Stories about Youth from March, 2011
Trinidad & Tobago: Education – Leaving Kids at Sea
“All children now go to secondary school. But it remains an unfortunate truth that the majority of those innocents who sat SEA Tuesday will not have the secondary schooling they deserve”: Lisa Allen-Agostini blogs about the state of education.
Russia: Real Life Super Hero From Chelyabinsk
Metkere.com shares [ru] a video-address of a real life super hero calling himself “The Avenger.” (see his Vkontakte fan group [ru]) The avenger, a man in a black costume with a green letter “M” (apparently M for Mstitel’, the ‘avenger’ in Russian) on it and a black mask, says he...
Philippines: TV Host Accused of Child Exploitation
Netizens from the Philippines want authorities to address what they believe was a case of child exploitation on prime time TV when a child was encouraged by a program host to present a sexy dance performance.
Bulgaria: Adoption of Gypsy Children
Belatedly, a link to the post on “adoption of abandoned Bulgarian Gypsy children by non-Gypsy Bulgarians and foreigners” – at Maya's Corner.
Colombia: Controversy Over Photos of Minors Published by Adult Magazine
An article, titled "Let the children come to me" (referencing Mark 10:14), which includes photos from an exhibition by photographer Mauricio Vélez depicting staged scenes of nude underage boys (or models pretending to be minors) being watched by actors dressed as Catholic priests has caused controversy both offline and online.
Trinidad & Tobago: Soca Stereotype?
Outlish looks at the impact of Chutney Soca music “on people's perception of Indo-Trinidadians.”
Tanzania: Space Education Documentary in Swahili for Kids
Unawe-Tanzania writes about a Space Education Documentary in Swahili: “Based on the questions asked by kids during Kids Sky Exploration project and Books For Us project conducted by UNAWE-Tanzania, we have decided to produce a documentary that answers some of those questions.”
Puerto Rico: Documentary on the UPR
The art blog The Fractal [es] features Osvaldo Budet's documentary “More than 800 Reasons” on the student strike at the University of Puerto Rico. The title refers to the protest against the imposition of an $800 special tuition fee.
Libya: Citizen Reporting from the Battlefield
Videos continue to seep out from war-torn Libya as protesters battle Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's forces in a bid to overthrow his 42-year-old regime. Here is a selection of the latest videos taken by netizens on the frontlines of major cities where the battle for Libya is still fought.
Georgia: Men in Black
Scary Azeri comments on photographs taken by Global Voices’ Caucasus editor at last week's Novruz celebrations held by the local ethnic Azeri community in Marneuli, Georgia. The blog is particularly alarmed by the large number of men dressed in black, a common style in the three South Caucasus countries, at...
Russia: Heroin Epidemic; Attitude to Sex
Posts about heroin epidemic and attitudes to sex in Russia – at OpenDemocracy.net.
Sudan: “Because I am a free Sudanese, I will go out and say no”
On March 21, 2011 Sudan's Youth Moment day was born. Youths from universities across Sudan linked and shared information on Facebook and Twitter as a way of setting up a new stage for a new round of protests against the government of Omar al-Bashir.
Syria: Protesters Demolish Symbols of Regime
In Syria, the faces of President Bashar al-Assad and his father, former President Hafez al-Assad, are regularly seen on billboards, buildings, and in the form of statues. Visitors to the country are often surprised by the prevalence of such images, while Syrians have grown used to them as a daily feature of life. Yesterday, a number of videos surfaced in which protesters tear down the symbols of the regime: posters and statues of the ruling family.
Russia: Life With Autism
At OpenDemocracy.net, Dmitry Golubovsky and Svetlana Reiter write about the lives of autistic people in Russia.
Jordan: #March24 Protest Camp in Amman
Hundreds of pro-democracy Jordanians, mostly students and young people, gathered to protest at the Dakhliyeh Circle (Ministry of Interior Circle) in Amman on March 24, 2011. Demands from the protestors included the dissolution of parliament, a new representative election law, the dismantling of the General Intelligence Department, and the removal of Prime Minister Marouf Al Bakhit.
Ecuador: Investigation Around Newborn Deaths Continues
According to Ecuador's latest census, more than 14 million people live in the country, but there is still no consensus on the national infant mortality rate. Recent incidents have called attention to health care practices in neonatal units in Ecuadorian hospitals, triggering an investigation around newborn deaths in the country.
Syria: Citizen Videos Show Horror in Daraa
As the crackdown on protests in Daraa continues and reports pour in of more deaths, citizen reporters in the town are capturing video and uploading it to YouTube, which was only recently unblocked in Syria. The videos in this post show the extent of the violent crackdown in Daraa.
Trinidad & Tobago: “Bocas” Launches
“Literature doesn’t just mean fiction and poems — it’s also about ideas, questions, and debates, and using the tools of reading and writing to understand the world”: The Bocas Lit Fest announces its programme and list of participating authors for its inaugural event.
Trinidad & Tobago: Upsetting Issues
From the state of health care to advertising campaigns, Plain Talk posts a list of all the things that are upsetting him.
Africa: African Youths and Internet Governance
Gamel discusses the role of Africa youths in Internet Governance issues: “Young people can play a variety of roles as Internet users: developers, designers, researchers, content builders (bloggers, writers, etc), technical people, policy makers, activists, community coordinators, marketers and end-consumers.”
South Korea: Students Arrested for Breaking Security Law
Three members of a college study group were taken into police custody for violating the National Security Law. While the student claimed the group a purely academic one, the police asserted that the organization has ‘praised and aligned with the national enemy- North Korea’. Twitterer @againthedayz posted photos of the...