Crossing Borders writing internship - a space for sharing and starting dialogue // CB Magazine 2014

crossing bordersmagazine // 2014writing internship fall & winter

crossingborderswriting

internshipprogram

fall &winter

2014

Crossing Borders writing internship // fall & winter 2014

This magazine is the result of a writing internship ran by:

introduction ofcrossing borders by

director garba diallo

Crossing Borders (CB) is a non-profit, nongovernmental civil society organization whose mission is to create impartial dialogue space and to provide enabling capacity building for youth, media workers and educators to participate actively in the development processes of their societies.

The overall goal of CB is to increase the possibilities for world peace and international understanding through learning to live together on equal terms.

This goal is achieved through offering awareness raising and empow-ering skills and lived experience to our target groups both in Denmark and globally.

For detailed information how to get involved and start to make a posi-tive difference today, visit crossingborders.dk

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Editorial& index

Crossing Borders writing internship - a space for sharing and starting dialogue

Last year, Crossing Borders website readers had an excellent opportunity to explore the minds of a group of young, strong-minded and worldly writers, who took upon a chance to share their ideas about human rights, sustainability, democracy, me-dia, education and other news about our global world.

All of them not only learned about different methods of writ-ing and talked about issues important and interesting to them. They also worked together as a group, discussing articles and helping each other to improve. The internship had 3 modules: investigative journalism, content writing and interview, and all the writers had a chance to learn about these methods and try them for themselves

Today’s result - a magazine with their best work, highlighting the most important events of 2014, outlining pressing issues and discussing processes in Middle East, West Africa and Eu-rope.

On many cases, we could see the topics from insider’s per-spective - unaltered, raw and straight to the point. The reason behind this is that we had a chance to work with people from really diverse backgrounds, coming together from various countries with one goal - to build spaces for dialogue across borders.

Ilona KlimaityteCrossing Borders writing

internship program coordinator

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Editorial ....................................................................... 2

Writers ......................................................................... 3

Module I - Analysis & Discussion ........................... 5“More Than Spikes - Homelessness and the criminalization of poverty”by Catarina Santos ...................................................... 6“The good, the bad and the boycott of Israel” by Ditte Kleif ............................................................... 8“Understanding a Generational Mindset in the Former USSR” by Omeed Aminian.................... 9“Friend or Foe – Men’s Role in the Feminist Movement” by Catarina Santos............................... 11“Oil in Ghana: a blessing or a curse?” by Dora Mochiah .......................................................... 13

Module II - Interview .............................................. 14“Greece: Syrian protest and hunger strike evi-cted by police” by Henri Barbara Lindeneg ............ 15“Child Labor – Rethinking the Debate”by Arfah Siddiqi ........................................................ 17“Fears of increasing numbers of forced marriage among Syrian Refugees inJordan” by Milia Eidmouni ..................................... 19

Module III - Investigative Journalism .................. 20“The Kingdom Tower: Jeddah’s Sustainable Paradox” by Jumana Abdel-Razzaq ....................... 21“The Tibetan narratives and hopes are different” by Henri Barbara Lindeneg .................... 22“Responsible reporting, or the lack thereof”by Arfah Siddiqi ........................................................ 24

Module IV - Content Writing ................................ 26“Hints on what you need to know before traveling to the Middle East” by Ditte Kleif ............ 27“Cheatsheet for Conference Planning Abroad”by Omeed Aminian .................................................. 29“The World Needs More #HumanitarianHeroes”by Mehreen Masoud ................................................ 30“Celebrating life in Gaza” by Rana AlSaleh [Bonus] ......................................... 32

Call for new writers .................................................. 33


WritersArfah Siddiqi is a 22 year old Pakistani, born and raised in Dubai. She has a bachelor degree in jour-nalism and international relations from the American University of Sharjah. She has interned for an NGO in Dubai and conducted research on migrant workers, international law and human rights. Arfah has been actively involved with Model United Nations on both national and international lev-els, and has also participated in a simulation of the International Court of Justice in a moot court competition in Florida. Her research interests include international humanitarian/human rights law, drone strikes and child labor. Arfah is an aspiring human rights lawyer and plans to pursue a JD in international law.

Catarina Santos“I like to consider myself a global citizen: a Portuguese woman, who used to live in Madrid, currently studying in Beijing through a Danish University. I have been hopping from place to place gathering knowledge and know-how to allow myself to be the best that I can be – using my writing skills to make the world a better place. I have a background in Communication and I am a Master’s student of Development and International Relations. I am passionate about development, feminism, social media and culture.”

Ditte Kleif“I come from the city of Aarhus in Denmark where I am currently studying Arabic and Is-lamic Studies. Next year I will move to Cairo to practice my Arabic and to get to know some different areas of Egypt. What interests me the most is the gap between cultures and how these gaps are interpreted in various cultural settings.”

Dora Mochiah “I am interested in using the Media to create a change in society because we live in a community where young people are seen and not heard and girls and women are usually less privileged in some societies. Under my leadership as the president of Curious Minds Western Region, the Regional chap-ter was able to undertake some Community Outreaches, have a basic school development project for pupils in the rural areas as well as participation in key projects of some other organizations and han-dling the media aspect of it while being recognized as one of the active youth led group in the Region.”

Henri Barbara Lindeneg“Writing, reading, solidarity and music are some of my passions.”

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Jumana Abdel-Razzaq“As a graduate of International Relations from a reputable university in the Middle East, my passion for humanitarian aid, politics, and culture are at the basis of my writing. I grew up in the United States and lived in the Middle East for the past ten years, finishing my high school studies in Jordan before moving to the United Arab Emirates for University. With minors in mass communication and histo-ry, I hope to combine my credentials to be able to illustrate different perspectives of Middle Eastern society through my writing and in turn counter the growing Islamophobia of our world by painting a different picture of a region defined by violence and struggle.”

Mehreen Masoud“I recently graduated from the American University of Sharjah (AUS) with a degree in Inter-national Studies. Currently I am working as a social media manager at a small digital market-ing agency in Dubai.”

Milia Eidmouni“I’m a media and life skills trainer and a freelance journalist from Syria, now based in Jordan, Amman. Right now I’m working with NGO ActionAid as regional communications officer. I’m co-founder of the Syrian female journalists network. Our focus is to build the capacity of the Syrian media bodies, to raise the voice of Syrian female journalists and to change the image of Syrian women after the crisis.”

Omeed Aminian“I am from Seattle, USA, but my heritage is Iranian-American (halfsie!). I recently moved to Co-penhagen to be with my partner and look for work as an English language professional. This in-ternship is my first opportunity in Denmark. Since graduating in 2011 with an MA in Teaching/English, I’ve been working at various faculties for English as a Second/Foreign Language. Most recently, I was an English Language Fellow in the Republic of Moldova, where I taught university students and worked with the local community.

Rana AlSaleh“I’m from Palestine. I’m 30 years old. I have worked as a translator for almost 10 years now in different organizations. I graduated with a B.A. in English Literature in 2006, and have been accepted for a Master degree in International Human rights and Social Justice in London. I have not really done much writing since then, but I feel excited to join the team and learn from everyone.”

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Module I

analysis&

discussion“More Than Spikes - Homelessness and the criminalization of poverty”

by Catarina Santos

“The good, the bad and the boycott of Israel”by Ditte Kleif

“Understanding a Generational Mindset in the Former USSR” by Omeed Aminian

“Friend or Foe – Men’s Role in the Feminist Movement“ by Catarina Santos

“Oil in Ghana: a blessing or a curse?“by Dora Mochiah

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As if being poor and homeless was not bad enough, several countries are implementing measures which implicitly crim-inalize the indigents’ conditions. Many have stood against the London spikes and the Cardiff cages but what many do not know is that these are just the tip of the iceberg of a much larger phenomenon.

Two years ago, when I was still living in Lisbon, I worked for a big international insurance company located in the main avenue of the city. All the best stores and expensive shops are there, from Prada and Gucci, to Louis Vuitton and Burberry; during the whole week, locals and tourists would flood the avenue, leaving with a handful of luxurious shopping bags and a big smile on their faces. And to make sure that nothing would ruin the experience, right before the stores opened the police would wake up and kick out all the homeless peo-ple sleeping at the gates of those same luxury stores. I clearly remember that right under our stairway there was a couple who would patiently tidy up their small nest every day: two cardboard boxes, a few blankets, a rug and a small bench with a vase and flower. This was their home.

For homeless people, daily life is practically a crime itself, since the criminal justice system is often used by cities to punish people living on the street for doing what they need to do to survive and since the recession, which in countries like the U. S. has pushed more people out of their houses and into poverty, this criminalization has been aggravated. These include enforcing laws which prevent people from sleeping, sitting and storing personal belongings in public spaces – or alternatively enacting sweeps in these areas, often destroy-

ing important personal property such as medications or documents. Homeless people are also more vulnerable to neutral laws, such as loitering or jaywalking, and ordinances regarding hygiene, such as public urination, when often free of charge public facilities are not available. In addition, there are laws which forbid not only begging, but also private food or service donations, when regarding food some went as far as to poison the garbage or safe-proof restaurant trash bags, as noted by Mike Davis in City of Quartz.

