Archive for
September 10th, 2006
Stories
Reunion: Actively Blogging
Alongside the Democratic Republic of Congo, Reunion a French Overseas Department located in the Indian Ocean to the East of Africa has one of the most active blogospheres in the francophone world. Its portal Reunion Permanente either explains the bustling activity or illustrates it. The portal even keeps track of overseas Reunion bloggers such as Sandy of Reunion-USA2 who lives in the United States; her blog seeks to explain her reactions to American culture. One particularly prolific island-based netizen, Pierrot Dupuy, keeps a blog updated several times a day that focuses on the island's and nearby independent Mauritius' current affairs. Another blogger, Jean-Paul, summarizes the island's main news on his blog Dijoux.re every sunday.
Recent preoccupations in the country's news and blogs have included a local Chikungunya fever epidemic and its effects on local tourism, frequent mostly scenic lava flows of the local volcano of which France-based blogger Audrey from Reunion Passion consistently shows pictures. A recent alleged corruption scandal involving local official Samia Badat was also widely blogged by Zarabes, the blog of the local Indian moslem community. (Ironically, as the blog's header explains, the creole word Zarabes which is used on the island to designate the mostly moslem Indian population actually derives from the French word for Arab.) And it should come as no surprise that the sometimes tension-filled relationship to France, including a successful fight against housing discrimination practices perpetrated in mainland France against overseas French citizens from Reunion, Martinique, Guadeloupe, Guyane and other French overseas departments and territories, constitutes a recurring theme.
Among the week's highlights, Jean-Paul at Dijoux.Re, offered (Fr) the latest on the local volcano, namely that it is still erupting but that local authorities have been preventing locals from admiring its spectacle in the last couple of years. On the Chikungunya front, the blogger explained (Fr) that two biologists have linked an anti-rubeola vaccine to a possible cure. Meanwhile, on a lighter note, US-Based Sandy at Reunion-USA2 explained (Fr) the significance in America of the interracial romance movie Something New.
(Pictured Above: 2004 Volcano Eruption, Reunion, by Hugo aka Hughes Leglise.)
Global Voices La Reunion Page.
Global Voices La Reunion RSS feed.
Global Voices La Reunion JSS feed.
Bermuda: Blogging hurricane Florence
The video above was captured this afternoon by Bermuda bloggers Shawn and Sue “from the Southshore, Eastern end of Bermuda, approx 24 hours before Florence is scheduled to arrive.” Florence is the season's latest hurricane, and the island of Bermuda has been bracing for her arrival since the middle of last week.
While forecasters have lowered the hurricane predictions for this year, this means little to territories who happen to be in the path of what could be one of the season's “4-6 major storms.” “Time to take stock of your batteries and candles, campers - it’s hurricane time again,” wrote blogger Bill Davidson on September 7, citing this paragraph from the Royal Gazette:
“It’s going to be a hurricane and it’s going to be close enough by Sunday or Monday” – warned the Bermuda Weather Service as Tropical Storm Florence veered towards Bermuda yesterday. Meteorologist Lou McNally said the 400-mile wide system was taking its time to organise but was a bigger threat because of its size. “Even if it misses by 200 miles we will feel the effects.” Mr. McNally said Florence was being taken very seriously.
China: Mao Who?
Saturday marked the thirtieth anniversary of Mao Zedong's death. Like the closeted bones some families would rather just forget about, China seems to be serious about moving on from the helter-skelter days of high Communism, both at The Party level and at the grassroots.
Wu Zuolai, whose Sina.com blog was shut down suddenly at the end of July, is now the #1 columnist at blogging portal giant Bokee. In his post dated late Saturday night, instead of mentioning Mao by name, Wu wrote an elegant ode to ancient Chinese tyrant Qin Shihuang. Here's a snippet:
South Asia Blog Buzz
The latest from the South Asian blogs:
Bangladesh:
- Rajputro writes a satirical piece on how the load shedding (power cuts to manage shortage in electricity supply) in Bangladesh can be counterproductive.
