2 October 2012

Stories from 2 October 2012

Puerto Rico: Urban Gardens Instead of Trash

  2 October 2012

The blog Huertas urbanas [es] (Urban Garden) highlights different efforts on the island to promote agriculture, especially the urban gardens. Of special interest is the urban garden created for the residents of the Capetillo community in San Juan, whose land was transformed from a land dump to a community garden for the...

Slovakia: Rally for Rights of “Decent People”

  2 October 2012

Last month, in response to “the worsening situation in coexistence of citizens of towns and villages with the undisciplined and antisocial fellow citizens,” residents of the town of Partizanske came up with a “Petition for increased protection of the rights of decent people” [sk]. This past weekend, over 3,000 mostly...

Yemen: The President's Speech

Many Yemenis were hoping to hear a good speech from their “elected” president highlighting Yemen's humanitarian, economic and political needs and the challenges the country is currently facing. The last thing they expected during his visit to the US was a speech praising US drones.

Brazil: Sany Kalapalo – Young, Indigenous and a Xingu Activist

  2 October 2012

Sany Kalapalo, a young indigenous from the Xingu region, is only 22 years old and is one of the more active voices against the construction of Belo Monte hydroelectric powerplant, in the Xingu river, in the Brazilian state of Pará. Meet her in the first part of this interview she gave to Global Voices Online.

Honduras: Charter Cities Threaten Garífuna Communities

  2 October 2012

The government of Porfirio Lobo recently signed an agreement to implement a variant of Charter Cities, called Special Development Regions (REDs), in Honduras. REDs can only be implemented in uninhabited land; in the case of Honduras, however, 24 Garífuna communities could be removed from their territory if the project continues its agreed course.

China: Holiday Trash

  2 October 2012

Alia from Offbeat China collected some pictures from social media platforms showing the trash scenes in touristic sites as a result of 8-day holiday for the Mid Autumn Day and the National Day.

China: Noodle and Food for 10,000 People

  2 October 2012

Liuzhou Laowai took some photos of an event called “10,000 people together enjoy luosifen” [a kind of noodle] at the Liuzhou International Convention and Exhibition Centre in Guangxi province on September 29. Apart from noodle, there are more cuisines with local favor such as BBQ scorpion sticks.

South Korean Voters Call for Longer Poll Hours

  2 October 2012

With less than three months left until the presidential election, young South Korean voters are calling for longer poll hours, clashing with the ruling conservative party. The South Korean poll generally ends at 6pm and lots of young workers, working from 9 to 6 and working under strict corporate culture, have trouble going to the poll. It is worse for six million contract workers whose employment status is always unstable.

Russia: Philanthropy Through Advertising

RuNet Echo  2 October 2012

The project “A Minute of Your Day for Good” (1minute.ru) was launched in November 2011. Users of the platform can accrue "charity minutes," which advertisers later honor in cash. Aleksey Melnicheck, co-founder of 1minute.ru, spoke to Evgeny Voropai of Greenhouses of Social Technologies about the problems of virtual charity in Russia and Western trends in fundraising.

Colombia: Citizens Support Lawsuit Against Lleras Law

  2 October 2012

In their blog, [es] Fundación Karisma [es] reports that they have joined other organizations in a “supportive intervention” in Senator Camilo Romero's [es] lawsuit against the constitutionality of Law 1520 [pdf, es], also known as Lleras Law 2.0. Fundación Karisma shares links to two Citizen Interventions [es] which lay out their requests before the Constitutional...