Global Voices » Sao Tome and Principe

Sao Tome and Principe: Memories of a Lonely Navigator

Sara Moreira — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 16:01:13 +0000

Follow the blog Odisseia nos Mares (Odysseys in the Seas) [pt] and navigate through the stories of Jorge Trabulo Marques - a retired Portuguese journalist and photographer who lived in São Tomé and Príncipe for 13 years during colonial times. Trabulo blogs on his memories of São Tomé, including lonesome adventures in the sea, trying to cross the Atlantic to Brazil.

Sao Tome and Principe: Series on Education, Genre, Arts & Culture in Video

Sara Moreira — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 11:42:53 +0000

Brazilian journalist Dani Moura, from Jornal Futura, published on her Youtube channel a series of short pieces on Sao Tome and Principe: she reported on education and children feeding in schools, on capoeira for social inclusion, and women entrepreneurship. She also interviewed the artists Kwame Sousa and Tomé Coelho [all links in pt].

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.

Lusophone Heritage of “Portugality” Around the World

Sara Moreira — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 13:50:21 +0000

A Facebook group and a mapping website called “Portugality” have been created to explore the cultures that result from the “global cultural fusion started by Portuguese navigations of the XVth. century and lasting to this day in places like Brazil, Mozambique, East Timor or Malacca”.

Sao Tome and Principe: Photographic View of the Country

Sara Moreira — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 17:04:02 +0000

The blog Viagem a São Tomé e Príncipe (Trip do Sao Tome and Principe) has made available a rich archive of photography that illustrates a range of aspects from the country, as for instance unique fruits and flowers, colorful markets and churches, street art and other artistic and cultural demonstrations.

Sao Tome and Principe: Community Radio Takes Advantage of Social Media

Sara Moreira — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 09:04:56 +0000

Somos Todos Primos (We are all cousins) [pt] is the name of an online community radio whose first letters are a clue to the country it refers to: São Tomé and Príncipe. Both its Facebook page and Ning network have a lot of activity from listeners.

Blogging in Portuguese on Special Education

Sara Moreira — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 09:20:39 +0000

The blog Grito de Mudança (Cry for Change) [pt] gathers several articles and resources on special education and children with special needs in Portuguese language.

Sao Tome and Principe: Life and Work of the Naïve Artist Canarim

Sara Moreira — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 13:43:38 +0000

Portuguese teacher MJ Falcão, from the blog O Falcao de Jade, writes [pt] about the life and work of Pascoal Viegas, “one of the greatest Naïve painters of Sao Tome and Principe”. Pascoal Viegas, known as Canarim or Sum Canalim, lived during the colonial times, in the 19th century.

Sao Tome and Principe: Saving a Cultural Crossroads

Sara Moreira — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 20:05:26 +0000

The celebration of Sao Tome and Principe's 36th anniversary of independence, on July 12, involves cultural and traditional events being held throughout the country. These performances reflect the five centuries long colonial past of Sao Tome, during which many workers settled there for the production of sugar, cocoa and coffee. Moreover, having acted as “a transit point for ships engaged in the slave trade between the West and continental Africa”, the foreign influences in local traditions still persist to the present.

Though the Santomean “online stage” is still quite small, the blog Património de São Tomé (Heritage of Sao Tome), created in 2008 and only maintained during a school year of a class on Historical Heritage from a program on Tourism, has played a very important role in documenting the country's unique traditions. The coordinator of the class, teacher Marta Gomes, explained [pt] :

Tchiloli by Grupo Forrmiguinha da Boa Morte - São Tomé, August 2009. Video by Alexandra Dumas on YouTube.

São Tomé e Príncipe constitui um centro de congregação de vários povos. Como resultado desta mistura, temos a assimilação de várias tradições, costumes e culturas trazidas essencialmente pelas pessoas que vieram trabalhar nas ilhas a título de trabalho contratado.

Sao Tome and Principe represents the meeting place of distinct peoples. As a result of this mixture, we have the assimilation of various traditions, customs and cultures brought about mainly by people who came to work in the islands for contract work.

A port of entry for cultural influences

Sao Tome has inspired many foreign artists for creations linked to the diaspora. Such is the case of the famous Capeverdean song by Cesaria Evora Sodade (Longing) and the dramatization of the Capeverdean famine of 1947 (Fome 47, by Simentera), which lead the Portuguese colonial administration to bring hundreds of people to Sao Tome. But settlers didn't come to Sao Tome only from Portuguese speaking countries. International links from many corners of the world have become part of Santomean culture itself.

One of the most original examples of foreign influences in the country - leading some to argue [it] it is the most important - is called Tchiloli. The origin of its authorship [pt] and how it was introduced [pt] in Sao Tome is uncertain: whether it “has come from France, gone through Spain, eventually making it to Portugal” or if it was written by a blind Portuguese poet from the island of Madeira called Baltazar Dias or even if it has come from Brazil, opinions differ. What is known is that Tchiloli:

is performed by prominent men of certain quarters of the island (…). The main roles are transmitted from generation to generation. Dressed in European clothes (mainly women costumes) and wearing masks, the male actors narrate a Renaissance text with music and dance, turning this spectacle into an extravagant cultural manifestation of African and European heritage.

