Global Voices » X – DO NOT USE

Senegal: An Innovative Way to Monitor the Presidential Elections

Jane Ellis — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 08:47:23 +0000

[All links forward to French articles or videos unless stated otherwise]

During the evening of March 25, 2012, day of the second round of the Senegalese presidential election, journalist Pape Alé Niang of Channel 2stv was able to report that there were “strong trends in the results that outgoing President Abdoulaye Wade would find difficult to contradict”, by as early as 9pm.

Senegalese television was using the results and projections of the #Sunu2012 (Our 2012) campaign which allowed unofficial results to be given by 9pm for the first time in Africa.

Several days later, in his discussion programme Ca Me Dit Mag, Pape Alé Niang said that this historic first had been made possible thanks to the work of Sunu2012 and welcomed two members of the team to his show:

Pape Ousmane Ngom (@Paouz on Twitter) and AmyJane Diop (@aamyjane on Twitter) were invited so that Pape Alé Niang could publicly congratulate them because, as he stated: “similar to what happens in the democracies of developed countries, it was possible to announce the victory of Macky Sall by 9pm.”

Senegal has a population of 12.6 million, with almost 2 million internet users and 620,000 Facebook accounts, according to the reference site Internetworldstats [en].

Sunu2012 was devised and created in 2008 by Web Project Manager and blogger Cheikh Fall (@cypher007 on Twitter) who presented it to the public for the first time in Barcamp [en] Gorée, Senegal, in 2010:

The Sunu 2012 team. Photo used with the permission of Sunu 2012

Cheik Fall also presented the project in an interview given to CESTI (Information Sciences & Techniques Study Centre, attached to the University of Dakar).

Monsieur Fall, c’est quoi sunu2012 ?

Comme son nom l’indique, sunu signifie « notre » [en Wolof]. C’est-à-dire « notre 2012 », pour montrer comment cette année est si importante pour les Sénégalais. … Nous avons eu cette année pour la première fois un lot de treize (13) candidats et qui disent tous : non à la candidature du président sortant, en l’occurrence, Abdoulaye Wade. … Sunu2012 permet à tout Sénégalais d’informer et de recevoir des informations.

Mr Fall, what is Sunu 2012?

As indicated by its name, sunu, stands for “our” [in the Wolof language [en]]. In other words “Our 2012″ to show how important this year is to the Senegalese. … This year we have had thirteen candidates for the first time, and they all say no to the candidacy of the outgoing president Abdoulaye Wade…Sunu2012 allows all the people of Senegal to be informed and to receive news.

Yves Monteil wrote the following in an article entitled “A Lesson in Democracy from the Senegalese Blogosphere“:

Une nouvelle manière de faire de la politique face aux partis… Une nouvelle preuve aussi pour désavouer radicalement les politiques. La naissance de ces mouvements citoyens sur Facebook risque bien de donner un nouveau souffle de maturité décisionnelle à cette jeunesse sénégalaise. … #Sunu2012 incarne une veille permanente aux multiples branches ; sur Twitter, Facebook, mais aussi avec un blog à vocation 100 % participative et citoyenne qui assure une couverture médiatique sans précédent. #sunu2012 c'est aussi une chaîne vidéo sur YouTube, des ramifications sur des plateformes médias et sur les blogs de journalistes.

Toute l'actualité présidentielle se trouve sur ce nouveau fil que ce soit le livetweet des manifs, les commentaires sur le programme des candidats …

… Nous avons pu constater lors de la validation de la candidature de Wade que certains medias sociaux relayaient mal l'information en expliquant que les manifs étaient dues à l'invalidation de la candidature de Youssou N'Dour. C'est sur le fil sunu2012 que cette mauvaise info a été corrigée. Un autre exemple avec Cheick Fall qui a décelé une faille sur le site election2012.sn et qui en postant un billet sur le fil sunu2012 permettra plus tard la correction de cette erreur.

A new way of conducting politics has been presented to the parties, as well as a new trial of methods to radically condemn policies. The birth of these citizens' movements on Facebook might give a fresh breath of decision-making maturity to the Senegalese youth… #Sunu2012 consists of permanent monitoring of several fields such as Twitter and Facebook, as well as a dedicated 100% collaborative citizen blog ensuring unprecedented media coverage. #Sunu2012 also has a YouTube channel and offshoots on media platforms and journalist blogs. All election-related news is found on this new stream, including live tweets from demonstrations and commentaries on the manifestos of candidates….

