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Egypt: Bloggers Among Egyptian Demo Detainees

Amira Al Hussaini · 19:32

lingua → fr

It is happening all over again..and may recur in a bigger way tomorrow (Monday March 26) as more Egyptians are threatening to take to the streets in protest against proposed amendments to the Constitution.

Incidentally, a referendum on the amendments ~~which are to be implemented tomorrow~~, which aim to - in the words of blogger Ala'a Abdelfattah (Arabic) - “ensure the continuation of the dictatorial rule over the country, the inheritance of succession and the abolishment of judiciary monitoring of the elections” - will be held tomorrow.

“Police cracked down today on Kefaya’s demo against Mubarak’s, arresting more than 20 demonstrators. Downtown once again (and again and again) has come under occupation since the morning by Mubarak’s Central Security Forces troops, plainclothes State Security agents, and battalions of plainclothes thugs which the interior ministry uses to ‘keep law and order',” writes blogger and journalist Hossam El Hamalawy on his personal blog here.

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4 comments · »»

The Oldest Blogger in the Balkans

Ljubisa Bojic · 17:41

lingua → zhs · zht · es

In the evening, Radmilo Ristic, a 74-year-old retired high school professor, likes to attend theater plays, gallery openings, literary nights, round-table discussions and other similar events that take place around Kragujevac, the city in Central Serbia. When Ristic comes back home, instead of the traditional paper and pen, his computer awaits him.

“I like to comment on some neglected texts in online editions of Serbian and Croatian papers,” says Ristic, the oldest blogger in the Balkans. “That way I can stimulate others to leave additional comments and point to important issues.”

An affair shaking the domestic community these days is the exams trade that took place at the Law School of Kragujevac University. Police arrested a number of professors who were allegedly involved in selling university diplomas. Ristic says (SRP):

It is interesting how they established that one exam costs 500 euro […]. Did they use some economic principles? There might be one explanation if the creators of this price thought one exam needed two months of studying. They took into account the average monthly salary of 250 euro, and, two months of work for this salary equals two months of studying for the exam. That’s a totally clear economic calculation, the one which wasn’t figured out even by the economics experts from Economics Department which is located just a few meters from the Law School.

He focuses on an article about the state of Serbia's judicial system by showing all the hassle one rape victim had to go trough in order to achieve justice. He states(SRP):

The author of the text asks who is punished more, the sentenced professor or his student victim. It is enough to compare four months of imprisonment and five years of waiting for justice.

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Syrian Blogsphere on Culture: Old Damascus Campaign, Norouz Day and “Tleebeh”

Yazan Badran · 16:25

In this past week, most of the Syrian blogsphere was busy sponsoring yet another campaign in favor of saving what's left of the world's oldest continuously inhabited city, Damascus.

The new plans that the Damascus City Counsel is trying to put to effect, include bulldozing two historic souqs (bazaars), Souq al-'Amara and Souq al-Manakhlieh, both of which date back almost 700 years.

According to the city counsel, these developments are based on the French architect Michel Eochard's Damascus city planning, which date back to 1968.

The new move sparked protests not only from the residents of the old city and owners of the shops, but from levels as high as the Chief of UNESCO's World Heritage Center.

Ammar Abdulhamid from Amarji wrote:

This is not about politics. This is not about who’s in and who’s out, who’s in power and who’s in jail or exile, who’s rich and who’s poor. This is about the love of a city and of country, this is about what makes us all tick, what gives us all a soul, what gives us an anchor in this turbulent world. This is about protecting the last vestiges of our historical identity. If we give up on Damascus now, we will become like drifting hollowed logs in a raging river, with nothing to look forward to but an approaching abyss.

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Links

East Asia

Simon blogged about the media buzz about the result of the Chief executive election in Hong Kong - a result that has been known for 2 years.

East Asia

Jacky and EPIN have translated a post from China Labour Watch on a Japanese businessman views China.

East Asia

Angry Chinese bloggers opened a file for Zhang Jianhong, a freelance journalist, who was sentenced to 6 years imprisonment, plus a further years suspension of political rights, by the Ningbo Intermediate court on 19 of March.

East Asia

Baidu has launched its Japan version. Its content includes Japan's Porn Images. Jeremy Goldkorn from DANWEI asked: Will porn get Baidu Japan blocked in China?

East Asia

Huge reported that the news about Nail House from Chongqing had disappeared from the Internet in China within two hours: people just wanted to criticize developers, now that the Internet police stepped in, people would scold the government… (zh)

Middle East & North Africa

There is an interesting link in Khorshidkhanoum blog about a program on PBS site. We watch producer Jamila Paksima revisits her birth country of Iran with American spiritual leaders hoping to promote dialogue on such explosive issues as nuclear proliferation, the Iraq war, and the holocaust.You can watch it here.