Global Voices » Mozambique

Mozambique: “Who wants to give birth here?”

Janet Gunter — Tue, 15 May 2012 17:01:43 +0000

Knight International Journalism Fellow Mercedes Sayagues published a video (with versions in English and Portuguese) which takes viewers on a sad tour of maternity clinics in the northern province of Cabo Delgado. The province has the highest maternal mortality rate in Mozambique.

Mozambique: President Rejects Social Networks

Janet Gunter — Sat, 12 May 2012 07:37:52 +0000

[All links in Portuguese unless otherwise indicated.]

Mozambican President Armando Guebuza made waves on social networks in March 2012, with his rejection of the use of online communication tools in a speech before an audience of young supporters of the historic ruling party Frelimo [en]. The speech was delivered at the closing session of the Central Committee of Organização da Juventude Moçambicana (OJM, Organization of Mozambican Youth).

Guebuza stated that tools like Facebook and Twitter have “the potential to be transformed into spaces that produce performances, factories of unattainable dreams and infinite mirages and expectations that can lead to the sidelining of a culture of work, promoting the spirit of dependency.”

Global Voices' partner newspaper in Mozambique, @Verdade, published on April 19, an editorial that criticized the controversial statement, saying the real motivation of the statement was to silence critical voices:

President Armando Guebuza. Photo by World Economic Forum no Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Guebuza disse que os jovens precisam de deixar de ser fofoqueiros e intriguistas e entregarem-se ao trabalho. (…)

Ao invés de ministrar “palestras de motivação”, onde pudesse dar aos jovens dicas de como se edifica um património económico em tão pouco tempo, o Presidente da República prossegue indiferente ao eleitor, ao povo, aos jovens e à opinião pública, demonstrando o desprezo absoluto por alguns princípios básicos da democracia.

Guebuza said that young people need to stop being gossips and conspirators and dedicate themselves to work. (…)

Instead of giving “motivational speeches,” where he could give young people tips on how to marshal economic resources in a short time, the President of the Republic continues to be indifferent to the voters, to the people, to the young people and to public opinion, showing an absolute disdain for some of the basic principles of democracy.

To which an anonymous commenter responded:

Sempre a tentar mandar poeira para os olhos do povo. Deves andar borrado com as redes sociais, deves ter pesadelos de te acontecer uma à Ghadaffi. Então toca de tentar minimizar a utilidade dessas ferramentas. Mas os jovens têem sempre aquela veia de rebeldia, além de que não gostam de receber ordens de velhotes que se escondem atrás do passado para impingirem a sua doutrina.

Always throwing sand in the eyes of the people. You must walk around tainted by the social networks, you must have nightmares that a Gaddafi [referencing former Libyan leader] will happen to you. So try to minimize the utility of these tools. But young people always have that rebellious streak, and beyond that, they do not like to take orders from old people who hide behind the past to push their doctrine.

Historian and analyst Egídio Vaz reacted in a note that was republished on Antonio Kawaria's blog Reflectindo sobre Moçambique (Reflecting on Mozambique) on April 17:

Wireless sign on a building in Maputo. Photo by rabanito on Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

um abraço a todos jovens que usam o facebook como ferramenta para o exercício dos seus direitos de cidadania (…). na verdade, recorramos as palavras do Presidente Samora Machel que se tornaram em máxima frelimista de então: Quando o inimigo nos ataca é porque estamos no caminho certo. Pelos direitos de cidadania, inalienáveis e não-negociáveis, Viva o facebook

A hug to all the young people who use Facebook as a tool to exercise their rights as citizens (…) in truth, let's resort to the words of the President Samora Machel which became a Frelimo maxim of the time: When the enemy attacks us it is because we are on the right path. For the rights of citizens, inalienable and non-negotiable, long live Facebook

One of the comments left on Egídio Vaz's piece, signed by user Tchaka, added:

na juventude [de Guebuza] não havia internet, redes sociais, etc., ele e o seu partido estão com dificuldades de perceber as tendências modernas da juventude e têm medo do poder que as novas ITC [Tecnologias de Informação e Comunicação] trazem para a mente juvenil.

In [Guebuza's] youth, there was no Internet, social networks, etc, he and his party are having trouble understanding trends of modern youth and are scared of the power new ICT [Information and Communication Technologies] brings to the young mind.

In a meeting with the country's Youth Parliament in Inhambane, journalist José Belmiro, refusing the latent threats against those who would make their voices heard, concluded:

Nós jovens não podemos nos calar (…) Expor ideias não quer dizer que seja do contra ou da oposição. Significa que sou sujeito do meu destino (…) Nós jovens temos a responsabilidade de romper com o ciclo do medo

We young people cannot silence ourselves (…) Setting forth ideas does not mean to be against or of the opposition. It means that I am in charge of destiny (…) We young people have the responsibility to break with the cycle of fear

Mozambique: Space for Human Rights Debate Launched on Facebook

Sara Moreira — Fri, 11 May 2012 12:05:09 +0000

A new online space that aims to “sharpen critical awareness and the promotion of citizenship, human rights and access to information” in Mozambique was launched today, May 11, on Facebook by CODD - a Center of Studies and Promotion of Citizenship, Human Rights and the Environment. On their welcoming message they say: “get ready for major ‘battles' and debates about Mozambique”.