There are collections of citizen videos and photos available online, as well as a short documentary from 1988. In this interview titled “Masks and Myths” by Mar Filmes (with English subtitles), one of the actors explains what it takes to be part of the cast of Tchiloli:

Danço Congo (I Dance Congo), also known as The Captain's Dance, is also one of the main cultural performances and was brought to Sao Tome and Principe from Congo by workers in the colonial time. It is thoroughly described [pt] by Angolan dancer and researcher Miriam Machado as a “frenetic, colorful, spectacular theatrical dance, with a strong - almost violent - choreography”, which can be seen in a video by Alexandra Dumas on YouTube.

Danco Congo, on the blog Patrimonio de Sao Tome

Danço Congo is often staged on the celebrations of the independence day, and Miriam tells us about an interesting particularity it has:

O Danço Congo foi proibido na época colonial porque as autoridades alegavam que o seu ritmo frenético extenuava os dançarinos, diminuindo o seu rendimento no trabalho.

Danço Congo was banned during colonial times because authorities claimed that its frenetic rythms made the dancers weary, and reduced their performance at work.

Another full version of the story [pt] is also published on the blog Patrimonio de Sao Tome as told by the President of the cultural group Danço Congo Mine-Carocel de Almeirim, Libiano Frota, who regrets that the tradition is “vanishing”, due to little support from the authorities responsible for the area of culture but not only:

se eu morresse agora, o Danço de Congo morreria no mesmo instante, isto porque os jovens só querem saber de jaca, safu, mangas, cartas e futebol, nada de Danço de Congo.

if I would die now, Danço Congo would die at the exact same moment, as the youth only care about jaca, safu, mangos, cards and soccer - not Danço Congo.

A call to preserve culture

On a post in Spirito Santo's blog describing Danço Congo as “unbelievable cultural resistance”, Helder D'ava, a Santomean citizen, commented [pt]:

É pena que em S.T.P.(terra minha), tanto por parte das autoridades como das comunidades locais, estas actuações não são reconhecidas os seus potenciais valores, o que vem resultando no seu desaparecimento a cada dia que passa.

It is a shame that in STP (my land), both because of the authorities and local communities, these performances are not recognized for their potential value, which results in its disappearance as each day passes.

Danço Congo, a screenshot of Alxandra Dumas video taken from the blog Spirito Santo

Some solutions to “preserve the history of Sao Tome so that the future generations have a legacy worth of respect and appreciation” are pointed out [pt] by the students of the class on Historical Heritage:

os escritores deviam dedicarem-se mais à escrita da história (…) de todas as manifestações culturais;

a televisão São-tomense devia ter um espaço aberto para expor estas manifestações culturais;

o Estado devia actuar de forma mais activa e directa para a promoção destes grupos culturais.

Apelamos, também, à população em geral a respeitar os saberes e as tradições ancestrais como parte do património colectivo de uma nação, lançando campanhas de educação patrimonial, consciencializando as pessoas a valorizarem as suas tradições e o respeito pela diversidade cultural.

writers should devote themselves more to the writing of history (…) of all cultural performances;

Sao Tome television should have an open space to display these cultural expressions;

the State should act more actively and directly to the promotion of these cultural groups.

We also call for the general public to respect ancestral knowledge and traditions as part of the collective heritage of a nation by launching campaigns for education on heritage, to raise awareness of the value of people's traditions and [promote] respect for cultural diversity.

This post was proofread by Janet Gunter.

Sao Tome and Principe: Insight on Rare Birds

Sara Moreira — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 13:32:31 +0000

The blog Island Biodiversity Race features an expedition to learn about the birds of Sao Tome and Principe, “to show how rich and unique the biota of the islands is and at the same time, how poorly known”.

Sao Tome and Principe: Hip Hop to Provoke Thought

Sara Moreira — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 18:44:30 +0000

Abri os olhos São Tomé (Open your eyes Sao Tome) [pt] is an intervention mixed song with “controversial lyrics” by santomean rapper PekaGBoom. On the blog Nação hip Hop (Hip Hop Nation) [pt], PekaGBoom's message is described as an invitation “to meditate”.

Guinea-Bissau/Sao Tome and Principe: A Collection of Visual Arts

Sara Moreira — Sun, 08 May 2011 23:13:56 +0000

A collection of projects and experiences on visual arts in Sao Tome and Principe and Guinea-Bissau, by the french illustrator and author Alain Corbel, including illustrations, paintings and photography, is featured on the blog Noticias do Quelele (News from Quelele) [en, fr, pt].

A Blog on Music in Portuguese and Lusophone Artists

Sara Moreira — Tue, 03 May 2011 17:14:01 +0000

To learn about music in Portuguese or by Lusophone artists, visit Caipirinha Lounge [en, pt], a bilingual blog “born out of a sincere belief that Lusophone music should reach a much larger audience”.

Memories of Portuguese Decolonization

Sara Moreira — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 14:06:50 +0000

“In their dreams they still revisit Africa”, and they share their memories on the blog Retornados da África [pt]. Read the stories of those who returned to Portugal from the African colonies, after the end of the dictatorship, on April 25th, 1974.

Traditional Clothing from Lusophone Countries

Sara Moreira — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 16:01:20 +0000

ePORTUGUESe blog illustrates and writes about the traditional clothing from Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde and Guinea Bissau, to Mozambique, Portugal, Sao Tome and Principe and East Timor [pt].