· November, 2008

Stories about Humanitarian Response from November, 2008

Brazil under flood: Bloggers form solidarity networks

While mainstream media was first slow to report news of the grave floods that have devastated the south of Brazil and then sensationalized the tragedy, bloggers responded by creating a network of support. This post explores the difference in the approaches between conventional media professionals and amateur and freelancer produced news blogs.

30 November 2008

Mozambique: Different views of condom use in Africa

In a country which struggles to combat AIDS, twenty million condoms are distributed every year. Considering that at least 4 million Mozambican men are sexually active from a population of 17.4 million inhabitants, this makes a personal allowance of five condoms for the whole year. Surprisingly, kids are the most faithful users of them.

29 November 2008

Is Secularism the answer to Egypt's Sectarianism?

Egypt has always been known as an Islamic country where Muslims, Christians, and Jews peacefully co-existed. Today this is no longer the case. Is secularism the solution? Following is an outline of the discussion taking place on Egyptian blogs today.

27 November 2008

Brazil: Over 80 deaths in the worst environmental tragedy

Over 80 people have been killed in landslides and floods caused by heavy rain in the southern Brazilian state of Santa Catarina, and the death toll is rising by the minute, as rescue workers sift through the wreckage of the flooding that started at the weekend.

26 November 2008

China: Yang Jia is dead

Yang Jia (杨佳), who killed 6 police officers at Zhabei District police station in Shanghai on July 1, 2008, was executed this morning (26 of Nov, 2008). A twitter account,...

26 November 2008

Russia-Ukraine: Denying the Great Famine

Finrosforum accounts for President Medvedev's view of Holodomor – the great famine in Ukraine 1932-33 – accusing those who speak about the “so-called Holodomor” of creating a rift between the...

25 November 2008

Cuba: Hurricane Aftermath

Generation Y takes a road trip to Cuba's Pinar del Rio and is even more convinced that “we have to avoid letting our tendency to forget cover up the situation…we...

24 November 2008

Iran:”No blog action for Gaza”

Iranian FarsNews, a conservative and semi official site, reports[fa] that Iranian bloggers including Islamist ones, did not cover news about humanitarian crisis in Gaza Strip.

23 November 2008

Humanitarian crisis in south Philippines

The fighting between government troops and Muslim separatist rebels in the last three months has not stopped. More than 610,000 people have been displaced already. The situation of refugees is deteriorating. Children are among those who are suffering the most.

22 November 2008

Religious unity: The Charter for Compassion

As children we may all have heard the Golden Rule expressed in many different ways, but the basic idea is: Treat others as you would like to be treated. This is Karen Armstrong's TED wish, to create The Charter for Compassion, a platform in which the different Abrahamic faiths could focus on what was common to all, the moral backbone of all their faiths towards a greater unity and better communication among people of different faiths.

21 November 2008

China: When Your Son Is Kidnapped

ESWN translated a Southern Metropolis Daily news about a father seeking help online for finding his kidnapped son: the kidnappers demanded 30,000 RMB, but the police refused to accept the...

20 November 2008

Israel: Ceasefire with Hamas Ends

The temporary cease-fire (tahdiya) agreement between Israel and Hamas has come to an end earlier this month with an escalation of violence in the region and a re-implementation of the Gaza blockade. Gilad Lotan highlights conversations on the Israeli blogosphere on the escalation of violence and the humanitarian conditions in Gaza.

19 November 2008

Jamaica: March for Peace

A recent upsurge in crime over the last few weeks has Jamaicans gravely concerned. Last week's discovery of the body of an eleven (11) year old boy was the latest...

19 November 2008