Global Voices » Education

Video: Anatomy of a Good Advocacy Video by WITNESS

Juliana Rincón Parra — Wed, 16 May 2012 21:28:26 +0000

WITNESS, a site advocating for Human Rights Issues has produced a nice analysis of what makes a good Advocacy video, using Aristotle's' Poetic regarding story arcs.

Argentina: Transforming a Neighborhood through a Cultural Shed

Juliana Rincón Parra — Wed, 16 May 2012 21:20:57 +0000

The Piedrabuenarte Cultural Shed in the outskirts of Buenos Aires, Argentina is transforming the neighborhood through culture, arts and citizen media. Formerly a warehouse for discarded scenery and sets for the Colon Theater, the space was transformed by artists in the community into a center for arts. Through their YouTube channel they are telling the world about it.

Eddie Avila, on a Rising Voices article from 2011, included this note before a video interview with the founders:

There are plans to work more closely with the youth in the neighborhood, showing them how they can use the cameras on their mobile phones to contribute to the YouTube channel. This would allow for additional perspectives on the diverse Piedrabuena neighborhood. In the following video, two of the founding members of the Shed, Juan “Pepi” Garachico and Lucian Garramuño, talk about what the Shed means to the residents and how they use citizen media to tell the stories of Piedrabuena.

So what have they been up to? On their YouTube channel, Piedrabuenartv is an artistic show that gives us images of daily activities in the Cultural Shed as well as being an artistic outlet for the community to express themselves through video. The next video shows the transformation of an empty lot into a cultural city, where relocated playground equipment found a new home, and an open air theater stage is being built, all of this surrounded by the high rise apartment blocks where much of the community lives.

Other episodes of the show feature neighbors talking about their expectations regarding the cultural transformation of the neighborhood, or like this next one, a look back to when they first opened the bricked up windows after 30 years.

Ghana: We Must Reject Free Education

Ndesanjo Macha — Mon, 14 May 2012 20:32:25 +0000

Samuel is against free education in Ghana because “I’m convinced beyond doubt that making secondary education free is not the way to go about improving education in Ghana. Such a move, I dare say, might cause our already fragile education sector to crumble like the Biblical wall of Jericho or at best accelerate the decline in education standards in this country.”

Egypt: Historical Arabic Manuscripts Put Online

Mohamed Adel — Sun, 13 May 2012 19:15:37 +0000

Egypt's Bibliotheca Alexandrina, the Wellcome Library and King’s College London Digital Humanities Department have recently launched the Wellcome Arabic Manuscript Cataloguing Partnership (WAMCP). The manuscripts collection comprises around 1000 manuscript books and fragments relating to the history of medicine. All content is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC 2.0).

Trinidad & Tobago: SEA “Ordeal”

Janine Mendes-Franco — Thu, 10 May 2012 22:28:22 +0000

Today, children across Trinidad and Tobago sat the SEA Entrance Examination for admission to secondary school. Coffeewallah calls it an “ordeal so intense, that it can be likened to Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games novel”, explaining: “While these children do not have to kill anyone to survive, their self esteem, peace of mind and their very childhood, is marked with a stress that is at best unfair, and at worst, draconian.”

Video: Robot Shows us How to Stay Safe Online

Juliana Rincón Parra — Thu, 10 May 2012 22:12:00 +0000

ONO the Robot

Online security is a complex issue that is sometimes hard to understand or to know how to face. Using a lovable animated robot, the Tactical Tech Collective is trying to get more people aware on how to stay safe online through short video animations that can be viewed online or downloaded.

With eight new weekly releases for their new series Survival in the Digital Age, ONO the robot will help us with email security, facebook security, private browsing and more. The first video in the new series is HEY YAHOO! HTTPS MY EMAILS! where how to chose a safe web based email provider. The organization is using crowdsourcing efforts to translate the videos into as many languages as possible.

In 2010, ONO made its appearance explaining the Digital Traces we leave behind and how to keep our personal information and contacts safe when using mobile devices, cameras or the internet. The videos in this past series have been subtitled into many different languages already. Following is the promotional video for this episode, the full length video can be viewed at Onorobot.org.

