Stories about Ideas from April, 2012
A Global Voices Guide to re:publica Berlin 2012
This week (May 2-4, 2012) thousands of minds will join in Berlin, Germany at an annual gathering called re:publica. A number of Global Voices community members will participate in over 200 hours of scheduled program.
Brazil: The sale of America's smallest city and thoughts of buying the Amazon
Janio, from Brazil, has written in his blog (“Made in Blog” [pt]) about the auctioning off of the smallest city in America, Buford (Wyoming), which has but one inhabitant. He draws a parallel “with a time when some activists from the developed world threatened to buy the Amazon, in order to...
Jamaica: Of Art & Literature
Nadine, Unscripted, notes that there are three Jamaican writers who have made the shortlists for the 2012 Commonwealth Book Prize and Commonwealth Short Story Prize, while ART:Jamaica blogs about an exciting new local space for art.
Taiwan: Travel with Art
Blogger and artists Lovingpure(黃愛淳) uses contemporary paintings about Taiwan from distinguished painters to create this video as the ultimate travel guide for foreign tourists.
Trinidad & Tobago: Talking Common Sense
The Lloyd Best Institute of the West Indies, based in Trinidad & Tobago, has posted video of the presentations from one of its Common Sense Convois series, “Food First: Building An Economy From the Kitchen to the World”: Roger Pulwarty, climate scientist, and Sam Dowlath, former CEO of the National...
Kenya: Four Young African Men Stand Up to Hollywood Stereotypes
After watching a video featuring a 9 year old boy retelling the movie Commando, 4 young men from Kenya approached MamaHope wanting to make their own retelling of Hollywood movies: in their case, the stereotypes around how movies portray African men.
Bulgaria: “Big Change Begins With Small Steps”
Various blogs [bg] and mainstream media [bg] were telling [bg] about a student initiative held in the capital city of Sofia on April 24. Many students and members of diverse youth organizations planted trees in the badly-maintained Studentski Grad (“Students City”), a welcome citizen initiative where the leitmotiv was “Big change...
Do Arab Men Hate Women? Mona Eltahawy Faces Firestorm
Egyptian-American columnist Mona Eltahawy has once again sparked controversy with an article in Foreign Policy magazine entitled “Why Do They Hate Us?”, in which she argues that Arab societies are fundamentally misogynistic.
Video: Better Aid and Development Discussions Through Islam Crash Course
An ongoing discussion over at the Uncultured Project has been the relationship between the lack of knowledge on what Islam is about and how aid and development organizations relate to the Muslim community. Shawn Ahmed shares a simple and short video explaining what Islam is in an attempt to pave the road to better understanding of a large group of people who could be Aid recipients.
Brazil: Aquarium Project Sparks Transparency Debate
In Fortaleza, the fifth largest city in Brazil, the recent start of construction on an aquarium has prompted discussions over public resources, state government priorities and the city's future, as well as some creative forms of protest.
Trinidad & Tobago: Review of Bagoo
Caribbean Book Blog publishes a review of blogger Andre Bagoo‘s first book of poetry: “One [has] to have ample amounts of time and quiet to properly ponder and appreciate the complexity of ideals, both subtle and raw, that are presented within.”
Trinidad & Tobago: It's Play Time!
West Indian Mother blogs about play as a path to productivity.
Greece: #Police_Victims
Following the serious injury of photojournalist Marios Lolos at Thursday evening's demonstrations in Athens, Greece, in memory of 77-year-old #Dimitris_Christoulas who committed suicide in Syntagma Square on April 4, Greek netizens have been posting the names of people who have suffered, been injured or killed by Greek police under the hashtag #police_victims.
Overseas Chinese Students Bring Changes to China?
Ali from Offbeat China discussed the impact of overseas Chinese students to China upon their return. The discussion in major overseas Chinese student web forums indicate that rather than the assumption that these students would be exposed to fundamental value changes and help China to develop political reform, many take...
Video: Community in Spain Gives up Easter Processions to Help Three Families
A religious community in Malaga, Spain have decided to forego the Easter Week processions and celebrations so they could donate the money destined for flowers and music to three families in need, saving two of them from homelessness as shown on this video by 20minutos.tv [es].
Laos: Creative Minds Come Together to Produce Children's Programming
Through a workshop on Innovative Communication for Early Childhood Development, creative minds in Lao People’s Democratic Republic came together with UNICEF to generate quality media for children, as can be seen on video in Young People's Media Network's post.
Global Voices Podcast: The Good and Bad of Online Campaigns
In this edition we have company in the voice of co-host Yazan Badran, a Global Voices author from Syria based in Japan. The topic this month is global social media campaigns: the good, the bad, and the ugly.
Video: Nonprofits Show Their Work Through Award Winning Videos
Winners for the 6th Annual doGooder Non Profit Video Awards were announced on 5 April, 2012. Following, the winning videos for the 4 different categories: small, medium and large organizations and best storytelling, and the 4 winning films in the fearless category.
Video: Firefox Flicks Video Contest
The Firefox Flicks worldwide contest will give awards for short films teaching web browser consumers about online issues such as privacy, choice, interoperability and opportunity, and how the non-profit Firefox brand helps people to face these issues.
Haiti: Women & the Spoken Word (Part 2)
Haitian-American spoken-word artist Melissa Beauvery talks to Global Voices about the inspiration for her first project, the importance of oral tradition and the close-knit community that is the Haitian diaspora.
Haiti: Women & the Spoken Word (Part 1)
Francesca Andre is a Haitian photographer who has directed a new video about spoken-word Haitian-American artist Melissa Beauvery. Andre talks to Global Voices about her work, how this video fits in to the bigger picture of amplifying the voices of Haitian women and the significance of Haitian art and culture.
