Covering South America for the Global Voices-ISN partnership

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I have been part of a joint project between Global Voices and ISN, a Swiss open-access Think Tank on International Relations and Security, aiming to "explore international relations and security through the lens of people who express themselves in online citizen media" around de world.

Since May 2012, the team of editors and authors has covered dozens of countries on a large number of hot international topics, (the whole list of posts can be reached on this special coverage page).

As you could expect, I focused my post on South America, particularly the Andean region and Bolivia, paying attention to ongoing conflicts and key development issues at this part of the planet.

This is the list of my five published articles out of this partnership.

• Bolivia: Development at What Cost? New Conflict Over TIPNIS Road
• Bolivia: Anti-US Rhetoric Harming its Diplomatic Relations?
• Combating Cocaine Production in Bolivia, Colombia and Peru
• Stormy Waters? The Maritime Border Disputes between Bolivia, Chile and Peru
• Latin America after Chávez: Change and Continuity

All of this articles have been primarily translated to French, Spanish and Arabic.

I would like to thank the editors from ISN and Global Voices, as well as my fellow authors for their  assistance and collaboration on this articles. A wonderful experience that I very much look forward to repeating in the future.

Constitution of the Republic of Užupis

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Vilnius, Lithuania's capital, is a fantastic city. It contains a lot of European energy from different sources and angles: A lot of heritage as a result of centuries of rich history, more recent [and needless to say] strong traces of the Soviet era, as well as an attractive personality. Particularly the bohemian Užupis.

The district of Užupis is located right next to Vilnius Old Town. In 1997, Užupis declared its independence. Ever since, they have a government, a flag, an army and, of course, a constitution.

Whether symbolic or not, Užupis offers an environment to see the world in a different perspective. To make sense of what I say, have a look at this group of photos from Užupis and also  this other set from Vilnius.

Furthermore, have a look at the 41-article Constitution of the Republic of Užupis in Vilnius in 77 seconds:

You also can read it on this blog post.