18 September 2006

Stories from 18 September 2006

Malaysia: Pope's Speech

  18 September 2006

Nik Nazmi in Malaysia asks whether the speech made by pope was really an attempt at dialogue. “While, yes, the Pope has now apologised, what is glaring is the fact that when he quoted Manuel II, there was no hint of qualification and seemingly tacit approval.”

Laos: Laotian Pop Music in Japan

  18 September 2006

The Samakomlao blog posts pictures of a Laotian pop duo in concert in Japan. Laos is one of the least visited countries in Asia and only recently rest of Asia is getting interested in Lao's pop-culture and travel destinations.

Uganda's brightest artist

  18 September 2006

African Painters on the late Ugandan artist, Henry Lutalo Lumu, “Henry Lutalo Lumu is credited by many of Uganda's artists as being one of the country's brightest and most widely influential talents of modern Ugandan art from as early as the 1950s until his death in 1989.”

The president of Tanzania drumming

  18 September 2006

So the President of Tanzania, Jakaya Kikwete, can play the African drum! He was the guest of honor at the opening ceremony of the 25th Bagamoyo Arts Festival, which took place on September 11th – 16th, 2006 in the coastal town of Bagamoyo at the Bagamoyo College of Arts.

Kenya: ruling elite and younger generation

  18 September 2006

Kumekucha has an idea about what the President of Kenya, Mwai Kibaki and his closest aides think of younger generation leaders, “My firm conviction is that the younger generation in this nation will confound critics and rise to the occasion, at this, the nation’s hour of need. It does not...

Sudan: death and funeral announcement

  18 September 2006

Death and funeral announcement is a poem written in support of the Global Day for Darfur: Here lies eighty thousand souls names and identities- unknown passions and pains- unknown feelings and fears- unknown Origin and nationality- Western Sudan Darfur region Now buried in a mass grave known as Darfur Crisis….

Ethiopia: who needs enemies?

  18 September 2006

“With allies like this, who needs enemies?,” Weichegud asks, and continues to write: “The neighboring Ethiopian government, led by a rabid Marxist ethnicologist who got the Bill Clinton “Enlightened African leader” stamp of approval, was sanguine with the lawlessness in Somalia, even encouraging it, believing that a fractured Somalia was...

Global Voices Online Wins Knight-Batten Innovations Award

  18 September 2006

September 18, 2006 COLLEGE PARK, Md. – Global Voices Online, a web site about how news affects daily life and conversations in more than 130 countries, is this year's $10,000 Grand Prize winner in the Knight-Batten Awards for Innovations in Journalism. The site uses skilled multilingual editors to find and...

Brazil: Digital Varjão – Cultural Hotspot in Action

  18 September 2006

Jose Murilo Junior describes the “cultural hotspot” workshop of Digital Varjão, which encourages young people in Varjão do Torto – a low income informal settlement in the outskirts of Brasília – to use open source software to express themselves creatively and share their day to day experiences online. You can...

Honduras: HIV Workshops

  18 September 2006

Melanie, a volunteer in Honduras describes the 3-day workshops on HIV that she gives to junior high students: “The only potential problem I had was with a 17-year-old 7th grader who took to preaching like the Evangelical preachers and didn’t want to stop talking. He went on for at least...

Central America: Indepedence Day

  18 September 2006

Tim Muth describes the festivities in El Salvador as Central Americans celebrated 185 years of independence from Spain. In Costa Rica, apparently it is Independence Eve when the real parties get started. Uri Ridelman links to a YouTube video of the Patriotica Costarricense: “one of the most important songs of...

India: Homosexuality and the Law

  18 September 2006

Homosexuality in India is illegal because of a law that is largely part of a British legacy. Vikram Seth, a prominent author has written an open letter to the Government on the issue, and this has found consent with quite a few other prominent people. Amardeep Singh on the law,...

Pakistan: View of Manuel and the Pope

  18 September 2006

Metroblogging Lahore takes a closer look at what the Pope actually said, and in the context of the entire speech, wonders what the Pope's intent is. “Specially after reading the last paragraph, I do not think he himself agrees with the views of Emperor Manuel Paleologos II but he was...

U.N. reform: when you talk, will they listen?

  18 September 2006

When you talk, will this man listen? Let's find out on Tuesday. What is your opinion of the United Nations? What kind of impact has it had on your country and people? How should it be reformed? Who should lead it? Global Voices is hoping to share your views in...

Pakistan: Reacting to the Pope's Statement

  18 September 2006

iFaqeer on the Pope's statement about Islam. “And in that sense, the complaints from the Muslim world have some basis; poking folks in the eye ain't the best way to make friends. Now if we had an official Caliph, he could challenge the man to a duel and we could...