· October, 2007

Stories about Ethnicity & Race from October, 2007

Russia: Bloggers Discuss James Watson

  23 October 2007

James Watson, an American Nobel Prize-winning geneticist, provoked international outrage when The Sunday Times quoted him on race issues on Oct. 14. The news of the controversy produced a certain stir in the Russian-language blogosphere, too.

The War in Abkhazia – ‘Cyxymu’ Remembers

  20 October 2007

Blogger cyxymu - whose Russian-language blog is devoted to the “memories of Sukhumi, the war and the pain” - spent the second half of September marking the 14th anniversary of the storm of the Abkhaz capital, which dealt a final defeat to the Georgian forces in their war with Abkhazia. Lyndon Allin translates from some of cyxymu's entries, and reviews and comments on the others.

Serbia: Antifa vs Neo-Nazi in Novi Sad

  17 October 2007

Belgrade 2.0 has been covering the Oct. 7 “neonazi, clerofascist rally” and the “citizens counter-rally” in Novi Sad: preparations; a report and two videos; and a guest-blogger's report. Also, another report from Pustolovina: adventure in Serbian.

Ukraine: UPA's 65th Anniversary

  17 October 2007

Ukrainiana posts a comprehensive entry on the history and the 65th anniversary of “Ukraine’s underrecognized Insurgent Army” (UPA): “Attempts at re-educating and reconciling elderly people contrary to their beliefs should be abandoned. But revisiting Ukrainian history and recognizing, for future generations, the people and events misrepresented in Soviet textbooks makes...

Former Soviet Union: Pyotr Grigorenko's Centenary

  17 October 2007

Window on Eurasia writes about the “neglected centenary” of General Pyotr Grigorenko: “People like the late general are a rarity. Anyone who met him – and I was fortunate enough to do so – counts himself privileged. But even more, all those living in the post-Soviet states now are his...

Russia: De-Muslimization of the Army

  17 October 2007

Window on Eurasia reports that, according to a Russian newspaper, “the Russian defense ministry has been manipulating this fall’s draft in an effort to secure a more ethnically Russian and less culturally Muslim military.”

Philippines: ‘Desperate Housewives’ Uproar Continues

  15 October 2007

Tonyo looks at the continuing uproar among the Filipinos over the American TV drama Desperate Housewives. The featured blogs are responding to the suggestion the protests against a racist remark by one of the character in the TV drama are “going overboard”

Lebanon: On Judaism and Zionism

  15 October 2007

“…in Lebanon that there are Lebanese Jews who enjoy the full right as anyone else. The problem of Judaism is Zionism, it transformed them from a sect to a race. […] A lot of the Lebanese factions think that a Jew and a Zionist are the same. When Finkelstein, Chomsky,...

Lebanon: A Lebanese Jew

  15 October 2007

“I am a Lebanese Jew [and] I was forced to change my family name because my family origins are from Wadi Abu Jmil. I still live there under a false name, my family did not emigrate during the war, we hid in a sieged town in the Shouf district …”...

Haiti, USA: Identity check

  13 October 2007

An encounter with a fellow Haitian-American at a Florida airport prompts Peggy Brunache to muse over questions of identity and “the realisation of reality”.