During the candidacy of Wade, we were able to observe that certain social networks were relating inaccurate information such as stating that the demonstrations were due to the invalidation of Youssou N'Dour's candidacy. This inaccurate news was corrected on the Sunu2012 network. Another example was given when Cheick Fall discovered a fault on the official election website and facilitated correction of the error by posting on the Sunu2012 network.

Cheikh Fall explained how this unfolded on the day of the election:

On s’est rendu très tôt dans les bureaux de vote pour être les premiers à voter et recueillir le maximum d'informations possible avant qu'il y ait affluence. On est armé d'un téléphone portable ou d'un appareil photo afin de diffuser les infos en temps réel, vérifier si tous les candidats ont un bulletin de vote à leur nom dans les bureaux, vérifier si le matériel de vote est bien présent (l'isoloir, l'urne, l'encre indélébile), tweeter et informer avec le hashtag #sunu2012, s'intéresser aux bureaux de vote environnants et enfin, le plus important, se géolocaliser afin que l'on puisse tous se déplacer s'il y a des soucis.

People went to the polling stations very early, so as to be the first to vote and to gather the maximum information possible before it became too crowded. They were armed with mobile phones or cameras so they could spread information in real time, check whether all the candidates had a ballot paper in their name in the stations, check whether all voting materials were actually present (the booth, the ballot box, indelible ink), tweet and inform using the hashtag #sunu2012, take an interest in nearby polling stations and finally, and most importantly, geotag themselves so that people could move elsewhere if there was any trouble.

The #sunu2012 team could count on the mobilization of around one hundred “E-observers” who had put themselves forward voluntarily to relay information from polling stations and especially from various strategic polling stations. The latter allowed the Sunu2012 team to publish strongly indicative trends by 8.30pm which prompted the phone call from the outgoing president to his victorious adversary.

VIDEO from Sunu 2012 HQ on the night of the second round of the presidential elections:

There were also other cyber activist projects as described by Cheikh Fall in Senegalese ‘Soft Revolution' a definite success, as well as senrevolution or Samabaat ('My Voice' in the Wolof language).

Blogger Dom B. wrote the following:

Désormais, il faudra compter avec Twitter, et Facebook dans les élections, au Sénégal comme partout en Afrique, et ailleurs. Les trop vieux présidents qui ne veulent pas quitter le pouvoir, ont dorénavant beaucoup de souci à se faire.

From now Twitter and Facebook must be reckoned with during elections, in Senegal as everywhere in Africa, and elsewhere. The really old presidents who do not want to leave power, henceforth will come under a lot of pressure to do just that.

This echoed the sentiments of Cheikh Fall who stated recently in an email:

C'est ce qui me motive le plus à me lancer pour rédiger le livre pour mieux recadrer l'idée et le projet pour les autres pays.

What motivates me the most is throwing myself into writing a book clearly framing this idea and project for other countries.

France: Pirate Party Fields Candidates in Legislative Election

Jane Ellis — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 08:48:11 +0000

The Pirate Party, which was started in Sweden in 2006, has since spread to other countries in Europe. In Germany, the local elections of Sunday, March 25, 2012, allowed the party to enter the parliament of Saarland after an earlier victory admitted it to the Berlin Parliament. This result has inspired its French counterpart to put forward candidates for this year's French Legislative Election. The newly created Alsace branch [fr] of the Pirate Party is preparing an “essentially digital campaign costing zero Euros”. Le blog de la vache libre [fr] hosted a video [fr] interview in which a candidate explains the objectives [fr] of the party, and journalism student Jérémie Nadé describes the anticipated pirate invasion on his blog.

France: Lyon Hosts the World Wide Web 2012 Conference

Suzanne Lehn — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 17:00:49 +0000

The World Wide Web 2012 conference is hosted this year in Lyon, France, from April 16 to 20, and will feature many prominent figures of the Web, historic and current ones. Global Voices Online author Danica Radovanovic is presenting on the first day a paper about “one of the very popular social and communication dynamics on social networks and media”. Read more on her blog here.

