UtrIKESPERSPEKTIV #2 2014
UTRIKES PERSPEKTIV The Student Magazine on Foreign Affairs
28 page special: colonialism - françafrique - Jonas Sjöstedt - South China Sea
COLONIALISM
INTERVIEW: Gudrun Schyman FRANçafrique
France’s African Connetion
Inuit Dilemma Drill for oil or not
RWANDA
20 Years On 1.
Leader
>> Goodbye. For now. It is often hard to say goodbye. We usually try to avoid it, try to convince ourselves that we will meet again. But when it is over, it is over. Our time as editors has now come to an end. This year truly has been a magazine year. In our four issues this magazine have conducted no less than 31 interviews, visited safe injection-facilities in Copenhagen, met locked up asylum-seekers and talked to the street beggars of Lund. We have met people we will never forget. We have also had the privilege to work with our brilliant staff. They are the heart and soul of this magazine, the true heroes. Two of them, Linnea Sandell and Marcus Bornlid, will take over as editors next year. We have no doubt that they will do a fantastic job. In this issue we focus on the colonialism of today. How does this racist and violent world order of exploitation, usually connected to the 19th century, continue in our days? We went on a journey from the Arctic to Angola and found out about Pidgin languages and an Italian general in Somalia. Let’s just say it. Goodbye. Thank you for letting us make this magazine for a year. We have loved every second of it.
Staff Editors in Chief: Gustav Wirtén Ivar Johansson Layout and form: Gustav Wirtén Ivar Johansson Layout: Kees Krul Linnea Sandell Marcus Bornlid Thomas Kräuchi Editorial Staff: Martin Andersson Charlotte Tapani Marcus Bornlid Linnea Sandell Niklas Gadelii Joanna Herskovits Kajsa Stolt Filip Sandén Adrian Taleny Nicholas Kaminski Thomas Kräuchi Anja Skoglund Simon Fridolfsson Kees Krul Legally responsible publisher: Gustav Wirtén Print: Trydells Tryckeri AB
Yours sincerely Gustav Wirtén & Ivar Johansson
Editors
Edition: 700 ex Contact: magazine@upflund.se Utrikespolitiska Föreningen Sandgatan 2 223 50 Lund Tel: 046-142733
UTRIKES PERSPEKTIV
2.
Content 4.
Presidents’ Message
5.
Member Information
6.
Intervju: Gudrun Schyman
8.
Interview: Ilan Pappé
10.
Intervju: Jonas Sjöstedt
14.
World Brief
16.
Reportage: Tagna i förvar
22.
Five Tiny Islands: The Senkaku Islands
26.
Putin’s strong ideology
28.
Kowloon Walled City
30.
Theme: Colonialism
32.
The End Of Françafrique?
38.
Pidgin och Kreol koloniernas språk
40.
Facts
41.
Segregation In The Rainbow Nation
44.
Crossroads For Canada’s Inuits
50.
Angola To The Rescue
52.
Modern Slavery
54.
Italy and Somalia
56.
Fenced in - The Russian Barrier in Georgia
58.
Rwanda, 20 years on
62.
Reportage: Tiggeri i dagens Sverige
UTRIKES PERSPEKTIV
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28. 6.
37.
58.
16.
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UTRIKES PERSPEKTIV
Utrikesperspektiv is the bilingual member magazine of the Association of Foreign Affairs, published four times per year. The magazine has no affiliations with a political party. Opinions presented are the writers´ own.
Photos:
Front page: Trocaire Paul Aningat, orgemind ArchiMedia, Julien Harneis. Thank you to Albin Johansson for the illustrations.
Detta material är helt eller delvis finansierat av SIDA, styrelsen för Internationellt Utvecklingssamarbete. SIDA delar inte nödvändigtvis de åsikter som här framförs. Ansvaret för innehållet är uteslutande författarens.
3.
Presidents’ Message
T
he Association of Foreign Affairs is looking back on another amazing semester full of actives and events related to foreign policy. While writing this we have just received Carl Bildt, Minister for Foreign Affairs, and Charlotta Sparre, Sweden’s ambassador to Egypt, and participated in the European election night at Eden, making a great ending to a fantastic year.
Board 2013-2014
The spring semester is almost finished, but the Association of Foreign Affairs will continue its important task of spreading knowledge of international issues. In July we will be in Visby, Gotland during the political week of Almedalen, where our umbrella organization UFS/SAIA is arranging several events. If you happen to be in Visby at the time, please drop by!
Treasurer: Niklas Lövgren treasure@upflund.se
A couple of weeks ago a new board was elected, which mean we will soon be handing over to our successors: the newly elected President Emelie Muñoz and Vice President Rikard Brodda. We wish them, and the rest of next year’s board best of luck for the year to come! In September the association will continue its coverage of the “Super election year” by highlighting the foreign policy issues in the Swedish election, and in 2015 the association celebrates its 80th anniversary. We have had a great time leading the Association of Foreign Affairs, and we will surely miss all the wonderful people and our office in the AF-building. We wish to end by thanking the board and all of the active members who put so much time and effort into making this organization what it is: an essential part of student life and a magnificent platform for debate on foreign policy issues.
President: Rasmus Kjulin president@upflund.se Vice President: Ylva Tallberg vice.president@upflund.se
Secretary: Ali Acikgoz secretary@upflund.se Lecture Committee: Hannes Petri Melinda Sjunnesson Andreas Nilsson lecture@upflund.se PR committee: Niklas Hjelm Smith Sandra Jakobsson pr@upflund.se Activity Committee: Kicki Salmijärvi Maari Alanko activity@upflund.se Utrikesperspektiv: Gustav Wirtén Ivar Johansson magazine@upflund.se Utrikesperspektiv.se: Jesper Åkesson Benny Wilbrink webzine@upflund.se Radio UPF: Edgar Mannheimer Simon Classon radio@upflund.se Career Committee: Karolina Schlyter Anna Åberg career@upflund.se
Hoppas vi ses I framtiden!
4.
Rasmus Kjulin & Ylva Tallberg President and Vice president of the Association
Travel Committee: Anahita Nicoobayan Fredrik Karlsson travel@upflund.se
Member Information The board of 2014-2015 President – Emelie Muñoz Vice President – Rikard Brodda Secretary – Oscar Sönnergren Treasurer – Alexander Jarlslund Head of the Activity Committee and Board Member – Emelie Einarsson Head of the Activity Committee and Deputy Board Member – Hedwig Lindgren Head of the Career Committee and Board Member – Fanny Jonsson
UPF GOES ALMEDALEN First week of July the Association of Foreign Affairs is going the political week of Almedalen, held every year in Visby, Gotland. All Sweden’s major political parties are represented as well as representatives of various interest groups. Our mother organization UFS /SAIA is arranging several events of their own during the week, all of them related to foreign policy. Join us there!
Head of the Career Committee and Deputy Board Member – Erika Pihl Editor-in-Chief of Utrikesperspektiv.se and Board Member – Lotta Herz Editor-in-Chief of Utrikesperspektiv.se and Deputy Board Member – Riccard Andersson Head of the PR Committee and Board Member – Emma Brunberg Head of the PR Committee and Deputy Board Member – Judith Frempomaa Head of the Lecture Committee and Board Member – Thea Holmlund Head of the Lecture Committee and Deputy Board Member – Oscar Waldner Head of the Lecture Committee and Deputy Board Member – Julian Mayr Editor-in-Chief of Radio UPF and Board Member – Lovisa Prage Editor-in-Chief of Radio UPF and Deputy Board Member – Takeshi Stokoe Head of the Travel Committee and Board Member – Laura Puccioni Head of the Travel Committee and Deputy Board Member – Rickard Allreke Wählhammar
@upflund
Editor-in-Chief of Utrikesperspektiv and Board Member – Linnea Sandell Editor-in-Chief of Utrikesperspektiv and Deputy Board Member – Marcus Bornlid
/upflund
UFS Representative – Saga Sohlman
@upflund
5.
Intervju
FEMINISTISK VÅR! En intervju med
Gudrun Schyman
Den 13 maj höll FI:s talesperson Gudrun Schyman ett torgmöte på Stortorget i Lund. Utrikesperspektiv fick då chansen att intervjua henne. Text och Foto: Ivar Johansson Du är en av Sveriges mest omtalade politiker just nu. Tror du att uppmärksamheten kring dig och partiet kommer att räcka fram till hösten och få in er i riksdagen? - Ja, det är jag alldeles övertygad om. Vi har ju EU-valet först. När vi visar att vi kommer in i EU-parlamentet har vi det att luta oss mot i nästa valrörelse, så jag tror att det kommer gå alldeles utmärkt. Fler kommer förstå 6.
att det inte är så svårt att ta sig in, bara man bestämmer sig. Är ert parti det enda av sitt slag, ideologiskt självständigt feministiskt eller ser ni andra liknande partier i Europa och världen? - Det håller på att växa fram i Europa. Vi har ett internationellt arbete med målet att kunna få feministiska initiativ i många länder. Hittills finns det
i Spanien och Frankrike där de även hunnit få fram en lista till EU-parlamentsvalet. Sen är det även på gång i Polen, Tyskland och Italien. Så jag tror att det här kommer att sprida sig. När vi kommer in så kommer det att utgöra en inspiration för feminister världen över. Vad går den feministiska säkerhetspolitiken ut på, och vad är er största utrikespolitiska fråga?
- Vi anser att säkerhetspolitik skall handla om säkerhet för människor. Inte för territorier. Vi tycker att bilden av männen som bärare av ett våldsmonopol som skall försvara kvinnor och barn och territorier med vapen i hand, är själva grundidén till militarismen som vi tycker är väldigt förlegad. Våldet har alltid ett syfte och det är att upprätthålla kontroll, och det gäller även i våra nära relationer. Där män kan hota om och utlösa våld. Det gäller i relationen män - män i samhället i form av konkurrens, dominans och revirtänkande. Det gäller även i de internationella relationerna som i relationen mellan Ryssland och Ukraina. Där en stormakt med hot om våld och utlöst våld, kan upprätthålla makt - våldets syfte är detsamma i alla relationer. Om vi ska utmana det ena våldet måste vi utmana det andra. Vi måste resa kravet på att utmönstra våldet som ett verktyg över huvud taget för att lösa konflikter och då måste vi prata om det i ett sammanhang. Då kan inte det ena våldet vara kvinnofrågor och det andra våldet försvarsfrågor. Vi gör det som FN:s organisation för utrotande av våld mot kvinnor säger, nämligen: rusta ned militären och rusta upp säkerhetspolitiken för människor, det är vår politik också. Det får ju konsekvenser givetvis, för svenska försvaret och synen på hur EU ska agera. Innebär detta att ni vill rusta ned försvaret? - Ja. Det innebär att rusta ned försvaret och ställa om försvarsindustrin till civilproduktion och sluta med vapenexport, vilket inte görs
över en natt utan successivt. Vi är emot militariseringen av EU:s säkerhetspolitik, så det finns mycket att göra. Den här politiken har funnits innan i Sverige men vi är idag väldigt ensamma med att tala om att rusta ned. Vill ni vara ett stort parti som många röstar på, eller vill ni vara ett mindre med ett starkt och engagerat stöd bakom er. - Vi resonerar inte i de termerna. Nu är nummer ett att vi ska in, hur stora vi blir är det väljarna som avgör. Vi har inget emot att det är många som röstar på oss då vi har vår egna självständiga utgångspunkt, det är det som särskiljer oss från resten av partierna. Vilka vi sen kommer att samarbeta med vet vi inte. Men det är lättare att samarbeta med partier som har kunskap om att vi har strukturell diskriminering och olika behandling i Sverige. Istället för dem som tror det är individuella kvinnor som råkar individuellt illa ut vid individuella tillfällen vid individuella löneförhandlingar. Eller att det är individuella kvinnor som råkar ut för våld i individuella situationer. Då är det mycket svårare att samarbeta. Kan du berätta kort om dina Homepartys? - Mina Homepartys har sin bakgrund i att vi inte har pengar i FI. Vi har därför inte råd att hyra lokaler, affischera eller annonsera. Och redan för ett år sedan började det bubbla runt feminismen. Jag
började då få många frågor om när jag hade möten, och jag fick svara att jag inte hade några möten. Det blev ohållbart så jag sa att: samla minst 25 personer så kommer jag till dig. Då trodde jag att det blir väl några kvällar, men sen tog alla kvällar slut då tänkte jag att då får det bli eftermiddagar, då tog alla eftermiddagar slut, då får man ta lunchen så tog alla luncher slut så nu börjar jag med frukost. Så jag kör från nio på morgonen till nio på kvällen och nu växer mötena ut ur vardagsrummen och in i allt större lokaler. Det finns ett sådant enormt intresse, vilket är väldigt roligt. Å
Feministiskt Initiativ - Feministiskt initiativ säger sig tillföra den “saknade dimensionen” i politiken, det vill säga den som “problematiserar och utmanar könsmaktsordningen och heteronormativiteten”. Denna dimension måste genomsyra all politik, enligt partiet. - I EU-valet fick FI 5,3 procent vilket gör att kandidaten Soraya Post får ta plats i parlamentet. Soraya Post var den första romen i Sverige att toppa en partivalsedel. - FI hade maj 2014 strax över 14 000 medlemmar.
