3 May 2010

Stories from 3 May 2010

Saudi Arabia: Covering the Rain

Saudi Arabia's citizen media community pulled all the stops to cover torrential rains which struck Riyadh today. Scores of videos, hundreds of photographs and thousands of tweets are being exchanged at the time of writing this article. Here's a quick snap shot.

Puerto Rico: The Art World Finds a Space

  3 May 2010

In Puerto Rico, the art blogs have become vital spaces of discussion, debate, deliberation, critique and information. They have obtained what other virtual entrepreneurs anxiously desire: to convert their spaces into necessary references and centers of a type of information that you simply can't find in any other place.

Nigeria: An American woman begging in Nigeria?

  3 May 2010

Africa is a Country comments on the video showing an American woman begging in a market iin Lagos, Nigeria: “If this is meant to be satire, it seems to me to fall particularly flat. It doesn’t help that the video was, as far as I can tell, posted without context...

Niger: Niger back in the news?

  3 May 2010

Is Niger back in the news because of reports of famine? Not really: “Niger isn’t in the headlines. It’s barely ever been in the headlines. It got a couple of weeks of coverage in mid-2005, courtesy of a BBC camera crew who visited an MSF feeding centre in the east...

Technology for Transparency: The South Asian Story

  3 May 2010

Democracy is still relatively young in South Asia, and not always stable. While politicians in the region are eager to integrate technology into their policy platforms, they are less enthusiastic about its use by activists who want more transparency and accountable governments.

Trinidad & Tobago: You Know Who

  3 May 2010

KnowTnT.com‘s Edmund Gall compares Calder Hart's expected return to Trinidad today “to be formally charged with perjury” (which is apparently accompanied by an “ex parte gag order”) to J.K. Rowling's reference to the evil Voldemort “as ‘He Who Must Not Be Named'…”

Barbados, Haiti: U.S. Oil Spill

  3 May 2010

Barbados Free Press and HAITI, Land of Freedom blog about the explosion of the bp oil rig which “is spewing 5000 barrels of oil a day into the already-not-pristine waters of the Caribbean.”

Bahamas: Entitled

  3 May 2010

“In the days of my parents and grandparents…there was never any expectation on their part of someone else or a government to supply their needs”: Weblog Bahamas‘ Sidney Sweeting calls this the “Age of Entitlement”.

Jamaica: Red

  3 May 2010

“The term ‘red'…has had a long and dishonorable reputation in the Americas”: Jamaican litblogger Geoffrey Philp seeks to change this through a poem in which “the speaker…turns away from the extremes of racial conflict and embraces his ‘red'ness.”

An Egyptian lynched in Lebanon

Mohamed Mossallam, an Egyptian accused of murdering an elderly couple and their two grandchildren as well as raping a 15-year-old girl, has been lynched by the people of the Lebanese village Katramaya. Bloggers react to the news after videos and photos of the lynching were posted online.

Guyana: Articulate Voice

  3 May 2010

Signifyin’ Guyana blogs about Guyanese writer Grace Nichols and her poetic tongue, saying that in her work, she “continues to produce articulate speakers who tell the stories of women’s lives…”

Japan:Blogging about illness

  3 May 2010

High school student Piiko blogs [ja] about her illness (cerebrospinal fluid hypovolemia) and how she deals with symptoms such as chronic headache in her daily life.

Algérie Télécom: The only choice?

Algérie Télécom, the main operator of Internet services in Algeria, is notorious amongst bloggers for its poor service and frequent disruptions. In this post, Katharine Ganly translates the frustrations of a young blogger, Houda, from Sidi Bel Abbès.

Hong Kong: 5 District Referendum Movement

  3 May 2010

In order to advocate the implementation of universal suffrage and abolition of functional constituencies in Hong Kong, the Civic Party (CP) and the League of Social Democrats (LSD) launched the 5 district referendum movement through the resignation of 5 legislators in 5 election districts. Candidates from the 2 parties will...