Tag: Global Voices

In Iran, the Kurdish Struggle Remains in the Shadows

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In May 2015, Mahabad, the capital of Iran’s Kurdish region, burned as riots and protests spread following the mysterious death of a young Kurdish woman in the city. Activists claimed that she had fallen to her death from the window of a hotel while escaping an attempted rape by an Iranian security official. The incident garnered international attention and was the focal point for geo-political propaganda battles.

The riots in Mahabad were not only indicative of the latent rage among the Kurdish population, but were also a symbolic reminder of the flame that has long burned within the city of Mahabad.

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Despite Challenges, Volunteerism is Giving Young Jamaicans Hope

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Are the voices of Caribbean youth being heard? Are they being listened to, and what are their concerns? Some youth-led volunteer organizations are beginning to emerge that are seeking to empower young Jamaicans to address their issues head on.

Global Voices recently caught up with Neville Charlton, a Kingston student who founded his own youth volunteer group four years ago called The Positive Organization. It currently has approximately 60 members, mostly in Kingston and its environs. One member in Montego Bay has started her own initiative, Retirement Youths for Change, in the vulnerable community of Retirement; another youth-led group, Okinos Helping Hand, has started working in deep rural St. Andrew.

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Ethiopian Authorities Arrest Zone9 Blogger Befeqadu Hailu Citing ‘State of Emergency’

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Befeqadu Hailu, one of the best-known voices in Ethiopia’s stifled media environment, was arrested on November 10, 2016. In the morning hours, authorities took Befeqadu from his home to a jail cell in a nearby police station. He spent the day in there and was then transferred to a police station located in a neighborhood called Kotebe.

A member of the high-profile Zone9 blogger collective and a Global Voices contributor, Befeqadu is an active voice in the blogosphere and on Twitter. When the Ethiopian government declared a state of emergency, he wrote:

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