Global Voices

English

The world is talking, are you listening?

Catherine D'Ignazio attends the first hackathon ever held at the White House and writes about it on MIT Center for Civic Media.

Adouma Alghoubas writes about the life of nomads in the desert of Niger [fr] :

Nomadic people do not have the technological means at their disposal to get their bearings, but what they do have is knowledge of astronomy, inherited from their ancestors. They navigate their way as they travel by looking at the stars. At first nightfall, it is the Pleiades constellation (“the ladies of the night” in Tamajeq) and Orion ( “the guide” in Tamajeq) that shows them the way East. Then, it is Venus (tezzug wulli aka “goat milking” in Tamajeq) that points them to the West.

On January 23, 2013, an excerpt from the annual report of l'ACAT-France, A World of Torture 2013, makes a fresh assessment of the state of torture in the world [fr]:

“A report called A World of Torture in 2013, assesses torture practices that continue to be alarming, from Pakistan to Italy, by way of South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Australia and Bolivia. From authoritarian regimes to democratic countries, none are exempt from criticism on the topic. In 2013, torture remains as endemic, omnipresent and multi-faceted as ever”.

Nan Chen, a Chinese American working in Nairobi, interviewed some Chinese expats and local Kenyans about China's business culture in Africa (via Tea Leaf Nation):

For Chinese expats, business comes first and politics second. The upcoming Kenyan elections matter only to the extent that they impact business. While among my western colleagues, these elections represent a momentous political situation with human rights implications, the Chinese (though not unconcerned with potential elections violence) find the politics disruptive of business.

Josh from Xinjiang: Far West of China followed a conflict incident took place in Korla, Xinjiang on March 7 in which at least 4 people have been killed, with up to 13 others possibly injured.

In recent months blocking of urls has been much debated in India. Nikhil Pahwa at MediaNama, who is not fond of blocking content on the Internet, suggests how India should approach website blocking.