Stories about Arts & Culture from March, 2008
Iran: Iranian New Year and history
Kourosh Ziabari calls Iranian new year, a celebration of love and peace and talks about its history.
Japan: Rokkasho nuclear reprocessing plant fuels debate
The village of Rokkasho, situated Aomori prefecture in the north of Japan's main island Honshū, hosts a nuclear facility for reprocessing spent nuclear fuel, the first of its kind in Japan. While the scale of this reprocessing plant dwarfs standard nuclear plants, most Japanese citizens have up to recently known little to nothing of its existence. This has started to change recently with demonstrations held in various parts of the country by citizen groups. Bloggers have also picked up this debate, offering varying perspectives on the costs and benefits of the latest development of Japan's nuclear industry.
Haiti: Discovering Jacmel
Blog de Port-au-Prince invites us to discover Jacmel, “the cultural capital of Haiti”.
Israel: Shakespeare Was a Jewish Woman?
The Bard's identity has long been a matter of debate, but a new candidate has entered the scene. Could Shakespeare have been an Italian Jewish woman? Jewcy's John Hudson provides eight pieces of evidence to convince you.
Israel: A Joyous Celebration of Purim
The holiday of Purim celebrates the triumph of the Jewish people over those who seek and sought their destruction. Purim is a joyful holiday celebrated with costumes, festivities, good food, and much drinking, writes Maya Norton, from Israel.
Lebanon: Solidere demolishes synagogue
“The last witnesses to Beirut's architectural heritage and to the once-thriving Lebanese Jewish community in Wadi Abu-Jmil fall to the bulldozers of Saad Hariri's Solidere,” writes Hanibaal.
Guyana: Firsts
Guyana-Gyal gets “first”ed.
Iran: A cartoon about elections
Nikhang, blogger and a leading cartoonist, has published a cartoon about recent parliamentary election in Iran where president Ahmadinejad says ” I continue to copy [votes].”
Iran:Iranian singers celebrate New Year
Several Iranian singers celebrated Iranian New Year. You see a lot of photos from Iran.
Hong Kong: Flower Exhibition
Duiman park blogs some photos he took from the annual flower exhibition in Hong Kong.
Hong Kong: Hijacking Public Space
A group of local artists decided to hijack public space [zh]at Time Square, a landmark at Causeway Bay, down town commercial district. .
Croatia: Zagreb's New Synagogue
Balkan Baby writes about the opening of a new synagogue in Zagreb.
Ethiopian painters campaign to end early marriage
Lova writes about Ethiopian painters campaigning to end early marriage, through art.
France: Malagasy nightclub in Marseille
harinjaka writes about a new Malagasy night club [Fr] in Marseille: “I know from personal experience that it's not easy to enter a club here (in France), especially if you are black or berber…It's not the Queen but it's a club where Malagasy people are VIP.”
Burkina Faso: Meningitis, mask dances and a special horse festival
Burkina Faso is the diamond stud near the middle of Africa’s meningitis belt, stretching from Senegal to Ethiopia, containing a population of roughly 300 people. The region’s dusty winds and relatively cool nights from December to June decreases peoples’ immunity to respiratory problems. This, along with the area’s high population density adds up to make bacterial meningitis “hyperendemic” to this area.
Kyrgyzstan: Fed up with protests?
Kyrgyz bloggers have been actively elaborating on the Kyrgyz government's initiative to make March 24 – the day of popular uprising in 2005 – a national holiday. The amendment was made to the Kyrgyz Labor Code, according to which from now on March 24 will be officially celebrated as a...
Bolivia: Anniversary of Plan 3000
Pedro Velasquez of Litoraleño [es] celebrates the anniversary of the Plan 3000 neighborhood in Santa Cruz, Bolivia.
Poland: Arts, Posters and More
Polandian writes about Polish artists and Polish poster art, and posts another installment of the Inside Warsaw series: Q-U.
Ukraine: “Fortress Kerch”
The Gaws writes about a tour of a fortress in Kerch.
Russia, UK: Olga Freer's Book
The UK’s Daily Mail reviews “a book written by a young Russian woman about her experiences living in London” – and White Sun of the Desert reviews the book review: “[…] it is little wonder that her book is popular in Moscow, as thousands of Russian women will be reading...
