Stories from Quick Reads from October, 2013
Here's An Effective Way To Change Bangladesh: Community Building Via Facebook Group
With 5.6 million users (September 2013 Data) Facebook is very popular in Bangladesh. Badrud Doza reports that a Facebook group and a TV show titled ‘Aamrai Bangladesh’ (We are Bangladesh) are changing the face of Bangladesh. The group is dedicated to connect the young people who are involved in community...
Elderly Care in Portugal Highlighted on Blog Action Day
The Community Center of Gafanha do Carmo [pt], in Ílhavo, was highlighted by João Paulo Pedrosa as a positive example [pt] concerning elderly care in Portugal. On October 16's Blog Action Day dedicated to human rights, the blogger, from Malfadado o Contestatário, started by questioning: Quantas pessoas idosas vêem os seus direitos ignorados, esquecidos ou até...
China's Agenda in the World Media Summit
David Bandurski from China Media project reported on the World Media Summit which took place in Beijing between October 8-10. To sum up, the World Media Summit, this ostensible back-slapping affair offering an opportunity for media leaders to talk media strategy, is fundamentally about China projecting its influence over global...
Asylum-Seekers Continue Hunger Strike in Hungary
Sixty asylum-seekers went on hunger strike yesterday in a southeast Hungarian detention camp for asylum-seekers, atlatszo.hu investigative journalism site's blog reported in their Blog Action Day post [hu] on human rights. The Office of Immigration and Nationality confirmed that the strike was started by five Malian citizens who were joined by...
Brazil and Germany Debate ‘Democracy in the Digital Era’
Experts and scholars from Germany and Brazil will get together at a symposium to discuss Democracy in the Digital Era [pt] from October 17 to 18, 2013 in Salvador, the capital of the Brazilian state of Bahia. The event will be broadcast live via video stream. In the morning of the...
Portugal: A Digital Narrative Around Food, Crisis and Territory
The historical Mouraria neighborhood in Lisbon, Portugal, can now be explored in a ground breaking web documentary, Mundo Mouraria. In a true digital narrative form, the documentary makes a map available to help visitors wander the streets, sounds and flavors of Mouraria while getting to know the stories of six local dwellers. Its synopsis reads: Here...
Léonarda, 15, Arrested During a School Trip and Deported
Léonarda Dibrani, 15, was on field trip with her schoolmates when she was detained by the french police, near Levier, France. She was later deported with the rest of her family [fr] to Kosovo as illegal immigrants. The Dibrani family fled Kosovo about five years ago because they are Roma. Léonarda...
Media Factory Accepting Applications for New Media Projects in Latin America
Media Factory, a startup accelerator focusing on “the business of online news and journalism”, is accepting applications from journalists who want to create a digital news outlet in Latin America, as Angela Buenrostro explains in the Journalism in the Americas Blog: Teams must have an idea of what they want to...
Saving Mothers and Babies in Laos
The group CleanBirth.org is committed to improving the maternal health care situation in several Laos rural villages by providing birth kits, training of new nurses and mobilizing village volunteers. In a recent update, the group highlighted why many rural Laotians are choosing homebirths over delivery at health centers. Among the...
Massive Anti-Nuclear Protests Held in Tokyo
On October 13, 2013, thousands of people marched down the streets of Tokyo to protest against nuclear power. In a rally dubbed Goodbye Genpatsu [ja], Japanese people demanded the end of nuclear power plants and the use of more environmentally friendly sources of energy. Kenzaburo Oe, winner of the 1994...
Films for Good: Social Impact Media Awards
The Social Impact Media Awards honors independent films that advance global awareness, social justice and human rights. Submit your film before January 7, 2014 to be considered among a beautiful lineup of thought-provoking films from around the world. Here are the winners from 2013.
“Development For Who?” Guatemalans Resist Hydroelectric Project
“Development for who? Will the money stay in the community? No, it goes to fill others’ pockets, and we will continue to live in poverty. What we’re asking now is for the government to cancel all the [mining and hydroelectric] licenses that have been granted.” In Upside Down World, Kelsey...
Marking The 30th Anniversary Of The Beurs’ March For Equality
30 years ago (October 15, 1983), a march for equality against racism [fr] began in Marseille with 32 people, mostly of Arab origin, to ask for the right to vote and a 10-year resident card. The Beurs’ March (Beur is a colloquial french term for people with roots in Northern Africa) arrived in Paris on December 3...
“What Comb Do You Use?”: Documentary Tackles Race and Hair In Brazil
“Rebellious”, “bad”, “like steel wool”: these are some of the pejorative terms are used to describe the hair of Brazil's Afro-descendants. Those who've been at the receiving end of racist comments like the above now have a chance to share their stories in a documentary called “Qual é o pente...
Brunei Launches Digital Learning Hub
The government of Brunei has launched a digital learning hub called Media and In-Service Centre “to innovate interactive fresh learning media and empower teacher capacity development. It will usher in a new era of digital learning based on OUR digital values! Brunei Darussalam aspires to build a strong community that...
Nepali Journalist Arrested For Sharing News On Facebook
Aakar Anil reports that Dinesh Acharya, the Editor of Nepali business weekly Share Bazaar, has been arrested on 30th September 2013 in Kathmandu, Nepal on charges of sharing a news article on a Facebook page. He was detained on charges of violating the controversial clause 47 of the Electronic Transaction...
“Stop Harassment of Iranian Journalists’ Family Members”
A group of Iranian netizens and cyber activists wrote an open letter to Iranian president Hassan Rouhani and asked him to use his authority to stop harrassment of Iranian journalists’ family members. More than 100 people, from inside and outside Iran, signed this open letter.
Colombia's Problem with Urban Inequality
The government has puts lots of emphasis, understandably, on Bogotá's economic growth and claimed reductions in poverty. But according to data from the United Nations Bogotá is failing on another important measure: Economic Equality. A recent U.N. study, reported in El Tiempo, found that Colombia was the country which most increased...
Craze For Football in Bhutan
Bhutan ranks 207th amongst 209 Football playing nations in the FIFA ranking. However, Sogyel Tobgyel reports that Football has become the new craze for the Bhutanese people.
Man Saws Off Own Leg In Rural China
Fauna from China SMACK translated a terrible news story about a man in rural China who sawed off his own leg at home because he had no money to go to hospital to have a proper surgery.
Official Blames Chinese Cooking Style for Polluting Air
Zhao Huimin, director of the Beijing Foreign Affairs Office, was quoted in a T.V interview: Our Chinese cooking styles also contribute a lot to PM 2.5 density. We hope Beijing citizens corporate with us and work with the government to clean the air. Offbeat China wrote a round-up on Chinese...