- Shafiur of imperfect|world|2006 is amused with the political dramas set out in Bangladesh as a form of protest.
- Drishtipat has an interesting prediction for the Bangladesh parliament election 2007.
India:
- Blogcamp, India's biggest blogging conference has started today. There are about 50 active blogger volunteers. Catch up all the actions at Flickr, Technorati and YouTube by typing in the tag ‘blogcamp'.
- The recent 9/8 Malegaon bomb blasts are the continuation of the terror that gripped India with a goal to disrupt the communal harmony. This time the victims were Muslims and the general Indians stand disgraced by all this. Mayank Austen Soofi writes in Desicritics about the story behind the 8/9 terror attacks. Siddhartha of Sepia Mutiny provides more background of Malegaon.
- Preetam Rai of Betterdays reports that the Bollywood fever is taking on China.
Nepal:
- Samudaya.org reports that Nepal invents a new product, herbal wine.
- Blogdai comments that the Maoist ceasefire call is fake as it tries to document the ceasefire violations.
- Paramendra Bhagat of Democracy for Nepal welcomes the planned peaceful protests By the Maoists.
Pakistan:
- Eteraj informs that the women’s protection bill of Pakistan to reform the notorious rape laws of Pakistan is about to be passed this Monday. The laws from 1979 require that for a woman to make an allegation of rape she must produce four male witnesses. If she is unable to put forth the witnesses she herself is liable for adultery (and can be imprisoned or put to death for adultery).
- All things Pakistan reports that Mukhtaran Mai, a famous name against repression of women, has started a blog.
Sri Lanka:
- Rant and Raves discusses the brain drain problem in Sri Lanka.
- Lanka Libertarian analyses the situation after the return of the refugees in the coastal town Muttur, who fled the fierce battle in July.
Philippines: Politicians rush to change the Constitution
Since July of last year, Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has endorsed the proposal to change the 1987 Constitution. The charter change or Cha-Cha drive has divided the nation. On one side, people are supporting Cha-Cha because they seek genuine and much-needed reforms in the government. On the other hand, Cha-Cha is believed to be a survival strategy of the President who is still facing allegations of poll fraud and corruption.
After defeating the second impeachment complaint against the President, the pro-administration bloc in Congress is actively pursuing Cha-Cha. Meanwhile, a group (perceived to be close to the President) which claims to have gathered almost ten million signatures is asking the Supreme Court to allow the revision of the Constitution.
RG Cruz, a journalist-blogger, is surprised why the House of Representatives swiftly approved a committee report endorsing Cha-Cha through a constituent assembly:
“Boy, do those Congressmen never fail to surprise me. And they did so in under one minute. One minute of deliberations on committee report 1230. 3 hours of debates on the title of 1230 and why they approved it in under one minute.”
Alleba Politics instructs government agencies to protect the sanctity of the People’s Initiative as one mode to change the Constitution. Snow World is supportive of Cha-Cha but rejects the people’s initiative.
Pinoy insight mentions the national survey which shows that the people do not want to change the Constitution. The Citizen on Mars admits having little knowledge on the advantages and disadvantages of Cha-Cha but agrees to the plan to adopt the parliamentary form of government.
Philippine Commentary hints that the Chief Justice may support the Cha-Cha especially if we remember that he once penned a decision recognizing the adequacy of the law which permits Cha-Cha through people’s initiative.
The blogger also mentioned the contentious provision of the 1987 Constitution outlining the mechanism on how amendments can be effected. Should the two Houses of Congress vote separately or as one group?
Newsstand provides a lucid analysis on the ‘gameplan’ of the government in advancing the Cha-Cha.
Our Times is with a group actively opposing Cha-Cha. This blog gives a regular update on the campaign to defeat the ‘Cha-Cha train.’ The following is an excerpt from one of its press statements:
“It goes against all reasonable standards of public morality that those who are railroading this ‘fastbreak chacha’ are the very same ones who will most benefit from the proposed changes that only increase the power of those who already rule the country. This makes the whole exercise patently self-serving.”
