Global Voices · Citizen media stories from 2008 October 28

28 October 2008

Daily archive · 9 posts

Stories from 28 October 2008

Angola: On the mermaid Kianda and other mythical beings

Written by Clara Onofre · Sub-Saharan Africa

Angola has several stories, legends and mythical characters which, like a breath of fresh air, feed the imagination of young ones and adults alike, giving wealth to Angolan history and culture. Read about the mermaid Kianda, and animal tales: deer, tortoise, alligators - they all make people's imagination fly.

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Zambian Bloggers Discuss Presidential Election

Written by Ndesanjo Macha · Sub-Saharan Africa

Zambian blogger Kaela Mulenga writes, "Thursday, October 30, 2008, is the day set aside in Zambia as a presidential ‘by-election’ date to replace the just deceased President Levy Mwanawasa (Levy). Mwanawasa had a stroke and passed away in a Paris hospital on August 19, 2008.  

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Carbon Footprint Calculators

Written by Juliana Rotich · Western Europe, North America

Last month, GV environment looked at Maps, online communities and carbon footprint calculators. Since then there have been more calculators released, and in this post we list some of these...

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Tax incentives to invest Africa: chance for development or more Françafrique?

Written by Jennifer Brea · Sub-Saharan Africa, Western Europe

Le Pangolin [Fr] posts an excerpt from Le Journal du Dimanche on a new provision that would reduce taxes for French companies that invest in developing countries, “especially in Africa.” According...

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Venezuela: How Children Show Their Community Through Photography

Written by Laura Vidal · Latin America

Ancla2 is an educational cooperative devoted to teaching photography, technology, and media skills to children from small and poor communities in Venezuela, who have discovered a new way to see and appreciate their own surroundings, and at the same time, have learned new life skills that will help them in many other areas.

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Israel: Heading Towards General Elections

Written by Gilad Lotan · Middle East & North Africa

The leader of Israel's ruling party, Tzipi Livni, gave up her attempts to form a governing coalition. Livni has been trying to put together a government since she replaced Prime Minister Ehud Olmert as head of the ruling Kadima party last month. Elections are now set for February 10. Gilad Lotan reports from Israeli blogs.

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Frail Economy Sours Festivities in Nepal

Written by Bhumika Ghimire · South Asia

October 26th marked the beginning of five day “Tihar” or “Deepawali” festival in Nepal. Deepwali is when Hindus pray to the goddess of wealth and prosperity-Laxmi and ask for her...

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Afghanistan: Nuristan, in Pictures

Written by Joshua Foust · Central Asia & Caucasus

We've had enough doom and gloom in Afghanistan for a while, yes? So here's a pretty picture of Aranas village in Waygal district of Nuristan.

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BOBs: Global Videobloggers Compete for Award Part 1

Written by Juliana Rincón Parra · Middle East & North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa

The BOBs, Deutsche Welle's yearly contest for online products: blogs, podcasts and videoblogs has already chosen 176 nominees for the 16 different categories. In the video blogging category, participants from different parts of the world compete for the honor to be considered the best in their group, and voters will have until November 26th to choose their favorite.

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Updates from 28 October 2008

Pakistan

Yasser Latif Hamdani at Pak Tea House argues that Obama Presidency is better for Pakistan.

• Rezwan

India

The Better India reports that a solar-powered electric cycle rickshaw had its debut in the Indian capital. “Called the Soleckshaw, it is in test run in Delhi and will be mass produced in a month if all goes well.”

• Rezwan

Angola

Luanda born musician Paulo Flores has won the Angolan National Prize for Arts and Culture. Koluki [pt] takes the opportunity to “dedicate a post to some of his music, focusing on some duets I consider particularly well done.” Hear the selected songs on her blog.

• Paula Góes

Sudan

Jacky discusses humanitarian access in Darfur, Sudan: “Media reports this week cite growing concern over ‘denial of humanitarian access’ in Darfur. Although such denial certainly exists, many of the actors being denied – in the form of travel bans, visa refusals, car-jacking, etc - are not strict ‘humanitarians,’ but a loose community of NGO’s whose right to intervene is debatable.”

• Ndesanjo Macha

Zambia

Zambian blogger, Percy Mwale, asks, “What type of President do we need in Zambia and what type of parliament will ensure prosperity?” She continues: “Firstly, all MPs must be mature enough to support any progressive move or bill in parliament, to the benefit of all Zambians not just a party, individual or family tree. One way parliament can avoid being simply a rubber-stamp is by having a truly mixed parliament. The issue of a minority President must not therefore arise.”

• Ndesanjo Macha

Bolivia

Camiri Digital [es] introduces readers to some basic words in the indigenous language of Guaraní, which is spoken by many in the Chaco region of Bolivia.

• Eduardo Avila

Trinidad & Tobago

“Like any other country, we have a well-laid out and codified set of laws for the populace to follow. Of what good is our law however, when particularly in relation to serious and violent crime, we appear to have little success of apprehending and convicting those who break it?”: Trinbago Forever blogs about the country's crime situation.

• Janine Mendes-Franco

Barbados

Barbados Underground says that “the current fast food diet of journalism being served up by the local media” poses a threat to the country's democracy.

• Janine Mendes-Franco