Global Voices Digest

Nepal: Roar against Internet Shutdown

What’s a blogger without internet access? Clearly not a happy individual. When the Internet Service Providers Association in Nepal, protesting the beating of a hotelier, decided to shut off internet access in the country for two hours each day, they learned what it was like to be on the business end of a wrathful blogger’s keyboard. Ujjwal Acharya reports.

Bahrain: Storms and D-cups

Two storms are making their way through the Bahraini blogosphere: one quite literal, the other with, shall we say, more figure. Two bloggers record their experiences of a sudden Thursday night dust storm. Ayesha Saldanha and company then fill us in on a debate over whether or not the American restaurant chain Hooters should be making its way to the Middle East.

Small taste of Chilean writers and poetry part I

“Chile is well known as a country of poets,” notes Rosario Lizana, “including Nobel Prize Winners Gabriela Mistral, the first Latin American to win the Nobel Prize for Literature (1945) and Pablo Neruda, one of the most influential poets of the 20th century (1971).” But as tomorrow’s aspiring poets and novelists take to the internet today, are we witnessing a rise of Lit 2.0?

DRC: Violence, Bloggers Trapped and Sleeping on Floor, Soldiers Looting

“Bloggers in the Democratic Republic of Congo have been providing first-hand accounts of clashes” in the capital city, writes Ndesanjo Macha following Thursday night’s flare-up between goverment soldiers and troops loyal to Jean-Pierre Bemba, a former warlord turned senator and leader of Movement for the Liberation of Congo.

Prosperous Armenia party everywhere!!!

While Armenia gets ready for this year’s parliamentary elections, Artur Papyan fills us in on what’s behind the writing on the wall. Also: 15 years after the fall of the Soviet Union, how has democratic capitalism treated Armenia?

Kuwait: Are Bloggers Such a Threat?

Find out why The Diwaniya, a popular talk show hosted by political analyst Dr. Shafeeq Ghabra and aired on the government-run Kuwait Television Channel One, was taken off air without warning after an episode featuring several Kuwaiti bloggers and Bahraini blogger, Mahmood Al Yousif.

Bachelor Degree for President and the MP’s Laptop

The People’s Representative Council of Indonesia is considering an amendment to the constitution which would require at least a bachelor’s degree as eligibility to be considered for presidential candidacy. As it so happens, this would disqualify former president and would-be presidential candidate, Megawati Sukarnoputri. Also, free computers for MP’s: good investment or taking money from the people?

Kuwait: A Week Goes by

From the changing dynamics of Middle East business to social segregation at Kuwait University, from a bookstore that just couldn’t make it any longer to the country’s newest shopping mall, Abdullatif Alomar’s latest dispatch from Kuwait City has a bit of everything.

Syrian Blogsphere on Culture: Old Damascus Campaign, Norouz Day and “Tleebeh”

Once again, we find a community of bloggers hoping to rescue history from the bulldozers of “progress.” This time Syrian bloggers speak out against plans by Damascus’ city council to build over two historic bazaars. Also, reflections on “Tleebeh”, the traditional way for a suitor (accompanied by his entourage) to ask for his love’s hand in marriage.

Roundups

Malawians turn to blogging, development of Choor Dhar Hills in India, potential uses for Twitter in Africa, and much more can be found in today’s Global Roundups.