Latest posts by Sara Moreira from August, 2012
Portuguese, a Global Language?
A community page on Facebook, Língua Portuguesa: Uma Língua Global? (Portuguese Language: A Global Language?) [pt], provides a diversity of materials to promote the debate about the expansion of Portuguese language and its consequences. Several critical issues on the policies of this language of around 200 million speakers are addressed,...
Brazil: 13 Year-Old Exposes School Problems on Facebook
Diário de Classe [pt], a Facebook page created by Isadora Faber, a 13 year-old from Santa Catarina, Brazil, has already gathered more than 176,000 “likes”. Aiming to “show the truth about public schools”, Isadora shares photos that show the repairs needed in her own school and reports on other general problems.
Angola: Citizens Report Electoral Irregularities
The website EleicoesAngola2012.com [pt] receives and shares denouncements of irregularities concerned with the preparation for Angola's general elections that will take place on August 31. Any citizen can submit reports via SMS.
East Timor: Return Trip of an Indonesian
Dalih Sembiring, an Indonesian journalist and travel blogger, wrote “Postcards from Dili“, on a trip he did to East Timor 16 years after he left the country. On his post he republishes an article he wrote for the Jakarta Globe “focusing on how [he] reacquainted with a special person in Bairro...
Cape Verde: “A Real Hell for Stray Animals”
Cape Verde: white beaches, beautiful sea and luxuriant vegetation: a paradise for humans but a real hell for stray animals. The alert (with photos) comes from the International Organization for Animal Protection.
Guinea-Bissau: Women, Citizenship and “Mandjuandades”
Informal voluntary associations predominantly made up of women and sustained through solidarity and the sharing of individual and collective interests, may play an important role in strengthening participative democracy in Guinea Bissau: meet "mandjuandades".
Guinea-Bissau: “Our Culture” in Photos
The Facebook profile of Nôkultura Associação (“Our Culture” Association), launched by Teodoro Gomes in late July, 2012, features a rich – though still small – set of photos on culture and traditions of Guinea Bissau.
Brazil: Land Dispute Between Slave Descendants and the Navy
An online petition [pt] demands the suspension of the order of eviction of Quilombo Rio dos Macacos, one of the oldest slave descendent communities in Brazil. A Technical Identification and Delimitation Report from the National Institute of Colonisation and Agrarian Reform (Incra) determined that the territory belongs to the quilombola...
Brazil: Company Continues Construction of Belo Monte Dam
Instituto Socioambiental informs [pt] that despite a judge order to halt [pt] construction work in Belo Monte, the company responsible for the construction of the dam, Norte Energia, continues its work, claiming that it hasn't been officially notified. Last Friday, August 17, 2012, netizen Simone Gomes had reported on Facebook...
East Timor: Hundreds of Resistance-Related Images on Facebook
“East Timorese media organisation Tempo Semanal published almost 900 resistance-related images on its Facebook fan page. The photographs appear to range in time from 1975 to the early post-1999 referendum period. They include many portraits of Falintil leaders and troops and life in resistance areas”, blog Timor Archives informs. Falintil,...
Brazil: Judge Orders Halt to Belo Monte Dam
Brazilian judge Souza Prudente ordered halt to the construction of the controversial Belo Monte dam, in Altamira, state of Pará, on August 13, 2012, reports [pt] independent researcher Telma Monteiro on her blog. Netizens’ reactions on Twitter are being shared under the hashtag #BeloMonte.
East Timor: Crowdmapping Humanitarian and Community Development Projects
East Timorese NGO Belun, in collaboration with FONGTIL and Fundasaun Alola, have recently launched a crowdmap platform that features a National Database of Humanitarian and Community Development Projects.
Brazil: Claims Under Electoral Law Lead Two Parana's Blogs to Justice
Brazilian blogger Esmael Morais writes [pt] about two blogs from the state of Paraná which have been taken to justice under accusations of disobeying electoral law: Olho Aberto Paraná and Blog do Tarso. The country is preparing the municipal elections that will take place in October, 2012.
Brazil: Will the Pioneering Internet Bill of Rights Pass?
The Marco Civil, a “bill of rights” for Internet users proposed in Brazil, will come to a vote on August 8. While the majority of the community seems to support the approval of the law, some are against the broad freedom that the initiative will bring about. Whatever the result, Brazil once again has the opportunity to pioneer in the arena of digital policymaking.
