Global Voices · Citizen media stories from 2010 October 15

15 October 2010

Daily archive · 9 posts

Stories from 15 October 2010

Japan: Memories of an outlaw - Part Two

After almost three years outside the walls, a blogger - who prefers to be anonymous - decided to tell the story of his life behind bars.

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Jordanians Tweet about Election Campaigning

Written by Betsy Fisher · Middle East & North Africa

Jordanian parliamentary candidates are now allowed to post campaign materials for the November 9 elections. Posters now cover main roads, and the topic of these campaign materials has been hotly discussed among Jordanian Twitter users. Almost unanimously, these tweets express disgust with the posters.

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Mexico: The Lerma River is Dying

Written by Andrea Arzaba · Latin America

The Lerma Santiago River is Mexico’s second longest river. It used to be a source of drinking water for the capital and the central part of the country, but today the river is infected by a considerable number pollutants.

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Video: How to keep water clean and use it wisely

Written by Juliana Rincón Parra · East Asia, Western Europe

From tips on reusing gray water or minimizing wasted water when we flush the toilet, to kids in the Valle del Colca in Peru explaining the importance of keeping community water sources clean. Join us on Blog Action Day as we tour the world with World Conservation Videos

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Iran: President Ahamdinejad's trip to Lebanon

Written by Fred Petrossian · Middle East & North Africa

Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has just concluded a two-day visit to Lebanon. It was his first official since 2005 when he first took office. He held talks with Lebanese officials and visited strongholds of Iran's ally Hezbollah. He received a hero's welcome. Several Iranian bloggers reacted to this trip.

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Greece: Teargas under the Acropolis

Written by Asteris Masouras · Western Europe

The financial crisis gripping Greece has led to new clashes between protesting workers and police, most recently at the foot of the Acropolis of Athens on October 13 when riot police teargassed contract employees of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, who were protesting against unpaid wages and demanding permanent contracts.

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Iran: Daily Photos of Art and Persian History

Written by Fred Petrossian · Middle East & North Africa

Iranian citizen media does not only talk about politics and protest, but also life, art and history. Vahid Rahmanian is a creative photo blogger who publishes photos of art and historic places in Iran.

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Mario Vargas Llosa and His Relationship with Peru

Written by Juan Arellano · Translated by Melissa Mann · Latin America

The sometimes conflictive relationship between Mario Vargas Llosa and Peru is key to understanding the body of his literary work. After the news that the author received the Nobel Prize for Literature, some Peruvian writers and literary enthusiasts have written a few lines that try to demonstrate what Vargas Llosa means to them and to the country.

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South Africa: How Do You Fairly Select Best Bloggers?

Written by Ndesanjo Macha · Sub-Saharan Africa

The winners of South Africa Blog Awards 2010 were announced on 25 September 2010 at the annual awards ceremony at the One & Only hotel, Cape Town. Some South African bloggers think that the process used to select best bloggers is not fair. Here is a roundup of their criticisms and suggestions.

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Updates from 15 October 2010

Japan

On Blog Action Day Masato Fukushima reflects [ja] on the concept of Virtual Water [ja]. Japan has a very low food self-sufficiency ratio and rely on imports, he explains, adding that imported food is cultivated and processed using the water of other countries and that Japanese should keep it in mind.

• Scilla Alecci

El Salvador

For Blog Action Day, Linda writes: “Usually, no hay agua [meaning, “there is no water”] is a temporary condition, and the water returns. Yet as more and more demands are placed on our water systems, and less and less care is taken to preserve and recycle water well, no hay agua, will not be the announcement of a nuisance, but the call of desperation.”

• Silvia Viñas

Venezuela

University students protested budget cuts in Caracas on October 14. Alejandro Tarrae reports on his blog [es] that he saw hundreds of Police and National Guard troops; he realized why so many security forces where in place when he later saw the multitude of students and professors protesting on the streets.

• Silvia Viñas

Bolivia

Pablo Rivero blogs at Purple Fire [es] for Blog Action Day: “Bolivia is a country with great nature reserves, among them, fresh water. However, in the last years, the effects of climate change have left notorious and dramatic footprints.” He provides various links for more information, including a blog dedicated to water in Bolivia: Agua en Bolivia [es]

• Silvia Viñas

Honduras

Laurie says that statistics on water conditions are “too big to grasp! But here in the elbow of Central America, I get it. Water, or the lack of clean water, kills people. They get diarrhea, cholera or hepatitis. They lose their kids. Their hope. They stay in poverty.” Laurie knows people involved on water projects and tells her readers to email her for contacts.

• Silvia Viñas

Brazil

Comunica Geral [pt] reports that a Unisys-led study has shown Brazilians beat the rest of the world in social networking. 19% of Brazilians said they access social networking websites at least once a day for work-related reasons, compared to 3% of Americans, 7% of Europeans and 5% of respondents from Australia and New Zealand. 20% use Twitter for business and personal means, while in the US, Europe and Australasia this figure is just 3%.

• Marta Cooper

Brazil

The 2010 Information Economy Report from the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has revealed Brazil has one of the most expensive mobile data packages [pt] among developing countries, at around US $120 for 2.1 megabytes of data per month, according to Rede Brasil Atual [pt]. The report also found that digital technology and mobile-related micro-enterprises - from selling top-up cards on the streets to refurbishing mobile phones - are becoming a crucial tool for reducing global poverty.

• Marta Cooper

Brazil

Conceição Lemes at Vi O Mundo [pt] has posted a lengthy interview with web researcher NaMaria News [pt], in which it has been claimed that some of Brazil's major media groups have received substantial funding from São Paulo state's Education Department and the country's Education Development Foundation.

• Marta Cooper

Bermuda

“The real problem is us: we drive like idiots”: As the government tries to find ways to “slow down traffic” in the face of rising road deaths, Vexed Bermoothes thinks that “there is much that can be done”, but warns that “‘technical measures' alone will not solve the problem.”

• Janine Mendes-Franco

Jamaica

“I wondered what kind of frustration would cause an upset mother to unleash such unbridled anger on her child … and if the child did not cry because he had become accustomed to it”: Ruthibelle witnesses a phenomenon that is becoming all too prevalent in the Caribbean.

• Janine Mendes-Franco