São Paulo will stop on Sunday, 7th of February, for an evening of mass kissing. From 17:00, people will meet at the corner of Avenida Paulista and Rua Augusta to kiss each other in protest against resistance to the Brazilian government's recent third edition of the National Program for Human Rights (PNDH-3). Augusto Bazárov [pt], Twitter user @Guttto, explains the event:

Trata-se de um ato público, organizado por tuiteiros que usam o ciberativismo como ferramenta de mudança social. Dele, participam mulheres e homens; homo, hétero e bissexuais, travestis e transexuais. Pessoas preocupadas em defender medidas históricas contempladas no 3º Plano de Direitos Humanos, apresentado pela Secretária Nacional de Direitos Humanos do Governo Federal. Dentre estes direitos estão: a união civil entre pessoas do mesmo sexo, a criminalização da homofobia, a legalização do aborto e a adoção homoparental. Estas propostas foram duramente atacadas, sobretudo por setores da imprensa e por lideranças religiosas católicas (CNBB).

@souminha, from the “Cultivando a Verdade” blog provides another post about the idea of the protest [pt]:

A ideia é mostrar, com muita alegria, que as pessoas são diferentes umas das outras, nascem, vivem, se beijam, amam, se relacionam com quem bem entendem, e independente de um ou outro grupo que torce o nariz, sua vida vai continuar acontecendo no anonimato de suas casas.

Não adianta um padre, um jornalista ou um senador achar que vai impedir os gays de constituir família, as mulheres de dispor de suas vidas ou o mundo de girar.

Isso acontece, e o PNDH, as militâncias e lutas sociais servem para reconhecer essa existência e garantir que o Estado não negligencie nenhum cidadão ou lhe tire o direito à dignidade.

Lourenço Cavalcanti in 23B [pt] is another blogger standing up  for the Beijaço [Kiss-in]. He adds his voice to the conversations:

A razão de ser do beijaço é atrair para nós a atenção da sociedade, e, aos olhos de todos, reclamar nossos direitos. É assim, de forma afetuosa e amorosa, que os gays marcam posição. Os grupos conservadores vão cair de pau em cima, dizendo que essa é mais uma prova do fim dos tempos, e tudo mais, mas deixem eles gritarem.

The HTML code of the campaign's banner has been published on hundreds of blogs and websites and can be found here:

<a href="http://cultivandoaverdade.blogspot.com/2010/01/beijos-em-protesto-pelos-direitos.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://mnpv.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/beijaco.png?w=199" width="160" height="255" style="border-style:none;" title="Defenda o PNDH" alt="PNDH" /></a>

A Facebook event page has been created to support the “Beijaço” (the Kiss-in) on February 7th.

Many bloggers and Twitter users have been supporting the cause, using the banner or just spreading the date, locations and posting about the Kiss-in protest. The main organizers of the protest are: @souminha | @Guttto | @mariana_parra | @RadomileCarol | @djalepeixoto | @ticamoreno | @umberto_neto | @alineando | @cissablond | @aarles | @Tsavkko

But that's not all. Sudanese blogger, Kizzie wrote about the website launched by Freedom Sudan, The Sudanese LGBT Association.

Freedom Sudan is the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) organization in Sudan. Our organization has been formed in December 2006. Our status is illegal. Homosexual behavior is illegal in Sudan and homosexuals facing the death penalty. That's why our organization was formed in secret and all our activities are carried out secretly, hoping that one day we will get accepted in our communities and even in our families, and hope that we can be FREE to be the way we are. Freedom Sudan is an organization run by volunteers only.

Our main goals are:

• Recognition of homosexuality in Sudan.
• Social acceptance of homosexuality and acceptance of the rights of homosexuals in Sudan.
• Abrogation of the death penalty for homosexuals (Articles 148,151, 316 and 318).
• Work together with other LGBT organizations in the world for a better LGBT rights.

The organization also has its own Twitter account here.

