Global Voices · Citizen media stories from April 2011

April, 2011

Monthly archive · 191 posts

Stories from April, 2011

15 April 2011

Colombia: Netizens Discuss ‘Law Lleras' on Copyright

Written by Lully · Translated by Lully Posada · Latin America

"Law Lleras," which punishes those that share or download content from the Internet without paying royalties, has generated controversy among netizens, who have shared their opinions on blogs and social networks.

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Kenya: Citizen Journalism of the Kibera News Network

Written by Juliana Rincón Parra · Sub-Saharan Africa

Young people in Kibera, Kenya, which is known to some as Africa's largest slum, are determined to show a different face of the place where they live. With video cameras in hand, they scout the streets for stories to show the world how Kibera sees itself.

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14 April 2011

Macedonia: Fast-Track Lawmaking, Privacy Alert

Written by Filip Stojanovski · Eastern & Central Europe

The Macedonian Parliament disbanded itself today, as part of the process of preparation for the June elections. The ruling majority used the previous period to rubber-stamp a huge number of draft-laws submitted by the government, including a new attempt to legalize unconstitutional police surveillance.

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Palestine: Kidnapping of Italian Activist in Gaza

Written by Ayesha Saldanha · Middle East & North Africa

Italian activist Vittorio Arrigoni was kidnapped on Thursday 14 April, 2011, in Gaza by a Salafi-Jihadi group, who said that they would kill him if Sheikh Abu Al Waleed Al Maqdisi, recently arrested by the Hamas government, was not released. It was reported on Friday 15 April by various international media outlets that Vittorio Arrigoni has been found dead.

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Nepal: Can Internet Be Shut Down To Mark Protest?

Written by Rezwan · South Asia

Nepali Internet users were caught in disarray as the Internet Service Provider’s Association of Nepal (ISPAN) shut down its internet service last Sunday 10 April, 2011 from 1pm to 2pm, as a mark of protest against the government's crackdown on 'illegal VOIP call bypass'.

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Malawi: The Power of a Blog Post

Written by Victor Kaonga · Sub-Saharan Africa

The two-month old stand-off between the university lecturers in Malawi and their employer has led to the closure of the University of Malawi's main colleges. But no one would have known that things were so bad if one blogger, Boniface Dulani, had not written a post titled "Mutharika's dictatorship hits a new low: Unima's Blessings Chinsinga summoned by Inspector General of Police" on February 12, 2011.

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Updates from April, 2011

24 April 2011

India

The elections in the West Bengal state of India are going on and Mamata Banerjee, leader of Trinamool Congress, is a favorite to become the Chief Minister of West Bengal in a few weeks. Monobina Gupta at Kafila describes in details about the the rise of Mamata Banerjee.

• Rezwan

Russia

Grigoriy Golosov, professor at the European University at Saint-Petersburg and a political blogger at Slon.ru [ru], had been assaulted at the street. According to his blogpost [ru], on April 23, 2011 two persons followed him to his home, called his name, and after receiving a positive reply one of them hit Golosov. Golosov claims neither he didn't have any domestic conflicts nor was it an accidental crime.

• Alexey Sidorenko

Dominican Republic

Journalist and blogger María Isabel Soldevila advises [es] President Leonel Fernández to focus on three issues during his last year as head of state: violence and arms; the right to life; and road fatalities.

• Firuzeh Shokooh Valle

Japan

A video by Rio Akasaka shows how the news of the earthquake spread on Twitter on March 11.

• Scilla Alecci

23 April 2011

Belarus

At OpenDemocracy.net, Barys Piatrovich, a Belarusian writer and journalist, recalls the first month after the Chernobyl catastrophe of April 26, 1986: “It was difficult for me to write this text. I've been working up to it for over twenty years. More than once I have started to write but given up after the first few lines. […] All that is left is perhaps the hope that mentioning those events will stir some people's memories and they will recall that scorching, rainless May and its hot winds, the decontamination and the resettled ‘Chernobylites'…”

• Veronica Khokhlova

Bangladesh

Professor Benazir Ahmed at E-Bangladesh reports that Bangladesh has done well in combating Malaria and the annual death toll due to Malaria has been reduced to 37 in 2010.

• Rezwan

Brazil: Communities in Rio Blame Olympics for Evictions

Hi Christa, Thank you for sharing the good news. I am glad that at least one battle has been won by...
Help us bring international visibility to this issue. Please read and share the following link regarding Vila Autódromo's recent win...

Interesting indeed. I don't hear much news from Peru so this information was indeed news and something the world community...
Interesting read. Thanks for sharing!
Great article that addressed the matter concisely and with appropriate supplemental material.