Global Voices · Citizen media stories from 2012 November 14

14 November 2012

Daily archive · 7 posts

Stories from 14 November 2012

Lurkmore or Lurkless? The Russian Internet Blacklist In Action

Written by Andrey Tselikov · Eastern & Central Europe

A new Russian law that threatens Internet censorship came into effect on November 1. This week, netizen outrage followed the blocking of one particularly popular website by Russian ISPs. The site in question was Lurkmore, a Wikipedia-like compendium of articles on Internet culture and memes, written in an irreverent style with heavy use of Internet jargon.

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Latin American Youth Against Corruption

Written by Silvia Vinas · Translated by Silvia Viñas · Latin America

Andrea Arzaba shares a video where she interviews Latin American youth leading projects in favor of transparency and accountability. These young leaders participated in the Third Global Voices Against Corruption Forum, organized by the Global Youth Anti-Corruption Network (GYAC) in Brasilia, Brazil on November 5 and 6.

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Bridge Blog for Afghanistan and Pakistan: ‘Understanding the Neighbor’

Written by Qurratulain Zaman · South Asia

In a fellowship program 22 journalists from Afghanistan and Pakistan gathered together twice, once in Islamabad and once in Kabul to understand each others, share value and make cultural exchanges. The documented their experiences in a blog titled ‘Understanding the neighbor' and are ready to challenge the decades old established narratives about their neighbors.

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Cairo's Metro Strike a Success

Written by Amira Al Hussaini · Middle East & North Africa

The metro is back in Egypt - after a four hour strike. Train services, which ferry up to 2 million people across Cairo daily, came to a standstill as drivers stopped work in protest against the chairperson of the metro board of directors, who is being accused of corruption. On Twitter, netizens cheered the strike.

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Freedamn is Just Another Word With Chinese Characteristics

Written by Oiwan Lam · East Asia

A list of “English terms” has been circulating in Chinese social media in the past few days. The intentional mis-spelling of the English terms are used as satires to describe the political culture in China.

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New Hard Times for Russian Journalism

Written by Kevin Rothrock · Eastern & Central Europe

This week, one of the RuNet's biggest bloggers, Rustem Adagamov, posted a letter from Yevgenia Albats, the chief editor of The New Times, one of Russia's most prominent weekly magazines. In her letter, Albats announced a new subscriptions initiative, the fate of which will decide the journal's future, and set an important precedent for political journalism in Russia.

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Lenin in Tajikistan: ‘Better Hitler’ or ‘Real Hero'?

Written by Alexander Sodiqov · Central Asia & Caucasus

Since independence, Tajikistan's authorities have taken down almost all Soviet-erected statues of Vladimir Lenin across the country. The removal of these monuments is quite controversial in Tajikistan, where some bloggers call Lenin a 'better Hitler' while others consider him a 'real hero'.

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Quick Reads from 14 November 2012

Zambia's Gossip Girl

Do you know who Zambia's gossip girl is? Read Neelika's post on Africa is a Country blog:

We’ve grown to love serious reportage coupled with compromising photographs and cheeky headlines, such as “Kambwili grabs Roan golf club, turns it into grazing field for his cows,” replete with a stock image of the enormously pot-bellied Sports Minister Chishimba Kambwili, and a story supplied by ‘concerned citizens’ detailing how he appropriated the Luanshya-based Roan Antelope club to feed his crew of cows and goats.

Ndesanjo Macha

Kenyan Elections 2013: What Has Changed since 2007

Mzalendo looks at Kenyan elections 2012:

Though Kenya has recovered somewhat since the 2007/2008 post election violence. Somewhat because there are still several internally displaced persons. The economy though better than in the aftermath of the 2008 election is still in a slump. Ethnic tensions are still high as evidenced by violence parts of Coast, North Eastern, and Nyanza, and though we have a new constitution there have been several attempts by parliament to water down the provisions.

Ndesanjo Macha

Call For De-weaponization of Karachi

Journeys To Democracy reports that some Pakistani activists have sent out a petition for peace and de-weaponization of Karachi city to the Chief Justice of Pakistan. The brutal violence, armed robberies, kidnapping and extortion in this Pakistani port city have claimed lives of around 8000 people in past four years.

Rezwan

Jordanians Want to Overthrow the Regime

On YouTube, ThePrbj shares this video of a protest in Amman, Jordan, last night, in which protesters are chanting: “The people want the downfall of the regime.”

Amira Al Hussaini

Is Expired Tear-Gas being used Against Protesters in Jordan?

@_AHA shares a photograph of what he describes as an expired tear-gas canister used against protesters in Jordan

Protests continue across Jordan for the second night, after a hike in fuel prices. Jordanian Ali posts a photograph of what he describes as an expired teargas canister used against the protesters.
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Amira Al Hussaini

Israel and Alqassam Brigades Exchange Threats on Twitter

Israel and Alqassam Bridages exchange threats on Twitter. Screenshot shared by @AlexYudelson

Alex Yudelson shares a screenshot of tweets in which the account of the Israeli Defense Forces spokesperson and Palestinian Alqassam Brigades exchange threats – on Twitter.

Amira Al Hussaini

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