Global Voices Online

Carlos Serra [pt] reports some more protests against the increase in the cost of living, this time in Senegal and Côte d'Ivoire, where food prices have gone up. The sociologist-blogger forecasts these may not be the last ones: “I remember similar manifestations taking place recently in Cameroon, Burkina Faso and in our country. I predict that this phenomenon will be widespread in our continent.”

Blog politique au Senegal writes of Karim Wade's appearance [Fr] at a “Generation du concret” rally in the suburbs of Dakar: “For a t-shirt and a sandwich, these young people sell their futures.”

Anandoo.net announces L'Afrique répond à Sarkozy [Fr], a collective critique of Nicolas Sarkozy's infamous Dakar speech by prominent African intellectuals, published in Paris this week.

Blog politique au Senegal discusses George Orwell [Fr] and sees echoes of 1984 in Senegal's political system.

Blog politique au Senegal reposts an article about the “historical reality” [Fr] of homosexuality in Africa.

Leo Africanus writes about Senegale-American musician: “Akon, the Senegalese-American musician, who styles himself as a ‘global’ political force of sorts, makes no sense in an interview in the March issue of the hip hop music and culture magazine, The Source”

Blog politique au Senegal explains the difference between Senegal and China [Fr]: “Aside from the obvious differences like the color of their skin, the enormous disparity in the size of their populations, their respective demographic differences, I also know that there exists another fundamental difference…Us, we play football, we dream of footballs, we talk about football, we worship the professional football players, we beg in order to pay for this time-wasting game that brings the country to a halt whenever there is a match. All the while the Chinese also dream of footballs: those that they will manufacture and sell to us in cash!”

Blog Politique au Senegal writes about local elections in Senegal [Fr], claiming that the dominant parties want to limit the number of political parties in the country and that no party is able to clearly enunciate their ideologies and plans.