Latest posts by Alice Backer from December, 2006
Algeria, France: Zidane's Visit to Algeria
Cyberkabyle (Fr) deplores the official overtones of French soccer star Zinedine Zidane's visit to Algeria and looks with suspicion at the fact that the visit may have been initiated by the Algerian government.
Benin: Pictures of Schools
Expat blogger Anne Au Benin posts (Fr) pictures of Benin schools.
India, Haiti: Matrimonials
India-based Haitian blogger NatifNatal ponders (Fr) India's matrimonials. Whereas in the West, she says, people fall in love and then marry, “here you marry the one your parents chose along many parameters such as caste, religion, income, dowry etc… and then, after many years of joint living, you just can't...
Reunion: Crisis in the University
Pierrot Dupuy writes (Fr) about the crisis in the local University: “The State, politicians, economic and social actors cannot let the status quo prevail. Things are falling apart at the University: each file is affected, each meeting turns into a power struggle, each decision is subject to calculations that have...
Madagascar: Samoosa? Sambosa? Sambos?
Mad de Madagascar delves (Fr) into the history that brought samoosas (however spelt and prounouced in the region) to the Indian Ocean (Reunion, Madagascar, Mauritius) from India. The blogger then offers a video of a French chef's recipe and adds that in Reunion, cousins have emerged made with cheese or...
DRC: “Kabila Wants to Kill Our Families”
According to UDPS Liege, (Fr) Zacharie Babaswabe, a spokesperson for President Kabila, recently said on national television that: “If [diaspora Congolese] continue to threaten us in Europe, we are going to attack their families [who live in the Congo].” The blog concludes: “The killings at the hands of the UPI...
Haiti: Preval's Prostate Cancer and Healthcare
Reacting to recent news stories and speculation about President Preval's prostate cancer and his trip to Cuba to receive treatment, JoJo at Collectif Haiti de Provence reflects on healthcare for the everyday Haitian (Fr): “What Preval forgot to say … is to detail his plans so that all Haitians can...
DRC, France: Dear Pascal Sevran
In response to comments about Africa, Africans, African penis size and its relationship to famine on the continent made by French TV personality Pascal Sevran in a recent book, Congolese-origined blogger Alain Mabanckou writes (Fr):”Dear Pascal Sevran, Africa does not need your diagnosis. Must we remind you that a sane...
Guadeloupe: Commemorating First Africans’ Arrival
Convention Pour Une Nouvelle Guadeloupe writes (Fr): “In November 1673, the first Africans arrived in Guadeloupe which was still populated by Amerindians. That was the beginning of the slave and triangular trade. It lasted until around 1870.” The blog asks Guadeloupeans to consider that bit of history as part of...
DRC: Kabila's First Challenges
Now that newly elected President Joseph Kabila has been sworn in, Sanaga Perigrinations says he has 3 main challenges (fr): “Pacify the country … Rebuild and develop the country … Learn Lingala! It is sad that this swahili-speaking president by birth does not know the main language in the west...
Senegal: Justice and Class
Blog Politique du Senegal writes (Fr): “A newspaper announces that a court clerk was accused … of usury, fraud and issuance of fake checks… Verdict: 2 months. To think that stealing goats can get you 2 years!”
Rwanda: African Bloggers on Kagame Judgment
French Judge's Arrest Warrant From Cameroonian Diaspora Blogger Sanaga Peregrinations: Un bref résumé des épisodes (récents) s'impose pour ceux qui n'ont pas suivi. 1. Le juge antiterroriste français Bruguière, clôture son enquête sur l'attentat du 6 avril 1994 et qui fut le declencheur du genocide qui couta la vie a...
Senegal: Migrants to Spain Repatriated
Le Pangolin provides an update on the status of Africans who have migrated to Spain on rafts in the thousands in the past year (Fr): “Spain, which in an initial phase had decided to welcome them under pressure from France and the UK, just changed its position and has hardened...
Senegal: Youth Crisis and Cultural Revolution
Le Pangolin blames (Fr) the mass emigration attempts of the young in Senegal and Africa and increasing prostitution among young women on a crisis affecting this majority age group. The blogger lists nine causes of the crisis including the lack of services for youth and for young women specifically, the...
DRC: Tshisekedi Supporters Arrested
UDPS Liege announces (Fr) that 5 supporters of party leader Etienne Tshisekedi were arrested in the Matonge neighborhood at a demo on Wednesday. The blog provides four names: Passy Mutombo, Jean Robert Bongeye, Kelly Mukendi and Pepe Lokaso.
Madagascar: Alafia
L'Odyssee de Tattum just discovered the band Alafia of which she writes (Fr): “With more than 300 concerts in tow, Alafia is a presence at numerous festivals … Alafia's sunny sound is partly inspired by malagasy rhythms such as Malesa and Salegy, but it is first and foremost a melting...
Senegal: Wade & Mandela
Blog Politique du Senegal writes (Fr): “If Wade was as wise as Mandela, he would retire …”
Senegal: Contraception and the Imam's Daughter
At Blog Politique du Senegal, Senegalais Scientifique comments on a local news story about an Imam's daughter having a baby out of wedlock by a European(Fr): “the most unsettling part of the story is … not that she had a baby with a European … but rather that she got...
Madagascar: Incumbent Winning Election
Says Harinjaka of last Sunday's presidential election (Fr): “No surprise indeed … Ravalomanana will be reelected hands down by an electorate that was not particularly passionate about the event. Across from him were candidates who lost in advance and whose ballots were sometimes not even distributed to the voting booths...
Madagascar: Election in Pictures and Cartoons
L'odyssee de Tattum posts (Fr) pictures of the candidates in last Sunday's presidential election and the cartoons that spoof them.
DRC: Prelude to Wednesday's Demonstration
UDPS Liege comments on the prelude to a demonstration scheduled for Wednesday in the DRC (Fr): “This morning at Victoire Square, the police just chased newspaper vendors and other types of vendors away and arrested others who were doing outreach for the demo. The police's actions do not intimidate us...
