Global Voices Digest for May 16th, 2008
Brazil: The prohibited march that keeps marching
This year’s edition of the Marijuana March was prohibited by courts in 9 capital cities across the country due to allegations of illegal promotion of drug use. The theme provoked responses by many local bloggers, and the reactions to the prohibition keep echoing around the Brazilian web.
Korean internet site attacked by Chinese hackers
The biggest auction site in Korea, “Auction,” was involved in a hacker attack in February and lost the personal information of at least 11 million customers. Recently, the hackers were found to be Chinese. In addition, Koreans are related to this crime. The fact that the personal information is used by Chinese netizens in China at present shocks Korean netizens and they question how they have to deal with this problem.
Iran: “The Internet is a gift to us”
Arsham Parsi is the founder and director of the Iranian Queer Organization based in Toronto, Canada. He talked to us about the presence of Iranian homosexuals in cyberspace, their challenges and projects. Homosexuality is banned in Iran, and punishable by prison or death.
Myanmar: Citizen videos in Cyclone Nargis’ aftermath
Despite restrictions on journalists imposed by the Burmese junta who govern the country, people have been going out and recording what is really happening to the victims of this natural disaster. On May 2nd, 2008, Cyclone Nargis struck Myanmar (Burma), generating massive damage and tens of thousands dead or missing.
Blog for Palestine Day
Blogger za3tar has organized Blog About Palestine Day for today, May 15, the anniversary of the Nakba and Israel’s 60th anniversary celebrations. Bloggers around the world were invited to blog for Palestine, as noted by Global Voices here. Many bloggers chose to participate in the event; here is a selection.
Kuwait: Zero Hour for Elections
Kuwait is all set for its National Assembly elections on Saturday (May 17). A total of 246 male candidates and 27 female candidates are running for 50 seats in the hotly contested elections. Abdullatif AlOmar brings us a selection of posts on the elections and other matters from the Kuwaiti blogosphere.
Egypt: Torture for Bloggers and Activists
Egyptian bloggers, cyberactivists and activists on the ground continue to pay the price for speaking up against the rising cost of living and calling for higher wages and a better life. What started as a call for a strike on April 6, quickly spiralled out of control, with a face off between rioters, protesters and the police. Here’s an account of what has happened and is still happening to some of the activists who have used the worldwide web to spread news of what is happening at home.
China: Time to pray
‘Pray for the disaster victims, god bless China’ has been the main motif on many main Chinese blogging websites as the country moves past the hundredth hour of mourning, fund-raising and blood donations. John Kennedy previews the various internet memorial sites.
Today on Rising Voices: Working with photos in your blog
While most of the posts on Rising Voices cover the latest achievements of our grantee projects, we also want to offer readers hands-on tips to make citizen media easier to create in the developing world. As the saying goes, a photo can speak a thousands words. In this post we’ll review some new online tools that make editing images and sharing them online easy and fun.
Today on Voices Without Votes: Global: Obama An Apostate?
On May 12, the New York Times published an op-ed by one Edward N. Luttwak from Chevy Chase, Maryland entitled “President Apostate?” Luttwak’s op-ed piece details Obama’s relationship with Islam (his father, born Muslim, renounced the religion, and Obama became a Christian early in life) and the effects that it could have on global politics and the United States’ relations with predominantly Muslim countries.
Roundups
Get the blog buzz from the world over in the Global Roundups, where today you can find concerns over a possible rice shortage in the Bahamas, less gender-separate parks more recycling places in Iran, graffiti in Tokyo, and much much more!