Global Voices

English

The world is talking, are you listening?

Website Tugaleaks, which aims to serve since December 2010 as Portugal's Wikileaks, had its bank account for donations arbitrarily closed on July 13 with no official communication [pt]. Tugaleaks contributors were finally told the account had been closed based on Act 25/2008 [pt] of money laundering and terrorist financing, which they contested and thus concluded: “We must bother lots of people, for sure”.

On the blog No que tange, Maycon Lopes shares [pt] his experiences of being a homosexual in Brazil, where homophobia “motivates terrible killings”, and compares to situations he faced while living in Portugal for a year: “Portuguese society isn't violent [...] however gays aren't so on sight”. He felt an “apparent invisibility” of LGBT in the country.

Watch the footage [en/pt] of Laísa Sampaio's speech at the UN on February, as she received a posthumous tribute to her sister Maria do Espírito Santo and brother-in-law José Cláudio, closing the International Year of Forests. Because of their efforts to protect the forest, they were killed. Laísa says “the Amazon is stained in blood” and demanded policies to support sustainable livelihoods.

Tai Oliver reported on Quartoamarelo Ateliê studio Facebook page [pt] about recent abuses involving the Navy and Rio dos Macacos quilombo community in Bahia, Brazil, which struggles against eviction threats since February. She says the Navy, in control of the quilombo's entrance, denied access to four residents (woman, three children) on July 7, and to black movements and a theater group on July 8.

Johannes Myburgh ‏ shared on Twitter the Mozambique Media Landscape guide, which he helped produce with Infosaid media project. Radio is considered the country's “most important channel of communication”, but Infosaid highlights independent and electronic newspapers – such as Faísca, Whampula Faz and Global Voices partner @Verdade [pt] – as “innovative ways of producing and distributing” news.

Internet activists are discussing the civic framework (“marco civil”) for internet in Brazil, to be voted on National Congress today. Mega Yes Movement [pt] says the framework will establish fundamental rights online, and urges netizens to read [pt], tweet (#MarcoCivil), and petition about it. Mega Yes activists previously engaged on a Mega No to the Digital Crimes Bill.

Besides providing numbers of international observers and media correspondents on site for the July 7 elections, the Technical Secretariat of Electoral Management (STAE) used its Facebook page to share photos of personnel counting votes on paper ballots, in Dili. The procedure was followed by observers, members of political parties and citizens.

A Laje newspaper features complaints and stories of “street dwellers demanding respect” in the city of Curitiba, Brazil. Produced by the National Movement of Street Dwellers (MNPR) in partnership with students of the group Communication and Education for People at the Federal University of Paraná, the newspaper intends to reach readers also on the blogosphere [pt] and on Facebook [pt].