Stories about Ethnicity & Race from August, 2007
Brazil: Tired of Philips
There is a popular saying in Brazil that goes like this: “Say whatever you want to and you will hear what you don’t”. Paulo Zottolo, the Latin American President of the electronics giant Philips, has learned this the hard way. In a recent interview with Valor Econômico, a newspaper from...
Egypt: Complaining for Change
Something I love about Egyptian blogs is our tendency to complain. Firstly because we're Egyptian and its our nature and secondly because we have so much to complain about. Among our complaints this week: international scandals, intellectual persecution, the Egyptian Legal system (or lack thereof), the question of beauty and as usual, religious persecution rounding out the group, writes D.B. Shobrawy.
Ugandans and Expats Face Off in the Blogosphere
"I can also tell an American blogger when I read one—they are different in a way that neither makes me laugh or angered. See this entry, for example. Well, maybe some aren’t that American, but the Americans—most expats, anyway—tend to lean towards that. To them, Uganda is little more than an experiment in hard living." This quote comes from 27 Comrade’s blog....Read on.
Bulgaria: A Wedding
Petya of Bighead writes about her Bulgarian Orthodox church wedding – and “the ability of people to reach across cultural and language barriers.”
Ukraine: Ethnic Russians
Window on Eurasia writes about another way of looking at Ukraine's ethnic Russians and their political preferences.
Russia: Mistreatment of Foreigners
Window on Eurasia reports: “Foreigners working in the Russian Federation are far from likely to be mistreated by government officials and employers than they are to be attacked by skinheads and other Russian nationalist groups, according to a poll of Tajiks now living in Tajikistan with direct experience in the...
Russia: Geopolitical Dreams
Window on Eurasia writes that while some Russians are dreaming of a “Russian Texas,” others offer a scenario of the disintegration of the United States.
Brazil: Gunshots along the border
Altino Machado reports a radio call [PT] from José Meirelles, who coordinates an Etno-Environmental Protection Front at the Brazil-Peru border on Acre state, deep in the Amazon Forest. He tells about gunshots that fortunately missed 2 workers on a canoe yesterday, in an event that can be linked with the...
Jordan: I Hate Iraqis Group on Facebook
“When Facebook.com was created, its creators never thought it would one day be a place for racist fights,” writes Jordanian Ahmad Al Ghasmary, who writes about his disappointment with the “I Hate Iraqis” group formed by Jordanians.
Algeria: Profiling Arabs in the US
Algerian Nouri shares his thoughts on the profiling of Arabs and Muslims in the US.
Croatia: Gračac
Balkan Anarchist writes about his familial ties to and the recent history of Gračac, “a town and municipality located in the south of Lika,” which, before the war, had “a Serbian ethnic majority, the majority of which does not live there anymore.”
UK, Caribbean: Colours of Notting Hill Carnival
Notting Hill Carnival, Europe's largest summer festival, is a celebration of both Caribbean culture and London's multicultural heritage. Images posted by various Flickr users give glimpses of the carnival's colours and faces.
Bahamas: Art & Culture
A blog post by Reginald Shepherd underscores Bahamian Nicolette Bethel‘s point that art and culture “should be a fundamental part of any social agenda”.
Indians blog to defend against illegal logging along the Brazil-Peru Frontier
The Ashaninkas are the largest indigenous group in the Peruvian Amazon and differently from the majority of the South American original dwellers, their cultural identity is greatly preserved. Apart from being among the native nations of the continent connected with the traditional use of Ayahuasca, the Ashaninkas are specially known...
Japan: Yokozuna gets the boot
Never far from controversy, Mongolian Yokozuna (sumo champion) Asashoryu is again in hot water. He left Japan having submitted a doctor's note claiming he was injured, after which a video image showing the yokozuna playing soccer in Mongolia made it onto some of the major Japanese TV networks, sparking a controversy.
Russia: Subethnic Divisions
Window on Eurasia writes on how subethnic divisions among Russians influence (or not) Russia's relations with its neighbors.
Russia: Muslims the Majority in 2050
Window on Eurasia writes that, according to a Kremlin adviser, more than half of the population of the Russia will be Muslim in 2050.
Europe: Elimination of Roma in 1944
Peshas Gypsy Gitan Blog writes about the elimination of the Roma by the Nazi in 1944: “The Roma kept very few written records the Generations gone before were remembered and kept alive in memory by word of mouth. Those murdered in the death camps were not only killed but they...
Afghan bloggers irritated by Iranian TV series
The Afghan embassy in Iran has complained about an Iranian television series on Channel 3, Char Khoone, that depicts Afghans characters as villains. Several Afghan and even Iranian bloggers have reacted to this news. Dialogue 3, an Afghan blogger, says: Since the beginning of the summer Iranian TV has aired...
Kannada: Independence, festivals and more
20 runners from 12 countries; the youngest among whom is a 23 year old American woman and the oldest, a 60 year old American man; an Indian, Sunil Jayaraj, from Kolar, Karnataka. A 95 day project, covering 4 continents, 16 countries and 24000 KMs, organised by Blue Planet Run. They...
South East Asia: Ghost Month
The Travellers Tale blog explains the origins of the Chinese Ghost Month feast.
