Stories about Politics from February, 2012
Bermuda: Economic Debate
“This Friday parliamentarians will hold the annual economic debate against the backdrop of a sustained global recession and two competing views about how to get out of it”: Respice Finem debates the value of austerity measures as opposed to economic stimulus.
Cuba: Worry about Hunger Striker
Uncommon Sense hopes that political prisoner Ernesto Borges’ fate will not go the way of so many other hunger strikers, saying: “He needs you to learn his story and to spread it so that his life can be saved.”
Brazil: Dispute Over the Falklands Opens Debate on Economic Perspectives
The 30th anniversary of the start of the Falklands War and the recent public statements by Argentine President Cristina Kirchner cause us to evaluate those events from new perspectives, including their current implications for Brazil as the largest economy of Mercosur.
Zambia: Ban Ki-moon Calls on Nation to Respect Gay Rights
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon visited Zambia on 24 February; he addressed parliament, met key political figures and visited the Victoria Falls. None of these events have made as much news as his call on the nation to respect gay rights.
Russia: An Overview of the Pre-Election Anglophone Blogging
Below is a quick overview of what some of the Anglophone Russia bloggers have been writing during the busy pre-election month of February.
Cuba, USA: Blogger Perspectives on the Embargo's 50th Anniversary (Part 1)
The United States' economic embargo against Cuba has been in existence for 50 years. To mark the occasion, Global Voices interviews two bloggers about the blockade and what it has (or hasn't) accomplished. This is Part 1, in which Cuban diaspora blogger Alberto de la Cruz shares his views.
Video Highlights: Defending Human Rights
A selection of Global Voices' recent and interesting stories on video advocacy including indigenous rights and recent news from Latin America, East Asia, Western Europe and Sub Saharan Africa selected by Juliana Rincón Parra.
Cuba: Dialogue with the Opposition?
“It might be paranoia. In totalitarian states, suspicion and the absurd become habit. But it isn’t insane to think that to give the dissidents a space if circumstances force their hand, could become a part of the island’s mandarin’s calculus”: Iván's File Cabinet puts forward a compelling theory.
Jamaica: Inmate Beatings
Following reports that several high-profile inmates are being beaten, Active Voice wants to know “what’s going down at the Horizon Adult Remand Centre”, which seems to be “a virtual Guantanamo Bay.”
St. Lucia, Trinidad & Tobago: Priestly Poetry & A New Literature Partnership
Caribbean Book Blog interviews priest and poet Fr. Lambert St Rose, while Bocas Lit Fest announces “a new partnership that will work towards enhancing the Caribbean literary scene and help kick-start an infrastructure to support writers, writing, and publishing.”
Haiti: Joining the African Union
Mackendie Toupuissant writes [fr]: “The news went almost unnoticed. Until now, Haiti was a mere “observer” in the African Union. Since early February, the first black republic in history became a” full associate member “of the African Union (AU). This decision, the first of its kind for a country of the African Diaspora...
France : Who is French and who is not?
Abdellali Hajjat, author of the book The Boundires of National Identity: The Injunction to Assimilation in France and its Territories, explains in an interview [fr] on the blog Contretemps the ideological seeds of Islamophobia and the institutional logic that reinforces it. “Racism needs a crutch to provide the principle of...
Australia: Prime Minister Julia Gillard Wins Big in Leadership Dogfight
There have been very mixed reactions to Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s decisive victory over former PM Kevin Rudd in the leadership challenge. The vote amongst Australian Labor Party parliamentarians (the caucus) was 71 – 31, despite opinions polls showing Rudd having much higher popularity with voters.
Bahrain: #Hungry4BH Trends Worldwide
Bahraini netizens, backed by the international community, helped raise the voices of detained political activists on hunger strike, by making their plight a trending topic on Twitter. Mona Kareem reports on the efforts of activists online and on the ground in Bahrain.
Tunisia: McCain's Visit Stirs up Anti-US Feelings
Senator John McCain's visit to Tunisia on Thursday, February 23, left Tunisian Internet users angry over what they called Ennahda's 'double standards.' Hundreds of Facebook comments, dozens of tweets and many pictures filled social media platforms frequented by Tunisians after a controversial picture of Tunisian Prime Minister, Hamadi Jebali, hugging the Senator.
Yemen: Hadi President After 33 Years of Saleh
After 33 long years of Ali Abdullah Saleh's rule, Yemen finally inaugurated today a new President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi, for the transitional phase, following a whole year of protests. Hadi had assumed his position as president according to a GCC-brokered power deal which made him the sole consensus presidential candidate in the one man election, in which he won 99.8 per cent of the votes.
Iranian News Agency “Improves” Oscar Speech by Asghar Farhadi
Iranians are overjoyed with the news that Asghar Farhadi's film “A Separation” was awarded an Oscar for best foreign language film. Farhadi's acceptance speech attracted even more attention after Fars News, a semi-official news agency added their own words to the transcript.
Jamaica: “Intellectual Ghetto”
Jamaica Woman Tongue feels the backlash “for daring to suggest that [the late radio talk show host Wilmot Perkins] had feet of clay.
Haiti: Legislative “Assault” Against Civil Service
“Back in May 2011, undistracted by Haiti’s 4.5-million dollar presidential inauguration, I sounded the alarm about a brewing legislative coup d’etat“: Haiti Chery explains.
Cuba: Working for “The Enemy”?
Havana Times reports that “the leading Cuban government website…unleashed a front page attack on blogger Yoani Sanchez…with an article accusing her of working for the enemy (USA) for pay”; Sanchez herself sees a news report “in which the blogger Miriam Celaya and other acquaintances appear, surrounded with epithets such as...
Cuba: More Sunday Detentions
Uncommon Sense blogs about yet another Sunday of repression as members of Las Damas de Blanco were again detained by authorities.
