8 August 2012

Stories from 8 August 2012

Myanmar: Barcamp X

  8 August 2012

As part of the successful BarCamp events in Myanmar, BarCamp Yangon organisers held [my] a three day BarCampX event focusing on Data Camp, Edu[cation] Camp & Health Camp from 3-5 August, 2012.

World: “Hackitat” – A Film About Political Hacking

  8 August 2012

Artists based in Sweden have launched a crowd-funding campaign to support and sustain their film project “Hackitat”. The documentary aims to highlight hackers, “the people building a nation on the Internet”, and searches for answers to: “What compels some people to spend a lot of time and energy on setting...

Jamaica: The Caribbean-American Vote

  8 August 2012

“Even since I began the online petition for the exoneration of Marcus Garvey, I have been on a steep learning curve about politics”: Diaspora blogger Geoffrey Philp notices that when it comes to Caribbean-Americans, “it seems as if we are going into the next election, just giving away our votes...

Historic Photos Commemorate 1988 Myanmar Uprising Anniversary

  8 August 2012

August 8, 2012, marks the 24th anniversary of the largest uprising in Myanmar's political history - the 1988 pro-democracy protests. A Facebook page known as Myanmar Political Review was created in July and gathered 1,000+ fans in few days, shared several rare photos of the 1988 uprising.

Russia: Pussy Riot Doomed by its own Supporters?

RuNet Echo  8 August 2012

Recent online coverage of the Pussy Riot trial makes it seem as if all of Russia is mobilized in protest against the inordinately harsh treatment the three arrested band members have received. In fact, many well-wishing bloggers continue to aggravate Riot's predicament by advocating leniency, rather than arguing with the entire premise of punishment.

Myanmar: Appeal to Global Community

  8 August 2012

The Muslim Organisation of Myanmar has appealed [my] to the international community to stop threatening the country, manipulating and propagating news and insulting the national flag and country's leaders regarding the Rohingya issue and the violence in the western part of the country.

Egypt: “Not all the People of Sinai are Terrorists”

Sinai is making the headlines today after the Egyptian Army waged a war on militants accused of being behind a deadly attack on the Egyptian-Israeli border, in which up to 16 Egyptian officers and soldiers were killed over the weekend. From North Sinai, Ahmed Elghoul is using Twitter to tell us more about the region and its people; the discrimination they face and the lack of security in the area.

Trinidad & Tobago: The Power of Words

  8 August 2012

Online reaction to a statement that one of the country's athletes should retire after not winning a medal at the London Olympics prompts West Indian Mother to examine “how we, as a society, tend to function, and how it adversely affects our children.”

Puerto Rico: Racist Tweets Against Obama Cause Outrage

  8 August 2012

Heidi Wys Toro, one of the advisors of the current speaker of Puerto Rico's House of Representatives Jennifer González, posted some racist comments about the president of the United States, Barack Obama, and his wife Michelle on Twitter. This is not the first time that Wys, who favors that Puerto Rico becomes a state of the United States, used this network to insult president Obama.

Myanmar: Freedom of Press T-Shirt Protest

  8 August 2012

After three weekly journals were stopped from being published in Myanmar, journalists and editors in the country campaigned for press freedom by wearing black shirts saying “Stop Killing the Press” while they were attending events and covering the news on 4 August, 2012.

Mexico: Journalists Censored in July

  8 August 2012

A.L.S. in Vivir México [es] lists four journalists who were censored during July 2012: Pedro Ferriz de Con, Rubén Luengas, John Ackerman, and Lydia Cacho. The blogger concludes, “I think this is worrisome, because we are not just talking about journalists who have been censored, but also about journalists who...