Stories about Protest from July, 2008
China: Olympic protest zones
Jeremy Goldkorn at Danwei.org translates the news that the Beijing Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games has designated three special demonstration zones for protesters who show up at the Games.
Cuba: Cyber-Citizens?
“Never having become citizens in the real world, it is hard for us to behave as citizens on the web”: Yoani Sanchez at Generation Y shares her thoughts about the virtual Cuba.
China: No “Go China!” banners at the Olympics
Those attending the Olympics this year will be subject to the standard rules: no outside food or drinks, no sporting of commercial logos of any kind…but among all those is one rule which seems to have struck a nerve among many netizens, as evidenced by it having become the featured...
Bangladesh: Corporate culture and employees’ privacy
A Bangladeshi writer who works in a bank for her living and also keeps a blog writes a post to shed light to the ever demanding corporate culture in Bangladesh, which is taking toll on the private lives of the employees.
Mongolia: State of Emergency Aftermath
Guido Verboom reflects on the popular protests during the parliamentary elections in Mongolia.
South Korea: Dokdo Demonstrations
CINA collects local reports and photos on demonstrations against the Japanese textbook territorial claim over Dokdo islets.
China: Right Activists Arrested in Earthquake Zone
Ran Yun-fei re-posted a joint letter protesting against the arrest of Huang Qi and other right activists in Sichuan earthquake areas. The excuse of the arrest is “illegal possession of state secret”.
China: Bloggers take stand against web activist's arrest
"We would hate to see this case become yet another dismal human rights record raising international attention in the midst of this Olympic year. We regret to suspect, however, that the Chengdu police are at present committed to doing as much."
Brazil: On authoriterrorism and online surveillance
Over 60 bloggers attended the blog carnival against censorship [pt] this Saturday, most of them posting especially about the new cyber crimes proposal for Brazil. The bill has now proceeded to the House of Representatives, where a request for it to be handled urgently was put forward last week, leaving bloggers on red alert. Over 70,000 signed an online petition against it.
Taiwan: Observations on Yahoo! Taiwan's search filter
We hear about issues on censorship a lot on Global Voices Online and our Advocacy Project, and most of the cases come from Government policies or business self-censorship because of Government policies. However, fierce business competition can sometimes result in censorship...or a kind of.
Israel: Change the Government
“(W)e must change our government now – and change the way we deal with the issue of our kidnapped soldiers and the terrorists we have in our prisons,” writes Chik-Chat from Jerusalem, in response to the prisoner swap conducted between Israel and Lebanon.
Argentina: Senate Rejects Tax Hike on Agricultural Exports
The Argentinean Senate recently rejected the proposal to increase taxes on agricultural exports. The poll ended with a tie of 36 votes, and the country's Vicepresident broke the tie with his vote against the retentions. Such decision is a victory for the sectors linked to the so-called “countryside." This continues the internal political crisis of unpredictable consequences for the Kirchner's Government, which still has three more years to govern.
Environment: Updates from African Bloggers
In this edition of Global Voices environment we check in with the African environment bloggers, who have fascinating pictures to share, discussions on solar technology, concerns about forest re-allocation and updates on past stories.
Iran: Bloggers campaign to save wetlands
The great and diverse Iranian wetland ecosystems could disappear in the near future. To increase public awareness of the problem, several green bloggers launched a campaign, which run from July 5 through 10, to show people the beauty of these places in contrast to the critical condition they face.
Brazil: Urgency requested for Cyber-Crime Bill
Sérgio Amadeu [pt] raises an alert related to the 13 new cyber-crimes bill: it has been requested that the bill was treated as urgent. “Approving this request means that the project will be voted by the House of Representatives soon”, while bloggers call for a debate. More info in Portuguese...
China: Mass Incident in Huizhou
Buxi blogs some images about the most recent mass incident in Huizhou.
The Balkans: Srebrenica
Sarah Franco of Cafe Turco writes about her visit to Srebrenica this year and muses on “moral monsters, bystanders and civic minded people.”
Russia: LJ Basic Accounts Back?
Svetlana Gladkova of Profy.com reports that LiveJournal may, after all, bring Basic Accounts back.
Brazil: Bloggers question the 13 new cyber-crimes
In the small hours of last Thursday, July 10, the Brazilian Senate passed the 'Digital Crimes Bill', which typifies the cyber-crimes punishable by law and stipulates the corresponding penalties. The proposal will now be proceeding to the House of Representatives. Meanwhile, bloggers campaign for more debate and an online petition has been signed by over 60,000 citizens in just one week.
Macedonia: Parliamentary Elections, Round 2
Douglas Muir of A Fistful of Euros is “watching with interest” how the situation with the Macedonian parliamentary elections will develop.
Brazil: Calling for investigation into Brazilian Supreme Court
Hélio Paz [pt] calls everyone to be part of a peaceful rally for investigations into Gilmar Mendes, the president of the Brazilian Supreme Court, over allegations of corruption. “We will make history with the second postmodernist resistance movement in Porto Alegre”. The gathering takes place at 10 am next Saturday,...