Stories about Feature from November, 2007
China: Democrat claims he was forced out of election
It's election season in China again, and so far that means at least one accusation of vote-fixing against independent candidates; this time it's a retired professor in eastern China's Shandong province who sought to run on the populist vote.
Russia: Bloggers Expose a Pharmaceutical Scam
Thousands of Russian bloggers have united to combat a pharmaceutical scam that tried to persuade Russian pensioners to spend around half of their annual pension on a course of 'anti-arthritis' drugs that were actually little more than vitamin pills. In the course of their campaign, bloggers have not only publicised the scam nationwide, they've forced the notoriously unresponsive Russian government to act.
Venezuela: Why Don't You Shut Up?
It took no time at all for five words said by the King of Spain to Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez at a summit in Chile to become slogans for the opposition, the subject of parodies, and even ringtones for one's cell phone. "Por que no te callas?" or "Why don't you shut up?" continues to be written about in the press and especially in blogs on both sides of the Atlantic by those that agreed or disagreed whether the King was correct in his language and tone.
Access Denied Map: Mapping Web 2.0 Censorship
In order to shed light on the battle being waged between state censorship and anti-censorship groups, I’ve created the Access Denied Map, an interactive Google Maps mashup that provides information about the censorship efforts targeting various online social networking communities and web-based applications. Each marker on the map highlights the situation in a specific country that is barring access to major websites. Clicking on the marker opens an information window containing text, images or video describing the nature of censorship and the efforts to combat it.
Syria: Foreign Policy
Which international and regional powers (Turkey, Iran, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the Untied States, Russia, France) should Syria try to have good relations with. Should Syria be more involved or more hands off in its surrounding region's many conflicts? Yazan Badran sums up the Syrian blogosphere's reactions to this question posted on Creative Syria's Blogger Forum.
Global Voices Special Coverage on Pakistan Emergency
In light of the state of emergency declared in Pakistan on November 3, 2007, we've set up a Special Coverage Page where we shall be aggregating our own coverage of the events plus regular updates from selected English-language blogs and other relevant information. Please view our Pakistan Emergency 2007 Special Coverage Page here.
Colombia: Local Elections and Uribe's Influence
Colombia recently held local elections, which were marked by campaign violence. They were also characterized by the influence by current president Álvaro Uribe, who still enjoys considerable popularity around the country. However, Colombian bloggers select their winners and losers beyond the vote counts.
Pakistan: Emergency Declared – No News, No Internet.
President Musharraf has declared a state of emergency in Pakistan. According to news sources, among other things this means “The Fundamental Rights of the citizens are now suspended. All the...
Chad: French NGO Adoption Scandal
Six French NGO workers are facing prosecution after Chadian authorities thwarted a plan to "rescue" 103 children from the Chadian-Sudanese border from “certain death” by adopting them to France. French-Cameroonian blogger Le blog du Presi writes about the Zoe's Arc scandal, celebrity adoption, and a love that chokes, whatever its good intentions.
Rising Voices Seeks Micro-Grant Proposals for Blog Outreach
Rising Voices, the outreach arm of Global Voices, is now accepting project proposals for the second round of microgrant funding of up to $5,000 for citizen media outreach projects. Application Deadline: November 30, 2007.