Archive for
July 9th, 2008
Stories
Russia: The Day of Family, Love and Fidelity
The Day of Spousal Love and Family Happiness - July 8, Moscow, Russia (photo by Veronica Khokhlova)
Russia's got a new holiday: the Day of Family, Love and Fidelity, celebrated on July 8. In a post titled “From Russia With (Family) Love,” NBC news producer Yonatan Pomrenze has described what the country's newest holiday is about:
[…] The emphasis […] is not on falling in love, as much as keeping people in it. […]
A holiday post (RUS) by Moscow-based LJ user eprst2000 has moved quite a few readers to tears and made it into the Top 30 of the Yandex Blogs portal:
Turns out today is some kind of a special holiday, with a long name that ends with ‘fidelity.' The Day of Family, Love and Fidelity. Or something like that.
[…]
All TV talk shows today solemnly featured families with many children. Some with nine, others with 11 kids. […]
And my mother (who works at a maternity ward) said today: “A woman at our hospital has given up her twins. Yes. She is 36. Already has an 8-year-old daughter.” My mother knows how to cure people who can't describe where the pain is because they are only a few days old. And my mother knows. Also, as the department's head, she's responsible for talking to women who are giving up their children. She has her own words and methods, which are hard to convey in text. “And I ask her, - my mother continues, - how can you give them up?” - “Well, you see, - says the woman, - I won't be able to provide for them. And someone will adopt them and bring them up in a normal way, will love them as if they are their own children.” My mother, again: “Do you know that normally they do not adopt two children at once? In 99 percent of the cases, a couple adopts one child. And according to the current law, twins cannot be separated. Especially if it's a girl and a boy. They may meet in the future and this may lead to incest. […]” The woman spent a few days thinking. And today she has still refused to keep the children. She said she thought that the man [children's father] would marry her, but he chose not to. He said: “These aren't my children! We've never had any twins at all in our family!”
I'm not saying anything as I listen to my mother. And she continues: “Recently, an 18-year-old girl gave up her son. I tried to talk to her in many different ways, but she looked at me and said: “Do you know that my father is the head of this and that region? And my mother works for this and that institution? They are well-respected people. You see, I just can't.” - “Do the parents know that you are giving up your child?” - “Mama knows.” - “And your papa?” - “…” - “So the two of you are afraid to tell your father. How come such a man's daughter had a child out of wedlock?” - “…” - “Just tell me one thing: why didn't you have an abortion?” - “Am I an idiot or what? It's bad for one's health. What if I can't have children in the future?”
My mother talks on. In her department, a girl has recently given birth. The girl is 25, she is mentally retarded. Her parents came, they are also her guardians. Mother is crying, father is moving his jaws so as not to cry. Normal, healthy people, it just happened that their girl was born this way. She attended a school for kids with special needs, met a boy there. Both are around 25, but their development is like in 10-year-olds. Everyone knew they were having a relationship. Doctors said that with their condition both were definitely sterile and there was nothing to worry about. Explain them about condoms, they said.
A boy was born. Not big, but healthy. There is a 90-percent chance that he has a similar condition as his parents. The new grandparents came. Crying. Filled out the papers certifying that they'll be giving up the boy. They're retiring soon, have been pulling her all their lives, ordinary people, aren't making thousands of dollars. The girl is getting only [about $100] as disability pension. Where else are they supposed to get the money from? When we die, who's gonna take care of these three? She can't even take the child into her hands, can't wrap him. It'll all fall on us again. And we've spent our whole lives like this!!!… How can we take him???
The ended up keeping him.
My mother said that initially they did sign the papers to give him up. And then the young mama showed up at the entrance to the newborns department - stood there, howling. She can't speak well, so she stood and howled. She got her breast milk coming in. Started nursing the baby. Wouldn't let him go. In violation of the rules, as an exception, they allowed the baby's father in. My mother said the two of them were standing over the child, touching him, saying something in their own language. Nurses were swallowing tears as they were coming out of the room.
[…]
When they were leaving the hospital with the baby, they presented all doctors at the maternity ward with a cake. A really huge cake. With these words on it: “May God bless you.” My mother said: “And how are you supposed to cut something like this?”
Japan: Bloggers on food crisis feast, G8 over Skype?
The G8 Summit at Toyako, Hokkaido [ja], ended on June 9th after three days of meetings, leaving a bitter aftertaste for some bloggers in Japan. With a total cost for organization and security estimated as enough to treat millions of HIV patients, and protests by thousands of farmers and activists from around the world, the event was not without its controversy.
