· November, 2009

Stories from Quick Reads from November, 2009

Ecuador: Power Outages Back Home

  28 November 2009

The blogger from Viviendo en Venus [es] , who is currently living in Germany, is concerned about her fellow Ecuadorians who are going through too frequent power outages.

Suriname: Seamlessness

  27 November 2009

“There is a way that Caribbean music or musical interests create a seamlessness between locations”: Blogging at Paramaribo SPAN, Chris Cozier ruminates on seamless spaces created by sound.

Haiti: Lavalas Banned From Elections

  27 November 2009

Repeating Islands reports that “Haiti’s electoral council has banned the influential party of exiled former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide from next year’s legislative elections.”

Cuba: Call to Respect Human Rights

  27 November 2009

As four Cuban dissidents are reportedly arrested in Havana, Uncommon Sense profiles political prisoner Oscar Biscet's call for his compatriots “to join an international campaign set for next month to demand that the Castro dictatorship respect human rights.”

Nepal: Machine Readable Passport

  27 November 2009

“I wouldn’t want to cancel my trips due to the the failure of the government to issue passport,” says Xnepali while discussing whether the Nepali government will be able to meet the deadline of producing machine readable passports (MRP) for the Nepalis within four months (April 1, 2010).

Pakistan: A Letter To The Neighbors

  27 November 2009

To mark the anniversary of Mumbai terror attacks, Yasser Latif Hamdani at Pak Tea House writes a letter to the Indians: “let this day signify an awakening on both sides that (says) enough with this ‘geo-strategic thinking’ of one-upping each other.”

South Asia: Mass Murder Of Animals

  27 November 2009

Dipen Bhattacharya at Mukto Mona criticizes the rituals of sacrifices – be it during Kali Puja for Hindus or Eid-ul-Adha sacrifices for Muslims. “Man might need to eat meat, but mass murder of helpless animals using brutal methods cannot be considered self-sacrifice,” he opines.

India: On Liberation Of Women

  27 November 2009

“For me the strongest drag force working against my desire to return home is my experience of life as a woman in India,” confesses Heartcrossings while discussing about the lack of freedom, independence and safety of Indian women.

USA: Conflict Cell Phones

  27 November 2009

Rima Abdelkader reports from New York about ‘conflict cell phones’ in the Democratic Republic of Congo on her CUNY University journalism blog.

Peru: Belief in the Pishtaco

  27 November 2009

In light of the recent arrest of a Peruvian gang accused of killing their victims to sell their body fat and whose actions closely resemble that of the mythical character the “Pishtaco,” J. Francisco Canaza of Apuntes Peruanos [es] writes that many people in the Andes region still believe in...

Venezuela: Independent Film The Devil's Faces

  27 November 2009

Las Caras del Diablo (The Devil's Faces) is an independent film from Venezuelan director Carlos Malavé and Carlos Caridad-Montero of Blogacine [es] writes that it follows the local trend of producing film “with a small budget, taking advantage of the latest technological advances.”

China: Dwelling Narrowness

  27 November 2009

A popular Chinese drama “Dwelling Narrowness” was “re-scheduled” without explanation recently. ESWN translated various reports and discussions about the drama. A recent development of the drama is that one of the main characters becomes the mistress of a government official in order to help repay her older sister's mortgage.

Pakistan: Spare The Animals

  26 November 2009

Pakistani blog Baithak suggests that people should understand the spirit of religion rather than just following the rituals of sacrificing animals during Eid-ul-Azha: “The purpose of sacrifice is to understand the spirit of parting with what you hold dear (your wealth), it is not some muqabla against four-legged animals.”