· July, 2007

Stories about Ethnicity & Race from July, 2007

“Welcome to Japan”? Kurdish refugee family leaves for Canada

Few people, including Japanese themselves, are aware of the dismal record of Japan's treatment of refugees, particularly its treatment of Kurdish refugees. After struggling for many years to make a home in Japan, Erdal Dogan and his family, who fled Turkey amid religious and ethnic persecution, have finally been forced to leave, luckily having been accepted as refugees in Canada. Japanese bloggers reflect on the departure with sadness and frustration.

22 July 2007

Bahrain: Does A PlayStation 2 Gun Count As A Weapon?

Bahrain's bloggers have moved on this week to comment on a protest held outside the Iranian Embassy in protest against an editorial by Iranian editor Hossein Shariatmadari, which started that Bahrain should become a part of Iran. Others talk about Embassy interviews for Visas, the release of a Guantanamo detainee, why Bahrain is vying to build the highest skyscraper and preparing for the new release of Harry Potter.

21 July 2007

Russia, Iraq: Assyrian Protest

Window on Eurasia writes about a recent demonstration by the Assyrians in front of the Iraqi embassy in Moscow, against the mistreatment of Assyrians and other Christians in Iraq.

20 July 2007

Kurdistance: The Price of Oil

The oil control issue in the Northern Iraq/Southern Kurdistan city of Kirkuk is again at the forefront of Kurdish bloggers' fingertips. With large oil companies and the US pushing for the passing of a regulatory oil law in Iraq, fears reignite that a sinister "Plan B" might be launched in order to gain control of the oil reserves...involving a Turkish incursion into the region.

19 July 2007

India: Thank you, come again.

A stunt pulled by Seven Eleven stores in the US stirs controversy as it relies on the character of Apu (of The Simpsons fame), provoking Greatbong to comment on whether...

17 July 2007

Bahamas: Literary Ethnicity?

“When I gave my reading…someone remarked that my poetry was not ‘street’. Well, I wondered, why should it be?” Nicolette Bethel examines the role ethnicity plays in literature.

13 July 2007

Expat Ethiopians reflect on the sounds and smells of home

The ties that bind expatriate Ethiopians to their home country dominated the Ethiopian blogosphere over the past few weeks. Ethiopians living in the US, Europe and Asia came up with a series of emotional posts, exploring childhood memories, local food, music and the broader subject of national identity.

12 July 2007

Algeria: Mistrusting Muslims

The Moor Next Door, an Algerian American, comments on an article which appeared in the LA Times on mistrusting Muslims in the wake of the foiled UK bombings.

11 July 2007