Global Voices » Podcasts

Latin America: Energy Podcasts in English

Silvia Viñas — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 18:39:50 +0000

Setty recommends the Institute of the Americas' English-language podcast series on energy in Latin America.

Global Voices Podcast: Occupy This!

Jamillah Knowles — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 18:30:05 +0000

This post is part of our special coverage #Occupy Worldwide.

Hello World!

Welcome to another edition of the Global Voices podcast. In this episode we talk through some of the ideas and issues surrounding the global Occupy movement and protests, as we listen to recordings from our team in different parts of the world.

My Greek Co-Host

In this edition, I “occupy” the podcast with Asteris Masouras, Global Voices author and Global Voices in Greek editor.

Asteris has been monitoring the global #Occupy movement online since it all began. Who better to accompany us through this edition of the podcast?

We got together on Skype and discussed Greece, Europe, and the Occupy world, especially in regards to how the movement communicates with itself and others.

Occupy Denmark

Global Voices in Danish co-editor, Maria Grabowski Kjær in Denmark, visits the Occupation there to find out what their methods and messages are. Though many seem to think the protesters are hippies, Thomas, who helped organise the movement in Denmark, aims to prove that this stereotype is not true at all.

Thomas of Occupy Denmark talked to Maria Grabowski Kjier about the movement

London papers

Here in London, the Occupy movement at St Paul’s Cathedral is presented with a newspaper called The Occupied Times of London. I met with Steve Maclean, the editor of the paper, to find out how it works.

Occupy London, Steve Maclean, editor of The Occupied Times

A Camp in Maine

Frances Harlow is an independent radio producer, and friend of Global Voices. In Portland, Maine in the United States, she recorded at a local Occupy camp during her studies at the Salt Institute, after graduating from Brown University.

Frances’ report shows that it’s not always easy to consolidate a message among such passionate people. You can listen to more of Frances' brilliant audio work here.

What do you make of the global Occupy movement? Is there a camp near you or do you participate?

It’s not easy to fit the entire movement into a short podcast but it has been interesting to highlight the similarities and differences across borders. There’s a whole lot more you can read up on at the special coverage page about the global Occupy movement on Global Voices.

Music Credits
In the podcast you can hear lots of lovely Creative Commons music. Thanks to Mark Cotton for his fantastic creations and thanks also to all of the wonderful voice over performances and clips that help to glue the podcast together.

The Global Voices Podcast, the world is talking, we hope you’re listening!

This post is part of our special coverage #Occupy Worldwide.

Portugal: State Radio Silenced after Angola Opinion Piece

Janet Gunter — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 01:57:17 +0000

[All links lead to Portuguese language pages, except when otherwise noted.]

A week after the broadcast of an opinion piece by the journalist and renowned writer Pedro Rosa Mendes, on public radio Antena 1, the RDP (Portuguese Radio Broadcast) [en] announced the end of the show “Este Tempo” (This Time). The piece in question criticized the “coarse exercise of propaganda and mystification” which was broadcast live from Angola in a public TV (RTP) show with the participation of several politicians, governors and business men, including Minister Miguel Relvas.

A new report published on January 24, points to the reason for the end of the program according to Rosa Mendes, “the administration didn't like the last piece about RTP and Angola”. In the blogosphere and on social networks it did not take long for reactions to the “axing of freedom of expression in Portugal”.

Journalist Helena Ferro de Gouveia, on her blog Domadora de Camaleões, sums up the content of the piece:

Free information. Photo of a stencil in Lisbon by Graffiti Land on Flickr (CC BY-NC 2.0)

um retrato em que ninguém fica bem ao espelho, nem a elite portuguesa, nem os engravatados angolanos – incomodaram o “baton da ditadura” e alguns serviçais lusos que vendem princípios a preço de saldo. (…)

A verdade sobre a “oleocracia” angolana, país onde a cornucópia da riqueza é restrita a alguns e mais de metade da população vive na mais abjecta pobreza, é uma fronteira que não se atravessa.

