· March, 2014

Stories about Digital Activism from March, 2014

Massive Online Campaign to Free Political Prisoner Oscar López Rivera

  31 March 2014

The international campaign to free Puerto Rican political prisoner Oscar López Rivera is asking people from all over the world to contribute in making the hashtag #freeOscarLopez a trending topic tomorrow, April 1st. Tweets should also include U.S. president Barack Obama's handle @BarackObama. This year, López Rivera will have been...

Global Voices Author Raza Rumi Attacked By Unknown Gunmen In Lahore

  28 March 2014

Notable Pakistani, columnist, TV anchor and blogger (also a Global Voices author) Raza Rumi was attacked by unidentified gunmen near Raja market on Ferozpur road in Lahore, Pakistan. At 8:55PM tonight he tweeted: Was fired at near Raja Market. My driver is wounded. I was dreading this day — Raza...

The “Happy Voting” Project Encourages Young Europeans to Vote

  28 March 2014

Drawing on the Pharrell Williams worldwide hit “Happy” and the associated equally renown music video (over 143 million views on YouTube), the Brussels-based film company Full Tunes Production has recently launched on facebook an enthusiastic project  called “Happy Voting” that strives to encourage voting for the next European elections. The project...

Brazilian Congress Approves Pioneering Bill of Rights for Internet Users

  26 March 2014

Marco Civil has finally been approved in the lower house of Brazil's Congress and next should be voted in Senate. The bill of rights for Internet users became a worldwide trending topic on Twitter, following a large-scale campaign that was promoted during the day of the vote, March 25, 2014, under the hashtags #MarcoCivil and #EuQueroMarcoCivil (I want...

Brazil's Internet Bill of Rights Ignites Storm of Posts

  25 March 2014

Activists who support Brazil's bill of rights for Internet users, known as the #MarcoCivil, and who have Facebook or Twitter accounts are invited to participate in a large-scale campaign on social networks to pressure the National Congress to vote on the current version of the bill. An article by Julie Rovono on TechCrunch explains how...

‘The Subject': A New Crowdfunding Tool for Brazil's Independent Media

  24 March 2014

Aimed at providing an alternative to the traditional business model of media production, a new crowdfunding platform for independent journalism has been launched in Brazil. O Sujeito (The Subject) [pt] is hosted by the crowdfunding website Catarse, which wrote about the new venture [pt] coming at a time of transition for media funding: O veículo impresso está...

Tor Users on the Rise in Turkey

Human rights and ethics advocate Frederic Jacobs notes that the number of people using Tor is on the rise in Turkey: Tor usage is peaking in Turkey. > 35 000 connecting. More expected for the next few days. pic.twitter.com/1c7AOflm7h — Frederic Jacobs (@FredericJacobs) March 23, 2014 Turkey has just banned Twitter.

A Telethon to Save Russia's Independent TV

RuNet Echo  23 March 2014

Russia’s only independent television station, TV Rain, is on its last leg. Following what appears to have been an orchestrated campaign to rob the channel of its cable and satellite distributors, advertisers have run for the hills and the station is being evicted from its Moscow studio at Red October...