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.

Rage on stage: Turning Athenians into Romans

 

by Nikolas Kosmatopoulos

Three scenes as a prelude to Greek riots:

Scene no.1:

Around 2000 people are gathered in front of the Greek parliament following a call to a sit-in by the open assembly of the occupied Law University. The atmosphere is serene, people’s chats and scrolls are often accompanied by slogans against police brutality and state violence. Police forces are not in sight. Suddenly a young man takes off half of his clothes, and bends his naked upper body in such a way as to simulate a human being in chains, humiliated: his hands bonded behind his back, his knees folded, his head hitting the floor, his exposed back revealing a tatooed crucified Jesus. In this position screams comes out of his mouth, which is only 3 cm far from the ground: “How does it feel to live an entire life bent like this, how does it feel?”. The relaxed atmosphere is changing at once. People and journalists gather around the young man, a crowd of 15 others follow him suit and uncover their upper bodies, taking the same body posture. The crowd is shocked, electrified, speechless. Heavy silence, reflection, a sudden applause. One girl, part of the crowd, screams back to the bystanders: “Don’t applause, just follow us and see how does it feel by yourself”. Kids with school backs undress… Within seconds, divisions of riot police appear from all directions heading to the spot. The silence is gone, slogans against police vibrate the air allover the parliament. The crowd turns the back to the spontaneous performers and heads towards the police forces angrily. They attack them verbally, demanding they leave immediately. The police retreats in order to re-deploy only meters in front of the ad hoc “stage”. After moments, a new performance takes place: A riot police in full gear is approached by a student with long hair. The student bends in front of him on his knees, remaining there for at least an hour. The police officer fails to look the young man in the eyes and soon both of them are joined by two more “actors”: a 10-year-old Roma child, having his face covered all up with Mallox, the anti-teargas liquid cream, and his right hand dressed with a huge boxing glove, with which he occasionally hits the policeman’s shield. A TV reporter joins in extending his camera so close to the scene, almost intercepting the looks of the youngman and capturing the empty look of the officer. 

The revenge of life

Some thoughts on the events that are reshaping Greece these days

by Ilias Z

Published firstly on Dec 14th at indy.gr (www.indy.gr)

(abstract — This is not a “no future” generation, it’s simply a generation that does not accept the present as its future, that simply can’t stand the idea that this present will freeze and reproduce forever. At 32, still “unsettled” in every sense of the word, this is how i feel part of this youth. We do not share the cynicism, the dysthymia of a society that keeps on repeating “what can you do, that’s the way things will always be”. We crave to construct our own, autonomous future. And there are a lot of things standing in our way. That’s the point of unity between pupils, students, young working /unemployed /precarious adults. When you really want to live, a spark is enough to make you instinctively attack anything that you think stands in your way. In these moments the youth feels that police stations, riot police squads and banks are blocking their way, so they’re just trying to push them aside. If they won’t budge, you just have to burn them down (which of course doesn’t work that way, but that’s the drive to do it). And in personal life, the obstacles are being realized as your family, your bosses, your “responsibilities”. –)

Beware!!! The Greek state is restoring order…

Some of the mainstream media, television channels in their majority, have played an important role on how the events, mostly the riots, have been perceived by the Greek public during the last few days. While in the beginning they participated wholeheartedly in the outcry of a fifteen years old killing, they gradually withdrew to playing their traditional role of judging the situation and promoting the mainstream public perspective…