European Commission's ‘Clash of Civilizations' Video Blunder

Jane Ellis — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 15:17:56 +0000

A video parodying the film Kill Bill and building on a “clash of civilizations” theme has been made by the European Commission (EC) to promote enlargement of the European Union to young adults. However, the video was pulled on March 6, 2012, after it made the rounds online and was subject to virulent accusations of racism.

The removal did not prevent the controversy from inflaming blogs and social networks. At the time of writing, the clip is still available for viewing on Daily Motion [fr] and YouTube:

News website 24heures.ch [fr] described the scenario of the video in detail:

Une jeune femme blanche de peau dans une combinaison qui fait penser à celle d’Uma Turman dans le film Kill Bill de Tarantino, fait face à chaque adversaire mâle arrivant dans l’entrepôt où elle se trouve. L’un est visiblement originaire d’Asie, l’autre d’Inde et le dernier, du Brésil. L’Europe face aux puissances émergentes? Leur attitude est agressive quand la jeune femme ferme les yeux et se dédouble plusieurs fois pour former un cercle autour des combattants, tout à coup doux comme des agneaux.

La symbolique lourdingue du clip se termine par un slogan affirmant: «Plus nous serons nombreux, plus nous serons forts». Juste avant, le cercle de femmes vu d’en haut s’est transformé en un drapeau étoilé de l’UE.

A young Caucasian woman wearing a bright yellow outfit similar to that worn by Uma Thurman in the Quentin Tarantino film Kill Bill stands up to each male adversary who enters the warehouse she is in. One man is clearly of Oriental origin, another seems to be either Arabic or Indian, and the last appears to be a dreadlocked kickboxer. Is this supposed to represent Europe's opposing emerging powers? The body language of the men is aggressive until the young woman closes her eyes and multiplies herself several times, creating a circle around the fighters, who are all of a sudden docile as lambs.The clumsy symbolism of the video ends with a slogan declaring: “The more we are, the stronger we are”. Just before this statement, the circle of women viewed from above has transformed into the starred flag of the EU.

The website comments:

L’incroyable de cette histoire, c’est qu’il y a eu probablement plusieurs hauts-fonctionnaires bruxellois qui n’ont simplement rien vu d’offensant dans ces images. En ligne hier sur quelques sites d’information, ce clip-vidéo a été retiré en début d’après-midi et la campagne annulée.

The incredible thing about this story is that there have probably been several senior officials in Brussels who simply didn't see anything offensive in these images. This video was online yesterday on several news websites, but it was taken down early afternoon and the campaign cancelled.

The Facebook [fr] page of the Parti des Indigènes de la République quotes an article from Regards.fr [fr], the “anti-capitalist monthly”:

Ce stupéfiant petit film, bourré de stéréotypes racistes et essentialistes a été pensé, réalisé puis mis en ligne le vendredi 2 mars par les communicants de la délégation générale de l’élargissement de l’Union européenne de la Commission de Bruxelles. Face au tollé soulevé, il en a été retiré le mardi suivant, 6 mars. Le temps de faire un petit buzz sur Internet mais sans que la presse, en tout cas française, n’en fasse vraiment ses choux gras.

This astounding little film, full of racist stereotypes and clichéd characters, was conceived, created, then put online, on Friday 2 March, by representatives of the EC general delegation for the Enlargement of the European Union. Faced with growing public indignation, it was taken down the following Tuesday 6 March. Time enough to create a little buzz on the Internet but without the press, in any case, the French press, really making the most of it.

At the other end of the political spectrum the interpretation is different. Jean-Patrick Grumberg, for dreuz.info [fr] states:

Je trouve cette vidéo mensongère, mais pas raciste. Mensongère car je ne vois pas ce que l’Europe fait pour se protéger de l’invasion islamiste, mais je vois, au contraire, ce qu’elle fait pour la favoriser. Je ne vois pas ce que l’Europe fait pour se protéger contre l’immigration d’Africains, mais je vois ce qu’elle fait pour la favoriser, et je ne vois pas en quoi la Chine, que les dirigeants Européens ne cessent d’appeler au secours pour renflouer leurs caisses, représente un danger.

