Stories about History from October, 2023
Undertones: Portugal and the myth of the good colonizer
In the 1950s, Portugal's dictatorship overhauled the country's national identity and embraced the theory of the good colonizer. What traces are left of that narrative today?
In Russia, a Tajik citizen is detained on charges of spying for Ukraine
If the allegations are true, this represents a new phase in the participation of Tajik nationals in the war in Ukraine.
A deep dive into Taiwan's drag scene ahead of Pride 2023
As Taiwan is holding East Asia's largest LGBTQ+ Pride event in late October, local drag shows are experiencing something of a come-back in the island's art scene.
Vanishing memory: Commemorative plaques to victims of Soviet era disappear in Russia amid war and new repressions
Plaques commemorating victims of Stalin’s repressions are being taken down in Russian cities. News about vanishing plaques comes amid almost weekly arrests of activists for anti-regime or anti-war stances.
Forty years later, Grenada officially remembers the murders of its Prime Minister Maurice Bishop and others
On October 19, 1983, Prime Minister Maurice Bishop and seven others were executed by a faction of their own political party. Forty years later, the country remembers.
The number of Indigenous people of Sakhalin island in Russia is drastically decreasing
The indigenous people of Sakhalin are now present in small numbers, they are named Nivkhs, Ainu, Uilta. A documentary shows one of the dying villages, Rybnoe, where Nivkhs live.
Chile's ongoing debt to human rights victims
"If they still can't agree on some truths about the dictatorship that was 50 years ago, what can be expected for the 2019 social uprising?" asks Chilean journalist Nicolás Lazo Jerez.
With latex, wood, and flip-flops, Brazilian visual artists create decolonial maps
The map of Brazil is a drawing made by colonizers' hands. Artists have been adding new images to this cartography, which provoke questions about the development of Brazil.
Yiddish: A language to celebrate also for its hilarious curses
Global Voices spoke to Matthew Katzman, author of "Oy Vey! Yiddish Slang 101," a satirical dictionary that weaves personal family stories with Yiddish expressions to understand the evolution of the language.
Why has Turkmenistan’s succession plan gone sideways?
Turkmenistan’s succession is under close inspection by its neighboring countries, where political regimes have struggled with power transition.
The Falkland Islands are an open wound in Argentina
Every year in Argentina history is commemorated to show the other side of history, the side of the defeated.
Documentary about dying villages in Sakhalin, former territory of Japan in Russia, gets over million views
115 towns and villages in Sakhalin may be subject to administrative removal, since they are considered "not viable," because almost no one lives in them anymore, apart from a few people
While in exile in Lviv, Ukraine, a Crimean Tatar woman promotes her community through cuisine
"It is about the nostalgia of those people who lived in Crimea, visited Crimea, or only dreamed of visiting it."
How Russians fought Putinism: A documentary
It is incorrect to say that the people in Russia did not resist the emergence of Putinism — they resisted, many times and in many ways, albeit unsuccessfully.
Ahead of presidential elections, Russia rewrites history and promotes nationalism at schools
New history books and classes called "Important Conversation" are prompting the new nationalist propaganda discourse across schools in Russia.
Kyrgyzstan’s golden generation of wrestlers continue to shine bright and inspire
Ahead of the 2024 Paris summer Olympics, the nation’s hopes for an Olympic gold medal, which Kyrgyzstan is yet to win, are placed on their shoulders.
Legendary singer Sherali Jo’rayev encapsulated Uzbekistan’s traditional music and poetry
His legacy endures, a reminder of the enduring spirit of artistic expression and the importance of protecting the freedom to create and perform.
Decolonial perspective on race from the post-Yugoslav region
In the post-Yugoslav region, where racialized geopolitical cartography re-emerged after the Cold War, many people tend to deny the existence of racism when asked about it.
‘Gukurahundi’ genocide survivors struggle for closure in Zimbabwe
"... [N]o country in the world has ever moved on when injustices of the past have not been genuinely addressed."
For African literary criticism: Interview with the founder of francophone ‘African literary chronicles’
In 2021, the Goncourt Prize was awarded to a Senegalese author, Mohamed Mbougar Sarr. Does this, however, imply that Francophone African literatures are known and recognized at their true value?
