NDJAMENA – The approaching elections could be important steps toward reviving democracy in Chad, but only if President Idriss Déby opens political space for the opposition beforehand. Chad: Beyond Superficial Stability,* the latest report from the International Crisis Group, highlights the country’s chance to escape the political and military crisis of the last five years. That seemed a distant hope in May 2009, when a coalition of insurgents, the Union of Resistance Forces (Union des forces de la résistance, UFR), launched a major attack on government troops, but its defeat put an end to the idea of overthrowing the regime... Continue Reading
PARKER – With over 178 quality entries submitted this year, Mohamed Soliman of Cairo emerged victorious as the winner of the 2010 WorldNomads.com Travel Documentary Scholarship. Documentaries were submitted from places like Africa, India, Alaska, South America, South East Asia and Papua New Guinea, but Soliman’s piece on Northern Uganda touched the judges more than the others. Mohamed’s video documented the strife in Northern Uganda through the eyes of a teenager — poignantly showing the loss he suffered and the way in which this extraordinary young man is learning to embrace life again. Judge Trent O’Donnell commented, “One of the... Continue Reading
JOHANNESBURG -The South African Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBD) has joined the debate on media reforms in the country, and said it has serious reservations about the proposed introduction of new regulatory measures for the South African media. An Associate Director of SA Jewish Board of Deputies said, “The proposed Media Tribunal clearly has the potential to become a vehicle through which State interference in the ability of the media to operate freely and without fear of reprisals to become entrenched in our society. This in turn would seriously undermine the basic democratic freedoms on which South Africa’s future well-being... Continue Reading
JOHANNESBURG – CheapOair, a top ten rated online travel agency, in partnership with South African Airways and Lonely Planet, has announced that they will hold a 10-day contest via Twitter. Starting on Tuesday, August 17, 2010 and ending on Monday, August 30, 2010, participants will have the opportunity to enter the contest where they can win a grand prize of airfare to South Africa. For 10 days, @Cheapoair will tweet a South African themed question to its followers. Individuals can respond to the question using the hash tag #COASA. A daily winner will be randomly selected and rewarded with a... Continue Reading
You are invited to a weekend filled with questions, boiling down to a single one… In their year-long study project 80*81, Georg Diez and Christopher Roth, in collaboration with artists, astrologers, philosophers, psychologists, writers, film directors and actors, research a central question: What actually happened? At that time, 1980, when Reagan was elected President, when Pope John Paul II met with Lech Walesa, as Andy Warhol met William Burroughs for dinner at the Chelsea Hotel, when John Galliano was a Blitz Kid? And what happened in 1981, when Ayatollah Khomeini’s hostages were released, five minutes after Reagan became president? When... Continue Reading