Through ONO's own eyes, we see how we are constantly tracked through our digital communications. While a lot of the time this might not be harmful for us, we have little control over what we want to keep private and what is available for viewing, recording and information harvesting. This is crucial for activists and journalists who might be under surveillance and whose digital activities can put them in danger. ONO explores some of the ways that people can protect their identity and separate who they are from what they are doing such as: the use of anonymising and circumvention tools and encryption. ONO warns us that we need to know what we are doing when trying more advanced privacy techniques and provides a checklist for the best practises which everyone can implement in our daily use of email, mobile phones and online services.

Following is a preview for the Safe Email episode. Full length here.

With a callout to Global Voices Advocacy Access Denied Map, ONO'S GUIDE TO SAFE SURFING tells people how to stay safe while surfing online, specially when accessing sites that may be blocked. Following the promotional video, full length on the site.

You can learn more about ONO through Facebook, twitter (@onorobot), and more about online security through the Tactical Tech site.

Madagascar: Teachers Strike over Stipends Repressed by Armed Forces

Lova Rakotomalala — Thu, 10 May 2012 16:50:53 +0000

The teachers association in Madagascar has been on strike for a week [fr] over disagreement regarding their monthly wages. The protests have been repressed by tear gas launched by the armed forces [fr]. Students have also joined in the protests [mg] (via Jentilisa's photoblog).

Mali: Ansar Dine Islamists Wish to Salvage School Year in Gao

Greg Ahlswede — Wed, 09 May 2012 14:36:06 +0000

Aissata Ahmadou wrote [fr] on Maliweb.net: “The students remaining at Gao will not lose their school year. The Ansar Dine Islamists, in collaboration with a few important figures and teachers on site, have decided to organize the end-of-year exams and allow various students preparing for their Fundamental Studies Diploma and those preparing for the Baccalaureat to avoid losing a whole year.”

Spain: Barcelona Sieged During European Central Bank Meeting

Claudia Parra — Mon, 07 May 2012 18:57:26 +0000

This post is part of our special coverage Europe in Crisis.

On May 2, 3, and 4 the European Central Bank meeting took place in Barcelona, Spain, a city that became sieged by the police: 8,000 police were drafted into the Catalan capital, a total of 2,300 national police officers and 1,200 civil guards, plus 4,500 troopers (Mossos d’Esquadra).

For this meeting, Spain temporarily (from April 28 until May 4) suspended the Treaty of Schengen [es] on the border with France. The Schengen agreement eliminates internal border controls between some European countries and creates only one external border where entering controls to the Schengen Area. The Schengen Area comprises only some of the member states of the European Community.

Barcelona, police city. http://t.co/QlZ3g0bJ

‏

@premsaindignada: Jueces para la Democracia “suspender Schengen es de Estado democrático miope” http://bit.ly/BienvenidoMrBCEweb #bienvenidoMrBCE http://bit.ly/J2ccqP

@premsaindignada [ca]: Judges pro democracy: “to suspend Schengen is typical of an unthinking democratic state.” http://bit.ly/BienvenidoMrBCEweb [ca] #bienvenidoMrBCE [ca] http://bit.ly/J2ccqP [es].

Also through Twitter, the police itself warned the citizens in an extremely patronizing way:

@policia: Recordad: Hasta el viernes, 4, suspendido Tratado Schengen y restablecidos los controles fronterizos en España y se refuerzan en #Catalunya

@policia [es]: Remember: Schengen treaty suspended until May 4, border controls in Spain back to normal and reinforced in #Catalunya [es].

The suspension of the treaty is due to political reasons, in case any violent incidents were to happen between the so-called anti system groups and the groups in charge of the security during the meeting. This was a greater deployment than the one during the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, from snipers positioned in the Arts Hotel, where the economic ministers stayed, to random searches, stopping people on the street for no reason and searching their bags.

Such deployment resulted in 10 people arrested on the border, 18 people denied entrance to Spain, and more than 126 000 people searched (ID verification and even car search) while trying to cross the border [es]. People who had pending charges with the police were also arrested.