Apart from being inhumane, this situation is clearly coun-ter-productive because if poverty criminalizes people and criminalization impoverishes them, we are stuck in an endless cycle. Having a criminal record, even if it con-sists of petty crimes, often blocks access to the job market or even to housing, which would make it easier to over-come the homelessness’ circumstances. This adds up to other problems that this group often has, such as lack of interpersonal connections, substance addiction or mental health problems, lack of life skills such as self-confidence and self-awareness or the ability to structure a day, many of them caused or aggravated by living on the street.

Adding up, many cities have adopted more subtle meas-ures, the most prominent being hostile architecture. A well-known example of this is the not so subtle spikes put outside an apartment building in London and, more recently, the cages surrounding the air vents at Cardiff Uni-versity. But these two are just a small part in a larger phe-nomenon that has its roots in the 1990s urban design and public space management. In a broad sense, disciplinary

more than spikeshomelessness and the

criminalization of poverty

by Catarina Santos

6


architecture does not target one particular group of peo-ple, but rather punishes citizens for unwanted behavior.

But it would be naive to disregard the impact that this kind of design has on poor people – these devices are a lot more pervasive in places that homeless people would otherwise consider safe to spend the night, like parks, bus stops or the subway. Wave shaped benches divided by armrests, slip-pery narrow seats or protrusions placed on small walls are all designed to make their users as uncomfortable as pos-sible and to make sleeping an even more difficult task. In Shandong, China, Yantai Park officials introduced pay-per-minute benches which, if the user exceeds its time, raise a dozen spikes through the seat to make sure the person gets out. In San Francisco, the managers of an auditorium opted for blasting sounds of chain-saws, motorcycles and jackhammers from 11 PM to 7 AM to prevent homeless people from sleeping at their gates.

It appears sometimes that people living on the street are barely considered people at all and with the rise of social media this has only gotten worse – typing “crazy hobo” on the Youtube search engine gives us more than 76.000 results. And then there are videos like this one, where two prankster friends challenge two homeless men to arm-wrestling each other for one hundred dollars; the catch, they say, is that even the loser gets 50 dollars, so according to the video description “everybody wins”. But does everybody win? Is it right to pitch poor people against each other for one’s own amusement? Of course not. But this is nothing new. Homeless people, or “hobos” as they are often referred to, are a constant target of tasteless jokes, even in kids’ shows; software publisher Spoonjuice even made an iPad app which lets users “write and display fun-ny hobo signs”, which comes with some suggested phrases such as “Why lie? I need a cold beer” and “Betcha you can’t hit me with a quarter!”

One aspect that is conveniently ignored is the vulnerability of homeless people when it comes to all kinds of aggres-sion, mainly because these actions are often ignored and go unpunished. The National Coalition for the Homeless (NCH) has stated in its report that in the U.S, in the last 15 years there were 1.437 attacks on homeless people by housed people, 375 of them with lethal consequences – and we must not forget that the true number of crimes is probably higher since a lot of them go unreported. Anoth-er pressing issue is that the majority of the victims who try to get medical assistance do not have enough money to

pay for it, worsened by the fact that a lot of attacks go along with robbery.

The perpetrators are usually male and under the age of 30, most of them being teenagers, and sometimes these attacks are filmed and posted on social media. The assaults go from beating, to raping and forced prostitution and even police brutality. The NCH also points out the relation between the criminalization of poverty and these violent acts, saying that:“One possible explanation for this is the message that criminalizing homelessness sends to the general public: “Homeless people do not matter and are not worthy of living in our city.” This message is blatant in the attitudes many cities have toward homeless people and can be used as an internal justification for attacking someone.”

Criminalizing poverty does not solve the situation and it is being used mainly as an easy tool to push homeless people to the side, since they appear to be considered no more than an unpleasant sight. On the other hand, the factors that have pushed them to live on the street are ignored. Some have untreated mental disabilities, some are trying to escape abuse and some simply cannot afford rent – there are over 100.000 million people in the world without a roof over their heads.

They are vulnerable, humiliated and now inherently crim-inal.

But how can a society make it illegal to be poor if it is the same society who is pushing people into poverty?

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It is becoming an increasingly popular campaign to boycott Israeli goods in order to show support with the Palestinian cause and the Palestinian people. Brands like Nestlé, IBM, Ahava cosmetics and others have become symbols of the Israeli Apartheid regime, which is why the Boycott, Di-vestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement has seen rising support since the beginning of Israel’s Operation Protective Edge in June this year. The goal of the campaign is to boy-cott Israeli goods until Israel acts towards the Palestinians in full compliance with international law.

But does the boycott enforce an increased welfare for the Palestinian people?

The number of Palestinians working with or cooperating with Israel is increasing. More than 31,000 Palestinians work in Israeli settlements and more than 70,000 Palestini-ans work in Israel due to poverty and an increasing unem-ployment rate. Israeli jobs are a double-edged sword; as is the story of Hassan Jalaita, who works at a Zarfaita garage repairing Israeli jeeps driving through the occupied West Bank. He helps fix the jeeps, which he crosses everyday at the checkpoint, when he goes to work. But this job pays more than triple the wage he could get in the West Bank, where the youth unemployment rate is spiking at 38,8% according to the CIA.

These jobs pump more than $300 million into the Palestin-ian economy through salaries, although at the same time depriving them the right to cultivate the land on which these settlements and plants are built. There is no doubt that these Palestinian workers working either legally or illegally in Israel are a vulnerable workforce, but these jobs still ensure food on the table for their families.

Furthermore, Israel has legal obligations to support Gazan people with electricity and water. This is an obligation, which Israel would never jeopardize, since this would cause an international humanitarian disaster. This is a demand forced on the Israelis since the 1993 Oslo Accords. During Operation Protective Edge an important power plant in Gaza was destroyed, which makes the daily 12-hour electricity supply from Israel to Gaza much more important and of course, makes Gaza more dependent on the Israeli supply.

The Israeli Electric Corp (IEC) has formerly threatened to cut off the electricity supply to Gaza, since the Palestinian Authority (PA) owes the company more than 1.4 billion shekels. This of course would be seen as a political deci-sion, which makes the IEC refrain from such a decision.

If the BDS movement was to destroy the Israeli economy, what would happen to the workers in Israel and the supply of water and electricity to the Gaza Strip?

Yehuda Cohen, the chief executive director of the Lipski factory close to Tel Aviv said in an interview with NY Times, regarding whether or not a boycott would be bene-ficial for the Palestinians:

“I am not a settlement. I am an industrial area, an industri-al area that gives hope for people. If there will be any kind of peace agreement, even if they decide this area should be part of the Palestinian country, we should not destroy the industrial areas. We should increase them.”

Whether he is right or not, only time will show. But the BDS movement is making it more and more difficult for the Palestinian workers working in Israel. If the economy

the good, the bad and the boycott

of israelby Ditte Kleif

8


was to deteriorate because of the boycott, then maybe they will be the first to be fired. Given, that there are no unions in Israel to protect the Palestinian workers and the fact that a lot of them work without a work-permit, this could have a catastrophic impact on many Palestinian families.

Furthermore, if the Israeli economy was to be hit hard by the boycott campaign, it could be difficult to keep trans-ferring the same amount of water and electricity to the Gaza Strip, if the unpaid bill keeps rising. Then, once more, the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip would be dependent on countries such as Qatar to help out in such a crisis of humanitarian character.

But is the BDS movement a hopeless campaign?

I do not believe that peace will ever be reached solely through boycotts and sanctions. Much more needs to be added to such a campaign in order to push diplomatic efforts in the right direction.

Another branch of the BDS movement might be able to make a difference. The academic boycott, also known as PACBI (The Palestinian Campaign of the Cultural and Academic Boycott of Israel). Other institutions outside Palestine have followed the academic boycott.

Desmond Tutu said the following after the University of Johannesburg cut its ties with the Ben Gurion University:

“It can never be business as usual. Israeli Universities are an intimate part of the Israeli regime, by active choice. While Palestinians are not able to access universities and schools, Israeli universities produce the research, technolo-gy, arguments and leaders for maintaining the occupation. [Ben Gurion University] is no exception. By maintaining links to both the Israeli defense forces and the arms indus-try, BGU structurally supports and facilitates the Israeli occupation.”

According to the PACBI movement itself, the academic boycott is inspired by the historic role played by people of conscience in the international community of scholars and intellectuals who have shouldered the moral responsibility to fight injustice.

Even the Israeli justice minister, Tzipi Livni said, “The world seems to be losing patience with us. . . . If we don’t make progress with the Palestinians, we will lose the sup-port of the world and our legitimacy.” This statement came after the American Studies Association (ASA) joined the boycott campaign in January this year.

understanding a generationalmindset in the

former ussrby Omeed Aminian

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Students entering or continuing higher education in the Republic of Moldova, a landlocked country positioned between Ukraine and Romania, have few choices for study abroad, but many of them make the journey to the Euro-pean Union. I learned this while working as an English instructor in this fascinating and far too unknown nation.

Young Moldovans’ limited mobility often restricts them to a subpar education in their home country where opportu-nities are few, corruption is rife and ethnic & linguistic ties run deep.

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union and the subsequent disintegration of its strong state apparatus, a huge reversal in the quality of education has taken place in Moldova and, for this reason, many students attempt to study in the EU, the USA or the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries (e.g. Russia).

There are many reasons behind this outward academic flux: For one, since an estimated 25% of the population resides abroad, the tax base has shrunk, and thus, under-funded academics are the norm. As more students leave, universities face financial crisis, and the problem com-pounds.

To add to this, corruption at all levels, primary, secondary and university, results in some teachers demanding bribes for grades, which might include a college entrance exam.

