Global Voices · Citizen media stories from April 2011

April, 2011

Monthly archive · 191 posts

Stories from April, 2011

9 April 2011

Brazil: Was the shooting of Ricardo Gama politically motivated?

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

Controversial Brazilian blogger Ricardo Gama was shot in Rio de Janeiro on the March 24. Gama, a "forceful critic" of political power and police in Rio has already left the hospital and promises that his blog "won't change".

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Mexico: March Against Violence or Against the Government?

Written by J. Tadeo · Translated by Kitty Garden · Latin America

Thousands of Mexicans - not only in their own country, but also in various cities around the world - conducted simultaneous protests on April 6, 2011. Some took part to express their discontent at the country's violent climate, others showed their disagreement with the government's strategy in the fight against crime.

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Singapore: Debate on ‘Pampered’ Soldiers

Written by Mong Palatino · East Asia

Are Singapore soldiers ready for battle? This is one of the many questions raised by netizens who are reacting to the photo of a young serviceman whose backpack is being carried by someone believed to be their family domestic helper

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Indonesia: Ministry Orders Removal of Buddha Statue

Written by Tikno · East Asia

Indonesia's commitment to promote religious tolerance was questioned again after the Religious Affairs Ministry ordered a large Buddhist statue in a monastery in North Sumatra to be removed after Muslim groups in the area protested against its presence.

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Nigeria: Tweeting Parliamentary Election 2011

Written by Ndesanjo Macha · Sub-Saharan Africa

Using the hashtag #NigeriaDecides, Nigerians online talk about today's parliamentary elections that was originally scheduled to be held on 2 April, 2001.

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Egypt: Debating the Role of the Media in Covering Blogger's Arrest

Written by Tarek Amr · Middle East & North Africa

Egyptian bloggers discuss the role of the media in shedding light on the case of the detained blogger, Maikel Nabil Sanad, with TV host Yosri Fouda. Tarek Amr sums up the conversation in this post.

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Updates from April, 2011

21 April 2011

Russia

Democratist shares some reactions on Russian Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin's, speech to the Russian parliament on Wednesday April 20, and reflects upon it from the perspective of the 2012 presidential elections.

• Vilhelm Konnander

Russia

At GlobalPost, Miriam Elder writes about the spokesman of Russia's Federal Migration Service, who was “fired after telling the BBC that migrants posed a challenge to the purity of the ‘white race'.”

• Veronica Khokhlova

Ukraine

Leopolis writes about the negative effect of “Chernobyl tourism”: “It has been branded as extreme tourism. The only problem is that as opposed to jumping off a cliff, you see the site that caused, and continues to cause, lots and lots of suffering.”

• Veronica Khokhlova

Lebanon

On March 25, Estonian YouTube user HelensVlogs reported on the kidnapping of seven Estonian tourists two days earlier, as they were cycling in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley. On April 20, the seven hostages appeared in this video, pleading for help. (More info, on BBC News - here and here.)

• Veronica Khokhlova

20 April 2011

Russia

Katya Trubilova of Social Media Lessons From Russia and the UK writes this, among other things, about Russia's largest social network VKontakte: “The most popular app on Vkontakte is a game called Тюряга (Prison) with 6 134 947 installations. The goal of the game is to make tattoos to become a respectful criminal. Russian criminal tattoos have a complex system of symbols and this application educates widely on this topic.” English Russia posts a selection of “typical photos [of females] from Russian social networks.”

• Veronica Khokhlova

Russia

Siberian Light, Global Chaos and Russia! are among those who comment on a YouTube video of President Dmitry Medvedev dancing to the Russian pop song “American Boy” at a college reunion party a year ago. On Twitter, Medvedev (@MedvedevRussia) comments (RUS) on the video himself, in reply to Zaporozhye-based fashion blogger Anastacia Ukhova (@Halfblood_Uliss), who writes (RUS) that Medvedev dances like her father.