7.
Interview
systematic Expulsion of PALESTINIANS”
“There was a
Ilan Pappé is one of the Israeli “New Historians”, who started to challange the classic Israeli history writing in the 1980’s. Among other things, Pappé claims that an ethnic cleansing was a deliberate part of the war between Israel and the neighbouring states in 1948. As he visited the Palestinian Youth Movement in Malmö we sat down with him to talk about this and the future of the conflict between Israel and Palestine. Text: Gustav Wirtén
- No, I was expelled from my university so I cannot work in Israeli academic institutions. But I have no problem going in and out of the country.
reason why I left Israel. I decided to take my children, who were very young at the time, out of the country. You never know with threats until they happen. It was very unpleasant. But the children and the family is back in Israel now.
Why did your university expel you?
What did you mean with an “academic boycott” of Israel?
- I had to leave my job because of three things. The first was my support for an academic boycott of Israel, the other was that I insisted on teaching about the Nakba*, which is not allowed, and the third was that I tried to help a student of mine who exposed a massacre and got thrown out of the university. My ideological point of view was described by the university as ”unpatriotic”, which I am very proud of, I’m not patriotic at all.
- An academic boycott is part of a cultural boycott. It’s about putting non-violent pressure on Israel by telling Israeli scientists and institutions ”you are not welcome as long as your country is committing crimes to which you are not opposed”. It’s very effective and it shows the Israeli society that it’s not only the soldier who shoots a Palestinian who is to be blamed, but also an academic who doesn’t say anything to oppose it.
Did you get threats because of your criticism of Israel?
Your book about the Nakba is famous, what is your understanding of what happened in 1948?
How is your situation with Israel now? Are you exiled?
- I got threats, that is another 8.
Photo: Ivar Johansson - I regard it as an act of ethnic cleansing. I claim that a critical part of the zionist project from the very beginning was to get as much of Palestine as possible with as few palestinians in it as possible. So for me, Nakba was the outcome of an ideology. Before I wrote my book, most Israeli historians saw Nakba as the unfortunate result of a war. I say no, the war was the means to do the Nakba. That’s very different. How was this ethnic cleansing implemented? - There was a systematic expulsion of Palestinians in every village that was occupied. If the villagers didn’t run away because they were afraid they were kicked out, and if they refused to leave, there was a massacre. This was systematically done from february 1948 until the end of the year. Within nine months, the Israelis destroyed half of the Palestinian villages and towns, and half of the population was expelled.
Has the Israeli understanding of 1948 turned somewhat towards your point of view in the latest years? - There was a period in the 90’s when many started to think that maybe the Palestinian story about 1948 has some truth in it. For the first time, some Israelis started to see the other side of it. But with the fall of the peace process and everything that happened in 2000, this was silenced. Now, the situation is almost worse than before. There is a ”Nakba-law” in place today, you are not allowed to call the events of 1948 “Nakba”. Do you think that there can ever be peace without the refugee problem being solved? - No, I believe it is the heart of the matter. In a just peace the refugees should be allowed to turn back or be compensated somehow. I don’t believe most of them would like to turn back anyway, but that’s not the issue, they should have the right to decide whether they want to come back or not. Only then can we talk about a real rec-
onciliation between Israel and Palestine. So a statement from the Israeli side would not be enough? - No, but it would be a good start. We have to be serious about this, we have to sit down and think: how many can come back? Where can they live?. But sure, it has to start with a statement, that would signal that this is a serious question. If we succeed in achieving real peace and reconciliation, it will end with the return of the refugees. If you were to be God, and make a dream scenario for peace between Israel and the Palestinians, how would that look? - It would be a normal, free state between the Jordan river and the Mediterranean where everybody is equal according to the law and where there is no discrimination on the basis of race and religion. It has to be one state, not two. How far away do you feel that is today?
- I’m a historian, not a prophet! I don’t think I will see it in my life, but i’m very hopeful that my children will be able to live in that state. That would be good enough for me. Å
*The Nakba - Nakba is the Arabic word for “disaster” - Roughly 700.000 Palestinians fled or were expelled from their homes. - Today, there are 5 million Palestinian refugees in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria and Israel. The Palestinian leadership has insisted on the right of return for the refugees. - Israel claims the exodus was a consequence of the war in 1948 in which it was attacked by its neighbours and disclaim itself of responsability for the refugee problem. - In March 2014 the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged Palestinian leaders to “abandon the fantasy of flooding Israel with refugees”. 9.
“Nazister har dödat fler än tio människor i Sverige i modern tid” - Vänsterpartiets Jonas Sjöstedt om vägval under supervalåret Text: Joanna Herskovits Valåret 2014. Supervalåret. Sverige och Europa ska rösta in sina representanter till EU-parlamentet och till Sveriges riksdag. I samband med en EU-debatt med Birgitta Olsson har Utrikesperspektiv träffat Jonas Sjöstedt för att diskutera frågorna inför riksdagsvalet i september och Vänsterpartiets syn på EU:s framtid. Riksdagspartierna i Sverige är nu i full gång med att driva sina kampanjer inför riksdagsvalet i september och samtidigt slipas partiernas argument för att få sina representanter skickade till Bryssel. Det är ett kritiskt valår. Runtom i världen märks fler utförsäkrade människor och en ökad fattigdom i sviterna av fi10.
Foto: Ivar Johansson
nanskrisen. Historien upprepar sig själv och historiker vittnar om hur dagens världspolitiska situation inte är alltför olik den laddade stämningen i förkrigstidens Europa. Utredningar vittnar om hur det fascistiska våldet ökar, något som blir påtagligt då feminister och antifascister knivhuggits på öppen gata. Samtidigt växer motkrafterna sig starkare. Feminismen och antirasismen är rasande aktuell och vill vinna på riktigt denna gång. Inför valet till EU-parlamentet finns förhoppningar om att valdeltagandet ska öka jämfört med förra valet. Detta har betonats som särskilt viktigt då kunskapen om EU är förhållandevis låg och hur detta är i sig är ett stort demokratiproblem. EU beskrivs
av många liberala som ett frihetsprojekt med stor potential medan vänsterpartier talar för att det är ett odemokratiskt projekt med ekonomisk vinst som enda fundament, och den fria rörligheten som vapen. Vänsterpartiets förstanamn på vallistan till Europaparlamentet, Malin Björk, har sagt i replik på kritik att Vänsterpartiets EU-politik är protektionistisk att ”för mig handlar det om solidaritet. EU:s åtstramningspolitik sätter arbetsrätt och offentlig omsorg ur spel, dessutom är den grogrund för högerextrema krafter”. Vid frågan om vad Jonas Sjöstedt anser om detta uttalande replikerar Sjöstedt med att han tycker detta är en riktig analys.
kommer att ligga för ett eventuellt utträde ur EU för Sveriges del utan på sakfrågor, och på att få in fler vänsterpartister i EU-parlamentet. Angående detta säger Sjöstedt - Vi har aldrig ångrat oss, vi tyckte det var fel att gå med i EU, men frågan avgörs inte av EU-parlamentsvalet. Därför vore det också oärligt mot väljarna att säga att det här valet spelar roll för medlemsskapets vara eller icke vara, för det gör det inte. Däremot spelar det roll för hur mycket makt EU har och vilka frågor man driver. Vilka frågor vill Vänsterpartiet driva i EU-parlamentet?
- EU:s politik har varit så hård mot länder som Grekland och Portugal. Det har skapat en social oro och en väldig förtvivlan hos människor, och det löser inte den ekonomiska krisen. Det är faktiskt en bidragande orsak till att högerextrema partier vädrar morgonluft. Jag menar att EU både i sin flyktingpolitik och i sitt sätt att behandla handel med utvecklingsländer är väldigt protektionistiskt. Det gör att vi blir protektionister, och jag tycker inte om det. Jag vill förändra det. Mer internationalism leder till kritik av hur EU fungerar, utvecklar Sjöstedt. Vänsterpartiet är öppet EU-kritiska och har varit det sedan Sveriges inträde till EU. Sjöstedt har dock uttryckt att fokus för Vänsterpartiets kampanjarbete inför EU-valet inte
- Vi driver i mångt och mycket samma frågor i EU-parlamentet som vi driver nationellt. Vi tar upp kampen mot privatiseringar eftersom EU påtvingar medlemsländerna ingripande sådana. En speciell fråga på det området just nu är att EU förhandlar om ett frihandelsavtal med USA som ska möjliggöra att företag kan överklaga demokratiska beslut, tillexempel ett beslut om att vinster i välfärden ska bort. Vi tar också upp arbetsrätt, villkoren för människor som tvingas flytta från fattigdomen runtom i EU de är ofta väldigt svåra idag. Jag tycker att vi har ett gemensamt ansvar för att se till att människor som exempelvis kommer till Sverige och jobbar behandlas på ett bra sätt. Vi tar också upp feminism. Vänsterpartiet har fokuserat väldigt mycket på jämställdhet och feminism i EU-parlamentet. Ordföranden i EU-s jämställdhetsutskott är en vänsterpartist. Tidigare ordföranden var en vänsterpartist.
