The Fight for Democracy in Ukraine: A Conversation with Center UA's Svitlana Zalischuk
BY Micah L. Sifry | Sunday, March 16 2014
Svitlana Zalischuk speaking at PDF PL-CEE 2014, Warsaw (Photo: Onnik James Krikorian)
One of the highlights of this year's Personal Democracy Forum Poland-Central/Eastern Europe (PDF-PLCEE) conference last Thursday and Friday in Warsaw was the talk by Szitlana Zalischuk, the founder of Ukraine's Center UA civic group. "Democracy is weak," she warned the 300-plus attendees, who had come from 25 countries around the world to learn from each other about the potential of technology to enable positive social change. The "EuroMaidan" movement may have forced Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych out of office, but it was far from clear that non-violent civic activism was going to win the day in the face of an invasion of Crimea and more not-so-veiled threats of force from Russia. Like many other PDF-PLCEE attendees from the region, Zalischuk was both electrified by the victory of the EuroMaidan protest movement and deeply worried about the future. On Saturday, the day after PDF-PLCEE ended, we sat down together during an open data hackathon held in a conference room in Warsaw's new soccer stadium. Our interview, which took place in three parts, is embedded below. Read More
[OP-ED] Peter Fein at #PDF12: 'Democracy Is Obsolete'
BY Peter Fein | Tuesday, June 12 2012
Peter Fein. Photo: Esty Stein / PDM
Peter Fein is an agent of Telecomix, which has been described as tech support for the Arab Spring. He gave a talk Tuesday at Personal Democracy Forum in New York. These are his remarks as prepared for delivery, which we are publishing as an op-ed. Read More
Egypt's Military Goes After Democracy Activist (and #PdF11 Speaker) Alaa Abd el Fattah
BY Micah L. Sifry | Monday, October 24 2011
Egyptian democracy activist and blogger Alaa abd el Fattah (and friend of PdF*) has been summoned by the military government to face charges of inciting violence and destroying public property. Alaa, as he is widely ... Read More
Why the BART Cell-Phone Shutdown Matters
BY Micah L. Sifry | Tuesday, September 27 2011
PdF friend and conference '10 speaker Susan Crawford has a smart oped piece up on Bloomberg discussing the issues recently raised in San Francisco by Bay Area Rapid Transit's cutoff of public cell phone service during ... Read More
Talk Notes: The Invention That Is American Democracy
BY Nancy Scola | Monday, February 7 2011
Engraving of George Washington taking the presidential oath of office on the balcony of the Senate Chamber at Federal Hall; via Life.com. Read More
Our Lip-Service Democracy
BY Micah L. Sifry | Tuesday, September 16 2008
On August 30, 2006, Senator John McCain co-signed a letter to "Ms. Sarah H. Palin" of 245 West 5th Avenue #28, Anchorage, AK, 99501. He, along with his co-signers former Governor Michael Dukakis, former US Rep. Bill ... Read More
Our Lip-Service Democracy
BY Micah L. Sifry | Tuesday, September 16 2008
On August 30, 2006, Senator John McCain co-signed a letter to "Ms. Sarah H. Palin" of 245 West 5th Avenue #28, Anchorage, AK, 99501. He, along with his co-signers former Governor Michael Dukakis, former US Rep. Bill ... Read More
All Politics is Local: How to Hold a Ballot Party
BY Editors | Sunday, September 14 2008
Our democracy is most effective when we have an informed citizenry. This does not just pertain to federal elections, but elections at all levels. Often, the local elections are the most important. The judges that you ... Read More
All Politics is Local: How to Hold a Ballot Party
BY Editors | Sunday, September 14 2008
[This essay is reposted from danah boyd's blog Apophenia, with her permission. The editors.] Unless you've been hiding under a rock, you know at least two of the candidates running for President. You might even know the ... Read More
Sound Bites from "rebooting america"
BY Dave Witzel | Saturday, July 5 2008
I finished reading rebooting america on the 4th of July - 44 essays by very thoughtful people. You can read it too on dead tree or electrons. Here are some of my favorite bits. Read More