Nicolas Sarkozy and François Hollande make last appeals before France’s presidential election
Nicolas Sarkozy and François Hollande, the two leading contenders in the race for the French presidency, make their final appeals to voters ahead of the polls on Sunday. Hollande, tipped in opinion polls to win the two-round election by a comfortable margin, urges his supporters to turn out en masse to vote in the first election round (via guardian.co.uk)
France: meet the voters of Henin Beaumont, Front National presidential candidate Marine Le Pen’s stronghold
With the first round of the French presidential election coming up on Sunday, this week we take a tour of France, to see what the voters are interested in. Today we go to Henin-Beaumont, a small town in the north of France in a region blighted by high unemployment. Far right candidate Marine le Pen calls it her fiefdom. Her protectionist, anti-immigrant policies have found favour with an estimated 30 per cent of voters.
The result of the Russian presidential election brought two months of euphoria to a shuddering halt. The expectation that Putin would return with a weaker mandate was crushed by his unexpectedly high 63% of support. And even allowing for massive fraud – a lot of it well documented – Putin emerged from this election stronger than many predicted. Most of even his staunchest critics concede that he probably obtained more than 50% of the vote even without the rigging. But while Putin is jubilant, the Russian opposition is more demoralised and disorientated than at any time since December. Between euphoria and depression, it is important to understand where Russia – its government and society – stands after this election. (via openDemocracy)
Russia refuses to release anti-Putin punks Pussy Riot rock group
Russia on Wednesday refused to free from pretrial detention two alleged members of opposition punk rock group Pussy Riot who face up to seven years in jail for performing in a church.
A Moscow court rejected an appeal and ruled that two women, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alekhina, must stay in detention until late April ahead of their trial for “hooliganism”, even though they have small children.
Outside the courtroom on Wednesday, police detained several demonstrators as supporters of the women held single-person pickets against the detentions, while opponents sprinkled them with holy water.
The radical all-female group sings raucous anthems against Vladimir Putin’s regime in public places including the metro and Red Square. Its members wear brightly coloured balaclavas to conceal their faces and use nicknames.
On February 21, five members climbed onto the altar in Moscow’s central Church of Christ the Saviour, often visited by Russia’s rulers, and attempted to shout out a song they called a “Punk Prayer” before being seized by guards.
The women all escaped, but police later detained four alleged members – including one man. They charged the two women with hooliganism in an organised group, a criminal charge rarely applied to opposition protests. (via Telegraph)
Prince: Germany should reinstate monarchy
Germany should reinstate its monarchy to speak to people’s emotions, make them proud of their country and even encourage them to have babies, according to Prince Philip Kiril of Prussia, great-great grandson of the last Kaiser.
Speaking in Thursday’s edition of Die Zeit newspaper, Philip stressed that a monarch would be financially independent – and so would not be likely to accept presents from friends, such as those which led to Christian Wulff’s resignation from the presidency.
“A king is invulnerable to such cases,” Prince Philip said. “Either he would have old family property or an Apanage – and it would be beneath his dignity to accept presents from friends.”
“And there are no reporters on the level of sniffing around European ruling families,” added the prince, who is a Protestant minister.
Prince Philip said that although successful presidents made their mark with their statements, mentioning Roman Herzog and Richard von Weizsäcker as good examples, he said that words were not enough.
“This level of words is necessary, but they do not move people inside,” he said. “When our hearts are touched, we change. During the past football World Championship there emerged so much uncomplicated national consciousness that nose-wrinkling intellectuals no longer understood their country.
“Emotions are the field on which a royal family can play,” he said. “They do not have to think up some programme, it goes to the hearts that they are simply there.”
He said the personal and family lives of politicians were regarded as private – but that those of royals were legitimately public. (via The Local)
The Battle for Moscow: Russian Opposition at Odds over Path for Future - picture gallery
In the wake of the recent elections in Russia, opponents of newly elected President Vladimir Putin are struggling to find a common approach and viable new slogans. Some suggest that the best way to challenge Putin would be winning control of the Moscow city parliament and mayor’s office. (via SPIEGEL ONLINE)
Protest Songs: Germany Sees Eurovision as Forum for Civil Rights
German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said on Wednesday that the Eurovision Song Contest in Azerbaijan on May 26 and the European soccer championship in June, which is being co-hosted by Ukraine, should be used to protest against civil rights abuses in those nations.
“We should use these events to create a critical public forum in order to talk to people and promote our democratic values,” Westerwelle told German newspaper Die Welt. He stopped short of suggesting a boycott, however, saying: “I’m against hastily calling for a boycott of events such as a football tournament and a song competition that don’t have much to do with politics.”
