Stories about Ethnicity & Race from September, 2007
Trinidad & Tobago: Talking with Filmmaker Frances-Anne Solomon
Trinidad-born Frances-Anne Solomon is a blogger and award winning filmmaker who has just completed her most recent project, A Winter Tale. Set in the violent downtown Toronto community of Parkdale,...
Morocco: Berbers can be blonde
Major media outlets and bloggers went into a frenzy a few days ago when a blurry photograph taken by a Spanish tourist in Morocco's Rif mountain region showed a small blonde girl bearing a strong resemblance to missing British child Madeleine McCann perched on the back of a Moroccan woman. As it turns out, the photo was not of Maddie but of a 2-year-old Moroccan girl. What do Moroccans think of this matter? Jillian York has the story.
Trinidad & Tobago: Indian Sweets
Through The Lens Trinidad and Tobago posts an appetizing photo of traditional Indian sweets.
Moldova: Transnistria Photos
Scraps of Moscow links to a photo project devoted to Transnistria and writes about the problem of “passportization” of the Transnistrian population.
Russia: Kasparov; “The Italian”
The Accidental Russophile comments on the New Yorker 12-page piece on Garry Kasparov, and writes about The Italian, a Russian movie by director Andrei Kravchuk.
The Baltics: Unity Day; Latgallia
Marginalia writes about Latgallia, and the history and politics of the Baltic Unity Day, marked on Sept. 22.
Ramadaning in Kuwait
Ramadan, food and shopping were top priorities among Kuwaiti bloggers last week. Abdullatif AlOmar takes us on a tour of Kuwaiti blogs which include a shopping trip at a hypermarket where even the shampoo looks interesting when you are fasting!
Ukraine: The Language Issue
Victor Yanukovych's Party of the Regions is pushing for a referendum on granting Russian official status as a national language, in addition to Ukrainian. Below is a selection of views on the "language issue" from the Ukrainian blogosphere.
Morocco: Opinion on the Jena 6
Blogger Laila Lalami shares her opinion on the ongoing Jena 6 case in the United States.
Afghanistan: The Not-So-Obvious Problems
Joshua Foust takes a survey of some of the less "sexy" problems facing Afghanistan.
Japan: Nuclear Power and Discrimination
An English translation of an interview with Koide Hiroaki, a researcher and long-time anti-nuclear power activist, has been posted at gyaku. Mr. Koide talks about how he joined the movement...
Confronting Euro-American media biases against Africa
Malawian blogger on africa-aphukira (African Rebirth), Steven Sharra, chronicles serious biases by Euro-American media and scholars against Africa in not crediting the recent archeological finding to a Kenyan palentologist, Fredrick Manthi. He writes, "The question for us now becomes how to move beyond the cliché that describes the blatant anti-Africa biases not only in the EuroAmerican media, but also in the entire knowledge enterprise. "
Serbia: Chemical Tolimir's Trial
Srebrenica Genocide Blog reports on the ICTY trial of Zdravko Tolimir, an unrepentant former Serb general charged with “genocide, crimes against humanity and violations of laws and customs of war.”
Bosnia & Herzegovina: “Democratic Exclusion”
TOL's Balkanizer writes about “the fear of democratic exclusion” in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Singapore: Mainland Chinese in Singapore
Loveless, A mainland Chinese living in Singapore responds to a post on another blog that talks about some reasons why locals in Singapore do not like people from China.
Latvia: N. Irish Football Fans and Russian Nationalists
All About Latvia writes about an encounter between Northern Irish football fans and Russian nationalists in Riga.
Europe: Romani Culture
TOL's Romantic writes about Lojze Podobnik, a Slovenian author whose works focus on Romani culture. Pesha's Blog links to Professor Steve Balkin's compilation of online resources on Romani culture.
Moldova: Transnistria
Douglas Muir of A Fistful of Euros writes about Transnistria, “a sort of post-Communist gangster state”: “Travellers unanimously agree that Transnistria is weirdly fascinating for the first hour or two,...
Iranian bloggers stirred over cockroach cartoon
About a week ago, a Chicago newspaper, The Colombus Dispatch, published a cartoon that depicts Iran as a sewer with cockroaches crawling out of it. The cartoon has created intense...
Lebanon: Maids Abused
Sursock and UrShalim posted excerpts and links to reports of cases of abuse as well as dire working conditions that some maids from Africa experience while working in Lebanon.
Poland: Idiot's Guide to Polish Elections
The beatroot explains the Polish election to the masses: “Being an idiot is not a disadvantage when trying to understand the Polish political scene. In fact, it may be an...
