Stories about Digital Activism from May, 2007
Block of Youtube: the Moroccan blogosphere react
A petition has been launched by Maghrebism to protest the block of the video-sharing site Youtube by Maroc Telecom (Vivendi International). “We demand that Maroc Telecom and Vivendi Universal immediately stop the current online censorship on YouTube and all other services being censored, which is a violation of the right...
Kenya: are you a regular Mzalendo user in Nairobi?
Mzalendo is looking for its users in Nairobi: “Are you a regular Mzalendo user based in Nairobi? If you are interested in being interviewed on your views about Mzalendo by Reuters, please get in touch with us via the contact page.”
Morocco: YouTube is Blocked, and the Blogoma is Not Happy
It seems that censorship is on the rise again in Morocco. After last year's blocking of Livejournal and Google Earth, the blogoma erupts as YouTube is added to the censure list. Jillian York reports on what the blogoma thinks of this recent act of censorship.
Syria: Presidential Referendum and Lebanon Clashes
Today, Syria is reelecting president Bashar Assad for a new seven-year term in office. The process is done through a referendum, which means there will be no other challengers. The referendum paper has a green circle that says "Yes" and a gray one that says "No". The result is expected to be 99.xx% in favour of the president - as is the tradition in Syria for the last 37 years. Yazan Badran sums up the reactions of Syrian bloggers here.
Korea: Bloggers are not reporters
On the 19th of this month, one of the major internet portal sites announced the new period of blog journalism in Korea. Their section, media daum blogger news which opened last November, like other portal sites chose blogger reporters within their portal site, and showed news from their own blogger...
Ukraine: Politics Overdose
Ukraine is going through a highly complicated political conflict right now, and its outcome is yet to be seen. But one thing seems clear: many Ukrainians, on whose behalf the politicians involved in the current feud claim to be acting, suffer from politics overdose (and from unusually hot weather). Below is the translation of what two Ukrainian journalists think about Ukraine's political and climatic heat.
Morocco blocks popular video site YouTube
Early this morning, the news broke across the blogosphere that Morocco has joined the ranks of countries like Iran and Tunisia, which already block YouTube. A Moroccan in Washington D.C. posted: “According to postings online and friends in Morocco, access to Youtube is blocked. Nobody knows the reason for this....
Colombia: Bloggers Campaign for the Release of a 3-Year Old Hostage
Libertad para Emanuel is a blog that was started in order to call for the release of a 3-year old hostage taken by FARC guerrillas. Many other Colombian bloggers joined the campaign and wrote their support for the cause, while others who supported the cause did not want to forget about the other thousands of hostages currently being held.
Hungary: Budapest Photos
Budapest photos – at Pestcentric.
Serbia: 50 Human Rights Tasks
Belgrade 2.0 comments on Goran Miletic's “fifty human rights tasks that new government should do.”
Brazil: New Round on the National Internet Policy Debate
There are not many issues in Brazil where you are able to find unanimity. But when you talk about messing with Internet freedoms, the defenders spring up from radically different locations in the political spectrum. That's what we are seeing again this week as Sen. Eduardo Azeredo, the protagonist of...
Iraq: New Blogs on the Street
Konfused Kid from Iraq introduces the latest Iraqi blogs here. They include a blog discusses everything from rock music to Iraqi social glimpses, recent posts include attending a Pink Floyd concert, and an Arabic-language post about the tribulations of a small child; another written in French by a Christian Assyrian...
Bangla Blogs: Breaking Taboos and a Debate
The Bangla blogging platform Bandh Bhanger Awaaj is buzzing with discussions, debates, memes and literatures. Hundreds of bloggers and thousands of readers are keeping this space lively. It is generating a lot of interest among the bloggers and readers with its variety of posts. Recently there was a wave of...
Egypt: Human Rights Council
Egypt's bloggers held their own online protest on the eve of the election of Egypt to the UN Human Rights Council. Bloggers Nora Younis and the Free Kareem and the Free Monem blogs all posted a video stating why the country shouldn't be on the council. Kareem was jailed for...
Iran:What happened to an important news in BBC Persian
Harfeh Hesabi says[Fa] an article about CIA activities to destablise Iranian government disappeared from BBC Persian site in a very short time on 23th of May. The article talked about CIA ties with Jundallah,a terrorist group active in Sistan and Balouchestan province.The blogger says the article can not be found...
Europe: Third Annual Satin Pajama Awards
Voting has just begun in the Third Annual Satin Pajama Awards over at A Fistful of Euros.
Belarus: Students’ Rally
TOL's Belarus translates two posts – here and here – by Belarusian bloggers on a student rally against cancellation of discounts for students and war veterans.
Belarus: The Opposition's Failure
TOL's Belarus has some harsh words for the Belarusian opposition: “The opposition party leaders will make fools of us for as long as we allow it. All of them should have resigned back in 2001. They had a last chance to rehabilitate themselves in 2006. But now they have seized...
Fijian Freedom bloggers and the military junta
It seems that the persecution faced by the anti-military Fijian Freedom Bloggers – who are using blogs to protest against the coup of December 5th, 2006- has subsided following a decision by the Fiji Military Forces (FMF) to stop hunting for anti-military bloggers and abandon its efforts to block the...
Sudan: Blogging From the Conflict Zone
Increasingly, aid workers, volunteers and even peacekeepers use blogs to share their unique experiences and insights from conflict zones. Take the Darfur conflict in Sudan, for example. Sleepless in Sudan was one of the first blogs to highlight the untold suffering of innocent people in Darfur. Sleepless in Sudan, which was nominated in the 2006 "Bloggies" Weblog Award contest, was maintained by a female aid worker stationed in Darfur. For nine months, Sleepless in Sudan told stories of life in Darfur from the ground.
Arabeyes: What's Happening at the Daily Kos?
Pro-Israel and pro-Palestine bloggers have been battling it out at the Daily Kos for quite some time. And then came Al Nakba, or the catastrophe, as the pro-Palestinian camp refers to it - when Pro-Palestine diarist were allegedly banned from cross-posting their diaries on the DKos. New rules of engagement have since been penned and bloggers' attempts to wave the olive branch may open a new chapter of relations between citizen journalists from the two opposing camps.
