Latest posts by Alice Backer from January, 2007
Image from French Guiana: Mind Your Kids
From the French Guiana forest, this sign captured by Photoblog sur la Guyane Francaise reads (Fr): “Look after your kids or … keep them on a leash.”
Haiti: Reflecting on National Soccer
Reflecting on Haiti's recent defeat at the hands of the Trinidad & Tobago soccer/football team, Collectif Haiti de Provence writes (Fr): “Yes, formerly our regional rivals had names like Mexico. Today we align with difficulty with nations where soccer/football has no popularity and hence no budget: Cuba, Martinique, Dominican Republic....
Tahitian Music
Tahiti Litterature, Musique posts various excerpts of Tahitian music.
DRC: Post-Election Landscape
Le Blog du Congolais summarizes the post-election landscape as follows (Fr): “The general trend is to wait and see. People are giving the President the benefit of the doubt . He is far from making people secure so persistent is the question mark on his competence, his good faith, his...
Can Digital Rights Management Save African Artists from Copyright Infringement?
Says Africa 2.0 (Fr): “Copyright infringement is killing African artists without any intervention from authorities. I was reading an interview of Beko Sadey this morning who was saying that she had two albums ready but would not release them because of bootlegging. How sad! … Can't we explore technological solutions...
Guadeloupe: Still Site of Magical Beliefs
Says Atout Guadeloupe (Fr): “To this day many Guadeloupeans believe in magic and go to “quimboiseurs” and “gadezafe” [i.e. magicians] to take care of private business and disputes with third parties! Guadeloupe still has many magical sites.”
Senegal: How Wade Tried to Bribe a French Journalist
Kangni Alem writes (Fr):” In a book titled Les Sorciers Blancs [The White Sorcerers] which will be launched Jan.17 by [French publishing house] Fayard, L'Express reporter Vincent Hugeux shows how President Wade tried to bribe Thierry Oberle, a journalist for Figaro.”
Madagascar: Vintage Wooden Figurines
Mad de Madagascar posts (Fr) a series of wooden malagasy figurines from the 30s-50s: market scene, baby sleeping on working mother's back, rice planting woman, among others.
Indian Ocean: New Web 2.0 Cultural Site
Collective Malagasy blog Malagasy Miray announces (Fr): “Culture-océanindien [ www.culture-oceanindien.info ] is a space for cultural and islandness expression based on the web 2.0 principle. It was born out of the will to promote and support culture in general and more specifically that of the Indian Ocean. Many aspects of...
French Speaking Blogs of the Caribbean, Africa and Oceania in 2006
Logo of the Madagascar Blogger's Meeting that took place January 5-6, 2007 in Antananarivo. By and large French speaking blogs and bloggers of the world have reason to envy English, Spanish and Brazilian speaking counterparts in volume and in interaction with each other. Very few bloggers (Madagascar and Reunion being...
New Caledonia: Lagoon as Potential World Heritage Site
5 Minutes en Nouvelle Caledonie writes (Fr): “France will present on January 31 at Unesco, a request that the Caledonian lagoon be made into a world heritage site. A joy for Caledonia which has been lobbying for this for a while … Final verdict June 2008. “
Tunisia: Olive Oil
Mouwaten Tounsi writes (Fr): “Tunisia is the 4th producer of olive oil in the world and the 2d exporter in 2006 after the EU… In the Sahel region, many olive farms suffer from an excess in density and from parceling in very small scattered properties. This is bad for profitability.”
Haiti: Commemorating Novelist Jaques Roumain
Reacting to news that this year will be the 100th anniversary of novelist Jacques Roumain‘s birth, Collectif Haiti de Provence asks (Fr): “Will Haitians do the comemoration of the author of Gouverneurs de la Rosee [Masters of the Dew] justice?”
Haiti: Petion-Ville Market Burnt Down
On Jan.9, HaitiXchange wrote (Fr): “The market in Pétionville went up in flames this morning. It was in horror that we watched all of our merchandise go up in smoke. The merchants complained, since their means of making a living, and their very survival, the education of their 10 and...
Guadeloupe, Montserrat: Soufriere Hills Volcano Eruption
Guadeloupe Attitude writes (Fr): “Mrs. Deborah Jones, Governor of the British island of Montserrat, ordered yesterday the evacuation of the volcano's North West zone. About 50 households are involved. La Soufriere Hills began erupting about a week ago. Monday, smoke columns over 7 kilometers high seeped out of it and...
Guadeloupe: No Correlation Between Earthquake and Smooth Abolition of Slavery
Guadeloupe Attitude reposts an article by Claude Thiebaut concluding that (Fr) contrary to a prior theory, an 1843 earthquake in Guadeloupe did not contribute (through what was thought to be newfound solidarity in the face of the disaster) to the relatively smooth abolition of slavery in 1848.
Guadeloupe: “Poll-o-phile” President
TiToto says of President of Guadeloupean Regional Council Victorin Lurel (Fr): “Suffering from “poll-o-philiac opinionmania,” Lurel often attempts a real personalization of public opinion, a creation of a fictitious political and social image which claims to represent the Guadeloupean people. … He says “Guadeloupeans have said x” everytime he seeks...
Haiti: Year in Photos
Collectif Haiti de Provence recently posted (Fr) a slideshow of important Haitian personalities and events of 2006.
Haiti: 203rd Year of Independence
Reflecting on the festivities for the 203rd anniversary of Haitian independence and the clan-like disputes that colored them, Ailleurs Vu d'Ici writes (Fr): “Everyone knows that our society's disease is the unlimited thirst for power. And this pathology … has adopted recurrent forms along our history. It is definitely one...
Tahiti: Turncoat Politicians
Reacting to the election of a new president Gaston Tong Sang, Tahitian blogger SamsonPointCom surveys the political landscape (Fr): “Turncoat politics are a national sport, even more so than rowing. There are basically two opposing equally-sized blocs in the Assembly: the independentist “Blues” (socialist affiliated but who have National Front...
Africa: Once Glorious Postal Services
Africa 2.0 reflects on the future of African postal services (Fr): “Under other skies, postal companies occupy a choice spot in the rise of electronic commerce … In Africa, most postal services are sluggishly lagging behind. They've been destabilized by new technologies, the loss of monopoly… competition from … DHL,...