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Campaign: Save St. Petersburg’s European University!
Written by Mary on March 13, 2008 – 12:25 am -Description of Campaign: Earlier this month, Russian authorities shut down the European University at St. Petersburg on the pretense that the building had fire code violations. Students and faculty saw this as a effort to shut down the school and are fighting online to re-open the university and maintain their academic community.
Digital Activism Tools: YouTube, LiveJournal
How These Tools Are Being Used: The goal of the campaign is to draw attention to the persecution of the university, a particularly difficult task since the mainstream media in Russia is all state-controlled and is ignoring the issue. For this reason, members of the university community are using alternative media to raise awareness of the situation. One professor, Ilya Utekhin, has started a blog on LiveJournal. (Unfortunately LiveJournal, which is Russia’s most popular blogging platform, is owned SUP, a company allied with Vladimir Putin.) Another LiveJournal blog, Save_EU, has become an online community for people who are fighting for the university.
students and faculty put on a theater production to protest the university’s closing
Tags: education, europeanuniversity, livejournal, Russia, saintpetersburg, youtube
Posted in Blogs, Campaigns, Europe, Video | 1 Comment »
Campaign: Online Anticorruption Movement in Azerbaijan
Written by Bakhtiyar on March 6, 2008 – 10:01 pm -Description of Campaign: In 2004, a group of students in Azerbaijan decided to create a new web resource to speak up against corruption in the education sector. At Azerbaijani universities, it is not uncommon for students to buy grades and for the admissions process to be influenced by connections over competence
Digital Activism Tools: Website, petition, digital photographs, discussion board.
How These Tools are Being Used : On the web site, www.rushvedeyox.de (which translates to “say no to corruption” and has since been taken down), an online petition section served to collect petitions and submit to government officials on behalf of students. Within few weeks, thousands of students signed the petition. A section of the website included information about negative effects of bribery for students, for their future careers.
“For the sake of Azerbaijan’s future, say NO to corruption”
Tags: Azerbaijan, corruption, education
Posted in Campaigns, Digital Images, Discussion Boards, E-Petitions, Europe | 1 Comment »