Global Voices · Citizen media stories from 2010 May 24

24 May 2010

Daily archive · 7 posts

Stories from 24 May 2010

Caucasus: Eurovision Social Media

Written by Onnik Krikorian · Central Asia & Caucasus

With the first semi-final in this year's Eurovision Song Contest due to take place tomorrow, activity on blogs, social media networks and micro-blogging sites in support of entrants from Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia, the three countries making up the South Caucasus, is naturally increasing. However, their use also sometimes reflects the geopolitical and technical realities of the region.

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Jamaica: State of Emergency

Written by Janine Mendes-Franco · Caribbean

Things are starting to unravel in Jamaica, as the drug money link between dons and politicians, starts to get the media attention it deserves. The United States want Christopher ‘Dudus’...

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Peru: Schoolgirl Questions US First Lady About Immigration Reform

Written by Gabriela García Calderón · North America, Latin America

During a recent visit to a Maryland school, US First Lady Michelle Obama received a question from a schoolgirl of Peruvian descent, who asked why people without immigration papers were being taken away and who disclosed information about the status of her parents.

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Eto'o's Success Lifting Cameroon 's Hope

Written by Lova Rakotomalala · Sub-Saharan Africa

After the success of his Italian club Inter Milan in the UEFA European Champions League, Cameroonian football star Samuel Eto'o is the toast of the town and his country. Cameroonian bloggers are proud of the accomplishment of their star player and hope that the momentum of his success can carry on for Cameroon at the World Cup.

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Japan: 1300 years in the making, celebration in Nara

Written by Matt Holland · East Asia

While both culturally and physically a long ways from the modern capital of Tokyo, tracing back well over a thousand years into Japanese history one comes across Nara, a quiet,...

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Argentina: Celebrating the Bicentennial on the Web

Written by Jorge Gobbi · Latin America

Argentina has been celebrating 200th anniversary of the beginning of the process of independence from Spain. A group of local bloggers have created a site called Your Bicentennial that will provide realtime coverage of the festivities.

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Armenia-Azerbaijan: Conflict transformation

Written by Onnik Krikorian · Central Asia & Caucasus

For the past two years Global Voices has covered the use of new and social media to overcome differences between Armenians and Azerbaijanis still locked in conflict over the disputed territory of Nagorno Karabakh. Most recently, it presented on the use of new online tools in conflict resolution and transformation at conferences in Romania, Macedonia, Georgia and Chile.

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Updates from 24 May 2010

Armenia

Ianyan comments on this week's Eurovision Song Contest to be held in Oslo, Norway. Noting the often cheesy nature of the international music competition, the blog takes a look at the two female acts from Armenia and Azerbaijan, currently among the main entrants considered to have a chance to win.

• Onnik Krikorian

Russia

Moscow mayor's office prepared a draft bill on access to the information with no mention of blogs or any kind of social media, gzt.ru reported [RUS]. Gzt.ru suggests the reason of the absence of Web 2.0 is the inability of the city's telecommunications committee to provide an effective information policy.

• Alexey Sidorenko

Bhutan

Indian blogger Jabberwock quotes Tshering Tobgay, blogger and the leader of the opposition Party in the Bhutanese parliament answering the question ‘why is it important for a politician to blog': “because that forces you to pause and introspect and think about things, which is something politicians don’t always feel the need to do”.

• Rezwan

Trinidad & Tobago

Copy Book Page posts photos of Trinidad and Tobago's election graffiti, adding: “Apparently Graffiti is only legal and accepted around election time.”

• Janine Mendes-Franco

Bangladesh

Gurumia.com reports that Musa Ibrahim has become the first Bangladeshi to conquer the Mount Everest, the highest mountain on Earth.

• Rezwan

Trinidad & Tobago

Afra Raymond thinks that in the context of today's national elections, “with the distinct probability of a victory by the united PP…it is timely to consider the way in which that group might handle the bailout [of the CL Financial group].”

• Janine Mendes-Franco

Nepal

“Nepal is scheduled to have coalition governments for a long, long time to come, just like India. That might be a good reason to not fear the Maoists,” comments Democracy For Nepal.

• Rezwan

Trinidad & Tobago

“YOU COULD vote based on race…You can vote about party and not people…You can vote people…You could vote issues…”, all of which, says Tattoo, “leads us to another method of voting. You can vote to make a point.” Coffeewallah, meanwhile, doesn't care how you vote; she simply wants you to do it: “The single most important thing you will do today is vote. So no excuses, go do it.”

• Janine Mendes-Franco

India

Ram Banshal at India in Peril writes about the Indian tradition of river bath festivals and the high risk of exposing to viral infections via polluted river water.

• Rezwan