The G8 Summit - New CHITOSE airport (from Flickr user mujitra) CC-BY
Many bloggers questioned the high costs of the event, pointing out how environmentally unfriendly it was. Blogger gooorii, on the other hand, considered some of the outcomes of the G8 summit to have been positive:
何しろ討議する項目が山積しており、わずか3日間で各国のトップが話し合ってもなかなか纏まる話ではないと思うが、それでも「拉致問題」と言う文言が首脳宣言に載ったり、ジンバブエの不当な大統領選挙問題等にも共同声明のなかで、批判される事は国際的な見地から見た正しい意見として当事国にプレッシャーを与える事になり良いことだと思う。
今回の重要なテーマである、室温効果ガス問題では2日目のG8の中で討議され、福田さんは長期目標を2050年までに５０％削減を決めたい意向であったが、アメリカの提案では、「大量排出国（中国・インド・ブラジル等）抜きの討議は無意味だ」と言う意見で賛成が得られなかった様で、私も当然の事であると思う。
[…]
しかし、兎も角、削減努力に対する必要性は各国とも同じであるから3日目の会合こそ大量排出の当事国が、同じテーブルに就いて、話し合いが出来るスタートラインに揃ったところであると私は思うのである。
The Oxfam G8 Big Heads at Big Letters Performance (from the Oxfam Flickr page) CC-BY-NC-ND
Blogger jg96aqkg, meanwhile, points out the irony of the G8 dinner:
環境問題、地球温暖化対策、原油高騰、食料危機、北朝鮮の核問題などなど話し合われたようですが凡人の私にはどのような実効性が有るのか全く分かりません。
あるメディアが食料危機の会議場で山ほど盛られた食膳に、あんなご馳走を食べて食料危機に餓えている人間の気持ちが理解できるのかと批判していました。
各国を代表して出席しているのだからどんな贅沢な食事をしょうがどうでも良いことだが世界各国一人一人の命の尊厳が図られる形になって欲しいものです。
Challenge the G8 Peace Walk (from Flickr user skasuga) CC-BY-NC-SA
Blogger mkj2 also picks up on the theme of the G8 feast, and writes:
各国の首脳が食べるディナーの話題。
地元の食材をふんだんに使ったメニューでカニだのアスパラだのいいもの使ってまっせっつー。
That there is going to be a lot of locally produced food on menu with good stuff like crab and asparagus.
[…]
別に食い物にいちゃもんつけてるわけじゃない。
食い物に始まり、警備だのなんだのに多額の血税が使われる。
それはいい。
世界のＴＯＰが雁首そろえて諸問題を話し合うっていうんだから。
From the food to security and what not, a large amount of taxpayer's money is spent.
That itself is ok.
Because leaders from around the world are gathering and discussing various issues.
ただ。
頼むよほんと。
これだけの金かけて、手間かけて、ガソリンが安くならない、食品の値段が下がらない、なんてことになったらどう責任取るんだ。
Please, for god's sake.
With so much money and effort put into it, if the gasoline prices do not go down, and the food prices do not go down, how are they going to take responsibility [for all of this]?
Toyako from the windsor hotel (where the G8 Summit meetings were held, by Flickr user veroyama) CC-BY
Finally, blogger fookpaktsuen makes a novel proposal:
四国や九州からの警察の動員２万人余。……で地球温暖化が主要議題、ならこのサミット開催こそ「地球に優しくない」のが事実。もう国連活動に収斂されていいのでは？ テロ襲撃が危険視されるなら各国首脳が一同に介せずSkypeで会議すれば良し。会場からほど遠き農牧地帯で120名のサミット反対デモにデモ参加者上回る数の警官が防備。異常。
(For more pictures of the G8 protests, see pics at the account of Flickr user Powless.)
Touring Libyan Blogs: Summer, Diplomacy, Data Protection and the Right to Privacy
The sprawling summer days in Libya have kicked in fast bringing with them the beach season, which for me carries wafts of childhood holiday memories and funnily enough watermelons.
As expected there were a few summer related posts on the Libyan blogosphere. After all with approximately 2000 km of coastline it would have been strange if despite the relative continuing quietness of Libyan bloggers no one mentioned swimming or the beach in relation to Libya.
“[T]he typical Libyan day at the beach” says Khalid Jorni
“[..]would start at eight o'clock Friday morning, when the whole family would get up, load the car with everything but the kitchen sink, and head to Garaboulli beach, we would arrive at noon because we had to stop several times to buy fruits, corns, bread, meat, etc
The first nightmare would be unloading the car in the mid of a baking-hot day, carrying the fridge, gallons of water, big watermelons, etc, along the way from the parking to the hut through the burning sands would make you hate your life altogether.
Then starts the process of eating, each time you think you could escape to the water you would be called back to share a meal, until you feel nine months pregnant, then you would realize that the time of reloading the car and going back home has come.”
