Global Voices Digest

Paraguay: Following Lugo’s Inauguration on Flickr

Paraguayan president Fernando Lugo started the use of Flickr in January 2008 as a way to document his appearances during the campaign. After being sworn in as the new president of his country on August 15, he continues to use this citizen’s media tool. Nearly 2,500 photos later and all licensed under Creative Commons, Lugo hopes to share his presidency with Paraguayans at home and abroad.

Kazakhstan: Olympic Blogwatch

The Beijing Olympics have moved political debates in the Kazakh blogosphere to the background. Adil Nurmakov brings us the stories that bloggers are discussing.

North Africa: Bringing Home the Medals

In the run up to the 2008 Olympic Games, there was much speculation on how the Middle East and North Africa would fare. Although Turkey is the only Middle Eastern country to medal thus far (in athletics, weightlifting, and Greco-Roman wrestling), North Africa is enjoying great success. So far, Egypt’s Hesham Mesbah and Algeria’s Soraya Haddad and Amar Benikhlef have all medaled in Judo (bronze, bronze, and silver, respectively), Morocco’s Hasna Benhassi took home a bronze in the women’s 800m dash, and Tunisian swimmer Oussama Mellouli scored gold in the men’s 1500m freestyle.

Egypt: Death of Three Arab Cultural Icons

The Arab world lost three of its cultural icons in the spam of a month. They are Egyptians philosopher Dr Abdelwahab El Mesery and film maker Yousef Chahine and Palestinian poet Mahmood Darwish. Egyptian Blogger, ElGharep, or The Stranger, reflects on the loss in this post [Ar].

Georgia, Russia: Feeding Looters and Refugees

A number of Tbilisi residents gathered in front of the Russian embassy Saturday for a protest prank against looting. LJ user oleg-panfilov posted photos of the items left by the protesters for the Russian army; LJ user tony-geo called to Georgians to take care of the refugees’ needs first, before getting involved in the “information war.”

Saudi Arabia: It’s all in the name

It is common practice for converts to Islam to adopt Muslim names. But is it necessary - and what kind of name is appropriate? One Saudi blogger ponders the question, while some others are thinking about the use of aliases in the blogosphere - and yet another encourages the government to ‘name names’.

Call for video journalists for You Tube Contest

You Tube’s Citizen News channel has released a video promo for an upcoming citizen journalism contest. They will be receiving videos of less than 3 minutes in length, in English, of a video profile about someone in your community you believe should be known by the rest of the world. The prizes and other information will be released in September.

Pakistan: Musharraf has Left the Building

Eight years, three hundred and five days ago a peaceful coup masterminded by a Pakistani Army General overtook the reigns of power from the then ruling corrupt leader Nawaz Sharif. It was then the promise of a new tomorrow; it was then a romantic walk towards the faint vision labeled as the ‘enlightened moderation’ and definitely a step towards the ridding society of a plague called corruption. Pakistanis celebrated then, but very soon people realized that this blessing had slowly grown into an unwanted plaque and surely the stay had turned into an unwelcome dictatorship.

Today on Rising Voices: Neighbourhood Diaries: Training Citizen Journalists in Calcutta’s Marginalized Communities

Neighbourhood Diaries, a pilot project of the local NGO Kalam, is training marginalized youth in Calcutta’s working class neighborhoods how to become citizen journalists. Through their poems and interviews we discover both the depressing and the delicious in Calcutta’s Bowbazar neighbourhood.

Today on Global Voices Advocacy: Malaysia: Deface If You Dare

Malaysian bloggers were up in arms again when blogger Bakaq aka ‘Penarik Beca’ was detained for sedition recently. Bakaq, whose real name is Abdul Rashi Abu Bakar, was detained (and since released) for defacing the Royal Malaysian Police crest by allegedly substituting the tiger in the emblem with a dog.

Today on Voices Without Votes: John Edwards: Scummy, fake, manipulative and pretty?

Since the former Democratic Presidential candidate John Edwards admitted to having an extra-marital affair, bloggers from around the world following the story have largely focused on two major issues: First, the sad irony of a politician having an affair while his wife, Elizabeth, fights breast cancer; Secondly, the role the mainstream press played in keeping the story silent.

Beijing Olympics Coverage

Counting the medals? Thanks to support from Reuters, Global Voices is covering citizen media reactions to the Olympics from citizens in China and around the world on our special coverage page and in our Olympics Twitter feed. The Twitter feed is also being translated to French by Global Voices in French and is published on French website, Rue89.

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