Stories about Ethnicity & Race from October, 2009
Martinique: Free your mind, free your hair
Blogger Imaniyé from Martinique reports the creation of a Facebook group [Fr] by people who are eager to defend the rights of Martinicans to comb their hair as they want and above all to twist it into dreadlocks, without being discriminated against.
Slovakia, Hungary: “Linguistic Discontents”
Edward Lucas writes about the Slovak-Hungarian relations, including the “linguistic discontents.”
Sri Lanka: Paintings To Unite The Nation
“10 canvases painted by students who attended the Future Leaders Conference (FLC) 2009 were selected for display at the ‘Colombo Art Biennale 2009′,” informs Sri Lanka Unites. In these canvasses Sri Lankan youth of various ethnicity and regions “voiced their thoughts on reconciliation and the future of Sri Lanka through...
Martinique: Debating over the statutory change
Martinican MontrayKreyol discusses the popular debates [Fr] over the change of institutional status of Martinique as a French overseas department.
Hungary, Serbia: Tragedy At The Border
A group of 19 Kosovo Albanians tried to cross the Hungarian-Serbian river border illegally on Oct. 15; fifteen of them are now reported missing; three bodies have been found by divers. Marietta Le reports on some of the reactions in the Hungarian blogosphere.
Bahamas: Effects of Colonialism
“There’s an affliction that strikes countries whose histories come out of colonialism. It’s the sense that what happens in your space of the world…is not quite real. It isn’t really happening to proper people”: Nicolette Bethel explores one of the effects of the Bahamas’ colonial past, while Weblog Bahamas‘ Rick...
Haiti, D.R.: Escalating Tensions
Repeating Islands reports on the murder of four Haitians in the Dominican Republic.
Israel: “Ordinary Racism” In Media Coverage
Approximately 20 per cent of the country's population, the Palestinian citizens of Israel (also known as Israeli Arabs) argue that they are discriminated against in many aspects of life. The media coverage of a recent road accident prompted a Palestinian blogger in Israel to comment.
Trinidad & Tobago: Politics & Race
“When it comes to race in politics, Trinidad and Tobago has a colourful past”: Taran Rampersad thinks it's time for a change.
Azerbaijan: Musings & Poetry
With the number of English-language blogs from Azerbaijan increasing, Emotions on Air, Mind Mute sets a precedent for musings and poetry. Often dark and melancholic, the blog shows that new media can also be a medium for other forms of self-expression.
Global: International Creole Month
October has become the month of the worldwide celebration of Creole language and the Creole blogosphere is paying attention.
Adoption: Securing the Rights of Mothers and Children
Women speak out from all sides of the issue: adoptees, natural mothers and adoptive mothers try to make sense of the legal, reproductive and human rights issues behind adoptions.
Russia: Polina Zherebtsova's 1999 Chechen Diary
Jost A Mon translates the intro and excerpts from Polina Zherebtsova’s 1999 Chechen Diary that were published in Bolshoi Gorod (RUS) in Sept. 2009.
USA: Interracial couple denied marriage license
Last week, in Hammond, Louisiana, a couple applied for a marriage license and were refused on the basis of their different races. The justice of the peace claimed that "interracial marriages do not last long" and stated that he was "doing it for the children."
Trinidad & Tobago: Who's to Blame?
As the Trinidad and Tobago government is criticized over the sub-standard living conditions of Chinese labourers brought in to work on state construction projects, Survivein’ Trinidad says: “If a private company offers me a fully loaded contract (housing, travel allowance, etc.) to work in Germany and I get there only...
Trinidad & Tobago, Barbados: Salt
“Things must be bad in Trinidad when Chinese (from China) workers, who seem to constitute the government’s entire economic stimulus plan, don’t get paid…the most visible indicator of what we have taken to be prosperity in Trinidad has simply collapsed”: B.C. Pires provides interesting commentary.
Israel: What Other Countries Eat
Daniel Lubetzky's Peaceworks blog posts photos of what countries around the world eat in one week. Each photo shows a family in their kitchen surrounded by a week's worth of food.
USA: Native Americans exploitation in Sedona ‘sweat lodge’ deaths
Two people died and 19 were treated in hospital after attending a "Spiritual Warrior" sweat lodge session organized by self-help expert James Arthur Ray. Bloggers discuss the misappropriation of Native culture.
Russia: “Russian Obama” Defeated
Asylum in Bardak – Africans in Russia reports that Joachim Crima (a Guinea-Bissau native aka “Russian Obama”) did not get elected to the post of district chief or to the local parliament of the Srednyaya Akhtuba district in Volgorgad region.
Sri Lanka: Discrimination Runs Deep
At Groundviews Marisa de Silva points to the fact that “even post-war, discrimination runs deep in Sri Lanka.” For an insight into the post war politics in Sri Lanka read Sanjana's piece.
Russia: “White Russian”
Scraps of Moscow translates Zhenya Kuida's piece (RUS) on “a racist restauranteur” in Moscow.
