Stories from 10 December 2010
Americas: Cosplay in Latin America
Cosplay is a form of expression in which participants use costumes and accessories to represent their favorite manga, anime or video game characters. Its followers in Latin America are a passionate community that promotes Cosplay through personal blogs, Flickr and other social media outlets.
India: Ban Diesel Vehicles In And Around The Himalayan Region
Raja Basu at Potpourri suggests that the Indian government should ban diesel vehicles in and around the Himalayan Region so that the Himalayan glaciers can be saved.
India: Gifting Cars At Weddings
Neha Viswanathan at Within / Without discusses about a slogan of a car advertisement in India promoting gifting of cars at weddings, which can be interpreted as promoting dowry.
Bangladesh: On US, Where Liberty Is A Statue
“It is about time the Statue of Liberty started minding its own business and oiling its own recession-afflicted machine,” comments Maskawaith Ahsan at E-Bangladesh while discussing contemporary issues like Wikileaks and the frisking of Indian ambassador to the US, Meera Shankar, at the Mississippi Airport.
Chile: Blog Against Reduction of History Class Hours
The blog Historia y Reforma [es] (History and Reform) collects “the different positions that have been manifested against the reduction of hours for History that are scattered in various media and social networks. At the same time, readers will be able to learn about the different actions that are being...
Ecuador: “Fiestas de Quito”: Tradition and Resistance
The "Fiestas de Quito" (Celebrations of Quito) are one of the most important and traditional celebrations in Ecuador, marked by the multiculturalism of the city, its traditions and cuisine, where issues of miscegenation and nationalism blend in a fragrant, colorful and musical occasion.
India: One Day Women Can Play and Dance
India Unheard shows us two different festivities in different areas of the country where married women from tribal communities can, for one day only, play and dance in public without risking censure.
Kenya: Kenya and the ICC: Setting the record straight
Why is the Kenyan government doing a u-turn on its promise to cooperate with the International Criminal Court?: “Now that the investigations are done the Prosecutor has announced that he is ready to take the next step and will be requesting the International Court to issue summons against 6 high...
Kenya: The case of Kenyan born with both male and female genitalia
Kenyan Jurist discusses the case of Richard Muasya in Kenya who was born with both female and male genitalia and therefore unable to secure a birth certificate, identity card or any travel documents.
Burkina Faso: Coping with climate change
A farmer in Burkina Faso combines farming and cattle herding to cope with climate change: “Years ago, when the forest and grass were plentiful, the stover from millet and sorghum were left on the fields. But now they are carefully stowing it as animal feed, to be used during the...
Zimbabwe: Zimbabwe's model constitution
Zimbabwe's model constitution: “We have just included all the content from the Model Constitution compiled by the Law Society of Zimbabwe into our indexed online constitution resource. Visitors to our site are now able to browse through this lengthy document”
Brazil: Media supported censorship during the dictatorship
Eduardo Guimarães, from Blog da Cidadania [Citzenship Blog, pt] reproduces an interview by TV host Jô Soares with Ricardo Kotscho (journalist and President Lula's former press secretary), in which he states that several major Brazilian newspapers supported the Brazilian Military Dictatorship (1964-1985).
Brazil: WikiLeaks and the “Electronic Intifada”
Idelber Avelar, from the blog Biscoito Fino, suggests [pt] that Orwell's 1984 is one of the best literary models to understand WikiLeaks’ global surveillance, comparing it with a two-way “Electronic Intifada“, and calls Julian Assange as the “First Global Political Prisioner of the Internet”.
Cuba: UN Vote on LGBT Rights Sparks Controversy
During the UN General Assembly, Cuba supported the amendment to remove the explicit reference to sexual orientation from the periodic resolution condemning the extrajudicial, arbitrary or summary executions. The vote has sparked a debate in the Cuban blogosphere that has reached the governmental sphere.
Kyrgyzstan: Coalition building, Machiavelli style
Niccolo Machiavelli, the Florentine renaissance era political philosopher, had an especially bleak view of human nature. Exiled in his native Italy and publically denounced by popes and politicians in the centuries since his death, his eminent treatise ‘The Prince’ is nevertheless still devoured secretly – and compulsively – by diplomats,...
South Korea: Free School Meals Debate Sweeps the Nation
A serious debate on the free school meals system has swept South Korea this week, as a minority opposition party succeeded in passing a bill through parliament that expands free meal coverage.
Haiti: After the Elections
Haitian bloggers continue to monitor post-election developments.
Barbados: Praedial Larceny
Barbados Underground blogs about “the scourge of praedial larceny.”
Suriname: Art & Houses
“The Surinamese house from the 19th century is disappearing from the Paramaribo scene and with it a piece of our history”: Srananart's Blog features a painter who is passionate about “characteristic old wooden Surinamese houses.”
Cuba: International Human Rights Day
Uncommon Sense explains why today, International Human Rights Day, is important to him.
Jamaica: On the Internet
Grasshopper Eyes The Potomac asks some pressing questions about the Internet.