A portrait in which nobody looks too good in the mirror, neither the Portuguese elite nor the suit-and-tie wearing Angolans - [the show] disturbed the “lipstick of the dictatorship” as well as some servile Portuguese who sell their principles for the price of their salary.

The truth about the Angolan “petroligarchy”, in a country where the cornucopia of riches is restricted to some and more than half of the population lives in the most abject poverty, is a line which one simply does not cross.

Mozambican blog Ma-schamba describes the episode as a “detailing of the cue-taking by Portuguese power from Angolan capital”. Angola is better known in Portugal as a destination for those who cannot find jobs in face of the economic crisis, than for the political, economical and social ins and outs pointed out by Rosa Mendes. Moreover, in December 2011, the Portuguese Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho recommended the unemployed to migrate to Angola (among other Portuguese speaking destinations).

A week before the news, the politician and scholar José Pacheco Pereira revealed his worries with “the progressive control over the Portuguese media by Angolan economic groups who, wherever they touch and enter, end the possibility of saying what was said before.” Even before the announcement on the radio program was made, on his blog Abrupto, he wondered “what is the ‘Information' of RTP for?”:

o que leva a RTP em aperto financeiro a enviar uma equipa à cidade mais cara do mundo, gastar tempo de satélite, deslocar pessoas e bens para acabar por fazer um pífio exercício de propaganda centrado nos estereótipos sobre a relação entre Portugal e Angola, bem longe de qualquer realidade? O que leva a tão deprimente e caro exercício de banalidade absoluta, a não ser dar tempo de antena a um ministro, por singular coincidência o mesmo que tutela a RTP, acolitado pelos mesmos de sempre (…)?

What leads RTP, in tight financial times, to send a team to the most expensive city in the world, spend satellite time, move people and goods to end up undertaking an insignificant exercise of propaganda centered around the stereotypes of the relation between Portugal and Angola, far from any kind of reality? What leads to this ever-so depressing and expensive exercise in absolute banality, if not to give broadcast time to a minister, who by unique coincidence is the same one who takes care of RTP, followed faithfully by the usual suspects (…)?

More questions about the current state of public broadcasting services were also raised by Raquel Freire, another journalist from “Este Tempo”, who stated in her farewell piece (transcribed on Facebook):

Numa democracia o serviço público serve para ser a voz das pessoas. Numa ditadura serve para ser a voz do dono, ou seja do governo. Na nossa situação actual, temos um governo que nos manda a nós portugueses emigrar, e ataca os nossos direitos fundamentais. Por isso, a rádio pública ser a voz do governo, não é sequer ser a voz daqueles senhores que alguns de nós elegeram, porque este governo é a voz da chaceler alemã, é a voz dos banqueiros alemães.

In a democracy the public broadcasters serve to give voice to the people. In a dictatorship they serve to give voice to the owner, in other words the government. In our current situation, we have a government that tells us Portuguese to emigrate, and attacks our fundamental rights. For this reason, if the public radio is the voice of the government, then it is not even the voice of those gentlemen who some of us elected, because this government is the voice of the German chancellor, it is the voice of German bankers.

"Censored" journalists from "Este Tempo": António Granado, Gonçalo Cadilhe, Raquel Freire, Rita Matos and Pedro Rosa Mendes. Poster by Art.21º shared on Facebook together with the transcription of the Portuguese Constitution on Freedom of Information and Expression.

The news came out one day before the publication of Reporters Without Borders' ranking [en] on international press freedom, 2011-2012. Portugal is in the 33th place, 7 places higher than in the last report published by the end of 2010.

While analyzing the report, journalist and researcher on Angolan issues, Orlando Castro, said on his blog Alto Hama in an ironic tone “this year Portugal and Angola will climb up a few more places, thanks to - especially but not only - the RTP show made in Luanda and RDP's decision to cut off those who don't want to be the voice of the owner”, and added:

Creio que o relatório não refere mas, quanto a mim, tudo se deve ao contributo decisivo dado pelo ministro Miguel Relvas e, é claro, a Fernando Lima, consultor político do Presidente da República de Portugal, e seu ex-assessor de imprensa, para quem “uma informação não domesticada constitui uma ameaça com a qual nem sempre se sabe lidar” [Nota GV: declarações noticiadas a 4 de Janeiro].

