Stories about Digital Activism from August, 2008
Russia: New LJ Ads
LJ user tema is one of the many Cyrillic bloggers who are unhappy with how the new LJ ads interrupt the flow of their posts; he shares a screenshot (RUS) of his blog to illustrate his point. Others are sharing a way to get rid of LJ ads in their...
Angola: On the illegal occupation of a residential plot by a bank
Gil Gonçalves [pt] blows the whistle on the occupation by the Millennium Bank of a residential building in Luanda, Angola. “How does the Millennium Bank and (contractor) Teixeira Duarte SA managed to illegally steal a plot of the land? With so much at ease, it can only be someone usually...
Russia: How to Spell ‘Blogger’ in Russian
There are two ways to spell the word ‘blogger’ in Russian – with two g's or with just one. The former seems to prevail among Russian bloggers, according to LJ user oleg_kozyrev (RUS), who has posted a screenshot of the Yandex Blogosphere Pulse search and also examined spelling preferences of...
Iran: Muslim Bloggers and election
The Muslim Bloggers Association, a very dynamic group of Islamist bloggers in Iran announced[Fa] that five members of its central committee were elected. You can watch several photos of their meeting and election here.
Kenya: The making of an African activist
Afromusing posts the video of Kenyan blogger, Ory Okolloh, at TEDGlobal 2007 in Arusha, Tanzania. Ory Okolloh is the founder of Mzalendo and co-founder of Ushahidi.
Trinidad & Tobago: Flood Waters
As flooding plagues parts of Trinidad and Tobago, Jeremy Taylor says: “It’s odd that a country with a TT$45 billion budget, and a desire to become a ‘developed nation’ by 2020, can’t figure out how to fix its drains.” Jumbie's Watch posts photos.
Cape Verde: Blogger takes picture of filthy hospital lavatory
De Olho na Praia [pt] publishes a picture the blogger took showing the unclean conditions of the washing room at the Praia Central Hospital, in the capital of Cape Verde.
Turkey: YouTube Un-blocked?
Several Turkish bloggers are reporting the lifting of the YouTube ban in Turkey, including Internation Musings, however it may take up to 72 hours for Turkish web users to see it.
Georgia: Blogging the War
The conflict between Georgia and Russia over the breakway territory of South Ossetia was accompanied by cyber-attacks on several Georgian government and independent media sites. But rather than prevent journalists from utilizing the Internet to report on the war, it achieved the opposite. Many Georgians — media professionals and citizen journalists alike — set up blogs to report or comment on the conflict. Global Voices Online speaks to Giga Paitchadze, a veteran local blogger.
Russia: Anti-War Music
LJ user marchenk posts a collection of links (RUS) to videos of various anti-war songs in Russian, French, English, Italian, German, Hebrew, Serbian, Spanish, Polish, Arabic and other languages.
Haiti: Homes Being Destroyed
“Cite Soleil, a shanty town in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, is under siege by the UN occupying forces”: The Haitian Blogger publishes a statement by the Haitian Lawyers Leadership “condemning the wholesale expropriation and demotion being undertaken in Cite Soleil of 155 homes.”
Dominica: Agricultural Economy
“I strongly believe that if Dominica gets busy developing its agricultural product this could well have other spin-off positive effects”: Chris at Dominica Weekly thinks that going back to the land may well be the way out of the island's economic crisis.
Bermuda: Open Access
“Only bipartisan cooperation will make a dent in many of Bermuda’s problems”: Vexed Bermoothes supports public access to meetings of the parliamentary committee that is currently reviewing educational reform.
Bahrain: Bloggers are Trouble
Bahraini blogger and administrator of the locally banned Bahrainonline [Ar] online forum Ali Abdelemam posts an interview with him in an LA newspaper – on blogging and the how authorities view bloggers as trouble.
Cuba: Punk Rocker Arrested
As several bloggers voice their outrage at the arrest of Cuban punk rocker Gorki Aguila, Havana-based Generation Y claims: “They took him because nothing destabilizes the intransigents more than a man in his most free state.”
Barbados, Cuba: Broadcasting Meeting
Bajan Global Report reports on the Prime Minister's trip to Cuba to attend the 39th General Assembly of the Caribbean Broadcasting Union, an organization which supports and promotes high quality work of regional radio and TV entities – but Barbados Free Press calls it “irony defined”: “We are disappointed that...
Bulgaria: Institutionalized Children With Disabilities
Maya of Maya's Corner follows up on her earlier posts on Bulgaria's institutionalized disabled children and posts an account by a woman who adopted two Bulgarian Roma children ten years ago and managed to locate her adoptive daughter's twin sister.
Trinidad & Tobago: Leatherback Hatchlings
Now is Wow Too posts video of Leatherback turtle hatchlings in Grande Riviere, Trinidad, as they make their first trip out to sea.
St. Vincent & the Grenadines: Rapist at Large
The women of St. Vincent and the Grenadines are under siege by a serial rapist and Abeni is “very uneasy about the whole scenario…I have now developed an intense hatred for the rapist or rapists who have turned women into prisoners in their own homes. Is it too much to...
China: Photos from inside Tibetan Skynet control room
Famed she is, though definitely not for her blogging, which is too bad, because there's no doubt that a lot of people would be interested to see the control-room photos and series of Chinese-language sources that Tibetan writer Woeser has just posted which show just how close of an electronic...
China: Cop-killer online hero case goes on trial
Yang Jia's case goes to trial today, after having been postponed for the Olympics. Previously he had been harmonized after having been heroized by many online for walking into a police station in Shanghai last month and killing six cops after what was accepted was an earlier case of injustice...
