Global Voices

English

The world is talking, are you listening?

Carmen Alvarez Vilas, founder of the NGO Cooperación Bierzo Sur, posted on her Facebook page an album titled “12 Reasons to go back to Sao Tome and Principe”. Each image selected – from a set of photos taken ​​when she and her team volunteered in the country in the summer of 2012 – focuses a reason to return, like nature, landscapes and art.

The Democracy Index 2012 from The Economist Intelligence Unit, published on March 19, 2013, places Guinea-Bissau second to last in the ranking, just before North Korea. The same day a coalition of civil society organizations released a roadmap with concrete proposals for the restoration of constitutional order following the military coup of April 2012. The report is available [pt] in the blog of Casa dos Direitos (House of Rights)

The judicial system of Sao Tome and Principe has been in tumultuous tides. Elsa Pinto's appointment to Attorney General's Office raised objections about her judicial past and lasted no more than fifteen days [pt]. Humbah Aguiar analyzed the situation in a video [pt], Danilo Salvaterra shared on Facebook a reflection [pt] on the current state of justice in the country.

Vídeo intitulado “Porquê que os Santomenses não se indignam?”

Danilo Salvaterra published [pt] a video on Facebook that shows a young boy from São Tomé and Príncipe complaining about the general lack of basic infrastructures not only in Diogo Vaz (where the teenager lives and the video was recorded), but also in the rest of the country. He mentions access to education, sanitation, electricity, among other things.

More »

On March 6, 2013, the Minister of Youth and Sports of Sao Tome and Principe, Albertino Fernandes, presented the government's intention to train three thousand athletes, to create one thousand jobs and to build four hundred houses for young people until 2014. People present at the press conference, such as Nenesio Afonso and members of the National Youth Council (in a statement), did not believe such promises. The journalist Waldner Boa Morte denounced he was intimidated when questioning the Minister.

Photo from the album “Contemporary Portugal with São Tomé e Príncipe” from Pantalassa's Facebook page  (used with permission).

Until March 1, 2013, Pantalassa, a cultural association working with Portuguese language countries, is organizing a multidisciplinary program of artistic residences in the “marvelous islands” of São Tomé and Príncipe, together with CACAU. The mutual sharing of experiences and affections is presented in a photo-album, which is being updated throughout the project [all links in pt].

“Kallun”. Image shared on the Facebook page of KALLUN. (used with permission).

The Plataform KALLUN (meaning slang), founded by Leocarpo Mário, is a recent collaborative project with the ultimate goal of gathering in just one place all the slang with Angolan origins. Kallun enables interactive search of terms and their meanings.