· May, 2013

Stories about History from May, 2013

Rebels in Thailand's Troubled South Make Public Debut on YouTube

  29 May 2013

In Thailand's southern borderlands where various Muslim rebel groups have led a deadly nine-year insurgency, the majority of the violence has remained anonymous, committed without any one group coming forward to claim responsibility, make demands, or put a face to the conflict. That is until one of the insurgent groups released a rare video introducing their movement.

Alphabets Bring Joy and Sadness to Bulgaria

[…] One of the purest and most sacred holidays in Bulgaria! It's a celebration that makes us proud to have given something to the world! It's a holiday which is not related to any rebels, battles or violence, although it fills us with patriotism and joy. […] When you walk...

‘Illegal” Libraries in Myanmar

  27 May 2013

The Irrawaddy interviews Ye Htet Oo who has launched four mobile libraries in Myanmar. To avoid censorship and acquire license during the military regime, library owners pretended to operate bookstores. Aside from sharing his experience, Ye Htet Oo also discussed the reading culture in Myanmar.

Brazil's Indigenous Fight Back Against State Development

  24 May 2013

As Brazil's economy steamrolls forward on the momentum of mega-construction projects, many of the country's indigenous have found their homelands snatched away for the sake of development. The construction of the Belo Monte Dam in Pará and the Olympic Museum in Rio de Janeiro have been marked by clashes between police and activists.

Russian Sociology Under Assault

Science isn’t safe in Russia today. That, anyway, was Lev Gudkov’s message in a public statement today, announcing that prosecutors in Moscow contacted him five days ago, to issue an official warning that the Levada Center is operating in violation of a recently minted federal law requiring politically-active NGOs receiving funds from abroad to register with the government as foreign agents.

Kyrgyzstan Celebrates, Debates Victory Day

Victory Day on May 9, marking the end of World War II, is a national holiday celebrated vibrantly in many former Soviet countries, including Kyrgyzstan. This year, Kyrgyzstani Internet users expressed their frustration that the country's "true heroes" are remembered only once a year, and that the holiday has now turned into an excuse to get drunk.

Save Lhasa, Tibet from Destruction

  13 May 2013

High Peaks Pure Earth has published Elliot Sperling's translation of prominent Tibetan writer, Woser's recent blogpost urging the world to save Lhasa from being turned into another tourist shopping mall.

Morality vs. Modernity: Thailand's TV History

  11 May 2013

Mr Brown Goes Around has written a comprehensive study about the history of television in Thailand. He also probed the impact of TV on various Thai political and cultural institutions: So while tied to modernity, moving image technologies was also seen as a potentially morally erosive force

PHOTOS: Vietnam War-Era Posters

  11 May 2013

Hello Saigon uploads some posters during the Vietnam War era. One poster features a quote from Vietnamese leader Ho Chi Minh: For the interest in ten years, [we] have to plant trees. For the interest in 100 years [we] have to plant man.

Haiti: The “White Savior Industrial Complex”

  10 May 2013

kiskeácity links to a letter which “echoes many of the issues Haitians face with the White Savior Industrial Complex…and its army of 3,000 NGOs, 12,000 UN troops, innumerable speakers for Haiti, appropriators of Haiti's ancestral religion, culture and music and other so-called ‘allies’ who silence Haitians for a profit while...

Timor Leste's Bid to Join ASEAN

  9 May 2013

Julio Gil da Silva Guterres writes about Timor Leste's application to join the Association of Southeast Asian Nations or ASEAN. He warns that “ASEAN without Timor Leste is the same as a state without sovereignty.”

Stop Somonizing Tajikistan!

It is a pity that instead of the 'leninization' of the monument space we now have its 'somonization'. Every town erects a Somoni statue. How much more can we take? Why do we need so many identical monuments? Somoni might have been a heroic figure (which is impossible to ascertain now because the country's history is excessively ideologized and politicized), but we should not turn him into a new Lenin, a 'father' or 'grandfather' of the nation.

Documenting West Papua’s Political Prisoners

  6 May 2013

West Papuan civil society groups have launched the website Papuans Behind Bars to document the cases of political prisoners in West Papua. West Papua is part of Indonesia although many Papuans have been fighting for independence in the past 50 years.

Singapore’s May Day Protest Against Population Policy

  3 May 2013

An estimated crowd of 5,000 gathered in Singapore’s Hong Lim Park on May 1, 2013 to protest the government’s White Paper on population. The May Day protest was the second time that a big crowd gathered in the park to speak out against the population program.