I find this video dishonest, but not racist. Dishonest because I do not see what Europe is doing to protect itself from the Islamic invasion. On the contrary, I see what Europe is doing to encourage it. I do not see what Europe is doing to guard against African immigration, but I see what it is doing to encourage it, and I do not see in what way China, who European leaders incessantly call on for help to bail themselves out, represents a danger.

A still from the offending European Commission video

On Twitter reactions have been varied and often impassioned:

@LauraLardy: L'UE fait la promotion de la guerre des civilisations et du racisme…

@LauraLardy: The EU is promoting a war of civilizations and racism….

@sergiomarx: La video de la Commission est-elle vraiment raciste ? Ou est-ce que le racisme ne serait pas plutôt dans l'oeil du spectateur ?

@sergiomarx: Is the video by the European Commission actually racist? Or could the racism instead be in the eye of the beholder?

Could this affair become a textbook example for EC trainees? The blog Décrypter la communication européenne [fr] explains the key points of this “conflict of interpretation” while listing the press articles covering this story:

Le communiqué officiel signé par le Directeur général de la DG Élargissement justifie la diffusion de la vidéo en expliquant que la cible a laquelle la vidéo était destinée avait réagi positivement lors des tests de pré-lancement :
“C’était un clip viral, ciblant à travers les réseaux sociaux, un public jeune (16-24) qui comprend l’intrigue et les thèmes des films d’arts martiaux et de jeux vidéo. Les réactions de ces publics ciblés ont en effet été positives, tout comme celles des focus groupes sur lesquels le concept avait été testé.“

The official communication signed by the Directorate General for Enlargement justifies the distribution of the video while explaining that the target audience of this video had reacted positively during pre-launch test screenings:
“It was a viral clip targeting, through social networks and new media, a young audience (16-24) who understand the plots and themes of martial arts films and video games. The reactions of these target audiences to the clip have in fact been positive, as had those of the focus groups on whom the concept had been tested.”

The conclusion of the blog agrees with the opinions of most Internet users [fr]:

Quoique la Commission européenne ait reconnu qu’il y avait un problème avec la vidéo controversée en choisissant de la retirer ; la divergence d’interprétation avec les médias sur la raison du retrait montre que la Commission reste sourde à l’accusation d’absence de clairvoyance quant à la potentielle lecture raciste de la vidéo.

The European Commission has acknowledged that there was a problem with this controversial video by choosing to take it down. However, the differing interpretations by the media on the reason for its withdrawal show that the Commission is turning a deaf ear to accusations of lack of foresight regarding the potential for a racist interpretation.

Europe: Will ACTA Treaty Pass After Protests?

Danielle Martineau — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 14:09:08 +0000

[All links forward to French articles unless stated otherwise.]

As of the end of the month of February 2012, the mobilization efforts of Internet users against the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) [en] were still going strong. In fact, they may have begun to bear fruit.

By including infringements against the author's rights in its scope, this international treaty, which addresses intellectual property rights, also affects Internet content.

The ratification debates which were placed on the European Parliament's agenda on February 29, were put on hold in expectation of the opinion of the European Court of Justice (ECJ). The issue of the treaty's conformity with European Community law was brought before the court on 22 February by the European Commission.

No ACTA - Strasbourg. Photo by Christophe Kaiser on Flickr, CC-license-BY

Taurillon, the “magazine of young Europeans -France” describes “Europe's about-face on ACTA“:

Si l’avis est négatif, l’ACTA n’a plus aucune chance en Europe. Mais en cas d’avis positif, le recours à la CJUE représente le double avantage de redonner au traité une certaine crédibilité, et de repousser son adoption à une époque suffisamment lointaine pour que la polémique se soit tassée et que l’opinion publique regarde ailleurs.

If the opinion is negative, ACTA no longer stands a chance in Europe. However, if there is a positive opinion, appealing to the ECJ would mean a double advantage by giving the treaty a certain credibility, and also pushing back implementation to a time that is far enough away when public debate has settled down and the public's attention is focused elsewhere.