Vi är nog, skulle jag påstå, EUmästare i feminism och det vill vi fortsätta vara. Som det ser ut idag råder det en borgerlig majoritet i EU-parlamentet, vad får det för verkningar? - Ja, det gör ju till exempel att EU blir allt sämre i miljöpolitiken. Det gör att man uttalar sig väldigt konservativt i frågor som hanterar kvinnors rätt och kvinnors rätt till sina egna kroppar, och abort. Det gör också att man inte respekterar arbetsrätten och löntagares rättigheter. När det kommer till denna typ av frågor så spelar det stor roll vilka som sitter i maktposition. EU-parlamentet har stor makt. Många tror felaktigt att parlamentet är en maktlös församling. Vi ser dock nu att valet kan bli en framgång för vänstern. Inte bara i Sverige men framför allt i länder som Spanien, Nederländerna, Grekland och Irland. Det skulle kunna förändra saker, säger Sjöstedt. Apropå maktdimensionen, hur ser du på den demokratiska legitimiteten inom EU? - Den är låg. Det är få som röstar i valen till EU-parlamentet. Kommissionen som har extremt stor makt är förbjudna att ta instruktioner ifrån folkvalda och har alla möten bakom stängda dörrar. Det uppfyller inte de normala kraven på en demokrati och det är en orsak till varför vi i Vänsterpartiet vill minska EU:s inflytande snarare än att öka det, svarar Sjöstedt. Under den debatt som följde mellan Ohlsson och Sjöstedt var en av kärnfrågorna som behan11.
dlades just den demokratiska legitimiteten inom EU. Ytterst är det en ideologisk fråga där frågan ställs på sin spets om unionssamarbetet ska se som ett sätt att förverkliga idén om ett “växande, livskraftigt Europa som förenar idéerna om demokrati och välfärd med en
- Det är ett verkligt hot. Framför allt mot de människor som misshandlas och hotas, nazister har dödat fler än tio människor i Sverige i modern tid. Jag tycker att det är otroligt grov brottslighet som måste bekämpas. Jag tycker att polisen ska få en ännu tydligare uppgift att
EU blir allt sämre >>i miljöpolitiken dynamisk ekonomi och kultur” (FP:s valkampanj) enligt FP:s positiva ordalag, eller om det ska ses som ett med dystrare ordalag ”högerprojekt som sätter marknaden framför människor och demokrati” (Mikael Olsson, V, Sydsvenskan). En beskrivning moderpartiet delar och de flaggar budskapet genom sin valslogan ”Inte till salu!” som används både för upptakten till EU-parlamentsvalet och det svenska riksdagsvalet i september. Sjöstedts syn på sitt parti som mästare i feminism får nog anses kraftigt utmanad av Feministiskt Initiativ (FI) vars valsedlar kommer att finnas förtryckta i valstugorna efter deras succé med två procent av rösterna i EU-valet 2010. Det som skiljer de båda partierna åt är främst hur FI har en anti-rasistisk och feministisk utgångspunkt, istället för att som Vänsterpartiet se det som viktiga sakfrågor att behandla. Hur ser Vänsterpartiet på den ökade organiserade fascismen i Sverige? Jag tänker på nazistattacken i Malmö mot feminister som skedde natten mot 9 mars? 12.
hålla koll på de grupperna. Man måste kunna skydda fredliga demonstrationer och människor som är fackligt aktiva och antirasister. Sedan är jag naturligtvis emot allt politiskt våld. Det är självklart. Jag vill inte se en utveckling där man angriper varandra och där människor... ja, misshandlas och mördas för sina åsikters skull. Malmös tjejjour är för tillfället i strejk. Hur ser Vänsterpartiet på underfinansieringen av Sveriges tjej- och kvinnojourer? - Det är ett jätteproblem. Vi har kvinno- och tjejjourer som stänger. Inte därför att kvinnor inte behöver hjälp, utan i brist på resurser. Kvinnojourerna får också lägga en väldigt stor tid på att söka projektbidrag, eftersom de inte får kontinuerlig finansiering och de får hanka sig fram från år till år. Vi vill ha en stadig finansiering på 200 miljoner kronor per år som gör att man har en grundfinansiering vilken kan möjliggöra en kontinuerlig verksamhet. Vi menar att alla kommuner ska ha en jourverksamhet. Varje dag nekas kvinnor och barn hjälp
från kvinnojourer. En annan viktig aspekt i det hela är att om inte brottsoffer får hjälp så kan man inte heller sätta åt förövarna. Då vi är vid Lunds Universitet, vad säger Vänsterpartiet om Alliansens förslag om en privatisering av Sveriges universitet? - Jag är glad att regeringen drog tillbaka sitt förslag om att göra universiteten till stiftelser, vilket ju var ett förstadium till en privatisering. Jag är dock rädd att Alliansen återkommer med förslaget efter valet, de har ju förslagit en ytterligare utredning. En rödgrön valseger är en garanti mot en privatisering av den högre utbildningen. Det går tydligt att se de dåliga resultaten av en privatisering av skolor på gymnasienivå och vi vill inte ha den utvecklingen på universitet och högskolor. Å
Kvinnojourer Många tjej- och kvinnojourer drivs på ideell basis. Det saknas idag kontinuerlig stadig finansiering av kvinnojourer. Den statliga finansiering som finns att tillgå är främst projektstöd som söks för enskilda projekt som kvinno- och tjejjourerna får ”hitta på” för att få verksamheten att gå runt. Ideella krafter tvingas träda in därför att många kommuner, trots sin skyldighet, inte har fungerande kvinno- och tjejjourer. Även om att kommunerna ofta själva hänvsar till de ideella journerna får de inte den finansiering de kommunala jourerna annars hade fått.
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W
orld brief. 1. Chinese villagers may be descendants of a lost roman legion
Where to live – if you want to get away from there
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According to the latest Visa Restrictions Index, Sweden, Finland and the UK are the best countries to be a citizen of, if you like to travel. Any person who holds a passport from any of these three countries may travel to 173 countries without a Visa. In last place we find Afghanistan whose citizens can only travel to 28 countries without a Visa.
After DNA testing the blue eyed villagers of a Chinese village, scientists now believe that they have solved the 2000 year old mystery of a lost roman legion.
Top: 1. Sweden, Finland, United Kingdom. 173 countries. 2. Denmark, Luxembourg, Germany, USA. 172 countries. 3. Belgium, Italy, Netherlands. 171 countries.
The villagers themselves believe that they are descendants of Roman soldiers and some even have nicknames like “Cai the Roman�. The theory is still strongly debated among anthropologists and historians. Some call it a fairytale and others argue that the people of this remote village can have blue eyes without having to be descendants of Roman soldiers.
Bottom: 91. Pakistan, Somalia 32, countries. 92. Iraq, 31 countries. 93. Afghanistan. 28 countries.
14.
In the year 53BC a Roman army clashed with Parthian forces in the Roman expansion eastwards. The Roman forces were slaughtered and a single legion escaped the battle, marching east, never to be seen again. Now, scientists have discovered a village in a remote part of north east China where the inhabitants are fair-skinned and have green and blue eyes. After DNA testing, the villagers turn out to have more than 50 percent Caucasian DNA.
Photo: Jonathan Kos-Read
1.
2.
1000+ *
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number of execu* The tions is a state secret in
369+
US 39
Iran
The predictions made by these 3000 people have been so accurate that they supersede even the accuracy of CIA’s intelligence officers who have access to classified information. The question the project managers ask themselves: How is this possible?The answer may be a concept called “Crowd Wisdom”. The idea is that a large crowd has a very large collected wisdom even if the individual guesses are far out. It’s not likely that this type of crowd wisdom will replace intelligence officers, but founders of the Good Judgment Project say that it may be used as a compliment to intelligence analysis in the future.
China
The Good Judgment Projects is part of an American, government –sponsored, forecasting tournament initiated by three psychologists and a bunch of people from the intelligence community. 3000 people signed up and the project then allowed them to guess the outcome of everything from gas subsidies in Venezuela to when North Korea will launch its next missile. The only source of information that these people had access to was open sources, that is to say information on the internet that anyone can come by.
Saudi Arabia 79+
169+
Ordinary people seem to be better at predicting the future than CIA analysts. At least according to the Good Judgment Project which has gathered 3000 people and allowed them to guess what effects global events will have. And the results are surprisingly accurate.
Iraq
3. Are ordinary people smarter Than CIA agents?
Photo: G Morel
China, but is to be counted in the thousands, according to Amnesty.
top five executors in 2013 Facts: Amnesty International
By: Simon Fridolfsson and Gustav Wirtén
15.
Tagna i
FÖRVAR I ett industriområde utanför Åstorp ligger Migrationsverkets förvarsenhet bakom tre meter höga murar. Människorna innanför är inlåsta i väntan på utvisning. Vi åkte dit och frågade Prosper från Burundi och tvåbarnsmamman Huong hur de hamnade där. Av: Gustav Wirtén och Ivar Johansson Text: Gustav Wirtén Foto: Ivar Johansson
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i kliver av tåget i Åstorp, mitt i det skånska inlandet. En typisk svensk småstad - en polisstation, en sparbank, ett äldre par som rör sig sakta längs trottoaren. Vi tar oss genom staden till ett industriområde en bit från stationen. Bland lagerlokaler och fabriker sticker ett gult hus ut. Huset omges av tre meter höga murar och intill dörren sitter en skylt med Migrationsverkets logotyp.
Foto: Migrationsverket
Vi släpps in genom de låsta dörrarna och tas emot av personalen som välkomnar oss till övervåningens kontorsavdelning. På kontoret, med ett stort fönster som blickar ut mot den mur-omslutna utomhusgården, berättar personalen om verksamhetens viktigaste mål. Att de asylsökande ska hållas så kort tid som möjligt, att de ska äta och träna och komma därifrån i ett bra skick är det viktigaste för de som arbetar på enheten.
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Detta är en av Migrationsverkets fem förvarsenheter. Hit kommer asylsökande och andra personer som finns i Sverige utan tillstånd. Om migrationsverket, migrationsdomstolen, regeringen eller polisen anser att en asylsökandes identitet behöver utredas, eller om det kan anses vara troligt att personen kommer gömma sig i samband med att ett utvisningsbeslut verkställs, kan personen tas i förvar. Att bli tagen i förvar innebär att man frihetsberövas och får hållas i en av migrationsverkets låsta förvarsenheter. Personalen får inte utöva tvångsåtgärder mot de förvarstagna och ingen vaktpersonal finns. Men dörrarna ut är låsta och rökrutan är omsluten av stålgaller och plexiglas. Från kontoren på övervåningen tar vi oss ner genom byggnaden, förbi ett par låsta dörrar och genom en smal korridor. Vi blir mötta av Tomas Sjöholm, en av de som jobbar på enheten, och
Foto: Migrationsverket
släpps in i ett slags ledningscentral. Rummet har stora fönster ut mot en av avdelningarna där de förvarstagna bor. På en hylla står ett tiotal walkie-talkies, varje skrivbord har tre stora datorskärmar. Härifrån styrs och övervakas verksamheten. Tomas öppnar dörren ut till avdelningen och visar en stor och rymlig sal med två tomma matbord, ett pingisbord och en tv i ena hörnet där en såpopera står på utan ljud. Lokalerna är ljusa och fina, och ganska tomma. På en stol intill en vägg sitter en man och pratar i telefon, två personer sitter vid datorer inne i en datorsal i anslutning till salen och i ett tv-rum kan man ana att någon ligger nerhasad i en av skinnsofforna och spelar TV-spel. Annars är det stilla. - Det är väldigt låg beläggning just nu, jag vet inte varför faktiskt, säger Thomas och öppnar dörren till ett boenderum där två personer bor för tillfället.
Rummet är väldigt enkelt inrätt. Två sängar i björkfanér, ett fönster täckt av en neddragen mörkläggningsgardin och ett metallskåp mellan sängarna. Rummen kan inte låsas och städas av de boende själva, berättar Thomas.
Maxtiden för att hållas i förvar är ett år.
