Stories from 22 May 2008
YouTube starts citizen journalism channel
Giving citizen journalism videos more airtime has just gotten easier: YouTube video uploading website has opened a new channel exclusively for citizen videos named CitizenNews. Vloggers who specialize in reporting what is going on where they live can now subscribe to the channel and let the world know what is going on.
Ukraine: A View From Crimea
Last week, Ukraine banned Moscow mayor Yuri Luzhkov from the country, after he called for Russia to take ownership of Sevastopol, a Ukrainian Black Sea naval port. The incident received much coverage in the Russian and Ukrainian media and blogs. Below is one more post, written by a Russophone resident of Balaklava, a Crimean town that has an official status of a district of the city of Sevastopol.
Ukraine: More Mayoral Campaign Ads
Ukrainiana posts a few more videos of the Kyiv mayoral campaign ads.
Russia: Guest Column by Andrei Nekrasov
At Robert Amsterdam's blog, a guest column from the Russian filmmaker Andrei Nekrasov.
Estonia: “Asymmetrical Bilingualism”
Itching for Eestimaa writes about “asymmetrical bilingualism” and the Estonia report by Doudou Diene, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance.
Europe: Eastern Partnership Project
AnTyx writes about the Eastern Partnership project.
Iran: Seven Valleys of Love
Kamangir reports that Sheema Kalbasi has published a book about the works of Iranian female poets from Middle age to present day Iran. The book is called: Seven Valleys of Love.
Serbia: Election Results Roundup
A Fistful of Euros posts a brief summary of the results of the election in Serbia.
Iran:No Urinals
Rick Steves,an American tourist,is blogging from Iran. He says that there is no urinals in Iran.He writes “There are no urinals anywhere. I did an extensive search: at the airport, fancy hotels, the university, the fanciest coffee shops. No urinals in Iran.”
Iran: Remember Reformist Khatami
Several Iranian bloggers remembered the 11th anniversary of presidential election where Mohammad Khatami came to power.Mind-Sketch has published 35 photos from Khatami's days.
Iran:A popular site got filtered
Negarakha,an Iranian blogger, says[Fa] that Baznegar,a popular site that covers news about blogs was filtered.Negarakha invites other bloggers to protest against this filtering and talk about it in their blogs.
Iran:Territorial Changes
Thanks to Homeyra we can see a map of Iran where all territorial changes in the 19th and 20th centuries are explained.
Iran: Raise Money for Sick Mother
Winston, an Iranian blogger from Canada, writes that he tries to raise money to bring his sick mother to Canada for medical care.
Haiti: Breaking the Law?
Haitian blogger Wadner Pierre shares his thoughts on the philosophy of nonviolence and, in the words of Thoreau, when “it is important for honest men to break the law.”
Anguilla: Culture Shock
“Cultural identity is as equally important as political independence and economic self-sufficiency in the process of nation-building. Cultural development is the bedrock of the creation of a national identity”: Corruption-free Anguilla wonders whether the island has a culture.
Guyana: Looking for Poetry
Signifyin’ Guyana posts a piece by John Agard to illustrate the things to look for in a poem.
Bermuda: Free Press
Vexed Bermoothes says that the ruling party's attacks on the free press are attracting international attention: “The fact is, that despite paying years of lip service to freedom of information, the Bermuda Government is doing little to implement it. Moreover, the PLP is using the offices of Government to punish...
Jamaica: Homophobic Talk?
The Jamaican Prime Minister's comments on BBC‘s HARDTalk programme spur blogger Francis Wade to make a few comments of his own: “Golding…candidly responded that he would not have a gay person in his cabinet. His distaste and contempt seemed palpable to me. I imagined Jamaicans looking on with pride…I imagined...
Guyana: Living Life
News of Guyana-Gyal‘s family and a few presents that they have sent her from abroad cause her to be “simply livin’ and appreciatin’.”
St. Lucia: Effects on Consumers
Blogging from St. Lucia, Looshan Ramblings is concerned about the effect of rising oil prices and the global food crisis on consumers: “We need to know that our leaders are trying their best to put measures that will cushion the fall out from this global food crisis and recession.”
India: Koran and the US Army
Indian Muslims Blog on the case of a soldier in the US Army using the Koran for target practice.
