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This year, events in the regional blogosphere were curiously bookended by hunger strikes. Part 1 of this 2012 recap takes a look at the topics that most shaped online discussion in the Bahamian, Cuban and French-speaking Caribbean blogospheres.
The financial troubles of Israeli news media is affecting the diversity and independence of reporters, who are less willing to challenge the wishes of editors or managers who answer to the tycoons who own the media outlets. Increasingly, citizen journalist and bloggers fill in the void of Israeli mainstream media coverage.
On December 12, the People's Party (PP) of Madrid decided to launched an information campaign on healthcare reform, creating the hashtag #quenotelienconlasanidad [#dontletthemscrewyouonhealthcare] on Twitter. Thousands of netizens took advantage of the campaign to flood the PP's hashtag with tweets, making it a trending topic for reasons very different from those originally intended by its creators.
Internet cafes are now banned within 500 meters of schools or educational buildings. Internet cafes are also prohibited from welcoming anyone under the age of 18, because the "internet poses numerous dangers such as terrorism, economic crimes & distribution of pornography."
From Argentina, blogger Rafael, on Fin del capitalismo ¿salvaje? [The end of the wild? capitalism] remembers some of the events [es] occured on December 19, 2001:
On the night of [December] 19, that bastard [former Minister of Economy, Domingo] Cavallo had already resigned, then came the tear gases at the square and the violent repression from the State and the killing of many people ordered by [former President Fernando] De la Rua, killings that are still unpunished.
The Chinese internet is a fascinating place. Stories break online everyday. Despite the strong censorship, Chinese internet users are able to keep their sense of humor(and the censors at bay) by creating different buzzwords and memes. As the year comes to an end, TeaLeafNation has collected the 10 most funny and smart stories of 2012 on Chinese internet.
Following years of intense debates, Kazakhstan is finally set to abandon Cyrillic script in favor of the Latin alphabet by 2025. It appears that the alphabet is still a very divisive issue in the country (see, for example, hundreds of comments under this blog [ru]). Michael Hancock-Parmer writes on Registan.net:
I have reservations that [the Latinization program] will adversely affect Kazakhstan’s citizens in their efforts to better understand their past and the formation of their current situation.
Bauliana posts a list of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) about Bauls, a group of mystic minstrels from Bengal. Although current day Bauls are very small in numbers, their influence in the culture of Bengal is considerable.
So what do you expect? Give murderers ans armed robber a time out? The got...
Margahayuland -
Freedom from Fear...Now.
Few years ago, when a British farmer was jailed for Killing a criminal who attacked...
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Based on the Wikipedia list of countries, details.
Perchance, immaturity creates distrust.....