Global Voices · Citizen media stories from 2010 September 08

8 September 2010

Daily archive · 8 posts

Stories from 8 September 2010

Getting to Know the Global Voices Latin America Team

The Global Voices Latin America team of volunteer authors has grown over the past three years. During this transition and the presentation of a new Regional Editor, Silvia Viñas, let's take a look at the diverse community of committed bloggers from this region.

· 15

· read »

China: Afterthoughts following the New Zealand earthquake

Written by John Kennedy · East Asia

News of the lack of direct casualties and minimal damage done in New Zealand's earthquake this past week has provoked widespread discussion over how far China has come since the devastating earthquake in Sichuan province more than two years ago.

· read »

Brazil: A guide to tech for transparency projects in the 2010 elections

Written by Manuella Ribeiro · Latin America

Brazil is awash in online technology for transparency and accountability projects in the run-up to its October 2010 presidential elections. Manuella Ribeiro gives us a tour through some of the best.

· 7

· read »

Colombia: Hiperbarrio Bloggers on Violence in Medellín

Written by Lully Posada · Latin America

Violence, murder, theft and crime are a constant in Medellín and its metropolitan area; issues all people must learn to live with and a social phenomenon that has grown in the last year. Bloggers from Rising Voices project Hiperbarrio expressed their feelings and different viewpoints on the matter in personal and group blogs.

· 2

· read »

Brazil: “Do It Yourself” Clean Elections

Written by Janet Gunter · Latin America

In less than one month there will be elections in Brazil and Eleitor 2010 has already became a game-changer: it is a "crowdsourcing" project aiming to facilitate citizen reports of abuses of the electoral process. Through the platform, some entertaining anecdotes have already come to light.

· 1

· read »

Russia: Bloggers Clash With the Ruling Party

Written by Gregory Asmolov · Eastern & Central Europe

The Russian Internet community's response to the wildfires was accompanied with a high level of hostility and direct clashes between netizens and pro-government activists. Gregory Asmolov analyzes the conflict and suggests a strong linkage between the degree of online cooperation and the way online sources presented the role of the government in the wildfires disaster.

· 3

· read »

Macedonia: Bronze Lions, Accountability & Transparency

Written by Filip Stojanovski · Eastern & Central Europe, Western Europe

The new statues of four bronze lions on a Skopje bridge attracted the attention of the Macedonian public by the end of August. The initial arrogant refusal of accountability by their creators overshadowed the questionable artistic achievement related to these publicly funded felines.

· 5

· read »

Blog Carnival: Venezuela, Freedom of Expression on the Internet - A Summary

Written by Juan Arellano · Translated by Silvia Viñas · Latin America

After reading the participating posts for the Blog Carnival: Venezuela, Freedom of Expression on the Internet, it is clear that while within the scope of traditional media there might be attempts to curtail freedom of expression, on the Internet the picture is very different. Read what Venezuelan bloggers had to say on this issue.

· 2

· read »

Updates from 8 September 2010

Japan

Jamaipanese reports [en] that next year will be released in Brazil the new film by Brazilian filmmaker Vicente Amorim titled Coracoes Sujos (Dirty Hearts).
The movie is about an underreported conflict that divided the Japanese immigrants in Brazil [en] following Japan’s World War II defeat.
The trailer of the movie (in Portuguese) is embedded in the post.

• Scilla Alecci

Sri Lanka

Vositha comments that today (September 8, 2010) is a day to remember for the Sri Lankans as it is “the end of Sri Lanka as we know it and a new beginning”. Learn why.

• Rezwan

Pakistan

Pakistan has something to cheer about after a long spell of tragedies. Hina Safdar at Chowrangi reports that Aisam ul Haq Qureshi has become the first Pakistani ever to qualify for the Finals of US Open tennis tournament.

• Rezwan

Nepal

Nepal has its version of fathers' day which is called Gokarna Aunsi. Pradeep Kumar Singh explains the tradition and the mythology behind this day.

• Rezwan

Kenya

Koroga is an Africa story involving poets and photogpraphers: “At the heart of Koroga is a deep desire to understand how art shapes our social imaginations. Poets have responded to a range of images that capture the density and play of contemporary living, the beauties and tragedies that surround us.”

• Ndesanjo Macha

Comoros

Eccentric Yoruba discusses African merchants in ancient China: “In my previous post I mentioned that I had read somewhere that two slaves given as gifts to the a Chinese Emperor by an Arab delegation were the first Africans to enter ancient China.”

• Ndesanjo Macha

South Africa

Prisha blogs about South Africa's public sector strike: “It is a well known fact that South Africa has a strike season. That’s right, you heard me: a strike “season” -just as we have winter, spring, summer and autumn – so too, do we have the public sector strike! The last five years of this debacle has seen government almost doubling its spend on public sector wages.”

• Ndesanjo Macha

Malawi

Steve Sharra's analysis of literacy in the context of Malawi”: “Obviously a basic meaning of “literacy” starts out as learning how to read and write, and in Malawian discourse, the type of literacy most commonly heard on the street and across the airwaves is “Adult Literacy”…”

• Ndesanjo Macha

Zimbabwe

What makes a hero in Zimbabwe?: “In Zimbabwe, it would seem that the definition of heroism is controlled by Zanu PF alone. Hero designation has always been in the hands of the ZANU-PF Politburo, though non-Zanu PF parties have recently demanded that the designation process be made more inclusive to reflect the multi-party political reality.”

• Ndesanjo Macha