5 May 2008

Stories from 5 May 2008

Sri Lanka: Micro-blogging election violence and malpractices

  5 May 2008

ICT for Peacebuilding Blog points us to Vikalpa, a citizen journalism initiative in Sri Lanka, where “reports via SMS from citizens at the grassroots are being used to provide perspectives from the Eastern Province in the lead up to and on the day of the elections (10th May 2008).” Check...

India: cause of global food crisis

  5 May 2008

Aparna Ray replies to US President Geoge Bush's remark that the growing prosperity of India's large middle class is contributing to rising food prices around the world, with an apt limerick: “It seems we have hurled, The rest of the world, Into crisis by not chewing grass!“

Cape Verde: Internet should be free

  5 May 2008

João Branco [pt] quotes an Universal McCanns global research into the impact of social media that advocates that Internet should be free and reflects the situation in Cape Verde: “This is why I believe that in Cape Verde we still have a long way to go to get a decent...

Myanmar: The perfect storm

  5 May 2008

More than 4,000 people are dead after Cyclone Nargis hit Myanmar last weekend. It was the world’s deadliest storm in ten years. The cyclone could also worsen the food crisis in the world. Relief is arriving but the ruling Junta is putting restrictions on foreign aid teams.

Haiti: finding relief for hunger in children

  5 May 2008

Reasons not to Overeat by BreezeDebris The international food shortage and crisis is doing its rounds on the blogosphere, and videos are no exception. From Haiti: people eating dirt to survive, and a plan to help feed the hungry Haitian children. Haiti is the poorest country in the American continent,...

East Timor: Where does hope live?

  5 May 2008

On May 5th 1999, Portugal and Indonesia signed a document agreeing to hold a UN-supervised referendum. Ângela Carrascalão [pt] reminds the date: “We all believed our destiny would be brilliant! Was it a long time ago? Not really. There have been only 9 years. And yet, although a historic day,...

Arabeyes: Freedom for Fouad Al Farhan

Saudi blogger Fouad Al Farhan is now a free man, after spending 137 days in detention in Jeddah. While bloggers have all along speculated why he has been held by the authorities for this long, Arab bloggers are unanimously excited over his release. And they also share their hopes for the release of other jailed bloggers.

Bahamas, Haiti: Seeing for the First Time

  5 May 2008

Nicolette Bethel links to a video series “on the statelessness of children of Haitian parentage growing up in The Bahamas” and says that “every Bahamian should watch them — especially those Bahamians who view their society through the lenses of ‘Us’ and ‘Them’.”

Cuba: Hunger Strike

  5 May 2008

Cuban blogger Uncommon Sense says that one member of Las Damas de Blanco “will end a hunger strike only when she is allowed to visit her son.”

Myanmar: Cyclone Nargis

  5 May 2008

mmhan informs of a place in Singapore where one can make a donation to help out in the aftermath of cyclone Nagris that hit Myanmar.

Jamaica: Children of the Matrix

  5 May 2008

Jamaican Geoffrey Philp blogs about the “The Millennial Generation”: “It will…be interesting to see if Jamaican/ Caribbean Millennials, who have grown up in a time when as Chris Blackwell said, ‘technology makes a joke of geography,’ will have the same attitudes towards nationalism as my generation had.”

Georgia: Election Video Blogging

Vlog Europe says that it will soon be visiting Georgia to conduct a seminar on video blogging as well as covering this month's parliamentary election there through the Danish SILBA organization. Writing on his own blog, Raymond Kristiansen provides more more details about the exercise and also solicits suggestions and...

Taiwan: What can a baseball do?

  5 May 2008

There are some Taiwanese playing in Major League Baseball: Chin-Feng Chen in Dodgers from 2002-2005, Chin-Lung Hu in Dodgers, Hong-Chih Kuo in Dodgers, Chin-Hui Tsao in Royals, and Chien-Ming Wang in Yankees. Although they are loved by Taiwanese, these baseball stars are not the focus of this article. Here are...