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Global Voices - Cyber-Activism (10 unread)

August 26, 2008
19:03
Bulgaria: Institutionalized Children With Disabilities
» ‎ Global Voices - Cyber-Activism

Maya of Maya's Corner follows up on her earlier posts on Bulgaria's institutionalized disabled children and posts an account by a woman who adopted two Bulgarian Roma children ten years ago and managed to locate her adoptive daughter's twin sister.
9:57
Trinidad & Tobago: Leatherback Hatchlings
» ‎ Global Voices - Cyber-Activism

Now is Wow Too posts video of Leatherback turtle hatchlings in Grande Riviere, Trinidad, as they make their first trip out to sea.
9:45
St. Vincent & the Grenadines: Rapist at Large
» ‎ Global Voices - Cyber-Activism

The women of St. Vincent and the Grenadines are under siege by a serial rapist and Abeni is “very uneasy about the whole scenario…I have now developed an intense hatred for the rapist or rapists who have turned women into prisoners in their own homes. Is it too much to want my life back?”
6:14
China: Photos from inside Tibetan Skynet control room
» ‎ Global Voices - Cyber-Activism

Famed she is, though definitely not for her blogging, which is too bad, because there's no doubt that a lot of people would be interested to see the control-room photos and series of Chinese-language sources that Tibetan writer Woeser has just posted which show just how close of an electronic eye Chinese authorities now have over Tibet in “Project Skynet” (not to be confused with that Skynet.
3:27
China: Cop-killer online hero case goes on trial
» ‎ Global Voices - Cyber-Activism

Yang Jia's case goes to trial today, after having been postponed for the Olympics. Previously he had been harmonized after having been heroized by many online for walking into a police station in Shanghai last month and killing six cops after what was accepted was an earlier case of injustice and police brutality of which he was rumored to have been on the receiving end.

Tuesday afternoon in China and many bloggers are waiting to hear what the verdict will be, if it even comes today. Writing about it is not working very well, as demonstrated by lawyer and legal blogger Liu Xiaoyuan in his post on his Sina blog, ‘A ban has been sent down on featuring blog posts discussing the Yang Jia case':

昨天，有外媒采访我，让我谈奥运期间新闻和言论自由问题，我只好实话实说了。在奥运期间，管理部门不屏蔽外媒网站，我们可以自由地去游览，这确实是一大进步。但是，对网络言论的控制比以前更加严格，很多话题不能谈论，如写了这类博文也会被删除。

想不到奥运结束了，网络言论仍然没有放开。昨晚，我获知杨佳一案开庭的消息，立即写了博文发到各个博客，有的博客照样不给放行。我发在凯迪网猫眼看人论坛中的帖子，也被锁定不能予以回复。

今天上午，我又在该网发了谈杨佳案的帖子又遭锁定，网友不能加以评论和回复。
Yesterday, I was interviewed by some foreign media; they wanted me to talk about issues of press freedom and freedom of speech during the Olympics. During the Olympics, authorities stopped blocking foreign media websites, and we were free to browse them, this is definitely a big step forward. But, controls on internet speech are tighter than they were before, and many things cannot be talked about; even posts like this one will be deleted.

What I didn't expect is that now that the Olympics are over, internet speech still hasn't be let go. Last night I heard that the Yang Jia case is going to trial, and I immediately posted this out to all my blogs; some of them, as usual, wouldn't let me post. The thread I posted on the Cat898 BBS? Locked so that no-one can reply.

This morning, another thread I posted about the Yang Jia case got locked down, so netizens couldn't leave comments or respond.

中午，我给博客网一位熟悉的编辑发短信，希望能推荐一下博文《上海二中法院为何不在网上公布杨佳案开庭消息》。他回复短信称，有禁令。我又发短信询问，是以前的禁令，还是现在的禁令？他回复我说，以前的还在，现在的也有。

有网友将我的文章发到某论坛上，点击后打开不了。

正如《财经网》记者所说的，这一切是早有周密安排的。
This afternoon, I sent to a text message to a close friend who's an editor at Bokee, hoping they could feature my post “Why didn't the Shanghai #2 Intermediate Court put the information about Yang Jia's trial online>”. He texted back: there's an order. I texted back to that, asking, ‘is it an old order, or an order now?' He wrote back: ‘the old one's still here, and there's a new one too.'

Some netizens reposted my post to a certain BBS, but if you click it, it won't open.

