Blogs ingedeeld als ‘Regio Azie’
Remnants of a destroyed government building in Bishkek (photos by Amieke Bouma)
By Amieke Bouma
On the 27th of June, a nation-wide referendum confirmed Roza Otunbayeva as the new president of Kyrgyzstan. The referendum was endorsed by most international actors, despite the fact that they had not sent any observers. This was deemed too dangerous due to the violent situation in the south of the country. The relative calm during the referendum therefore obviously caused relief. Only a week before, I had also been astonished by the quiet situation in Kyrgyzstan’s capital Bishkek. Ethnic violence was raging between the Kyrgyz and the large Uzbek minority living in the Ferghana valley in the south of Kyrgyzstan, in which an estimated 2000 people died, and another 400.000 fled their homes. (meer…)
Categorieën: English posts · Oorlog & Vrede · Politiek & Burgerschap · Regio Azie
getagged: Akayev, Amieke Bouma, Askar Akayev, Bakiyev, Bishkek, democracy, ethnic violence, Kurmanbek Bakiyev, Kyrgyzstan, Otunbayeva, Roza Otunbayeva, Tulip revolution
By Pál Nyiri On the website of RNW (Radio Netherlands Worldwide), Sigrid Deters writes that Chinese media in the Netherlands, except the Chinese website of the RNW itself, are “not free from censorship.” She sees avoiding the coverage of political issues such as the Dalai Lama’s visit or the riots in Xinjiang, or reporting on them one-sidedly, as evidence of censorship, although she does not explain who does the censoring and why. Editors of the Chinese papers and TV stations she interviewed denied censorship and said instead that their outlets reflected the opinions of the “community” or that it was better to stay away from controversy. An interesting exception was GogoDutch.nl (荷乐网), a popular website that has registered in China in order to avoid being blocked, and therefore, as its founder said, had to comply with Chinese regulations about content filtering.
The shift in overseas Chinese media toward a single discourse of China is a trend I have also noticed, but I am not sure if “censorship” is the right explanation for what is happening. (meer…)
Categorieën: De Lage Landen · Identiteit & Religie · Multicultureel & Migratie · Muziek/Kunst & Media · Regio Azie
getagged: China, Chinese nationalism, Chinese Students and Scholars, Dalai Lama, Pal Nyiri, Radio Netherlands Worldwide, RNW, Sigrid Deters
Photo by Juan Tan Kwon
By Kim Knibbe One day after the elections, the consensus in the media is that everything went relatively smoothly. Noynoy Aquino, the son of the two ‘icons of democracy’ Ninoy Aquino, assassinated by Marcos, and Cory Aquino, who led the revolution that ousted Marcos, is leading by a wide margin. Nevertheless, there were many voting-machine failures, and many people had to wait in line so long that they went home without voting. (meer…)
Categorieën: English posts · Oorlog & Vrede · Politiek & Burgerschap · Regio Azie
getagged: Cory Aquino, elections Philippines 2010, Kim Knibbe, Marcos, Mindanao, Ninoy Aquino, Noynoy Aquino, Philippines
By Kim Knibbe At this moment, the day has started already in the Philippines, the day nationwide elections will take place. Filipinos must choose new members for their municipal councils, representatives on the provincial level, new senators and congressmen, and a new president. Earlier I have written about the emergence of a sudden unlikely but extremely popular candidate after the death of Cory Aquino, namely her son Noynoy Aquino, making it a lot harder for the current president, Gloria Arroyo, to find an excuse to hold on to her power. I have also written about the election violence at the local and provincial levels. Although one incident was unusually violent, this is all business as usual, no reason to call off the elections. Nevertheless, everybody is holding his or her breath, because there is one more thing that can go seriously wrong: (meer…)
Categorieën: English posts · Oorlog & Vrede · Politiek & Burgerschap · Regio Azie
getagged: election violence, elections 2010 Philippines, Gloria Rroyo, Kim Knibbe, Noynoy Aquino, Philippines
All photos by Gijs Verbossen
Our Master student Gijs Verbossen conducted field research in the occupied territories of Palestine. He lived in a Palestinian refugee camp in the West Bank, adjacent to the city of Nablus. He focused on young Palestinian refugees’ experience of Israel’s occupation. In this photo reportage Gijs gives an eye-witness account of a violent encounter between Palestinians and the Israeli army.
