18 April 2008
Stories from 18 April 2008
China: One world, one dream, and one multi-front protest
The Chinese global anti-Carrefour boycott was supposed to begin on May 1, but with tempers flaring over CNN commentator Jack Cafferty's on-air remarks this past week, and a number of other recent incidents, people in a few cities across China decided to get a head start. So too did the Chinese hackers who had been planning a coordinated denial-of-service attack on CNN.com set for April 19.
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Haiti, Congo, and the politics of hunger
Two francophone bloggers respond to the crisis over rising food prices, but rather than blame their proximate cause–subsidies for biofuels in rich countries–they criticize the politics and the politicians who left their countries this vulnerable to begin with. They write that the riots of these last few weeks and the riots to come, like the crisis itself, are symptomatic of deeper problems that cannot be solved by the simple magic of foreign aid.
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South Africa: Mbeki, No Crisis in Zimbabwe?
South African Bloggers are up in arms regarding the recent events in Zimbabwe as well as President Thabo Mbeki's statement recently that “There is no crisis in Zimbabwe”. This is a round-up of a few rants on the Zimbabwe situation and its affect on South Africans.
Remembering Aimé Césaire
Aimé Césaire - Martinican poet, politician and consummate West Indian - passed away today at the age of 94. It is not often that politics and poetry go together, but when they do, the West Indies is as fertile an environment as any for the two to coexist. Césaire seamlessly blended his love for language, ideas and writing into his political life, which spanned almost 60 years.
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Chilean Shorts: Micro and Mini Movies on the Web
From Chile, three examples of online video creation: first, a Chilean pre-candidate for the presidency takes advantage of online video tools to produce documentaries and interviews for web distribution, next, two independent short film producers with videos which talk about poverty, disabilities, old habits which don't have such a hard time dying and, why not? Love.
Venezuela: The Simpsons Not Welcome Anymore
One of the world's most popular television programs in any language, The Simpsons, was recently deemed inappropriate by the Venezuelan government for being a a bad influence on children, and ordered it off the air. Even though it has been on the air since 1989 and on a daily basis in re-runs, Venezuelan bloggers think that there are worse influences on children, and what makes it worse is that the show was replaced by Baywatch.
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Came to find this post after signing the AllOut petition (which already has almost 50k signatures, and needs to grow...
Please sign this if you are pro