Stories about Ethnicity & Race from October, 2007
Russia, Serbia, Georgia: Kosovo Implications
TOL's Steady State writes that “if the application of the ‘Kosovo formula’ to the post-Soviet frozen conflicts takes place, then it will be cooked up in Moscow – that is certain.”
Ukraine: Construction in Kyiv; Catherine II in Odesa
Ukrainiana writes about “sardine-packed construction” in Kyiv and the dedication of the monument to Catherine II in Odesa – and posts videos of the related violence.
Barbados: Answering the Call
Living in Barbados hears the call of ancestral voices…
Russia: Mikhalkov's “12”
Ntalia Anonova reviews Nikita Mikhalkov's “12”: “The movie isn’t some exotic, tourist-y, BBC “country profile”-y jaunt through an ethnic conflict. It crushes you, resuscitates you, crushes you some more.”
Russia: Dmitry Kozak's Replacement
Window on Eurasia writes about “Putin’s new man in the North Caucasus” and his methods.
Japan: Fingerprinting to Prevent al-Qaida's Friend of Friend
Justice Minister Kunio Hatoyama explained the need of getting foreigners’ fingerprint was to prevent al-Qaida's “friend of friend” from sneaking into the country with false passports and disguises. However, from what he said, he is also al-Qaida's “friend of friend” as he cited the information from ‘an unidentified “friend of...
Poland: Roman Giertych's Out of Politics
The beatroot is wondering who he is going to “write about for the next two years,” now that Roman Giertych has been forced out of politics, along with his party, the League of Polish Families, which “got a miserable 1.3 percent in Sunday’s election.”
Poland: Islamic Cultural Center in Krakow?
The beatroot writes about plans to build an Islamic cultural center in Krakow.
Brazil: “Haiti is here, Haiti is not here”
Haiti has become a regularly commented on issue on the Brazilian blogosphere. The special connection between Brazil and Haiti was initiated in 2004, when Brazilian troops started to participate in MINUSTAH — the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti. Last week the UN decided to extend its presence in the...
Jamaica: Slave Mentality
“Sometimes I wonder if to be black in this world is to be absolutely unaccountable. For anything.” Marlon James picks apart the slave mentality.
Barbados: Gullah Gullah Island
Gallimaufry finds similarities between the language of the Gullah people and the way Barbadians speak: “I am reminded that something as commonplace as the way we talk is, even without our conscious knowledge, powerfully denotive of our national African heritage.”
Japan: Halloween Train vs. Netizen Rage
James from Japan Probe reports on a clash between foreigners and Japanese netizens over a Halloween Train party .
Japan: Racial profiling in the U.S. and Japan
Hasan at hasanhujairi[dot]com writes about his experience being a Middle Eastern foreign student in a post 9/11 world, subject to racial profiling first during his time in the U.S., and then again in Japan.
Russia: Bloggers On George W. Bush and “Russian DNA”
The U.S. president's recent comments about "Russian DNA" did not cause as much of an uproar as did race comments by James Watson, a co-discoverer of the structure of DNA - but, they did not go completely unnoticed. Below is a selection of comments made by Russian bloggers and forum dwellers.
The Balkans: The Language Issue
Balkan Baby writes about the “language issue” in the Balkans: “What language do we speak when we are in the countries that once made up Yugoslavia? In Slovenia and Macedonia the answer is quite simple since these two countries both had their own languages which were recognised by the Yugoslav...
Serbia: Milosevic's Propaganda
Srebrenica Genocide Blog explains why Slobodan Milosevic was “a clever mass murderer” whose “attempts to shift blame on the victims failed miserably” – but whose propaganda “is well and alive even today.”
Poland: Auschwitz Book Reviews
Bosnia Vault reviews two books on Auschwitz.
Macedonia: A Bit More On Toše Proeski
Bosnia Blog talks to a Macedonian about singer Toše Proeski, who died in a car crash earlier this month: “He did a lot of charity concert. He was very nice. He is the only thing we have.”
Bosnia & Herzegovina: Srebrenica Memorial Quilt
Srebrenica Genocide Blog and Bosnia Vault write about the Srebrenica Memorial Quilt project, an initiative to commemorate “over 8,000 men, children (boys), and elderly who died during Srebrenica genocide.”
South Korea: Crime Against Women
Robert Koehler shows how gender, race and crime are mingled together in journalistic report.
Georgia: Russian Paranoia
Steady State posts a link to an article in Russian detailing territorial claims that the Republic of Georgia might have on Russia since medieval times. The blog treats such claims with scorn and sees it more as anti-Georgian paranoia than anything based on historical fact.
