April, 2013

Stories from April, 2013

Campesino Resistance in Honduras

  30 April 2013

Chavelo’s voice was quiet but unwavering as [he] expressed his gratitude that we traveled all the way from the U.S. and Canada with the human rights and solidarity organization Rights Action to hear his story. […] Chavelo recounted briefly how he ended up in the prison, emphatically stating that, “I...

Yemeni General Apologizes for 1994 Civil War on Facebook

Waving flags of a country that once existed, thousands assembled in former cities that used to make up South Yemen on 27 April 2013, to commemorate the day the north declared war on their people and occupied their land, nineteen years ago. The same day, the President's chief military advisor issued an apology on Facebook for all "unjust wars" declared by former President Saleh's regime.

Cartoon: Girls Prevented from Leaving Kyrgyzstan

  30 April 2013

A father had a bad dream which now troubles him. So, he decides that his daughter will not travel anywhere. He takes away her passport and air tickets while she is sleeping, but the daughter takes the documents back. Finally, the father decides to lock his daughter at home to prevent her from leaving.

Open Letter to Blogger Yoani Sánchez

  29 April 2013

Journalist and Global Voices author, Leila Nachawati, writes an open letter [es] to Cuban blogger Yoani Sánchez, who has been touring the United States, Latin America and Europe talking about Cuban technopolitics. Sánchez has been embraced by some, and criticized by others during her voyage. In her open letter, the Spanish-Syrian...

Marijuana in China

  29 April 2013

Chengdu Living has an interesting post on the potential disappearance of relatively free weed smoking atmosphere in China as the police has recently started to crack down on Marijuana trade.

China Earthquake Donation Protected by Spell

  29 April 2013

Hong Kong based inmediahk.net's Facebook page shared an image circulated widely on Chinese social media which shows spells written on money, that says, “This is a donation for a Ya'an earthquake victim, those who dare to misuse this money will go to hell.”

Do All Miss Korea Contestants Look Alike?

  29 April 2013

The web was abuzz over the photo of 20 of South Korean pageant contestants who all look uncannily alike, and jeering comments were made against South Korean women's beauty standards. However, some Korean net users, pointing out some media coverage can be misleading, posted another photos of contestants which people can...

Brazilian Cartoonist Inspires Kissing Protest

  28 April 2013

Images of people kissing went viral on Facebook, blogs and Twitter in Brazil, under the hashtags #beijaço (protest by kissing) and #Laerte. Strips by Laerte published on Folha de São Paulo newspaper, triggered the ‘protest by kissing’ against the anti-gay preacher Marco Feliciano, recently elected Brazil Human Rights Committee Head.

Impartial Justice Wanted in Côte d'Ivoire

  28 April 2013

Human Rights Watch reports that there is still work to do to achieve impartial justice in the post-2010-11 elections crisis in Côte d'Ivoire: The ICC’s one-sided approach has legitimized the same approach by Ivorian judicial authorities and undermined perceptions of the ICC’s impartiality.  

Surprise Candidates for Madagascar Elections

  28 April 2013

Update:  Here is the full list of the 49 candidates [fr] for the presidential elections. It does not include the current president of the transition. As the deadline to submit candidacies for the Malagasy presidential elections ends today (28/04), a few surprising candidates have allegedly come forth. While the earlier candidates...

Kazakhstan's First Ever Lesbian Wedding

  27 April 2013

This was a real wedding. With limousines. With friends and guests. With champagne. With congratulatory speeches. You might ask, "but what about the law?" You see, love does not recognize the law. This is why the wedding took place. However, it was not [registered by the state]. Same-sex marriage are not allowed [in Kazakhstan].