Stories from Quick Reads from February, 2013
Portugal, São Tomé and Príncipe Make Music
Until March 1, 2013, Pantalassa, a cultural association working with Portuguese language countries, is organizing a multidisciplinary program of artistic residences in the “marvelous islands” of São Tomé and Príncipe, together with CACAU. The mutual sharing of experiences and affections is presented in a photo-album, which is being updated throughout the...
World's Grumpiest Traveler Smiles Virtually :-)
It's not true that Vitaly Zelkovsky [ru], better known as “the world's grumpiest traveler,” never smiles. He does – virtually, at least. Reacting to the unexpected fame, Zelkovsky re-posted a Broken News Daily “report” about himself and exchanged a few words with two of his VKontakte friends. Both times, he...
Online Course in Spanish on Election Coverage
The Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas is offering a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) in Spanish on “How to Improve Electoral Coverage.” The course will be taught by Colombian journalist María Teresa Ronderos from March 8 to April 19, 2013. Ronderos says the course is for journalists and...
Squatters Call Venezuela's Highrises Home
In Margarita Island, there’s Corocoro, an unfinished apartment block which was under the control of FOGADE (the State’s entity in charge of taking over assets from failed banks) until June 2009 when it was invaded. Right now, there are a thousand people living there. In Caracas Chronicles, Gustavo Hernandez Acevedo...
Misogyny Still a Problem in Bangladesh
Dibarah shares her experience of being back home in Bangladesh after studying abroad for 3 years. She criticizes the prevailing misogyny and public sexual harassment that women have to face everyday. Rather than being pessimistic, she decides to try to improve the situation “by staying defiant of misogyny.”
What India Can Learn From #Shahbag
Sandip Roy writes why India should be paying attention to its neighbors #Shahbag uprising as there is a conversation happening there which matters to everyone in South Asia.
Egypt: Armed Robbery Caught on Tape
A YouTube video of an armed robbery of a mobile phone shop in Egypt is making the rounds online. On Twitter, Ahmed Atia Aboshosha writes [ar]: سطو مسلح..المتهمون وجوههم واضحة جدا..إذا لم يقبض عليهم فليتقدم وزير الداخلية بالاستقالة..أعتذرعن ألفاظ خارجة بالفيديو @AD_Shosha: An armed robbery. The faces of the culprits...
Jailed Iranian Blogger Up for Award
Reporters Without Borders and Google announced the name of the nominees for the 2013 Netizen Prize. Shiva Nazar Ahari, Iranian female human rights activist and blogger is among the nominees. Read more about Shiva here.
Kallun: A Platform of Angolan Slang
The Plataform KALLUN (meaning slang), founded by Leocarpo Mário, is a recent collaborative project with the ultimate goal of gathering in just one place all the slang with Angolan origins. Kallun enables interactive search of terms and their meanings.
Costa Rica: Time of the Vanquished
In the post titled “Time of the vanquished” [es], the blog Furia raises profound reflections about what happens when quietness comes. It concludes its reflections by saying: “in order to conquer the silence of the serenity, the vanquished ones invent new ghosts that whisper in their ears. To win, to...
Ghana: Vote for African Women's Development Fund Blog
Vote for African Women's Development Fund blog which has been nominated in the first ever Blogging Ghana awards: “I’m really pleased that AWDF’s blog has been nominated in the category of ‘best organisational blog’. Many thanks to all of the AWDF staff that have contributed to this blog. I plan...
Monitoring Dangerous Speech in Kenya
Umati is a project that seeks to monitor and report the role of new media on an election: “Our Kenya-based project has citizens at its core and uses relevant technologies to collect,organize, analyze, and disseminate the information collected.”
The Land Problem in Kenya
Chrenyan discusses the land problem, which has become an election issue in Kenya: “It is a historical injustice for the Kenyatta family to own (it is said) half a million acres of land, all over this country (including thousands of acres in Coast Province). The defence that this land was...
First Crowdsourced News Site in Myanmar
A group of young programmers in Myanmar launched the country's first ever crowdsourced news site called “Buzz in Myanmar“. With the slogan “News for people, by people”, netizens are allowed and encouraged to submit neighborhood and other local news.
Being Fat, Talking Fat in South Korea
Many reports have been made about South Koreans’ obsessions with body image, some with shallow understanding of Korean culture. Youtube user durkeeinkorea in this video shares his experience in Korea where people are very ‘open about talking others weight’ and ‘calling someone fat’ in public happens frequently, with no harms intended.
Egypt: The Muslim Brotherhood or the CIA?
The Muslim Brotherhood will soon confuse the world, if it decides to go ahead with a name change. Egyptian Bassem Sabry explains: @Bassem_Sabry: My friend @HaniSabra has just noticed the new name being considered by the MB, “The Comprehensive Islamic Authority,” has the acronym “CIA.”
Open Letter to China on Human Rights
Just prior to China's annual “two meetings” of the NPC and CPPCC, which are scheduled to convene on March 5, more than 100 prominent individuals — including academics, journalists, lawyers and economists signed an open letter calling on China's government to immediately ratify the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The open letter, circulated on Chinese social media...
Is Mexico Really “Back in the Game”?
In his latest column, renowned New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman argues that Mexico “will become the more dominant economic power in the 21st century.” Twitter immediately reacted to his piece, and journalist David Agren aggregated some of these positive and negative reactions posted on the microblogging site.
China: Cultural Revolution Murder Trial
The trial of an elderly man named Qiu accused of murdering a doctor during the Cultural Revolution has generated discussions about the cultural revolution in China. China Media Project has translated the comments from Chinese social media and traditional media.
China: Guangzhou Police Detain Protesters
Authorities in Southern China's Guangzhou city have detained 10 activists who staged a protest over North Korean nuclear test. The news triggered netizens’ outrage. Radio Free Asia has more.