There haven't been any reactions to this news yet within the Sudanese blogosphere. Also, before Kizzie broke it out, she wrote about a Sudanese Facebook group encouraging participation in Sudan's upcoming elections this April, the first one in two decades.

The group is called Girifna, Arabic for “We're Disgusted” or “We're Fed Up” and it has more than 4,200 members. You can learn more about it at an article posted on its website called Q&A with girifna.

The here's what Kizzie wrote about the Girifna Facebook group.

Apparently, Sudanese people my age actually care about the elections! I wasn't very optimistic about my generation in my Menassat article published a few weeks ago. I even came up with a name for our generation…Generation Passive….the passive youth of Sudan.

Girifna is a beacon of light to be honest! It literally means “I am disgusted” (I can totally relate to their frustrations!)

Waad Ali, meanwhile, blogged a brilliant original post about the signs of genocide and analyzed the situation in Darfur. The signs of genocide according to Waad Ali are:

… The first sign is classification. Now of course all human beings classify; there’s always us and there’s them, there’s our group and there’s the others. This is not necessarily of course a genocidal step, but its absolutely necessary for genocide

… The second sign is symbolization, where we have words or symbols that express those classifications.

… The third sign is dehumanization. It’s where we equate the group that is targeted as being a cancer or microbes in the system. In other words, It’s where we begin to treat one group as somehow less than human.

… The fourth sign of genocide is organization. If a hate group is formed that is organizing to carry out hate crimes

… The fifth sign of Genocide is Polarization, in which the hate groups try to drive the society apart. Basically they try to drive out all the moderates who could stop the process.

… The sixth sign is what I call preparation. It is the stage were people are armed and militias are trained to carry out genocide.

… The seventh sign is what I call Genocide, “legally”.

… The eighth sign is denial. All the way through this whole process, the people who are committing Genocide Deny that they are doing it.

Moving from the topic of genocide, let's now take a look at a topic that many Sudanese bloggers covered recently in the wake of the Lubna trousers affair: what women wear.

Nersrine Melik, blogging at The Guardian, writes:

“I am averse to any legislation which dictates what women are allowed to wear as much as I am averse to the niqab. Although there is little consensus over its religious obligatory nature, this is a red herring that detracts from the more important question of personal liberty. However, there are situations where a full face cover poses security and identity questions. Freedom is not absolute when it encroaches upon the rights of others. Covering one's face whether that person is a man or a woman has simple practical ramifications.”

When the Lubna trousers affair erupted, virtually every single Sudanese blogger criticized Lubna's arrest by the authorities. Adil Abdalla has a different opinion though, and is actually critical of Lubna in light of her recent visit to France where she traveled to promote her new book “40 Lashes for a Pair of Trousers” written in French.

She was a shock to our distinctive culture.. in Sudan, conservatism is potted with open-mindness, where sky is the limit for your imagination, yet respect the fundamentals of our grassroots and common perceptions..

She was not that moral-driven one, nor dressed as modest as shown in press.. Police had caught her at midnight in a suspicious club.. A witness claimed her dress was totally different, almost naked; yet some activists helped her to change all to embrace the government in highly charged time of politics and power game..

Regretfully, she ashamed her country, and aided who want to shame Muslims.. She is too small to be any player, yet a tool for big players.. Now, she is immunized in Europe, and will be forgotten shortly.. but the hurt she caused will be deeper and wider to heal..!!

In another sign that the Sudanese blogosphere has grown from its tiny community of a dozen or so blogs, Drima at The Sudanese Thinker compiled a list of Sudanese bloggers he's managed to find so far.