I believe that the report does not refer to it, but in my opinion, everything is owed to the decisive contribution of Miguel Relvas, and of course, Fernando Lima, public consultant to the Presidency of the Republic of Portugal, his ex-press secretary, for whom “untamed information constitutes a threat which one does not always know how to deal with” [GV notes: this quote was reported on January 4].

“The truth is a poison”, said Rosa Mendes in his last piece, broadcast on January 25. The journalist closed with harsh critiques of an “a society asphyxiated by the values of silence, cowardice and fawning” after 40 years of democracy in Portugal:

Podemos sempre pensar que apenas em cenários limite - genocídio, a guerra, extermínio - acontecem escolhas-limite; e que é a violência absoluta ou é a humilhação ou o sofrimento absoluto que impõem a revolta, o inconformismo, a coragem; ou não. Tenho para mim que as escolhas-limite se fazem todos os dias, no nosso quotidiano; e duvido muito que quem vive de espinha dobrada em tempo de paz , em tempo feliz (como é já nos esquecemos o tempo democrático) seja capaz de endireitar a espinha em tempos difíceis.

We can always think that only in extreme scenarios - genocide, the war, eradication - do extreme choices take place; and that it is absolute violence or humiliation or absolute suffering that force revolt, non-conformity, courage; or not. I myself believe that extreme choices are made everyday, in our daily lives; and I truly doubt that the ones who live with a crooked spine in times of peace, in happy times (as it is, we have forgotten democratic times) are able to straighten the spine in hard times.

The Regulatory Authority for the Media (ERC) is already investigating the case, concerning the possible “violation of rights, liberties and warranties in media activities”.

Zambia: Former Diplomat Calls on West to Engage Iran Through IAEA

Gershom Ndhlovu — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 14:20:43 +0000

A Zambian veteran politician and erstwhile diplomat who once served as the country’s permanent representative at the United Nations, Vernon Mwaanga, has told a citizen radio station that the west should not be dismissive of Iran because it has become a nuclear power now.

Listen to internet radio with Politicalcrossfire on Blog Talk Radio

The United States and European Union have imposed sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program designed to reduce its oil revenue, which is the country's main source of income.

Zambian veteran politician Vernon Mwaanga. Photo courtesy of Zambian Watchdog.

Mwaanga, who has held many cabinet portfolios including that of foreign affairs under the last four of the five presidents the country has had and served as ambassador to countries like the then Soviet Union in his early days, told Political Crossfire, an Internet-based radio station run by Zambians, that the West has to engage Iran either through the International Atomic Energy Agency, or the Arab League and other organisations such as the United Nations in negotiations and not confrontation.

In a January 7 interview, the former diplomat who was speaking in a telephone interview from Lusaka, Zambia, said:

The logo of Political Crossfire Internet-based radio: Freedom Statue in Lusaka, Zambia. Photo source: Political Crossfire site.

The stand (off) between Iran and the western world has always been there for years and I am sure that they will find a pacific solution to the problem. The issue of dismissing or being dismissive of Iran is not an option anymore.

The United States and European Union have imposed tougher sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program. The sanctions are designed to reduce its oil revenue, which is the country's main source of income.

Global Voices Podcast: Brave New Year 2012

Jamillah Knowles — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 12:35:04 +0000

Hello World and welcome to 2012!

In this edition of the podcast we take a look back over the year 2011, consider the similarities and differences between mainstream and new media journalism, learn about an inspiring Rising Voices meeting in Bolivia to support the development of an ethnically and socially diverse blogosphere.

We also set off on a two-wheeled journey around the internet!

Considering 2011

For citizen journalists, bloggers and commentators everywhere, 2011 has been an extraordinary year. It’s hard to imagine a time before now when our friends and contributors faced threats, arrests or violence on such a scale. Nor has there been a year so far when we have seen such influence and change in the sphere of online citizen media. For many of our own writers and friends here on Global Voices, times are still difficult, but let's have hope for perseverance and better times ahead.

