Multiculturalismo (Continuación)

Sin latinos no hay Casa Blanca

MundoAmérica, ,

Cada cuatro años, sin excepción, los dos principales partidos políticos de Estados Unidos tratan de enamorar a los electores latinos para que voten por su candidato a la presidencia. El objetivo es claro: sin latinos no hay Casa Blanca.

Es un ritual predecible y, muchas veces, cargado de cinismo y ambición política. Es como si el Partido Republicano y el Partido Demócrata nos redescubrieran cada cuatro años para, luego, olvidarse de nosotros hasta la siguiente elección. El espectáculo es tan obvio y desvergonzado que hasta le han dado un nombre: el síndrome de Cristóbal Colón.

Y conforme crece el número de votantes hispanos, el proceso de convencimiento se ha hecho mucho más sofisticado.…  Seguir leyendo »

Actores latinos y miembros del Latino Media Council protestaron en Paramount Pictures en 2018. Credit Mark Ralston/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

MundoAmérica, ,  

The story about Latinos in America is an old one. And it isn’t true. Created generations ago by whites to demonize Mexicans and then Puerto Ricans, the racist caricature of Latinos as a menacing foreign monolith persists, even as two-thirds of us were born here and we come from more than 20 different countries.

While we are everywhere in this country, from big cities to small towns, Latinos are largely missing from American media and culture, which makes us vulnerable. President Donald Trump knows this and exploits these fictions for political gain.

Mr. Trump has accomplices. White gatekeepers in media, art and entertainment have long excluded or misrepresented Latinos, particularly Indigenous and Black Latinos, building the cultural scaffolding for the current administration.…  Seguir leyendo »

EuropaUnión EuropeaUE a debate

Desafiando los riesgos del Covid-19, París se ha visto asediada este verano por decenas de miles de franceses que se manifestaban bajo las banderas del movimiento estadounidense Black Lives Matter [Las vidas de los negros importan], blandiendo el retrato de George Floyd como el icono de un mártir. Lejos de Minneapolis, estos manifestantes pertenecían a todos los grupos étnicos que ahora constituyen nuestras sociedades, tanto la europea como la estadounidense. Esta incursión de una rebelión estadounidense en las calles francesas no carece de precedentes: en 1953 los franceses mostraron su apoyo al matrimonio Rosenberg antes de que fuera condenado y ejecutado por espionaje.…  Seguir leyendo »

Ralph McPeek y Amanda Villatoro en San Francisco en 1947. Credit Marcos Villatoro

MundoAmérica,

Cuando era niño, guardaba fotografías de mis padres en una caja de zapatos vieja y rota. A menudo contemplaba las imágenes donde posaban con la Harley Davidson Knucklehead 1947 de mi papá e intentaba imaginar cómo eran sus vidas antes de que yo naciera. Me preguntaba cómo había sido para un hombre blanco de los Apalaches y una mujer salvadoreña andar en motocicleta por todo Estados Unidos en los años de la posguerra. ¿Cómo había perdurado su amor en una época en la que muchos estadounidenses eran hostiles al matrimonio interracial?

Mi padre, Ralph, se unió a la Marina en 1942.…  Seguir leyendo »

Por qué la pluralidad de visiones es esencial para la sostenibilidad

ReflexionesNaturaleza,

Durante gran parte de 2019, los medios noticiosos y las redes sociales se han llenado de imágenes de bosques en llamas y paisajes calcinados y estériles, casas destruidas y gente desplazada. Las imágenes de las selvas quemándose en Brasil y otros lugares han dado pie a potentes emociones y provocado reacciones en todo el mundo, dando un atisbo de las muchas maneras en que la humanidad ve y valora la naturaleza. Solo podremos lograr un futuro sostenible para nuestro planeta si las autoridades entienden y toman en cuenta esta pluralidad de visiones.

Como señala la Plataforma intergubernamental científico-normativa sobre diversidad biológica y servicios de los ecosistemas (IPBES) en su reciente Informe de evaluación global, “la naturaleza es esencial para la existencia y una buena calidad de vida de los seres humanos”.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAsia, ,

In an ideal Indonesia, a Papuan man would live in Jakarta and become a civil servant. He would marry a Padang woman from western Indonesia. They would open a small restaurant and hire a young Sundanese woman. Their customers would be a mix of Javanese, Betawi and other ethnic groups.

This was the scenario of a TV sitcom, “Minus Family,” that aired a few years ago, for which I was a head writer. The show tried to tap Indonesia’s obsession with diversity and harmony, which is encapsulated in the state motto, “We are all different but we are one.” An obsession with diversity and harmony that, in reality, often ends in violence.…  Seguir leyendo »

‘For all the talk of a pan-European debate, elections to the EU parliament tend to be a collection of national electoral competitions fought on mostly national issues.’ European parliament, Brussels. Photograph: Stéphanie Lecocq/EPA

Europa,

If we were a country, we would be more populous than the Netherlands or Belgium and only slightly smaller than Romania. As such, we would be entitled to elect up to 26 members of the European parliament next month. In reality, though, we aren’t a country and have no real political representatives.

