Stories about Digital Activism from August, 2019
Kazakhstan pauses interception of encrypted traffic, but for how long?
This was the authorities’ third attempt to enforce the use of a “national security certificate.” Although the authorities have relented, there are signs that it won’t be the last.
Netizen Report: Critic calls Indonesia’s provincial internet shutdown ‘racist’
Indonesia's regional internet shutdown continues, YouTube blocks 210 channels over suspected links to China and Tonga threatens to block Facebook.
Months after pledge to open internet, Ethiopia disrupts connectivity amidst communal violence, tension
Ethiopian authorities have resorted to shutting down entire networks in response to recent ethnic and political tensions. A lack of transparency makes it impossible to challenge.
Interview with Erick Huerta, a researcher helping to bring internet access to indigenous communities in Mexico
A project to build and strengthen the communication and technological autonomy of indigenous peoples and communities.
Moscow’s revolution will be memed, online and on canvas
An anonymous RuNet user has a found a creative way to criticise recent police violence in Moscow: photoshopping riot police into dozens of famous Russian and foreign artworks.
Netizen Report: The shutdown in Kashmir continues
Kashmir's communications blackout continues, Russia goes after 'illegal' protest videos online, and Google re-opens its office in Egypt.
Remembering the 1968 Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia
Over a third of young Czechs are unable to make a link between the date of August 21, 1968 and the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia.
On activism and the self
"Behind the instagrammable image of the fierce-looking individual with a clenched fist is a person who is constantly rationalizing and reaffirming their fidelity to radical politics."
A Brazilian journalist uses deepfake to make political satire
"They are not made to forge a reality, but a certain situation, with humour and in a critical way."
Netizen Report: Journalists are under fire from Cambodia to Cuba — and beyond
Across the globe, journalists are facin charges of everything from espionage to tax evasion.
Talking trash: Lebanese citizens continue to mobilize to solve the garbage crisis
A solution for Lebanon’s garbage problem is yet to be made after the government held off on a decision to build incinerators during talks that took place within Beirut.
Who turned off Moscow’s internet during recent protests?
Evidence suggests that law enforcement agencies pressured mobile network operators to get part of the capital offline for the duration of the protests.
Tanzanian journalist faces trumped-up charges after abduction and detention
Freelance ournalist Erick Kabendera has written critically of Tanzanian President John Magufuli's increasingly repressive administration. Yesterday, authorities charged him with economic crimes, but critics say his only "crime" is journalism.
Sentencing of Turkish social media influencer sparks debate on free speech
A Turkish Twitter celebrity is being sued for allegedly advocating drug consumption, reigniting the debate about online freedom of expression
In Azerbaijan, trolls keep us at each other’s throats
"Recently I half-jokingly wrote on my Facebook page. . . that “being from Azerbaijan is a terminal diagnosis incompatible with happiness.”
Ugandan feminist Stella Nyanzi deploys nude protest to challenge free speech sentence
Feminist scholar Stella Nyanzi, known for "radical rudeness" as protest, flashed her breasts and shouted obscenities in protest in court after receiving 9 more months in prison for cyber harassment.