Looking back over a year of Global Voices Online is no mean feat! Our deputy editor, Emma Brewin, talks about jumping into a wild torrent of global news, and which stories stood out for her during an extraordinarily busy year.

From mainstream to new media

The Global Voices regional teams are made up of writers, bloggers and media makers of mant different types. Some, like Thiana Bondo, a Global Voices author and translator from Bahia, Brazil come from a journalistic background. Our managing editor, Solana Larsen chatted with Thiana, who is currently based in London, about the differences between being a daily newspaper journalist in Brazil, and writing for Global Voices.

Supporting the indigenous web in Bolivia

In December, Rising Voices hosted a three-day event in Cochabamba, Bolivia for bloggers in Bolivia. The goal was to support the development of a stronger, and more diverse blogosphere. There were workshops and presentations on both technical tools and organising strategies. The meeting was in Spanish, and was called Conectándonos (getting connected).

Maria Mercado is a student and a volunteer who works with indigenous communities. She went to the meeting and told us what she learned. If you'd like to hear more, there is a wonderful podcast of the whole event on Rising Voices by our managing director Georgia Poppellwell, and Rising Voices director Eduardo Avila.

Get on your bike with us!

You may think that we are separated by distance and only connected by the internet, but it seems that we also have some healthy habits in common. Ever prepared with her recording device, Solana Larsen discussed the wonders of getting around by bicycle with Global Voices executive director Ivan Sigal. As Ivan explains, the online cycling community is a vibrant one.

Naturally this meant that I had to ask our stunt-cyclist-audio-contributors to share with us their thoughts on two wheels.

Cyrus Farivar an American journalist currently living in Germany, and the author of “The Internet of Elsewhere” chatted with us about cycling - directly from the seat of a bicycle. In Denmark, Maria Grabowski Kjaer shared the sounds of the city where cycling is celebrated. Cycling for Maria is not just a mode of transport but a way of life.

Well, that wraps it up for our first podcast of the new year. We’ll be chasing audio and chatting about the world’s news and habits online throughout 2012, so do stay tuned and always let us know what you’d like to hear. For now, inspired by our two wheeled wonders, I’m off to try and learn how to ride my bike without being a danger to myself and others!

Global Voices Podcast: Technology that Empowers!

Jamillah Knowles — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 19:24:59 +0000

Hello world!

In this edition of the Global Voices podcast you can hear how women in Egypt are using technology to fight harassment, and what our Global Voices authors and editors got up to at the Mozilla Festival in London.

We also mark World Aids Day by speaking to HIV/AIDS activists in Kenya and Egypt about the special work they do.

Technology to empower women

First we take a look at harassment of women in the streets of Egypt. Engy Ghozlan in Cairo is a young woman who took matters in her own hands to fight social acceptance of sexual harassment by using mapping technology and the voices of women who speak up about what happens to them on the street. The result is Harassmap. Global Voices author, Maria Grabowski Kjær spoke to Engy about her work in support of women's safety and comfort in public.

World Aids Day

December 1st is World Aids Day. A time to think about the many people who living with HIV or AIDS and consider what can be done to support them and their carers. I had a chat with a two people working hard to improve conditions and raise awareness.

Ahmed Awadalla is in Egypt. He has worked with Cairo Family Planning and Development Association and is now with the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights. He talks about stigma and how the current uprising in Egypt is actually hindering support for communities at risk.

Leah Okeyoh is a community activist, blogger, author, and World Pulse correspondent. She is co-founder of two women's organizations, Jacolo Rural Women Response to HIV/AIDS, and Positive Action for Change (PACHO). She is also a participant in the “Blogging Positively” project of Rising Voices. We talked to her about the Kenyan health care system and her hopes for the future.

You too can be involved with Blogging Positively if you're interested in citizen media related to HIV/AIDS. If you're on Twitter for World Aids Day, use the hashtag #BlogPos so we can find you.

Global Voices out and about

Mozilla Festival Science Fair by Mozilla in Europe on Flickr (CC-BY-2.0)

London was host to the Mozilla Festival on “media, freedom, and the web” in November. Global Voices was represented by an awesome team at the Science Fair. With so much GV-goodness in one place, I had to ask them what they were up to.

