Global Voices Online

Patrick Lozès looks back at French presidential candidate Nicolas Sarkozy's history of controversial public statements about Africans and Berbers (Fr). He wonders if, given unprecedented levels of voter registration among French minorities, Sarkozy's strategy of playing to the far right will backfire.

Recent Links also in Western Europe

The 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall: How To Marry a Bulgarian hosts a series of readers' personal reflections: Biliana Velkova, Alexandra Grashkina-Hristova, Maria Vassileva; Hungarian Spectrum writes that “for Hungary and the Hungarians the whole thing started much earlier”; Belgraded writes about the upcoming and much-awaited fall of the “visa wall” for Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia; CAFÉ TURCO writes about the anniversaries of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Kristallnacht, and the destruction of Mostar’s Old Bridge;

Nordic Voices writes about Finland's “language issue.”

This week, two of the most prestigious French literary prizes were awarded to two French-speaking authors of African descent: The French-speaking Caribbean blogosphere has been buzzing over this double satisfaction, in this post from Haiti, this one from Guadeloupe and this one from Martinique [Fr].