Daniel Duende

Daniel Duende is a storyteller, a brazilian, a writer and, some say (and some disagree), a blogger. He lives in Brasilia, Brazil.

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Latest posts by Daniel Duende

Brazil: Against Illegal Abortion or Against Women?

  20 December 2008

Abortion is a very complex issue in Brazil, just like almost everywhere else in Latin America, where it is considered a crime. Despite this, over 1,000,000 clandestine abortions take place in Brazil and over 70,000 women die of complications from clandestine abortion attempts every year. Daniel Duende takes a look at the new moves in the clash between pro-life and pro-choice movements.

Brazilian myths and haunts in the Lusosphere – Part 3

  1 November 2008

To bring this series about Brazilian myths, legends and haunts as seen on the Lusosphere to a great close, we couldn't choose a better entity to speak about than Saci Pererê. After being introduced to mythic beings like Cuca, Boitatá and Curupira in the first article, and reading the intriguing narratives about Cabeça de Cuia and Caboclo D'Água, among others, in the second article of the series, now it's time to delve into the mysteries of the most famous being from Brazilian mythology.

Brazil: Grandma Aggie, Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers and the Pope

  28 October 2008

Lou Gold, a North-American blogger and nature-person turned “brasileiro’, blogs about [En] Grandma Aggie and the International Council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers, re-telling some of the adventures of these courageous indigenous ladies and their recent efforts to get the Pope to rescind the Papal Bulls that created the “right” to...

Brazilian myths and haunts on the Lusosphere – Part 2

  23 October 2008

On the first article of this series, we searched Brazilian websites that could tell us some stories about the haunts and the mythical beings of Brazilian folklore. Now, in the second article, we will sit and listen to the tales of myth, legend and fear told by Brazilian bloggers; tales about Cabeça de Cuia and Caboclo D'Água, and about the beautiful and sad tale of the Vitória Régia, and give more details about the mysterious Loira do Banheiro and her terrible death.

Brazil: A Musical Doctrine

  23 October 2008

Lou Gold, from VisionShare, blogs (in English and Portuguese) and posts some videos about the musical doctrine of Santo Daime and his personal happiness about the recent visit of an important Daime family and its musical entourage to Brasilia, Brazil.

Brazilian myths and haunts on the Lusosphere – Part 1

  15 October 2008

The first of three articles that will take us around the virtual campfire to hear stories about ghosts and enchantment from Brazilian folklore: Cuca, Negrinho do Pastoreio, Boitatá and Curupira, are just some of the beings that inhabit the nights, dreams, and nightmares of Brazil. We also find a group of artists who are telling anew a long told Brazilian popular story.

Brazil: “Abortion is a Right, not a Wrong”

  2 October 2008

Sapataria [Pt], a Brazilian blog about LGBT and women's rights, posts pictures of a recent protest promoted by gender-issues-related groups against the legal views on abortion in Brazil, and shares their two-cents on the issue: “In many countries, the criminalization of abortion afects directly the poor women, most of them...

Brazil: Who is behind the ‘Cybercrimes Bill'?

  28 July 2008

Blog do Tião writes [Pt] about the companies and political groups behind Eduardo Azeredo, the Brazilian Senator that proposed a controversial Cybercrimes Bill that's being largely discussed in the Brazilian Blogosphere. The same post presents data that links Azeredo to some recently uncovered corruption schemes in the country. This link...

Brazil: Blogging Against Web-Censorship

  19 July 2008

Censura Não! (No Censorship!, PT) issued on last July 5th a call for a collective blogging on July 19th (today) against web-censorship and the Azeredo Bill . Many Brazilian blogs, like Luz de Luma [Pt] and Ladybug [Pt] answered to the call.

Brazil and Orkut: made for each other?

  8 May 2008

Orkut, Google's experiment on Social Networking Services, is extremely popular in Brazil. More than 53% of Orkut users is Brazilian -- even more, if you take into account the Brazilian's profiles that don't show their country information and the profiles of Brazilians living abroad -- and more than 70% percent of Brazil's Internet users are actually profiled and active in the network. Daniel Duende takes a look on what are all these Brazilians doing there.

Brazil: Against the slave farms

  25 April 2008

Luiz Carlos Azenha, from Vi o Mundo [“I saw the world”, in Portuguese], blogs for the approval of the Congress Bill that changes the Brazilian Constitution to allow for the confiscation of private rural lands where the use of slave work is discovered. Azenha says “It's necessary to confiscate the...

Brasil: Alternative (poetic) justice

  25 April 2008

Hernani Dimantas, from comunix.org [Pt], cheers [Pt] the decision made by a criminal judge in southern Brazil, to exchange the normal penalty to be applied on 3 young Brazilians, accused of commiting internet crimes, by a curious alternative penance: read and review 2 classical Brazilian literature works each trimester. Hernani...

Brazil: Making a child murder into a media show

  24 April 2008

A child dies under mysterious circumstances. Her father and stepmother are the prime suspects chosen by the media and general public since the beginning, but the official investigations are still under way. Is it fair to lead 160 million people to believe someone is guilty of killing his own daughter before the final official pronunciation on the matter? What is around, and behind, the full time reality-show coverage made by the Brazilian media in cases like this? The Brazilian blogosphere talks.

Brazil: Improving the police by the inside

  24 April 2008

The Blog da Segurança Pública [“Public Security Blog”, in Portuguese], from Brasília, lists 10 possible and affordable improvements[Pt] that would make Brasília policemen's lives better, thus improving their performance at their work too. The blog reports successful experiences made by the police of other Brazilian states.

Brazil, USA: Sex, Crime and the Vatican

  18 April 2008

Antônio Mello, from blogdomello[Pt], blogs about “Sex, Crime and the Vatican” — a BBC documentary (parts 1, 2, 3 and 4)[En, subtitles in Pt] about children sexual abuse by catholic priests and the shelter provided by the Vatican to the accused ecclesiastics — and a Vatican internal document named Crimen...

Brazilian political journalism

  16 April 2008

Helio Paz, from Palanque do Blackão[Pt], writes a big post about the Brazilian political media, mainstream and alternative alike, and tells us what he does read, and what he doesn't, and why. There's even a very nice citation[Pt] about Global Voices on the post.

Zimbabwe: A safe waypoint for the chinese Olympic Torch

  15 April 2008

Tomas Muarramuassa comments on his blog, Muarramuassando[Pt], about the passage of the Olympic Torch by Africa. He says it should come to Zimbabwe because “the only place in the world where the Olympic Torch could pass discreetly, in peace, without dragging undesirable pro-Tibet demonstrations and protests, would be Zimbabwe, where...

Angola: No to Guillermo Habacuc and the starving dog.

  11 April 2008

Admario Lindo, who writes Angola Haria (and many other blogs in Portuguese), shares his shock[pt] about a Guillermo Habacuc Vargas‘[en] art instalation staged last year, in which a dog was bound to a wall and starved to death in front of the Costa Rica Visual Arts Biennial attendants. Admario links...

Brasil: The most beautiful street in the world

  11 March 2008

The Porto Alegre Vive [“Porto Alegre Lives”, PT] blog tells us[PT] about the Portuguese blog A Sombra Verde [“The Green Shadow”, PT] that elected one of Porto Alegre‘s streets as “the most beautiful street in the world”, by the beauty of it's trees and the hard fight it's inhabitants are...