Archive for
August 22nd, 2008
Stories
Bahrain: Celebrating the Imam Al-Mahdi’s birth
In the middle of the Islamic month of Sha’aban, the month before Ramadan, festivities take place all over Bahrain celebrating the date of Imam Al Mahdi’s birth. The occasion is called Nasfa [Ar], and it is not just a Shiite religious feast, but an event celebrated by Bahrainis of all communities.
The Twelver Shi’a believe that the Imam Al Mahdi is the twelfth Imam and the ultimate saviour of humankind; they believe he is currently in hiding or occultation and will one day return to bring justice to the world. Rayyash marks the Imam Al Mahdi’s birth date:
‘Nasfa' comes from the word for ‘half’, and it is similar to the festival which takes place halfway through Ramadan called Girgaoun (in fact many people call this month’s festival Girgaoun, too). Children visit houses in the neighbourhood wearing traditional outfits, and are given sweets and money. One blogger, Ali, believes that something has changed in recent years, though:
فعلاً أتكلم عن قبل لأن فعلاً شهدت تغير واضح في عدة أشياء ، أعني تغير ملحوظ بحيث يقارن الوضع اليوم بالوضع قبل 10 سنوات ..
من ملاحظاتي من جولة سريعة في ليلة النصف من شعبان ، أن نسبة كبيرة من الأطفال بصحبة الخادمات بدلاً عن الأمهات أو الأخوات .. الخ حسب ما جرت عليه العادة ..
فيما سبق كانت الليلة فرحة للصغار و فرصة للتواصل بين الكبار ، و مع كل زيارة لأي بيت ، نسمع عبارات الترحيب و السؤال (شخبارش ؟ شخبار أمش ؟ (مع إنشاد الأطفال و عبارات الشكر بعد حصولهم على الحلويات و ما شابه . ما الذي نسمعه الآن ؟
It’s true that I speak about the past, because I really have witnessed a clear change in a number of matters; I mean a noticeable change, if you compare the situation today to that of 10 years ago.
One thing I noticed on my quick tour around on the night of the Nasfa was that a large proportion of children were accompanied by housemaids instead of their mothers, sisters and so on, as used to be the case.
Previously it was a night of joy for children and an opportunity for the adults to catch up. With every visit to a house you would hear greetings and the questions ‘How are you? How is your mother?’ along with the children’s singing and their expressions of thanks after they had been given sweets and the like. But what do we hear today?
نعم البيوت تتفاوت في ما تعطيه و لكن الأساس في فكرة التوزيع هي التبرك و المشاركة في الفرحة و ما شابه ، لكن أرى أن الأطفال حالياً لا يقنعون بأي شئ .. سابقاً كان البعض يتحايل بطريقة (عطيني حقي و حق أخويي و حق ولد اختي و حق و حق… ) الآن لا ! بكل “گساية” عيون يطلبون المزيد.
الرغبة في المزيد سلوك طبيعي بلا شك ، كنا سابقاً نتداول خبر أي بيت يوزع “ربية” ، حيث ان الغالبية توزع “اربعانات أو نص” ، والربية كانت مبلغاً جيداً .. و دلالة على غنى أصحاب البيت المعين !
لكن لم نكن بهذه “الرزالة” أبداً ..
Yes, houses vary in what they give, but the principle behind distributing things is that of blessing and sharing joy. However I can see that children now are not satisfied with anything. Previously some of them would try by saying, ‘Give what is due to me, and my brother, and my cousin, and…’ But now, no! With bare-faced cheek they ask for more.
Undoubtedly the desire for more is a natural one; we used to spread the news of any house giving out 100 fils coins [approx. US 25¢] while most were only giving out 25 fils or 50 fils. One hundred fils was a decent amount – and an indication of the wealth of a certain household!
But we were never, ever this greedy…
Photo credit:Maitham Al Mubarak
If you visit a traditional neighbourhood on the night of Nasfa you will see brightly coloured bunting and lights everywhere. Music is played, and stalls are set up to serve food to passers-by. People in cars are not forgotten; boys and men stand in the middle of the road and hand out snacks, drinks and toys to each passing car. But Ali thinks there is a negative aspect to this too:
حيث تقطع الشوارع الى مقاطع فيما بينها يقف شخص أو أكثر لتوزيع المعلبات و الحلويات و بعض الوجبات ..
