Global Voices » Austria

Europe: What Facebook Knows About You

Solana Larsen — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 13:04:34 +0000

Max Schrems, a 24 year-old law student in Austria, requested all the data Facebook holds on him, and eventually received a CD with more than 1,200 pages, including private messages he had deleted. Max has now filed a data protection complaint in Ireland - where Facebook's European subsidiary is based - and launched a campaign website, Europe vs. Facebook (see video).

Syria: World Cities Rally Against and For Bashar

Thalia Rahme — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 22:23:19 +0000

This post is part of our special coverage Syria Protests 2011.

As the death toll in Syria increases, the International Community is running out of patience and hardening its tone against Syrian president Bashar Al Assad demanding for change and reforms. Abroad the diaspora has also been involved actively since the beginning of the protests in March 2011. Almost all cities around the world have witnessed rallies and demonstrations, some asking Assad to leave, and others declaring their dying love for him.

From San Francisco (11 June, 2011) and Chicago (July 3), to Washington DC ( 23 July), the US capital, where people chanted: ‘‘Leave Leave Bashar” in front of the White House; almost all big cities in the US witnessed opposition gatherings manifesting their solidarity with the people of Daraa, Homs and Deir el Zor among others.

Here is video uploaded by AhmedIbnAlsham on August 6, where protesters where carrying a poster representing Hafez and Bashar Al Assad and written on it: ”Like father, like son”:

Assad also has his supporters in the US like in California (April 3). Chicago too, held another pro-regime rally on April 3 and June 10 while defenders of the regime met in front of the United Nations Headquarters in New York (May 1) to assert their love to their leader.

Wave of rallies hit Latin America as well. On June 26, Syrians in Santiago, Chile, chanted “El Pueblo Quiere Bashar el Assad” or ”The People Want Bashar Al Assad”, as we can see in this footage by Zaizuni:

We move to Europe and start with London (June 18) where Syrians called Assad an assassin, to Brussels (July 23), the headquarters of the European Parliament, to Milano in Italy (12 and 17 July). There, potesters, it seems, are no longer satisfied with reforms or even the call for the toppling of the regime. They want to bring it to trial.

Here's a video by Hazem Daoudi, taken in Geneva on August 6, Switzerland, facing the UN Headquarters:

France which is home to a large Syrian community has been witnessing continuous demonstrations, like in Strasbourg on 2 and 16 July, and this two-week sit-in, facing Place du Châtelet in Paris. YouTube user Mesudh75, posts this video showing a peaceful protest in front of the Syrian consulate and the Syrian Cultural Center in Paris:

In Germany, people took to the streets in Leipzig (July 7), Berlin (July 23) and Bonn on August 6 and August 8, not to forget Munich where on that same day, where this video from HutaafElhurriyyeh shows Germans showing solidarity with Syrians and singing the Syrian National Anthem:

Close to Munich, in Vienna, Austria, another protest took place, where this footage was taken and posted by AhmadSouri during a demo on August 9, in front of the Syrian Embassy:

Anti-Bashar protests also took place in Ukraine (April 22) Romania (June 30), Russia (July 31) and Greece (August 2), calling for the end of fascism:

In Turkey, protesters gathered in front of the Iranian embassy in Istanbul on August 5, denouncing the Islamic Republic stance towards the protest. They were joined on August 7, by members of the Felicity or Saadet party in front of the Syrian Consulate as we can see in this video by khaled111h:

But Assad can also rely on his supporters in Europe, who consider him as the only guarantee for stability and security in Syria. The streets of Paris, France, witnessed severaldemonstrations on June 11 and July 3 , 4 11 and 12 .

Diaspora in Odessa, Ukraine, flew balloons with the Syrian flag on June 4 for Assad. Others marched on June 6 in Kazan City in Russia for the same reason.

Syrians in Armenia also portrayed their support to their president on March 2011:

Despite the turmoil and unrest in the Arab world, and its own inner revolution, its capitals were keen on showing their solidarity and compassion with the Syrians.

