CATEGORY: Brazil

Brazilian schoolgirl threatened with death for Facebook page exposing school problems

by | 01 Mar 13

A thirteen-year old Brazilian girl claims she has faced death threats through a Facebook community page she created to denounce problems in her school. Isadora Faber created Diário de Classe (or “Classroom Diary”) in July 2012 to “show the truth about public schools,” as she writes on the page description, leading her to become an internet celebrity and a teen champion of free speech through new media. Isadora filled the page with updates on life at Maria Tomázia Coelho School in Florianópolis — capital of the southern state of Santa Catarina — addressing problems in the school including exposed wires, damaged doors, transparency issues and improper teaching practice. On 17 February, Isadora alerted her 581,000 subscribers to a message published on Diário de […]

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Cuban dissident faces protests during Brazil tour

by | 20 Feb 13

Cuban dissident and blogger Yoani Sánchez is having a hard time on her visit to Brazil, facing demonstrations by pro-Castro protesters. One of the most prominent free-speech Cuban activists, Sánchez arrived in Brazil on Sunday (17 February) for a round of conferences and events in the northeastern state of Bahia and federal capital Brasília. On Monday 18 February, Sánchez was at Feira de Santana (in Bahia) where she would attend a presentation of a documentary about the Cuban regime, but the violence of the protestors caused the event to be cancelled. The demonstrators accused Sánchez’s blog Generación Y of spreading anti-Cuban propaganda. Some of the protesters went as far as denouncing her as a representative of imperialism and a CIA agent. Senator […]

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