Lithuania

I have already told you about the urban blog Eziukas Vilniuje. It does not get updated that often, but today I found something really interesting. Here is a link to a website with panoramic 3D images of various places in Vilnius. Enjoy!

The world lost a great poet whose lifespan embrased almost an entire century. Lithuanian-born (we'd like to consider so - he was born in Czarist Russia and lived in Poland, but nonetheless was sort of a part of the culture that thrived in Lithuania at the time) Avrom (Abraham) Sutzkever died on 20 January in Tel Aviv. Thanks to the Association of Yiddish Writers and Journalists in Israel, I was able to participate in his funeral in Kiryat Shaul.

I'm really worried how the way certain news are presented in the most popular news portal Delfi fuels tensions in the society and perpetuates harmful stereotypes. Unfortunately, it seems that some journalists of the portal consciously exploit the emotional undertones of the messages they spread, in search for scandals and subsequent profit.

It's unbelievable! I still can't recover from the shock!

The notorious nationalist daily "Respublika" had some smear campaign about the EU gender education policy. A reaction of the editor of the Catholic internet portal provoked the editor of "Respublica" to spill a bucket of virtual mud on him - I have already written about it in the blog. However, the toothless Journalist ethic inspection did nothing against Tomkus, the editor of Respublika, and he feels like he can do as he pleases. Recently a group of intellectuals announced a public petition calling for a full boycott of "Respublika" because of its disgusting defamation (a few years earlier "Respublika" received international attention for anti-semitic cartoons). I was among those who signed the petition. What Tomkus did to the petition was simply copying the list of names, adding himself and publishing it on the more tabloid sister-newspaper of "Respublika" under his own text, i.e. claiming that these are the people who have signed against "homosexual propaganda". So, my name is under it, along with the names of many leading intellectuals (it made me reflect on who owns the right to their own name in the virtual space, as it's very easy to copy a name and claim that the person actually signed).

I'm pretty sure that journalist and law enforcement institutions will be blind to this again! They would arrest teenage website commenters, but allow large-scale fascists to thrive, unfortunately.

I'm thinking of asking for political asylum in Japan

This islamophobic society and its media would be waiting in thrill for the former Guantanamo detainees to misbehave.