Riot police, Barcelona http://pic.twitter.com/o5kLKIhe

During the meeting, Barcelona did not witness the expected violence because the city turned its back on those attending the meeting; however, to a greater or lesser extent, there was some protesting:

@Acampadabcn; Recordar mostrar vuestro rechazo al BCE a las 21:00h en forma de cacerolada… Que nos oigan! http://bit.ly/cassoladaBCE #CassoladaBCE

@Acampadabcn [es/ca]: Don’t forget to show your rejection to the ECB at 9:00 p.m. in the form of cacerolada…let’s be heard! http://bit.ly/cassoladaBCE [es] #CassoladaBCE [ca]

On May 3, there was a student demonstration against budget cuts in public higher education and against the raise in tuition fees. Even though this demonstration was peaceful, the political leaders in charge behaved like bullies when they ordered the riot police to surround the last protesters and direct them in a provocative way, as can be seen in this photo and video.

Student demonstrators completely surrounded by riot police. http://imgur.com/tQ2cc

A comment from the video youtube account reads:

Yo estuve allí y te lo puedo explicar. Al final de una manifestación pacífica sin altercados, un grupo reducido de esa misma manifestación decidimos seguirla hasta una universidad de la zona donde había comida y actos por el tema de la subida de las tasas universitarias. A la altura de plaza Cataluña la policía que nos iba persiguiendo en furgonetas nos rodean sin ningun motivo, nos encierran con coacción y nos empiezan a grabar e intimidar.

I was there, and I can tell you. At the end of a peaceful demonstration with no violent incidents, a small group decided to keep going until we reached a nearby university, where there was food and some activity against the increase in tuition fees. When we reached Cataluña square, the police, who was following us in vans, surrounded us for no reason; they used coercion to close in on us, and they started recording and intimidating us.

This is how the right to protest is respected in Spain:

The European Central Bank (ECB) and its head, Mario Draghi, who was CEO of the World Bank and the European vice-president of Goldman Sachs, asked Spain to continue with the current reforms and to persevere in helping the banks.

This post is part of our special coverage Europe in Crisis.

Belgium: Video Shows Campaign to Curb Texting and Driving

Juliana Rincón Parra — Mon, 07 May 2012 14:43:43 +0000

The Impossible texting and driving test is part of a campaign to raise awareness to the dangers of texting using mobile devices while driving in Belgium. Several young people doing their behind the wheel driving test were surprised to know there was a new test section requiring them to text while driving. The dashboard cam tells the story of how these young people faced this new part of the test.

Brazil Approves Racial Quotas in Higher Education

Debora Baldelli — Sat, 05 May 2012 14:21:55 +0000

This post is part of our special coverage Indigenous Rights.

[All links lead to Portuguese language pages except when otherwise noted]

On April 26, 2012, in a plenary session of the Supreme Court of Brazil, the adoption of racial quota policies in higher education institutions across the country was unanimously approved. With this approval, universities, colleges and educational institutions are legally allowed to devote a specific percentage of places for students of African and/or indigenous origin.

The approval of the policy brings up again the controversial debate [en] on racial discrimination and racial inequality in the country, promoting important reflections and divided opinions.

Commemoration of the judgment of the Supreme Court on affirmative action. Photo of Emily Silberstein (CC BY 2.0).

The measure is a reflection of affirmative action policies being constitutional in the country since democratization in 1988. Diana Costa, on her blog, says that the “discriminatory process [that] affects people negatively are marked by stereotypes that consolidate them as socially inferior, incapable, degenerated, etc., allocating them in situations of sub-citizenship and civil risk.”

She also explains what affirmative actions are:

É um conjunto de políticas que compreendem que, na prática, as pessoas não são tratadas igualmente e, consequentemente, não possuem as mesmas oportunidades, o que impede o acesso destas a locais de produção de conhecimento e de negociação de poder.

It is a set of policies that, in practice, say that people are not treated equally and therefore do not have the same opportunities, preventing them the access to the production of knowledge and power of negotiation.

