Global Voices · Citizen media stories from August 2009

August, 2009

Monthly archive · 158 posts

Stories from August, 2009

30 August 2009

Ecuador: All Aboard the Trolley Bus

Written by Milton Ramirez · Latin America

The trolley bus system in Quito, Ecuador has been helping to alleviate traffic congestion. A recent experiment invited the city's twitterers to submit live news about riding on this form of public transportation.

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Japan: We will not forget Hiroshima and Nagasaki

Written by Scilla Alecci · East Asia

64 years ago, on the 6th and the 9th of August, atomic bombs were dropped by the U.S. forces on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Over 200,000 people died and every year,...

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Afghanistan: Voting Day in Photos

Written by Fred Petrossian · Central Asia & Caucasus

On the nation's second-ever election day, Afghan photo bloggers shared pictures from the polls showing military presence as well as voter enthusiasm.

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Arab World: Welcoming Ramadan

Written by Amira Al Hussaini · Middle East & North Africa

Ramadan is an important month in the Muslim calendar. Bloggers writing in Arabic celebrate the month, already in its first week, in this post, where we share some of the artistic creations used to greet their readers on the month.

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29 August 2009

Palestine: Waiting for the Iftar Cannon in Gaza

Written by Amira Al Hussaini · Middle East & North Africa

The war on Gaza has made many traditions a distant memory. Palestinian blogger Hazem [ar] laments the end of a Ramadan ritual, which his grandfather remembers and which is no more.

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Arab World: Young People Gather to Learn Social Media Tools

Written by Mohammad Azraq · Middle East & North Africa

Young people from eight Arab countries and Sweden met last May to learn certain leadership and organizational skills, and how to use the tools of social media to advance social change. Now, they are preparing to meet again in November.

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Blogging About Poverty And Development In The Arab World

Written by Ayesha Saldanha · Middle East & North Africa

In some Arab countries, more than half of the population lives in hunger and want. In this post we hear from bloggers writing about poverty and development around the Arab world.

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Azerbaijan: Washington DC protest for detained activist bloggers (updated)

Written by Onnik Krikorian · Central Asia & Caucasus, North America

With detained video bloggers Adnan Hajizade and Emin Milli now facing an additional charge in their native Azerbaijan, The Collegian says that support for the two imprisoned youth activists yesterday transcended the digital world and spilled out thousands of miles away onto the streets of Washington DC.

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28 August 2009

East Timor: Abe Barreto Soares' Poetry for Nation Building

Written by Sara Moreira · East Asia

He calls himself a “wanderer like anyone else” but Abe Barreto Soares is also a poet, a translator and an active blogger. In this interview, he talks about Timorese nationalism, language and poetry.

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Puerto Rico: “Such is Life”

Written by Firuzeh Shokooh Valle · Latin America

The executive director of the government project Portal del Futuro defended the construction of a luxury mega-resort by telling residents of neighboring communities that they would not have access to this kind of project because "such is life." Puerto Rican bloggers respond to his remarks.

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Updates from August, 2009

31 August 2009

India

Mr. Singh at Kudimaari blog analyzes the good bad and ugly sides of the positive change in the sex-ratio in Delhi. The turnaround is believed to be a fruit of the local government’s incentive program for girl child called the Ladli scheme.

• Rezwan

Ghana

Mighy African's top 10 Ghanaians songs of 2009: “Ghanaian music is at a crisis. People feel we are sounding too much like Western artistes.”

• Ndesanjo Macha

Ghana

Abena writes about Busta Rhymes trip to Accra, Ghana: “It is official: one of New York's finest sons, the hip-hop veteran Busta Rhymes will be performing in Ghana on September 12th.”

• Ndesanjo Macha

Armenia

With most bloggers located in the capitals of the three South Caucasus republics, U.S. Peace Corps Volunteers (PCVs) have been indispensible in posting entries from the regions of Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia. However, with old PCVs being replaced by new ones when their service ends, it's often been difficult to keep track of their blogs. Thanks to Twitter, however, that is now a thing of the past with @pcjarmenia, @pcjazerbaijan, and @pcjgeorgia.

• Onnik Krikorian

Trinidad & Tobago

KnowProSE.com weighs in on the battle between a Trinidad and Tobago blogger and a mainstream newspaper: “I don't necessarily agree with everything Richard writes or how he writes it - but I think that he has the right to express his opinion. When you threaten legal action in a case like this, you're threatening not just someone who wrote something on a website. You're threatening a reader. You're threatening social media and setting a precedent that can have a nasty whiplash…”

• Janine Mendes-Franco

Anguilla

Corruption-free Anguilla says that a fly infestation at a particular garbage dump “results from a failure to deal with the garbage correctly”, adding: “The culprit is one of our biggest hotel developments.”

• Janine Mendes-Franco

Bahamas

Nicolette Bethel continues to follow Ward Minnis‘ posts on the viability of making a living off of art in the Bahamas, commenting: “In order for this viability really to exist, though, the society as a whole has to buy into the idea of supporting Bahamian culture with more than their lips, but also with their pockets.”

• Janine Mendes-Franco

St. Vincent & the Grenadines

“I am still having a hard time wrapping my mind around the fact that yet another woman has been the victim of appalling domestic violence,” writes Abeni, adding: “I can only hope that Debbie's biggest impact will be to mobilise Vincentian women into meaningful action…we simply cannot afford to pay lip service to this latest murder and then go back to business as usual.”

• Janine Mendes-Franco

Jamaica

Trevor Dawes, blogging at Abeng News Magazine, says that “Jamaica is bankrupt” and suggests that “it is as a result of the poor to non-existent leadership from either of the two major political parties.”

• Janine Mendes-Franco