Global Voices Online

Stories

China: Officer dismissed for blogging

In China, there's more precedent for blogging getting people in trouble with the police than there is for blogging in itself getting one getting fired. So what happens to cops who blog? Check out Hubei-based Soho Xiaobao blogger Wu Youming's most recent post, ‘Confessions of a canned cop‘, dated March 16:

寓言

A Fable

有一个学校，里面的每个人都必须说谎话，这样才会得到老师的奖励。
说真话的孩子就要受到惩罚。

There was once a school, and everyone in it lied, this was the only way to earn rewards from the teacher.
Those kids who spoke the truth, were punished.

辞退通知书

Notice of dismissal

(more…)

3 comments · read »

Jordanian Blogs: A Snow Day & Other Mid-March Tales

Naseem Tarawnah · 07:10 · Middle East & North Africa

The biggest story to take the Jordanian blogosphere by storm seems to be the strange weather lately. A snow storm swept the country for 24 hours and many bloggers had many things to say about it. Most got their cameras out to take a shot of the crazy weather and every frame had a very different story to tell; as unique as snowflakes.

[Photo Credit: Nas of The Black Iris]

International Women's Day was on March 8th and a few Jordanian bloggers shared their opinions on the occasion, especially with regards to the status of women in Jordan. Her Majesty Queen Rania generated a little buzz when she posted a question on Yahoo! Answers asking “what are you doing to empower women in your country?”. And while on the topic, Khalidah shares her first published article on what it means to be a 30 something single woman in Jordanian society.

Batir Wardam has an interesting piece on AIDS vulnerability in Jordan while also looking at our growing thirst for advertisements.

BBC Radio held a debate in Amman recently asking how the Internet has changed our world. Amongst the panelists were bloggers Naseem Tarawnah and Roba Al-Assi who shared their experiences about the role of blogging in Jordan and the Middle East. (more…)

5 comments · read »

Links for Sun, 2007-03

Sub-Saharan Africa

Lifehacker publishes Mauritian blogger's instructions Sub-Saharan Africa

Naijablog has a short post about the website of the Nigerian presidential candidate, Umar Musa Yar'adua. He is inviting voters to communicate directly with him through his site.

Sub-Saharan Africa

Ian Gilfillan reacts to a report by Greenspeace that genetically modified maize may be toxic, “Since maize is a staple diet in South Africa, especially for poor communities, it's long been a concern that South Africa's poor has been experimented on in this way, as in most countries, GMO foods are niche foods, not a staple.”

Americas

Caribbean Free Radio returns with its first podcast in 200-plus days, a look behind the scenes at the repeat performance of the annual Carnival show by the rapso band 3canal.

Middle East & North Africa

Haji Washington says that Iranian parliament has given permission for importing cigars ( cigaretts) without any restriction, The blogger adds that American cigarettes are considered as agricultural products and they are not included in USA sanctions agianst Iran. The blogger writes so far tobacco related products are counted for about 50 percent of USA export to Iran [Fa].

Sub-Saharan Africa

Artist Krishna Luchoomun Sub-Saharan Africa

“Wednesday was Decoration Day, the day when Liberians clean and decorate the graves of their ancestors. We walked around in the Palm Grove cemetery in the late afternoon, after most people had already come and gone, and many graves were freshly repainted,” Liberia Ledger reports.

Sub-Saharan Africa

A list of publications focusing on business in Africa from the Benin Epilogue Part 1: “The country or continent of origin for these publications is overshadowed by the fact that there still is not enough coverage of Africa's business news. So, these business publications from other regions of the world who focus on business in Africa are fulfilling a need and helping to disseminate very good information.”

Sub-Saharan Africa

Victor Kaonga asks, “Is Malawi really poor?”: Isn't Malawi rich in human resources-some of which are helping keep the Westerners in good health? Aren't Malawians rich in cultural diversity and depth? The natural vegetation and animal life is marvelous and some of it unique to Malawi. Isn't Malawi beautiful through its nature? Is this not being rich?