The blog Religiões Afro Brasileiras e Política (Afro Brazilian Religions and Policy) says that the result of affirmative action policies in the country through the quota system has already shown results of “a notorious growth in the proportion of graduated blacks and pardos [approximate translation: brown, coloured]”, between 1999-2009, according to IBGE data (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics).

The University of Brasilia (UNB) was the first educational institution to adopt the measure when, in 2004, it started reserving 20% of its university places exclusively for blacks, and some other amount for Indians, without the entry requirement of taking the regular university exam. The Democrats Political Party (DEM) started a lawsuit against UNB in 2009 for considering the racial quota system a kind of racial court (to judge people's race by the colour of their skin). But since UNB adopted the measure, several other higher education institutions also started adopting the quota system.

To make the search process easier, the NGO Educafro provides on its website a complete list of institutions offering quotas for public school students, black students, indigenous students or students with disabilities.

#CotasSim vs. #CotasNao (#YesQuotas vs. #NoQuotas)

Many people celebrated the unanimous approval of the adoption of the quota policy. During the vote, the Supreme Court ministers themselves were very positive about the decision. According to Minister Joaquim Barbosa, the only black among those who voted, “these measures are intended not only to combat manifestations of blatant discrimination, but discrimination in fact, that is absolutely rooted in society, and so ingrained, people do not perceive it”, reported G1.

Photo #YesQuotas from @PriscilaPila on Twitter.

Journalist and teacher Jeso Carneiro also celebrated the decision. In his blog, he said that:

O STF (…) honrou sua importante missão de defender a supremacia da Constituição. A decisão da corte máxima do país é uma vitória de toda a sociedade brasileira, especialmente do movimento negro, que, desde a década de 1980, vem defendendo com firmeza a aplicação de ações afirmativas para combater o racismo e a exclusão social dos negros neste país.

The Supreme Court (…) honored its important mission of defending the supremacy of the Constitution. The top court's decision is a victory for the Brazilian society, especially the black movement, that since the 1980s, has advocated strongly in the use of affirmative action to combat racism and social exclusion of blacks in this country.

On Twitter, through the hashtag #CotasSim, statements of support were intense.

Musician Sany Pitbull (‏@SanyPitbull) wrote:

A elite Branca brasileira tem uma divida à ser paga aos negros, aos pobres, aos índios e aos nordestinos desse país #cotassim

The Brazilian white elite has a debt to pay to black people, the poor, the Indians and northeastern in this country #yesquotas

Blogger and historian Conceição Oliveira ‏ (@maria_fro) added:

Cotas não inventa a racialização bando de hipócritas, a racialização já existe em um país racista que segrega jovens negros #CotasSim

The quotas did not invent racism [you] bunch of hypocrites, the racism already exists in a racist country that segregates young blacks #YesQuotas

However, not everyone agrees with the decision of the Supreme Court. Videoblogger Daniel Fraga argues in this video that in a country such as Brazil, where racial mixing is very high, it would be difficult to correctly define who really is black or white. This decision would be made based on a “visual criteria,” and mentions UNB's case of two twin brothers, one considered white and the other black, the latter gaining a quota place at the university.

Others argue that the quotas would only be an easy way out for the poor public primary and secondary education system, a claim refuted in an article published by the Federal University of Minas Gerais, which says that “it is a big mistake to think that in the field of democratic public policies, advances are produced by sequential steps: first, improve basic education, and then democratize the university. Both challenges are urgent and need to be taken emphatically and simultaneously.”

The approval also generated racist statements. On April 29, a shop in front of the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG) had a wall spray-painted with the words: “UFMG will turn black.”

Blog Brasil Escola explains the importance of a better understanding of racism in Brazil for understanding affirmative action policies in the country:

(…) a miscigenação não exclui os preconceitos. Nossa última constituição coloca a discriminação racial como um crime inafiançável. Entre nossas discussões proferimos, ao mesmo tempo, horror ao racismo e admitimos publicamente que o Brasil é um país racista. Tal contradição indica que nosso racismo é velado e, nem por isso, pulsante. Queremos ter um discurso sobre o negro, mas não vemos a urgência de algum tipo de mobilização a favor da resolução desse problema. Ultimamente, os sistemas de cotas e a criação de um ministério voltado para essa única questão demonstram o tamanho do nosso problema. Ainda aceitamos distinguir o negro do moreno, em uma aquarela de tons onde o último ocupa uma situação melhor que a do primeiro. Desta maneira, criamos a estranha situação onde “todos os outros podem ser racistas, menos eu… é claro!”. Isso nos indica que o alcance da democracia é um assunto tão difícil e complexo como a nossa relação com o negro no Brasil.

