Stories about History from January, 2012
Turkey: Trici Venola's Istanbul Drawings
Trici Venola‘s wonderful Istanbul drawings and reflections – at her Drawing On Istanbul blog: “Plein Air drawing in Turkey: blogging about the site and the process.” More drawings by Trici are here.
CEE: “Spotted by Locals”
Spotted by Locals: Experience cities like a local features a few dozen locations, including CEE cities of Belgrade, Bucharest, Budapest, Krakow, Ljubljana, Prague, Riga, Sofia, Tallinn, Vilnius, Warsaw, and Zagreb. A random sample post from Zagreb, Croatia: Hrelić Flea Market – The Aleph of Zagreb; from Bucharest, Romania: The Haunted...
Ukraine: “101 Reasons to Love Kiev”
101 Reasons to Love Kiev, from The Ukrainian Penguin. Here's #101 on this list: “Although they often complain, Ukrainians really love it when you remind them of all the reasons to love this place. […]”
CEE: Getting “Abnormal For A Change”
East of Center writes about “Eastern Europe’s ‘obsession with normality'” and suggests this New Year’s resolution: “In the true spirit of Václav Havel, why don’t we get abnormal for a change?”
China 2011: From Jasmine Crackdowns to Grassroots Uprisings
From the crackdowns on any Jasmine revolution and grassroots uprisings, to debates about future development models, 2011 was another eventful year for China. Oiwan Lam rounds up.
Chile: Controversy Over Change from ‘Dictatorship’ to ‘Military Government’ in School Textbooks
Greg Weeks explains the controversy over a decision to use ‘military government’ instead of ‘dictatorship’ in school textbooks: “Even if children don't bother reading them, their teachers will be using them to frame their own discussions in the classroom. They are a critical part of the construction of national identity,...
Bahamas: Remembering the Zybines
Blogworld pays tribut to Alex and Violette Zybine, “dancers who worked in The Bahamas during the 1960s and 1970s”, who died in a tragic accident.
South Africa: Remembering Henry Nxumalo
M. Keita remembers Henry Nxumalo, the pioneer of undercover investigative journalism in South Africa: “Just over 55 years ago, on New Year's Eve 1957, trailblazing South African journalist Henry Nxumalo was murdered while investigating suspicious deaths at an abortion clinic in Sophiatown, a suburb west of Johannesburg.”
Arab World: A Year In Pictures – Our Authors’ Selection
As we bid farewell to 2011 and look ahead to 2012, we asked our authors to share with you pictures that in their eyes have marked the past year in their respective countries. The following selection represents their choices.
China: Chinese People's Character
The term Suzhi (Chinese people's character) has often been used to justify the undemocratic political system. C. Custer from ChinaGeeks looks into famous Chinese writer Han Han's most recent argument on his article “On Revolution” and compares it with American people's Suzhi back in the eighteenth century.
Southeast Asia in 2011: A Year of Protest
#bersih, #bersih2, #bersihstories, #occupydataran, #campoutph, #walk4freedom, #sawangsawa. These are the protest hashtags of the year in Southeast Asia. Global Voices reviews several protest movements in the region in the past year that echoed the radical politics of Arab Spring and Occupy.
Turkey: Remembering the Turkish Schindlers
Writing on the Huffington Post, Ziya Meral explains why honoring those Turks that saved Armenians during the collapse of the Ottoman Empire is important. Meral argues that recognizing these ‘Turkish Schindlers’ would go some way in defusing tensions between Armenia and Turkey, making the events of 1915 a shared tragedy....
Philippines: Happy Rizal Day Twitter Trend Draws Criticism
#Happy Rizal Day became a trending topic on Twitter last December 30, a holiday commemorating the death anniversary of the Philippines' national hero, Dr. Jose Rizal. Many people have criticized the use of “Happy Rizal Day” greeting to commemorate the day of his death.