14 April 2012

Stories from 14 April 2012

Armenia: Support for Georgi Vanyan

  14 April 2012

Following the cancellation last week of a festival of Azerbaijani films in Armenia amid threats of violence, alternative voices online comment on the campaign targeting the organizer, peace activist Georgi Vanyan.

Remembering Murdered Activist, Vittorio Arrigoni

A year after the killing in Gaza of the International Solidarity Movement activist, Vittorio Arrigoni, events are planned in cities throughout Italy, Europe, Palestine and the world. Citizens of the digital world share their memories and stories while the trial of his kidnappers and killers continues.

Fuel Price Protests in Several Indonesian Cities

  14 April 2012

Several Indonesian cities were rocked by protests and riots against petrol price hikes in the past few weeks. Netizens debated if the price increase is appropriate. Twitter users have maximized the microblogging site to report clashes between the police and students in Jakarta.

Africa: Southern Africa Needs an ECOWAS

  14 April 2012

Following moves by ECOWAS (The Economic Community of West African States) to defend democracy in West Africa Rumbidzai argues that Southern Africa needs an ECOWAS: “The Southern African Development Committee [Community] (SADC) on the other hand has increasingly displayed its inadequacy to address similar issues. In 2008 when Robert Mugabe...

Mozambique: First African Board Book Gathering

  14 April 2012

Maputo is playing host to the first ever African meeting of publishers of board books. These are sturdy books, published on a small scale (often for children) with strong covers and resistant bindings. Culture reporter Inocêncio Albino wrote about the event [pt], and has been tweeting photos of books by Kutsemba Cartão, the first...

Singapore: If We Launched the Rocket…

  14 April 2012

Following North Korea's reported failure to launch a rocket, a hashtag popped up on Twitter: #ifSingaporelaunchedarocket. Singaporean tweeples used the hashtag to write about their observations of Singaporean culture and foibles.