Stories about History from December, 2011
Russia: Holy Relic Visits Nation Emerging From State-Sponsored Atheism
People from across Russia traveled great distances and endured hardships in order to view the Virgin Mary's belt - a relic believed to promote fertility. In the decades since the fall of the USSR, religion has been reinventing itself in Russia.
Arab World to Gingrich: “If Palestinians Are Invented People, Americans Are …”
Palestinians are “invented” people, who want to destroy Israel, says US Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich. His comments, in an interview with a Jewish television channel, have drawn the anger and ridicule of netizens across the Arab world.
Egypt: Celebrating Naguib Mahfouz's Centenary
Today marks the centenary of Egyptian Nobel laureate and leading novelist Naguib Mahfouz. The occasion is being remembered on Twitter.
Russia: Ukrainian Blogger's Photos From the Moscow Rally
Kyiv-based blogger Oleksandr Arhat (LJ user olarhat) posts a photo report [uk] from the Dec. 10 post-election rally in Moscow, which reminded him of the 2004 post-election protests in Kyiv: “Unbought people, protesting [not in order to get a piece of bread in return]. Doesn't happen every day, especially in...
Bahamas: Postcolonialism Issues
A recent “one-day symposium in honour of Frantz Fanon, the Martinican psychiatrist whose field of study was the psyche of the colonized” gets Blogworld “thinking about the value of democracy, of statehood, of the wretchedness of postcolonialism.”
Cuba: Same Old Story
Laritza's Laws compares the content of a 1989 edition of “Granma…the official mouthpiece of the Central Committee of the Party” to a current one, and says: “The failure is evident. The housing situation is precarious…public services in decline; and don’t even talk about the protection of the workers…”
Tanzania: Blogging and Tweeting Tanzania@50
The mainland part of the United Republic of Tanzania, Tanganyika, has turned 50. Bloggers and Twitter users are celebrating and reflecting on the future of Tanzania.
Macedonia, China: Comparing Air Pollution in the Capitals
Anastas Vangeli, а Macedonian studying in Beijing, compared the levels of air pollution and policy measures between that city and his hometown Skopje.
Brazil: The Death of Socrates, A Brazilian Idol
Sócrates, one of the greatest Brazilian soccer players, died at the age of 57 on December 4, 2011, a result of septic shock caused by excessive consumption of alcohol over the years. The blogosphere pays a last tribute to this soccer idol whose rare "critical thinking" made him a political leader in and out of the field.
Bangladesh: The Mystic Lalon
Bangladesh Unlocked introduces Fakir Lalon Shah, the Nineteenth century mystic philosopher poet and lyricist of Bangladesh who's song is considered a classic.
Tanzania: Tanzania@50: What do we have to show for it?
Ahmed reflects on Tanzania at 50 by asking, “Tanzania at 50 what do we have to show for it?”: “We have immense challenges and, as the saying goes, do Tanzanians feel they are better off today than they were ten years ago, let alone 50 years ago? The answer is...
Tanzania: Blog It: Tanzania at 50
Celebrate Tanzania@50 by writing a blog post: “The Mainland part of the United Republic of Tanzania, Tanganyika, is celebrating 50 years of Independence on December 9 2011. The Dar es Salaam Bloggers’ Circle encourages bloggers to mark this event by a blog post on December 9th 2011.”
Brazil: Picture of President Dilma Sparks “Low-level” Debate
Brazilian journalist Marco Antônio Araújo criticizes [pt] the “low level” political debate that followed the recent release of an unprecedented picture of President Dilma Roussef. The “powerful picture” shows Rousseff during the dictatorship, at the age of 22, under interrogation by military who were hiding their faces. “Shame?”, Araujo asks.
Chile: Communist Party Asks for Pablo Neruda's Exhumation
Lillie Langtry, from the blog Memory in Latin America, comments on the petition by the Chilean Communist Party to exhume the remains of poet Pablo Neruda “due to allegations that he may have been poisoned.”
El Salvador: Remembering El Mozote Massacre 30 Years Later
Tim's El Salvador Blog will publish a series of posts on the El Mozote Massacre, which took place 30 years ago on December 11, 1981: “All but one of the civilians taking refuge in the small village of El Mozote, more than 800 men, women, children and babies, were brutally...
Francophone Africa: The Important Literary Contributions from Former Colonies
The Genevan blog of Rémi Mogenet, Le Savoyard de la Tribune, explains with supporting examples that [fr]: “Mythological African traditional stories have made a remarkable entrance into francophone literature”. He quotes the Mandika epic tale of Soundjata, written and published in French by Guinean D. T. Niane, as well as, for...
Ashura Commemorations Around the World
Muharram, the first month of the Islamic calendar, is a period of mourning for Shia Muslims. Events reach a climax on Ashura, the tenth day of the month. Ayesha Saldanha reports on Ashura commemorations around the world.
Lusophone Heritage of “Portugality” Around the World
A Facebook group and a mapping website called “Portugality” have been created to explore the cultures that result from the “global cultural fusion started by Portuguese navigations of the XVth. century and lasting to this day in places like Brazil, Mozambique, East Timor or Malacca”.
China: Monitoring the 2012 Presidential Election
Chinese netizen interest this weekend in the first of three debates leading up to Taiwan's presidential election next month suggests more attention will be paid to this round than was given to the island's 2008 elections, and the focus has also expanded beyond each parties' stance on reunification with China.
African Bloggers React To UNESCO's Admission Of Palestine
The admission of Palestine as a full member of UNESCO on 31 October 2011 has prompted an intense debate, with people taking very different stands. Africans from the continent as well as the diaspora have also taken an active part in the debate online. However, whether they agreed or disagreed with Palestine's admission to UNESCO, the different sides have often projected the debate onto the internal problems of their own countries.
