Zapatistas ‘invade’ Madrid to mark Spanish conquest anniversary
AL JAZEERA (13/8/2021) In the summer of 1521, Spanish conquistadors led by Hernan Cortes looted and destroyed the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan. Today, 500 years later, Mexico’s indigenous Zapatistas are holding their own “invasion” of the Spanish capital to mark the anniversary. A delegation of seven Zapatistas set out by boat from Mexico’s most eastern […]
Read →
The Portuguese government wants to build a new airport; environmentalists want climate justice
EQUAL TIMES (21/6/2021) Standing on a wooden tripod on a major road leading to Lisbon Airport, a young activist holds a pink flag that depicts an airplane in flames, and raises her clenched fist. “Climate Justice Now!” reads a large banner hanging from a footbridge above the blocked road. Drums and chants echo across roads […]
Read →Yazidis – o genocídio não se esquece
FUMAÇA (17/12/2020) Na semana passada, o trabalho Yazidis: O genocídio esquecido foi reconhecido com uma das cincos menções honrosas da 22.ª edição do Prémio AMI – Jornalismo Contra a Indiferença, um ano inédito, já que nunca tantos trabalhos tinham sido premiados. Escrevo para partilhar um pouco mais sobre estas histórias que o Fumaça encontrou tempo e espaço para […]
Read →
Inside a new feminist platform that dares to be funny
MIDDLE EAST EYE (5/11/2020) Surrounded by books on feminism and portraits of women’s rights activists, Maria Elayan, the star of a new web-video series, holds up an illustration of human evolution to the camera, where Beyoncé represents the most evolved form of the homo sapiens. “There is not even one image that shows the evolution […]
Read →
The murder of Bruno Candé has put racism – and colonial amnesia – under the spotlight in Portugal
EQUAL TIMES (11/9/2020) On a sunny Saturday in July, Bruno Candé sat, as he did every day, on a bench with his labrador, on a busy street in the Lisbon suburb of Moscavide. At around one in the afternoon Evaristo Marinho, 76, approached Candé with a gun, opened fire and shot him four times at […]
Read →
Freedom of speech under threat in Jordan
DW/QANTARA (10/8/2020) For the past weeks, social media in Jordan has filled with photos and videos of demonstrators gathering in cities all over the country. “Long live the teacher,” and “we will not be silenced” hundreds of protesters chant in the videos. On 25 July, the Jordanian government shut down the opposition-run teachers’ union – The Teachers Syndicate – […]
Read →
Could solar energy help revive Jordan’s virus-hit economy?
AL JAZEERA (24/7/2020) Jordan is often described as “resource-poor” due to its lack of fossil fuels, limited agricultural land and water scarcity. But with more than 310 days of sun a year, strong winds and vast desert lands, the kingdom’s potential for renewable energy is among the most promising in the world. Over the last […]
Read →
Meet Qahera, the Muslim superheroine fighting bigots instead of comic book villains
WASHINGTON POST/THE LILY (22/6/2020) “I can hear it! The sound of … misogynistic trash!” says Qahera. Carrying a sword as sharp as her wit and wearing a veil that is sometimes used to conceal her identity, the Muslim superheroine is out to fight against injustice. Her “super hearing” helps her detect misogynists, but also racists […]
Read →How domestic workers protect and support each other in Jordan
EQUAL TIMES (16/6/2020) When she left the Philippines to work in Jordan, Rosa took two mobile phones with her. She knew that one of them would be confiscated by the recruitment agency that brings women like her to the Middle East to work as housekeepers, nannies and caretakers. The other one she kept hidden in […]
Read →
The Portuguese rediscovering their country’s Muslim past
AL JAZEERA (10/6/2020) When 33-year-old Mustafa Abdulsattar arrived in the Portuguese capital, Lisbon, four years ago, something struck him as familiar: many Portuguese words sounded like Arabic. After fleeing war in his native Iraq, Abdulsattar had risked his life on a perilous boat trip from Turkey to Greece. Once in Greece, he was offered resettlement in […]
Read →