Video: ThinkBrigade's Multimedia Journalists

A message from some of the people who have been reporting for ThinkBrigade from around the globe in the last year:  ThinkBrigade's Multimedia Journalists

Big Mac and a Coke: No Thanks!

A Big Mac and a Coke have not been some Australians' idea of happiness in recent months. Something about the fast food and drink mob inflames the passions. Two of my posts this week for Global Voices Online look at activists' responses to the two biggest global names - McDonald's and Coca Cola Amatil.

Firstly, some old-fashioned protest action:

Residents’ opposition to a new McDonald’s in the Melbourne hills suburb of Tecoma has linked direct action with online campaigning. In October 2012 an administrative tribunal overturned the local Council’s unanimous decision to reject a Maccas’s proposal for a new fast food outlet.
Australia: Locals Fight to Stop McDonald's in their Hills

Plenty of fire on both sides. In a rare response to the increasingly personal debate, Global Voices closed comments at 293, after removing a few that had been flagged.

In separate action, Coca Cola has faced a national campaign:

A nationwide campaign against Coca Cola has followed their successful legal challenge on March 4, 2013 to container deposit legislation in the Australia's Northern Territory.
Coca Cola Machine ‘Out of Order’ in Australia

An anonymous Facebook group 'Out of Order' have been encouraging people to put the signs on vending machines. The Australian Coca Cola facebook page has nearly a million Likes. Can't help feeling that the protesters are just nipping at the heels of the transnationals.

First Dog on the Moon responded at Crikey:

Social Media Wars: Police Brutality Claims at Sydney Mardi Gras

From my web roundup for Global Voices about the claims of police brutality at the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras:

Sydney Mardi Gras police contingent 2013
Image courtesy: Zsoolt – flickr, NonCommercial 2.0 Generic license

Video involving participant Jamie Jackson at the iconic Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras on March 2, 2013 has sparked claims of police brutality. There were more than 1.6 million views in the first week of this version, taken by a press photographer for the parade.

...The Sydney mardi gras began in 1978 with confrontations with police.

...It is a safe bet that the police contingent marching in the parade were glad not to get caught up in the trouble.

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