Focus94

CONFRONTING THE TTIP MONSTER

BREAKING THE SILENCE ON RACISM

THE BRAZILIAN WORLD CUP

Simon Murtagh takes a look at what the new EU-US trade deal behometh means for trade justice campaigners.

Freda Hughes looks at the experience of dealing with racist crime in Dublin 15 and beyond.

Thaís Mantovani takes a look at what the spectacle of soccer means for the realities of social inequality for poor Brazilians.

> TRADE PAGE 3

> NEWS PAGE 2

> SPORTS PAGE 8

FOCUS

ACTION FOR GLOBAL JUSTICE. June 2014 | Published By Comhlámh | ISSUE 94

www.comhlamh.org

Locals organise against fracking in rural Leitrim. | Photo credit: Joshua Howe on Flickr

COLM ASHE. Comhlámh Staff

What The Frack Is That?

The controversial extraction process that meets local protests across the world.

RORY FOGARTY FOCUS Editorial Board.

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x p lo ra to r y f ra cking contracts have been awa rded in Fermanagh, as the UK government pursues a pro-fracking economic policy, are protests worldwide the sign of things to come for Ireland?

Hydraulic fracturing is the extraction of natural gas from shale rock by injecting a mixture of water, oils, sand and chemicals into the earth. The process is under intense scrutiny internationally.

Earlier this May, a confrontation between 700 police officers and up to 5,000 protesters was averted following the suspension of oil company Metgasco’s exploratory fracking license in New South Wales, pending investigation of corruption charges.

In Balcombe in the UK last August, 2 months of protest blockades resulted in oil company Cuadrilla suspending

operations.These protests at heart were over fear of air and water contamination, the loss of livelihood and the scarring of landscapes. There is evidence, albeit disputed, that show it as devastating to the environment and local inhabitants. The US Enviromental Proection Agency has investigated hundreds of complaints dealing with water contamination, noxious gases, headaches and even cancers. Their initial report found a link with well contamination and the waste water returning to the surface, as well as health hazards, but these findings remain not definitively verified.

Conversely members of the UK government and lobbyists advocate fracking as an essential piece of economic recovery. They point to reviews by the Royal Society and the Royal Academy of Engineering which suggest fracking is entirely safe providing strong regulation is implemented.

However contested, these findings form the context for resistance internationally. In

its banks and thousands who rely Northern Ireland, an exploratory on it for water supply. Tommy fracking contract granted to Earley, Chairman of Leitrim Australian mining company Organic Farmers, stated that if Tambornan sparked outrage from fracking went ahead “you couldn’t both sides of the Fermanaghguarantee the quality of your Leitrim border. meat, and in other After 1,000-strong parts of the world, demonstrations, farmers have road-blocks and “Fracking poses been told that if legal cases, local a very real risk to your produce politicians the success of our comes from proposed a farming industry an area that referendum on the which is vital is fracked - we issue be held. Also, in counties like don’t want it sitting Agriculture Fermanagh and anymore” Minister Michelle Leitrim” When asked O’Neill committed to if there were any blocking any fracking circumstances in which fracking activities on land under her would be acceptable, Eric Burke department’s control, with local of No Fracking Dublin stated MLA Phil Flanagan stating that that “there is a growing body “Fracking poses a very real risk of evidence which outlines the to the success of our farming extremely deleterious effect of industry, which is vital in counties hydraulic fracturing. It is an attack like Fermanagh and Leitrim.” on our security...It is an attack on In the Republic, fears have been our basic human rights. That is expressed on contamination of never acceptable.” the Shannon from extraction in Fermanagh, which would affect thousands of landowners along

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ver twenty workers have been staging a sit at the Paris Bakery premises on Moore Street over unpaid wages amounting to over 100,000e The issue is known as an informal insolvency, whereby an employee ceases trading but the business does not go into liquidation. This particular scenario is not covered in Irish law, therefore the Paris Bakery workers are left with no rights. Eduard Claihnet, one of the workers, stated that “Our only hope is that the Revenue Commissioners close the company so we can get the money we are owed.” Support for the bakery workers is gathering momentum with the backing of organisations such as the Migrant Rights Centre, Mandate and a killer socialk media campaign.

Eduard also added that, “We are asking the Taoiseach to tell us how long the Government expects us to act on their behalf without stepping in. I want to go home, I want to sleep in my bed and not have the stress of this hanging over me”.Eduard continued “We want Yannick Forel and Ruth Savill to either pay us the wages we earned or agree in writing to wind up the company properly so we can access the insolvency fund. It is that simple.”

The Paris Bakery workers are also calling on Enda Kenny to immediately change the law that allowed this to happen in the first place.

