Global Voices · Citizen media stories from 2009 May 12

12 May 2009

Daily archive · 2 posts

Stories from 12 May 2009

Help Global Voices Advocacy win $3000 by writing one post

Written by Solana Larsen · Announcements

Help Global Voices Advocacy win $1200! The prize money would help us continue to raise awareness of attacks on online freedom of speech, and share tools and tactics with activists and bloggers facing censorship on different parts of the globe. All you have to do is write a post in your own blog, including the following text…

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Egypt: Obama to Address Muslim World from Egypt

Written by Amira Al Hussaini · Middle East & North Africa, North America

The date is all set. US President Barack Hussain Obama will deliver his much anticipated speech on relations with the Muslim world in Egypt on June 4 and the Egyptian blogosphere is as divided as ever, with some questioning whether Obama will turn a blind eye to the country's human rights record. And although the speech and its content and impact on relations with the region are taking a backseat for the moment, the pressing question on many bloggers' minds is: "Why Egypt?"

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Updates from 12 May 2009

Czech Republic

Jost A Mon posts a “roundup of translated crime fiction consumed in April” - which includes a few books by writers from the CEE region.

• Veronica Khokhlova

India

Jost A Mon translates Roman Gruzov's Bolshoi Gorod text (RUS) about Baymurat, “an unlikely star” of the Russian internet, mentioned on GV back in April - here: “… a poorly dressed Tajik gastarbeiter who brilliantly performed the song ‘Jimmy Jimmy Jimmy Aaja' from the Hindi film ‘Disco Dancer' with such verve that he was a hit on YouTube. Soon his fame spread into the world at large, and Roman Gruzov located him in Kolomna, a little town in the Moscow region. Roman found out that the Tajik was not a Tajik, and, wholly unexpectedly, ended up helping the singer along his career in show-business.”

• Veronica Khokhlova

Serbia

Gray Falcon writes: “If there was just one thing I could show someone seeking to understand the Serbs, I would take them to a hill northeast of Niš (Ниш), and show them the Skull Tower.”

• Veronica Khokhlova

Latvia

All About Latvia writes about the people who are “driving the vote” in Riga's local election next month: “The June 6 contest is about personalities more than about party platforms or programs.”

• Veronica Khokhlova

Russia

White Sun of the Desert writes about the Russian visa application process: “Then at the beginning of this year they decided that all applications had to come with a notarised translation of every page of your passport, including all visas and stamps therein. I have a 48-page passport with stamps and visas from Kuwait, Oman, UAE, Qatar, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, Cambodia, Vietnam, Korea, Japan, Kazakhstan, and Azerbaijan. Some poor soul has to translate this lot at horrendous cost to my employer, then take the translation to a notary public.”

• Veronica Khokhlova

Bangladesh

Hussain M. Elius writes in details about the unjustified tution fee hike of one of the leading private universities in Dhaka, Bangladesh and the protest of the students.

• Rezwan

Maldives

The first multiparty legislative elections of Maldives have ended and “the party of the Maldives' dissident-turned-president has likely won the most seats in the country's first multiparty legislative elections, but not enough for an outright majority,” reports Maldives Live.

• Rezwan