Stories from 31 August 2010
Venezuela: Franklin Brito Dies After Several Hunger Strikes
Franklin Brito, a farmer who had been on a hunger strike since July 2009, died from a respiratory arrest in a military hospital on Monday night. Brito had lived through several hunger strikes protesting the confiscation of his land. Venezuelans reacted to the announcement of his death through Twitter and blogs.
Russia: Video Depicting the Real Details of Putin's Trip
Far East bloggers share video depicting [RUS] details of Vladimir Putin's recent trip to Russia's Far East [EN] on Lada Kalina, a new model of the Russian car factory. The video shows that prime-minister took with him 3 cars of the same color, and one of them is broken already, while there...
Pakistan: A letter to the youth
Usama Khilji at Pak Tea House writes a letter to the youth of Pakistan asking them to prove their worth and their love for the country by being involved, standing up and questioning any wrong deeds around them.
Bangladesh: Recognizing The Vegetable Grower
Bangladesh Corporate Blog has this splendid idea of recognizing the farmers who grows the vegetables by including some personal stories in the vegetable packaging to give them some credit and make the product more authentic.
Training In India: Change Needed
Supriyo Chaudhuri opines that the training business in India needs fresh outlook and a change of gears.
Guatemala: Three Indie Publishers Reviewed
Alan Mills, in his blog Revólver, reviews [es] three Guatemalan independent publishers: Editorial Catafixia [es], Vueltegato [es] and Mata-mata, Ediciones Latinoamericanas [es].
Egypt: Utilizing Technology to Demand Accountability on Torture, Police Brutality
Bloggers and activists in Egypt are using freely available online tools to expose torture and police brutality and to hold the government accountable for these human rights abuses.
Cameroon: Prisoner of conscience Lapiro de Mbanga
Emeka writes about Cameroonian prisoner of conscience Lapiro de Mbanga: “Amid nationwide strikes and mass demonstrations, popular singer Lapiro de Mbanga, who had demanded that the president resign, was arrested and charged with inciting youth unrest. In September he was jailed for three years…”
Gambia: The Smiling Coast of Africa
Travel journalist Tony Knight blogs about his visit to Gambia: “The Gambians you meet are friendly and engaging. There is a level of bumster activity intent of selling you refreshments, gifts and tours. Having got their measure though, look beyond at the genuine welcome you get everywhere.”
Nigeria: Nigerian Spoken Word Crusader
Jibola introduces you to Plumbtifex, the Nigerian spoken word crusader:”As a person, he embodies an activist in all that he is. His dissatisfaction with all that is wrong with the Nigerian situation and general societal ills already mark him different.”
South Africa: Plus size modeling in South Africa
African fashion blog, Ladybrille, links to a Zoopy TV video that looks at plus size modeling like in South Africa.
Africa: 10 Most Influential African Fashion Websites
MyWeku brings you 10 of the most influential African fashion websites that cover clothing and accessories and bring timely reports on fashion shows, promoting African fabrics and fashion trends.
Brazil: Bolivian Immigration in Numbers
Journalist Leonardo Sakamoto questions on his blog [pt], the official statistic placing Bolivia in the fortieth position as a source of immigrants to Brazil. An activist against slave labor, Sakamoto comments that hundreds come in yearly and are often explored in underemployment jobs, particularly in the greater São Paulo area.
Zimbabwe: Mugabe and the White African
Mugabe and the White African, is a documentary that chronicles the plight of Mike Campbell – a white African in his fight against the government of Robert Mugabe.
Trinidad & Tobago: Not Yet
On the occasion of Trinidad and Tobago's anniversary of independence, Plain Talk says: “Forty eight years ago we may have left ‘Massa’, but we kept the shackles of our minds firmly intact. Looked at honestly, we are no where near independence yet.”
U.S. Virgin Islands: The Effects of Hurricane Earl
Hurricane Earl made its way across the U.S. Virgin Islands yesterday as bloggers continued to share their thoughts and experiences. Jamaican diaspora blogger Labrish, who “[has] been fortunate to travel to these islands several times”, was concerned about her acquaintances there: My thoughts go out to everyone living on the...
Peru: Site Uses Crowdsourcing to Report Thefts
Juan Arellano writes [es] about quenoteroben.pe [es], a site that allows users to report thefts in Lima using Google Maps technology. The post includes two video interviews with the site managers, Gabriela Quevedo and Rudy Jordán.
China: Hidden village of Dafen produces 60% of world's oil paintings
A small artist colony of 8000 artists outside of Shenzhen, China is producing 60% of the world's oil paintings.
Thailand: Tweet Yourself Thai
Tweet Yourself Thai is a blog of “short, timely, thematic lessons for intermediate learners of Thai.”
Vietnam: Helping people with disabilities
Hold the Future is a Hanoi-based based charitable organization in Vietnam that offers vocational training and handicraft production to young people with disabilities.
“I love Malaysia”
SK Thew ponders on the problems facing Malaysian society and concludes that there is still hope to reform the system. Malaysia is celebrating its 53rd Independence Day.
