Global Voices

English

The world is talking, are you listening?

Bernard Assandé narrates the latest attack [fr]  on the Force Républicaine de la Côte d'Ivoire (FRCI, the national army of Côte d'Ivoire) in Dabou on August 15. The army regained control of the city after a night of confrontation.  On August 6, 7 people were killed in Abidjan [fr] after similar attacks. Fighting were also reported on August 13 in the Pehkan Military Barracks close to the Liberian Border.

Robtel Pailey reflects on Charles Taylor's verdict: “What Charles Taylor’s verdict signifies for me is the need to reconfigure Africa’s domestic systems of justice, so that we don’t have to rely on the West to judge when, where, and under what circumstances we can punish for transgressions that we deem unacceptable….International justice is clearly blind to the atrocities committed by Western agents as well as non-Western countries that wield international clout or power.”

Robtel Pailey discusses Liberia's complicated biography: “April 12, 1980 is often described as the beginning of Liberia’s end. I think of it as the preface to Liberia’s long, complicated biography, the beginning of our awakening. It was a day when our pomp and circumstance left a deafening echo; when we were all exposed, laid bear by the realization that being the first African republic meant nothing in the grand scheme of things.”

Gamel identifies social innovations that weave the African dream: “Tech in Education: This project is the main motivation behind today’s post. Tech in Education is a 48hr gathering of ideas, people and digital tools aimed at creating novel web and mobile solutions to improve learning amongst primary and secondary school students in Nigeria.”

This is Boima Tucker's 2011 10 club friendly Afropop tracks: “I don’t think I’ve ever seen one song dominate a nation’s psyche like Junior Freeman and African Soldier’s “Dumyarea” did in Liberia this summer. Maybe it was because it was an election season, and all the politicians co-opted the song for their own campaigns…”

A post for the Liberiaphiles from Chris: “Yesterday’s vote was marred by violence the day before. It looks like badly-trained and led police are to blame, but we will see.”