Emma Brewin is our Deputy Editor of citizen media organisation. Marta Cooper is an author who is also on the Board of Global Voices. Paula Goes is our Multilingual editor who was showing a colleague around the event via a live video connection. Amira is possibly the youngest interviewer so far on the Global Voices podcast at 10 years old. She interviewed our Iraq author Salam Adil.

Emma Brewin, Marta Cooper, Salam Adil, and Paula Goes

Well, that’s all we can squeeze into this edition of the Global Voices Podcast. Thank you all for listening and thanks to all of our contributors and interviewees. We’ll be back next month but you can always drop by on any of our social media spaces like Twitter or Facebook and say hi!

Music credits

In the podcast you can hear lots of lovely Creative Commons music. If you want to find out more about these artists here are the links. Thanks to Orb Gettarr for the atmospheric Return of the Atlanteans Lemurian Candidate, to Mark Cotton for his Spiritualized Homage, to Superbus feat. NS for Fujjad! Most of the music was found via OpSound.Org, The Free Music Archive or direct from the artists. Thanks also to all of the wonderful voice over performances and clips that help to glue the podcast together.

Sao Tome and Principe: Community Radio Takes Advantage of Social Media

Sara Moreira — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 09:04:56 +0000

Somos Todos Primos (We are all cousins) [pt] is the name of an online community radio whose first letters are a clue to the country it refers to: São Tomé and Príncipe. Both its Facebook page and Ning network have a lot of activity from listeners.

Collecting Audio of UN Human Rights Declaration in 370 Languages

Solana Larsen — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 12:16:44 +0000

United_Sounds on SoundCloud is compiling the largest collection of audio recordings of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, in more than 370 languages. If you speak a language they don't yet have, you can submit an audio recording - the UN has probably already translated, you just have to read it out loud.

Sounds of the European Podcast Award

Solana Larsen — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 10:51:21 +0000

The European Podcast Award has its own podcast featuring winners and nominees. The podcast is produced by Karin Høgh from Denmark and Dave Thackeray from the UK. The Global Voices Podcast is is one of more than 1,500 shows nominated (voting ends November 30).

Global Voices Podcast: 3rd Arab Bloggers Meeting - Part 2

Jamillah Knowles — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 00:44:38 +0000

Hello world!

In an addition to our usual monthly podcast, we have some special audio for you from the newly concluded 3rd Arab Bloggers Meeting in Tunisia.

Nearly 100 bloggers from Arab countries gathered in Tunis from October 3-6, 2011 in a meeting hosted by Global Voices, Nawaat and the Heinrich Böll Foundation to discuss citizen media, safety online, post-revolutionary ideas, and of course to meet each other face to face - some for the first time. In the 12 interviews in these two podcasts (check out Part 1) you will hear about online anonymity using Tor, revolution in a historical context, forthcoming elections in Arab countries, filmmaking, blogging and hope. And much, much more.

Global Voices Podcast: 3rd Arab Bloggers Summit (Part 2) by globalvoices

Arab Bloggers Meeting, 2011: Part 2

Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, Syria, Yemen, Bahrain and many other countries have citizens living through a time of change and upheaval. Our online information these days is fast and furious when it comes to the minute by minute events, but how should we find context in a time of revolution?

Zeynep Tufekci is an assistant professor at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill and a fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard. She presented a wonderful talk at the conference about the importance of putting revolutions into a historical context.

Part of telling the story of revolutionary times in a digital age requires video. Clips on YouTube offer powerful snapshots, but it is also important to follow a narrative to gain a greater understanding. Alexandra Sandels is a Swedish journalist and co-director and producer of a documentary called Zero Silence about young people using the Internet for change. It was screened on the first day of the Arab Bloggers Meeting.

Bloggers from nearly all Arab countries attended the meeting to learn from one another about citizen media and activism. Hayder Hamzoz is a blogger from Baghdad, Iraq. We chatted about his activities online and how the website Iraqi Streets shows an alternative Iraq to the one shown in mainstream news headlines.

