Global Voices · Citizen media stories from 2007 May 29

29 May 2007

Daily archive · 6 posts

Stories from 29 May 2007

Lebanon: More on the Crisis in the Country

Written by Moussa Bashir · Middle East & North Africa

For the second week, Lebanese bloggers have posted anecdotes, reflections, updates, photos, videos, jokes, sarcasm and drawings on the issue that is taking precedence over all other topics. The issue is the ongoing violence which is taking the form of clashes in the north between the army and the militants and the terrorist explosions jumping from one location to another around the country, writes Moussa Bashir.

· 3

· read »

Sierra Leone: State Led Prostitution, Diamond Tales, And More

Written by Vickie Remoe-Doherty · Sierra Leone

After three years of peace following eleven years of civil war, Sierra Leone is engaged in concerted efforts to attract investors. The efforts, which are led by the the government of Sierra Leone and the the Department of International Development in the UK, involve a campaign, Sierra Leone: Back in Business. Sierra Leone, like many other African countries, is guilty of "state led prostitution" in its attempts to bring investors back into the country, argues Sweet Sierra Leone.

· 2

· read »

Belarus: Blogger br23/Uładzimer Katkoŭski Passes Away

Written by Veronica Khokhlova · Eastern & Central Europe

Belarusian blogger Uładzimer Katkoŭski/br23 passed away in Prague on May 25 at the age of 30. As one of his online friends wrote, "To a large degree thanks to his effort Belarusian-language Internet is now what it is."

· 5

· read »

Kuwait: What Kuwaitis Did This Week?

Written by Abdullatif AlOmar · Middle East & North Africa

It's been yet another busy week for Kuwaiti bloggers who give us a break down of their day to day activities. While one contemplates why he should register to attend a film festival, others are visiting relatives and friends, ordering lunches in, comparing hypermarket prices and scrutinising Google Earth for places they didn't know existed in their country. Abdullatif Al Omar has more.

· 1

· read »

Colombia: Reactions to Paramilitary Chief's “Confession”

Written by Carlos Raúl van der Weyden Velásquez · North America, Latin America

Colombian bloggers react to the testimony provided by paramilitary chief Salvatore Mancuso, in which he implicated many of the Colombian powerful and elite. Some think he should not be believed, while others would rather give him the benefit of the doubt, as the revelations could be a first step in finding who is responsible.

· 3

· read »

Landing at the Iraqi Blogodrome

Written by Salam Adil · Middle East & North Africa

If you read nothing else in Global Voices today read this post. I mean it. Everything is here from going to schools in a war zone, review of the latest political scene in Iraq, must-see video blogs, stories of extreme bravery and extreme pathos, a $1000 KFC meal, and if you read to the end, how gays cruise in Amman.

· read »

Updates from 29 May 2007

Israel

“Right, volunteers are being called for to come to the aid of citizens in Sderot. Below I’m going to append the information so that folks around and about can get involved if they so wish in the many ways they can help out. I’m particularly interested in going down to help fix up the shelters –really a most critical need or helping with the damaged homes. Anyone else up for dedicating a Shabbat to helping out down there?” writes Israeli blogger Yael.

• Amira Al Hussaini

Oman

Omani Al Muscati had to travel to nearby Dubai to buy supplies for his home. “With our house already a few months behind schedule, I'll be damned to wait 8 weeks for simple things like door handles or light fixtures. So like the majority of my fellow Omanis, I packed my family into the car and drove 4 hours to the shopping wonderland otherwise known as Do-Buy,” he writes.

• Amira Al Hussaini

Israel

Israeli blogger Yehuda describes how his two children are involved in relief work and how he will never leave Israel despite holding a US nationality.
“But it's a little something about what it means to be Israeli. No, I won't be going back to America if a missile falls through my roof,” he writes.

• Amira Al Hussaini

Israel

Israeli blogger Shmuel writes about how a customer service center in Jerusalem, which promises to deliver packages anywhere in Israel, refuses to deliver him a package to his home in Golan Heights.

• Amira Al Hussaini

Yemen

Yemeni blogger Omar Barsawad is in favour of his country's internet censorship tactics, saying: “Yemen was mentioned as one of the countries to have the most extensive censorship filters for the Internet. I do wholeheartedly support this; as would most of my fellow adult Yemenis. What Yemen censors most, are the very many sites that have no positive purpose except to corrupt and spoil; with this, I have the very many pornographic Internet sites in mind.
Imagine living in a country as conservative and as religious as Yemen. Where almost all women seen publicly or even at homes, are covered completely from head to feet; imagine, what it would be like for a young man to have a ‘window' to see women of all forms and of all kinds and colors, naked and sexually explicit?”

• Amira Al Hussaini

Iran

Karim, a friend of Qatar-based Al Jazeera Television links to a news which says that Iran lifted a ban on the station.

• Amira Al Hussaini

Palestine

Palestinian blogger Amal A gives us an insight to the atrocities being committed against women in her country. According to a report she posts: “A forum of Palestinian organizations which fight anti-women violence published on Monday a report about killing Palestinian women under the guise of so-called family honour. The report covered 3 years from 2004 to 2006. The report shows that the average number of women killed for challenging patriarchal norms increased from 14 incidents to 32 in one year. The organisation reported that the youngest case which they dealt with was that of a 12 year old girl and the oldest was that of an 85 year old woman. 32 out of 48 reported cases were documented formally as murder on the basis of family honour.”

• Amira Al Hussaini

Tunisia

‘On the occasion of the International Day against Smoking on May 31, 2007 , Tunisia has launched a campaign to fight smoking. The slogan adopted this year is “No smoking in public spaces”,' writes Subzero Blue for Tunisia.

• Amira Al Hussaini

Jordan

Jordanian blogger Tololy announces the appointment of a woman chief of court in her country. “Good news; now we have women police officers, nurses, doctors, engineers, journalists, garbage-truck drivers, professors, teachers, mini-Sheikhs, nuns (obviously), managers, ministers, parliament members, and chiefs of court,” she notes.

• Amira Al Hussaini

Morocco

MidEastYouth broke the news this evening that YouTube, which had been blocked by Maroc Telecom, Morocco's leading internet provider, has been restored to subscribers. It seems that the blogging community, with the help of bigger sites like this one, helped to get the story noticed by majors like Reporters Without Borders. Youssef of MidEastYouth says:
“As of today, all customers of Maroc Telecom gained back access to Youtube.
Why? Because the Moroccan blogosphere finally woke up and protested the ban.
We collectively started screaming and joined hands in letting the world know how Maroc Telecom treats freedom of speech.
That it treats freedom of speech even worse than the government.
It is not an all-out victory though. Google Earth and Livejournal are still blocked.
But we at least overturned the Youtube-bock, with our own voices and actions.
Nearly all active Moroccan bloggers protested and helped out. Male, female, black, white, Moroccan or expat.
And that is something to be applauded.”