Archive for
June 13th, 2006
Stories
Oops! Mahathir's done it again
Earlier this week former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad was again in the news when he said he was disappointed with his successor Abdullah Badawi, and that Badawi was not his first choice of succssor anyway. In his usual blunt style Mahathir also lambasted some Cabinet members, who had served under him and are now arrayed behind Badawi, for not accepting their responsibility in collective decision making.
His statement sparked a variety of views and a free for all fistfight in the blogosphere. Many of the bloggers criticised Mahathir for being churlish but in a typically Malaysian twist to things other bloggers also took to task others. Patriot , for instance, took to task former Deputy Prime Minister Musa Hitam for praising Badawi's reticence in commenting on Mahathir's comments. And Freedom in Solidarity took to task the Ministers who served under Mahathir who agreed with his projects and now have blown like the wind and is now helping Badawi dismantle them -and also criticizing mahathir publicly for attacking their new boss.
Russia: Independence Day Surveys
One day after Russia marked its Independence Day, LJ user larinax - Ksenia Larina, Radio Ekho Moskvy host - found herself mystified by the results of a survey conducted on one of the Ekho shows (RUS):
[…] To the question “Where would you like to live? - In the Soviet Union or in today's Russia?” 62 (!!!) percent of the audience responded - in the Soviet Union. I find it incredible. And no nostalgia, and no protest against Putin will ever make me choose this road to darkness. I wonder if the internet voting will be different. It's a different audience, after all. Though young people, too, shock me by their delusional notion of the USSR. And no documentaries, no feature movies will ever convince them of the opposite. […]
Here is the tiniest fraction of the responses that Larina's entry drew (139 so far):
daisy_gorgeous: I was both surprised and not by this percentage. But there used to be good things, too, Ksenia! I talked to a friend in the States the other day and he gave me a mathematical proof that, despite all the minuses of the structure of the USSR, despite the nonsense of [having to be like everyone else], etc., the idea made lots of sense. :) […]
larinax: You know, there used to be this cartoon - bum-looking, emaciated Marx and Lenin are begging for money in the street. Marx tells Lenin dreamily: “But still, the idea was indeed pretty good!..”
[…]
Voices from Central Asia and the Caucasus
The Pamirs in sight, Kyrgyzstan
Welcome to the latest roundup of the Central Asian and Caucasian blogosphere, brought to you bi-weekly by neweurasia. This edition reaches you from sunny Berlin, where the World Cup is in full swing (making this roundup inevitably brief).
Unfortunately, the Azeri blogosphere is still underrepresented - so if you’re a blogger writing on/from Azerbaijan, be sure to drop us a line with your link. (more…)
This Week In Palestinian Blogs: Tragedy at The Beach
Tragedy and shock has captured the minds and hearts of Palestinian bloggers this week. The Israeli shelling of Gaza which lead to the death of several civilians including women and children, has some calling it Bloody Friday.
As Palestinian families built sand castles on a Gaza beach an Israeli shell shattered their peaceful day. Blogger and human rights activist, Mona El-Farra best describes the scene with the story of a little girl who lost both her parents and three brothers and sisters.
Moi posts a video from a news report filmed after the attack and with absolute sadness says:
“I cannot get her voice out of my head. Her screams pierced through my body and soul as she began to fathom the fate of her father lying lifelessly in front of her. “Yaaaabaaaa” means “Daaaaddyyyy”. Her Daddy is no more. Her Mommy is no more. Her siblings are no more.”
The video has had it’s affect on other Palestinian bloggers such as Haitham Sabbah who says: “While watching all this and more on Palestine TV and Aljazeera, I, my wife and all my kids, all started crying.”
(more…)
World Cup: Running with the Ronaldos in the blogosphere
While the Brazilian team waits for its debut in Germany, it's the buzz around the football personalities that fuels the overheated blogosphere. Brazilians love to talk, and now nothing is more important to talk about than the World Cup. While the ball hasn't yet rolled for the champions, the media are already caught by the fever, and a nation of would-be football coaches is meddling with news and analyses in ways that would fit better the gossip columns of the tabloids.
