Stories about LANGUAGES from March, 2019
Why is the Islamic Republic of Iran afraid of Nasrin Sotoudeh?
"The Islamic Republic is struggling for its survival. Anyone with the potential of leading change is regarded as a significant threat by the authorities. Nasrin Sotoudeh is such a person."
Scheduled release of Egyptian activist Alaa Abd El Fattah delayed by 10 days
The #FreeAlaa campaign reassured supporters that the delay is not a cause for concern for now.
Charged with ‘instigating crimes’, journalist Luis Carlos Diaz is released in Venezuela
The Global Voices community is relieved that our colleague is safe and with his family.
Carnival may bring out latent body-shaming in Trinidad & Tobago, but this masquerader is having none of it
"My band ran a campaign endorsing all sizes, shapes and shades. This excited me on many levels because truth be told we are a body shaming society."
What do we know about Mozambique's next general elections?
In October 2019, Mozambique will elect provincial governors for the first time in its history. Previously, they were nominated by the president.
Journalist and human rights defender Luis Carlos Díaz detained by state security in Venezuela
After hours of silence from the authorities, Díaz was confirmed to be detained by the Bolivarian Intelligence Police (SEBIN).
Groups denounce continuous cyberattacks against independent media in the Philippines
"The goal is to deny a public hungry for information the reports and stories it needs to understand what is happening in a country besieged by lies and disinformation."
The challenges of mapping street harassment in Sri Lanka go beyond data collection
Even when women do make police reports, they must battle a victim-blaming culture and a system that is insensitive to the needs of survivors of sexual abuse.
Nigerians grieve the death of Pius Adesanmi, postcolonial scholar and public intellectual
"A towering intellectual with a mind that cut through issues like a scalpel who still remained curious about the issues of a younger would-be thinker ..."
Foreign domestic workers contribute to Hong Kong economy but lack access to basic financial services
"We are treated as foreigners, low-class workers and therefore the government has been pushing for policies and practices that exclude and isolate migrant workers from the whole Hong Kong population."
Japanese app that ‘translates’ wives’ words for husbands ignites fierce online backlash
"This app is no more than an easy way out for selfish men who want to avoid the responsibilities of housework and childcare."
How social media recounted the story of the latest India-Pakistan conflict
Social media plays a prominent role this time around as both government actors and ordinary citizens on both sides of the border report events online minute by minute.
One year without internet in Chad: Citizens have been offline since March 2018
It appears that the government is attempting to muzzle citizens' freedom of expression and to prevent the free circulation of information.
Russia sends an official implicated in a sexual harassment scandal to the 2019 UN Commission on the Status of Women
Leonid Slutsky’s appointment as the head of a national delegation to a global forum on the status of women can only be regarded as an act of cruel trolling.
A palace on stilts: Guyanese novelist Wilson Harris returns to life in Trinidad & Tobago's Carnival
"Everywhere in Harris’ book we are asked to look up. At the sky, at the sun, at houses built on stilts."
March 7th: The day Gandhi preached non-violent revolution in Myanmar
“I have no other and no better guidance to offer to you than to commend to your attention the general principle of non-violence, in other words, self-purification.”
How an Uyghur activist felt the long arm of the Chinese Communist party, in Canada
Chinese student organizations decried activist's talk on the mass incarceration of Uyghurs in Xinjiang as separatism “promoting ethnic hatred” and demanded McMaster university administrator to protect Chinese dignity.
Russia’s latest ‘anti-fake news law’ is so bad even Kremlin pranksters hate it
Provisions of the new law make it clear that its real target are the online news outlets still not fully controlled by the state or its subsidiaries.
US envoy visits Haiti as leaders juggle solutions to address national crisis
With the government not delivering on what they promised after the February 2019 protests, can dialogue really offer ensuring solutions to Haiti's socio-economic crisis?
Censored on WeChat: Chinese megastar Fan Bingbing's tax evasion scandal — and her disappearance
The news of Fan's tax evasion penalty and her apology made the actress a top target for censorship on social media.
Carnival in Brazil looked extra orange this year as people protested ‘Bolsogate’ scandal
In Brazil, the Portuguese word for orange, "laranja,” is also slang for intermediaries of fraudulent financial schemes.
