Stories about Ethnicity & Race from May, 2007
Russia: Export of Bio Specimens Banned
Russia bans export of biological specimens, Siberian Light reports.
Bahamas: A Story on Race
“If you wanted to get ahead, your best bet was finding a way to make your children lighter than you, so maybe one day, their children or grandchildren could be fair enough to matter.” Guest authoring at Bahama Pundit, Nicolette Bethel continues the discussion on why race matters.
Syria: A Letter from a Syrian Worker in Lebanon
Golaniya posted a letter from a Syrian Worker in Lebanon. “In Lebanon, our hopes are now starting to flee away. We are outcasts. We receive all kinds of cursing and swearing from people. We sometimes got hit and killed. This happens when politicians, deliberately and non deliberately, make their loaded...
Trinidad & Tobago: Indian Arrival Day
Both CULTURAL LITERACY and HAVEWORLD acknowledge the celebration of Indian Arrival Day.
Lebanon: More on the Crisis in the Country
For the second week, Lebanese bloggers have posted anecdotes, reflections, updates, photos, videos, jokes, sarcasm and drawings on the issue that is taking precedence over all other topics. The issue is the ongoing violence which is taking the form of clashes in the north between the army and the militants and the terrorist explosions jumping from one location to another around the country, writes Moussa Bashir.
India: In Dharamshala
Feringhee on Tibetan refugees and Indians in Dharamshala. “The Tibetans are here as refugees with very few rights; however, their presence and that of the Dalai Lama brings in the vast numbers of tourists, around which the local economy is completely based. The Tibetans draw a great deal of international...
Belarus: Blogger br23/Uładzimer Katkoŭski Passes Away
Belarusian blogger Uładzimer Katkoŭski/br23 passed away in Prague on May 25 at the age of 30. As one of his online friends wrote, "To a large degree thanks to his effort Belarusian-language Internet is now what it is."
St. Vincent & the Grenadines: Miss Universe Pick
Zahra Redwood will represent Jamaica at tonight's Miss Universe competition as the first Rastafarian Beauty Queen - but Abeni has “taken a liking to Miss Tanzania for being bold enough to enter a beauty pageant sans hair.”
Iran:A more divided country
Digital Kalashinkov,blogger and journalist, says[Fa] Iranian society becomes more fragmented everyday.The blogger writes there is a growing gap between elites and masses.He adds religion and nationalism can not anymore bring together the majority of people. He says country becomes divided based on ethnicity.
Hungary: Human Rights
“The annual Amnesty Report this week has charged Hungary with discrimination against the Roma, a lack of protection for women and not surprisingly, police abuses,” writes Further Ramblings of a N.Irish Magyar.
Serbia: 50 Human Rights Tasks
Belgrade 2.0 comments on Goran Miletic's “fifty human rights tasks that new government should do.”
Bahamas: Race Matters
“Race matters. And we need to talk about it in order to make it matter less.” Nicolette Bethel starts the discussion on race relations in the Bahamas.
Japan: The Hair Police
Debito writes about the experience of a Brazilian high-school student in Japan's Shizuoka prefecture, apparently “forced by her school to dye her hair weekly because it was not as dark as her peers’”. Debito went to the school itself to talk to one of the so-called “Hair Police”, and returned...
Belarus: Priest Fined for Blogging
TOL's Belarus writes about Belarusian church, politics, the history of WWII – and a priest fined for blogging.
Estonia: Demography and Ethnicity
Itching for Eestimaa writes about Estonia's demography and interethnic relationships: “Still, the reality for Estonia is, no matter what historical spin you put on it, there will be a large Russian-speaking community in Estonia for many years to come. Because of recent events in Tallinn, many are wondering what can...
Latvia: Interview with Aleksejs Tapins
Peteris Cedrins of Marginalia interviews Aleksejs Tapins of All About Latvia: Why do you blog? – […] At one point, it's become a search for my own identity. Who am I? Am I Russian/Latvian/American? I tried answering my own questions in hopes to show what some Russian-speaking people in Latvia...
Serbia: Homophobia
Belgrade 2.0 writes about Serbian homophobia: “[…] Some Serbs consider being gay completely ok and there’s nothing wrong with it, but are absolutely against gays adopting kids, because kids can also become gay (which is, if you look at the beggining of the sentence, completely ok and there’s nothing wrong...
Lebanon: “Ordinary’ Racism
Lebanese blogger Sophia translates a newspaper article which caught her eyes here. ‘The original title is ‘Deep Rooted Racism in Lebanon’. I decided to translate this article after hearing this evening ordinary Lebanese on most world news channels giving to the press racist remarks about Palestinians. There was even a...
Poland: Equality Parade and “Phobo-Phobia”
the beatroot writes about the Equality Parade in Warsaw and the failed attempt to get it banned it – “this time on the feeble excuse that homosexuality was against Christianity, and the Polish Constitution [?] which apparently privileges relationships between men and women.” Then, the beatroot grows “phobo-phobic” and refers...
Ukraine: Deportation of Crimean Tatars Anniversary
Belatedly, a link to J. Otto Pohl's post on the deportation of the Crimean Tatars on May 18, 1944: “The NKVD and NKGB took the unsuspecting Crimean Tatars to rail stations and stuffed them into train wagons designed for the transport of freight and live stock. The Soviet security organs...
Russia: “Broken Slav-O-Meter”
Moscow-based Darkness at Noon writes about foreigner detection skills: “In a country that was trained for 70 years to view foreigners with skepticism, it's no wonder they're good at rooting us out.”
