David Sasaki

China: Official excess met with humor, scorn, death threats

Online reaction to this month’s 17th Party Congress was nearly non-existent until a batch of photos from a reception honoring Party Secretary Li Lianyu were published to a the military.club.china.com forum. While the photos themselves suggest unified party patriotism, over 1,000 forum postings indicate otherwise.

Syrian blogger Roukana Hamour has been Kidnapped

On October 25 Syrian blogger Roukana Hamour was kidnapped from her home in Damascus, taken to an undisclosed location, interrogated by Syrian authorities for a comment left on her blog, and released three hours later. Sami Ben Gharbia reports.

Russia: Bloggers On George W. Bush and “Russian DNA”

The Washington Post chided US President George W. Bush for portraying Russia’s resurgent authoritarianism as somehow genetic. Surprisingly, many Russian bloggers and forum dwellers seemed to agree with his judgement.

Sri Lanka: Anuradhapura, Terrorism and Hillary Clinton

On October 22 a suicide squad of Tamil Tigers attacked the Anuradhapura airforce base, destroying a number of aircraft at the expense of 21 rebel fighters. While there was conflicting information about the damage and loss suffered by both sides, what outraged the Sri Lankan blogosphere was the government’s decision to strip and parade the dead bodies of the rebel fighters in an open cart around Anuradhapura.

China:Tiger!Tiger?

A sighting of the sacred and endangered South China Tiger by village photographer Zhou Zhenglong in Shaanxi province began as an act of heroism and courage, but subsequent investigations by insightful netizens led to a blogosphere-wide debate over the veracity of the images.

Armenia: Former President Makes Political Comeback

Forced to resign in 1998 over what many considered to be a peace deal with neighboring Azerbaijan, former president Levon Ter Petrosian has announced that he will run in next year’s presidential election. Onnik Krikorian seeks reaction from Armenian bloggers.

Roundups

Drunk driving in Saudi Arabia, Independence Day in Turkmenistan, Hungarian troops in Afghanistan … and lots more in today’s Global Roundups.

Costa Rica: Free-Trade Agreement Passes

Costa Ricans participated in a nationwide referendum regarding the fate of the Free-Trade Agreement with the United States. Even though the vote passed, however, there is still much left to be completed by Congress and little uncertainty of what the results mean, writes Roy Rojas.

Kazakhstan: “Kompromat” Wars

Former son-in-law of President Nazarbayev, former chief of special services, former media mogul and former influential clan leader, the most recent incarnation of Rakhat Aliyev is that of alleged abductor who is protesting Kazakhstan’s ruling elite from Vienna.

Bangladesh: Bloggers mobilise against domestic violence

Though Domestic Violence Awareness month started in the US, it’s message has spread worldwide. This is especially true as of late in Bangladesh where more and more women are starting to speak out about the violence they have endured and bloggers, increasingly, are rallying to support them.

Japan: Taiwanese chorus music to the ears

A video of an auditorium in Taiwan featuring 258 Taiwanese people watching and singing along to the lyrics of Japanese anime songs became a hit in Japan earlier this week after it was uploaded to a popular video sharing website, attracting over 120,000 views and nearly as many comments. But does that actually bring Japan and Taiwan closer together?

Philippines: Arroyo Pardons Plunder Convict Estrada

Tony Cruz offers ample evidence of an angry blogosphere following President Arroyo’s pardon of former president Joseph Estrada just weeks after he was jailed for corruption.

Roundups

Youth and politics in Trinidad and Tobago, is China annexing Africa?, Uzbek journalist Killed in Kyrgyzstan … and lots more in today’s Global Roundups.

Compared to our neighbor across the bay, Oakland typically doesn’t have too much to show off when it comes to innovative online media. Sure, there are a few great bloggers like George Kelley, Mari, Afrogeek, and Cyrus Farivar, and at least one excellent podcast by Britt Bravo, but simply put, we’re still no San Francisco.

You might have been fooled, however, if you were at the Online News Association conference this week in Toronto. The only project to win two awards at the conference was Not Just A Number, a stunning Flash-based map mashup that uses multimedia to turn the one-page print obituaries of Oakland’s many homicide victims into incredibly powerful chronicles of each person’s life, community, and family. Katy and Sean - the site’s creators - are uber-talented and, glancing at the conference’s job boards, obviously in high demand. But still, they volunteer their time to go out and record each of these stories.

