Global Voices · Citizen media stories from 2010 July 23

23 July 2010

Daily archive · 4 posts

Stories from 23 July 2010

Egypt: Liberals mourn the death of Dr. Nasr Hamed Abu Zeid

Written by Marwa Rakha · Middle East & North Africa

Dr. Nasr Hamed Abu Zeid, a prominent Egyptian scholar once accused of apostasy for his contemporary interpretation of Islam, has died on July 5, 2010. He was 66. Officials at the Cairo hospital where Abu Zeid had been receiving treatment for the past two weeks said he died Monday from a brain infection. Liberal Egyptian bloggers mourn his death.

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Egypt: Niqab ban in France stirs controversy

Written by Marwa Rakha · Middle East & North Africa

The lower house of the Spanish Parliament is debating a proposal to prohibit the wearing of body-covering burqas and face-covering niqabs in all public spaces in Spain, and the French parliament just approved a ban on niqabs (face veils). Bloggers from across the Middle East react.

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Kyrgyzstan: Divergent discourses suggest more is yet to come

Written by Chris Rickleton · Kyrgyzstan

“Forgive one another, we’re all guilty”, begs a sticker and poster campaign doing the rounds in Kyrgyzstan following recent tragic events in the south which have claimed over 1,000 lives. The campaign's website, which seeks grounds for a common approach to the problem, has been largely eschewed by local internet users in favour of partisan efforts such as Osh Reality.

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India: Fair, Lovely and Facebooked

Written by Neha Viswanathan · South Asia

A new Facebook app has been creating some controversy in India. The app lets users lighten the skin colour on their profile pictures. Bloggers discuss the complexity of the issue especially the fact that the app is targeting men instead of women.

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Updates from 23 July 2010

Pakistan

Mohammad Yusha at Chowrangi talks about a new menace in Pakistan - girls are being harassed on cell phones and an website listed cellphone numbers of some girls to aid that.

• Rezwan

India

Rinaya, one of the winners of the “Indian Media – Misusing its freedom?” blog contest comments in her winning post: “The media needs to be self-regulatory & humanitarian in its approach to the way it treats news. Only then the concept of Free Press can be realized.”

• Rezwan

Sri Lanka

Perambara reports that Sri Lankan star cricketer Muttiah Muralitharan became a trending topic in Twitter as Sri Lankan tweeps began congratulating the feat of claiming his 800th wicket in Test cricket on his retirement day.

• Rezwan

Haiti

For foreign journalists wondering how to write about Haiti, Mediahacker has written a “handy guide”.

• Janine Mendes-Franco

Lebanon

Lebanon News: Under Rug Swept periodically awards the “Looks Like Beirut” Award “in recognition of the work done to keep the overused, worn-out, tired cliché “…looks like Beirut…” alive. It is awarded to Hull and East Riding here, a Weymouth resident here, and a resident of Strabane here.

• Katharine Ganly

Trinidad & Tobago

Artzpub. posts photos from an “over-sexy” street fashion show in Trinidad — part of the 2010 Erotic Art Week programme in Port of Spain — which was interrupted by the arrival of the police.

• Nicholas Laughlin

Haiti

Repeating Islands links to information about a recent World Heritage Centre mission to Haiti, aimed at helping conserve the country’s built heritage in the aftermath of the January 2010 earthquake.

• Nicholas Laughlin

Jamaica

Annie Paul reports on “Dancehall Night” at the 2010 Reggae Sumfest, which featured an appearance by the recently imprisoned performer Vybz Kartel, who “dressed as a prisoner complete with handcuffs which had to be unlocked before he could perform, a literal reference to his arrest and two-week detention by security forces.”

• Nicholas Laughlin