- Vissa boende är så klart nedslagna och förtvivlade när de bor här. Det är jobbigt att se, men vi gör vårt bästa för att deras tid här ska bli bra och värdig, säger Thomas.
De förvarstagna i Åstorp hålls i genomsnitt elva dagar.
Vi har stämt möte med två av de boende och får använda ett besöksrum. I ena hörnet ligger några leksaker och ett ritblock från ett familjebesök tidigare, i övrigt är rummet enkelt inrätt med en soffa, ett bord och två stolar. Efter en stund dyker en välbyggd man i vit pikétröja upp i dörren och sträcker fram handen, blicken är fast. Vi hälsar och slår oss ner i soffan. Prosper, som flydde till Sverige från det konflikthär19.
jade Burundi, är först tystlåten och reserverad men efter ett par minuters kallprat börjar han berätta om hur han hamnade här. - Jag lämnade Burundi därför att mitt liv var i fara. Det var strider mellan hutuer och tutsier, precis som i Rwanda. Mina föräldrar blev mördade och de tvingade mig att gå med i en militär grupp. Jag kom i kontakt med en kyrka där en präst hjälpte mig att lämna landet. - Jag fick inte veta någonting, de sa bara att jag skulle tas till en säker plats. Jag trodde att jag skulle komma till Kongo eller något annat land nära Burundi. Istället togs jag med flyg till Europa och så småningom till Sverige.
Prosper säger att han förmodligen inte kommer försöka komma tillbaka till Sverige om han utvisas. Huong har utöver sina två barn en mamma att försörja i Vietnam.
- Det tog ett tag innan jag förstod att jag kommit till ett land som hette Sverige. Jag visste ingenting om Sverige innan, jag hade inte en aning. Utöver några fall av rasism, bland annat från en dörrvakt i Göteborg som inte ville släppa in ”svartmannen” på krogen, tycker Prosper att svenskarna är bra människor. Personalen på förvaret är det heller inget fel på, men Prosper tycker att han varit där för länge, drygt sju månader. Han är förvarstagen för att polisen utreder hans identitet. - Jag tycker inte att jag förtjänar att sitta här så länge. Det är lagen, enligt myndigheterna behöver jag sitta här. Men folk kommer och går här, och jag är kvar. Vi får också träffa Huong från Vietnam. Hon möter oss med en vänlig blick och förklarar att hon bara pratar lite svenska. Hon är i trettioårsåldern och har två barn i hemlandet som hon inte träffat på fyra år, bara pratat med i telefon. Hon arbetade tidigare med att sy kläder, men en dag för ett par år sedan träffade hon en grupp i Vietnam som sa att om hon betalade för en flygbiljett till Sverige
20.
skulle hon tjäna stora pengar på att plocka bär där. - Jag belånade min pappas hus för att köpa biljetten. De sa att jag skulle jag tjäna 17 000 i månaden, och ännu mer om jag jobbade mycket. Jag tänkte att om jag jobbar i tre månader kommer jag tjäna mycket pengar, säger Huong och kan inte hålla tårarna tillbaka. - Men 2010 var ett väldigt dåligt år, det fanns nästan inga bär. Vi fick knappt jobba någonting. Det var mycket problem med pengar, de hjälpte oss inte ens att köpa mat. Huong fick inte ut en enda krona från bärplockandet i Sverige. I den desperata situationen fick hon höra att man kunde plocka bär i Norge också, så hon bestämde sig för att åka dit. Men i Karlstad blev hon gripen av svensk polis - hon hade inget uppehållstillstånd. Nu är hon förvarstagen i väntan på utvisning till Vietnam.
- Personalen här är bra, men jag vill kunna gå ut. Jag har sagt att jag kan vänta i en lägenhet till jag ska utvisas, men de litar inte på att jag kommer dyka upp, säger Huong och tillägger: - Jag drömmer bara om att jobba och tjäna pengar. Det är det jag vill göra. Efter samtalen med Huong och Prosper kliver vi ut på gatan i industriområdet utanför Åstorp igen. Vi är skakade, tagna. Lika omedvetna som vi var om Huong och Prosper innan vi kom hit, lika långt borta känns de redan. Kontrasten mellan den sömniga småstaden och historierna vi just hört är svindlande. Vi hoppas att Huong och Prosper och alla de andra inte glöms bort där inne bakom murarna. Å Gården är öppen ett par timmar om dagen. Annars hänvisas de förvarstagna till en ingallrad rökruta för frisk luft.
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Theme
FIVE TINY Five tiny, uninhabited islands in the East China Sea are claimed by Japan, China, and Taiwan, and are the source of much contention between the two world powers of Japan and China. Japan has had effective control of the islands since 1895.
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undreds of kilometers from the nearest sovereign nation lie five uninhabited islands and three barren rocks. These seemingly insignificant islands are the basis for the most serious threat to Sino-Japanese relations in more than half a century. China calls them the Diaoyu Islands, while Japan has named them the Senkaku Islands. Following Japan’s annexation of the islands in 1895 after winning the First Sino-Japanese War, a Japanese fish processing factory was set up on the islands around 1900, employing over 200 people. The enterprise failed around 1940, and the islands have been uninhabited since. On paper, these islands are near worthless – they have no diamonds or mineral deposits, and are not big enough to support a military base. A 1968 survey found possible reserves of oil and gas in the vicinity, but no progress has been made since. In fact, the main reason both countries care so much about these islands is they have invested so much time and rhetoric claiming them, to back down now would represent a massive loss of face. While Chinese fishing trawlers and 22.
air force planes occasionally violate what Japan views as its territory, the most serious incident occurred when the Japanese government nationalized the islands in 2012. The reaction in China was immediate and fierce. Anti-Japanese riots spread throughout the major cities, where angry mobs torched Japanese-made cars and looted Japanese stores. Ironically, the Japanese government had nationalized the islands to try and defuse the situation. At the time, the right-wing, nationalistic governor of Tokyo had explicit plans to buy the islands and build permanent settlements on them. This would have angered China far more, as the lack of Japanese settlements is one of the key points that allows China to continue claiming the islands as its own territory. According to Jens Sejrup, a research fellow at the Centre for East and Southeast Asian Studies, “China made the Japanese government look weak and incompetent, when in fact the Japanese government was much more interested in having smooth relations with China than the current government. They were asking ‘how can we stop having these tensions and talk about something constructive?’ And the Chinese would not give them that. So now we have a far more right-wing government in Japan, who say ‘we’re not going to make the first move to discuss this with you, we’re just going
Senkaku Islands Conflict : -2010 – Chinese fishing trawler rammed Japanese Coast Guard -2012 – Taiwanese and Japanese Coast Guard vessels collided -2012 – Japan nationalizes the islands -2013 – China announces East China Sea Air Defense Identification Zone -2014 – The United States affirms it will protect Japan’s territory, including the Senkaku Islands
ISLANDS And how they might threaten world peace
23. Photo: Al Jazeera English
to beef up our military to balance your military buildup.” Paradoxically, the Japanese public is not overly concerned with the Senkaku Islands. Sejrup says “when Japanese voters are asked about what the major issues are, security issues and China relations actually come in quite low in that list of priorities. They talk more about how they can revitalize the economy, minimize social inequality, and social problems. These seem to matter a lot more to public opinion than Japan-China relations.” Furthermore, he adds “there is a pretty strong sense of pacifism in Japan. The Japanese public do not want to get into this game, this arms race.” Instead, Japan is quietly pursuing an unofficial policy of containing China’s influence by building closer relations with many of China’s neighbors. Sejrup notes “there seems to be quite a lot of effort on behalf of the Japanese Foreign Ministry in trying to engage all the countries surrounding China. And since China maintains problematic relations with most of its neighbors, like Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, India, and Russia, it’s not difficult to find people you can talk to.” Paul O’Shea, a research fellow at the Department of Culture and Society at Aarhus University, agrees. He affirms Japan has been reaching out to the Philippines, Malaysia, India, and any other democratic, like-minded governments it can. Given the massive strength of their respective militaries, there has been much speculation over the possibility of armed conflict between these two superpowers. Chinese military spending alone accounts for 10.8 percent of the entire world’s total military budget. While Japan is constitutionally forbidden from using their military for anything but self-defense, they will still spend nearly $52 billion on military expenditures this year. As Sejrup 24.
KARTA
notes, “you can say they are very able to defend themselves.” However, despite and perhaps partially because of their military capabilities, Sejrup and O’Shea agree that war between Japan and China is highly unlikely. Sejrup goes further, arguing “the likelihood is very low for a planned, deliberate escalation into armed conflict. What most strategists are concerned about is if there is simply a misunderstanding. Neither
Above: A map over the area. The two powers China and Japan but also Taiwan. The islands here have their Japanese names.
Both sides >>would lose more than they could possibly win side has any compelling reason to have a war. Both sides would lose more than they could possibly win.” Furthermore, Japan is still very much under the protection of the United States military. As recently as April of this year, president Barack Obama stated unequivocally that the United
Right: Anti-Chinese rally in Tokyo 2010.
Photo: Al Jazeera English
Circle: Japan´s President since 2012 (he had a previous office period 200607) Shinzu Abe, who is the leader of the conservative party LDP.
-China spent $188 billion in military spending last year, placing it second in the world -Japan spent $49 billion in military spending last year, placing it 7th in the world -1 million Chinese live in Japan -100,000 Japanese live in China
Ha ge r
Photo: Moritz
Big Numbers
States will defend Japan in its islands dispute with China, saying “our commitment to Japan’s security is absolute and covers all territories under Japan’s administration, including the Senkaku islands.” Additionally, O’Shea points out that until recently, Japan and China had a secret agreement that Japan would not arrest fishermen who trespassed in their territorial waters. Instead, Japan would return them to China. This former agreement shows that Japan and China were more than willing to work together, albeit secretly, to decrease tensions and facilitate good relations. One proposed solution to this islands dispute is asking the United Nations for arbitration. However, this is not appealing to any of the countries involved due to the number and magnitude of island disputes between various east Asian countries. As Sejrup explains, “in Japan’s case, they would have a good case with the Senkaku Islands because the Japanese coast guard controls them, but China
probably wouldn’t accept an international court ruling. And, a very likely consequence of that scenario is South Korea would take their island dispute with Japan to the court, say ‘but in this case we control them’, and then Japan would lose, so nobody really wants to take it to that next level.” As a result of Japan’s refusal to even admit that there is a dispute over the Senkaku Islands, the colossal amount of trade between the two countries, and the lack of resource value of these islands thus far, Japan and China are not willing to pursue a solution through dialogue, war, or international courts. While tensions between these two giants will rise and fall, they both have far more to lose than gain by risking an ultimatum on these islands. Since neither side has reason to back down, nor motive to move forwards, we should expect the unfortunately tense status quo to remain for the foreseeable future.Å Text: Nicholas Kaminski 25.
analysis
bold, strong and determined
The ideology behind russia’s foreign policy In March 2014, the Russian Duma declared the Ukrainian peninsula Crimea as a part of the Russian federation, after a month of political and social disturbances in the region following the popular uprising against and removal of the pro-Russian Ukrainian president Victor Janukovich.
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he Russian annexing of Crimea, was however not the first expansionist act made by Russia in recent years. Already in 2008, Russian troops invaded the northern Georgian territories of Abchazia and South Ossetia after similar disturbances. While most Western countries have condemned these actions as violations of international law, Vladimir Putin and his party United Russia have instead justified their actions by referring to “the protection and safety of the Russian people”. In effect, Putin has created his own doctrine – a doctrine alarmingly reminiscent of the third Reich’s.
