Stories about Digital Activism from November, 2008
Mauritania and Tunisia Hack Dissident Sites
Hack in the Box reports that Mauritania and Tunisia have mastered a new way of muzzling the online media – hacking dissident news sites.
Angry Arab's Blog Blocked in Syria
Lebanese Dr As'ad Abu Khalil, who lives in the US, writes: “A reader in Damascus tells me that my website is still blocked there. Maybe this will lift the ban:...
Armenia: Bloggers Throw Funeral at Georgian Embassy
Carrying a black casket labeled “The Newborn Georgian Democracy,” a group of bloggers in Yerevan have marched toward the Georgian Embassy protesting what they call the destruction and desecration of Armenian cultural monuments in neighboring Georgia. Bloggers tell the story.
Egypt: Police officers banned off university campus
In a historic court ruling, police are now banned from patrolling Cairo University's campus. Instead, the university will have to deploy civilian personal as security guards. Bloggers, who linked police recklessness and use of excessive force to the order, welcomed the ruling with guarded optimism.
Is Secularism the answer to Egypt's Sectarianism?
Egypt has always been known as an Islamic country where Muslims, Christians, and Jews peacefully co-existed. Today this is no longer the case. Is secularism the solution? Following is an outline of the discussion taking place on Egyptian blogs today.
Jamaica: Punishable by Death
As a country struggling with spiraling rates of violent crime, Jamaica has voted to re-introduce the death penalty, despite appeals from Amnesty International and Archbishop Desmond Tutu. The atmosphere on the island nation is tense, with the prevailing attitude appearing to be, in the words of blogger Kadene Porter, "Blood fi blood and fyah fi fyah."
India: List of casualties in Mumbai attacks
Mumbai Help posts a number of lists containing the names of dead and injured in the Mumbai terrorist attacks and their present location (P1, P2, P3, P4, P5).
Japan: Cooperation with Thailand for the Prisoners Transfer Program.
At the Irregular Rythm Asylum blog, Shiga announces [ja] that she received a letter from Chinpô-san [珍宝さん], a Japanese who has been serving his term of life imprisonment at Bangwang...
Congratulations Pour in on Queen Rania's Youtube Award
Bloggers from across the Middle East and North Africa are tipping their hats to Jordan's Queen Rania, and her visionary initiative on YouTube, after she was awarded YouTube's first-ever Visionary Award for launching an interactive online channel to combat stereotypes and misconceptions associated with Arabs and Muslims.
Watch ‘Best of the Blogs’ Awards LIVE
The winners of this year's Best of the Blogs awards (The BoBs) will be announced in Berlin tomorrow, November 27, 2008 (8pm CET). The event is open to the public. If you're not in Berlin, you can watch the whole thing online via this post. Global Voices website, Rising Voices has been nominated in the Best Blog category.
Haiti: Non-Violence
Haitian blogger Wadner Pierre strongly advocates the path of non-violence.
Bermuda: Waiting for Transparency
Vexed Bermoothes says: “Bermuda has been waiting for the promised freedom of information bill for a long time. The whole process behind Government’s efforts have been pretty stretched out and...
Egypt: 89% of Youth Support Internet Censorship Law
Eighty-nine per cent of Egyptian young men and women surveyed recently stated that they are in favour of an Internet censorship law. Bloggers Times shares the most recent statistics on Egyptian internet users in this post, translated by Marwa Rakha from Arabic.
Jamaica: Austism Speaks
“In Jamaica, the word ‘Autism’ is just now becoming a familar word. Years ago, having a child that was ‘different’ can warrant just titles as, ‘baffon’ or ‘Lagga Head'”: A...
Jamaica: Don't Worry, Be Happy
Active Voice wants to let you know “that despite the global financial meltdown and the downfall of another wall–Wall Street–WE ARE NOT IN PANIC MODE in Jamaica.”
Cuba: To Choose
“First there were the elections in the United States and now the issue has been revived with what happened on Sunday in Venezuela. It’s as if at the end of...
Pakistan: Lahore Bloggers Meet
Light Within posts a review of today's Lahore Bloggers’ Meet including pictures. CIO Pakistan has links to live blogs, twitters and videos covering the meet.
China: Citizen reporter Zuola becomes a potential threat to state security?!
Three days ago, on Nov 20th, Zuola sent out a twitter message reporting that he could not get through the Customs from Shenzhen to Hong Kong: I can't get in...
Jordan: The Queen's Vlog, Internet Socio-Economics and More
In today's review of the Jordanian blogosphere, Mohammad Azraq links to posts celebrating Queen Rania's latest Vlog, the socio-economic implications of a faster Internet, a new idea for social networking, and a competition open for Jordanians to vote for their favourite city logos and icons.
Trinidad & Tobago: Belt-Tightening
About seven months after the global food crisis was showing up on people's radar and two months after the global financial crisis made headlines, Trinidad and Tobago's Prime Minister decided that the time was right to address the nation regarding the state of the economy. The money quote of the speech was "Tighten your belts" - and bloggers have had a lot to say about the subject.
Cuba: Hurricane Aftermath
Generation Y takes a road trip to Cuba's Pinar del Rio and is even more convinced that “we have to avoid letting our tendency to forget cover up the situation…we...