Students, who more often than not come from impov-erished families, might feel the impulse to shower their teachers with bouquets of flowers, at the very least – an odd ritual I noticed more than once in the faculty lounge.

Last year, the Minister of Education called for video cam-eras to be installed throughout testing facilities for college entrance exams because of widespread cheating, which was facilitated by the proctoring teachers themselves.

Beyond a challenging educational environment, Moldova, possessing fewer than 4 million inhabitants, has a surpris-ing number of social cleavages based on ethnicity, linguis-tic heritage and socio-political sentiment regarding the-breakup of the USSR; for instance, the Communist Party is still the largest political party.

Some of these deep-seated differences have existed for many decades and they certainly affect the current youth

and student population’s desire to seek education abroad.

In terms of their linguistic heritage, three quarters of the country speaks Romanian as its mother tongue and this language community obviously has much in common with its westward neighbor. For many young people from this community, like my landlord’s son, the choice to study in Romania, located within the European Union, is obvious.

Family, a higher level of school etAhics and cultural ties bolster the Romanian-speaking youth’s decision to study in the relative West.

For others the decision is more nuanced, as identity issues often are. For example, one of my students studied in Italy for a year and even found an Italian partner while there. She enjoyed her experience in the West, but found herself still identifying more with Russia and the East, partly be-cause her sister-in-law was a Russian-speaking Ukrainian.

I found ambivalent attitudes toward the West, including Romania, to be common among other Moldovan twen-ty-somethings. There are young people who choose West-ern instead of Eastern nations, yet still identify with Russia and, possibly, the former USSR, even after their interna-tional experience.

Potentially, parallels could be drawn between Moldova and other internally divided countries in the region, such as Ukraine. The youth of the former Soviet states need oppor-tunities at better schools, and they often choose the EU, if they are allowed to enter. However, cultural and political kinships are often quite complex, and many of my students felt conflicting emotions about the EU.

With the surrounding region turning into an East versus West battle for influence, how can we look to study abroad for a more profound understanding of the current genera-tion’s mindset and desires for their countries’ futures?

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Emma Watson’s UN speech called men to join the feminist movement, stating that gender inequalities are a problem of us all. This however has sparked discussions within the feminist community, bringing up the topic of male feminism again. Can a man truly be a feminist? What are the implica-tions of being a male feminist?

During the launch of the HeforShe campaign, Watson extended an invitation to men to join feminism. First, she explained to men why gender issues were their problem too, by addressing some situations where men are affected by the patriarchal system, especially focusing on gender roles: why men should be able to be sensitive, why men should have the same parental rights, etc. Secondly, she said that men should join the movement so “their daughters, sisters and mothers can be free from prejudice but also so that their sons have permission to be vulnerable and human too”. Although her intention was probably the best, this is a very problematic approach to feminism for several reasons.

Most men’s first contact with feminist thoughts comes from personal experience, not their own, but often friends or family members. For example, realizing that in their home, women are the ones doing all the chores while men relax in the sofa, or witnessing their female friends being catcalled. Becoming aware of this kind of situation is a great starting point, but it should not end here. A very common miscon-ception is that men should be feminists because “it’s some-one’s mother/daughter/girlfriend/etc.” Wrong. Men should advocate gender equality because wom-en are human beings, period. Reducing us to our relation-ships with men is only perpetuating the misogyny we are

fighting against.

First and foremost, feminism does not strictly need more men. Do not get me wrong, it would be really good to have some intersectionality in the discourse if men and women were fighting for the same thing – quality is much better than quantity. But a common problem with men who label themselves feminists is that they try to subvert the speech to talk about themselves and their own problems, or instead they throw the “not all men” card. Men should do their part by realizing that they are often part of the problem and, when they do, they are great allies. Patriarchy hurts us all, that is true, but overall it benefits men a lot more than it hurts them. That is why first of all male feminists should acknowledge their own privilege – social, economic, and political advantages or rights that are made available to men solely on the basis of their sex.

Feminism is a space created by women for women, and it is rather intrusive to enter that safe space uninvited and to do what men have been doing to women throughout history: shutting us down and invalidating our experiences.

Feminism is one of the only safe spaces and vehicles for women to voice their opinions, do not take that away from us.

To give you a different example, I, a privileged white cis--woman, will not complain about how hard it is to be white among women of color, even if I had had any bad personal experience, nor will I say that I understand what they have to go through, even if I sympathize with their situation. Firstly, it is simply not the time and place, and secondly I have no

friend or foe?men’s role in the

feminist movementby Catarina Santos

11

experience being a woman of color. In the same way, men do not have experience being women – this is why some fem-inists prefer the term ‘ally‘ when it comes to men. Basically, males just have to accept that there are certain occasions where they should listen instead of talking, even if this is bothersome to some men.

And this takes us to the second problem: mansplaining. For those of you unfamiliar with the term, here is a definition:

“Mansplaining, a portmanteau of the words man and ex-plaining, is the act of “a man condescendingly explain[ing] something to female listeners”. Lily Rothman of The Atlantic defines it as “explaining without regard to the fact that the explainee knows more than the explainer, often done by a man to a woman,” and Rebecca Solnit ascribes the phenom-enon to a combination of “overconfidence and cluelessness” that some men display (via wikipedia)”

A third problem, related to the latter, happens when men try to challenge or even redefine what feminism is. This usually starts by the word itself. A lot of men feel uncomfortable with the label because they think it is deceiving, arguing that it sounds like an equivalent of sexism, putting women above men. Firstly, there is no such thing as inverted sexism the same way that there is no such thing as inverted racism. Secondly, the name has its reason to be. Although feminism’s main goal is to achieve gender equality, the movement is focused on females because when it started women suffered discrimination, marginalization, oppression, enslavement, eradication, and other violence. They were considered less than men, and sometimes, less than human.

“Feminism is called Feminism because it began as a so-cio-political movement to achieve gender equality for fe-males and, through its own logic and rhetoric, therefore is a socio-political movement to achieve equality for all persons regardless of gender (or any other demographic characteris-tic) (via Feminspire)”

Changing the name to something else, such as egalitarian-ism, would practically eliminate female struggle from the equation and fail to recognize that women continue to be in the lower end, which would completely miss the point of the movement. Besides, some suggestions of alternative names, such the popular “humanist” are just plain wrong. Quoting my colleague (and male ally) Tiago: “humanism is the excuse that guilty men use when they do not want to lose their privilege”. Trust me, feminists would love it if feminism was not necessary anymore and we were all born equal, but

unfortunately we are not quite there yet. This being said, being specific is not the same as being exclusive, feminists do want equality for everyone:

“Saying that we can’t have feminism because we should only focus on general human rights is like saying we can’t have oncologists because some doctors are general practitioners. (via everyday feminism)”

Finally, there are some men who use and abuse the label. In an unexpected turn of events, the words feminist and feminism are being used by men to escape accountability. For example, singer Robin Thicke, who has written and per-formed one of the most misogynist songs of the last decade (“Blurred Lines”), not only denied the accusations saying all was made for art’s sake, and that he respects women above all, but he went as far as to say that the song was a feminist movement within itself. Feminism is not a free jail card. So here is a tip for male feminists: practice it before you preach it. The personal is political.

Men’s role in feminist movements is a controversial one, no doubt. Not only feminism is a broad spectrum of different movements, but ‘man’ is itself a hard concept to define. Think, for example, about gay, transgender, genderfluid or asexual folks, people who do not fit in the traditional mold of masculinity. Do they have any privilege? If so, is it dif-ferent from cis-gender males? It is important to remember that being a ‘man’, a ‘woman’ or anything in between does not only refer to one’s reproductive organs, but it is a social construct. Although feminism in general tries to address this topic, some feminist movements, such as queer feminism, are especially dedicated to deconstructing gender.

Generally speaking, men should participate in the feminist debate, but acknowledging first that their silence is necessary if that means that more women will be able to voice their opinion and, secondly, that although the accomplishment of feminist goals affects them in a positive way, the movement is not about their personal problems.

So after reading all this you identify as a feminist and you are a male: Congratulations!

Here are some things you should know about feminist discussions, and a guide for some useful pointers about what being a male ally entails.

12


When oil exploration started off the coast of Western Region in Ghana, many people hoped for better living standards and development. But some worried that the country did not have the necessary laws to properly man-age the new revenues. They wondered whether Ghana would be able to break the “curse” that has often marked Africa’s oil and mining industries; decades of extraction that saw only few getting richer but the majority poorer, economic distortions caused by improperly managed resource wealth. For Ghana, an example of such problems is its West African neighboring country Nigeria.

Ghana finally joined the rank of African countries pro-ducing oil. But as the excitement dies down, people are debating if Ghana has the necessary laws to properly manage the new resource and its revenues, and whether oil is really the economic fuel they need in this coun-try, as other countries along the Gulf of Guinea and Congo-Brazzaville have seen it as a curse rather than a blessing based on how the black gold (oil) is managed and how other natural resources are managed in relation to the oil. The natural resource curse takes a number of forms including Dutch disease, rent-seeking, corruption, debt overhang, civil strife, non-accountability of national political opportunities for their citizens and poor capital formation. A combination of two or more of the above problems leads to slower growth and thus lower quality of life for citizens.

