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Simon Maghakyan

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About Simon Maghakyan

27 posts · joined 2008-10-20

A native of Armenia, Simon is a current graduate student in political science at University of Colorado Denver. He is also an alumnus of the International Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies. Connect to Simon’s blog at www.blogian.net.

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Latest posts by Simon Maghakyan

Stories

February 8th, 2010

India: Death of a Prehistoric Language

The last speaker of the ancient Bo language, Boa Senior, has died in her native Andaman Islands (part of India) in February 2010. It's a vivid confirmation of last year's report from UNESCO, warning that 2,500 languages are at risk of disappearing.

January 11th, 2010

Avatar: For or Against Indigenous Rights?

Bloggers worldwide are discussing the themes in the wildly successful film Avatar by James Cameron. Is it racist in its depiction of an extra-terrestrial indigenous tribe?

November 30th, 2009

Americas

On Livejournal, Christopher Bradley in the USA explains why he hates Thanksgiving. “I don't think there's any need to have holidays with the specter of genocide over them,” he says.

Americas

“To European-Americans this holiday is laced with fanciful symbolism and metaphorical memories about that great feast between Pilgrims and Indians. But the historical truth often goes untold and unheard,” writes Rusty’s blog.

April 13th, 2009

USA: No More Columbus Day at Brown University

In response to protests from Native American and other students, the prestigious Brown University in the United States has changed the name of the national public holiday Columbus Day to "Fall Weekend" on its academic calendar. Bloggers are debating this modification of a holiday that honors the European explorer Christopher Columbus for “discovering” America.

April 4th, 2009

Australia: Indigenous Rights Declaration Approved

Australia’s government has endorsed the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, a year and a half after voting – along with Canada, New Zealand, and the United States – against the September 2007 document. Reform Wollongong City Council, a blog from Australia, writes: On Friday 3 April ...