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Since his rise to power in 1999, Vladimir Putin has slowly emerged as an authoritarian leader dedicated to establish himself and his party as the only power source in Russia. By disabling all opposition through legislation and effectively controlling the Russian oligarchs using threats of persecution, Putin has recently started looking beyond the Russian borders for political influence. In his public speeches and propaganda, he nowadays often refers to a “Russian people” – a people united in culture, language an religion, but also genes and race. However, the “Russian people” is divided, unjustly so, by borders inflicted upon them by their enemies – the Western world. By using this rhetoric, Putin has, at least among many ethnic Russians, emerged not only as the legitimate leader of Russia but of all territories inhabited by ethnic Russians, Russian speakers and members of the Russian-Orthodox church. In a way, Putin has created a new Russian empire in the minds of his followers – a thought that is appealing to many members of the Russian minorities all around the former USSR. By putting salience on the Russian identity, Putin has successfully
managed to revive old ethnic conflicts between Russian minorities and others groups. His expansionist policies in Georgia and Crimea have shown them that there is a political alternative to being a mere loathed minority in a poor country – and instead become a part of the Russian mother nation. These notions have fed the violence and separatism preceding the annexing of Crimea, but also in other parts of Eastern Europe now risking similar military interventions by Putin. But perhaps the most disturbing element of this is that Putin has developed a Russian nationalism that bears strong resemblance to that of Nazism. In an election rally in 2012, Putin described the Russians as a “superior race” with “superior genes”. He loves to portray the Russians as a strong people, promoting typically masculine traits as essentially Russian and showing himself as the archetype Russian man – bold, strong and determined. Reversely, he also likes to portray his enemies as weak, effeminate and essentially “non-Russian”. This perception is reflected not only in his public speeches, but permeates his entire behaviour. Whether or not he actually believes in the Russian superiority, he treats his enemies with a distinct contempt – a clear indication of his perceived status. While negative emotions like resentment or anger are reserved for people who are conceived as superiors or equals, contempt is generally reserved for people seen as inferior. So when Putin treats his enemies with contempt, he is signalling his superior status. Disturbingly, this behaviour is also visible in his foreign relations, especially towards his Western colleagues. Being brought up in the
Soviet Union, he was taught to despise Western culture, values and ideas. As a KGB agent in Eastern Germany, he was always in close contact with the West – working against them and learning their weaknesses. Thus his contempt stretches beyond his domestic opposition, to Barack Obama, Angela Merkel and all other Western leaders – but more importantly also to the institutions and treaties that they have created. By invading Crimea, Putin ultimately showed the West his lack of respect for peace agreements, especially those that restrict Russian influence. Likewise, he sees the Western democracy and liberal values with contempt, as these essentially represent the Western ideology that he was brought up to despise. In his world, freedom of speech, anti-corruption and fair elections are inferior and foreign ideas used as weapons by his weak Western enemies to poison Russia and weaken his power. Logically of course, he is right; a democratic reformation of Russia would indeed weaken his power – a severe personal loss for Putin. So from a psychological perspective, it would only be rational for Putin to defend the current system by any means necessary – even if that means infringing human rights. Many scholars and politicians find Putin to be an enigma. His aggressive foreign policies have caused many European states to expand their military costs and the EU and USA have imposed severe financial and political sanctions towards Russia. Despite this, Putin continues to provoke the rest of the world and laughs at the sanctions towards him. But one need to understand his perception of the world in order to understand his actions. Unfortunately, his world perception seems to be out of this world. Å Text: Adrian Taleny
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Foto: Forgemind ArchiMedia
Kowloon Walled City Världens mest tätbefolkade stad - som försvann
28. Foto: Christopher Lance
De flesta av oss har hört talas om den ukrainska staden Pripyat, som snabbt övergavs av dess invånare när det intilliggande kärnkraftverket Tjernobyl fick en härdsmälta. En annan stad som blivit lämnad av dess invånare är Kowloon Walled City, men här var det de omkringliggande städerna som drev Kowloons invånare från deras hem.
K
owloon Walled City var från början en del utav Hong Kongs norra stadsdelar. Området förändrades och växte i samband med stadens expansion och dess föränderliga natur, och utvecklades så småningom till att bli ett av världens mest tätbefolkade områden. Men en stadsdel som alla andra har det aldrig riktigt varit. Från att ha startat sin historia i form av en gatukorsning där handlare bytte salt mot fisk fortsatte Kowloon sin utveckling mot sin slutliga utformning innan staden revs i mitten av 1990-talet. Under 1800-talet fram till slutet av 1900-talet var det växelvis Kina och Storbritannien som hade makten över staden. När det var Kina som styrde över Hong Kong tjänade Kowloon som militäranläggning och när staden drevs under brittisk flagg fungerade stadsdelen snarare som en diplomatisk zon för de kvarvarande kinesiska ämbetsmännen. Kina kom år 1957 med ett närmande om att de hade för avsikt att återigen lägga området under kinesiskt styre, vilket ledde till att flera tusen pro-kinesiska invånare valde att bosätta sig i området. Det brittiska styret fattade misstankar om att det bedrevs spionutbildning i området, och i ett försök att stoppa dessa att ta sig in i övriga staden började man bygga en mur runt stadsdelen. Misstankarna om verksamheten bekräftades aldrig, och än idag kvarstår frågan ifall ryktena var sanna.
Efter att stadsdelen ockuperats av pro-kinesiska invånare började den övriga staden att säga upp kontakten med Kowloon i allt större utsträckning. Stadsdelen isolerades från omgivningen allt mer samtidigt som muren utökades och Kowloon kom att fungera som en egen stad, utan styre från omvärlden. Då varken britterna eller kineserna gjorde anspråk på Kowloon låg den lilla staden under resterande tiden av sin existens under olika brottssyndikats styre. Men trots att kriminaliteten var hög och svarta marknaden allt mer utbredd levde den växande befolkningen ett till synes välfungerande liv med ett fungerande välfärdssystem. Staden växte för varje år som gick och allt fler människor som var trötta på samhällsklimatet i Hong Kong flyttade in i området. Eftersom staden i allt mindre utsträckning omfattades av Hong Kongs lagsystem kunde invånarna göra i princip hur de ville - till exempel fanns det inget krav på bygglov vid husbyggen, vilket ledde till att invånarna byggde åt alla håll och kanter och utformade därmed också stadens karaktäristiska skolådeliknande utseende. Kowloon var även ökänd för sin svarta marknad och prostitution. 1987 fattade Hong Kongs styrande beslutet att riva staden, då de ansåg att den skapade allt fler problem för de omkringliggande områdena då dessa blev allt mer kriminella. En yta motsvarande 2 fotbollsplaner rymde då en befolkning på 33 000, som inte visade en tendens på att sluta växa. Rivningen av området tog lång tid eftersom invånarna vägrade att flytta på sig. Den sista byggnaden revs i maj 1994 och detta var slutet för Kowloon Walled City ett av de mest tätbefolkade områdena genom tiderna. Å
Text: Kajsa Stolt
Bakgrund - Kowloon Walled City var från början ett kinesisk fort. - Befolkningen ökade dramatiskt efter att Kina återtagit kontrollen från Japan efter andra världskriget. - Under 50-, 60och 70-talet styrdes staden av maffian, vilket ledde till utbredd prostitution och hög droganvändning. - 1987 bestämde sig myndigheterna i Hong Kong för att riva staden. Många boende vägrade lämna sina bostäder och den sista bostaden revs först 1994. 29.
Traces of colonialism
30.
The world order of exploitation and racism is still alive and kicking. How does it look? We followed a few tracks to find out how colonialism works today.
31. Photo: Julien Harneis
a farwell to
FRANÇ
The French intervention in Mali 2013 showed the world that the dependency between France and its former colonies still applies. Many are the French presidents who have claimed that they want to change the nature of the partnership, but none of them seems to have succeeded. Is France too affected by its colonial past to create an equal relationship with its former colonies? 32.
AFRIQUE?
33.
I
n the aftermath of the liberation of the French colonies during the 1960’s a strong web of political and economical interests and alliances was created between France and Africa, namely Françafrique. As almost a third of the African continent was colonised by the French, profitable trade policies due to common language, cultural cohesion and history helped France remain an influential superpower. Ida Svensson worked in Bamako, Mali, between 2009 and 2012 for the faithbased Swedish development organisation Diakonia. According to Svensson, the connection to France depends on which layer of the social hierarchy one belongs to.
- Mainly, it is the people with power, the politicians and the elite, that has kept a close relationship to France. Even though many of the former colonies claim that they are independent they are actually entirely depending on the approval of the political leaders of France.
FRANCE >>WITHOUT GABON
IS LIKE A CAR WITH NO FUEL Svensson is a dedicated opponent of tax evasion and considers the fact that companies extracting natural resources in this part of Africa, many of them controlled by the French state, do not pay the rightful amount of tax which is considered a large problem. - It is absurd that Mali is still one of the world’s poorest countries, even
34.
though they are the world’s third largest exporter of gold. However, the dependency is not a oneway street. Some of the African leaders who succeeded the colonial rule are not at all docile puppets. They, on the behalf of their country, have pulled strings to impeach French ministers of international development and cooperation when they did not act as desired. Additionally, several newly appointed African leaders attended French elite schools. As Omar Bongo, the former president of Gabon who is known for having bankrolled several French presidents’ election campaigns, stated: - Gabon without France is like a car with no driver. France without Gabon is like a car with no fuel. His is one of many dictatorial governments who received far-reaching French support after the liberation. The French relationship with Africa is significantly different from the ones of other colonial powers. This can be traced back to the approach the French had during the time of imperialism. Not only did they want the soil and its assets, but also they saw themselves as carriers of a civilizing mission, la mission civilisatrice. During the end of the nineteenth century a sense of superiority reigned in France, the general idea was that the French people was superior to the rest of the world’s inhabitants. The people living in their colonies were considered too primitive to rule themselves and thus needed to learn “the French standard”. This was called French assimilation and contrary to the English empire the French allowed the inhabitants in their colonies to become French citizens if they adapted well enough to the French culture and abandoned their own. While this assimilation served the purpose of giving them the rights
as French citizens, it also obliged them to follow duties including assisting France in their warfare. Consequently, this led to a highly complex situation when the colonies became independent. When England took distance from their colonies, they became independent from England. But in the 1960’s when president Charles De Gaulle, who governed during the liberation of Algeria and other colonies, hundred thousands of frenchmen lived in Africa which created a very special attachment and it was rather France who got independent from their colonies than the opposite. France needed Algeria more than the other way around.
Since then France has intervened in its former African colonies more than 30 times. African soldiers fought in the Second World War, and continued to assist France afterwards as well. Military bases were strategically constructed in many African countries. The currencies of the former colonies were tied to the franc from 1945, and today it remains tied to the euro, which symbolises how the French are now acting behind the European Union. The genocide in Rwanda 1994 became a turning point for the French policy makers, as they supported the Hutu-regime and therefore became associated with the terrible outcome. Therefore the French population started to ques-
Touareg rebels in the northern part of Mali, 2012.
Photo: Magharebia
35.
Top: A ceremony in Timbuktu for the launch of the reconstruction of World Heritage mausoleums damaged by armed extremists. Middle: The French Operation is called OpĂŠration Serval and started in January 2013.
Photos: MINUSMA/Marco Dormino, 2013
Bottom: A view from the Timbuktu region in northern Mali.