Fellow News Challenge winners and Oakland residents Chris O’Brien and Paul Grabowicz were also there. Chris’ project focuses on North Carolina, but Paul’s is trying to recreate Oakland’s 30’s, 40’s, and 50’s jazz scene with an online video game. It has a touch of personal relevance to me since Grandpa Sasaki used to frequent Sweet’s Ballroom (just two blocks down from my office) and other jazz clubs in the area.

Poff Daddy was in the house. Kim was a fellow Oakland resident before selling out to LA and heading up Pop&Politics. And I wouldn’t be one bit surprised if there were other Oakland peoples at the conference that I didn’t get a chance to meet.

All of this Oakland talent in one place has me thinking that we need to start something like Ignite Seattle!, but in Oakland. The tough part is finding the perfect venue. Somewhere (not a bar) with wi-fi that is geek friendly, but also DJ/music and alcohol friendly.

I forget the exact format rules of Ignite Seattle, but I do remember that I liked them. I think that each presentation is allowed to have no more than 20 slides and that each slide can last for now longer than one minute. The idea is to get people who have great ideas all together to talk about their work and to network.

Some potential Oakland presentations:

• Tara Hunt on Metrics for Healthy Communities
• Van Jones on Green Collared Jobs
• Chowhound on the Oakland Taco Truck Google Map
• Katy and Sean about their new Resilience Factors Project
• D.U.S.T.Y. on Online Youth Storytelling
• Bradley Horowitz on using Flickr to create community
• Britt Bravo on Having Fun, Doing Good
• George Kelley on video blogging

It would be cool to have a panel discussion on Oakland metroblogging too with the various authors of NovoMetro, Grand Lake Guardian, Oakland Focus, Oakland Magazine Blog, Oakland’s Future, and Oakland Goods. What are they trying to accomplish? How can they help one another? How do they each interact with city hall? Are there success stories of blogging leading to social change?

Can I get a witness?

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Peru: Census Day

On Sunday, October 21, Peruvians were counted as part of the National Census. However, with such a massive undertaking, problems would surely arise. Bloggers reported inexperienced census-takers, a lack of security for census workers, and fuss over the lack of transportation, writes Juan Arellano.

Iran: Power Struggle over Nuclear Crisis

The resignation on Saturday of Ali Larijani, the top Iranian nuclear negotiator, has led to speculation about the reasons for his decision, and how it will affect the nuclear crisis. About 200 members of Parliament protested against replacing Ali Larijani with Said Jalili, a close ally of President Ahmadinejad. Hamid Tehrani combs the Iranian blogosphere for analysis and opinion.

Bangladesh: Bloggers, the media and the army chief

Earlier this year Bangladesh underwent what the Economist magazine referred to as “a coup that dares not speak its name.” While the military-backed ‘Caretaker Government’ intended to turn down the heated party rhetoric, a new political controversy has sparked up following an investigative report on irregularities surrounding General Moeen U Ahmed’s personal housing loan.

Korea: Kissing in Public Places

The perennial debate between younger and older generations regarding public affection has surfaced again in Korea after an adult assaulted two teenagers kissing in a metro station.

Armenia: Opposition Detainees Released

At least a dozen opposition activists supportive of former president Levon Ter Petrosian were detained for using megaphones at a street rally. Does this mean that the ruling government finally feels seriously threatened by the opposition? Armenian bloggers sound off.

Kazakhstan: Prices Unleashed

It was a mix of politics and economics last week in Kazakhstan. When the long-time ruling party Nur Otan won all of the seats in the legislature despite cries of protest from international electoral monitors, inflation went through the roof.

Kuwait: Lost Between Cinemas and Restaurants

The decision by Kuwaiti authorities to block the release of the latest blockbuster film, The Kingdom, has led bloggers to unleash their criticisms about all aspects of Kuwaiti movie-going.

Roundups

Armenian diaspora bloggers and U.S. Congress Speaker Nancy Pelosi, concerns about LGBT rights in Kyrgyzstan, polling homeless Russians … and lots more in today’s Global Roundups.