Global Voices · Citizen media stories from 2011 January 09

9 January 2011

Daily archive · 10 posts

Stories from 9 January 2011

Tunisia: “Please tell the world Kasserine is dying!”

Written by Amira Al Hussaini · Middle East & North Africa

Tunisian netizens are working around the clock to show the rest of the world the ongoing carnage in their country. What started as a protest against unemployment when a 26-year-old Tunisian man set himself on fire in Sidi Bouzid last month has ignited the country, sparking a wave of protests across it. Following are some reactions from earlier today.

· 4

· read »

Sudan: Southern Sudan Independence Referendum on Twitter

Written by Ndesanjo Macha · Sub-Saharan Africa

Voters in Southern Sudan went to the polls today to decide whether to separate or remain part of Sudan. This is a roundup of tweets related to the referendum. You can follow live tweets using the hashtag #SudanRef.

· 1

· read »

Filipino Netizens Debate Proposed Broadband Caps

Written by Julius Rocas · East Asia

The provision in a draft memorandum by the Philippine National Telecommunications Commission allowing Internet Service Providers to set a maximum volume of data a subscriber can consume in a day has sparked debate and on-line movements among Filipino internet users.

· 2

· read »

Floods Continue to Devastate Australia

Written by Kevin Rennie · Oceania

Devastating floods on both the East and West coasts of Australia have caused a war of words over water as well as some high quality online crowdsourcing by our national broadcaster. There has been a series of online spaces to share flood experiences.

· 9

· read »

Japan: New Landmark “Tokyo Sky Tree” is Growing

Written by Ayako Yokota · East Asia

The year 2011 in Tokyo started with a sunny blue sky, and it was the perfect day to mark the beginning of a fresh new year. Japanese people have customs...

· 1

· read »

Arab World: Tears Spilled on the Break Up of Sudan

Written by Amira Al Hussaini · Middle East & North Africa

South Sudan's independence referendum and the likelihood of its separation today has hit a raw nerve with some Arab netizens. Many worry this could be the first step towards carving up the Middle East. Here's a snapshot of their reactions on microblogging site, Twitter.

· 7

· read »

Christmas in Armenia and Georgia… and on Twitter

Written by Onnik Krikorian · Central Asia & Caucasus

While Christmas was observed in the West on 25 December, other countries instead celebrated it earlier this week. In Armenia, however, it even became a trending topic on Twitter .

· 2

· read »

Arab World: “Stop Crying Over Sudan”

Written by Amira Al Hussaini · Middle East & North Africa, North America

Today's independence referendum in Sudan has put the country on the radar in the Arabic twitterosphere. From Saudi Arabia to Palestine, Arab tweeps are discussing Sudan's unity, division and resources.

· 2

· read »

Egypt: An Open Letter to Egyptian Christians

Written by Mohamed ElGohary · Middle East & North Africa

Egyptian blogger Sherif, also known as Ibn AbdelAziz, offers his condolences (Ar) to Christian Egyptians, after the deadly Alexandria church explosion on New Year's eve in this post Mohamed ElGohary translates from Arabic.

· 4

· read »

Brazil: Feminazis and the reaction of the Blogsphere

Written by Raphael Tsavkko Garcia · Translated by Raphael Tsavkko Garcia · Latin America

A controversy erupted in the blogsphere as well as on Twitter, about the term "Feminazi" - the entire discussion began after Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks leader, was arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting two women in Sweden.

· 1

· read »

Updates from 9 January 2011

Puerto Rico (U.S.)

Poder, Espacio y Ambiente [es] informs about the initiative “Universidad sin paredes” (University without Walls), that aims to offer classes outside the physical space of the University of Puerto Rico, where students are on strike.

• Firuzeh Shokooh Valle

Puerto Rico (U.S.)

The tech blog Qiibo has posted the audio of the interview [es] journalist Jonathan Lebrón Ayala did with various bloggers in Puerto Rico for the mainstream radio station WKAQ/Univisión.

• Firuzeh Shokooh Valle

Ghana

An African Election is a documentary based on the 2008 presidential elections in Ghana that looks behind-the-scenes at the complex, political machinery of a third world democracy struggling to legitimize itself to its first world contemporaries.

• Ndesanjo Macha

Japan

Ryuichi Sakamoto, one of Japan's most respected musicians, is experimenting with new ways for fans to enjoy his music with skmtSocialproject. His piano concert held in Seoul today was broadcast on Ustream and 410 venues around the world voluntarily held ‘live viewing' events. Other big name artists to have used simulcasting are Ayumi Hamasaki and Hikaru Utada.

• Tomomi Sasaki

Sudan

You can now live reports of Southern Sudan Referendum 2011 from Sudan Vote Monitor.

• Ndesanjo Macha

Cote d'Ivoire

Nana argues that military option should be last in Cote d'Ivoire: “I thought that both Ouatarra and Gbagbo may have cheated in the November 28 election. My qualms was why France, the USA and the IMF were at only Gbagbo's neck; even to the point that a sitting president of one country (France) had the audacity to instruct another president to leave office.”

• Ndesanjo Macha