· January, 2012

Stories about Digital Activism 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.

Russia, Syria: Anti- and Pro-Assad Facebook Comment Attack

RuNet Echo  31 January 2012

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 supporters of the Syrian opposition earlier today. An excerpt from a typical comment [ru, ar]: “Syria's regime is killing people...

Azerbaijan: #LightYourFire Eurovision Meme

  31 January 2012

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 hashtag for the international singing contest is the same as this year's official motto, #LightYourFire.

Brazil: Watchdog of 2016 Olympics Reports on Suspended Bid

  30 January 2012

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 the Olympic development to be constructed on the Vila Autódromo neighbourhood would imply the eviction of 900 families from the...

Cuba: Pope's Visit & Human Rights

  30 January 2012

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

  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.

Brazil: ‘Vale’ is Elected the World's Worst Corporation

  28 January 2012

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 Public Eye Awards. She attributes the victory to Vale's involvement with the construction of Belo Monte Dam, in the Brazilian...

Trinidad & Tobago: Child Abuse

  27 January 2012

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 TnT River blogs about Everton Vasquez, a minor who “hanged himself after receiving a beating from his grandmother.”

Brazil: A View from Aboard on Pinheirinho Eviction

  27 January 2012

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 governing that is at odds with an active, connected and changing society that demands more from its elected officials.”

Brazil: “Massacre of Pinheirinho” Causes an Uproar

  25 January 2012

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

  25 January 2012

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 of conscience Wilman Villar Mendoza. Barbados Free Press, meanwhile, republishes a letter from a Cuban prisoner who has served his...

Puerto Rico: Vigilance over SOPA & PIPA

  25 January 2012

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 zombie issue, if you like. Many companies…believe that the only way to kill the intellectual property rights legislation is to...

Elizabeth Rivera, Global Voices Author and Translator

  25 January 2012

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.

Russia: Community of Election Observers Launched

RuNet Echo  24 January 2012

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 website, then project moderators apply for the necessary observer documents and send registered users to the nearby voting ballots.

Egypt: revolt's anniversary at Tahrir

  24 January 2012

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 and it's starting to rain” (#25jan).