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2 May 2012

Hong Kong: Evangelists Accuse Lady Gaga of Leading Youth Astray

Written by Oiwan Lam · East Asia

American singer and songwriter Lady Gaga is currently touring Asia with her 'Born This Way Ball'. On the eve of her first concert in Hong Kong, an evangelist group's campaign against her presence has ignited debate within the local community, with some Christians praying for her influence and some against it, claiming the local youth will be corrupted by her presence.

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Africa: Calls for Transparency Over Marked Increase in Land Deals

Written by Lova Rakotomalala · Sub-Saharan Africa

Almost 5% of Africa's agricultural land has been bought or leased by investors since 2000. Observers are increasingly worried about the fact that such land deals usually take place in the world poorest countries and how they impact its most vulnerable population, the farmers.

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Ukraine: “If Prison Acquires a Voice, Everything Will Change”

Written by Veronica Khokhlova · Eastern & Central Europe

The documentary about Kyiv's Lukyanivska prison, which has caused much outrage and debate in Ukraine in the past month, is now translated into English and available with subtitles on YouTube.

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1 May 2012

Cuba: Nothing Changes on May Day

Written by Janine Mendes-Franco · Caribbean

Today, Cuba marks May Day, an occasion that is strongly linked to the concept of labour empowerment, as workers from various towns march with their colleagues to Plaza de la Revolución. National public service announcements about this year's parade state that it “will serve to demonstrate the people’s commitment to complying with the Communist Party’s economic and social reform guidelines.” But some bloggers are wondering whether anything has really changed in Cuba, despite the fact that self-employed workers will be taking part in the march for the first time.

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30 April 2012

Cuba: Diaspora Reacts to Ferrer García's Release

Written by Janine Mendes-Franco · Caribbean

Cuban prisoner of conscience Jose Daniel Ferrer Garcia was released over the weekend. Diaspora bloggers comment on this most recent development.

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Russia: Gun Rights Advocates Rally Around Tula Hero

Written by Andrey Tselikov · Eastern & Central Europe

Russian gun ownership laws are long and restrictive. In early April, when a small-scale farmer in Tula used a kitchen knife to kill three armed robbers that threatened him and his family, the incident sparked a new dialogue about gun rights and self-defense in Russia.

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29 April 2012

Ukraine: Netizens Discuss Dnipropetrovsk Bombings

Written by Veronica Khokhlova · Eastern & Central Europe

There has been a great deal of speculation about the four bombings that rocked the city of Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine, on Friday. The timing of the blasts is key to most of the popular theories emerging online, as Ukraine is undergoing a very eventful period right now.

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China: The Heroine Behind Chen Guangcheng's Escape Arrested

Written by Oiwan Lam · East Asia

He Peirong, a Chinese activist who helped blind lawyer and civil rights activist Chen Guangcheng escape his house arrest has herself now been detained.

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Refugees: Online Media and Technology to the Service of Refugees

Written by Juliana Rincón Parra · Sub-Saharan Africa, East Asia

Two different organizations are using online media and technology to aid refugees and improve their lives. The first uses online and mobile tools to reunite refugees who have lost track of family members, and the other provides legal information to refugees in Hong Kong through YouTube videos.

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28 April 2012

India: Protests Against the New IT Rules

Written by Rezwan · South Asia

In April 2011 the Indian government quietly issued amendments to the IT rules restricting web content that are designated as “disparaging,” “harassing,” “blasphemous” or “hateful.” The Indian netizens are campaigning against it online and are organizing street protests.

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Updates about Human Rights

Philippines

Karapatan, an alliance working for the promotion and protection of human rights in the Philippines, uploaded a PDF copy of its comic book entitled Oplan Bayanihan for Beginners. The book is an introduction to Oplan Bayanihan, the government's counterinsurgency campaign which is being linked by human rights advocates to the continuing spate of extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, and other human rights violations in the country.

• Karlo Mikhail Mongaya

27 April 2012

China

Chinese blind legal activist Chen Guangcheng has reportedly escaped from his well-guarded house in Dongshigu (Shandong) after more than a year of house arrest. Sources report he entered the US embassy in Beijing. He has put out a video denouncing corruption, exposing abuses and expressing “extreme concern” about the consequences his flight may have for his family.

• Violeta Camarasa

Russia

The Faculty of Useless Knowledge tells a story of writer Yuri Dombrovsky's brief encounter with Vyacheslav Molotov, and shares a link to a documentary [ru] about Dombrovsky's life.

• Veronica Khokhlova

26 April 2012

India

Debolina Raja Gupta notes that although the West Bengal Government In India had decided to take the hand drawn rickshaws off by 2005-2006 they are still plying in Kolkata roads.

• Rezwan

Bangladesh

Michelle Chaplin at BRAC Blog posts a video (with subtitles), which shares the initial reactions of some of the people who lost their homes in the recent Korail slum eviction in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

• Rezwan

Bulgaria

The blog “Работнически глас” (”Worker's voice”) tells [bg] about a trial scheduled for May 26: a former female employee is suing a company for a discriminatory clause in the work contract, which stated that any female employee who gets pregnant after being hired will have to pay a fine (700 lv, around 350 euros: nearly double the average salary in Bulgaria). In her lawsuit, the employee argues that this clause constitutes a discrimination based on sex. It is still unclear how such a contract could have been approved by the official labor administration.

• Rayna St.

24 April 2012

Sri Lanka

Serendipity reports that Chandraisiri Dassanayake (42), a main witness in a human rights violation case against the Wadduwa Police, was arrested for possession of Ganja on April 15th 2012 and later died in a cell in the Wadduwa police station in the western coast of Sri Lanka.

• Rezwan

23 April 2012

Brazil

Brazilian blogger Conceição Oliveira reproduces [pt] a Facebook note [pt] from Pedro Urizzi (an actor from São Paulo), who denounces that he was injured and arrested by the Military Police when he was passing by a demonstration against corruption on April 21, 2012, on his way for dinner. The detention came after he made a call for caution, when he noticed there were children near an armed policeman.

• Raphael Tsavkko Garcia

Sri Lanka

“The growing number of abductions and disappearances in Sri Lanka is not getting the amount of publicity the issue deserves,” comments Sanjana Hattotuwa.

• Rezwan

Cuba

Penúltimos Días author Ernesto Hernández Busto, who lives in Barcelona, describes the “gap” or divide between Cubans living off the island, when it comes to their desires for Cuba's future; Regina Coyula, a blogger who resides in Cuba, responds. Hernández writes that there is a “deep gap between Cubans with different interests as they face the prospect of a radical change, and of the inevitable price that this implies.” English translation available at Translating Cuba.

• Ellery Roberts Biddle