Global Voices · Citizen media stories from 2011 August 11

11 August 2011

Daily archive · 8 posts

Stories from 11 August 2011

Australia: Malaysia No Solution to ‘Boat People' Politics

Written by Kevin Rennie · East Asia, Oceania

The Australian government’s attempt to take a hard line on people smugglers and asylum seekers arriving by boat has hit a major snag. In December 2010, approximately 50 asylum seekers were drowned at Christmas Island. A legal challenge has postponed a swap of the surviving refugees with Malaysia.

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Russia: A Psycho-Neurological Patient's Photo Stories

Written by Veronica Khokhlova · Eastern & Central Europe

Pasha Kyshtymov, a lifelong psycho-neurological patient in Siberia, cannot communicate through speech, but had no problems learning to express himself through photography. On his blog, the Russian photographer Oleg Klimov has documented the poignant impromptu experience of teaching Pasha to share his worldview with others.

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Syria: World Cities Rally Against and For Bashar

Written by Thalia Rahme · Middle East & North Africa, Eastern & Central Europe

Events in Syria are being echoed around the world. Syrians in the diaspora rallied in the majority of the cities in the world, either asking to overthrow Bashar Al Assad and his regime or chanting their love to their leader. Check out this video round up for footage from demonstrations worldwide.

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Tunisia: “The People Want an Independent Judiciary”

Written by Afef Abrougui · Middle East & North Africa

“People want independent judiciary" is a slogan that has been recently raised in the streets of Tunisia. Afef Abrougui takes a look at the reactions of bloggers following the release of two former ministers as well as a close ally of the former Tunisian strongman Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, whose freedom has sparked calls for more protests.

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China: Tweets Didn't Start the Fire

Written by John Kennedy · East Asia

China's main state television station has launched a second offensive against microbloggers and users of other social media, this time on the back of the recent British riots. The attack has left netizens guessing at the true motivation at play.

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Russia: Bloggers' Summer of Civic Actions

Although August is traditionally considered a quiet month in Russia, the country's Internet has been alive with hundreds and thousands of people taking part in a number of social actions. Marina Litvinovich explores this new summer phenomenon.

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World: Share Your Life With the World on 11-11-11

Written by Juliana Rincón Parra · Middle East & North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa

What will you be doing on November 11, 2011? Share it with the rest of the world through 11Eleven Project and help achieve the United Nations Millennium Development Goals!

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Japan: Chaos at Chitose Airport on March 11

Written by Takashi Ota · East Asia

On March 11, 2011, a Delta airplane pilot approaching Tokyo airport described his experience of an emergency landing in an email so vividly, that it spread rapidly across the blogosphere. Aviation fan blogger BUTA_NEKO responded to the meme in Japanese, to tell the other side of the story.

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Updates from 11 August 2011

Barbados

As eight Jamaicans plead guilty to smuggling marijuana into Barbados, BFP says: “Drug mules are the Privates. Who are the Generals?”

• Janine Mendes-Franco

Lebanon

A crowd-sourcing campaign was launched in Lebanon titled: “Cheyif 7alak” [Arabic for “Do you see yourself”]. It calls on people to use their cellphone cameras (or any others) to shoot any wrong doings they encounter everyday, posts the Lebanese Inner Circle.

• Moussa Bashir

Mauritania

adrar-info.net publishes an article on Mauritanian demonstrations in Paris and Mauritania, related to the current population census in Mauritania. Black Mauritanians apparently have a difficult time getting their name registered [fr]. According to Haimout Ba, the Paris based representative of UFP (Union of Forces of Progress, an opposition party), “they are requested to show their parents and grandparents' identity documents, and asked if they know this or that person, of Arab origin. They are even quizzed over the geography of the country!”

• Abdoulaye Bah

Puerto Rico (U.S.)

The site of the online radio station Bonita Radio [es] publishes an interview [es] with members of the feminist coalition Movimiento Amplio de Mujeres de Puerto Rico [es] about the recent state funding of the US based religious campaign Promise Keepers, which purports to fight against domestic violence.

• Firuzeh Shokooh Valle

Cuba

Osmany Sánchez from La Joven Cuba responds [es] to a post written by fellow blogger Miriam Celaya, which has stirred a tremendous debate in the Cuban blogosphere. In his response, Sánchez assures that some bloggers in Cuba have connections with terrorist organizations from the Cuban exile community.

• Firuzeh Shokooh Valle

Iran

Iran's Freedom of Expression site has conducted [fa] an interview with Omid Reza Mirsayafi's close friend about his death. Omid Reza Mirsayafi, a blogger, died in a prison in Iran more tahn two years ago. if Omid had survived the prison, he would have been released two days ago.

• Fred Petrossian

Ecuador

“Major Ecuadorian newspapers ran the same cover today [August 10] — “For Freedom of Expression” — to protest President Rafael Correa’s increasing verbal and legal attacks on the independent media. The President devoted 42 minutes to his State of the Union speech today to criticism of the press”: Adam Isacson reports in his Tumblr blog, where he also shares images of the newspaper covers.

• Silvia Viñas

Colombia

Today, August 11, is independence day in Antioquia. More than one thousand Indigenous people are marching through the streets [es] of Medellín to reach [es] the Alpujarra [es] where the local government is located. They are calling for the right to life because in less than 3 months 16 of them have been killed. They are also [es] commemorating 18 years the Declaration of Indigenous Human Rights [es] in the world.

• Lully Posada

Costa Rica

This Sunday, the Costa Rican SlutWalk will come together in front of the Metropolitan Cathedral in the capital city of San José. The walk comes as a response to the statements made by a Catholic Bishop and visiting Cardinal during Costa Rica's Patron Saint ceremony on August 2nd, where they asked women to dress modestly to avoid being dehumanized or objectified, to refrain from doing manly tasks and to keep to their house and home, reports InsideCostaRica.

• Juliana Rincón Parra