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Georgia: LGBT Activists Attacked by Orthodox Religious Group

Lesotho: 2012 General Election Date Set

Lesotho will hold general elections on 26 May, against a backdrop of political violence. The Lesotho Political Parties Leadership Forum claims that there is a “hit squad” that has been assigned to kill prominent people ahead of the general elections.

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India: Crackdown on Tamil Nadu Anti-Nuclear Plant Protests

Bangladesh: Bloggers March for Murdered Journalist Couple 16 May 2012
Armenia: Fears After Nationalist Firebombers Released on Bail 16 May 2012
Brazil: ‘Hands That Cure, Words That Heal' 15 May 2012
Pakistan: Partition Era Writer Saadat Hasan Manto Lives On 14 May 2012
Spain: Arts Also Blossom in the Global Spring 14 May 2012

18 May 2012

Spain: 12M, a Ray of Sun in the Midst of the Crisis

Written by Elena Arrontes · Translated by Greg Ahlswede · Western Europe

On the 12th of May (12M), the Indignado movement demonstrated not only that it is alive and well, but that it continues to have strong social support. The square "Puerta del Sol" (Gate of the Sun) in Madrid is one of the symbolic centers of the movement.

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Cape Verde: Encouraging Storytelling and Creative Writing

Written by Sara Moreira · Translated by Georgi McCarthy · Sub-Saharan Africa

Set over the course of seven weeks, a creative writing competition promoted by the young Cape Verdean journalist Odair Varela on his blog, has led a dozen word lovers to get behind their keyboards and let their imaginations flow. The winners have already been announced and this article provides an overview of the stories told.

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Palestine: PalFest Literature Festival in Gaza for First Time

Written by Ola Anan · Middle East & North Africa

This year for the first time the Palestinian Festival of Literature was held in Gaza. A group of about forty Egyptian, Tunisian, Sudanese and Palestinian authors, artists and activists were granted permission to visit Gaza and participate in PalFest 2012 from May 5 to 10.

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17 May 2012

Armenia: Homophobic Firebombing Controversy Continues as Officials, MPs Promote Hate Crime

Written by Onnik Krikorian · Central Asia & Caucasus

Controversy continues to surround the firebombing of a gay-friendly bar in Yerevan, the Armenian capital, as officials and politicians praise the arsonists. Online, however, many are instead speaking out against those nationalists doing so.

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Paraguay: A Look Inside Aché Indigenous Communities

Written by Silvia Viñas · Latin America

For much of their history, the Aché indigenous people in Paraguay have been struggling to preserve their territory. Now, the Aché are using citizen media to preserve their language and their culture.

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Bolivia: Web 2.0 Workshops for Aymara School Teachers

Written by Victoria Tinta · Translated by Eduardo Avila · Latin America

In early May 2012, a series of Web 2.0 workshops were held for Education professors from the Teacher Training Superior School (ESFM for its initials in Spanish). The event's objective was to help the professors and their students begin to create digital media content in the Aymara language. Victoria Tinta from Global Voices in Aymara shares a summary of the workshop and its results.

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Proposals for Union of Arab Gulf States Prompt Concern

Written by Salah Almhamdi · Middle East & North Africa

The governments of the Gulf are discussing transforming the current Gulf Cooperation Council into an EU-style union. The move comes in an atmosphere of tension caused by the Arab uprisings and Iran's growing influence. As a first step, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain might seek closer union.

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Russia: NHL Stars Return to 2012 World Hockey Championship

Written by Donna Welles · Eastern & Central Europe, Western Europe

Undefeated after seven games, and boasting an All-Star lineup, the Russian national team will face Norway in the quarterfinal round of the 2012 World Ice Hockey Championship. Many bloggers have framed the story as a homecoming for Alexander Ovechkin and Alexander Semin, with others reflecting on their complicated past in Russian international competition.

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Ukraine: Yulia Tymoshenko's Plight and Euro 2012

Written by Veronica Khokhlova · Eastern & Central Europe, Western Europe

There must be some corners on the web where football fans are still having apolitical discussions of Euro 2012, scheduled to take place in Poland and Ukraine from June 8 to July 1. For the past few weeks, however, the upcoming sporting event has featured prominently in arguments and discussions among those who seem more interested in the Ukrainian and European politics than sports.

