Archive for
November 30th, 2006
Stories
Arabisc: Arrested Blogger Released and the Civilisation of Terrorism
Egyptian blogger Ramy Siyam - aka Ayoub - is out of jail, after spending an eventful 108 hours being moved from one detention centre to the other.
According to fellow blogger Alaa Abdelfattah: “He was arrested in a sweep in downtown while securing the area for the President's visit to Parliament. He was arrested with four friends (all bloggers), three of whom were released immediately after performing a routine check. Ramy it turned out had an old law case that was settled outside court but not properly registered so from the prespective of the police he had a pending case that required his transfer to the local prosecutor.”
His recollection of the few days he spent behind bars come with a warning:
دون سن 18 عاماً من قراءة هذه التدوينة
Rami's experience wasn't a pleasant one to say the least. I will leave him to describe some of the horrors he had experienced while in detention.
The Week that Was - Bolivian Blogs
On Tuesday night, the Bolivian Senate suddenly found itself with the needed quorum. Several opposition Senators had refused to meet in protest of several law proposals put forth by the ruling party MAS. Three substitute opposition Senators decided to attend the session to vote along government lines. Cries of foul rang, as some have accused the Senators of receiving bribes to change their votes. They were subsequently expulsed from their respective parties, as Miguel Buitrago of MABB writes in his blog update.
Among the laws passed by this surprise Senate were the approval of new hydrocarbons contracts, approval of the military cooperation between Bolivia and Venezuela, approval of the Budget, and the modifications of the INRA Law (Agrarian Reform law).
However, one of the largest pending issues is over the Constituent Assembly. The government believes that articles should only be approved by simple majority, which they presently retain. While the opposition demands that the law of Convocation should be respected and that 2/3 majority should be followed, which would ensure compromise and negotiation in the sessions. Blogger Sebastian Molina of Plan B (ES) showcased a graphic designed by his wife, which invoked this call for 2/3 majority. Others bloggers have picked up the graphic, such as Andres Pucci. He points out that even though MAS holds simple majority in this body, that they did not receive the majority in the elections. With the invalid and blank votes, they only managed to receive 42.2% of the votes emitted.
China: Queer blogs for the straight eye
There hasn't been a terrible lot happening in China lately that could be filed under ltgbq news. There's been stories of a lesbian hotline in Beijing, the opening of the country's first university campus queer club, and the usual excitement over pro-gay marriage politician and public intellectual Li Yinhe's latest provocative declaration, none of which amount to much.
Or do they? Judging China's major blog portal websites by Western values, if nothing earth-shatttering has been in the news today, why is queer content getting prime placement on most of their front pages? Have gays stomped in and hijacked the offices? Are they selling out to the seductive pink yuan? Satisfying the market share of closeted and curious married men? Or has queer gone mainstream among China's urban, upwardly-mobile, white collar, websurfing crowd?
Kurdistance: It's Quiet Out Here
One of the hardest things about reporting on various blogospheres is the natural ebb and flow of people's writings. The past two weeks in the Kurdish blogosphere have been strangely quiet, the kind of quiet that is found before a great storm.
Hiwa from Hiwa Hopes writes about the rampant corruption found in Northern Iraq/Southern Kurdistan. Vladimir on From Holland to Kurdistan talks about the rise of popularity in French politics of a pro-Kurdish politician. Rasti exposes the roles of women in the PKK. And Save RojTV celebrates its one year anniversary.
Sorry for the slow week, however if you want to read an interesting dialouge on the nature of Kurdistan in the geographic sense, check out the comments on the last installment of Kurdistance.
Image from Tahiti: Market of Papeete
Blogger and local teacher Jean-Marc at Photos de Tahiti et de Polynesie posts photos of the market of Papeete and writes:
Ce marché est divisé en plusieurs parties: poissonerie, boucherie, artisanat, fruits et légumes, fleurs et divers…
Serbia: Kragujevac Stories
You would have to find out by yourself how it feels to be in this southeastern European country, but in the meantime you can read words from different online spaces talking about those legendary cars produced in Kragujevac, the city's traditional bistro aura and some glances at its past.
First, let's take a look at Eric Gordy's East Ethnia blog and a report of this odd happening, Kragujevac-related:
So the story appears to be: the folk-pop figure personality [Severina Vuckovic] makes a guest appearance on a television station in Kragujevac, in the course of which she receives as a gift one of the legendary “Yugo” cars from the Zastava factory. This leads her commercial sponsor, the Croatian representative of Mercedes Benz (or Daimler Chrysler, I presume?) to announce a lawsuit against her. No doubt the competitive pressure is difficult for MBZ to bear. Leaving aside whatever differences in quality, comfort or reliabilty that may exist between the product from Stuttgart and the product from Kragujevac, there does not seem to be much question which company's directors have a better sense of what makes for good publicity.
Links for Thu, 2006-11
Abkhazian LiveJournal user sukhuti has photos and impressions of Baku.
Onnik Krikorian registers his hatred of ArmenTel over their high prices for substandard service.
Ktemoc writes about the callousness shown by authorities in demolishing a village and a place of worship within it. “But what was typical was the brutal suppression of the villagers by the MPAJ enforcers. It seems that in Vision 20/20 Malaysia, the mentality of authority enforcers are still of Vision minus 20/minus 20.” MPAJ is the local municipal council responsible for the demolitions.
Novoye Uzbekskoye Slovo has photos from Boysun, a place he says is a must to visit in the spring.
Tom Terry has more on Tuesday's hijacking of a plane in Mongolia by government agencies saying they were conducting a drill. One post includes comments from passengers and the government while the other comments on how the media and the government handled the story.
Yulia writes about the anti-death penalty rally in Bishkek and says that she has very mixed feelings about the issue.
At Life in the Armenian Diaspora, Raffi Meneshian reviews “Ethnic Experiments” from Deti Picasso, a band based in Russia with two Armenian members. Onnik Krikorian has more on the band and thoughts on the Armenian music scene.
Torn and Frayed in Manila reports that the thyphoon Renming has spared Manila and veered south.
The EducationMalaysia blogs writes why students are leaving national schools for already overcrowded vernacular schools. “Now, even as mother tongue programmes have yet to be fully implemented in the schools, you will find bungling headmasters and education department officials implementing the most clumsy of policies like forcing Indian students in a school to take Arabic lessons and sit for the corresponding examinations!”
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