Stories about Politics from September, 2009
Serbia: The Death of a French Football Fan
Brice Taton, a 28-year-old French citizen and a fan of the Toulouse football team, was brutally beaten by fans of the Partizan football team in downtown Belgrade on Sept. 17, before the Partizan vs Toulouse game. He died in a Belgrade hospital on Sept. 29.
Trinidad & Tobago: Digging a Hole
“It’s like a jamette woman in a rumshop shouting she does go to chuch!”: B.C. Pires blogs about issues of governance in the Trinidad & Tobago government.
Bermuda: Green Party
Catch a fire welcomes Bermuda's newest political party and “the contribution that they may be able to offer to our political discourse.”
Jamaica: Children & Violence
As the government signs a UN agreement aimed at protecting children from being recruited by armed forces, Letter From Jamaica wonders: “But what about children at home? Children don't just hide guns for gunmen, increasingly they are the gunmen.”
China: When will the sunshine come?
Chinese officials will soon be required to report all their assets as part of an anti-corruption "Sunshine Act" of the Communist Party. But resistance so far has been significant, leading to much online public debate among Chinese citizens.
Ukraine: Political Rivalry and Journalism
Foreign Notes writes about a popular Ukrainian political talk show that was to feature “a battery of eminent journalists” posing questions to PM Yulia Tymoshenko this past Friday, but which evolved into yet another political battle when a group of Tymoshenko's rivals showed up in the studio, seemingly uninvited.
Poland: Sexual Crimes and Roman Polanski
Polandian writes about Poland's plans to legalize chemical castration for those who commit sexual crimes against minors – and about the arrest of Roman Polanski in Switzerland and the Polish foreign minister's intention to ask the U.S. president to pardon the film director: “Now, if the 1977 charge had been...
CEE: History, Nationalism and Identity
Marietta Le of Remainder of Budapest writes about issues of history, nationalism and identity in Hungary and other states of Central and Eastern Europe.
Madagascar Delegation Barred from UN General Assembly Stage
In an attempt to legitimize the military-backed government, Madagascar's acting leader was scheduled to speak at the UN General Assembly on Thursday, only to be barred. Malagasy bloggers and twitterers react.
Guinea-Conakry: 58 Killed By Army
International news sites, French radio [fr], BBC Africa, Twitter [fr], journalists, NGOs and political leaders report of on armed forces shooting on unarmed crowd in Conakry, Guinea capital, today on sept.28th a number of 58 protesters, wonded or dead, were evacuated to the main hospital in Conakry. The crowd was...
Dominica: Happy Independence!
Dominica Weekly reviews the island's 2009 Independence celebrations.
Trinidad & Tobago: Thinking & Drinking
Trinidadian blogger Andre Bagoo republishes an article he wrote in which he “began to think in earnest about the reasons why I drink.”
Cuba: Eye on Honduras
Writing at Havana Times, Circles Robinson posts an update on developments in Honduras, adding: “Here in Cuba, the parliament has taken a position of strong protest of the coup and the military repression, and the island’s media is closely watching developments.”
China: Visa to Tibet
The angry Chinese blogger writes on the recent confusion over the ban on visa to Tibet.
Iran: Protest in Tehran University
Iranian students protested against Iranian government in Tehran University yesterday. Here is the film.
Trinidad & Tobago: The Price of Progress is High
“As if the stink of the uselessness of the building weren’t enough…here comes talk that toxic fumes from the Performing Arts Academy are making people in the neighbouring buildings fall sick. Yes, this is progress at its best”: Trinidadian Attillah Springer says the whole thing “is a tragic kind of...
India: The State Of Democracy
Arundhati Roy at Huffington Post comments on the state of democracy in India: “The hoary institutions of Indian democracy — the judiciary, the police, the ‘free’ press, and, of course, elections — far from working as a system of checks and balances, quite often do the opposite. They provide each...
Aruba: Election Results
“It's still sinking in. It was an incredible night. I'm fairly sure that this government is, at one point going to disappoint me, but today I'm very happy”: Arubagirl reports on the outcome of elections in her country.
Japan: Lessons in Communication from the Hatoyama Essay
When an online Op-Ed piece by current Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama appeared in the New York Times just days before the Lower House elections last month, national reaction ranged from surprise to consternation to pure mortification. “A New Path for Japan” was an abridged and translated version of “My Political...
Russia: “Promoting State Interests” Online
Evgeny Morozov writes that “Kremlin no longer hides its [internet] spinning strategy”
Hungary: Political Talk Show Taken Off Air
GV Author Marietta Le of Remainder of Budapest and Eva S. Balogh of Hungarian Spectrum write about Nap-kelte, a morning political TV talk show that was taken off air last week, some 20 years after its launch in 1989.