فكرة طيبة بلا شك ، لكن بطبيعتي أرفض فكرة الموضات و المنافسة ، كون “بيت حجي فلان” يوزعون لازم احنا نوزع ؟ نوع من الهرار ..
قد يتضايق البعض من الازدحام أيضاً لكن سعة الصدر مطلوبة في هذه المناسبات السعيدة .. فلا أحد يود الجلوس في ركن من منزله و العالم تحتفل في الخارج ..
Where the streets cross each other, one person or more will stand handing out cans of soft drink, sweets and some snacks. This is no doubt a good idea, but as is my nature, I reject the idea of fashion and competition. Does the fact that Hajji So-and-so’s household is handing out things mean that we have to? It’s a kind of nonsense…
Also, some may get annoyed at how crowded things get, but patience is required on such happy occasions. No one wants to sit in a corner of his home while the world is celebrating outside…
For bloggers' reports on Nasfa last year, see here and here.
South Ossetia: Tskhinvali Photos and Reports
See Global Voices special coverage page on the South Ossetia crisis.
On Aug. 21, Columbia Journalism Review published Julia Ioffe's overview of several Russian journalists' blogging from the war in South Ossetia. Featured in her piece are reports by LJ user krig42 (Komsomolskaya Pravda reporter Dmitry Steshin) and LJ user ep-news (Evgeny Poddubny, correspondent for TV Center); also mentioned are LJ user m-romanoff (Mikhail Romanov, who, together with Ilya Barabanov - LJ user barabanch - contributed a story from Tskhinvali (RUS) to The New Times weekly) and Moskovsky Komsomolets correspondent Irina Kuksenkova.
Below are a few more blog posts from Russian and North Ossetian journalists, with photos and accounts of what they've seen in the South Ossetian capital Tskhinvali over the past week.
LJ user voinodel (Vadim Rechkalov, war correspondent for Moskovsky Komsomolets) posted seven photos of Tskhinvali, taken from different perspectives, and wrote this (RUS):
Meet Vitalik. He is my good friend who has come to defend South Ossetia right from [Khankala, a Russian military base near Grozny]. Vitalik and I will now take you on a little guided tour around the ruined Tskhinval.
[photos of Vitalik]
You can photograph Tskhinval like this:
[a close-up photo of two blown-up tanks next to a residential building]
Or like this:
[photo of the same two tanks from a different angle]
But if you photograph it like this?
[four panoramic shots of Tskhinvali taken from a hill overlooking the city]
There are four pages of comments to Rechkalov's post. At one point, the journalist found it necessary to explain the point he was trying to make (RUS) when he posted the photos:
This post has only one message, totally intentional and clearly defined. In case someone has forgotten the information of the first two days. When Tskhinval was called the second [Stalingrad] and it was said that the city no longer exists. And all that.
[…]
I've a feeling that some [of the commenters who care so much about the Motherland] would be happy to see nothing but foundations [of the buildings] in these shots. What's wrong with you, guys? Are you crazy? Have you yourselves ever lived on [nothing but] a foundation? And have you washed yourself from a cup, along with your whole family? If 2,000 dead bodies haven't been confirmed, but, say, only 300 have - don't you like that? You need 2,000? Or, even better, 10,000? So that you could [strike] at Georgians in full force? But is that you who's gonna fight with them? Soldier Bogdanov will […]. And you'll go on [posting comments], unaware that among those who defended Tskhinval were Georgians, too, and they were good fighters, and people respect them. Because one's ethnicity has nothing to do with it.
There's one message in this post - Tskhinval isn't Stalingrad. And you shouldn't use such words as Stalingrad in vain. […]
LJ user pro100_petrov posted eight photos from Tskhinvali and wrote (RUS):
[…] In a nutshell: yes, the phrase “has been erased from the face of the earth” is an exaggeration when applied to this city. There are buildings that haven't been damaged too much. Now that they've replaced the windows in them, they look the way they did before the war.
[photo]
But in general the city looks like this:
[three photos, the last one is of a Tskhinvali school]
[photo of Hotel Alan: “Journalists were hiding in the basement here. […] Damage is significant.”]
[photo of a ruined house: “And this, they say, is the result of [Grad multiple-launch rocket system]. Hey, military folks! Is this really Grad?”]
