· May, 2013

Stories about Digital Activism from May, 2013

Leaving North Korea

  31 May 2013

Concerns over insufficient protection of North Korean refugees have grown ever stronger as news came out that nine young North Korean defectors have been forced to return to North Korea after being captured in Laos. The Dreamer blog shares a story of a young North Korean defector which explains in...

Macedonian Journalist's Arrest Stirs Protest

Macedonian journalists gathered [mk; video and text: sq, mk] in front of the Criminal Court in the capital Skopje today to protest against the arrest of their colleague, Tomislav Kezarovski, according to this note [en] posted in the Macedonian Facebook group titled “Journalists and citizens in defense of the right...

Taiwan Copyright Bill Worse Than SOPA

  31 May 2013

It said the U.S Stop Online Piracy Act demands IP blocking requests to be determined in court while the Taiwan copyrights amendement filter list will be managed by a government administrative body.

Alleged South Korean Tax-Evaders Revealed

  29 May 2013

South Korea's independent investigative journalism site, NewsTapa, together with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), released its initial list containing names of South Korean corporate moguls who allegedly have founded paper companies in the British Virgin Islands to avoid tax. Net users in Daum Agora filed an online petition [ko] calling for severe punishment on...

Campaign to Liberate Oscar López Rivera

  29 May 2013

The campaign for the liberation of Puerto Rican independence fighter Oscar López Rivera has intensified. During 32 years López Rivera has been imprisoned in the United States charged with “seditious conspiracy” and “conspiracy to escape” for which he received a 70 year sentence. He is now 70 years old. The...

Independent Projects of Ecological Solidarity Flourish in Puerto Rico

  29 May 2013

Ecological solidarity is getting stronger every day, thanks to the people working hard to develop independent projects in Puerto Rico. Here are a few examples that confirm once again that the goal of preserving nature, cultivating non-toxic products and advocating for sustainability isn't an impossible dream.

From Guinea to Italy to France and Back: An Interview with Blogger Abdoulaye Bah

  27 May 2013

Global Voices author and translator Abdoulaye Bah, originally from Guinea, is a retired Italian citizen who has worked for the United Nations. He now splits his time between Rome and Nice. We spoke with Bah about his life, from his experience hiding in a bathroom to enter Italy without the proper papers, to his marriage in the Vatican, from his blog to his multi-belief family.

Jamaica's Blog Action Day: What Police Can Do

  26 May 2013

Jamaican bloggers marked their own version of Blog Action Day (dubbed JA Blog Day), on May 23. Netizens discussed the disturbing issue of police brutality, state security abuses and extra judicial killings - particularly fitting as the date for the event was the third anniversary of the "Tivoli Gardens Massacre", which took place during the country's state of emergency in 2010.

South Koreans Petition to Throw out Active X

  26 May 2013

Over 6,200 South Koreans have joined a online petition calling [ko] on the government to stop employing Active X control. A long-term monopoly of Active X and digital certificate-based authentication system have been accused for meddling with the user's privacy setting and making the entire nation vulnerable to hacking attacks.