Stories from Quick Reads from April, 2014
Sexy Monday: Between Sexual Expression and Censorship
(All links are in Spanish) David Troya writes for Gkillcity about the Ecuadorian Superintendence of Communication's sanction on the newspaper Extra for its cover picture of model Claudia Hurtado and headline: “Start the week off right with your hot and sexy Monday. Damn, what a hot babe!” Troya reflects: If...
#EPNStop : Human Chain in Mexico against #LeyTelecom
A human chain protest against the Telecommunications Bill proposed in Mexico took place in Mexico City, the country's capital, on Saturday, April 26, 2014. The chain was planned to link the official residency of the Mexican president in Los Pinos to the headquarters of Televisa [es] in Chapultepec, covering an approximate distance of 7 kms. But the...
Bob Marley – A New God for the Bhutanese Youth?
Bob Marley has suddenly become a god among the already confused generation. The Rastafari Flag, with either Bob himself or with a marijuana leave on it, is all over the place. For someone who died in 1981 to brainwash smart kids of 21st century is so unbelievable. Passang Tshering, a...
Menstruation Is Not a Shameful Secret. Let's Talk Periods.
“Why do women hush themselves when it comes to discussing menstruation?” asks Sourav Kumar Panda at Youth Ki Awaaz and goes on to discuss that in this day and age, keeping periods a ‘hush-hush’ issue is unnecessary – the time has come for us to break the silence and shame...
El Salvador: Letter to Minister of Public Works
[All links direct to pages in Spanish.] On the blog Siguiente página, Paolo Lüers posts a letter addressed to the Minister of Public Words of El Salvador, Gerson Martínez, where with some irony he makes reference to the announcement made by the minister on a local TV station where he...
Venezuela: Conclusions on the Dialogue
(Links in Spanish are signaled as [es]) Daniel Lara Farías, @DLaraF [es], writes [es] on Infociudadanos about the dialogue [es] between the government and the opposition. He launches criticism against the president of the National Assembly, Diosdado Cabello (links added). Due to Diosdado's lack of credibility within the fraction of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela...
Ukrainian Artists Cage Russians Like Animals
A group of artists in Kiev has opened a new exhibit that many Russians are calling dangerously xenophobic. Yesterday, April 24, 2014, the “Ukrainian Cultural Front” presented four interactive installations intended to criticize Russia for its opposition to the EuroMaidan movement and its interventions in southeastern Ukraine. The most controversial...
Do Not Blame the West for Africa's Woes
Gershom Ndhlovu argues that Africa leaders are making a mistake by blaming the West for Africa's problem: At the last EU-Africa Summit held in Belgium, Zambia's president Michael Chilufya Sata reiterated what other African leaders had said in the past about the West contributing to wars on the continent through...
“I Sold Out to China”-One Journalist's Experience with China's Censors
Leslie Anne Jones from aeon talks about her personal experience with China's censors during her time as a journalist for a local expat magazine. She discovers how she was not permitted to document the true Xinjiang she had observed during her “propaganda” trip there.
Myths and Environment
On a short post, Panamanian website Avarana notes [es] “We have to save the Earth” and reflects on what each of us has to do to preserve our environment: We have to save the Earth. Frankly, the Earth doesn't need to be saved. Nature could not care less if human...
Trinidad & Tobago: Green Business
ICT Pulse puts forward six suggestions to make offices greener.
#NETmundial, Tweets from São Paulo, Brazil
Here we share some Storify stories that sum up what happened on the first day of NETmundial, the conference on the future of Internet governance in São Paulo, Brazil (April 23 and 24, 2014). In English: – @APC_News: #NETmundial officially kicks off – First impressions of #NETmundial. – @PdF_Europe: NetMundial...
Colombia: Free Cinema Festival in Bogota
El próximo ocho de mayo se llevará a cabo en Bogotá, un festival de cine libre que tiene como antecedente 3 versiones realizadas en la ciudad de Barranquilla.
Iran:Remember Jailed Gadget Bloggers
Electronic Frontier Foundation, in an article,talks about jailed gadget bloggers, who used to run one of the best websites in Iran for gadget news,Narenji.There is an online petition to support Narenji's bloggers.
El Salvador: Flower Carpets on Holy Week in Ayutuxtepeque
On the occasion of recently past Holy Week, the blog Hunnapuh went all over [es] the main streets of Ayutuxtepeque district in San Salvador, and captured images of flower carpets for the procession of the so-called “Holy Funeral”.
Call to Stop Construction to Protect the Leopard Cats in Taiwan
Leopard cat is listed as a vulnerable species [zh] in Taiwan. Since the big cats live in the forests and jungles in both plains and in hilly areas and their home range is very broad, their habitats in Taiwan are easily disturbed by new construction projects. The Taiwanese environmental evaluation...
Pure Grenada
What comes to mind when an unexposed individual envisions the Isle of Spice? Grenada’s brand, though it fuels patriotism, isn’t targeted at Grenadians. We already know what our country has to offer. Nisha writes about about the re-branding of Grenada‘s tourism product.
China Clamp Down on Slash Fiction
China recently launched a crackdown on online pornographic content: “Cleaning the Web 2014″. According to the campaign, all online texts, pictures, videos, and ads with pornographic content will be deleted in order to “create a healthy cyberspace”. According to Offbeat China, since the launch of “Cleaning the Web 2014″, many Chinese fiction-sharing websites...
Top 10 Sites to Listen to Free Chinese Music Online
China Whisper listed 10 most popular online music sites in China. These sites provide online music, free music downloads and many other functions. Most of the sites offer not only free Chinese music but also western music.
Brazil Scores Before “the Internet World Cup” Begins: Marco Civil Approved by the Senate
Update (23 April 2014, 15:15 GMT): President Dilma has sanctioned the bill in the NetMundial event. Marco Civil is now a law in Brazil. Livestream: blog.planalto.gov.br In the eve of the global Internet governance event hosted in Brazil, NETmundial, the Brazilian Senate approved the one-of-kind bill of rights for Internet users,...
Cycling to Save Archeological Heritage
(Links are in English, otherwise noted [es] for Spanish) How can two apparently very distinct interests, such as cycling and archeology, come together? Nils Castro shares his experience in an article [es] as a guest blogger on Lima Milenaria. Niles mentions that even though he had already created the Facebook group...