(…) racial mixing does not exclude prejudice. Our Constitution places racial discrimination as a non-bailable crime. From our discussions, we utter, at the same time, a horror of racism and admit publicly that Brazil is a racist country. This contradiction shows that our racism is veiled and, nevertheless, pulsating. We want to make a speech about the black, but do not see the urgency of some kind of mobilization for the resolution of this problem. Lately, quota systems and the creation of a single ministry to this issue shows the size of our problem. We still accept distinguish the black from the moreno [brown], in a scale of watercolour tones where the latter occupies a better situation than the prior one. Thus, we created the odd situation where “all others can be racist, except me, of course…”. This tells us that the scope of democracy is a subject as difficult and complex as our relationship with black people in Brazil.

The discussion will continue in the coming weeks since, besides this action, the Supreme Court is yet to decide the constitutionality of racial quotas when applied to a student who attended public school. It is worth noting that quotas are not mandatory - every educational institution may choose to adopt the policy or not. The University of São Paulo (USP), the largest higher education institution in Brazil, for example, does not use it.

This post is part of our special coverage Indigenous Rights.

This article was written in collaboration with Debora Baldelli.

Spain: Madrid Preparing for “Indignado” Anniversary

Elizabeth Rivera — Sat, 05 May 2012 00:24:35 +0000

This post is part of our special coverage Europe in Crisis.

A year ago, people in Spain awakened to how the devastating crisis they are facing was being managed. The peaceful protest - with no attachment to any political party - against the financial and political powers grew into a solid movement called “indignados” that went out to the streets nationwide to protest and organized a sit-in at the emblematic and centric Plaza del Sol in Madrid.

: The roads that lead to Plaza del Sol in Madrid. Taken from Madrilonia.org under CC BY-SA-3.0 license.

Now, after the government shift, the situation keeps worsening and more motives are coming up to keep on protesting. The austerity reforms that affect most Spaniards have strengthened the general discontent. The will for political and social changes towards a bigger democracy is growing. So, as it happened on last October 15, 2011, a global protest is expected to mark the first anniversary of the 15M (May 15).

The anniversary of 15M will be celebrated throughout Spain and promises a May full of citizen initiatives led mainly by neighbors and town assemblies and citizen groups. In an interview with Global Voices, Mari Angela, one of the coordinators and a member of the Las Letras neighbors assembly and of the international political group of Madrid, commented on the preparations for this year.

Since February, they have been gathering and agreeing upon an agenda, this month's program and its organization. The common objective is to achieve the political permanence on the streets of Madrid claiming the right to assembly and free speech.

The organization of such events started on February and is coordinated by an open and wide group composed by several teams, assemblies and commissions. For this occasion, four teams were put together to take the responsibility for communication and awareness, the protests of 12M (May 12), the sit-in at Plaza del Sol (in downtown Madrid) from May 12 to May 15, and the post-15M activities. The meetings take place each week at the Casablanca Social Center [es]. The Wednesday meetings are to align the issues managed by all four groups.

: Poster for 12M. Taken from Madrilonia.org under a CC Licence BY-SA-3.0.

The calendar has various milestone dates. On May 1 a popular meal was organized followed by an economy assembly at the Malasaña neighborhood in Madrid. Various proposals were presented, some initiatives and issues were discussed; among them the rejection of the project to create a European “Las Vegas” in Spain (EuroVegas) and the need to ensure a dignified job.

On May 9, Economy students have the intention to do a sit-in in front of the Health Ministry until May 12 when they will join the rest of the protest. Also, a meeting is planned next to Madrid's Assembly on May 10 to support a popular law proposal that would make water a public good.

