20 April 2011

Stories from 20 April 2011

Azerbaijan: Protest to demand journalist's release

  20 April 2011

Mark Grigorian [RU] posts photographs of today's protest demonstration outside the Azerbaijani Embassy in London in support of imprisoned journalist and Amnesty International prisoner of conscience Eynulla Fatullayev. Marking the forth anniversary since his arrest, the blog notes that when the European Court of Human Rights ruled that he was...

Russia: A Video of President Medvedev Dancing

RuNet Echo  20 April 2011

Siberian Light, Global Chaos and Russia! are among those who comment on a YouTube video of President Dmitry Medvedev dancing to the Russian pop song “American Boy” at a college reunion party a year ago. On Twitter, Medvedev (@MedvedevRussia) comments (RUS) on the video himself, in reply to Zaporozhye-based fashion...

Colombia: Anti-Personnel Mines and the “Remángate” Campaign

  20 April 2011

April 4, 2011, marked the celebration of the International Day of Awareness of Anti-personnel Mines. In Colombia, the Presidential Program for Action Against Anti-personnel Mines (Paicma) joined corporate groups and social organizations to promote the "Remángate" campaign. The campaign relies on its website, Twitter account (@remangate) and hashtag #Remangate.

Costa Rica: Climate Change Affecting the Cloud Forest

  20 April 2011

The Monteverde Now project documents the stories of 11 members of the Monteverde Community through short video interviews where they explain how their life has been transformed and how they are adapting to sustaining their diverse and delicate ecosystem in the face of climate change.

India: Twitter, The Life Changer

  20 April 2011

Venkat Ananth at Blogadda writes how twitter has changed his life: “twitter has been a supremely humbling experience for me not just because of the fact that ‘a nobody’ got noticed somewhat, but because I think fundamentally, the medium has democratized communication radically.”

Malaysia: Email For Citizens Project Draws Criticism

  20 April 2011

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak announced that all Malaysians aged 18 years and above will receive a 1Malaysia email account. But many bloggers have criticized the project as unnecessary, saying that its estimated cost of RM 50 million can be better used for other purposes.

South Korea: Search Engine Censorship Claims

  20 April 2011

As South Korea's biggest search engines file an anti-competition charge against Google, net users have started to look back at the various companies' contributions to the Korean net environment. The nation's most visited portal, Naver, has come under particular fire for alleged news screening and censorship of information, along with its monopoly in the field.

Cuba: Communist Party Ushers in Entrepreneurism and Term Limits

  20 April 2011

For the minority of Cubans who are within it, the blogosphere provides a space to exchange ideas. And there were plenty prompts for discussion this week, with the Castro brothers holding the first Congress of its Communist party since 1997 (it is supposed to be every five years) and announcing term limits for leadership on the island.

Cuba: Women as Soldiers?

  20 April 2011

Octavo Cerco is irritated by a sign which suggests that “we Cuban women form a battalion for the defense of the fatherland”, saying: “It bothers me greatly that the multiple mass organizations which supposedly represent groups of Cubans feel like they have the right to speak for everyone, robbing individuals...

Caribbean: The Cricket Captaincy

  20 April 2011

“It’s very interesting to read old minutes from WICB meetings and seeing how directors scheme and hatch their plans”: WICB Expose suggests that plans for the Darren Sammy captaincy may have been “hatched since 2009″.

Bahamas, U.S.A.: Economic Empowerment

  20 April 2011

“The best way to address poverty and fairness in our society is through a radical overhaul of our failing education system”: Bahama Pundit sees some parallels with the U.S. regarding debt and income inequality.

Madagascar: Censorship Comes in Different Shapes and Sizes

  20 April 2011

Blogger Achille52 reviews the state of media and free speech in Madagascar (fr), detailing the different manners in which bloggers are harassed (also explained in an  Amnesty International report). He also explains that he deactivated his blog after he was told by a police officer that people are looking for...

Memories of Portuguese Decolonization

  20 April 2011

“In their dreams they still revisit Africa”, and they share their memories on the blog Retornados da África [pt]. Read the stories of those who returned to Portugal from the African colonies, after the end of the dictatorship, on April 25th, 1974.