Global Voices · Citizen media stories from October 2011

October, 2011

Monthly archive · 215 posts

Stories from October, 2011

18 October 2011

Japan: We're Losing to Apple, and Here's Why

Blogger Isseki Nagae considers the sorry state of the Japanese personal electronics industry in light of the recent success of Apple in Japan. Through the words of Steve Jobs, Nagae argues that Japanese manufacturers pay too much attention to the views of the average user rather than developing new ideas.

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Malawi: A Growing City and its Pay-to-Cross Footbridges

Written by Steve Sharra · Sub-Saharan Africa

Hand-made wooden bridges now connect two popular markets on each side of a river in Malawi's capital Lilongwe, providing a local solution to both joblessness and growing urbanization for the young men who build them.

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USA: October 15 on the Streets and Social Networks

Written by Robert Valencia · Translated by Elizabeth Rivera · North America

It's no secret that Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, among other social networks, have played a key role in the recent local and global protests. As was expected, the global protests of October 15 thoroughly used them too.

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17 October 2011

Poetry Slam Activism in Francophone Africa

Written by Lova Rakotomalala · Middle East & North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa

Poetry slam is a well-known channel of expression for many activists in North America but the rest of the world has now embraced this unique blend of poetry and rhythmic oral story telling. Here are some examples from Francophone Africa and the context in which they arose.

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Ethiopia: Aberash Hailay's Case Ignites Campaign to Stop Violence Against Women

Written by Markos Lemma · Sub-Saharan Africa

Aberash Hailay is an Ethiopian Airlines flight attendant whose ex-husband, Fisseha Tadesse, stabbed both her eyes with a knife in Bangkok, Thailand. Ethiopian activists are using the Internet to call for justice for Aberash Hailay and draw attention to issue of violence against women in Ethiopia.

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Cuba: Mourning the Loss of Laura Pollan

Written by Janine Mendes-Franco · Caribbean

Cuban bloggers are in mourning over the death of Laura Pollan, the former leader of the opposition group Las Damas de Blanco. The sad news made its way across the blogosphere with lightning speed and bloggers, both within Cuba and throughout the diaspora, were soon posting their remembrances of the late human rights activist online.

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Updates from October, 2011

25 October 2011

Macedonia

On the occasion of the Daniel Pearl World Music Days, the rock band Reporters, composed of prominent journalists, including veterans of critical investigative reporting who are now out of work due to closing of A1 TV, will hold a concert in Skopje (FB event) and present their new song “Freedom” [mk] . The lyrics are by Saska Cvetkovska, another sacked journalist, famous for revealing the pre-election blackmail scheme.

• Filip Stojanovski

24 October 2011

South Korea

South Korean citizen media Wiki Tree posted [ko] a video and photos of flash mob encouraging South Korean young voters to participate in the coming election on October 26, 2011.

• Lee Yoo Eun

Hungary

The Contrarian Hungarian live-blogged Sunday's opposition rally in Budapest, which had been organized through Facebook (hu; en) and drew “many tens of thousands” of protesters.

• Veronica Khokhlova

U.S.A.

@Therealpsmst recommends [mk] the talk by anti-corruption activist, law professor and Creative Commons founder Lawrence Lessig (@lessig): “Republic, Lost” is about the role of campaign contribution racket in the times of crisis and ways to reform the U.S. political and financial system.

• Filip Stojanovski

Honduras

‘La Gringa', from La Gringa's Blogcito, says her Facebook account was disabled because someone filed a complaint about her username ('La Gringa', her internet pseudonym) after she published a series of posts on crime in Honduras. She explains why she uses a pseudonym and points out that an online petition to restore her account has been set up at Change.org.

• Silvia Viñas

El Salvador

The rain has stopped and water is starting to recede in El Salvador; Tim's El Salvador Blog now looks at relief efforts after torrential rains hit El Salvador and other parts of Central America.

• Silvia Viñas

Chile

Robert L. Funk reports on the storming of the former Congress building in Santiago by students during “a Committee meeting to which the Education Minister had been invited”. Protesters refused to leave, and the President of the Senate, Guido Girardi, “declared that as the parliament is a public institution and belongs to the people, he would not have the protesters removed” as Robert explains.

• Silvia Viñas