Stories about History from March, 2011
Japan: Iodine Distribution Needed
@Traysizzzle writes: “I hope #Japan starts distributing #iodine asap to anyone close to the radiation…it's not #Chernobyl but its prognosis is not good…”
Ukraine, Japan: Drink Red Wine to Reduce Radiation Toxicity
@DJLoli shares a health tip that was popular in Ukraine in 1986: “If u r in the area affected by Japan radiation: drink red Wine to get it out. It what helped us in Ukraine during #Chernobyl. […]” (Here's an article on a 2008 study that showed that “resveratrol, the...
Cuba: Privacy Protection
“On this Island…where every gesture of privacy is interpreted as evidence of a conspiracy, to take steps so that a message or information on our computers is protected has been turned into something obscene and illegal”: Generation Y blogs about the new “black beast”.
U.S.: Flood Damage, Recovery in Cedar Rapids’ Czech Village
At CzechPosition.com, Rosie Johnston talks to business owners in the Czech Village in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, one of the areas damaged most by the June 2008 flood.
Mexico and Afghanistan Border Conflicts Juxtaposed
Netizens are responding to several reports that juxtapose the violence in the Mexico/US border with the ongoing conflict in Afghanistan and its border with Pakistan. Though uncoordinated and apparently disparate, the reports have served to crystalize problematic aspects of American policy.
Thailand: Total number of coups
Nicholas Farrelly, writing for the New Mandala, has counted 11 “successful” and 9 “unsuccessful” coup efforts” in Thailand in the past century.
Russia: Bloggers Celebrate Gorbachov's Birthday
Russian bloggers celebrate Mikhail Gorbachov's 80's birthday by debating his role in history. Notable posts in English on the subject are here and here.
Ghana: Independence Day Celebration in Photos
Ghana has turned 54. Ghanaian blogger Nana shares photos of Independence Day celebration.
China: Google the Opium Wars
The People's Daily commentary now compares Google with the East India Company – a colonial entity that sold opium to China. More from China Media Project.
Estonia: The Singing Revolution
Kovács & Kováts remind readers that some revolutions – like Estonia's Singing Revolution – are bloodless.
Japan: Sport Newspaper Day
March 6 is Sport Newspaper Day in Japan and it celebrates the day when the first paper specialized in sport news was published in 1946. According to Saisun, the first Japanese sport newspaper ever published was Nikkan Sports, four pages with an illustration of a baseball hurler on the first...
Russia: J. Arch Getty and Claudia Verhoeven Author Interviews
For New Books in Russia and Eurasia, Sean Guillory of Sean's Russia Blog interviews J. Arch Getty, the author of “Yezhov: The Rise of Stalin’s Iron Fist,” and Claudia Verhoeven, the author of “The Odd Man Karakozov: Imperial Russia, Modernity, and the Birth of Terrorism.”
South Asia: Comparing Indian States with India's Neighbors
“India clearly has a coherent identity as the world’s largest democracy, but aggregating economic and social data on the national level, and using it to compare India to its neighbors, is possibly very misleading,” comments Razib Khan at Sepia Mutiny.
Russia: Mikhail Gorbachev's Legacy
At OpenDemocracy.net, Archie Brown and Lilia Shevtsova write about the legacy of Mikhail Gorbachev, who turned 80 on March 2. Veni Markovski thanks Gorbachev on behalf of Bulgarians and other citizens of Central and Eastern Europe “for tearing down that wall.”
Puerto Rico: remembering Corretjer
3 March was the birthday of Puerto Rican poet, journalist, and activist Juan Antonio Corretjer Montes (1908-1985). Repeating Islands summarises this year's anniversary commemorations across the island.
Uganda: Save The Uganda Museum
The Uganda Museum founded in 1908 in Kampala, Uganda, displays and exhibits historical and traditional collections of the country's cultural heritage. With its site recently earmarked by the Ministry of Tourism, Trade and Industry for the construction of a 60-storey building, a group of Ugandan cyberactivists have decided to run a Facebook campaign to save the building.
Estonia: Elusive historical memory
Itching for Eestimaa reflects upon the elusiveness of historical memory departing from impressions of Estonian schoolchildren.
China: The Sorrow of “Artificial Limbs Village”
Roy from China Hush translates a QQ news story about a village in Yunnan, near the border of Vietnam. As a result of landmine accident, many villagers had lost their legs.
Lebanon: Web Documentary About Young Lebanese Artists
The Libalel Project [fr] highlights the diversity of contemporary Lebanese art through web documentary. Their blog publishes analyses, biographies, interviews, videos and photos: “The Lebanese scene is a true laboratory of artistic experimentation attuned with a distinctive political context rich with deep questioning. The Libalel project endeavours to decipher this...
Pakistan: Visiting Bangladesh And The Sense Of Loss
Pakistani blogger Huma Imtiaz visits Bangladesh and shares her emotions: “we lost a beautiful city, and a wonderful nation with such rich culture and diversity, and we’ve left millions of people with a deep-rooted hatred for what happened to them at the hands of those wearing Pakistan Army uniforms –...
Mexico: Subcomandante Marcos on President Calderon's “War from above”
On February 14, 2011, the website enlaceZapatista published "About the Wars: A Fragment of the First Letter from Subcomandante Marcos to Don Luis Villoro, beginning the correspondence about Ethics and Politics." The letter immediately started circulating on blogs and through links on Twitter.
