Archive for
March 7th, 2006


Stories

The Burning of Diego Portales 

a small portrait of this author Rosario Lizana · 16:34

No, Diego Portales is not living person. This Chilean building has a lot of historic memory in it walls. Since democracy arrived in our lives, in 1998, this building had been used as the central base for counting votes and for announcing the official results of the vote. A branch is occupied by the Defence Ministry. Before that, in 1972, the president Salvador Allende declared it a Cultural Centre, and in 1973, after the coup, it became the base for the Pinochet administration. Jorge Pérez explains this and other details in his blog (ES) , that are necessary to understand the historic value of this building.

The official reason for the fire, is that the building's electrical system hasn’t had proper maintenance. The fire damaged 40% of the whole structure. About the maintenance issue, Jorge Sepúlveda posts in his blog (ES) “the institutionalism falls down because of bad maintenance” he explains about different historic events and personal experience that helps to understand why these things happen, and how they are reflected in culture.

Another view of the situation comes from Pitufa, a witness of the fire, she was with some friends in the neighbourhood and wrote that the smell made them walk to Diego Portales building. While they were on their way, Pitufa shot photos, which are available here.

4 comments · »»

Women's Day & Solidarity 

This author has no photo Farid Pouya · 14:16

Iranian women and bloggers are organizing conferences for Women’s day. Zannevesht (Persian), an Iran based blogger & journalist, informs us that at 8th of March a conference will be organized in social sciences faculty in university of Tehran. Main topic will be violence against women.

Cafe 84 (Persian), an Iran based blogger, informs us that another conference has been organized in Law faculty in university of Tehran. There was a book exposition too. Only books about prostitution, street kids and begging were banned.

Shahram Kholdi, UK based blogger & academic, has analysed Roya Hakakian's piece in the Wall Street journal. Mrs. Hakakian said there is no real solidarity between Iranians to back protest movements such as bus strike. Mr.Kholdi writes:

“I agree with Roya that the Iranian Human Rights Activist Community has failed to show the much expected solidarity, not only in supporting Tehran's Bus Drivers' Strike, but also in acting upon many other instances of severe violation of human rights. We, those of us who claim to promote human rights (especially those of us who prefer to focus on Iran) to ensure that the Tehran's Bus Drivers' Strike to be appear as frequently as possible on the front page of as many major Western newspapers. Iranian human rights activists have failed to mount a publicity campaign throughout the Western media to expose the most recent atrocities committed by the Islamic Republic's Judiciary-Intelligence complex internationally. From the young female journalist Elham Forutan, who was even rumoured to have attempted suicide in the Evin prison, to the Bus Drivers' Strike, we could and should have done more and we have not.
I disagree with her that we have not been doing much at all. At least in the blogosphere, there have been many who have been active to ensure that the voice of the Striking Bus Drivers to be echoed as much as possible. Unfortunately, the Blogosphere's reach is limited and cannot be exaggerated. Starting with Regime Change Iran in December 2005, to Freethoughts Babak Seradjeh's piece . Indeed, Farid Pouya covered on Global Voices online, as well as his own weblog. These are just two examples, there are many others.

3 comments · »»

This week in Israel: elections in three weeks? (yawn) 

a small portrait of this author Lisa N. Goldman · 12:31

So here we are, three weeks before national elections - and nobody in the Israeli blogosphere has anything to say. This, despite all the upheavals of the past few months: The surprise election of Amir Peretz, the former leader of Histadrut, Israel's largest labour union, as leader of the Labour party; despite Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's decision to leave the Likud party and found Kadima; despite the fact that Sharon is now lying in an apparently irreversible coma after suffering a massive cerebral hemmhorage two months ago; and despite the victory of Hamas in the Palestinian national elections.

Given all that drama, you'd think that people would be really fired up about the elections, wouldn't you? But nooooo……

Perhaps next week, once the television broadcasts of the campaign messages are in full swing, Israeli bloggers will have something to say about the elections. Meanwhile, this week I've just put together some random posts that, taken as a whole, give readers a sort of intimate snapshot of what's going on in Israel - behind the headlines.

Stephanie Fried, a freelance journalist who blogs at Stefanella's Drive Thru, illustrates the complexity of life in Israel in this description of the people she met at a Tel Aviv hospital ward, where her son was hospitalized following a fever-induced seizure. Stephanie's son is half Danish; two of his fellow patients were children from Gaza, accompanied by their mothers; and a third was a 12 year-old Israeli girl whose father was an undercover agent in the occupied territories during the first intifada. And there they were, all being treated in the same ward of a Tel Aviv hospital. This post is required reading for anyone who thinks that the Palestinian-Israeli conflict can be defined in absolute terms.
(more…)

1 comment · »»
Funders
Sponsors
Korea content
supported by		 OutBlaze Japan content
supported by		 SanrioTown