Blogs & Ecology

A short video pays tribute to a young activist and nursing graduate who was killed while attending to the heath needs of a rural town in the Philippines.

After California voters passed the proposition to ban gay marriage in the state, gay and transgender rights is back on the headlines in America. While the debate rages on there, Nepal - a faraway country, much smaller and often ignored on the world stage is now being looked upon as an example on how to handle the gay and transgender rights issue.

On November 17th Nepal’s Supreme Court issued a historic ruling which grants protection to gays, lesbians and transgender community in the country. It also open doors for gay marriage rights and end all discriminatory laws.

“To me, a different family means people living on the edge of society. These people may have no home, no jobs. They may be doing drugs, their neighbors may hate them, and they may be banned from entering a theater because of their inappropriate looks. But within such families, love and caring relationship still reign […].”

This is how Irina Popova, a Russian photographer, describes (RUS) the subjects of her “Different Family” project, currently on exhibit in St. Petersburg - and also available online here (23 photos) and on PhotoPolygon.com portal (15 photos).

Tunisian blogger, Sami Ben Gharbia, published a video explaining the role of the Egyptian blogsphere in exposing human rights abuses and the role of the social-networking website Facebook and the micro-blogging platform.

Here's the video:

And here's what Ben Gharbia, who is Global Voices Advocacy editor, wrote:

Teeth Maestro is reporting that the transmission of Geo News, a Dubai based Pakistani news channel and other channels of the GEO TV network have been blocked in most parts of Karachi.

Saudi Jeans is annoyed his country's 150-member Shura (consultative) Council rejected a law to simplify the regulations of Saudi marriages to foreigners. “I do not understand the harsh restrictions enforced on citizens who want to marry foreigners. Why should the government bother with who one chooses to marry?” he asks.

It seems that it is not only third world regimes who block people's blogs. Apparently, Google's Blogspot has decided to join the bandwagon, and has blocked Nawara Negm's Blog (Tahyees [Ar]), without specifying any reasons. And Ahmed Shokeir writes here about the incident:

The crisis in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has flared up once again: 10 years of tension, on-and-off warfare and violence have taken their toll on the population, who are being displaced yet one more time. More than 5 million people have died during this warfare, thousands of women have been raped, and thousands of children have been recruited as children soldiers. On the following videos we bring you calls for action from the DRC citizens pleading with us to take a stand to stop the humanitarian crisis in the DRC.

Konbit Pou Ayiti says that “although most of the world has moved on from the tragic stories of the four powerful storms that thrashed Haiti in August and September, Haitians certainly have not. In Gonaives, people are still living on the roofs of homes that are covered in mud. In the south and southeast, hunger that was once a part of daily life is now becoming famine…”

Fidel Castro's new book has not escaped the notice of El Cafe Cubano or Guyanese blogger Propaganda Press.

The furor surrounding the Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister's recent radio station visit has not abated.

Saudi blogger, Esam Mudeer, clipped from CNN Arabic, an article asking -in light of last week's major events in the Arab world- if Arab blogs might lead a social revolution in the region.

On November 6^th, the Himalayan Kingdom of Bhutan officially crowned a new King, who was appointed almost two years ago. The fifth Dragon King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck is an Oxford educated 28 year old and the eldest son of the fourth and previous Dragon King of Bhutan, Jigme Singye Wangchuck. His coronation ceremony was attended by political heavy weights from neighboring India-including President Ms. Pratibha Patil and entertainers from Bollywood.

It seems that many people, especially if you are outside Taiwan, found the recent protest against Chen Yinlin in Taipei confusing. Bob pointed out that in China, some incidents in the protest were interpreted as democratic violence. Such impression is probably a result of the mainstream media report on the violent scene. You may want to ask what had happened during this long day, Nov 6th? Why did so many people decide to demonstrate in the street? How did the violence happen? Let's take a closer look at and listen to these protesters.

aswing explained why protest:

A big scandal [En] involving two entertainers’ marriage life, affairs, and legal fighting in Korea this year has brought up whether adultery should be legal or not. An actress was disclosed to have had affairs with other men and she taken to court by her husband and actor for adultery. Long term fighting between them, exposure of their detailed marriage life, and legal fighting have dragged on for a long time. She eventually appealed to the Higher Court that the adultery law breaches the right to pursue mankind’s happiness. On the 30th of October, the Higher Court recognized adultery as constitutional[kr].