Jérémie Zimmermann, co-founder and spokesperson for la Quadrature du Net urges on the European deputies:

Les eurodéputés doivent résister à la stratégie de la Commission européenne, qui cherche à gagner du temps et à transformer le débat en une simple discussion juridique, et pour cela continuer à travailler au rejet d’ACTA. ACTA vise à imposer une tendance pour une politique globale du droit d’auteur qui est toxique pour l’Internet libre et pour les libertés. Le Parlement européen est le dernier rempart : il doit agir et adopter une position claire et forte, faute de quoi il laissera le champ libre à la Commission pour imposer une répression inacceptable.

The Eurodeputies must resist the European Commission's strategy of attempting to gain time and turning the debate into a simple legal discussion, thereby continuing to work towards ACTA's rejection. ACTA aims to impose a tendency for a global policy of author's rights that is toxic for the free Internet and for freedom. The European Parliament is the last line of defense: it must act and adopt a firm and clear position, otherwise it will leave the field wide open for the commission to impose an unacceptable repression.

For trucbuntu, there is no question of remaining passive while waiting for the Court to adjudicate:

Les citoyens de toute l’Europe peuvent contacter leurs représentants dans les commissions Commerce International (INTA) et Industrie (ITRE), qui se réunissent cette semaine pour discuter d’ACTA, et leur demander de continuer à travailler au sein de leur commission pour le rejet d’ACTA.

Citizens of all of Europe were able to contact their representatives in the International Trade (INTA) and Industry (ITRE) Committees, who met on February 29 to discuss ACTA. Many citizens requested their representatives to reject the proposal.

The website of the European Parliament explains the procedure and the issues of the treaty [en] that are under scrutiny, and has published ‘What you should know about ACTA‘ [en], a page of questions and answers. The ACTA workshop of the European Parliament has been the object of a storify [en] made by the Parliamentary services (link via Global Voices contributor Asteris Masouras [en]).

The organization AVAAZ submitted a petition to the European Parliament on 29 February with 2.4 million signatures against ACTA. The petition is still open:

Nous sommes vraiment proches de la victoire — notre pétition forte de 2,4 millions de signatures a ébranlé les responsables politiques partout en Europe et stoppé les censeurs. La Commission européenne est à présent en position de faiblesse et espère que la Cour de justice donnera son feu vert au traité ACTA en lui soumettant une question juridique très limitée qui recevra certainement une réponse positive.Mais si nous faisons résonner nos voix aujourd'hui, nous pouvons faire en sorte que la Cour examine tous les impacts légaux du traité ACTA et publie un avis qui fera toute la lumière sur cette attaque contre nos droits qu'est ACTA.

We are really close to victory — our petition, with 2.4 million signatures has shaken up those politicians in charge throughout Europe and stopped their censors. The European Commission is currently in a position of weakness and is hoping the Court of justice will green light the ACTA treaty by bringing before the court a very limited legal question, that will without doubt receive a positive response. But if we make our voices heard today, we will be able to get the court to examine all the legal implications of ACTA and publish an opinion that will bring to light the real attack against our rights that is ACTA.

No ACTA - Strasbourg. Photo Christophe Kaiser on Flickr, CC-license-BY

Anti-ACTA parties continue to strengthen their resources. New protests were set for 10 March, and torrentnews gives a list, with this appeal:

La liste n’est pas exhaustive, n’hésitez pas à nous contacter pour la compléter ;)

si certains se sentent l’âme d’un reporter- photographe en herbe, nous recherchons également des personnes pour faire un petit article photo du déroulement de la manif, rien de bien compliqué, comme fait ici pour Nice, Marseille,Bordeaux et Strasbourg.

The list is not exhaustive, do not hesitate to contact us to complete it ;)

If any individuals see themselves as budding photojournalists we are also looking for people to do a small photo story on how the protest unfolds, nothing too complicated, as it happens in Nice, Marseille, Bordeaux, and Strasbourg.

For details on the elements of the debate, see also these linked articles from the Tribune on February 29, and Myeurop, on March 3. On Global Voices, see the laws SOPA/PIPA that set a precedent in the USA, here [en] and here [en]. Since the beginning of the protests, ACTA seems to have lost a lot of political momentum.

