· April, 2008

Stories about Migration & Immigration from April, 2008

Armenia: April 24 — Genocide Memorial Day

  25 April 2008

Yesterday marked the 93rd Anniversary of the Armenian Genocideand the deaths of approximately 1.5 million Armenians in Ottoman Turkey. Every year on 24 April, a date marking the roundup of Armenian intellectuals and community leaders in what is now Istanbul, Armenians commemorate the massacres and deportations worldwide. In Yerevan, this is particularly the case with hundreds of thousands marching up to the Tsitsernakaberd memorial overlooking the capital to lay flowers and pay their respects.

Ukraine: Labor Migration

  24 April 2008

Ukrainiana explains why a social ad against labor migration currently being aired in Ukraine is actually no good: “Forget it, say millions of skilled blue-collar and thousands of white-collar Ukrainians who work abroad. Known as zarobitchany, they sent an estimated $8.4 billion worth of remittances to Ukraine in 2006, a...

Barbados, Jamaica: Up In Arms

  24 April 2008

“Twenty-eight years after Bob performed ‘Zimbabwe’, Robert Mugabe is still holding on desperately to power and it seems that he will use any tactic necessary to continue his dictatorship. Now the Chinese are involved”: Both Bajan Global Report and Jamaican Geoffrey Philp blog about an alleged Chinese arms shipment to...

Armenia: Alternative Genocide Action

  24 April 2008

Hrag Vartanian remembers an unconventional action staged thirty-nine years ago by American-Armenian artist Kardash Onnig outside an Armenian Church in New York. The protest which called on ethnic Armenians to “Un-hate a Turk” was held on 24 April, the day Armenians worldwide remember the 1915 Armenian Genocide.

U.S. Papal Visit: The World Reacts

  22 April 2008

As Pope Benedict XVI makes his first papal visit to the United States, the media and blogosphere are in a frenzy - primarily due to the sexual abuse scandal that shook the foundation of the American Catholic church six years ago. The Pope addressed the issue in Washington D.C. on Thursday, speaking with victims of sexual abuses, which pleased some bloggers but for others was too little too late.

Jamaica: Earth Day

  22 April 2008

Jamaican Geoffrey Philp says: “Today is Earth Day, a time to pause and think about the environment and the impact that we are having on our ecosystem.”

Cuba: Damas de Blanco

  22 April 2008

As “a group of Cuban women peacefully demonstrating for the release of their jailed husbands were roughed up by a mob and arrested”, Cuban bloggers speak out…Babalu: “The regime still fears free thinkers and political opposition”; Uncommon Sense: “Freedom in Cuba — for the brave men on whose behalf these...

Jamaica, Martinique, Trinidad & Tobago: Lighting the Way

  21 April 2008

Jamaican litblogger Geoffrey Philp is still processing the news of Aimé Césaire's death: “For if the goal of any life is freedom, then Aimé Césaire was a light”…while Caribbean Free Radio remembers a podcast she did with “Césaire intoning, in his impeccably enunciated French, against a musical background, the first...

Turkey: Armenian Sportsmen

  20 April 2008

Unzipped posts an entry on an online exhibition which depicts ethnic Armenian sportsmen in Ottoman Turkey. The blog notes that not only were Armenian sporting events held during the priod 1911-14, but that the two ethnic Armenians represented Turkey in the 1912 Stockholm Olympic Games.

Hyejin Kim: A praised young novelist among GVO authors

  20 April 2008

Global Voices celebrates, this month, Hyejin Kim's first anniversary as the GVO Korean Language editor. She is also a celebrated young novelist: her debut book, 'Jia: A Novel of North Korea', has been highly praised as a very vivid and moving novel set in 1990’s North Korea. Is this story just fiction? Hyejin lets us know in this interview.

China: One world, one dream, and one multi-front protest

  18 April 2008

The Chinese global anti-Carrefour boycott was supposed to begin on May 1, but with tempers flaring over CNN commentator Jack Cafferty's on-air remarks this past week, and a number of other recent incidents, people in a few cities across China decided to get a head start. So too did the Chinese hackers who had been planning a coordinated denial-of-service attack on CNN.com set for April 19.

Cuba: Exit Permits On The Way Out

  18 April 2008

The Cuban Triangle links to a report that says “the requirement that Cubans obtain an exit permit (tarjeta blanca) from their own government before traveling abroad, will soon disappear for nearly all Cubans.”

Jamaica, Martinique, Trinidad & Tobago: Césaire Passes On

  18 April 2008

Jamaican litblogger Geoffrey Philp acknowledges the passing of Aimé Césaire, calling him “a poet honored throughout the French-speaking world and a crusader for West Indian rights”, while Caribbean Beat Blog says: “It is with heavy heart we say goodbye to this son of West Indian soil and thank him for...

Armenia: Homophobic Values

  18 April 2008

Unzipped: Gay Armenia comments on the recent suicide of a 22-year-old ethnic Armenian living in the United States. According to the blog, the young man killed himself after being forced into marriage by his family who were ashamed of his homosexuality. The blog says that the story represents the homophobic...