· May, 2013

Stories about Ethnicity & Race from May, 2013

Disaster Highlights Roma's Struggle for Human Rights in France

  31 May 2013

A violent fire destroyed an abandoned factory in the eastern French city of Lyon squatted by families from the Roma community, killing two women and 12-year-old child. In the aftermath, the survivors relocated into a school open only in the evenings, leaving them outside in the rain during the day. The tragedy has put the spotlight once again on France's controversial policy toward the Roma.

VIDEO: Brazil's Police Intimidate Indigenous

  30 May 2013

Video [Audio and subtitles in Portuguese] recorded by the native Paygomuyatpu Mundurukku shows soldiers of the National Force verbally intimidating his tribe on the area of Belo Monte dam.

From Guinea to Italy to France and Back: An Interview with Blogger Abdoulaye Bah

  27 May 2013

Global Voices author and translator Abdoulaye Bah, originally from Guinea, is a retired Italian citizen who has worked for the United Nations. He now splits his time between Rome and Nice. We spoke with Bah about his life, from his experience hiding in a bathroom to enter Italy without the proper papers, to his marriage in the Vatican, from his blog to his multi-belief family.

Brazil's Indigenous Fight Back Against State Development

  24 May 2013

As Brazil's economy steamrolls forward on the momentum of mega-construction projects, many of the country's indigenous have found their homelands snatched away for the sake of development. The construction of the Belo Monte Dam in Pará and the Olympic Museum in Rio de Janeiro have been marked by clashes between police and activists.

Turkey: Syrian Refugees Targeted after Reyhanlı Blasts

On May 11th, Reyhanlı [en] small Turkish town on Turkey-Syria border, was under terrorist attacks. This was the biggest terrorist attack [en] in country's 90 year-old republican history. Netizens react to the blast, a government imposed media ban on the tragedy and the targeting of Syrian refugees which followed.

Ukrainian Blogger's Bobs 2013 Award Revoked

Ukrainian blogger Olena Bilozerska's User Winner prize in the Bobs 2013 Best Blog Ukrainian nomination has been revoked, writes [ru] Mustafa Nayyem, the Ukrainian member of the Bobs 2013 jury, on his Facebook page, linking [ru] to the official statement [uk] posted on the Bobs 2013 website. The scandal (more...

Is Italy Ready for an African-born Minister?

  14 May 2013

“Is Italy ready for an African-born government minister?,” Donata Columbro asks: Two months after the recent elections, Italy has a new government. And Cécile Kyenge, 48 years old, an eye surgeon and Congo-born Italian citizen, is the new Minister for Integration in the cabinet of Prime Minister Enrico Letta.

Is Ukrainian Right-Wing Blogger Eligible for the Bobs 2013 Award?

Ukraine was having a trouble-free debut at this year's The Bobs, Deutsche Welle's international blogger contest, until blogger Olena Bilozerska became the User Winner in the Best Blog Ukrainian nomination. Her victory turned sour and a scandal ensued when the Ukrainian netizens alerted the contest's organizers to her blog's ultra-right content. Oleg Shynkarenko reports.

Haiti: The “White Savior Industrial Complex”

  10 May 2013

kiskeácity links to a letter which “echoes many of the issues Haitians face with the White Savior Industrial Complex…and its army of 3,000 NGOs, 12,000 UN troops, innumerable speakers for Haiti, appropriators of Haiti's ancestral religion, culture and music and other so-called ‘allies’ who silence Haitians for a profit while...

Lebanon's Migrant Workers Mark May Day

KAFA (Enough Racism and Violence) posted [Ar] that the migrant domestic workers in Beirut celebrated Labor's Day by holding a demonstration in which they demanded an end to the Kafala System [Sponsorship System]. The demonstration culminated with a gathering in a public park where the workers shared different aspects from their...

From Russia with No Love…for Central Asia

Migrants from Central Asia and the Caucasus are the usual victims of racist sentiment in Russia. Aware of deepening anti-migrant feelings, many of Moscow's politicians promote right-wing policies. But there is one politician that always goes a step further than the rest.

Singapore’s May Day Protest Against Population Policy

  3 May 2013

An estimated crowd of 5,000 gathered in Singapore’s Hong Lim Park on May 1, 2013 to protest the government’s White Paper on population. The May Day protest was the second time that a big crowd gathered in the park to speak out against the population program.