Global Voices · Citizen media stories from 2011 December 20

20 December 2011

Daily archive · 8 posts

Stories from 20 December 2011

Palestine: Planning a Virtual Funeral

Written by Ayesha Saldanha · Middle East & North Africa

It is extremely difficult for Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza to visit Israel, and for political reasons it is impossible for most other Arabs to do so. At the same time, Palestinian citizens of Israel are unable to travel to much of the Arab world, because they have Israeli passports. Rasha Hilwi has been reflecting on how these restrictions on movement will affect her – after she dies.

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Malawi: Actor's Arrest Reminiscent of Past Dictatorship's Censorship Laws

Written by Steve Sharra · Sub-Saharan Africa

Malawi police on Sunday afternoon December 18, stormed a stage on which a play was being performed, arrested the main actor mid-sentence and led him away into a waiting police van. Steve Sharra reports.

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Egypt: Women Rally for Dignity

Written by Afef Abrougui · Middle East & North Africa

Thousands of Egyptian women took to the streets of Cairo today to protest for their dignity, after women were beaten up by soldiers during running battles between the army and protesters in and around Tahrir Square since December 16.

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Global Voices: Donate Today

Written by Georgia Popplewell · Middle East & North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa

2011 has been an extraordinary year for online content. Global Voices has been there as revolutions happened, dictatorships fell, and network effects rippled through the cities and neighborhoods of our contributors reporting from around the world.

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Arab World: Global Voices Bridges on Twitter

Written by Gilad Lotan · Middle East & North Africa

As a part of our end-of-year coverage we in the Middle East and North Africa region look back at some of the major events we covered during 2011. The following post highlights the role of the Global Voices Online community in spreading information on Twitter during the Tunisian and Egyptian revolutions.

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Brazil: How Many Lives Does the Guarani-Kaiowá's Land Cost?

Written by Yohana de Andrade · Translated by Yohana de Andrade · Latin America

Last November, 42 gunmen attacked an indigenous reserve in Mato Grosso do Sul, executing Nísio Gomes, 59, chief of the Guaraní Kaiowá and several other villagers. These attacks take place at the same time as Brazil consolidates its position as one of the leading exporters of agricultural goods and biofuels in the world, and Mato Grosso do Sul one of its most productive states.

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China: Guangdong Uprising, Now in Haimen

Written by Oiwan Lam · East Asia

Since the village of Wukan in Guangdong province was placed under siege after kicking out party and government officials, at least two nearby towns have launched actions of their own. The most recent, which broke out today, has reportedly seen 30,000 people blocking a busy freeway.

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Responses to the Death of North Korean Dictator, Kim Jong-il

Written by Lee Yoo Eun · East Asia

Since North Korean dictator, Kim Jong-il's death on December 17 from a heart attack, the South Korean Twittersphere has lit up with numerous responses to the news. Lee Yoo Eun reports.

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Updates from 20 December 2011

Armenia

Unzipped comments on a new festive advert for the Armenian police. A recent Transparency International report on policing placed the force among some of the worst in the world, but the blog nonetheless welcomes the move and hopes that the image promoted will become reality.

• Onnik Krikorian

Russia

“Everyone's waiting for Navalny ) 5 more minutes! pic.twitter.com/3BRHiuGa,” tweeted [ru] @varlamov a short while ago, posting a picture of the crowd waiting outside a Moscow prison for activist Alexey Navalny's release. @plushev tweeted [ru]: “Absolutely fantastic numbers. In the middle of the night, some 5,000 people are viewing [the live broadcast] of @navalny's release.” @sidorenko_intl reported that “about [18,000] viewers from around the world” were watching it. Finally, this tweet from @sidorenko_intl: “#Navalny is out. Everyone chants ‘hooray'.” @varlamov posts Navalny's picture; @sidorenko_intl quotes Navalny: “it's great to get into jail in one country, spend there 15 days, and get out in another country.”

• Veronica Khokhlova

Iran

Iranian rial, hit a new low Tuesday, with the US dollar sells for more than 15000 rials (1500 Tomans). khodrahagaran writes [fa] people rushed to banks to exchange their rials into dollars and euros.

• Fred Petrossian

Cuba

The death of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il and the succession of his son prompts Generation Y to think about the Cuban government's own succession plans. “The dauphin over there is named Kim Jong-un; perhaps soon they will communicate to us that over here ours will be Alejandro Castro Espin.”

• Nicholas Laughlin

Cuba

Cuba has a longstanding debt to Russia of 20 million Soviet rubles — a currency that no longer exists. Machetera asks: “how and when do you decide what a vanished currency is really worth?”

• Nicholas Laughlin

Jamaica

UK-based Jamaican writer Kei Miller muses on the consequences of poets joining the academic world. “Poetry is certainly not known for its plain-spoken-ness and in fact is accused, just as much as the academy, for its obscurity and its pretensions. And this is as it should be!”

• Nicholas Laughlin

Barbados

The Bajan Reporter posts a tribute to his late father, the journalist and adman Desmond Bourne. “It was not that my father never stood on convention, he acknowledged where he felt it was expected – such as Diplomats and & Ceremony – but for the most part he ignored it….”

• Nicholas Laughlin

Barbados

Barbados Underground offers an analysis of the “headache” created for Prime Minister Freundel Stuart by a now notorious leaked letter allegedly demonstrating his party's doubts about the PM's leadership. “Whatever he does must positively feed public perception that he is in charge of his men. The question is: will it be enough to sway the voter?”

• Nicholas Laughlin

Angola

See Africa is a new blog focusing on Africa: “Every week, I will be updating this blog with beautiful images of Africa which many people have not seen. I admit that Africa faces a lot of challenges but the blog will not be reporting on those because I believe the mainstream media have already done justice to that.”

• Ndesanjo Macha

Mexico

The video by 11.11 Social Change is simple: Mexican children sit in front of two dolls identical save for two things: one is light skinned and blue-eyed and the other is dark skinned and brown eyed. Then they are asked to pick which one of the dolls is ugly, nice, pretty, good, bad and finally, which doll looks like them. Their candid and honest answers show a discouraging panorama.

• Juliana Rincón Parra