Twitter aids Russian revolt

Demonstrators recently took to the streets in the Chisinau region capital, Moldova, last week in protest of the “Communist Party’s suspiciously large electoral victory a few days earlier,” according to Newsweek. This event has raised questions as to whether the once Romanian-turned Russian region could launch an anti-Communist revolution on the scale of Georgia and the Ukraine.

The student organized protest, which brought out more than 10,000 people to the main square, was organized through the use of social networking sites, such as Facebook and Twitter. While the protests started out peaceful on Monday, organized by a young Russian journalist, they quickly became violent by Tuesday and escaladed Friday, as more radical twitter protesters took to the streets.

As a part of the “Twitter revolution,” the tools are being used by young people in the region, specifically the capital of Moldovan, to express their discontent and interact with others sharing these counter-Communist ideas. “’Omg I feel so sick that I am living in Moldova back to the ussr,’ read one of the thousands of Twitter posts labeled with the tag #pman,’ shorthand for the Romanian name of Chisnau’s largest square.” Protesters organized by the #pman stream stated that the government would use the threat of a Romanian coup as an excuse for illegal arrests, according to Spiegel Online International.

Jenn Lynch
Team Russia

Croatia: Freedom of Expression through Facebook

As a response to the Facebook group " I bet I can find 5,000 people who don't like Sanader," and the repercussions that resulted, Prime Minister Ivo Sanader, in an article from SETimes.com stated, "No one in Croatia can be detained or arrested because of a different opinion or because of a protest against my or any other political view.  My main task as prime minister is to defend that right."  Sander ordered the interior the interior ministry to decide if police abused their powers by arresting individuals who criticized the government over the Internet.

Regardless of the prime ministers statement above, additional Facebook groups have formed against Ivo Sanader.  One Facebook group is searching for 10,000 critics  of the prime minister.  The group has exceeded 10,000 and at last count was 13,600 members.  The goal is to reach 15,000.  Another group named "Enter my apartment Gestapo gang, Croatia is not a police state" is up to 5,100 memembers (found on Federal Computer Week).

-Lindsey Nass (Croatia)