From unemployed youth to experienced professionals working in other sectors of the economy, students in high schools and tertiary education institutions, the average Ghanaian within the economically active age aspires for a job in the new industry. This might have been a result of the wide view that the petroleum industry offers attrac-tive salaries, incentives and compensation packages to its workforce; thus, there appears to be a high demand

for working prospects in this industry. However, this has not been the case – most fishermen and citizens com-plain about the poor catch of their fish as a result of most fish being around the Floating Production Storage and Offloading vessels and they are not allowed to fish some meters close to it, the presence of seaweed, death of ma-rine mammals, high cost of living, increase cost of rents coupled with unrest among some citizens.

There is also the existence of information gaps among the major stakeholders (oil companies, district assemblies and community members, fishermen) and lack of consul-tations with the community members about their plans and its impact on their livelihoods and communities.

There is the need to ensure adequate engagement with all stakeholders, particularly communities where such resources were discovered, and to understand the dy-namics involved, as most countries that undermined transparency and citizen involvement could not and have still not been able to escape from the curse of oil. Failure to do this usually creates opportunities for the people to be exploited as the measures and structures are weak and could lead to conflict, as there will be growing emotions and greed.

As a natural resource rich country, it will be great to ensure equitable distribution of the revenue accrued to mitigate the sufferings of the people and also accelerate their development. Thus, if Ghana will be able to escape the natural resource “curse” and have it as a blessing to its citizens and the country at large, then there is the need for a genuine commitment to transparency and account-ability in the petroleum sector and engagement with everyone and all stakeholders to ensure economic growth and quality of life for citizens.

oil in ghana: a blessing or a curse?

by Dora Mochiah

13

Module II

interview

“Greece: Syrian protest and hunger strike evicted by police” by Henri Barbara Lindeneg

“Child Labor – Rethinking the Debate”by Arfah Siddiqi

“Fears of increasing numbers of forced marriage among Syrian Refugees in Jordan”

by Milia Eidmouni

14


Since the 17th of November a huge group of Syrian refu-gees has been on hunger strike and sleeping in front of the Greek parliament in Athens. They demand a break with the massive border-control, which keeps them inside a national-state with nothing to offer.

But at night going from Sunday to Monday the 15th of December, the square was evicted by Greek police. 22 Syr-ians lost their passports, ID-cards and mobile phones. The Facebook page for information and solidarity now call out for housing the people.

Before that, on the 27th of November, this reportage was written:

Muamar Sabagh is from Syria, but has been living in Greece for the last seventeen years. Contrary to most Syr-ian refugees, who have moved permanently to the Syn-tagma-square, he has papers. They secure him both from being sent to a ‘deportation/detention-center’, if the police were to check him, and they also give him the opportunity to work legally.

“The road to Greece is deadly, and when we arrive here, we experience how this country is like a huge prison.”

He explains with eagerness and frustration why he is at the square. He supports his sisters and brothers, who are vic-tims of war, and who are now in a country which cannot

fulfill its international responsibility; it has nothing to offer for the hundreds of refugees arriving every day.

On the 27th of November there is a general strike all over Greece, and thousands of workers from different political factions are protesting by Syntagma-square. While the workers walk by the parliament on one side, Syrians do a sit-in on the other.

Along the walking shouts of solidarity are heard from both sides of the protests; it’s easy to feel and see the support people have for each other.

Conditions in GreeceThe Syrian refugees are now living in front of the parlia-ment. Along the footpath people are sitting on blankets and sleeping-bags, and children in different ages are play-ing and biking around in the chaos of the many adults.

Some are standing, some are sitting. Some of them have tape across their mouth – maybe to show their inability of speaking. Or the lack of attention their words receive. Some of them hold signs in their hand, showing messages in Greek and Arabic.

Abu Odai is 29 years old, and he is one of the spokesper-sons for this Syrian sit-in. He has been in Greece for three and a half months, but he mentions that some participants have been in the country for as long as eight years.

greece: syrian protest and

hunger strike evicted by police

by Henri Barbara Lindeneg

15

“We have no rights as refugees here in Greece. We can’t af-ford to live here anymore. We are trapped here and have no right to work, no right to find a place to live. We only have the right to stay in a hotel, and spend all of our money.”

Who are you turning your demands to?

“Right now, only to the Greek government and after that to all European countries, through media. In the beginning the Greek government proposed us to have asylum here but only in paper. This will still not give us the right or op-portunity to rent a place to stay or to work. So we rejected it of course. Our problem is not only paper. We cannot eat paper. We need basic rights.”

The Dublin 2 ConventionIt is possible to obtain status of asylum in Greece, but few refugees apply for it.

According to the Dublin 2 Convention, a EU-agreement from 2003, a refugee can only apply for asylum in one European country. When rejected asylum-seekers travel to other countries, they risk being deported back to the first European country, they were registered in.

In January 2011 the European Court of Human Rights pronounced a verdict, which stopped all deportations back to Greece. The verdict was based on an individual case, and emphasized Greece’s violations on human rights regarding homelessness and lack of protection.

“People here are in a vacuum,” Muamar Sabagh explains, “it is forbidden to work, to rent a room, so what’s left is a slow death or a life as a criminal. But we are not criminals. We are war-victims, and in our search for protection we arrived to here.”

Attempts to leave the countryBy far most of the refugees arriving to Greece, try to leave the country – but for most of them, the plan fails. The possibilities are passing the airport with fake documents or crossing one of the three borders to either Albania, Mace-donia or Bulgaria.

One man who has tried to go North through the airport is the Syrian Mohammad (last name anonymous), 32 years old. So far he has tried seven times, and in all of them he has been stopped by the police in the airport.

The first time he tried to leave Greece, he bought a fake Italian ID-card and a plane-ticket to Milan. All in all it costed him 370 euros. He went through the first check in the airport, but at the boarding-gate he was asked for his passport.

“A police-officer came and said he wanted to see my pass-port. I said I only have identity-papers. He started to speak to me in Italian, and I couldn’t understand it. Suddenly he surprised me by talking to me in Arabic, asking about my name. I was taken for interrogation, and after that they said I should leave – go back to Athens.”

Mohammad knows around 20 people who have managed to fly out of the country. Far most of the people are stopped in the airport, taken for interrogation and released after-wards.

But there are also many being imprisoned afterwards in one of the Greek prisons or in one of the relatively new ‘detention-centers’ or ‘concentrations-camps’, how they are also referred to by many.

“Right now I know a woman who has been imprisoned for five months – without a trial, without rights. She was im-prisoned because she tried to leave the country,” Abu Odai tells at Syntagma-square.

Message to DenmarkZeinab Sheikhu is 39 years old, and together with her sister, she also participates in the protest and the hunger strike. They have been in Greece for three months.

“We don’t want to put pressure on the Greek people. It is not possible for Greece to act alone – other European countries should carry the responsibility together with Greece”, Zeinab Sheikhu explains. Her children are still in Syria.

Do you have a specific message to Danish citizens or poli-ticians?

“If I am going to have an opportunity to leave Greece, I will not go to Denmark, because the new regulations in the asylum laws might make it hard for me to be united with my children. I believe that not only Denmark, but all of Eu-rope carries a humanitarian responsibility, and they have to give us protection and give our children an education.”

16


The solidarityAlong the walking path on Syntagma-square, the many people are sitting on the blankets, used to keep themselves and their children warm. In between the people and that part of the walking path, where passers-by are walking, a long line of banners with messages are lying, plus a long line of packages with arabic bread.

The bread is a symbol to show that the striking people have food, but don’t want to eat. People from Greece, who sup-port the Syrians have giving them the bread, like the many blankets they also have received.

“The Greek people support and help us because they can feel what we are going through. They are living under the same conditions. They are experiencing the same pain as us,” Abu Odai says.

“I hope this sit-in will get every country in the world to focus on Greece. And not only on Syrians in Greece, but on everybody who lives here. I hope we can help the Greeks, like they are helping us. I am trying to focus on the hu-mans. On the human side of this tragedy.”

On my visit to Morocco two weeks ago, I noticed some-thing extraordinary that I had never before witnessed liv-ing in Dubai. With a higher-than-usual standard of living, the United Arab Emirates is one of those countries that is almost always followed by the words “luxury” and “com-fort” in a single sentence. Being raised in such a country, I never got accustomed to seeing a brazen practice of child labor take place in huge numbers, regardless of which Mo-roccan city I visited.

Whether it is the straight-out-of-a-movie streets of Mar-rakech or the the stunning labyrinth of the ancient city of Fes, every city and locale in Morocco seemed to have eager-faced boys, some as young as 10 years old, ready to work an odd-job and earn what they may for the day.

It was in the holy city of Fes, in one of the 9000 mind-bog-gling streets of the “old Medina”, that I met Idris, aged 12. I was on my way to visit the oldest existing educational insti-tution in the world – Karaouine University – when I felt I had lost the way. It was here that Idris graciously “offered” to show me around. Knowing it was a tourist tout, I played along because this rosy-cheeked, cheerful young guy’s passion for telling the history of his town showed clearly on his face.

Idris’ knowledge of his surroundings and history, clearly a result of living in a place surrounded by such a rich past and not by memorizing facts out of a book, fascinated me to the point that I wanted to interview him.

child laborrethinking the debate

by Arfah Siddiqi

17

Me: Idris, you are just 12 years old but you know so much. How?

Idris: To survive, you have to earn money by whatever means possible. My mother makes Argan oil, my dad works in a brass shop here in the Medina. But sometimes, it’s not enough to make ends meet.

Me: Do you go to school? Does working in the Medina not interfere with your homework?

