Global Voices · Citizen media stories from August 2009

August, 2009

Monthly archive · 158 posts

Stories from August, 2009

25 August 2009

Azerbaijan: Activist bloggers face additional charge as trial approaches

Written by Onnik Krikorian · Central Asia & Caucasus

Youth activist video bloggers Adnan Hajizade and Emin Milli have been held in pre-trial detention for 48 days. However, in an unexpected development, the authorities in Azerbaijan have now decided to add an additional charge of assault.

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Kazakhstan: On the Efficacy of Government

Written by Adil Nurmakov · Central Asia & Caucasus

How professional is the government? Is it rigorous enough in performing its functions? How often does it interfere in matters beyond its competence? These are among the most popular questions...

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Taiwan: Stories of the survivors from Typhoon Morakot

Written by I-fan Lin · East Asia

Typhoon Morakot hit Taiwan on 8 August. The heavy rain it brought to Taiwan has caused serious damage across the country, with thousands of people evacuated from their homes. Stories abound on the internet.

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Maghreb: Ramadan Good Wishes and More

Written by Hisham Almiraat · Middle East & North Africa

The Maghreb blogosphere has been blooming with an outpouring of congratulations, welcoming the holy Muslim month of Ramadan. And amongst the usual greetings and formal congratulations, controversial thoughts, often at odds with conventional views on Muslims, are being aired.

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Singapore: Taxi driver-blogger is a PhD graduate

Written by Mong Palatino · East Asia

He is a Singaporean taxi driver, blogger, and PhD holder from Stanford University. Singapore netizens describe him as the “most educated taxi driver in the world.” His name is Dr. Mingjie Cai.

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Indonesia: Soeharto's son aims to be president?

Written by Carolina Rumuat · East Asia

Hutomo Mandala Putra, the youngest son of former Indonesian President Soeharto, returns to the political arena with a bang. He seeks chairmanship of his father's political party Golkar. Indonesian bloggers speak about this political twist in the archipelagic country.

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Updates from August, 2009

30 August 2009

Bangladesh

Desher Chobi posts some ravishing pictures of the traditional Iftar market at Chawkbazar in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. Microsoft Bing has highlighted a photo of this market on their main page a few days ago.

• Rezwan

29 August 2009

Russia

LJ user travel_hunter (RUS) re-posts images of Yandex.ru maps showing an impressive amount of cars forced to wait until some high-ranking Russian officials pass an intersection in Moscow. LJ user dolboeb posts these images, too, and writes (RUS): “When you just get stuck in traffic caused by the passing of the Big Bosses between Rublyovka and the Kremlin, it's hard to imagine the actual scale of the jam. Well, you've lost 40 minutes. Well, an hour… But, as the poet [Sergei Yesenin] said, “All bigger things are clearer from a distance.”

• Veronica Khokhlova

Russia

LJ user drugoi visits Sayano-Shushenskaya hydroelectric dam, posts two photos and writes (RUS) about the colossal damage done to the facility on Aug. 17: “It seems that it's easier to build a new power plant than to clear up the huge amount of deformed metal and restore the turbine hall.”

• Veronica Khokhlova

Albania

Stepping Stones describes an accidental stopover at a honey-processing place located on a beautiful lake in southern Albania.

• Veronica Khokhlova

U.S.A.

Two recent events highlighting how artists look at the hijab issue inspired bloggers. Swiss motsd'images enthuses (Fr) about a beautiful outdoor photo exhibition of African women in Seville, Spain; and updateslive gives a thorough account of “The Seen and the Hidden, (Dis)covering the Veil,” an exhibition held in New York City featuring 15 artists, 13 of them women. All are muslims, and explore the intersection of Islam, the West, and identity.

• Suzanne Lehn

History

32 years ago, on August 27, 1977, the people of Guinea first rose up against the abuses of Sékou Touré's regime. Oumar, blogging (Fr) for Konngol Afirik at maneno.org, explains the background and speaks up for the duty of memory.

• Suzanne Lehn

Hong Kong (China)

The Libertines Pub comments on a local T.V's (TVB Jade Channel) news report regarding the public consultation on review of the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance. The writer pointed out that the news was manipulated to create panic among our parents. The T.V company has been spoofed by netizen as CCTVB resembling the CCTV in mainland China.

• Oiwan Lam