Global Voices · Citizen media stories from September 2011

September, 2011

Monthly archive · 162 posts

Stories from September, 2011

28 September 2011

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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China: Secret Arrest to be Justified by Law Amendment

Written by Oiwan Lam · East Asia

The Chinese government is in the process of completing an amendment to its Criminal Procedure Law (CPL). The draft, released for public consultation on 30 August, has sparked an intense debate among law professors and lawyers, as it has granted police legal justification for secret arrest and investigation.

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Kenya: Bloggers Pay Tribute to Wangari Maathai

Written by Ndesanjo Macha · Sub-Saharan Africa

African bloggers are paying tribute to Nobel Peace Laureate Wangari Maathai, a Kenyan environmental and political activist who died on Sunday after a battle with cancer.

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New Partnership Between Global Voices and El Colombiano

Written by Juan Arellano · Translated by Elizabeth · Latin America

Global Voices in Spanish has a new agreement with El Colombiano, the leading newspaper of the vigorous city of Medellin, which will allow their readers to access Global Voices content in Spanish through a blog created for this purpose inside the EC-Blogger section of the El Colombiano online version.

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Spain: Police “Welcome” 15M Protesters in Paris

Written by Chris Moya · Translated by Marianna Breytman · Western Europe

The "march of the indignant people" that left from various cities in Spain and France to cross Europe, was welcomed by the police in Paris. One hundred people who were heading to the French Parliament were dragged, sprayed with pepper spray and detained. Chris Moya reports.

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26 September 2011

Bolivia: Mobilization in Support of Indigenous Marchers

Written by Eduardo Avila · Latin America

In the past month, indigenous highway protest marchers in Bolivia have received widespread support from residents of cities on their route donating food and supplies, as well as from many Twitter users using the hashtag #TIPNIS.

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Bolivia: Police Repression of Indigenous Marchers in Yucumo

Written by Eduardo Avila · Latin America

The Bolivian indigenous march against a planned highway reached a standstill with the blockade of pro-government groups in the town of Yucumo. On September 25, uniformed police officers launched tear gas at men, women and children, causing diverse nationwide reactions.

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Updates from September, 2011

30 September 2011

China

Obama Fried Chicken (OFC) is now opened in Beijing. (From Shanghaiist)

• Oiwan Lam

Afghanistan

Nick Fielding writes that the US and other donors have provided 90 per cent of Afghanistan's public expenditures in 2006-2010. With the 2014 target date for the withdrawal of US troops, the question is how the government in Kabul would fund its security forces, who use up the lion's share of this donor income.

• Adil Nurmakov

Uzbekistan

Tomyris reports that two members of an unregistered Uzbekistan’s Human Rights Society were detained by the authorities for photographing schoolchildren picking cotton in the country's southern province.

• Adil Nurmakov

Uzbekistan

Avicenna reports that one of the most active members of the Uzbek opposition in exile Fuad Rustamkhojaev was assasinated in Ivanovo, a Western Russian town where he lived for the last 6 years. The victim's colleagues are outraged by the brutality, blaming the political regime in Uzbekistan for the murder.

• Adil Nurmakov

Turkmenistan

Tomyris reports on the fifth annual book fair hosted in Ashgabat this month, and notes that while literature in Turkmenistan is being celebrated, it continues to be suppressed and dominated by propaganda.

• Adil Nurmakov

Uzbekistan

Mansurhon reviews the speech by Uzbekistan's expert and rights activist regarding violations of the right to freedom of religion or belief in this country. The speech, delivered at the Annual OSCE Human Dimension Implementation Meetng, warns that these violations represent a serious risk to Uzbekistan’s future.

• Adil Nurmakov

Kyrgyzstan

murzaki writes about the Kyrgyz language test, which is a part of the presidential candidates registration in Kyrgyzstan. Some observers believe this exam may be a tool of screening away unwanted politicians, but it probably also marks the start of politicization of the state language issue.

• Adil Nurmakov

29 September 2011

India

South Asians consist of one fifth of the planet’s population and they have similar cultures. And yet some kind of loose confederation between South Asian countries looks like an unattainable dream. Dheera Sujan at South Asia Wired wonders why South Asians usually do not talk to each other.

• Rezwan