From Nablus buses go to all destinations within the West Bank. They do not go across the separation wall, which Israel built on Palestinian land, annexing territory within the West Bank’s borders of 1967. Public buses cannot go inside Israel, because almost no Palestinians have a permit to cross the wall. Jerusalem for them is inaccessible. Foreigners are able to cross the wall, entering Israel. I had an appointment in Jerusalem today, March 20th. I took the bus from Nablus, passing Ramallah, to Qalandia; one of the largest checkpoints between the West Bank and Israel. (meer…)
Categorieën: English posts · Oorlog & Vrede · Politiek & Burgerschap · Regio Azie · Regio Midden Oosten & Noord-Afrika
getagged: Fieldwork 2010, Gijs Verbossen, Huwara, Israel, Middle East, Nablus, Palestine, protest, Qalandia, Ramallah, West Bank
Foto door Annemarie Samuels
Door Freek Colombijn Een nieuwe vorm van toerisme is het slumtoerisme. In sommige steden is het mogelijk arme wijken in te gaan onder leiding van een lokale gids. De toerist krijgt het gevoel een authentieke ervaring rijker te worden (“echte armoede”!) en tegelijk biedt de groep het veilige gevoel waar de toerist zich aan vastklampt. Een van de grootste favela’s van Rio de Janeiro, Rocinha, is door de stad aangewezen als een toeristische attractie en trekt 3000 bezoekers per maand. In Zuid Afrika hopen townships op toeristen die de tijd tussen twee voetbalwedstrijden op het WK moeten vullen. (meer…)
Categorieën: Globalisering & Ontwikkeling · Regio Azie
getagged: antropologie, armoede, freek colombijn, Indonesië, kampong, slumtoerisme, toerisme
Laura van Deventer. Foto Mirjam Dorgelo.
In this part of the series, Laura finally reveals her research topic.
You have all been waiting. Now is the time. I did research among the CHECHENS!!! Or the Noxchi, which is the name they use to refer to themselves. You might have guessed it… that’s where the ‘N’ referred to in my mysterious posts. Why were they mysterious, Laura? Well… (meer…)
Categorieën: Discriminatie & Man/vrouw · English posts · Identiteit & Religie · Regio Azie · Regio Europa
getagged: Chechens, Fieldwork 2010, Laura van Deventer, Russia, Veldwerk 2010
Photo: European Parliament. Rebiya Kadeer
By Pál Nyiri When I lecture on China and democracy, I show students excerpts from Carma Hinton and Geremie Barme’s 1992 film, The Gate of Heavenly Peace. In the film, one of the leaders of the Tiananmen Square student movement, referring to exaggerated stories of the 1989 massacre, asks: “Must we use lies to stand up to our lying enemy,” i.e. the Chinese Communist Party?
The same question arose in me on 30 March as I listened to Rebiya Kadeer, the “leader of the Uyghur people” according to the president of the Turkish Academic Student Association (TASA), which organised her appearance at the VU. He had asked me, as a “China scholar,” to speak at this event, which he called a “symposium”, on the situation of the Uyghur people in China. (meer…)
Categorieën: Antropologie & Wetenschap · Discriminatie & Man/vrouw · English posts · Identiteit & Religie · Politiek & Burgerschap · Regio Azie
getagged: activism, anthropology, China, human rights, Pal Nyiri, Rebiya Kadeer, TASA, Uyghur, Uyghurs, Xinjiang
Door Freek Colombijn
Foto: Freek Colombijn
Een mens wordt zich pas goed bewust van cultuur als zij of hij geplaatst wordt in een omgeving waar de cultuur niet vertrouwd is. Ik merkte dit zelf weer eens toen ik een paar dagen in Seoul was voor een conferentie. Ik moest op de conferentie een paper presenteren over de manier waarop Nederlanders over Indonesië geschreven hebben, van de eerste kennismaking tot heden. Mijn kennismaking met Seoul en de Zuid-Koreaanse cultuur gaf me meer begrip voor de Nederlandse ontdekkingsreizigers naar Indonesië. Een van de schepelingen die met de eerste Nederlandse vloot in 1596 Indonesië bereikten, Willem Lodewycksz, heeft er een prachtig verslag van geschreven, uitgegeven onder de titel D’Eerste Schipvaart. (meer…)
Categorieën: Antropologie & Wetenschap · Regio Azie
getagged: cultuurshock, freek colombijn, Seoul, Willem Lodewycksz, Zuid Korea
