Janine Mendes-Franco · May, 2011

Latest posts by Janine Mendes-Franco from May, 2011

Haiti: A Different View of Cite Soleil

  31 May 2011

“We want to showcase local talents, and change the image of the youth in Cite Soleil. We want to get people planting again and eating Haitian food”: Throwing Down the Water profiles “a neighborhood committee called ‘La Difference’ [which] formed a movement to clean up their few blocks” and is...

Bahamas, Jamaica: Caribbean Climate Change

  31 May 2011

Weblog Bahamas‘ Rick Lowe is “all for going green voluntarily…and in time”, while Labrish Jamaica warns: “There is no debate anymore about climate change. It is here. If sea level were to rise only 1 metre in the Caribbean, the impacts would be catastrophic.”

Caribbean: FIFA Foul

  31 May 2011

Regional bloggers congratulate the Bermudian and Bahamian football representatives – now being lauded as whistleblowers – who refused to accept bribes from FIFA; Globewriter republishes suspended vice-president Jack Warner's statement on the FIFA ruling and Plain Talk says that he is not as concerned with Jack Warner the FIFA rep...

Jamaica: Garvey's Good Name

  31 May 2011

Diaspora litblogger Geoffrey Philp has begun an online movement to clear Marcus Garvey's name – his aim is “to get 10,000 signatures and to deliver the petition to President Barack Obama.”

Cuba: Any True Democracy?

  27 May 2011

“When Castro says that Cuba is the most democratic country in the world, I am uncertain if he is being serious or it is black humor”: Iván García says that he will only “believe in the Socialist democracy, as advocated by the regime in Havana, when you see a negative...

Haiti: Vendors in Delmas

  27 May 2011

Throwing Down the Water reports on “the chaos” associated with clean-up efforts in Delmas, the capital's largest commune.

Trinidad & Tobago: Politricks?

  27 May 2011

Plain Talk, tongue firmly in cheek, gives a quick run-down of the political goings-on in Trinidad and Tobago, while Weblog Bahamas quips: “Politicians confuse me.”

Cuba: Repressive Action

  27 May 2011

Cuban bloggers cite numerous cases of the authorities cracking down on dissidents, calling the arrests “part of a vicious series of repressive moves by the dictatorship to target the opposition.”

Bermuda: Gay Rights

  27 May 2011

“Bermuda has a long history of discrimination rooted in slavery, the restricted vote and racial segregation. Those who championed resistance to these injustices, those who have benefited from their elimination, should be sensitive to any discrimination set upon any other group”: Respice Finem wants to put gay rights back on...

Barbados, Trinidad & Tobago: FIFA Disciplinary Hearing

  26 May 2011

B.C. Pires says that the most recent corruption allegation against FIFA vice-president Jack Warner “looks for Jack like it did for Tony walking into that diner in the last episode of the Sopranos; but…it seems more likely Jack will emerge from Sunday’s disciplinary hearing, not in a hail of bullets,...

Trinidad & Tobago: Oppression of Women

  26 May 2011

“Women’s oppression, he said, was a myth created by the Judeo-Christian West as a tool of capitalism. I nearly fall on the ground”: And then, Lisa Allen-Agostini writes a must-read post about it.

Guyana: Dreaming of Utopia

  26 May 2011

“One day, we gon discard that box, push aside the ol’ habits, and think in ways that make the whole place sparkle”: Guyana-Gyal has a dream.

Cuba: Prisoner & Dissident Deaths

  25 May 2011

Uncommon Sense links to a report which alleges that the death of a prisoner was at the hands of prison guards, while Babalu links to new medical reports of the late Juan Wilfredo Soto Garcia, noting that “the report from the most recent beating…mentions the bruises found on his body;...

Bahamas: Mid-Term Budget

  25 May 2011

“I die in despair as the debt, deficits and taxes all continue to rise with no respite in sight”: Rick Lowe at Weblog Bahamas doesn't hold out much hope for the fiscal measures in today's mid term budget.

Bahamas: Fish Market Hazard

  24 May 2011

Weblog Bahamas‘ Sidney Sweeting acknowledges that “hindsight is always better than foresight” as he blogs about a fish market that he considers “a ticking time bomb”.

Cuba: Students Need Internet

  24 May 2011

“The more often I read about the internet from the Cuban government perspective the more I feel like we need to do a better job of explaining to them why the internet is necessary”: Graham Sowa, blogging at Havana Times, makes a case for why the Internet is a critical...