Stories from 4 September 2012
Trinidad & Tobago: 50 Doesn't Add Up
How come the nation never learn to grow as a nation from all its peoples and from its individual talents? And how come the money and the success not giving the happiness we stop longing for? Matters Arising republishes a letter from a friend, commenting on the state of the...
Jamaica: For Every Child, a Laptop
Active Voice reports that the “One Laptop per Child” project has come to Jamaica.
Pakistan: Crowd-Sourcing Number Of Railway Stations
Owais Mughal at Doodh Patti compiles the updated number of railway stations in Pakistan crowd-sourcing from blog readers. Get the complete list from that post.
India: 2012 Indian Bloggers’ Mindset Survey
Prasant Naidu provides insights from the 2012 Bloggers’ Mindset Survey conducted by 20:20 MSL and Blogathon India. The notable results include phenomena like “conversations have moved from blogs to Twitter” and “Facebook gets the maximum traffic for bloggers”.
Puerto Rico: Photography at the Biennial
The 8th edition of the International Photography Biennial of Puerto Rico [es] will be inaugurated this Thursday September 6, 2012, at the Museum of the Americas, in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico. Twenty nine local and international photographers will be exhibiting their pieces. The digital magazine Revista Cruce comments on the...
Kenya: NationHela Available in Kenya
Wham writes about a new service called NationHela [Hela means money in Swahili]: NationHela is a new, simpler and more convenient international money transfer service that allows you to receive money, from anywhere in the world, straight to your NationHela prepaid Visa card and mobile phone. A prepaid card is...
Russia: Patriarch's Press Secretary Wants LiveJournal to Ban Photoshops of Priests
In an interview [ru] with the Orthodox website Pravmir.Ru, Patriarch Kirill's press secretary, Aleksandr Volkov, complained that LiveJournal users are too often permitted to engage in “school bathroom” humor that derides the clergy. He appears to be responding to blogger Artemii Lebedev's August 31 online contest [ru] for best mock-ups of the...
Mozambique: A Guide to Mozambique
This a guide to Mozambique from Bankelele blog: Language: Portuguese is the official language of communication in Mozambique, and you will have no choice but to learn a bit of it. The average person you meet will speak little English, and probably not fluently. All communication and signage is in...
#OccupyGuyana ‘Inspired’ by Linden Protesters
The #OccupyGuyana movement was launched after the shooting of peaceful protesters in Linden on July 18. Global Voices spoke with activist Sherlina Nageer to learn more about the movement's formation, the reaction it has been getting from the authorities, and its future.
Puerto Rico: “Ragga Muffin Style”
DJ Nature and SPIK Records present the latest musical production of Young Ragga, “Ragga Muffin Style”. In the music blog Puerto Rico Indie, DJ Nature comments [es]: For me it's a very different style compared to what has come out of the reggae scene here on the island – Ragga brings...
Puerto Rico: Bloggers on the Rise
Journalist and blogger Sandra Rodríguez Cotto comments [es] on some of the discussions at the recent Puerto Rico Bloggers Conference.
Cuba: The Census and the Invisible
Blogger and gay rights activist Francisco Rodríguez Cruz offers a critique [es] of the fact that the Cuban Census-which will start next September 15, 2012-will not count same sex partnerships under the category of civil unions.
Civil Service Under Pressure in Francophone Africa
Civil servants in Francophone Africa are coming under increasing pressure to do more with less. The Windhoek Declaration revealed the overdue recognition of the crucial impact of the public administration on growth and redistribution of wealth in Africa. The structural adjustment programmes of the 1980's led to a reduction in the number of civil servants, leading to the current strained situation
Guatemala: “Threatened for Reporting the Truth”
“I denounced the activities of a masked group of vigilantes who were terrorizing the local population at night. It wasn’t the first time I had written about their crimes, but this time I named names.” Anna-Claire Bevan in LatinaLista quotes Guatemalan journalist Lucia Escobar, who was “forced into hiding last...
Russia: Online Platform for Auditing Court Decisions
With the appearance of "RosPravosudie," Russians have gained a comprehensive database of information about lawyers, attorneys, judges, and judicial decisions. Its founder, Gleb Suvorov, recently spoke to Greenhouses of Social Technologies about what can be achieved in just 100 days of online existence and about ways to improve Russia's judicial system.
Cuba: On Euphemisms
Blogger Miriam Celaya offers a critique [es] of Cuban official press and it's coverage of the impact of recent outbreaks of cholera and dengue on the Island.
Madagascar: Electricity Supplier Office Vandalized by Residents over Frequent Outage
L'express de Madagascar reports on twitter [mg] that citizens of Farafangana (SE of Madagascar) got frustrated with the frequency of power outage ( 6h/day) in the city [fr]. Some residents vandalized the local electrical supplier office to express their anger.
Germany: Criticism of ‘Ich Will Europa’ Campaign
Eleven German foundations started the campaign 'Ich Will Europa' (I Want Europe) to advocate for European integration. However, there has been some strong criticism of the campaign on social media.
Yemen: The People of Yemen Photo Project
New York-based Yemeni blogger Summer Nasser reveals a new project of taking photographs of people inside Yemen through contributors, then uploading them to a Facebook page, inspired by the Facebook page Humans of New York .
United States: Radio Marti Features Cuban Porn Star
Miami-based, US government-funded radio station Radio Martí recently aired an interview with adult Cuban film star Angelina Castro. Bloggers on both sides of the Florida Straits reacted to the program.
Global Voices is Finalist for Highway Africa Award
Global Voices Sub-Saharan Africa newsroom has been named a finalist for the Telkom-Highway Africa New Media Awards 2012 rewarding innovative use of information technology in journalism that serves Africa. The winners will be announced at the Highway Africa conference in Grahamstown, South Africa on 9- 11 September.
