15 November 2011

Stories from 15 November 2011

Slovenia: Photography Under Legal Attack

  15 November 2011

Stefan Geens of Dliberation discusses how photography is under legal attack in Slovenia, since the country's information commissioner has decided that all faces in published panoramic photography should be blurred out – a decision with great consequences for the Slovenian photo scene.

Eurozone Crisis: Where Will the Economy Go?

  15 November 2011

Economists would be hard pressed to forecast the future of Europe's bailouts and the consequences of the current financial crisis. While opinions differ, reactions abound online to try to make sense of what future awaits the Eurozone.

Cuba: “Antunez'” Wife Tries To Reach Hospital

  15 November 2011

Pedazos de La Isla reports that “Yris Tamara Aguilera [wife of the dissident ‘Antunez’] was victim of a brutal beat down at the hands of the Cuban political police” and is in need of medical attention which may prove impossible thanks to the fact that “the dissident couple has their...

Trinidad & Tobago: You're No Batman

  15 November 2011

Outlish says that Ian Alleyne (the TV host suspended for airing footage of a child being sexually assaulted) “thinks he's Batman” but that “his story has more parallels with Booster Gold’s”, explaining: “Any champion for the people, super hero or non-super hero, can never let his cause be about him....

Cuba: Illegal Internet Access

  15 November 2011

Two diaspora bloggers address Cuba's accusations that the United States helped finance “the creation of illegal television and Internet networks that have allowed some Cubans to bypass state-run services” – Uncommon Sense says: “Let's hope so…because limiting access is just another way the dictatorship exercises its control of the population”,...

Puerto Rico: Homicide Rate

  15 November 2011

“Unfortunately, this year Puerto Rico is going to establish a new record for the number of murders”: Dondequiera says that “it will take decades to reverse these trends, and any political candidate that says any different is lying.”

Barbados: Contemporary Caribbean Art

  15 November 2011

Regional bloggers are excited about Barbadian artist Sheena Rose's latest work, here, here and here, with A Girl Named Natalie saying: “The clean, monochromatic lines, sparing use of colour, and subject matter that encompass Sheena’s current style in this exhibition is the epitome of what contemporary Caribbean art is about.”

UAE: Detained Activists Begin Hunger Strike

  15 November 2011

Five activists held in the UAE since April and currently standing trial for publishing material online, using aliases, have started an open-ended hunger strike to draw attention to their plight and the abuse they are receiving in prison. Mona Kareem checks out netizens' reactions to their cause.

North Korea: Did Gaddafi's Execution Scare Kim Jong-il?

  15 November 2011

Joo Sung-ha is a North Korean defector-turned-journalist who also blogs. This post is his critique of numerous news reports suggesting Kim Jong-il, North Korean dictator was scared to hear of his fellow dictator, and rumoured friend, Gaddafi's fall.

Nicaragua: Opposition Youth Affected by Hacktivism

  15 November 2011

In The Nicaragua Dispatch, Tim Rogerts reports that opposition youth “have discovered that trying to organize protests using social media networks such as Facebook […] can be harmful to one’s health in Nicaragua. ‘They are monitoring our Facebook and Twitter accounts, and they’ve hacked our accounts and our emails,’ says...

“Twitteristan”, a Country Where Everyone Talks but Few Listen

  15 November 2011

Peruvian Global Voices author and translator Gabriela García Calderón writes in her blog [es] about “Twitteristan”, describing Twitter as if it were a country and arguing that the strangest thing about this “country” is that you have to limit your messages to 140 characters: “I say that in Twitteristan people...

Ethiopia: Terrorists of Ethiopia Unite!

  15 November 2011

"Terrorists of Ethiopia Unite!," wrote one Ethiopian netizen following the latest terrorism charges against 24 Ethiopians, including senior opposition politicians and an outspoken online journalist. The charges have received condemnation from Ethiopian bloggers, Facebook users and Tweeps.

Malawi: Meet Global Voices Author Steve Sharra

  15 November 2011

Linda Annan talks to Malawian Global Voices Author Steve Sharra. Sharra is a blogger, freelance journalist, lecturer and educational editor. In this interview, Steve Sharra talks about the Malawian social media space, his professional background and his interest in education, teaching and writing.

Europe: What Facebook Knows About You

  15 November 2011

Max Schrems, a 24 year-old law student in Austria, requested all the data Facebook holds on him, and eventually received a CD with more than 1,200 pages, including private messages he had deleted. Max has now filed a data protection complaint in Ireland – where Facebook's European subsidiary is based...

Sri Lanka: Perils Of Promising Jobs

  15 November 2011

Serendipity is concerned that the Sri Lankan government is unable to create the promised jobs for graduates and the blogger asks “whose responsibility is it to provide jobs for all unemployed Graduates?”