Global Voices · Citizen media stories from 2009 February 28

28 February 2009

Daily archive · 6 posts

Stories from 28 February 2009

The Greatest Street Party on Earth: The Brazilian Carnival

Barack Obama, Fidel Castro and the Iraqi journalist who threw one of his shoes at George Bush were just some of the characters spotted on the streets of Brazil, during this year's Carnival. See a selection of the most interesting pictures published under a Creative Commons license.

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Hong Kong: Budget report: university students on sale!

Written by Oiwan Lam · East Asia

Financial Secretary of Hong Kong John Tsang made the budget speech for the fiscal year 2009-2010 at the Legislative Council on 25 of February. This is the first budget report...

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Shiv Sena's Orkut Campaign: The Limits to Freedom of Expression in an Intolerant India

Written by Gaurav Mishra · South Asia

Introduction: Freedom of Expression in the Indian Blogosphere The Indian blogosphere is abuzz with discussions on freedom of expression after the Supreme Court refused to throw out Shiv Sena's defamation...

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Azerbaijan: Popular website back — minus forum

Written by Simon Maghakyan · Azerbaijan

After several days of closure, the popular semi-independent Azerbaijani news and discussion website, Day.az, is back. However, raising additional questions about its brief disappearance, the site's forum — known for its open and somewhat democratic discussion — is not.

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USA: Activists Incensed after Fatal Shooting by Police

Written by Bernardo Parrella · North America

Several people recorded mobile phone videos of a police officer shooting and killing a young man named Oscar Grant on a train platform in Oakland, California, on January 1. Since then, citizen media have been central in the ensuing campaigns for justice.

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Video: Community Radios Fill the Information Gap

Written by Juliana Rincón Parra · Latin America

In a highly globalized and digitalized world, sometimes we may forget that in many regions of the world, not even electricity is available, and the possibility of using internet as an alternative information source is still a distant dream. It is in locations like Guatemala, Chad and India that community radio rises as the alternative for native communities to speak about their concerns, hear news and stories, receive information and all this in their native languages.

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Updates from 28 February 2009

D.R. of Congo

In the DRC, Cedric Kalonji questions the Inspector General of the South Kivu police who, in a recent radio interview, pledged that the police were committed to raising revenue through security taxes or fees for the issue of public documents. Kalonji writes: “While killings, lootings, rapes and murders, which are spoken of almost with a smile in South Kivu, have become trivial, I am tempted to ask what is really the role of the police. Generating revenue for the coffers of the state or protecting people and their property?”

• Jennifer Brea

Martinique

le blog de [moi] [Fr] discusses how a new vocabulary has entered into the creoles of Guadeloupe and Martinique since the beginning of the general strike: “What was really surprising (and for me, I admit, a little unsettling) was to see how in interviews, men and woman on the street would, without difficulty, answer [questions] with expressions being used by the national media!”

• Jennifer Brea

Life in the Armenian Diaspora reports that panicked citizens have been converting their local currency so frantically that there are now no dollars to be found at exchanges in the Armenian capital, Yerevan. The blog blames the artificial manipulation of the Armenian dram to benefit government-linked importers.

• Onnik Krikorian