Photo provided by Alexandra Philbin and used with permission. Europe’s linguistic diversity is increasingly reflected in online spaces, where regional and minority language speakers and their communities leverage digital tools and media to preserve, promote, and revitalize their language heritage. In this spirit, Rising Voices’ online campaign @EuroDigitalLang has been curating a rotating X (formerly Twitter) account. Here, language activists and advocates narrate their personal stories in their own words, engaging directly with their audience and sharing ongoing challenges as well as successe...
Global Voices
This text, written by Lucas Pedretti and edited by Thiago Domenici, was originally published on Agência Pública's website on March 27, 2024. An edited version is republished on Global Voices under a partnership agreement. In the early days of March 1985, shortly before José Sarney assumed the presidency, the National Information Service (SNI) produced a secret study, which compared the performance of intelligence agencies in democracies and in totalitarian regimes, with the title “Information in democratic regimes.” In its assessment, employing “certain methods” in democracies could represe...
Global Voices
Screenshot of RussiaPost article's page. Used with permission from RussiaPost. Based on her research, Vlada Baranova claims that the war in Ukraine has led to the ethnicization of conflicts and confrontation between the federal authorities, perceived as “Russian,” and the Indigenous population. Language and environmental activism is becoming more tinged with nationalism, as well. Her study was carried out within the framework of the Nemtsov Fund program “Known Unknowns: Studying Russia after 2022” and published by RussiaPost. Global Voices is republishing the article, edited for clarity, with ...
Global Voices
Image created using Dalle-3 by OpenArt. Nowadays, almost anybody can create audio or video recordings of celebrities or regular people acting and talking in ways they never would have by using simple, widely accessible artificial intelligence (AI) software. The rights of the people whose voices and images are being appropriated will need to be more seriously protected. Big tech companies have teamed up in a historic attempt to stop the misuse of AI in the upcoming elections throughout the world. Deepfakes continue to develop and each time with better quality, more convincing, and closer to rea...
Global Voices
Gender-based violence has crept up in the digital era in the form of online violence against women and girls, especially affecting women with political ambitions. Part of this violence entails gendered disinformation. This form of disinformation uses gender stereotypes to attack women and influence debates by promoting certain political, social or economic goals. It seeks to intimidate, discredit, humiliate and embarrass women, and push public debates. According to Byte Bullies, a report by feminist think tank Pollicy, two out of five women candidates experienced sexual harassment on their X (...
Global Voices
Screenshot of the Facebook page -A Concern Group on Shop Closure in Hong Kong (全港店舖執笠結業消息關注組), on April 11, 2024. Fair use. Since Beijing imposed the National Security Law (NSL) on Hong Kong in 2020, a large number of NGOs and independent media outlets have been shut down. After several individuals were charged with publishing seditious posts on social media, many Facebook pages were closed, and most Hongkongers set their social feeds to private and avoided commenting on public posts. The widely spread self-censorship practice led nearly all Hong Kong-based media outlets to refrain from printi...
Global Voices
A playground in the West Bank. Picture taken by Justin McIntosh, August 2004. Wikimedia Commons. (CC-BY-2.0). Since Israel's latest aggression on Gaza began in October — described as “a mass assassination factory” — the literal and actual dehumanization of Palestinians has intensified. UNICEF has labeled Gaza “a graveyard for children” and “a living hell,” as a result of Israel's severe and unrelenting attacks. UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese referred to the ‘deliberate unchilding from birth’ of Palestinians under Israel’s “forever occupation” which has caused “never-ending harm” to t...
Global Voices
Image by Arzu Geybullayeva There have been many “gates” in the history of global news, but not yet a “lobster gate.” At least, not until the members of Turkey's ruling Justice and Development party (AKP) landed in a lobster-related scandal this week. Amid the deepening cost of living crisis in Turkey, ruling party MP Şebnem Bursalı found herself at the heart of public criticism when she posted a photo of a lobster dish during her trip to Monaco. Another party member, Salih Kahraman, also shared a photo of himself on social media celebrating his birthday with a lobster dish at the center of the...
Global Voices
Ilustration made by Connectas. Used with permission. This article was written by Cristian Ascencio and published in CONNECTAS on March 20, 2024. An edited version is republished in Global Voices under a media partnership. The president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, does not like to compete. When he sees an electoral threat, he imposes sanctions or new rules on its adversaries. He doesn't let go of the ball of power. It even seems like he would rather puncture it than risk losing the match. Faced with this scenario, there is an opposition that has historically struggled uniting and standing up ...
Global Voices
A specimen of the Celestus occiduus housed at the Natural History Museum, London. Photo by Simon J. Tonge via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0 DEED. This is the same lizard species that is being repatriated to Jamaica, though not the specific specimen. Culturally, many Jamaicans have a horror of lizards, shuddering at the mere thought of one. As such, many did not share the excitement of Jamaican and British scientists over a recent announcement by the University of the West Indies (UWI) that a specimen of the Jamaican Giant Galliwasp — presumed extinct — will be going home to Jamaica on April 24,...
Global Voices
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