Global Voices · Citizen media stories from 2009 January 01

1 January 2009

Daily archive · 4 posts

Stories from 1 January 2009

Guinea: History repeating?

Written by Elia Varela Serra · Sub-Saharan Africa

A week after the passing of President Lansana Conté and the military coup that followed, African bloggers have been wondering about the resurgence of military coups in the region and about their prospects for success, and getting the feeling that history is repeating.

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Lusosphere: Reform in Portuguese Language Not Welcomed

Written by Paula Góes · Sub-Saharan Africa, Western Europe

As of today, the reform of Portuguese language spelling begins to be implemented in Brazil. The same rules will eventually be implemented in Portugal, Angola, Cape Verde, East Timor, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, São Tomé and Príncipe. Bloggers across the Lusosphere are not exactly happy about it.

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Palestine: West Bank protests hindered by factional tension

Written by Ayesha Saldanha · Middle East & North Africa

While the eyes of the world are on Gaza, what's going on in the West Bank? Bloggers report that there is enormous anger at the assault on Gaza, yet ongoing...

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Cuba: Bloggers Gather In Spite of the Challenges

Written by Claudia Cadelo · Latin America

In spite of the challenges to connect to the internet, many Cuban bloggers are determined to post to their sites. Some receive a hand from abroad by sending their posts by email because many of the sites are blocked, which means that often they cannot see their own blogs after publication. In her first article for Global Voices, Cuban blogger Claudia Cadelo writes how a group of bloggers decided to meet at alternating locations to get to know one another and share their experiences, even though authorities warned them not to hold the meetings.

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Updates from 1 January 2009

Saudi Arabia

American Bedu discusses the stigma of AIDS in Saudi Arabia: “Saudis who have been diagnosed with AIDS are literally banished. There are several well guarded secure facilities in Saudi Arabia where AIDS patients are taken and admitted.”

• Ayesha Saldanha

Bhutan

Whatever Matters!! lists ten challenges the Bhutanese government should tackle in 2009.

• Rezwan

Sri Lanka

ICT for Peacebuilding (ICT4Peace) highlights the feats of Groundviews, the award winning citizen journalism platform in Sri Lanka. The blog also posts a review of the best contents published in Groundviews site in 2008.

• Rezwan

Pakistan

Teeth Maestro reports that a Discussion Forum has been relaunched in Pakistan to address the bloggers' agenda. Here is the link of the forum http://bloggers.pk/forum.

• Rezwan

Bangladesh

Tulip Siddiq was on the campaign trail of (ex-prime Minister) Sheikh Hasina, whose party Awami League achieved a landslide victory in the recently concluded Bangladesh parliamentary election. Read her blog to learn more about the campaign as she posts analysis, video and photos of the election.

• Rezwan

Israel

Idelber Avelar [pt] translates into Portuguese an open letter by veteran of Israel's 1948 war and founder of the Gush Shalom peace movement Uri Avnery to Barack Obama. “The request to spread the word goes to everyone who wants a lasting peace in accordance with terms already recognized by the international community”, invites the blogger.

• Paula Góes

Israel

Syrian blogger Dania reports on the silent demonstration organized by Syrian bloggers in-front of the European Commission in Damascus to protest the continuing Israeli onslaught on Gaza. She also publishes the petition sent to Brussels by the demonstators.

• Yazan Badran