· November, 2012

Stories about History from November, 2012

South China Sea or Austronesian Sea?

Le Minh Khai thinks that “Austronesian Sea” or “Nusantao Sea” are more appropriate names for the South China Sea referring to Austronesian peoples who navigated the territory in the past....

30 November 2012

Homs: A Revolutionary Syrian City in Ruins

Homs is a Syrian city that is 4,300 years old and is the home of three Syrian presidents. Homsi protesters were among the first Syrians to take streets in thousands to protest against the Syrian regime. The colossal damage months of shelling has done can be seen in the destruction of historic buildings and architecture, hundreds of thousands of refugees and thousands of martyrs.

27 November 2012

India: Wither Glass Bangles?

“Bangles are considered auspicious, and at one time, it was considered inauspicious for a woman not to wear bangles,” writes Anuradha Shankar at ‘A Wandering Mind’. She notes that glass...

26 November 2012

Spain: Catalan Elections – “We are all Garcia”

This Sunday, voters in Catalonia head to the polls . The electoral campaign, which has honed in on the question of independence, began last week with a polemic video posted on the Youtube channel of the unionist Catalan People's Party (Partit Popular de Catalunya or PPC). The video rapidly generated a negative reaction among Catalan netizens on Twitter, who created the hashtag #totssomgarcia or "we are all Garcia", expressing solidarity with "Spanish" Catalans and criticizing the divisive content of the PPC campaign spot.

25 November 2012

Time to Change Tajikistan's Flag?

Thousands of flags are flown across Tajikistan today as the Central Asian republic celebrates the Flag Day. Meanwhile, some bloggers suggest that it might be time to change the country's flag.

24 November 2012

Lebanon: France, Oil and Independence Day

Nadine Mazloum puts together a collection of Lebanese Twitter user reactions to Independence Day (Nov 22). She ends her article with a sarcastic comparison of the various occupiers of Lebanon in which France wins the first place. Thus,...

22 November 2012

Mumbai Comes to a Halt After Bal Thackeray's Death

"Mumbai Shut - Fear or Respect?!" Balasaheb Keshav Thackeray (86), founder of the Hindu right-wing Shiv Sena party in India, died today. Mumbai soon came to a halt - shops shut, public transportation stopped and residents stayed inside their homes.

17 November 2012

Lenin in Tajikistan: ‘Better Hitler’ or ‘Real Hero'?

Since independence, Tajikistan's authorities have taken down almost all Soviet-erected statues of Vladimir Lenin across the country. The removal of these monuments is quite controversial in Tajikistan, where some bloggers call Lenin a 'better Hitler' while others consider him a 'real hero'.

14 November 2012

The Trouble With Russian Nationalism

RuNet Echo

This year, Unity Day lived up to its name, though in a rather unexpected way. In 46 towns and cities across Russia, including Moscow, roughly 30 thousand people took part in far-right extremist rallies. While this is an infinitesimally small fraction of the country's total population, Unity Day's far-right groups have managed to attract supporters all over Russia.

12 November 2012