Stories about Religion from November, 2012
Young Volunteers Training to Free Northern Mali
Young volunteers engage to liberate Northern Mali. Meanwhile, Jemal Oumar and Bakari Gueye report that extremists in Northern Mali target women with curfews and arrests.
Yemen: Ashoura Celebration in Sanaa Attacked
November 24th is Ashoura Day, and it is a day that is commemorated in the Muslim world by both the Sunni and Shite sects. However in Yemen, it was a tragic day as four people were killed and more than a dozen were wounded in an explosion that targeted a Shiite Ashoura Celebration in the capital Sanaa. This was the first sectarian bombing to occur in Sanaa, an alarming development with the clear aim to fuel sectarianism in Yemen.
Pakistan: Five Bomb Explosions Rock Three Cities In A Day
Wednesday, November 21, 2012 was a horrendous day when a series of suicide bombings were targeted at Imambargahs (Muharram mourning processions) and law enforcement agencies in Karachi, Rawalpindi, and Quetta. However, netizens noted that acts of terrorism perpetrated against Shia Muslims didn't get the same level of attention compared to Israel's attacks on Gaza Strip.
China: Last Words of 19 Tibetans Who Committed Self-Immolation
Tsering Woeser, a dissent writer who reports on the human rights situation in Tibet, has collected 19 last wills and testaments of Tibetans who self-immolated to help people understand their grievances.
Mobs Burn Dalit Homes in Response to Intercaste Marriage in India
On 7 November 2012 up to 2,000 people attacked three Dalit settlements in the Dharmapuri District of Tamil Nadu, India. A nursing student, from a Shudra community married a man from a Dalit community and when the father of the bride committed suicide in disgrace, mobs attacked the Dalit community.
Anti-Falun Gong Campaign in Hong Kong
Large scale anti-Falun Gong campaign has appeared in Hong Kong since the new Chief Executive C.Y Leung came into office. Dictionary of politically incorrect HongKongese posted a photo map of...
Mumbai Comes to a Halt After Bal Thackeray's Death
"Mumbai Shut - Fear or Respect?!" Balasaheb Keshav Thackeray (86), founder of the Hindu right-wing Shiv Sena party in India, died today. Mumbai soon came to a halt - shops shut, public transportation stopped and residents stayed inside their homes.
Egyptians are Writing their own Secular Law .. on Twitter
Egyptians are drafting their very own secular law - on Twitter. It all started when Mahmoud Salem - aka Sandmonkey - suggested writing such a law after noting that Islamists have no respect for secular people and consider them to be both un-Islamic and controlled by non-Muslims. On cue, the hashtag #شريعة_العلمانية [ar] (Secular Law) soon came up, and was populated with suggestions on what this new sharia (law) for secular people should be.
From Bosnia to Mecca: “A Pilgrimage on Foot”
An Aussie in Bosnia wrote about Senad Hadzic's walk from a town in northern Bosnia all the way to Mecca – here and here [en]; a Facebook page devoted to...
Student Beating Raises Issue of Homophobia in Jamaica
A gay student at Jamaica's University of Technology (UTech) was allegedly caught in a "compromising position" and suffered a beating at the hands of campus security guards. The incident was captured on video and immediately went viral, raising the question of homophobia and gay rights in Jamaica.
The Latest LiveJournal Sensation, Courtesy of the Russian Special Forces
The anonymous LJ blog hardingush was created on September 15. Now, less than two months later, the blog, subtitled "Ingush Special Forces, is number 425th in LJ's general user rating. Netizens have left over 4,000 comments on its various posts. Four of these posts also made it into the October top-25 list of North Caucasus bloggers. But who's behind the account?
India: Playwright Girish Karnad Slams Award for V.S. Naipaul
The audience was surprised at the Tata Literature Live! festival in Mumbai on November 2, when playwright Girish Karnad spoke angrily about the presentation of an award to Nobel laureate V.S. Naipaul, who Karnad accused of being anti-Muslim.
Tajikistan: ‘Halloween is not for Patriots’
There are not many people in Tajikistan who know anything about Halloween, let alone mark it. Yet even rare celebrations of the holiday in the country make some people uneasy. Is Halloween an 'alien' tradition endangering Tajik culture? Or is it just an 'innocent prank'?
Founder of Banned Militant Group in Pakistan Offers Aid to U.S.
Amidst the furor and damage the super storm sandy caused in the US East Coast, Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, the founder of banned militant organization Lashkar e Taiba (LeT) and head of Jaamat ud Dawa (JuD) offers a considerable amount of humanitarian aid to the US to bear losses.
Wedding Party at Petrol Station with Greece in Crisis
In a blog post entitled “Crisis wedding in Greece”, Belgian freelance photographer Nick Hannes posts the story of a bride and groom in Patras, Peloponnese who decided to hold their...