លើក​កំពស់​ការ​យល់​ដឹង​របស់​មនុស្ស​ដែល​មាន​ភេទ​ធម្មតាអំពី​ហ្គេយ៍ និង សិទ្ឋ​របស់​គេ។ រួម​គ្នា​ប្រឆាំង​នឹង​ការ​រើស​អើង​ការ​ស្រលាញ់​ភេទ​ដូចគ្នា។ បំពេញ​តម្រូវការ​របស់​ហ្គេយ៍ (ផ្តល់​ព័ត៌មាន ដំណឹង ចំណេះដឹង គំនិត អំពី​ជីវិត សិទ្ឋ ការ​អប់រំ សុខភាព សិច ស្នេហា…)។ ជា​កន្លែង​ដ៏​ល្អ​សម្រាប់​ហ្គេយ៍ និង អ្នក​ស្រលាញ់​ទាំង​ពីរ​ភេទ​ ព្រមទាំង​អ្នក​ដែល​មាន​ភេទ​ធម្មតា ចែក​រំលែក​បទពិសោធន៍គ្នា។ ស្វែង​រក​ដំណោះ​ស្រាយ​​សម្រាប់​រាល់​បញ្ហា​របស់​សមាជិក​របស់​យើង​តាម​រយៈ​មតិ​សាធារណៈ…ល។

Through this blog network,  many gender issues were tackled among members and commentators who voiced anxiety and doubt such as Hidden Face, When I Realized Being Gay, Is It True that Gays Love only Sex.

There is also another blog activist, Sobin, whose blog is dedicated to be a forum for sharing the life stories of gays. The header of his blog conveys a meaningful and interesting slogan: “No mater what gender you are…love is always beautiful.”

Interestingly, last year Cambodia celebrated its first ever Cambodian lesbian film, “Who Am I?” directed by Mrs. Phoan Phuong Bopha, whose movie attracted an estimated 4,000 viewers, which AFP called as a blockbuster for the country's tiny movie industry. This film is part of an awareness raising campaign against lesbian discrimination in the country. This year, another LGBT film will be shown soon: “High School Love Story.” The film's story centers on a gay love affair.

In her post about “High School Love Story: Cambodia's Gay Film,” Kounila Keo, a prominent Cambodian blogher, expresses her excitement to see this upcoming film and highlights the obstacles confronting gay people in society:

Certainly, I am looking forward to watching “High School Love Story”. I don’t really think this is a new issue. Gays and lesbians have always been in Cambodia. I understand why they have been hiding themselves from society. A lot of discrimination is going on everywhere against homosexuals or same-sex lovers. Gays and lesbians should really have their own rights to express themselves in whatever way.

Besides films, blogs have become venues that address LGBT concerns. Young bloggers belonging to Khmer Youth Writers also use their personal websites to highlight LGBT issues. “Boy Friend” is a 2009 Khmer novel written by Archphkai or Asteroid, a promising Cambodian writer. In his free book distribution campaign, the author asked the readers to answer an interesting question:

យល់​យ៉ាង​ណា​ចំពោះ​ស្នេហា​ភេទ​ដូច​គ្នា? ប្រុស​ស្រឡាញ់​ប្រុស/ស្រី​ស្រឡាញ់​ស្រី។

Most of those who responded have positive views on the issue:

ស្រលាញ់មនុស្សម្នាក់គ្មានកំហុសទេ។​ ស្នេហារវាងបុរសនិងបុរស គ្រាន់តែជាប្រភេទមួយទៀតនៃសេចក្តីស្នេហា ខ្ញុំគិតថាបើវាធ្វើអោយយើងមាន សេចក្តីសុខ នោះវាគ្មានអ្វីអាក្រកនោះទេ។ ការទទួលស្គាល់ការពិតថាយើង​ជាអ្នកណានោះវាពិសេសជាងការព្យាយាមគេចវេសពីការពិត។ អ្នកដែលមិន​ទទួលស្គាល់ស្នេហាប្រភេទនេះ គឹគ្រាន់តែកុហកខ្លួនឯងប៉ុណ្ណោះ។ តែអ្វីដែលមិន​ល្អគឺនៅពេលដែលពួកគេយកស្នេហាជាការបាំងមុខល្បែងផ្លូវភេទ។ សេចក្តីស្នេហាពិតប្រាកដ​ ពិតជាអស្ជារ្យលើសពីការគិត។

On the contrary, a Facebook user, Tauch Narin, launched a debate late last year on gay rights by updating his status with a question “Do You Support Gay Rights in Cambodia? It generated many contrasting comments.

