17 October 2011

Stories from 17 October 2011

Macedonia: Public Debate on Down Syndrome

  17 October 2011

Prof. Vladimir Trajkovski, MD, PhD, blogged [mk] about the public debate on the Down Syndrome, which was held in Skopje on Oct. 15 with over 300 participants, including the Croatian ambassador, but without the invited local politicians/public officials. He also posted a video of his short lecture [mk] on the...

Macedonia: Blog Action Day Entries About Food

  17 October 2011

Macedonian bloggers, who have joined this year's Blog Action Day, include Dzamski, who wrote [mk, en] about the ongoing campaigns to raise awareness about the socio-economic roots of the famine problem; Greener stressed the importance of making healthy choices; while Jovana Tozija warned about the consumerist abuse of the term...

Uruguay's Candombe

  17 October 2011

Eva Blair Smith from Ola Uruguay blogs about candombe music in a post titled “The Heartbreat of Uruguay: A History of Candombe Drumming.”

Poetry Slam Activism in Francophone Africa

  17 October 2011

Poetry slam is a well-known channel of expression for many activists in North America but the rest of the world has now embraced this unique blend of poetry and rhythmic oral story telling. Here are some examples from Francophone Africa and the context in which they arose.

Cuba: Mourning the Loss of Laura Pollan

  17 October 2011

Cuban bloggers are in mourning over the death of Laura Pollan, the former leader of the opposition group Las Damas de Blanco. The sad news made its way across the blogosphere with lightning speed and bloggers, both within Cuba and throughout the diaspora, were soon posting their remembrances of the late human rights activist online.

Malaysia: #cleanbefore13 hashtag

  17 October 2011

The twitter hashtag #cleanbefore13 refers to the campaign to pressure the Malaysian government to implement immediate electoral reforms before the 2013 general elections.

Portugal: Photos and Videos of October 15 Protests

  17 October 2011

The October 15 protests in Portugal, calling for “participatory democracy, transparency in policy and the end of the precariousness of life”, gathered around 80,000 in the main squares of the country. Citizen reporters used online platforms to share photo and video reports of events.

Brazil: Creating Opportunities for Life After Jail

  17 October 2011

While serving time in jail, Ronaldo Monteiro kickstarted a project with fellow detainees and turned his life around. Years later, released on parole, Monteiro now coordinates an NGO that offers opportunities of social reintegration for young offenders, detainees and former detainees in Brazil.

Anti-Malaysianism in Indonesia?

  17 October 2011

Farish A Noor discusses the perceived anti-Malaysianism sentiment in Indonesia. The author hopes for better relations between the two neighbors in the Southeast Asian region

Madagascar: The Birthplace of the “Occupy Wall Street” Philosophy ?

  17 October 2011

Dan Berrett argues in the Chronicle of Higher Education that the ” Occupy Wall Street's most defining characteristics—its decentralized nature and its intensive process of participatory, consensus-based decision-making—are rooted in other precincts of academe and activism: in the scholarship of anarchism and, specifically, in an ethnography of central Madagascar”.

Barbados: FIFA & Ethics

  17 October 2011

Barbados Free Press is keeping its eyes on the unfolding controversy with former FIFA vice-president Jack Warner and other regional football officials.

Malaysia: Proposed Electoral Reforms

  17 October 2011

Bersih 2.0 is pressing the Malaysian government to implement eight electoral reforms in preparation for the next general elections. Bersih organized a massive demonstration last July which evolved into a formidable political reform movement.