Global Voices · Citizen media stories from June 2011

June, 2011

Monthly archive · 186 posts

Stories from June, 2011

20 June 2011

Georgia: Government 2.0

Written by Mirian Jugheli · Central Asia & Caucasus

With 621,640 Facebook users in the country, Georgia boasts the largest penetration for the social networking site in the region. Naturally, government agencies and officials are now starting to reach out to citizens online.

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Argentina: Demonstrations in the Borda Psychiatric Hospital

Written by Fanny Rahmouni · Latin America

Medical staff and associations rallied in the beginning of June to protest against the deterioration of housing conditions in the Hospital Borda, one the most notable psychiatric hospitals in Argentina, which has had no gas since mid April of this year. The hospital's existence had been questioned by a 2008 plan launched by Buenos Aires' mayor, Mauricio Macri.

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19 June 2011

Brazil: “SlutWalk” Throughout the Country in Images

Written by Mariana Freitas · Translated by Deborah Almeida · Latin America

Holding banners, posters and mottos, "sluts" from cities throughout Brazil rocked the streets and made the society think about gender opression. The movement is inspired by the SlutWalk in Canada last April, to stop exploitation of the female body and the culpability of women for being sexually assaulted.

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Macedonia: Pro-Government Media Promote Protest Impostors

Written by Filip Stojanovski · Eastern & Central Europe

On the eve of the big protest against police brutality scheduled for Sunday afternoon in Skopje, several pro-government media outlets tried to manipulate the public by showing an anti-opposition announcement by a fake group of protestors.

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Venezuela: Arguments For and Against the Smoking Ban

Written by Laura Vidal · Translated by Ayoola Alabi · Latin America

It is no secret that smokers and non-smokers argue over issues regarding health, air and the freedom of choice. However, many people have used different modes of citizen media to comment, protest and debate the reasons behind the Venezuelan government's recent introduction of a new anti-tobacco law, which had been repealed in February.

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China: Attack on a #netfreedom Blogger

Written by John Kennedy · East Asia

For all the talk of Internet freedom, little of it takes into account the bleaker reality of inhabiting Chinese cyberspace. Influential tech blogger William Long addresses this with a post criticizing the destructive bent to China's hacker communities, which then brought on a multi-front attack against Long.

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Updates from June, 2011

27 June 2011

Barbados

Barbadian bloggers are all over a WikiLeaks cable in which St. Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves is “quoted extensively”.

• Janine Mendes-Franco

Bermuda

Politics.bm looks at “some interesting scenarios [that] could play out…[if] Bermuda Immigration faces the question of a non-Bermudian worker coming to the island with a same sex spouse.”

• Janine Mendes-Franco

Jamaica

Labrish remembers the life and work of her cousin, who was murdered on account of “his outspoken efforts to bring about an end to homophobia in Jamaica”, saying: “It is beyond time that the appalling homophobia that is a blight on certain parts of Jamaican society come to an end.”

• Janine Mendes-Franco

Guatemala

In Central American Politics, Mike posts a video where Francisco Fion of the World Food Program explains that about half of the population of Guatemala lives in poverty with 7 quetzales a day –about 1 US dollar. How much food can you buy with 7 quetzales? Watch the video to find out.

• Silvia Viñas

Argentina

Simon Kofoed, In his blog argen-times, writes about ‘cartoneros': “The tens of thousands of cartoneros, perhaps best translated as cardboard people, make their living by extracting recyclable materials from the city’s rubbish.”

• Silvia Viñas

Honduras

RAJ, in Honduras Culture and Politics, says English language media have given little attention to the construction of a dam in the Rio Platano Biosphere Reserve, “a project of the current Honduran administration, acting against the protests of the indigenous peoples of eastern Honduras, who have not been consulted as they should have been under the UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and ILO 169, both international agreements signed by previous Honduran governments.”

• Silvia Viñas

Zimbabwe

Thandi argues that an assessment of the range of political parties in Zimbabwe shows that Zimbabweans just have to choose the lesser devil: “It’s mediocre politicians all around, positing ludicrous policies whilst they happily take part in scandalous shenanigans…Question is, whose political thrust will be easiest to endure?”

• Ndesanjo Macha

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.