Global Voices · Citizen media stories from May 2009

May, 2009

Monthly archive · 180 posts

Stories from May, 2009

16 May 2009

Iran: Karroubi supporters armed with Facebook in presidential election

Written by Fred Petrossian · Middle East & North Africa

Facebook was banned in Iran until recently, but now supporters of the former speaker of the Iranian parliament, Mehdi Karroubi, use it as a vehicle to promote his candidacy in the upcoming presidential election.

· 8

· read »

15 May 2009

Tunisia: Ammar 404 is Back and Censoring Blogs Again

Written by Lina Ben Mhenni · Middle East & North Africa

After a short hiatus, the dreaded Ammar 404 has once again attacked the Tunisian blogosphere. Ammar is the nickname given by Tunisian bloggers to the censorship machine plaguing their access to the Internet and his victim this time is Zig Zag blog by 3amrouch. Tunisian bloggers show solidarity with their colleague by reprinting the material which blocked his blog in the first place.

· 5

· read »

Guatemala: Rosenberg Video Causes Uncertainty and Speculation

Written by Eduardo Avila · Latin America

A video was recently released by slain Guatemalan lawyer Rodrigo Rosenberg where he accused President Alvaro Colom, the First Lady and 2 close associates of being responsible for his murder. The reactions by the Guatemalan blogosphere and twittosphere has even led to the arrest of one for inciting financial panic. However, there is speculation that even more could be targeted for spreading information and opinions about the case, which has been prominent using the hashtag #escandalogt. As details emerge, it is certain that it will continue to be a highly discussed topic.

· 4

· read »

Video: 48 Hour Young Lions YouTube Contest and others you can join

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

Tonight could be your chance to make it big in the online video field, almost anywhere you live. All it takes is 48 hours to make, upload and get as many votes on your video, and you could go to the Cannes Film Festival. If you can't make it on time, don't worry: following is a list of other contests open for participants from all around the world.

· 15

· read »

Saudi Arabia: Will Swine Flu Threaten Hajj?

Written by Amira Al Hussaini · Middle East & North Africa

Every year millions of Muslims converge to Mecca to perform Hajj (pilgrimage), one of the five pillars of Islam. Is this year's Hajj season being threatened by the A/H1N1 or Swine Flu virus? Bloggers commenting on the region weigh in.

· 3

· read »

Egypt: Court bans Porn Sites

Written by Marwa Rakha · Middle East & North Africa

Lawyer Nizar Ghorab (Ghorab translates to Crow in Arabic) filed a lawsuit calling for banning porn sites because they destroy the core values of the Egyptian society. The Administrative Court in Cairo ruled in his favor. Between anger and sarcasm, Egyptian bloggers react to the ruling.

· 3

· read »

Updates from May, 2009

24 May 2009

Egypt

Alexandra Sandels, from MENASSAT, writes her interview with Walid Al-Saqaf, a Sweden-based Yemeni Internet expert, regarding the launch of his new program Al-Kasir (means the circumventer in Arabic) - during a summit on blogging in Cairo which was entitled “Blogging for the Future“.
Al-Kasir, which is currently available in its Beta test version, is a new software aiming to circumvent web censorship in the Middle East and beyond, where it allows Internet users to access blocked websites.
You can also read Esra'a's post on Mideast Youth on why Al-Kasir is different from other similar tools, and how it’s beneficial to users in the Middle East.

• Eman AbdElRahman

Nepal

United We Blog! for a Democratic Nepal reports that Madhav Nepal, a moderate Communist Leader is the new Prime Minister of Nepal.

• Rezwan

Palestine

Fadi Abu Sada, a Palestinian Christian, hopes that the Pope's recent visit to the Holy Land will help Christians worldwide understand that Palestinian Christians suffer from the same occupation that all Palestinians suffer from.

• Ayesha Saldanha

Palestine

Adham Khalil writes about Shireen Shamia, an art teacher in the Gaza Strip, who has made art from the rubble of her house.

• Ayesha Saldanha

Brazil

Brazilian cyberactivists are again taking action against online surveillance in defence of the netcitizen rights. The Mega Não! protest has been triggered by the controversial digital crimes bill which aims to control cybercrime, raising serious issues on digital rights management and the free use of digital devices. There will be another demonstration tomorrow, 25th of May, this time in Rio Grande do Sul State. Check their twitter coverage out.

• Sara Moreira

Tunisia

Earlier this morning, Tunisian blogger Slim Amamou, announced on Twitter the launch of the Yamli bookmarklet that he, along with other Arab Techies, have developed in their Arab Techies Code Sprint 2009 in Cairo.
Yamli is a real time smart Arabic keyboard that allows users to type Arabic without an Arabic keyboard, from within their web browser. With this bookmarklet, you can now use Yamli on any website, with a simple click of a button.

• Eman AbdElRahman

Brazil: Communities in Rio Blame Olympics for Evictions

Hi Christa, Thank you for sharing the good news. I am glad that at least one battle has been won by...
Help us bring international visibility to this issue. Please read and share the following link regarding Vila Autódromo's recent win...

Very interesting! I had no idea this was going on there as I haven't followed Peru's political situation. You've done...
Interesting indeed. I don't hear much news from Peru so this information was indeed news and something the world community...
Interesting read. Thanks for sharing!