> ANTI-RACISM PAGE 2

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FOCUS ACTION FOR GLOBAL JUSTICE

NEWS

An all too common piece of anti immigrant sentiment around Dublin. | Photo credit: David Kavanagh / Flickr

FOCUS

ACTION FOR GLOBAL JUSTICE

EST. 1978

Focus Magazine is Ireland’s leading magazine on global development issues. Since 1978, Focus has been making links between the situation in Ireland and in the South, with a view to challenging assumptions, and promoting understanding, interest in and action on development issues among a broad public. In particular, it aims to provide alternative views to those expressed in mainstream media.

Editorial Group: Inese Japina, Amy Mulcahy, Rory Fogarty, Lindsay Murphy and Mark Furlong.

Copy Editing: Colm Ashe, Dervla King and Mark Cumming.

To recieve copies to distribute please contact info@comhlamh.org

Comhlamh is a signatory to the Dochas Code On Images and Messages. Feedback welcome to info@comhlamh.org

ANTI-RACISM WORK SHANE O’CURRY Director of European Network Against Racism

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Report.ie is an independent and confidential racist incident reporting system. It was designed to attempt to overcome some of the isolating factors that make it difficult for people who are at the sharp end of racism to report racism, to have their voices heard, and to be acknowledged by wider society.

Our first two reports have been successful in capturing people’s experiences. Until now, these experiences may have gone unacknowledged. Instead of being silenced, people’s voices are now, at last, beginning to be heard and recognised in the media.

It may only appear to be a small change, but bringing about a situation where it is harder and harder to deny that racism is a daily experience for many people, is an important first step in combating racism.

A noteworthy finding from the quarterly iReports is that about 2/3 of reports have been made by friends, colleagues, front-line staff, witnesses and others who did not directly experience racism themselves. This tells that although there are undeniably unacceptable levels of racism in Irish society, there is also a very strong constituency of people, Black, White, Asian, Jewish, Roma, Muslim, Christian, Traveller and Settled, who are looking for ways to stand up and be counted as people who are prepared to take action against racism. In other words, the information from iReport.ie also highlights the strong anti-racist current that exists in Irish society and that is looking for ways to express itself. This sentiment has already found expression at the vigil held outside Dáil Éireann last November, led by the Anti Racist Network, and supported by ENAR Ireland and its member organisations.

NEW COMMUNITIES

Breaking The Silence.

Phoenix FM recently looked at why racism in Dublin 15 goes unreported.

FREDA HUGHES Radio Documentary Maker.

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re the findings of the project a microcosm of the situation in Ireland at large? Economic downturn has had an impact on attitudes towards migrants in Ireland. Many who see themselves in competition for insufficient local authority houses, school places and welfare payments perceive migrants as a threat.

As one asylum seeker Peter Samuels said: “It’s a government policy. It’s an institutional thing that asylum seekers are not allowed to work or to study so that stigmatizes them and puts them into a very difficult situation . . so that creates a breeding ground for racist attitudes against asylum seekers.”

It is migrants who are often scapegoated for the short-comings of government policy.

My research highlighted the subtle and often unidentified impact of unchallenged racism and prejudice in our society.

While there is an element of racism in Ireland today, organised racist groups are few.

Groups like the Democratic Right Movement or the Irish National Movement are fringe and rather pathetic in their blatant openly fascist politics, sloganeering and threats.

Violent racist incidents as well as racist graffiti and vandalism predominantly are carried out by localised gangs and individuals across Ireland, but the growing viciousness of such attacks is worrying.

One Tyrellstown Resident whose family have suffered ongoing racial abuse for six years described an incident.

“She was screaming and shouting at my 10 year old daughter so my 13 year old was smart enough to bring out her phone and start recording the whole

thing. That really made the woman mad so It is noteworthy that for five consecutive days she came with a hurley stick and used it to hit I phoned the station and asked to speak to an my 13 year old daughter and destroyed her ELO. Each time I called, no one came to my phone. We called the gardai, but they didn’t assistance. In fact, most of the Gardaí I spoke come that day. I suppose they must be tired of to were unaware that such officers existed, us reporting that same woman all the time.” who they were or what the role entailed. I While a crime can be logged as ‘racist was told that some of the names listed on the or race related’ here, there are no charges website had moved on to other departments relating directly to racism itself. Dr. Brid or stations.

Despite many phone calls made, no ELO Ni Chonaill of the Institute of Technology Bl a nc ha rd s tow n, su m me d up t he ever rang me back. It must be noted, Incitement to Hatred Act from however, that the Garda Racial 1989 as “a completely ineffective Intercultural and Diversity piece of legislation. There were Office is extremely wellpromises to revamp that and “It’s an institutional intentioned and has the that hasn’t happened.” desire to implement thing that asylum better training and Despite the unanimous seekers are not strategies for dealing response from all the other allowed to work groups I spoke to detailing with racism. or to study so that ongoing racist issues in Dublin Sgt. David McInerney stigmatizes them.”