A facebook commenter emphasizes that gays are humans with human rights: “They are not monsters,they are humans, and if humans have rights, why not gays and lesbians? They just have different preference from us.” Another commenter has a different view: “It's sounds reasonable. But the truth is it's sinful.”

Narin continued the debate by outlining the idea that one may become gay by association factor. While acknowledging that everybody has rights, Narin insisted that “freedom does not always allow one to do whatever they like” by comparing the choice to be gay or lesbian to the choice of others to be criminals or drug addicts:

People choose to be a gay or lesbian because they are addicted to such sexual behavior. Just like drug addicts, no easy way to get rid of. Naturally people are born to be male and female as indicated by gender organ. Tell me if there were any other types of gender organ?

Stereotype is the main factor that spread homosexual culture. If someone associates with criminals, he would become criminal himself. If a person associates with drug addicts, he would become a drug addict too. If a person associates with homosexual person, he would be one of them.

This statement attracted more reactions which forced Narin to clarify his position:

I do respect their rights and dignity as human beings…they are human beings, they deserve our acknowledgment and protection. Of course we can't change people personality, we have to accept it even though we do not like it personally. My concern is the move to support their right to marry. It is the fundamental pillar of gender. The right to marry and have family of their own. Can u imagine how would it look like?

Illustration © Scary Azeri in Suburbs

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, hopes that new freedoms would quickly replace the old have often been dashed by the re-emergence of patriarchal, conservative and traditional practices. Largely kept suppressed by the communist system, and exaggerated by the exodus of many who might have formed the middle classes during the economic collapse of the 1990s, gender and issues of sexuality were particularly affected.

True, homosexuality has been decriminalized, although homophobia remains a significant problem, and new freedoms might have “liberated” a minority of citizens in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia, but sexuality remains a contentious issue for society as a whole. In 2007, for example, a study by the Caucasus Resource Research Centers (CRRC) found that there was still resistance to the idea of pre-marital sex.

70.4% of respondents in #Armenia considered pre-marital sex unacceptable at any age, 72.8% in #Azerbaijan, 63.8% in #Georgia…

Nevertheless, if talk about sex was once taboo, although male bloggers still disrupt Women's Days marches to change prevailing attitudes on female virginity and domestic abuse, there is at least now the possibility to discuss matters more openly. LGBT groups can operate more openly, and have especially empowered themselves through blogs, while, as recently seen in Georgia, discussion has gone online.

The CRRC data, for example, even formed the basis for a three-part series of posts on Women's Forum by a former Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV) stationed in Azerbaijan on dating, or rather the absence of it. In the first post, Micael Bogar says that there isn't even a word for it in Azerbaijani. As is also true for the entire region, attitudes towards sexuality are usually not only gender-biased, but also arguably hypocritical to the extreme.

You can learn a lot about a culture by learning its language. Back in 2003, I was surprised during one of my first Peace Corps Training classes to find that there is no word for “date” in the Azerbaijani language. After class, I pulled my young modern language teacher aside to clarify. I figured she’d give it to me straight. “Was there really no such thing as dating in Azerbaijan?” Her response was a surprise to me.

She detailed the custom of dating as a furtive awkward attempt for two people to get to know each other through secretive phone calls and quick exchanges in parks or on the street. To be alone in a room with a person of the opposite sex without a marriage license was strictly forbidden. If word got out that such a thing was happening the girl would be labeled a whore and the boy scolded. Boys will be boys – it’s the girl who was to blame.

Frankly, I was shocked. […] Sitting out on the balcony of our tiny two bedroom apartment zdanie we’d watch young girls walking by. “That’s Aysel. She’s a whore,” my host sister Layla would say. “She meets with Ferid in the park in the center of the city and everyone knows it. Everyone knows that Ferid loves Sevinj and he would never take Aysel as a bride. Aysel is just a whore.”