[photo of a tank: “A blown-up Georgian tank. Lots of stuff like this all over the city. Next to the tank, there's a dead Georgian lying in the bushes. Many of them there, too. […]”]
[photo of people on and around a tank: “Ossetian irregulars. Having their pictures taken with non-working mobile phones next to blown-up tanks.”]
LJ user alan_tskhurbaev (North Ossetian journalist Alan Tskhurbaev) had this conversation (RUS) about the level of destruction in Tskhinvali with LJ user pro100-petrov in the comment section to one of his posts:
pro100_petrov:
[…] High-rises in the southern part [of the city] have indeed been damaged severely. But I wouldn't say that only half of the buildings are uninhabitable. I think it's 70-80 percent. Depends on what you consider inhabitable. If a missile makes a hole in the building's wall, but the basement and one room are intact - is this called inhabitable or not?
alan_tskhurbaev:
Yes, this isn't an easy question. Let's say there is a large nine-story building, with a huge hole under the roof, made by a missile. People live in this building, many of them. Should this building be considered destroyed or uninhabitable - or not? Especially when it's likely that the hole has been there since 1991.
But the main thing is that to me Tskhinval looked like a living city, not deserted and not destroyed, as it had been described in the media.
LJ user slonopatam posted a picture of two elderly women posing next to a blown-up tank in downtown Tskhinvali. LJ user butttto commented:
Life goes on… The old people know this better than the young ones…
LJ user liza-valieva (North Ossetian journalist Liza Valieva) posted three photos and wrote this (RUS) about the cleanup efforts in Tskhinvali:
[photo]
One of the first pictures taken in Tskhinval. Georgian prisoners, along with Tskhinvali residents, are cleaning up the city.
As one of the officials of South Ossetia's ministry of internal affairs told me, Georgian prisoners were allowed to wash themselves, were fed and then taken to clean Tskhinval and the surrounding areas. “Let them clean up the mess created by their fellow countrymen,” he said.
I think it's a wise decision.
[photo]
I entered one of the first stores that re-opened in Tskhinval, where there was nothing but colored balloons, ketchup and mayo. The vendors were having a lively discussion about something. One of them said this to me in dismay:
[photo]
- Have you seen the Georgian prisoners who are cleaning up out there? If any of my relatives were killed, I'd go and kill one of them.
- They deserve pity, too, - I said, and immediately regretted having said it. I imagined the fury that would befall me. But, to my surprise, it did not happen, she agreed with me right away.
- Yes, I understand, they deserve pity, too.
Lebanon: The Memorandum of Understanding…or Controversy?
Hezbullah and Salafist groups in Lebanon have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that prohibits Muslims from killing each other. Now, it is announced that the MoU has been suspended by the Salafists, until further notice. The signing of this agreement met with the media's rush into getting the local politicians responses and scepticism. While bloggers supporting the MoU didn't post their responses at the hour, anti-MoU and anti-Hezbollah bloggers in general seem to be busy getting their voices heard.
Hanin Ghaddar at Now Lebanon analyses this step by Hezbullah as a sign of the party’s agenda to weaken the Future Movement's popularity as the representative of the Sunni Muslims majority and as a clear sign of Hezbullah's disregard to the state’s authority:
The agreement is also an attempt to contain any Shia-Sunni strife, resulting from the Tripoli clashes, and convince the Lebanese that Hezbollah wants to restore security in Tripoli, and other parts of Lebanon. In this way it also undermines the state, which has been unable to make any real headway in curbing violence and maintaining security. However, Hezbollah seems to have forgotten that these Salafists groups were empowered after Hezbollah’s assault on Beirut and the Sunni street in May, because they were able to present themselves as a more aggressive alternative to the Future Movement. And yet only three months later, Hezbollah wants to convince us that they are concerned about security.
Joseph El-Khoury express his uncertainty over this memorandum specially after the announcement that the agreements is being put on hold for the time being:
But even if it did work, I will still be far from happy. It is hard to feel part of such a historic moment where One Muslim decides not to spill the blood of another Muslim…when one is not a Muslim. In fact I should probably be more concerned. For when spilling someone’s blood seems to be the only way forward in the struggle against Zionism and Imperialism a simple statistical calculation will make it obvious that this blood is more likely to be mine now than it was last week.
