Stories about History from March, 2006
The blogosphere responds to Jamaica's first woman Prime Minister
On March 30, Jamaica's first (and the anglophone Caribbean's second the anglophone Caribbean's third, after Dominica's Eugenia Charles and Bermuda's Jennifer Smith) female Prime Minister was sworn into office. Portia Simpson-Miller is a long-standing member of Jamaica's ruling People's National Party (PNP) who won the party's internal vote to elect...
DRC: Malu Malu Announces Delay in Communal Elections
UDPS Liege blogger ngstephane comments (FR) on electoral council President Appolinaire Malu Malu's appearance on a Belgian talk show yesterday. Blogger is especially disappointed with Malu Malu's announcement that communal elections will have to take place later than the constitutionally mandated June 30, 2006 deadline and predicts that Malu Malu...
Japan: Textbooks
The issue of Japanese textbooks is revisited today with new translations from Coming Anarchy and background to the controversy at The Korea Liberator.
Taiwan: Chiang Kai-shek's diaries released
Tomorrow, Stanford University will release Chiang Kai-shek's diaries covering 1917-1931. Jerome F. Keating Ph.D. explains the importance of the diaries today.
Caribbean, US: US-Caricom meeting
Larry Smith discusses the recent US-Caricom meeting in the Bahamas in the context of both recent US foreign policy and Condolezza Rice's career. He quotes a Bahamian diplomat, who says: “The policies of the US are not producing the results that it desires, and therefore how should friends of the...
Russia: Ilf and Petrov Exhibit
W. Shedd of The Accidental Russophile writes about famous Soviet writers Ilya Ilf and Evgeniy Petrov, their 1935-36 trip to the United States.
Poland: Parliamentary Crises
The beatroot writes on Poland's inability to come up with a coalition government and the not too efficient attempts to fix the situation: “Many normal people here argue, however, that it is not the system […] that is to blame for Poland’s political instability, but – and here’s a radical...
Dangdut music and dance in Singapore and all about Home
Singapore is a good place to explore cultures from all over South East Asia. The blogger at licencetospill took some of her friends to a Dangdut club. Dangdut is a form of music from Indonesia. The blogger explains the main difference between a DD song and any other indonesian song...
China: Revolutionary irony
In “So-called…,” Massage Milk blogger Wang Xiaofeng assigns labels with a contemporary context and a heavy dose of irony to Cultural Revolution-era propaganda posters. [ZH]
March 24 in the Argentinean Blogosphere
Last friday, march 24, marked 30 years since the beginning of the last military dictatorship in Argentina. There were plenty of reasons to remember this date, which stated the beginning of a political period marked by violations of human rights, the murdering of political opposition to the dictatorship, the use...
Haiti: Army
Hayti outlines the reasons certain parties think Haiti should re-instate its army, and why others think the opposite.”Whether it is an army, a national police force, or a combination thereof, it is the poor of Haiti who are the best gauge as to whether it is a good idea for...
Serbia & Montenegro: Memories of Belgrade Bombing
Viktor of Belgrade Blog writes about what it felt like to be in Belgrade during the bombing seven years ago.
China: Growing Nationalism
A year after violent anti-Japanese demonstrations swept across China, The Angry Chinese Blogger argues that anti-Japan sentiment is stronger now than ever. “Over the last few years…things appear to have steadily deteriorated, and the rot appears to have filtered down. Spreading beyond the political sphere and into the public domain,”...
Mongolia: Traditional Script
neweurasia‘s Mongolia blog writes about traditional Mongolian script and whether or not it could ever be brought back.
Poland: Solidarity 25 Years Ago Isn't Today's Belarus
The beatroot writes about “the difference between [Poland's] Solidarity twenty-five years ago and Belarus today”: the difference is in “imagination, organization and ultimately, Solidarity.”
Russia: Soviet Humor
Lyndon of Scraps of Moscow translates a Soviet-time joke on how people in the West viewed people in the Soviet Union. The joke's still relevant today.
Bangladesh: Remembering Pakistan
imperfect world 2006 on democracy in Pakistan on the occassion of Bangladesh's Independence Day – “Today, Bangladesh’s independence day, should be remembered by Pakistanis as their greatest democratic interlude. This day more than half the Pakistani “nation” voted with its feet and said no to the nonsense of nationhood based...
DRC: Kabila's Rwandan Ties Questioned
Renouveau Congolais posts (FR) a picture in which DRC transitional president and presidential candidate Joseph Kabila allegedly stands to the right of Rwandan General Paul Kagame during the 1994 Rwandan genocide. Kabila was allegedly General Kagame's bodyguard during the genocide. Blogger Dr. Francois Thsipamba Mpuila and several readers debate whether...
India: The city of Djinns
Amardeep Singh on William Dalrymple's book on Delhi: City of Djinns, by far one of the most compelling narratives that weaves Delhi's history and present together.
Russia: “Seven Sisters” – Part 2
Digenis posts part 2 of a series on Moscow's Stalin-era skyscrapers, the Seven Sisters. “The exact number of apartments [in the building on Kotelnicheskaya Naberezhnaya] has been rather difficult to track down. […] anywhere from 344 to ‘about 800′.”
Russia: Illustrator Ivan Bilibin
The Accidental Russophile examines life and work of Russian illustrator Ivan Bilibin.
