1 February 2012

Stories from 1 February 2012

USA: Koreans in L.A. Protesting for Leading Critic of President

  1 February 2012

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

RuNet Echo  1 February 2012

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

RuNet Echo  1 February 2012

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

RuNet Echo  1 February 2012

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...

Ukraine: Government Sites Under Attack; “Freedom to Ex.ua”

RuNet Echo  1 February 2012

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...

Cuba: What's on President Rousseff's Agenda?

  1 February 2012

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”

  1 February 2012

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!

  1 February 2012

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.

Bahamas: Freedom of Information Debate

  1 February 2012

“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...

Ethiopia: Freedom of Expression in Jeopardy

  1 February 2012

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?