Idris: Yes, I study in school. After I come back, I hang out in the Medina and do odd-jobs, such as helping tourists find their way, being their guide, helping my dad in the shop or even delivering goods from the grocery to nearby houses. The Medina closes early, around Maghreb (prayer) time. So afterwards, I go home, finish my homework and sleep.

Me: Why do you feel the need to work?

Idris: Sometimes, I can use the extra money to buy books or even some extra food for the week. Other times, when my parents have had a good business day, I use it buy sweets for myself. Also, it is fun to speak with new peo-ple and observe the way they behave and react to our city. Although the conversation between Idris and I was short, it was the entire interaction with him, in addition to ob-serving various instances of child labor in different parts of Morocco that alerted me to a few important reminders regarding the debate about child labor.

We need to rethink the debate surrounding child labor. Let me be clear that I, in no way, support the deprivation of the right to life and education of children. However, with what I observed in Morocco, as well as my home-country of Pa-kistan – and many other countries for that matter – child labor is a necessity to survive, for some families.

In rural Morocco, children under the age of 16 help their parents on the farm and sell produce at the local weekly market. It was a common sight in rural Morocco to see children riding donkeys laden with cheese, vegetables and other fresh produce to sell at the weekly village market. However, the very same children were also seeing going to school early in the morning.

The point here is that in countries with rising poverty lev-els, single income homes are impossible to survive in. The

entire family needs what little they can earn from various jobs to survive, and this is what Idris’ story is as well.

The main debate on the issue of child labor is stricter laws versus increased freedom. Stricter laws will make it even harder for families to survive. The irony of the situation is that stricter child labor laws are implemented with the in-tention of ensuring an education and right to life for every child. Yet, banning child labor in essence deprives children of what little income they can get to pay school fees and afford books at school.

I personally know a friend from the Philippines who would pick fresh flowers from 5:00 in the morning and sell them until 7:30 before going to school. The income he received from this allowed him to buy food for the week. Now, he has a Masters from Oxford University and has studied alongside people like Bilawal Bhutto, the son of Pakistan’s former female prime minister, Benazir Bhutto.

These are not just a handful of coincidental surprises. Back in the fifties, not long after Hindustan’s partition when my grandmother moved to Pakistan, leaving behind all her wealth, my uncles used to sell home-made spices in the afternoon and study under street lamps at night. With that little money they earned, they were able to afford school books and other necessities, without which they probably would not have been able to become army colonels and engineers.

According to Human Rights Watch, Morocco’s govern-ment statistics show that in recent years, overall rates of child labor have been greatly reduced and the number of children who attend school has increased. Government surveys indicate that children under age 15 engaged in all forms of labor dropped from 517,000 in 1999 to 123,000 in 2011.

Child labor as an organized crime, one that threatens the education and lives of children, needs to be eradicated. But when it comes to laws that completely ban all sorts of work for children under a certain age, it does more harm than good. These incomes are essential to survival and some-times, the only way to fight poverty, especially in countries that lack a strong welfare system. If a certain job teaches a skill, is necessary to survive, keeps a child in school, then stricter regulation would be counter-productive towards ensuring the education and well-being of children world-wide.

18


Over 2.9 million refugees have fled Syria during the last three years; the majority of them are women and children, and according to the latest UN report, almost 150,000 Syrian families are headed by lone women and more Syrian girls are being married off to bring a measure of security to their families.

Hadeel (35) is a housewife and one of these women who fled with her family (2 boys, 2 girls and her injured hus-band) from her hometown Darya in a Damascus suburb two years ago to Jordan and crossed the borders to save their lives. For two and a half months, she and her family have been living in Zarqa City, (19 km) northeast of Am-man, Jordan.

“It took us seven hours to get here. We came by bus; there were lots of checkpoints to get through. We stayed for two days at the Jordanian border and slept on the pavement before the [borders guards] let us cross.” – says Hadeel.

In their unfurnished apartment, with few personal belong-ings, her husband Ahmad (38), started telling us about their situation in Syria and in Zarqa right now.

“I can’t work because I have an injury in my leg, I’ve had two operations and I have many problems in my back. Up until now I haven’t been able to pay the rent. One of the neighbours lent us money to pay for the house rent. I hav-en’t managed to pay him back yet.” – Ahmad added.

“Since we came to Jordan a lot of strangers are knocking on our doors asking about our daughters and offering their sons to marry them.” Hadeel explains to us, “My neighbor told me a relative was looking for a young girl to marry, and she asked me about my girls. Because of these incidents, my girls stopped going to school and they are spending their time at home doing nothing”.

“It isn’t safe outside, many harassment cases happened and I can’t guarantee that my girls will not face the same. We are guests in this country we don’t have the power to complain or stand against this behaviour. So we took the hardest decision - to stop them from going to school, keep them at home and spend their time helping me with cook-ing and cleaning.” Hadeel says.

Early and forced marriage among Syrian refugee girls in Jordan have doubled since the start of the uprising in Syria in 2011, according to Save the Children report.

“I never thought I would do something like this for them. I was so glad when they were born, planning their future, dreaming to see all of my kids in universities. You can’t imagine my fear when I was thinking that she might be a child bride.” – Hadeel says

“I wanted to finish my studies and become a doctor. But my parents forced me to stop attending my classes to pro-tect me and my sister.” – Maha 17 years old says.

The report highlights the common factors for child mar-riage in Jordan: alleviating poverty or the burden of a large family with many daughters, providing protection for young girls, continuing traditions (cultural or family) and serving as an escape for girls living in an abusive home environment.

As refugees, Syrian families are reliant on dwindling re-sources and lack of economic opportunities, claims the re-port. At the same time, they are all too aware of the need to protect their daughters from the threat of sexual violence.

Given these pressures, some families consider child mar-riage to be the best way to protect their daughters and ease pressures on family resources.

fears of increasing numbers of forced

marriage among syrian refugees in jordan

by Milia Eidmouni

19

Module III

investigative journalism

“The Kingdom Tower: Jeddah’s Sustainable Paradox” by Jumana Abdel-Razzaq

“The Tibetan narratives and hopes are different”by Henri Barbara Lindeneg

“Responsible reporting, or the lack thereof”by Arfah Siddiqi

20


The Arabian Gulf is synonymous with construction, high carbon footprints, and soaring structures. Saudi Arabia is currently competing with Dubai in building the tallest building in the world, the Kingdom tower, a project that contradicts Jeddah’s plan for creating a more sustainable city in 2020.

Many countries within the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) have focused on creating more environmentally sound and sustainable solutions. By implementing govern-ment policies, strategies and institutions that promote bind-ing laws within construction companies and consultancies have become obligated to promote green building strategies.

All over the GCC, certifications and rating methods have been implemented to counter growing concerns over envi-ronmental building solutions. Estidama is a specific green rating system for the city of Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.

Along with other rating methods and certification, includ-ing the US LEEDS certification and the Qatar Sustainability Assessment System (QSAS), the Gulf is slowly transforming through new laws and better planning.

Dedicated institutions such as the Mohammad Bin Rashid Solar Park, IRENA and Masdar City have influenced studies and policy changes within the UAE while organizations such as the Saudi Green Building forum have fought to create awareness and implement laws to support the vision of a more sustainable Saudi Arabia.

Currently, Jeddah is implementing an Environmental Social and Master Plan to try to create a more sustainable city with-in the next ten to 20 years, combating the environmental neglect and degradation of the past couple decades.However, Saudi Arabia has recently announced the develop-ment of the new tallest building in the world, located within the heart of the Jeddah downtown, a development which will increase Jeddah’s carbon footprint and deplete resources, including water and energy.

The construction on the tower started on 13 January, 2008 with the towers foundation in place as of September 2014. AMEInfo.com reported that The Kingdom Tower will feature 170 stories, seven stories of which will be allocated for the five-star Four Seasons Hotel that will offer 200 rooms and 121 luxury serviced apartments. There will be seven stories for offices. The tower is estimated to be completed in 2019.

According to the Saudi Gazette, the project will require about 5.7 million square feet of concrete and 80,000 tons of steel. In order to create a durable cooling system, a method similar to that used for Burj Khalifa will be implemented in which thousands of tons of water will be filtered through the structure.

In a city located in one of the driest regions in the world, the water consumption that will be used to sustain the building will be uneconomical. The land mass surrounding the con-struction of the building alone will be enormous, destroying the ecological and environmental balance of nearby areas.

Though Saudi Arabia has pledged to focus more on greener building solutions and lower carbon footprints, the con-struction of the Kingdom Tower will be a massive setback in its promise to combat the already rampant degradation now seen all over the Gulf nation, specifically in Jeddah, where most environmental projects are now being planned or are presently underway.

Jeddah is already suffering from massive environmental degradation, a non-existent waste and sewage system, water shortage, and a toxic lake on the outskirts of the city, an effect of years of sewage water dumping into the desert.

The master plan developed for the city of Jeddah aims at cre-ating more efficient ways in preserving resources, protecting ecology, and improving living standards throughout the city overall. The Kingdom Tower is just a lofty paradox casting a shadow over this sustainable vision for change.

the kingdom towerjeddah’s sustainable paradox

by Jumana Abdel-Razzaq

21

While the eyes of so many people are, understandably, on the occupied Palestinian territories, I met a group of Tibet-ans, who explained the exact same kind of control, discrimi-nation and exile that an occupation brings along. Their expe-riences are not from Palestine, but from the Tibetan region, located in Asia, north-east of the Himalaya mountains.