Africa: Calls for Transparency Over Marked Increase in Land Deals

Lova Rakotomalala — Wed, 02 May 2012 11:25:59 +0000

An international coalition of researchers and NGOs have released the world's largest public database of international land deals, reports the Global Development blog of The Guardian's (UK). This marks an important milestone in highlighting a developmental issue that has received little attention in the international news cycle.

The report states that almost 5% of Africa's agricultural land has been bought or leased by investors since 2000, and emphasizes the fact that this is not a new issue, yet points out that the number of such land deals has increased tremendously in the past five years.

Many observers are increasingly worried that these land deals usually take place in the world's poorest countries and that they impact its most vulnerable population, the farmers. The benefits seldom go to the general population, partially because of a lack of transparency in the proceedings of the transactions.

An additional report by Global Witness, entitled Dealing with Disclosure, emphasizes the dire need for transparency in the making of land deals.

World's poorest nations targeted

The Global Witness report lists that 754 land deals have been identified, involving the majority of African countries for about 56.2 million hectares.

Target countries of land deals from the Land Matrix Project

The nations targeted are usually some of the poorest in the world. The countries with the most deals in place are Mozambique (92 deals), Ethiopia (83), Tanzania (58) and Madagascar (39). Some of those deals have made headlines because they were conducted to ensure control over food imports, when the targeted regions faced major food crises.

The NGO GRAIN has already explained in detail the gist of their concerns in an extensive report released in 2008:

Today’s food and financial crises have, in tandem, triggered a new global land grab. On the one hand, “food insecure” governments that rely on imports to feed their people are snatching up vast areas of farmland abroad for their own offshore food production. On the other hand, food corporations and private investors, hungry for profits in the midst of the deepening financial crisis, see investment in foreign farmland as an important new source of revenue. As a result, fertile agricultural land is becoming increasingly privatised and concentrated. If left unchecked, this global land grab could spell the end of small-scale farming, and rural livelihoods, in numerous places around the world.

In Malawi, land deals have grown increasingly prevalent to the detriment of the local farmers. A report from Bangula explains the challenges faced by Malawian farmers, Dorothy Dyton and her family:

Like most smallholder farmers in Malawi, they did not have a title deed for the land Dyton was born on, and in 2009 she and about 2,000 other subsistence farmers from the area were informed by their local chief that the land had been sold and they could no longer cultivate there. […] Since that time, said Dyton, “life has been very hard on us.” With a game reserve on one side of the community and the Shire river and Mozambique border on the other, there is no other available land for them to farm and the family now ekes out a living selling firewood they gather from the nearby forest.

Land construction in Madagascar. Photo by Foko Madagascar, used with the author's authorization

Farmers in Madagascar share similar concerns because they do not own the rights to the land they farm and an effective land reform is yet to be implemented. The Malagasy association Terres Malgaches has been at the forefront of land protection for the local population. They report that [fr]:

Les familles malgaches ne possèdent pas de document foncier pour sécuriser leurs terres contre les accaparements de toutes sortes. En effet, depuis la colonisation, l’obtention de titres fonciers auprès de l’un des 33 services des domaines d’un pays de 589 000 km2 nécessite 24 étapes, 6 ans en moyenne et jusqu’à 500 dollars US. (..) . Face aux convoitises et accaparements dont les terres malgaches font l’objet actuellement, seule la possession d’un titre ou d’un certificat foncier, seuls documents juridiques reconnus, permet d’entreprendre des actions en justice en cas de conflit.

Malagasy families do not usually own an estate property document that enable them to secure their lands against land grab. In fact, since colonial times, one has needed about 24 steps, 6 years and up to 500 US dollars to get such documents. There are merely around 33 agencies in the country that deliver such documents for a country that is 589,000 kilometres square […] In the face of the increasing land grabs that Malagasy land is currently at risk of, this certificate is the only document that can trigger legal action in case of conflict.

The association also reports on the practices of a mining company Sheritt, in Ambatovy, which have created a buzz in the local blogosphere because of environmental concerns for the local population and business malpractices (via MiningWatch Canada):

Sherritt International’s Ambatovy project in eastern Madagascar – costing $5.5 billion to build and scheduled to begin full production this month – will comprise a number of open pit mines (..) it will close in 29 years. There are already many concerns about the mine from the thousands of local people near the facilities. They say that their fields are destroyed ; the water is dirty ; the fish in the river are dead and there have been landslides near their village. During testing of the new plant, there have been at least four separate leaks of sulphur dioxide from the hydro-metallurgical facility which villagers say have killed at least two adults and two babies and sickened at least 50 more people. In January, laid-off construction workers from Ambatovy began a wildcat strike, arguing that the jobs they were promised when construction ended have not materialized. The people in nearby cities like Moramanga say that their daughters are increasingly engaged in prostitution.

