Stories about Ideas from June, 2008
Angola: Photo reportage by a reader
JotaCê Carranca [pt] blogs some interesting pictures sent by a reader of the blog, first a creative wooden vehicle which looks like a bike found in the streets of Bocoio, Angola; then a school in Libangue “in which there is nothing else apart from what you can see [in the...
Palestine: She Shoots, She Scores
Muna Nawajaa has scored a victory for social justice. Using a camera given to her by B'Tselem's Shooting Back project, Palestinian Nawajaa recorded the masked beating of members of her family, resulting in an investigation and arrest of suspects by Israeli police. In a post entitled “Cameras as Weapons,” Uriel...
Caucasus: European Integration
Azerbaijan – a part of Europe says that it hopes the countries of the South Caucasus will be close to integrating with Europe in 10 years. However, the blog concludes, it requires a change in the mindset of the local populations and how they think.
Armenia: FUNarchists
Seetizen, the blog of a youth activist, comments on the approach taken by a new youth initiative in the country. The blog says that by encouraging young Armenians to develop ideas about changing their situation, HENQ offers an alternative to the approach favored by those initiatives supporting the radical opposition.
China: Beijing subway line 8 opens
China's Olympics are brought to us by the lucky number 8, as you've no doubt heard, so it only makes sense that line 8 of Beijing's subway system will bring us to the Olympics. David Feng at CN Reviews connects us with the details.
Bahamas: Unfair Reporting
“I smell the stink of patriarchal collusion”: Bahamian blogger Womanish Words takes issue with the mainstream media's reporting of a brothel raid.
Trinidad & Tobago: Life and Death
Notes from Port of Spain shares his thoughts on death.
Jamaica: Crime Solution
As Jamaicans clamor to re-institute the death penalty, My View of JamDown from Up So says: “In Jamaica we don’t merely try and convict criminals. We try and convict poor people and the poorly-connected. We need to stop the gimmicks, nonsense, and short-cuts and begin to prosecute all criminals big...
Israel: Green Tourism in the Middle East
Looking to leave a green footprint when you travel? Look no further than the Green Prophet for information on eco-tourism in the Middle East. “There’s no absence of environmentally friendly vacation options in Israel… But what’s a green tourist in the Middle East to do outside of Israel? Well, he...
Europe: Ideas for Cold War Museum
The Economist's Ceratin Ideas of Europe blog welcomes exhibit ideas for a Cold War museum that may be built “on a site near the old ‘Checkpoint Charlie’ border-crossing point in Berlin.” One reader suggests “a section on anti-communist humour.”
Bahamas, Venezuela: PetroCaribe
Rick Lowe at Weblog Bahamas cannot believe that the question of the Bahamas joining PetroCaribe appears to be on the table once again, adding that the move “would drastically and quickly increase the national debt of The Bahamas. Something we can ill afford in these very trying economic times.”
Iraq: Breaking Stereotypes
Iraqi Khalid Jarrar is in stitches that his brother's Canadian fiancée had ridden camels twice before his Arab brother.
Trinidad & Tobago: Pot Hounds
Andre Bagoo posts a flickr photoset of street dogs, saying: “‘Pot hounds’ and the environments they inhabit are the perfect symbols for life in Trinidad and Tobago today.”
Trinidad & Tobago, Haiti: Small Shoes
Trinidad and Tobago-based artist Chris Cozier posts a photo of a child's shoes taken on his last trip to Haiti: “Something about the way that the shoes had become so worn out struck me. They looked like islands in the sea but also like the two countries that make one...
Iraq: 10 Things I Hate About My Colleagues
Neurotic Iraqi Wife shares with us 10 things she hates about her colleagues at work in the enclosed Green Zone.
Bahamas: Microwaveable Minds
Blogger Nicolette Bethel is “operating in a state of low-grade anger”: “The thing that makes me angriest these days is the fundamental disrespect that we offer ourselves as Bahamians…the conviction that far too many of our leaders seem to have that we are really second-rate people.”
Syria: Sleeping Problems
Syrian Muoffaq Qabbani is finding it difficult to sleep.
Barbados, U.S.A.:
Barbados Underground says that “the queue of ‘expectation’ for Barack Obama, has already started to form”.
Kuwait: Annoying People in Cinemas
Kuwaiti blog Final Haven describes five types of annoying people you could come across in cinemas in Kuwait.
Iraq: Black – The Colour of Grief
Iraqi women are now accustomed to wearing black - the colour of grief and mourning, notes Inside Iraq. But amid the darkness and gloom, some young women admit to wearing brown, green and even pink!
Jamaica, Guyana, Trinidad & Tobago: Calabashing Walcott
Jamaican blogger Annie Paul quotes Guyana's Stabroek News on Walcott's anti-Naipaul poem, The Mongoose.