In the second post, Bogar details her own experiences in Azerbaijan when she started to get close to a local acquaintance.

I know what you’re thinking: “What a whore!” And I was. In Azerbaijani culture I was being a qehbe (whore). Still to this day I cringe thinking about it. However, I grew up in a culture where having sex with your boyfriend is perfectly acceptable. So, to deny myself that freedom was silly. It’s not like I was saving anything. He left my apartment that morning just before the sun rose in the hope that no one would see him sneak out. Of course, they did.

If you’ve ever spent any time in an Azerbaijani mehle (apartment courtyard) , you know that nothing goes unaccounted for. Once the news spread, my life changed. It was never anything I could point to. No one ever said anything directly to my face but things started changing. People stopped smiling at me in the street. […]

[…]

Ali and I stayed together for nearly two years. Still to this day he is one of my dearest friends. I would not change our relationship for the world. I am not ashamed or afraid to say that he was my boyfriend and yet even as I write this I am not using his real name. Even as I write this, women in Azerbaijan are forced to keep their romances a secret and feel ashamed of their desire to love.

What is so shameful about wanting to get to know someone intimately before you commit your life to them? As Azerbaijan continues to modernize, I worry what kind of effect this cultural expectation has on my close friends. The country is full of young women that have traveled the world, speak different languages and have never known what it’s like to be intimate with a man they care for.

The third post comments on the results of the CRRC survey.

The Caucasus Research Resource Center administered a survey in 2007 in Azerbaijan with the question, “At what age is it appropriate for a man/woman to have sexual relations before marriage?” I’ve created a graph below to show the results. The answers may surprise you. Nearly 70% of the respondents agreed that such behavior is never appropriate. And even more striking is that female respondents were 10% more likely to say “never” than men.

[…]

I do not miss the harassment and cold looks. I do not miss the fear and the feeling of disempowerment. Back home, I feel blessed to have the right to choose for myself who I want to sleep with and know that my identity will not be based on that one fact.

I write this in the hope that my friends in Azerbaijan will someday soon have these same rights. I think it is important for Azerbaijani women and men who don’t agree with this cultural norm, to begin looking for ways to talk about sex and dating in their lives. Power is found in words. We create our reality through our language. New words are formed every day. I think it’s high time we construct one for dating.

Having already tackled the sensitive subject of virginity restoration, another contributor to Women's Forum, Scary Azeri, also comments on dating in Azerbaijan on her own blog, and especially the importance of not appearing “loose,” another reality in neighboring countries as well.

I thought of back home, and my dating days. Oh, those sweet and sour days…So many years passed since then!

Nobody ever grabbed me as I was walking past. To be honest, I never really liked meeting men in bars. Must be a cultural thing. Azeri girls spend all their lives fighting off strangers. Because we are so used to harassment at every step we take.

You chat to a taxi driver and he will assume you want him right there and then. You smile to a waiter and he will ask for your phone number. You walk past a construction site…Well, you just don’t walk past construction sites.

So if you are a cool chick back in Baku, you are probably very good at brushing men off. It is an automatic reaction.

Although both posts, as well as similar ones on attitudes to sex, societal expectations of women and family pressure to marry in Armenia, refer back to even before the CRRC survey, many hope that the situation might be slowly changing. Moreover, given that those constituting more progressive elements in society generally have access to the Internet, it is also interesting to note that discussion continues to go online.

Also commenting on the situation in Armenia, new media and democracy advocate Mark Belinsky, for example, notes the role social networking sites such as Odnoklassniki might be playing.

Unlike Facebook, there’s little opportunity to make it more of a broadcast medium. The key feature here is that you can see who is visiting your profile and how often. So can others, hense it becomes very public flirting in a country that is otherwise very conservative when it comes to sex.

And, while online discussion is arguably more active n Azerbaijan, hopes to usher in a sexual revolution in Armenia are being expressed in the form of a Facebook group as well as on sites such as Unzipped: Gay Armenia. In one post, for example, the blog details the despair of some local men in finding a “pure” girl. However, this is perhaps most likely true only for their immediate socio-economic circle.

