Stories from 14 October 2006
China: Let your photos do the talking
While dealing with blocked pages and filter-trigger keywords can get pretty annoying on the wrong side of the internet, for bloggers in China who want some discussion on, say, the highest-level corruption crackdown in ten years, there are always ways to beat the system. This time it just happens that...
Mauritius: Local Filmmakers
Christina announces (Fr) La Seance des Jeunes Realisateurs, a show on Mauritian television channel MBC3 that showcases local filmmakers. She writes: “Shorts by Mauritian filmmakers are finally being broadcast nationally. An occasion to see what local films are made of, to consume purely Mauritian fiction and documentary. Of course all...
Bolivia: Visas in Hindsight
El Alto blogger Mario Ronald Duran Chuquimia laments the need of Bolivians to migrate to Spain [ES]. Even though internet technologies bring families closer together across the distance, it is not quite the same. He writes, tongue-in-cheek, that it was Bolivia's mistake not to require visas from the Spanish during...
Argentina: Indie Rocker in Commerical Music Festival
Avistando Quimeras [ES], a blog from Buenos Aires, Argentina, is excited about the appearance of indie lo-fi singer-songwriter, Devendra Banhart at the launching of the Personal Fest, a music festival sponsored by Motorola. Juan Martín, the blog's author wrote, “Go with the idea that you'll be bombarded with subliminal advertising...
Turkey is Typing…
Two things have been the subject of debate this week in the Turkish blogosphere…Orhan Pamuk being awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature and the passing of a Armenian genocide law in France. The issue of the Armenian Genocide has always been a hot-topic discussion, with the claims of whether what...
Venezuela: What Might a Rosales Government Look Like?
Francisco Toro imagines what a Manuel Rosales administration might look like, should he beat Hugo Chavez in the upcoming elections. Likely scenarios in “an institutional environment dominated entirely by chavista appointees” all look pretty grim, especially if the leader of the opposition is none other than Chavez himself.
Ecuador: Campaign Blog for Movimiento Pachakutik
Christian Espinosa discovers the new blog [ES] of Movimiento Pachakutik candidate Luis Macas [ES]. Espinosa writes that the candidates in the upcoming Presidential elections in Ecuador are using blogs as a new way of campaining, even though the blogs’ full potential is yet to be tapped.
Pakistan: Blog-o-leader
With the advent of citizen journalism and the unrelenting popularity of blogs as the main source of honest opinion and news, it won't be long before the world leaders jump on the bandwagon, as President Ahmadinejad has already done, and launch their own blogs to further ensure their own popularity...
The Week That Was in Bahrain
It's showtime in Bahrain where bloggers are preoccupied with a new craze – a campaign to wipe out sectarianism started by no other than the kingdom's most illustrious blogger Mahmood Al Yousif. In response to a scandal which shook the country, Mahmood decided to fight fire with fire and launch...
Rwanda: How To (Not) Get a Driver's License
Guillaume, an ex-pat in Rwanda, describes how he failed a very public driver's license exam (Fr): “It's a 3 hour drive to Nyatare … We had to wait until 3 pm … I pass the reverse driving test without looking in the side mirrors, without stopping. The crowd cheers hysterically.”...
India: Dalits and Rights
Shivam Vij points to a Youtube video on the issues and troubles of the Dalit community in India.
India: Microfinance and the Nobel prize
Dina on Dr Yunus winning the Nobel prize, why it fell in the Peace category and what it means for women in India. “His model is being followed in India as well … and the proliferation of Self-Help-Groups (SHG's), typically groups of women who are given access to microcredit to...
India: Right to Kill
Indian Muslims reflects on the death penalty and its wider perception in India. “Coming to one person at a time, The fact is that most Indians are confused on whether the death sentence should be given in any case or not. I am talking here of the masses, they are...
Sri Lanka: A new truce agreement
Moju on whether Sri Lanka needs a new truce agreement. “Sri Lanka needs a new ceasefire agreement to replace the lifeless 2002 Norwegian-sponsored pact and at least 15,000 foreign soldiers in the island’s northeast to ensure its implementation, says a former Finnish monitor of the truce.”
Pakistan: Friday the 13th
Friday the 13th might be lucky for Muslims, Sajjad Zaidi explains. “Today was Friday the 13th, a day considered extremely unlucky by some in the West. Whatever the origins of this superstition, some Muslims have the opposite view (most are indifferent I guess).”
Bangladesh: Grameen Bank
Or how I learned to stop worrying on Dr Yunus and the power of an idea. “Dr. Yunus discovered that microcredit can be both commercially viable and an engine for socio-economic change. Grameen Bank has helped millions of Bangladeshis rise above poverty, not through charity, but through hard work and...
Bangladesh: Dr Yunus wins the Nobel
Dr Yunus winning the Nobel prize has Bangladeshi blogs celebrating and reflecting. Salam Dhaka reports on rumours that Dr Yunus might enter politics, and Rifat on what it means to the Bangladeshi identity.
