Archive for
May 16th, 2006
Stories
Bloggers Opinions About a Proposed Euthanasia Law
A new law proposed to legislate euthanasia in Chile has been very controversial. Two main reasons: 1.) it was proposed by two deputes from the government coalition (left wing) without overall support of it, and 2.) the debate concerning “the right to live.”
About the political scenario Victor Hugo (ES) posts that even in developed countries this is controversial, and “maybe there are no agreements, no solutions, but what we are seeing in Chile, is that they are eliminating a debate because this could produce political or governance problems.”
The left wing doesn’t want to accept proposals that aren’t include in the government programme. A lot of controversy have been stirred before the project got into congress.
Esteban Valenzuela (ES), writes in his blog many of the reasons why this issue is controversial as “it doesn’t correspond submitted censure to the Leal Table (Leal is a parliament in charge of the discussion table) because he made her duty on a project that is constitutional” referring to some politician asking to censure the legal state to process the project.
Three social perspectives of why this is controversial in Chile can be found in C.A.V.G (ES)
He posts that doctors have to support life, the catholic church believes that god is the owner of the human life, and we only administrate it, and social issues just don’t have laws in this issues. He also writes that this was a family dinner conversation on Sunday.
We only have to wait to see if the politician will use the legal process to discuss this law, or if he will first be censured.
Ahmadinejad's Letter & Tehran Book Fair
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's letter to his US counterpart, George Bush, has attracted a lot of attention in international media. Several leading journals such as Washington Post or Le Monde, in France, published letter and tried to analyze that. This 18 pages letter has been a hot topic among Iranian bloggers who discussed it during last week and shared their opinions about it. As usual, ideas are very different, one from another. We look at some key topics concerning this letter, in Iranian blogosphere.
Breaking Taboo
Koroush Alyani, an Iran based blogger, talks about how taboo words have been used in this letter. He says, Mr.Bush was called by Iranian President, Excellency and Israel was called state. Blogger adds several times his own articles were sent back from his journal’s editor (Persian), because he has written Israel instead of regime which is occupying Quds. According to blogger, Ahmadinejad has started to use these words which he avoided until now.
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China: Cultural Revolution turns forty
One interesting aspect of blogging in China is that the strict controls on newspapers, magazines, television and news websites from time-to-time leaves many bloggers with the responsibility and freedom to determine and define coverage of major issues and stories while mainstream media, despite all their resources, have no choice but to remain silent.
May 16 this year is one of those such times. Forty years ago today, Mao Zedong issued the infamous ‘notice', a manifesto of sorts, which sparked the power and class struggles that kept the Cultural Revolution going and saw millions of lives wasted until his death in 1976.
The competition one would normally see between rival media outlets seems to have been left behind by Chinese bloggers for a more results-based sharing model in which content is seldom repeated and individuals pursue their own interests which leads to a greater whole.
Starting off strongly but informatively is the Big Shapeless Bull (大牛无形) blogger who posts and translates two American magazine covers from the mid-1960s and suggests better ways to search for Cultural Revolution-related information online:
今天是个纪念日…知道这个日子而故意不说或者回避,甚至要打击知道这个日子并且说出来的人,比希特勒更法西斯.
顺便说一下,在今天的百度,你不可能用文化大革 命直接搜索出你要的东西,百度会告诉你:您输入的关键词可能涉及不符合相关法律法规的内容。
Bangladesh Blog Buzz
The latest happenings in Bangladeshi blogs around the world:
* Politics: Addabaz criticizes the stand-off between the government and the opposition regarding electoral reform. He notes that people of Bangladesh are suffering and getting tired of this unfortunate political crisis.
Salam Dhaka lists top ten things usually done by an MP in Bangladesh.
Dr. Rumi of Dristipat is critic about dynasty leadership in Bangladesh. His article has generated an interesting discussion on the subject in the comments sections. Change Bangladesh Project has started a blog to create awareness among voters to choose the appropriate leader in the coming election.
