terça-feira, 2 de setembro de 2014

Flying over Macau



Some notes from the author of this amazing video, my friend Sérgio Perez:
 
«"Flying Over Macau" is a personal project of mine, done throughout weekends. many nights and early mornings, with my good friend Pedro Luz, who gave me great support.
 
I did this video to showcase Macau through a different perspective. As we focus, in our daily lives, on the rush, stress and pace of the city, surrounded by it, we often forget how beautiful and unique it is. What if we could just fly up, if for only a moment -a day- look at it from high above, as if in the clouds, and enjoy it, without concern of time? I hope this takes you on a journey, through the clouds, above the limited perception of the "Asia's Las Vegas" stereotype, allowing you to see a glimpse of the beauty of this unique city in China, the result of more than 450 years of the coexistence in harmony of the East and the West, the Chinese and Portuguese.

Let the music play and the imagery take you on this small journey above the clouds...

Videography, Editing and Camera Operation by: Sérgio Perez
Technical Consultant and Cooperation: Pedro Luz

Special thanks to my friend Elisabela Larrea for that 6am support and help in a difficult shooting day!

Sorry for the watermark and © with name, but I've been stolen footage before, this is the safest way to prevent it.

For better viewing on a TV Screen or big display, download the source 1080p video!»

terça-feira, 26 de agosto de 2014

A notícia das detenções na imprensa britânica

Five organisers of unofficial referendum arrested in Macau
Detention of volunteers gives rise to fear over freedom of speech in former Portuguese colony
 
A view over Taipa, the lesser of Macau's two islands and home to many of the city's 33 casinos.
A view over Taipa, the lesser of Macau's two islands and home to many of the city's 33 casinos. Photograph: Press

The Guardian
August 25, 2014
 
Authorities in the semi-autonomous Chinese city Macau have detained five organisers of an unofficial political referendum, amid fears of tightening restrictions on freedom of speech in the former Portuguese colony.
Soon after organisers opened an unofficial seven-day "civil referendum" on Sunday morning, police shut down electric polling stations across the city. They detained five volunteers, including Jason Chao Teng-hei, the leader of Open Macau Society, one of the vote's organisers. Chao was charged with "serious disobedience with police" and referred for prosecution. All five volunteers have been released.
The referendum, which was inspired by a similar ballot organised by Hong Kong activists in June, asked Macau residents if they were satisfied with the rule of Fernando Chui, the territory's chief executive, and whether they would support universal suffrage in future elections.
Currently, the chief executive is elected by an elite committee of 400 people, most of whom are business-focused and loyal to Beijng. Chui, the son of a construction tycoon, will almost certainly be re-elected next Sunday for a second five-year term. He has called the ballot unlawful.
As of Monday evening about 5,700 of Macau's 600,000 residents had cast votes.
"It is inherently illegitimate for personal information to be collected and handled for the purpose of the so-called civil referendum," Yang Chongwei, deputy coordinator of the Office for Personal Data Protection, a government agency, said at a press conference following the arrests. The office had warned the organisers before the vote opened that the ballot violated the territory's privacy law, according to local media.
The ballot asked for participants' phone and ID card numbers to prevent fraudulent voting. "We had asked [voters'] permission first before we collected their identity cards and related information," Bill Chou, vice president of the New Macau Group, another ballot organiser, told Reuters. "There is no reason for the police and other law enforcers to intervene and to arrest our people in charge."
Like its neighbour Hong Kong, Macau is officially a part of China but enjoys a free press, an independent judiciary, and civil liberties unknown on the mainland. Yet critics say that these freedoms have been slowly eroding under pressure from Beijing. Earlier this month Bill Chou Kwok-Ping, an associate professor of political science at the University of Macau, said the university would not renew his contract because of his social activism. Chou was elected vice president of the New Macau Association, the territory's most prominent pro-democratic group, in June. The university denied that he was suspended for his beliefs.
Another professor in Macau, Eric Sautedé of the University of St Joseph, was sacked in June, also ostensibly for his political outspokenness.
Although Macau residents are generally considered less politically active than their Hong Kong counterparts, the territory has been gripped this summer by a wave of political activism. In May 20,000 people gathered to protest against a bill that would give the chief executive power over the courts – perhaps the territory's biggest protest since 1999, when it was handed back to Chinese rule. The following month 2,000 people gathered to mark the 25th anniversary of Beijing's 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Tiananmen Square.

segunda-feira, 25 de agosto de 2014

Polícia de Macau faz detenções no referendo pela democracia

A peça é do Público de hoje e noticia comportamentos das autoridades de Macau que vão na esteira de outras situações recentes de repressão da actividade de académicos locais. O território parece estar a trilhar caminhos sombrios; neste caso concreto, também com culpas históricas para Portugal, que, ao contrário do Reino Unido, não foi capaz de garantir que a Lei Básica de Macau previsse a evolução do seu sistema eleitoral para o sufrágio universal.