Events in Palestine are still unfolding, dramatically and vio-lent, while in Tibet life under Chinese control also consists of problems. I met a very open-minded and sharing family in Hamburg, who unquestionably call the situation in Tibet an occupation. They told me about control, checkpoints and surveillance, which are only aimed against Tibetan citizens. The same as in Palestine.

Moreover, there exists a huge group of Tibetans in exile. They are living all over the globe – up to 150.000 people to be more precise. To compare it with the Palestinian diaspo-ra, the number here was estimated in 2003 to be around 4.8 million.

So it is curious to know how this occupation, I will persist to call it so, affects the people living in Tibet and maybe more obvious to dig into; how does it affect the diaspora? This the family can help us to understand through their perspectives and hopes. They will be presented later on.

The different narrativesBut firstly I would like to give a short and somehow superfi-cial introduction on how Tibet got to where it is today.

The Chinese Communist Party, with Mao Zedong ahead, entered the government in October 1949. One year after, the

Chinese military, or People’s Liberation Army, invaded the eastern part of Tibet and fought against sporadic resistance from the Tibetan army.

After negotiations between the Chinese government and Tibetan representatives, the Seventeen Point Agreement was formulated and accepted. This formalized China’s sovereign-ty over Tibet, but the agreement has been repudiated many times ever since.

In addition to this short historical summary, an explanation is important to understanding the different narratives, which are used when talking about Tibet.

According to an independent Tibet-scholar, who recently did field-work in the Lhasa-region, it is important to re-member the existence of two general standard-narratives about the previous and current situation of Tibet. One is the Chinese, the other is the Tibetan exile.

“The Chinese narrative is that before they entered Tibet, a religious elite controlled everything and exploited the majority of the people. Thus, the Chinese communists had to free the people and after that, the Tibetans would have gained prosperity and progress. The exile-Tibetan narrative is the opposite: before China occupied the land, the people of Tibet were happily living in peace under the religious guidance. After the invasion, China destroyed all elements related to the religion and suppressed the people brutally.”

According to the Chinese website www.china.org.cn the events in the middle of the 20th century was a peaceful liber-ation of Tibet.

the tibetan narratives and

hopes are different by Henri Barbara Lindeneg

22


“The peaceful liberation of Tibet proved that the policies of the Communist Party of China on ethnic minorities were correct and reflected the common aspiration and fundamen-tal interests of the whole Chinese people including Tibetan people.”

On the other hand, the official Tibetan website www.tibet.net explains a reverse narrative.

“Invaded by China in 1949, the independent country of Ti-bet was forced to face the direct loss of life that comes from military invasion.(…) The fate of Tibet’s unique national, cultural and religious identity is seriously threatened and manipulated by the Chinese.”

With the different narratives in mind, I hope for a better comprehension of the situation and furthermore for the Kalsang and his family’s reason for leaving their home. A home in a land, which they have great hopes for returning to.

Changes in the civil Chinese mindsetI sat down and spoke with Kalsang, who is a 37 year old Tibetan, now living with his family in Germany. He couldn’t give me his surname due to fear of reprisals to his friends and relatives who are still living in Tibet.

He participated in a protest in Tibet, but right after Chinese police in plain-clothes were looking for him and other par-ticipants.

“Having been alerted by my well-wishers, I decided to es-cape to India in order to evade imminent arrest, torture and imprisonment, as I did not want to spend the rest of my life in a Chinese prison. We escaped with the help of a trader, and luckily we crossed over to Nepalese area without any mishap. It was a very risky journey to freedom.”

Even after many years of occupation – around 55 years – Kalsang is still hopeful for changes in the mindset of people from China. He thinks this could lead to a greater support for the Tibetans – and thence to independence without Chi-nese military and political control.

”Nowadays changes are going on in China. Many Chinese are getting richer, and they go travel around the world. Hopefully they will hear stories about the conditions for the Tibetans, because until now media in China has brain-washed them into believing everything is okay.”

“But the government can’t always fool their people.”

An example of this could be the Chinese artist Chen Wei Ming, who lives in America. He built a sculpture in memory of those Tibetans, who have set themselves on fire in protest of the situation in Tibet. From 2009 and until now, 132 peo-ple have made self-immolations.

Another example could be from a rally this year in Canberra, Australia, where “a large number of Chinese supporters from Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra participated in the rally in support of the Tibetans.”

Trine Brox, lecturer at Copenhagen University with focus on contemporaneous issues in Tibet and the Tibetan diaspora, is way more critical about a crucial change in the political scene.

“It is true that there are more and more Chinese intellectuals speaking in favour of the Tibetans and trying to identify and explain their problems as basically failed Chinese policies. However, their sympathy for the ‘Tibetan cause’ – like the sympathy that we see in Europe and North America – has so far been of no importance to the real politics of China.” – Trine Brox says and continues:“In China, more and more Han-Chinese are discovering the Tibetan culture and Buddhism, but this revival of their culture and faith among Han-Chinese and the accompany-ing sympathy for the Tibetans has not been translated into real political changes for the betterment of the Tibetans. The 14th Dalai Lama has since the 1990’s focused on this strategy to create sympathy for the Tibetan political cause through preserving and promoting Tibetan culture, and it might have worked to some extent in Europe and North America.”

Future prospectsThe conference in Hamburg was maybe an example of the cultural work, which Dalai Lama has been doing for many years. In March 1959, he began a permanent exile in India and has ever since been a part of the Tibetan diaspora.

To stay around the discussion on Han-Chinese, who are the largest ethnic group in China, Kalsang explains an issue, which is making the hope for returning difficult.

“The worst thing that happened in recent times is Chinese government’s all out ethnic cleansing strategy, under which large scale migration of Han-Chinese to Tibetan areas. Con-sequently, Tibetans living in Lhasa and nearby areas have been completely marginalized by Han-Chinese migrants, and it has been repeatedly reported that growing number of Tibetans in Lhasa have lost their job, work and business to Han-Chinese migrants.”

23

About returning to Tibet, Trine Brox explains her views:

“Tibetans presently living in exile can return now to a Chinese political region Tibet, which according to Chinese legislation is autonomous, but what is in reality waiting for them? There is no genuine autonomy in the TAR and the Tibetan autonomous areas in the Chinese regions of Gansu, Qinghai, Sichuan and Yunnan. What awaits them is a life under surveillance, control and limited freedom. The ideals they have promoted and incorporated while being in exile such as democracy, freedom of religion and so forth, are either completely absent in these Tibetan areas of China, or they only exist in a very diluted version.”

The independent Tibet-scholar, who wishes to stay anony-mous, also reflects on possible solutions in a future Tibet.

“I think many Tibetans would stay satisfied, if they could have Dalai Lama back in the country and more or less have the right to decide about local policies such as language, edu-cation and culture. If these wishes are fulfilled, I don’t think the average Tibetans would care about the overall establish-ment of state or structure.”

Kalsang responds to different point of views concerning this satisfaction.

“We already have a divide in opinion with complete in-dependence and Middle Way Approach. Most younger generations want complete independence whereas older generations will be happy with MWA. I cannot tell whether majority of Tibetans will be satisfied, but it’s like ‘something is better than nothing’-attitude.”

As in Palestine, the occupation in Tibet has brought along many issues. According to Kalsang, the Tibetans have witnessed economic marginalization, social discrimination, cultural assimilation, religious persecution and environmen-tal destruction.

“Yet we keep our hope alive to return to a free Tibet, because we have complete faith in His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s su-preme leadership. I am very hopeful that one day – that day is not very far – Chinese people will replace the Communist system with democracy, and it will open up all the positive opportunities to resolve the issue of Tibet in a way that is mutually agreeable.”

Recent events in Pakistan and Australia have left people in a state of a shock. December has not been the best of months for both countries, given the terrorist incidents that resulted in the loss of innocent lives, particularly children.

On 15th December, a gunman stormed Lindt Café in Martin Place, Sydney, and held approximately 50 civilians hostage. The eventual 16-hour standoff between police and the ter-rorist left two dead.

In a separate incident on the 16th of December, members of the Pakistani Taliban entered Peshawar’s Army Public School and indiscriminately open-fired on students. More

than 130 students were left dead, and a couple hundred more – seriously injured.

Both tragedies resulted in the loss of innocent blood, and while we can stir a debate on national security, political agendas and ineffective governance, the truth is nothing can bring back the departed to their loved ones.

Instead, what this article aims to shed light on is the lack of responsible journalism surrounding these two events – which is an outcome we can control.

At the exact moment in Sydney when the operation to

responsible reporting, or the lack thereof

by Arfah Siddiqi

24


retract gunman Man Haron was taking place, Twitter was flooded with tweets and retweets of scene-by-scene testi-monies. The hashtag #sydneysiege and #martinplace was chaotic with any new information getting relayed to others in seconds.

The only problem? Even professional media organizations seemed to have forgotten the obligation to maintain jour-nalistic ethics, or at the very least, verify the information.

The next day when a Peshawar school was struck, media organizations in Pakistan – already notorious for their sensationalist news reporting – were spreading unverified information to a country already in chaos given the 130+ deaths that had just occurred.

While it may not be possible to get every piece of informa-tion verified in a moment of crisis, it is also important to be extremely cautious when reporting at a time when lives are at risk.Here are some instances of unethical and irresponsible journalism that took place in the two days of the Sydney and Peshawar incident.