This is Tunis on August 6, in a video by wadoodfreesyrian where people were chanting:” Syria is Free! Bashar get out!”:

In Egypt on August 1, OmawiTV shows angry people following the Hama Massacre and calling for the expulsion of the Syrian Ambassador:

In Lebanon, the situation is a bit delicate due to the complex relation between both countries. Quite often, opponents and loyalists of the Damascus regime clashed and the army had to intervene to separate both parties. The latest rally in solidarity with the Syrian people was held on Monday, August 8 in Martyrs Square in Beirut. This was a gathering which was attended by a lot of intellectuals, journalists and activists among which we note the presence of prominent Lebanese composer and singer Marcel Khalife. You can check Mahmoud Ghazayel's photos of the event, on Facebook.

Participants were chanting “This a shout from Lebanon - Calling for Human Rights”:

Jordanians conducted Taraweeh, the nightly Ramadan prayers, on August 2 in front of the Syrian Embassy as we can see in this video taken directly from the scene of events by Basemaggad. Bassem recorded another video in August 8 too.

Similar rallies took places in the Gulf monarchies cities, like in Jeddah, in Saudi Arabia, on August 8, where we can hear people shouting “Syria is for us and not for the Assad Family”:

Here is another video from Jeddah at night on the same day by hama19822011:

In Kuwait (August 5 and 7) and Bahrain (August 5, 8 and 9, protesters are demanding the expulsion of Syrian Ambassador from both respective countries and the freezing of the bilateral ties with Damascus. Protests were attended by several political figures and members of both parliaments.

This video by daraahoran shows people in Kuwait in front of Syrian Embassy, calling for the overthrow of the Baath party.

Syrians and Bahrainis rallied in Manama on August 9, chanting“Daraa, we're with you, till death !”

We conclude our round up in the Australian continent, where seems the Assad opponents and partisans also voiced their support and vice versa.

In Auckland, New Zealand, approximately 200 people gathered in protest against the regime for killing innocent Syrian civilians on July 30.

Demonstrations were also held in Sydney, Australia, on August 2 against the regime:

In another demonstration in Sydney on April 3, protested to say that ”Bashar is the best president in the whole Middle East and the world there will be no one like him”.

Protests against the Syrian regime, are penciled in for London, Paris and Tunis tomorrow (August 13).

This post is part of our special coverage Syria Protests 2011.

Thumbnail and featured image ‘Protest to support Syrian opposition at State Department - Berlin', by Thorsten Strasas, copyright Demotix (06/08/11).

Lithuania-Austria: Continued Controversy Over Ex-KGB Man

Vilhelm Konnander — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 19:50:28 +0000

Albatros of Litauen blog discusses [ger] the ongoing controversy between Lithuania and Austria, after authorities in Vienna let go of an internationally wanted ex-KGB officer, who allegedly was party to the January 1991 Vilnius killings of Lithuanians by soviet troops.

Global Voices Bloggers to Mentor Youth Activists from 10 Countries

Solana Larsen — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 12:24:46 +0000

Members of the new Activista Blogger Swarm (pictured here) will each be working with a Global Voices mentor

Today we announce the names of 10 Global Voices bloggers and 11 activists who will be working together virtually over the next months as part of a new mentoring initiative developed by Global Voices and Activista, the youth network of international development organization, ActionAid.

Activista has selected activists from 10 countries on five continents to form part of a “Blogger Swarm” which will be blogging on the Activista website over the next 12 months. Their goal is to get youth around the world involved in discussions about development, and especially food and climate justice.

The new bloggers have just completed an intensive workshop in Tanzania where they have been trained in journalism and technical skills, like video production.

Two years ago, 31 Global Voices bloggers mentored participants of another ActionAid workshop in Denmark. One former mentee, Casper Knudsen, is now an organizer of the new Blogger Swarm.

Our hope is that the mentors will provide friendship, technical support, and feedback as they accompany the new bloggers on their journey into the online world.

Without further ado, here are the 10 new mentors and 11 mentees.

Global Voices Mentors | Activista Mentees

Collins Mbalo (Kenya) | Elly Ahimidiwe (Tanzania)
Danica Radisic (Serbia) | Afrin Chowdhury (Bangladesh)
Gershom Ndhlovu (Zambia) | Loyiso Zweni (South Africa)
Kevin Rennie (Australia) | Benadette Chandia Kodili (Uganda)
Kounila Keo (Cambodia) | Anjana Luitel (Nepal)
Leila Nachawati (Spain/Syria) | Awa Njie (Gambia)
Maria Isabel Guerra Campoblanco (Peru) | Hannah Moloney/Tina McPherson (Australia)
Nwachukwu Egbunike (Nigeria) | David Habba (Nigeria)
Mariana Freitas Gomes de Oliveira (Brazil) | Emilia Jomalinis (Brazil)
Sana Saleem (Pakistan) | Collins Odhiambo (Kenya)

Best wishes to everyone!

