Stories from 27 September 2011
Arab World: Nobel Peace Prize for Revolution Netizens?
Twitter is abuzz tonight as the names of Arab netizens are being circulated as possible candidates for the Nobel Peace Prize for the roles they have played in the Arab revolutions. The names of Global Voices Online very own Lina Ben Mhenni, Wael Ghonim and Esraa Abdelfattah are being mentioned.
Russia: A New Online Game Might Change Offline Moscow
A graduate of Strelka Institute Andrey Goncharov gave an interview about his final project an online game “Crowdsourced Moscow 2012″. According to the interview the game can contibute to real democracy and allow people to participate in reshaping the offline public space of their city through online.
Russia: Pro-Kremlin Youth Movement Leader Seeks New Internet ‘Activists’
A journalist from “Afisha” magazine had succeded to attend a secret meeting in the underground Moscow bunker dedicated to the training of a new generation of pro-Kremlin Internet activists organized by a leader of “Nashi” youth movement Vasiliy Yakemenko. Yakemenko demanded from pariticipants to initiate citizen Internet-based campaigns and argued that the main goal...
Caribbean: Bloggers Saddened by Wangari Mathai's Death
Bloggers from Jamaica, Barbados and the Bahamas mourn the death of “The great African (Kenyan) environmentalist…and the first African woman to win the Nobel Prize, Wangari Maathai”.
Trinidad & Tobago: Loving Delicious
TECHTT shares his thoughts on the new Delicious site.
Cuba: More Arrests Post-March
More reports of activists being arrested in the wake of a peaceful protest march that took place this past Saturday.
Jamaica: Golding to Resign?
Jamaica and the World republishes a Wikileaks cable that sullies the image of the government, while Girl With a Purpose reports that “Prime Minister Bruce Golding dropped a bombshell on Jamaicans…announc[ing] his intention to resign as Party Leader of the ruling Jamaica Labour Party (JLP).”
Caribbean: Commonwealth Competition Winners
Caribbean Book Blog has all the details on this year's Commonwealth Short Story Competition winners, with writers from Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago being recognized.
China: Secret Arrest to be Justified by Law Amendment
The Chinese government is in the process of completing an amendment to its Criminal Procedure Law (CPL). The draft, released for public consultation on 30 August, has sparked an intense debate among law professors and lawyers, as it has granted police legal justification for secret arrest and investigation.
Colombia: Bogota's Mayoral Campaign
Mike Ceaser comments on Bogota Mayoral candidate Enrique Peñalosa's decision to “campaign with ex-President Alvaro Uribe.” Mike argues that “by campaigning with the conservative Uribe […] Peñalosa is giving up any chance for the vote of young progressives, altho [sic] few supported him as it is.”
Chile: Students Protest Mayor's Decision
Erwin at The Latin Americanist updates readers on the student movement: “Last week Cristian Labbe, mayor of Providencia, ordered the suspension of the school year and permitted police to remove student protesters who have been residing on local campuses.[…]” Labbe also declared that students who lived outside of Providencia would...
Kenya: Bloggers Pay Tribute to Wangari Maathai
African bloggers are paying tribute to Nobel Peace Laureate Wangari Maathai, a Kenyan environmental and political activist who died on Sunday after a battle with cancer.
New Partnership Between Global Voices and El Colombiano
Global Voices in Spanish has a new agreement with El Colombiano, the leading newspaper of the vigorous city of Medellin, which will allow their readers to access Global Voices content in Spanish through a blog created for this purpose inside the EC-Blogger section of the El Colombiano online version.
Spain: Police “Welcome” 15M Protesters in Paris
The "march of the indignant people" that left from various cities in Spain and France to cross Europe, was welcomed by the police in Paris. One hundred people who were heading to the French Parliament were dragged, sprayed with pepper spray and detained. Chris Moya reports.
Bolivia: Cochabamba Vigil in Protest of Police Repression
A vigil was held in the Bolivian city of Cochabamba in protest of the September 25 police repression of the indigenous march in defense of the TIPNIS. Photo-blogger Stephany Eguino of the blog Pale Angel [es] captured the images of the gathering.
Bolivia: Police Repression is a Violation of Human Rights
Cristina Quisbert of the blog Bolivia Indígena [es] writes about the police repression of the TIPNIS indigenous marchers as a day that “will remain recorded in the history of indigenous communities as a nefarious day in the violation of their human rights.”
Black Scholars Who Make a Specialty of Asian Studies
The Black Tokyo blog writes about the rich history of Asia studies by African-American scholars. “I want to follow the path of Blacks that have made it possible for other Blacks to provide information on Asia, in my case Japan, from an Afro perspective.“