Global Voices · Citizen media stories from 2012 January 07

7 January 2012

Daily archive · 6 posts

Stories from 7 January 2012

South Asia in 2011: A Year Full of Controversies and Protests

2011 was an eventful year. We have seen extensive use of social media in South Asia to discuss many controversies and protests. In this post we highlight Global Voices South Asian team's coverage throughout the year.

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Eurozone Crisis: 2011 Citizen Media Responses

Written by Paola D'Orazio · Western Europe

The year 2011 will be remembered for the European debt crisis and its impact on the global economy, but also for its hard consequences on everyday lives. We sum up Global Voices coverage and citizen media responses to the Eurozone crisis in the past year.

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Syria: The Struggle for Freedom and the End of Silence

Written by Leila Nachawati Rego · Middle East & North Africa

Since March 2011, when the uprisings that started in Tunisia and Egypt reaching Syria, thousands have been killed and tens of thousands have been arrested and disappeared in the country. Leila Nachawati Rego takes a look at how citizen media has helped offer an alternative to state-controlled narrative.

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Syria: Damascus “Suicide Attack” and State TV Fabrications

Written by Leila Nachawati Rego · Middle East & North Africa

As massive demonstrations take place all over the country demanding the end of Syrian president Bashar Al Assad's regime, Syrian state TV reported a suicide bombing in the Midan neighborhood of Damascus on Friday, January 6. Videos circulated online show clear evidence of fabrication, writes Leila Nachawati Rego.

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MENA: 2011, a Year of Struggle and Triumphs for Bloggers

Written by Jillian C. York · Middle East & North Africa

With all of the social media successes throughout the Middle East and North Africa in 2011, it would be all too easy to overlook the struggles faced by bloggers and netizens throughout the region. But with 126 netizens imprisoned, it would be a travesty.

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Costa Rica: Carmen Naranjo, Writer and Politician, Dies

Written by Oscar Howell · Latin America

Carmen Naranjo died on January 4, 2012. In her political and cultural work Naranjo fought for the equality of women and the spreading of knowledge to the wider public. She was a key author that helped change the direction of Costa Rican literature to reflect the realities on an emergent urban society with new rules and views of the future.

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Updates from 7 January 2012

Russia

Bolot of eYakutia writes about and posts a selection of photos and video of the Yakutian ethno-rock band “103″ (their Facebook page [ru] is here).

• Veronica Khokhlova

Russia

Yakutian photographer Evgenia Arbugaeva's photos of the Russian Arctic seaport of Tiksi, located in Yakutia in the area of the Lena Delta - at eYakutia.

• Veronica Khokhlova

Pakistan

Mureed Bijenjo provides a critical comment on the recently announced Pakistan Blog Awards 2011.

• Rezwan

Poland

Polandian writes about the so-called “Safe House” near Warsaw, Poland. On Cold United, Bolot of eYakutiaposts a video tutorial on how to build an igloo.

• Veronica Khokhlova

Nepal

Pradeep Kumar Singh reports that Last Friday a loud explosion rocked the New Road, at the heart of Kathmandu City in Nepal. There had been conflicting reports about whether it was a bomb or a fire cracker. There were no casualties reported.

• Rezwan

Ukraine

101 Reasons to Love Kiev, from The Ukrainian Penguin. Here's #101 on this list: “Although they often complain, Ukrainians really love it when you remind them of all the reasons to love this place. […]”

• Veronica Khokhlova

Bulgaria

East of Center writes about “Eastern Europe’s ‘obsession with normality'” and suggests this New Year’s resolution: “In the true spirit of Václav Havel, why don’t we get abnormal for a change?”

• Veronica Khokhlova

Malawi

Moving Windmills is a documentary that tells the true story of William Kamkwamba, a young innovator from Malawi, Africa who taught himself to generate electricity by building a windmill from found materials and scrap parts.

• Ndesanjo Macha

Media & Journalism

R.I.P. Samuel Kiendrebeogo: “The African media community lost a central voice this week with the passing of Samuel Kiendrebeogo, the veteran host of weekly media magazine Médias d'Afrique et D'Ailleurs on Voice of America's French service. Sam, as he was known, died while vacationing in his native Burkina Faso. He was 63.”

• Ndesanjo Macha

Technology & Internet

Joan Tilouine of Africa Tech, on the blog.slateafrique.com blog.slateafrique.com comments [fr] upon the researches made by african internet users during 2011: ‘the most researched term on Google was ”Facebook”. The Social Network, is expanding on the continent, which counts already 32 million users, that is 27% of african internet users. This is a record compared to Asia, where 18% of internet users are logged on Facebook'.

• Abdoulaye Bah