Stories about Ideas from May, 2009
Iran: YouTube, Broadway music and the Election
Campaigners in the Iranian elections have used YouTube in different ways to promote their favorite candidate or discredit their opponents. Four candidates will be on the ballot for the presidency on June 12, including the current president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Egypt: Cairo Refugee Film Festival
Integrating refugees in society is the aim of a film festival with a difference. Marwa Rakha learns about the Cairo Refugee Film Festival, being held from June 16 to 20 from the event's blog through a fellow blogger, and shares her findings in this post.
Egypt: Anti-Male Circumcision Campaign
In 2008 Egypt passed a law that banned female circumcision (FGM). Today a group of bloggers started a campaign against male circumcision. Marwa Rakha picks up the story in this post.
Jamaica, U.S. Virgin Islands: Cruise Control
The popularity of cruises to Caribbean destinations gets Jamaican diaspora blogger Labrish thinking about “the overwhelm of the environment, marine and land, that these mega-cities-on-the-sea bring with them.”
Bahamas: Flooding
Weblog Bahamas republishes an article which addresses the serious impact of flooding on the island.
Trinidad & Tobago: AG Resigns
Bloggers have their say about the resignation of Trinidad and Tobago's Attorney General. This Beach Called Life: “The AG resigned, bringing with it accusations she wouldn’t tow The Party Line. Or support The Dictatorship, depending how you say it”; Jumbie's Watch: “This is a red herring to detract us from…the...
Singapore: First LGBT Rally
More than 2,500 people in Singapore gathered at Hong Lim Park to form a human Pink Dot - a symbol of love and inclusiveness. It was Singapore’s first public rally in support for the Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community.
Trinidad & Tobago: Twitter
Trinidad and Tobago's This Beach Called Life attempts to define Twitter.
Bermuda: Gang Violence
“I find the gang violence and drive-by shootings this weekend too depressing to write about. WTF Bermuda?”: Still, Vexed Bermoothes manages to throw out some constructive ideas.
Jamaica: The Calabash Experience
“What was it about this year’s Calabash that still causes its many images and tones and textures to linger in my memory, refusing to leave?”: For Jamaica's Life, Unscripted, on the Rock, it was the entire literary experience.
Japan: Aging Population and Public Transport
Yumeji's Theme sees signs of the hyper-aging population influencing Tokyo's public transport in ‘The Tyranny of the Aged‘ [en].
Dominica: Emancipation of the Mind
“If we as a people are to emancipate ourselves from mental slavery, we must first establish a new sense of self and engage in a critical transformation of the mind”: Dominica Weekly wishes everyone a happy African Liberation Day.
Trinidad & Tobago: Is It Art?
From Trinidad and Tobago, the bookmann reviews the exhibition of the 2009 graduating class of Visual Arts Unit of The University of the West Indies.
Trinidad & Tobago: Where's the Integrity?
Transparency and good governance have been popular topics in the Caribbean blogosphere of late. The latest debacle over integrity (or lack thereof?) comes from Trinidad and Tobago, where, in the last few weeks, a second attempt to establish an Integrity Commission has come to a crashing halt amidst revelations that the Chair of the Commission, a Catholic priest, had committed acts of plagiarism. To add even more fuel to the fire, the journalist who drew attention to the plagiarism in the first place, appears to have been fired. Bloggers speak out.
Jamaica: Calabash & Language
Annie Paul blogs about Jamaica's Calabash Literary Festival, at which some folks were offended by the colourful language in authors’ readings: “Does shielding young ears from words like pussy, bombaclaat, pumpum and other such words ensure a more sensitive, ethical adult? Especially when they can see for themselves the hypocritical,...
Cuba: “Cubans Can Connect”
“I’m coming to believe that the influence of the Internet on our reality is bigger than I thought”: When it comes to limitations imposed on Cubans having online access, Generation Y says: “We need to make the most of the situation, now they are saying ‘Cubans can connect’, and take...
Jamaica: And now for the Bad News
“Former PM Edward Seaga was never accused of being a ray of sunshine when he was an active politician”: Jamaica and the World reports that Seaga's analysis of the island's economic situation leaves the current administration with “no soft options. No easy answers. No exit.”
Guyana, Barbados: Illegal Immigration
When it comes to the issue of illegal immigrants in Barbados, Guyanese blogger Imran Khan says: “What is wong is wrong”, adding in another post: “I’m interested in learning what, specifically, President Bharrat Jagdeo is accusing the Barbadians of being ‘un-CARICOM-like’ about?”
Qatar: Abaya, Yes or No?
Qatari blogger Amal Almalki writes about the dilemma she faced when deciding whether to continue wearing the abaya: “I had to question and convince myself of what it means to me. Is it a religious or a cultural symbol? Is it used as a cover-up or a statement?”
Bahrain: No Longer Anonymous
Bahraini blogger Hala, who blogs at When it Beeps, has decided Bahrain is too small for a person to try to be anonymous – so she introduces herself to her readers.
Barbados, Trinidad & Tobago:
Barbados-based B.C. Pires publishes a column by the journalist who exposed alleged plagiarism by the former Chairperson of Trinidad and Tobago's now-defunct Integrity Commission.
