Archive for
January 15th, 2007
Stories
Blogs and Mafalda: The Story of a Commemorative Plaque
On october 30th of 2005, Dario Gallo, chief editor of Noticias magazine, published an entry [ES] with a picture of the entrance door to Quino building near Mafalda's home, at Chile 371, in San Telmo, Buenos Aires. Gallo wrote:
The funny thing is that neither the City's Government nor its Secretary of Culture had put a commemorative plaque. More than one tourist would stop to take his picture at that door that's been all over the world. Besides, they could have made a small historic circuit, from Mafaldas's home, through Don Manolo's store, to Quino's house. What were the impediments to make such a simple and enjoyable thing for big and small people?
Kazakhstan: Discussing the New Government
“The Government resigned… It was expected for so long that I am not even surprised…”, wrote Slavasay in Livejournal community on Kazakhstan politics.
On 8 January Kazakhstan Prime-Minister Danial Akhmetov resigned, as did the whole Government. Not much change was expected though: “In Kazakhstan's autocratic presidential system, changes of prime minister usually signal a change of tone rather than a change of direction, and the change in prime minister will not bring about a more liberal political landscape or less interventionist economic policies”, wrote the Economist.
Ben of neweurasia has put together the responses of English-language bloggers on Global Voices. For Russian-language bloggers, whose reactions you will see in this roundup, the news was an opportunity to bet on possible changes in the government, gossip about personalities and connections between them, and talk about the new Prime-Minister Karim Massimov, the first ethnic Uighur PM, born in China. (more…)
Bangladesh: State of emergency, bloggers as information source
Bangladesh witnessed some dramatic changes recently. Last Thursday night president Iajuddin Ahmed declared a state of emergency and resigned as the chief of the caretaker government, the prime demand of the opposition grand alliance. He also postponed the January 22nd election, the process of which was alleged as being engineered. Drishtipat Blog has a quick summary of the events that culminated into the state of emergency.
Military took over the streets and curfew was imposed from 11PM to 5AM at night. Moreover News broadcasting was banned in more than 10 private TV channels of Bangladesh and the presses were advised not to publish anything criticizing the Government actions. A vacuum of news updates was created as in Bangladesh internet penetration is less than 1%. People were trying to fathom what exactly was going on in Bangladesh.
Bangladeshi bloggers, however, took to the task of gathering information and voicing their opinions as the events progressed gradually. According to a report of the Guardian News Blog, Bangladeshi bloggers provided light to the dramatic political night to many in the world via internet.
On the next day the press embargo and the curfew were lifted and the controversial person who initiated the embargo was removed. The Government cracked down on suspected corrupt politicians and businessmen which was praised by the common people.
Although some questioned otherwise the state of emergency has been more or less welcomed by the Bangladeshis as it could give them respite from the continuous strikes and blockades crippling the country. The main worry the country faces now is the enactment of the emergency ordinance which curbs all the basic rights and puts the administrators above law. Under this act among other things the government can control or disrupt or block any message or news through postal service, radio, telegram, telex, fax, internet and telephone. Any person criticizing the government can face sever charges upto capital punishment.
Some bloggers joked whether they should start writing about their sex life or just about what they ate instead of talking politics only to avoid trouble. However in reality they did not refrain themselves from writing their opinions keeping the regulation in mind.
Sid of Serious Golmal asks:
“So is it democracy that has failed in Bangladesh or is it the politicians who have failed Bangladesh’s democracy?”
Meanwhile a new Chief of caretaker government and five advisors were appointed, who were endorsed by the opposition and the general public. Now people can expect to have a credible and free and fare election soon.
There are debates going on whether the state of emergency is a martial law in disguise and the president do not have full control of the army. Even if this is true, like the recent blood-less coup-d'etat in Thailand the Bangladeshis are not against the army in this situation. This may be their only chance of restoring the functional democracy following the election.
Links for Mon, 2007-01
Mad de Madagascar posts (Fr) a series of wooden malagasy figurines from the 30s-50s: market scene, baby sleeping on working mother's back, rice planting woman, among others.
Collective Malagasy blog Malagasy Miray announces (Fr): “Culture-océanindien [ www.culture-oceanindien.info ] is a space for cultural and islandness expression based on the web 2.0 principle. It was born out of the will to promote and support culture in general and more specifically that of the Indian Ocean. Many aspects of Indian Ocean culture remain buried to this day.”
Robert Wright saunters to the 70-block Chacarita Cemetery in Buenos Aires - “the capital of cool” - and finds an architectural surprise.
Andres Duque has three incredibly comprehensive posts of LGBT news from around Latin America including a Historic meeting between gay leaders and religious leaders in Chile, the Mexican state of Coahuila's approval of same-sex partners, and the vicious murder of a transgendered woman in Eastern Colombia.
Eduaro Arcos, citing,Juan Pablo Castro of Trend Micro, says that 30% of spam in Latin America originates from Mexico [ES].
Rocky's Bru is offended by an advert brought out by a bank in Malaysia. The advert is anouncing a lucky draw and features bank notes being hung to dry on a clothesline. The ad reminds the blogger of floods in Southern Malaysia where people are trying to dry their belongings. The blogger is urging the advertiser to “Be more sensitive to the sufferings of the flood victims. Most of whom don't have wet notes to hang dry.”
“If you want to digress into Mexico City punk rock videos then check out some Ultrasonicas stuff on YouTube.” Liz Henry of BlogHer has all the necessary links.
Metroblogging Bangkok reports that CNN has been blocked in Thailand because they featured an interview with the deposed Thai prime minister Thaksin was banned in Thailand. “The Council for National Security (CNS) has demanded that all domestic broadcasters, both television and radio, stop giving coverage to anything related to Thaksin.”
This site is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License
Please read our attribution policy.
Tharum Bun36 posts 
Rocio Diaz11 posts 
Rebekah Heacock30 posts 
Issa Villarreal22 posts 
Michael Hartsell25 posts 
Vilhelm Konnander486 posts 
Anas Alaoui8 posts 
Tolkun15 posts 
David Sasaki2549 posts 
Aparna Ray65 posts 
Jennifer Brea388 posts 
Rezwan1517 posts