Stories from 27 February 2013
One Billion Rising: Progress for Women Worldwide, But Still Much to Do
On February 14, 2013, a worldwide event "One Billion Rising" was held, in which women were invited to gather and to dance, to demonstrate against gender violence. On this occasion, Barbara Auger raises a question still faced by women today: what role should they take ?
Colombia: “Let's Revoke Congress”
Colombian netizens are using the the hashtag #revoquemoselCongreso [Let's Revoke Congress] to expose the reasons why the country's members of Congress should leave their jobs.
What India Can Learn From #Shahbag
Sandip Roy writes why India should be paying attention to its neighbors #Shahbag uprising as there is a conversation happening there which matters to everyone in South Asia.
Egypt: Armed Robbery Caught on Tape
A YouTube video of an armed robbery of a mobile phone shop in Egypt is making the rounds online. On Twitter, Ahmed Atia Aboshosha writes [ar]: سطو مسلح..المتهمون وجوههم واضحة جدا..إذا لم يقبض عليهم فليتقدم وزير الداخلية بالاستقالة..أعتذرعن ألفاظ خارجة بالفيديو @AD_Shosha: An armed robbery. The faces of the culprits...
Women Protesters Call for the Fall of the Saudi Interior Minister
A group of women and children who are relatives of uncharged prisoners managed to organize a small sit-in in Saudi Arabian city of Buraida, challenging the strict ban on demonstrations in the absolute monarchy. This week's sit-in had an unprecedented, explicit demand: the fall of the Interior Minister.
Turkish Women Speak Up: My Body, My Decision
Turkish women protested, and protected their rights by saying 'my body, my decision.' But it seems like they still have a long way to go and fight until it is 100% their decision what to do on their body or their life. Baran Mavzer tells us why Turkish women, though in a better position than many across the Muslim world, have a long struggle ahead of them to obtain and maintain their legal and human rights.
Jailed Iranian Blogger Up for Award
Reporters Without Borders and Google announced the name of the nominees for the 2013 Netizen Prize. Shiva Nazar Ahari, Iranian female human rights activist and blogger is among the nominees. Read more about Shiva here.
Kallun: A Platform of Angolan Slang
The Plataform KALLUN (meaning slang), founded by Leocarpo Mário, is a recent collaborative project with the ultimate goal of gathering in just one place all the slang with Angolan origins. Kallun enables interactive search of terms and their meanings.
[Webcast] Internet Censorship and the Remembrance of Infowars Past
With Internet censorship on the rise around the world, organizations and researchers have developed and distributed a variety of tools to assist Internet users to both monitor and circumvent such censorship.
Pakistan's Darkest Night On Social Media
A massive power breakdown rocked Pakistan at 11:45 pm on Sunday, 24 February 2013, plunging 70 percent of the country into darkness for 14 hours. People turned to humor on social media to make life easy during the blackout.
Why Are Tourists Not Wanted at French Carnival?
A video featuring a group of masked Carnival revelers in Dunkirk, France chanting "we don't like tourists" has some web users ruing the flood of visitors who come year after year unprepared for the festival's madness.
Costa Rica: Time of the Vanquished
In the post titled “Time of the vanquished” [es], the blog Furia raises profound reflections about what happens when quietness comes. It concludes its reflections by saying: “in order to conquer the silence of the serenity, the vanquished ones invent new ghosts that whisper in their ears. To win, to...
Ghana: Vote for African Women's Development Fund Blog
Vote for African Women's Development Fund blog which has been nominated in the first ever Blogging Ghana awards: “I’m really pleased that AWDF’s blog has been nominated in the category of ‘best organisational blog’. Many thanks to all of the AWDF staff that have contributed to this blog. I plan...
Monitoring Dangerous Speech in Kenya
Umati is a project that seeks to monitor and report the role of new media on an election: “Our Kenya-based project has citizens at its core and uses relevant technologies to collect,organize, analyze, and disseminate the information collected.”
The Land Problem in Kenya
Chrenyan discusses the land problem, which has become an election issue in Kenya: “It is a historical injustice for the Kenyatta family to own (it is said) half a million acres of land, all over this country (including thousands of acres in Coast Province). The defence that this land was...
U.S. and South Korea: A Show of Force, But Running Out of Options?
North Korea’s third nuclear test provided the ideal opportunity for the United States and South Korea to respond with their own displays of military muscle. But what will be their next move?
Interactive Maps of China’s Most and Least Polluted Places
Beijing recently experienced its worst day of air quality on record. Since then, reporting on China’s “airpocalypse” has been accompanied by what seems like a monochromatic slideshow of the country’s iconic cities all smothered in thick smog.
Brazil: Cable Car Goes Up, Houses Come Down for World Cup
The construction of a cable car for tourists in preparation for the 2014 FIFA World Cup in the Morro da Providência favela in Rio de Janeiro is kicking residents out. Demolished houses are being traded for a stipend of 400 reais (200 US dollars), and many families have been unable find a place to live.
Weary of Austerity, Portugal Sings a Song of Revolution
Thousands of Portuguese people have promised a massive anti-austerity protest on March 2, 2013. Leading up to the date, demonstrators have led a campaign to interrupt government ministers during their public appearances by singing a historic song used by revolutionaries who toppled the country's dictatorship in 1974.
#Wikimodernism: Catalan Modernism, from the Classroom to the Web
The mystery behind the dreamy aesthetic of Barcelona's fantastic architecture is only a click away. Art history students in Barcelona are trading in traditional homework to share their learning about Catalan Modernism with the world.
First Crowdsourced News Site in Myanmar
A group of young programmers in Myanmar launched the country's first ever crowdsourced news site called “Buzz in Myanmar“. With the slogan “News for people, by people”, netizens are allowed and encouraged to submit neighborhood and other local news.