36.
tion the French-African relationship and put the issue on the agenda. Since then the rhetoric has changed. Nicolas Sarkozy held a well-known speech 2007 in Dakar, Senegal, where he stated that the era of the French condescending attitude was over. However, Sarkozy was severely criticized after the speech that was contra productive as it included hints of neo-colonial ideas and racism such as that the African man “has not fully entered history (...) never really launched himself into the future.” - As in every case of colonial relationship, there is ambivalence. The Malians want to be independent, but the income from the Malian diaspora in France is larger than the total international aid, says Ida Svensson. Nevertheless, the influence varies in strength among the colonies. The coastal countries Senegal and Ivory Coast were more important to France during the colonial rule and are therefore more influenced than Mali, for example. Ida Svensson explains: - Mali has been able to maintain a large part of its own cultural heritage, which the people of Mali are very proud of. One reason for this is that Mali is landlocked and consists mainly of desert in which the French were not very interested until natural resources were found under the sand after the independence. However, many Malians have gone to school in France and have relatives who live and work in France, which creates a strong link in another way. Sarkozy’s successor Francois Hollande wanted to bid farewell to Françafrique in 2012 but considering the intervention in Mali 2013 he is definitely not acting in accordance with that intention. Even though the intervention was accepted by the ECOWAS, the
WOULD FRANCE >>SACRIFICE THE
LIVES OF THEIR SOLDIERS IF THERE WAS NOTHING TO GAIN FROM IT? Economic Community of West African States, one should keep in mind that these countries’ military powers are completely subordinate to the French. The intervention has been described as a success, but today Islamist militants have regained foothold in some regions of northern Mali. When France intervened in Mali, people were out on the streets celebrating and welcoming them.
- The tricolor waved everywhere. It was not until afterwards that the discussion about France’s real intentions was aroused. Would France really sacrifice the lives of their soldiers if there were nothing to gain from it, without self-interest? says Svensson who was in Mali during this time. France is now struggling to really change the nature of their relationship with the African continent, balancing between becoming too engaged and not taking enough responsibility. China and Japan are advancing with a more trade-oriented strategy and new generations with a weaker connection to France are growing up. At the end of the day one question remains: have the French really quit considering themselves superior? Å
Text: Linnea Sandell 37.
Från
Pidgin Till Kreol Om språk med kolonialt ursprung
Foto: Todd Huffman
När kolonisatörerna till slut nådde sin destination efter månader till sjöss mötte de en kultur som var dem helt främmande. Människorna såg annorlunda ut, betedde sig på ett helt nytt sätt och okända språk strömmade över befolkningens läppar.
F
örvåningen och kulturchocken måste såklart varit lika stark från båda hållen. Det är ganska lätt att föreställa sig den totalförvirring som antagligen rådde under de första försöken att kommunicera.
Man talar ofta om kolonisatörernas blodutgjutelse, om hur de dränerade kolonierna på rikedomar av alla slag samt att de levde i villfarelsen att de utförde någon form av frälsningsarbete riktat mot lägre stående folkslag. Det man sällan tänker på är att även på det språkliga planet innebär kolonialism ett övergrepp med enorma konsekvenser för slavbefolkningen. Eftersom kolonisatörerna och slavbefolkningen inte talade samma 38.
språk men hade ett stort behov av att kommunicera med varandra, fick man ta till ett pidginspråk, vilket är en förenklad form av kolonisatörernas språk (ofta bestående av ungefär 800-1000 ord). Det fanns alltså pidgin-franska, pidgin-engelska, pidgin-spanska och så vidare. Under kolonialtiden uppstod många pidgin till exempel på olika plantager framför allt i Karibien dit många slavar skeppades från
Matematikstudier i en kyrka i staden Cité Soleil (Kreol: Cité Solèy) på Haiti. Den Haitiska kreolen är det kreolspråk som har flest talare.
I priNcip tvingade >>kolonisatörerna slavbefolkningen att kommunicera via en pidgin Västafrika. Dessa slavar tillhörde olika etniska och språkliga grupper, så för att kommunicera sinsemellan samt med cheferna på plantagen var pidgin en absolut nödvändighet.
Kinesisk Pidginengelska 1857 Customer (pidgin): My wanchee wun pay soo belly soon. Spose fookkee too muchee pigeon: no can maykee. English: I want a pair of shoes soon. But I fear you are too busy to make them for me now. (Me want one pair shoes very soon, Suppose « fookkee » too much busy, not can make). Seller (pidgin): Cando, cando: whafo no can: no cazion feeloo: my sabbee belly well: can fixee alla pop English: Most certainly I can. Why not? Don’t be afraid of that. I am sure I can make them alright. (Suppose « fookkee » too much busy, not can make. No occasion fellow. Me « savvy » very well, can fix all proper).
Att det just är kolonisatörens språk som utgör grunden för kommunikation skulle kunna tyda på att den ojämna maktsituation som råder mellan dessa två grupper även återspeglas i det koloniala kontaktspråket. Och visst är det så att det finns en form av värdering av språken som en pidgin är baserad på. Det typiska är att en pidgin skapas utifrån två eller flera språk med olika social status. Det så kallade superstratum-språket är det som har hög social status i samhället (det europeiska språket) medan substratum-språket (slavarnas språk) åtnjuter lägre prestige. Superstratum-språket står för lexikonet, allltså språkets ordförråd, medan substratum-språket bidrar med strukturer som sedan konsolideras i det framväxande kreolspråkets grammatik. När talare av pidginspråk får barn som därmed har pidgin som input och detta sker i större skala händer något väldigt intressant: språket blir mer komplext och får en komplett grammatik - ett kreolspråk har fötts. Detta språk är olikt de båda “givarspråken” och är i större utsträckning än pidgin ett språk som står på egna ben. Kända engelskbaserade kreoler är exempelvis den kreolengelska man talar på Jamaica eller Hawaii medan man på Haiti, Guadeloupe och La Réunion talar olika varianter av kreolfranska, bara för att nämna några stycken. I princip tvingade kolonisatörerna slavbefolkningen att kommunicera via en pidgin vilket sedan ledde till ett språkskifte från det tidigare modersmålet till ett kreolspråk. Kolonisatörernas språk lever även ofta kvar i dessa samhällen idag som officiella språk med viktig funktion. Mikael Parkvall, språkforskare inom pidgin och kreolspråk vid Stockholms universitet menar att:
- Lokalbefolkningen är nog rätt kluven i många fall – å ena sidan är det europeiska språket nyckeln till framgång i samhället, men å andra sidan signalerar det kanske en viss ”stöddighet” och brist på solidaritet. Han tycker inte att pidginspråket säger så mycket om maktförhållanden i kolonierna men medger att koloniseringen eventuellt innebar något av ett språkligt övergrepp. Däremot hävdar han att: - Man bör inte glömma bort att tänka på vad alternativet hade varit. Språk som har ett eller några tusen talare hade under alla omständigheter inte kunnat bli officiella i något land. Han säger också att det är högst troligt att något annat större språk som kanske låg geografiskt närmre antagligen hade blivit det officiella förr eller senare; oavsett vilket hade det inte varit slavbefolkningens eget språk det heller. Men det finns även andra anledningar att bevara kolonisatörernas språk som officiellt språk. I många före detta kolonier i Afrika förblev kolonisatörernas språk (huvudsakligen engelska, franska och portugisiska) ofta det officiella just på grund av den språkliga mångfald som rådde där och som försvårade valet av officiellt språk. Kolonialmaktens språk lever kvar när det gäller statliga ärenden, i utbildningsväsendet och media eftersom alternativet, att välja något eller några lokala språk som officiella hade varit diskriminerande för de lokalspråk som skulle ha valts bort, och eventuellt medfört ännu fler konflikter. Det före detta koloniala språket ses inte som någons modersmål och är ironiskt nog neutralt i förhållande till de andra inhemska språken. Å Text: Niklas Gadelii 39.
F
acts:Colonialism
1
Between 9 and 12 million people were taken as slaves across the Atlantic from Africa to The Americas.
2
The Chinese city of Macao, famous for its casinos and gambling belonged to Portugal until 1999. It was the last remaining European colony in Asia.
3
5
Most populous Portugese speaking countries
Colonialism can be defined as the exploitation by a stronger country of a weaker one.
4 Today, 6 percent of the world population own 52 percent of the global assets. The richest 2 percent of the world population own more than 51 percent of the global assets, the richest 10 percent own 85 percent of the global assets.
1.
Brazil
2.
Mozambique
3.
Angola
4.
Portugal
5.
Guinea-Bissau
5 More than 4 million men and women from the British colonies fought in the First and Second World War. Their contribution to the war effort was and still is largly ignored. Saint Barthélemy
10 million people. The Belgian king Leopold II personally owned the enormous colony the Congo in its entirety before the territory was handed over to the Belgian state in 1908. The so called Congo Free State was effectively a private company and not a country. Leopold II’s rule over The Congo was characterised by exceptional cruelty towards the Congolese. Leopold ll’s rule is by some estimaded to be responsible for the death of ten million people.
6 The Caribbean island of Saint Barthélemy was a Swedish colony until 1878 and its capital is named Gustavia after the Swedish king Gustav III.
Ethiopia and Liberia were the only African nations never to be colonized. Ethiopia was however invaded twice by Italy. Liberia is a nation created for former American slaves.
L
E
“Every empire, however, tells itself and the world that it is unlike all other empires, that its mission is not to plunder and control but to educate and liberate.” - edward w. Said By: Ivar Johansson and Martin Andersson 40.
470
22
People lived under British rule 1937.
of the current nations in the world have never been invaded by Great Britain.
Million
Racial segregation in a
RAINBOW Nation A ’united’ South-Africa during the World Cup in 2012. But how united is this country really?
A Nation of Races South Africa currently has a population of about 52 million people. Of this number, 79.6 percent is classified as ‘black’, 9.0 percent as ‘coloureds’, 8.9 percent as ‘whites’ and 2,5 percent as ‘Asians’. However, the white population remains to possess over 80 percent of South Africa’s wealth.
This year we remember that South Africa’s apartheid regime ended twenty years ago. Winning the elections of 1994, Nelson Mandela cheerfully proclaimed that “Each of us is intimately attached to the soil of this beautiful country – a rainbow nation at peace with itself and the world”. But with racial segregation deeply rooted in South Africa’s soil for centuries, did Mandela’s words truly put an end to it?
A
lene and Paki are black South African students and should be living the dream of post-apartheid South Africa. “W e grew up in a neighbourhood where we did not have any white or Indian friends”, say Anele and Paki (Paki is used as a pseudonym), “So the only friends we could make were mostly black friends”.
But they say that their country today remains a country divided by race, visible by the clearly segregated neighbourhoods. “Everything in South-Afri-
ca is created to suit racial segregation, and the nation was never created for purposes that had to do with integration, it is created for tribal purposes”, says Paki. Indeed, the long history of South Africa has been dominated by the conflicts of diverse ethnic groups such as the Xhosa and Zulu. But the first traces of racial segregation are found to be an European invention. Separation based on ethnicity was introduced during the 17th century when the Dutch arrived in the Cape, using the city as a strategic port along their shipping route. Dutch rule was taken over by the British in the beginning of the 19th century. The presence of colonial powers gave birth to a new white class that was mostly composed of Dutch and British settlers who decided to stay permanently in South Africa. The arrival of this small but dominant class quickly started dictating life on the streets in South Africa. Prob41.
lems the country was facing, such as poor public health, living conditions and crime, were ascribed to ethnic differences using the metaphor of an epidemic disease: From their point of
ALL INHABiTANTS >>WERE CLASSIFIED INTO FOUR RACIAL GROUPS
view it was mostly the black population that was spreading the diseases and crime and therefore this group needed to be contained and separated.