Revealing defense strategiesAs the Martin Siege operation was ongoing, several lo-cal Australian news channels were reporting locations of snipers, the minute-by-minute location of police officers and armed personnel and even how and where they were planning to rescue hostages. Anyone can see that reporting such information is counter-effective to the rescue mission, making it much harder for the police to do their jobs.

Furthermore, the police repeatedly requested on their Twitter account to not reveal the information regarding the gunman, yet many news organizations had done so before getting the go-ahead from the police.

In fact, several cameras were repeatedly told to stop re-cording the scene where the Martin Siege operation was ongoing and were visibly uncomfortable by the camera presence.

Cause of Peshawar AttackThis is perhaps one of the most blatant and inaccurate incidents of irresponsible journalism. Major Western news organizations stated that the cause of the Peshawar attack was to prevent children from going to school. It’s not hard to see how such reporting is damaging to international

relations, particularly between east and west. David Cam-eron posted on his Twitter account that it was “horrifying that children are being killed simply for going to school.”

When a public figure such as Cameron, whose messages reach out to millions across the world, tweets an inaccu-rate piece of information such as this, the tension due to a cultural gap increases, not to mention a misunderstanding further strengthens the relationship between these socie-ties in question.

In fact, the reporting was so inaccurate that many people tweeted against the wrong portrayal of the situation in Western media organizations. In particular, an open letter was posted to CNN by a Pakistani Facebook group which has 2 million followers. This particular letter received over 22,000 “likes” and was shared over 1300 times.

Unverified informationOne of the leading Pakistani news organizations of today reported that a bomb blast had taken place on another col-lege campus, a few hours following the Peshawar massacre. This information was further relayed by a top journalist. Turns out, it was a bunch of kids playing with firecrackers.

Spreading news sporadically without verifying it, especially in a critical time where the fear of death and state security is already at major risk, is one of the most irresponsible things that anyone can do, let alone a credible, top news agency.

Furthermore, after news that the terrorists who carried out the killing of schoolchildren had been captured, images were being circulated by “credible” sources as well as jour-nalists and media organizations claiming that these were the terrorists who had carried out the Peshawar attack. In truth, these had been images from some other military operation, and the images had never been released by the army to begin with.

The fact that media organizations “contest” with each other to be reporting the breaking news sadly makes it the most inaccurate news. Thriving on viewer count and sensation-alism seems to have become more important than report-ing facts. We need to remember that while reporting fresh and first is important, it is also absolutely necessary that this not be done to compromise on facts, because without verification, news is just speculation, nothing more.

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Module IV

content writing

“Hints on what you need to know before traveling to the Middle East” by Ditte Kleif

“Cheatsheet for Conference Planning Abroad”by Omeed Aminian

“The World Needs More #HumanitarianHeroes”by Mehreen Masoud

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The Middle East is only waiting to unfold before you. With a huge diversity throughout the region, the Near East offers experiences for all types of travellers. Bring forth your inner Orientalist and explore the beaches, the deserts, the wadis, Bedouins, the wildlife and the hospi-tality of the locals.

There are different things to take into consideration be-fore you pack your backpack and head eastwards. Before you go, read this article so you do not forget anything important!

Is it safe?One thing you definitely need to know is whether or not you can go at all. Keep up with official travel warnings – most countries update these regularly on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ website or you can contact the local embassies.

But I’ll add one thing to this. My experience travelling through the Middle East has taught me that you cannot always trust the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ recommen-dations. It doesn’t take much for them to call a country ‘unsafe’ for tourists. Sometimes it might be better to trust someone who has recently been there or better yet, con-tact someone who’s there. Things can sometime unravel pretty quickly – that should be kept in mind – but in many cases this does not affect the entire country, but only certain areas of it.

Tip: before you go, write down the number, address and email for your embassy in the country you are travelling to.

Do I need a visa?Remember to check (online) whether you’ll need a pre-arranged visa or not. Most EU citizens can travel freely to most Middle Eastern countries, though there are a few exceptions, such as Iran and Saudi Arabia.

How to pick a country?

Guideshttp://www.lonelyplanet.com has the best guidebooks, it really pays off investing in one of those.

http://www.gonomad.com is for you who like alternative and sustainable travelling.

http://www.workaway.info Do you want to work whilst travelling? At a farm, with art projects or with kids? Workaway has a nice database with current projects (all over the world, but also in the Middle East).

Or surf the wonderful Internet, it’ll give you a hint or two.

While you’re thereTravelling to another region sometime requires a little bit of knowledge about local customs and rules. Some of

hints on what you need to know before

travelling to the middle east

by Ditte Kleif

27

the Middle Eastern countries are more liberal than others and you won’t get into trouble if you were to wear your short summer dress – but in other countries that would offend the locals.

DressAs mentioned, this differs from country to country. If you are travelling to touristy areas such as Sharm al-Sheikh or Hurgada, you can pretty much wear what you want to. But if you want to travel the mountains of Iran or experi-ence the triumphing capital of Egypt, you might want to be covered from your shoulders to the knees.

HustlersOne of the most chaotic and amazing experiences one can have in the Middle East is walking through the Grand Bazaars, which offers everything from leather bags and spices to mosaic lamps. But when walking there as a tourist, you’ll probably pay a lot more than the locals would – so always try to haggle and see whether you can bargain yourself to a better price.

ReligionBe sensitive about local customs and religion. Just how sensitive you need to be differs from country to country. Women can easily travel in the Middle Eastern region without any problems – just be aware that many of these countries practice sex segregation, so though you can easily sit at most cafées (though they will probably be male dominated) you might be better off going there with a man as well.

PoliticsSome countries have a very low tolerance when it comes to discussing politics. Remember, that most of these countries are under strict censorship and do not allow freedom of speech, and most newspapers are under strict observation.Though it is interesting to talk about, be mindful of the people you are talking with. They might not be as inter-ested in loud debates at the local coffee shop as you are – but most of the time it is possible to talk to the locals about their country, the system or the dictatorship, but maybe you should leave this to a not-so-public place.

Note: also, whilst being in the Near East, try to read dif-ferent newspapers if you want to figure out what is really going on – both local (which is often also published in English) or foreign newspapers.

ContactMiddle Easterners might be about the most heartily and welcoming people on Earth. Let it challenge the stereo-type image you might have about Arabs and other inhab-itants of the area; when travelling through the region, you will meet all sorts of different people, many of them will strike up a conversation with you and before you know it, you will sit in their house and be introduced to the entire family, while someone is cooking you a delicious spicy dinner.

LanguageIn many areas of the region people cannot speak proper English. Of course, if you speak a little Arabic or another local language that’ll get you a long way, but if not: be pa-tient, use your body language or learn a couple of phrases in a Near Eastern language.

http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/arabic-trav-elrelated-words-and-phrases.seriesId-150104.html or Lonely Planet’s own phrase books.

Besides that, enjoy the Cradle of Civilizations, the warm weather, the falafels, cardamom coffee, sweets and the historical cities of Jerusalem, Beirut, Cairo, Muscat, Teh-ran or Istanbul. And travel safe!

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In this article you’ll find some quick and easy guide-lines and procedures on how to organize an event for your NGO. To tell the truth, I’ve planned a symposium and not a conference, but the difference is nominal. In fact, the first step in planning your own event is gaining experience from others – you need to attend conferences, trainings, colloquiums, lectures, etc.

My field has been English education, but the tips includ-ed in this text are relevant to anyone interested in creat-ing their own event, whether in academia, business or the non-profit industries.

Here’s a simple timeline for you:

3 months before the event:- Find a team. Depending on how large the event

might be, one person could suffice. If you’re working in a country where you don’t know the language, the assistant can reach out to local conference participants more efficiently.

- Come up with a relevant framing topic for the event. Knowing the focus of the conference will make re-cruitment of presenters a whole lot easier. Mine was “How to Teach Students in the 21st Century”. I chose a very general topic in my field because the presenters had varying expertise.

- Select the speakers. When selecting speakers, you might use people you already know. This will also save you a lot of time and effort. You can also contact various organizations, companies or academic depart-

ments where speakers with relevant experience could participate in the conference. Ask yourself: What are their expertise or the specialized knowledge they offer the audience? In reality, the conference participants are the ones you are really trying to please here.

- Get in touch with speakers. Invite the potential speak-ers for a casual drink and tell them the conference date and title. Show them that you are enthusiastic and informed about the project. Also tell the speakers how the local target audience could truly benefit from their attendance.

1-2 months ahead:- Locate an event space. If you’re working at an ed-

ucational institution, as I was, this step should be relatively easy. A room that offers an ample size for the number of participants is key. If you’re lucky, the space may have a projector and a computer. Closer to the event, tell your presenters about the room condi-tions.

- Pick the audience and invite your participants. You need to decide on who you will invite and how many audience members to include. I chose to invite 40 local teachers to my event. Have your assistant deliver the invitations by email, phone or posted notice.

- Create or find materials for the conference such as handouts and gifts. Look around for free publications in your field. For example, your embassy or local development organizations may have complementary magazines. Include a framing article. This will keep the conference, the presenters and the attendees on track.

cheatsheet forconference

planning abroadby Omeed Aminian

29

1-2 weeks before the conference - the final stretch:After the initial planning stage, there might be a lot of waiting, depending on the size and logistical complexity of your event. During that period, you have to:- Figure out how many participants will actually come. Get in touch with people who received invitations, but have not yet sent an RSVP. Adjust your plan accordingly – maybe you will need to invite additional participants if your initial target group cannot attend.

