· October, 2012

Stories about Digital Activism from October, 2012

Spain: Journalists Fined After Revealing Corruption in Catalonia

Marta Sibina and Albano Dante, editors of the citizen media magazine Cafè amb Llet, have been fined 10,000 euro for libel. They uploaded to YouTube a video strongly criticizing the lack of transparency in public healthcare financing in Catalonia, implicating Josep Maria Via, president of Barcelona MAR Health Park Consortium and healthcare advisor to Catalan President Artur Mas.

31 October 2012

Afef Abrougui, Blogging From Tunisia

Afef Abrougui, a contributor for Global Voices in Tunisia, tells us about her experience in the demonstrations that took place in her country in 2011 and what she expects for the immediate future of Tunisian politics. She also shares with us some of her daily life and chores.

31 October 2012

What Exactly is a Hackathon? And What is Open Data?

We previously announced the next hackathon for Latin America: Developing Latin America 2012. But it's likely that some readers are not sure what a hackathon is or above all, what it's for. Here we try to answer those questions with definitions, examples, and two video interviews with Argentinian hacker Mariano Crowe.

30 October 2012

Philippines: Online Shame Campaign Against “Epal” Politicians

With less than a few months before the 2013 national elections, various groups have launched an online shame campaign against the common practice of Filipino politicians to attach their names to government projects that are funded or assisted by their office. These politicians are labelled “epal,” a Filipino slang term meaning “attention grabber”

30 October 2012

Russia: Assessing Predictions About the Coordinating Council Election

RuNet Echo

As RuNet Echo readers know well, the Coordinating Council's elections took place last week, and that body has already convened virtually through Facebook and once again in person. Weeks in advance of the vote, Global Voices offered projections based on Yandex's blogger rating index. Here, we've assessed those predictions against the actual results and another forecast model

29 October 2012

President Martinelli Addresses Panama After Repealing Law 72

President Martinelli of Panama gave a conciliatory speech to try and draw a close to a chaotic week which has left four people dead and many injured as they demonstrated against Law 72. The law authorising sale of land in the Free Zone of Colon was finally repealed. Reactions to the speech on Twitter were many and varied.

29 October 2012

Sri Lanka: Tales Of Police Torture

Chitrangi posts news of police brutality on a 20 years old unmarried youth from Rabavava, Ihala Puliyankulama, Puttalam and many more in her blog.

28 October 2012

Slovakia: Protesting SOZA's Newest Copyright Fees

SOZA's general manager Vladimír Repčík addressed Slovak high school seniors via his blog on October 22, urging them to register with his agency and pay €15 for their traditional graduation parties. Tibor Blazko reports on the controversy.

28 October 2012

Ukraine: Technology for Transparent Elections

Amidst mounting allegations of the ruling party's use of administrative resource during election campaign, the government has pledged to keep the Oct. 28 free and fair. Local election monitoring groups, however, have been utilizing new technology to ensure electoral transparency and to check governmental pledges for themselves.

27 October 2012

Ukraine: Homophobic Bill Considered Ahead of Election

Shortly after scrapping the infamous defamation bill in early October, Ukrainian MPs passed another scandalous proposal in the first reading, aimed at “defending children from the propaganda of homosexual lifestyle and the HIV/AIDS infection associated with it.” Tetyana Bohdanova reports.

24 October 2012