Angolan and Mozambican Politicians Among Most Influential Africans
Brazilian blogger Marcio Pessoa comments [pt] on personalities from Portuguese language countries who have been featured on the list of the world's most influential Africans of the magazine The Africa Report: the Angolan Manuel Vicente, former president of the state oil company (Sonangol), and the Mozambican Daviz Simango, the founder and...
Europe: Dutch Designer Tells Visual Stories on the Crisis
Portuguese journalist Ana Maria Henriques interviews [pt] Noortje van Eekelen (@spectragedy) the Dutch designer who created The Spectacle of the Tragedy, a blog that “tells a visual story about the politicians that navigate the Euro crisis.”
Brazil: Justice for Brutal Attack Victim Vitor Suarez
On July 30, 2012, a Brazilian judge announced the release of five young men from preventive prison. They had been there since February after brutally attacking Vitor Suarez, a student who was trying to stop them from beating a homeless person. In response, the victim who is still recovering from his injuries, started a wave of protest on Twitter under the hashtag #JusticaVitorSuarez.
Sao Tome and Principe: Deforestation of an Area of Unique Biodiversity
“In the distance a bulldozer was relentlessly doing its work while the whole landscape seemed to be mourning the destruction.” denounced [pt] João Pedro Pio, a biologist living in Sao Tome and Principe, after visiting a former forest known for its unique biodiversity. The area – mapped on his photopost –...
Mozambique: Meanings Behind Women's Traditional Mussiro Masks
In the northern coast and islands of Mozambique, it is very common to come across women with their faces covered of a natural white mask, called mussiro. The purposes of its use seem to have varied over time, but the tradition still survives.
Sara Moreira's space
I also wrote these originally in Portuguese:
2013
Mar – Banned Music and Missing Voices in Angola
Jan – Nobel Peacemaker Ramos Horta's Mission to Guinea Bissau
2012
Dec – Transparency in Extractive Mega Projects in Mozambique | Political crisis in São Tomé and Principe
Nov – Brazil: Rio de Janeiro Demands Better Sanitation
Oct – Portugal: Citizen Digital Activism
| Brazil: The Cry of Resistance of the Guarani Kaiowá
Sep – Portugal: Citizen Digital Activism | Brazil: Media, Citizenship, and Public Policies Under Debate | Brazil: Threat to the Autonomy of Indigenous Lands
Aug – Guinea-Bissau: Women, Citizenship and “Mandjuandades”
May – Mozambique: President Rejects Social Networks | Cape Verde: Encouraging Storytelling and Creative Writing
Apr – Guinea-Bissau: Coup d'etat and the Angolan military misson
Mar – Brazil: “Kilombos”, Stories of Slaves Bridging Three Continents | Guinea-Bissau: Constitutional Limits on the Presidential Elections | Portugal: Subversive Priest's “Homily” to General Strike on YouTube | Brazil: Mihoko Satou, a Bridge-Blogger After the Japan Earthquake | Brazil: Navy Surrounds Quilombo Community Slated for Eviction
Feb – Brazil: Quilombo Community in Bahia About to Be Evicted | Portugal: Web Users Debate Portuguese Private Copying Bill
Jan – Portugal: State Radio Silenced after Angola Opinion Piece
2011
Dec – Online Highlights from the Portuguese-Speaking World in 2011
Nov – East Timor: Building One Country Out of Many Languages
Oct – Portugal: Vídeos e Fotos do 15 de Outubro | Portugal: Democracy Takes to the Streets on October 15
Jul – Portugal: “Junk” National Debt Rating Provokes Online Demonstrations | Guinea-Bissau: International Day of the African Child
Jun – Equatorial Guinea: A Language that Ignores Human Rights
May – Portugal: Adrift, With a Bailout in the Works
Feb – A declaration of love to the Portuguese language, in all its variations | Angola: Mass Evictions Displace Thousands
Jan – Portugal: Reflections on Egypt
2010
Nov – Guinea Bissau: Dictatorship of Consensus and Aly's Temptation for Accusations | Brazil: Eradicating the Indigenous Guarani Kaiowa
Jun – Portugal: A Tribute in Unison to Saramago