The title of this post is inspired by the end of the article “La liberté sur Internet : le filtrage de la discorde” which was published by the Institute of Research and Legal and Information studies and Communication (I.R.E.D.I.C.). It puts into perspective Internet blocking and debates the adoption of ACTA.

The original article in French was published on March 4. For background on the ACTA proposal, more articles can be found here [en].

La Réunion : A Dynamism far from the Cliché of Dependence on Public Aid

Jane Ellis — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 21:23:29 +0000

Sandrine Dionys interviewed [fr] Emmanuelle, a young entrepreneur from La Réunion for the Bondy Blog. She rails against the cliché of the Réunion Islanders being dependent on the French government for aid.

International Mother Language Day in Francophone Regions

Andrew Kowalczuk — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 06:30:02 +0000

The original article in French was written jointly by Samy Boutayeb, Claire Ulrich, and Suzanne Lehn.

International Mother Language Day was celebrated worldwide on February 21, 2012. [Note: the original article in French was published on February 21.] It is an officially recognized festival or celebration which showcases languages and the efforts which have been made to preserve them.

A little known fact is that the celebration of Mother Language Day originated in Bengladesh to honor an act of patriotism:

The date, February 21, was chosen as International Mother Language Day to commemorate the martyrs who sacrificed their lives to uphold the dignity of their Mother Language Bangla, on this very day in 1952. This was one of the rare instances in world history where people fearlessly gave up their lives for the sake of their mother language.

February 21 is a holiday in Bangladesh; though it is celebrated worldwide, it is not an official holiday elsewhere. This day was proclaimed an International Day by UNESCO in 1999.

The occasion is so meaningful in the region that it has inspired a joint celebration at the border of India and Bangladesh to strengthen the existing ties between the two countries.

India and Bangladesh will jointly observe International Mother Language Day in the no-man's-land along their borders, in an initiative to encourage individual relations between the two nations.

Africa : the rise of African languages

The theme of the Day this year is the introduction of mother languages in school instruction. With the re-awakening of local identities and cultures in Francophone Africa and elsewhere, one can see a resurgence and a renewed effort to promote African languages.

In Côte d'Ivoire, the action of the Ivorian Academy of Mother Languages resulted in the drafting of a decree [fr], concerning the teaching of mother languages.

On the island of Mauritius, social workers describe [fr] their hopes and concerns about the impact of optional courses in creole language on the long-term success and fundamental development of children:

L’introduction du kreol prévient donc les torts qu’on peut causer à un enfant en lui niant sa langue maternelle… Ces méfaits sont connus : baisse de la confiance en soi et impact négatif sur l’apprentissage des autres langues.

The introduction of creole prevents the potential detriment to a child by denying his or her mother language. These impacts are well-known : loss of self-esteem, and a negative impact on the learning of other languages.

In Guinea, Global Voices author Abdoulaye Bah notes [fr] on his personal blog, Konakry Express:

Depuis quelques jours, le bruit courait que le gouvernement du Président Condé allait bientôt introduire l’enseignement des langues nationales dans le système d’enseignement dans le pays. C’est bien étrange que dans le monde entier, il n’y a rien de nouveau dans cette initiative. Mais le 25 avril, j’ai reçu un message d’une amie me disant:

“Le décret vient d’être signé pour créer un ministère des langues nationales et de l’alphabétisation.”

In recent days, it had been rumored that the government of President Condé would soon introduce the instruction of national languages into our country's educational system. This is quite strange, in that worldwide, there is nothing new about this initiative. But on April 25th, I received a message from a friend, saying:

“A decree has just been signed to create a Ministry of National Languages and Literacy.”

The Internet in the service of endangered languages

It is on the Internet that mother languages which are rare, endangered, or little-used because of the lack of computer keyboards adapted to their calligraphy, are progressing. For example, the project “Enduring Voices” launched by the National Geographic Society in America, which puts “talking dictionaries” online:

giving listeners across the world a chance to hear sounds which are among the least-known in human discourse.

There are eight dictionaries thus far: Tuvan, Ho, Siletz Dee-Ni, Matukar Panau, Chamacoco, Remo, Muniche and Saura.