Back in Azerbaijan, Emotions on Air, Mind Mute recounts an experience at a local drugstore which notes the prevailing attitudes which still have to be contended with.

today morning as i went to the drugstore hoping for a miracle-pill to liquidate my last symptoms of a (human) flu, i had to eye-witness one lovely (younger) girl trying to buy “odorous and colorful elastic stuff” (thats the words she used to describe it) called condoms in common usage.

[…]

the first (and last) thing the pharma lady asked if that girl was married or so. the answer was, as expected, - so.

[…]

while i enjoyed the sight of two women in “dialogue” and was seduced by lovely packages of “odorous and colorful elastic stuff, i could not fight the tempation to buy one just for nothing with the following comment of mine “married”

but the maneuver didnt work… as a result the girl and i entered “the whore list” in the drugstore No.3** right behind my workplace and ended leaving it without condoms and flu pills.

Even so, things are perhaps albeit slowly changing and, having recently returned from Azerbaijan, sex therapist Marty Klein notes the similarity between the situation in the Caucasus today and the United States half a century ago.

And what did these kids want to know about? The same things that all college students want to know about: love, desire, love, sexual incompatibility, love, orgasms, and love. Who doesn’t want to know more about love?

[…]

I must report, with all due modesty, that the kids loved me—my active lecturing style, continual kibitzing of individuals who texted or talked while I spoke, and willingness to use words like “vagina” and “balls.” When they said people just don’t say such things in public, I asked why. I then asked if they’d say them in private. “Not to your future wife,” said one. “Or your actual wife,” said another.

Americans were sexually inhibited 50 years ago, too. But we weren’t continually pressured by MTV, internet porn, and the 24-hour-a-day contact of mobile phones. Yet in my two weeks here, I rarely saw young people hold hands, much less kiss. When I mentioned “kissing with tongues” during my talk, many of the students giggled or blushed.

And so I simply talked about “myths about sex;” said that feeling confused about sex is normal; reminded them that some girls like sex and some guys don’t; and threw out lots of words: menstrual period, masturbation, clitoris, going slow during intercourse, big breasts. They stayed and stayed; although I was hot and tired, I stayed and stayed, too.

Indeed, commenting on the CRRC survey during a private Skype chat today, one Azeri blogger, while also recognizing that traditional values will take decades to really change, even wondered if this wasn't more to the point. “Statistics are like bikinis,” she wrote, quoting Aaron Levenstein. “What they reveal is suggestive, but what they conceal is vital.”

Global Voices Online author Dodka also discussed societal attitudes towards sex in Georgia in a recent post.

The year was tough for South Asia as the global recession affected people of this region too. The populous region is a source of many migrant workers in the middle east and other places in the world. We saw many migrant workers returning to their homeland as they lost their jobs and saw opportunities diminishing. Energy was a major concern as some countries had to cope with power shortage and rolling blackouts.

Bangladesh

Although the history of Bangla blogging is relatively short, the bloggers could achieve a milestone. This year about 50 books had been published by bloggers targeting the Ekushey Book Fair in February. We also had an interesting post where we looked at Bangladesh through the eyes of the expatriate bloggers.

On February 25th morning the news broke that a mutiny was in progress inside Bangladesh Rifles (BDR - paramilitary border security force) head office. Amidst rumors and media attentions citizen journalists jumped in to cover the developments and provided important perspectives.

Ack Ack Gun on Satmasjid, Road 7A. Copyright Drishtipat and used with permission

The mutiny ended tragically as it left as many as 148 people dead or missing including many army officers, which left many questions unanswered. In March YouTube and File Sharing Sites were briefly Blocked in Bangladesh in an attempt to block a leaked tape containing the audio clip of the meeting of the Prime minister and the aggrieved army officers who were protesting the massacre of army officers during the BDR mutiny.