Who are we? We’re the 17 million EU citizens who live in another member state of the union (including the 3.7 million living in the UK). In the last decade we have doubled in number and today represent 4% of the EU working-age population. This may seem small in comparison with the US, where 41% of its citizens live in a state other than the one of their birth – but it is still an unprecedented figure in the history of the continent.…  Seguir leyendo »

ReflexionesIslam y Mundo ÁrabeMundoOceanía, ,

En un mundo de hombres, la pitufina es la única mujer. Ellos son la norma, ella es el retoque. Ellos definen a la comunidad, su historia y su código de valores. Ella sólo existe en el marco que ellos decidan, tiene un papel simbólico, el de realzar los estereotipos establecidos por ellos. Así es en los dibujos animados, así es muchas veces en el cine, y así también es en la vida real, cuando se trata de definir los rasgos de la comunidad. Lo hemos visto en Nueva Zelanda.

Sí. En un gesto de solidaridad con las víctimas del sangriento ataque contra los creyentes de la mezquita de Christchurch, las mujeres libres de Nueva Zelanda decidieron acicalarse y cubrir su melena con un velo.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoOceanía, , ,

On Friday, terrorist attacks at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, left 49 dead and scores more wounded. The attack, reportedly by an Australian shooter, has cast a spotlight on the global scope of white supremacist rhetoric and violence. The shooter left behind a manifesto riddled with the language of modern white nationalism, and wrote that he chose to commit this horror in New Zealand to show that “nowhere in the world is safe.”

As news continues to emerge about the attacker, many have focused on how the shooter may have been inspired by white nationalist rhetoric from other countries, including the United States.…  Seguir leyendo »

Ethiopian army soldiers controlled protestors from the capital and those displaced by ethnic-based violence over the weekend in Burayu, as they demonstrated demanding justice from the government in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia last September. Credit Mulugeta Ayene/Associated Press

MundoÁfrica,

Abiy Ahmed, the 42-year-old prime minister of Ethiopia, has dazzled Africa with a volley of political reforms since his appointment in April. Mr. Abiy ended the 20-year border war with Eritrea, released political prisoners, removed bans on dissident groups and allowed their members to return from exile, declared press freedom and granted diverse political groups the freedom to mobilize and organize.

Mr. Abiy has been celebrated as a reformer, but his transformative politics has come up against ethnic federalism enshrined in Ethiopia’s Constitution. The resulting clash threatens to exacerbate competitive ethnic politics further and push the country toward an interethnic conflict.…  Seguir leyendo »

In this photo taken on 7 October 2018 Cameroon's incumbent President Paul Biya looks on as he votes at the polling station in Bastos neighbourhood in the capital Yaounde during Cameroon's presidential election. ALEXIS HUGUET / AFP

MundoÁfrica, ,

On 22 October Cameroonian authorities declared incumbent Paul Biya winner of the presidential election with a score of 71 per cent. What happened?

The presidential election was held amid the worst insecurity since 1992. In the Far North, Boko Haram continues small scale attacks, and the fallout from nearly five years of conflict continues with 240,000 currently displaced. Violence by armed groups from the Central African Republic is affecting the East. In the Anglophone Northwest and Southwest regions, a growing insurgency has seen almost daily fighting with security forces.

On the day of the vote, no major security incident was reported in Francophone areas, where about 55 per cent of registered voters cast ballots.…  Seguir leyendo »

Campaign posters in Stockholm this week. Sweden will hold elections on Sunday. Credit Jonathan Nackstrand/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

EuropaUnión Europea, , ,

To understand why Sweden, a bastion of social democracy, might end up with a far-right party in government after national elections on Sunday, you need to take a walk with Ahmed Abdirahman.

An American-educated Somali immigrant who works as a policy analyst at the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce, Mr. Abdirahman grew up and now lives in the suburb of Rinkeby-Tensta, where some 90 percent of residents have a foreign background, roughly 80 percent live on welfare or earn low incomes and 42 percent are under age 25. It is a violent place: Sixteen people were killed there in 2016, mostly in drug-related conflicts, an unheard-of number in this typically peaceful country.…  Seguir leyendo »

Demonstrators placed a Palestinian flag on top of a house in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh during clashes with Israeli security forces in January. Credit Abbas Momani/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

MundoOriente Próximo, ,

In the seven decades of its independence, Israel has developed a unique model of statehood. This model can be understood in various ways, and these have evolved over the years, but any description of it always comes back to two terms: Jewish and democratic.

There is no consensus on what it means for a state to be a “Jewish state,” partly because only one state has ever made such a claim. At the same time, there is no practical consensus on what it means for a state to be “democratic”: Many have put the word — knowing it false — in their official names.…  Seguir leyendo »

Would My Family Pass an ‘Australian Values Test’?

