Stories about Portuguese from August, 2010
Brazil: Bolivian Immigration in Numbers
Journalist Leonardo Sakamoto questions on his blog [pt], the official statistic placing Bolivia in the fortieth position as a source of immigrants to Brazil. An activist against slave labor, Sakamoto comments that hundreds come in yearly and are often explored in underemployment jobs, particularly in the greater São Paulo area.
Angola: “Alambamento” and Marriage Practices
In Angola, there is quite strong cultural tradition of the asking of the hand of bride in marriage, called alambamento. Considered by some more important that the civil or christian marriage, the alambamento consists of a series of rituals, like the delivery of a letter, material goods and money.
Guinea-Bissau: An Armored Mercedes Benz
António Aly Silva on Ditadura de Consenso [pt] tells of the battles between the widow of assassinated head of state Nino Vieira and the President over an armored Mercedes Benz, given by Muammar al-Gaddafi. He then mentions other security measures taken by politicians – saying “but here, in this country,...
Angola: Armament Compared with Brazil and Israel
Every week the Em angola blog posts some figures about the country. This week, on war and violence, Gabriel Toueg makes a comparison between Angola, Brazil and Israel, concerning both legal and illegal armament.
Brazil: Scholar Blog on Citizen Media
Brazilian blog Mídia Cidadã [Citizen Media, pt] is the support platform for an academic research on “citizen communication and socio-cultural transformations” which intends to foster “the role of networked virtual media in the construction of a new paradigm of sociability”.
East Timor: (Un)Dignified Sculptures of Women in Shangai World Expo 2010
In response to recent statements by a Timorese deputy, who reportedly implied that the statues of naked women at the Timor Leste Pavillion in Shanghai World Expo 2010 are not appropriate, João Paulo Esperança critically wonders [pt] if East Timorese women would be considered deprived of dignity in the past, when they...
Brazil: Competition Turns Blogs into Books
The idea is to turn the best Brazilian blogs to books, and the competition [pt] is open until September 12th. The participants can vote and apply through fifteen different categories, including Ecology & Environment, Religion and, a special topic for 2010, Sports.
Guinea Bissau: Videos about Water Scarcity
Blog Novas da Guiné Bissau shares the video Bafatá Misti Iagu (Bafatá Wants Water) [pt], describing a project that promotes the access to water for 22.000 people in the city of Bafatá. The issue of lack of access to safe water in Guinea Bissau had been previously reported in a documentary...
Cape Verde: Debates on Youth and Politics Happening in Portugal
There is a group of Cape Verdean citizens who occasionally organize meetings in Lisbon to discuss the relations between youth and politics, as Suzano Costa explains in a video [pt] republished by Amilcar Tavares. In their blog – Tertúlia Crioula [pt] – one can read the notes taken from “Cape Verde in...
Portugal: Online Conversation on Poliamory
PolyPortugal blog [pt] is an online community that discusses poliamory in Portugal and supports sexual diversity in general.
Sao Tome & Principe: Revolt Against Water Diverted from Hospital
In the past few months, a heated discussion animated the blogosphere of Sao Tome and Principe, on a public health problem that apparently has already been solved. Until last week, there was no water running from the taps of Ayres de Menezes Hospital, but its director now assures that the issue has been taken care of.
Brazil: Dona Delma on Twitter
“Dona Delma” has been on the worldwide Trending Topics for a week and , so far, most Twitter users haven't figured out the real meaning of it. Blog Hiper-Tension, copies [pt] the original post [pt] from a Brazilian Orkut's community, explaining the practical joke which consists of simply adding “Dona...
Brazil: Sex and Politics
Blog Futepoca [pt] posts a collection of videos from a federal deputy candidate for the next Brazilian elections in October. In the videos, Jeferson Camillo intends to show that he supports diversity: he is featured with women at a Motel and with a transvestite to give the idea that he...
Brazil: Indigenous Camp Resists for Eight Months in Brasilia
Since the beginning of this year, members of different indigenous Brazilian nations have settled a "revolutionary camp" out in front of the Ministry of Justice in Brasília D.F. The indigenous communities demand for the annulment of a decree on matters related to them, which was approved in the end of 2009 without consulting indigenous leaders.
Brazil: Gay Kiss Prejudice
Rafael Ximenes writes [pt] about the controversy in a university within the state of Minas Gerais, where the promotion poster for the 3rd Congress on Public Policy / Social Services depicts two women kissing. The teacher who decided to use the image has been fired and the case ended up...
Mozambique: Discussing Culture of Work in Africa
The statement that was made by the billionaire Mo Ibrahim, during his recent visit to Mozambique, saying that “Africans don't have a culture of work”, drew a response from Rui Guerra at blog Prestigío [pt]. Blog ma-schamba [pt] goes even further with a deep reflection on the way Mozambican people...
Brazil: The Indigenous, The Internet and Interculturality
Ever more present in villages, technology has been gaining ground as an efficient means to ensure the indigenous lifestyle and culture. Tools like Google Earth and GPS aid reforestation efforts and help combat deforestation.
Angola: Hard Days for Freedom of Press
Isabel Bordalo, a portuguese journalist working in Angola, in her blog, says that the press in that country is going through hard days [pt]. She refers to an episode that happened last week with the newspaper A Capital which was impeded to go out allegedly due to an article about...
Portugal: Blogging Against Military Action
Blog Anti-Nato Portugal [pt, es] denounces that the United States has denied making available, in the aid effort to Pakistan, the 19 helicopters destined to the war in Afghanistan. Bloggers cite a military high official, who in a press conference, confirmed that the decision was up to Washington and that the...
Brazil: New Forestry Code = The Right to Deforestation?
An area of the Amazon equivalent to the size of England and France put together could be destroyed if changes proposed to the Brazilian Forestry Code come into force. The blogosphere reacts.
Brazil: Online Sexting, Social Media and Parental Responsibility
A couple of Brazilian underage teenagers practicing "Sexting" were watched live by over 25,000 people. Together with the couple, between 3 and 10,000 internet users may have downloaded and distributed the video and are now being investigated.