That's especially true for Ronaldo, the player who still gets most of the media attention. From foot blisters to his model girlfriend — to say nothing of the debate with President Lula about food and drink excesses — the forward is always on spot in the World Cup non- coverage of football. The blogosphere follows the pattern, and goes beyond.
“The TV coverage insists on showing Ronaldo's foot blisters, the fever, the images of the ‘The Phenomenal One' playing the DJ in a night club on his day off, without mentioning the misunderstandings with President Lula”
Facts and gossips on the team - Visual and Verbal Politics“Lula could have avoided mentioning Ronaldo's fatness in the video conference with the Brazilian team. Perhaps his intention was not clearly stated and emphatic when he said, ‘I've met Ronaldo personally and he is skinny, but everybody is saying he is fat….' But it is important to mention the report of André Kfouri about the situation. According to the ESPN journalist present at the conference, Ronaldo was avoiding any hard rejoinder to Lula's remark in his interview. But, as the correspondents kept pressing him, he finally mentioned the President's known friendliness with alcohol. One more time, in the absence of something worth reporting, the press pushes for declarations and stories with zero information value.”
A great idiocy - Balipodo.com“World Cup news flashes, mainly from the national team, torturing us with ‘important' notes such as, ‘Ronaldo left the hotel to shit and walk. Look there! Now you are seeing an exclusive, he is shitting, shitting… wow! now he is gonna walk… he is walking! we will try an interview… later - in three minutes - an interview with THE PHENOMENAL ONE, telling us how he felt when shitting and walking in Germany.”
Am I, Cup? - Dull Life“The press coverage has gone beyond the concept of ‘thorough', becoming repetitive and counterproductive. The main principle seems to be the exhaustion of the national team in a meaningless never-ending exposition. Any idiocy becomes good enough for a news lead as the reporting staff stays glued to the Brazilian players and far from the event's important news. They debate before and after the trainings stating obvious opinions and as a result, the public watches something very close to a live transmission of grass growing.”
Unbalanced coverage - Gardenal.org
Links for Tue, 2006-06
As he works on his second novel, Jamaican writer Marlon James ponders the obstacles the US publishing establishment puts in the way of writers like himself, but concludes that “I have to hold to the belief that book and reader have an almost cosmic destiny to meet. And when they do, no barrier whether it be language, race, culture or nationality will stand in the way.”
Aventuras de un Webmaster points readers (ES) to Nicaragua y algo más (ES), an aggregator of news articles and blog posts about Nicaragua.
Raúl Ramírez, noting the mushrooming of “metropolitan blogs” in Mexico City, announces the alliance (ES) between Chilanga Banda (ES) and Guía de la Ciudad de México (ES).
After visiting writer Gabriel García Márquez' hometown of Aracataca, Sagroncito tries to separate perception and reality regarding Colombia.
Jim Shultz tries to explain the waning interest in Bolivia's soon-to-be-formed Constituent Assembly. In a comment, Miguel Centallas responds “Why is the campaign lackluster? Um, you do realize the World Cup is going on, right? That's pretty much trumping all other considerations in much of the world right now. It's just lucky the vote comes on a day w/o tournament matches.”
No one knows how to commemorate themselves quite like bloggers. Tomorrow, Eduardo Arcos notes, is the third annual International Blogger Day, which will be celebrated with a meetup in Mexico City (ES).
Florida-based Jamaican writer Geoffrey Philp discusses some of the ideas he plans to incorporate into his presentation for the “Imagine Miami” lecture series, which addresses issues of identity. Among the things he plans touch upon are “a reflection on Miami’s geographical location as a port/frontier city and as a Latin/Hispanic/Caribbean city in North America (Kingston 21, Havana North)” and questions of race and colour.
Echoing the request traditionally given before the national anthem is played, Elspeth Duncan gives the latest video entry on her blog the title “Please Stand. . . . for something”. The video compiles footage from “various protests taking place in Trinidad between late 2005 and early 2006. It represents the collective voice of the people at a time when the republic of Trinidad & Tobago is going through crisis and experiencing transformation on many levels.”
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