Solar power explains why one provision in the Cha-Cha, the foreign ownership of media, is objectionable:
“In the context of mass media, it is possible that foreign investors would only take advantage of cheap and docile Filipino labor and, as in the practice of the U.S. colonizers, provide canned media content that has little regard for the information needs of Filipinos.”
Counsels for the Defense of Liberties filed a petition to reject Cha-Cha.
Sigaw ng Bayan, the group which is advocating Cha-Cha.
The Table of Free Voices
Bebelplatz, a square in Berlin, situated near to state opera and the Humboldt University buildings has an infamous past. Seventy Three years ago (1933) Nazi youths instigated by their Propaganda Minister, Joseph Goebbels burned around 20,000 books, including works by Thomas Mann, Erich Maria Remarque, Heinrich Heine, Karl Marx and many other authors.
Yesterday on September 9, 2006, Bebelplatz was redeemed of the infamy of the above crime. Dropping Knowledge, a Berlin based NGO invited 112 scientists, social entrepreneurs, philosophers, writers, artists and activists from around the world. These inspiring individuals, renowned for their lasting creative, social or humanistic contribution seated around a vast round-table called the ‘Table of Free Voices' in that historical square. From 9 AM to 6 PM they engaged with answering 100 questions selected from the ‘donate your question campaign' open to the global public.
Treehugger blog covered the event live with photos.
Hafsat Abiola and Willem Dafoe made their opening remarks against the backdrop of Humboldt University and an oversized pile of books, supposed to represent the invention of the printing press but suggesting also the greatness of the human mind and the tragedy of suppressing human creativity. Yungchen Lhamo put the participants into the proper spirit with a poem and song, in a Tibetan devotional style which she learned from her Grandmother in secret, since such songs were banned in her native land. The exotic melody silenced all present and received a round of applause before the real work kicked off…100 questions in 9 hours.Each of the 112 personalities invited to the Table is set up with a microphone and video camera of their own.
Read the rest. More background news at the Deutsche Welle.
You can see the archived videos in the Living Library. There are pictures in Flickr.
In this complex world, people need to question a lot of things in order to bring about a change. German insurance giant Allianz donated more than $3 million for this initiative and was not immuned to face the question:
Why has a big company like Allianz no social responsibility and fire 10.000 workers in Germany even they have big profit?
Now what will happen? Dropping knowledge says this is only the beginning. It wants to start and sustain a new kind of global dialog, simply by prompting people online to ask and answer the questions on their mind. They want to bring protest, political dissent and activism into the internet age:
Dropping knowledge is a way of asking and answering questions that recognizes multiple viewpoints. When you ask in order to understand, when you answer in order to share, you are dropping knowledge.
Little drops can make an ocean someday.
Links for Sun, 2006-09
Ebogjonson discovers the Playing 4 Keeps youth media project, in which students at a US high school team up to produce a “socially conscious” online game. Poverty is the topic for this year's game, which the students have chosen to set in Haiti.
Seckasysteme points to (Fr) an article by Dr. Mame Marie Faye expressing growing discontent with President Abdoulaye Wade's leadership. She writes: “For a few months now, the sense that the end of an era is approaching is pervading this country and nothing or anyone can stop it. With the latest fad among our leaders to serve us the thankless plate of “Senegality” we Senegalese have now understood that nothing is to be expected from such leaders because they will forever be inept at leading this country. We ask you [President Wade] to start packing your bags to pave the way for the real leaders that we will choose with maturity.” (No permalink available.)
Le Blog de [Moi] deplores (Fr) historian/anthropologist Boris de Rachewiltz' take on African female homosexuality in his 1993 book on African sexual practices:”Homosexuality is covered in the paragraph on sexual deviations. Promiscuity, absence of the other sex and narcissism, use of sex toys as penis substitutes: it's all there.”
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