Video Highlights: Protests, Elections, Culture and GV · Global Voices
Juliana Rincón Parra

This section aims to showcase interesting and recent posts in Global Voices that show the many ways in which videos are helping people tell stories all around the world. You can follow the activity by regions in our YouTube channel or by clicking on the regional header links.
2011 was a year of popular uprisings. The end of the year is no different than the past months, with fed up people turning to the streets in their hope to get their voices heard and make a difference.
Middle East- North Africa
Kuwait: Stateless Protesters Attacked for Demanding Rights
Police attacked stateless protesters in Kuwait, who were demanding their rights to documents, education, healthcare, employment and naturalization.
Egypt: Women Against SCAF – Who Wins?
Egyptians are outraged at the Supreme Council for Armed Forces continuing brutality and abuse against women; this time they beat and in the process, undressed a veiled female protester, an action which was caught on video.
Egypt: Women Rally for Dignity
A couple of days after the events on the previous video, women marched in Cairo protesting against the abuses to women and also called for the fall of military rule as told in  Bahrain: A Bloody National Day, a Funeral and More Suppression.
Iran: Where Is My Classmate?
A student campaign was launched on December 7 to remember all those students who have been unable to return to Iran's universities due to religious or political reasons: some banned, others expelled, some in prison and some of them were killed on the streets. Support from other places in the world was shown through videos to remember the departed and repressed students. This video was sent in from Barcelona, Spain.
http://youtu.be/4535gGdL-qQ
Saudi Arabia: Netizens Use Online Activism to Draw Attention to Qatif Protests
The month of November marked the return of protests to the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia in 2011, as the people of Qatif took to the streets to demand reforms, equality, the release of their detainees, and political freedom as many of their slogans and chants have expressed. So far, four protesters have been shot dead by security forces as a result.
Occupy Protests Worldwide
See special coverage page.
USA: Uncertain Future of Student Occupy Movement in California
After the pepper spray incident and video,  the University of California's participation in the worldwide Occupy movement gained media attention. They are protesting against a  40% enrollment free increase, the high interest rates for student loans and the decreased availability of state financial aid.
Bahrain: #OccupyBudaiyaSt Continues
Peaceful protesters in Bahrain who are pressuring the government to release political prisoners and pay tribute to the more than 40 people killed by security forces since February have been faced with police attacks, brutality, tear gas, and rubber bullets. This comes after police were caught on different videos brutalizing 25 protesters on a roof with batons and knives.
Philippines: “Occupy” Protests Overcome Police Brutality
Highlighting the theme “sawang-sawa na tayo (we are fed up),” the campout protest tackled a broad range of issues from the Aquino administration's budget cuts for education and social services, nonstop oil and basic commodities price hikes, land reform, migrant issues, urban poor demolitions, and persistent human rights violations.
Electoral unrest has also motivated thousands out into the streets. In Russia the result reporting more than 140% of voters has already become a meme. And although the Congolese diaspora was unable to vote, they made sure to get their voices heard by the world.
Eastern and Central Europe
With the elections in Russia, online video has proven a useful tool in documenting electoral violations such as disappearing ink pens, paid voters and inflated turnouts as well as the later post electoral protests. Posts like  Russia: No Violation of Election Violations  and Russia: Second Day of Post-Election Protests  explain the motives behind the protests such as election results, blogger arrests and  also the clashes with anti-activists groups recruited and shipped into Moscow from other regions to demonstrate support for Vladimir Putin.  An example of the electoral violations is the use of erasable pens left in voting booths:
Subsaharan Africa
D.R. of Congo: Congolese Diaspora Erupts Against Kabila
The Congolese nationals based outside the Congo demonstrated in front of embassies in several different countries. Although they weren't granted the possibility to vote in the past presidential and parliamentary elections, they protested to bring awareness to the situation in their country and in some cases to protest the results of the elections and to demand the departure of President Kabila. International governments have already approached the Congolese government to intercede and stop the violence in their capitals.
Is culture found in the traditions handed down through generations or is it found in the behaviors and activities which get adopted and followed by the population? In Mexico, children are growing up believing they are less because of their skin color.  In Cuba, very popular but sexually explicit music gets censored, and in Trinidad, a religious Shia Muslim commemoration has in turn become a festival.
Latin America
Mexico: The Results of a Racism Experiment with Children
These children demonstrate how pervasive racism has become in Mexico. All that was needed was a pair of dolls, one light skinned and one dark for children to express how they felt the whiter doll was better, even if they identified more with the dark-skinned one.
Caribbean
Ashura Commemorations Around the World
The Shia Muslim commemoration of Ashura takes place in many places around the world. In Trinidad and Tobago it has transformed into the festival of Hosay and the ritual is shared with Sunnis, Hindus and Afro-Trinidadians.
Cuba: Reggaeton Hit ‘Chupi Chupi’ Denounced by Authorities
A popular reggaeton song which sings explicitly about oral sex has been denounced as obscene by the authorities in Cuba. The debate on censorship has moved online where people debate on the song's merits as part of the actual culture of the island, whether people like it or not, and the impact the authorities comments will have on the songs popularity.
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