- Prepare the details. Start printing the material and buying food and refreshments. Make a snazzy pro-gram and include all relevant information. Addition-ally, you may design a certificate to be printed out for all conference attendees.

- Agree on the program with lectors. You might let your presenters choose topics and then you just worry about the logistics and planning. For example, the Fulbright Scholar from the United States talked about democratizing education through an approach that John Dewey developed over 50 years ago, while an-other speaker gave her presentation on independent learning using Skype. In the case of my event, more variety made the program more engaging, but we still tried to keep to the symposium’s framing topic.

Another smart idea: You can be a presenter in the pro-gram, so in the weeks before the event, you might prepare a short presentation, possibly around a framing article.

- At this point you should also be in touch with the speakers. Last minute changes can happen, so be prepared for no-shows. If your speakers are coming

from out of town, organize their accommodations and tell them how to get there. Make sure they get an electronic copy of the program ahead of time. This will ensure that they understand the event and their role in it.

The event:- Get all your ducks in a row. If you work in a devel-

oping country like I did, you’ll know that events can take an unexpected turn. While I was lucky enough to be spared such a quagmire, one of the presenters at my symposium had her own separate event, at which the entire participant list dropped out, the day before! Nonetheless, she recruited so many new participants in the following 24 hours that the event did indeed go through–a commendable feat to say the least.

- Make sure that the speakers and the audience know the schedule and how to arrive at the event space. If possible, give them a welcome package, including pen-cils, free material from international organizations or embassies, a framing article, a notebook, etc.

- Take lots of pictures. Document as much of the event as possible because your organization and the host might need evidence to show what they have accom-plished.

- More than anything, enjoy yourself! The locals want to see an upbeat organizer whose work energizes them. You can make the event a success by showing the au-dience that you care and, of course, by following this simple cheatsheet.

the world needs more

#humanitarianheroesby Mehreen Masoud

30


“Humanitarian workers and their families are hit hardest by these crimes. But they are also felt by millions of others. [..] Let us honour the fallen by protecting those who carry on their work – and supporting humanitarian relief opera-tions worldwide.”- Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon

World Humanitarian Day (WHD) is an event celebrated annually on August 19th to honor the 22 humanitarian workers who lost their lives in the bombing of the UN headquarters in Baghdad in 2003. WHD is also a day to honor humanitarian workers around the world who sacri-fice their safety on a daily basis to help others.

With 2013 being the most dangerous year ever for inter-national humanitarians, with 155 aid workers killed, 134 kidnapped and over 170 seriously wounded, it makes sense why the UN selected #TheWorldNeedsMore #Humanitar-ianHeroes as its theme for WHD 2014. With 79 human-itarian workers killed this year already, it is imperative to honor those who risk so much for others.

Personal Experience with WHDI, actually, only first heard about WHD last summer during my internship with the United Nations High Commission-er with Refugees (UNHCR) in Dubai. In order to com-memorate the event in the UAE, the International Human-itarian City (IHC) in Dubai hosted an event in Dubai Mall, a location that is visited by millions every year.

Last year’s campaign was called “The World Needs More __________”. Booths were set up in a popular location in the mall, and people were asked to type in what they thought the world needed more of on computer screens. Various humanitarian agencies across the UAE came out to help promote WHD; however, not a significant number of people passing by seemed too interested in what we were trying to promote.

Moreover, while I was standing with several other agency members near the computers, a lady came up to us and asked about the purpose of WHD. After explaining to her WHD is in remembrance of those who passed away and the goal is to raise awareness about humanitarian initia-tives across the globe, the lady seemed irritated. She com-plained to us the event was useless considering we weren’t particularly collecting donations or promoting a specific cause.This got me thinking – what is the purpose of WHD then?

Does it actually have a purpose?

This year, I decided to participate in WHD one more time. Whereas last year the turnout was not much, I was glad to see things were done differently this time around. Local celebrities attended the event, and rather than holding the event in a static location, there was a walk around the mall in order to drive attention to WHD. By doing this, we definitely were noticed by more people in the mall than last year.

Before answering whether I think WHD has a “purpose”, this is what the UN hopes to achieve from events marking WHD:

- WHD campaign’s main target is to get the word out there about WHD, drive traffic to the WHD website, and through these efforts, put a spotlight on some of the world’s most challenging humanitarian crises.

- WHD campaign encourages people to sign-up and be-come a messenger of humanity. When new campaigns are launched, people who sign-up to be a messenger of humanity will be notified through email and then be required to post about the campaign on their social networks.

- Through the use of social media, the campaign also en-courages the general public to show support for WHD by using the hashtags #theworldneedsmore #humani-tarianheroes.

Pro: this event brings together the humanitarian commu-nity and helps promote the plight of those who sacrifice their lives for others.

Pro: Social media is necessary when promoting humani-tarian crises. By encouraging the general public to become a messenger of humanity, I think it will help people use social media as a positive tool.

Cons: Alongside promoting WHD, I believe there should be a direct call to action. Whereas participating in a walk for WHD is great, it makes people want to do something more. Basically, I believe WHD has a lot of potential. Whereas currently WHD is a campaign to promote hu-manitarian work across the globe, the event can also be used to inspire people to take some clearly defined action.

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celebrating life in gaza

by Rana AlSaleh

Bombing was everywhere. The smell of death spread all over the place. But despite all this, some young couple have cho-sen to live life. Life must go on. We feel sad. We lose people we love but life still goes on.

In a normal marriage, a bride would leave her family house to be wedded to a man who has chosen her as his life part-ner. , the father’s house is a shelter home at a UN school and the groom’s house is another shelter at another UN school.

People from different parts of Gaza attended the wedding. They were not all neighbors, family members, relatives or friends. They were refugees who sought a shelter at one of the local schools in the city, to run away from death. Every-one was happy and had a good time. A new family with a new life and hope that the coming days will be better, that the days will bring a better future for the newly-wed couple.

Tonight, the strikes have resumed again. More children and people were killed in the attacks. It was fear again that ruled this life. No safe place again. No safe life again. Gazans have

been deprived of the basic human right of living a secure life like all people around the world. In a conflict area like Gaza, you will hear many stories about living in fear under attack.

The couple I have mentioned before had the chance to live some happy moments and live together. Others didn’t. They didn’t have the chance to live till this safe life. Gazans can’t secure themselves but the world can. Ernest Hemingway once said “any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bells tolls; it tolls for thee.” We need to make our move. We need to help these people live a proper safe life in their own houses and with their own family members. These people have a basic human right… that is called life.

So, if you are in Gaza, celebrate every moment of life as long as you can. Go out, have fun.

Enjoy your times because Sir, we Palestinians teach life.

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Internship in Crossing Borders for young journalists and writers

During August - December 2014 Crossing Borders was empowering young writers to find their voice and practice writ-ing in an internship, which results speak for themselves. This year, we want to build on this experience and with all the knowledge we gained, offer you a new opportunity to discuss, question and learn.

Today we want to offer a chance to 5 journalists and writers from around the world to do a 3 month online internship at Crossing Borders!

How does it work?

We are seeking new team members for our website to write articles about human rights, sustainable living, non-formal education and active youth leadership. The exact topics can be a matter of agreement. We put emphasis on your own critical viewpoint and developing distinct writing style.

We will work through two different modules: investigative journalism and interviewing. The writers will have material provided to study, discuss it in person or in group and produce writings, which are inspired by the method.

The writers will have to read each others articles and make comments before them being published, because a part of the internship is to give and receive reflections, criticism, comments and questions on the writings.

What is your profile?

In order to apply, you need to:

- Be between 15-30 years old.

- Have personal interest in one or more of the topics: human rights, sustainable living, non-formal education and active youth leadership. Experience in writing or great command of English is encouraged, but not necessary.

- Be able to commit and spend 10 -12 hours a week for learning, discussing and writing.

call for writers

33

- Be willing to write at least 3-4 articles a month.

We seek for young and critical individuals who are passionate about building a better world and able to discuss or maybe even offer solutions for achieving this goal.

No matter where you live, you can raise awareness and make a difference!

What do we offer?

If we choose you for the internship, we will provide you with:

- A personalized profile on Crossing Borders website, promoting your work, website, social media sites.

- An official agreement, certificate and LinkedIn recommendation proving that you have completed your internship.

- An international platform for your thoughts and visibility for your articles.

- A global forum to make friends and expand your network.

- A framework and knowledge about research, writing, taking interviews and promoting your articles so they reach the widest audience possible.

How to apply

Please send:

- 1-2 pages long article, complete with 2-3 good quality pictures (or links to videos), which was written specially for Crossing Borders and have not been published before. The topics could be among the framework of human rights, sustainable living, non-formal education and active youth leadership. The article will be published on Crossing Borders website for the consideration of our readers and staff. Even if you are not selected for the internship, you will have at least one published article.

- Link to your LinkedIn page or a copy of CV

to [email protected] by the 15st of February. We keep the right to close the call for internships if we find enough journalists and writers before the deadline, so if you are interested, please write us right away!

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the team that

worked on thiseditionof the

magazine:editing text revision design

HenriBarbara Lindeneg

OmeedAminian

TiagoAlves Silva


visit crossingborders.dk to start conecting with us

crossingborders

magazine

fall &winter

2014

Documents

Crossing Borders writing internship - a space for sharing and starting dialogue // CB Magazine 2014