Stories from 8 May 2006
Venzuela, USA: “Choose Your Chicken”
Liz Henry has translated a portion of Venezuelan-born Meibell's account (ES) of purchasing a live chicken in Harlem, New York.
Mexico: Abuse of Force in Salvador Atenco
With a title quoting the Commissioner of State Security, Wilfrido Robledo Madrid who said that “in Atenco the police did not carry firearms,” Eduardo Arcos posts a photo of a policeman pointing his pistol. Enlace Zapatista has an audio speech, photo gallery, and transcription (ES) which accuses Mexico's mainstream media...
DRC: Reflections on Sovereignty
Prince du Fleuve du Congo reflects (FR) on foreign involvement in Congolese politics: “We made a big mistake when we accepted to sit around a table with foreigners to engage in power sharing at Sun City… Today we must recognize that the transition was not a solution, that elections will...
Kifaya Under Arrest
There's a gentle spring breeze blowing in Brooklyn, and the sounds of kids playing basketball are coming in through the window from the schoolyard next door. It's early evening, at the end of a sunny weekend. Across the street, neighbors are singing intentionally off-key to an earnest version of “Wimoweh.”...
Barbados: More on the death boat
Barbados Free Press posts a follow-up to an earlier entry concerning the boat found adrift off the Barbados coast containing the corpses of 11 men. It would appear the men were en route from Senegal to the Cape Verde islands.
Haiti: New Haiti-Based Haitian Blog
Parlons Peu uses the blog medium to publish (FR) his father Marcel Salnave's journalistic works from the 40s and 50s. Recent posts include a raving review of Haitian musical prodigy Ernst Lamy written in 1940 and reflections on the Haitian National Bank written in 1946.
South Africa: Zuma Aquitted
Black Looks reports that Jacob Zuma has been aquitted of rape……..”The verdict is a loss for the Khwezi and for all the other women who will now be deterred from reporting rape knowing that they cannot expect justice to be done. That their personal lives will be invaded in the...
Ukraine: Folk Music Instruments Scam
Pawlina of Nash Holos writes about an Australian internet scam that involves Ukrainian folk music instruments.
India: Kashmir beyond the front page
Akshay has a breathtaking collection of photographs that he took in Kashmir. He writes “This was not the Srinagar we read about in the papers or see on the news channels. This is not the Srinagar of curfews and bandhs, of grenade attacks, of bomb blasts, of shoot outs, of...
Ukraine: May Celebrations
Scott W. Clark of Foreign Notes writes about May celebrations in Ukraine.
Ukraine: Rock Sich Festival
Mat Savelli of Roma Roma writes about a rock festival taking place in Kyiv, Ukraine, that may inspire some U.S. musicians to refer to the Cossack history in their bands’ names.
Serbia, Bulgaria: EU Race
Brooke, “a temporary Serb” and author of Desperate Serbwife believes that Bulgaria is “boring” and “certainly not ready for the EU”: “At least you feel like you're in Europe when you're in Belgrade, even if things are still creaking their way out of the decade of conflict. It's simply not...
Romania: Getting Internet Service Through Romtelecom
Romerican writes about what it takes to get internet access through Romtelekom and predicts the company's future: “I predict Romtelecom will dwindle in the face of competition as the telecom market slowly cracks open here to VoIP companies and international competitors.”
Poland: High School Finals
Kinuk wishes good luck to the Polish students who are about to take their final exams: “Maturzysci, as the students taking the end-of-school exams (the equivalent of British A-levels) are called, still dress up to write their exams. Black trousers or black skirts for some, white shirt or blouse and...
Hungary: Magyarisms
Andy H of Csikszereda Musings writes about five words that he thinks have been borrowed from Hungarian.
Albania: Agron Tufa's Poetry
Traveller One of Stepping Stones posts a translation of Agron Tufa's poem about Albania.
Albania: Uighurs From Guantanamo
Our Man in Tirana writes about five Uighurs who are being moved to Albania after five years of detention in Guantanamo.
Belarus: Opposition's New Direction
In his weekly roundup of Belarusian politics, Tobias Ljungvall discusses the recent shift within the opposition: “Apparently, Lebedko sees a bigger role for himself, and is also proposing a more radical style of work than that which the thoughtful Milinkevich stands for. Milinkevich, on the other hand, is now equally...
Belarus: Intercepted Police Talk
br23 blog posts a sampling of what Minsk police talked about during the Chernobyl March opposition rally. The conversations were intercepted by a hacker and are available online in mp3 format, in Russian.
Nepal: Agenda for change and justice
United We Blog! presents an “agenda for change and transitional justice” as Nepal makes the transition to democracy.
Belarus: Zubr Disbands
Andrei Khrapavitski and TOL's Belarus Blog write about the disbanding and future fate of Zubr, a Belarusian youth opposition group.
