Global Voices · Citizen media stories from 2008 August 04

4 August 2008

Daily archive · 8 posts

Stories from 4 August 2008

Palestine: No Peace for Ahmed Moussa in Life or Death

Written by Jillian C. York · Middle East & North Africa

Mourners waited by the thousands for the funeral of Ahmed Moussa, the young boy killed early this week by Israeli soldiers during a protest in Nilin. A peaceful funeral for the young boy was not to be, however, and before the the day was over, another young man fell. Jillian York reviews the Palestinian blogosphere for reactions.

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Israel: Stories and Personal Opinions on Obama's Visit

Written by Gilad Lotan · Middle East & North Africa, North America

Obama's recent visit to Israel was certainly a hot topic across Israeli media, which acknowledges the Democratic candidate for taking all necessary steps to mark his stance - clearly showing that he will continue to be a close friend and ally to Israel. Gilad Lotan reports on the latest buzz from the Israeli blogosphere.

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Sudan: YouTube Blocked

Written by SudaneseDrima · Sub-Saharan Africa

YouTube has been partially blocked for internet users in Sudan for reasons that are still unknown. Some Sudanese in the country report being able to access YouTube without any problems, while others report being sent to a page with the following message: "Sorry, this page has been blocked by National Telecommunication Corporation."

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Iran: International Campaign to Support Jailed Physicians

Written by Fred Petrossian · Middle East & North Africa

As the XVIII International Aids Conference started on August 3 in Mexico, two internationally recognized Iranian HIV/AIDS specialists who were supposed to attend the meeting, are being held in prison...

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China: Olympic sign taller than the Great Wall

Written by John Kennedy · East Asia

“1st thing I see as I ascend the wall,” writes Flickr user Moonage Daydreamer, “slogan for the Beijing 2008 Olympics…could be seen everywhere in China: on bumper stickers, sides of...

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Paraguay: Nobel Prize Winner Stiglitz Wants to Advise New President

Written by Eduardo Avila · Latin America

The winner of a Nobel Prize in Economy, Joseph Stiglitz will be in Paraguay later this month to participate in the inaugural events of incoming president Fernando Lugo. He also indicated that he is very excited at the possibility of advising the new head of state. Local bloggers wonder what Stiglitz will say about the state of the nation's economy and what might be some possible solutions.

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Japan: Toyota's Just-In-Time System and the Akihabara Killings (Part 2)

Written by Chris Salzberg · East Asia

In the first part of this two-part series, we translated the first half of a blog entry by blogger boiledema, who presented a very personal perspective on the Akihabara massacre on June 8th. In this second half, boiledema elaborates further on Japan's temp worker industry, expresses his frustration at Kato's actions on June 8th, and provides further details about Toyota.

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Russia: Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

Written by Veronica Khokhlova · Eastern & Central Europe

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, the Nobel Prize-winning author of The Gulag Archipelago, has died on Sunday. He was 89. Reactions to Solzhenitsyn's death are already beginning to appear in the Russophone blogosphere, and here's one post on the writer's legacy, by LJ user markgrigorian.

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Updates from 4 August 2008

Japan

Blogger Aki at Fusou Note takes the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan to task over misinformation in an editorial on the recent WaiWai controversy, pointing out misrepresentations and outright mistakes. Aki describes the FCCJ editorial as “a desperate attempt to cover up the harmful nature of the WaiWai column”.

• Chris Salzberg

Azerbaijan

Thoughts On The Road reports on what it calls collective action problems where individuals choose to behave in a manner which adversely affects others. The blog says that the tendency for Azerbaijanis to litter is one example of such behavior. However, the blog notes that as education is key to changing such a situation, the local, regional and national authorities are ultimately responsible.

• Onnik Krikorian

Georgia

Social Science in the Caucasus examines research it conducted for Transparency International on women's participation in politics in Georgia. The blog notes that gender distribution during elections is becoming more uneven, but notes the high level of female involvement in civil society institutions.

• Onnik Krikorian

Armenia

My The Caucasian Knot examines the state of democracy and the rule of law and questions whether there can be either when citizens as well as the government respect neither. Referencing entries by other bloggers, such a situation is most evident when it comes to jaywalking and reckless driving.

• Onnik Krikorian

Angola

The educational DVD “Angola towards the elections“, produced during a training in participatory video, will be distributed free to institutions that work with Angolan electoral education. “The main purpose of the video is to bring about the democratisation process in Angola focusing on the coming legislative elections.” The audio is available in six local languages.

• Paula Góes

China

If you make it to the Olympics, make sure to get your picture taken with this guy who got the Olympic rings and the logo for the Beijing Olympic Games tattooed on his forehead.

• John Kennedy

Czech Republic

Pivní Filosof-Beer Philosopher reviewed the three brewpubs currently operating in Pilsen, in the Czech Republic, that he visited on a weekend excursion from Prague (Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3).

• Elia Varela Serra

Cape Verde

Cape Verdean blogger Cesar Schofield Cardoso [pt] reflects on what to be African means. “In our case, to take the African-ness on is to take on a large, majority inheritance. This is by never forgetting that we have so much of European, American, Asian…”

• Paula Góes

Brazil

“Since yesterday this blog has been forbidden by a Electoral Justice Court's decision to make “comments about the upcoming elections (local elections 2008) with the aim to promote or denigrate candidates, including images or photographs.” The justice also ruled that we removed “all comments that somehow promote or criticise candidates, including images or photographs”, denounces Álvaro Dantas [pt], who has appealed.

• Paula Góes

Bulgaria

Veni Markovski translated a story from the Bulgarian daily Standard reporting that two Dutch tourists were scammed and threatened by a taxi driver at a Black Sea resort, and commented on the “informal mafia-style” of taxi drivers in Bulgaria.

• Elia Varela Serra

Ukraine: Homophobic Legal Initiatives in Sync with Public Attitudes

Came to find this post after signing the AllOut petition (which already has almost 50k signatures, and needs to grow...
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