· February, 2008

Stories about Digital Activism from February, 2008

Blogger of the Week: Nicholas Laughlin

  24 February 2008

Today's Blogger of the Week is Nicholas Laughlin - an author, editor, art enthusiast, activist and "occasional" blogger, who has dreams bigger than life for his hometown in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, and writing projects and engagements which make him wish the day was longer than 24 hours.

Serbia: Bloggers Discuss Rally and Rioting in Belgrade

  22 February 2008

Yesterday, Kosovo is Serbia rally was held in Belgrade. According to unofficial sources, 150,000-200,000 people attended it to protest against unilateral proclamation of independence of Kosovo. The rally went peacefully but was followed by rioting. Buildings of the American, Croatian and Turkish embassies were set on fire. Many people were injured, at least one person was killed. Sinisa Boljanovic translates reactions by several Serbian bloggers who blog at B92's blog portal.

China: Wen Jiabao's neighbors forcefully evicted

  22 February 2008

Since his blogging tour by bike through some of the poorest areas in China, veteran Beijing blogger Laohu “Tiger Temple” Miao has over the past two months taken on the part-time job of social worker for a group of homeless and destitute senior citizens living behind a temporary roadside wall just opposite Tiananmen Square, collecting donations and organizing clothing and food drives through his blog, 24 Hours Online, and through this inspiring similar actions [zh] in other cities.

Bahrain: Lost causes?

  22 February 2008

Recently a number of bloggers have complained about a lack of real education, a lack of critical thinking, and a lack of political engagement in Bahrain. Ayesha Saldanha tunes into the Bahraini blogosphere to bring us the story.

Trinidad & Tobago: Assisting Guyana

  22 February 2008

“Perhaps…this can be the precursor to a properly organised Caribbean-based defence initiative which…moves us one step closer, even through tragedy, to a single pan-Caribbean nation”: Keith in Trinidad shares his thoughts on T&T's offer of assistance to Guyana.

Jamaica, Haiti: Haitian Creole

  22 February 2008

“I learned many things from Felix Morisseau-Leroy and one of the most important was his commitment to the Haitian Creole language”: Geoffrey Philp posts one of the writer's poems.

Cuba: Stop the Presses?

  22 February 2008

“Hold the presses, stop the videocameras! The Great Deceiver may have fooled us again”: Review of Cuban-American Blogs wonders whether or not Fidel Castro's resignation should be taken at face value.

Bermuda: Immigration

  22 February 2008

Politics.bm has a suggestion for helping Bermuda's “appallingly slow Department of Immigration.”

China: Human Flesh Search Engine

  22 February 2008

ESWN translated a story about a netizen's call for “human flesh search engine” to identify a malicious “uncle figure” in an online video. In the end, they managed to find the uploader, but not the “uncle”.

Trinidad & Tobago: Music Festival

  22 February 2008

“It seems to defeat the purpose of competition when it seems no matter how hard you try…you could still end up tied with fellow competitors in the top three. Wither, then, the prestige and the incentive?” Discover TnT Blog is a tad disappointed with the Trinidad & Tobago Music Festival.

Guyana: The Reality of Distance

  22 February 2008

“The murders at Lusignan and Bartica are outside my realm of reality…”: Signifyin’ Guyana tries to make sense of the recent massacres and bridge the gap between the Guyanese disapora and those still living at home.

Barbados: Hair Them Out

  22 February 2008

“Why should these young men be barred from finishing their studies and leading productive lives because they made a hairstyle choice?”: Cheese-on-bread! blogs about the latest controversy in Barbados – students being banned from classes because of how they choose to wear their hair.

Inmates use blogs to start a reform of society

  21 February 2008

This week we are introduced to another of the Rising Voices second round grantees, “Prison Diaries”, based in Jamaica. It will use citizen media tools like blogs, video and podcasts to share the daily journals of inmates, allowing all Jamaicans to learn about the realities of Jamaica’s overcrowded prison system with the hope that this will counteract the false ideas of veneration of gang leaders implanted by the media.

Barbados, Cuba: Castro's Legacy

  21 February 2008

As David Thompson praises the Castro legacy, Barbados Free Press says: “A damned shame. We had hoped for better from the new Prime Minister.”

Trinidad & Tobago: Cultural Preservation

  21 February 2008

“Even as we fret about the loss of our historic architecture, we are losing the architects of our history”: Blogging from Trinidad & Tobago, The Liming House writes about the importance of preserving “our collective memory.”

Jamaica: School's Out

  21 February 2008

“Jamaican teachers have taken a stand that they will no longer tolerate the impish, rude, violent and classless behaviour which takes place in our schools”: Jamaican Lifestyle blogs about the island's “bad behaving school children.”