18 October 2013

Stories from 18 October 2013

Declaration on the Future of Internet Cooperation

  18 October 2013

Representatives of the organizations that manage the technical infrastructure of the Internet meeting in Montevideo,  Uruguay, have released a Declaration on the future of Internet cooperation [es], in which they analyze the problems currently affecting the future of the Internet. Among other things, they mention the importance of globally consistent...

Property Bubble In Kathmandu

  18 October 2013

Chandan Sapkota reports that the rise in the cost of housing in Kathmandu has made them beyond the reach of most of the Nepalese people. Easy bank credits to developers and prospective buyers have possibly triggered the bubble.

Japan: OpenStreetMap Aggregates Typhoon Info

  18 October 2013

OpenStreetMap users volunteered their time to create a crisis map of Izu Oshima island [ja], a small island to the south of Tokyo where more than a dozen of people were killed by mudslides triggered by this week's deadly Typhoon Wipha. The red dots on the map represent reports submitted by users, which give...

Activists Demand Release of Angola's Youngest Political Prisoner

  18 October 2013

It has been more than a month since a 17-year-old activist from Angola was detained after allegedly having ordered the print of 20 t-shirts saying “[President] José Eduardo out! Disgusting dictator”.  Manuel Chivonde Baptista ‘Nito Alves’ was jailed on September 12, 2013, and is currently at Luanda central prison, after a few days of solitary...

GV Face: Malala's Pakistan

GV Face  18 October 2013

This week we talk about why Pakistan feels so conflicted about Nobel Peace Prize nominee Malala and the role social media has played in spreading her fame and discredit.

China's Maple Bridge Experience and Local Governance

  18 October 2013

Qian Gang looks into the political implications of recent state propaganda of “Fengqiao experience” (or Maple Bridge Experience) which took place in Zhejiang province during the Mao's era in early 1960s as a local governance model under the new China leadership.

China: School Forces Students To Participate in Forced Demolition

  18 October 2013

Joe from ChinaSMACK translated a news story about a middle school in Guiyang city, Guizhou province, that forced students to wear SWAT police uniforms and participate in the demolition of illegal structures. In China, demolition armies are as notorious as Chengguan on account of their violent actions against rural villagers who...