Global Voices · Citizen media stories from April 2011

April, 2011

Monthly archive · 183 posts

Stories from April, 2011

30 April 2011

India: Kerala’s Debate On Endosulfan

As the debate on the pesticide EndoSulfan is gaining momentum in the Stockholm Convention in Geneva; Kerala, the southern state of India is up in arms online and on the streets for pressurizing the Indian Government to favor the ban.

· 1

· read »

Canada: Indigenous Teens Share their Values on Video Contest

Written by Juliana Rincón Parra · North America

Indigenous teens in four different Canadian communities share their hopes, stories and dreams in a series of short videos in "My Space. My Story" where they speak about things that matter to them as indigenous youth.

· 1

· read »

29 April 2011

Serbia: Bloggers Discuss Plans to Erect Monument to Late Azeri President

Written by Viktor Markovic · Eastern & Central Europe, Central Asia & Caucasus

One of Belgrade's nicest parks has recently got renovated - thanks, partially, to a donation of 2 million euros by the Azerbaijani government. The news that has been stirring controversy these past few weeks among Serbian bloggers is the condition for this gift: in return for the donation, a monument to Heydar Aliyev, the former president of Azerbaijan, will have to be erected in the park.

· read »

Zambia: President's Son Threatens Journalist

Written by Gershom Ndhlovu · Sub-Saharan Africa

A senior Zambia journalist recently received threats from the son of the Zambian president Rupiah Banda, James, following a story that appeared on the Zambian Watchdog, a leading investigative journalism website, alleging that James was a thief and was involved in major government deals and also State House officials are drunks and start drinking as early as 15.00 hours during working days.

· read »

28 April 2011

Greece: Protesting football fans rampage in Thessaloniki

Written by Asteris Masouras · Western Europe

In an unexpected flareup up of football violence, fans of two local football clubs, Iraklis and PAOK, clashed in the center of Thessaloniki, Greece on April 26, 2011. They attacked storefronts, apartments buildings and parked vehicles, while riot police flooded the downtown area with tear gas.

· read »

Peru: Second Electoral Round Kicks Off

Written by Isabel Guerra · Translated by Louella Mahabir · Latin America

A few weeks before the second round of elections in Peru, the choice between candidates Ollanta Humala and Keiko Fujimori, the growing polarisation in Peruvian society, and ultimately from the electorate, is as notable in the press as it is on social networks.

· 3

· read »

Iran: Islamist bloggers divided over Ahmadinejad-Khamenei rift

Written by Fred Petrossian · Middle East & North Africa

It appears from Iranian Islamist blogs that the honeymoon between Iran's president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the Islamic Republic's Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is finally over. Some reject Ahmadinejad is favor of the Supreme Leader while others show unwavering support for Ahmadinejad.

· 4

· read »

Brazil: School Bullying and the Realengo Massacre

Written by Saulo Valley · Translated by Nicola Gardner · Latin America

On 7 April 2011, twelve adolescents at the Tasso da Silveira City School in the west of Rio de Janeiro were shot dead. The culprit was ex-pupil, Wellington Menezes de Oliveira, 23, who then turned the gun on himself. The growing speculation about the killer’s profile, in both the blogosphere and traditional media, raised the issue of bullying in Brazilian society.

· read »

Rwanda: Ask Rwandan President Questions on YouTube

Written by Ndesanjo Macha · Sub-Saharan Africa

On May 5, 2011 President Paul Kagame of Rwanda will be the first African leader to be interviewed on YouTube World View. World View is a series of monthly interviews with the world's foremost leaders, where you ask the questions.

· 2

· read »

Iraq: Is Saddam Still Alive?

Written by Amira Al Hussaini · Middle East & North Africa

Saddam Hussein is making the rounds on social media, with a new recording claiming that the Iraqi dictator is alive and well and that his double Mikhail was the one executed on December 30, 2006. Many netizens are quick to describe the video as phoney and assure readers that Saddam is dead and gone. Had he been alive, the former Iraqi dictator would have turned 74 today.

· 5

· read »

Updates from April, 2011

30 April 2011

Brunei

During the launching of the Health Promotion campaign in Brunei, a walkathon was organized which was participated by 6,000 people.

• Mong Palatino

East Timor

EngageMedia uploads a video which features the tourism potential of Dili, East Timor and the problems of the tourism sector in the country.

• Mong Palatino

English

While the event itself initially seemed to have passed without comment [it] by traditional media and bloggers in Italy, something is finally happening [it] to call for the release of the Chinese artist, Ai Weiwei [it], who has been presumed imprisoned by the Chinese authorities since April 3. The Pulitzer Association has issued an appeal [it] to both the Italian president, Napolitano, and the Chinese premier Hu Jintao, the text of which is circulating online [it]. For its part, the Associazione Italia-Tibet relaunched the petition for the release of Ai Weiwei [it] supported by the Guggenheim Foundation. And while the accusation that Chinese authorities have violated human rights does not appear to be unfounded [it], the China Media Project has translated a video where noted Chinese activist Zhao Lianhai, calls for the release of Ai Weiwei and of other dissidents arrested in recent months.

• Giorgio Guzzetta

Argentina

Argentine writer Ernesto Sabato passed away on April 30 at age 99. Buenos Aires Herald describes him as “one of the most influential writers in Argentine literature and author of the trilogy of novels, ‘The Tunnel' (1948), ‘Of Heroes and Graves' (1961) and ‘Abadon, the Exterminator' (1974).” His readers are reacting to the news of his death on Twitter [es].

• Silvia Viñas

Zambia

Follow live updates of the long awaited Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) Annual General Meeting:”Kalusha [FAZ President] is calling for security now as Livingstone based Mr Kasoka is leading the petitioners. Its total confusion…. Zambia Police officers are now in.”

• Ndesanjo Macha

Nigeria

Nigerian Governor Kayode Fayemi is on Twitter, Nigerian blogger Lord Banks reports.

• Ndesanjo Macha

South Sudan

TORE is a poetry/prose magazine for South Sudan: “There are some great stories & poems in here as well as a few opinion peices on Sudan. There is also some excellent layout and design if I don’t say so myself.”

• Ndesanjo Macha

Chad

Franseca writes about white gold in Chad: “Shea nuts are indigenous to southern Chad, and have been traditionally pressed into a black oil to add to foods. While nutritious, it has an odor that many find unpleasant. Processing the Shea nuts into a white butter gives it all kinds of household and commercial applications, opening up new income streams for local women.”

• Ndesanjo Macha

29 April 2011

Cuba

Blogger and journalist Elaine Díaz reflects [es]on the VI Congress of the Communist Party: “[…] The future Cuba should be built ‘by all and for the good of all' from a horizontal and open relationship between the historical avant-garde that made possible the 1959 triumph and the new generation of young people with no representation in the new Bureau of the Political Party Central Committee.”

• Firuzeh Shokooh Valle