Stories from 3 October 2011
Chile: With Therapeutic Abortion Up for Vote, Chile is Pro-Tweet
As Chile’s Senate decides whether to join the all but five countries around the world that allow therapeutic abortion, Chileans are signing on to social networks en masse to talk straight to politicians about the topic. Katie Manning reports.
Ukraine: President Yanukovych in The Simpsons?
The newest episode of cartoon The Simpsons went viral in Ukraine after it humorously portrayed the country and a Kiev mafioso named Victor, who, as many netizens pointed out, resembled the Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych.
Puerto Rico: Occupy Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico has joined the occupation movement that has spread across the United States, and they are also using Facebook and Twitter to communicate and share information.
USA: Occupy Together
The website Occupy Together offers a wealth of information on the social movements catalyzing in many cities in the United States and in other countries around the world against corporate greed and corruption.
Philippines: Fake Government Photo Spawns Meme
Online furor over a Philippine government agency's posting of a fabricated photo showing officials 'inspecting' a typhoon-struck street has spawned a meme wherein netizens make their own versions of the officials superimposed on different locations.
Cape Verde: Fishing Agreement with European Union
Cape-verdean journalist Odair Varela, on his blog, makes a critical analysis [pt] to the new agreement between Cape Verde's government and the European Union for the exploitation of the country's vast fishing resources.
Cape Verde: Cesaria Evora Retires
Momar niang posted on their blog: “Following the advice of her Paris doctors to cancel her upcoming tour, Cesaria and her manager and producer José da Silva have agreed that she should retire once and for all. In doing so Cesaria is relinquishing the itinerant life that has taken...
Portugal: Watchdog of Public Domain
A blog that aims to act as a watchdog of public domain in Portugal [pt] and beyond was recently launched.
Cuba: Suppressing an “Arab Spring”
“General Raúl Castro will not permit an Arab Spring in Cuba,” explains Iván García, adding: “Those who publicly oppose the Castros, whether through a blog, web, opposition party or shouting in the streets…are not enemies. The enemies are the corrupt procreated by the regime itself and the clans that emerged...
Curacao: Changes Needed in Court of Justice
“A Dutch European lawyer indiscriminately lambasting a prime minister and a party leader in front of four innocent new judges…indoctrinating them from day one how to judicially digest post-colonial power struggles from a sole Dutch white privileged position is borderline dangerous”: TRIUNFO DI SABLIKA thinks it's time for “this constant...
Zambia: Appointment of White Vice President Causes Online Buzz
The shocking, but not entirely unexpected, appointment of Zambia's new Vice President Guy Scott has created buzz online. Scott is an indigenous white Zambian. Gershom Ndhlovu reports.
Trinidad & Tobago: Making Our Own Films
In a review republished at Trinidad and Tobago News Blog, Corey Gilkes found that the cricket documentary, Fire in Babylon, “showed just how important it is that WE need to start telling our own stories from our perspective.”
Colombia: Mining Debate Continues as New Minister is Appointed
Colombians are using social networks, blogs and YouTube to comment on issues related to mining in the country, like its effects on the environment, the appointment of a new Minister of Mining, and the murder of Father Reinel Restrepo, leader of a movement against the exploitation of mines.
Chile: September 29 Student Protests in Photos
Adam Isacson links to a Flickr photostream with photos by Marcos S. González Valdés of the latest student protest which took place on September 29. The images, as Adam Isacson points out, are under a Creative Commons license.
Panama: The Struggle Against Mining
Joao Q in Mediocerrado [es] wonders “What happened to the anti-mining struggle in Panama?”, and attempts to bring the issue of mining back to the public discussion with a post on the subject.
Colombia: ‘The Poetess of La Candelaria’
Mike blogs about Johanna Henry, a woman who hands out poems “for a small contribution” in a plaza in Bogotá: “I don't know her history well, but her roots are in San Andres, a Carribean island which is probably Colombia's most unlikely territory. She's also lived in different parts of...
Bermuda: What's the Plan?
“What Bermuda needs is a plan. Multiple plans actually: a retail plan, an international business plan, a tourism plan” – and Politics.bm is afraid that the government doesn't actually have one.
Guyana: Dreaming of a Better Day
“I’s just one gal standing on a shore that's clutter-up with garbage, staring towards me horizon”: Still, Guyana-Gyal can dream.
Brazil: Historic Speech at UN for Brazil's First Female President
Dilma Rousseff, the first female president elected in Brazil, has also become the first woman to open an annual meeting of the General Assembly of United Nations, on September 21. The historical speech is discussed and debate by bloggers.
Equatorial Guinea: 11 Luxury Cars Belonging to Obiang's Son Seized in Paris
11 luxury cars belonging to the son of Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, president of Equatorial Guinea were seized [fr] on September 28 in Paris, as part of the undergoing “Ill-Gotten Gains” investigation. Tokinambo reacts to the news on the togocity blog [fr] : “O Africa, a president's son can own 11 luxury...
China: What Lu Xun can teach us about modern-day China?
Andy Yee translated a section of an imaginary dialogue on whether China is any better than it was 100 years ago between newspaper editor Pan Caifu and prominent Chinese modern thinker and literature founder Lu Xun in Lu Xun's 130th birth anniversary on September 25, 2011.
