· April, 2007

Stories about Western Europe from April, 2007

France: Expelling Illegal Immigrants

Continuing the debate on expelling illegal immigrants living in France, SEMEtt ou l'étincelle noire (Fr) writes about a political asylee who was shipped back to Liberia, a group of long-term...

30 April 2007

France: Rapper Imagines Life as a White Man

Regardailleurs blogs screenshots from an hilarious music video (Fr) called “J'suis blanc” (“I'm White”), the latest from French-Congolese hip hop artist Kamini. God comes to Kamini and makes him white...

27 April 2007

Algeria: To Exist or Not to Exist

A query on LINGUIST List the other day asked for examples of other languages which, like English, have a verb “exist” distinct from the general-purpose existential “there is”. In Algerian...

23 April 2007

Tunisphere and the French elections:

Tunisia's love-hate relation - more love than hate - comes to life with the extensive coverage Tunisian bloggers provided in the run up to the French elections. France's impact on Tunisia is both historic and present - it has colonised the latter for a good 75 years and is today its foremost economic partner.

23 April 2007

French Election, Two Views on Segolene Royal

As France votes today in the first round of their presidential election, at Racontars, Akynou explains reasons for choosing for Segolene Royal. Meanwhile, Troup nul Guadeloupe says Royal is “dangerous...

21 April 2007

Greece: The Roma

Romania International Media Watch links to a blog on discrimination of the Roma population of Greece – The Roma Series, by Devious Diva: “Unfortunately, there is seems to be very...

20 April 2007

Sarkozy on French Minorities

Patrick Lozès looks back at French presidential candidate Nicolas Sarkozy's history of controversial public statements about Africans and Berbers (Fr). He wonders if, given unprecedented levels of voter registration among...

19 April 2007

Lusosphere Reports The First Round of East Timor's Elections

Timor-Leste is holding its first national election as an independent nation, and the vote counting now indicates the need for a second round to decide the next President. The voting occurred on April 9 and the counting process has generated some perplexing news, which should be expected in a country with no previous electoral experience. Less expected was the fact that the spokesman for the National Electoral Commission (CNE), Father Martinho Gusmão, delivered his press conferences in four languages one after the other -- Tetum, Portuguese, Indonesian and English. After raising serious concerns by personally expressing doubts about 'illogical' outcomes from the ballot processing, Father Gusmão was removed and explanations were presented by other officials. See what Portuguese sources are reporting...

18 April 2007