Bangladeshi and Indian Netizens took to the task of analyzing the adverse impact on the nature by the proposed Tipaimukh Hydroelectric Project in India (near Bangladesh border) and the miseries it will bring to the local people. Online campaigns were launched to protest the construction of the dam. Bloggers questioned the transparency of the process of negotiation between the two governments regarding Tipaimukh and discussed about hidden agendas.

In November pressure from Chinese embassy prompted the local authorities to close down a photo exhibition on Tibet in Dhaka.

Bhutan

What is Bhutan? One camp glorifies Bhutan as something close to heaven and the other claims that it is practicing ethnic cleansing by driving out Nepali Lhotsampa minorities. Our new Bhutanese author Sonam Ongmo highlights Bhutanese citizen media to find out the truth.

Landscape of Bhutan. Image by Flickr user Jmhullot, used under a creative commons license

The Gross National Happiness (GNH) concept was originally coined in Bhutan in 1972. However, Bhutanese bloggers share their views on how the concept seems to be taken more seriously in places other than Bhutan.

India

Election:

This year marked the 15th Lok Sabha (parliament) Elections in India and citizen journalists were up to the task since the start of the political campaign. More interestingly major political parties used different online campaigns for the first time and bloggers reacted to these campaigns (BJP, INC).

screenshot of a Congress ad showing on Bollywood Frames, an entertainment blog.

It was indeed India's first digital election. Global Voices special coverage on India's elections dissected the campaigns in multiple angles, like the analysis of the impact of socially conscious corporate campaigns and how civil society groups in India used digital tools to run voter registration and transparency campaigns in the run up to the elections.

Bloggers weighed in with their predictions and analysis of opinion polls and how celebrity power impacted the elections. They have also investigated the black money trails of the politicians.

This time around we saw the the advent of citizen-driven election monitoring – Vote report based on Ushahidi engine and a plethora of online election resources.

Equipped with all these the month long election was closely watched by the citizen journalists and after the polls they questioned lower voter turnouts and efficacy of campaigns.

When the results were declared it emerged that the voters voted for no change. Indian Twittersphere was quite aloud in reacting to the developments as the results surfaced.

Online Campaigns:

This year we also saw some successful online campaigns on various social issues being launched in India. At the beginning of the year many Indians were irked by the news that a group of young women in Mangalore in the southern state of Karnataka were attacked by Hindu vigilantes in a pub (bar). Soon an online campaign emerged by a Facebook group that planned a sassy, bold move to send pink colored women’s panties to the Ram Sena party as a ‘Valentine's gift’. This non violent protest was called the Pink Chaddi (underwear) campaign.

The above video shows a pile of underwear and the love letters to the Hindu vigilantes.

This year the first TEDIndia event took place and the bloggers were excited about it. Read their take on the event.

Other notable online campaigns included the greatest driving challenge and the sapling project.

Human Rights and Freedom Of Speech:

Chyetanya Kunte, an Indian blogger based in the Netherlands, was silenced by legal threats for criticizing a TV reporter for using sensationalism in her report during the Mumbai terrorist attacks.

Shiv Shena, a far right political party had sued a 19 year old Indian netizen who criticized Shiv Sena in a social networking site.

The Indian state of Manipur was in chaos after pictures of an unarmed 27-year old, being shot and killed by the police surfaced. Citizen journalists criticized the state and the media for ignoring this issue.

On the other hand there was a triumph of human rights as an Indian court ruling decriminalized gay sex and a blogger termed the day of the ruling as a big day in the history of independent India.

Culture & Religion:

Slumdog Millionaire, a British film based on India become the buzz of Indian bloggers as it had won four Golden Globe awards and was nominated for ten categories at the Oscars. This film sparked debates about how it shows life in India's slums, and the attraction it holds for foreigners. But that did not stop the movie to sweep the Oscars with win in 8 categories.

There was an informative post explaining Durga Puja and its rituals.

Bidding Goddess Durga farewell until next year. Photo by Aparna Ray

In the next part of this series we will look at Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Please stay tuned.