· March, 2010

Stories about Politics from March, 2010

Haiti: Debt Forgiveness

  23 March 2010

Repeating Islands links to a Business Week report that confirms the Inter-American Development Bank “has agreed to forgive $479 million in debts owed by quake-ravaged Haiti”.

Barbados: Ten Year Sentence

  23 March 2010

Barbados Free Press is disappointed that the murderer of a tourist was sentenced to only ten years in prison: “Barbados doesn’t want any scrutiny about robbery, rape and violence against tourists…”

Bermuda: Violent Crime

  23 March 2010

Vexed Bermoothes says that crime in Bermuda is “a lot worse than most people assume, particularly given the small size of this rock and the even smaller neighbourhoods that are being scarred by this violence.”

Venezuela: Concerns About Controls on the Internet

  23 March 2010

Debate is heating up in Venezuela after decrees and statements from President Hugo Chávez, who questioned how the Internet is being used in the country. Many are interpreting these statements and policy proposals that the government wants control the Internet in Venezuela.

Haiti: The Real “Slavery”

  22 March 2010

“Exploitation of child domestics is a global problem, not a Haitian ‘slavery’ 
issue”: The Haitian Blogger republishes a piece by Ezilidanto that exposes the real “slavery” in Haiti.

Jamaica, U.S.A.: On Extradition

  22 March 2010

Blogging about Jamaica's refusal to extradite Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke to the US, Active Voice says that “there's no level playing field”, while My View of JamDown from UpSo adds: “The fact is that Jamaica is neither America's weed nor cocaine dealer!”

Haiti: Reconstruction for Haitians or with Haitians

  21 March 2010

Haitian Alterpresse republishes a letter [Creole] from Haitian social organisations which openly criticise the Donor's Conference which took place in the Dominican Republic on March 17th. According to them, it will not lead to a long-term development project nor include the population in the reconstruction scheme. Here is the French...

Russia: Prosecuted Blogger Receives Journalist Award

RuNet Echo  21 March 2010

Mikhail Afanasyev (aka LJ user rukhakasia), blogger from Abakan, Eastern Siberia, received a Journalist Union Award “For Professional Achievement” for a series of articles about the accident at Sayano-Shushenskaya dam, Echo Moskvy reported. The articles led to a criminal case initiated against Afanasyev, which was closed later due to lack...

Russia: Activists Burns Effigy of Policeman

RuNet Echo  21 March 2010

Activists of the movement “Autonomous Action” burnt an effigy a policeman during the “political Maslenitsa“, indymedia reports (photos and footage available). The action was dedicated to Seva Ostapov, a young man violently beaten by policemen and later accused of assaulting them.

South Africa: Remembering Sharpeville Massacre

  21 March 2010

South Africans remember the Sharpeville Massacre on 21 March 1960 as a turning point in the history of political resistance against racial discrimination. Sixty-nine people were killed in the township of Sharpeville when South African police opened fire on a crowd of black protesters.

Russia: Putin pros and cons go cyber

RuNet Echo  21 March 2010

LJ user Anton Igorevich reports [RUS] that recent demonstrations against and for Russian Premier, Vladimir Putin, now have gone cyber, with websites against and in support of Putin, the latter being hacked, presumably by anti-Putinists.

Tajikistan: Free speech vs. courts

  21 March 2010

The saga of three judges and three newspapers continues in Tajikistan and has taken an interesting turn as the journalists fight back with a new recording revealing the corruption in the Supreme Court, neweurasia’s Alpharabius reports.