Video of a worker's testimony in Ambatovy.

Solutions for the local population?

The plight of Madagascar's farmers' plight may be slowly changing though. Land reform discussions are in progress, according to this report:

According to a paper presented at the 2011 International Conference on Global Land Grabbing, about 50 agribusiness projects were announced between 2005 and 2010, about 30 of which are still active, covering a total land area of about 150,000 ha. Projects include plantations to produce sugar cane, cassava and jatropha-based biofuel.
To prevent the negative impacts of land grabbing, (The NGO) EFA has set up social models for investors, with funding from the UN Development Programme (UNDP). The goal is to help investors negotiate with the people in the area where they want to implement projects, as a way to prevent future problems.

Joachim Von Braun, formerly of the International Food Policy Insitute (IFPRI), wrote the following regarding land deals:

It is in the long-run interest of investors, host governments, and the local people involved to ensure that these arrangements are properly negotiated, practices are sustainable, and benefits are shared. Because of the transnational nature of such arrangements, no single institutional mechanism will ensure this outcome. Rather, a combination of international law, government policies, and the involvement of civil society, the media, and local communities is needed to minimize the threats and realize the benefits.

The need for transparency in land deals is further emphasized by Megan MacInnes, Senior Land Campaigner at Global Witness:

Far too many people are being kept in the dark about massive land deals that could destroy their homes and livelihoods. That this needs to change is well understood, but how to change it is not. For the first time, this report (Dealing with Disclosure) sets out in detail what tools governments, companies and citizens can harness to remove the shroud of secrecy that surrounds land acquisition. It takes lessons from efforts to improve transparency in other sectors and looks at what is likely to work for land. Companies should have to prove they are doing no harm, rather than communities with little information or power having to prove that a land deal is negatively affecting them.

Angola/Mozambique: Emerging Platforms for Artistic Production

Sara Moreira — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 15:27:31 +0000

Blog of African contemporary culture Dá Fala shared a call for proposals on Emerging Platforms for Artistic Production in Angola and Mozambique, to be published on an issue of Critical Interventions that will explore “recent scenarios of art platforms as extensions and articulations of state, private, and individual power”, and “networks across media in the visual and performative arts.”

Mozambique: Police Detain Blogger During Mayoral By-Election

Sara Moreira — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 15:01:30 +0000

Mozambican human rights lawyer and blogger Custodio Duma was detained by the police during mayoral by-election in Inhambane, on April 18, allegedly due to taking photos. Five hours later, he was released. According [pt] to @Verdade newspaper, 53 citizens (mostly supporters of the opposition party, MDM) were arrested during the scrutiny.

Mozambique: First African Board Book Gathering

Janet Gunter — Sat, 14 Apr 2012 11:01:05 +0000

Maputo is playing host to the first ever African meeting of publishers of board books. These are sturdy books, published on a small scale (often for children) with strong covers and resistant bindings. Culture reporter Inocêncio Albino wrote about the event [pt], and has been tweeting photos of books by Kutsemba Cartão, the first African board book publisher.

Mozambique: The People's Wall of Maputo

Natalia Laczko — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 08:59:45 +0000

At the same time that we increasingly see the advance of new technologies which facilitate communication and information, such as smartphones, tablets, Twitter and Facebook, in Maputo, the capital of Mozambique, the People's Wall has emerged: the extensive outer wall of the building housing newspaper Jornal@Verdade [pt], where the population can write letters and direct reflections to the governing leaders.

It is an original form of communication, whose effectiveness and accessibility are inherent in its very simplicity. In a way, it acts as an authentic ”offline Facebook wall”, as conceived of in the blog Menina do Javali:

The idea of the Wall was to create a permanent and offline space for readers to read (simple) and to comment (simple).

So, just a piece of chalk is needed for any citizen to express his or her complaints in a public and open way, whether they are related to education, health, safety, or any other demand directed at public policies or leaders. In this way, there is greater democratization of the rights of citizens to petition and make demands.

The People's Wall – Maputo. Photo from the blog Menina do Javali (used with permission)

The inspiration came from the project “Before I Die” by Candy Chang, initiated in New Orleans (the U.S.A.), which already has international support and has been implemented in numerous cities around the world. It basically involves the transformation of a wall into an immense mural with the phrase ”Before I die_____” repeated many times, voluntarily completed by people who, in doing so, share their hopes and dreams in a public place.

