· January, 2009

Stories about Governance from January, 2009

Guadeloupe: A new social movement

  29 January 2009

Guadeloupe has been in a state of social unrest for about a week now as record numbers of trade unions, cultural and political associations have united around a motto: "Lyannaj kont pwofitasyon", Creole for “Let's gather up to fight against all sorts of abuses.”

Trinidad & Tobago: Construction Confusion

  29 January 2009

“Some of the things being revealed are proving to be so massively embarrassing, so massively corrupt that it boggles the mind”: Trinidadian diaspora blogger Jumbie's Watch is following the Commission of Inquiry into the local construction sector.

Jamaica, Zimbabwe: Hunger Strike

  29 January 2009

“Do people in Jamaica and the Caribbean care enough about events in Zimbabwe to lend their help to this call for moral action?”: Annie Paul has a friend who is on a hunger strike to draw attention to the humanitarian crisis in Zimbabwe and tells us how we can help.

Azerbaijan: Democratization Under Siege

  29 January 2009

Flying Carpets and Broken Pipelines comments on the state of democracy in Azerbaijan and wonders about the country's future now that foreign radio broadcasts have effectively been banned and a referendum to remove the two-term restriction on the presidency is scheduled for March.

Japan: Obama vs. Aso

  29 January 2009

Like every other country in the world, Japan, one of the strongest of America's allies in Asia, followed closely the election of President Obama. His speech has been broadcast, translated and commented on in all kinds of ways by the Japanese media and local TV shows. So it was natural that many bloggers drew a comparisons between the American President and the Japanese Prime Minister, Tarō Asō.

Romania: Rural Life in the EU

  28 January 2009

Tessa Bunney, who photographed rural life in the Carpathians of Romania, wrote this about the implications of the EU accession for some of the subjects of her photos: “The Romanian government’s interpretation of EU policy has resulted in the banning of horse and carts and hand milking of cows. No...

Ukraine: Medical Center for Street Children

  28 January 2009

Scenes from the Sidewalk posts pictures and writes about the only medical center in Kyiv “where street children can get medical attention without documents”: “Many At-Risk Children or street children do not have these documents and will be turned away at the door if they try to get medical attention....

Latvia: Flash Mob To Support Public Radio

  28 January 2009

Free Speech Emergency in Latvia writes that “employees of Latvia's public service radio (Latvijas Radio) have called for a flash-mob to gather near the parliament (Saeima) building for five minutes on Friday, January 30 to stand in complete silence to protest the “silencing” of the national radio service through budget...

Trinidad & Tobago: New Grassroots Effort

  28 January 2009

“As tens of thousands come together in Belem, Brazil for the…World Social Forum, we send early word of a parallel volunteer, grassroots effort coming out of the Caribbean to extend the debate over globalization and the global economic crisis into new realities of social justice, equity, sustainable development, and peace...

Guyana: Going High-Tech

  28 January 2009

Guyana 360 maintains that the former First Lady is not the only one who has suffered “high-tech abuse” at the hands of the country's President.

Two-party system inappropriate for Singapore?

  28 January 2009

groundnotes criticizes Singapore's Prime Minister for saying that political change cannot come from the opposition but from within the ruling party and that a two-party system is not suitable for Singapore because it doesn't have enough talent.

Azerbaijan: Parliamentary Deputy Blogs

  28 January 2009

The USAID Internet Access and Training Program (IATP) blog reports that it has helped five deputies from the Azerbaijani parliament set up their own blogs. The blogs in Azeri are at kamranramazanov.blogmilli.com, mmehdi.blogmilli.com, mmfirdovsi.blogmilli.com, rafikismayilov.blogmilli.com, and vuqarqaracayev.blogmilli.com.

Russia: “Economic Shock Therapy”

  28 January 2009

Sean's Russia Blog cites the director of the Serbsky State Scientific Center for Social and Forensic Psychiatry, who says that “since the financial crisis requests for psychologists have grown by 10 percent and psychotherapy by 20 percent. So much so that the Center has opened a hotline for people in...

Poland: Racism, Bad Roads and Euro 2012

  28 January 2009

Writing about Euro 2012 and racism, the beatroot concludes: “There are some nasty little racists at Poland’s football stadia, but believe me, Poland’s roads are a lot bigger threat to the fabric of society – and international football tournaments – than those idiots.”