Stories from 1 February 2012
Cambodia: Number of Families Involved in Land Disputes
According to the Cambodian Center for Human Rights, there are 47,000 families which have been embroiled in 223 land disputes in Cambodia.
Cambodia: Photos of Senate Elections
Lauren Crothers posts pictures of the recent senate elections in Cambodia. The pictures were taken at Boeng Trabek high school in Phnom Penh.
USA: Koreans in L.A. Protesting for Leading Critic of President
South Koreans in Los Angeles, United States, held a protest (video) for the immediate release of Chung Bong-ju, popular on-line critic of South Korean President Mr. Chung was thrown into prison after being convicted of spreading rumors/information connecting Mr. Lee to allegations of stock fraud.
Russia: “For Fair Elections” Protest Coordination Portal Launches
RosMiting.ru (Russian meeting), a community portal of protest actions, had launched. The portal accumulates information about protest events in various cities of Russia. It was created by the same team which started other interactive portals such as RosYama, RosPil, RosAgit, and RosVybory, politically-engaged crowdsourced communities and interactive portals developed in...
Russia: Ulyanovsk Blogger Wins Libel Case Against Governor
Ulyanovsk-based blogger Oleg Sofyin (LJ-user lis73) won a court case against Ulyanovsk governor Svetlana Openysheva, lenta.ru reports [ru]. Openysheva tried to sue Sofyin for publishing a post where he described a phone call during which someone named Azat threatened him if he will continue to post critical articles about Openysheva. Despite winning the...
Russia: Vladimir Putin Ignites a Pre-Election Debate on Nationalism
Following Vladimir Putin's article [ru] on ‘nationality question,’ Dmitry Rogozin, vice-premier and former leader of semi-nationalist party “Rodina,” had published [ru] an op-ed in which he calls nationalists who participate in post-election protests to join pro-government ranks. Oleg Kashin, Kommersant reporter, analyses [ru] it as a scary perspective for non-Russians who considered Putin a some sort...
Iran: Blogger under pressure to give TV confession
Iranian blogger Hossein Ronaghi Malki is under pressure to give TV confession according to his mother. He is serving a 15 year prison sentence in Tehran.
Iran: A surprsing Maquette to remember Khomeini
Iran remembered the Islamic Revolution Leader,Ruhollah Khomeini‘s return to Tehran in 1979 by creating a maquette .You can see the photos. A user in Balatarin writes it is a ridiculous show and a kind of idolatry.
Ukraine: Government Sites Under Attack; “Freedom to Ex.ua”
The official websites of the President of Ukraine, the Cabinet of Ministers, the Internal Affairs Ministry, and the Party of Regions are either completely down or work with interruptions today. Some of the coordination of the collective effort to take down governmental sites, apparently in response to yesterday's shutdown of...
Bahamas: Same Old Election Game
Blogworld “regard[s] the incoherencies that pass for election rhetoric with a sense of disgust” and explains why.
Cuba: U.S. Citizen Held During Trip “Home”
Capitol Hill Cubans reports on an incident in which a “Cuban-American and family man is wrongly accused and detained” while on a visit to Cuba.
Cuba: What's on President Rousseff's Agenda?
Brazil's first female president is in Cuba on a visit intended “to strengthen bilateral ties especially in the economic and commercial spheres”, according to the Cuban press. Bloggers are very interested in her agenda.
Iran: “Using Twitter and Facebook for supreme goal”
Iranian Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance says [fa]: “As long as global powers are using Facebook and Twitter for their purposes, people of the region should use them to develop their supreme goals”. However, social networks including Facebook and Twitter are blocked inside Iran.
Global Voices Podcast: Occupy This!
Welcome to another edition of the Global Voices podcast. In this episode we talk through some of the ideas and issues surrounding the global Occupy movement and protests, as we listen to recordings from our team in different parts of the world.
Peruvian Blogger Adds to List of Universal Truths and Questions
Peruvian blogger Cyrano, from Columna 17, has updated his blog with a new list of universal truths and questions. This time [es], he says -among other things- that, “with this whole Internet thing, a letter is more valuable than a treasure.”
Bahamas: Freedom of Information Debate
“Once passed, the legislation will be brought into effect by the middle of this year, binding any future government. So we are late again, but potentially a big step closer to delivering more openness and accountability in public affairs”: The country is getting ready to debate its Freedom of Information...
Chile: NGO Report Reveals Increase in Sex Crimes
According to a report by NGO Activa, sexual crimes increased by 19.1% in Chile in 2011. A post in Activa’s site Ciudad Global [es] says there is a rate of 9.8 rapes per day in Chile.
Puerto Rico: Corruption & Lethal Force
Gil the Jenius takes on the issues of political corruption and the authority of the police to use lethal force in this post.
Ethiopia: Freedom of Expression in Jeopardy
More than ten journalists have been imprisoned in Ethiopia since June 2011. About 25% of exiled journalists in Africa are from Ethiopia. Ethiopian exiled blogger, Elias Kifle, was recently sentenced in absentia to life imprisonment while journalist and blogger, Eskinder Nega, is facing the death penalty. How long will the world just watch?
Bolivia: Chiquitano Indigenous Create Twitter Account to Promote Their Language
Members of the Chiquitano indigenous community in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, have created the Twitter account @monkoxbesiro [es] to promote the use of the Chiquitano (Bésiro) language in Bolivia.
United States: The Art of the Occupy Movement
Actors, visual artists, writers and musicians pay homage to the #Occupy muse and are calling for an international day of creative action on February 12, 2012.