Zentor, a Belgian researcher and journalist based in Beirut, reports on how the Salafists themselves seem to be divided and reportedly funded by different countries:
…Good news, you would think, at a time when sunnis and (alawi) shias are battling it out full-scale in Tripoli. Not so according to Hariri and the founder of salafism in Lebanon, sheikh Dai al-Islam al-Shahhal (who happens to be a cousin of the other sheikh). They mumble something about bilateral agreements getting in the way of national reconciliation, but the real reason is spelt out today by Fida al-Itani in al-Akhbar: the MOU is signed by small group which is funded by Kuwait, while the opponents of the MOU are funded by Saudi-Arabia (through Hariri of course). At least, as Angry Arab points out, it is now clear that Hariri is the greatest sponsor of the salafi groups in Lebanon…
The Ouwet Front criticized the MoU by calling it a trap set by Hezbullah and compares it to Michel Aoun MoU’s:
It looks like Salafists refused to fall for Hezbollah’s trap .. If only Aoun realized that before signing his shameful MOu ..
I am not sure what made them change their minds, i have a feeling they are gonna fall for that same trap again…
Mustapha at Beirut Spring posted an earlier article that reflects his opinion towards the benefits of this MoU:
One can argue that Hezbollah’s Salafist partners are marginal, but one can’t deny that the M.O.U has achieved many objectives for them:
It has calmed the nerves of Hezbollah Shiite supporters who were concerned about Iraqi-style terrorist attacks on their mosques and markets
It has received wide acclaim in Lebanon and among Arabs for seeking to prevent intra-Islamic bloodletting
It has added a dent to Hezbollah’s reputation (some would say manufactured) as a sectarian Shiite Movement
It undermines the rationale of many pro-March 14 Sunni extremists who support the Future Movement because they believed Hezbollah’s project is an existential threat to Sunnis in Lebanon
Manuela who is keeping tabs on this new political situation wondered in an earlier post whether this MoU would work and if it will last at all. Her latest post reads:
The Salafi freezed the agreement with Hizballah…
…This must be the shortest ever PR stunt of Hizballah. Maybe tomorrow they will sign another agreement with the Salafi or with others. In Lebanon not everything is logic, although everything has some sort of justification.
R.I.P Lebanon's blogger Marillionlb wonders about the consequences of this MoU and posts some pictures that support this curiosity.
Argentina: Weblogs Day 2008 in Buenos Aires
Photo by Jorge Gobbi
On August 20th, the third edition of Dia de Weblogs (Weblogs Day) took place in Buenos Aires, and it took place, as it does every year, at Palermo University. This time, there were several topics in debate, which were not limited to blogs only. There was a space to discuss about entrepreneurs, mass media and new projects on the Internet. During the last part of the program, many projects related to the Web were presented and I had the chance to talk about Global Voices Online and what it is about.
Federico Picone made a summary of the event [es] , and he says in his blog: “Just another moment in the Argentinean blogosphere that helps you see in person all of the people that you only know by their 32×32 pixels avatar and where the definition of “Social Web” takes meaning.” At PuntoGeek [es] , the topic of Global Voices was brought up, and the participation was even filmed (in Spanish).
Other references to the meetup can be found at La Propaladora [es] and Tutiday [es]. At Blocky [es], they made a summary of the journey's “most shocking phrases”. In my case, I also liveblogged from the event itself, which appeared in Infoxicados [es] .
Many events in Argentina related to weblogs and Web 2.0 were announced for the rest of the year. In Buenos Aires: WeMedia, Barcamp and StartMeUp. There will also be regional editions of Weblogs Day in Mar del Plata and Rosario.
Finally, we'd like to thank Matías Dutto and the organizers of Weblogs Day for providing us a space to spread the word about Global Voices Online.
Egypt: Taking Down Sexual Harassment
A national campaign to fight sexual harassment in Egypt is making waves. Faith from the blog Muslimah Media Watch discusses a new campaign, entitled Respect Yourself, launched to fight sexual harassment on Cairo's streets.
She says:
Sexual harassment is a problem that affects women in all societies. Muslim societies are no exception. Where there is patriarchy, there will be sexual harassment. In both Muslim and non-Muslim societies, the “solution” to sexual harassment has always fallen on women. “Don't dress in revealing clothes, don't flirt, don't stay out alone, etc.” Even at my alma mater, the rape and sexual harassment prevention posters are in the women's bathrooms only, and the focus is on women's behavior instead of men's.