A new alliance has been born between African languages and technology, thanks to podcasts. It is through them that a very old form of popular culture, the folk story, is being reborn in Apple Stores and in other audio-file libraries. For example, this story in the Bambara language (from Mali) ”L'écureuil et le serpent (The Squirrel and the Snake)” recorded by another member of the Global Voices Francophone community, Boukary Konaté:

“L”écureuil et le serpent “Conte en langue bambara (mp3)

The French version can be found here.

Other signs of a new alliance between technology and African mother languages, previously little-appreciated in business and in society: the increasingly frequent appearance of iPhone applications written in African languages, for example in Yoruba.

Young girls in Bretagne, France. By ghislainedarmor on Flickr (Creative Commons license)

In metropolitan France, linguistic regions also have a renewed interest in their mother languages, and the city of Quimper marked the occasion with a Breton-language tour [fr] of the sights of the village. Meanwhile, the city of Parthenay celebrates “Parlanjhe“, its own regional language, or langue d'oïl.

As maybe a sign of the times, the album Bretonne by French singer Nolwenn Leroy, sung in Breton, has sold more than one million records, without raising an eyebrow among the French. Today, in the era of mixed families and languages, it is possible to have more than one mother language, without causing jealousy. And it's all for the better.

France : Who is French and who is not?

Bethany Gerdemann — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 12:01:54 +0000

Abdellali Hajjat, author of the book The Boundires of National Identity: The Injunction to Assimilation in France and its Territories, explains in an interview [fr] on the blog Contretemps the ideological seeds of Islamophobia and the institutional logic that reinforces it. “Racism needs a crutch to provide the principle of separating national/foreign” he concludes.

France: A Drone Campaigning… for President

Bethany Gerdemann — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 13:17:32 +0000

Dédé l'Abeillaud (another name for a drone - a male bee in a colony of social bees, which inspires his costume) is the self-proclaimed candidate of biodiversity for the French presidential election of 2012. He boasts of winning over 300 promised votes for local officials, as much as the National Front candidate Marine Le Pen. He humorously details his commitments, particularly the defense of bees, and his political agenda on his blog [fr], where his press representative is said to be “responsible for the clearing of the conscience”.

Spain: Electricity Cut Off for one School in Alicante

Jane Ellis — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 18:58:19 +0000

Power was cut off [ca] for 800 pupils in a secondary school in Alicante due to outstanding payments. The Valencian Community is currently mired in financial difficulties after years of extravagant spending. MPs Esther López Barceló [ca] from the United and Alternative Left and Mireia Mollà [ca] from the Coalicío Compromis, provided reactions to the news.

Francophone Africa: The Important Literary Contributions from Former Colonies

Solène TRETOUT — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 16:36:57 +0000

The Genevan blog of Rémi Mogenet, Le Savoyard de la Tribune, explains with supporting examples that [fr]: “Mythological African traditional stories have made a remarkable entrance into francophone literature”. He quotes the Mandika epic tale of Soundjata, written and published in French by Guinean D. T. Niane, as well as, for Cameroon, Au Pays des initiés by Gabriel Mfomo and La Marseillaise de mon enfance by Jean-Marton Tchaptchet, without forgetting L' Anthologie nègre by Blaise Cendrars.

France : Strike against the RFI - France 24 merger project

Solène TRETOUT — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 12:24:54 +0000

The blog Écrans, published on the online version of the daily French newspaper Libération, explains the issues [fr] of the merger of the RFI radio and the TV channel France 24 [fr] and its impact on the French public broadcasting system for international news. The RFI staff, worried about the radio station survival, extended the strike that begun on the 28th of November.

France: A tribute to Author Hubert Nyssen

Suzanne Lehn — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 08:52:00 +0000

French writer and publisher Hubert Nyssen [fr], who founded the publishing house Actes Sud, died on Nov. 12. 2011. Among the many tributes to this lover of foreign litteratures and eulogist of translation as a form of art, one can find Sabrina's post that retraces [fr] his biography, an unabridged version of the post she wrote in 2005.

Côte d'Ivoire: When Will the Universities Reopen?

Vivienne Griffiths — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 20:01:29 +0000

This post is part of our special coverage Côte d'Ivoire Unrest 2011.

