Stories about Digital Activism from January, 2012
Spanish-Speaking Twittersphere Fumes Over Announcement
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.
Russia, Syria: Anti- and Pro-Assad Facebook Comment Attack
Facebook pages of some Russian media outlets (e.g., Afisha, Bolshoi Gorod, Esquire Russia, Channel 1, MTV Russia) were deluged with copy-pasted comments [ru, ar] from users who appeared to be...
Azerbaijan: #LightYourFire Eurovision Meme
Ahead of the Eurovision Song Contest to be held in Baku in May, a new Internet Meme has appeared on Twitter. With Azerbaijan known as the Land of Fire, the...
Moldova: Anti-Government Protests Receive Little Endorsement From Netizens
For the past two weeks Moldovans have been out in the streets, protesting. These protests, however, have received very little endorsement from Moldova's online community. Diana Lungu explains why.
Brazil: Watchdog of 2016 Olympics Reports on Suspended Bid
An injunction has suspended bid for 2016 Rio Olympic Park, reported the organization RioOnWatch. The court considered that the concerned Public-Private Partnership contract is not clear on whether or not...
Cuba: Pope's Visit & Human Rights
In the wake of more repression against Las Damas de Blanco, Uncommon Sense thinks “that the pope should postpone his visit until human rights conditions improve in Cuba.”
UK: #TwitterKurds Organize First Social Media Gathering in London
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.
Saudi Arabia: A Family Living in a Cemetery
A Saudi family has been saved from homelessness and destitution thanks to a three-minute movie shot by young Saudi film maker Bader AlHomoud. Haifa Al Rasheed tells us how in this touching post.
Bosnia & Herzegovina: Citizens Policing Traffic Violations in Sarajevo
Using the Facebook page [bs] “Moj grad, moja sigurnost, moja odgovornost” (“My city, my security, my responsibility”), Sarajevo residents are uploading pictures of illegally parked cars and reckless drivers, trying...
Brazil: ‘Vale’ is Elected the World's Worst Corporation
Researcher Telma Monteiro wrote on her blog [pt] about the election of the Brazilian mining company Vale as the world's worst corporation of 2011, with over 25,000 votes on the...
Trinidad & Tobago: Child Abuse
Guanaguanare hopes that the story of Josiah Governor, the child who was beaten to death, will “motivate us to be more humane in the way we treat our children”, while...
Brazil: A View from Aboard on Pinheirinho Eviction
Jimmy Greer, an activist and sustainability consultant for I-See Global based in London, writes about “the brutal eviction” of Pinheirinho, in Brazil as “another example of a skewed approach to...
Brazil: Military Police Asks “Understanding” on Pinheirinho Eviction by E-mail
Brazilian blogger Conceição Oliveira republished [pt] an e-mail sent by the Military Police of São Paulo trying to explain the actions on what became known as “Massacre of Pinheirinho“. The...
Video Highlights: Music, Indigenous Initiatives, Indignation and Wonder
A selection of Global Voices' recent and interesting stories including video from Latin America, East Asia, Middle East and North Africa and Eastern and Central Europe, selected by Juliana Rincón Parra.
Brazil: “Massacre of Pinheirinho” Causes an Uproar
The violent eviction of the community of Pinheirinho, in the city of São José dos Campos, in the state of São Paulo, became known as "Massacre of Pinheirinho" after a demonstration of violence and brutality by the police in the expulsion and intimidation of residents dumped in the midst of a huge legal mess.
Cuba, Barbados: Power of the Hunger Strike
Uncommon Sense notes that Cuban dissident Jorge Cervantes has gone on a hunger strike after being arrested for putting up posters protesting the recent death of hunger striker and prisoner...
Puerto Rico: Vigilance over SOPA & PIPA
Dondequiera says of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA): “Mark my word, this issue is not dead. More like the living dead, a...
Elizabeth Rivera, Global Voices Author and Translator
In this interview, Elizabeth Rivera, Global Voices author and translator, tells us a little bit about her life and the motives that drive her to voluntarily collaborate with Global Voices. She also discusses the Chilean student movement and other current events.
Poland: Government Will Sign ACTA Despite Massive Protest
Despite a massive Internet protest and controversies around the secret manner of negotiations, the Polish government will sign the anti-piracy agreement ACTA on January 26, as planned. Katarzyna Odrozek reports.
Russia: Community of Election Observers Launched
Creators of popular citizen crowdsourcing projects RosYama and RosPil Alexey Navalny and Georgiy Alburov launch a new project RosVybory [ru], a community of election observers. Users submit their data to the...
Egypt: revolt's anniversary at Tahrir
Egyptian Twitter-sphere reports that jailed blogger #Maikel Nabil has just been released, while people are gathering for tomorrow's big rally at #Tahrir to celebrate the revolt's first anniversary: “feels chaotic...