The dangers of being identified and apprehended for protest and online activity are numerous and in some cases horrifying. There are methods for staying safer that people can enact, and there is also software that can help. Roger Dingledine works on an anonymity or privacy or circumvention tool called Tor. We talked about how it works.

That's all we have for the special edition of the Global Voices podcast at the 3rd Arab Bloggers Meeting!

Group photo, Arab Bloggers Meeting, Tunis 2011 by Ibtihel Zaatouri (CC-BY)

Thanks to everyone who took time to talk to me, to the organisers for creating such a fantastic forum, and to Mark Cotton who adapted our Global Voices theme tunes for this particular episode.

Global Voices Podcast: 3rd Arab Bloggers Meeting - Part 1

Jamillah Knowles — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 00:43:03 +0000

Hello world!

In an addition to our usual monthly podcast, we have some special audio for you from the newly concluded 3rd Arab Bloggers Meeting in Tunisia.

Nearly 100 bloggers from Arab countries gathered in Tunis from October 3-6, 2011 in a meeting hosted by Global Voices, Nawaat and the Heinrich Böll Foundation to discuss citizen media, safety online, post-revolutionary ideas, and of course to meet each other face to face - some for the first time. In the 12 interviews in these two podcasts (check out Part 2) you will hear about online anonymity using Tor, revolution in a historical context, forthcoming elections in Arab countries, filmmaking, blogging and hope. And much, much more.

Global Voices Podcast: 3rd Arab Bloggers Summit (Part 1) by globalvoices

Arab Bloggers Meeting, 2011: Part 1

Naturally the topic of Arab uprisings was a big part of the conversation. The role of the citizen journalist has been very important in describing events to a wider audience. I chatted with Egyptian blogger and Global Voices author Lilian Wagdy, about why the benefits outweigh the challenges of this difficult work.

Online activists and bloggers travelled from near and far to come to the meeting. Yazan Badran is a Syrian blogger and Global Voices author currently based in Japan. He told us what motivated him to travel the distance to be at the meeting.

Though the past uprisings are a constant topic of conversation, the Arab Bloggers meeting this year was a forum for pushing things onward. Nasser Weddady, a blogger from Mauritania, is also the Civil Rights Outreach Director for the American Islamic Congress based in Boston, USA. We talked about the main issues of the day.

A number of talks and presentations during the meeting shed light on current events as well as providing training and new ideas. Marek Tuszynski, co-founder and co-director of Tactical Technology Collective gave a presentation about clear visualisation for online activists.

Many participants attended previous Arab Bloggers Meetings. With Jillian C. York, Director of International Freedom of Expression Electronic Frontier Foundation in the United States (as well as Global Voices author and board member), we talked about her experience and why the EFF takes an interest in international freedom of expression.

In the conversation with Jillian, we talked about how Palestinian bloggers were denied visas by the Tunisian government to attend the meeting. Aternative methods were used to contact these bloggers and include them in the meeting. One blogger of Palestinian origin was there. I spoke to Saed Karzoun about the visa debacle, and what he hoped to bring to the event.

The location of the Arab Bloggers meeting in Tunis was highly relevant to the main topics discussed. Tunisia has seen a revolution and inspired many other movements in the region. Malek Khadraoui is the co-administrator of Tunisian website Naawat, an independent group blog. We chatted about how the network of bloggers across Arab nations offers both hope and valuable practical advice.

There were so many experienced, entertaining, knowledgeable and wonderful people at the Arab Bloggers Meeting, I could not fit them all into one edition of the Global Voices podcast. You can hear more of these great interviews in Part 2.

Thanks to everyone who took time to talk to me, to the organisers for creating such a fantastic forum, and to Mark Cotton who adapted our Global Voices theme tunes for this particular episode.

Global Voices Podcast 4: Together We Rise

Jamillah Knowles — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 18:34:01 +0000

Hello world!

In this edition you’ll hear from blind Greek bloggers of our Rising Voices community, how Guatemalan citizen journalists are honing their skills for elections, and a preview of what's planned for the Arab Bloggers Summit co-hosted by Global Voices on October 3-6, 2011 in Tunisia.