The People's Wall of Maputo, officially started on January 20, is already accessible virtually: via the Internet, it is possible to follow many of the messages written in the Cidadão Repórter (Citizen Reporter) [pt] section of the newspaper's website. Additionally, the reported issues are classified and organised according to place and date, thereby forming a rich database for potential consultations.

One of the topics frequently raised through the Citizen Reporter platform is police corruption [pt]. On the People's Wall, a citizen addresses his or her message [pt] to the authorities:

Polícia de transito, parem com a corrupcao. Assim, o nosso país ira desenvolver. Como vamos progredir se tiram-nos o pouco que ganhamos no suor do dia a dia.

Traffic police, stop the corruption. In doing so, our country will develop. How can we make progress when you take what little we earn through our daily sweat?

The People's Wall. Photo from the blog Menina do Javali

Many also express concerns related to education, such as the recent imposition of deductions from teacher's salaries for the organisation of a party congress for FRELIMO [Mozambique Liberation Front], the conditions in which children attend class, or the lack of books in schools [pt - all links]:

Disse o magnanimo 1o Presidente da Republica que: Façamos da escola um lugar para o povo tomar o poder, mas se formos a reparar, meus caros senhores, hoje em dia o poder e que esta a tomar o povo, vejamos uma coisa extremamente importante quando falamos concretamente da educação em todas as escolas secundárias do país nao temos os livros do novo curriculum nas nossas bibliotecas, e com tudo isso os futuros deste pais ficam sem foco e sem saber o que estes escritores falam acerca do mundo. Queremos os livros do novo curriculom nas nossas bibliotecas (Escola Secundaria da Polana)

The magnanimous 1st President of the Republic said that: We make school a place for the people to take the power but, if we notice, ladies and gentlemen, nowadays the power is taking the people, we see something extremely important when we speak about education in a concrete manner none of the secondary schools in this country have the new curriculum books in their libraries, and with all this the future of this country is unfocused and without knowing what these writers say about the world. We want the new curriculum books in our libraries (Polana Secondary School).

The People's Wall of Maputo is a citizen media incentive which deserves its due attention; it unites the practice of democratic citizenship with public information and better relations between individuals, the place where they live and the community as a whole. Who knows, perhaps it will become international, just like its inspiration.

Africa: Tech Entrepreneurship Bubbling in the Developing World

Lova Rakotomalala — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 09:01:19 +0000

To illustrate the technological transformation that the African continent is undergoing, CNN's African Voices has highlighted 10 leading tech voices from different African countries. While the article put a much needed emphasis on the innovation trend originating from the African continent and their achievements, many tech experts felt that the feature did not represent the whole scope of tech innovation and entrepreneurship that is brewing in all the regions of the continent. It left out most of the non-English speaking regions and outreach actions that took place in the most isolated areas from a technological standpoint.

Business canvas presentation in Addis Ababa by BillZimmerman on Flickr (CC license BY)

Innovation from Necessity

Bright B Simmons, the Accra-based founder of mPedigree Network explains “What Africa's Entrepreneurs Can Teach the World”:

It's becoming ever clearer that entrepreneurship is the answer to the vexing economic questions facing Africa today (..) But how has it actually evolved in Africa? Are there peculiar features of African entrepreneurship we may consider relevant to big global debates on development and sustainability? [..] the overall difference in the structure of typical African economies, compared to the West, makes a big difference. The fewer resources available to regulatory and tax authorities and the smaller sizes of businesses jointly mean that when businesses make complex arrangements to rationalize their tax expenditures, their costs go up rather than down. Also, a shallower financial system makes the notion of a corporate treasury function similar to what is common in the West nearly redundant in the African setting.[..] In a sense, African entrepreneurs run profit ecosystems rather than business units. These ecosystems interact with other ecosystems in a culturally elaborate manner that can produce extreme robustness, resilience, and flexibility.

In Senegal, entrepreneurs have clearly identified the need for better networking between actors in the field of agriculture ( and other industries). A Start Up conference is set up on March 30 in Dakar to discuss opportunities in collaboration between tech experts and entrepreneurs [fr] :

Le constat est simple : trop peu de liens sont encore tissés entre les TIC et les secteurs dans lesquelles elles pourraient avoir des retombées sociales et économiques considérables. Les jeunes développeurs ne savent généralement pas comment utiliser leur talent au profit de ces industries et de l’autre côté, les professionnels des secteurs concernés ne sont pas en contact avec le monde des TIC et du fait peinent à exprimer leur problématiques en termes techniques.

The fact is, there are still not enough links between IT and other industries to generate a meanignful ecnonomic and social impact. The young developers do not know how to leverage their knowledge and the professionals in other industries are not up to date with the innovation in IT and struggle to express the technical needs of their business.

