Global Voices · Citizen media stories from July 2010

July, 2010

Monthly archive · 197 posts

Stories from July, 2010

5 July 2010

Costa Rica: Congress Approves US Military Presence to Battle Drug Trafficking

Written by Jenny Cascante Gonzalez · Latin America

Under the premise of counteracting drug trafficking, the Costa Rican government has endorsed the arrival of a North American fleet to its shores. Costa Ricans turned to blogging and social networks to express their opinions on the matter; for now, most users seem to reject the measure, but those that are in favor of it are also making sure their voice is heard.

· 14

· read »

Palestine: Surviving with Portable Generators in Gaza

Written by Ayesha Saldanha · Middle East & North Africa

The only power plant in Gaza shut down temporarily on June 25 due to a payment dispute between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority. During power cuts of 12 or more hours a day, the residents of Gaza now depend even more on portable diesel generators that carry a significant health and safety risk.

· 5

· read »

Arab World: Remembering Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah

Written by Amira Al Hussaini · Middle East & North Africa

Lebanon's Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, a leading Shiite figure, has died at the age of 75 yesterday. The religious leader, with a huge following, was remembered by bloggers from across the region.

· 4

· read »

Global Voices Announces Investment from Omidyar Network

Written by Ethan Zuckerman · North America

I'm thrilled to announce that the Omidyar Network has made a $1.2 million investment in Global Voices's work. Omidyar is a philanthropic foundation created by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar and...

· read »

South Korea: Keyboard Warriors Against Young Women

Written by Lee Yoo Eun · East Asia

Young women are struck down by harsh internet vigilantes in the South Korean internet space. Reasonable voices online, who analyze this phenomenon, say it is caused by the growing social power of women, while men are suffering under heaps of social and economic pressure.

· 4

· read »

Brunei: Royal divorce sparks online buzz

Written by Mong Palatino · East Asia

Last month, the Sultan of Brunei announced his divorce to his third wife who is from Malaysia. Following the announcement, twitter and blogs in both Brunei and Malaysia went buzzing with the news. Many expressed their sadness while others speculated on the reasons behind the divorce

· read »

Updates from July, 2010

23 July 2010

China

Kaiser Kuo, Will Moss and Jeremy Goldkorn comment on the Chinese blog scene at Sinica podcast.

• Oiwan Lam

China

After 12 employees' jump of buildings and one more jump in Chimei Innolux Corporation-a subsidiary company of Foxconn-on July 20, Chairman Terry (Tai-Ming) Gou was criticized by Taiwanese scholars as “the shame of Taiwan”, so he threatens to halt all investment in Taiwan. Blogger and book writer Kue-hsien Liao argues that Taiwan does not really need to beg Terry Kuo to stay[zht] and it is time for Taiwanese to think if it is worthy to sacrifice lives and environment just for money.

• Portnoy Zheng

China

Joel Martinsen from DANWEI translated an article from the Beijing News on professional mourners who perform in funerals in Chongqing and Chengdu.

• Oiwan Lam

Brazil

Lou Gold reacts to Andrew Revkin's post at the NY Times blog DotEarth on the future of the Amazon: “Can we really keep marketing the land, its products and services? Can the market really be the final arbiter? What are its limits? Perhaps only catastrophe can show them to us? Perhaps Nature's justice will be the teacher?”

• Paula Góes

Russia

From 20 to 40 young people in white masks attacked the camp of the defenders of the Khimki forest park [RUS], Igor Podgorny [RUS] and Novaya Gazeta [RUS] reported. The police intervention didn't help – instead several environmentalists and journalists were detained.

• Alexey Sidorenko

Russia

“Antireligion” group in the social network “Vkontakte“, with more than 8000 members, had been closed and its content deleted, ru_antireligion reports [RUS]. Prosecutor's office, that was checking the group for extremism [RUS], recognized photos of t-shirts with slogans “Orthodoxy or Death” [EN] as “extremist” and obliged administration of “Vkontakte” to close the group.