Global Voices · Citizen media stories from May 2011

May, 2011

Monthly archive · 189 posts

Stories from May, 2011

10 May 2011

Iran: Ahmadinejad's “Exorcist” Arrested

Written by Fred Petrossian · Middle East & North Africa

Twenty-five close collaborators and supporters of Iran's president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his influential chief staff, Esfandyar Rahim Mashai, have been arrested, allegedly including “exorcist” or “djinn catcher” Abbas Ghaffari. Many speculate this is due to a quarrel between Ahmadinejad and the Islamic Republic's supreme leader, Ali Khamenei.

· read »

Russia: President Medvedev Meets Russian Internet Community

Written by Gregory Asmolov · Eastern & Central Europe

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev met leaders of the Russian Internet community for three hours of discussion about Internet regulation. Gregory Asmolov, who took part in the meeting, shares his impression and analysis of the President's approach to the regulation of the Internet.

· 7

· read »

Cuba: “Police Brutality” or “Natural Causes” in Dissident's Death?”

Written by Janine Mendes-Franco · Latin America

Cuban bloggers continue their outcry over the death of dissident Juan Wilfredo Soto, especially in light of an official statement which suggests that Soto, popularly known by his nickname “The Student”, died “of natural causes”.

· 3

· read »

Kazakhstan: Two Kazakhstanis in the World News - One Arrested, One Killed

Written by Adil Nurmakov · Central Asia & Caucasus

Two Kazakhstanis made it to the international news last week, both in very unfortunate ways. Firstly, Valeriy Tolmachev, an adviser to Kazakhstan's delegation at UNESCO, attacked a flight attendant with a knife onboard his Paris-to-Rome flight and demanded it fly to Libya. Secondly, 26 year old Kirill Denyakin, who was working in Portsmouth, Virginia, was shot by police.

· read »

Gabon: Parliamentary Immunity Removal Could Spark Protests

Written by Julie Owono · Sub-Saharan Africa

Gabon's political crisis has deepened recently, with the removal of opposition politician Andre Mba Obame's parliamentary immunity by a National Assembly vote. There are fears the move could tip the country in further protests.

· 1

· read »

Iran: Dogs Arrested (Again)

Written by Fred Petrossian · Middle East & North Africa

Iranian security forces are back in the streets for a sequel to their infamous action of 2007: arresting dogs. Iran's government considers keeping pet dogs un-Islamic, but has mostly tolerated it. Now, according to Iranian newspapers, several dogs were recently confiscated in a new crackdown.

· 7

· read »

Updates from May, 2011

24 May 2011

Russia

A user of Internet portal Habrahabr wrote [ru] that on May 17, 2011 an Internet provider company in Russian city Ulyanovsk blocked access to the blog of Aleksey Navalny, a famous online personality on RuNet, following the order of FSB, Russian security service. It was later reported [ru] by GTZ.ru that the IP blocked the whole LiveJournal platform due to alleged technical problems. It is still unclear what really happened.

• Vadim Isakov

Russia

Russian Internet economy will more than double within the next four years and rich four percent of the country's GDP by 2015, reported [ru] Lenta.ru citing the latest research by The Boston Consulting Group.

• Vadim Isakov

Russia

Russian mobile users utilize their phones for searching, browsing social networks and downloading musics, Rumetrika reported [ru]. Half of Russians own own mobile phones. The majority of people using mobile Internet are younger than 24 years old.

• Vadim Isakov

Bahamas

Weblog Bahamas‘ Sidney Sweeting acknowledges that “hindsight is always better than foresight” as he blogs about a fish market that he considers “a ticking time bomb”.

• Janine Mendes-Franco

Cuba

“The more often I read about the internet from the Cuban government perspective the more I feel like we need to do a better job of explaining to them why the internet is necessary”: Graham Sowa, blogging at Havana Times, makes a case for why the Internet is a critical tool for students.

• Janine Mendes-Franco

Cuba

Cuban bloggers focus their attention on Luis Felipe Rojas, who was reportedly detained this past weekend, allegedly for blogging about the beating of three women.

• Janine Mendes-Franco

Trinidad & Tobago

gspottt thinks that “it’s impressive that the Ministry is interested in attitudes to homosexuality; and notable that the poll [about equal rights for homosexuals] was commissioned by the last government”, but maintains that “it’s a matter of how you ask the question.” Photos and video of Trinidad and Tobago's first observance of the International Day Against Homophobia & Transphobia are here.

• Janine Mendes-Franco

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.