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Latest update: 04/11/2009
- Internet - Iran
Iranian opposition keeps up online pressure
In this edition : a green wave is unfolding on the Iranian web and the opposition has rallied once again, despite warnings from the authorities. And in Italy, some webusers more openly express their hostility towards the Camorra.
IRAN: OPPOSITION IS STILL ALIVE
A green wave is unfolding on the iranian web and the opposition has rallied once again, despite warnings from the authorities. Police broke up protests, organised on the fringes of the official comemoration marking the 30th anniversary of the hostage taking at the US Embassy.
Calls for protests had been circulating on opposition sites for weeks. And many videos like this one were posted online to galvanise net users.
A young rapper composed this song to applaud the protesters’ courage and to denounce the regime’s abuses of power.
Universities are meanwhile at fever pitch. In this video we hear students at the prestigious Sharif University, shout in support of their fellow student, Mahmood Vahidnia who dared to openly criticise the regime during a visit to the institution of the Supreme Guide, Ayatollah Khamenei.
And the ban preventing students who contested Ahmadinejad’s re-election from re-registering this year have caused uprisings on campuses in recent days. Protests largely broadcast share sites. Here for example, we hear students shouting, ‘With the Mullahs, freedom is impossible’.
ITALY: FIGHT AGAINST THE MAFIA
This weekend’s sting operation in Italian mafia strongholds, led to the arrest of Pasquale Russo. The man, who had been hunted since 1993, is the head of one of the most feared clans in the Naples region. News commented upon online, while some Italians more openly express their hostility towards the Camorra.
Many Italians were shocked by these images, filmed last week and broadcast on the web ever since. The video shows a man involved in organised crime being gunned down in front of a Naples café, in broad daylight and in front of many witnesses, while the assassin walks calmly away. Images which have encouraged Italians to express their outrage regarding the region’s daily violence.
Russo’s arrest was welcomed with relief for many, such as this blogger. But he recalls that the hunt which lasted sixteen years was far from simple. He explains how the man used night vision binoculars and listened to police scanners to prevent being caught.
This US net user of Italian descent explains that mentalities about the mafia must change in the country. She also explains that for her friends, the Camorra is often a source of jokes. An attitude she criticises as she recalls that the Mafia commit murder and extortion in Italy.
Several thousand social network users have decided to make themselves heard and to say no, once and for all, to the Mafia in Italy. Several Facebook groups, such as these are campaigning for the authorities to finally put an end to the Camorra’s activities.
FREE MONEY
Mailorama.fr, a cash-back site on which net users can win money with a loyalty scheme, is creating a buzz but also debate online. To advertise itself, the site has announced that it will distribute several thousand Euros to passers-by in central Paris on Saturday 14 November. Sums ranging from five to 500 Euros will be placed in small bags and thrown to the crowd from a bus. Three stops are planned in the French capital, and the chosen spots will be revealed forty eight hours in advance.
OHIO IS A PIANO
While crossing Ohio in the US, cartographer Andy Woodruff realised that the State was made up of eighty eight counties, that is, the same number as the number of keys on a piano. He thus developed the ‘Ohio is a piano’, experimental application in which each note is associated with a county, depending on different parameters such as average age or the ethnic origin of residents. Once these parameters are configured, the site provides a musical summary of the results.
VIDEO OF THE DAY
Google has just placed this video online, retracing its history. Net users can look back at the successive steps which helped the US giant become what it is today. From the encounter between its two creators, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, to the creation of the current logo and including the Youtube takeover, all the information about Google is now at your fingertips.
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