· July, 2012

Stories from Quick Reads from July, 2012

Guyana: Olympic Dreams

  31 July 2012

Guyana-Gyal explains how the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in London “remind[ed] [her] to stay true to [her] dreams, no matter how mad they might sound to them people here.”

Guyana: Linden Protests

  31 July 2012

Imran Khan explores the roots of the Linden Protests and concludes that the recent electricity rate hike is merely the latest in a long series of “economic and social hardships” meted out to the citizen of that mining community.

St. Lucia: The Power of Words

  31 July 2012

David Cave writes a tribute to his mentor, the Saint Lucia poet Kendel Hippolyte: “Indeed, Kendel showed me first hand that there is real power in words.  Words evoke emotions, conjure images, analyse, interrogate, bring back memories, experiences and transport and even return a student to his mentor and friend.”

Tunisia: The Plight of Palestinians in Iraq

Tunisian blogger Nawel Abdullah posts an interview [ar] she conducted with the founder of The Australian Society for the Palestinian-Iraqi Refugee Emergency Yousef Alreemawi, who speaks to her about the plight of Palestinian refugees living in Iraq and efforts to resettle some of them in Australia.

Ukraine: Forest Fires in Yalta, Crimea

On Facebook, Andrey Klimenko of BlackSeaNews.net posted night photos (here and here; ru) of the fire raging in the mountainous forest reserve near Yalta, Crimea. On July 31 [ru], there is smog, ashes in the air and strong northeast wind in Yalta: “Early in the morning it seemed it would...

Guinea: The Plight of Guineans Students in Syria

  31 July 2012

Kante Taliby writes on Guinée News about the plight of Guinean students in Syria [fr] : “I am a Guinean student on scholarship in Syria and I am married with one child. My wife, my child and I have not had a proper meal for almost a week now, and...

Pakistan: The business Of Ramadan

  30 July 2012

Samra Muslim at Pak Tea House writes that the month of Ramadan is not important for religious reasons but it is the month of business all around creating a lot of commotion in the economy of Pakistan.

Guatemala: Microsoft and the University of San Carlos

  30 July 2012

Blogger Josue Ortega [es] attended a university event which invited students to develop a project to help communities with very little access to technology. However, students were told to develop the project using only Microsoft technology. One of Ortega's friends inquired about using open licenses, but the idea was immediately...

Iran: Police is censoring ‘in affiliation with Facebook’

  30 July 2012

Commander in chief of Iran cyber police insists that the authorities would prosecute those who ‘promote immorality and prostitution’ in social network websites. Kamal Hadianfar claims [fa] that Iranian police would ‘purify’ this social network ‘with collaboration of Facebook managers’. Major social networking services including Facebook and Twitter are blocked in Iran.

Brazil: Project Discusses Political Campaign Sign Litter

  29 July 2012

Few months ahead of municipal elections in Brazil, the campaign Quem sujou agora, vai sujar depois [Who litters now, will litter afterwards] aims to raise awareness on how political candidates make Brazilian towns dirty during election campaigns. The project's page on Facebook [pt] gathers denouncing photos and videos sent by...

Brazil: Board of Social Communication Under Criticism

  29 July 2012

The Observatório do Direito à Comunicação, website of communication rights in Brazil, reports that [pt] the Board of Social Communication, elected by National Congress on July 17, is under criticism as the list of candidates was concealed and voting session was unannounced. Board members analyze, report and make recommendations on...

Laos: Participation in 2012 Olympics

  29 July 2012

Laos sent three athletes to the 2012 London Olympics. An employee of the United Nations World Food Programme in Laos also represented the country when she was invited to become an Olympic torchbearer early this month