Stories from 28 March 2007
Africa: Bloggers Differ on Reparations and Apology for Slavery
The Slave Trade Act was passed in England 200 years ago. The act ended slave trade in the British empire. A number of events such as art exhibits, lectures, church services, and parades have been taking place all over the world to mark this day. In England, Prime Minister Tony...
Global Voices in Moscow
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...
Madagascar: Growing with China
Madagascar Croissance reflects [Fr] on Madagascar's trade with China and East Asia, the main exporters of rice, textiles and technology to the country: “Trade between China and Madagascar … leaves the big island in deficit. But … Malagasy products were just exempted of taxes and rights in China which presents...
Haiti, India: Becoming a local
Haitian blogger Pascale Doresca reflects [Fr] on the ways she is settling into life in India: “For while now I have not found the time to write, to be moved or to be shocked by India. Maybe it finally happened. Although I didn't see it coming, I am now from...
Trinidad & Tobago: Abolition of the Slave Trade
As the International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition is celebrated today, Roi Kwabena posts a poem that “tries to show the links between the nexus of the human condition”.
Guyana: Purity or Responsibility?
The latest US phenomenon – Purity Balls – causes Stella Ramsaroop to raise the question of teen sexuality : “We can be such prudes sometimes with our own sexuality that we shy away from the important task of educating our teens about sex. In the meantime, they are learning about...
Bahamas: Still Enslaved
Nicolette Bethel sees stunning parallels between a young black American filmmaker's documentary about race and the image that Bahamian children have of themselves 200 years after the abolition of the slave trade.
Trinidad & Tobago: Westwood Copyright
Christopher at Subway Chronicles has just bought the Season 1 DVD of the Trinidad and Tobago soap opera Westwood Park – and he's already impressed just by the copyright warning message…
Indonesia: Laptop for MPs
Indonesia is considering equipping its MPs with laptops. Indonesia Matters asks “Now, what is the real purpose of them having laptop at the first place? I haven’t seen any argument, a real urgent need of laptop voiced from the House of Representatives that justifies that laptop is crucial for their...
Saudi: No Photos Allowed
Saudi-based blogger Sand Gets In My Eyes rants about a ban on taking pictures using camera phones being reimposed in the Kingdom. “This week, Saudi Arabia announced that it will impose 1-year prison sentences and fines of 500,000 Saudi Riyals ($133,000) misuse of mobile telephone cameras, such as taking unauthorized...
Kuwait: Paper Accused of Plagiarism
Kuwait-based blogger Cyber Rowdy accuses a Kuwaiti newspaper of plagiarism. He says the local daily published a photograph from another blogger's flickr account without permission.
Egypt: Blogger Assaulted
Egyptian blogger Hossam El Hamalawy reports a bizarre incident during the hearing of a case lodged by a judge to block 21 blogs and websites that “harm Egypt’s national interests and defame Hosni Mubarak.” “The court session ended in a circus, with judge Abdel Fattah Mourad who filed the lawsuit...
Egypt: Citizen Journalism Talk
Egyptian blogger Hossam Al Hamalawy will give two talks – one on citizen journalism – at the 5th Cairo Anti War Conference and 3rd Cairo Social Forum being held later this month. “The conference should be a golden opportunity for us to exchange experiences with international and local activists. I...
Egypt: Gamal Speaks
The Time-CNN Middle East blog posts an interview with Gamal Mubarak, who explains his views on the much-criticised amendments to the Egyptian constitution here.
Egypt: Arab Summit Predictable
Egyptian blogger Zeinobia gives us her two cents on the Arab Summit here. “The Arab Summits now became like the elections in Egypt, an excepted result that is summarized in the famous quote ‘The Arabs agreed not to agree’,” she writes.
Jordan: MPs Missing Sessions
Jordanian blogger Naseem Tarawneh links to an article which said that Parliament did not convene because members failed to turn up to discuss the findings of a special committee entrusted with investigating the alleged involvement of a former minister in a corruption case. His question on how seriously the MPs...
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...
China: University Financial Crisis
Jilin University recently issued an open letter to discuss about the university debt problem: since 2005, the annual interest rate for the debt has been up to 150-170 million yuans! What exactly happened to this university? Zhao Mu predicted that the central bank would probably cancel all debt (up to...