In the CNN African Voices feature, Ory Okolloh emphasizes why technology is important but that other critical areas need to evolve as well for the effort to persevere:

In order for this growth to be sustainable and to create more revenue generating opportunities, we need other forms of infrastructure such as electricity to catch up and we need more governments to embrace the idea of open access policies

An indication of the current innovation trends that are bubbling on the continent is the multiplication of technology hubs across the continent (via Crowdmap):

African tech Hubs via Hubs in Africa

A recent example of collaborative tech initiative through the aforementioned hubs is the Apps4Africa event on Climate Change that i-Hub tech community in Madagascar is organizing on March 16.

The Language Divide

Okolloh noticed along with other tech African experts that other regions were missing from the coverage. Jean Patrick Ehouman explains both his satisfaction with seeing African tech being in the news and his disappointment with the lack of coverage of the francophone tech world [fr] :

Il y a 21 pays en Afrique (environ 350 millions de personnes) dont la langue officielle est le Français. En plus de ces 21 pays, il y a 5 autres dont le Français est aussi une langue officielle (la deuxième). Il s’agit de l’Algérie, le Maroc, la Mauritanie et la Tunisie qui sont des pays dont la première langue officielle est l’Arabe. Dans tous ces pays, il y existes des passionnés et des leaders de technologies qui publient régulièrement sur Twitter. Ces personnes passent beaucoup de temps à créer ou a mobiliser les différents acteurs de cette industrie pour en tirer le meilleur. [..] @Fasokan n’a jamais réussi à lever des centaines de millions de dollar pour ces projets, mais il a beaucoup de mérite quand on sait que grâce à lui les villageois des zones reculées du Mali arrivent à se faire connaitre du monde en tenant un blog. Et il publie tant en Bambara (Langue africaine parlée au Sénégal, en Mauritanie, au Mali, au Burkina Faso, en Côte d’Ivoire, en Guinée, …) qu’en français. Combien de blogueurs connaissez qui ont réussi l’exploit de dynamiser l’une des langues les plus parler sur le continent ?

There are 21 countries in Africa (about 350 million people) whose official language is French. In addition to these 21 countries, there are five others where French is also an official language (the second). Of these Algeria, Morocco, Mauritania and Tunisia are countries whose first language is Arabic. In all these countries, there are passionate tech leaders who posts often on twitter. They invest a lot of their time mobilizing multiple actors to optimize the tech field. Fasokan never raised millions of US dollars but he managed to reach out to the most remote villages in Mali and feature their everyday lives. He writes in Bambara (an african language spoken in Senegal, Mauritania, Mali, Burkina-Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea..) as well as in French. How many bloggers are you aware of who promote one of the most spoken languages on the continent?

Market in Malian Village by Workshop Segou on Flickr (with authorization)

Lusophone Africa was also left out of the conversation on tech in Africa which did not sit well with GiantPanda. She writes on Menina do Javali:

This has been a pet peeve of mine for a while: the laziness of the international media in relation to the (post-) colonial tower of babel. Articles in English about “Africa” suffer from the “Africa is a Country” lens, but I would go further and say it’s “Africa is a Country That Speaks English” lens [..] Just as Jean Patrick Ehouman suggests in his post in French, let’s start a thread here below assembling the best tweets (in Lusophone Africa)…

The Challenges

Nigerian Ndubuisi Ekekwe, founder of the non-profit African Institution of Technology, highlights the challenge of raising investment funds in developing countries and the importance of making African tech business ventures easier to grasp for investors :

Entrepreneurs need to have plans in place for investors to exit, especially in developing countries. Most investors don't have years to wait around to recoup investments through growth and profits. Most are gone after about four to eight years, and entrepreneurs need to present a clear path for that to happen.

Malagasy tech blogger Tsiory Razafimanantsoa highlights another challenge that plagues the tech world in Africa : the proliferation of online scams [fr] that undermines the trust that investors require for a sustainable business atmosphere [fr]:

(A Madagascar,) Aujourd’hui, l’actualité porte sur la hausse des prix de communications mobile, le mauvais temps, la connexion internet capricieuse… Mais au milieu de tout ce foutoir, il y a une autre “crise” grandissante: l’arnaque pyramidale. [..] Il n’y a pas encore de texte dans la loi malgache qui condamne une telle pratique. En effet, surement déjà pratiquée à petite échelle avant, elle ne gagne du terrain que depuis quelques mois.

(In Madagascar,) Daily news have been centered around the cost of mobile communication, bad weather and unreliable internet connection but amidst this mess, there is yet another growing crisis: the proliferation of the Ponzi scheme [..] There are still no laws in Madagascar prohibiting such practices. In fact, while already well-established at a small-scale level, it's been growing steadily for the past few months.

In conclusion, despite tangible challenges, tech in Africa is bound for a major leap forward. As Julia Rotich states :

The narrative about Africa is changing every single day, driven with the opportunity in a continent of more than 300 million middle class Africans. [..] The promise here is that the entrepreneurial drive we see in young technologists will translate to more African solutions to African problems, and thereby African prosperity. Challenges abound of course, but indications in innovation hubs like Kenya point to a lot of promise and a very different narrative in the coming years.