12M is the big Protest Day. Replicating last October 15, several protests coming from the 4 cardinal points od the city will converge at Sol. Also several people assemblies, essential in the preparation of the “indignado” anniversary, will meet during the day to arrive at downtown at 21h. At midnight, the people gathered at Sol will raise a white handkerchief as a symbol against violence, wars and economic warfare.

The great novelty this year is the organization of a Social Forum in Madrid on May 19 and 20 that includes lectures, street talks, and a joint assembly together with Sol's. On May 26 the Malasaña Assembly proposes to work on the political celebration of the birth of people assemblies in Madrid.

Sol and its surroundings will host various movements that want to communicate their proposals and initiatives throughout theme plazas: the Green Wave [es] for education will stay at Sol, the blue plaza for the defense of public water will occupy Tirso de Molina Plaza, the white one that claims public quality health will sit-in in Santa Ana. Other issues like economy, housing, unemployment, feminism, environment and culture will also have their space in the capital's downtown.

The great final assembly will take place on May 15 at 7pm at Plaza del Sol. There, every citizen can approach the Information Point stand from May 1 to May 15 to participate in the assemblies.

In the informational blog Madrilonia.org [es]:

El 12M-15M es mucho más que una jornada de protesta, es la posibilidad de redescubrir una confianza construida en horizontal, de tú a tú. Una confianza que sirva para poner en marcha formas colectivas de protección y sostenibilidad. Todo el mundo es necesario para pensar, proponer, imaginar, crear.

The 12M-15M is more than a protest rally, it is the possibility to rediscover the trust built horizontally, face to face. A trust that can help start colective forms of protection and sustainability. Everybody is necessary to think, propose, imagine and create.

This post is part of our special coverage Europe in Crisis.

Russia: Tolstoy's ‘War and Peace' Legacy Today

Donna Welles — Fri, 04 May 2012 13:05:58 +0000

RuNet Echo continues its series examining the 200th anniversary of Tsarist Russia's Victory over Napoleon by examining Leo Tolstoy's novel ‘War and Peace' and the role it plays today online. Although the book was initially published in 1869, its story begins in July 1805 and progresses through the 1812 French invasion, the Battle of Borodino, and the occupation of Moscow, all the way to the French retreat and rebuilding of Russia.

A recent survey of over 100 respected British and American authors revealed that ‘War and Peace' is considered to be one of the greatest works of the past two centuries. Russian blogger paradise-apple enthusiastically reported these results in a post titled, “Anna Karenina Won!”

These works were listed as the nineteenth century's best:

‘Anna Karenina' by Leo Tolstoy, ‘Madam Bovary' by Gustave Flaubert, ‘War and Peace' by Tolstoy, ‘Adventures of Huckleberry Finn' by Mark Twain, Anton Chechov's short stories, ‘Middlemarch' by George Eliot, ‘Moby Dick' by Herman Melville, ‘Great Expectations' by Charles Dickens; ‘Crime and Punishment' by Fyodor Dostoevsky, and ‘Emma' by Jane Austin.

Additionally, TheRussianAmerica.com reviewed the authors whom the British and American judges selected as the greatest writers of all time. Again, Tolstoy was listed at the top, followed by William Shakespeare, James Joyce, Vladimir Nabokov, and Fyodor Dostoevsky.

Kramskoy's portrait of Leo Tolstoy (1873), public domain.

On the RuNet today, discussions about ‘War and Peace' and Tolstoy's literary style are common, often addressing a variety of issues such as the proper translation of the title, the length and depth of the work, and Tolstoy's use of the French language.

Translation of the Title

The title ‘War and Peace' is written in Russian as ‘Вoйнá и мир' (Voina i mir). ‘Voina' is the Russian word for ‘war.' In the context of Tolstoy's novel, ‘mir' is traditionally translated as ‘peace,' although an alternate translation of ‘mir' in a variety of contexts is ‘the world.'

Recently, two RuNet Twitter users debated whether or not the common translation, ‘War and Peace,' is what Tolstoy intended, rather than ‘War and the World.'

Evgeny:

Вчера узнал, что слово “мир” в “Война и мир” Толстого имеет значение “сообщество”, а не “перемирие”.

