Global Voices

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The world is talking, are you listening?

While Laura [Chinchilla] was talking, at one point he [Obama] turned and looked toward my direction. I took the opportunity and put on my best smile and raised my hat as a greeting. With my other hand I was holding his book over my chest. And you know what? He saw me. He said hello with his eyes. Either that or he was very amused with my hat.

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Flisol 2013 Banner.

From the Patagonia to Havana, hundreds of computer users across Latin America are choosing freedom over control by installing free software on their computers. On April 27th, groups of free software enthusiasts will be installing free software in dozens of cities across Latin America as part of FLISOL [es], the Latin American free software installation festival.
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Desarrollando América Latina (Developing Latin America) has published a video summary of the regional hackathon DAL 2012, where 400 participants and 70 social experts developed 80 applications. Here [es] you can see Global Voices’ coverage of the event.

José Medrano in Carepicha Blog [es] speaks out against racism in football games and in society in general.

I think that racist insults should be punished with a high fine or with community work, along with the obligation to attend courses where they are taught about history and ethics, everything related to how harmful discrimination has been for humanity.

In the post titled “Time of the vanquished” [es], the blog Furia raises profound reflections about what happens when quietness comes. It concludes its reflections by saying: “in order to conquer the silence of the serenity, the vanquished ones invent new ghosts that whisper in their ears. To win, to lose, all the same, all useless”.

That's the question raised by Nathy2310 from Costa Rica on her blog post “Women, should they be pretty?” and writes [es]:

Today I want to tell all those women who criticize other females’ bodies: THAT'S ENOUGH!!!

Stop demanding women to have svelte bodies, magazine women bodies, stop watching them with male eyes.

She even admits having behaved like that herself and reflects that “beauty trascends the looks”.

There were days when I felt the mill go slowly, too slowly, desperately slowly. Other days, I felt the mill spinning vertiginously, so I couldn't take a breathe and just wanted to get off the mill and run away.

Heidy, from Mi mundo mágico (My magic world) draws a parallel [es] between a mill and the past year, and ends her post wishing all her readers a happy new year.

The recently released Free Software Assessment Report 2012 shows the opinion, assessment and preferences of more than 5,000 people from Spain and Latin America. The study published in its fourth edition is promoted by PortalProgramas and supported by a number of experts and collaborators [es]. The report aims to contribute to a better understanding, use and dissemination of free software in Latin America. The summary of the study can be accessed online [es] and more information can be found on the report's conclusions for 2012 [es].

Ticoblogger invites [es] netizens to discuss [es] proposed reforms to Costa Rica's Cybercrime Law. The site calls on bloggers, Twitter users and blog readers to analyze and report any errors in different proposals to reform the law. Participants can leave a comment on the site or send their posts to info@ticoblogger.com.

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has announced its first contest for bloggers, which will focus on issues related to child development.
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Ticoblogger summarizes [es] the participation of bloggers, journalists, and activists in the forum “Online Anonymity, Pseudonyms and Freedom of Expression” held on Wednesday, October 24, 2012. The post links to presentations by Gustavo Araya [es, pdf], Julio Córdoba [es], and José Medrano [es].

Ticoblogger, a community of Costa Rican bloggers, invites everyone to attend the forum “Online Anonymity, Pseudonyms and Freedom of Expression” [es] on Wednesday, October 24, 2012, at 9:00 PM (GMT-03:00) at the Legislative Assembly in San José, Costa Rica. The forum will discuss Article 230 of the ‘Cybercrime Law‘, which penalizes online impersonation.
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Rising Voices is partnering with Hivos and Dialogía in two “camps” for young people using digital media for social change. The workshops, called “Activistmo” [es], will be held in Nicaragua and Guatemala during September and October. Young people from Costa Rica, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Guatemala between the ages of 18-25 can apply [es] until August 31.

A class at the  University of Peace in Costa Rica had an unexpected visitor drop in, as a cat fell through the suspended ceiling right behind a couple of students giving a presentation on the Theory of Change.  (Via Mashable)

“Murió Chavela Vargas” (“Chavela Vargas has died”) is currently a worldwide Trending Topic on Twitter. Netizens from all over the world are saying goodbye the Costa Rican-born Mexican singer Chavela Vargas, who passed away Sunday, August 5, at 93.

