Tools/technology

North Korea – Open Radio exposes closed society

A North Korean factory worker was publicly executed by firing squad this week after conveying news out of the secretive communist state via his illicit cell phone, Associated Press reports:
The man, surnamed Chong, made calls to the defector using an illegal Chinese mobile phone, the broadcaster said, citing a North Korean security agency official it [read full story]

Democracy jobs

National Endowment for Democracy
Currently available opportunities include: Administrative Assistant – CIMA, Program Assistant – Asia, Program Assistant – Europe, Program Officer for Asia, Program Officer for Latin America and the Caribbean, Database/Web Developer, and Senior Director of Finance.  Further details here.  
International Republican Institute
Currently available DC-based opportunities include: Online Communications Specialist, Deputy Press Secretary, Program Assistant [read full story]

Democracy events

Thursday, March 4, 2010 – 9:00 AM – 4:30 PM – The Iraqi Elections & the Changing Politico-Security Environment in Iraq – Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 1779 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W. – Featuring keynote speaker Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, this one day conference presents a number of panels and experts discussing key issues of security and [read full story]

Regime’s cyber warfare suppresses Iran’s critical voices

Iran imposed a “near-total information blockade” as part of its efforts to suppress dissident voices during today’s 31st anniversary commemoration of the Islamic revolution.
“Internet, mobile phone, e-mail, and SMS services in Iran have reportedly been disrupted,” RFE/RL reports, “apparently in an attempt by authorities to prevent opposition activists from communicating and organizing protests.” 
Google reported a  “sharp [read full story]

Promoting digital democracy – or cyber Cold War?

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s speech on Internet Freedom is prompting some interesting reactions, judging by this sample compiled by the Center for International Media Assistance, including: Being the Web’s First Global Diplomat; Index on Censorship’s experts’ analysis of the speech; Marc Lynch on the Internet Freedom Agenda; and Evgeny Morozov wonders if Hillary Clinton [read full story]

US will promote Internet freedom, digital democracy

The US Government will fund and facilitate innovative approaches to expanding internet freedom and access, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said this morning. Activists like those in Iran’s Green movement were “redefining how technology is used to spread truth and expose injustice”.
Just as samizdat literature undermined communism – “words that pierced the concrete and concertina [read full story]

China’s cyber dissidents supporting Iran’s Green movement

Cyber activists in China are throwing their support behind opposition protesters in Iran. The issue is a sensitive one, however, as those supporting protesters in Iran fear they could run afoul of Chinese authorities.
Voice of America reports.

Iran’s Green movement needs strategy and leadership

With events in Iran approaching a tipping point, the Green movement needs a coherent plan of action and a disciplined leadership, writes Abbas Milani, director of Stanford University’s Iran Democracy Project.  
Iran’s democratic movement exhibits “the three characteristics of a velvet revolution—nonviolent, nonutopian and populist in nature—with the nimble organizational skills and communication opportunities afforded [read full story]

Media round-up

Some media stories that have caught the eye of the Center for International Media Assistance this week:
Iranian regime’s offensive against new-generation media; how Iranian activists skirt Web crackdown; why Israel wants US to counter the Islamic Republic with Twitter;  Russian Internet provider blocks sites ; guerrilla blogging inside Cuba; Mubarak’s virtual enemies; the global war [read full story]

Thanksgiving Holiday Reading

The internet is supposed to empower citizens and undermine authoritarian regimes. But Evgeny Morozov challenges the conventional wisdom and details How dictators watch us on the web.
Roger Cohen examines Obama’s Foreign Policy Labyrinth in the New York Times, while Newsweek’s Michael Hirsh believes Obama’s Foreign Policy Needs a Reset.  Russia is Regressing into its Stalinist [read full story]

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