· October, 2007

Stories about Weblog from October, 2007

Japan: Bloggers respond to kidnapping in Iran

  17 October 2007

Earlier last week, the first report was made that a Japanese male was kidnapped and in captivity in Iran. Later it was revealed that the abductee is a Japanese university student who was backpacking in southern Iran. The news has reminded many of the previous cases in which Japanese individuals...

Americas: The Kick Off for World Cup Qualifiers

  17 October 2007

The road to the World Cup South Africa 2010 began this past weekend in South America. The Global Voices Latin American team joined forces to bring you reactions from across the continent as some teams marked surprising victories, while others felt the sour taste of defeat.

Nata Blog: A Blog From An African Village

  17 October 2007

One of the success stories of the power and reach of citizen media in Africa is definitely The Nata Village Blog. It is a blog from Nata village in Botswana.Nata is a village of about 5000 people located on the edge of the Makgadikgadi Pans, the largest salt pan in the world. The blog is a tool in the fight against the devastating effects of HIV/AIDS in Nata village.

Colombia: Uribe vs. Supreme Court

  16 October 2007

Colombian President Álvaro Uribe is facing an investigation by the country's Supreme Court following accusations that he ordered the killing of a paramilitary warlord sparking a controversy between the head of state and the top judicial court. Colombian bloggers react to public opinions and the way that Uribe is publicly handling the allegations. The Colombian media is the target of attention from the blogosphere.

Sudan: When Death Becomes Normal

  16 October 2007

For most of us, witnessing someone’s death can be a traumatizing experience. However, when you’ve been surrounded by it for a long period of time, it’s just “one of those days” and no big deal. This is what SudaneseReturnee discovered after spending years abroad in Europe and upon returning to Juba, Southern Sudan, a place that witnessed two decades of bloody war.

China: Gamer flag controversy

  16 October 2007

Liu You-chen, a Taiwanese E-sport player, suddenly displayed a Republic of China flag while he accepted a bronze medal at the award ceremony of World Cyber Games (WCG) 2007, which took place in Seattle USA. The actions immediately infuriated the players like Sha Junchun (aka PJ) and Li Xiaofeng (aka...

China: Tough blogging the Communist Congress

  16 October 2007

The largest of many white elephants in China's blogsphere, bloggers for whom the Seventeenth National Communist Party Congress is too good to pass up on, in absence of text-based information regarding what's going on inside, have instead made a mashup using limited television coverage, MSN Messenger, humor and more.

Korea: Pressroom and Freedom of Media

  16 October 2007

On the 12th of October, the South Korean government announced that they would close the pressroom as they announced before. Journalists have been strongly against it and international media have conveyed this news as concern about the freedom of media in Korea. How have netizens reacted it? Not a few...

Blog Action Day: Voices out of Africa and the Diaspora

  16 October 2007

Today many bloggers around the world united to write about one single theme, the environment. The blogs from Africa and Diaspora that participated did so with much variety in style and content. What follows are links and tidbits from Kenya, South Africa, Nigeria and other global citizens. Kenya Afrigadget posts...

Philippines: ‘Desperate Housewives’ Uproar Continues

  15 October 2007

Tonyo looks at the continuing uproar among the Filipinos over the American TV drama Desperate Housewives. The featured blogs are responding to the suggestion the protests against a racist remark by one of the character in the TV drama are “going overboard”

Celebrating festivals, feasting and donating smiles

  15 October 2007

Last Saturday Muslims all over the world celebrated Eid ul-Fitr that marks the end of Ramadan. Abul Kalam Azad a Chennai blogger shares his experiences. His children eagerly distributing festival sweets to friends and neighbours, His youngest daughter preparing a project detailing Ramadan with her non-muslim friend's help. Azad ponders...

Meet Maggid Mjengwa – Tanzania's Photoblogger

  15 October 2007

Today, we are introducing you to Maggid Mjengwa. Maggid is one of the leading photobloggers from Tanzania who has been trying to combine blogging, photography and political activism. Apart from being a very active blogger, Maggid is also a well-known columnist for a Swahili weekly in Tanzania, RAI. He shares his time with us to talk about his love for writing and how he got involved with electronic media.

Egypt: Additive and Subtractive Thinking

  15 October 2007

Additive and subtractive thinking is the topic of today's translation from Arabic by Tarek Amr. Do we pick and choose the values we like from ideologies or do we simply 'subtract' them from our consciousness because there are aspects in them we don't agree with?

Special Coverage: Burmese protests 2007

  15 October 2007

Recent protests in Myanmar simply would not have been as big a story if there weren't brave people on the inside (and outside) willing to risk everything to spread news, photos and videos via the internet. Read all about it on Global Voices' Special Coverage page.

El Salvador: Bloggers and Journalists

  15 October 2007

The intersection points of blogging and journalism are many and varied in El Salvador. Journalists are bloggers. Bloggers write about journalists and vice versa. Although El Salvador is a country where most people can't spend significant amounts of time online, the ever-growing number of bloggers in El Salvador is starting to influence public debate.