Stories about Ideas from February, 2007
Trinidad & Tobago: Young and black in Babylondon
London-based Trinidadian Sinistra posts part two of her “Young and Black in Babylondon” series: ‘“So, what do you speak in the Caribbean? African?”’
Egypt: What If Anna Nicole Smith was Egyptian?
Freedom for Egyptians wonders what if Anna Nicole Smith was Egyptian! “This woman was into the playboy world of fame, however there was no one single story judging her based on morality, religion or ethics…There are three men who are claiming to be the daughter’s father. This means that the...
Egypt: Nawal Al Saadawi Show
Egyptian blogger Zeinobia accuses Egyptian feminist and writer Dr Nawal Al Saadawi of coming up with an annual gimmick to ensure her name remains in the news. “(I)n 2004 she wanted to be a president ,in 2006 she came and her daughter with the new idea that people to be...
Singapore: Having kids
Coffee and Cigarettes invites comments on why should Singaporeans have kids? after listening to a radio show that focussed on the reasons why Singaporean are not having kids.
Indonesia: Citizen Diplomat
Maverick Indonesia blogs about meeting an Indonesian diplomat and his ideas of a citizen diplomat. “But most important is what Aula calls the second track diplomacy. Any Indonesian can be the ambassador of the country, through interactions with people from other countries. Thus, every Indonesian must understand the nation’s foreign...
Arabisc: A Pictorial Tour of North Africa
There is one word to describe this picture taken by American blogger Cory Driver, who is based in Morocco, and it is wow! Not being a photography critic, however, I am reserving my exclamation for the amazing work Driver is involved with in Moroccan villages, including that of Tattiwin, located...
Haiti: Who Was Louis-Jean Beaugé?
Haiti d'Outre-Mer shares some delightful folk anecdotes about legendary Jérémie native Louis-Jean Beaugé and his descendants. The mythic figure's name has become a Haitian Creole expression to designate people who are fierce. The blog explains that (Fr): “Louis-Jean Beaugé was an officer in the Jérémie garrison in the beginning of...
Tunisia, France: How To Wash the Dirty Laundry At Home
Mouwaten Tounsi deplores (Fr) that ex-Tunisian diplomat Khaled Ben Saïd is being judged in France for torture. He would have liked Ben Saïd judged in Tunisia. He proposes a reconciliation-based justice. The process would focus on indemnification of torture victims by the government rather than on prosecution of officials who...
Trinidad & Tobago: Young and black
London-based Trinidadian Sinistra launches a series of posts about being “young and black” with a piece on being “Young and black in Babylondon”.
Syrian Blogsphere: Free Kareem, Towards a Democratic Syria, Arabism and More
The Syrian blogsphere reacted to the news about the sentencing of Egyptian blogger Kareem Nabil Sulaiman with disgust. Abu Kareem from Levantine Dreamhouse wrote… The language of the charges is sickeningly familiar. It is the language that paranoid authoritarian governments use when they feel threatened, when someone tells the TRUTH....
Touring Libyan Blogs: Between history, hair, leadership, cleaning the floor and many more stories
Most of us have studied some history, many of us think we know history, but the majority of us are really ignorant about large parts of our own history. That is why the personal accounts of travellers a la Ibn Battuta style are so important to record the making of...
Africa, China: The Role of Local Governance
Sanaga Peregrinations disagrees (Fr) with commentators who believe Africa is going towards a recolonization by China, suggesting that the point is not to worry about the consequences of Chinese investments but rather to bring local leaders to better manage all foreign investments. She quotes and endorses Ugandan journalist Andrew Mwenda:...
UAE: The Giant Wheel of Hatred
Dubai-based blogger SS is disgusted with the lack of tolerance he is witnessing around him. “Today, I found myself being attacked… for I spoke about the grace of life and kindness. If kindness and goodness is only something you share with your group/sect/herd/religion – then what's the point of living...
Palestine: Racism in Our Subconsciousness?
Racism somehow finds a way to our subconsciousness, admits Palestinian blogger Ola after being intimidated by the sight of a strange person in her neighbourhood.
Venezuela: 21st Century Socialism?
“No serious debate about socialism can be developed as if we were still in the XIX century, when there still hadn’t been any concrete experience of it anywhere. Not now. It is impossible, at the dawn of the XXI century, to talk about socialism while making an abstraction of what...
Africa: Manifesto for the United States of Africa
Le Pangolin posts (Fr) a Manifesto for the United States of Africa written by the Working Group of African Students in France. The document was presented to Alpha Omar Konaré, the President of the African Union Commission, in March 2004 and was inspired by other country unions around the world...
Lebanon: The Ship in the Bottle
Ever wondered how the ship got into the bottle? Lebanese blogger Mark shows us how here.
Arabisc: Pictorial Tour of the Middle East
Fed up of all the politics in the Middle East? Me too. This week we will take a pictorial tour of the region, making stops in Qatar, Bahrain, Tunisia and Lebanon, to name a few. There are real amazing photographers out there and the scenery and mood quickly changes from...
Syrian Blogsphere in a Week
We start off with a very special goodbye from Brian Anthony… Brian has lived, taught, and blogged from Damascus for more than two years, he returned to the US a couple of months ago… We all want to wish him the best of luck. This was his last goodbye post...
La Réunion: After Decolonization, Responsibility
La Réunion local official Eric Fruteau writes (Fr): “After the end of slavery in 1848, after departmentalization in 1946 and all the other fights to end colonial misery, instaure the great social laws that have marked our island, after the achievement of social equality, we must now anticipate and prepare...
Myanmar: Exploitation of Burmese Workers
Yangon Thu is pondering setting up an information portal for guest Burmese workers to prevent them from getting exploited by scrupulous agents and contractors.