Mozambique: Time lapse viral video of storm over Maputo

Janet Gunter — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 08:43:08 +0000

This video of a storm arriving over the city of Maputo has gone viral on Youtube, with over 450,000 views in just a few short weeks. Statistics show greatest numbers of views in Mozambique, South Africa, Japan and Portugal. Mozambique has been hit by a number of cyclones in recent months.

Video Highlights: Video Advocacy and Recent Events

Juliana Rincón Parra — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 06:09:56 +0000

This section aims to showcase interesting and recent posts in Global Voices that show the many ways in which videos are helping people tell stories all around the world. You can follow the activity by regions in our YouTube channel.

Advocacy through video

Several stories this month have focused on how video is enabling communities to get their message across to a wider audience.

Video: Online Media by and for Indigenous People

Intercontinental Cry posted a list of 12 recommended films on indigenous issues, some made by indigenous people from Brazil, Australia, Panama, USA, Northern Kenya, Colombia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Malaysia: Organization Advocates for Human Rights Through Video

KOMAS is an organization which hosts a yearly documentary video competition and festival in Malaysia. One of the 2011 winners of the documentary competition include Afiq Deen, who directed Huruf J, a short documentary on the hardships and discrimination faced by divorcees in Malaysia. A society that sets them apart for their condition, debt, poverty and a legal system which is unable to enforce fathers' financial obligations with their children are some of the hurdles these women have to face when trying to move on with their lives. The film includes some subtitles and audio in English.

West Papua: A Different Side of the Independence Struggle through Video

A video letter from a woman in West Papua to an Indonesian soldier echoes the stories of many other women in the area. In this case, she asks the soldier, who was once based in her village, to please write and return to meet his daughter. It can be viewed with subtitles here.

Mongolia: The Mining Projects Leaving Herders Without Livelihoods

This short video shows some of the environmental and social impact the Ukhaa Khudag coal mine in Mongolia's south Gobi desert is already having on the communities and the people who have lost their livelihoods due to the mines.

Vladlena Martsynkevych, Bankwatch's Central Asia Officer addressed this controversial topic and its social and economical cost:

The extractive industry can very well contribute to a country’s economic development and bring desired employment and revenues. At the same time mining is a highly disruptive activity with considerable negative impacts on the environment and the livelihoods of local communities. In countries with underdeveloped democratic structures, lack of institutional capacity or simply corruption, the damages can quickly overweigh. Benefits can then bypass the local level and end up enriching the involved companies and – not least - the technological progress and wealth in developed nations.

Recent News

Cuba: Cleaning Up for Papal Visit?

El Cafe Cubano reported that residents who live close to the Basilica of the Patron Saint of Cuba, a destination that is on Pope Benedict XVI's itinerary when he visits Cuba next month, are being evicted in en effort to “[cover] up the prevailing misery that the Cuban people are suffering in the island.”

Panama: The Indigenous Leader Who Took on the Government

The first female indigenous leader of the Ngobe Bugle people in Panama has become a media sensation after standing up to the government and demanding their rights to be respected.

In the midst of all of this crisis, one name has emerged as the standard bearer for the indigenous fight. The cacique [Taíno word meaning tribal leader or chief] Silvia Carrera who, after becoming the first woman to be elected to this position, has risen up in opposition to the current government's mining plans.

The following video by Orgun Wagua, uploaded to YouTube by laoruguitaecoloca [es] on February 4, shows the cacique spearheading attempts to start a dialog during the conflict:

Mozambique: All Aboard the Musical Marrabenta Train!

The fifth Marrabenta Festival has spread some cheer in Mozambique. One of the highlights seems to be the acoustic musical train trip to Marracuene, leading revelers for free to the all night outdoor concert that marks the Festival's finale. The following video takes us to this lively train full of song and music:

Mozambique: All Aboard the Musical Marrabenta Train!

Janet Gunter — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 09:00:04 +0000

After a season of elections and cyclones in Mozambique, the country was owed some entertainment and good news. One of the highlights of Mozambique's cultural calendar, the Marrabenta Festival (celebrating its fifth year), came just in time.

The Festival consists of musical events in the capital Maputo, with the highlight being an acoustic musical train trip to Marracuene. The train picks up music fans for free along the way, taking them to the Festival's finale, a lively outdoor concert that lasts until dawn.

In Marracuene last year, photo courtesy of D J Clark (www.djclark.com)

The train trip this year was documented by YouTube user Charline Van Deth:

Website MozambiqueTV shared a clip from private television station STV on the platform of Maputo's historic train station before the train departed. The clip features an interview with a smiling producer of the Festival, Lito, with Logaritmo Productions:

Marrabenta is a genre of music closely linked to African urban life and modernity, making the train trip a delightful match. Marrabenta arose in the south in the 1930s and 1940s, the word coming from the verb rebentar (to break) which is a way people describe dancing. One urban theory is that the word originally described cheap guitar strings breaking with the energetic playing of musicians.

