· August, 2007

Stories about Digital Activism from August, 2007

Iran:A blogger was beaten up by mafia

Mojeh Sevom ,blogger and journalist,says[Fa] that Javid Asadzadeh an active blogger in Urmia in Azerbaijan province, was beaten up and got injured by local mafia.This blogger has written several times about corruption in real estate in Urmia in his blog and has collected a lot of information about it.

Iran:James Joyce filtered

Freekeyboard informs us that we can not anymore search James Joyce[Fa] in Google or Yahoo in Iran,because this great writer is filtered.The blogger says it is very stupid filtering.He adds Joyce was not a feminist,human rights activist or did not write anything against stoning.

Jamaica: Election Questions

  28 August 2007

“Her poor showing in the national debates and the political missteps this week with the declaration of a state of public emergency has made that painfully all too clear – ‘Sista P can’t manage the prime minister wok.'” Jamaica House is not convinced that Prime Minister Portia Simpson-Miller can lead...

Bahamas: Art & Culture

  27 August 2007

A blog post by Reginald Shepherd underscores Bahamian Nicolette Bethel‘s point that art and culture “should be a fundamental part of any social agenda”.

GV Advocacy: Toward a Global anti-censorship Network

  27 August 2007

During the last six months, since the launch of Global Voices Advocacy, we have been trying to cover the increasingly serious threats to online speech occurring around the globe and the efforts to combat them. We’ve documented the arrest and detention of scores of bloggers and online authors and highlighted several anti-censorship campaigns, reports of Internet censorship, blocked blogs and websites.

Korea: Koreans in UTORO

  26 August 2007

There are 203 Koreans who are in a small village, Utoro in Japan. They have lived in Utoro since their ancestors were drafted for labor during the Japanese colonization period and they couldn’t afford the fare to go back to Korea. More than 60 years later, they are about to...

The Committee to Protect Bloggers is back

  26 August 2007

The Committee to Protect Bloggers (CPB) “the first organization devoted to the free speech and personal liberty of bloggers worldwide, has come back after a 1+ year hiatus, with a tighter focus. Our primary goal is to act as the comprehensive clearinghouse for information on threatened bloggers and on threats...

Guyana: A Woman's Role

  24 August 2007

Stella Ramsaroop finds herself assuming the role of submissive woman…but only long enough for her to use it as an example of how women must not “mindlessly fall in line with patriarchal socialisations.”

Trinidad & Tobago: A Case for Condoms

  24 August 2007

“The reality is that people are having sex, illicit or otherwise, with frightening proportions in our country being infected with HIV and other STIs.” Ramblings and Reason makes a case for educating youngsters about being sexually responsible.

Guyana: Flooding Expected?

  24 August 2007

“These are not freak occurrences but keep happening year after year with all kinds of excuses meted out for the cause of these floods,” says Guyana Providence Stadium, who is concerned that his countrymen “are just accepting these unnecessary floods…and taking them in stride.”

Barbados: Face and Fix It!

  23 August 2007

Cheese-on-bread! lists what she considers to be a few of Barbados’ pressing concerns and wonders whether her fellow Bajans have what it takes to face and fix them.

Barbados: Chinese Labour

  23 August 2007

“Our government has obviously made some agreements with the Chinese, but Bajans are still in the dark as to what has been promised and agreed to by whom.” Barbados Free Press tackles the controversial issue of immigrant labour on the island.

Bangladesh: under curfew

  23 August 2007

Civil unrest began in Bangladesh on the 20th of August when a petty dispute broke out concerning comments passed by armed forces personnel during a soccer match at a university gymnasium ground. An army camp has occupied part of the ground since the declaration of a state of emergency on...

Russia: Blogger on Trial for Writing Fiction

  22 August 2007

Blogger Dmitry Shirinkin faces trial for having written on his blog that he had purchased a gun and was going to kill a few dozen people in one of the city’s colleges. According to Shirinkin, the text - posted on April 21, but made private on April 22 - was a work of fiction, "inspired" by the Virginia Tech shooting. According to the prosecutor's office, however, Shirinkin has violated Article 207 of the Russian Criminal Code by "distributing false information on a planned terrorist act." The trial is likely to take place in September; if convicted, the Russian blogger may receive a three-year prison sentence.