Global Voices · Citizen media stories from September 2011

September, 2011

Monthly archive · 154 posts

Featured stories from September 2011

United States: Increase in Poverty Rate Amongst Hispanics

Colombia: Incarceration of Bogota’s Former Mayor Stirs Debate

Aside from the uproar that Congressman Juan Manuel Corzo sparked over his “fuel subsidy,” now Samuel Moreno Rojas, the former mayor of Bogotá, has been sent to prison while facing accusations of embellishment, fraud and extortion.

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Mexico: #ReformaPoliticaYA ('Political Reform Now'), Reactions on Twitter

It has been several months since citizen organizations and activists tried to attain the approval of a political reform that includes, among other points, reelection for mayors and legislators. The reform has caused passionate reactions on Twitter and revived fears from the past.

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Macedonia: Protests Against Police Brutality Continue 30 September 2011
Laos According to WikiLeaks 30 September 2011
Global: Key Quotes and Tweets from the Internet Governance Forum 29 September 2011
Cameroon: Calm Before the Storm? 29 September 2011
Cuba: A Tireless Defender of Gay Rights 29 September 2011

Stories from September, 2011

29 September 2011

Kenya: RIP #WangariMaathai

Written by Ndesanjo Macha · Sub-Saharan Africa

Tweets keep flowing in honor of Nobel Peace Laureate Wangari Maathai, a Kenyan environmental and political activist who died last week after a battle with cancer.

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28 September 2011

Kuwait: After Three Months in Prison, Court Releases Twitter User

Written by Mona Kareem · Middle East & North Africa

Kuwaiti Twitter user Nasser Abul has been released from prison after serving three months for insulting the Bahraini and Saudi regimes. Netizens react after his release.

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Zambia: Netizens Start Countdown to 90 Day Change Promise

Written by Gershom Ndhlovu · Sub-Saharan Africa

Zambia’s new President, Michael Sata, has promised to transform the nation in 90 days including putting more money into people’s pockets. Expectant netizens have started the countdown; a group called the '90 Day Agenda' has opened a Facebook page to push for it.

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Philippines: Creative Protests During Campus Strikes

Written by Karlo Mikhail Mongaya · East Asia

Last week's nationwide campus strikes in the Philippines against education budget cuts saw the lively and creative integration of online tools to mobilize thousands to fight for the right to education. From mass planking, freeze mob, blackboard campaign, fashion show, to Facebook campaigns, activists used various forms of protests to highlight their cause

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East Timor: Tasi Mane Petroleum Infrastructure Project

Written by Mong Palatino · East Asia

A local Non-Government Organization, La'o Hamutuk, has set-up a special website page to gather information, monitor project updates, and document the resistance of a community to East Timor’s Tasi Mane Petroleum Infrastructure Project.

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27 September 2011

Arab World: Nobel Peace Prize for Revolution Netizens?

Written by Amira Al Hussaini · Middle East & North Africa

Twitter is abuzz tonight as the names of Arab netizens are being circulated as possible candidates for the Nobel Peace Prize for the roles they have played in the Arab revolutions. The names of Global Voices Online very own Lina Ben Mhenni, Wael Ghonim and Esraa Abdelfattah are being mentioned.

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Updates from September, 2011

30 September 2011

India

Meghavarshini Krishnaswamy at Youth Ki Awaaz interviews Swechha, an NGO based in Delhi, which is a multifaceted organization working for environmental conservation, waste management, underprivileged children and volunteer placements.

• Rezwan

Pakistan

Chowrangi discusses the recent stand-off between USA and Pakistan and its implication on the war on terror.

• Rezwan

Bhutan

Penstar stresses the need to simplify and promote use of the Bhutanese national language Dzongkha decreasing dominance of English language.

• Rezwan

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka has cancelled issuing visas on arrival to 76 countries and visitors from those countries will have to get prior Visa approval through an Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA) system. The Puppeteer analyzes whether it will effect the tourism industry in Sri Lanka.

• Rezwan

Cuba

A former political prisoner blogs about his experience with the Cuban jail system, here.

• Janine Mendes-Franco

Trinidad & Tobago

“Discussion is revolving around the country’s earnings from our energy resources and the likely size of the next year’s budget, expected to be delivered in early October”: Afra Raymond warns that “without proper control over expenditure, we will continue to lurch from crisis to crisis.”

• Janine Mendes-Franco

Cuba

Generation Y compares the official distribution of “rental properties, cars, businesses [and] houses” to a pinata at a children's party, saying: “What is most worrying is [that] the…existence of such a mechanism will undoubtedly feed corruption, 'socialism,' and put into the hands of government sympathizers the fattest strings for when it becomes necessary to pull on them in unison.”

• Janine Mendes-Franco