Hello,
WMUK's received a request for comment on this topic from http://www.itweb.co.za/ - I'm not sure why they send it to us rather than to WMZA... Who's the best person for us to pass it on to?
Thanks, Mike Peel
On 24 Nov 2011, at 04:55, Achal Prabhala wrote:
Forwarding a discussion from the South Africa mailing list.
A quick recap: on Nov 22, the South African parliament passed the "secrecy" bill: http://mg.co.za/article/2011-11-22-passing-of-secrecy-bill-comes-as-no-surpr...
- a bill which has been criticised while in the making for imposing
unreasonable restrictions on free speech and a free media. Immediately afterwards, the article pertaining to the ANC, the party in power in South Africa, was vandalised in protest, by blacking out certain portions of the text. (This blacking out happened in mainstream newspapers in South Africa as well, by design, in protest of the passing of the bill).
While this wasn't a community decision (as David points out the article has since been fixed and protected), and while the page was on English Wikipedia and not a South African language Wikipedia, it does bear some connection to the blackout at Italian Wikipedia and the discussions around how to react to inhibiting media laws in the US - and whether Wikipedia itself can/should become a tool of protest. I thought it might be interesting to members of the list.
Cheers, Achal
-------- Original Message -------- Subject: Re: [Wikimedia ZA] Wikipedia makes front page on IOL Date: Wed, 23 Nov 2011 22:24:44 +0100 From: David Richfield davidrichfield@gmail.com To: wikimediaza wikimediaza@lists.wikimedia.org
Good thinking! Also, the article doesn't mention the fact that the Wikipedia article has since been fixed and protected.
On Wed, Nov 23, 2011 at 10:05 PM, Ian Gilfillan wikimediaza@greenman.co.za wrote:
Wikipedia made the front page of IOL today, thanks to persistent vandalism of the ANC article in protest at the secrecy bill: http://www.iol.co.za/news/politics/anc-lashes-out-at-wikipedia-censorship-1....
It may be a good time to contact them about doing an article with a more positive angle, such as about the Northern Sotho and Afrikaans milestones. I'll get in touch.
-- Ian Gilfillan www.greenman.co.za
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-- David Richfield e^(πi)+1=0
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Hi Michael
Thanks for passing along - we received yesterday and the ZA Chapter team have responded directly to Tessa at itweb. We haven't had a response from her though.
Regards Kerryn
* * * * Kerryn McKay The African Commons Project
082 334 6165 skype: kerrynmac twitter: kerrynmckay
On Thu, Nov 24, 2011 at 10:11 AM, Michael Peel < michael.peel@wikimedia.org.uk> wrote:
Hello,
WMUK's received a request for comment on this topic from http://www.itweb.co.za/ - I'm not sure why they send it to us rather than to WMZA... Who's the best person for us to pass it on to?
Thanks, Mike Peel
On 24 Nov 2011, at 04:55, Achal Prabhala wrote:
Forwarding a discussion from the South Africa mailing list.
A quick recap: on Nov 22, the South African parliament passed the "secrecy" bill:
http://mg.co.za/article/2011-11-22-passing-of-secrecy-bill-comes-as-no-surpr...
- a bill which has been criticised while in the making for imposing
unreasonable restrictions on free speech and a free media. Immediately afterwards, the article pertaining to the ANC, the party in power in South Africa, was vandalised in protest, by blacking out certain portions of the text. (This blacking out happened in mainstream newspapers in South Africa as well, by design, in protest of the passing of the bill).
While this wasn't a community decision (as David points out the article has since been fixed and protected), and while the page was on English Wikipedia and not a South African language Wikipedia, it does bear some connection to the blackout at Italian Wikipedia and the discussions around how to react to inhibiting media laws in the US - and whether Wikipedia itself can/should become a tool of protest. I thought it might be interesting to members of the list.
Cheers, Achal
-------- Original Message -------- Subject: Re: [Wikimedia ZA] Wikipedia makes front page on IOL Date: Wed, 23 Nov 2011 22:24:44 +0100 From: David Richfield davidrichfield@gmail.com To: wikimediaza wikimediaza@lists.wikimedia.org
Good thinking! Also, the article doesn't mention the fact that the Wikipedia article has since been fixed and protected.
On Wed, Nov 23, 2011 at 10:05 PM, Ian Gilfillan wikimediaza@greenman.co.za wrote:
Wikipedia made the front page of IOL today, thanks to persistent vandalism of the ANC article in protest at the secrecy bill:
http://www.iol.co.za/news/politics/anc-lashes-out-at-wikipedia-censorship-1....
It may be a good time to contact them about doing an article with a more positive angle, such as about the Northern Sotho and Afrikaans milestones. I'll get in touch.
-- Ian Gilfillan www.greenman.co.za
WikimediaZA mailing list WikimediaZA@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaza
-- David Richfield e^(πi)+1=0
WikimediaZA mailing list WikimediaZA@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaza
Internal-l mailing list Internal-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/internal-l
WikimediaZA mailing list WikimediaZA@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaza
wikimediaza@lists.wikimedia.org