Stories about Digital Activism from February, 2009
Ukraine: The Plight of Irina Gavrisheva
Jeff Mowatt draws attention to the plight of wheelchair-bound Irina Gavrisheva, who “writes and publishes website appeals and articles about helping sick children of Zaporozhye, on behalf of the Happy Child fund” – and needs money for a surgery herself.
Iraqi bloggers meet
Iraqi blogger Attawie describes meeting up with other Iraqi bloggers in Amman, Jordan, in this post.
Egypt: Kareem writes from prison
Free Kareem, a blog set up to rally support for jailed Egyptian blogger Kareem Nabil Sulieman, posts excerpts from Kareem's latest letter from prison, sent to Egyptian blogger Wa7da Masrya.
Cuba: Revolution.com
Generation Y is “more alarmed than comforted” by “hopes for broad access to the internet” in Cuba, but notes: “A true revolution.com takes place parallel and contrary to the rationing they want to impose on the virtual world. Its commanders carry strange names like Gmail, WordPress, Skype and Facebook: they...
Barbados, Trinidad & Tobago: Accountability
“What possesses the leader of a political party to appoint someone who is viewed as the patron of his political party, who is the chairman of a major regional financial entity (CLICO Barbados), as the chairman of government-controlled/national broadcasting company?”: Living in Barbados thinks that the government has some explaining...
Barbados, Grenada: Domestic Violence
Ongoing attention to the Rihanna/Chris Brown incident prompts Blah Bloh Blog [Grenada] and Barbados Underground to focus on the issue of domestic violence in the Caribbean.
Sri Lanka: Appreciating Opposing Views
Serendipity hopes that the positive contribution of the Sri Lankan bloggers appreciating opposing views will bring harmony in a divided community.
India: The Free Hug Campaign
AJ at Desicritics.org joined the Hug Karo, Pub Bharo aandolan (hug and fill the pub movement) and posts his experience including photos. This was organized by the Blogaloreans (Bangalore Bloggers group) to protest the moral policing of Shree Ram Sena activists in Mangalore.
Hong Kong: Network Mobilization Against Religious Hegemony
Yesterday (Feb 15), more than 800 people participated in a demonstration against Christian Right Wing in Hong Kong. The rally has no traditional NGO back up and it is mainly mobilized via facebook groups. Sidekick reported about the rally via twitter during the rally and put the messages together in...
Jordan: Ikbis New Feature
Arab video sharing site Ibkis, launched from Jordan, has just added a new feature to their site – webcam upload. It means that now you can record directly from your webcam and publish to Ikbis.
Jordan: Blogging Arabia Talk Set
“Blogging Arabia: From Obscurity to Community” is the title of a talk by Georgetown University lecturer Adel Iskandar being held in Amman, Jordan, on February 19, writes Roba Al Assi at And Far Away.
East Timor: Suai Media Space Challenges the Digital Divide
In this second post of a series to celebrate the 9th anniversary of the arrival of the Internet in East Timor, Sara Moreira interviews Australian documentary-maker Jen Hughes - founder of Suai Media Space, whose main objective is to make the voices of Suai youth heard all over the world - and discusses the fight to minimize the digital divide even without broadband connection in Suai.
Blogging Positively: Join the Global Conversation on HIV/AIDS
This Valentine's Day (February 14) marks not only the start of a Global Voices campaign asking people to “Teach Someone You Love to Blog or Micro-Blog,” it also kicks off a series of health-related activities focused on HIV/AIDS to encourage more people infected and affected by the disease to blog....
Bahamas: Artistic Tourism
“All studies about the creative industries…and tourist development indicate that a failsure way of driving tourists to a destination is by creating a purpose for them to visit…but a word of caution to those…who think that they can develop such festivals without the participation and buy-in of the cultural community:...
Dominica: Traffic Jam
Chris at Dominica Weekly has had it with the island's traffic problems.
Jamaica: All That Glitters
Homophobic statements from a member of the Jamaica Prime Minister's cabinet prompts Abeng News Magazine‘s Kadene Porter to say: “The abundance of divisive nonsense-statements that he and his band of ministers seem to come up with is drawing more than ribaldry from a nervous and watchful public.”
India: The Pink Underwear Resistance
In some parts of India, celebrating Valentine's Day could be considered harmful to women's and couple's health, as Morality Police decide to hunt down couples and women that may be holding hands or in pubs. The Pink Chaddi campaign is a step towards demonstrating that women can and will take matters into their own hands to make sure the situation changes.
Egypt: Bloggers Rally Against Sexual Predators
Sexual harassment makes the headlines of Egyptian blogs once again after a blogger was harassed on the street by a group of young men, high on hash. Marwa Rakha reviews reactions from the blogs, who are urging the blogger not to drop charges and fight for the rights of women and children attacked by sexual predators.
Iran: A letter to the Baha’i community
ZaneIrani writes that a group of academics, writers, artists, journalists and Iranian activists throughout the world wrote a letter to the Baha’i community to say that they are ashamed of 150 years of oppression against Baha'is in Iran.
Kyrgyzstan: The internet cha-cha-cha
The Kyrgyzstan NGO community is going to fight legislators’ efforts at regulating the internet on the joint conference, reports Elena.
Poland: Social Networking and Migration
the POLSKI blog writes about the popularity of Nasza Klasa, a social networking site: “And like Facebook it’s put people who haven’t seen one another for years in touch again, revealing the extent of Polish migration over the past 40 years.”
