Global Voices · Citizen media stories from 2010 July 19

19 July 2010

Daily archive · 4 posts

Stories from 19 July 2010

Global Lives: Revisiting the project recording people's lives

Written by Juliana Rincón Parra · East Asia, Central Asia & Caucasus

Two years ago we wrote about a project in its initial stages: Global Lives set out to record a day in the life of 10 people from all over the world. Today we revisit the project and check up on how they're coming along.

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Guinea: Awaiting the Second Round of the Elections Amidst Fraud Allegations

Written by Lova Rakotomalala · Sub-Saharan Africa

A historical presidential election is underway in Guinea as the official results of the first round [fr] are about to be made official. Despite the allegations of fraud, the overall sentiment is that of relief for the absence of turmoil and a remarkable turnout. The Guinean blogosphere was also actively involved:

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Egypt: Men and Women You Shouldn't Date

Written by Tarek Amr · Middle East & North Africa

What started as an observation by an Egyptian blogger on Twitter on women you shouldn't date turned the microblogging site into a battlefield. Tweeps from Egypt and further afield joined the warring factions. Tarek Amr reports from the front line.

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Iran: Bazaars Closed for Business as Merchant Strikes Continue

Written by Fred Petrossian · Middle East & North Africa

Merchant strikes in the main bazaar of Tehran have entered a second week in protest of higher taxes. Several citizen journalists reported this event, while official media keeps silent and tries to ignore one of the most important strikes in 30 years.

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Updates from 19 July 2010

Portugal

A seagull problem has been occurring in Porto's historical center. Portuguese netcitizens report that the birds are hungry and fearless and have even killed pigeons. For Cristina Santos, they are scaring tourists with their attacks on the garbage piled in the streets. Marta, a tourist, witnessed what she calls a “Hitchcock-like episode”. [all links in PT]

• Sara Moreira

Armenia

Scary Azeri makes a guest post on Armenia-Azerbaijan relations in the context of the still unresolved conflict over the disputed territory of Nagorno Karabakh as part of a series of entries using new and social media to bring the two sides closer together. Noting the popularity of her own posts with Armenians as well as her own native Azerbaijanis, in addition to many cultural similarities between the two nations, the blogger says she hopes peace will come to the region sometime in her lifetime.

• Onnik Krikorian

Russia

Photographer Igor Podgorny publishes [RUS] pictures from the camp of the defenders of the Khimki forest park [EN] situated in the Moscow's outskirts. After authorities started to cut the trees [RUS] (illegally) on July 15th, a group of environmentalists [RUS] erected barricades in order to stop the cuttings.

• Alexey Sidorenko

Chile

A recent Casen survey revealed an increase of 1.4% in poverty in Chile; that means that “just over 355 thousand people reached the poverty line for the first time in 2009,” as explained by The Pulse. In response to the survey, the bloggers from de la República [es] uploaded a video campaign from Amnesty International in Chile [es] called “More rights, less poverty.”

• Silvia Viñas

Guatemala

Cobán Galería Fotográfica posts [es] images and information about a foundation called Talita Kumi. The blogger highlights how the foundation teaches young women technical skills they will later use to help in the development of their community.

• Silvia Viñas

Argentina

Alberto Medrano shares [es] his email interview with Dady Rubio, an Argentinean journalist and blogger [es]. In the interview Rubio answers questions about Argentina and its bicentennial celebration, but also about Bolivia, blogging and the Internet in Latin America.

• Silvia Viñas

India

Being Cynical at Desicritics reacts on today's tragic train accident in the Indian state of West Bengal and opines that the Indian railways are turning into a death trap.

• Rezwan

Lebanon

In this post, Ghassan Karam argues that “the biggest threat to human civilization and biodiversity as we know it is the human species itself” since the increase in the population of the Earth is resulting in an inevitable ecological degradation. He also mentions that Lebanon ranks as the 129th most unsustainable country out of the group of 146.

• Moussa Bashir

Lebanon

“We can work in any field or industry, they can’t. We can learn for free, they aren’t allowed. We have access to free healthcare, they don’t. We enjoy our dignity and human rights while they struggle to simply maintain theirs. And this has been going on for a good portion of their 62 year stay in Lebanon,” writes Nia Soul in a post about Palestinian refugees in Lebanon.

• Moussa Bashir

Lebanon

“A group of independent activists organized a direct action on a number of touristic resorts that adopt racist policies towards migrant workers in Lebanon on the basis of color, race, and class.” The video in this post shows activists trying to get a migrant domestic worker (an activist of the Madagascari citizenship) into the swimming pool. “The activists are allowed in, but not the “maid”.”

• Moussa Bashir