The minister was speaking ahead of a visit on Wednesday to the Azerbaijani capital of Baku as part of a trip to the Caucasus region.
The German government’s human rights representative, Markus Löning, who will be joining him on the trip, has in the past criticized Azerbaijan’s civil rights record, saying it is not a free country, that the political opposition is being suppressed and that there are no free elections. In an interview with the Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper in February, Löning had called on Baku to release all its politicial prisoners before it stages the song contest.
Ukraine, too, has been criticized for jailing former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who is serving a seven-year prison term for alleged abuse of office. Her sentencing last October was seen by the West as politically motivated and derailed the signing of an association agreement between Ukraine and the European Union.
The rights campaign group Reporters Without Borders said Westerwelle should call for the release of jailed bloggers and journalists when he holds talk with Azerbaijani government officials.
“The Song Contest is a European competition that should be based on European values like freedom and democracy,” the group said in an open letter to the minister. “We therefore bear a special responsibility for those who fight for those values in Azerbaijan — in a climate of fear and not infrequently by putting their lives on the line.” (via SPIEGEL ONLINE)
Azerbaijan: Journalist Says She Won’t Be Intimidated By Blackmail Campaign
An investigative journalist with RFE/RL’s Azerbaijani Service says she will not be intimidated following the release on the Internet of a video purporting to show her engaged in sexual activities.
Khadija Ismailova, a correspondent and talk-show host for RFE/RL, said the blackmail campaign is aimed at halting her investigations into corruption and the financial dealings of President Ilham Aliyev and his family and that it will not silence her.
“If they meant to stop me by this, I can assure you they have been wrong. They failed to do so,” Ismailova said. “I continue doing my investigations. I will publish my investigations as soon as I finish the story. If they meant to stop me, they have failed. If they meant to defame me, they have failed, because I have received the full support of my friends. Even religious figures of the country have expressed their support.” (via RFE/RL)
Norway: politician links drug use to parliamentary pressure
Henning Warloe, the politician for the Conservative Party (Høyre) who’s been charged with possession and use of narcotics, has told Norwegian media that pressure and loneliness tied to his job as a Member of Parliament led to his drug problem.
Warloe admitted that he would abuse drugs on the weekends, because he felt lonesome as a Member of Parliament (MP). Warloe is from Bergen, but had to move to Oslo when he was elected to Parliament (Sortinget) in 2009.
Last weekend, police raided the apartment where he lives at state expense, and found both drugs and drug-related equipment. He has since been formally charged with violations of Norway’s drug laws and has admitted using drugs, in part because he felt alone at the Parliament in Oslo.
“I must say I think there are some aspects of an MP’s working conditions that raise questions,” Warloe told Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK). “We are very much left to find our way ourselves. We don’t get hardly any help with the practical part of the work, and it’s every man for himself. We’re expected to deliver and preferably not complain.”
He said that he tried to air his frustration, but got the message that it was wisest to avoid complaining and “maintain the facade” that all was well. (via Norway News)
Pop musik: the sound of the charts in … Russia
Pussy Riot’s anti-Putin agit-punk may have temporarily made them international stars, but explicit political messages are a rarity in the Russian charts, irrespective of whether they’re aimed at the ruling party or country’s powerful business elite. That may not be entirely unconnected to the fact that most of the major outlets for music, including the ubiquitous Muz–TV television station, are owned by oligarchs. Emulation is far more common than confrontation, with the luxurious lifestyle of the nation’s rich a constant source of material for aspirational music videos.
The Tony-Montana-meets-Donald-Trump aesthetic has always had a home in American hip-hop, and it’s unsurprising to see it replicated in the music of a country where billionaire gangsters are a reality, rather than a romantic fiction. Leading the pack is Timati who has become the first Russian act since Tatu to make the top 10 across Europe.
His single Welcome to St Tropez features Kalenna Harper of Diddy Dirty Money and is the latest in a series of releases to have seen the rapper lining up with heavyweights from the US, including Snoop, Busta Rhymes and Diddy himself. It’s difficult not to wonder whether, as with Arnold Schwarzenegger and his Japanese energy drink commercials, the participants expected the results to remain an embarrassing secret only to be viewed by a domestic audience.
Party politics may be off the agenda, but Russian pop has long been engaged in a war of attrition with social conservatism. As in many other countries in central and eastern Europe, a sexually liberal youth culture butts heads with the church and sections of the older generation. The faux lesbianism of Tatu may have prompted eye-rolling in some parts of the world but it’s easy to underestimate how transgressive it could appear in a nation where the battle for recognition of gay rights has further to go. (via The Guardian)
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The village of Galičnik, Macedonia.
Beautiful Timelapse of St Petersburg
Volovets, Ukraine.
Art for Wired charcoal illustration
