Stories about Humanitarian Response from April, 2008
Qatar: Online Community Comes to the Aid of Workers
Qatar Living members are rallying to help an offline community of 600 workers who have lost all their belongings after a devastating fire broke out in their labour camp, writes Mohamed Nanabhay, from Doha, Qatar.
Zimbabwe: Truth and Justice Coalition
There is Truth and Justice Coalition in Zimbabwe: “The Institute for a Democratic Alternative for Zimbabwe (IDAZIM) has initiated, with full support from civil society, labour and legal organizations, the Truth and Justice Coalition on Zimbabwe. Its objectives are to identify perpetrators and seek legal redress for the victims of...
Southeast Asia: Rice and food price crisis
The Southeast Asian region, home to several emerging and developing economies, is also struggling to cope with the global food price crisis. Bloggers discuss the impact of the crisis in the region.
PangeaDay: Videos to change the world on May 10th
On May 10th 2008 at 18:00 GMT, 24 films will be broadcast during a 4 hour event. What makes this different is that this event, PangeaDay will be broadcast from six locations worldwide in seven different languages worldwide to be viewed through internet, television or cellphones with one unique purpose: to make each other know about the lives of others and focus on what makes us similar, instead of what makes us different and let us work together towards peace.
Russia: “Chernobyl's Other Victims”
Window on Eurasia writes about “Chernobyl's other victims” – “the thousands of people who exposed themselves to extraordinarily high levels of radiation while taking part in the clean up” and who now “find themselves not only sick as a result but largely forgotten by the successor governments to the regime...
Iraq: The Plight of the Faili Kurds
Alive in Baghdad sheds light on the Faili Kurds – one of the most oppressed groups of Kurds. Like other Kurds, they were abused during Saddam Hussein’s regime. Statistics from the United Nations show that more than 450,000 Faili Kurds were deported to Iran in the 1980s and nearly 10,000...
Israel: Modern Day Exodus, on African Refugees and their Right for Medical Care
Around 6,000 African refugees escaped the horrors in their countries, and seek refuge in Israel. Many of them live in harsh conditions and can be spotted shivering cold on the streets of southern Tel-Aviv. The insensitive behavior from the side of the Israeli government comes only tens of years after the holocaust, when Jews came to the same plot of land, seeking refuge from the horrors of Europe, writes Gilad Lotan, who shows us how a group of bloggers are volunteering to draw a smile on the faces of countless of destitute refugees.
China: Netizens defend Zimbabwe arms sales
As China's latest shipment of weapons and ammunition sits stranded off the coast of southeastern Africa and president Mugabe of landlocked Zimbabwe digs in against accusations of a fixed election, the majority of Chinese netizens are defending their government's arms sales to the country, at the same time accusing the US and its allies of double standards.
Egypt: Blogger Sharqawi Released
From Egypt, Hossam El Hamalawy announced the release of blogger Mohammed Al Sharqawi – but is concerned about the welfare of other detainees who have gone ‘missing.’ Sharqawi was arrested during the April 6 strike, which was a protest against inflation and which called for better wages for workers.
Egypt: Detainees Update
From Egypt, blogger Hossam El Hamalawy updates us on the conditions of those arrested in the recent Al Mahalla protests and clashes, over inflation and increasing salaries. They include bloggers, journalists and activists.
Japan: Comfort Women Video Calls Attention to a Still Unresolved Issue.
More than 60 years have passed since the World War II, but women who claim to have been abducted under Japanese Military's orders to serve as sexual slaves on military “Comfort Stations” are still waiting for the government's public apologies and material compensation even as the government still denies the...
East Timor: Ramos Horta is back home in the anniversary of massacre in Dili
Ângela Carrascalão [pt] is pondering about justice: “The day that Ramos Horta returned to his country coincides with the 9th anniversary of the massacre in Dili. In my brother Manuel's home, dozens of refugees, who had sought shelter there, were murdered. Among them my nephew Manelito. […] I do not...
AIDS – A Taboo in the Arab World
AIDS, the deadly acquired immune deficiency syndrome, is a taboo word in the Arab world. But the scary word has managed to crop up in many blog posts this week - from Jordan, Iraq, Palestine, Bahrain and Yemen.
Indonesia: Alert level raised around Mt. Papandayan
News from Indonesia reports that alert level was raised on Indonesia's Mount Papandayan volcano. The volcano lies 51 Kilometers southeast of Indonesia's third-largest city, Bandung, which is home to around three million people.
Brunei: Discriminating the disabled
Our Local Style points out that “the situation in Brunei for those with disabilities is dismal when compared against other nations.”
Indonesia: Volcanic eruption
The Volcanism Blog reports that Mount Egon on Flores Island, Indonesia, erupted a 4 kilometer ash plume late on Tuesday 15 April, causing the evacuation of hundreds of villagers from nearby communities.
Fiji: Catch the Trashers on Camera
Strange Pants posts about a new public service blog, “Fiji Trash“, which aims to “showcase people who insist on ignoring all common sense and who believe that rubbish thrown onto the street will magically disappear or, better yet, grow into a tree.”
Egypt: Residential Independence
OTV is a private Egyptian satellite TV channel which has attracted the attention of its viewers from the day it was launched, thanks to its liberal approach, the issues it tackles and the way it tackles them, which is different from conservative and traditional TV channels. Tarek Amr writes about how the channel covered the issue of unmarried girls living on their own and how a blogger reacted to it.
D.R. of Congo: Fifth fatal crash in under a year, food prices the real disaster
News agencies are reporting that 75 were killed when a cargo plane crashed in Goma shortly after takeoff on Tuesday. Du Cabiau à Kinshasa reflects on how a plane crash can bring attention to the DRC, generally ignored by Western media, even though it's reeling from one of the greatest human disasters in a century. But Cabiau thinks the skyrocketing food prices, although less photogenic, are the real disaster in the making.
Syria: 60 years after Deir Yasin
“As Israel prepares to celebrate its sixtieth anniversary, and as Palestinians reach sixty years of dispossession, we must honor the memory of those who perished in the savage butchery that was the Deir Yasin massacre of April 9, 1948,” writes Rime Allaf, who commemorates the 60th anniversary of the massacre.
Afghanistan: Misleading Points on Drugs
Barnett R. Rubin continues to analyze the public and international debates on the possible strategies of counter-narcotics activity in Afghanistan.
