Stories from 30 May 2010
Macedonia: Silly Songs Do Politics
The anthem published by the youth branch of the Socialist Party of Macedonia on YouTube was talk of the town on social networks and beyond as part of ridiculous advertising songs trend.
Russia: A Study of Local Discussion Boards
Online forums in Russian cities are in a certain sense a unique phenomenon. It's not blogs that became the major platforms for open discussion in the regions, but discussion boards (called more often forums). Alexey Sidorenko shares some of the results of his study of local forums in Russia.
Chez Gangoueus: A brilliant blog about African literature in French
A close runner-up for the Best of Blogs in French Award is Chez Guangoueus (fr). Réassi Ouabonzi blogs about African and diaspora literature in French from a reader's perspective since 2007. Here is an interview of him for Global Voices:
Jamaica: Mapping the state of emergency
Citiizen media initiative On The Ground News Reports creates a Google maps-based “situation map” to record incidents related to the state of emergency in Jamaica.
Georgia: Election reporting in ethnic Azeri region
Writing on Eyes on Georgia, and also tweeting at @AliResh, Azerbaijani journalism student Resh Ali posts a brief account of voting in a largely ethnic Azeri-populated region of Georgia in...
Pakistan: Culture Of Intolerance
Raza Rumee at Pak Tea House discusses about the recent attacks on Ahmadi community in Pakistan and what signs it gives.
Bangladesh: The Reason For The Facebook Ban
Shada Kalo discusses about the recent ban on Facebook in Bangladesh – and how it gave a kid a ton of publicity.
Russia: Bloggers Cover Moscow Gay Pride Parade
LJ-user Zyalt published [RUS] pictures from Moscow gay pride parade [EN] that took place despite it the ban by Moscow authorities. The event organizers had to change its location several times....
Russian “Little Blue Buckets” Movement Reaches Ukraine
Ukraine-based feminist organization “FEMEN” [EN] conducted an action [ENG] in support of the Russian online movement “Little Blue Buckets” [ENG] and against the “unification of Russia and Ukraine under Kremlin...
Georgia: Online local election mapping
Transparency International Georgia, the International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy, the Georgian Young Lawyers Association, the National Democratic Institute and the Caucasus Resource Research Center have set up an...
Slovakia: The Fight for Nationalistic Voters
Tibor Blazko writes about the growing nationalistic sentiments driven by some Slovak and Hungarian politicians and translates a related satirical video.
Japan: Monozukuri for the Modern Age
The Japanese counterpart of Make Magazine, an American quarterly magazine for DIY enthusiasts, organizes a regular event in Tokyo called Make Tokyo Meeting (MTM). The fifth MTM, held at the Tokyo Institute of Technology on May 22-23, was the largest yet, featuring everything from bicycle wheels with LED lights, to complex wooden ball machines, to mechanical robot birds. Check out reports on the event on blogs, Twitter and YouTube.
Bangladesh: Facebook Temporarily Blocked
Bangladesh has become the second country in Asia after Pakistan to block the entire Facebook domain. Bangladeshi bloggers are expressing their astonishment, anger and protest against this ban.
