· April, 2006

Stories about Jamaica from April, 2006

West Indian literature online

  28 April 2006

One of the crucial elements in the rapid development of the literature of the Anglophone Caribbean in the 1940s and 50s was a weekly radio programme called Caribbean Voices, broadcast from London on the BBC's Caribbean Service and produced by Henry Swanzy. Caribbean Voices featured stories and poems by West...

Jamaica: A writer's development

  27 April 2006

On his personal blog, Jamaican writer Geoffrey Philps reproduces a lecture he delivered recently in which he discusses his development as a writer and also raises the question: “What is the mission of my generation?”

Caribbean: Cricket captaincy gamble

  27 April 2006

West Indies star batsman Brian Lara is appointed team captain for a third time. Jeremy Taylor at the Caribbean Beat weblog calls it “an interesting gamble, both for Lara and for the West Indies Board.”

African music #7

  25 April 2006

Nothing beats a music festival. You meet like the music lovers, people interested in the genre and enjoy the good party vibe. And though you know the lineup in advance you have no idea what antics will be displayed on stage. With these musings I look forward to the 4th...

Caribbean: Bureaucracy kills & biofuel

  24 April 2006

Taran Rampersad is starting a “death and injury counter” in response to the region's lack of action in the area of disaster preparedness. “My theory is that all the bureaucracy kills people in a way that could be seen as criminally negligent,” he says. And why isn't the Caribbean thinking...

Caribbean: Billionaires Investing in Local Telecoms

  22 April 2006

Last week Irish billionaire Dennis O'Brien announced his company Digicel was purchasing the Caribbean arm of Bouygues Telecom . This week Mexican billionnaire Carlos Slim announces he is purchasing three Caribbean and Latin-American subsidiaries of Verizon, an American telecom, writes (FR) InternetRapide.com. The Verizon subsidiaries to be purchased by Slim's...

Caribbean: What's going on?

  21 April 2006

“So what else is going on, this fiercely hot Thursday?” writes JT at the Caribbean Beat Weblog. He finds West Indies, the anniversary of the Bay of Pigs, and some soul-searching on the part of Caribbean heads of state.

A Seamless Caribbean Network?

  20 April 2006

InternetRapide.com, a blog dedicated to telecommunications in the Caribbean says (FR) Digicel, a cell phone company owned by Irishman Denis O'Brien that covers 60% of the Jamaican market, celebrates its fifth anniversary this week. The company has expanded to 14 other Caribbean countries since its inception in 2001 and plans...

Jamaica: Homophobia and defensiveness

  18 April 2006

Francis Wade offers a thoughtful response to TIME magazine's designating Jamaica “the most homophobic place on earth”. “We sound like some Chinese or Cubans when we argue that human rights issues are an internal matter, and that any outside comments are just “interference in our internal matters,” he says. “We...

Jamaica: Reggae Falls

  18 April 2006

Stunner visits Reggae Falls and partakes of various Jamaican delicacies, including “mannish water”. He posts photos too.

Barbados: Say no to Passa Passa

  17 April 2006

“Passa passa” events, which are also causing a stir in Grenada, have arrived in Barbados as well, according to Barbados Free Press, who notes that the story has also been picked up by Russian news service Pravda. “We must congratulate the Royal Barbados Police Force for moving against this bit...

Village cricket match, Caribbean-style

  17 April 2006

Easter Sunday cricket match — Howsen Village, Trinidad. From caribbeanfreephoto At this time of year, thoughts in the English-speaking Caribbean turn to the game of cricket. Travel around any of the region's former British colonies and you're likely to come across greens like this one, located in Howsen Village, Trinidad....

Caribbean, Venezuela, USA: CARICOM talks with US

  13 April 2006

Seeing it as evidence that the Caribbean has begun to resist the overtures of Venezuela's Hugo Chávez, A. M. Mora y Leon links gleefully to a Miami Herald article which states that CARICOM is exploring the possibility of holding free trade talks with the US.

Jamaica: Homophobic blog?

  11 April 2006

Mad Bull wonders if the homophobic agenda of a Jamaican blog called Killbattyman.org is a huge joke — or deadly serious.