[All links in are in French unless otherwise indicated]

During the post election crisis in Côte d'Ivoire [en], the country's three universities (Cocody, Abobo-Adjamé and Bouaké) were closed and the halls of residence cleared of their residents. While many Ivorians welcomed this measure at the time, today many are questioning the uncertainty surrounding the reopening of the universities.

The closures had two specific aims:

- To free up the rooms that were illegally occupied by non-students, especially members of the powerful, not to mention armed, Fédération Estudiantine et Scolaire de Côte d'Ivoire (Federation of Ivorian Students and Scholars)

- To renovate the buildings, which were in a serious need of repair.

The decaying state of Cocody University in Abidjan. Image by Alexenafrique, copyright Demotix (13/10/11).

Despite the fanfare that accompanied the beginning of the works, with visits from the Higher Education Minister Cissé Bacongo being reported across the Ivorian national media, the uncertainties surrounding the date when courses will finally resume were a source of concern for students, teachers and parents.

Construction at Cocody University, Abidjan, October 2011. Photo by author.

Over the last few days the debate has intensified on social networking sites, particularly on Twitter. Government minister Antoine Mian, a campaigner for IT and telecommunications in education, has underlined the risks of a prolonged university closure:

@MIANSEH: idleness is the root of vice #VICES and Ivorian students have been idle for the past 5 months. Hello #VICES #sosUniv #criseUniv #civ2010

Micro-bloggers have not been slow to ask the question directly to Alain Lobognon, one of the few Ivorian ministers to have an active Twitter account. Marc Antoine Hodonou demanded to know:

@Ceschod: just 1 question: has a date been set for the reopening of the U[niversity] campuses at #Ci225 ? #civ2010 #civ225

More pragmatically, Don Prince suggests a compromise solution allowing the works to continue and teaching to resume:

@princedonk: What I want to say is that classes can run while a part of the univeristy is under construction, if a little care is taken! #sosUniv

According to him, the Institut National Polytechnique Houphet Boigny (INP-HB) has already proved that this could work. This public, higher education institute based in Yamoussoukro (the political capital) has a faculty in Abidjan and its students were housed on the Cocody campus. As Don Prince points out, despite the closure of the Cocody campus, courses have carried on at the INP-HB:

@princedonk: Despite the university closures, the INPHB faculty at Cocody university has remained operational, example to follow #sosUniv

If this solution was rolled out across the universities, lecture halls and other rooms would be quickly put straight and the students could resume their courses again despite the campus closures.

For others, difficulties surrounding housing and transport at Abidjan encourage them to suggest other solutions, like distance learning. Hagger55 suggests:

@hager55: online teaching; video conferencing to catch up on years that have already begun @anarshy @Sanders225 #sosUniv #civ2010 for speed

But, in the absence of appropriate infrastructure and the lack of households with the required IT equipment, this solution is unlikely to succeed, as Stephane Kouakou points out :

@iamstephanek: Equipment levels? @hager55: on line teaching; video conferencing to catch up on years that have already begun @anarshy @Sanders225 #sosUniv

To reassure everyone, Alain Lobognon announced:

@MIANSEH: The date has been set. It will be made public start of November by the GOVT #ci225 We are avoiding past mistakes #civ2010

But he insisted on specifying:

@MIANSEH: The Universities wont be reopened hastily. Address problems before opening #ci225 #civ2010

The message is clear, Ivorian students need to be patient and consider alternative solutions like the private, higher education Grands Ecoles or civil service entry exams (civil service courses have not been interrupted).

This post is part of our special coverage Côte d'Ivoire Unrest 2011.

Catalonia: From Arab Spring To Islamic Autumn

Claire Ulrich — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 16:20:35 +0000

Pepe Nieto from SODEPAU, a Catalan international aid organization, published a post entitled: “From the Arab Spring to the Islamic Autumn“ [cat]. Nieco forecasts that political Islam will be the great benefactor of the recent events unfolding in the Arab world, after the elections in Tunisia and the statements from the new Libyan leaders. He adds that media should not be surprised by the turn of event given that similar outcomes took place in Algeria, Palestine and Turkey, where repressions never succeeded in stifling Islamic movements.