Stories from Quick Reads from March, 2012
South Korea: Youtube Video on Saving Jeju Village from Naval Base Construction
A video with English subtitle explaining why protesters are against constructing a naval based in the Jeju island was posted on the Youtube site. The opposition accused the construction of destroying a rare ecosystem and disrupting local livelihood, while the other side argues it is necessary for national defense.
Slovenia: Family Code Referendum (and Other “Election Season” Updates)
Sleeping With Pengovsky has been covering Slovenia's referendum on the Family Code (here and here), the mayoral by-elections, and the upcoming presidential election.
Sri Lanka: How Should We React To Beggars?
The Puppeteer invokes the debate “how should we react to beggars?” How do we know they are sincere or professionals?
Chile: Blogging About Government Transparency in ‘El Vaso’
Ciudadano Inteligente, an organization that aims to make Chilean politics more transparent, has created a blog titled ‘El Vaso’ [es] to inform and promote a discussion about technology and government transparency. Readers are invited to contribute [es] content.
Algeria: 2012 Election Watchdog launched by Internet Activists
With the upcoming Algerian Legislative Election scheduled for May 10, 2012, one of the many elections taking place in 2012 [fr] within the continent of Africa, a collaborative website called Nahrag [ar] has just been launched by internet activists. Putting the case for more transparency in an election threatened with...
Bolivia: Promoting Internet Connectivity in the ‘Real’ and ‘Virtual’ World
Blogger Mario R. Durán from Palabras Libres [es] lists the recent accomplishments of a group of activists that make up the Facebook group “Más ancho de banda para Bolivia” (“More Internet Bandwidth for Bolivia”). The group recently held the first National Meeting to Promote Connectivity in Bolivia [es], and some...
Guadeloupe: A Cuban-born Mulatto, Mayor of Paris
Guadeloupean blogger B.World Connection posts about the release of a book about the first non-white Mayor of Paris, who accomplished much towards secularity and social progress in the 19th century French Republic, yet fell into complete oblivion until now.
Brazil: Thoughts on Access to Science on Document Freedom Day
In the Document Freedom Day, March 28, Brazilian blogger and professor Ladislau Dowbor writes [pt] about open access to science, and questions the price of information. He also shares his views on the role of professors in the face of intelectual property, and an article about an online boycott by...
Armenia: US Ambassador urges free, fair and credible elections
Ambassador Heffern's Video Blog's comments on the upcoming parliamentary elections in Armenia. Posted on the U.S. Embassy's YouTube Channel, the American diplomat stresses the need for free and fair elections, details some of the changes introduced in the electoral code, and urges the government, opposition and civil society to ensure...
Georgia: Anti-discriminatory legislation ahead of Armenia, Azerbaijan
Unzipped: Gay Armenia comments on the passage of legislation in Georgia outlawing discrimination based on ethnicity, gender, age, and political as well as religious views. The blog notes that the inclusion of sexual orientation makes Georgia “clearly the most advanced country in the South Caucasus in terms of legislative provisions...
Trinidad & Tobago: Divisive Politics
The Eternal Pantomime is critical of what she considers to be divisive politics on the part of the ruling government, which “has also sought to promulgate the good old colonial stand-by practice of divide and rule to ensure that it keeps its party base solidly behind it and in support of all...
Senegal: The Provisional Tally of the Presidential Elections
The provisional tally of the second round of the presidential elections were published on March 27: The incumbent candidate Abdoulaye Wade is projected to have obtain 999,556 votes which is about 34.2% of the votes. Macky Sall was elected with about 1,909,244 votes which amount to 65.8%. The percentage of...
Armenia: Ushahidi deployed for parliamentary elections
Georgia was the first country in the South Caucasus to deploy a bespoke crowd-sourcing and crisis mapping platform for its local elections in May 2010, but Armenia will be the first to use Ushahidi to monitor the conduct of national elections in the form of the upcoming May 2012 parliamentary...
China: A New Collective Blog
Dan Harris from China Law Blog introduced a new collective blog: rectified.name in the Chinese blogosphere.
China: A Titanic Nation
Chinese cartoonist Perverted Pepper posted a political cartoon in which a throng of ordinary Chinese waves goodbye to a large red ship called “Titanic” at Sina Weibo. The drawing was quickly deleted and China Media Project has saved a copy.
El Salvador: Report of Government and Gang Negotiations Sparks Controversy
Bloggings by boz posts comments by Salvadorans he spoke to after online newspaper El Faro reported that the government had negotiated with gangs to decrease violence. Tim's El Salvador Blog explains and translates part of El Faro's article. Furthermore, Summer Harlow, in The Knight Center's Journalism in the Americas Blog,...
Ghana: #GhanaDecides Launched
Ghana Decides is a BloggingGhana initiative meant to introduce NGOs, Civil Society Organisations, students (especially first time voters), political groups and the general Ghanaian public to the importance and benefit of use of social media tools in elections in Ghana.
Jamaica: Hoodie is No Excuse
“An excited man kills someone for the flimsiest of causes. And someone asks us to believe it’s due to clothing choices!”: Diaspora blogger Grasshopper Eyes The Potomac comments on the Trayvon Martin case.
Online Commentary on US President Obama's Visit to South Korea
The Monster Island blog wrote several posts on US President Obama's visit to South Korea. Read the blogger's commentary on Obama's side trip to the demilitarized zone which is a de facto border between the two Koreas and President Obama's new Korean name.
China, Taiwan and Hong Kong: What Story can the Number of Votes Tell?
Jimmy from Tea Leaf Nation translates the micro-blog conversation of Hong Kong Chief Executive Election. Netizens compared the number of votes needed for each region to get into leadership position – Taiwan: 6.89 Million Votes, Hong Kong: 689 Votes, Mainland: 9 Votes!
Tibetans, the police and China
Tom Lasseter blogs about what he saw in his travel to Tongren, an ethnic Tibetan town in Qinghai Province where two men set themselves on fire last week.