Russia-Lithuania: Did Russian Pressure Set KGB-Officer Free?

Vilhelm Konnander — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 20:07:40 +0000

Gerhard Mangott discusses [GER] to what extent Russian pressure was decisive for Austrian authorities to let a former KGB-officer free, wanted by Lithuania for January 1991 Vilnius deaths.

Lithuania-Austria: Ex KGB-Officer Causes Controversy

Vilhelm Konnander — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 20:30:17 +0000

Albatross of Litauen blog reports [GER] about a controversy between Lithuania and Austria, where Austrian authorities first arrested and then released a former KGB-officer, who commanded Soviet Alpha-forces during the bloody Vilnius 13 January 1991 events.

Slovakia: Second-Class Customers

Tibor Blazko — Wed, 11 May 2011 23:20:11 +0000

During the last years of socialist Czechoslovakia, there was a typical lack of goods in the country. It's not that people were going hungry or naked, it was still possible to buy basic things. But if you wanted something a bit more special - say, a pair of jeans - you had to go to special shops and pay with special vouchers, which ordinary people could only acquire at the black market.

Shopkeepers kept tropical fruit or better cuts of meat under the counter for the customers they deemed more valuable, such as doctors and specialist mechanics. Most other people had to stand in long lines. Buying a new car or a new flat used to take years of waiting. Western brands - with the exception of soda, perhaps - were very rare.

Shopfront in Czechoslovakia, 1976. Image by Flickr user docman (CC BY-NC 2.0).

Shopping revolution

The situation changed after the revolutionary year of 1989, when the borders opened and nearby agricultural villages in western Austria turned into shopping centers - and they remain so even today, when international brands and stores are now strong players in the Slovak market.

Often, however, food products of the same brand differ in quality and price, depending on whether they are produced for consumers in Western Europe or those in Central and Eastern Europe.

Even though customers might expect products of the same brand to be of the same quality worldwide, regional differences do exist, according to a study [sk, .ppt file] sponsored by the Slovak department of the European Commission and carried out by the Association of Slovak Consumers.

Of the products tested during the study, the quality of Milka Alpine Milk chocolate turned out to be the most consistent: there was no significant difference discovered between versions produced in Western Europe and in Poland. German and Austrian customers however, are guaranteed to get chocolate made of milk from the Alps mountains. The famous purple cow that supplies milk for Eastern Europeans' chocolate may live somewhere in the Tatra Mountains, a fact about which they would not be made aware.

Regional differences

In the case of Coca-Cola, the difference is the kind of sugar used. German as well as Czech consumers will get a version with beet sugar, while the nations further east have corn sugar in their drinks. The company explained [sk] that this way they can supply a cheaper product for the Slovak market - and when you compare Coca-Cola's price table in the study, you can see that it is true.

Blogger Tibor Pospíšil wrote [sk] that beet sugar is more expensive in Europe because of the “sugar lobby” and, for most customers, there is no significant difference in quality. What's more, this way Slovak customers get original American-quality Coca-Cola.

There was visible difference in Nescafé Gold coffee for Western and Eastern Europe - due to different preferences of local customers, according to the manufacturer [sk].

But the biggest differences were found in spice products from Kotányi, an Austria-based company. Customers across Europe are getting similarly-sized packs with different amounts of spice inside and very different pricing per kilogram. Even though everything is produced at one factory, the worst quality was found in a package produced for Bulgaria: nearly 10 percent of its contents was just powder, and in the case of red pepper, a significant part of its natural color was missing. The company's spokesperson said [sk] it had happened accidentally, and, to support this view, it should be noted that packs produced for the Austrian, as well as Hungarian and Slovak, markets had problems with humidity levels.

