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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Flotel Europa: Memories of a Bosnian Refugee in Denmark
BALKAN DISKURS (19/11/2015) In 1992, Vladimir Tomić was twelve years old when the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina started. He fled Sarajevo with his mother and older brother, and sought asylum in Denmark. With refugee camps completely full, the Danish Red Cross began housing refugees on an enormous ship called Flotel Europa, moored in the port of Copenhagen. […]
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Art Aevi in Sarajevo: A Museum for Peace
BALKAN DISKURS (23/12/2015) “If you are looking for hell, ask the artist where it is. If you don’t find the artist, then you are already in hell,” wrote Avigdoor Pawsner in 1793. Two hundred years later, the Bosnian artist Dean J. Toumin quoted Pawsner during the war in Sarajevo. Pawsner’s words now welcome visitors to […]
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Silence and Denial in Višegrad
BALKAN DISKURS (25/1/2016) On 14 June 1992, 70 Muslim civilians were taken by a group of armed Serbs to a house on Pionirska Street in the eastern Bosnian town of Višegrad. They were locked in the basement, where the carpet beneath their feet was set ablaze. At least 59 people were burned to death. A […]
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