Global Voices Podcast 3: Ripple Effects of the Arab Uprisings · Global Voices
Jamillah Knowles

Hello World!
In this edition of the Global Voices Podcast you can hear about the ripple effect of the Arab uprisings, find out what it is to be a digital mentor, and talk through some of the ideas that make up a good code of ethics.
First, a reminder of what happened earlier this year. Tunisia saw a revolution and Egyptian protesters overthrew their dictatorship too.
Global Voices Podcast 3: Ripple Effects of the Arab Uprisings by globalvoices
Sounds from Egypt
One of our authors, Maria Grabowski was in Cairo recently to get a perspective on how people are feeling after months of upheaval. Maria recorded the moving testimony of one protester in Egypt, and she also visited a protest outside the Syrian embassy where people showed support for the protest movement in Syria.
It’s one example of how protest movements cross borders. But how far does does the effect of this movement spread. As this year sees the Arab Spring, has the rest of the continent seen an African Spring?
Africa Rising?
Ndesanjo Macha is our editor for Sub Saharan Africa, he’s from Tanzania and based in Zambia. We talked about how the North African protests may have inspired protests and opposition in Sub-Saharan Africa countries.
Though the themes differ, the resistance appears to have been an inspiration in other parts of the African continent. I spoke with one of our authors, Steve Sharra from Malawi. Though Malawi is not seeing upheaval in the same way, there are repercussions that show a strong connection to the events of the Arab Spring.
Exploring communications in Africa as a theme in the podcast this month, it was apparent that the penetration of digital tools and online access in African countries has grown, but that there is still a lot of work to do.
But there’s good news too!
Global Voices Mentors
Ten of our seasoned Global Voices bloggers and 11 activists are working together virtually as part of a new initiative developed by Global Voices and Activista, the youth network of the international development organization, ActionAid.
I caught up with one of our mentors, Nwachukwu Ebunike in Nigeria who is working with a young Nigerian activist and blogger David Habba. According to Nwachukwu, mentoring is not just about setting a good example and sharing technical skills, it is also about ensuring that the next generation surpasses us in excellence online, and in taking personal inspiration from younger voices.
A code of ethics for citizen journalists
Now, as citizen journalism grows and becomes ever more sophisticated, is it neccesary for authors to abide by a code of ethics? Afef Abrougui is a Global Voices author from Tunisia, and she brought a set of ethics into discussion on our internal mailing list recently. Rezwan is our South Asia Editor, based in Bangladesh. He matched some of Afef's points with a link to a code of ethics from a bloggers group in Nepal.
I asked them both to join me in a discussion about ethical codes online and if they are required or even possible on a global scale.
Thanks for listening!
That’s all for this edition of the Global Voices podcast, but we’ll be back with more for you to listen to soon. Please feel free to leave us a comment or suggestion for next time.
Music credits
In the podcast you can hear lots of lovely Creative Commons music. If you want to find out more about these artists here are the links for you.
Thanks to Orb Gettarr for the atmospheric Return of the Atlanteans Lemurian Candidate, to Mark Cotton for his Spiritualized Homage, to Superbus feat. NS for Fujjad! Most of the music was found via OpSound.Org, The Free Music Archive or direct from the artists. Thanks also to all of the wonderful voice over performances and clips that help to glue the podcast together.
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