Global Voices Podcast 4: Together We Rise by globalvoices

Citizen Journalists in Guatemala

Vozz is a citizen journalism training project in which young people in Guatemala aged 16 to 24 learn how to be journalists. Kara Andrade of Vozz spoke to our Latin America regional editor Silvia Viñas about covering the Guatemalan elections and turning a training scheme into a wider network for citizen engagement.

Blind Blogging in Greece

Following the closure of a school for the blind in Thessaloniki, Greece, the surrounding community decided to create a group blog and web radio show called Blind Dates. The project is a grantee of our Rising Voices initiative co-founded by Alexia Kalaitzi. We chatted to Alexia about tools for blind blogging and how the economic crisis in Europe is affecting life for the blind and partially sighted. Thanks to the rapper - Kostas also for performing for us in this edition!

Arab Bloggers Summit in Tunisia

Global Voices will be co-hosting the 3rd Arab Bloggers Summit together with Nawaat and the Heinrich Boell Foundation on October 3-6, 2011 in Tunisia. Bloggers from nearly all Arab countries will meet to discuss digital activism and future perspectives. Since the last gathering in Beirut in 2010, many bloggers have played a prominent communication role in uprisings across the Middle East. Our managing editor Solana Larsen spoke to Sami Ben Gharbia, director of Global Voices Advocacy about what is planned for the gathering in Tunisia.

The hashtag for the meeting is #AB11 (recommended!) and the website is Arabloggers.com.

Thanks for listening!

That brings us to the end of another edition of the Global Voices podcast. We love hearing from you, so let us know what you liked or if there is anything special you would like to know about the community!

Music credits

In the podcast you can hear lots of lovely Creative Commons music. If you want to find out more about these artists here are the links for you. Thanks to Orb Gettarr for the atmospheric Return of the Atlanteans Lemurian Candidate, to Mark Cotton for his Spiritualized Homage, to Superbus feat. NS for Fujjad! Most of the music was found via OpSound.Org, The Free Music Archive or direct from the artists. Thanks also to all of the wonderful voice over performances and clips that help to glue the podcast together.

Global Voices Podcast 3: Ripple Effects of the Arab Uprisings

Jamillah Knowles — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 17:24:57 +0000

Hello World!

In this edition of the Global Voices Podcast you can hear about the ripple effect of the Arab uprisings, find out what it is to be a digital mentor, and talk through some of the ideas that make up a good code of ethics.

First, a reminder of what happened earlier this year. Tunisia saw a revolution and Egyptian protesters overthrew their dictatorship too.

Global Voices Podcast 3: Ripple Effects of the Arab Uprisings by globalvoices

Sounds from Egypt

One of our authors, Maria Grabowski was in Cairo recently to get a perspective on how people are feeling after months of upheaval. Maria recorded the moving testimony of one protester in Egypt, and she also visited a protest outside the Syrian embassy where people showed support for the protest movement in Syria.

It’s one example of how protest movements cross borders. But how far does does the effect of this movement spread. As this year sees the Arab Spring, has the rest of the continent seen an African Spring?

Africa Rising?

Ndesanjo Macha is our editor for Sub Saharan Africa, he’s from Tanzania and based in Zambia. We talked about how the North African protests may have inspired protests and opposition in Sub-Saharan Africa countries.

Though the themes differ, the resistance appears to have been an inspiration in other parts of the African continent. I spoke with one of our authors, Steve Sharra from Malawi. Though Malawi is not seeing upheaval in the same way, there are repercussions that show a strong connection to the events of the Arab Spring.

Exploring communications in Africa as a theme in the podcast this month, it was apparent that the penetration of digital tools and online access in African countries has grown, but that there is still a lot of work to do.

But there’s good news too!

Global Voices Mentors

Ten of our seasoned Global Voices bloggers and 11 activists are working together virtually as part of a new initiative developed by Global Voices and Activista, the youth network of the international development organization, ActionAid.