15, the vast majority of physical, told me that: “Any incident verbal and intimidatory racism goes that is perceived to be racist by unreported. This may be the result of the the victim or any other person will prejudice experienced by many, including the be recorded as a racist incident. So I want to majority of my respondents, when dealing make that very clear, if you report something with government departments. This in turn as a racist incident it must be recorded as a breeds a lack of trust in the state’s ability to racist incident. .We must map the motive protect and afford equal opportunities to all. when logging a crime.”

Oftentimes, an unwillingness to report Unfortunately this does not seem to be a an incident is because of fear of reprisals or priority for the organisation as a whole and negative implications on pending citizenship currently, to become an ELO, a Garda must applications. As Ken McCue of SARI told me: only undertake a two and a half day training “One of the reasons why many migrants course. won’t go into the garda station to make a complaint even when they are victims of racial abuse is because they fear it will go against them when it comes to seeking citizenship.”

The role of an Ethnic Liaison Officer is to liaise with members of ethnic minority communities and ensure that the appropriate support mechanisms are available to them.

There are ten ELOs listed as operating out of my local Garda station in Blanchardstown.

RESOURCES

www.comhlamh.org

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TRADE RELATIONS Flashmob protestors make their case in Aachen | Photo credit: Paul Reinholz

Where Now For Alternative Trade?

EAMON MURPHY Comhlámh Trade Justice Group

S2B Network, one of the organisations that have signed up to the ATM. He believes that a key problem is that trade negotiations happen behind closed doors. “People are not he European Elections have informed of the impact of any negotiations come and gone, and the and even when an agreement has been conresults have been well discluded, we don’t even know the contents. The sected by the media. Eleven MEPs key issue is democracy”. from across the political spectrum Almost two dozen candidates, North have taken their seats in Brussels and South of the border, signed up to the and most people will now turn away, principles of the ATM in what was a hugely barely concerning themselves with successful campaign by the CTJG. the goings on in the Belgian capital New MEPS Lynn Boylan, Matt Carthy until the next round of voting is upon and Liadh Ni Riada have all signed up while us in 2019.

Nessa Childers, who retained her seat in Such indifference is a pity. The European Dublin, has also endorsed the ATM. Parliament has a great deal of power on matPaul Murphy, formerly the Socialist MEP ters that affect our daily lives and the lives of for Dublin, believes that trade policy is being people around the world. One issue on which used as a weapon to undermine human rights it has huge influence is international trade. and the interests of the majority of people in With this in mind, the Comhlámh Trade general. “If people don’t get to understand Justice Group (CTJG) spent the run up to what’s happening, for example with the election campaigning to encourTAFTA or TTIP, these will be age candidates – many of whom used to make things signifihave been elected – to adopt the cantly worse. The aim is to principles of the Alternative “Such indifference educate ourselves and Trade Mandate (ATM); a is a pity. educate others and to new vision for international The European mobilise. If we do that, we trade that can help raise Parliament has a can have a lot of power”. tens of millions of the poorgreat deal of power Trade, even more so est people in the world from on matters that than Aid, has the potenpoverty. affect our daily tial to alleviate poverty in The ATM is an alliance lives ” the developing world. It is of development and farmers’ heartening that Ireland has elected groups, Fair Trade activists, aid agencies, international representatives who have promenvironment and human rights campaigns, ised to work not just in the best interests of trade unionists, migrant workers, environIrish business, but in the interests of poorer mentalists, women’s, human rights, faith and countries who struggle to get a fair deal at consumer groups and many more from all the bargaining table. The CTJG will continue over Europe. They have a vision of a model its work on potentially damaging Economic of international trade that is transparent and Partnership Agreements and in promoting democratic; environmentally sustainable; the Alternative Trade Mandate. that places human rights at the centre of the decision-making process; and assists in alleviating poverty, rather than compounding it.

Bruno Ciccaglione is coordinator of the

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Free trade agreement action on Shuman square in Brussels | Photo credit: Intal

Just The TTIP? RAÉMANN TRÁDÁIL Comhlámh Trade Justice Group

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hat’s that coming over the hill? Is it a monster, IS IT A MONSTER? as The Automatic once sang. They might well have been talking about the new trade agreement being negotiated between the US and EU – “TTIP”, as it’s mostly known, or “TAFTA”, or “TPA” – the beast is a many-headed hydra.

