Marta Vidal

In Portugal’s Rural North, Communities Are Resisting Lithium Mining

NEW LINES MAGAZINE (24/4/2024) Under the banner of a “green transition,” the EU is rushing to revive mining to secure critical raw materials. Plans to build large, open-pit mines in northeastern Portugal have been met with strong opposition from local communities, who are contesting the state’s authority to grant mining licenses without their consent. As […]

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Dinosaur Prints In Jordan Highlight A Largely Unexplored Region

DISCOVER MAGAZINE (2/11/2022) About 100 millions years ago, dinosaurs roamed through the coast of the ancient Tethys ocean that covered most of the modern Middle East. Recently, dozens of their footprints have been found on the arid mountain of Safaha, southwest of the city of Shobak, in the south of Jordan.  In 2019, two Polish […]

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The woman preserving the handwoven history of the Levant

DEUTSCHE WELLE (1/6/2022) Women in the Levant have long used needlework to depict the region’s history, its landscapes, customs and traditions. Intricately embroidered panels, varying in style, colour and pattern reflect the different cultural, religious and family affiliations. One woman, Widad Kawar, has made it her quest to ensure this heritage is not forgotten Read […]

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As-Salt: Where Tolerance and Generosity are World Heritage

BBC (22/12/2021) The dawn call to prayer echoed through a still sleepy valley before the first rays of sun started illuminating golden limestone houses clustered on the slopes of three mountains. “Allahu Akbar” (“God is great”), the voice of the muezzin rose up above the domes of the city. “Hayya ‘ala-s-salah” (“Hurry to the prayer”), called loudspeakers […]

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Arabic inscription on Coimbra Cathedral “Greatness will stay”

DEUTSCHE WELLE / QANTARA (18/8/2021) The stones of Coimbra’s twelfth-century cathedral glow in the last rays of sunlight on a warm summer evening. Swallows swirl around the austere building as tourists line up to visit the Romanesque monument in Portugal‘s third largest city. The cathedral’s elaborate three-storey portal in the northern façade attracts many visitors. But […]

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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 […]

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Os muçulmanos que Portugal expulsou e esqueceu

EXPRESSO (1/2/2020) Brafame Gordo e o seu irmão Galebo partiram do Alentejo tão contrariados que chegaram mesmo a pedir autorização ao rei para os deixar regressar. Numa petição dirigida à coroa portuguesa (hoje guardada na Torre do Tombo) dão o nome de três cristãos seus vizinhos em Elvas, que poderiam fornecer recomendações, e pedem para […]

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A link across borders

THE NATIONAL (10/1/2020) The dusty chairs at the Amman train station are empty. There are no departures today. Vintage carriages line up on the tracks waiting for passengers, but the last train to Syria departed a decade ago. “When I travelled to Syria by train, I was just a child – I was this tall,” […]

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