Global Voices · Citizen media stories from 2009 November 03

3 November 2009

Daily archive · 8 posts

Stories from 3 November 2009

USA: Race and Gender Politics of Halloween

Written by Jillian C. York · North America

Racial stereotypes and oversexed depictions of women were not uncommon for Halloween costumes this season, as many US bloggers noted. One "illegal alien" costume sold in major stores, was even found offensive enough to provoke a campaign against it.

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Peru: Chimbote in Blogs

Written by Juan Arellano · Latin America

The Peruvian coastal city of Chimbote may be best known for its fishing industry, but there is a lot of cultural activity taking place. Blogs from Chimbote have played an important role in covering this cultural movement.

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Georgia: Orthodox scandal

Written by Onnik Krikorian · Central Asia & Caucasus

In the most religious country of the South Caucasus where the Orthodox Church's Patriarch can even encourage a baby boom, criticizing the clergy is still somewhat taboo. Lampooning them, however, is even worse and fraught with danger.

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The future of ICT4D: How soon is now?

Written by John Liebhardt · Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia

In the final of three posts on the future of ICTs for development, we examine a few projects that could change the way people leverage technology in rural areas.

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Syria: The Best or the Worst Article Ever?

Written by Jillian C. York · Middle East & North Africa

Syrian bloggers frequently decry travel writing about their country - often it's too stereotypical, sometimes downright false. And for a country considered long "isolated" at least from the United States, it can be particularly frustrating to see such writing promoted as accurate. In this post, we will examine reactions to a recent National Geographic article on the country.

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Introducing Threatened Voices

Written by sami ben gharbia · Blogger Profiles, Announcements

Today, Global Voices Advocacy is launching a new website called Threatened Voices to help track suppression of free speech online. It features a world map and an interactive timeline that help visualize the story of threats and arrests against bloggers worldwide, and it is a central platform to gather information from the most dedicated organisations and activists.

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Kenya: Bloggers discuss first Kenyan gay marriage

Written by Haute Haiku · Sub-Saharan Africa

A Kenyan gay couple caused an outrage when they decided to be joined in a civil union, the whole nation cried “foul, that's not right.” Charles and Daniel legalized their union on October17, in London.

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Indonesia: Criminalizing the graft fighters

Written by Carolina Rumuat · East Asia

Indonesian netizens are calling for the release of two officials of an anti-graft body who were arrested for allegedly abusing their powers and accepting bribes. For many Indonesians, the two men represent the nation's fight against corruption.

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Updates from 3 November 2009

Pakistan

Mohammad Malick comments on the recent terror attack in Peshawar's market area for lower and middle class people: “(it) showed that it is a war with terrorists standing on one side of the blood line, and we the people on the other.”

• Rezwan

Bangladesh

Bangladesh Corporate Blog analyzes the decision of Bangladesh government to establish separate begging zones in the capital Dhaka.

• Rezwan

India

Photoblogger Anil is surprised to find that a photograph taken by him of the main building of Bishop Cotton School in Shimla was used for a commemorative postage stamp published by the Indian postal Service.

• Rezwan

Madagascar

Is the economy going down in Madagascar?: “If recent trends persisted during September, three new developments seem to indicate a deterioration in public finance and economic activities: (i) the Government borrowed on the domestic financial market (about half of its monthly expenditures) for the first time since the beginning of the crisis…”

• Ndesanjo Macha

Kenya

Bankelele writes about Christmas Tourism Expo in Nairobi, Kenya: “The annual Christmas tourism expo (Getaway ’09 fair) fair was held at Sarit center last weekend. About 75 exhibitors were offering holiday packages for Christmas and the New Year in addition to 2010 rates.”

• Ndesanjo Macha

Kenya

An initiative aimed at creating the first open map of Kibera in Nairobi, Kenya: “And yesterday we spent the whole day at MS ActionAid Kenya, where the Danish students were introduced to mapping techniques along with several others from organizations as diverse as Ushahidi, UNICEF, Umande Trust, and World Bike.”

• Ndesanjo Macha

St. Vincent & the Grenadines

Vincentian Life is “more than a little concerned that…electoral officials have up to 14 days in which to make public the results of the November 25 [referendum on constitutional amendments] poll. That is scary - I mean we have a situation where desperate men are behaving like they are going to do themselves in if this fails…”

• Janine Mendes-Franco