What’s adding to the hysteria is the culture of secrecy around this monster’s negotiations, understandable if you consider the resistance to most major recent free trade deals. Or not, if you value democracy.

This secrecy marks a shift from the stakeholder-friendly style that had been in vogue since the early 2000s, but which had also seen successive free trade deals blocked – MAI, WTO, EPA, ACTA. Yet the whole “if your name’s not Dave (or Dave PLC), you’re not coming in” line around TTIP isn’t going down well with a whole range of civil society groups who had become used to being consulted and informed.

These groups swelled the ranks of antiTTIP protesters at the recent European Business Summit in Brussels, where water cannons were turned on the crowds and hundreds were arrested, including three Belgian MPs. That’s one of the biggest problems about TTIP’s repressive turn - almost everyone finds themselves outside the gates, including elected representatives.

It seems the plan is to present TTIP as a fait accompli to the new European

Parliament without allowing any of its members to have negotiated its contents.

“Just sign here,” in other words.

Will it work? Well, there are great under-currents of pressure coming through from the business lobbies in both continents to do a deal. US Embassy pressure has also become more openly aggressive.

But TTIP’s hard-line negotiating style has a major PR problem, and that matters.

A parallel Trans-Pacific Agreement (TPP) has caused protests across the region, from students in Auckland to farmers in Tokyo.

And the rising criticism of TTIP has now spread from the business pages to the opinion columns of major newspapers, a nightmare scenario for TTIPsters.

None of this is really funny, of course, and the gory details of TTIP’s provisions are emerging. Worst of all is the Orwellian prospect of Investor-State Dispute Settlements (ISDS), kangaroo courts for companies to sue governments who put laws in the way of free competition – trivial little laws like labour laws, antipollution laws, food safety laws.

Time to get campaigning? We would have thought so.

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HISTORY

FOCUS ACTION FOR GLOBAL JUSTICE From Field To Cup. The many stages of coffee production. | Photo credits: Andy Lederer and Peter Asquith on Flickr

TRADE NOT AID?

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he #FirstWedsDebates are a series of topical discussions on issues of global solidarity and development taking place each month. Our last debate looked at the issue of trade. Much of the global increase in trade in the last 100 years has been between rich northern nations and a handful of newly industrialising countries. Meanwhile the majority of southern nations have garnered a declining share of world trade. Is the Trade not Aid mantra a smokescreen for greater penetration of northern business into southern economies?

Dan O’Brien, Institute of International and European Affairs.

Coffee Culture Pioneers.

Recalling those who imported fair trade instant from Tanzanian co-operatives.

INESE JAPINA Comhlámh Member

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olm Ryder is an environmental engineer by profession. He was an early member of Comhlámh and worked with Campaign Coffee Group in Comhlámh throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Colm told us about the development of fair trade in Ireland.

How did the idea of importing Fairtrade coffee into the Irish market come about?

The idea started to take shape in the early 1980s. A small group of Comhlámh members decided to try to import and market Fairtrade coffee from a developing country in the Dublin area, and use the product as an educational message. The group was one of a number of active groups in Comhlámh, prompted by their overseas experiences, to bring the message of potential development change to Ireland.

What country did the first Fairtrade coffee come from?

The coffee came from Tanzania which was a model country for development at the time. Under Julius Nyerere, then President of a socialist Tanzania, the government were trying to improve the value of their export crops, especially coffee beans. A coffee production facility was opened in North Eastern Tanzania in 1967, supplied by local cooperatives, where the production of instant coffee took place. By manufacturing instant coffee and exporting it abroad Tanzanian producers were adding extra value to the basic agricultural commodity.

How wa s t h e i mp o r t e d Fa i r t r a d e i n s t a n t c o f f e e marketed in Ireland?

in developing countries like Tanzania, by shopping selectively. The background principle we in Comhlámh emphasised was that ‘trade not aid’ could be more effective. A The coffee was imported into Ireland range of educational materials was developed in small quantities through an Irish including a series of slide productions (this importer based in Wexford via was pre internet days!), which were a UK organisation called used in schools, community Tr a idc r a f t . C om h l á m h “A range of and youth groups etc. The members were not great Campaign also appeared educational business entrepreneurs, on a number of radio materials was but managed to develop shows. The Comhlámh developed including a reasonable market for Coffee Campaign might a series of slide Ta n z a n i a n Fa i r t r a d e even be credited with productions. This coffee in the Dublin area the development of the was pre internet by selling it to coffee shops, present Comhlámh logo days!” specialist outlets and the which displays two hands original Dublin Food Co-op, as joined together symbolising the cooperation between Ireland and the well as to school and work canteens. We held numerous events to tie in with the selling of Developing Countries, and also a strong antithe coffee. Comhlámh was never going to be a racism message. major trading company, and we hoped that by getting the product out that the trade would grow. At the same time, combined with the How did the first Fairtrade use of the leaflets and posters developed, we coffee importing influence the worked to get the educational message across future Fair Trade movement in to Irish consumers.

