Stories from Quick Reads from July, 2012
Japan: Debate over the Preservation of a Dead Tree
Asia Sentinel reports on a controversy in Rikuzentakata, a city in Iwate, Japan over the public spending of about USD 2 millions for preservation a dead tree and turning it...
Language War in the Hong Kong Book Fair
A Cantonese-Mandarin language war broke out in a talk given by movie director Pang Ho-cheung for the 2012 Hong Kong Book Fair. To serve the big mainland Chinese market, the...
Egypt: Egyptian Woman faces Sexual Harassment, in Washington DC
Nancy M is an Egyptian woman who moved from Cairo to Washington DC last month, thinking she has left sexual harassment behind her.”I was still a woman, walking the streets...
Paraguay: Citizens Reject Rio Tinto's Aluminium Smelter Project
The blog Interparaguay [es] shares several videos on a project headed by Río Tinto Alcan to build an aluminium smelter in Paraguay. In the last video, Mercedes Canese, Vice Minister...
Africa: Digital Citizen Indaba 7
Digital Citizen Indaba 7 is coming: “In recent years we discussed the role of bloggers during disasters, we showed the latest digital tools in activism and continued the conversation about...
Peru: President Humala ‘Reshuffles’ Cabinet
Bloggings by Boz comments on President Ollanta Humala's “cabinet shuffle”: “Oscar Valdes is out; Juan Jimenez is in as Peru's new prime minister. Humala also named new ministers for Interior,...
Bermuda: Social Politicking
Respice Finem examines the pros and cons of social media when it comes to its role in political campaigning.
St. Lucia: New Direction for Carnival?
The Choiseul Powerhouse reviews Saint Lucia's 2012 Power Soca Monarch competition: “Suppose I told you before that St. Lucians were fed up with the Trinidadian-invented ‘Rag and Flag’ syndrome which...
Syria: Refuge in Armenia
With the situation in Syria deteriorating rapidly, Cilicia comments on the plight of the country's 100,000 strong ethnic Armenian population. The blog says that many are already applying for Armenian...
China: Chinese Alcohol
Derek from 300 shots at Greatness explains to his readers the ingredients behind different types of Chinese Baiju (Chinese Vodka).
India: Fellowships At Pad.ma
Kracktivist informs that Pad.ma, an online archive of densely text-annotated video material, is offering Fellowship to Indian and non-Indian individuals for experiments and research with video archives.
Sri Lanka: Remembering 23rd Of July 1983
Shubha remembers the dark days of the Sinhalese-Tamil riots in Sri Lanka which began on the 23rd of July 1983, in the aftermath of a funeral of 13 Sri Lanka...
Paraguay: Tweets for Federico Franco on his Birthday
E'a [es] aggregates tweets dedicated to Federico Franco on his birthday. Federico Franco is the new President of Paraguay after Fernando Lugo was removed from office on June 22, 2012....
Portugal: Tugaleaks Bank Account Deemed as Terrorist and Closed
Website Tugaleaks, which aims to serve since December 2010 as Portugal's Wikileaks, had its bank account for donations arbitrarily closed on July 13 with no official communication [pt]. Tugaleaks contributors...
Brazil/Portugal: Homophobia and the “Apparent Invisibility” of LGBT
On the blog No que tange, Maycon Lopes shares [pt] his experiences of being a homosexual in Brazil, where homophobia “motivates terrible killings”, and compares to situations he faced while...
Tajikistan: Learn the National Anthem to be a Doctor
Tajikistan's Deputy Health Minister has recently announced [ru] that “without knowing the national anthem, doctors will not be able to correctly diagnose their patients”. Netizens have responded to the announcement with...
India: Female Gendercide in Western Countries
Rita Banerji interviews Indo-Canadian and feminist artist Soraya Nulliah, who comments that everything the campaign against female gendercide in India addresses is happening to Indian women in Western countries as...
Morocco: Mc Donald's Won't Serve Muslim Adults During Ramadan
An image of a sign in a Mc Donald's restaurant in Casablanca has been circulating among Moroccan netizens today. The sign reads, “Notice to our customers. During Ramadan, only children...
Colombia: A Lab for Social Sciences
Blogger Luis Ángel Pérez writes about wanting to create a lab for Social Sciences, just like there are labs for chemistry or physics. He imagines the lab [es] with many...
Jordan: Orphans Sit-in Attacked
Jordanian blogger Ali Al Hasani blogs about the brutal crackdown on a protest by orphans in Amman, Jordan. “They were protesting their horrible living conditions and how the Jordanian government...
Russia: The Denver Cinema Shooting As A Case for Gun Rights in Russia
Anti-Kremlin blogger Vladislav Naganov responded to this week's shooting in a Denver, Colorado, movie theater by arguing [ru] that American gun violence proves the need for expanded gun rights in Russia,...
