Global Voices · Citizen media stories from 2011 December 29

29 December 2011

Daily archive · 6 posts

Stories from 29 December 2011

Indonesia: Activist Dies After Self-Immolation in Front of Palace

Indonesian bloggers have been discussing whether activist Sondang Hutagalung, who burned himself to death in front of the state palace, is a hero or a reckless man.

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Kyrgyzstan: Ravshan Jeenbekov and the Facebook Generation

Written by Chris Rickleton · Central Asia & Caucasus

Of all the divides in Kyrgyzstan’s fractious political society, one too often overlooked is the divide between generations. Unlike the famed North/South schism, which manifests itself in elections and street-protests,...

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China: Dairy Company's Website Hacked by Angry Netizens

Written by Oiwan Lam · East Asia

The latest round of tainted milk scandals broke out last week in China. The country's biggest dairy producer, Mengniu Dairy Co., admitted that some of its milk products contained aflatoxin...

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Cape Verde: The Musical Legacy of Cesária Évora

Written by Debora Baldelli · Translated by Janet Gunter · Sub-Saharan Africa

After the death of Cesária Évora, symbol of Cape Verdean music, on December 17, there was an abundance of tributes and declarations by her faithful audience from almost every corner of the globe. With the singer and Cape Verde in the spotlight, the blogosphere discussed who might take her place as musical spokeswoman for the country.

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Colombia: Salsa Song Criticizes Bus Rapid Transport System

Written by Juliana Rincón Parra · Latin America

A salsa song and video documents the suffering that travelling in the Transmilenio public transportation system of Bogota represents for its users.

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Macedonia: Twitter Hashtag for Prime Minister - #Ж

Written by Filip Stojanovski · Eastern & Central Europe

The Macedonian Twitter community is using the hashtag #Ж (uppercase of the Cyrillic letter romanized as Zh or Ž) as the shortcut symbol referring to the Macedonian PM. Filip Stojanovski explains why.

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Updates from 29 December 2011

Iran

Iran has warned that the country could block the Strait of Hormuz if sanctions are imposed on its exports of crude oil. Filternet1 writes[fa] if Iran blocks the Strait of Hormuz, even China, to protect its interests, will attack Iran.

• Fred Petrossian

Kenya

Read Mbwana Ally's 12 predictions for Africa's tech scene in 2012: “New models of mobile money will be explored that are less dependent on mobile operators, such asPagatech in Nigeria, but their growth will be slow given the lack of a strong agent network to begin with.”

• Ndesanjo Macha

Ghana

A Ghanaian dance called Azonto is making waves around the world and threatening to spawn its own YouTube industry as dance enthusiasts try to out do each other by posting the most hilarious and most accomplished Azonto moves on the video channel.

• Ndesanjo Macha

Sudan

African Arguments Online is “a multi-blogging site that covers both contemporary African events as they unfold, and develops debates on themes we believe are centrally important to an ever-changing continent.”

• Ndesanjo Macha

Bangladesh

On 28th December, a hot air balloon show was held in Dhaka. In this context, photojournalist Monirul Alam discussed the history of hot air balloons.

• Aparna Ray

Pakistan

Rabia Tirmizey at The Paradigm House points out that the meaning of joy and happiness has changed tremendously for kids in Pakistan and even the bar for happiness has risen. Simple pleasures such as those enjoyed by children of the '70s to early '90s no longer suffice.

• Aparna Ray

Egypt

No Military Trials for Civilians, a collective blog aimed at raising awareness about the military trial of civilians in Egypt, publishes a must read post by jailed Egyptian blogger Maikel Nabil, who has been on hunger strike for more than 120 days.

• Amira Al Hussaini

India

Shashi Shekhar at Offstumped looks back on the year 2011 and finds that it has been anything but predictable.

• Aparna Ray

Pakistan

Masood Ashraf Raja at The Pakistan Forum feels that unless Pakistan takes a critical look at its political history and restructures it's national narrative, it will continue to remain a nation that is perpetually in crisis.

• Aparna Ray

India

William Gomes writes an open letter to the Union Home Minister, Mr.P.Chidambaram, protesting against the recent police action against campaigners who were holding a protest rally demanding the repeal of the controversial Manipur Loktak Lake Protection Act, 2006.

• Aparna Ray