Segregation signs were appearant everywhere in South-Africa during the Apartheid era
Elections 2014 In May this year elections were held in South Africa. The African National Congress (ANC) is the ruling party since 1994, and by many South Africans still accredited for the establishment of a multi-racial democracy since then. But the party has declined in popularity over the past year because of evictions in regard to corruption.
42.
Photo : Warrenski
In the aftermath of the Second World war, racial segregation was given
a more formal character when the National Party came into power by winning the elections of 1948, an election where only whites were allowed to vote. In the same year apartheid was introduced as an official policy meaning that all inhabitants were now classified into four racial groups: ‘black’, ‘white’, ‘coloured’, and ‘Indian’. As the newly installed government intended to establish a fully-fledged apartheid state, segregation occurred on both local and national scales. Various planning instruments, motivated by racialized visions of population control resulted in what has become known as the ‘Apartheid city model’. The model presented clearly delineated urban areas and totally segregated districts with the white population often at the centre of the city, and the population classified as non-whites moved far away with buffer strips in between. Vibrant multi-racial communities were destroyed by government bulldozers and their inhabitants were forced to move when these areas were stamped as ‘white’. - Black people, white people, Indians, they all lived together. They destroyed it”, tells Paki as he refers to District 6, the name of a former inner-city area in Cape Town that witnessed the removal of over 60.000 inhabitants during the 1970s. “People were forcefully moved and are still complaining today. Like what the heck? You removed us from the place where we had our relationships and bonds, and all of a sudden now we have posh areas”. Similar to stories from District 6, South Africa witnessed one of the largest mass evictions in modern history. In almost two decades a total 3.5 million non-white South Africans were removed from their homes and placed into segregated neighbourhoods, the townships.
The black population was most severely affected by the Apartheid regime. Blacks were prohibited from living in cities unless they were employed there and could be sent away whenever their contracts expired. They were then deported to one of twenty Bantustans, special territories set aside for black inhabitants and located in the least fertile regions of South-Africa. Without neither services nor jobs in the surroundings, these Bantustans were declared as independent so the white regime would have no financial responsibility for the welfare of people there. Even though the colonizers left South Africa a long time ago and Apartheid was abolished over twenty years ago, the legacy of ethnic segregation during these periods persists to live actively on South Africa’s soil today. All inhabitants are now allowed to settle wherever they want, but cities maintain high levels of ethnic segregation today.
Photo : Eugene Wei
- I can move into posh neighbourhoods, and stay there, but at the moment when I will practice my religion or cultural beliefs, it will all be a big taboo”, Paki explains. “If I walk around as a black guy I will be questioned by the security guards, so you I am not
actually free”. Anele agrees, acknowledging all of his friends are of the same race, and says “there is still a huge stigma attached to race, it is like, you are black, so you cannot move in here”.
APARTHEID IS AS >>FRESH AS ever
They feel that social constructions, stereotypes and stigmas are the main mechanisms that keep racial segregation at work in the post-Apartheid era. Reflecting on Desmond Tutu’s famous notion of a ‘rainbow nation’, Paki comments “there is nothing such as a rainbow nation in South Africa, it is a tribal society with a tribalistic mentality. Apartheid is as fresh as it was ever created and continues in a modernized form”. But will the rainbow nation ever turn into a country blind to colour, where different races can all live together? “It is everyone’s hope that it will change one day”, tells Anele, “I hope that we will see beyond the white and black coloured race, and will see more like a united human race”. Å Text: Kees Krul
Shanty town in Soweto where the poor coexist with the middle-class
43.
44.
Crossroads for
Canada’s Inuits
Massive oil fields waits to be explored under the melting ice in Canada’s northern territories. The Inuit communities there face a delicate dilemma - the potential economic gains of exploration are massive, but also threaten to destroy the eco-system the Inuits have lived of for centuries. Text: Thomas Kräuchi
45. Photo: Paul Aningat
C
anada’s official motto - Ad Mari Usque Ad Mare, from sea to sea, may soon have a new meaning. On 8 January, 2014, Stephen Harper set in motion a new step in the conquest of the Arctic, breaking ceremonial ground on the first permanent road in the country’s history to reach the Arctic Ocean.
The tiny Northern city of Inuvik, counting only 3500 inhabitants, is currently the northernmost point of Canada’s road network. In order to access the resource-rich ocean and the lands of always winter, transport relies on favourable weather conditions warm temperatures to operate the ferries during the thaw and extreme cold to run ice bridges. This makes accessing oil fields and mines not only difficult, but extremely expensive. The danger of this is highlighted in the reality TV series “Ice Road Truckers”, where trucks breaking down and being stranded is considered the norm, but trucks sinking into a frozen river also occurs. Extending Dempster Highway permanently northwards by 194 km to Tuktoyaktuk, or Tuk, as it is known by locals, would literally pave the way to access the North’s riches. This permanent
Arctic holds >>22the percent of the world’s undiscovered oil
road, expected to cost about US $275 million, is seen by the province as the first step in opening up to the territory’s growing industry sector, and even reviving a natural gas pipeline propos46.
al. Perhaps more importantly, it would lower the cost of important necessities and eliminate the danger of relying on the weather. The weather remains one of the biggest issues with Arctic mining and drilling. In Nunavut, Canada’s newest of three territories and twice the size of Scandinavia, geological exploration is only possible through the months of March to October. Even then, the risk of accidents is high because of the total lack of infrastructure. Gold mining firm Agnico-Eagle, the first to try operating in the region, has so far spent US $2 billion despite constant setbacks and unexpected increase costs. Despite the staggering costs of exploration and production, the number of potential investors is ever-growing. Currently, companies such as BHP Billiton, Xstrata, ArcelorMittal, Areva, Newmont, and MMG are preparing to mine gold, diamonds, and uranium in the area. Mining giant MMG, backed by the Chinese government, has already announced that it will build two mines within the next 3 years. Rising costs of minerals worldwide does not guarantee that the mines will be successful. Canada’s first Arctic mine in Nanisivik, Nunavut, operated from 1976 to 2002, and was closed mainly due to the falling cost of lead and zinc. But companies such as Peregrine Diamonds are not deterred by this. According to Brooke Clements, president of this firm, “the potential to find world class deposits still exists.” Compared to countries like Russia, the United States, and Norway, the Canadian Arctic includes the winning conditions of being stable, vast, and having a varied geology. These conditions haven’t been taken advantage of by Canada’s federal government. Nunavut Premier Eva Aariak bemoans that, “it’s ludicrous when you
really look at the lack of resources or infrastructure that we have.” She asks for more federal economic intervention in the territory, which unlike Canada’s relatively autonomous provinces, remains highly controlled and dependent on Ottawa. Increased investment is slowly but surely occurring in all of Canada’s North, an area comparable to that of Western Europe. In the Northwest Territories, the completion of the Deh Cho Bridge, which has a striking resemblance to the Öresund Bridge, is the first step of that territory’s agenda. Over a year ago, Bob Mcleod, Premier of the Northwest Territories met with Canada’s prime minister. The meeting, according to McLeod, proved that the North is “on the verge of achieving devolution,” where the territory will be able to directly control tens of millions of dollars in royalties. Already the territories are the richest in Canada in terms of GDP per capita due to the low population density. Even further, US $675 million are being produced in mining output alone, a number expected to double by 2014, along with the GDP itself. But this increase in mining and oil revenue comes at the cost of harming the environment. Canadian politicians themselves recognizes the issues that global warming brings. Warmer temperatures affect the permafrost on which Arctic infrastructure relies - if the ground warms the roads will become unstable and collapse. Warmer winters also mean more snow, as snowfall is lighter in
extreme cold. With ice roads being dependent on low temperatures to insulate and thicken the ice, higher temperatures would actually increase the risk and costs of production. Shipping, too, would become more difficult in warmer conditions. While currently dependent on icebreakers to carve paths through Canada’s northern archipelago, warm temperatures would see an increased number of icebergs drifting around the ocean, with nothing in their paths to stop them from ripping holes into ships. According to the U.S Geological Survey, the Arctic holds 22 percent of the world’s undiscovered oil, which would become more accessible due to the melting ice. Imperial Oil is currently waiting for a permit to drill in the Beaufort Sea, which lies north of Alaska and Canada’s border. This sea is in a sensitive area, known for being a rich feeding ground for fish, whales, and polar bears, as well as some of the deepest water in the Arctic. For Lootie Toomasi, head of the Arctic Fishing Alliance in Canada, “the ocean is our farm; we rely on it for our living, for our food. “But with the current cost of oil, international prospectors are waiting to join in a new (black) gold rush.
The Russian claim of the Arctic Ocean.
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The average lifespan in Canada’s north is twelve years lower than the average, with infant mortality three times higher. This is partly related to food insecurity, which is further exacerbated by climate change, which makes access to traditional food sources scarcer. An issue which is even less discussed however, is the terrifyingly high suicide rate. If Nunavut were a country, it would have the second highest suicide rate in the world. In 2009, it had a suicide rate of 65.1 per 100,000 inhabitants, compared to 11.5 nationally, according to Statistics Canada. The former mayor of Iqaluit, Nunavut’s capital, links this to the lack 48.
Middle: The rising temperatures makes it more difficult to travel the Arctic waters. Down: The Dempster Highway is the first permanent highway connecting the northern parts of Canada with the soutn
Photo: Paul Aningat
Top: Nanavut became a Canadian province in 1999 and has almost 30 000 inhabitants. If it was a country, it would have been the 15th biggest in the world.
the Inuit and the >>North in general have much lower living conditions than urban areas This importance for economic growth will surely be felt in Inuvik. The town has been given a huge opportunity, as it was recently chosen by European space agencies as a hotspot for remote sensing, which is when satellites acquire information about the surface of the earth. With a fibre optic cable promised to link Inuvik to the rest of the Canadian network, this would connect the region to high speed internet. A highway to the Arctic Ocean would be but the first step in developing the Canadian Arctic. With the growing economic importance of the region and negative consequences of climate change, it is likely that Canada’s North will soon appear very different. If things continue the way they are going, Stephen Harper will likely be back with his shovel very soon. Å
Photo: Ville Miettinen
This tension is even more obvious for the Inuit, who still hold a veto on any industrial activity in the Territories. The Inuit, who already struggle living in extremely difficult natural conditions, are now faced with the decision to choose between the environment they depend on for food and the immediate need for jobs and financial security. It is already common knowledge in Canada that the Inuit and the North in general have much lower living conditions than in urban areas, and the economic opportunity may be too much for them to ignore.
of “specialized support services to help families,” and goes on to say that this “significantly increases risks to some.” “Psychological autopsies” were conducted with the help of surviving friends and family, giving no single cause or factor. However, those most at risk are young, less educated males. Psychologists and locals partly attribute this to young men who think that “she’s the only girl in town I love or will ever love”, which becomes even more true if they never leave town. This makes job growth even more important.
