Global Voices Online » 2005 » November

Stories

Video blog: The Liberian Refugees of Buduburam

Andy Carvin · 20:45

Video documentary of my July 2005 visit to the Liberian refugee camp in Buduburam, Ghana. I learn about the challenges faced by Liberians forced to flee their homeland, as well as some of the training programs available to them. I visit one of the camp's telecentres, as well as an women's literacy support group. Music used with permission of Alula Records.

Nine minutes, 50 megabytes.

Low-res version (20 megabytes):
http://www.andycarvin.com/video/refugees-low.mov

3 comments · »»

News about Iranian Blogs: Filtering, New book and Ramadan

Farid Pouya · 07:49

In Iran, government is privatising filtering! A company, “Delta Global”, gets exclusivity from Iranian government to impose filtering on virtual world. Irony of story is that American softwares are used to block Iranian sites & blogs! American companies say that Iran uses their softwares without permission or payment. Probably Iranian government thinks filtering softwares are Linux kind softwares!!

Blogger Said Hatami( link in Persian) who has given instructions and address in his blog how to escapeblogrolling filtering, says his new address gets filtered too. In Global Voices there was a writing by Rebecca MacKinnon, which talks about American companies and filtering in Iran.

A new book about Iranian blogs hit book stores: “We are Iran: Persian Blogs” written by Nasrin Alavi. Hoder, a Toronto based blogger, writes about the book:

“Now we could show the world that Ahmadinejad is not representing Iran. We are what the new Iran is these days”.

Reza who left a comment on Hoder’s writing says:

“We are not Iran . Iran is full of those who support Ahmadinejad and voted for him”

First review about book appeared on BBC Persian site:

“There is no introduction in book and we can not understand her method…Writer gives a black & white image of Iranian blogs (blogestan) and failed to represents pluralistic image of Iranian blogs (Blogestan)”.

Alavi writes in Financial Times:

“It is still not clear if Iranian blogs are merely a place for the beleaguered to let off steam or a modern-day Gutenberg press that will usher in an age of democracy. Perhaps the greatest legacy of the republic is its children, whose voices can be heard clearly in the Iranian blogosphere”.

Ramadan ended in Iran among confusion! Most Muslims insist on the local physical sighting of the moon to mark the beginning and end of Ramadan. Great Ayatollahs announce the end of Ramadan with one day difference from each other. Hojreh ( link in Persian), an Iranian cleric, has done a research on his blog to show where origins of this confusion are.

2 comments · »»

Voices from Zimbabwe Plus

Zimpundit · 05:44

Zimbabwe:-A coalition of opposistion civic groups, the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) held improptu demonstrations in major cities in Zimbabwe on Saturday. This is Zimbabwe, the blog hosted by protest group Sokwanele/Zvakwana reports that 18 people were arrested by Zimbabwe's brutal police who were caught unawares by the demonstrations.

“[Saturday's] protests saw 18 people arrested by the police . They will all face charges of breaching the Public Order and Security Act (POSA). In Zimbabwe, it is illegal for people to gather in groups of three or more to discuss politics or hold public demonstrations without first seeking police permission. “

Both This is Zimbabwe and Zimpundit are anxious about the prospects of even larger protests called by the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) for today.

“Tuesday, the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) intends to have it's 300,000 members on the streets after what it calls a breakdown of talks with the government,”

writes Zimpundit

FirePussy notes that while there may be “no explosions” in Harare, people in some of the city's most impoverished neighborhoods have been without water for over a week now. Tragically she notes, the nation has submitted a bid to host the Africa Cup of Nations tournament in 2010, a move which will obviously cost the nation billions of dollars.

“I noticed a group of women waiting for a lift at the corner of Enterprise Road and Arcturus Avenue. What caught my eye was that each of the women had a 5 litre plastic container of water by their feet. They were probably on their way out to Mabvuku/Tafara a high-density suburb otherwise known as a township, east of Harare. This high-density area hasn’t had water for the past week.

But hey, the national football association have recently put in a bid to host the 2010 Africa Cup. Never mind the fact that our decrepit infrastructure (and that includes the government) can’t supply clean drinking water to its urban residents.”

DRC:-Congogirl has notes that one the nation's best established citizens is ready running for president. Oscar Kishala, the senior director of oncology at Millennium Pharmaceuticals in Cambridge, appears ready to leave behind his life of luxury for the tremendous taks of restoring his war ravaged country.

Malawi:- Mike of Hacktivate points out MSMs inability to articulate a full perspective of the world's story. He is surprised by a New York Times article that focuses on deforestration but neglects the fact that it is hunger that forces people to take logging jobs;

“Surprisingly there is not a single mention of the famine, but perhaps that is a good thing as people tune out when they hear about another “famine in Africa”. Instead it talks about how Malawi is losing its forest, and how the loggers manage to survive with their sad profession.”

He also has exciting reports about two new innovations that hold exciting prospects for the lifestyles of Africa's millions. First, is the “hipporoller” which simplifies hauling water over long distances–a mundane reality in Africa.

Second is Amazon's Mechanical Turk which pays people for doing simple tasks that computers cannot do.

Read Ethan Zuckerman's discussion of this scheme here.

2 comments · »»