Stories from 23 March 2006
China: Just a love song
Holidarity reads the cover story of the Chinese edition of Rolling Stone, only to be horrified by the glossing over of the political importance of rocker Cui Jian's music, especially the Eighties anthem Yi Wu Suo You.
China: Democracy of food
Shanghaiist reviews a new phenomenon in Chinese cyberspace; a good food guide called Dianping (ZH). Four stars, but only in the Web site version, which is written by the restaurant-going public. The book, Jay Sheng reports, is rather bland.
Argentina: Video of Interview about Blogging
Anibal Rossi has posted a video (ES) on Dialógica of an interview with Alejandro Rozitchner (ES) and Julián Gallo (ES) about blogging in Argentina.
Colombia: Election Analysis
Kamilo Klauss (ES) and “Sentido Común” (ES) both have in-depth analysis of last week's elections in Colombia.
China: Hu Jia, Day 36
feng37 translates the latest post from Zeng Jinyan, wife of AIDS activist Hu Jia, who went missing, believed detained, 36 days ago. Original Chinese post here.
India: Polio
Balancing Life on polio in the subcontinent - “It remains a major problem in 9 countries. What’s common between them all? Extremely high populations living in relatively squalid conditions, in extreme poverty. And the sub-continent, especially India and Bangladesh, remain at the very heart of the disease.”
India: Forget the public school
A recent post on the Freakonomics blog on a 10 year old Indian boy writing in, sparks a post that talks of government schools being uniformly worse than private schools world over, regardless of the country.
Bangladesh: Porn and faith
imperfect world 2006 on pornography being available near Dhaka's landmark mosque.
Nepal: Human rights
Bahas on the human rights issue in Nepal which appears to take turns for the worse, and compares to perilious circumstances elsewhere in the world.
Pakistan: Culture and Lahore
The Organic Brew points to a website that lists cultural events in Lahore -“Our task is to get the widest range of cultural activity registered on the site, and promote the website amid the Lahoris by also offering a cultural picture data base, online forums and discussions on culture and...
Kenya: Banking & Investment
Bankelele posts his thoughts and tips on Kenyan banking and investment with details on each of the country's banking institutions.
Kenya: Parliament resumes
Kenyan Pundit comments on the Kenya's current parliament which resumed yesterday which she describes as “Congregation of fools“.
Ethiopia: Afwerk Tekle
Addis Abba Rocking Fun Zone points to the work of Ethiopian artist, Afwerk Tekle who recently sold a painting for $10 million!
Zimbabwe: Weekly inflation
The Beareded man has a series of reports from Zimbabwe ranging from, Air Zimbabwe now charging in US$, weekly inflation, assasination conspiracy and an ex Rhodesian soldier.
Burkina Faso: Water
Under the Acacias has a report on access to water in rural Burkina Faso..”The lack of a ready source of clean water means either a walk – usually for the women – of several miles to the next pump – which will of course then be twice as crowded.”
Fouad Al-Farhan: We Have to Move On
If you have been following Global Voices for more than six months, then you probably have read the name of Fouad Al-Farhan in this space several times before this one. Actually, one of my posts here back in October 2005 featured a post by Al-Farhan, when he left a meeting...
Saudi Arabia: 500km to the nearest cinema
Yes.. 500km to the nearest cinema! How painful could that be? Well, it is the sad reality our Saudi friends are suffering from and Amira fully understand why.
Algeria: Adonis Interview
Nouri Lumendifi agrees with the Syrian poet Adonis (Ali Akbar Said) and believes that foreign intervention and/or poking and prodding can yield credible results when it comes to furthering democracy in the Arab world. Nouri says, “…there would never have been elections in the Gulf without American agitation. Democracy will...
Egypt: The secret war
Free Soul asks: “Why can’t we simply accept each other and stop the biasing that blinds our eyes from the truth when we rush to “defend our religion” and on the way we do all possible mistakes and sins thinking we are doing a great job, I hear address my...
Egypt: Can you leave Islam?
The news about the trial of the Afghani Christian convert and the worldwide reaction to it pose an interesting dilemma to Muslims all around the world. Here's something to consider: Open up any Islamic Jurisprudence book, turn the page to the chapter discussing ‘Riddah’ (the Arabic word for converting from...
Barbados: Avian flu prep
Barbados is preparing for the possibility of an avian flu outbreak by stockpiling the drug Tamiflu, says Linda Thompkins.