Yesterday I learned that the word “mir” in Tolstoy's “Voina i mir” carries the meaning “the world,” not “peace.”

Sergei:

А я не согласен. Я считаю, что он сравнивал их. Ведь у него через том описывается то война, то мир (перемирие).

I disagree. My reading is that he was contrasting [war and peace]. Why, he writes about war and about peace throughout the book.

Evgeny:

Влияние войны на общество.

[Tolstoy wrote about] the influence of war on the world.

Sergei:

Ты так говоришь, как-будто сам Толстой встал из гроба и тебе об этом рассказал :) Это же не математика!

You speak as though Tolstoy himself somehow rose from the grave and explained everything to you. :) This can't be explained like math!

Evgeny:

Добавь к моему мессаджу “мне кажется”))

Well, add a postscript that this is my personal opinion. :)

Length and Depth of the Novel

Famous for being one of the longest books ever written in either the Cyrillic or Latin alphabets, ‘War and Peace' is divided into four volumes. The novel is unique for its detailed and realistic discussion of the nature of war. Tolstoy combined his own Crimean War experiences with interviews he conducted with survivors of the French invasion to write something that resembles Thucydides' ‘History of the Peloponesian War' as much as it does a traditional novel.

On Twitter, RuNet users often focus on the magnitude of the work in terms of both its size and gravity, frequently referencing other Russian authors like Pushkin, Dostoevsky, and Bulgakov.

Lira:

Школьники, которым предстоит прочитать 4 тома «Войны и мира» очень жалеют, что на дуэли убили не Толстого, а Пушкина!

Schoolchildren, who will have to read the four volumes of ‘War and Peace,' are filled with regret that it was Pushkin who died [prematurely] in a duel, and not Tolstoy!

Ruslan Tomatov:

Читал войну и мир, только позже, когда проникся мировоззрением толстого. у булгакова до сих пор люблю только записки юного врача

I read ‘War and Peace' only later, when I appreciated Tolstoy's worldview. Until now, of Bulgakov's I've only liked ‘A Young Doctor's Notebook.'

Tolstoy's Use of French in the Novel

The French language was effectively the language of Russia's nobility, when Napoleon's army invaded in 1812. Tolstoy underscored the elite's relationship to this foreign language by writing parts of ‘War and Peace,' including the opening paragraph, in French.

In comments following an April 2012 post, Russian LiveJournal blogger dohlik_nemruchi discussed the practice of creating art in a foreign language, comparing ‘War and Peace' to Russian filmmaker Alexander Sokurov's award-winning 2011 film ‘Faust,' which was made in German. LJ user menelik3 reminded readers that some of Tolstoy's ‘War and Peace' had been written in French, arguing that Sokurov had likely used German simply to incite controversy. dohlik_nemruchi responded that Tolstoy's use of French was a tool to show progression in the novel — that ‘War and Peace' is initially in both Russian and French, with the latter fading as the plot develops and anti-French sentiments grow.

Some Russian bloggers prefer not to analyze Tolstoy's literary style, instead simply posting notable and perhaps timeless lines from ‘War and Peace' to their journals as status updates:

**Lovely Girl**:

Обратите все ваше внимание на самого себя, наложите цепи на свои чувства и ищите блаженства не в страстях, а в своем сердце. источник блаженства не вне, а внутри нас…

Turn all of your attention inward, restrain your feelings, and look for bliss not in passion, but in your own heart. The source of bliss is not outside, but inside us…

Philippines: Discussion About K-12 Education Reform

Mong Palatino — Fri, 04 May 2012 11:03:14 +0000

Angel de Dios compiles articles and commentaries on the proposed K-12 education reform in the Philippines. The government plans to add two more years in the basic education cycle aside from revamping the curriculum

Trinidad & Tobago: Education Situation

Janine Mendes-Franco — Wed, 02 May 2012 18:09:07 +0000

The Eternal Pantomime takes issue with the Minister of Education's modus operandi: “It seems every week this minister finds new ways to rub stakeholders of education in the wrong way…and he seems hellbent on antagonising the nation’s teachers.”