The Los Angeles Times recently did a profile of a group (pictured to the right) in Egypt that is taking a different approach to sexual harassment. The volunteer group is sponsored by the Egyptian youth magazine Kelmetna. One of the great aspects of this group is the focus on men's role in stopping sexual harassment. The slogan of the group's campaign is “Respect yourself: Egypt still has real men.” I love this slogan for two reasons. The first is that it challenges one of the core values of traditional notions of masculinity: sexual power over women. Harassing women is not a sign of masculinity; it's a sign of cowardice. It's great that Muslims are beginning to recognize this.
She further explains:
Another reason I love this slogan is because it brings the responsibility for sexual harassment back on men. For too long, sexual harassment has been considered the responsibility of women. “Real men” take the responsibility in treating women with respect and sexual autonomy and they also take responsibility in stopping other men from disrespecting women's sexuality. This is why the campaign not only focuses on getting men to stop sexually harassing women, but to also stop other men from doing it, too. This is especially important when a lot of sexual harassment in Egypt takes place in public.
The focus on making men responsible also challenges the view that women's dress will prevent sexual harassment. The Los Angeles Times article cited a survey of Egyptian women which showed that 83% of Egyptian women reported being verbally and sexually harassed. Of these women, 70% were veiled. Nour Hussein, a volunteer with the group who wears hijab, was pushed to join the group after being sexually harassed. About her experience, Nour said “That was a month ago. I felt very insecure and this pushed me hard to join the campaign. I used to hear about harassment but thought that it only happened to non-veiled girls; I never thought it could happen to me.” Stories like Nour's only further validate that message of the campaign: harassment is not the fault of women; it is the fault of the man. Recognizing that is the first step in taking down sexual harassment.
MENA: Refused Gaza Fulbright students speak
A few weeks a group of students from the Gaza Strip who were due to go to the United States on Fulbright scholarships had their visas revoked at the last moment. Two of the students who were denied the chance to pursue their studies have since written heartfelt letters pleading their case.
Haitham Sabbah, a Palestinian blogger based in Bahrain, posts a letter written by Fidaa Abed, a student who had been accepted at the University of California San Diego on a Fulbright scholarship – only to be turned back on arrival in the US:
Last week, I landed in Washington, D.C., brimming with optimism. Upon arrival, I was whisked into a separate room. An American official informed me that he had just received information about me that he could not reveal. However, it required him to put me on the next plane home. I was shocked. And I was taken aback at the cruelty of snatching away my educational dreams at the last possible moment. My mistreatment was particularly unexpected because in late May, when Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice learned that I and six other Fulbright students were being stripped of our Fulbright scholarships, she leapt to our assistance. One by one, Israel let other Palestinian Fulbright scholars out of Gaza, and they made their way to American universities. Then I was mysteriously singled out for last-minute denial based on “secret evidence.” Two others had their visas canceled on account of secret evidence before they could even leave Gaza. (Originally published in The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Haitham asks:
“Secret evidence”… hah? Maybe his “beard”?!
Robin, a commenter on Haitham’s post, thinks she knows what the ‘secret evidence’ that led to the revoking of Fidaa Abed’s visa:
It’s really pretty easy to trace the source of the “secret evidence” which caused the US to revoke Fidaa’s visa. That would be to one Congressman Mark Kirk, Republican Christian Zionist, Illinois, who champions himself as Israel’s best friend in Congress, who himself is a member of the Fulbright Association. Some might remember Mark Kirk from this incident:
“On November 5, 2005, while speaking at Northwestern University, Kirk was asked how he felt about stricter visa policies applied to Arab foreign nationals seeking entry to the United States. Kirk answered: “I’m OK with discrimination against young Arab males from terrorist-producing states. I’m OK with that. I think that when we look at the threat that’s out there, young men between, say, the ages of 18 and 25 from a couple of countries, I believe a certain amount of intense scrutiny should be placed on them.” So, now that your memory has been jogged about who he is, it should be no surprise that he went on the rampage to do what he could to stop these Fulbright scholars. The New York Sun reported that he wrote a letter to the Inspector General of the State Department, Harold Geisel, with “evidence”. This evidence was that (I don’t know about the other two, but this applies for sure to Fidaa) Fidaa had attended Gaza’s Islamic University.
