Janine Mendes-Franco · June, 2011

Latest posts by Janine Mendes-Franco from June, 2011

Trinidad & Tobago: Art & Politics

  30 June 2011

“Once more, art confronts us with the intersection of ideas”: Pleasure reviews Richard Rawlins’ recent art exhibition, saying that the icons of “white elephants, dangling flies that become pianos, non-performing arts academies and lego politicians all suggest what we all know: the realm of politics is one big megee.”

Trinidad & Tobago: Disorganised Tourism

  30 June 2011

Lisa Allen-Agostini says that Trinidad tourism “is so poorly developed it’s a shame. I was horrified and embarrassed half the time at the paltry quality of our tourism product.”

Bermuda: The Attitude/Economics Equation

  30 June 2011

Politics.bm says that 30 years after tourism's heyday, “Bermudians are wondering where all the tourists went” and fears that the same thing will happen to the country's stake in international business; Vexed Bermoothes echoes his concern about Bermuda's economic outlook, saying: “At the rate we are going, we may soon...

Jamaica: Cabinet Reshuffle

  30 June 2011

Girl With a Purpose has the details about the Prime Minister's Cabinet reshuffle, one of the highlights being that “the post of Attorney General and Minister of Justice has been separated, as recommended by the Manatt/Coke Commissioners.”

Cuba: Train Accident Injures 79

  29 June 2011

Babalu links to a story about a train crash that has injured nearly 80 people in Cuba, commenting: “The decaying infrastructure and transportation system in Cuba…continues to take a deadly toll on the Cuban people.”

Jamaica: Child Labour

  29 June 2011

When it comes to Child Labour, says Jamaica Woman Tongue, “traditional practices often clash with the law”, adding that “one of the most violent forms of abuse of children is enforced transactional sex in the home, a hush-hush subject in Jamaica.”

Haiti: Helping to Stop Human Trafficking

  28 June 2011

Stanley Lucas blogs about how the effects of 2010's earthquake have affected Haiti's “significant child trafficking problem” and offers a few suggestions to “guide government officials and organizations working on anti-trafficking initiatives.”

Cuba: Methodist Pastor Replaced

  28 June 2011

“When Cuba is free, those who accommodated, appeased and apologized for the Castro regime to preserve their own standing will not be absolved”: Uncommon Sense blogs about the actions of Cuba's Methodist Bishop, who reportedly replaced one of the church's pastors, allegedly “because of his good relations with Cuban dissidents.”

Suriname: On Art

  28 June 2011

SRANANART'S BLOG considers the work of Marcel Pinas to start a discussion about what constitutes art.

Barbados: Cricket Needs Managing

  28 June 2011

Barbados Free Press publishes the opinion of a reader who cannot rationalise that a psychologist has been hired to advise members of the West Indies cricket team, saying: “It’s about management, the mix and coaching. Management needs the shrink – the men need managing.”

Haiti: BBBC Benefits in Question

  27 June 2011

An interesting post on Bill Clinton's housing initiative, Building Back Better Communities (BBBC), which “seeks to construct housing projects across the nation of Haiti”, but upon closer examination, “seems as though the initiative won't live up to its name and in fact will build worse communities than even before the...

Cuba: Hunger Striker to Leave Island

  27 June 2011

Uncommon Sense reports that hunger striker Jorge Cervantes Garcia has ended his protest and “will be allowed to leave Cuba once he has recovered from the physical effects of his protest.”

Trinidad & Tobago: Progress for Gay Rights

  27 June 2011

gspott says that the President's assention to the Data Protection Act is “of great significance to gay, lesbian and bisexual communities in Trinidad & Tobago” as it “provides heightened protections for ‘sensitive personal information’, which is defined to include one’s ‘sexual orientation or sexual life’.”

Trinidad & Tobago, Jamaica: Buju's Prison

  27 June 2011

“Buju Banton was the one who helped us figure it out. He danced between social commentary and slackness. He transformed himself into a thoughtful prophet”: Attilah Springer says it's “a nightmare when you wake up to realise that the one to offer a place for escape is in prison too.”

Bermuda: Position on Same-Sex Unions

  27 June 2011

Politics.bm looks at “some interesting scenarios [that] could play out…[if] Bermuda Immigration faces the question of a non-Bermudian worker coming to the island with a same sex spouse.”

Jamaica: Call for End to Anti-Gay Violence

  27 June 2011

Labrish remembers the life and work of her cousin, who was murdered on account of “his outspoken efforts to bring about an end to homophobia in Jamaica”, saying: “It is beyond time that the appalling homophobia that is a blight on certain parts of Jamaican society come to an end.”

Barbados: The Warner Effect

  24 June 2011

Barbados Underground comments on Jack Warner's FIFA resignation: “Warner is generating ‘heat’ which is not doing T&T and the wider Caribbean any favour in the international arena. All the world waits to hear if the sordid details arising from the Fifa Ethics Report will be leaked to the media. Worrying...