· January, 2011

Stories about Governance from January, 2011

Russia: Blogger Released After 14 Months of Penal Colony

RuNet Echo  31 January 2011

Irek Murtazin [RUS], blogger and former spokesperson of the Tatarstan's president, has been released today after spending more than 14 months in penal colony, “Novaya Gazeta” reported [RUS]. After published a gossip about the death of Mintimir Shaimiev, president of Tatarstan Republic, Murtazin had been accused of defamation and sentenced to 2 years...

Sudan: “Facebook Revolution” with the help of Twitter as a side kick

  31 January 2011

Today we are witnessing a new trend in Sudan. Young Sudanese are growing up digital and are well aware of how the world is changing around them. Young people in Sudan are using social media tools to voice their opinions and challenge the regime. In this post, we are looking at how social media tools were used to help organise, document and report January 30 demonstrations.

Sudan: Tweeting #SudanJan30

  31 January 2011

Using the social networking site Facebook, Sudanese students called for a street demonstration on January 30 to protest against the government of Omar al-Bashir. The protests have claimed the life of Mohammed Abdulrahman, a student at the Ahaliya University. This is our latest roundup of #SudanJan30 tweets.

Cuba, Trinidad & Tobago: Looking at Egypt

  31 January 2011

Cuban bloggers speculate that the Egypt protests may set an example for Cubans, issue advice to the Egyptian people and blog about similarities and differences between the two countries, while from Trinidad and Tobago, Globewriter calls social networking “the new human rights weapon”.

Ukraine: “Three Nations”?

  31 January 2011

Paul Goble of Window in Eurasia cites an interview [ENG] with a member of the Lviv City Council, who explains [UKR] that the real conflict in contemporary Ukraine is not between ethnic Ukrainians and ethnic Russians – instead, three different national projects are competing for dominance within the country.

Sudan: People's Revolution in the Making?

  30 January 2011

Following mass protests in Tunisia and Egypt, a group Sudanese activists have chosen January 30, 2011 to be the beginning of peaceful demonstrations to bring down Omar al-Bashir and his government. Here is a roundup of latest tweets using the hashtag #SudanJan30.

Brazil: Ministry of Culture abandons Creative Commons

  29 January 2011

Brazilian Minister of Culture's decision to remove a Creative Commons license from its website provoked all sorts of reactions on social networks and among bloggers. It is the first instance of undoing of the previous government inclusive public policies regarding Internet, digital culture and authorial rights.

China: 88% of Chinese trust government?

  29 January 2011

Edelman, one of the top five global public relations firms, released its 2011 Trust Barometer on January 26 2011. The report indicates that China ranked first, with 88% trust, in the world in terms of trust government. On the other hand, the United States fell from 46% to 40%.

Hungary: Filtering Foreign Media Content?

  29 January 2011

Hungarian Spectrum reports that the official Hungarian news agency seems to be supplying other media outlets with “wrong translations” of foreign media content, perhaps trying “to conceal some of the bad news–bad that is from the point of view of the government–from the Hungarian public.” Galamus Csoport, however, offers “accurate...