TACTICAL TECH'S IN THE LOOP 

In the Loop is our monthly experimental – not really a – newsletter which features highlights from our Twitter feed and updates on what we've been up to at Tactical Tech.

FEBRUARY 2012

THE BACK ROOM AT TACTICAL TECH

We're busy creating some exciting new resources for release in 2012 including Drawing by Numbers, more coming up next month about 10 Tactics Remixed!

LANDGRABBING: We went to Senegal to take part in a  “Workshop on transparency in large-scale land allocations and investments ”. We're working on a visualisation of the world's biggest database of land acquisitions  – to be released in April.

BANKWATCH:  Using a website and poster designed and produced by Tactical Studios, Tactical Tech's client service, CEE Bankwatch Network and Friends of the Earth Europe mapped 33 socially and environmentally damaging projects in central and eastern Europe, amounting to EUR16bn and paid for by EU budget cohesion policy funds. If you'd like to learn more about what Tactical Studios could do for your campaign contact tacticalstudios.

ACTIVISM

THE EMPTY CHAIR... IN IRAN AND CHINA: Activists in Iran used the symbol of an empty chair in a campaign to highlight classmates who have been jailed for political activity or deprived of education for religious reasons. .

This same tactic was used to highlight the plight of a human rights activist in China who was unable to receive the Nobel Peace prize: We profile this in our up and coming 10 Tactics remixed site.

BEAUTIFUL TROUBLE:  We're really excited about the upcoming launch of Beautiful Trouble which is described by its creators as “...a book and web toolbox that puts the accumulated wisdom of decades of creative protest into the hands of the next generation of change-makers”. 

FIFTY SECONDS OF VIDEO THAT SHOOK THE RUSSIAN INTERNET : A  fake video clip purporting to show the arrest of Vladimir Putin on corruption and terrorism charges was watched by almost two million people (maybe that's why he was crying when he was re-elected...). 

ILLUMINATION

TWEETS FROM TAHRIR -  ON SCREEN AND ON THE PAGE: The Tweets from Tahrir book and film tells the story of the revolution in Egypt in January and February 2011 through the key tweets which documented the uprising. Watch the film on Al Jazeera or learn more about the original book.

DOCUMENTARY ABOUT HOMOSEXUALITY IN UGANDA: A new film “Call me Kuchu” celebrates the life and struggles of the Ugandan LGBT activist David Kato, who was murdered in January 2011.

CELEBRATING GRAPHIC NOVELS:  Words without Borders celebrates the best graphic novels from around the world  “...from time travel in Buenos Aires to rebirth in postwar Beirut, starvation in Mao's China and assimilation in 1950s Paris”. 

THE THEATRE OF LIFE: We love the work of the Polish photographer Thomasz Lazar who finds the surreal in the border between real and virtual life. 

PLACES

EGYPT: Dr Larbi Sadiki writes on the first anniversary of the revolution in Egypt on the “Humanity at its best was displayed in the square”. 

Hamid Dabashi reflects on how “bodies have emerged as the singular site of resistance to power”. 

KENYA: Stephen Nyash, the founder of the first ever slum radio station in Kenya has been murdered. Learn more about his life and involvement with Kenya Indymedia. 

SYRIA: The Electronic Frontier Foundation exposed the links between authoritarian regimes and American and E.U. companies that sell state-of-the-art spying equipment. 

EUROPE: Resistance to the proposed ACTA/SOPA laws led to a widespread Internet blackout in January which we cover in detail in our forthcoming 10 Tactics Remixed site. In Europe thousands took to the street to protest. 

GLOBAL: The Committee to Protect Journalists released its' report on Attacks on the Press in 2011: warning of the risks to independent journalists: warning that they are “...endangered by technological changes, both designed and unintended, that expose them to repressive forces”. 

PROVOCATION 

DO YOU LIKE ONLINE PRIVACY? THEN YOU ARE A TERRORIST! A flyer designed by the FBI and the Department of Justice to promote suspicious activity reporting in internet cafes lists basic tools used for online privacy as potential signs of terrorist activity.