The Global Sociology Blog

In a January article on Niger, IRIN reports that “Press freedom groups agree that an increase in arrests, intimidation and harassment of journalists in Niger is impeding development in one of the poorest countries in the world.” The current crackdown on journalists seem to be related to government’s dealing with a rebellion in the Northern [...]

I don’t eat meat (except when I go back to France) mostly for the reasons mentioned by Mark Bittman in the New York Times: “Global demand for meat has multiplied in recent years, encouraged by growing affluence and nourished by the proliferation of huge, confined animal feeding operations. These assembly-line meat factories consume enormous amounts [...]

If the current Turkish government and its Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan get their way, women might now be allowed to wear the Islamic headscarf in Turkish universities. However, the secular, Kemalist camp is not let this pass without a fight: La polémique turque sur le voile rebondit LE MONDE | 30.01.08 © The government [...]

It’s a good thing the United States and NATO liberated Afghanistan from the fundamentalist religious rule of the Taliban and.. oh wait… Afghanistan : le Sénat soutient la condamnation à mort d’un journaliste pour “blasphème” LEMONDE.FR | 30.01.08 © What exactly is the blaspheme? Sayed Parwez Kaambaksh, journalist at a local newspaper, stated that men [...]

As a follow-up to my post on B&Q phasing out patio heaters comes, via the Guardian, a possible decision from the European Parliament to ban the appliances across the European Union: “The EU parliament is expected to back a resolution requiring the use of appliances with low energy efficiency to be phased out. Patio heaters [...]

Asks Texas-based columnist Anene Ejikeme in a Worldpress piece. Let me answer that, borrowing from Master Blogger Atrios: YES This has been another edition of easy answer to easy questions. Interestingly though, the author, so focused on pop psychological stuff (geez, Cecilia and Carla have the same initials and look alike… eerie), misses the major [...]

You MUST click on the link to the product page of the British-bought, Dutch store Hema and see what happens… watch all the way to the end. I’m surprised Eszter Hargittai hasn’t found it yet and stamped it with her timesink stamp. H/T: my Humanities colleague… she knows who she is!

According to the Guardian, the retailer B&Q (a kind of British Home Depot) is going to stop selling patio heaters for environmental reasons: “The company said yesterday it has 20,000 heaters in its stores and expects to sell the last one during 2008. After that it will no longer stock the heaters once branded by [...]

In an interview with Le Monde, Jacques Diouf, Director of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), reiterates his warning to the participants of the World Economic Forum at Davos: water and food will be major sources of conflict unless something is done for a more equitable distribution. “L’eau ou l’alimentation seront des sources de conflits [...]

A complex life, a rotten childhood, an immense talent, tormented relationships, Edith Piaf was a tragic character and Mario Cotillard deserves an Academy Award in this beautiful film. My personal Piaf favorite: La Foule [kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/rbsl5_203Ms" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

So says Jean-François Daguzan, Director of the Foundation for Strategic Research (FRS), in an interview with Le Monde. Well, knock me over with a goddamn feather! Since the Algerian decolonization war (oh, pardon me, the “events in Algeria” as pro-colony groups used to euphemize), when has France not been a target for terrorism. The groups [...]

Personally, I see nothing wrong with this: “Police say 300 families took over the property owned by Juan Carlos Ramirez Abadia in Rio Grande do Sul state. The ranch, said to be worth nearly $1m (£500,000), was confiscated when he was arrested last August. The accused is in a high-security jail in Brazil awaiting extradition [...]

According to this article from the BBC, “Sierra Leone has re-imposed a timber export ban because of what it says is indiscriminate plundering of forests by Chinese and other foreign companies. “They just invaded and started doing what they felt like doing,” Forestry Minister Joseph Sam Sesay told the BBC.” And as with almost any [...]

In a victory for the rights of gays and lesbians to adopt, the European Human Rights Court (CEDH) has condemned France for discrimination for refusing to let a lesbian adopt. According to Liberation, the Court’s argument was that since France lets singles adopt, there is no compelling reasons to deny the same right to gays [...]

This is as good a time as any to bring back that great Midnight Oil song: [kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/10BbpGKLXqk" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /] As the Guardian states: “Tasmania today approved millions of dollars in compensation for members of the “stolen generation” of Aborigines removed from their families, its premier calling this an attempt to right a [...]