Stories about Ideas from July, 2008
Mozambique: Quality debate about politics
Elísio Macamo [pt], a sociologist from Mozambique, writes up an article to try to answer a question put by a reader: “How do we re-introduce quality debate about politics in our society?”
Saudi Arabia: Is Divorce an Easy Word?
With divorce rates soaring to an all new high in Saudi Arabia, Saudi blogger 3abira Sabeel [Ar] asks: “Has divorce become such an easy word?” Amira Al Hussaini translates 3abira's post from Arabic, which discusses how different today's women are from their grandmothers and why young women and men find it easy to dissolve their unions.
Africa: Africa's blogging idols competition?
A Nairobian's Perspectives would like to see Africa's blogging idols competition:Well thats quite a competition and requires quite some amount of strategy, i just wish they had a special category for African blogs, alternatively we can borrow a cue and start our own competition! Any willing sponsors for Afria's blogging...
Korea: Fan Death and Your Belief
There is a myth that has been handed down from generation to generation in Korea. “The fan death.” If you sleep with a fan on in an airtight room, you might die. When I was a kid, adults around me always warned that I should not close the door and...
China: The Great Mascot Conspiracy
Of all the various interpretations of what the Fuwas could or should represent we've seen recently, ‘The Great Mascot Conspiracy’ from Angry Chinese Blogger has definitely done it better.
Egypt: Better Way to Die
“I will probably die of cancer. To be more exact metastatic cancer, which is when cancer spreads from one part of the body to every other part supplied by blood or lymphatics. Actually this would be a better way to die than a fatal crash or suicide,” writes Egyptian blogger...
Jamaica, India: Signs of the Times
The recent bombings in India trigger Jamaican blogger Annie Paul‘s memory about “one piece of graffiti by a Muslim group that had struck me with the simple force and stridency of its message.” In examining the many murals around Kingston, she wonders if “the signs are on the walls.”
Bahrain: Bloggers agree on code of ethics
Bahraini blogger Redbelt reports on a meeting where bloggers agreed on a code of ethics aimed at combating hate and discrimination online.
Kenya: Blogging workshop for marginalized youth
Kristina Rosinski, a volunteer at the Undugu Society of Kenya (USK), describes a blogging workshop in which she taught poor and marginalized youth how to blog and post photographs. She links to the blogs and Flickr photostreams of all 17 participants in the workshop.
Malawi: Healthworkers use of Frontline SMS
Kiwanja describes some of the initiatives that are using the software Frontline SMS (an collective SMS service for NGOs), such as Josh Nesbit in Malawi who's using it “to drive field communications between a local hospital and its six hundred roaming community health workers (CHWs)”.
South Korea: Why are Koreans Hypersensitive to Criticisms from Non-Koreans?
Ask a Korean addresses another sensitive question:Why are Koreans Hypersensitive to Criticisms from Non-Koreans?
Syria: Proud to be Backward and an Extremist
Syrian blog Mohammed Online [Ar] posts six pieces of advice on how to become “backward” and an “extremist.” He also goes on to tell us why he would be proud being one.
Japan: Toyota's Just-In-Time System and the Akihabara Killings (Part 1)
When Tomohiro Kato killed 7 people and injured many more in Tokyo's Akihabara district last month, the details of his life became the talk of the Japanese blogging world. Among these conversations, the murders sparked a huge number of conversations on the country's temp worker industry, as Kato himself worked as a temp worker at a factory under Toyota. No single blog entry however attracted as much attention as did a post by blogger boiledema, published two days after the incident and bookmarked on Hatena by a staggering 1366 users. In this first part of a two-part series, we translate the first half of boiledema's original blog post.
Korea: To Me, a Blog is ___________
We all know about the ‘wave’ at sporting events. You stand up and down following strangers the behind or front, or left or right sides around you. Now the ‘blog wave’ is popular in Korea. A blogger or portal site suggests an idea and starts riding the ‘blog wave.’ This...
Lebanon: Mental Laziness and Stereotyping
“That common American/Israeli refrain that Arabs have a cult of death, whereas Israelis/the West love life is older than, e.g., suicide bombings. It is, I think, a thought well-embeded in imperialist thinking, along with the idea that Arabs are irrational,” writes Burghol on going to war to restore honor.
Lebanon: Flashmobbers
Lebanese Flashmobbers hit the streets of Beirut on Saturday (July 19) and slept on the sidewalks of Ain el Mreisseh for five minutes and that was captured in photos by Liliane.
Sierra Leone: Fashion designer Adama Kargbo
Naijagal comments on the work of Sierra Leonan designer Adama Kargbo, who returned to her country after studying in the US to create a fashion line called Aschobi (photos included in the post). She says: “Sierra Leone isn't the first place you'd think of finding couture, but the country is...
Ethiopia: Violence or non-violence?
Ephrem Madebo of the blog Enset revisits the old debate of peaceful versus non-peaceful struggle for democracy in Ethiopia, after listening to a talk by Professor Mesfin.
Upcoming tech conferences on Africa
White African informs about 5 upcoming conferences around technology or internet issues in Africa.
Kenya: Kwani Lit Fest and foreign correspondents
Bankelele describes the first session of the Kwani Literary Festival in Nairobi that started Wednesday night, with the title “How foreign correspondents have formed the literary image of Africa”.
Cuba: Glorious Future?
Both Child of the Revolution and Ninety miles away…in another country take issue with a series of articles in the Christian Science Monitor speculating about Cuba's economic future: “It is particularly galling that the resourcefulness they all laud as the sign of a changing Cuba is a harsh expedient forced...