Below are excerpts from a discussion of the article about the study's results [sk], published in April 2011 in the Economy section of SME.sk online news portal.

freedomman:

If it was just about food, but it also happens with other products, but I always think that it is mainly about the customer, because they import here only that what the customer wants. If the customer does not care about contents, weight, origin and cares only about the price, then the producer will meet his wishes. It's a huge difference between a typical Austrian and a typical Slovak customer. How many Slovak customers are looking at the country of origin? […]

Jumo (in reply):

I do this [check the country of origin] and others do it as well. And I do not think that Austrian customers pay more attention to these things than the Slovak ones.

rini17:

My parents grumble that smoked meat is not the same quality it used to be, but the only thing they care about is the price. With contents or taste they deal only when it is impossible to eat it.

chico34:

It does not matter that food in Germany is of higher quality - here it is more expensive.

hektor22 (in reply):

Official data: http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/cache/ITY_OFFPUB/KS-SF-10-030/EN/KS-SF-10-030-EN.PDF Please, see page 2 - price index for food. Germany: 111, Slovakia: 80. Food in Germany is nearly 40 percent more expensive.

koprolit:

And especially the mentioned Kotanyi… even cheaper brands in Slovakia have higher quality.

zed25:

Common knowledge, now already confirmed by laboratory. From personal experience, I can confirm a big difference in quality of chemical components - for example, there is a big difference in baby diapers bought in Austria and here.

ivan the terrible:

And who is responsible for it, comrades? Show me the guilty ones! Surely, the Western imperialists could be blamed for our own stupidity again! Imperialist companies are giving us second- and third-class goods? But we like to eat them and pay for them!

Radike 777:

And that's why I'm buying Slovak products… Unfortunately, sometimes it is a problem to find Slovak products at grocery stores.

Grüß Gott:

For the stupid tactics of our merchants there is a simple cure. I'm already shopping in Austria only. Prices are similar, sometimes markedly lower, and quality is markedly better.

etrusk:

I was speaking with dairy producers […]. In the era of a Slovak owner, they were using the same recipe as during the communist time. Which meant that cheeses were taking their time to mature and yogurts also were the way they have to be. As soon as a foreign investor stepped in, they introduced a new recipe. Cheese matures in a few hours now…

statocnesrdce:

Nothing compares to the quality I'm using. It is classic quality of food as during the communist era. Milk, meat, eggs, fruit and vegetables - I'm buying them at local farms that are not under [official] control. Egg yolk is yellow and even my son does not want eggs from the shop. And when milk turns sour, it is possible to drink it as sour milk…

Russia: Luzhkov's Birthday, Vacation and Prose

Veronica Khokhlova — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 00:59:22 +0000

More posts on Moscow mayor Yuri Luzhkov (who is in Austria now) - at The Moscow Diaries (here and here), and at FPA's Russia blog.

Worldwide: Demonstrations for Palestine

Eman AbdElRahman — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 04:32:58 +0000

Roba from Jordan published pictures from different demonstrations world wide against Israel's last attack on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla, in Holland, Greece, Egypt, United Kingdom, Lebanon, Pakistan, Malaysia, Sweden, France, Turkey, India, Italy, Canada, Spain, Belgium, United States, Bulgaria and Austria.

Russia: The 2009 Killing of Umar Israilov

Veronica Khokhlova — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 23:48:30 +0000

Robert Amsterdam writes about Ramzan Kadyrov's alleged involvement in the 2009 murder of Umar Israilov in Vienna, and links to C.J. Chivers' New York Times investigative piece, whose opening paragraph has reminded him of Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried, a collection of Vietnam War short stories.

Austria: How Social Media Set “Universities on Fire”

Helge Fahrnberger — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 05:41:15 +0000

Did you know that at this very moment many universities throughout Europe are occupied by students? Thousands of them are sleeping, cooking, debating and partying in their auditoriums to protest against the under-financing of the educational system and the so-called Bologna Process, a European Union education policy.

What is so special about these protests is the fact that they have not been centrally coordinated by student unions but have been organized entirely bottom-up, with the help of online social media.

It all started in Vienna, Austria on October 22, when a small group of students met for a flashmob in the city center to protest, and then headed to University of Vienna where they spontaneously occupied the Auditorium Maximum. By the time police arrived, the news of the occupation had already circulated on Twitter, mobilizing so many supporters it was impossible to clear the hall.

