Stories about Digital Activism from March, 2009
Korea: Blog, Bloggers, and Etiquette.
While bloggers seem to be equally distant from each other, they are in fact not. They have their favorite blogs and bloggers, and they link their blogs to each other. They share their favorite posts from other bloggers with other websites. They leave their opinions on the posts of the...
Tunisia: Dismissed Student Activists on Hunger Strike for the Right to Education
A total of 158 Tunisians and their friends from around the world went on hunger strike for a day today (March 26) in solidarity with five students who have been on hunger strike since February 11 in Tunisia. The initiative has been orchestrated on a Facebook group [Fr] as a symbolic form of support to the students, who are members of Tunisian Students' Union (UGET), and who have been suspended from university for their activism on campus.
Sri Lanka: How Should Bloggers Respond To Plagiarizing
ICT For Peacebuilding (ICT4Peace) comments: “rampant plagiarism by leading Editors and newspapers in Sri Lanka of content that appears on the web and in blogs is an enduring issue”. The blog also discusses how the Sri Lankan bloggers should respond to plagiarizing.
Iran: A Christian Blogger arrested
According to several sources an Iranian Christian blogger was arrested in the city of Isfahan in Iran about one month ago. He is a convert from Islam and he used to write about Bible in his blog.
Mexico: Unsolved Feminicide Along the Border
Violence along the United States - Mexico border has reached staggering levels. The killings in border cities like Ciudad Juárez has already totaled 400 in the first two months of 2009. More than 370 women have been murdered in the cities of Juárez and Chihuahua “without the authorities taking proper measures to investigate and address the problem.” This crisis, often called feminicide, has been a cause for organizations and blogs to take to the internet to help raise awareness to the plight of the victims and their families.
Cuba: Antúnez Update
Diaspora blogger Uncommon Sense says that the Cuban authorities have “taken its fight with…dissident Jorge Luis García Pérez (Antúnez) to a new, more frightening level.”
Barbados: Being Green
Living in Barbados admits: ‘It's not easy being green”, but he's trying.
Cuba: Antúnez Surrounded
Uncommon Sense and Octavo Cerco share their thoughts on reports that the Cuban police “have surrounded the home of Cuban dissident Jorge Luis García Pérez (Antúnez), who for more than a month has [led] a hunger strike to protest abuses by the Castro dictatorship.”
Cuba: Detainees Freed
The previously detained Cuban photographer and musician have been released – Sunrise in Havana has the details.
Jamaica: Lessons from the By-Election
Abeng News Magazine asks of the results of the recent by-election in West Portland: “What does it tell us about where things currently stand in Jamaica, if this constituency can be viewed as a microcosm of the Jamaican body politic?”, adding, “It’s high time this dual citizenship issue is seriously...
Guyana: Don't Get Fooled Again
Guyana-Gyal blogs about Allen Stanford, issuing this piece of advice she learned from a friend: “Beware of those with sugar-tongue and oily lips.”
Belarus: Death Penalty and the EU
Vilhelm Konnander writes about death penalty in Belarus and how it should affect the EU leaders’ approach to the country.
Belarus, U.S.: “Nationality Censorship in the U.S.”
Evgeny Morozov writes on Newsweek.com about a case of censorship by a U.S. web-hosting company involving a Washington, D.C.-based Belarusian, Yaraslau Kryvoi – LJ user yarik, whose own English-language account of what happened is here: “When I called for clarifications, a Bluehost representative told me that I “abused” their terms...
Barbados: Suspect Arrested
Barbados Free Press and Bajan Dream Diary both blog about the recent arrest of a suspect in the Terry Schwarzfeld murder.
Trinidad & Tobago: Pompoms
“I thought for a second I was hallucinating. Like I think I’m hallucinating when I hear some wild rumour that Papa Patos wants to invoke the Terrorism Act during the Summit of the Americas to stop people from protesting. I mean it can’t be, can it? Cheerleaders in cricket? Why,...
Cuba: Reports of Detainment
Both Uncommon Sense and Sunrise in Havana blog about reports that a photographer and a musician have been detained in Cuba “after offering their show of solidarity in Placetas for political activist Jorge Luis Garcia Perez (Antunez).”
Cuba: The Black Cuban Woman
Havana Times republishes a mainstream media news article on a black, female Cuban blogger who writes about gender, sexual diversity and racism.
Sri Lanka: The Rationale Behind Blogging
The Whackster's Lair from Sri Lanka asks some questions to find out why we blog: “are we all boring? or are we just interesting to some people? and if we are interesting is that the sole reason to keep writing? or are we writing for our own pleasure in which...
Maldives: Free Speech Under Threat
In early March Mohamed Nasheed, the new President of the Maldives, met with Frank La Rue, United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Opinion and Expression. In the meeting Nasheed expressed his government’s commitment to free speech and announced that Maldives will be made a haven for dissident writers from...
Jordan: Call to end Honour Killings
Jordanian Qwaider calls for an off and online campaign against the so called honour killings, in which women are killed by relatives for having relations with men. “Every year, over 20 women lose their lives on suspicion of infidelity in Jordan alone,” he notes.
Trinidad & Tobago: Meaningful Art
Trin (Surviving Life in Trinidad and Tobago) is of the opinion that “while Fay Anne and other Carnival artists deserve a prize for their contributions, that prize should not be so large that it prevents the Ministry from being able to fund a balanced cross-section of artists who represent our...
