Global Voices · Citizen media stories from January 2010

January, 2010

Monthly archive · 224 posts

Stories from January, 2010

6 January 2010

Mozambique: Demise of a massive biofuels project

Written by Janet Gunter · Sub-Saharan Africa

In late December, the Council of Ministers of Mozambique made a significant announcement. A 30,000ha land concession to biofuels firm Procana had been revoked. The case of the Procana project, on a massive area bordering on the cross-border Limpopo National Park, was polemic from the beginning in 2007.

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Lebanon: Bloggers Participated in “Kolena Laila”

Written by Layal Al Khatib · Middle East & North Africa

"Kolena Laila"(We are all Laila) is an online initiative that aims to spread awareness about the Arab women in the Middle East and North Africa. In its fourth year, "Laila" got to be Lebanese. Here are some of the Lebanese bloggers' contributions.

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Egypt: “Have a Voice” Campaign

Written by Eman AbdElRahman · Middle East & North Africa

As Egypt gears up for its 2011 presidential elections, a group of bloggers have launched a new campaign to make people believe that they can usher in change and make their voices heard through voting. Eman AbdElRahman rounds up reactions from the Egyptian blogosphere in this post.

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Jordan: Teaching Jordanians To Laugh At Themselves?

Written by Ayesha Saldanha · Middle East & North Africa

The second Amman Stand-Up Comedy Festival was held in December, with comics mostly from North America. The New York Times published an article about the festival entitled "Jordanians Can Take a Joke, Comics Find" – but some bloggers did not appreciate its tone.

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5 January 2010

South Asia: Looking Back At 2009 (Part 2)

Written by Rezwan · South Asia

This is the second part of our retrospection of some of the major events, which took place in 2009 in the South Asian countries, seen through the eyes of the citizen journalists.

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Bolivia: The Life of a Taxi Driver in El Alto

Written by Eduardo Avila · Latin America

Blogger Wilfredo Jordán takes a closer look at the life of a taxi driver in El Alto, Bolivia. In addition to the long working conditions for little pay, they often face dangerous situations from passengers.

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Updates from January, 2010

17 January 2010

Haiti

French collective blog Etats du Lieu has a rant against what they feel as an abandoning of Haïti by the French government. So far, says the post, it has handled the issue with not much more than an emergency phone number, 100 fire fighters and a few million euros, whereas Haïti shares with France a mostly dramatic history and has been a founding member of francophonie [Fr].

• Suzanne Lehn

India

Abhijit at Blowing In The Wind compiles media reactions on the death of the veteran communist leader and ex-chief minister of the West Bengal state of India, Jyoti Basu.

• Rezwan

India

Sandeep Bansal calls India's recently concluded accord with Bangladesh on the transit rights for North East India as a historical opportunity for this region.

• Rezwan

Afghanistan

Nick Fielding says that providing electricity for the residents of Afghanistan is one of the best ways of undermining the Taliban insurgency. However, although reports indicate increase of energy supply in the country, that modest increase hides many problems.

• Adil Nurmakov

Georgia

Social Blurbs comments on two teenage bloggers in Tbilisi, Georgia, and their alternative style of blogging. In a guest video post on the social media blog, the two young bloggers speak about Penisman, a Georgian superhero who “doesn't give a crap.” The blog says that 15-year-old Giorgi Chilaia and 14-year-old Bachi should be commended for their “tasteful use of [dirty language] and their self-deprecating humor.”

• Onnik Krikorian

Turkmenistan

Elina Galperin writes that Turkmenistan lainched a new Central Asia-China gas pipeline, and wonders if there is going to be enough gas for Nabucco and how will China affect Central Asian politics.

• Adil Nurmakov

Haiti

Haitian-American writer and artist Lenelle Moise tries to: “balance the images of the devastation of my birthplace (injured bodies aching in wait, starving orphaned children, mass graves set amid rubble) with evidence of all the beautiful dynamic magic its descendants make.”

• Jennifer Brea