The Civic Beat Newsletter: April 2014 (and check out our Knight Foundation grant app!)

Oh no! Did we miss April Fool's?

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Monthly Newsletter

Short on the heels of writer Ben Valentine's talk at SXSW (stay tuned for a more direct summary from him), we're excited to have submitted a proposal for the Knight News Challenge. The Civic Beat Sandbox is a community-driven platform to strengthen civic expression on the internet by providing an interactive platform for its most viral form: the internet meme for social change. It's a summation of much of our research and ideation to date, and we hope you'll take a look and offer us feedback over the next week or so before submissions officially close.

We've just returned from ACLU California's Conference and Lobby Day and are gearing up for new talks, projects and articles in the coming weeks. Stay tuned for exciting new articles and writing from us as we welcome our new editor, Dorothy Santos! In the meme time, here are some highlights from the past month...

Netizens memed together in solidarity for the missing Malaysia Airlines flight.

And this children's drawing was probably the most viral of them all.

More from the Civic Beat Mews.

Twitter was blocked by the Turkish prime minister... somewhat unsuccessfully.

Netizens swooped in to mock him on Twitter as they shared tips for easy workarounds.

More from BBC.

Macedonians suspect their government instigated a national pride selfie campaign.

Netizens found an unusually large number of national monuments in the background of the selfies.

More at Global Voices.

Sunflower selfies in Taiwan advocate for greater transparency and independence.

Protests ramp up in Taiwan after their president tried to sign a door-opening trade deal with China without public approval.

More from the Civic Beat Mews.

The new women Prosecutor General of the just-seceded Crimea captures the hearts and minds of those inâ€¦ Japan!?

More from Global Voices.

Activists and journalists in Russia and the Ukraine are fact-checking and very quickly debunking the tall tales from the Russian media, who are trying to paint a rosy vision of their presence in the Crimea.

More from Global Voices.

London Mayer Boris Johnson makes racist remarks about Muslims. Netizens mock him by putting on knit beards.

More from Al Jazeeraâ€™s the Stream.

Spain's central government: still unpopular.

Many netizens are skeptical about Spanish Prime Minister Rajoyâ€™s promise of growth (and of Spainâ€™s mostly two-party system) as Spainâ€™s unemployment continues to hover above 25%.

More from Al Jazeeraâ€™s The Stream.

"Over the past few days, more than 100 people have been killed in two horrific attacks by militants in Nigeria - prompting the hashtag #BornoMassacre. Itâ€™s an attempt to alert Nigerians, and the world, to what is happening."