This humorous description is self critical but so true and runs perfectly in agreement with my favourite Libyan cartoonist Elzwawi. His renderings of the Libyan social scene are uber-famous. You can check his day at the beach caricature among other things here.
Beach time fun unfortunately brings also its share of victims. Khadijateri, who is married to a Libyan and has been living in Libya for close to twenty years, has chosen this as the theme for her Libyan summer activities post.
“Every summer you hear of people drowning, usually because the person was swept out to sea by a strong current called a riptide. Most of these tragic events could be prevented if people were educated on how to save themselves from these powerful water currents.”
Both Anglo-Libyan and Khalid Jorni mentioned that dual citizenship holder Mercedes Farhat who recently took the name of Asmahan will be donning the Libyan colours at the upcoming Olympics.
However while Khalid Jorni was wondering ” will the Libyan fathers who live in Libya allow their daughters to be seen half naked in public?!”
Anglo-Libyan correctly highlighted that although we are proud that Libya's flag will be represented by someone but Mercedes was NOT the first female ever - as press releases have been shouting over the rooftops - who will compete in the Olympics swimming category for Libya.
On the other hand to add to Anglo's list and answer Khalid's conjectures I would like to mention as an example the 2007 Special Olympics Libyan aquatics competitors Fathia Saad and Radia Wadi along with their coach Nabila Taguri. There are probably others it's just that the PR in Libya is not as good as in America. I'll wait for someone to dig up more info.
At this point the first part of my Libya round up is completed. However the posts I brought up have controversial multiple facets as well which were further developed in their comment sections. The next paragraphs I hope will be taken as constructive criticism and learning points. So apologies in advance to you all and do not take it personally.
(1) Khalidjorni's cracking representation of a day at the beach was a narrative comparison between western and Libyan typical beach outings.
“This weekly trip to Janzour will soon be replaced by one, involving the whole family, to Garaboulli beach, [..] where I won't have to close my eyes while performing Friday noon prayer. I found it rather outlandish that those Caucasians at Janzour beach don’t get hungry! […] food is not a basic part of those people's vacation, they spend the whole day staring at a novel or a magazine while tossing and turning on the sand, I think that’s what they are really hungry for, sunlight, they don’t even spend much time swimming!”
This immediately divided the comments into several broad camps: the you- are -retarded -if –you- don’t- act -like -the –westerners, the expected (Libyan) women-are-oppressed –cooking-all –day –at –the beach line and the this-is-our culture camp.
(2) Then he put up several photos of the relaxing tourists. Now, if I'm at the beach abroad I'd rather be asked before someone decides to immortalize me for posterity. I mean it is OK to be accidentally part of a photo when you are visiting museums, famous buildings and such because most people will be shooting the same thing. And even at the beach if a group of friends are taking a photo together and a stranger gets in the frame is fine but having a gallery full of strangers does not seem right it kind of infringes on their privacy. I would not like a photo of me and my family at the Garabouli to appear on a blog unless I permitted it.
This reminded me of another great post by Khalidjorni which also gave me some concern. He spoke about the gigantic construction field that Tripoli has become. But he also broached the Gargaresh sewage polluted beach which was obviously still used carelessly by Libyan children.
Raising civil awareness is fantastic and needed and pictures are certainly better than a thousand words but posting some of the children's photos even with their own consent does not seem right to me. The numerous photos of the scantily clad tourists and the close ups of the children constitute a clear encroach on privacy. I'm surprised no one mentioned that.
(3) Khadijateri's post though full of useful information about the riptides that endanger Libyans annually and probably good intentions also stirred up the same kind of trouble pitting Libyan vs foreigners.
“I always have found it weird that most Libyans have no idea how to swim, especially since Libya has such a long coastline on the Mediterranean Sea. Many will tell you ‘I know how to swim!' and you find out that their idea of swimming is moving their arms and splashing about, all the while their feet are still firmly planted on the bottom. That is NOT swimming.”
In response to the above intro a snippet from a commenter was “Stop being so derogatory of our people“.
Yes we Libyans do not like criticism but the message could have been conveyed differently rising above pettiness to achieve greater impact and save more Libyan lives.
In my opinion diplomacy, tact and avoiding stereotypes is more productive both when blogging about Libyans and non-Libyans.
On the other hand I don't really know what the status on data protection and privacy laws is in Libya but there must be a way to market Libya without those types of photos and there must be a way to show social defects without compromising children identities. That is the next step I hope to see in internet journalism.
Obviously from comments and posts we have seen that many Libyans in Libya (female and male) do know how to swim and enjoy swimming, belying statements to the contrary and despite formal swimming lessons not yet being part of the national school physical education curriculum.
Palestine: Murder or terror rampage?
