Stories from 7 November 2007
Pakistan: Stability, Activism and the Emergency
As the reality of the emergency sets in, reactions from bloggers explore the idea of democracy and stability in the country, looking at the consequences of the current political situation. Metroblogging Lahore points to the ups and downs in the biggest stock exchange in Karachi, and that a similar trend...
China: Standard of the white-collar
(Note: The Chinese Academy of Social Science has denied the publishment of the list, which under hot discussion for quite a few days proved to be faked) In Chinese concept, white-collar is related to a decent life and a desirable living style. How much have you got to earn to...
Kazakhstan: Interview with Akhan Satayev, Film Director
Tomorrow the movie theatres of Kazakhstan and Russia will start shows of “Racketeer”, one of the first Kazakhstani commercial film-making experiences. The audience is invited to learn the biographical story of a young boxer from Almaty, who decided to fight for a better life with his own fists in uneasy...
Barbados: How To Make a Conkie
Just Bajan.com posts a recipe for “conkies”: “a corn-based Barbadian delicacy…traditionally made during the month of November, celebrating independence.”
Guyana: Live and Let Live
As the debate over the homosexual lifestyle heats up in Guyana, Stella Ramsaroop says: “Sexual preference continues to be at the forefront of the ‘get rid of them because they are different’ battle simply because there are so few who wish to accept the fact that a person’s sexuality is...
Jamaica: Voter's List
“An easy way to begin to reclaim one's Jamaican-ness…is to be enumerated, and to be placed on the Voter's List,” writes Moving Back to Jamaica.
Nigeria: MIT OpenCourseware to benefit Nigerian University
AfricanLoft publishes an article about a Nigerian University using MIT Open Courseware: “The Osun State University, Osogbo [Nigeria], has launched a virtual library and OpenCourseware that will enable its students and faculty members to have access to the lecture videos, notes and audio lessons of lecturers at the prestigious Massachusetts...
Jamaica: Pages of Wisdom
Geoffrey Philp's Blogspot features a new book whose Caribbean contributors include George Lamming, Derek Walcott, Earl Lovelace, Jamaica Kincaid and Edwidge Danticat.
Nigeria: Lagos Comics & Cartoons Festival
Naijablog writes about the Lagos Comics & Cartoons Festival 2007.
South Africa: SynthaSite Beta is out
SynthaSite is a South African application that allows people withouth technical background to publish websites online: “The structure of the site is geared more around making it easy for users with no technical (html & css) knowledge to create Websites in simple, trouble-free style. What this means is, you can...
Trinidad & Tobago: Festival of Lights
Roi Kwabena blogs about the upcoming Hindu festival of Divali.
Africa: Whitening African History
Sokari shows an example of clear misrepresentation of African history: “I have been posting a series of pieces on untold African histories but as we see from these two photos, it is not just our histories that are not being told. Often when they are told they are rewritten to...
Trinidad & Tobago: Moving On
Nicholas Laughlin comments on the results of the Trinidad and Tobago election: “An eleven-seat majority for Mr. Manning, but thankfully two seats short of the 28 he needs to start tinkering with the constitution…I hardly need say that things will probably get worse before they get better…”
Africa: Helping an African village out of the middle age!
Kenny discusses development aid perception towards Africa: “As you read through the article, many of the project objectives seem worthy enough – access to clean water, healthcare, education and so on – but the headline the newspaper chose doesn't do anybody justice, least of all the inhabitants of Katine. “Can...
Uganda: Remembering Bangi
The death of a popular Ugandan radio personality, Wilfred Bangirana, on Sunday has the blogren fondly remembering his talents as an oldies DJ.
Happy Birthday Africa Ready for Business
The blog, Africa Ready for Business, is one year old: “I just noticed that this blog has now passed the one year mark. It is my hope that you have enjoyed this 1st year of blogging on Africa Ready for Business. What we have tried to do here is to...
Sri Lanka: Death of LTTE's Thamilselvan
Thamilselvan, Tamil Tigers’ political wing head was killed along with five of his colleagues on Friday. [link: BBC]. Thamilselvan was the public face of the LTTE and his death has devastated many Tamils. However, as is in the case of such men, his death also highlights the controversial role of...
Iran: Bloggers Back Political Prisoners
In recent weeks, the Iranian government has stepped up pressure against human rights and civil society activists. Some of these activists, including a former university professor and several syndicate and student activists, are in jail. Some were arrested because they visited a mass grave of their executed relatives earlier this...
China: Bedia Triangle Spot
Xueyong blogs about the value of triangle site where Peking University's public notice board was placed: without the triangle spot, Peking University is not Peking University (zh).
China: Harmonious Experience
Liu Xiao-yuan blogs about his recent harmonious experience (zh): a few guys in uniform stepped into their law firm and gave advice to them not to mind others’ business; his landlord suddenly refused to continue the contract.
Kyrgyzstan: Feedback to the Article in Economist
The Azamat Report reviews an article on Kyrgyzstan in The Economist, and says that although the article is well written, its expatriate author lacks understanding of some intricacies of political playground in the country.