Protests against high living costs in Uganda

Protests in Uganda

Walk to work as a sign of protest against rising fuel prices. The Ugandan opposition came up with the idea and is urging citizens to take action against high living costs.

Blogger Angela Kintu is sharing her frustration on her blog. In this article, she examines her budget and says that rising costs of fuel and food make it impossible for her to make ends meet.

Inflation is a source of anger for many Ugandans. Thousands of citizens have taken to the streets in recent weeks, denouncing the government’s inability to deal with rising prices.

The movement was initiated by opposition leaders, some of whom were recently arrested. This is notably the case for Anne Mugisha. On her blog, she denounces the repression and the security forces use of violence against protesters: four people are thought to have been killed in one week.

The protest movement against high living costs is also being widely relayed on the Internet by local cyber activists. The authorities are not ruling out blocking social networks in bids to stifle rallies. Web user Alan Kasujja has exposed this letter online. It was from the government and addressed to the country’s Internet providers, asking them to suspend Facebook and Twitter for 24 hours last week.

The operator MTN Uganda is refusing to comply, and has stated as much on Twitter to reassure concerned web users.

Tunisian bloggers debate secularism

The process of political reform continues in Tunisia, and the question of secularism and where Islam will fit in to Tunisian society continue to fuel debate in the country, which is largely Muslim majority. The debate is being widely relayed on the local web.

The author of the blog “Liberté Conditionelle” affirms his commitment to a secular society but says that Tunisia must invent its own secularism. He does not think Tunisia should adopt exact replicas of existing laws from other countries, he thinks it would be better for the country to find a model where everyone can express their beliefs and practice their religion as they see fit.

Selim is expressing a similar sentiment on the site « Cahiers de la liberté » where he shares his vision of Tunisia’s secularism. He believes the law should guarantee equality between all citizens, regardless of their beliefs, and that all Tunisians should be allowed to practice their religion freely. He does not think the wearing of religious symbols, like Muslim headscarves, should be forbidden in the Tunisia of tomorrow.

But others do not necessarily look upon the secularization movement which began under the presidency of Habib Bourguiba and was continued by fallen dictator Ben Ali, favorably. Tunisian student Amane, says here that is quite simply a dangerous ideology which threatens the country’s Muslim identity.

Some, like the author of this post published on the forum « Juriste Tunisie », are sorry it has become a subject of division within Tunisian society. He thinks this is largely due to the fact not everyone in the country fully understands the concept of secularism.

Images from NASA's WISE telescope

In 2009, NASA invested over 220 million euros in the WISE telescope. This infrared telescope is the most sophisticated ever to have been sent into space, and has been scanning the cosmos constantly for the past two years. The images have now been collected and published on NASA’s web site. There are thousands of shots available, of galaxies, stars and other asteroids…

Fearsquare provides crime stats for popular locations

What crimes have been committed in the places you go? The Fearsquare application hopes to answer this question. The project was launched in Great Britain and cross references data collected by location based service Foursquare with crime stats from local police. Fearsquare then lists the user’s 10 most popular locations and indicates the number of robberies, violent crimes and other offences which have been committed in these places. The aim is to see if the user will behave differently once he or she has been provided with this information.

Video of the day

Have you heard of extreme ironing? Well, it is the latest online sporting trend and involves doing your ironing in remote and often dangerous places … like on the motorway! Here we see a man extreme ironing on a motorway in Britain … which was actually closed to traffic due to a nearby fire.