· May, 2007

Stories about Ethnicity & Race from May, 2007

Poland: Roma Photo Exhibit

“Strolling through the Saski Park in Warsaw this morning, by pure accident, I came across wonderful open air photo exhibition on Polish Roma,” writes Olia Yatskevich of TOL's Romantic and posts some photos.

Egypt: Bahma Update

“Here is the latest! Bahma victims torn between agony and hope, resort to boycotting Muslim neighbors,” writes Egyptian blogger Nora Younis, who continues to update us about the standoff between Muslims and their Coptic neighbours in the village of Bahma.

Serbian “Prayer” Wins Eurovision Song Contest

Just a few days ago, major news outlets reported that the main course of discussion at the Serbian Assembly session was to determine which political party is supported by the 2007 Eurovision winner, Marija Serifovic. Milutin Mrkonjic, who presided at the meeting, invited the singer to visit the parliament. When she came in, Mrkonjic said, “Fellow deputies, please turn around and greet Marija Serifovic. We will be having a short break. Let all of us go to the lobby to have a juice with our Marija.” Serbian bloggers have been discussing various aspects of Serifovic's victory, too, of course, and Ljubisa Bojic translates some of the reactions.

Sudan: identity crisis

  17 May 2007

Sudanese Thinker writes about identity crisis in Sudan: “After 9/11, I believe things changed for most Northern Sudanese though. Many in America where happy to be identified as African and not Arab. They wanted nothing to do with being Arab. All of a sudden it became a burden. My brother...

Kurdistance: The Honor Killing of Dua

This may seem like old news....but it isn't. Even though the tragic honor killing of a young girl in Northern Iraq/Southern Kurdistan took place in early April, sometimes the meaning of these sad stories take a while to surface. There are conflicting reports about how 17-year-old Dua died, some say that she was lynched, some stoned to death, others say both. What we do know was that Dua was a young girl in love, who left her Yezidi faith to live her life with a man that she loved. She was brave and idealistic; and she died horribly because of it. A mob of Yezidi men dragged her into the street, tore her clothes to shame her, and then the mob killed her...the final blow being a large rock taken to her head. And someone filmed this horror, which is floating around the internet somewhere if you truly wish to see it. What is important, is that this tragedy not only is sad in the individual sense of this girl's death, it is also sad in what it signifies for a culture and society eager to change, but unable to, as the Kurdish bloggers point out.

Europe: Still Some More on Eurovision

Another mini-roundup of entries on last Saturday's Eurovision Song Contest: Anegdote encourages readers to rejoice – because they “accomplished something too by watching” Serbia's winning entry on TV; Belgrade 2.0 thinks Western Europeans should set up a bloc of their own next year, to counter the votes of the existing...

Russia, Ukraine: T-Shirts

Vilhelm Konnander reports on how a bit of Russian xenophobic propaganda has slipped into Britain via this message printed on Burton menswear store's t-shirt: “We will cleanse Russia of all non-Russians!” Carpetblogger displays “some fun t-shirts” of her own.

Iraq's Segregation

The Angry Arab News Service links to a Washington Post article by Nir Rosen which sheds light on the role Paul Bremer played in Iraq. He quotes Rosen as writing: ‘But Bremer himself never understood Iraq, knew no Arabic, had no experience in the Middle East and made no effort...

Barbados: Influence of America

  16 May 2007

After reading about the experience of Joseph C. Phillips, who visited Zimbabwe and discovered that African youth casually used “the N-word” to address each other, Barbados Free Press wonders “what Barbados would be like without the influence of our most powerful neighbour to the north.”

Chile: The View of Peruvians in Santiago

  16 May 2007

Guido writes about his city of Santiago in En Tu Ciudad [ES] and a recent observation focused on the presence of Peruvian immigrants. He laments the “indirect and direct racism and xenofobia” of many of his fellow citizens towards the newcomers, and is relieved that not everyone holds these attitudes.

Newest Malawian bloggers join global online conversations

  15 May 2007

It is no longer a secret that more Malawians are increasingly turning to the blogosphere for self-expression, information sharing, and commentary on a variety of Malawi related issues. This round-up will cover the newest entries into blogosphere with posts on politics, banking, health, city's cleanliness, racism, sms perils and personal reflections.

Europe: Balkan Blogs on Eurovision

A small roundup of the Eurovision-related posts from the Balkans: Pustolovina: Adventure in Serbian writes on the victory for the “new Serbia” and on “a night of belonging”; East Ethnia writes on the complex politics behind this year's Serbian winner Marija Serifovic; Bosnia Vault writes about the contest's youngest participant...

Arabeyes: Muslim-Coptic Clashes in Egypt

Sectarian strife rocked the quiet Egyptian village of Bahma in Giza on Friday over alleged plans to open a new church. Blogger Nora Younis (Ar) tells us what happened and why. She also criticises the deafening silence of authorities in the civil war which saw the burning of five shops, 25 homes and an undisclosed number of casualties and provides a solution to the crisis.

Malaysia: Minister's Apology Missing

  14 May 2007

Malaysian politician Lim Kit Siang says “The Minister for Science, Technology and Innovation Datuk Seri Dr. Jamaludin Jarjis should stop censoring the press and be man enough to make an unqualified public apology to third-year CalyPoly Biotech Malaysian student”. The minister was on a visit to the US and meeting...

Lebanon: On Freedom, War and Olive Oil

The upcoming Lebanese presidential election, the Winograd Report regarding the Israeli July 2006 war on Lebanon, Lebanese agricultural products, Syrian workers, freedom of speech and freedom to blog in the Arab world, resistance to colonialism and the implications of being a leftist in Lebanon are some of the topics discussed by Lebanese blogs this week, reports Moussa Bashir.

Israel: Palestinians Banned from Dead Sea

Blogger Dan Fleshler reports that IDF soldiers have received orders to prevent Palestinians from accessing the Dead Sea. “This is the kind of story that feeds into the increasingly popular tendency to equate Israel with South Africa under apartheid. I don’t buy into this equation…yet. There are a number of...

Chilean Ethnic Groups: Development Against Native Rights?

  11 May 2007

Many indigenous communities in Chile are being pushed off their lands in the name of development. Some bloggers are faulting the government for not fulfilling their obligations to protect these groups, while another documentary filmmaker captures the actions of the government and company working together to displace families to build a dam.