Future plans

Maladets! is alive again, as anyone reading this probably already knows. As if anything witht that name could die...

During the autumn and winter this blog was neglected, and my energy was in stead spent on the Th!nk About it! Climate change competition. It was a great experience, and guess what? I did it well enough to be selected as a blogger also in the next round, where the topic will be "The developing world".

As you have seen, I have started writing about developing issues also on maladets!, mostly as a way to get to know the subject. I plan to continue posting on maladets!, also after the competition starts. Everything worth reading will be found here, and the best pieces also on the competition site.

In addition, I have a little project trying to get my fingers dirty with HTML from scratch.... everything I ever write is supposed to end up on the Maladets! homepage, but this will also be the place where I test my programming skills. At the moment they are... basic.

As you migh also have noticed, Maladets! has been redesigned. I was experimenting with different customized templates, but in the end I settled for a Blogger template. One reason is that I like it, and that it meets my main requirement - simplicity. I could probably find a nice custom template, but what I couldn't make work was the like/unlike buttons under the posts. I really like them, as a way for readers to give input without commenting. Feel free to use them!

The side bar has been dedicated to sharing and following gadgets... somehow this is the essence of the internet I think, and since I love to tweet what I read myself, I want to make it easy to share the maldets! posts.

Last but not least... in the side bar you will find a banner for the Reporters without Borders (RSF)  yearly World Day Against Cyber Censorship , which is today, March 12th. It is late to put up the banner, but I am a strong supporter of their cause.

There are many threats to free speech on the internet today, The obvious one's, that must not be beglected are despotic regimes, like the ex-government of Moldova, the Chinese and the Iranian government. There are countries where blogging is dangerous, but people still write. All of us benefit from these bloggers' writings, but they alone carry the risks. The least we can do is to show solidarity.

But Reporters without Borders' vision of "a single Internet that is unrestricted and accessible to all". Is threated also from commercial interests. The fact that not all youtube videos can be seen in all countries, is one frustrating example. Governments and NGO's all over the world work hard to give their citizens acces to the internet. If information is not free on the internet, than these efforts are all in vain.

Read more about the World Day Against Cyber Censorship on Global Voices Online, a fantastic example of what the internet can be.

New look(s)

Thoreau writes in Walden that a man should't change clothes until he has changed within. I don't know if the changes on Maladets! merit new clothes, but let's go...

This might, or might not be the look. I plan to experiment with different templates, look at them from different computers etc. Each one will be announced with a post. I would be very glad for any input!

Greetings,
Daniel

The picture of Thoreau is taken from Wikipedia Commons

Taking a short break

Maladets! will go into a slow period from now until the end of the year. The reason is that I will focus on another blog project - Think About it! (See the banner to the right.

Think about it! is a blogging competition, gathering bloggers from all over Europe to write about climate change. Next weekend we will all meet in Copenhagen for the kick off event, and then start writing up til the UN Climate meeting in Copenhagen 7-18 Dec
2009. Do I need to add that I am excited? :)

My writings will be found here. Welcome!

You can already see updates from the think about it blogs to the right of this text.

For Maladets! I will write more seldom, when I have time. I still have some stuff waiting to be translated, and for sure I will not be able to stay away from the keyboard. Most likely there will be articles about Bulgaria and Europe as well as Sweden, while I take this break... thus I can please everyone that voted in what will happen with maladets!, thank you all or giving your opinion!

I hope also to spend some time adjusting the looks and gadgets on the blog, and come back, revigorated, in December.

A break of principles

While it should not become a habit, no principle is better than that i can be broken for a higher cause. While my principle as a blogger is to avoid taking sides, I made an exception, and tried to help Bulgaria e Nasha to spread information about the political game around the internet surveillance legislation. I wrote a letter to a number of Swedish politicians, where I urged them to apporach their bulgarian colleagues and ask them about this question. Because I undertand the anger among bloggers. Because Swedish politicians are walkingdown the same road, and they should see their actions in a European perspective, at least those who boast their Europeaness. And because I think they should know and care more about Bulgaria and Southeastern Europe.


Oppet_Brev

Publish at Scribd or explore others: övervakning Bulgarien

So far Anna Karin Andersson from the Swedish green party has answered me. She will discuss the question with representants for Zelena Partija, (a Bulgarian party that is not the same as Zelenite, and not have the same direct connection to the protests), when she meet them at the European Green Party's congress in the weekend.

Environmentalists and dissidence

Today, the 14th of March two months have passed since the street protests in January. Much has happened since then, some of which I try to sum up in the paper below, It's my homage to activists around For the Nature. Enjoy!

About Maladets

I have found this blog a more than useful tool to try to raise awareness about the protest movement in Bulgaria.

At the moment things are moving much slower than they did three weeks ago, and I wil try to spend the time I usually spend writing on reorganizing the blog.

I will plan for more featured content. Short notes about upcoming events will appear in a calendar, rather than in posts. I will make some sort of bloggroll, and I will look over the tags, so that all articles art tagged coherently.

Thanks for reading
Daniel