Global Voices · Citizen media stories from 2010 August 08

8 August 2010

Daily archive · 5 posts

Stories from 8 August 2010

Iran: Political prisoners on hunger strike

Written by Fred Petrossian · Middle East & North Africa

Seventeen political prisoners began a hunger strike at the end of July to protest deteriorating conditions at Tehran's notorious Evin Prison. Iran has arrested hundreds of journalists, human rights activists, and politicians after the protest movement emerged against the results of the June 12 presidential election in 2009.

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Venezuela: Blog Carnival and Freedom of Online Expression

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

Global Voices is sponsoring a Blog Festival and invites Venezuelan bloggers to write about the topic "freedom of expression on the internet." This post provides all of the details on how to participate.

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China: Visa tales

Written by John Kennedy · East Asia, North America

With all the economic growth in China over the past few decades and a growing number of global travelers to match, have visa requirements for Chinese citizens been adapting in step? Well-heeled journalist Chen Zikun shares his experiences, see if or how any of them compare to yours.

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The Great Floods of Singapore

Written by Mong Palatino · East Asia

A series of freak floods hit Singapore in the past month which is unprecedented for a city state widely recognized as an urban paradise. Residents are angry and they want answers for the apparent lack of government preparation and response during the flooding disaster. Bloggers share their reactions

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Egypt: Obssessed with Celebrities' Religion

Written by Tarek Amr · Middle East & North Africa

In Egypt, some people decide to like or hate celebrities based on their religion. Lebanese actress Nour, Egyptian actress Basma, radio host Osama Mounir, and many others have all been subjected to this scrutiny. Why are people so obsessed with the beliefs of celebrities?

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Updates from 8 August 2010

Iran

Kouhyar Goodarzi, human rights activist and blogger, is one of 17 Iranian political prisoners who started their hunger strike at the end of July to protest against the poor prison conditions, the behaviour of prison officials, and the ban on visits.

• Fred Petrossian

Pakistan

Teeth Maestro mentions yesterday's incident of shoe throwing on Pakistan president Asif Ali Zardari in Birmingham as “one of the most happiest moments in Pakistan's history”.

• Rezwan

Venezuela

Mitchele Vidal of the blog Imágenes Urbanas [es] has pictures of a group of teenagers practicing Parkour around a Metro station of Caracas, Venezuela. She asked them if the police ever told them to stop, and they said “this is a public place and we are practicing a sport.”

• Eduardo Avila

Paraguay

The Paraguayan digital magazine E'a [es] is providing regular updates for people planning on attending the Americas Social Forum that will be held in Asunción from August 11-15. Updates include requirements for entry to the country and the planned program for the event.

• Eduardo Avila

Taiwan (ROC)

In the video report created by Civilmedia[zht], more than 600 Taiwan indigenous people from different tribes and supporters gathered in front of the Presidential Office and criticize the forced eviction, ignorance on tribal integrity, and vacuum promises from government after Typhoon Morakot that hit southern Taiwan one year ago.

• Portnoy Zheng

Russia

Ivan Alexeev (aka Noize MC ), a Volgograd-based rapper famous for its politically charged songs [EN], had been detained for 10 days after a concert where he sang an anti-police song. Blogger Norlink published [RUS] a petition for his defense that had been signed by the Russian rock-musicians.

• Alexey Sidorenko

Afghanistan

Nick Fielding reviews new report by the U.S. State Department on Afghanistan, noting that Taliban attacks increased over 2008 amid diminished direct influence of al-Qaeda, whilst the anti-government insurgency remained a capable, determined, and resilient threat to stability.

• Adil Nurmakov

Kyrgyzstan

Murzaki makes a photo-post about a rally in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan, where hundreds of people went on to the street with the demand to to make Mr. Barktabasov, a mysterious tycoon with big ambitions for power, the Prime Minister. Some protesters were armed. The rally was dispersed, Barktabasov arrested.

• Adil Nurmakov