Just like the Caijing reporter said, this was all carefully planned long ago.
One anonymous commenter on Liu's post has written:

不让人说话,只能说明心里有鬼

(2008-08-26 13:43:55)
Not letting people speak, that just shows they must be hiding something
August 25, 2008
23:00
China: Hacking Tsinghua University Website
» ‎ Global Voices - Cyber-Activism

The Beijing Tsinghua university website was hacked on 24 of Aug. The hacker wrote a fake interview in the website in which the university president said the university system is spoon feeding “shit” to students' brain. More from matrix at Solidot.
22:51
Hong Kong: FM Theatre Power vs. Netizens
» ‎ Global Voices - Cyber-Activism

ESWN translated a citizen report from inmediahk.net on a civic action mobilized by netizens against a theatre group.
20:32
Jordan: Middle East Laptop Sales Double
» ‎ Global Voices - Cyber-Activism

Laptop sales have doubled in the Middle East, says Jordanian blog Jazarah. “Personally I guess the growth in internet penetration is one of the main reasons behind the growth in laptop sales, the number of internet users in the Arab world is in a continues growth, for instance, social networking users in Arabia and Africa grew-up by 66% in 2008, so were are talking about millions of Arabs are on social networking sites, not to mention other internet services, more reasons to be online,” he explains.
19:11
Jordan: New Ikbis Look
» ‎ Global Voices - Cyber-Activism

Arab video sharing portal Ikbis, which is run from Jordan, reports new developments on the site.
18:59
Palestine: A New Blogging Revolution
» ‎ Global Voices - Cyber-Activism

Blogger Times, a blogging magazine written by Arab bloggers, covering new developments and current issues within the Arab blogging world, has published a new story called Blogging.. a Palestinian revolution.” How is the blogging scene in Palestine and what should bloggers focus on?