MundoOceanía,

When I was growing up, there were times when my corner of Sydney did not feel all that Australian.

As newly arrived immigrants, my family got our start sharing the house of a Korean minister in Campsie, a working-class suburb with a large immigrant population. My parents set up their businesses in Eastwood and Chatswood, and served a predominantly Asian client base. On weekends, we shared the table with Korean friends and sang Korean hymns at church.

This was a fact that I, with a teenager’s allergy to outsiderness, resented. I measured our successful integration as migrants by our proximity and resemblance to the majority of Australians — and by this measure, we were failing.…  Seguir leyendo »

Tatiana Fernández The border gate on the bridge between Ouanaminthe, Haiti, and Dajabón, Dominican Republic

MundoAmérica, ,

Women and men press against the barbed-wire gate, waiting for the guards to let them in. Twice a week, the border crossing opens so that Haitians can get access without a visa to a market located on Dominican land in the northern city of Dajabón, just a short walk from the crossing point.

Behind the crowd at the gate, a loud procession is making its way along the Massacre River (so named for the 1728 killing of a group of French buccaneers by Spanish settlers) that separates Haiti and the Dominican Republic before crossing a short bridge that connects the two countries.…  Seguir leyendo »

EuropaUnión Europea, , , ,

The “beautiful game” has been revealing many ugly truths about racism and identity in Europe.

In the aftermath of the World Cup, the French and German national soccer teams have found themselves at the center of a renewed debate about race, assimilation and national identity that has highlighted the precarious position that many nonwhite immigrants and first-generation people find themselves in while living in the West.

On Sunday, the player Mesut Ozil announced in a series of powerful and pained social media posts that he was quitting the German national team due to racism and mistreatment from the German media, sponsors and the German Football Association (DFB).…  Seguir leyendo »

¿Es realmente redondo este balón?

EuropaUnión Europea, ,

Lo confieso, no siento por el fútbol ninguna pasión especial; apenas conozco las reglas y hasta evitaba practicarlo en el patio de mi escuela elemental. Al hilo de este Mundial, que la selección de Francia ha ganado en Moscú, me vuelve a la memoria el recuerdo del único partido al que he asistido en mi vida. Fue en el Mundial de Seúl en 2002, al que me invitó el presidente coreano, Kim Dae Jung, que quería agradecerme que le hubiera visitado en su celda cuando era un preso político. Aquel día me encontraba sentado a su lado, en la tribuna de honor, para asistir al partido inaugural, que enfrentaba a Francia y Senegal.…  Seguir leyendo »

An image of the French forward Kylian Mbappé was projected on the Arc de Triomphe in Paris at a celebration of France’s victory in the Russia 2018 World Cup on Sunday. Credit Gerard Julien/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

EuropaUnión EuropeaPolítica Inmigración, ,

“I think allowing millions and millions of people to come to Europe is very, very sad,” President Trump said during his current good-will tour of the Continent. “I think you are losing your culture.”

Mr. Trump, meet Kylian Mbappé, the 19-year-old breakout star of France’s newly crowned World Cup soccer champions. The son of an Algerian mother and Cameroonian father, Mbappé is emblematic of a team of immigrants — 16 of its 23 players are from families recently arrived in France. They’ve just made an entire nation very, very glad of its diversity — at least for one day.

Brazilians, Argentines, Italians and Germans may object, but France can now lay claim to being master of the beautiful game.…  Seguir leyendo »

Protesters demanding that China respect human rights in its Xinjiang region and release members of the Uighur minority detained in so-called re-education centers there, in Brussels in April. Credit Emmanuel Dunand/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

MundoAsia, ,

What does it take to intern half a million members of one ethnic group in just a year? Enormous resources and elaborate organization, but the Chinese authorities aren’t stingy. Vast swathes of the Uighur population in China’s western region of Xinjiang — as well as Kazakhs, Kyrgyz and other ethnic minorities — are being detained to undergo what the state calls “transformation through education”. Many tens of thousands of them have been locked up in new thought-control camps with barbed wire, bombproof surfaces, reinforced doors and guard rooms.

The Chinese authorities are cagey and evasive, if not downright dismissive, about reports concerning such camps.…  Seguir leyendo »

Demonstrators with a picture of Naqeebullah Mehsud, 27, killed by the Karachi police in January. Credit Rizwan Tabassum/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

MundoOriente Próximo, ,

On Jan. 13, the police in Karachi, Pakistan, claimed to have killed four militants suspected of having links to the Islamic State. Rao Anwar, the officer leading the operation, said that the men had opened fire on the police and were killed in the gunfight.

Pictures of the dead circulated on social media and were broadcast on Pakistani television networks. Family members watching television news recognized one of the dead: Naqeebullah Mehsud, 27, from Waziristan, in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas on the border with Afghanistan. He had been arrested by the police 10 days earlier.

Mr. Mehsud, who is survived by his wife, a son and two daughters, had worked various jobs in the city and recently decided to set up a clothing store with help from his brother.…  Seguir leyendo »