· April, 2010

Stories from Quick Reads from April, 2010

Barbados: Parliament Action

  27 April 2010

Barbados Underground reports on the goings-on in the country's Parliament, saying: “The display of disorder…this morning would have saddened all who witnessed or heard it.”

Algeria: Mauritania's Language Struggle

“A short post on the struggle among Mauritanian students over Arabic and French language will appear here sometime next week. Mauritanians on the front lines are encouraged to send the blogger their thoughts and accounts either in the comments field here or by email,” writes Algerian blogger The Moor Next...

Algeria: Since 1989

“James D. Le Sueur’s Algeria since 1989: Between Terror and Democracy (Zed: 2010) provides for the most up-to-date reading on the Algerian Civil War since Algeria: Anger of the Dispossessed by John Philips and Martin Evans,” writes Algerian blogger The Moor Next Door, who reviews the book.

India: Drinking Water Problem In Uttar Pradesh

  27 April 2010

Ram Banshal at India In Peril gives a real life example showing that the priority of the government of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh “is not to tackle problems of the poor in a sympathetic way but to make huge expenditures on the display of alliance with the poor.”

Ukraine: Russian Black Sea Fleet Stays On in Crimea

  27 April 2010

236 Ukrainian MPs (UKR) have voted in favor of the ratification of an agreement allowing the Russian Black Sea Fleet to extend its stay in Crimea until 2042. Ukrainska Pravda posts a selection of photos and video (UKR) of fighting and egg-throwing inside the parliament building this morning. On Twitter,...

Trinidad & Tobago: Bedtime Stories

  27 April 2010

Tattoo couldn't care less about the domestic practices of the Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister's wife, saying that the talk on the election platforms has nothing to do with “any of the pressing issues that have been raised in the campaign thus far such as: governance, corruption and legal reform.”

Cuba: On Elections

  27 April 2010

Repeating Islands focuses on the Cuban elections here and here, while Generation Y explains why she has adopted “abstention as a form of protest.”

Guyana: More than bravado

  27 April 2010

Signifyin’ Guyana thinks the actions of the country's President have something endearing about them, adding: “I hope it turns out to be a lasting positive part of his legacy…”

Martinique: Hi-tech, High cost

  27 April 2010

Martinican Bondamanjak is stunned at the price of Apple's iPad on the island. Comments to the post tackle the link between insularity, high prices and limited choice of products, consumer credits and the relevance of such devices considering the digital divide.

French West Indies, Haiti: Immigration then & now

  27 April 2010

Indiscrétions tells the story [Fr] of a Haitian girl deported from Guadeloupe by the French customs authority, for allegedly presenting fake identity documents at the airport, while Gwakafwika announces [Fr Cr] a conference about Guadeloupean immigration in Haiti from the 1800s to the 1900s.

Ukraine: Chernobyl's 24th Anniversary

  27 April 2010

April 26 marked the 24th anniversary of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster. Ukrainiana writes about a 1990 movie, “an irony-packed perestroika-era drama offers an X-ray of Soviet crisis mismanagement.” Chernobyl and Eastern Europe reviews three documentaries on the catastrophe. Michael Forster Rothbart‘s Chernobyl photography project is featured in zReportage online magazine...

Martinique, Guadeloupe: Celebrating two great women

  27 April 2010

Imaniyé pays homage [Fr] to Martinican-born actress, Jenny Alpha, who, at nearly 100 years of age, is the oldest French artist alive, while CaribCreoleNews announces [Fr] two events in memory of Guadeloupe's first female lawyer, communist and feminist activist, Gerty Archimede, who would have turned 101 this year.

Bhutan: Education Defined

  26 April 2010

Bhutanese blogger Dorji Wangchuk defines education: “When you have forgotten what you have learnt in school and still be successful in life, you were well educated.”

India, Bangladesh: The Distinctiveness Between Two Bengals

  26 April 2010

Before 1956, Bengali cinema meant cinemas from West Bengal (India) but the trend become distinctive afterwards in both the Bengals. Fahmidul Haq at Communication and Culture of Bangladesh comments that “the distinctiveness between two Bengals is getting clearer as time passes.”