Ireland?

Te l l m e a l i t t l e a b o u t the educational message Comhlámh wanted to get across.

While Comhlámh was under no illusions that we were going to dramatically change the lives of the Tanzanian people by introducing this coffee into Ireland, we recognised that we could get a strong educational message across to the Irish public that there were alternatives available in terms of trade and produce. We wanted Irish consumers to realise that individually they have the power to make a widespread impact on the livelihoods of small producers and workers

To an initial extent Comhlámh made the niche for further import business development in Ireland. It remained for business entrepreneurs to seek out more opportunities. Other Irish organizations began to take up the importing of Fairtrade products thus offering producers at the beginning of the chain the possibility to build sustainable businesses and earn a decent living. And today the Fair Trade movement has been a wonderful success and is bigger and stronger than ever. So, at least here in Ireland, Comhlámh can claim some credit for sowing the first seeds!

There is still a need for aid programmes and there is a need for trade. I think one of the key things that economists agree on is that trade boosts the collective welfare. Trading together collects more wealth and depending on how it is distributed everyone can gain. Economists disagree on most things... but one thing that they agree on is that trade is good for economic development.

Alfredo Ortega, Belize Sugar Cane Farmers’ Association.

Fair Trade is not a charity, it is a system that empowers the farmer and gives an opportunity to the farmers to understand compliance in fair trade standards and empowers the farmers to help their community and family. In that regard trading is very important under fair trade, because it gives the opportunity to know more about our product.

Conall O’Caoimh, Value Added in Africa.

There is about 500 years of active Africa trading with Europe on a significant scale, and actually 500 years of trade for Africa has worked fairly poorly for it. So it’s not as simple as trade or aid. So what fair trade is trying to do is to ensure the global south is getting good value for your product. But trade isn’t just at the farm level, it’s at the whole economy level so you want to make sure countries are adding value to their product before they export them, and that is the real challenge. But it’s beginning to happen, and more and more African producers are adding value to their product before they export it.

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SHARING VOLUNTEERING OPTIONS

Are You Looking For A Responsible Volunteer Position?

• Follow #volops on Twitter&stay abreast of deadlines and events feed in by recruiters in the sending agencies!

• We’ve created a #VolOps networking group on Linked In so you can ask questions about volunteering&get answers from sending agencies!

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To apply for any of the above MA programmes, visit the Postgraduate Application Centre (PAC) at www.pac.ie to complete an application.

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FOCUS ACTION FOR GLOBAL JUSTICE

VOLUNTEERING

Maeve with Onyango Odinga, the plumber and builder who made the sanitation unit.

VOLUNTEER EXPERIENCES

FINDING A RESPONSIBLE AGENCY

Distant Districts Observations and anecedotes from a mzungu.

TADGH DALY Planner, Voluntary Service Overseas.

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hree and a half months into my stint here in Zambia is probably a good time to provide a low-down on what I’m actually doing here work-wise.

The focus is around “capacity building” (development worker jargon for training) of ‘physical planners’ at district council level.

A physical planner is essentially a combination of what are specialised fields in the Anglophone world including strategic/ forward planning, urban design, assessment of planning applications, surveying and planning enforcement, all done very badly if at all.

This is happening during a large national process of decentralisation, where the responsibilities are being devolved from Provincial Government level (where I am based) to district Council level. Over the past few governments the local Councils have been left to their own devices and are pretty much a shambles in most things they do. In relation to here, the standard of service delivery of government that you complain about in whatever country you are in is probably like trying to make a comparison between an aged gruyere and easy singles.

Until a few years ago practically none of them had qualified planners in their staff.

Luckily 6 out of 9 Councils in my province now have university graduates employed which is major progress. All fresh out of college, maybe with a year’s works experience under their belt, most are relatively enthusiastic and bright. This is major progress. But

these guys are expected (on their own) to take on the responsibilities of an entire planning department (if and) when the decentralisation process kicks in.

Currently they have little or no formal responsibilities. So my job in theory is to help these guys make that step.

Irish Aid have funded 4 of our placements.

The overall aim of the project is to improve Governance in Zambia and they are also funding our project costs (fuel, accommodation and meals for our trips out to the district councils) I have to work with the group on everything and follow all the ridiculous government protocols and bureaucracy.

We had decided to focus on 5 districts in the northern province, rather than spread ourselves too widely. This involved traveling to each district, carrying out assessments on each council and eventually come to a decision on which ones to select.

