Stories about Digital Activism from October, 2010
Puerto Rico: Second Blog Day Against Violence
Bloggers Nahomi Galindo Malavé and Verónica RT convened bloggers in Puerto Rico to express themselves on violence against women and the media for the Second Blog Day “No More Violence Against Women.” [ES]
Brazil: changes made to digital crimes bill
Jomar Silva, of blogging collective Trezentos [pt], speaks out against recent changes [pt] made to a controversial draft bill on cybercrimes in Brazil. The bill, which would require web users to provide identification for online transactions, such as setting up a blog or downloading files, may now see content service...
UAE: Ban on Flickr Lifted
The United Arab Emirates has lifted a ban on photo sharing site Flickr, writes the UAE Community Blog. “According to a report in The National, the TRA has lifted the Flickr ban. Good news for UAE internet users and photographers. Apparently, it's been made possible by Yahoo utilising the same...
Armenia-Azerbaijan: Online campaigns for the return of casualties of war
A campaign represented as being organized by ‘Armenian bloggers’ has been established to demand the return of the body of Manvel Sarinbekyan, an Armenian who reportedly hung himself while in detention after crossing the border with Azerbaijan.The campaign has been launched in both Russian and English. Meanwhile, and as the...
Armenia: Domestic Violence petition submitted
Following the recent outrage expressed by some Armenian bloggers following the death of a 20-year old woman at the hands of her husband and mother-in-law, Blogian says that the petition it set up to lobby the government to pass a law on domestic violence was signed by 3,196 individuals before...
Armenia: Prolific blogger suspended on LiveJournal
Kornelij Glas [RU] details the case of Pigh, an Armenian blogger prolific in the mutual tit-for-tat online information war with Azerbaijan and Turkey. Speaking to Global Voices, Pigh says that his blog on LiveJournal was suspended on 8 October after some Azerbaijanis made complaints to the site's administration which included...
South Korea: Protesting with Flowers and Pink Placards
In South Korea, a female protester made a change in the conservative education sector, a feat no burly protester with a Molotov cocktail has succeeded in achieving over several decades.
Russia: Post-Emergency Sustainability of Crowdsourcing Projects
Gregory Asmolov analyzes the fate of the Ushahidi-based Help Map project after the wildfires have ended. What is the future of emergency projects and how can we make them more sustainable?
Haiti: Cholera!
As a cholera outbreak hits Haiti, bloggers discuss this latest assault on the already besieged country.
Cuba: Awarding Courage & Humility
“There is no name more appropriate than that of this journalist and psychologist whose main characteristic is humility, to be included in a list where we find Nelson Mandela, Aung San Suu Kyi and Cuba’s Ladies in White”: Generation Y and Iván's File Cabinet blog about Guillermo Fariñas’ award of...
A journey through the unheard voices of Haiti’s reconstruction
Solidar'IT in Haiti is a journey through the unheard voices of Haiti’s reconstruction, organized as a web-documentary in progress.
Cote d'Ivoire: Reports of Violence as Elections Approach
West Africa researcher for Human Rights Watch Corinne Dufka says:”While politicians and foreign diplomats have wrangled over election preparations, residents in western Côte d'Ivoire are consumed by fear of violent robbery or of being pulled from a bus and raped.” NGO Akendewa has set up a citizen reporting platform to...
China: My father is Li Gang!
The son of a deputy police director in Hebei province killed a young woman in a traffic accident on October 16 and reportedly shouted to an angry crowd, "Go ahead and sue me, my father is Li Gang". Now hundreds of people have been writing and sharing songs and poetry online in protest against bad behavior by offspring of government officials
Azerbaijan: Free Expression under Attack
Global Voices Advocacy features a guest post from Rebecca Vincent, Article 19's Advocacy Assistant for Azerbaijan. The post details the situation with freedom of expression in the oil-rich former Soviet republic and the case of imprisoned video blogging youth activist Adnan Hajizade.
Bermuda: Open or Closed?
Politics.bm calls “presumptive Premier-in-waiting” Paula Cox's recommitment to term limits “economic suicide”.
Cuba: Hunger Striker Recognised
Uncommon Sense and Along the Malecon celebrate Cuban hunger striker Guillermo Fariñas being awarded this year's Sakharov human rights prize.
Anguilla: End of a Blog
Corruption-free Anguilla decides to shut down its blog over threats of a lawsuit; Barbados Free Press comments: “Don Mitchell CBE QC learns why anti-corruption blogs in small countries must be anonymous.”
Russia: More on the Kremlin Worm
More on the Kremlin worm – at Dmitry Sidorov's The Putin State Chronicles. (Yelena Osipova's GV text on the worm scandal is here.)
Haiti: Upcoming Elections
“The November 28th elections are supposed to provide a beacon of hope for Haiti. Unfortunately, flawed and undemocratic elections which exclude large groups of essential Haitian stakeholders will kill this hope”: Wadner Pierre republishes a post about “whether unfair and exclusionary elections would be beneficiary for the country.”
Cuba: Plea for Dr. Biscet
The daughter of political prisoner Oscar Biscet pens a letter to President Obama; Blog For Cuba republishes it here, while Uncommon Sense says: “This is the moment for friends of Cuban liberty to speak up and act on behalf of Dr. Biscet and other Cubans imprisoned because of their faith...
Egypt: Bad Bad Facebook
A TV show discussing Facebook on the Egyptian state-run television channel soon became the source for rumours, mockery, and loads of fun on blogs and Twitter. Tarek Amr has more in this round up of reactions from Egyptian netizens.