Stories from Quick Reads from March, 2015
Global Voices Author Nwachukwu Egbunike Unveils Debut Collection of Poems
Global Voices author and writer Nwachukwu Egbunike will unveil his new book Blazing Moon today in Ibadan, Nigeria: Join us as we unveil Nwachukwu Egbunike’s debut collection of poems Blazing Moon. Egbunike is a blogger and essayist. In commemoration of the 2015 World Poetry Day celebration, the March edition of...
Can Ugandan President Rule Guinea on a Loan for 10 Years?
Guinean born and Italian citizen Abdoulaye Bah asks Ugandan blogger Prudence Nyamishana if Uganda can give Guinea their president, Yoweri Museveni, for only 10 years: “You can have him for as long as you want.” I replied. This was a conversation I had with Abdoulaye Bah my 72-year-old friend from...
Film Documents Alleged Human Rights Crimes by Peru's Military in the 80s
Recovering Latin American historical memory and raising awareness of the atrocities committed in the past are crucial steps to take in order to ensure they are never repeated and that, instead, we continue to work towards strengthening our democracies. To that end, film can play a crucial role in compiling...
Can Artists Earn a Living in the Age of Social Media?
Not only can artists live off their work, but the Internet can actually be a lifeline for them in today's increasingly competitive marketplace. The blog RamGon looks into opportunities for painters in social media and, more importantly, into how the medium can help artists to publicize and market their work. In...
Indigenous Activists Threatened and Attacked in El Cauca, Colombia
Several indigenous communities in Colombia continue to be victims of human rights violations and threats by paramilitary groups. Moreover, activists also report being attacked by public security forces and ESMAD, Colombia's mobile anti-riot squad, as exposed by Ama Pachamama in a Facebook post from March 11, 2015: […] A la fecha, se reportan...
Google Art Project Now Features Ukrainian Street Art
Ukrainian graffiti and street art, previously visible mostly to Ukrainians and tourists walking the streets of Ukrainian cities, is now available to Internet users across the globe.
Liberia77: Liberia's History Through Photos
“Imagine life without photos. No smiling faces. No family snapshots. No record of your past,” says Liberia77, a project that documents Liberia's history through photos: When Canadian brothers Jeff and Andrew Topham returned to the war torn West African country of their childhood to re-shoot their father’s photos for a...
Firing of Mexican Journalist Carmen Aristegui Unleashes Heated Comments on Twitter
At the launching of MéxicoLeaks, a platform that collects leaked information about possible corruption, journalist Carmen Aristegui and her research team declared that they would back the project. This lead MVS Radio, their employer, to fire Aristegui's collaborators, Daniel Lizarraga and Iriving Huerta, for supposedly compromising the company name. In...
Call for Urgent Climate Change Action After Cyclone Pam Devastates Vanuatu
Following the devastation of Pacific islands nation Vanuatu by Category 5 Cyclone Pam, John Englart (aka @Takvera) looks at links with climate change: Vanuatu has suffered its worst disaster on record with the impact of Category 5 Tropical Cyclone Pam, with the President of Vanuatu blaming climate change for extreme...
Open Letter Asks UN Human Rights Council to Probe Abuses in Vietnam
An open letter signed by 27 groups and 163 individuals is asking the United Nations Human Rights Council to probe the human rights abuses committed by the Vietnamese government. The signatories are also demanding the removal of Vietnam's membership in the UN human rights body. We urge member states to...
Watch Out for MozFest East Africa 2015
MozFestEA will take place from July 17th – 19th 2015, at Victoria University, Kampala, Uganda under the theme,“Building solutions for Africa's challenges, together on the web”: MozFest East Africa is an annual event that brings together educators, innovators, learners and makers from East Africa and beyond to share experiences and...
Bahrain Court Postpones Human Rights Defender Nabeel Rajab's Case to April 15
A Bahrain court today [March 15, 2015] postponed its verdict in an appeal made by leading Bahraini human rights defender Nabeel Rajab against a six-month prison sentence until April 15. The case concerns comments he made about ISIS on Twitter. Rajab was initially convicted of “denigrating an official body” in tweets that...
Bahraini Human Rights Defender Awaits Sentence
Nabeel Rajab is scheduled to be sentenced in a case brought against him by the Bahraini government on March 15, concerning comments about ISIS that he made on Twitter. Convicted of “denigrating an official body” in tweets likening Bahrain's security apparatus to an “incubator” for ISIS fighters, Rajab was initially sentenced to six...
Why Students in Chad are Protesting and It's not Just About the Helmet Law
Police are violently repressing student protests in Chad since March 10. The official reason for the protest is the new safety regulation that require bikers to wear a helmet. Motorbikes are often used as taxis in the capital city, Ndjamena. However, the reason for protests are more profound than the new...
Cleaning Up the Coastal Areas of Singapore
Since 1992, the International Coastal Cleanup Singapore has been organizing activities to remove garbage from the beaches and mangroves of Singapore. Every year, about 1,500 volunteers are joining the cleanup events that are able to collect 60,000 pieces of litter.
Real Goats. Real Stories. Bangladesh Delivers.
Read the full interview here at Scroll.in. Bangladesh has now a satirical Facebook page much like Pigeons of New York, which is itself a parody site of the famous Humans of New York project. Goats of Bangladesh is only about six months old, but it boasts of almost 10,000 followers. Sahil Bhalla of Scroll.in interviewed one of the...
#Pyrawebs: Online Activism Against Metadata Retention Bill in Paraguay
The retention of metadata coming from the digital environment has special relevance in Latin America, where throughout history several dictatorships have spied and collected private data to implement a policy of terror. Paraguay is not an exception. Nowadays, Paraguay is a democracy, but the use of data recalls the dangers of...
Russia's Internet Ombudsman Advocates for Storing User Data Abroad
Internet Ombudsman Dmitry Marinichev has proposed allowing foreign Internet companies to store Russians’ personal data abroad with the permission of the owners.
Iran's Foreign Minister Responds to Letter from Republican Senators
Iran's Foreign Minister Javad Zarif penned a response to the letter 47 Republican U.S. Senators sent to Iranian leaders. The letter was in opposition to nuclear negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program. Zarif was quick to pen the response, and tweet back to the Republican Senator Tom Cotton who...
Russian Journalist Crowdfunding New Media Project on Kickstarter
The project's description on Yakovlev's Kickstarter page claims the goal is to create a media outlet to counteract the Russian "state propaganda machine" and help “turn zombies back into people.”
First Former African Head of State to Stand Trial Before International Tribunal in Africa
Oumar Ba discusses the historic trial of the former president of Chad Hissène Habré: For the first time in history, a former head of an African state will stand trial in Africa, before an internationalized tribunal, the Extraordinary African Chambers in Senegalese Courts. The EAC is an ad hoc court...