An example of some of the challenges involved in this: Kaputa is probably the most distant district from here at around 390km, reasonable you will say. We couldn’t make this journey for the first 2 months due to the rains which last for 5 months. When we did, it took us over 9 hours in a 4x4 through crazy conditions.

In the end we only made it to 8 of the districts because one of them is on an island and the weather was so bad that the ‘ferry’ wasn’t operating for months so we ditched it from our study. Harsh!

Follow his blog at tadhgdaly.blogspot.com

A truck here skidded off the Kaputa road illustrating the conditions.

A physical planner is essentially a combination of what are specialised fields...

Follow #VOLOPS on Twitter for opportunities to volunteer overseas!

MAEVE O’SULLIVAN Agape Adventures. he time I spent in Kibera, Kenya with Agapé Adventures was one of the best experiences of my life! It was challenging at times but more often than not, it was filled with moments of laughter and overwhelming feelings of accomplishment and happiness.

I had worked in the financial industry for several years but I knew that I should be doing something else; something with more concrete goals and that actually resulted in a benefit to people.

I decided to work with an Irish organisation that I could have faith in: one that I knew would vet me thoroughly, thus recognising the vulnerability of the people I would be working with and one whose focus was not on money but on building sustainable projects and creating long-lasting positive impact with their projects. I found that in Agapé Adventures.

I originally contacted many UK-based NGOs and was bombarded with phone calls and high costs, largely covering recruitment but with a relatively small amount going towards the project. A lot of organisations also tried to combine the tourist and volunteer experience which was lost on me—help street children in Kolkata and then ride an elephant at a 5* hotel.

Mostly, I couldn’t imagine spending such large amounts of money on what essentially would be pittance for those needing the help.

Frustrated, I contacted Dóchas, the Irish Association of Non-Governmental Development, and I noticed that Agapé Adentures had signed the Comhlámh Code of Good Practice for Volunteer Sending Agencies. On further research, I discovered that Agapé Adventures was exactly what I wanted in a volunteer organisation. It had a strong basis in Ireland, was created and run by two experienced international development professionals, had relatively low costs and was strongly focused on the sustainability of its projects. On meeting with Rachael, the co-founder of Agapé Adventures, my dedication to the project strengthened as she outlined where I’d be staying, what the day-to-day life would be like and the safety precautions, which they have in place for all projects.

I opted to do a homestay in Kibera slum, Kenya. Staying with Barnabas and Millar was wonderful. They are incredibly hospitable and I was lucky enough to be made feel like part of the family.

Each day I worked at a Children’s Centre in one of three classes (ages 3 – 7 years old). The children were wonderful and I surprised myself with my ability to keep them entertained and obedient(ish).

In preparation for my departure, I assessed what I believed to be the needs of the Children’s Centre. Thanks to Agapé funding, we were able to build a sanitation unit at the school and to implement a hygiene program to ensure higher levels of hygiene and to avoid the spread of diseases. This is just an example of the sustainable work carried out by Agapé Adventures which I think is essential for any volunteer organisation.

My volunteering experience in Kibera gave me the confidence to apply for a Master’s Degree in International Affairs at the American University of Paris. I’m currently completing a thesis on Transitional Justice in Bosnia-Herzegovina while also interning at Women and Health Alliance International, a Paris-based NGO which focuses on maternal health in subSaharan Africa. I’m finally working in the area I’ve always wanted to and that is, in part, due to the unforgettable experience I had with Agapé Adventures in Kibera, Nairobi.

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If you have any questions contact Maeve O’Sullivan via info@agapeadventures.ie

www.comhlamh.org

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ENVIROMENT & REVIEWS

THE ACT OF KILLING, DOCUMENTARY FILM.

Mark Furlong reviews Joshua Oppenheimer’s haunting documentary on the anticommunist purge that occurred in 1960’s Indonesia.

Joshua Oppenheimer’s extraordinary documentary, The Act of Killing, recalls the slaughter of over half a million people

by General Suharto’s military regime in Indonesia 1965 - 1966. Uniquely, the story is retold almost entirely from the perspective of the killers, who remain pillars of Indonesian society to this day. In graphic detail, these men boastfully relate their roles in the slaughter, which the Indonesian establishment has

portrayed for the last five decades as a patriotic victory against ‘communists’.

The film’s main protagonist is Anwar Kongo, an ageing ‘movie theatre gangster’, who, we learn early on, killed up to 1000 people with his own hands between 1965 and 1966. Oppenheimer allows Kongo and other killers, who he spent eight years getting to know, to dramatize and film the execution of their victims, in the fashion of the Hollywood movies the killers loved to watch. Through this dramatization Oppenheimer weaves a surreal and stylised exploration of the killer’s twisted consciousness and the nature of evil.

