Global Voices · Citizen media stories from 2007 May 24

24 May 2007

Daily archive · 7 posts

Stories from 24 May 2007

Ecuador: The President Pushes Free Software

Written by Eduardo Avila · Latin America

The use of YouTube to disseminate messages has now reached the presidential palace in Ecuador. President Rafael Correa last month spoke about the use of free software and its benefits for his country. The video was featured on the channel used exclusively for videos coming from his office. Bloggers, not only in Ecuador, but bloggers all across the region applauded this new use of technology.

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Arabeyes: Breast-Feeding Dilemma

Written by Amira Al Hussaini · Middle East & North Africa

Imagine having to breast feed your colleague at work - five times - to ensure that your relationship remains professional! This is the fatwa (religious edict) that had Arab and Muslim bloggers buzzing with excitement and anger this week. Read the rest of the article to see how some of the region's bloggers reacted to the ruling, which has since been withdrawn.

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Darfur: The Reality, the Agenda & the Proposed Solution

Written by SudaneseDrima · Sub-Saharan Africa

Darfur, in the minds of different people, constitutes and means different things. This is due to the fact that we, the general public around the world are getting exposed to...

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Join the Debate on Darfur 10am (EST) TODAY!

Written by Georgia Popplewell · Sub-Saharan Africa

Further to our earlier post, here's a quick update on the Reuters Newsmaker event on Darfur, which takes place in New York starting at 10am EST today. Our Sub-Saharan Africa editor Ndesanjo Macha will be live-blogging the event at his blog, Jikomboe, so you'll be able to follow the proceedings there. Reuters will be tossing to the GV team from time to time for questions and feedback, so please leave any comments you may have either on this post or on Ndesanjo's blog. In related news, Reuters Alertnet this morning released the results of its poll on the situation of Aid workers in Darfur (full coverage here).

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Bangla Blogs: Breaking Taboos and a Debate

Written by Rezwan · South Asia

The Bangla blogging platform Bandh Bhanger Awaaj is buzzing with discussions, debates, memes and literatures. Hundreds of bloggers and thousands of readers are keeping this space lively. It is generating...

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Rising Voices, Helping the Global Population Take Part in the Global Conversation

Written by David Sasaki · Announcements

Thanks to the generous support of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Global Voices is now starting a new outreach project, Rising Voices, which aims to spread the benefits of citizen media to regions, languages, and communities that are currently underrepresented on the conversational web. Rising Voices will serve as the third arm to Global Voices' triad of amplifying independent voices worldwide, advocating for their right to free speech, and providing universal access to citizen media tools as is described in our founding manifesto.

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Updates from 24 May 2007

Ukraine

Ukrainiana writes: “Svaytoslav Piskun, Ukraine’s perennial prosecutor general, lost his job today.” Once again. This time, though, his dismissal has caused some Ukrainian politicians to talk of “an attempted coup.”

• Veronica Khokhlova

Russia

Robert Amsterdam writes about Russian investments in Austria.

• Veronica Khokhlova

Morocco

Cat in Rabat reports that The United Nations Refugee Office in Morocco has closed its doors after African migrants stormed the building on Saturday. “They were demanding financial assistance for accommodation and food, as well as residency papers, access to healthcare, and the right to work,” she says, adding: “There are some 10,000 illegal immigrants in Morocco all hoping to peel back the wrappers of their Willy Wonka Wonka Bars and find a gold ticket to Europe. The unsuccessful ones - a.k.a pretty much all of them - can be found on Morocco's city streets, now reduced to begging.”

• Jillian C. York

Russia

Taras Kuzio writes about political assassinations and pursuit of justice, and compares Ukraine to Serbia: “Ukraine’s fragile democracy is closer to Serbia’s democratising state than to Russia’s autocracy.”

• Veronica Khokhlova

Serbia

Prishtine: Independence and Kanun writes about Kosovo Shelter for Stray Dogs.

• Veronica Khokhlova

Latvia

Marginalia and All About Latvia write about the presidential candidates, including the governing coalition's Valdis Zatlers, “the nearly unknown medical doctor.”

• Veronica Khokhlova

Belarus

More on the recent student protest and the “official” opposition at TOL's Belarus: “Student protests have not been that successful - and official opposition media have mostly failed to deliver appropriate reports from them. An action on the 20th of May has gathered round 250 people, whereas an action on the 23rd of May has failed, with only 20 people. However, the first action must be considered a success - never before people used to gather together without coordination from opposition bosses.”

• Veronica Khokhlova