Stories about Western Europe from October, 2006
Mexico, Argentina, France: Fort Boyard
Bilingual Mexican blogger Andrés Bianciotto reminds readers of the reality TV show Fort Boyard? (which was apparently very popular in Argentina) and points them to a post about the fort on Google Sightseeing.
Chile: What Language Does the Internet Speak?
Writing from Santiago, Rosario Lizana cites a recent study by the Spanish newspaper, El Pais, which found that 45% of all web pages on the internet are written in English while only 4.6% are written in Spanish. The reports suggests the creation of an governmental “Agency of Linguistic Coordination” to...
Trinidad & Tobago: On Jack Straw
Trinidad blogger Jeremy Taylor weighs in on the Jack Straw affair: “Jack starts to sweat. He tries hard to be liberal and tolerant, poor fellow. On the other hand, he was the man who with Tony Blair helped to plan and execute Britain's role in the disastrous Iraqi war. And...
Congo-Brazzaville: Should a Colonizer Be Honored Like a Founding Father?
For me, this De Brazza business is like someone telling you: “We got the crap beaten out of us, but at least De Brazza put on some vaseline while the others let our wounds dry. So let's give thanks to De Brazza.” (Fr) – From a reader at Mwinda.org This...
Congolese Writer Alain Mabanckou on André Schwarz-Bart
Alain Mabanckou, a novelist and poet from Congo-Brazzaville now living in California, pays tribute (Fr) to Polish-Jewish writer André Schwarz-Bart, author of Le Dernier de justes who passed away last weekend. Schwarz-Bart, who grew up in France during the German occupation, lived in Guadeloupe with his wife, writer Simone Schwarz-Bart.
Bangladesh: The veil in UK
Mezba comments on Straw's take on the veil, and explores the import of the hijab within the religion.
Congolese Political Activists Accuses Congolese and Belgium Governments of Wiretapping
At the UDPS Liege blog (Fr), Samy Musampa Batena Babo of the Congolese political party Union for Democracy and Social Progress alledges that the Belgian and Congolese governments have been tapping his phone.
Argentina, UK: Tensions rise over Falklands debate
Erwin Cifuentes gets readers up to date on a conflict forgotten by just about the entire world … except Argentina and the United Kindgdom.
Mexico, Spain: Video Blogging
Alfredo, who maintains the weblog “Mexicans in Spain” introduces Roger Casas-Alatriste [ES], a Mexican national living in Madrid and working on the online video platform MobuzzTV [ES].
US secret detentions: from hotel room to squalid prison cell
When President George W. Bush confirmed in a speech last month that the CIA has been operating a programme of secret detentions on foreign territory, it was portrayed by the United States Government as part of its efforts to “bring terrorists to justice”. Yet this programme, along with the controversial...
Sri Lanka: A few questions for Europe
Love in the Age of World Domination has a few questions for Europe. “Why is it that when I say I am from Switzerland, you stare at me and inevitably follow up with “but what is your ethnicity? Is it not possible that a brown person can be from a...
Senegal: Illegal Immigration
On illegal African immigration Senegal Diaw (Fr) writes that “the reasons that push young, able men to risk death to come to Europe…are many and complex, and are not necessarily linked to [Senegal's] poverty,” but are rather a product of a country that is not advancing fast enough, whose youth...
