Stories about France from February, 2012
International Mother Language Day in Francophone Regions
February 21st is International Mother Language Day. Discussion of the origins of this celebration, and a brief review of current developments in French language and new technologies.
France : Who is French and who is not?
Abdellali Hajjat, author of the book The Boundires of National Identity: The Injunction to Assimilation in France and its Territories, explains in an interview [fr] on the blog Contretemps the ideological seeds of Islamophobia and the institutional logic that reinforces it. “Racism needs a crutch to provide the principle of...
Italy: Historic ‘Guilty’ Verdict in the Eternit Asbestos Trial
It is a historic verdict: on February 13, 2012 in Turin, northern Italy, the two top senior executives of the multinational Eternit, a producer of asbestos, were sentenced to 16 years in prison after a criminal trial began in 2009. Here are the reactions of the associations and the families of asbestos victims in Italy and Europe.
Morocco: “Stop French Made TGV Rail Project”
StopTGV.com is a web campaign launched by a number of Moroccan NGOs. It calls for the cancellation of the controversial French-made Tangier-Casablanca TGV rail link due to start operating by December 2015 and which is worth an estimated 20 billion dirhams (US$2.4 billion). The campaign calls on the authorities to...
France, Equitorial Guinea: The Search for “Ill-Gotten Gains” of an African Head of State
The blogger Menilmuche reports [fr] that a massive search began on February 14th at the home of Teoforo Obiang, the son of the president of Equatorial Guinea, in his Parisian mansion on Avenue Foch. The search is in response to complaints against some heads of African states in France for...
China: A Portrayal of Portrayals of Cultural And Ethnic Stereotypes
One Chinese vlogger has gone viral with his impersonation of the accents of a few Asian neighbors and other cultures from around the globe. How much do these differ from similar crude stereotypes you've seen elsewhere?
France: Racial Profiling by Police Officers
The Local blog posts a Human Rights Watch report that states : “French police use broad powers to conduct abusive identity checks on black and Arab young men and boys despite the absence of any evidence of wrongdoing, Human Rights Watch said on Thursday.”
France : Dozens of Anti-ACTA Protests
Despite freezing temperatures, a few thousand netizens joined the Saturday Feb. 11 worldwide protests against ACTA, in Paris and some 40 other cities in France. One can find pictures on clubic.com, a video of the protests [fr] on Madmax's blog, an Anti – Acta France Facebook page and the details [fr] of a petition on the Gizmodo blog.
Germany, France: Disparities in Policies Regarding the Integration of Foreign Students
Elsa Doladille writes [fr] on the Educators Without Borders blog : ” While the Guéant Bill in France aims at toughening the conditions for foreign students to obtain a work permit, Germany encourages the integration of students from abroad in their workforce.”
France: How Are PACS and Marriage Different?
Pierre Vicari [fr] had this to say about the results of a survey [fr] which appeared on the site Lefigaro.fr, “To the ignoramuses who say that PACS and marriage are the same thing: No! A PACS does not provide any of the same rights as marriage! In addition, you intolerant people who do not...
France: A Drone Campaigning… for President
Dédé l'Abeillaud (another name for a drone – a male bee in a colony of social bees, which inspires his costume) is the self-proclaimed candidate of biodiversity for the French presidential election of 2012. He boasts of winning over 300 promised votes for local officials, as much as the National...
France: The first Muslim public cemetery
Hanan Ben Rhouma of Saphir News reports [fr] that: “The first Muslim public cemetery in France was open in Strasbourg on Monday, February 6. In a sense, it is a unique cemetery of that kind because it is the first to be managed by local public authorities based on the Alsace-Moselle Accord...
