8 April 2009
Stories from 8 April 2009
India: The Advent of Citizen-Driven Election Monitoring
A group of Indian bloggers and activists has recently launched Vote Report India, which is a collaborative citizen-powered election monitoring platform for the upcoming 2009 Indian parliamentary elections. This platform is based on the award winning crisis reporting platform Ushahidi ('witness' in Swahili) and will display reports of violation of election codes, violence and sabotage during elections. Many Indians will be able to send these information using SMS or web and those will be displayed in a geospatial archive of events for easy access of the masses.
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DRC: Unpaid Soldiers Pillage Civilian Homes
Last week, Radio Okapi reported that members of the FARDC, the Democratic Republic of Congo's military, pillaged several homes in Kirumba, 200 kilometers north of Goma. The soldiers, who have not been paid in three months, stole cash, telephones, and electronics.
Colombia: Humanitarian Minga Recovers Bodies of Awá Indigenous
A group of 470 Colombian indigenous participated in a humanitarian minga, which is a collective mission towards a common goal, to recover the bodies of members of the Awá indigenous communities that were killed by the FARC, who accused them of cooperating with the army. The blog from the National Indigenous Organization of Colombia (ONIC) provided regular updates on the progress of the minga, as well as the situation that led to the action.
Moldova: “Grape Revolution” / “Twitter Revolution”
Peaceful protests that took place in Moldova's capital Chisinau on Monday, following the victory of the ruling Communist Party in the April 5 election, turned violent on Tuesday, as protesters stormed and set fire to the parliament building. While it's too early to speak of the outcome of the post-election uprising, one thing is sure: the impact of social media on facilitation and coverage of the protests in Moldova - which is known as "the poorest country in Europe" - has been outstanding.
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First, let us ignore your assertion that at the time only 1% of young Chinese attended university because its not...