Unsereuni website

Within days, the occupiers - to their own surprise - put in place a remarkable organizational structure: Mobilization and communication was organized via the Twitter “hashtags” #unibrennt and #unsereuni (”university on fire” and “our university”).

A 24h webcast from the Auditorium Maximum was put in place. Organizational tasks from cooking to cleaning were structured via a wiki, and a website communicated with the public. Twitter, blogs and Facebook (32,400 fans so far) were used to spread the word.

This had two effects:

- For the first time protests of this scale did not need the support of mass media for mobilization. Within less than a week after the beginning of the protests more than 20,000 demonstrators roamed the streets of Vienna, preceding any mass media coverage. Media contacts were limited to a bare minimum (which produced much confusion). Students simply didn‘t need the media and since the protests lacked hierarchy, there was a shortage of spokespersons.

- Second, because everyone could follow what was going on inside the Auditorium Maximum (the webcast produced half a million views within one month) it kept the tabloid press from labeling the protesters as rioters or extremists. Too many people knew it wasn‘t true. The power of opinion-making had shifted.

Soon the protests infected other university cities in Austria and abroad: Today, less than a month and a half after the first protests, almost 100 universities in Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Albania, Serbia, France, Italy, Croatia and the Netherlands are occupied or have seen other forms of mass protest.

On Wissen belastet, Max Kossatz, a blogger and media observer from Austria, has analyzed [de] the Twitter stream: 66,379 tweets by 6,780 different usernames have been published on the subject in the last month. 1,043 pictures were posted on Twitpic and produced 125,612 views - see this Twitpic photo mashup on Youtube. And especially interesting, is the following map of tweets that illustrates how the protests spread over time (watch in HD and fullscreen to get the full experience):

Gerald Bäck of Bäck Blog, who works in the media observation business, found out that the gross reach of the tweets, i.e. the unique number of followers exposed to them, was 386,860. His analysis [de] shows who the key influencers were, what URLs were most linked to and what hashtags were used most.

In his blog, smime, Michael Schuster who is specialist in semantic analysis, contributed an overview [de] of the “old media” covering the events. He counted 2,700 articles and identified four trends lasting roughly one week each: “Protests take place”, “protests continue”, “protests widen”, and recently, “ok, enough now.”

Luca Hammer of 2-Blog, a student and technical mastermind behind the Viennese web activities, has published a field report [de] of how wikis, Twitter and webcast were used to get things rolling.

It looks like the case of #unibrennt may become an early milestone in the transformation of Austrian politics by the use of online social media. It has created wide attention - and confusion - among established media and political structures, and created a spirit of empowerment among students and digital leaders.

Czech Republic: Temelín Nuclear Power Plant

Veronica Khokhlova — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 22:04:09 +0000

The Journeys of Captain Oddsocks writes about the Temelín nuclear power plant, which has been in the news recently “because of a controversial and overpriced contract awarded to a shady company whose former director was recently jailed for planning the violent abduction of his replacement.”

Hungary: 20 Years Since the Pan-European Picnic

Veronica Khokhlova — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 12:23:32 +0000

Hungarian Spectrum writes about the 20th anniversary of the Pan-European Picnic, which was “held on a field in the middle of nowhere on the Austro-Hungarian border on August 19, 1989″: “A memorial park now commemorates the event that allowed about 600 East Germans to cross into Austria and to freedom while the Hungarian border guards looked on.”

Nabucco: Running out of gas

Vilhelm Konnander — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 10:34:23 +0000

Der Spiegelfechter comments on [GER] the agreement to build gas pipeline Nabucco and wonders where the gas will be coming from, whereas Der Unbequeme questions [GER] the need of yet another pipeline. LJ user xystos argues [RUS] why Nabucco is a mere mirage, and LJ user tertiaroma sees [RUS] the pipeline as an expression of Russophobia and advocates raising the Russia issue in Ukraine.

Nabucco: Chorus of the energy slaves

Vilhelm Konnander — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 21:37:08 +0000

Gabriela Ionita of Power&PoliticsWeblog discusses the recent agreement in Ankara on the construction of the western financed Nabucco gas pipeline and competition with Russia over Caucasian and Central Asian gas supplies and deliveries to Europe.