Stories about Governance from July, 2006
Haiti: Investment Made Easier
Collectif Haiti de Provence points to (Fr) a Radio Metropole article about the launch of a new Center for the Facilitation of Investment thanks to a grant by USAID. Thanks to the Center, “a corporation can be formed in 4 days as opposed to the 264 it took in the...
Haiti: Protesters Ask for Debt Cancellation
Collectif Haiti de Provence points (Fr) to a Radio Signal FM article stating: “Tens of Haitian alternative globalization activists protested Tuesday in front of a Port-au-Prince hotel where international delegations were participating in a meeting of donors to Haiti. The protestors, students for the most part, demanded the cancellation of...
Martinique, France: Tribu Ka Suspended
France's Council of Ministers recently decided to dissolve Tribu Ka, a Black nationalist French group, accusing it of anti-semitism. French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy claims the group posted a graphic of a chimpanzee holding a star of David on their website. Martinique's Le Blog de [Moi] agrees (Fr) that Tribu...
Voices from the Caucasus
Russian tourists rest in the shade in the Novy Afon (New Athos) monastery near the capital of the Georgian breakaway region of Abkhazia – by eurutuf What follows is a roundup of notable blog conversations from the Caucasus that took place over the last week. For a change, how about...
India: A brief history of censorship
Mitesh Vasa compiles information on what got censored in India over the last fifteen years. “Nonetheless, what I present is a compilation of raw facts about the history of State-ordered bans by India. And do let me know if you know any event that I missed here. “
India: Open source and the Allahabad High Court
Thejesh links to High Court Allahabad's website, which comes across as rather user friendly and promotes the use of open-source, and reflects on open standards and the public sector.
Bolivia: Constituent assembly update
Miguel Centallas has an update on Bolivia's Constituent assembly.
Malaysia: Online Freedom
Malaysian opposition politician Lim Kit Siang is asking the Prime Minister to give assurance that online media would not be censored in Malaysia. The call comes after the Prime Minister and other cabinet ministers made negative comments about blogs and online media in general.
Albania: Little Progress in Anti-Corruption
Our Man in Tirana cites a World Bank study, which declares that in terms of instituting anti-corruption reforms, “Albania remains the worst performer among all transition countries.”
Thailand: Thai King's Biography
Bookish in Thailand rounds up what other bloggers are saying about a new biography on Thailand's king. Thailand usually bans books or movies that shows the monarchy in negative light. The blogger is looking forward to reading the book and says “As much as I respect the King and his...
Brunei: National Flag
The Daily Brunei Resources blog digs up the history of Brunei's national flag. The flag has been in use for 100 years now.
Martinique: More Prison for Wife Burners
Bien Vu deplores (Fr) 15 recent cases of women set afire by their husbands in Martinique. Some have been severely injured, others have died reports the blogger. He says: “even after the perpetrators have been found guilty, they remain a danger to their wives. We hope to see these individuals...
France, DOM-TOM: Victory against housing discrimination
Reunion-based Pierrot Dupuy, himself the father of a victim of housing discrimination in France announces (Fr) advocacy group CollectifDOM’s legal victory in the area of housing discrimination against French citizens from the French Overseas Departments and Territories (DOM-TOM) living in France. From here on, landlords can no longer ask for...
Bulgaria: Travelling From Romania
Andy H of Csikszereda Musings writes about his travel to and in Bulgaria.
Serbia: Macedonian Gastarbeiters
Dictionary of the Serbian Mess writes about Macedonian miners working at Serbian mines.
Poland: “Rightwards Shift”
Europhobia suspects something wrong may be taking place in Poland's politics.
Bangladesh: Cops in the Country
Dhrishtipat on the state of the police in Bangladesh by providing links to contemporary issues that involve the police.
DRC: As Elections Approach, the Congo's Bloggers Discuss Recent Violence, Media Repression and the Limits of Foreign Aid
With the July 30th elections just days away, many pro-opposition Congolese bloggers remain deeply cynical about the prospects of a free, fair and peaceful electoral process. Violent repression of opposition demonstrations and the killing of several journalists in the last few months have left many wondering whether, even if successful,...
China: Cameras, drunks and forced website closures
Kimbo Hu/Hu Defu, a well-known Taiwanese aboriginal folk musician gave a performance at a small bar in Beijing this past weekeknd. In attendance were many prominent bloggers, and here is Ycul blogger Reading Storeroom‘s account of the show, along with the problems he sees as more and more Chinese purchase...
China: public servant pay-scale
Sun Bin discusses about public servant's pay scale: “Instead of arguing against the raise, I would rather argue for a mechanism of firing incompetent staff...”
China: national security
ESWN translates a post written by Zeng Jinyan (zh) about civic rights activist ‘Knight Errant’ Peng's experience in dealing with national security people.