Mozambican Newspaper Wins Innovation Grant to Develop a “Citizen Desk”

Global Voices partner in Mozambique, @Verdade newspaper, is one of the winners of the African News Innovation Challenge, ICFJ announced today, November 28, 2012. The innovation grant will be used to implement a “Citizen Desk” in partnership with Sourcefabric: “a tool that allows news organisations to create a mobile-optimised platform for...

Widespread Elephant Poaching in Mozambique Reserve Uncovered

A news report published by the newspaper @Verdade at the end of October 2012, unmasks illegal hunting of elephants in the Mareja Reserve, in the Northern region of Mozambique, in Cabo Delgado. According to the article, the "massacre" has taken on "gigantic proportions".

Brazil: More Dialogue Needed to Solve the Conflict of the Guarani-Kaiowá

The Youtube account A Luta Guarani released a video interview [pt] with the Guarani-Kaiowá anthropologist Tonico Benites. He comments on the attacks by farmers of the state of Mato Grosso do Sul and calls for more dialogue to solve the conflicts. In April 2012, an open letter [pt] written by Benites...

Brazilian Guarani Community Denounces ‘Poisoned’ River

A video showing the contamination of the Ypo'i river, near the settlement of an indigenous Guarani community, in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil, has been circulating on the web. The Guarani, struggling for their land, “believe it was deliberate and ‘not an accident’”, Survival International reports.

Night Clashes Overshadow Portugal's Largely Peaceful General Strike

The general strike of November 14, 2012, in Portugal once again brought people against austerity to the streets across the country. The real motivations for the demonstrations however, were ignored by mainstream media, as by the end of an intense day of peaceful marches and sit-ins, confrontations between police and protesters turned the violence into top news.

Guinea-Bissau: International Arrest Warrant Against Blogger

The most visible face of Guinea-Bissau's blogosphere, António Aly Silva, wrote [pt] that he is being accused of “the crime of incitement to war” and that an international arrest warrant was issued against him by the regime in power since the coup of April 2012. In an interview [pt] for...

German Chancellor Merkel Visits Portugal

Brazil: Rio de Janeiro Demands Better Sanitation

The initiative Sanitation is Basic, launched by the nonprofit organisation Meu Rio, has served as a slogan for the increase in online campaigns owing to popular online pressure created by citizens and social movements in Rio. According to the organisation, "half the population in Rio de Janeiro is still without mains water and sewerage."

East Timor: Monument to the Santa Cruz Massacre

On the preparations for the anniversary of the Santa Cruz Massacre (November 12, 1991), a photo of a monument to be inaugurated in Dili circulated on Facebook. 

Guinea-Bissau: Chinese Loggers near Buba River

The minutes of a youth and citizenship meeting held in October 2012 in Guinea-Bissau mentions [pt] the “massive logging of pau de sangue” woodtrees (Pterocarpus violaceus Vog.) by Chinese companies in the region. The post stresses the lack of information and “the silence of local and national authorities”. Novas da Guiné...

Reading Suggestions on Brazil in English

Deep Brazil blog, from the journalist Regina Scharf, provides valuable resources about Brazil in the English language. She recently published one more list of books in English related to Brazil, its culture and people, and earlier this year she published a Brazil Blog List featuring 60 websites about the country...

Brazil: Teacher Fired for Denouncing Precarious Classrooms on Facebook

Portugal: An Open Letter to Germany

Portuguese economist and researcher José Maria Castro Caldas published an open letter to the citizens of Germany on the website of the Initiative for a Citizen Audit of the public debt. The Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel will be on an official visit to Portugal on November 12, 2012.