Oppenheimer has created a stunning and singular piece of cinema whose jaw dropping scenes pitch the viewer from one extreme emotion to the next. However, the film is not without its detractors. The BBC critic, Nick Fraser, has described Oppenheimer’s documentary as a “high minded snuff film” and on paper you can see why. However, Fraser misses the point. Opening up a national discussion in Indonesia on this appalling period was the primary goal of the filmmakers, which included many Indonesian crew members who knowingly endangered themselves to complete the project.

The film’s genius is that it provides the killers with enough rope to hang themselves.

Over the course of the film, Congo and friends blow apart the official Indonesian narrative about the genocide and are shown to be either empty and venal or wracked with guilt over what they did. The fact that The

Act of Killing has been shown extensively in Indonesia, has opened up a significant public debate and caused the government to admit what happened was wrong is, perhaps, the film’s true legacy.

WADJDA, MOVIE.

Rory Fogarty reviews the multi award winning Saudi Arabian movie following an 11 year old girl trying to buy a bicycle.

This story of a young Saudi girl saving up to buy a bike, succeeds in being both an insightful analysis of a strict hierarchical society and a touching film about human spirit. Wadjda

portrays ordinary life for women and girls in the suffocating context of domestic Saudi society. For example, it is forbidden for women to drive themselves or be out in public without a male relative. We encounter women struggling as peripheral members of polygamous marriages and young girls taught to stay unheard and unseen by men in public. However, neither the commentary nor the protagonists of the film are passive. Instead, we are shown frustration in everyday life and we are shown resistance. At every step there is subversion. Be it the entrepreneurial Wadjda herself, her mother struggling with her marriage, or their friend who seeks independence when taking a job at a local hospital.

The movie shows these small personal and public struggles as the constituent parts of a fragile sense of optimism, which perhaps is mirrored in real social changes in Saudi Arabia.

Arriving at the same time as the widely covered ‘Driving Ban’ protests, the release of Wadjda coincides with new reforms enabling women to enter the workforce in numbers unprecedented.

Women now also have the right to run for nomination to the Shura Council and to represent their country as athletes at the Olympics.

Being the first film to be made by a female director and the first feature length film to be shot entirely in Saudi Arabia, it is hoped that Wadjda has set the standard for both cinematic production and public discussion dealing with societal norms in suppressive contexts.

People & PLANET: From The Rock Face In Bolivia.

SIAN COWMAN University College Cork.

Y

ou need a jeep and fair bit of patience for being bumped around to get to Lanqaya, a small community at around 4,000 meters above sea level in Norte Potosí, in the Bolivian Andes. I spent a week in this community whose adobe homesteads blend into the surrounding hillsides, on a research trip with the social justice organisation The Democracy Center.

The purpose of the trip was to ‘gain a picture of community resilience to climate change in Bolivia’. We saw resilience as the ability of the community to deal with changes in their environment and circumstances and still retain their customs, identity and structure. And we knew that Norte Potosí, with its high altitude, and people’s dependence

on rain-fed agriculture to survive, is one of the world’s hotspots of climate vulnerability. What can Lanqaya teach those communities in the North whose resilience, if any, is only due to affluence?

On our first day, our hostess Doña Pascuala was off to make ‘chuño’ – the dehydrated potato that is the staple of this region. It is made by laying small potatoes out to freeze overnight as pictured, compressing the water out with your feet, and then drying them in the sun. They look like small dark wrinkly pebbles.

Chuño features in many of the meals, and is a key piece in the jigsaw of resilience, as a form of insurance - a staple that can be stored for long periods is important. Chuño is a source of food, or currency, when times are hard. Its production is being increasingly affected by warming temperatures.

People told us their experiences of changes in the local weather. The elders had the longest visions: “When I was young, it rained in its time, it froze in its time; now it rains or freezes anytime, it’s all completely changing.”

And it also affects the chuño, so crucial in this community: “It used to take only a few nights to freeze enough to make good chuño, and now it can take a few weeks.”

We found out that the entire community of Lanqaya has migrated in stages from lower altitude valleys to the higher slopes where they are now based. The move was to access new pastures and lower night temperatures for making chuño - the warmer winters meant these valleys lacked the frost needed for successful chuño production.

I was struck by the casualness which with the migration of the entire community was mentioned. Imagine the dozens if not hundreds of decisions, big and small, that must be made in order to allow such a move of over a

hundred people to a new location. The people of Lanqaya were able to decide on these choices together, using their ancient system of community democracy, and stay together despite the uprooting. The community was forced to change in order to stay the same.