The genre was a mix of traditional Mozambican rhythms and new guitar arrangements inspired by that period's global explosion of popular music fuelled by radio. Pioneering artists such as Dilon Djindji, Fany Mpfumo, and Wazimbo (and the Orchestra Marrabenta Star) made an ever-lasting mark on Mozambican music.

Guitar is a key feature of Marrabenta, photo courtesy of D J Clark (www.djclark.com)

Ever since its beginnings in colonial Lourenço Marques (now Maputo), writes nostalgic website Xirico [pt]:

A música é um dos atributos culturais mais marcantes do povo moçambicano. O primeiro acorde provoca o primeiro movimento que ninguém ensinou. Depois não há força para resistir ao chicuembo da marrabenta. O requebro sincopado das ancas, uma mão na nuca outra atrás das costas, movimentos sensuais…

The music is one of the most distinguishing cultural features of the Mozambican people. The first chord provokes the first movement that nobody taught. Then, nobody can resist the chicuembo [a kind of invocation to the ancestors] of marrabenta. The syncopated ‘breaking' by the hips, one hand of the nape of the neck, the other behind the back, sensual movements…

Performers on the mainstage last year, photo courtesy of D J Clark (www.djclark.com)

Photographer DJ Clark captured the essence of the festival last year in a stunning photo album. This video from the Marrabenta Festival in 2010 by YouTube user TheMarrabenta shows how the Festival is living proof of the power of marrabenta to enchant generation after generation:

The Festival is a breath of fresh air in Mozambique and crucial to maintaining roots music, as critics such as Fortunato of the Matapa blog pull no punches in relation to contemporary music

Local music does get its share of airplay here, but the thing, is, most of the current Mozambican (popular) music is nowhere near as interesting as the echos from its past. On Radio Maputo, you can hear a lot of local classics from the 70ies: they sound totally amazing, a diverse and experimental blend of tradition with pop influences. But nowadays about half of the musicians seem busy vocalizing the fact that Mozambican musicians need to find their own style. The other half seems more than happy selling whatever suits the mobile phone operators or the governing party.

In clear contrast to this kind of music were the headliners this year, the South African group the Mahotella Queens, celebrating their thirtieth anniversary. They just reinforced the links between popular South African music and Mozambican music, which have been intermingling since well before the railroads linked Johannesburg with Mozambique's then capital Lourenço Marques. Language groups transcends colonial borders, and the musical languages of neighboring South Africa and southern Mozambique have a great deal in common.

This year, @Verdade newspaper reported that more and more foreigners take time out and travel to Mozambique for this unique musical moment. But the Festival has an economic impact in Marracuene irrespective of foreign visitors, with informal bars and food stalls set up to sell palm wine, grilled chicken and fried fish, where visitors from Maputo infuse cash into the town's economy.

Mozambique: Mayor Shares Photos of Storm Damage on Facebook

Janet Gunter — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 12:06:27 +0000

Newly elected mayor Manuel de Araújo of Mozambican city Quelimane shared photos on Facebook of the damage, flooding and suffering caused by tropical storm Funso in his coastal home. Last week another heavy storm, Dando, caused serious flooding in the capital city of Maputo, displacing hundreds.

Mozambique: Stand-up comedy show gains online following

Janet Gunter — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 21:13:33 +0000

Mozambique's first stand-up comedy show Improriso shares jokes on one of the most popular tweets in the country (@ImprorisoMoz) and posts videos on its Youtube channel. Newspaper O País published a photo album of an improv performance in 2011.

Online Highlights from the Portuguese-Speaking World in 2011

Maisie Fitzpatrick — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 02:11:32 +0000

2011 has been another year in which bloggers and activists from a number of Portuguese-speaking countries have come together to report, translate and promote blogs and citizen media from all over the world. This article selects the highlights in the coverage of Lusophone countries on Global Voices over the last year.

Portuguese language and culture

In February we covered several blogs that gave voice to their love of the Portuguese language, paying tribute to the great variety of dialects spoken by more than 200 million people worldwide.

Hau nia lian, hau nia rain (My language, my country). Photo by Sapo Noticias Timor Leste (public domain)

In May the newspaper @Verdade, our partner in Mozambique, described Portuguese as a language that is bound up in what it means to be Mozambican.

In its coverage of Timor Leste, Global Voices examined the role of languages in asserting the identity of a country which has 16 national languages and dozens of dialects. Some blogs on Cape Verde also suggested that there are “distinct social functions” for both the language spoken by the people, Crioulo, and the official language, Portuguese.

