Stories about Ethnicity & Race from January, 2010
Azerbaijan: Democracy is…
Önər Blog [AZ] posts a video [EN] made by the OL! Azerbaijani Youth Movement for the Democracy Video Challenge. OL! has been exemplary in its use of new media in the region and was co-founded by now imprisoned video blogging youth activist Adnan Hajizade.
Haiti, Poland: “Lost Polish Tribe on Haiti”
“Poland and Haiti – who would have thought…?” Raf Uzar writes about “the most intriguing group of people among Poland’s huge diaspora” – the “Poles of Haiti.”
Hungary, Slovakia: Open Borders, Assimilation, Nationalism
Hungarian Spectrum writes about nationalism, assimilation, open borders, Hungary's minorities and the Hungarian diaspora in the neighboring countries.
Belarus: “Hating Haiti?”
Andrei Khrapavitski writes that Haiti “has become a popular topic” for Belarusian bloggers “to chatter about and for some to sarcastically grin at the pain of Haitians. It hurts to read how my compatriots, some of whom have received foreign aid themselves, seem to be quite cynical about the Haitian...
Australia: An Australia Day of Celebration and Protest
Celebrated on January 26, this year's Australia Day was characterized by an increase of flag-waving patriotism. However, the day was also commemorated with the Great Australian Internet Blackout, where Australians protested the government's plan for an internet filter.
Nigeria: Bloggers discuss the massacre in Jos
On January 17th, violence erupted in the central Nigerian city of Jos. In the following hours, reports of the conflict spread as witnesses reported mobs armed with knives and machetes roving among burning houses, mosques, and churches. The conflict is ostensibly sectarian: Jos is a major city along Nigeria's “Middle Belt” – the fault line which divides the country's Christian-majority south from its Muslim-majority north.
Azerbaijan: Birthday Cream Cheese-Swirled Brownies
AZ Cookbook, Food from Azerbaijan & Beyond, turns two and marks the occasion with a recipe for cream cheese-swirled brownies.
China: How does the young generation view Confucius
A rumor circulated on the web that all the 2D versions of Avatar have been pulled out of the Chinese cinemas to make way for the domestic movie Confucius. Despite reports like this, government officials quickly denied it. Yet like all rumors, even if wrong, they may contain a kernel...
Russian Blogger Harassed For Marrying Chinese
Maria Gromakova became a victim of comprehensive virtual attacks of Russian extreme nationalists. Online harassment eventually turned into a real-life nightmare forcing Maria and her family to leave Russia. She tells her story to GVO.
Sudan's First LGBT Rights Organization?
Throughout 2009, the Sudanese blogosphere has been in slumber mode. However, many previously inactive bloggers are blogging again along with new ones that have arrived on the scene recently, writes Sudanese Drima, who brings us the latest online discussions.
Armenia/Azerbaijan: From Home to Home
Global Voices Online's Caucasus editor interviews journalist Seda Muradyan on her documentary film, From Home to Home, for the Frontline Club blog. The film tells of how Armenians and Azerbaijanis in two villages made an extraordinary deal as the conflict over Nagorno Karabakh flared up.
Sri Lanka: Tamils And Democracy
Lankanyyz at Musings from Toronto explains the reason for the claim that the Tamils in Sri Lanka don't have a voice: “the Tamil population don't have a strong political presence to represent them democratically.”
Turkey: Solve the Hrant Dink case…
Erkan's Field Diary comments on the case of Hrant Dink, an ethnic Armenian journalist who was assassinated in broad daylight in Istanbul, Turkey, three years ago this week. The blog says that if the authorities actually solved the case completely they would also solve that of another — the controversial...
Azerbaijan: 20th anniversary of Baku pogrom and Black January
Today marks the 20th anniversary of Black January, the day when the fledgling independence movement in Azerbaijan was brutally suppressed by Soviet troops ostensibly to curtail inter-ethnic tensions in the capital, Baku. Bloggers in Armenia and Azerbaijan, however, remember the date differently.
Ethiopia: Cultures collide in Ethiopian blogosphere
What happens when cultures collide? One of the best places to find out is the Ethiopian blogosphere, with its writers spread across the Ethiopian Diaspora, from China, through Europe to the United States of America.
Turkey: Third anniversary of Hrant Dink assassination
Three years ago today, Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink was gunned down outside the office of the Argos newspaper he edited in Istanbul, Turkey. Often ignored, loathed or detested when he was alive by nationalists on both sides for his message of tolerance and peace, one blogger compares Dink to Martin Luther King Jr.
USA: Honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr. was born on January 15, 1929 and became arguably the American Civil Rights Movement's most prominent advocate and speaker. In the United States, he is honored by a national holiday, observed the third Monday in January of each year. Today, many bloggers in the United States are honoring his memory with dedicated posts, linking his legacy of social justice with issues of today, demonstrating that 42 years after King's assassination, his words are just as relevant.
Brazil: Viewing the Haitian earthquake from without and within
The Brazilian blogosphere is in uproar after comments made by the Haitian consul in Brazil, George Samuel Antoine. Bloggers reflect on a lack of humanity, the failures of diplomacy and the peacekeeping mission, and how to help Haiti from afar.
Mexico: The Choir of Acteal Sings for Peace and Justice
Soon after the Massacre of Acteal in Chiapas, Mexico in 1997, the Choir of Acteal began to use their song to demand peace and to call for justice for those killed by paramilitary forces.
Azerbaijan: Baku pogroms
The Armenian Observer comments on the twentieth anniversary of the pogrom of Armenians in Baku at the beginning of the conflict with Armenia over the disputed territory of Nagorno Karabakh. Between 48 and 66 people were killed as a result of the bloody ethnic tensions which would later erupt into...
Iraq/Saudia Arabia: The Clerics War
Saudi-Iraqi relations have plummeted to a new low following remarks by Saudi Sunni cleric Mohammad al-Ureifi against Iraqi Shia Grand Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani during a Friday prayer sermon. Bloggers react to the development in this round up by Tarek Amr.
