Stories about Ideas from November, 2012
China: Top 10 horrible figures of 2012?
This week, Chinese internet users come up with their own list of the “10 Most Horrid People of 2012.” The list was shared on Sina Weibo by “Weekly Commentary” [zh] (每周评论), but was deleted on Nov 26. China Media Project translated the deleted post.
Côte d'Ivoire: Online Campaign Says No to Holding Multiple Public Offices
Ivorian bloggers have initiated a campaign for a real public debate on the issue of parliamentarians simultaneously holding multiple elected offices in Côte d'Ivoire. Tired of seeing parliamentarians also being mayors or presidents of local councils, these netizens are using social media and organizing a petition.
Macedonia: 7th Critical Mass Biking in Skopje on Wednesday
The 7th Critical Mass [mk] group cycling will take place on the streets of Skopje on November 28 (Wednesday) starting at 5:30 pm, organized via #КМ7 hashtag and the FB event [mk].
Mauritania: “Knowledge for All” Campaign to Collect 30,000 Books
A group of Mauritanian activists initiated a Facebook campaign entitled “Knowledge for all” [ar], which aiming to gather 30,000 books before Mauritania's Independence day [Nov 28] and hand them to the National Library. The campaign was met by great enthusiasm from Mauritanian intellectuals and figures, who praised the campaign and and donated many books. Hussein Ould...
Rise of Bulgaria's Tomato Revolution
On November 24, people gathered in front of the Bulgarian Parliament in the capital city of Sofia, thus officializing what has become known as the 'Tomato Revolution.' Rayna Stamboliyska reports.
Blogirame Award Distinguishes Macedonia's Top Bloggers and Twitter Users
Macedonian blog aggregator Blogirame ["We blog"] published the results of their first annual awards, as well as videos from the ceremony held on November 23, 2012. Filip Stojanovski reports.
Ibero-America: Free Software Assessment Report 2012
The recently released Free Software Assessment Report 2012 shows the opinion, assessment and preferences of more than 5,000 people from Spain and Latin America. The study published in its fourth edition is promoted by PortalProgramas and supported by a number of experts and collaborators [es]. The report aims to contribute...
Peru: The Real Meaning of Christmas
Peruvian blogger Cyrano from Columna 17 [es] rants about the urge [es] some people feel during the last days of the year: It doesn't matter at all the real meaning of the occasion, there is one only goal: to sell the most products, leaving aside what we are celebrating. He...
Brazil, France: Agroecology Helps Reduce Poverty
Respecting the soil is fundemental to us. It is where we get our food from and how we will provide for our children Suelia explains [fr] how the agroecology approach (bringing ecological principles to bear in agroecosystems) has helped many in her community grow a sustainable business model by diversifying...
Mending Japan and China Relations
Following anti-Japan protests in China, official ties between Japan and China are still at an impasse as of late October. While both governments are struggling to improve relations, some success has been seen among civil society. We take a look at some initiatives in this post.
Zimbabwe: Hashtag #263Chat to Crowdsource Opinions on Pressing Issues
Zimbabean blogger Sir Nigel introduces on his blog the hashtag #263Chat, an informal chat organised weekly on social network Twitter, to allow zimbabwean users to discuss pressing issues related to the country: Earlier this year, I suggested we organise a regular informal chat on Twitter regarding our beloved – Zimbabwe....
A Mauritanian Blogging Week Against Foreign Mining
For a week, Mauritanian bloggers took part in a campaign entitled "Against foreign mining companies." Ahmed Ben Jedou shares with us blog posts and tweets from the campaign, which aimed at exposing the financial, environment, humanitarian and health toll of those companies.
Bahamas: Banking or Learning?
If a school in no way challenges its students to synthesize, analyze, interrogate, I fail to see how that school can produce critical thinkers, educated citizens or nation builders. Blogworld sees the value of displacing the banking concept in education.
What Ever Happened to Russian Nationalism?
Just two years ago, Russians' capacity for street protests seemed limited to soccer hooligans and race riots. This, it appeared at the time, was the most the world could expect from Russia's struggling civil society, a ramshackle patchwork of decidedly unpopular liberals and apparently bloodthirsty nationalists. After last winter's protests, what's changed?
Nicaragua: Nothing Goes to Waste at ‘El Gansito’
Adriana Díaz [es] and Gustavo Salinas wrote a guest post for The Nicaragua Dispatch on ‘El Gansito’, a small business in Managua “that makes products out of recycled plastics and rubber.” There is no doubt that this small business is one of the many “green jewels” we can find in Nicaragua....
Jamaica: Creole and Jamaican Identity
Our educators don’t seem to understand that as long as we tell children that they ‘chat bad’ when they use their mother tongue, we are planting the seeds of low self-esteem. And we will reap badness. Or, perhaps, we do understand and that’s why we refuse to acknowledge Jamaican as...
Trinidad & Tobago: Taking Steps To Combat White Collar Crime
This crisis is an important opportunity to decide if we want to do differently. Do we? If not, crapaud smoke we pipe. If we really want to do differently, we have to start thinking differently and stop the point-scoring games. Afra Raymond thinks that decisive action needs to be taken to combat...
