· July, 2012

Stories about Video from July, 2012

Costa Rica: Video Love Note Gets Vice-Minister Dismissed

The Costa Rican Vice-Minister of Youth Karina Bolaños was removed from her post by the Costa Rican President Laura Chinchilla after a video showing an underwear clad vice minister sending a love note to a lover was made public and spread through the web.  Reactions to this news are quite varied: from censure to the Vice-Minister for making a video and not taking care to erase it, to rejection of all those who continued to spread the video and finally, repudiation to the President for removing the vice-minister from her post as  if she were not the victim of this whole affair.

31 July 2012

Guatemala: Mining Community Organizes Peoples’ Health Tribunal

For years, the community of San Miguel Ixtahuacán in Guatemala has been denouncing the negative consequences of Goldcorp's Marlin gold mine. On July 14 and 15, members of the community joined other international organizations to form a 'Peoples' International Health Tribunal.' In the first post in this two-part series, we introduce the Health Tribunal and also highlight the local efforts of the San Miguel Ixtahuacán community .

31 July 2012

Bahrain: ‘Boycott the Olympics’

Many Bahrainis are calling for the Olympics to be boycotted. First, a royal, who is allegedly personally involved in the torture of athletes, is attending the games. Second, most of the Bahraini squad is made up of African athletes.

30 July 2012

China: ‘Violent’ Pipeline Protest in Qidong

Violence that broke out during a protest against a pipeline construction project in China's Qidong province has split opinion online. The project would channel wastewater from a Japanese owned paper mill into the sea and has raised environmental concerns.

29 July 2012

Tajikistan: Telecoms Blackout Amidst Provincial Clashes

Amidst deadly clashes in the eastern Tajik province of Gorno-Badakhshan, the authorities have cut Internet, mobile, and landline connection to the region. Online people are sharing information via social media and trying to draw international attention to the situation on the ground.

28 July 2012

East Asia: Flourishing Illegal Trade in ‘Captive Bred’ Exotic Birds

According to a July 2012 report from the Wildlife Trade Monitoring Network (TRAFFIC), many endangered birds that are sold as captive bred have actually been caught in the wild and smuggled out of their original habitats under cruel conditions. An ID registration scheme for captive bred parrots introduced in Taiwan enables clear identification of legally saleable birds to try and combat this problem.

28 July 2012

Cuba: Rights Activists Beaten, Detained by Police at Payá Funeral

Rights activists and foreign media in Cuba reported on July 23 that Cuban state police detained nearly 50 individuals as they departed from funeral services for Oswaldo Payá, leader of the famed Varela Project and a winner of the European Parliament's Sakharov Prize for human rights and democracy. Among those detailed were Guillermo Fariñas and Antonio Rodiles.

27 July 2012

Jordan: Thousands of Syrians Seek Refuge

The situation in Syria has led hundreds of thousands of Syrians to flee the country to neighbouring Jordan. A Jordanian government source has said that officials are preparing for the possible arrival of up to one million Syrians.

27 July 2012

Kenya: Schoolgirl Skirts-How Short is Too Short?

Kenyan Education Minister Mutula Kilonzo defense of schoolgirls who want the length of their skirts reduced has sparked a debate about culture, modernity and morality in Kenya. Kenyan media quoted the minister saying, "These girls do not want to be nuns; they want to be modern like Mutula!"

26 July 2012

Hong Kong: Signal Ten Typhoon

Beijing cream collects some citizen videos that show typhoon Vicente, the strongest typhoon in 13 years, passed through Hong Kong on July 24.

25 July 2012

Syria: Weapons and Combat Tutorials Online

Syrian rebels turn to a YouTube channel called 'Free Syrian Army Help' for training. The channel has 80 videos explaining tactics like hand-to-hand combat, how-to-make flame-throwers, and ambushing an enemy.

25 July 2012

About our Video coverage

Juliana Rincón Parra
Juliana Rincón Parra is the Citizen Video editor. Email her story ideas or volunteer to write.