· November, 2011

Stories about Governance from November, 2011

Bulgaria: New Protest Against Shale Gas Planned

  22 November 2011

A new protest is being planned for Nov. 26 in Sofia, part of a series of protests against Chevron's shale gas extraction in northeast Bulgaria. On Nov. 20, nearly 500 people attended a rally in the coastal city of Varna, which didn't receive adequate media coverage. Several Facebook groups have...

Puerto Rico: Who's Running the Medical School?

  22 November 2011

Gil the Jenius is calling for the firing of those who were allegedly responsible for the San Juan Bautista School of Medicine's recent loss of accreditation (which has since been reversed, pending probation), saying that leaving those involved in charge “would be very much like locking the door after the...

Trinidad & Tobago: The Colman Commission

  22 November 2011

“The Colman Commission was established about a year ago as a Public Enquiry into the failure of the CL Financial group”, explains Afra Raymond, adding: “The sole Commissioner, Sir Anthony Colman, has now made a statement which outlines his progress in this huge and complex matter…despite all the evidence about...

Egypt: Revolutionaries Shrug at Cabinet Resignation

  21 November 2011

The Cabinet of Dr Essam Sharaf has just asked if it could resign and the Supreme Council for Armed Forces (SCAF) is yet to decide whether it would accept their resignation or not. For activists and protesters battling police and the army for the third day in and around Tahrir Square, the news does not bring anything new to the table. Their main demand is for SCAF to leave power and hand over authority to a civil government.

Tanzania: How Not to Launch a Data.gov

  21 November 2011

Mbwana Ally explains how not to lauch a Data.gov: “Checking my twitter stream I saw that the Tanzania Government had launched a Open Data website initiative (Kiswahili)…The complaints on twitter started mounting and I gladly participated. Where is the data? The SMS no. set up does not work. The site...

Trinidad & Tobago: The Blame Game

  21 November 2011

Plain Talk is “flabbergasted” by a statement made by the Minister of Works calling for “an end to what he calls the ‘blame’ game because there is…critical work to be done”, saying: “No Jack sorry, we cannot put an end to the ‘blame’ game, it's the only game we have.”

Singapore GovCamp 2011

  21 November 2011

Themed “Connecting People, Data and Ideas”, the second GovCamp of the year in Singapore was held on November 18. Using the hashtag #govcampsg, here are reactions of the conference participants.

Liberia: Giving Free Press a Second Chance

  20 November 2011

The judgment in the controversial media closure case in Liberia gave justice a rare opportunity to prevail. On November 7 the Liberian government shut down three media houses for allegedly spreading hate messages likely to incite violence.

Egypt: The Question of Election Symbols

  19 November 2011

A car, a gun, a toothbrush, a spaceship and an eye! Those are just some of the symbols you can see on the election banners on Egyptian streets as the countdown for election day in Egypt nears. Tarek Amr looks up what netizens have to say about those symbols.

Philippines: Former President Arrested

  19 November 2011

Former Philippine President Gloria Arroyo has been placed under 'hospital arrest' after she was charged with electoral sabotage. Online reactions made the hashtag #ArroyoArrest one of the trending topics worldwide.

Petition for ‘Support a Debt-Free Timor-Leste’

  19 November 2011

An online petition opposes the plan of the East Timor government to obtain foreign loans next year. East Timor is urged to learn from the mistakes of other developing countries whose economies were crippled by huge foreign debt.

Cuba: Censorship in Film Festival

  18 November 2011

Generation Y says that the International Festival of the New Latin American Cinema, which takes place in Cuba next month, “has been losing ground in the cultural life of Havana”, partly because of censorship.

Brazil: Real State Speculation Threatens Sacred Ground

  18 November 2011

Sagrada Terra Especulada (Sacred Speculated Ground), a Brazilian collective that advocates for indigenous land rights, is promoting a documentary [pt] and a petition [pt] in defense of the Pajé Sanctuary, close to Brasilia´s Pilot Plan. Real estate speculation [pt] threatens this area of savannah with the construction of a so-called...

Kuwait: Protesters Storm the National Assembly

  18 November 2011

Thousands of angry Kuwaitis stormed the National Assembly building on Wednesday 16 November, after police and security forces clashed with protestors. Kuwait's political sphere has been extremely tense in the past few years, and with the Arab Spring earlier this year, the situation took a new turn.