Global Voices Online

Jennifer Brea

French Language Editor

Stories

February 28th, 2009

Sub-Saharan Africa

In the DRC, Cedric Kalonji questions the Inspector General of the South Kivu police who, in a recent radio interview, pledged that the police were committed to raising revenue through security taxes or fees for the issue of public documents. Kalonji writes: “While killings, lootings, rapes and murders, which are spoken of almost with a smile in South Kivu, have become trivial, I am tempted to ask what is really the role of the police. Generating revenue for the coffers of the state or protecting people and their property?”

Americas

le blog de [moi] [Fr] discusses how a new vocabulary has entered into the creoles of Guadeloupe and Martinique since the beginning of the general strike: “What was really surprising (and for me, I admit, a little unsettling) was to see how in interviews, men and woman on the street would, without difficulty, answer [questions] with expressions being used by the national media!”

February 21st, 2009

Sub-Saharan Africa

Cedric Kalonji describes Kinshasa after a heavy rain [FR]. The roads turn into lakes, but “high up in their 4×4s, the authorities are untouched by the problem, the result being that there is almost no support for making storm sewers or gutters.”

Martinique: On independence and French “paternalism”

Jennifer Brea · 18:40 · Americas , Western Europe

lingua → fr · mg · es · sw

As the workers' movement in Martinique and Guadeloupe continues, bloggers in Martinique consider what it might mean for the overseas departments to become independent. le blog de [moi] finds the idea Martinique couldn't make it on its own offensive and paternalistic. Her readers think that one reality of being a small island country is that you are always under someone else's shadow. 6 comments · read »

Middle East & North Africa

Tunisian blogger zizou from Djerba announces plans for a new podcast [FR] about Tunisia, in English, meant primarily for a foreign audience.

Americas

le blog de [moi] discusses officials' decision to cancel Carnival in Martinique after four weeks of workers' protests. She quotes Louisy Berté from the Alliance union who asks, “How can we stand against the rising cost of living and, at the same time, present an image of Martinique singing and dancing?” [FR].