A powerful video starring an anonymous protester called "I am a Ukrainian" has been viewed some five million times. The video was directed by Ben Moses, a documentary filmmaker who is working on a film about grassroots uprising. The video's narrator details the abuses and corruption of the ruling government, and calls on viewers to demand support for the protesters' cause. — Read the rest
Josip Saric from Croatian national television is in a Kiev hotel near Maidan, and has kindly provided us with some snapshots of the surreal and troubling scenes, which range from bodies under shrouds in the lobby to impenetrable smoke outside the windows and bullet-holes in the walls. — Read the rest
Protesters in Kiev's #Euromaidan camp report that yesterday's horrific violence — which saw at least 25 protesters killed by police — has continued to escalate. The #IT_Namet tent — a fixture in Euromaidan, offering nonviolent IT support to protesters and journalists — was targeted by government security forces who burned it to the ground, beating Alexei Lymarenko, one of the tent's volunteers to a state of near death. — Read the rest
An amazing post on Livejournal from
Ilya "Zyalt" Varlamov gives a glimpse of life behind the barricades at the #Euromaidan uprising in Kiev, Ukraine. Zyalt's photos and text convey the diversity of the rebel lines — "from students to pensioners" — and the ingenuity they display in everything from homebrewed catapaults to morale-boosting drumming ("When casual stone- and grenade-throwing takes place, the knock is monotonous, in order to set rhythm and keep the morale. — Read the rest
Ukrainian protesters from the #Euromaidan movement have faced brutal police violence. A moving demonstration on December 30th included a line of protesters who held up mirrors to the riot police who faced them across the barricades.
In Kiev, Ukraine, Daniel Kovzhun is a 37 year-old, remarried father of two, a partner in an IT firm, and a political rebel. He trusts only one news source: "I am either out there, on barricades, or I am in Facebook."
If "graceful" isn't your first thought when looking at a capybara, perhaps this video will change your mind. Behold this capybara swimming-running-gliding underwater at the Recanto Ecológico Rio da Prata near Bonito, a town known for its ecotourism in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil. — Read the rest
Winter on Fire: Ukraine's Fight for Freedom, nominated for a 2016 Academy Award for Best Documentary film, tells the story of The Revolution of Dignity, or Maidan Revolution or the Ukrainian Revolution, specifically the "unrest in Ukraine during 2013 and 2014, as student demonstrations supporting European integration grew into a violent revolution calling for the resignation of President Viktor F. — Read the rest
Two days ago, U.S. intelligence sources let it be known that that Afghanistan's government might fall in as soon as 90 days. Today the Taliban are already reportedly nearing the outskirts of Kabul, advancing to Maidan Shar, 25 miles from the capital. — Read the rest
Hunter Biden was getting $50,000/month to sit on the board of Burisma, an oligarch-controlled Ukrainian energy company, a job for which he had no qualifications, apart from his surname, which was part of a concerted effort to launder the company's reputation after the collapse of the regime of the oligarch-friendly, Russia-facing Viktor Yanukovych.
The millions of Hong Kong people participating in the #612strike uprising are justifiably worried about state retaliation, given the violent crackdowns on earlier uprisings like the Umbrella Revolution and Occupy Central; they're also justifiably worried that they will be punished after the fact.
Ever since the Ukrainian "Maidan" revolution, the country has been subjected to waves of punishing cyberwar attacks, targeting its power grids, finance ministry, TV networks, election officials, and other critical systems.
Bruce Sterling's characteristically acerbic remarks on the US election gets to a really important point: internet-based movements have been amazing at tearing down corrupt establishment system, but have failed (so far) to create the kinds of stable governance structures that build up something better from the ruins.
Backslash — an "art/design" project from NYU Interactive Technology Program researchers Xuedi Chen and Pedro G. C. Oliveira — is a set of high-tech tools for protesters facing down a "hyper-militarized," surviellance-heavy state adversary, including a device to help protesters keep clear of police kettles; a jammer to foil Stingray mobile-phone surveillance; a mesh-networking router; a "personal cloud" that tries to mirror photos and videos from a protest to an offsite location; and tools for covertly signalling situational reports to other protesters.
Economist Paul Mason's blockbuster manifesto Postcapitalism suggests that markets just can't organize products whose major input isn't labor or material, but information, and that means that, for the first time in history, it's conceivable that we can have a society based on abundance.
California's phone bricking bill seems to have reduced thefts in the short run, but at the cost of giving dirty cops and wily criminals the power to wipe-and-brick your phone at will.
Jasmina Tesanovic ventures into the "Palace of Corruption" where deposed Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych partied and gloried in graft while the #Euromaidan raged on his doorstep. Tesanovic was in Serbia when Milosevic was deposed, and she reflects on the careers of post-Soviet dictators.
Meet Peacemaker, one of the Maidan Square weapons photographed by Tom Jamieson.
Ukrainian leather mask-maker Bob Basset's unveiled his latest creation, a menacing stormtrooper that calls to mind the recent Euromaidan violence.
Yanukovych: "I'm won't sign anything with bandits who are terrorising Ukraine". Guess he's been on the phone to Moscow since yesterday
— Shaun Walker (@shaunwalker7) February 22, 2014
Ukrainian opposition protesters have taken control of the presidential palace and demanded that the president Viktor Yanukovuych resign. — Read the rest
