Global Voices · Citizen media stories from December 2011

December, 2011

Monthly archive · 184 posts

Stories from December, 2011

12 December 2011

Poland: Netizens Debate Proposal to Re-Introduce Death Penalty

Written by Anna Gotowska · Eastern & Central Europe

The leader of Poland's largest opposition party has announced his support for re-introduction of the death penalty for "the gravest crimes." Although this announcement may be treated as a way to win over some voters, a huge debate on the subject has started nevertheless. Anna Gotowska reports.

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Southeast Asia: Crocodiles in the News

Written by Mong Palatino · East Asia

A giant crocodile in the southern Philippines and crocodiles in the flooded waters of Thailand and Cambodia were among the top news topics in Southeast Asia in the last quarter of the year. Here are some crocodile sightings and online reports.

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11 December 2011

Egypt: A Baha’i Blogger's Take on the Elections

Written by Ayesha Saldanha · Middle East & North Africa

The Baha’is of Egypt number perhaps only 2,000 people, but over the years the community has faced discrimination and sometimes hostility. Global Voices Online has spoken to Baha’i blogger Wael about the current situation of the Baha’is in Egypt and the changes that the elections might bring.

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Arab World to Gingrich: “If Palestinians Are Invented People, Americans Are …”

Written by Amira Al Hussaini · Middle East & North Africa

Palestinians are “invented” people, who want to destroy Israel, says US Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich. His comments, in an interview with a Jewish television channel, have drawn the anger and ridicule of netizens across the Arab world.

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China: Why Didn't Putin Come Pick Up His Confucius Peace Prize?

Written by John Kennedy · East Asia

A renegade operation by Chinese leftists aimed at winning China some soft power points has backfired: Not only has the Chinese government tried to shut them down, but now a second recipient of their annual "Confucius Peace Prize" has declined to accept the award.

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Egypt: Celebrating Naguib Mahfouz's Centenary

Written by Amira Al Hussaini · Middle East & North Africa

Today marks the centenary of Egyptian Nobel laureate and leading novelist Naguib Mahfouz. The occasion is being remembered on Twitter.

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Updates from December, 2011

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

China: Tibet Burns, But Where Are the Chinese Public Intellectuals?

I think the reason it stuck with me is that I was fired from my first real job--teaching at a...

According to the detailed description I would have every blood type... o_Ô

Hi Christa, Thank you for sharing the good news. I am glad that at least one battle has been won by...
Help us bring international visibility to this issue. Please read and share the following link regarding Vila Autódromo's recent win...