The New Persepolis

I have seen this in the news yesterday. Two Iranian exiles asked for the permission to use the characters and drawing style of Persepolis from its author, in order to depict the pro-Moussavi demonstrations taking place this month after the elections in Teheran. They want to use the popularity of Persepolis to gather more worldwide sympathy for the anti-Ahmadinejad opposition. 

It is worth noting that the creator of Persepolis, M. Satrapi, gave her approval for this, but she was not involved in conceiving the new cartoons. I was very curious because I really liked Persepolis. 

I was also disappointed, because it is a pretty skematic good vs. evil depiction of what happened around the elections, and makes the people who support Ahmadinejad into an indetermined mass of individuals who don’t think. Things are bound to be more complicated than that, and it’s a pity that it feels that this cartoon could have been drawn by anyone in the West who, say, wants to see Ahmadinejad go down. I doubt it will gather more worldwide support than that of the people who already sympathize with Moussavi. 

Here is the link, it is still an interesting read:
http://www.spreadpersepolis.com/ 

In any case, the problem with its simplicity is not that it criticizes the oppression and the police violence against the demonstrators–that should be criticized. It’s more that, being created by Iranians and not by Europeans or Americans (even if exiles), I would have liked to see the faces of those people who support Ahmadinejad; it’s, regardless of the election results being accurate or not, half of the country. And I would have liked to see a hint of who Moussavi is, apart of this image of apostle of freedom emerging over the last month. In any case, it is good to see the old faces from Persepolis again, though I wonder what those characters would really think and comment in this situation…Maybe they would be on the same side, but with more clever argumentation.

Rosia Montana: The Corporation Never Quits

The background story: Canadian company Gold Corporation wants to build a cyanide-based gold exploitation in a village in Apuseni Mountains, Western Romania. The cyanide pool would replace the whole village, cemetery included. Villagers are relocated a few km away. The gold reserves remaining are exploited in about 10 years, after which the corporation will go away with the profits, leaving just the environmental damage and the destruction of a community behind. Romanian politicians say yes, this is a great idea, it is a foreign investment, it will create jobs, generate income through taxes, etc. Half of the villagers accept jobs from the corporation and sell their houses to Gold. But the other half resists. They want to live in the same place where their parents and grandparents lived, where their families are buried, where they can breathe fresh air. So they put up a fight. In ten years, “Save Rosia Montana” gathered considerable support from Romanians, from regular people, to NGOs and politicians. They started court actions and they achieved success: a law to prohibit cyanide-exploitation has been discussed by the parliament and agreed upon, courts have rejected urbanism plans proposed by Gold, and the Ministry of Culture has rejected the destruction of the village on account of its great archeological richness (Roman ruins).

Greece is becoming a garbage bin for migrants and it does so with European consent. It is high time to react.

By Apostolis Fotiadis

High Commissioner António Guterres has asked some days ago the European Commission to consider convening a meeting between Italy, Malta, Libya, UNHCR and other relevant partners to work on a joint strategy for a better  response to irregular migration across the Mediterranean, following Italy’s recent  ‘push-backs’ to Libya.

But while Italy is being internationally chastised for the refoulement of refugees that effectively annuls the country’s responsibilities arising from international treaties, most notably the Geneva convention, neighboring Greece is building up a state sponsored persecution of irregular migration which has so far got away provocatively unnoticed.

LIKE A MAN ON EARTH

Since 2003 Italy and Europe have asked Libya to stop the African migrants. What are the Libyan police really doing? What do thousands of African men and women suffer? And why does everybody pretend they do not know about it?
A film produced by Asinitas Onlus in collaboration with ZaLab

Trailer

http://comeunuomosullaterra.blogspot.com/2008/01/since-2003-italy-and-europe-have-asked.html

Synopsis

http://comeunuomosullaterra.blogspot.com/2008/01/synopsis.html

Giving voice to the Ethiopian refugees living in Rome, the film provides a direct insight into the brutal ways in which Libya, aided also by Italian and European funds, is operating to control the immigration movements of people from Africa. Dag used to study Law in Addis Ababa in Ethiopia. Prompted by the strong political repression he had to face in Ethiopia, he decides to leave the country. In the winter of 2005 he embarks on a tough land journey, crossing the desert between Sudan and Libya.

On his arrival in Libya, he is soon caught in a web of violence and criminal activities run by the rackets groupcontrolling the routes through the Mediterranean Sea . He then goes from bad to worse, ending up in the hands of the Libyan police, responsible for a series of arrests and mass deportations

The Funkiest Mayday

Taxe-e-e!

International Women’s Day – Demo for Solidarity with Kuneva organised in Sofia

GREEK RIOTS: POSTCARDS FROM A CHRISTMAS YET TO COME?

by Nikola Kosmatopoulos

More than a month after the outbreak of the “December riots” in Greece, it seems that the country is still unable to return into politics-as-usual. Even if the prime minister reshuffled his cabinet in order to show that he “got the message”, even if the conventional political parties downplay the significance of the riots, even if the national media refuse to report any forms of popular action still going on, the “Greek December” still disseminates waves of aftershocks in all possible directions. To be sure, Greece and in one way the entire Europe, will never be the same thereafter.

Turkish Toilets in Bulgaria

by Vassil Leftski

Finally something lively to come out of the usually sterile and boring official exhibitions where all the ‘unity in diversity’ of the EU is portrayed. The Czech Presidency commissioned a work to the controversial artist David Cerny – someone I wasn’t familiar with before but who has apparently been involved in very interesting art projects. He came up with the huge art installation Enthropia where he tried to represent each of the EU member states with a particularly embarrassing catchy detail.

The workers will have the last word – not the media bosses

The thousands of protesters that filled the streets in Greece on Friday January 9th, proved that the fire of December wonʼt be put out, not by bullets and acid against activists, nor by the ideological terrorism spread by the media these last few days. Consequently, the Stateʼs only response to the youth and the workers was, once more, raw repression. Encouraged by the mediaʼs demands of zero tolerance, and by the orders of their bosses, the police were free to attack with chemicals, violence and arrests, against anyone who came their way.