Only Arabs are terrorists… reads the subject heading on live from occupied palestine's blog. The blogger is referring to the headlines splashed across Israeli and foreign newspapers after Husam Taysir Dwayat, a Palestinian living in Jerusalem, drove a bulldozer down a crowded street in West Jerusalem, killing three and wounding at least 66 others. Dwayat's spree ended when an off-duty Israeli soldier shot and killed him.
The headlines following Dwayat's rampage included “Bulldozer terror rampage in Jerusalem“. They also focused on Dwayat's prior relationship with a Jewish woman with headlines such as “Jerusalem attacker once had Jewish girlfriend“. Some articles even claimed that Dwayat yelled “God is Great!”
live from occupied palestine expounds on the question of why Dwayat is being labeled a terrorist:
So if Dwayat’s murderous act was not politically motivated, if he was not acting as part of a “sub national groups or clandestine agents”, why is he being labeled by the Israeli media, politicians and other state officials “a terrorist”? Why if he acted alone, in what Israeli security forces and police believe to be an unpremeditated act, is Dwayat being marked as a terrorist?
The answer is, of course, simple. Dwayat was a Palestinian Arab, so quid pro quo, he must be a terrorist. This fact and this fact alone is the reason for him being labeled a terrorist.
DesertPeace is also all to aware of the headlines, and remarks upon those drawing attention to Dwayat's relationship with a Jewish woman:
Truly an earth shattering revelation…. Used to be “All the news that fits, we print”…. Now it’s “All the news that sells, we print”.
Well, I for one ain’t buying!
Will of KABOBfest shares another perspective; the symbolism of the bulldozer in Israel and Palestine:
By killing three Israeli civilians, these acts of murder represent an ironic tragedy. While the shedding of no civilian blood is ever justified, how we talk about such acts is important. Rather than framing it as an isolated incident or as one more heedless Palestinian attack, we should really examine why construction equipment has become a tool of death and destruction in Israel-Palestine. For Palestinian, the bulldozer is a symbol of Israeli aggression. One assault with a bulldozer by a Palestinian does not change that. It only reminds us of the urgent need for a just peace.
Rima Abdelkader, in her Arabisto.com blog, helps readers understand the incident by explaining:
Another important fact left out in Wednesday’s coverage is that bulldozers, specifically Caterpillar, are in some cases used to demolish Palestinian homes. One even killed American peace activist Rachel Corrie in March 2003 who risked her life to protest against the demolitions. This bit of information is significant in discussing Wednesday’s turn of events since the attacker used a Caterpillar bulldozer to kill innocent civilians.
No Movement on Death Sentence for Afghan Internet User
Sayed Parwez Kambakhsh is a journalism student at Balk University in Mazar-i Sharif. He supposedly copied text from an Iranian website criticizing Islam's stance on the treatment of women, and added his own thoughts on the matter—much like a blogger would. For this, the Afghan intelligence services investigated him, and after his arrest a court in Balkh province convicted him of heresy and sentenced him to death.
At his most recent appeals hearing, according to Jean MacKenzie at IWPR, Kambakhsh was berated by his own judge: (more…)
Afghanistan: Warnings for the Future
If there is any one theme to emerge from the Afghan blogosphere lately, it is warning about the future.
Sanjar starts things off by noting the slow degradation in Afghan-Western relations: (more…)
Links for Wed, 2008-07
Unzipped comments on an opinion piece by Armenia's new president published by the Wall Street Journal in which Serge Sargsyan hopes that September's Armenia-Turkey football World Cup qualifying match in Yerevan can be the catalyst for amicable relations between the two countries. Currently the border between Armenia and Turkey is closed.
In a passionate post, Jamaican blogger Geoffrey Philp describes the five top reasons he blogs.
Signifyin' Guyana looks beyond the challenges of life in Guyana, and celebrates Caribbean women writers, as she prepares for the regional cultural festival, Carifesta.
A Hong Kong netizen uploaded photos from the Edison Chan sexy photogate to an overseas server and linked it back to local forum was sentence to three weeks detention without bail while waiting for the sentence in the district court. Ip Iam Chong wrote a commentary at inmediahk.net, pointing out that the handling of indecent censorship is getting harsher as it is the defendant's first offense and the photos are far from serious obscenity.
Newcham has written up a most elaborated report on the South Korean anti Lee Myungbak movement.
Bint Battuta in Bahrain shares with us some of the pictures she clicked while touring Budapest, Hungary.
Bahraini blogger Mohammed Al Maskati is tying the knot — but keeping the details away from his blog.
Indian Muslims Blog on the concept of an “Angry Hindu” who complains when concessions are made for Muslims on religious grounds, not quite realizing that Hindus receive similar concessions as well.
This site is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License
Please read our attribution policy.
Sponsors
| Korea content supported by |
 |
Japan content supported by |
 |