Newroz brings hope of a brighter tomorrow, and reminders of dark past, in Iraqi Kurdistan
EQUAL TIMES (27/3/2019) On 20 March 2019, families and groups of friends gathered at sunset in the mountains surrounding Sulaymaniya in Iraqi Kurdistan. Wearing traditional Kurdish clothes, many sat on picnic blankets, some danced to the sound of popular music, while others gathered to talk around bonfires. With the Kurdish New Year of 2719 fast-approaching, […]
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After fleeing conflict at home, African refugees battle racism in Jordan
EQUAL TIMES (22/3/2019) “There is war in Sudan. Many people are getting killed, women raped, men beaten. In Jordan, we just stay at home but it also feels like war. Discrimination. Not being able to work. It’s just like war,” says Abdul*, who fled Darfur in 2010. He is among the more than 4,000 Sudanese […]
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Tourists, tourists everywhere
NEW INTERNATIONALIST (MARCH 2019) Lurdes Magalhães no longer sees her neighbours, she only sees tourists. The neighbourhood chatter has been replaced by the sound of suitcase wheels on the cobblestones. Tourism is booming in Porto, Portugal’s second largest city, where visitors now outnumber residents 8 to 1 – a higher ratio than Barcelona or […]
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Portuguese shopkeepers using ceramic frogs to ‘scare away’ Roma
Al JAZEERA (4/2/2019) Portugal’s ceramic frogs croak racism. Al Jazeera reveals racist practice that plays on superstition among Roma who consider frogs symbol of bad luck. Porto, Portugal – Surrounded by baskets of oranges and tangerines, a bright green ceramic frog stands at the entrance of Helena Conceicao’s grocery shop. “Everybody has frogs here,” she said. […]
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Gentrification in Porto: will the city turn into a hotel?
OPEN DEMOCRACY (9/1/2019) Tourism is booming in Portugal, but so is housing speculation. Gentrification has been causing the displacement of the poor, a proliferation of hotels and shrinking public space. “The bookshop closed, the greengrocer and the florist closed. The city will turn into a tourist’s hotel”, sings the band Samba sem Fronteiras. They sing in the Worst […]
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The Jordanian women fighting for labour rights
EQUAL TIMES (4/12/2018) In Jordan, more women than men are going to university and girls have been consistently outperforming boys academically. Yet women’s participation in the workforce remains one of the lowest in the world. Meet some of the women trying to change this. When Dina Saad attended a job fair in Jordan’s busy […]
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Retratos dos despejos no Porto
JORNAL MAPA (SET/NOV 2018) A especulação imobiliária desencadeada pela explosão do turismo tem feito com que a habitação no Porto seja cada ver mais vista como um investimento e não como um direito. As rendas têm vindo a disparar, e são cada vez mais os inquilinos com ordens de despejo ou com contratos que não […]
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Portugal, país acolhedor? Refugiados partilham histórias de discriminação
BUALA (6/8/2018) Em 2016, o primeiro-ministro António Costa anunciou a disponibilidade para aumentar a quota de refugiados. Desde então, o governo português tem reiterado o seu compromisso de receber pessoas refugiadas. Os discursos de boas-vindas aos refugiados contribuem para reforçar a auto-imagem que Portugal se abona como país acolhedor e tolerante. No entanto, segundo um relatório publicado pelo Alto […]
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Kashmiris turn to art to challenge Indian rule
AL-JAZEERA (20/3/2018) Kashmir has a rich tradition of artisan culture. Intricate woodcarvings, colourful papier-mache and exquisite cashmere scarfs made the Himalayan valley renowned for its fine handcrafts. Cashmere scarfs are usually embroidered with flowers and birds, but the artists Mahum Shabir and Mir Suhail wanted to challenge conventional representations of Kashmir and its crafts by designing […]
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Ron Haviv: Imaging War
BALKAN DISKURS (21/3/2016) Ron Haviv has spent almost 25 years documenting conflicts around the world, from the wars in Bosnia and Rwanda to the famine in Somalia. He spent 10 years photographing the Balkan wars, taking some of the most famous photographs of the Bosnian war. We met in Sarajevo, where an exhibition of his […]
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