT] about what she may or may not have learned, and maybe about what she lived. She renders no explanations [PT] for those who need it.
Taiwan: Photo Talks
A new website called veryXD is becoming very popular in Taiwan. Visitors are encourage to write caption for the photos and share with others.
Hong Kong: The Death of a Bookseller
Law Chi Wah, a well known independent book store owner in Hong Kong, was killed by the collapsing book boxes in his small warehouse before Lunar New Years. His body was found two weeks later, already rotten. Douban (zh) has set up a special page for this book martyr. His...