Stories from Quick Reads from October, 2010
Brazil: Dilma Rousseff elected president
Winning 55.7% of the total votes, Dilma Rousseff today became Brazil's first female president [pt]. Voter turnout was also high, with estimates lying between 92 and 96%. We will bring you views from the Brazilian blogosphere as they come in.
Bangladesh: Participating In Global Hand Washing Day 2010
“The students of The Dhaka Project staged 6 different drama’s addressing the importance of awareness of Global Hand Washing Day on 30th October 2010,” informs Touhid at The Dhaka project blog.
Cote d'Ivoire : SMS Service Suspended During Elections to Prevent Violence
diabymohamed informs on Twitter that in anticipation of the presidential election of Sunday, Oct. 31 in Cote d'Ivoire, the Ivorian Telecom Authority (ATCI) decided to suspend short text message services, a decision that is reasonable for some because of potential messages of violence : “RT @2romeo: #Abidjan closing of SMS...
Cote d'Ivoire : Citizen and Collaborative Election Monitoring System
The internetsansfrontieres.com website informs [Fr]: “For the presidential elections in Cote d'Ivoire on Oct. 31, Internet Sans Frontières and Akendewa set up a citizen and collaborative election monitoring system. The system allows for direct access to citizen reporting.”
Georgia: Halloween protests & revelry
The Young Georgians examines the history of Halloween, and not least in Georgia where controversy often results in religious groups objecting to young people holding their own events. This year is no exception with Orthodox Christians planning to stage protests while several events in clubs and public gatherings are scheduled...
Japan: Photography Project ‘Yamanote Loop’
Steve from the Fwdmovement site has kicked off a photography project called Yamanote Loop. The project will cover each of the 29 stations in Tokyo's JR Yamanote Line, starting with Mejiro Station.
Armenia: Nationalist backlash against Azerbaijan film festival
Unzipped and Le Retour (in 3 Parts) comment on the nationalist backlash to a festival of films from Azerbaijan to be staged in Yerevan, Armenia, next week. The former says that the negative reaction is hypocritical when the same nationalists decry attempts to prevent artistic expression and freedom of speech...
Egypt: From Dakar … with love
Fatma Emam, an Egyptian female blogger, wrote about her experience in searching for her real identity during her visit to Dakar.
Egypt: Unauthorized Hebrew translation of a novel
M. Lynx Qualey, commented on the latest news that Egyptian author Alaa Al Aswany has lashed out at an unauthorized Hebrew translation of his most popular novel “The Yacoubian building“.
Egypt: The Story of Totalitarianism
Egyptian-in-USA wrote interesting reflections from George Orwell's novel 1984, projecting them to the current political situation in Egyptian today.
Palestine: Autumn in Gaza
Lina, who blogs at Live From Gaza gives us a view of the brooding autumnal sky from her window.
MENA: Women Writing; Women Reading
Canadian expat, Maryanne Gabbani, recommended a few of her favorite female writers from the Arab world. In a way, she is trying to prove her experience that while life for women in the Middle East is all sunshine and lollipops, women are not the doormats that they are imagined to...
Vietnam: Analysis on blog arrests
Saigonnezumi from Vietnam provides some background to the “crackdown’ of bloggers in Vietnam in the past year.
‘Bloggers for Malaysia’ group
The ‘Bloggers for Malaysia’ group was formed this month to protect the welfare of bloggers in Malaysia in light of the recent cases filed by the police against online critics of the government.
Malaysia: Universal Service Provision fund
Bloggers from Malaysia demand an accounting of the Universal Service Provision fund which is being collected from telecommunication companies in order to improve internet connectivity in the rural areas.
Malaysia: Questionable overseas trips of tourism minister
Wee Choo Keong, a blogger-parliamentarian from Malaysia questions the cost of the 16 overseas trips made by the tourism minister last year.
Mexico: Drug Gangs Using Guerrilla Tactics?
Tim Johnson says that, “Thursday’s killing of nine police is important for what it reveals about the tactical military capabilities of drug gangs.”
Pakistan: Paypal Denied
Faisal Khan updates the struggle of Pakistani net users to bring Paypal to Pakistan.
Pakistan: Who’s perception is this?
Faisal Kapadia at Deadpan Thoughts questions the transparency and methodology of the Transparency International's Pakistan operation and the validity of its corruption perception index.
Tanzania: Vote, don't wage war
“Today is the last day of campaigning before Tanzania and Zanzibar go to the polls to elect a new Government. Elections in Zanzibar are extremely close-fought events, though you wouldn’t guess it to look at the results over the last forty years. The ruling party, CCM (Chama Cha Mapinduzi, The...
South Africa: South Africans end week of “secrecy bill” protests
“On Wednesday, just before South African lawmakers were scheduled to debate amendments to the controversial Protection of Information Bill, thousands of protesters marched to the gates of Parliament in Cape Town to oppose the measure, which they called an apartheid-style secrecy bill,” Clifford Derrick reports.
