Stories from 7 March 2011
Africa: Africa Region Finalists for the 2011 Commonwealth Writers’ Prize
Here are the African Region finalists for the 2011 Commonwealth Writers’ Prize: “* Best Book: The Memory of Love by Aminatta Forna (Sierra Leone) * Best First Book: Happiness is a four-letter word by Cynthia Jele (South Africa)”
Djibouti: Is Djibouti part of the Arab World
KonWomyn asks, “Is a protest in Djibouti a protest in the Arab World?”: Djibouti may be an East African country with much stronger ties to the African countries on The Horn than Egypt or Palestine, but it is no less a part of The Arab World Revolutions.
Ghana: Independence Day Celebration in Photos
Ghana has turned 54. Ghanaian blogger Nana shares photos of Independence Day celebration.
South Africa's Continuous Struggle With Race
A change of government and the destruction of an entire political, cultural, social and economic system like that of Apartheid does not necessarily guarantee the destruction of its legacy. The last couple of months have seen South Africa go through an interesting dilemma and debate with regards to its race relations.
Arab World: Bloggers Compete for Arabisk Competition
Arab bloggers are vying for the Best of the Arabic Blogs Awards, Arabisk, which is now in the judging phase of the competition. The top 20 nominations in four categories are being judged now, and the competition results will be announced at the beginning of April. Haifa Al Rasheed has more on the competition.
Azerbaijan: Support Bakhtiyar! site launched
A site in English in support of Bakhtiyar Hajiyev, the Harvard graduate youth activist arrested last week in Azerbaijan ahead of protests planned for 11-12 March, has been launched at http://supportbakhtiyar.com
Hong Kong: Political Parties’ Finances
People have a sense that the income disparity between pro-establishment parties and democratic parties has been huge. With David Webb's table comparing major political parties’ finances, the picture is a lot clearer.
Panama: Spanish Journalist Deported
Spanish journalist Paco Gómez Nadal was deported after he was detained on February 26 during an indigenous protest against a law reforming Panama's Mineral Resources Code. In spite of the promise made by President Ricardo Martinelli to repeal the law that reforms the mining code, some Panamanians have not forgotten that the issue of the deported journalist remains unresolved.
China: Google the Opium Wars
The People's Daily commentary now compares Google with the East India Company – a colonial entity that sold opium to China. More from China Media Project.
Egypt: Storming State Security
The Headquarters of the infamous State Security (Amn El-Dawla in Arabic) in several cities Egypt were attacked by thousands of Egyptian protesters after the notorious apparatus started burning and damaging evidence of human rights abuses it had committed over decades. Bloggers and netizens react to these developments in this post.
Libya: The Freedom Flag Flies Over Misurata (Videos)
The Libyan cities of Bin Jawad, Ras Lanuf, Az-Zawiyah and Misurata all saw fighting on Sunday 6 March, 2011. We take a look at how regional Tweeps and video journalists viewed the fighting in Misurata, the country's third largest city.
Palestine: Life in the Eyes of Two West Bank Students
Linah Alsaafin and Heba Awadallah are students at Birzeit University near Ramallah in the West Bank, who started a blog together a year ago. Called Life On Bir Zeit Campus, the blog takes an incisive and entertaining look at student life and Palestinian politics amongst other topics.
Tajikistan: Supreme Court frees convicts accused of terrorism
In an unexpected move, Tajikistan’s Supreme Court has commuted the sentences of 29 convicts originally sentenced on terrorism charges — and the decision, one of only two of its kind in the last five years, is very fishy, reports neweurasia’s Alpharabius. “But whatever the intention, the decision reeks of hypocrisy,”...
Turkmenistan: Singers jailed for breache of morale
Annasoltan writes that the Turkmen authorities have sentenced two popular young singers to imprisonment and says that apparently the singers have run afoul of official ideology and the government’s vision of morality.
Uzbekistan: Turkish Business Unwanted
Avicenna reports that another Turkish shopping and entertainment mall has fallen in Uzbekistan in result of something similar to special operation by the police. He also provides background for the continuing conflict between the authorities and the Turkish businesses.
Kyrgyzstan: Uzbek families ponder fleeing the country
Amidst continuing and simmering difficulties in southern Kyrgyzstan, many Uzbek families are deliberating whether to stay or flee the country for Russia and the West. neweurasia’s Mary Pole recounts the thoughts of one such family in Aravan.
Turkmenistan: Hidden islamists on the Internet
The presence of radical Islamism in Turkmenistan is almost a legend, as the government is adamant that the threat is practically non-existent and under thorough control. neweurasia’s Annasoltan goes online to discover the truth, and what she finds is something very unpleasant.
Turkmenistan: Ashgabat joins TAPI pipeline project
Christya Riedel says that the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India pipeline for Turkmen natural gas line is going to be one of the largest pipelines in the world upon its completion in 2014.
Angola: Demonstrators and journalists arrested in Luanda
Police arrested about 20 people [pt] who were preparing for a pro-democracy demonstration today in Luanda. Among those detained are journalists of the Novo Jornal and rapper Brigadeiro Mata Frakuzx (#Ikonoklasta) who showed his revolt against the 32-year rule of President Eduardo dos Santos in a concert earlier this month.
South Korea: Jang's Sexual Service List Brought Up Again
Korean net users are buzzing angry as the so-called Jang Ja-yeon's list has resurfaced. Actress Ja-yeon Jang, before committing suicide in 2009, left letters revealing the identities of 31 powerful people who are believed to have been involved in the sexual exploitation rampant in the show biz industry. Korea's citizen media...
