Occupy’s 6-month anniversary rally - Dozens arrested:

“This is our spring offensive,” said Michael Premo, 30, of New York, who identified himself as a spokesman for the movement. “People think the Occupy movement has gone away. It’s important for people to see we’re back.”
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/18/us-usa-occupy-wallstreet-idUSBRE82G0FC20120318

Al Jazeera channel losing staff over ‘bias’ on Syria:

The bureau’s managing director, Hassan Shaaban reportedly resigned last week after leaked emails revealed his frustrations over the news channel’s coverage of Syria.

“The head of the bureau in Beirut quit, many other people quit because of the biased coverage and outright hand of the government in dictating editorial policy over Libya, and now Syria.”

http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/321062

Leaked emails indicate Syria president got advice from Iran to supress uprising:

More than 3,000 emails that activists hacked from private accounts belonging to Syria’s President Assad show that he took advice from Iran on how to handle the uprising against his rule. Assad also received details about Western journalists in Homs and was urged to “tighten the security grip” on the opposition-held city in November.

Putin on trial? Fake video goes viral in Russia:

A startlingly realistic fake “breaking news” video purporting to show the arrest and trial of Vladimir Putin has gone viral, garnering well over 3 million hits since it was posted on YouTube on Monday.

Styled as a breaking news item, it also charges Putin under Article 205 of Russia’s criminal code “as a person who assisted in an act of terrorism to intimidate the population.”

Any Russian will immediately recognize this as a reference to a still unsolved 1999 wave of apartment bombings that killed almost 300 people in their sleep, transfixed Russians with fear, and led to the overwhelming victory of the tough-talking former KGB agent, Putin, in parliamentary and subsequent presidential polls.

Very creative and powerful use of social media for political protest, here!

Occupy Wall Street: Jimmy Carter Casts Movement As ‘Relatively Successful’…

…because they focused national discussion on wealth disparity despite lacking leadership and a unifying set of goals.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/16/occupy-wall-street-jimmy-carter_n_1281163.html

Arab Spring Shot Wins World Press Photo Award…

The photo was taken Oct. 15 in a mosque in Sanaa, Yemen, that was being used as field hospital after demonstrators protesting against the rule of President Ali Abdullah Saleh clashed with government forces.

“The winning photo shows a poignant, compassionate moment, the human consequence of an enormous event, an event that is still going on,” said chairman Aidan Sullivan. “We might never know who this woman is, cradling an injured relative, but together they become a living image of the courage of ordinary people that helped create an important chapter in the history of the Middle East.”

Violent ‘Russian Spring’ protests could follow a Vladimir Putin victory

Russia’s presidential elections hold the potential to spark violent protests, but are unlikely to trigger a revolution, Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov told a Toronto audience Tuesday.

http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/02/07/violent-russian-spring-protests-could-follow-a-vladimir-putin-victory-opposition-leader/

“You must not talk of a ‘Russian Spring’ but of ‘Russian Springs,’ I don’t know how many,” Mr. Nemtsov told the Economic Club of Canada. “Our goal is to lead to democracy and freedom and modernization in Russia, but it will take time.”

Feminist punk band Pussy Riot take revolt to the Kremlin

Anonymous band with provocative anti-Putin lyrics – who have become a symbol of Russian youth’s discontent – are preparing for their next surprise performance.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/feb/02/pussy-riot-protest-russia

The band began writing songs with lyrics such as: “Egyptian air is good for the lungs / Do Tahrir on Red Square!” and performing on trams and in the metro. Videos of the flash gigs began spreading across the internet. When the protest leader Alexey Navalny was jailed for 15 days after his arrest during Russia’s first post-election protest on 5 December, three members of Pussy Riot took to the roof of the jail where he was being held, setting off red flares as they sang “Death to prison / Freedom to protest!”

China’s Internet growth challenges country’s political elite

2011 was also a year that saw the increasing social might of Chinese microblogs, Twitter-like engines of public opinion that often challenged the authority of state-sanctioned news. The number of microblog users quadrupled last year to nearly 250 million, the China Internet Network Information Center said in its recent report.

Known in China as weibo, microblogs enable users to post short messages with links that can then be read by subscribers. Their speed and scope creates difficulties for government censors, who have had more success blocking foreign websites including Facebook, YouTube and Twitter using filters, often called the Great Firewall of China.

http://www.thestar.com/business/article/1119172—china-s-internet-growth-challenges-country-s-political-elite

Microblogs were instrumental last year in exposing government mishandling of a deadly high-speed rail collision in the eastern city of Wenzhou and alleged corruption in the southern village of Wukan.

Twitter, Democracy, and Internet Freedom

Twitter has taken fire in recent days from activists and bloggers who fear that the company’s new censorship policies will muffle online freedom. The company has introduced technology allowing them to censore tweets on a country by country basis.

News reports recall the ways in which protestors have had made use of Twitter to oppose dictatorships, and dissidents express concern that their ability to communicate will be harmed.

http://techcrunch.com/2012/01/29/twitter-democracy-and-internet-freedom/

The more immediate issue, however, may lie elsewhere. Twitter’s new policies demonstrate vividly the complicated relationship between Internet freedom and democratic government.