· March, 2007

Stories about Weblog from March, 2007

South Africa: Busisiwe, Rest in Peace

  31 March 2007

Earlier this month, the South African blogosphere lost a blogger, writer, artist and poet, Busisiwe Sigasa (25). She started her blog, My Realities, at the end of last year with the help of Sokari Ekine. Busisiwe, whose name means “the Blessed One” in Zulu, was also known as Latifah. She...

Bahrain: When ‘moderate’ means ‘acquiescent’

This week some Bahraini bloggers took part in an evening regarding the role of blogging in cultural development, and the literary aspect of online writing in particular. Hisham Khalifa has posted his introduction to the evening: Culture is not created by governments, kings, queens or presidents. It’s not created by...

Russia: Photos of Grozny

  30 March 2007

Earlier this week, I linked to LJ user kunstkamera‘s photos from Grozny, Chechnya. (Warning: bandwidth intensive.) Below are some of the comments and kunstkamera‘s own remarks, translated from Russian. gematogen: Was it scary? kunstkamera: It was scary to fly the [YaK-42] plane. […] i_grappa: It's interesting, thank you! In general,...

India: Reservations, Law, Bollywood and Peanuts

  30 March 2007

So far this month the major topic of discussion in virtual India was the world cup cricket match in the West Indies. Now that India was unceremoniously bowled out of the world cup, bloggers have turned their attention to other issues. Yesterday the Indian Supreme Court temporarily stopped the implementation...

China: Nation's first citizen reporter?

  30 March 2007

Meet Zola Zhou, independent citizen reporter, blogging live from the nailhouse. But is Zola really China's first citizen reporter? Big-name bloggers like Herock, Doubleleaf and Zhan Bin say he is. Out of what Zola says is a ‘sensitivity to news’ and desire for fame, on Monday afternoon he hopped on...

Americans in Moldova; Moldovans in Italy…

  29 March 2007

Alexandru Culiuc's weblog is one of the best in the Moldovan blogosphere – probably the one I enjoy reading the most, and happily it has an owner and readership that don't seem to mind my mostly English-language comments. Last year, Alex had an interesting post about foreigners’ impressions of Moldova...

Arabisc: Job Hunting in Bahrain?

Bahraini blogger Silverooo, who has just graduated from university, may have hit the jackpot and will soon be making more money than any other graduate her age. Her idea? The guide you see on the left – Job Hunting in Bahrain for Dummies. And the blogger knows what she is...

Bangladesh: Development Against All Odds

  29 March 2007

Bangladesh is one of the most densely populated countries in the world. Bideshi Blond provides the relevant statistics proving the claim. Being a developing country with limited resources it is really tough to take the country forward. No wonder many development activities are being carried out by the government and...

Iran: Connecting the Medical World and Norouz Inspires Reflection

Iranian bloggers provide information, share their opinions, and discuss various issues with their photography, illustrations, and text. But that's not all. Occasionally, they launch plans to make the world a better place. Paris Marashi, an Iranian-American video-blogger has revealed a project that aims to bring Iranian medical professionals in contact...

Global Voices in Moscow

  28 March 2007

On March 21, Moscow hosted its First International Conference on Blogs, Media and Citizen Journalism. I was happy to represent both Global Voices and neweurasia at the meeting. The conference was organized by the Centre for Internet Policy of Moscow State University for International Relations (MGIMO), Realno.info, a web site...

Turkey is Typing….the Weekly Favorites

So rather than stay with one particular topic or theme in this weekly, I thought that I would just give you the insights into my top Turkish blog posts of this week. Let's begin with my favorite short post of the week from Ignore Me if You Can: I’m going...

Bolivia: Bolivian Television's Watchdog

  27 March 2007

Blogs in Bolivia have yet to achieve the level of being a primary source of information to compete with other forms of communication. Television continues to dominate the manner in which citizens get their news and where they follow current events. A blog called La TeVelisión [ES], written by Rodrigo...

Russia: Variations of Dissent

  27 March 2007

After reading LJ user rudin‘s report (RUS) from the Dissenters’ March that took place in Nizhniy Novgorod this past Saturday, LJ user an_drevv made this ironic remark (RUS): Judging by the ratio between the participants [police outnumbered the protesters], it looks like the majority of the dissenters were cops, and...

The Israeli Blogs-Looking for an Advocate

Hello Everyone! Today I am guest authoring for the Israeli blogs…a section of the Middle East that doesn't get covered very much here at Global Voices. It isn't because we aren't interested…we are, and it isn't because the Israeli blogs aren't fun and fascinating…because they are (and I will show...

France: Line Crossed in the Hunt for Immigrants

(photo via broyez) Here is a sombering follow-up to the post regarding the hunt for illegal immigrants and their following arrests in France. It seems that things have gotten worst in a hurry with the French presidential elections fast-approaching. Series of sudden arrests prompted many French people to take action...

Nepal: Gaur Massacre

  27 March 2007

The unthinkable happened on March 21 in Gaur in the central Terai plains. Two political groups clashed, and violence followed. 29 were dead, more than 40 injured. This incident has shaken Nepal. Democracy For Nepal condemns the violence but it also takes the Maoists to task for disrupting the MPRF...