I caught up with one of our mentors, Nwachukwu Ebunike in Nigeria who is working with a young Nigerian activist and blogger David Habba. According to Nwachukwu, mentoring is not just about setting a good example and sharing technical skills, it is also about ensuring that the next generation surpasses us in excellence online, and in taking personal inspiration from younger voices.

A code of ethics for citizen journalists

Now, as citizen journalism grows and becomes ever more sophisticated, is it neccesary for authors to abide by a code of ethics? Afef Abrougui is a Global Voices author from Tunisia, and she brought a set of ethics into discussion on our internal mailing list recently. Rezwan is our South Asia Editor, based in Bangladesh. He matched some of Afef's points with a link to a code of ethics from a bloggers group in Nepal.

I asked them both to join me in a discussion about ethical codes online and if they are required or even possible on a global scale.

Thanks for listening!

That’s all for this edition of the Global Voices podcast, but we’ll be back with more for you to listen to soon. Please feel free to leave us a comment or suggestion for next time.

Music credits

In the podcast you can hear lots of lovely Creative Commons music. If you want to find out more about these artists here are the links for you.

Thanks to Orb Gettarr for the atmospheric Return of the Atlanteans Lemurian Candidate, to Mark Cotton for his Spiritualized Homage, to Superbus feat. NS for Fujjad! Most of the music was found via OpSound.Org, The Free Music Archive or direct from the artists. Thanks also to all of the wonderful voice over performances and clips that help to glue the podcast together.

Thumbnail image is of protesters in Tahrir Square, Cairo, Egypt. Flickr: Jonathan Rashad (CC BY 2.0).

Global Voices Podcast 2: Speaking Our Language

Jamillah Knowles — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 22:05:16 +0000

This post is part of our special coverage Languages and the Internet.

Hello world!

In this edition of the Global Voices podcast we talk all about language. You can find many articles on this theme on our Languages and Internet special coverage page. The way we speak, write, gesture, code and communicate is such a rich topic for discussion that it was hard to pick what to go for in the podcast. Hopefully you’ll find food for thought in our conversations here.

Global Voices Podcast 2: Speaking Our Language by globalvoices

Updated tradition

To begin, our Managing Editor, Solana Larsen talks to Global Voices Israel author Dr. Carmel Vaisman about her new book Hebrew Online (available for purchase in Hebrew from Keter Books). It’s fascinating to hear about the origins of Hebrew, and how it has grown and evolved with with use over time.

Geography and tongue

Online or offline the languages we speak and write say a lot about who we are. A choice of official language for a nation can also reveal much more than just communication. Sara Moreira is Global Voices’ Portuguese Language editor. She told us about her journalistic patch that is not just geographical or topical but more closely linked to language.

Telling tales

It’s not just where we are talking of course but what we have to say that makes language so intriguing. Claire Ulrich is the editor of Global Voices in French site and the assistant editor for Francophone content. Claire highlights the prolific work of Global Voices translator Boukary Konate and his work communicating life in Mali. Claire tells us about some Tales from the Village that we could all learn something from.

Coded messages

Not all language is something we speak and write of course. It’s also something we use to make things online. Jeremy Clarke is the man behind the code and design of the multi-lingual Global Voices websites. To say the least he has a lot to do, and we can all thank him for making sure GV is here and that all contributors and readers can access it. We talked about what it is like to run such a big site with so many people, and how the language of code can also be political.

That’s all for this edition of the Global Voices podcast, but we’ll be back with more for you to listen to soon. Please feel free to leave us a comment or suggestion for next time.

Music credits

In the podcast you can hear lots of lovely Creative Commons music. If you want to find out more about these artists here are the links for you.

Thanks for listening and we look forward to sharing the next Global Voices podcast!

This post is part of our special coverage Languages and the Internet.

Kenya: Kenyan Poet Podcasts

Ndesanjo Macha — Sat, 23 Jul 2011 14:50:47 +0000

Kenyan poet invites readers to her new project, KenyanPodcast: “Hi, for those who were on twitter yesterday, I announced about my pilot podcast; the first in many to come which seeks to bring the blog to life for the followers to have something they can take away with them and listen to.”