Global Voices · Citizen media stories from 2010 July 22

22 July 2010

Daily archive · 10 posts

Stories from 22 July 2010

Rwanda: Tension Before The Presidential Election, Except for Kagame

Written by Gael Brassac · Sub-Saharan Africa

The incumbent President of Rwanda Paul Kagame has officially launched his campaign for another term in office. The electoral campaign which ends on august 9th, has been marred with challenges for the political opposition, ranging from arrests to mysterious deaths.

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Blog Carnival: Colombia, Women and the Web - A Summary

Written by Juan Arellano · Translated by Juan Arellano · Latin America

There seems to be a concern among Colombian women about defending their rights and about increasing the number of women who can use the Internet and new media to express themselves and take advantage of the benefits this medium offers, like other women do in other countries. This is evident after going over 21 posts submitted for the first carnival of blogs organized by Global Voices in Spanish: Blog Carnival: Colombia, Women on the Web. Take a look at what these bloggers had to say.

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Mozambique/Brazil: “Ethanol diplomacy” meets criticism

Written by Janet Gunter · Sub-Saharan Africa, Western Europe

NGOs furiously denounced last week's trilateral accord between Brazil, Mozambique and the European Union promoting ethanol production in Mozambique for the European market. The blogsphere provides some background to this "ethanol diplomacy" and questions its future social and environmental impacts.

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South Korea: Halting Corporal Punishment In Schools Met With Opposition

Written by Lee Yoo Eun · East Asia

South Korean society is buzzing with the old issue of corporal punishment in schools, as an elementary teacher beating his students got leaked into public. A controversy was ignited as the Seoul Education Office ordered a halt on any physical punishment from every school.

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Hong Kong: Citizen campaign to save Tai Long Beach

Written by Oiwan Lam · East Asia

Many people have the impression that Hong Kong is a concrete forest made up with high rise buildings. However, actually 75% of the land in this global city is undeveloped...

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Brunei: Great Tasty Tour goes East Asia

Written by Senor Pablo · East Asia

Two Spanish Foodie Bloggers, Inaki and Esther, are currently on a gastronomy tour in East Asia for some ten months. GV author Senor Pablo interviews the two bloggers about their Brunei tour.

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Philippines: Manila Water Crisis

Written by Karlo Mikhail Mongaya · East Asia

Metro Manila, the national capital region of the Philippines, is now experiencing a water shortage crisis with millions enduring water supply rationing. Filipino bloggers try to make sense of the crisis.

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Censorship in Singapore

Written by Shawn Lim · East Asia

Singapore authorities caused a major uproar when they banned a film of an ex-political prisoner and arrested a British author who wrote a book about the death penalty in Singapore. Bloggers react

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Armenia-Azerbaijan: Bloggers build dialogue

Written by Onnik Krikorian · Central Asia & Caucasus

Although a recent conference held earlier this month highlighted some of the shortcomings and dangers of using new and social media in conflict resolution, there is no doubt that online tools have moved in to fill a gap left vacant by a usually politically polarized and propagandist media in the South Caucasus.

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Russia: “Why Did They Kill Yuri Volkov?”

Written by Alexey Sidorenko · Eastern & Central Europe

The murder of a TV journalist and football fan Yuri Volkov in the centre of Moscow on July 10, 2010, became a widely discussed event in the Russian blogosphere. A complicated topic, dealing with hostile ethnic stereotypes, crime, police corruption and Russian subcultures, has generated nearly 7,000 comments, tweets and blog posts.

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Updates from 22 July 2010

Panama

Pilar Chato writes [es] for the blog Oye about the recent violent protests by banana plantation workers in Bocas del Toro that lasted nine days and, as she reports, left “700 detained, hundreds injured and various dead.” She goes on to say that protests against the government of Ricardo Martinelli have escalated: “the accusations of a civil dictatorship are not only coming from the opposition but also from social, environmental and human rights organizations.” She also explains what Law 30 is all about, a precursor for the protests in Bocas del Toro.

• Silvia Viñas

Barbados

My Rustic Bajan Garden wonders if a decline in numbers of butterflies is a worrying sign for Barbados. “The absence of these creatures is a strong indicator that all is not well in our environment.”

• Nicholas Laughlin

Pakistan

Kiss My Roti says that the perceptions of “terrorism” and militant violence in Pakistan is shaping the social, political and cultural response to it by the Pakistanis. The blogger asserts the need for “a paradigm shift in narratives from assigning blame to accepting responsibility”.

• Rezwan