· September, 2006

Stories about Digital Activism from September, 2006

Belarus: Protest Diaries and Opposition Leader

  29 September 2006

Ivan Lenin of Rush-Mush reports that the online diaries of a Belarusian protester Dasha Kostenko have been published in Moscow. He also criticizes the opposition leader Milinkevich: “It's a big shame that the brave Belarusians who were risking their health, their freedom, and their very lives didn't have a better...

Video: Vietnamese bloggers get “kinky” for charity

  28 September 2006

Vietnamese blogger Elmooh has uploaded a series of four videos shot at an “Offline Party” – a blogger-organized charity fundraiser in Hanoi. The party included a game involving young men, young women, bananas and candles. (Don't worry, it's all g-rated and everybody keeps their clothes on!) I e-mailed Elmooh asking...

Ethiopia: are there pro-government websites?

  28 September 2006

Meskel Square's reader wants to know if there are any pro-government websites in Ethiopia: “hey, i was just wondering are there any pro-meles or government websites? all i can find is one sided against the gov't, would like to see the other side…“

Tunisia: Opening prisons to the world

  27 September 2006

At this site, I’m trying to show videos that show or speak about human rights abuses, and – as in the Tunisian video above – the impact of human rights abuses on ordinary people. I don’t speak Arabic, so how do I know what this video’s about? It's thanks to...

Posts from Peru

  27 September 2006

This time it is three rather than two weekly summaries from the guys at Perú Político: Weekly Chronicle (September 6 to the 12) and Weekly Chronicle (September 13 – 19) Gobierno y Congreso tras el clamor popular, and there is a version in English for readers of the anglophone world:...

Ethiopian bloggers rally to save controversial bill

  27 September 2006

Ethiopia’s diaspora bloggers are flexing their political muscles in a bid to save a controversial bill they claim has been blocked in the US Congress. The highly-politicised groups of Ethiopian writers living in the USA published a flurry of posts over the past week to persuade Congress to pass House...

Bulgaria: More on “Tripoli Six” Blog Campaign

  26 September 2006

Declan Butler, a senior reporter at Nature, reports that the blog campaign to help free the “Tripoli Six” seems to be gaining momentum. Also, he writes that “Mickey Grant, a filmmaker from Dallas, Texas, has, in response to the blog campaign, today made his full, 1h 22 min, 2003 documentary...

Philippines: First Online Press Conference

  26 September 2006

An online press conference, a first in Philippine internet history, was held last September 21 when the 34th anniversary of Martial Law was commemorated by Filipinos. The online press forum was conducted by partylist representative Satur Ocampo, a former journalist and political detainee. The event, which was facilitated by Yehey!,...

Syrian Blogsphere in a Week

  24 September 2006

To kick off this week, Ghalia welcomes the holy month of Ramadan in her special way, with another beautiful shot of her camera… “Ramadan is the (month) in which was sent down the Qur-an, as a guide to mankind, also Clear (Signs) for guidance and judgment (between right and wrong)…”...

Bulgaria, Libya: Save the Tripoli Six

  21 September 2006

Declan Butler, a senior reporter at Nature, draws attention to the plight of the “Tripoli Six” – five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor on trial in Libya: “Can the blogosphere help free the Tripoli six? — innocent medics risking execution in Libya.”

Iran:An Ayatollah Under Pressure

  21 September 2006

Irane Emrouz has published a letter from Ayatollah Seyed Hussein Kazemini Broujerdi. This high ranked cleric wrote that he and his followers had been under pressure and torture by the authorities. Ayatollah added the main reason of the pressure on him, is his neutral point of view on politics. Irane...

Hong Kong: GFW in HK?

  21 September 2006

Soon after Mister Bijou blogged about the suspected case of PCCW (the biggest telecom in HK and ISP netvigator) filtering out not the south china morning post website. The issue was taken up by ESWN and spread to local blogsphere, and bloggers started to do their own testing and there...

Eastern Europe: Video documents homophobia on the rise

  20 September 2006

The latest twist in the long-running saga of anti-gay violence and state oppression took place yesterday in Moscow, as an appeals court upheld the earlier lower court ruling to ban Moscow's Gay Pride March in May 2006. The gay rights activists who brought the case will now attempt to challenge...

Iran: Media, Religion and 11 September

  20 September 2006

In Webgardian we read Mohammad Ali Abtahi's, former vice president and blogger, article on religion, media and 11 September. Abtahi says after September 11, most media have functioned to strengthen the points of difference or violent identity-forming aspects.

Thailand: Liveblogging the coup

  19 September 2006

At least two blogs have been set up solely to cover the unfolding military coup in Thailand – a group blog 19sep which is in English and revolution.blogrevo which is in Thai. Video copies of coup-related announcements are appearing on YouTube. Below is the first televised announcement of the take-over...

Knight-Batten Awards: And the winner is…..

  18 September 2006

It was appropriate that, for an award given for innovations in journalism, overseen by J-Lab (the Institute of Interactive Journalism at the University of Maryland), the news came from my colleague Georgia Popplewell at the ceremony in Washington DC via instant message to London and from there out to the...

Pope, American Embassy and Others

  18 September 2006

This week was an extremely busy week for all Syrian bloggers, notably Political Blogs had to make a number of updates, since the political atmosphere in syria was swirling with possibilities and different analysis of the aftermath of the latest attack on the US Embassy in Damascus, and the successful...

  17 September 2006

A newly launched web site called trinivote.com and bearing the tag line “Elections May Be Sprung Upon US…Do You Know Where Your Vote Is Going”, is a typically Trinidadian mixture of humour and gravitas.