* Living: Tasneem Khalil links to the Daily Star's feature ‘The Roots of the Fairness Fetish', which goes deep into the complex of fairness (more…)
Indian Bloggers are talking education, politics and marriage
Indian bloggers are consumed with a couple of social and political issues this week. These topics include reservation in education, state elections, and that age old institution called marriage.
Reservations or the quota system in the Indian education system has fired up the creative juices of many Indian bloggers across the world. Reservations also known as affirmative, action has been a hot topic in India for the past few weeks. The government announced a new quota policy, which was met with a lot of resistance by students, especially from medical colleges. The medical students from New Delhi were the first to protest, and now the protests have spread to other parts of the country including Bombay and Bangalore. Some students have gone on a hunger strike to create an awareness about this issue.
Beau Peep takes a look at how this whole reservation issue unraveled, and says that the India of yesteryears and the India of 2006 is as different as chalk and cheese.
K2 of ThisandThat's line of thinking on reservation is that it is not a feasible option at the college and graduate school levels. K2 says that it makes more sense to have some kind of reservation system at the primary and secondary level of education.
Amit says give reservations a chance. Reading his posting it sounds like he is proposing some kind of a common cause approach (more…)
This week in the African women’s blogsphere
As diverse as ever, African women have been writing about a range of issues.
14 May was Mother’s Day in some parts of the world and African women honoured the important women in their lives.
Adaure congratulates all mothers and grandmothers and says her mother is the best anyone can ask for. Meanwhile, Prousette has written an excellent post honouring her mother-in-law who she says has been an inspiration. Of this special woman Prousette writes, “She has been a blessing and gone out of her way to make my journey with her beloved son easier. She is not perfect and neither am I but our imperfections have been a source of laughter and not conflict”.
Black Looks has written a post on cancer and racism where she says that it is difficult to tell the number of women dying of cancer in Africa, Asia and South America as there is little statistical information while black women in America and South Africa are more likely to die of breast cancer. Black Looks emphasises the importance of regular breast examination but notes that this would be difficult for “the majority of women do not have access to basic medical care let alone blood tests, mammograms and scans”.
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Links for Tue, 2006-05
Generation Consciente, Une Autre Afrique posts (Fr) a list of French universities, centers, laboratories and other French institutions that specialize in the study of Africa.
“Cameroonian authorities have recently launched a national outreach campaign on the new criminal procedural code,” says (Fr) Fojrega. The code is a hybrid between the procedures of the francophone half of the country and those of the anglophone half, explains the blog.
At AlterPresse, Myriam Merlet predicts (Fr) an upcoming backlash to the thriving Haitian feminist movement. Certain anti-feminists, she says, “know how to take advantage of media (…) to spread arguments about ‘women who beat women' and/or men.”
neweurasia rounds up the state of freedom of the press in Central Asia.
ArmYouth Blog reports on two forum discussions on the Nagorno Karabakh conflict and women's role in conflict resolution.
Boli-Nica says not everything was friendly between Evo Morales and Lula da Silva as Latin American leaders met with their UN counterparts in Vienna. Briegel Busch says that Lula's dialogue with Evo Morales was much more firm than was reported by the press (ES). Meanwhile, Jim Shultz compares AP and Reuters coverage of the Vienna meeting and concludes that coverage of Morales' meeting with da Silva is “in the eye of the beholder.” In a comment, however, Eduardo Ávila remarks that “it makes sense that headlines are different because the Saturday morning breakfast meeting added new developments from what was written during the week.”
Sue writes about Georgia's martial history, its penetration into culture, and what it means for the country's future.
JJ's travelogue on biking around Kyrgyzstan's Issyk Kul (”Hot Lake”) continues with a post about an evening in Tamchy and the Tamchy to Balykchi stretch.
Diablo Rojo [ES} is the new weblog of Panamanian chef Melissa De Leòn who won this year's Bloggie for best Latin American Weblog with Cooking Diva. She is also a contributor to Global Voices and has even started a podcast [ES] in which she explains the significance of the “Diablo Rojo” in Panama. Jorge Yau [ES] recently interviewed [ES] Melissa on Blogs Panama.
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