Posted by Paula Góes to Global Voices Online The highly sensitive Brazilian blogosphere is fizzing after a famous brand of beverage decided to invest in blogs as the main vehicle to market its latest product. Nine prominent bloggers were cherry picked and received a fancy USB mini fridge with a new product to be tested […]
Brazil: Blogs banned from the 2008 elections
by Paula Góes Brazil is warming up for local elections later this year, in October, when voters will go to the polls to choose their local government representatives. The Supreme Electoral Court [the TSE, the Portuguese acronym for Tribunal Superior Eleitoral] has just passed the regulations for voting, and again, the opportunity to better discuss […]
French Author Stéphane Hessel Mourned By International Activists
Written by Emmanuelle Leroy Cerqueira · Translated by Alison Writer, human rights advocate, and French resistance fighter Stéphane Hessel [1], whose bestselling manifesto on peaceful uprising inspired the disenchanted of Europe and the United States to organize into protest [2], died on the night of February 26, 2013. He was 95. Hessel came to the worldwide recognition […]
Honduras crisis triggers international relations debate in Brazil
There has been much discussion about the constitutional right to oust Honduras president Manuel Zelaya. The crisis itself has made the headlines in many countries and many Latin American bloggers, including Brazilians, are contributing to the debate on the events. Brazil has now been involved in an unusual diplomatic situation. Even though there is as […]
Mozambique: House of the Flying Azagaias
In the past couple of weeks, the Mozambican blogosphere played host to debate on the role of hip-hop and the nature of legitimate “social critique”. This debate actually started two years ago [pt], except that in past weeks it has reached a new fervor. One group of influential voices in the Mozambican blogosphere until recently […]
Brazil: Petroleum, elections and poverty matters
On Friday 15th of May, the Brazilian Congress launched an investigation into the giant state-run oil company Petrobras. The initiative was started by government leaders of the opposition PSDB party. They set up what Brazilians call a Parliamentary Inquiry Commission (CPI is the abbreviation in Portuguese) to scrutinize supposed irregularities in the company. Meanwhile, on […]