Stories about Eastern & Central Europe from October, 2011
Croatia: Alcatraz of Yugoslavia
Bill Kralovec of Bill's Blog recounts the story of the Adriatic prison island of Goli otok – the Alcatraz of Yugoslavia – where Yugoslavia held its political prisoners during the reign of Tito.
Lithuania: Corruption within the Educational System
Alan Hendrixson of With a Grain of Druska discusses problems arising from corruption within Lithuanian education and health system.
Latvia: Graffiti and Decay in Riga
Juris Kaža of Failed State Latvia? writes about graffiti and social decay in Latvian capital Riga.
Russia: Ministry of Justice Plans to Monitor Online Content
Russian Ministry of Justice had published a public procurement proposal [ru] to purchase a content monitoring system worth of ~115,000 US dollars. The system is aimed to monitor the information published about the ministry and its representatives as well as about the president and prime-minister. The scale of the system...
Russia: Government Official Tries to Force Websites to Remove Discrediting Video
On October 23, 2011 Kseniya Sobchak, celebrity journalist, had shot a video of Vasiliy Yakemenko, the head of the Federal Agency for Youth, in the most expensive restaurant of Moscow. Criticism followed the video [ru] upload: according to his tax declaration [ru], Yakemenko could hardly afford attending such place. Later Anna Biryukova,...
Macedonia: Advocating Media Freedom Through Music
On the occasion of the Daniel Pearl World Music Days, the rock band Reporters, composed of prominent journalists, including veterans of critical investigative reporting who are now out of work due to closing of A1 TV, will hold a concert in Skopje (FB event) and present their new song “Freedom”...
Hungary: Live-Blogging Oct. 23 Opposition Protest in Budapest
The Contrarian Hungarian live-blogged Sunday's opposition rally in Budapest, which had been organized through Facebook (hu; en) and drew “many tens of thousands” of protesters.
Macedonia: Million Tweets – an Existentialist Parody Poem
Blogger iskra_iskric has dared to adapt a Macedonian rock classic by the band Arhangel to the new digital reality, creating a new poem on tweetering.
Russia: Government to Launch Content Monitoring in December 2011
Roskomnadzor, Russian telecommunications control body, will launch content monitoring system in December 2011, Kommersant.ru reports [ru]. The system ordered in March, 2011 (see GV analysis here) is now in pre-release condition. Its documented abilities allow the monitoring of up to 5 mln keywords published at the websites registered as online mass media...
Russia: ‘Occupy Wall Street’ Demonstration Attracts Only Few
“A Just Russia” party staged a Moscow version of the #OccupyWallStreet demonstration, reports Ridus.ru [ru]. The action decorated with printed posters saying “We're the 99%” attracted only 10-15 people. So far it's the only event in Russia to refer to the global protest movement.
Russia: President's Visit to Journalism Department Under Attack of Social Media
The New York Times explores the role of social media in exposing staged nature of Dmitry Medvedev's visit to the Moscow State Univerisity. The Twitter hashtag #журфак (shortened for Journalism department) as well as many posts on LiveJournal and Facebook made the controversy a trending topic and forced the president's spokesperson...
Russia: Cursing Policeman Fired After YouTube Video Leak
Russian policeman who has been caught on camera [ru] cursing at his colleagues was fired after the video became public, corrupcia.net reported [ru]. Company commander of Omsk traffic police was accusing other policemen of producing not enough violation protocols. The case highlighted the so-called “sticks” system, in which police evaluation is based...
Russia: Success of National Wrestling System Explained
Russian wrestlers are often considered to be the best in the world. Citizen media suggest that a possible explanation for this is the relationship between politics and wrestling in Russia.
Moldova, Russia: Controversial Russian Blogger Escapes Prosecution in Moldova
Russian blogger Eduard Bagirov was detained in Chisinau, Moldova, this June and charged with organizing the April 2009 post-election riots there. He was released and placed under house arrest but soon escaped to Russia. While some Russian bloggers question Bagirov's motives and integrity, many seem to trust him.
Hungary: Oct. 23 Opposition Rally
Hungarian Spectrum and The Contrarian Hungarian write about the Oct. 23 anti-government rally, organized through a Facebook community called Egymillióan a magyar sajtószabadságért [hu; 88,272 ‘likes’]/One Million for the Freedom of Press in Hungary [en; 720 ‘likes’] – and about a pro-government rally, which was scheduled to take place on...
Slovenia: OccupyLjubljana Evolves Into “Boj Za” (“Fight For”)
This week, PIRAN CAFÉ has been posting updates, photos and video from the OccupyLjubljana protest, which is taking place in front of the Ljubljana Stock Exchange, Borza: “BORZA is Slovenian for bourse, or stock exchange. At yesterday’s demonstration, the R was knocked off the archway. Today it was replaced with...
Czech Republic: Reactions to Qaddafi's Death; Trade Relations With Libya
Petr Bokuvka of The Czech Daily Word writes about the potential of the foreign trade relations between the Czech Republic and Libya, and reports on the Czech Foreign Ministry's reaction to the death of Qaddafi.
Russia: 7 Temporarily Detained During the President's Meeting with Journalism Students
7 journalism students (among others @kichanova, @rise_rebel and @ave_katerina) were detained during the meeting of the president Medvedev at the Journalism department of the Moscow State University,Vitaliy Shushkevich tweets [ru] (also see photo [ru]). They were temporarily detained for contemplating a political action and were released only after Medvedev had left the...
Russia: Newspaper Leaks Plans to Discredit Anti-Corruption Blogger
“United Russia” had ordered a massive plan (worth of ~320,000 US dollars) to discredit anti-corruption blogger Alexey Navalny, Novaya Gazeta writes [ru]. The campaign might include compromising footage with Navalny's look-alike involved in some illegal and/or immoral activities.
Russia: Photoblogger Launches New Citizen Media Agency
Ilya Varlamov, popular photoblogger, officially launches [ru] Ridus.ru, news agency dedicated to the citizen media in Russia. Its ‘special projects’ section [ru] tells about new and already existing civil society movements that deal with environmental issues, traffic violations, illegal development in the historic parts of the cities, freedom of photography...
Macedonia: Public Debate on Down Syndrome
Prof. Vladimir Trajkovski, MD, PhD, blogged [mk] about the public debate on the Down Syndrome, which was held in Skopje on Oct. 15 with over 300 participants, including the Croatian ambassador, but without the invited local politicians/public officials. He also posted a video of his short lecture [mk] on the...
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