Stories from Quick Reads from December, 2011
South Korea: Respected Leader of Korean Democratic Movement Dies
Kim Geun-tae, a leading South Korean democracy activist, died December 30, 2011 at the age of 64 from a brain disease. More than three thousand net users have already paid their deep condolences in Daum Agora page [ko], the nation's most famous public forum. Kim was repeatedly tortured and jailed under authoritarian regimes.
China: Police border control servers got hacked
Feng37 from the Nanfang.com reports on the hacking of the Entry-Exit Department of the Guangdong Public Security Bureau (PSB) which has resulted in the leaking of 4.44 million pieces of information on the legal names, passport and ID numbers, dates of birth, home addresses and telephone numbers of those who...
Iran:Blocking the Strait of Hormuz
Iran has warned that the country could block the Strait of Hormuz if sanctions are imposed on its exports of crude oil. Filternet1 writes[fa] if Iran blocks the Strait of Hormuz, even China, to protect its interests, will attack Iran.
Africa: 12 Predictions for Africa’s Tech Scene in 2012
Read Mbwana Ally's 12 predictions for Africa's tech scene in 2012: “New models of mobile money will be explored that are less dependent on mobile operators, such asPagatech in Nigeria, but their growth will be slow given the lack of a strong agent network to begin with.”
Ghana: Azonto Dance Craze Goes Global
A Ghanaian dance called Azonto is making waves around the world and threatening to spawn its own YouTube industry as dance enthusiasts try to out do each other by posting the most hilarious and most accomplished Azonto moves on the video channel.
Africa: African Arguments Online
African Arguments Online is “a multi-blogging site that covers both contemporary African events as they unfold, and develops debates on themes we believe are centrally important to an ever-changing continent.”
Bangladesh:Hot Air Balloon Show in Dhaka
On 28th December, a hot air balloon show was held in Dhaka. In this context, photojournalist Monirul Alam discussed the history of hot air balloons.
Pakistan: Childhood Joys – Then and Now
Rabia Tirmizey at The Paradigm House points out that the meaning of joy and happiness has changed tremendously for kids in Pakistan and even the bar for happiness has risen. Simple pleasures such as those enjoyed by children of the '70s to early '90s no longer suffice.
Egypt: A Letter from Maikel Nabil
No Military Trials for Civilians, a collective blog aimed at raising awareness about the military trial of civilians in Egypt, publishes a must read post by jailed Egyptian blogger Maikel Nabil, who has been on hunger strike for more than 120 days.
India: Looking Back on 2011
Shashi Shekhar at Offstumped looks back on the year 2011 and finds that it has been anything but predictable.
Pakistan: On the Construction of Contemporary Pakistani National Identity
Masood Ashraf Raja at The Pakistan Forum feels that unless Pakistan takes a critical look at its political history and restructures it's national narrative, it will continue to remain a nation that is perpetually in crisis.
India: A Letter to the Home Minister, Protesting Forced Eviction
William Gomes writes an open letter to the Union Home Minister, Mr.P.Chidambaram, protesting against the recent police action against campaigners who were holding a protest rally demanding the repeal of the controversial Manipur Loktak Lake Protection Act, 2006.
China: Dream and Reality
Jing Gao from Ministry of Tofu translated a local feature story on Chinese photographer Fan Shunzan's photo series, How Much Time Does the Reality Allow For A Dream. In the photo series, the reality of common people is placed against the backdrop of their dreams, which results in a striking...
China telecommunications market
Tricia wang discusses about the anti-monopoly infringement investigation against the China Telecom and its implications on the China telecommunications market.
Italy: African workers renew their call for open dialogue
Following the murder of two Senegalese men in Florence, Italy, migrant African workers released an open letter on the web [it] to renew their call for dialogue with citizens of Rosarno, where in January 2010 violent riots took place. ‘Those that in the past few days have spread fear when...
Macedonia: Health System Software Vendor Lock-in
Novica Nakov warned [mk] that the state discriminates against users of operating systems like GNU/Linux or Mac OS X, purporting vendor lock-in by forcing medical doctors to use the latest version of Windows as the only platform for the obligatory e-health card software [mk] by the Fund for Health Insurance...
Macedonia, Greece, Turkey: Bridging the Divides Through Multilingual Reporting
Two recent initiatives by civic-minded journalists added value to the e-content in local languages from Macedonia and nearby countries: Diversity Media is offering news analysis through text and audio podcasts in Macedonian and Albanian, and Balkon3.com is enabling “peeking over the neighbors’ fence” in Macedonian, Turkish, Greek, and English. The...
Barbados: too many cars
Barbados Underground asks: how can the island solve its perennial traffic problem? “Barbados is 166 square miles and at some point commonsense will have to take root. The number of vehicles on our roads cannot be allowed to go unregulated for much longer.”
Dominican Republic: The History of Bachata
Deepak Lamba Nieves, PhD student who investigates Dominican transnational migration, writes about the show in Boston of famous bachata singer Luis Miguel del Amargue, and also about the history of this music genre [es].
Guyana: crime and insecurity
“Travel around coastland Guyana and you will see it too,” writes Imran Khan: “burglar bars, grillwork, heavily armed company security forces, reinforced doors, guard huts, watchmen, security lights, CCTV cameras.” He muses on the relationship between crime, underdevelopment, and political leadership.
Cuba: The First Book on Afro-Cuban Women
NegraCubana interviews Daysi Rubiera and Inés María Martiatu [es], authors of the first comprehensive book on the “history, thought, and cultural practices” of Afro-Cuban women.