While communities in the North tend to have more financial and physical resources than Lanqaya for creating solutions to climate change, they can easily run into difficulties when it comes to working together, due to a loss of the culture of collective decision-making. Lanqaya’s level of communication and democracy – alongside a deep knowledge of the land which is passed between generations - is needed to respond to climate impacts collectively, and seems frighteningly rare around the world. Here, it’s as much a part of the culture as the chuño.

Find out more over at www.democracyctr.org

Follow Sian Cowman over on Twitter @ flautify.

SPORTS

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Powerful Anti World Cup Graffiti Appears on the Streets of Brazil| Photo credit: Blaze Press

LOCAL & GLOBAL

WORLD CUP SLAVES While the imminent World Cup in Brazil has highlighted many problems in the country, appalling social justices are simultaneously coming to light in Qatar – host of the 2022 World Cup. ll With close to 1,000 migrant workers dead since construction began in 2012 it is expected that this number will rise to 4,000 before a ball is kicked.

More at tinyurl.com/kooe4n5

Not So Beautiful Game

Should World Cup fans look beyond the spectacle and tackle inequality?

THAÍS MANTOVANI Political Scientist In June this year, Brazil will host the FIFA World Cup. Thirty-two countries will play in the competition attracting attention from all over the world to the tournament and Brazilian society.

Expectations are high surrounding the organization of the event, the completion of works, the business opportunities and also the image the country will project internationally.

In terms of tourism it is a great opportunity to promote the country internationally. Lots of investment opportunities will be created and already, since the Forum of the Brazil Hotel Operators could lay claim to 12.6% growth.

There are concerns that the disadvantages outweigh the advantages. Social demands, for example, are being left out and there is plenty of criticism aimed at the lack of transparency in money spent on infrastructural works, especially in the stadiums that are being built or reconstructed.

The event discloses problems that still plague the country. On one side a big sports event that usually brings fun and joy. On the other a country that still faces problems of poverty, social inequality, violence and human rights abuses.

Amnesty International has a broad agenda in Brazil. The main areas of work are public security, forced evictions of slums, foreign policy, indigenous people, human rights defenders, crimes of the dictatorship, sexual and reproductive rights and the social impacts of the big sports events and infrastructure projects.

Speaking of the World Cup, Maurício legacy of impunity of police violence”.

Santoro, human rights adviser for Most of the homeless, slum dwellers Amnesty said: and prison inmates in Brazil are “In 2014 we have many black. important events which highThey are also the main vic“Sport should light some of these concerns, tims of human rights abuses. be used to move The UN Working Group of such as the World Cup or the beyond and break Experts on People of African role of human rights in the down borders.”

Descent, on conclusion of its general elections of October. official visit to Brazil in 2013, However, there have been many serious public security crises since found that Brazil promoted greater January: brutal prison rebellions in inclusion of the black population over the Maranhão, crimes of vigilante groups and past 10 years, but they are still suffering from police abuses in Rio. Brazil social and eco- racism, they also are disadvantaged in access nomic conditions have improved a lot, but there to housing, health and education. is still a gap regarding human rights, especially It is essential to pay attention to the racial when we discuss the relations between the state issue when dealing with human rights in Brazil. and the poor population. Also, 2014 is the 50th We are a country of football and carnival, but anniversary of the coup d´Etat. We will use the the World Cup should be a time to show, that date to launch a campaign on the impunity of despite difficulties and the long history of the crimes of the dictatorship and to tell the human rights abuses, the country is willing to history of Amnesty International in Brazil, change. during the authoritarian regime.”

In relation to the World Cup Santoro says: “Amnesty International consider the big global sports events to be a very important opportunity to discuss human rights. In Russia, the Winter Olympic Games highlighted the homophobic laws and the violations of the freedom of expression. In Qatar, our focus is slave labor in the public works for the World Cup. In Brazil, our most serious concern is with the repression of demonstrations. We fear that the government may restrict the right to peaceful reunion, to avoid the embarrassment of a big show of opposition. The protests of JuneOctober of 2013 were heavily repressed, with a

CLIMATE OFF THE AGENDA Last December Australia took over the chair of the G20 group of nations. ll In a move that goes against current international trends, climate change denying Australian prime minister Tony Abbott has taken climate change off the G20 agenda. This move will certainly slow international progress on environmental sustainability.

Read more at tinyurl.com/p4n9zkf

FIND OUT MORE

MILITANCY IN NIGERIA As a result of the kidnapping of 276 girls in northern Nigeria last month the militant Islamic group Boko Haram have been in the international spotlight. ll This article discusses the group’s core beliefs and history over the last 12 years Read more at tinyurl.com/l8ka4tm