Stories about Ethnicity & Race from June, 2012
Trinidad & Tobago: For all the Daughters
A new blog, that addresses “everything about being a girl in the Caribbean”, is here.
Slovakia: Teachers Call for Help in Open Letter to Education Minister
Two elementary school teachers wrote an open letter to the Slovak Minister of Education, highlighting the problems they face with their students who are “significantly maladjusted socially, [and] are almost exclusively students of the Romani origin,” sparking controversy.
Armenia: Intolerant Society
Unzipped: Gay Armenia posts a video animation produced by the Civilitas organization illustrating how intolerant society in the virtually mono-ethnic Republic of Armenia can be. The blog also notes that according to the data compiled from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the Caucasus Research Resource Centers...
Mali: Timeline and Video of the War between MLNA and Ansar Dine in Gao
Weeks removed from striking an alliance to take over the North of Mali, the Tuareg rebel movement MNLA and the Islamist group of Ansar Dine are fighting in the town of Gao, Sila Aksou says. Adam Thiam has the timeline of the conflict [fr] over the control of the Northern part...
Georgia: Men Can Wash Their Own Feet
Making Connections not only posts a recent video by Georgian bloggers against homophobia, but also one calling for gender equality in the South Caucasus country. The blog notes that the second video, featuring Georgian men saying they can wash their own feet, is in response to a comment by the...
Puerto Rico: Francheska Duarte's Case Causes Outrage
The young mother Francheska Duarte was run over and later abandoned in an emergency medical centre by her ex-boyfriend. The judge presiding over the case found Francheska's former boyfriend Jorge Ramos guilty only of the less serious misdemeanor. The decision has caused an outrage in the island.
Armenia: Online Petition to Support LGBT Rights
Following the recent firebombing of a gay-friendly bar in Yerevan as well as homophobic comments from government officials and politicians setting the scene for the aggressive disruption of a diversity rally in the Armenian capital two weeks later, Unzipped draws its readers attention to a new online petition calling for...
Kyrgyzstan: Incident in Batken Highlights Cross-border Ethnic Tensions
Passions flew high in the southwestern Kyrgyz city of Batken last week after local residents took a group of Tajik citizens hostage in an attempt to force the release of three locals detained in Tajikistan on smuggling charges. As Matthew Kupfer writes on Registan.net, “such events certainly aren’t helping interethnic relations within...
Armenia: A Slow Descent Into Fascism?
Following the 8 May firebombing of a gay-friendly bar in Yerevan and the disruption by ultra-nationalists of a march for diversity two weeks later, the Huffington Posts asks if Armenia is slowly sliding towards fascism? In recent months nationalist actions have become more evident in the predominantly mono-ethnic country, including...
Guyana: Race Relations
“In the past decade or so this demonic cancer of contemporary Guyana has been intensifying with systematic, contumelious frequency. We, as a nation, have not failed to take notice but we ignore it”: Imran Khan blogs about racism.
Greece: Immigrant Knifed on Election Night
Violence against immigrants has been steadily mounting in Athens since last year's spate of attacks, especially before the recent elections which saw the extreme right Chrysi Avgi (Golden Dawn) party gaining 18 seats in parliament. A video surreptitiously filmed in an Athens subway station on election night, June 17, and captioned in English, fleetingly shows...
Armenia: Bloggers Criticize Public TV Eurovision Coverage
Forced to reluctantly broadcast the final of this year's Eurovision Song Contest in Azerbaijan, Armenia's Public TV used the occasion to continue the ongoing information and propaganda war against its rival in the region. Some Armenian bloggers respond.
China: Africans Protest a Suspicious Death in Police Custody
Chinese public opinion has been highly divisive following a protest involving hundreds of African residents of Guangzhou this week, sparked by the suspicious police station death of a member of the southern Chinese city's large African community.
St. Lucia: Flower Festival
At “I and Iyanola”, Nkrumah Lucien completed a two-part blog post exploring the origins of Saint Lucia's flower festivals: “It is not that La Wòz and La Magwit cannot be made into an app…but that those practicing these traditions were not allowed the space and material conditions to allow them...
Tunisia: Final Draft of New Constitution Preamble Causes Controversy
Tunisians are fuming over the final draft of the preamble (prelude) of the new constitution, drafted by their first elected parliament after the fall of the Ben Ali regime. Many netizens did not agree with the assembly members' vision of post-revolution Tunisia. Ahmed Medien summarises reactions.
Russia: Bloggers Honor Tupac Shakur
Highly intelligent and socially aware, Tupac Shakur embodied the plight of contemporary African Americans who struggle to overcome poverty and racism. RuNet bloggers have honored him by his story from beginning to end on the anniversary of his birth. (June 16, 1971 - September 13, 1996)
Tajikistan: Language and Nation-Building
Blogger Adash Istad ponders [tj] the importance of a common vernacular language in the process of nation-building in Tajikistan. The author writes: “We have a national spoken language [which all groups in the country should be able to speak]. Those who do not want to understand this simple truth will...
Kyrgyzstan: Videos Abound of ‘Patriotic’ Attacks on Migrant Women in Russia
A number of 'patriotic' videos depicting male Kyrgyz labor migrants abusing their female compatriots for associating with men from other ethnic groups while working in Russia has recently been disseminated online. The videos have sparked outrage across domestic and international networks.
Bangladesh: Keep Border Open For Rohingya Refugees
After a recent sectarian violence between Rohingya and Rakhine in Western Myanmar, Bangladesh has restricted the influx of Rohingya refugees crossing borders. Bangladeshi netizens questions the decision of the government on humane grounds, though admitting as well that the country is incapable of hosting more refugees.
Kyrgyzstan: The Peace Bell Tolls for Everyone but Uzbeks?
On the second anniversary of violent clashes between ethnic Kyrgyz and Uzbeks in southern Kyrgyzstan, a ‘Peace Bell‘ [ru] has been unveiled in the city of Osh as a monument for those who died and as a symbol of reconciliation. The bell contains the inscription ‘Peace in the Whole World’ in...
Myanmar: Protest Against Riot Attacks
CJ Myanmar reported[my] that Rakhine people in Yangon, Myanmar protested against riot attacks which already spread in nearby towns of the Rakhine state. The protestors include Rakhine ethnics and Buddhist monks and they prayed for the victims of the riot at Shwedagon Pagoda.
