Global Voices · Citizen media stories from 2008 March 07

7 March 2008

Daily archive · 12 posts

Stories from 7 March 2008

Syria: We Stand Against Occupation

Written by Razan Ghazzawi · Middle East & North Africa

As the death toll in Gaza continues to climb, Razan Ghazzawi zooms in on the efforts of a Syrian student in the US, who is working on creating awareness of the conflict at his university campus and showing that the Palestinians losing their lives are human too.

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Kuwait: R.I.P Ahmad AlRubi'e

Written by Abdullatif AlOmar · Middle East & North Africa

Kuwaiti bloggers lament the death of leading intellectual and politician Dr Ahmad AlRubi'e. Many bloggers posted condolences to his family on their blogs and some others wrote passionately about how connected to him they were. Abdullatif AlOmar brings us the story.

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Azerbaijan: Death Star Hotel

Written by Onnik Krikorian · Central Asia & Caucasus

It looks quite impressive and futuristic on first glance -- a hotel that bears an uncanny resemblance to the Death Star from the Star Wars films. Remarkably, however, the hotel will not be built in Las Vegas or Dubai. It is instead planned for Baku, capital of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

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China: Photojournalist Fired for “Political Incident”

Written by Meng Zhang · East Asia

Wang Lili, a 52-year old photojournalist of Tongzhou Newsletter, was fired because the chief executive of Beijing Tongzhou District "bowed the head with closed eyes, presenting an off-colored image" in his picture report. The story quickly became a hot topic in Chinese blogosphere and all sorts of online communities.

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FOKO: Bloggers put Madagascar in the spotlight

Written by Rezwan · Sub-Saharan Africa

While the devastations of Hurricane Ivan were under reported in the international media, Malagasy bloggers from the Foko Blog Club filled the void using photos, videos and a map mashup.

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Thailand: Social Network Site and Monk

Written by Preetam Rai · East Asia

Andrew Biggs wonders if the Thai authorities will ban the popular Hi5 social network after a monk used the network to pick up women.

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Updates from 7 March 2008

Colombia

Milton Ramirez of BPLE [es] collects more reactions from Ecuadoran bloggers, but also summarizes that the recent meetings at the Organization of American States were not enough to “restore the soverignty of Ecuador.”

• Eduardo Avila

Armenia

Archuk's Blog argues that the reappearance of former president Levon Ter-Petrossian to the political scene in Armenia as well as post-election unrest is linked to Kosovo's independence and attempts to find a solution to the longstanding conflict with Azerbaijan over the breakaway territory of Nagorno Karabakh. The blog sees the situation in the South Caucasus as just one component of the long-term geopolitical goals of the United States.

• Onnik Krikorian

Armenia

The Armenia Now blog remarks on the arrival of U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Matthew Bryza in Armenia in an attempt to defuse tensions after last weekend's post-election riot which left eight dead. The blog criticizes Bryza for his comments to president-elect Serge Sargsyan.

• Onnik Krikorian

Egypt

The Arabist draws our attention to a new book on the political situation in Egypt.

• Amira Al Hussaini

Saudi Arabia

“There are certainly more important issues than (women) driving that need to be dealt with,” writes Nzingha from Saudi Arabia.

• Amira Al Hussaini

Iran

Mohmmad Ali Abtahi,former reformist vice president, writes that Iranian president,Mahmoud Ahmadinejad,says “Iran has passed superpowers and nuclear issue is finalized.” He adds “the most important reason public opinion does not trust the statements of officials is making use of this kind of advertisement.”

• Fred Petrossian