· January, 2012

Stories about Western Europe from January, 2012

Spanish-Speaking Twittersphere Fumes Over Announcement

  31 January 2012

Twitter's announcement that it will restrict certain user content according to the laws of individual countries immediately caused a negative reaction in the Spanish-speaking Twittersphere. Twitter users widely employed the hashtags #CensuramestaTwitter and #TwitterCensored to display their anger with the social networking site.

UK: #TwitterKurds Organize First Social Media Gathering in London

  29 January 2012

A group of Kurdish Internet activists that have been organizing around the #TwitterKurds hashtag on Twitter have come together for the first Kurdish Social Media Gathering earlier this month in London. The event was live streamed and joined in via Skype and YouTube by those who could not be there physically, although there were participants who had traveled from as far as Australia to participate.

Portugal: State Radio Silenced after Angola Opinion Piece

  27 January 2012

A week after the broadcast of an opinion piece by the journalist Pedro Rosa Mendes on public radio, the end of the program was announced. The piece criticized the coverage of an event with several politicians and business men from Portugal and Angola. Bloggers immediately reacted to the "axing of freedom of expression".

Europe: Radio Documentary to Chronicle Long-Term Effects of Crisis

  23 January 2012

Chronicles of a European Winter is a radio documentary series project focused on the actual effects of austerity measures amongst the populations of different European countries. It will be shot and edited between December 2011 and May 2012 in Greece, Ireland and Spain, and episodes will be licensed under Creative...

United Kingdom: You cannot evict an idea

  20 January 2012

Set in a multimillion pound complex, complete with a 500-seater lecture hall that had been abandoned by investment bank UBS, the Bank of Ideas provides room for community groups and other public services that have lost their space due to UK Government's spending cuts. The project is entering the third month and braces itself for an appeal case against their eviction, expected in Court next week.

Russia: Oligarchs Day in Court

  19 January 2012

John Helmer of Dances With Bears accounts for the legal battle over business interests between Russian business tycoons Boris Berezovsky and Roman Abramovich, which is about to be finalised by the London High Court.

Greece: Cretan Masterpiece “Erotokritos” Translated into Turkish

  19 January 2012

Stella Tsolakidou of the Greek Reporter website writes about the recent publication of the Cretan literature masterpiece “Erotokritos” in Turkish. Erotokritos is a 17th century epic romance, and has been translated by Professor Hakki Bilgehan, a Turkish microbiology professor, and published by the Foundation of Lausanne Treaty Emigrants [Turkish].

Spain: Electricity Cut Off for one School in Alicante

  18 January 2012

Power was cut off [ca] for 800 pupils in a secondary school in Alicante due to outstanding payments. The Valencian Community is currently mired in financial difficulties after years of extravagant spending. MPs Esther López Barceló [ca] from the United and Alternative Left and Mireia Mollà [ca] from the Coalicío...

Brazil/Portugal: “Word of Mouth” Launches Online Channel

  17 January 2012

On January 16, Portuguese-Brazilian independent media collective Passa Palavra (Word of Mouth) [pt] launched the website PassaPalavra.tv – an online channel that brings together independently produced audio-visual materials. Through sharing video, audio and image, the website aims to collaboratively report on “social struggles and denounce oppression and abuse by public...

Belgium, D. R. of Congo: Miss Belgium 2012 on Gay Marriage

  17 January 2012

The website Congo LOL reports that “On twitter, the hastag #plusoumoins (#moreorless in english) has created quite a buzz (in DR of Congo). The reason ? The answer given by Miss Laura Beyne (Miss Belgium 2012) on a question on gay marriage. “I think they [homosexuals] are human beings (…) they can do “more or less” whatever they want. I am “more or...

Global: Pictures Not for Free

  13 January 2012

Edmond Terakopian, one of the UK's leading press photographers, comments on the tendency for some publications to expect photojournalists to supply images for free or for a token payment. The ethnic-Armenian World Press Photo Award winner is also using a Twitter hashtag, #picturesnotfree.

Greece: Criticism of Politicians During Theophany Celebrations

  12 January 2012

In Greece, January 6 is the national holiday of Theophany. Every year, government and civic officials attend the celebrations and make official statements. However, due to the economic, political and social crisis in Greece, this year's celebrations were marked by strong expressions of disapproval and criticism of politicians.