Stories about Digital Activism from February, 2007
Madagascar: Expulsions in France questioned
(courtesy of sarkostique) Stemming from ongoing racial tensions and amplified by the riots of last summer, fear of immigrants led the French ministry of homeland security to crack down on illegal immigration. Immigrants of Malagasy origins were also affected by the new emphasis on expelling any immigrants without proper accreditation....
Taiwan: the death of twblog.net
Inertia announced in his blog that twblog.net has officially died because the domain name has been took by other internet company. Bloggers under blog.twblog.net would be affected. He explains the current situation that “in taiwan blogosphere, it is simple to be independent, but to maintain that independence alone is difficult…”...
Japan: Citizen report change public policy
Mayumi Shimotai from Ohmynews reports how a report on factory pollution pick up by Japan citizen journalist at Ohmynews changed the public policy on environment protection.
Meet Sami Ben Gharbia, Global Voices’ new Advocacy Director
Global Voices is delighted to announce the appointment of Sami Ben Gharbia as Advocacy Director, and the attentive reader will already have noticed his posts on anti-censorship and free-speech issues. Sami pictured next to a free-speech campaign slogan Sami is an experienced human rights campaigner, a Tunisian who has lived...
Egypt: Kareem Case Appeal Date Set
An appeal hearing has been set for convicted Egyptian blogger Kareem Nabil Sulaiman, who has been sentenced to four years in prison, according to his support website Free Kareem. The appeal court hearing will be on March 12.
Saudi Arabia: Government Cracking Down on Bloggers, New Saudi Ambassador to US, and More
A Press frenzy over Saudi school curriculums, a govermental campaign targeting a number of male Saudi bloggers, Anna Nicole Smith, Kareem Amer, forced divorces, a new government program to fight corruption, and much more are keeping the Saudi blogosphere lively. Khloud did a great job at summarizing a recent BBC...
Tunisphere: How to blog about politics without being censored?
Tunisian bloggers seem to have found ways to talk about Tunisian politics while avoiding getting caught by the ATI (Tunisian agency of Internet) watchdogs in charge of denying access and filtering out any site or blog that is critical of the Tunisian government and its members. After its last campaign...
Syrian Blogsphere: Free Kareem, Towards a Democratic Syria, Arabism and More
The Syrian blogsphere reacted to the news about the sentencing of Egyptian blogger Kareem Nabil Sulaiman with disgust. Abu Kareem from Levantine Dreamhouse wrote… The language of the charges is sickeningly familiar. It is the language that paranoid authoritarian governments use when they feel threatened, when someone tells the TRUTH....
Bahrain: Workshop on Press Freedoms
The Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights will be conducting a training workshop about Press Freedoms, the law and how it views freedoms of expression, practical demonstrations and tutorials on blogging and how to circumvent blocks to reach the content you require from March 1 to 5, announces blogger Mahmood...
Free Kareem: Egyptian Bloggers Speak Out
The sentencing of Egyptian blogger Kareem Nabeel Sulaiman to four years in prison for articles he wrote in his personal blog may have come as a shock to many around the world, but for Egyptian bloggers the lesson is just too close to home for comfort. Kareem was sentenced by...
Iraq – Life, Death, Rape and Execution
Stories of life in Iraq have been so varied this past week. In this post I hope to give a cross section on how life is for Iraqis in a world of violence and general insecurity. My condolences go out to Konfused Kid whose uncle, the only Shia in the...
Free Kareem: Lusophone Blogs Join the Crusade
As soon as the information about the verdict circulated on the net, Portuguese posts commenting the 4 year in prison sentence given to blogger Abdel Kareem Suleiman started to appear. Brazilian bloggers sensitiveness about any situation involving censorship is a direct consequence of the many recent attacks to their freedoms...
Egypt: Jailed Egyptian Blogger Nominated for Award
Jailed Egyptian blogger Kareem Nabeel Sulaiman has been nominated for one of the 7th Annual Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression Awards, which are intended to honour the world’s champions of freedom of expression, according to his support site Free Kareem.
Pakistan: Online freedom of speech as collateral damage?
This flash animation is converted from the Powerpoint Presentation made by Dr Awab Alvi for “The Battle for the Internet.” conference (His presentation can be viewed here-original file .ppt) One year ago, on the 27th of February 2006, when the Danish cartoons controversy exploded, spawning waves of protest, anger...
Israel: Who's Next?
Today it is Abdel Karim – tomorrow it could be you!, warns Israeli blogger SnoopyTheGoon. “This is another case when an oppressive regime takes a petty revenge on a blogger. This is another case when all bloggers, no matter of what race, age, gender or political affiliation must spread the...
Russia: Ivan Ushkov's Case
Ivan Ushkov, a St. Petersburg artist, had his computer and some of his work confiscated by the police; officers threatened to shut down his photo business located on Nevsky Prospekt. Both the Russian blogosphere and the media are abuzz about this ongoing controversy. Ushkov's work can be viewed here; English...
Iran: War and Human Rights Concerns
Concerns about a war between Iran and the US are growing in the Iranian blogosphere by the day. While Iran refuses to halt its uranium enrichment programme, despite the United Nation's resolution 1737, it is also being accused by the US of sending bombs to Iraq. Iran considers the enrichment...
Palestine: Children's Blogging Project
Bahrain-based Palestinian blogger Haitham Sabbah was instrumental in making a children's blogging project see light. Read more about the project, which aims to bridge the widening gap between children in the West and East, here.
Arabisc: Bloggers Rally to Kareem's Support
Egyptian blogger Kareem Sulaiman was today (Thursday) sentenced to four years in prison for defaming Islam and Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak on his personal blog. Despite a support site, petitions and demonstrations in Bahrain, London, Stockholm, Paris, Rome, New York (twice) and Washington DC calling for his release, an Alexandria...
Egypt: FOUR Years Prison Sentence for Blogger
Egyptian blogger Kareem Nabil Sulaiman made history today by being the first Egyptian to be sentenced to jail for articles he wrote on his personal blog. An Alexandria court found him guilty of insulting both Islam and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and sentenced him to four years in jail based...
Russia: “Commissars of the Internet”
Read this week's installments of La Russophobe‘s translation project, which attempts to explain why the discourse at so many Russian forums often gets so unbearably filthy – and which, according to La Russophobe, also “exposes how the Kremlin is attempting to take control of the Internet. On Monday, we read...
