Global Voices · Citizen media stories from 2010 August 24

24 August 2010

Daily archive · 8 posts

Stories from 24 August 2010

Lebanon: Giving Palestinian Refugees the Right to Work

Written by Jillian C. York · Middle East & North Africa

Lebanon is home to over 400,000 Palestinian refugees, who are not allowed to own property, cannot access the health care system, and need a special permit to leave their refugee camps. On August 17, the Lebanese parliament passed a law granting Palestinian refugees the same employment rights as other foreigners. Bloggers and tweeps react to this development.

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Russia: LiveJournal Communities as a Transparency Tool

Written by Alexey Sidorenko · Eastern & Central Europe

Alexey Sidorenko explores how LiveJournal communities are being used to promote transparency and accountability in Russia.

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Pakistan: Netizens In Action Helping Flood Victims

Written by Rezwan · South Asia

The floods in Pakistan have so far claimed more than 1600 lives and affected about 20 million people who are in dire need of relief and aid. Pakistani young netizens are traveling across Pakistan to distribute relief and they are making their actions visible though live blogs, Twitter, images and videos.

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Noam Chomsky in China

Written by Andy Yee · East Asia, North America

On 13 August, Noam Chomsky delivered a speech at the Peking University in Beijing. Chomsky, one of the leading public intellectuals of our age, is famous for his political activism...

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Mexico: Miss Universe 2010 Gets All the Attention on Twitter

Written by Andrea Arzaba · Latin America

Miss Mexico 2010, Jimena Navarrete, won this year's Miss Universe contest. Mexican Twitter users expressed enthusiasm for Navarrete's victory; however, some criticized the amount of attention the event was getting compared to other, more important issues. Navarrete also tweeted, thanking everyone for their support.

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Taiwan: Let’s go poking around under the rock of ECFA

Written by I-fan Lin · East Asia

The Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) between Taiwan and China was signed. The process seems smooth and efficient at the surface, but the story is not simple. Many Taiwanese have poked around under the rock of ECFA and ask their government why.

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Philippines: Hostage drama ends in violence

Written by Mong Palatino · East Asia

An ex-policeman hijacked a tourist bus in Manila, Philippines which led to the death of 9 tourists from Hong Kong. Filipino netizens are angry, sad, and disappointed. Here are some online comments.

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Tunisia: Doctored Photographs Symptomatic of the State of The National Press

Written by Lova Rakotomalala · Middle East & North Africa

The use of national media as an instrument of propaganda has been fairly well documented in Tunisia. The latest evidence of media manipulation was identified by Tunisian bloggers on August 20 when newspapers le Temps and Assabah illustrated on the sending of food supply by fundation Zitouna to the victims of the floods in Pakistan.

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Updates from 24 August 2010

Chile

Today, the Regional Environmental Commission of Coquimbo (in Spanish, Comisión Regional del Medio Ambiente de Coquimbo) approved a project to build a thermoelectric power plant in Marine reserve Punta de Choros. Pablo Astudillo writes in his blog, Astu's Science Blog, about the project and its environmental implications; he also posts a video (with English subtitles) created by a citizen campaign [es] to raise awareness on the issue. Blogs de la República [es] and La Libélula [es] quote President Sebastián Piñera's promise to, “oppose all thermoelectric plants that seriously undermine nature, communities and quality of life.”

• Silvia Viñas

Pakistan

Wajahat Ali at GoatMilk started a debate whether “Muslim women should be able to marry non-Muslim men” and the post drew a lot of comments.

• Rezwan

India

Reacting on the recent increase in salary of the lawmakers in India, Being Cynical at Desicritics debates whether or not politicians deserve pay hikes.

• Rezwan

Puerto Rico (U.S.)

“Legalization has not been enough for poor women who, despite the formal right they have, don't have the means or the access to the clinics to carry out procedures in a safe and risk-free way,” writes [es] Érika Fontánez, as she comments on a recent screening of a documentary about abortion in Puerto Rico called, “La legalidad no es suficiente” (Legalization is Not Enough).

• Silvia Viñas

India

Maddy writes about the Onathallu or Kayyankali festival which is celebrated by the Nairs of Pallassana Desham in the Chittur Thaluk in Palakkad district, in the southernmost state of Kerala, India.

• Rezwan

Bermuda

“Our community is more divided- and ANGRY – than in decades…Our economy is a mess…”: Vexed Bermoothes thinks that “no spin can override these facts. In my opinion, Dr. Brown is a failed leader whose tenure has been a disaster for Bermuda.”

• Janine Mendes-Franco

Jamaica

Eighteen years after Hurricane Andrew wreaked havoc on Florida, diaspora blogger Geoffrey Philp posts a poem he wrote about the experience.

• Janine Mendes-Franco

Cuba

Uncommon Sense and Blog for Cuba report on the arrest of blogger Luis Felipe Rojas Rosabal, with the former saying that the authorities are “especially persistent with its repression towards the more accomplished chroniclers of the reality of life in Cuba today.”

• Janine Mendes-Franco