Children playing on a traditional bamboo swing during Dashain festivities in Palpa, Nepal. Dashain is the largest festival celebrated by Hindus in Nepal. A moveable feast, in 2021 Dashain was celebrated on October 7-15. Photo by Mithun Kunwar (CC BY 2.0)

Thanks to everyone for all your contributions in October 2021! Here are some of the month's highlights:

Welcome to the following new contributors who published their first GV story or translation in October 2021!

Agnese Zingarello, Alessandra Nuzzo, Alex Esenler, Andrea García, Arianna Mighela, Arthur L. Silva, Catherine Klein, Charlotte Armengaud, Chiara D’Emma, Chiara Paganelli, Cécilia Canal, Eleonora Picierro, Elisa Fasola, Elisa Mancuso, Elvina Solari, Fatma Abdeldaem, Fatma Lassilaa, Guilherme Campos, Hagar Waleed, Israa Abdelfatah, Kelly Chaib De Mares, Lavinia, Marco Puliti, Maria Bitkova, Marine Auguste, Martina Cesarano, Najmun Nahar Milu, Olimpia V, Ophélie Douchet, Pauline, Polina Kourova, Rosalba D.T., Shaimaa El-Afifee, Simone Raganà, Tatyana Pomazan, Valeria I.

Congratulations to: GV alumna Ylenia Gostoli, for winning the award for Best investigative news article dealing with Modern Slavery or Human Trafficking at the Anti-Slavery Day Awards 2021.

New media partners: Jam News, Unbias The News

GV events: Led by our Advox director Nanjala Nyabola, the sub-Saharan Africa team organised a half-day workshop titled “Digital Democracy in Africa” attended by a small group of policymakers, civil society folks, activists, and journalists from the continent. The event was supported by a grant from CIPESA.

GV guest appearances: Our managing editor Filip Noubel appeared on a panel titled “Voices, Tactics & Technologies to Challenge Dominant Narratives”—in person! The panel was part of the Berlin-based Disruption Lab Network's Powers of Truth: China, Tech, Art, Resistance conference.

Number of stories published on GV in English: 100 (up from 97 in September)

Total pageviews (all sites): 492,932 (up from 432,987 in September)

Top 10 posts by pageviews (includes only recent posts):

1. The Uyghur issue, China’s greatest fear, is looming in Afghanistan by Kok Bayraq (34,712)
2. Malaysian rapper Namewee breaks the hearts of mainland Chinese ‘little pinks’ by Oiwan Lam (6,658)
3. Peter Telfer, the Trinidadian percussionist who made African drumming a church staple, goes to his Creator by Janine Mendes-Franco (6,417)
4. Facebook’s ‘Dangerous Individuals and Organizations’ list concerns Oromo users in Ethiopia by Robera Hamda (5,680)
5. Controversial Jamaican pastor dies in car crash on the way to being charged for ‘cult’ deaths by Emma Lewis (5,604)
6. Chinese movie ‘The Battle of Lake Changjin’ turns the painful history of the Korean War into a glorious victory by Oiwan Lam (3,165)
7. Tensions are escalating between Azerbaijan and Iran over border issue and Armenia by Arzu Geybullayeva (2,920)
8. Myanmar actress Mya Hnin Ye Lwin on her decision to join the anti-junta resistance by Radio Free Asia (2,517)
9. Meet Boji, the dog touring Istanbul using public transportation by Arzu Geybullayeva (2,314)
10. Is the shutting down of Chinese LinkedIn the end of foreign big tech’s engagement with China? by Oiwan Lam (1,395)

Top 15 countries from which people visited GV sites:

1. 1. United States
   2. Germany
   3. Brazil
   4. Philippines
   5. Canada
   6. France
   7. Japan
   8. United Kingdom
   9. Spain
   10. Mexico
   11. Italy
   12. Colombia
   13. Trinidad and Tobago
   14. India
   15. Argentina