Month: February 2011

Social networks, social revolution

Yet again, Al Jazeera proves that it is one of the best mediums out there. Latest episode of their Empire is about social networks and new media’s impact on turmoils in Egypt, Tunisia and other countries. The episode takes a look at tweets, SMS messages, Facebook updates and blogposts.

Facebook in Georgia [Infographic]

Explanations:

1) There are lot of fake Georgian profiles. Because of this, percentages might be insignificantly different.

2) Many people mentioned in this infographic are represented by more than one page. Ones with highest number of fans have been selected for this statistics.

3) All images are copied from the above mentioned pages.

4) Not all the pages are official.

5) Information is gathered through various sources, like Facebook’s advertising statistics, Socialbakers, Alexa.com and many others.

6) Latest information on the internet penetration was released in 2010. Probably, the number is higher today but it is unknown.

7) The calculation of Facebook users by the end of 2011 is based on the growth of Georgian users for past 6 months and is based on the assumption that the growth will continue.

It took me 3 days, 2 cups of coffee, thorough research and 70 Photoshop layers to compile this infographic. Let me know if you have any additions, suggestions or questions.

First, they came for… someone!

Originally posted on the author’s blog.

By Giorgi Kikonishvili

“First they came for the communists,
and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews
and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a Jew.
Then they came for me
and there was no one left to speak out for me.”

This is the story of how a pastor Martin Niemoller,  Hitler’s ex-supporter was left alone in front of the destructive power of the Fuhrer, just because he didn’t fought against the unfairness at the right time, due to the personal careerist or non-careerist interests. He didn’t meddle in!

Almost twenty years ago over 300,000 people were forced to leave their homes and to go, well, anywhere, on the another part of Georgia. On they road, part of the people were victims of other Georgians, who were expecting some “profit” from the IDP’s “wealth”. some of the IDPs became victims of unbearable weather conditions and mostly of the starvation. People, who at least more or less peacefully arrived alive at other cities, were housed in the old buildings, mostly in the inhuman conditions. During the twenty years some of them managed to adopt new life conditions, they even got new jobs, began business activities. Unfortunately many IDPs were dead due to the psychical and psychological traumas provoked by the war. For the last twenty years tens of thousand our civilians, living near us, were absolutely ignored, as if they didn’t live. Their trouble was NOT considered as ours, as well. We were ready to held tens of drinking parties, to drink those hypocritical toasts about our “beautiful country and people”, whereas the IDPs, living in our neighborhood might have the ability to either buy a brad, or not.

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Georgia: Blogger action in support of evicted IDPs

Also posted on Global Voices

By Mirian Jugheli

Four months ago, on 11 October 2010, Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) who fled the wars over the breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia began to protest government indifference towards them. Tented in the yard of the Ministry of IDPs from the Occupied Territories, Accommodation and Refugees of Georgia, several IDPs have been demanding that the government halt evictions, which have so far seen over 80 families removed from temporary accommodation, and to provide them with proper housing.

However, not a single official has come to talk to them about these issues and their concerns that alternative accommodation offered by the government is located in villages isolated from regional centers and which lack proper schools and hospitals. Online publications such as EurasiaNet have already reported about conditions in such locations, noting that the new housing often lacks windows and basic amenities such as water, electricity and gas.

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Only 3 percent of Russians feel ‘Very Good” of Georgia

On January 21-24, 2011 Russia-based Yuri Levada Analytical Center (Levada Center) conducted a research and surveyed 1600 Russians in 130 settlements of 45 regions of the country. Youngest interviewees were 18 years old. The Levada center posted results of the survey on its website [RUS]. According to them, Statistical error in the data from these studies does not exceed 3,4%. Here are the results:

Results show that Russians dislike Georgia more than USA, EU, Belarus and Ukraine.