The Americas Quarterly blog points out that although there is still a lot to do to end gender discrimination at the Olympics, “for the first time in history, every country competing in the London 2012 Olympics will have at least one female athlete, with many – notably in Latin America – achieving  gender parity among their delegations. [...] Argentina, Bolivia, El Salvador, Mexico, Chile, Colombia, Venezuela, Costa Rica and Peru have selected female athletes to represent their teams. “

Costa Rica has a high literacy rate; but the blog Carepicha [es] argues that the country should also strive to increase computer and English-language “literacy”.

Blogger ‘stwartmendez’ from La Tinta del Ocio [es] highlights the success of Costa Rican cyclist Andrey Amador who is participating in Giro d'Italia, the Tour of Italy cycling race. Amador came in third in the twelfth stage and first in the fourteenth stage. The blogger attributes this success to the athlete's discipline and wishes other national athletes would emulate his attitude.

Blogger Cristian Cambronero from the blog Fusil de Chispas interviewed [es] Costa Rican President Laura Chinchilla. The interview was in part filmed by the production team Sürrealista [es], and two photographers (Priscilla Mora [es] and Diego Barracuda [es]) captured the meeting between Cristian and the President through photographs. You can read the 45-minute interview in the blog Fusil de Chispas.

José Medrano from Carepicha Blog [es] writes about ‘Operation Fiscal Plan,’ a Denial of Service Attack planned by Anonymous Costa Rica against government websites to show the public discontent regarding the government's Tax Plan. José also analyzes what the government's response to this attack should be, and concludes: “In this blog we do not support the use of criminal actions for activism, but we also live and let live as long as this does not affect national security.”

Ahni announces the upcoming Spanish edition of Intercontinental Cry [es], which will go live on March 31, 2012. “The main objective of IC Espanol is, of course, to provide Spanish readers with the same news that our English readers have come to expect from us; what I consider to be essential news on the global indigenous movement.” Find out about more languages on the IC Translation Project Facebook page.

The Organization of Ibero-American States invites teens ages 12 to 15 to enter a blogging competition about reading. The sign up [es] deadline is May 31, 2012, and judges will consider blog posts written until July 31. The winner from each participating country will receive an iPad. Visit the official website [es] and follow the hashtag #questasleyendo [es] (“what are you reading”) to find out more about the contest.

Sürrealista is a media producer in Costa Rica that has worked with many local bands. Now they want to have a 30 minute TV Show and to make that happen[es], they are asking for people to watch their pilot show online, give it a “like” on facebook and share it.

A video by geographer Homer Dávila is making nostalgia grow on Facebook as people are reminded of the light traffic that used to be the norm between the capital city of San José, Costa Rica and neighboring city of Alajuela.

Six young Costa Rican entrepreneurs have created a mobile game platform called TweetLand. In the blog Fusil de Chispas [es], Cristian Cambronero writes about the debut of Route 140, the first game in the collection.

The International Center for Arts of the Americas (ICCA) at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, has released a digital archive of 20th-century Latin American and Latino art, which, “is now available, free of charge, to the research and teaching community as well as to the public at large.” Culture magazine Ñ [es] briefly interviewed Mari Carmen Ramírez, the project's director.

Ticoblogger [es], a network of Costa Rican blogs, has joined the global protests against the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect-IP Act (PIPA). Ticoblogger blogs like Ciencia Ficción [es], Carepicha [es], and El Infierno en Costa Rica [es] posted a message against the U.S. bills and “censored” part of their content.

This wordless short film follows Doña Norma, a 78 year old woman who goes to swim every day at a local swimming pool outside of the capital city of San José.

Bloggings by boz looks at youth unemployment in Latin America, concluding that “with growth projections decreased for 2011 and 2012, the current situation for youth unemployment is almost certainly getting worse. That could have major economic, political and social implications moving into 2012.”

Diego Molina in Dame un campo [es] summarizes the experiences shared by environmental activists and lawyers during a conference on “Criminalization of the social-environmental protest” held in the University of Costa Rica. Participants denounced the repression they face as a consequence of their activism.