According to the site:
رغم الانتشار الواسع للتدوين في العالم العربي,الآن المدونات لم تجد مكانها الطبيعي بين رواد الانترنت والكتاب والصحفيين في الأراضي الفلسطينية, رغم الحاجة الملحة لذلك نظرا لما يمر به الشعب الفلسطيني من محنة وما يحيط به من مخاطر , تحتاج إلى المواجهة وكشف غموضها ونقل المعاناة الفلسطينية إلى الخارج لكسب مزيدا من التأييد والتعاطف مع القضية الأكثر جدلا في العالم . هذا ما خرجت به ندوة ” المدونات الثورة الجديدة” والتي نظمتها مؤسسة الثريا للإعلام والاتصال, في صالة السلام على شاطئ بحر غزة , بحضر جمع من الإعلاميين والمدونين الفلسطينيين . Despite the widespread use of blogging in the Arab world, the blogging has not found its natural place among Internet users, writers and journalists in the Palestinian territories. And that’s even despite the urgent need for it because of the misfortune and plight the Palestinians endure, which needs confrontation, uncovering the mystery and telling the suffering to an international audience to bring more support and sympathy for the most controversial issue in the world.
This is what has came out of the seminar, entitled Blogs, The new revolution, that was organized by El Thoraya for information and communications organization, in el Salam Hall, Gaza beach, and attended by a gathering of Palestinian journalists and bloggers.
The report adds:
فداء المدهون مديرة المؤسسة ومراسلة الجزيرة توك قالت في مداخلة لها حول المدونات وتاريخها بأن:” الحرب الأمريكية على العراق كانت سببا رئيسا لشهرة التدوين وانطلاقه في العالم , من خلال ما كان يدونه الجنود الأمريكيين حول تفاصيل الحرب حتى بات كمراسل عسكري ميداني ينقل ادق تفاصيل المعركة على شبكة الانترنت”. وأوضحت المدهون انه وبالرغم من حملات الملاحقة للمدونيين واعتقال البعض منهم في دول عربية كـ ” مصر , السعودية , الكويت والبحرين “,لم يفت في عضد المدونيين و واصلوا طريقهم نحو كشف الحقيقة والتعبير عن هموم المواطن العربي البسيط وأثرت في الرأي العام العربي من خلال ما يكتب ويدون على شبكة الإنترنت.
في حين شدد محسن الإفرنجي , المحاضر في الجامعة الإسلامية بغزة, على ضرورة حاجة الشعب الفلسطيني للتدوين , وقال في مداخلته حول واقع التدوين في فلسطين أن :” التدوين لم ينضج بعد في الأراضي الفلسطيني ولا زالت المسألة بعيدة عن المقارنة ببعض الدول العربية , حيث أن هناك موقعين فلسطينيين فقط , لحقا بركب التدوين , ويمكن الزوار إنشاء مدونات عليهما, وهما شبكة أمين للإعلام ومؤسسة فلسطين للثقافة”. ولفت الإفرنجي الى أن التدوين باللغة الانجليزية هو المطلوب اكثر من اللغة العربية, لما يحتاجه الغرب من تصحيح لقناعاته المسبقة عن الصراع في المنطقة ونقل صورة حية وواقعية عن معاناة الشعب الفلسطيني للغرب الذي يستقى معلوماته فقط من سي ان ان وفوكس نيوز وبي بي سي. داعيا في الوقت نفسه الشباب الفلسطيني الى التدوين باللغة الانجليزية وفضح الممارسات الاسرائيلية تجاه الشعب الفلسطيني.
من جانبه قدم , ابراهيم عمر, مراسل الجزيرة توك في قطاع غزة , لمحة تعريفية عن الجزيرة توك وإسهاماتها في عالم التدوين ,مشيدا بالدور الذي لعبته التوك في تأسيس اتحاد مدونون بلا حدود ,وحصولها على لقب المدونة الأولى عربيا, وبين خمس مدونات هي الأولى على مستوى العالم . وقال عمر, ان زوار موقع الجزيرة توك من فلسطين يحتلون المرتبة الثانية بعد مصر في حجم الزوار. واوضح مراسل الجزيرة توك, ان مراسلو المدونة قاموا بعدة تغطيات مميزة لعدد من الفعاليات والتقارير المميزة حتى باتت مصدرا رئيسا للصحف ومواقع الانترنت في العالم العربي. Speaking about blogging and its history, Feda’a el Madhoun, the manager of the organization and Al Jazeera Talk correspondent, said: “The American war on Iraq was the main reason behind the popularity of blogging and its take off in the world, where American soldiers became on-the-field militarily correspondents, accurately conveying details of the battle on the Internet.”
El Madhoun further explained that despite the prosecuting campaigns against bloggers and arresting a few of them in Arab countries like Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain, bloggers continued on their path towards revealing the truth and expressing the worries of the simple Arab citizen, impacting Arab public opinion through what is written and blogged on the Internet.
Meanwhile, Mohsen El Efrangi, the lecturer at the Islamic university in Gaza, emphasised the need for Palestinian people to blog, addressing the present situation of blogging in Palestine . He said: “Blogging in the Palestinian territories didn’t mature yet, and it’s still beyond comparison with some Arab countries. As there are only two Palestinian websites working as part of the blogging crowd, where visitors can create their blogs, and these are El Ameen Information Network and the Palestinian Cultural Foundation.”
And El Efrngi pointed out that English blogging is more necessary than blogging in Arabic, to correct the West’s prior beliefs and convictions towards the conflict in the region and to transfer a vivid and realistic picture of the Palestinian misery to the West, which only gets its information from CNN, Fox news and the BBC. At the same time, he invited Palestinian youth to blog in English and expose the Israeli practices against the Palestinian people.
Ibrahim Omar, an Al Jazeera Talk correspondent in the Gaza Strip, introduced Al Jazeera Talk and its contribution to the blogging world, praising its role in establishing the Blogging without Borders Federation and acquiring the title of the first Arab blog among five other pioneering blogs in the world. Omar said that the number of Palestinian visitors to the Al Jazeera Talk blog comes in second place after Egypt. And he added that blog correspondents wrote coverages for few events and excellent reports that became a major source for newspapers and internet websites in the Arab world.
However, some of the participants downplayed the role blogging plays.
على الجانب الأخر اعتبر الصحفي مفيد أبو شمالة من وكالة رامتان للانباء , انه لا حاجة للتدوين في ظل وجود الصحف والمواقع الإخبارية على شبكة الانترنت, وقال :”لو اعتبرنا ان لكل زائر انترنت مدونة , فيصبح كل المدونون صحفيين وبالتالي لن نجد من يقرأ ما يكتب على الانترنت”.
في حين قال خالد صافي مذيع باذاعة صوت الأقصى ان المدونيين يهدفون من وراء انشاء مدوناتهم الى الربح المادي والشهرة لا أكثر. مضيفا, بأن المحتوى والمضمون في المدونات لا يرتقى بأن يطالعه زائر الانترنت . من ناحيته اعتبر بهائي شراب, ان المدونات حاجة ملحة للشعب الفلسطيني في ظل ما يعيشه ,داعيا الى تطوير اداء المدونيين وجمعهم تحت مظلة واحدة ,كإنشاء اتحاد المدونيين الفلسطينيين. وفي ختام الندوة , اكد المحاضرون على أهمية التدوين في ظل الواقع الفلسطيني , ودعوة الصحفيين الى انشاء مدونات ومواكبة التطور في تقنية المعلومات وعالم التكنولوجيا. On the other side of the equation, journalist Mofeed Abu Shamala, from Ramatan News Agency, said there is no need for blogging in the presence of newspapers and news sites on the Internet. He added: “If we consider that there is a blog for each online guest, all bloggers will become journalists and therefore there will be no one to read what’s written on the Internet.”
Meanwhile, Khaled Safi, a broadcaster in Voice of El Aqsa, said that for bloggers, the main aim behind the creation of blogs is no more than material profit and fame, adding that the content and subjects dealt with in blogs do not rise up to the standard to be read by Internet users. For his part, Baha’y Sharab said there is a pressing need for blogs for Palestinians in the light of what they experience daily, and he called for developing the performance of bloggers and to promote their work under a common umbrella, such as creating a Palestinian Bloggers' Union.
At the end of the seminar, the speakers stressed the importance of blogging for the Palestinian people, under their current circumstances, and invited journalists to create their own blogs and to keep abreast of developments in information technology and world of technology.

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Global Voices - Cyber-Activism (10 unread)

Bulgaria: Institutionalized Children With Disabilities

Trinidad & Tobago: Leatherback Hatchlings

St. Vincent & the Grenadines: Rapist at Large

China: Photos from inside Tibetan Skynet control room

China: Cop-killer online hero case goes on trial

China: Hacking Tsinghua University Website

Hong Kong: FM Theatre Power vs. Netizens

Jordan: Middle East Laptop Sales Double

Jordan: New Ikbis Look

Palestine: A New Blogging Revolution