Stories from Quick Reads from January, 2009
Brazil: Obama present in Rio Carnival
“Drunken, sweaty Obamas will be running wild all over the city come February. Though I think this particular mask is kind of creepy, it's a Carnival tradition to wear masks of famous people and to dress up in costumes, just like Americans do on Halloween”, Rachel reports from Rio de...
Zambia: Gateway Liberalisation
Zambian Economist is happy about the Zambian government decision to liberalise international gateway, “Its been a long road arguing for decoupling Zamtel and full IG liberalisation. To see government signal both is quite something.”
Kenya: Writing Queer Kenya
Writing Queer Kenya is accepting submissions from Kenyan queers, “We lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex individuals, in a word, queers, have had the distinct un-pleasure of being told we don’t exist—in official government statements, historical documents, and contemporary statements. Well, we do. We want Kenyan stories by Kenya-based and...
Ethiopia: The Boy Without Arms
Are you ready to help Aschelew, “the boy without arms“?: Several years ago Aschelew was depressed over his parents’ AIDS, and his family chained him up to keep him from killing himself. The chains cut off the blood to his arms and he ended up losing both of them. Now...
Kenya: Free Gay Classifieds in Mainstream Media?
Kenyan Gay Man is suprised to see free gay classfieds published in the Kenyan mainstream media.
Africa: Of Investments and Trade in Africa
Yangu discusses the future of trade and investment on the African continent. He argues that, “That Investment opportunities in Africa have expanded over the past few years is no longer a matter of conjecture but rather an issue that a lot of analysts, venture capitalists and investors at large are...
Kenya: Can You Help?
Kenya Community Initiative Support is looking for your help to improve the lives of children at Twiga. They need, among other things, gardening tools, spades, forks, hoes, rakes.
Azerbaijan: Democratization Under Siege
Flying Carpets and Broken Pipelines comments on the state of democracy in Azerbaijan and wonders about the country's future now that foreign radio broadcasts have effectively been banned and a referendum to remove the two-term restriction on the presidency is scheduled for March.
Armenia: Army Day
517 Design [RU] posts photographs of a youth procession to the Yerablur military cemetery in Yerevan to mark yesterday's Army Day in Armenia. The national holiday also gave the blog the opportunity to reflect on the 17th anniversary of formation of the Armenian army.
Japan: Illustrator Junko Kawashima's blog
Check out the manga blog [ja] of the artist Junko Kawashima.
Bangladesh: Urban Life
Ashley Wheaton at The Dhaka Diaries portrays the urban life of Bangladesh through a series of photo essays.
Colombia: President Uribe's Prospects for Re-Election
Marsares of equinoXio takes a look at some of the prospects for a re-election of Colombian president Álvaro Uribe.
Russia: Blog as Mass Media Outlet
LJ user ottenki-serogo is the first Russian blogger to have officially registered his blog as a mass media outlet. Many readers are asking: “What for?” One of the 168 comments to the post (RUS) with a scanned copy of the registration certificate, by LJ user vlada_lad (RUS): “Good thing that...
Romania: Rural Life in the EU
Tessa Bunney, who photographed rural life in the Carpathians of Romania, wrote this about the implications of the EU accession for some of the subjects of her photos: “The Romanian government’s interpretation of EU policy has resulted in the banning of horse and carts and hand milking of cows. No...
Russia: Medvedev vs Putin's Espionage Law
RFE/RL's The Power Vertical reports that president Medvedev “has instructed his administration to re-work a controversial bill broadening the definition of treason and espionage to assure that it doesn't violate human rights.”
Ukraine: Medical Center for Street Children
Scenes from the Sidewalk posts pictures and writes about the only medical center in Kyiv “where street children can get medical attention without documents”: “Many At-Risk Children or street children do not have these documents and will be turned away at the door if they try to get medical attention....
Latvia: Economy Update
An update on the economic situation in Latvia – at Edward Hugh's Latvia Economy Watch.
Latvia: Flash Mob To Support Public Radio
Free Speech Emergency in Latvia writes that “employees of Latvia's public service radio (Latvijas Radio) have called for a flash-mob to gather near the parliament (Saeima) building for five minutes on Friday, January 30 to stand in complete silence to protest the “silencing” of the national radio service through budget...
Pakistan: Lawyers And The President
Teeth Maestro discusses about the recent controversy regarding Pakistan president Zardari's remark on the lawyers’ protest.
Armenia: Open Letter Against Intolerance
Queering Yerevan posts an open letter in Armenian and English for its readers to sign in protest at growing intolerance and homophobia in the pro-government and pro-opposition media as well as from some representatives of civil society in the country. Meanwhile, Unzipped: Gay Armenia links to previous posts detailing the...
Armenia: No PACE Sanctions
Life in the Armenian Diaspora comments on yesterday's decision by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe not to suspend Armenia's voting rights in the influential body. The blog says that promises to amend two articles of the Criminal Code remind it of moves to change legislation in Turkey...
