· December, 2010

Stories about Digital Activism from December, 2010

Haiti: Ballots Video

  17 December 2010

prophet N posts a video which, “according to unconfirmed sources…was filmed by UN peacekeepers in Cite Soleil” and may point to inconsistencies with regard to electoral ballots.

Jamaica: Documentary on Police Abuse

  17 December 2010

Repeating Islands reports on the launch of a documentary which chronicles instances of police injustice and debuted “to a crowd of more than 300 to commemorate International Human Rights Day.”

Brazil: Newspaper Folha de São Paulo censors satirical blog

  17 December 2010

The blog "Falha de Sao Paulo", created by brothers Lino and Mario Bocchini, as a parody of Brazil’s biggest newspaper company - Folha de Sao Paulo - was removed from the web by an injunction in the Brazilian courts at the end of September. Dozens of blogs came out in defense of the website and its authors to freedom of expression.

Côte d'Ivoire: Citizens Marching towards another “Orange Revolution”?

  15 December 2010

Although the atmosphere was already quite worrisome in Côte d'Ivoire, the tension level climbed up a few notches in the past few days. After a skirmish on December 12 between the two opposite camps and the prolongation of the cease-fire by Laurent Gbagbo, Alassane Ouattara and his partisans are now calling on the population to "engage in a pacific and democratic mass protest in order to install the legitimate and legal administration". Bloggers react before the potentially explosive event:

Mexico: Mapping the Heroes of Ciudad Juárez

  15 December 2010

Vivir México [es] reports that the initiative Cronicas de Heroes [es] (Hero Chronicles) –inspired by Hero Reports New York– aims to document and report the good deeds of the people of Ciudad Juárez. Starting December 17, users will be able to map good deeds they witness in the city.

Armenia: Facebook Storytelling

  14 December 2010

Writing for Ararat Magazine, Global Voices author Simon Maghakyan says that that one Facebook Group is attempting to use the popular social networking site to teach children Armenian history. The post wonders if this might turn out to be a revolutionary way to get them interested in such subject matters.

Kenya: Bloggers React To WikiLeaks Cables

  14 December 2010

Kenyans celebrated their 47th year since becoming a Republic on Sunday December 12, 2010.The speeches by the leadership including the Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki, Prime Minister Raila Odinga and Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka of the coalition Government were marked by terse and scathing statements against the American Ambassador to Kenya Michael E.Ranneberger due to the latest rounds of WikiLeaks cables.

Cuba: Human Rights Day Arrests

  14 December 2010

Iván's File Cabinet says that “more than 50 dissidents and activists were arrested on December 10 in Cuba…for attempting to mark the International Day of Human Rights.”

Cuba: What About The 11?

  14 December 2010

“The European Union has backed off the full-fledged restoration of relations with Havana sought by the government of Spain, unconvinced that the Castro dictatorship has earned a change in treatment”: Uncommon Sense reasons that since the Cuban government “is unlikely to get…what it was seeking, why would it go ahead...

Azerbaijan: Adnan and Emin are back… and say thank you

  13 December 2010

In Mutatione Fortitudo posts the first YouTube video by Adnan Hajizade and Emin Milli since their release. In the video, the two video blogging youth activists in Azerbaijan say thank you to all those who followed their case and contributed to international pressure calling for their release. From world leaders...

Russia: A New Initiative to Release of Mikhail Khodorkovsky

RuNet Echo  13 December 2010

Few days before the court will announce its verdict on the second trial of oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky, a new online initiative suggests to promise president Medvedev electoral support in exchange of Khodorkovsky's release. Led by Mikhail Gurevich, executive director of Russian media corporation RBC Group, the project launched a Facebook group [RUS]...

Tanzania: The promising future of social media

  13 December 2010

Proches Tairo is the founder of Bongoline, a new online community for Tanzanians. I conducted an interview with him about the use of social media in Tanzania with particular reference to 2010 Tanzania General Elections. He contends that although the majority of Tanzanians are not currently using social media, the future looks promising.

Armenia: Police target Emos

  12 December 2010

Although understood to be a fairly conservative and traditional country, reports that police in Armenia were targeting Emos, a stereotypically melancholic sub-culture associated especially with teenagers, caused alarm and outrage among bloggers and Facebook users.

Taiwan bloggers on Wikileaks

  12 December 2010

Schee, project owner of Hopendata, calls for more attention on Wikileaks by hosting an event on Dec.22 about “Wikileaks and Freedom of the Internet” while setting up a mirror site at “wikileaks.com.tw“.  On the other hand, Influential blogger Billypan builds the Taiwanese version of Wikileaks that aims to crowd-translate the 3,456...

Colombia: Twitter Solidarity with Victims of Rainy Season

  12 December 2010

Colombian Twitter users have joined to support the victims of this year's heavy rainy season, which has affected at least 1.5 million people. Twitteratón [es] started on December 8 as an event in Medellín [es] to collect donations for the victims, prompting similar events in other cities like Bogotá (12/...

Puerto Rico: Original version of Wikileaks

  11 December 2010

An anonymous team has founded the website Iupileaks [es] in which they are posting documents of the administration of the University of Puerto Rico (Iuipi is the colloquial name of the main campus of the University): “We are a small group of people who attempts to inform the public about...