Global Voices · Citizen media stories from August 2010

August, 2010

Monthly archive · 175 posts

Stories from August, 2010

25 August 2010

China: Fujian Netizen, Fan Yanqiong, Released from Prison

The last of the Fujian 3 netizens still in prison, Fan Yanqiong, was quietly released today on medical parole with nearly a year remaining on her sentence. Watch He Yang's new documentary on her story, as well as that of netizens You Jingyou and Wu Huaying, below the jump.

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Taiwan: Who Needs A Founding Father?

Written by Portnoy Zheng · East Asia

Does Dr. Sun Yat-sen deserve the title of “the Founding Father of Republic of China (R.O.C)”? Is he really a flawless idealistic political leader and the hero behind the revolution that overthrew Qing Dynasty? The myth around Dr. Sun has been under scrutiny in Taiwan where people largely do not identify themselves as “Chinese” anymore.

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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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Updates from August, 2010

29 August 2010

Saudi Arabia

Arabic Literature (In English) reports that the “new literary and cultural site from Palestinian-Israeli author Ala Hlehel and journalist and culture critic Anton Shalhat, Qadita, is apparently blocked in the UAE and Saudia Arabia.”

• Amira Al Hussaini

Turkmenistan

Turkmenistan is a society so veiled in shadows that one wonders whether its own leaders believe in the government’s propaganda. For this reason, the country desperately needs a service like WikiLeaks to help expose the truth, argues neweurasia’s Annasoltan.

• Adil Nurmakov

Kazakhstan

Megakhuimyak analyzes statistics and comes to a conclusion that Kazakhstan does not have strategic trade or investment interests in Central Asia, while the region itself turns out to be a source of risk and problems for Kazakhstan.

• Adil Nurmakov

Kazakhstan

KZBlog writes about the disturbing news from Kazakhstan’s prisons, where - more and more frequently - inmates mutilate themselves or stage riots, claiming that they are routinely beaten and tortured.

• Adil Nurmakov

Kyrgyzstan

Nathan Hamm reports that Melis Myrzakmatov, the mayor of Osh, the largest city in the south of Kyrgyzstan, and a thorn in the side of the new government since it came to power, has fended off an attempt to remove him.

• Adil Nurmakov

Afghanistan

Joshua Foust provides an update on the upcoming parliamentary election in Afghanistan, specifying numerous worrying instances of violations and abuses of state resource by candidates, campaign staff, and government employees.

• Adil Nurmakov

Afghanistan

Joel Hafvenstein writes about the British “Food Zone” program, which was considered to be a better effort comparing to other counternarcotics activties in Afghanistan. But “when examined closely, there’s no reason to think the Food Zone program was effective', he says.

• Adil Nurmakov