· December, 2010

Stories about Portuguese from December, 2010

Glimpses of Citizen Media from Portuguese language countries in 2010

  31 December 2010

Throughout 2010 the lusophone blogsphere has given new perspectives on important issues that mainstream media tends to ignore. Read this post and discover a selection of the voices that Global Voices has amplified - from citizen media phenomena, to politics, governance and indigenous peoples.

Brazil: Act in support of WikiLeaks

  24 December 2010

The video of a debate in support of WikiLeaks, with the participation of its Brazilian representative, Natália Viana, and many cyberactivists, is available at the blog Maria Frô [pt]. The event was promoted by Intervozes [pt] – an organization advocating for freedom of expression and the democratization of communication.

Brazil: Indigenous communities reflect on using the internet

  18 December 2010

For the first time ever, delegates of 16 indigenous communities from all over the country gathered together to discuss a subject of utmost importance: the Internet, and how to use it in favor of indigenous people. This is the first post authored by Chicoepab Surui, from the Paiter Surui people of the Amazon.

Brazil: Newspaper Folha de São Paulo censors satirical blog

  17 December 2010

The blog "Falha de Sao Paulo", created by brothers Lino and Mario Bocchini, as a parody of Brazil’s biggest newspaper company - Folha de Sao Paulo - was removed from the web by an injunction in the Brazilian courts at the end of September. Dozens of blogs came out in defense of the website and its authors to freedom of expression.

Brazil: The vote for human rights

  16 December 2010

Marcelo Salles, writing [pt] for the blog Escrevinhador (Scribbler, pt), balances out votes in the state of Rio de Janeiro won by elected politicians concerned with human rights, against those opposed. The results are 547,492 and 278,425 respectively.

Brazil: Literature and Prejudice against the poor

  15 December 2010

Paulo Lopes comments [pt] on controversial statements by Brazilian actress  and former sex-symbol Vera Fischer. In an interview to Folha newspaper, a few days before launching the latest of ten books she has written in a year (according to blog Acerto de Contas [pt]), Fischer said she does not write...

Brazil: WikiLeaks and the Pre-Salt Oil Exploration

  15 December 2010

A WikiLeaks cable revealed that the former Brazilian presidential opposition candidate, José Serra, held talks with the Director of Business Development and Government Relations of Chevron, Patrícia Pradal, to benefit the foreign oil industry at the expense of national Petrobras, concerning the pre-salt exploration contracts, says [pt] André Raboni, at...

Brazil: Recognition of the Palestinian State

  13 December 2010

On December 3, 2010 Brazil officially recognized [pt] the Palestinian state within the 1967 borders. The Brazilian blogsphere reaction is an analysis of the meaning of the recognition for the Brazilian government and it's practical effects.

Brazil: Pension rights for gay couples

  11 December 2010

Marcelo Marques in Blog do Bacana [pt] informs of a recent decision by the Social Security Ministry in enforcing a rule that recognizes that the social security benefits to relatives, such as pension in case of death, must include partners of same sex in stable marriage.

Brazil: Media supported censorship during the dictatorship

  10 December 2010

Eduardo Guimarães, from Blog da Cidadania [Citzenship Blog, pt] reproduces an interview by TV host Jô Soares with Ricardo Kotscho (journalist and President Lula's former press secretary), in which he states that several major Brazilian newspapers supported the Brazilian Military Dictatorship (1964-1985).

Brazil: WikiLeaks and the “Electronic Intifada”

  10 December 2010

Idelber Avelar, from the blog Biscoito Fino, suggests [pt] that Orwell's 1984 is one of the best literary models to understand WikiLeaks’ global surveillance, comparing it with a two-way “Electronic Intifada“, and calls Julian Assange as the “First Global Political Prisioner of the Internet”.

Brazil: President Lula defends WikiLeaks’ Assange

  10 December 2010

Brazilian President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva (Lula) has this week criticised [pt] the arrest of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, condemning the Brazilian press for not having defended the Australian activist. Lula said [pt, en], “the boy was arrested and I'm not seeing any protest against [the curtailment of] freedom of expression.”

Portugal: Blogs Fight on Politics launches Competition

  8 December 2010

Combate de Blogs [Blogs Fight, pt], a Portuguese weekly TV show, has launched a competition for blogs on national and international politics. Meet the nominees in the three categories: Blog of the Year, Blogger of the Year and Revelation Blog of the Year.

East Timor: A day to celebrate Resistance and Emancipation

  7 December 2010

Blog Mundorama [pt] recently posted an article by the Brazilian international affairs researcher, Carolina Galdino, about East Timorese “resistance and will for emancipation”. Thirty five years ago today, on December 7, 1975, Indonesia invaded the country and the occupation lasted 24 years.

Brazil: The only black woman in a beauty pageant

  7 December 2010

Cris Rodrigues, from blog Somos Andando [We Are Walking, pt], writes about racial prejudice in a beauty pageant in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul, where only one black woman competed among 29 other “white, tall, skinny and straight haired” contestants. She considers that the sample is not...

Brazil: Blogosphere reacts to WikiLeaks

  3 December 2010

The leak of more than 250 000 documents denouncing the practice of espionage by the U.S. government also caused an uproar in Brazil, where dozens of documents ended up putting the Defence Minister, Nelson Jobim, in a delicate situation. Natalia Viana, from Opera Mundi, details [pt] the number of leaked...

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Manuel Ribeiro
Manuel Ribeiro is the Portuguese editor. Email him story ideas or volunteer to write here.