Global Voices Online

In the midst of the International Creole Month, Guadeloupean blogger CaribCreoleOne discusses [Fr] the now official use of Creole language alongside French in all the administrative procedures and places, in the city of Le Port in Reunion.

cueTV interviews a dance collective from Mauritius, Reunion and Madagascar about the dance, Ma Ravan', a ritual and a performance, and paying homage to slaves and freedom fighters performed at the Grahamstown Arts Festival in South Africa.

Guadeloupean Mycho blogs [Fr] about her doubts concerning the “Estates General of the French Overseas Departments” to re-think the status of its distant departments, while bloggers Anba pyé mango-la and indiscrétions [Fr] also report on developments.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has finally met with elected representatives of French Guiana, Martinique, Guadeloupe and Réunion, regarding the crisis which has been shaking the French West Indies for the last month. Martinican bloggers Imaniyé and blogde[moi] are dissatisfied and note that his TV address raised two questions: Why was the speech exclusively broadcast on RFO: the French overseas media network and why was it only 10 min. long?

It has often been said that l'Ile de France (Paris and its surroundings) is the Fifth French Overseas Department, due to its huge population of French Guianese, Guadeloupeans, Martinicans and Reunionese. In this announcement published by CaribCreoleOne, a group called Continuité LKP [Fr] invites the diaspora to march in Paris to support the strikes in Guadeloupe and Martinique.

At. 15:17 local time, an earthquake (3.6 on the richter scale) was felt all around the island of Reunion today. There is no report of major damages as of yet. Jonathan Gravier said he was driving in St-Denis at the time but did not feel the earthquake (Fr).

Rachiri Mayotte writes about racism in Reunion (Fr) as politics on the island move toward the right.

Éric Fruteau announces (Fr) the launch of echosale.com, a community blog run by the local opposition in Etang-Salé, Réunion that aims to serve as a forum for debate and a political organizing tool.

African journalists working in France are calling on the two remaining French presidential candidates, Nicolas Sarkozy and Segolene Royal, to begin a new chapter in Franco-African relations (Fr), according to the blog of the Alliance for Democratic Progress. “We have to reconsider everything, make a fresh start, a sort of “big bang,” so that France stops treating us like children. Africa must be a partner.” (Fr)