Another election results that brought unprecedented change recently is in the Maldives, where Asian's longest serving leader has just been toppled.
This one has crept under the radar with all the other political news and optimism this week.
The new leader is in the Maldives is Anni (Mohamed Nasheed) who received 54.21% of the total votes. After 30 years in power President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom received just 45.79%.
According to the BBC World website:
"Mr Nasheed - a former Amnesty International prisoner of conscience ... has been a constant critic of the regime of Mr Gayoom over the years and has spent long periods in jail for his political activities. To his supporters Mr Nasheed is a latter day Nelson Mandela, overcoming the hardships of prison to secure an inspirational election win against the odds"
I wrote about recently about all the Maldivian blog activity, and videos on YouTube that were now part of modern electioneering there: blogging in a closed society. Many of the local political activists were spreading online content, from non-government sources, thru their blogs: See a Partial Journey
Interesting, since the end of the election some of these blogs, having served their purpose, have ceased.
Showing posts with label Maldives. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Maldives. Show all posts
Monday, 10 November 2008
Wednesday, 22 October 2008
Blogging in a closed society
On 28th October there's to be the first ever democratic election in the Indian Ocean nation of the Maldives
The currect leader, President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom has been in power for 30 years and there's a chance he may loose control of the country. The election has gone to a second round, after Maumoon failed to win the first round outright.
In this country where freedom of speech is somewhat limited, by Australian standards, it's not surprising that blogs are where much unfettered political debate is occurring.
A friend pointed me in the direction of mvblogosphere where many Maldivian blogs are listed. The coming Maldives election are a popular topic right now.
"mvblogosphere is an attempt to track, map and analyze the exponentially growing Maldivian blogopsphere, in order to draw a larger portrait of the social, cultural, political and economic structures they represent. "
For background information on the country check out also: BBC Country profile: The Maldives
Australian journalist, Antony Loewenstein, has just published a book, The Blogging Revolution, in which he's reported on bloggers in countries where press freedom is limited, such as Iran.
LiteraryMinded has just interviewed Loewenstein on her blog post Join the Revolution! An interview with Antony Loewenstein on The Blogging Revolution. Here's a snippet:
"When visiting a country like Iran – a population of 70 million, the majority under 30 years old and millions of web users – it’s immediately clear that solely relying on state-run media isn’t an option"
The currect leader, President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom has been in power for 30 years and there's a chance he may loose control of the country. The election has gone to a second round, after Maumoon failed to win the first round outright.
In this country where freedom of speech is somewhat limited, by Australian standards, it's not surprising that blogs are where much unfettered political debate is occurring.
A friend pointed me in the direction of mvblogosphere where many Maldivian blogs are listed. The coming Maldives election are a popular topic right now.
"mvblogosphere is an attempt to track, map and analyze the exponentially growing Maldivian blogopsphere, in order to draw a larger portrait of the social, cultural, political and economic structures they represent. "
For background information on the country check out also: BBC Country profile: The Maldives
Australian journalist, Antony Loewenstein, has just published a book, The Blogging Revolution, in which he's reported on bloggers in countries where press freedom is limited, such as Iran.
LiteraryMinded has just interviewed Loewenstein on her blog post Join the Revolution! An interview with Antony Loewenstein on The Blogging Revolution. Here's a snippet:
"When visiting a country like Iran – a population of 70 million, the majority under 30 years old and millions of web users – it’s immediately clear that solely relying on state-run media isn’t an option"
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