Category Archives: archive

Fazil Say got sentenced for insulting Islam in a tweet

archive,

This morning the Turkish pianist, composer and writer, Fazil Say, got sentenced by a Turkish court to imprisonment of ten months suspended for insulting the Islam in a tweet.

The tweet has been sent April last year with a verse from the Persian poet Omar Khayyam from the eleventh century, that questioned whether heaven was a tavern or a brothel, because of the promises that wine will flow and each believer will be greeted by virgins.

Continue reading Fazil Say got sentenced for insulting Islam in a tweet →

Will “Ding Dong! The Witch is Dead” be censored?

archive,

The song Ding Dong! The Witch is Dead from the movie The Wizard of Oz (1939) sung by the Munchkins, is propelled to the top of the charts in the wake of former PM Margaret Thatcher’s death. There has been a campaign of Facebook that already started six years ago, to ‘make this song number 1 in the week Thatcher dies’. It kind of worked, but will the BBC play the song in the coverage of the Top 40 charts or not.

Continue reading Will “Ding Dong! The Witch is Dead” be censored? →

Politics meets Gangsta Rap

archive, , ,

Last Saturday Ronnie Brunswijk a.k.a. Romeo Bravo announced that he wants to run for president during the 2015 elections in Suriname (in northern South America). The politician is a coalition partner of Dési Bouterse, the current president. In the 1980s they had quite a different relationship. Brunswijk used to be his bodyguard, but soon led the rebels against Bouterses military regime during the Bush War (1986 – 1992).

Continue reading Politics meets Gangsta Rap →

Aldeia Maracanã squatted

archive, , ,

In Rio de Janeiro the first Museum of Brazilian Indigenous Peoples – Aldeia Maracanã is the popular name – will be demolished in order to make a parking area close to Maracanã Football Stadium for the World Cup 2014.  Sergio Cabral, governor of Rio de Janeiro, justifies this as being a requirement of FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) and the Local Organizing Committee (LOC). The FIFA is denying this (BBC News).

Continue reading Aldeia Maracanã squatted →

This means war!

archive, , ,

You’re probably thinking that the picture I chose for this blog post is a funny mistake. That I meant to post some dark and aggressive photo of some part of the world that is on fire – that is to say: more than other parts – and that I accidentally used a picture of harmless Ernie instead. That would have been funny indeed but sadly, no. Regrettably, it really does mean war.

Continue reading This means war! →