Jerry Haber, an Israeli-American blogger writing at the The Magnes Zionist, has more information about one of the other students who was not allowed to travel – a high school student on a special programme:
The boy in the picture above, proudly displaying his diploma for learning English, had his visa revoked last week by the United States, while waiting in Amman for his plane to America.
Ahmed al-Mughari (in my post a few days ago I spelled it Ma'ari, following English press accounts) studied English in Gaza for two years as part of a program administered by AmidEast, “a private, nonprofit organization with a mission of strengthening mutual understanding and cooperation between Americans and the peoples of the Middle East and North Africa.” Talented students from Gaza, the West Bank, and Jerusalem, as well as Yemen, Kuwait, and Egypt, etc., are nominated when they are about 13 or 14 years old to participate. The students study about 150 hours of general English language, 40 hours academic writing, 30 hours, conversation, and 20 hours public speaking. Classes are on Fridays [the weekend] or during vacations, and are in addition to the students' regular schooling. … It is a year long program, but Ahmed was lucky and was allowed to spend a second year in the program. When Ahmed finished his second year, he applied to AmidEast to study in America and to live with an American family.
Jerry Haber adds:
The world pictures Gaza as a dysfunctional, overpopulated, hellhole, run by fanatical Muslim fundamentalists, with armed thugs and terrorists roaming the streets. Maybe this is too detailed a picture; most Israelis, if they think of Gaza at all, see it as a miserable place where terrorists who are trying to destroy Israel live. That somebody like Ahmed could grow up in a place like Gaza seems incomprehensible to many Israelis. That Gaza could be home to doctors, lawyers, and university professors, seems as incomprehensible. Such is the power of prejudice and stereotypes.
Then he presents a letter he received from the young student:
Dear sir
I'm very appreciated for you and your huge efforts in seeking to give me a last chance in order to come back to my program. My name is AHMED AL MAGHARI. I'm 16 and I'm Palestinian as you know. At first, I'm going to provide you some details about my program (YES program), YES it is abbreviation for (Youth and Exchange Study). It's a global program for exchange students all over the world for bridging cultures and building understanding among the people in the world. I succeed in this program believing in my self and believing a better education and a better place to live in, but unfortunately, they destroyed my only hope for a better future, however I still insist to travel in any way. In addition, this problem effected me in a very negative way, I felt that I disappointed all my friends and my family's hopes. Moreover, a lot of hard decisions that I took based on studying in America simply destroyed. Any way, thanks a million for you and all the honest people like you and I hope that the problem will be solved in a quick way
AHMED AL MAGHARI
Jerry Haber finishes with a request to his readers:
So what can I say to Ahmed? How can I explain to him what the Shin Bet will not explain to him – why they told the US that he is a security threat. And why did he became a security threat only after the US had granted him a visa. And what is a security threat? Does he have a relative that is suspected of being Hamas? Is there fear that he will want to revenge a martyr? Is it difficult for the Shin Bet to trump up charges – even convincingly — against anybody they want to? If you an American citizen, I ask you to contact your representative in Congress, or senator, and bring Ahmed's case to their attention. You may think that this is a lousy time to do something – Congress is or will be soon in recess; the world is paying attention to Russia's invasion of Georgia and the Olympics. If one young man can't travel to America, is this such a big deal? For me, it is an enormous deal. To save this young man's belief in himself, and in the importance of education, is to save an entire world. Keeping Ahmed in Gaza is a vindictive, spiteful act that says more about Israel's desire to save face with the US than with anybody's security. How ashamed we all should feel.
Links for Fri, 2008-08
CHUP! - Changing Up Pakistan is analyzing the reports and rumors that Asif Ali Zardari, the Co-Chairman of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the widower of the assassinated ex Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto may be the next President of Pakistan. Chowrangi also weighs in on this issue.
All Things Pakistan is in pain after yet another suicide bomb blast in Pakistan that killed more than 70 people: “In what continues to be war on and in Pakistan, Pakistanis continue to die. Pakistan continues to cry.”
Sakshi Juneja posts some pictures of the recently concluded Queer Azadi LGBT pride march in Mumbai, India.
Cerno visits a historic cave temple – the Ridi Vihare -”Silver Temple” in Sinhala and writes about it.
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