· July, 2012

Below are posts about citizen media in English. Don't miss Global Voices, where Global Voices posts are translated into English! Read about our Lingua project to learn more about how Global Voices content is being translated into other languages.

Stories about English from July, 2012

Costa Rica: Video Love Note Gets Vice-Minister Dismissed

  31 July 2012

The Costa Rican Vice-Minister of Youth Karina Bolaños was removed from her post by the Costa Rican President Laura Chinchilla after a video showing an underwear clad vice minister sending a love note to a lover was made public and spread through the web.  Reactions to this news are quite varied: from censure to the Vice-Minister for making a video and not taking care to erase it, to rejection of all those who continued to spread the video and finally, repudiation to the President for removing the vice-minister from her post as  if she were not the victim of this whole affair.

Guyana: Olympic Dreams

  31 July 2012

Guyana-Gyal explains how the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in London “remind[ed] [her] to stay true to [her] dreams, no matter how mad they might sound to them people here.”

Guyana: Linden Protests

  31 July 2012

Imran Khan explores the roots of the Linden Protests and concludes that the recent electricity rate hike is merely the latest in a long series of “economic and social hardships” meted out to the citizen of that mining community.

St. Lucia: The Power of Words

  31 July 2012

David Cave writes a tribute to his mentor, the Saint Lucia poet Kendel Hippolyte: “Indeed, Kendel showed me first hand that there is real power in words.  Words evoke emotions, conjure images, analyse, interrogate, bring back memories, experiences and transport and even return a student to his mentor and friend.”

China: Bizarre Power Triangle – Sina, the Government and Netizens

  31 July 2012

Ever since the advent of Internet in China, the Chinese government has either tried to embrace it or control it. The upsurge of social media in the country has introduced two other characters into the story-Chinese netizens and leading Internet company Sina. Find out more about this often bizarre power triangle.

Tanzania: Newspaper Shut Down by Government

  31 July 2012

On 30 July, the government of Tanzania banned indefinitely a popular weekly investigative newspaper called Mwanahalisi. Tanzanians received the news with great astonishment, although the same newspaper was previously banned for three months in 2008.

Guatemala: Mining Community Organizes Peoples’ Health Tribunal

  31 July 2012

For years, the community of San Miguel Ixtahuacán in Guatemala has been denouncing the negative consequences of Goldcorp's Marlin gold mine. On July 14 and 15, members of the community joined other international organizations to form a 'Peoples' International Health Tribunal.' In the first post in this two-part series, we introduce the Health Tribunal and also highlight the local efforts of the San Miguel Ixtahuacán community .

Wales: Imagining the Welsh Language Web

  31 July 2012

For the 600,000 speakers of Welsh the Internet represents a galaxy of new opportunities to use and see their language. But what exactly is 'y we Gymraeg' - the 'Welsh language web' - and how can it benefit the language's speakers?

Philippines: New Mining Policy Stirs Debate

  31 July 2012

Philippine President Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino's new Executive Order 79 on mining has drawn criticism from environmentalists, church people, peasant groups, and various other sectors. The Philippines has one of the largest mineral deposits in the world

Ethiopia: Messages of Solidarity from Christians for Muslims

  31 July 2012

Messages of unity from Ethiopian Christians have gone viral in the Ethiopian digital public as Ethiopian Muslims persistently kept their peaceful protest in a bid to end government’s meddling in their religious affairs. A multitude of Christians have changed their Facebook status by announcing their allegiance with Ethiopian Muslims.

Pakistan: The business Of Ramadan

  30 July 2012

Samra Muslim at Pak Tea House writes that the month of Ramadan is not important for religious reasons but it is the month of business all around creating a lot of commotion in the economy of Pakistan.

Russia: Nepofigism, Free Crowdsourced Legal Consultation

The Russian online group "Nepofigism" offers a free legal consulting service. The project's creators designate no particular direction for the consulting. Their aim is to offer real help to people with any type of problem. The site is a space for professionals and ordinary Internet users with various legal and everyday problems.

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