Archive for
May 19th, 2006

   

Stories

Russia: Blogger Dies on Mount Elbrus

Veronica Khokhlova · 18:53 · Eastern & Central Europe

Aleksandr Antonov
Aleksandr Antonov (aka LJ user caesar_rb)
1979-2006

Aleksandr Antonov's last LJ post was a very happy one: he was going on a two-week vacation to conquer Mount Elbrus. Here's what he wrote on April 30 (RUS), as LJ user caesar_rb:

I'm going to Elbrus!

So, my dear comrades, I'm leaving LJ for the next two weeks today. Beer, vodka and women Mountains and fresh air await me. And yesterday we had banya [sauna] and shashlyk [barbeque], there was a family holiday in the evening, which lasted till 3 am. And I forgot to go to bed because at 3:40 I took an elektrichka [commuter train] to the capital :)

Bye bye to you all :)

I hope no one is going to un-friend me ;)

On May 12, someone posted a comment to this post, with a link to a Russian tabloid story about two groups of alpinists (Russian and Ukrainian) who vanished on Elbrus; the story mentioned Aleksandr and his younger brother, Nikolay (the only one who survived).

First, there was disbelief; then there was despair mixed with hope. Finally, rest-in-peace notes began to arrive.

Currently, there are 285 comments on Aleksandr's last post: ten pages.

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Grenada's Chinese Village

Georgia Popplewell · 14:27 · East Asia , Americas

Grenada

From the Caribbean Free Photo photoblog:

This rather quaint archway marks the entrance to the construction site for Grenada's new National Stadium in Queen's Park, which is being built with funding, expertise and manpower provided by the People's Republic of China. With 500-plus construction workers from China living and working on the site, the area has virtually been transformed into a Chinese village, complete with garden.

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Blogging, The New Journalism Frontier

Iria Puyosa · 13:50 · Americas

Este artículo también está disponible en español.

The following article addresses five questions asked by university faculty member and digital journalism advocate, Zinnia Martínez, in her weblog, Periodismo Interactivo.

The questions were the following:

• How journalism has been incorporated into Venezuelan blogosphere?

• What Venezuelan blogosphere add to Venezuelan journalism?

• Do you think that journalism can be practiced in the blogosphere without being a journalist? (Translator note: In Venezuela, college graduates on journalism have to affiliate to a professional bar in order to be lawfully allowed to practice that profession)

• Are Venezuelan journalists ready for undertaking the blogosphere routines and to take part in blogosphere conversations?

• What you think would happen if online Venezuelan newspapers integrate weblogs into their websites?

All over the world, journalism as a technique has been incorporated almost unconsciously into blogging, partially because bloggers have made journalism’s discourse structures their own, since they tend to be customarily information consumers—some of them passionate and compulsive. Nonetheless, blogging overcomes the rigid over-simplicity of journalism by adding the stylistic powerfulness of “oral tales” and friends’ conversations. In addition, the best weblogs incorporate the resources of linking, referencing, quoting as well as pictures and graphics. Thus, they present a new public language, which excels the journalistic language. We are talking about the best weblogs of course. There are others… better not to talk about.

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Arabisk - The Arabic Bloggers Ken

Haitham Sabbah · 12:29 · Middle East & North Africa

The following is an abbreviated translation from some of the Arabic-language blogsphere.

Music…

Amal, in her latest cartoon:

WaWa

“See my Wawa, kiss my Wawa.” The Wawa is the little tiny hurt “ouch”..

In this cartoon; a poor bleeding Palestinian child is begging from a wealthy Arabian man who seems not giving attention and busy listening to one of the most famous, yet currently the most seductive singer in the Arab world, Haifa Wahbi.

Quoting the late Ghassan Kanafani (a famous Palestinian novelist, revolutionary journalist and writer), Amal writes:

اننا نرفض أن تكون الاغاني التي تقدمها اذاعتنا هي وجهنا الفني، و نعتبرها اهانة تنزل بنا : شعبا و حضارة و ذوقا، نعتبرها تشويها متعمدا و مقصودا لقيمنا و مستوانا، و استبذالا لكل ما هو خير و جميل و نبيل في حياتنا، بكلمة اخرى : مؤامرة خطيرة على جيلنا الفتي ، و تسليط دكتاتورية رخيصة على اخلاقنا، افسادنا و تشويهنا، و تحكيم حفنة ممن لا يمثلون قيمنا في اثمن ما نملك
غسان كنفاني - 1968
We refuse to be tagged by this type of radio songs, and we consider it an insult assailing us, our people, our culture and taste. We consider it to be deliberate and intentional distortion of values, and repulsive to what is good and beautiful and noble in our lives. In other words; a serious conspiracy against the young generation, and a cheap dictatorship against our morals, an arbitration by a handful who do not represent the values of our most precious and valuable assets.
Ghassan Kanafani - 1968

Speaking of the Wawa, Iyas and Laith has produced the Jordanian version of the Wawa song (MP3). On the other hand, Haitham wrote a funny quick tutorial of the Wawa and how to treat it supported by seductive photos of the famous singer, Haifa Wahbi.

Iraq… (more…)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

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Around West Africa

Oluniyi David Ajao · 11:45 · Sub-Saharan Africa

The Trials & Tribulations of a Freshly-Arrived Denizen…of Ghana's beef this week is about the poor health service in Ghana.

More on Public Health care, or Korle-Bu; & How ECOBANK Won the Day

I woke up to the news on CITI-FM about the 14-yr-old boy who was suing Korle-Bu for having been operated on the wrong leg. Briefly taken aback, I was very happy that I had been given the opportunity to comment on something that had preoccupied me the whole weekend, and that was evidently the passing of Nana Amma, mentioned earlier, who had passed away from complications surrounding an operation for brain tumour.

A blog about the Fulani of Burkina Faso, Under the Acacias blogs about God, AIDS, and manicures

Have we lost sight of God, or re-made him in our own image? These unsettling and provocative observations and questions come from an evangelical Christian friend, who has given me permission to share them with you.

“I find myself in the place where my view of God is shifting. Well, maybe that's premature. I guess I've realized that as much as I would try to deny it, my God is very white & very Western. I've been reading outside my comfort zone lately, and have realized that I can't reconcile my God to the world I see. Clearly the problem isn't with God, it’s with me.

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Advocacy: Help protect global bloggers

A small portrait of the translator Rachel Rawlins · 03:37 · Freedom of Speech , Cyber-Activism

Bloggers, like others at the forefront of activities promoting freedom of speech and information, can run into trouble with the authorities. At Global Voices we have had first hand experience of this with the illegal detention of one of our editors, Hao Wu. He has now been held for three months by the Chinese authorities at an undisclosed location, denied access to his family and lawyer.

The most recent victim of state displeasure is the award-winning Egyptian blogger Alaa Abd El Fatah who is one among many detained during peaceful protests advocating democratic change and supporting the independence of the country's judiciary.

Immediate and widespread web-based action was launched to campaign to Free Alaa! involving a number of initiatives, the most recent of which is a Free Alaa Frappr Map.

In order to help aggregate all the actions on behalf of bloggers at risk we have set up a page on Global Voices tracking current cases. We also have a wiki page - Global Voices Advocacy - where anyone can add information about bloggers under threat and actions being taken on their behalf.

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