Stories about WORLD from March, 2021
‘A day without internet is a day in the dark’: The Gambia's growing digital divide
In the Gambia, frequent internet outages and overall instability have made everyday life an increasingly frustrating challenge, impeding both national development and individual growth.
The Gambia’s missed opportunity for digital rights reform
Gambians held high hopes for digital rights reforms under President Adama Barrow. But the draft constitution fell short on its promise to adequately protect digital rights.
LIVE on April 7: The other health crisis—breaking the taboo on abortion
Unsafe abortions result in 30,000 deaths each year. Join us to hear women from Uganda, Thailand, Brazil, Pakistan and Poland talk about the reproductive rights situation in their countries.
How a Salvadoran artist teaches Nawat to empower transgender people
A two-spirit theatre troupe celebrates the members’ indigenous ancestors, and themselves as transgender people, through language and art.
The price of dissent: Women and political activism in Vietnam
Women "should think that our fight is not only against dictatorship ... It is also a fight to free ourselves from our own ideological constraints, from the prejudice that we impose on ourselves."
Post-Magufuli, will Tanzania review its repressive online content regulations?
Tanzania's content regulations are often used to undermine and clamp down on digital rights and freedom of expression. With a newly sworn-in president, will the government review these repressive laws?
In Kenya, abortion focus obscures legislation towards safe reproductive healthcare services
Tagged “the abortion bill” by its opponents, the Reproductive Healthcare bill of 2019 is, in fact, a comprehensive document that only mentions termination of pregnancy in five articles.
How Hong Kong lost its academic freedom in 2020
Since the enactment of the national security law, professors have had contracts terminated, student protests were repressed, and a new curriculum will be implemented in all schools starting September 2021.
Nearly five decades after Franco’s death, the far right might make a comeback in Madrid
"Vox is a melting pot combining nostalgia for Spain’s imaginary past glory, rejection of feminism and so-called woke culture, Euroscepticism, a negative attitude towards migration, and love for bullfighting."
Using tablets, activist gets 900 girls and women educated in rural Afghanistan
"Afghan women are the future of this war-torn country."
South African shack settlement activist wins the 2021 Per Anger Prize
“A shack without water, electricity, and sanitation is not worth calling a home. It means life-threatening circumstances that are harsh towards women, children and minority groups,” says rights activist, Zikode.
Billionaire Patrice Motsepe, the favoured FIFA candidate, becomes Africa football boss
The candidates from Senegal, Côte d'Ivoire and Mauritania give up their bids in favour of South Africa’s Motsepe, and accepted supporting roles in the Confederation of African Football (CAF) hierarchy.
Timeline of the second month of military coup and terror in Myanmar
Images and videos of the brutality unleashed by Myanmar's military are widely shared on social media. Despite the terror tactics, pro-democracy forces are fighting back.
The watchtower on the mountain of Dagestan's indigenous languages
Kaitag, a language variant of the Dargwa family, is spoken in Dagestan's mountainous villages, but has a limited digital presence. Digital activists like Magomed Magomedov are working to change this.
Ukrainian Central Election Commission official resigns after criticism over Facebook sex toys post
Anzhela Yeremenko faced a barrage of judgmental comments after blogging about a faulty vibrator on her personal Facebook page, igniting a discussion about the line between impropriety and professionalism.
Cancellation of conference on 50th anniversary of the Bangladesh War of Liberation sparks criticism
The organisers gave no reason for the cancellation, but some see it as a worrying sign of the erosion of intellectual freedom.
My truth: The pain of being silenced in Cuba
"The '1984' book by George Orwell provides an understanding of the existing analogies with the oppressive Cuban society."
COVID-19: Spanish town hopes to overcome the economic crisis with its own virtual currency
The "elio" was launched at the end of 2020 and more than 600 families have already used the app.
Turkey withdraws from Istanbul Convention
The convention pledges to eliminate domestic violence and promote gender equality.
Is Bolsonaro's anti-China rhetoric fueling anti-Asian hate in Brazil?
Global Voices talked to five people of Chinese descent in Brazil. All said intolerance increased with the COVID-19 pandemic.
Rape case involving major film star and senior politician reignites Serbia's #MeToo movement
The scandal comes on the heels of a similar development that sparked a new #MeToo movement in Serbia in January 2021.
