Stories about French from September, 2007
Morocco: Berbers can be blonde
Major media outlets and bloggers went into a frenzy a few days ago when a blurry photograph taken by a Spanish tourist in Morocco's Rif mountain region showed a small blonde girl bearing a strong resemblance to missing British child Madeleine McCann perched on the back of a Moroccan woman. As it turns out, the photo was not of Maddie but of a 2-year-old Moroccan girl. What do Moroccans think of this matter? Jillian York has the story.
World Reaction to the UN Declaration on Indigenous Rights
In every society in which they find themselves, the world's 370 million indigenous peoples are among the most vulnerable and marginalized. After over 22 years of negotiations and consultations, the United Nations approved the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples earlier this month, a broad, non-binding agreement articulating basic...
Morocco: Morocco Welcomes New Prime Minister
Following the September 7 elections, Moroccan King Mohammed VI appointed a new prime minister, Abbas el-Fassi, to replace Driss Jettou, who had served in that position since 2002. El-Fassi, who may be best known for a failed business operation involving an Emirati cruise ship (which left many hopeless young men vying for jobs and lead a few to commit suicide), is a member of the winning Istiqlal (Independence) party. Read how the Moroccan blogopshere reacted in this post by Jillian York.
Morocco: Blogger honored in mainstream publication
Prolific Moroccan blogger Larbi (fr) was recently honored as one of “100 who move Morocco” in TelQuel magazine, writes the blogger himself.
Banned Chlordecone Pesticide in Used in Martinique
le blog de [moi] writes that the pesticide chlordecone has been used in the French Antilles as recently as 2002, despite being banned in the United States since 1976 and in France since 1991. Although the scandal broke five years ago, [moi] says the most damning details were kept quiet...
African NGOs Learn Web 2.0
The blog of AZUR Developpement, a Congolese NGO, writes about a recent training in “Web 2.0″ (Fr) technologies held with members of le Réseau Sida Afrique from Togo, DR Congo, and Republic of Congo. Participants learned how to organize email lists using Yahoo Groups, talk for free on Skype and...
France: DNA Testing for Immigrants
Vous reprendrez bien un peu d'humanisme? critiques a UMP-proposed amendment (Fr) to require legal immigrants in France who want their immediate family members to immigrate under a family reunification scheme to submit to DNA tests so prove they are related. Humanisme thinks the plan unconstitutional, hypocritical and an affront to...
Madagascar: Young and desperate, will emigrate
An allegedly bogus employment firm is in legal trouble in Madagascar. The firm called, Gateway Global Consultants, and headed by a certain Steve Turmel, an international consultant, who is now facing an interdiction to leave the country, had promised to thousands of Malagasies a job in the Bahamas for the...
Lebanon: Historic dates and decline of Lebanese blogosphere
Phil at Libanismes (Fr) notes three historic dates that greatly affected the Lebanese blogosphere during the past two years. The first was February 2005, the date of the assassination of Rafiq Hariri. The second was July 2006, during the Israeli war against Lebanon. The third is the year 2007, which...
Introducing Global Voices in Malagasy
The Malagasy language is spoken by 17 million people, and is the national language of Madagascar. It is only the 55th most spoken language in the world, but it is still one of the 69 macro languages. Welcome to the latest new Global Voices language in the Lingua translation project. With the Global Voices amin’ny teny Malagasy project we hope to reach even more previously "unheard" voices.
Sassou's postcard from the Riviera
Vous reprendrez bien un peu d'humanisme reposts a satirical “postcard” by MwindaPress from the Congolese president to his people about all the fun he's having in France and Spain: “We found ourselves in good company, a lot of whites, a lot of businessmen who swear by my greatness, my good...
Famed Musician Rossy Returns to Madagascar
Rossy's back! (Fr) Harinjaka writes that Rossy, a.k.a. Paul-Bert Rahasimanana, arguably Madagascar's most famous musician, is back in his native country, which he left for France following the violently contested 2002 presidential election. Hari also posts a video of Rossy's newest release.
Morocco: Low Voter Turnout
The September 7 Moroccan legislative elections brought surprising results...and surprisingly low voter turnout. What do Moroccan bloggers think about the winning party? Jillian York has the story.
Morocco election photoblog lets voters talk politics with pictures
Millions of Moroccans headed to the polls today to take part in a political process many lament will only offer the Moroccan people more of the same. So if voters aren't particularly enthused, who could blame them? It's Morocco's eighth parliamentary elections since 1960, but as Amazigh Blog (fr) wrote...
It's time for non-Western IMF leadership
Convention Pour Une Nouvelle Guadeloupe criticizes the probable selection of a European (Fr) as the next head of the IMF, writing that it's time for someone from Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean or Africa to take the helm; global governance needs to be reformed so that it “takes into account...
Tunisian society “drifting toward the extremes”
Mouwaten Tounsi (Fr) reads two articles, one on a man who married his wife, twice, and took a second in a religious marriage, the another, the popularity of hymenoplasty, and concludes Tunisian society is “drifting toward the extremes” and is in the process of “losing its moderate middle class.”
Niger: Civilians targeted by government forces, says rebel group
The blog of Mouvement des Nigeriens pour la justice, a tuareg rebel group in Niger, writes that the retreating government army killed several civilians (Fr) during a recent fight. MNJ calls the government's actions “vengeance upon the innocent.”
D. R. of Congo: Trouble in the Kivus
This month’s round-up from the Democratic Republic of Congo will focus on bloggers in North and South Kivu. Bordering Rwanda and Burundi, these two provinces represent the troubled epicenter of Central Africa’s picturesque Great Lakes region.
Morocco: More on the Upcoming September 7 Elections
The September 7 Moroccan legislative elections are just one week away. Last week, we heard from Moroccan bloggers about the voting and elections process; this week we'll hear more about the different political parties and expected outcomes.
Happy Blog Day 2007
It's the third annual international day of hyperlinked love - Blog Day 2007. The Global blogosphere has grown tremendously since Israeli blogger Nir Ofir first came up with the idea of every blogger introducing five new bloggers to his or her readership. With the help of Global Voices authors, editors, and translators, here is a small sampling of how bloggers across the world chose to commemorate the event.
