A citizen group is proposing a series of steps towards reform in Algeria

Citizens calling for change in Algeria

Nabni, a group of citizens who want to use their expertise to help the development of Algeria published « 100 steps towards a new Algeria » on Tuesday, Algeria’s Independence Day. In this document, the group of economists, entrepreneurs, lawyers and engineers suggests concrete steps towards reform, on political, economic and social levels.

This citizen led initiative was launched in April and is mainly run via a website where web users can make their own suggestions. The aim of this “participative think tank” is to provide Algerians with a forum on which they can discuss the future of their country.

The group holds meetings on a regular basis, they are filmed and the videos are aired on the Internet. Last month, Nabni assembled key figures from civil society to debate the group’s proposed steps for areas such as education and health.

And although some web users think they are being unrealistic, the founders of this project hope the government will put their plans into action by next year, when Algeria will be celebrating 50 years of independence. 

The members of Nabni do feel this is a symbolic date in the country’s history. And for the occasion they will be publishing a new report, which will look back over the past fifty years or so and put forward their vision for Algeria for the year 2020.

Online campaign for suspended cheerleader

This case has mobilized a great number of American web users. At a basketball match in Texas two years ago, a cheerleader refused to root for the player she says raped her in October 2008. The young man had been sentenced to one year suspended sentence after pleading guilty to misdemeanor assault.

The cheerleader was fired from the squad for her act of protest. Her parents sued the school district, claiming she was just exercising her right to freedom of speech, but they lost the case and now have to reimburse the school district 45 000 dollars in legal fees.

Jessica Mills from California think there has been an injustice and has set up an online solidarity movement with helpthecheerleader.com. Web users can make donations via this site to help the family of the former cheerleader, who is now 19 years old, pay the costs.

Many web users have joined the campaign via social media sites and over 27 000 dollars has been donated. Comic strip artist Jason Ho raised 3 000 dollars by selling drawings on his blog.

And the web site Change.org has set up an online petition, demanding the school apologizes to the young woman and refuses to take any money from her family. The document has been signed by over 95 000 people so far.

Online game about French Socialist primaries

This game is available on the web site of French daily Le Monde, and allows you to step into the shoes of Martine Aubry, François Hollande or Ségolène Royale for the French socialist primaries, before next year’s presidential election. Build a campaign team, define your political project and develop your electoral strategies … the aim of the game is to win these primaries scheduled for October and more importantly gain a better understanding of how the political machine works.

Twitter reaches 200 million tweets a day

At the beginning of the year Twitter hit the 200 million member threshold, and is now reporting 200 million Tweets per day, which they say translates as 8163 copies of Tolstoy’s War and Peace, enough to create a stack almost the size of the Taipei 101, the second tallest building in the world.

Video of the day

Dutch artists Lernert Engelberts and Sander Plug have taken the expression ‘caked in make up’ to a whole new level in this video, where they apply a year’s worth of make up to a woman, with pretty astonishing results. It took nine hours to apply all the layers, and the session has been summed up in this 3 minute video.