· February, 2009

Stories about Digital Activism from February, 2009

Hong Kong: Budget report: university students on sale!

  28 February 2009

Financial Secretary of Hong Kong John Tsang made the budget speech for the fiscal year 2009-2010 at the Legislative Council on 25 of February. This is the first budget report after Hong Kong felt the pain from the downturn of global financial crisis. Unlike other areas, our government's finance remains...

USA: Activists Incensed after Fatal Shooting by Police

  28 February 2009

Several people recorded mobile phone videos of a police officer shooting and killing a young man named Oscar Grant on a train platform in Oakland, California, on January 1. Since then, citizen media have been central in the ensuing campaigns for justice.

Mexico: Criticizing Wasteful Government Spending

  27 February 2009

The Mexican federal government recently updated information about its expenses and its budgets for various public institutions on their transparency portal. Using this public information, many bloggers have identified expenses for questionable recreational activities that have cost taxpayers hundreds of thousands of pesos.

Japan: Alpha Blogger Awards 2008 (Part 2)

  27 February 2009

Starting December 24th, the Alpha Blogger website called for people to nominate 1-3 blog entries written in 2008 that had affected them the most. Mid-term results were announced on January 16th, and voting was open until February 18th. The second half of this year's winners are featured in this post.

Jamaica, Guyana: Action or Reaction?

  26 February 2009

Both Active Voice [Jamaica] and Guyanese blogger C.D. Valere (writing at Baiganchoka) continue the discussion about recent attempts by the Jamaican Broadcasting Commission to “clean up” the airwaves.

Ukraine: Politics on Twitter

  25 February 2009

Ukrainian president Victor Yushchenko has an official Twitter account; his tweets mirror daily schedule announcements and latest news items that are featured on the official website as well. There is also a Yushchenko impersonator on Twitter. Former speaker Yatsenyuk seems to have a Twitter account, too, but his political movement's press service would not confirm it.

Egypt: Philip Rizk's Four Days in Detention

  25 February 2009

A day after publishing “Egypt: More activists and bloggers arrested” on Global Voices Online, news of Philip Rizk's detention spread like wildfire around the world - and the blogger and activist was finally released. Lasto Adri visits Rizk's blog, where he writes about his ordeal and that of another blogger Diaa Gad, who was arrested on the same day and still remains behind bars today.

Japan: Alpha Blogger Awards 2008 (Part 1)

  25 February 2009

On the 20th of February, the 2008 Alpha Blogger Awards were held in Tokyo. Sponsored by Pringles Chips, the event this year was attended by close to 80 people (including the team of GV Japan), awarding prizes to the twelve posts from the Japanese blogosphere in 2008 that received the most votes on the ABA site.

Egyptians on the verge of insanity

  25 February 2009

Stuck between a rock and a hard place, Egyptians are struggling to maintain their sanity, faith, and stability. Marwa Rakha presents the following selection from Egyptian blogs which discuss dreams, suicide, unemployment and the gruesome murder of a woman and her children - at the hands of her husband.

Cuba: One Year Later

  24 February 2009

Blog for Cuba says that one year after Cuba signed the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Personal Rights, “human rights abuses continue to escalate.”

India: Court Ruling Against Bloggers

  24 February 2009

Kafila informs about a recent Supreme Court ruling in India which states that “a person who starts a blog/community page cannot claim that it was a community page and not meant for public consumption.” That means the owner will be liable for all the collaborative contents and comments in that...