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16 May 2012

Argentina: Transforming a Neighborhood Through a Cultural Shed

Written by Juliana Rincón Parra · Latin America

The Piedrabuenarte Cultural Shed in the outskirts of Buenos Aires, Argentina is transforming the neighborhood through culture, arts and citizen media. Formerly a warehouse for discarded scenery and sets for the Colon Theater, the space was transformed by artists in the community into a center for arts. Through their YouTube channel they are telling the world about it.

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Updates

Armenia

Following support from government officials and representatives of the nationalist Armenian Revolutionary Federation-Dashanktsutyun (ARF-D) for two Neo-Nazis accused of firebombing a gay-friendly bar in Yerevan, Unzipped: Gay Armenia asks if the country is moving towards a form of state sponsored fascism that threatens the rights and well-being of its own citizens.

• Onnik Krikorian

Lebanon

The British Embassy in Lebanon has announced an online discussion between the UK ambassador (@HMATomFletcher) and Lebanese singer Haifa Wehbe (@HaifaWehbe), to take place on May 18 at 6pm (Lebanese time), tweeting under the hashtag #HaifaHMA.

• Ayesha Saldanha

Armenia

Unzipped: Gay Armenia comments on the continuing controversy surrounding Artsvik Minasyan, an MP from the nationalist Armenian Revolutionary Federation–Dashnaktsutyun (ARF-D). The blog says that in addition to bailing out a Neo-Nazi arsonist in police custody, Minasyan continues to make homophobic statements in the media following the 8 May firebombing of a gay-friendly bar in the Armenian capital by labeling homosexuality a threat to the country's national security. Elected under the proportional system in Armenia, and thus lacking a specific mandate in the majoritarian system, Unzipped: Gay Armenia calls on the ARF-D to remove Minasyan from their ranks immediately.

• Onnik Krikorian

Togo

Commenting on the declaration of assets of the new French President Francois Hollande, Jeogo wrote [fr]: “What is certain is that the patrimony of Francois Hollande (..) is no match for the patrimony of the “big shots “of the Togolese Republic (..) yet the crowded university is still without air-conditioned computer rooms; one room is equipped with a score of old computers that are not connected to the internet and where a power outage often ends the class sessions.”

• Abdoulaye Bah

Georgia

No Sex and the City — Georgian Liberal (an oxymoron) blog comments on the physical confrontation between priests accompanying religious parents and LGBT activists marching in Tbilisi, Georgia. The blog details events as they happened, including the alleged inaction of the Georgian police when they were asked to intervene to defuse tensions.

• Onnik Krikorian

Guatemala

Mario Cordero from Diario Paranoico [es] has opened a wikispace [es] where he posts one ‘guatemaltequismo' (word that is used in Guatemala) per day. Mario also set up a Facebook [es] page where he shares that day's ‘guatemaltequismo'.

• Silvia Viñas

Ghana

Cecil Dadzie wonders whether the Ghanaian parliament will pass Right to Information Bill before 2013: “The Rights to Information Bill (RTI), which was laid before Parliament in February, 20I0, has generated controversy, with the RTI Coalition blaming Parliament for feet-dragging in passing the bill into law.”

• Ndesanjo Macha

Ghana

Submit your story for The Golden Baobab Award: “The Golden Boabab Award was established in 2008 to encouraged writers in Africa who specialize in books for children and young adults.”

• Ndesanjo Macha

Lesotho

Touching Tiny Lives works to mitigate the effect of HIV/AIDS on the most vulnerable infants and children under age five by supporting their health, nutritional, developmental, and emotional needs in Lesotho.

• Ndesanjo Macha

Greece

After the 6 May general elections in Greece and the failure of political parties to form even a coalition government, the interim government to be sworn on May 17 under Prime Minister Panagiotis Pikrammenos will lead the country to election again on June 17. Netizens are commenting on these events and joking about the chosen PM's surname on Twitter, using the hashtags #pikrammenos and #pikramenos, which means “embittered”.

• Veroniki Krikoni