Stories from Quick Reads from March, 2012
India: Arresting Tibetan Activists
Dilip D'Souza at Death Ends Fun comments on the arrests of Tibetan activists in India: “we gave the Tibetans shelter when they fled from the excesses of China. Now we arrest them when Chinese premiers come visiting.”
Puerto Rico: A Small and Modest Art Blog
Check out artist Omar Banuchi's blog on Tumblr: “a small and modest blog of images.”
Puerto Rico: Youth, Facebook, and News
A recent survey of 130 college students [es], mostly from the Río Piedras campus of the University of Puerto Rico, shows that many of them actually use Facebook to read news.
Puerto Rico: “He Leaves at Last”
Blogger and historian Yvonne Acosta comments on the recent dismissal [es] of the Superintendent of the Police Emilio Díaz Colón.
Spain: The Faces of the Young and Unemployed 51%
Three Barcelona-based journalists, Lucija Stojevic, Jennifer Baljko and Marc Herman, have launched the excellent digital magazine 51percent with the mission “to go beyond the news headlines and put a face to the youth unemployment crisis facing Spain. We’ll be investigating this issue for the next couple of months, on-the-ground around Barcelona.”
Iran: Earth Hour celebrated in Tehran
Iranians are going to celebrate the “Earth Hour” today Saturday 31st of March. Here in this Farsi-language website, Iranians are organizing the “Earth Hour” events, including turning-off lights for an hour ‘to protect the planet’. Parham, an Isfahan-based user, tweets: ‘They are going to turn off Si-o-se Pol (historical bridge)...
Bulgaria: Students Protest Teacher's Dismissal
Bulgarian blogger Boyan Pishtikov publishes [bg] images from a students’ demonstration in the north-western city of Vratza [en]. The protest was organized by high school students who disagree with the recent dismissal of one of their teachers. According to the principal [bg], the layoff was caused by alleged libel by...
Chile: Open Letter to Daniel Zamudio Goes Viral
Chilean netizens were deeply moved by an open letter to Daniel Zamudio, a young gay man who died after a brutal beating, written by Felipe E. Mercado and published on Tumblr [es]. The letter, with more than one thousand notes on Tumblr, became a local Trending Topic on Twitter.
Georgia: Tongue-in-cheek development forecast
A satirical video posted on YouTube takes a tongue-in-cheek look at the development of Georgia ahead of parliamentary elections later this year and a presidential vote in 2013. With the current president, Milhail Saakashvili, unable to run for a third term in office it foresees him following in the footsteps...
Philippines: Petition Against Magnetite Mining
An online petition urges the Philippine government to deny the magnetite mining applications in the northern coastal areas of Luzon Island in the Philippines.
East Timor: Early Warning Early Response Mapping System
NGO Belun in East Timor has teamed up with Columbia University to establish the Early Warning Early Response mapping system which was designed to increase early responses to conflict and prevent the escalation of violence at the national and community levels.
Myanmar: Responsible Tourism
The Irrawaddy interviews Dr. Andrea Valentin who talks about responsible tourism and the prospect of pro-poor tourism in Myanmar.
India: Is God Now An Industry?
Ugich Konitari at Gappa writes about the VIP pilgrims of the famous Hill Temple at Tirupati, who keep the ordinary pilgrims waiting for many hours for their chance to perform rituals. “Should money be the deciding factor in defining classes of worship?” the blogger asks.
India: Media And The State
Aagan reports that a recent circular from the West Bengal Ministry of Mass Education Extension and Library Services caused much buzz on mainstream and social media. The West Bengal government has decided that it will not stock any “politically funded” newspaper in government libraries.
Bulgaria: “You will win, Captain!”
After the announcement that the famous Bulgarian football player Stiliyan Petrov (Aston Villa F.C., England, and current captain of the Bulgarian national team) was diagnosed with acute leukaemia, netizens created a Facebook group [bg] to show their moral support: “You will win, Captain, the whole country is with you!” reads...
Nepal: Call for Submissions for Nepal International Indigenous Film Festival
The 2012 Nepal Indigenous Film Festival is calling out for submissions of any type of film related to Indigenous youth produced after 1 January, 2008. Submitted films should be made by indigenous youth or should focus on positive efforts indigenous youth are doing to honor their heritage. More details about...
Azerbaijan: Novruz comes to an end
Novruz, the Persian New Year which is also celebrated in Azerbaijan, has come to an end and, using the example of the oil-rich country, Eastbook says that during the holiday it can often be difficult to conduct business or arrange meetings. Nevertheless, it notes that Azerbaijan's Embassy in Georgia was...
Madagascar: Details of the 1947 Massacre Still Unknown
TanaNews reports that prime minister Beriziky requested that France returns to Madagascar the archives [fr] regarding the massacre of about 100 000 people in 1947 to repress the movement for the independence of Madagascar. Olivier Herviaux provides some context [fr] to the massacre. French Amabassador Châtaigner states on twitter that the archives...
Peru: Focusing on Technology for Social and Economic Development
What if Peru were more committed to supporting and developing technology? This is what Oscar Montezuma asks in the blog Blawyer [es]. He looks at the current cabinet of ministries and suggests changes to give technology a leading role in the government's strategy for social and economic development.
Video: Cropshare System Unites Landowners and Land-less Farmers in Spain
Shared Vegetable Gardens (Huertos Compartidos) is a project in Spain that brings together people who wish to grow their own food but don't have the land, with landowners who may have the land but not the time to tend to them. This video [es] explains how this non-commercial system works, where food...
Macedonia: Video Streaming for the Civil Society
Vo živo.mk (“Going Live” in Macedonian) is a new service dedicated to providing video streaming and recordings of civil society events in Macedonia. The first event to be covered is a public debate on “What kinds of scientific research and teaching are enabled through the new Law on Higher Education?”...