Online demonstrations brought a more political dimension to bear on this issue, with heated reactions to the proposal for Equatorial Guinea to become a member of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries, despite having a poor track record on human rights.

Brazil: Paths towards Development

In spite of the current global crisis, Brazil is experiencing a period of economic optimism fuelled by domestic consumption. In order to maintain this growth, ongoing development policy in the country has been putting pressure on the environment and human rights.

The social cost of the rising demand for biofuels: the indigenous Guarani Kaoiwa community of Laranjeira Nhanderu were expelled from their lands 14 months ago to make way for sugarcane plantations. Photo by Annabel Symington, copyright Demotix (10/21/10).

The Amazon rainforest is seen as potential land for agriculture and as a source of raw materials and energy. Brazil's new forestry code, which regulates the use of the country's forests, has led to concerns and public demonstrations against the encouragement of farming and deforestation. “Green” agribusiness focused on biofuels and the replacement of felled trees with eucalyptus plantations have been shown to be unsustainable practices in both social and environmental terms. The dispute for land provoked by agribusiness led to the killing of activists and indigenous leaders during 2011. Yet Brazil is persisting in exporting its agribusiness model to other countries, such as Mozambique, regardless.

Coverage of events surrounding the Belo Monte Dam certainly caused the greatest outcry this year, uniting environmentalists, indigenous people and Brazilians living alongside the affected rivers. Protests in the immediate area of the dam and in major cities attracted international attention and challenged the human rights policy of Dilma Rousseff's government. This action did not wane after construction of the plant began, but rather took on different forms, including an Occupy protest by the Tupiniquim people and court cases.

These and related issues have been organised into four special features: Forest Focus: Amazon, Dossiê Belo Monte [only in pt], Indigenous Rights and Global Development.

Portugal: Crisis, Austerity and Protests

From the “Scraping-by Generation” protest in March to participation in the global protests on 15 October, Portugal has seen its political and economic crisis reach unprecedented proportions in 2011, with the fall of a government and the EU committee coming into the country to effect the financial “rescue” of public debt.

Keep calm and protest: outraged protesters outside Porto Town Hall. Photo by the protest organisers, 15 October.

Netizens took to social networks to mobilise action against severe austerity measures and to speak out in opposition to the racket conducted by the rating agencies, but also to gain inspiration from other countries, such as Iceland, on other forms of public participation.

Having launched a page devoted to special coverage of the current situation, Europe in Crisis, in September, Global Voices has acted as a bridge between different languages and has facilitated greater dialogue between outraged citizens from European countries that are suffering similar problems.

Angola: 32 Years in Power sparks Protests

In Angola the sense of revolt against the 32-year government led by José Eduardo dos Santos is becoming increasingly palpable in the streets and on the internet. Protests would have begun in March had the government not been successful in pre-empting them.

In September the police used heavy force to break up a protest, resulting in at least 18 protesters receiving prison sentences. Against all expectations, the movement has regrouped, while the number of citizen reporters in the country is also on the increase.

Video uploaded to the post Angola: Videos of Repressed Youth Protest in Luanda

Internet and the digital culture in Brazil

The fruits of increasingly widespread access to the internet in Brazil were borne out in 2011 by many creative, collective and effective examples of action. One such case was the mobilisation of social networks to take down a paedophile blog, and the call put out on Facebook to join in the unique “Different People's Big Barbeque Protest” in an upscale São Paulo neighbourhood.

Protest poster which reads "We want to be Maria Bethania", organised by Leon Prado on Facebook.

The online arena has also been the scene for a number of less auspicious episodes related to digital culture. In January the Ministry of Culture announced that it was abandoning Creative Commons licensing on its site, a blatant step backwards in public policy on the internet and copyright. Shortly afterwards, in March, the same ministry allowed the famous signer Maria Bethânia to raise 1.3 million reais tax-free for the creation of a poetry blog, thereby rousing the ire of bloggers, the twitterati and activists involved in the cultural sphere.

Cases of online censorship continue to crop up and, on occasion, overflow into the non-virtual world, with attacks on bloggers who are critical of the authorities.

In December we became aware of renewed death threats made against Ricardo Gama, who blogs against cases of the abuse of power and other irregularities by the Brazilian police. Gama had already been shot in an attack in Rio de Janeiro in March. Towards the end of this year, many were not convinced by the reason of “suicide by hanging” given for the death of Hamilton Alexandre, a controversial blogger from Santa Catarina, and social networks are being used to call for a thorough investigation of the case.

In 2012 we will continue to listen to the stories that are being told by the citizens of the world through the internet, and to amplify them so that they reach a global audience. Our doors are always open to anyone who wants to get involved in what Super magazine earlier this year dubbed “one of the 10 coolest projects on the internet”.

http://pt.globalvoicesonline.org/?p=25165

João Miguel Lima collaborated on this post.