Photo: Martin Lopatka
Kumi Naidoo, International Executive Director of Greenpeace, was arrested last August for climbing a Russian oil rig in the Arctic in protest of the giant Gazprom’s plans to drill there. In an AMA (Ask Me Anything) thread on Reddit, he discusses “the insanity of Arctic oil drilling,” which “cannot go unchallenged. The thought that we would misinterpret the melting of the Arctic ice as an invitation to drill and spill rather than a warning to stop burning fossil fuels is a defining moment for our civilisation. We need to heed that warning, we need to take action, we need to say to the oil industry ‘you go no further’.”
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ANGOLA TO THE RESCUE With the worst economic situation in decades, European powers are counting on their former colonies for help. Angola’s booming economy is providing a glimpse of hope for the Portuguese, stuck in a dire recession that just won’t go away.
the boom has brought about both corruption and soaring economic disparities. The much needed infrastructure is not catching up, and the capital Luanda has become one of the most expensive and economically unequal capitals in the world.
t might seem ironic: after 500 years of colonial history, the power balance is shifting. People in cash-strapped European countries such as Portugal and Spain are crossing oceans to look for a better future, with cap in hand. Both people and money have continued to flow between colonies and their former masters even after independence, due to cultural and economic ties. However, ten years ago it would have been far more likely to spot an Angolan working in Lisbon, before the European debt crisis struck. Today, job-seeking Portuguese are trying their luck in their former colony of Angola, and plenty of Angolan emigrés are returning home as well.
Income disparities are among the biggest in the world. The wealth from the resource boom has mainly benefited a small elite that lives either abroad or within gated communities. Meanwhile, shanty towns are abundant, especially in Luanda, where only 10 percent of the households enjoy running water. Across the country, half of the population has virtually no access to health care. As with many other countries around the globe, the discovery of oil reserves can be both a blessing and a curse: there is always a risk that the economy ends up too focused on oil, pushing other things out in the margin. The economy becomes all about grabbing a share of the created wealth, instead of expanding in other directions and areas. The Angolan capital
The Sub-Saharan country of Angola gained independence from Portugal in 1975, and suffered a brutal civil war up until 2002. Thanks to abundant mineral and oil reserves they’ve managed to present impressive growth digits, around 10 percent per year. They are now China’s biggest supplier of oil, which has led to an influx of Chinese workers to the country. However, transparency is virtually non-existent and
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However, one should not forget the relatively short time elapsed since both independence and the end of the civil war. Skyscrapers and ritzy beach resorts are usually easier to construct than a decent health care system or clean running water, which need efforts of another kind. Another important issue is unexploded landmines: during the civil war large parts of the
Luanda, with five million inhabitants, is the third most populated portugese-speaking city in the world. Behind Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro
Photo: mp3ief
I
Photo: jbdodane
Top: Angola is now China’s biggest supplier of oil, which has led to an influx of Chinese workers to the country. Bottom: José Eduardo dos Santos has been the president of Angola since 1979. Right: Oil rigs near Cabinda, Northwest Angola.
Photo: jbdodane
Photo: Ricardo Stuckert
countryside were littered with landmines, destroying a vast part of the country’s arable land. The UN estimates that around ten million unexploded landmines remain to be removed. Removing them is a slow and dangerous process, but progress is being made. Both Portugal and Angola seem to look to the future rather than to the past. Their relationship is doing better than many other former colonies and colonizers. In 2011, Angola even offered to help Portugal with emergency loans to tackle the crisis. Among plenty of Portuguese workers in Angola (some 150,000 in total) there is no direct feeling of humiliation coming there looking for work. It’s more about simple economic realities, which have always prompted humans to emigrate. The more interesting part is rather what is going on
Angola even >>offered to help
Portugal with emergency loans back home. Angolan tycoons and economic elite have invested considerably in Portugal, in industries such as banking and telecommunications. They have also bought plenty of property in Lisbon. The Portuguese government has even considered selling shares in state-owned enterprises to Angola.
This whole process has been dubbed ”reverse colonialism” by Portuguese journalists, who are increasingly worried about what the Angolan influence might lead to. Especially the Angolan investments in the media sector, such as newspapers and tabloids, that have given rise to suspicion. An Angolan media group has expressed interest in case the Portuguese government decides to privatize RTP, the national public service broadcaster. The Portuguese government is cautious not to upset its powerful economic partner and former colony, and some journalists claim that Angola, with a quite bad record concerning freedom of expression, has become a taboo subject prompting self-censorship. Many Angolan investors have close ties to Angolan president Eduardo dos Santos, in power since 1979 and whose family controls a large chunk of Angola’s economy. His daughter Isabel dos Santos is among the richest women in Africa, with a large Portuguese portfolio. Portugal is not the only European country where press freedom and media pluralism might decrease due to the economic crisis. These questions have become increasing concerns across the whole European Union, where ailing economies take any chance they can to get back on track. Austerity measures make people look elsewhere for business opportunities and the chance of a brighter future, swallowing any possible pride to go to booming places where they used to be the masters. In the end, money always talks.Å Text: Filip Sandén 51.
Without a Choice
- In the post-colonial world there are more slaves than ever
Facts - The International Labour Organisation defines forced labour “as work or service exacted from a person under threat or penalty, which includes penal sanctions and the loss of rights and privileges, where the person has not offered him/ herself voluntarily”. - Today, nearly 21 million live in slavery. Nearly half a million of them are children - Forced slavery are worth US $ 21 billion worldwide. 52.
The slave trade as we know it, as in black African slaves being transported from Africa to European colonies, was abolished in the 19th century. However, there are still humans that are forced to work under poor conditions which is a modern form of slavery. The estimated total number of forced labour is at nearly 21 million today and it is mostly women and children who are exploited.
S
lavery was abolished during the 19th century and is still today officially prohibited around the globe. But in reality slavery still exists, but in a different form and structure. Modern slavery, as in trading with human beings, is different from the historic slavery: there are no longer any states trading slaves with each other. Slaves are no longer working at the sugar plantations or cotton fields. Instead of states, it is now criminal networks that trade with human beings as sex slaves or as work slaves in households. The fields of slavery as in being used for sex or working in homes does not stop there. It also
includes forced prostitution, child marriage and forced labour. Humans are being forced to work by putting them in debt and or often by confiscating passports so that the workers can’t run away. In Nigeria there are even “baby factories” where women can sell a baby for about $ 2000, and in India poor girls are being taken from tea plantations into forced labor in households of the middle class. The abuse of children is widespread and in India alone there were 452 679 reported cases of children being exploited as forced labor between 2008 and 2012. The highest number of forced labor is in central and south-east Europe in terms of percentage of population, and is followed by Africa, the Middle East, Asia Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean. In Qatar for instance the situation for domestic workers is hard and they are not given any rights in the society. Instead they are subjects under the kafala – a kind of sponsorship system existing throughout the Gulf states. This means that the employer has the power to deny the worker to change job.
Amnesty International released a report about the situation this year. The working hours can be extreme and the week can include 100-hours of work. The workers are often promised a salary but when they arrive on the location they find that the salary has been lowered, often under the excuse that this is to pay for the food and living expenses that have been spent on the worker. Besides being deprived from leaving the job, most of the workers are physically and sexually abused by their employer. The Amnesty report consists of several comments from exploited workers, here a quotation from “BM”, a 30-year old former domestic worker who describes how the employer used to subject her to violence: - The wife beat me every day... The husband was good, the children were fine. She would call me ‘animal,’ and say that I was crazy. She slapped me in the face so hard one time that my face turned black: it was so badly bruised. She once kicked me on the ground, kicking me all over, in my stomach. Sadly this is not the only victim from abuse due to poor conditions, lack of legal frameworks and rights, and surely
not the last. There have been numerous reports about ill-treatment and bad conditons for foreign workers during construction work connected to the World Cup in Qatar in 2022. Official figures have estimated that about one
wOMEN CAN >>SELL A BABY FOR 2000$
worker a day dies due to bad conditions at the construction sites. The International Labor Organization estimates that there is today at least US $21 billion in unpaid wages and recruitment fees that are being deprived from people in forced labor. The criminal networks that are supplying the market with forced labor are instead making the profits, and the ones actually carrying out the hard work are left in a system that is making them modern-day slaves. Å Text: Anja Skoglund
In Qatar, about one worker a day dies due to bad conditions.
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Why the Italian influence still matters in Somalia An aircraft taking off from Rome would have to cover roughly five and a half thousand kilometers before reaching Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia. The two nations are separated not only in terms of distance, but also when it comes to language, culture, religion, politics, economics and everyday society.
M
odern-day Italy was not formed until 1861, and as a European power in the age of imperialism, the country arrived late to the land grabbing antics commonly referred to as colonialism. Italy did however manage to annex Somalia, Eritrea and Libya. Somalia became an Italian colony in 1889. Eritrea and Somalia were acquired without much effort militarily but a war was fought in Libya against the Turks as well as the Libyan population. Italy failed to conquer Ethiopia in 1896 but succeeded in doing so in 1936 and subsequently, Italian East Africa was established. Whatever joy the fascist leadership in Rome may have felt over defeating an
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army largely equipped with weapons from previous centuries, or successfully subjugating populations through the use of poison gas and terror bombings was cut short; as Italy lost all its East African colonies to the Allied forces in 1941. After the war, Italians returned to Somalia to act as administrators in the Trust Territory of Somalia, set up by the UN. Finally, in 1960, Somalia was granted complete independence. In Italian politics, scandals, shady dealings and corruption are the norm rather than the exception. Yet in comparison to a country that effectively lacked a government for twenty years and did not hold an election for over forty years, maybe the Italians are doing alright. What is certain is despite the various differences; Somalia and Italy share a history and maintain a complex yet close relationship to this day due to the legacy of Italian colonial rule. The Communist regime in Somalia ended in 1991 and the country collapsed into a civil war which lasted for over
Facts No general elections have been held in Somalia since the 1960’s. The present government controls only a small part of the country. Large parts of southern and central Somalia are controlled by the militant Islamist group al-Shabaab.
Photo: United Nations Photo
THE ITALIAN CONNECTION
two decades. In 2012, a federal government in Mogadishu was recognised by the UN and this event signaled a return of Italian interest in Somali affairs. UN recognition of a Somali government increased the number of Italians acting as advisors in different shapes and forms in the country.
Photo: European External Action Service
Bottom: General Mingiardi chooses who to recruit to the Somali army
Italy as well as the EU, has been the driving forces behind training the new Somali Army and as of 2014, the training mission in Somalia is run by an Italian Brigadier General. The decision to hand Italy a leading role in the rebuilding of Somalia’s armed forces has been supported by the EU and the US due to the Italian military staff’s knowledge of “Somali culture, internal clan dynamics and the nature of the insecurity in Mogadishu.” To critics, this is an attempt by Italy to reestablish control over Somali affairs and security forces. The Italians are in charge of equipment, uniforms and training and recruits who fail to fulfill the training regimen or follow orders will not receive payment. Those supporting Italian control over military training say that the EU mission is merely temporary and that Somali officers will take charge in due course. However, it is Brigadier-General Mingiardi who decides which officers to recruit and
which officers to leave out. This asks questions on whether the EU mission and Italy are attempting to mould Somali society into one of their liking and military representatives from certain clans in Somalia are bound to react to being excluded from the armed forces. Somalis from all layers of society have emigrated from the country and many arrive in Italy in search for a better life. Many highly educated Somalis are graduates from Italian universities, and as the situation in Somalia has become more stable in recent years, a large number of expatriates have returned to their native land to set up businesses and to be a part of the new institutions. Somalis with Italian degrees in architecture are responsible for urban planning and renovation of colonial style buildings in Mogadishu. Architect Mohamed Abdulkadir Ahmed states that preservation and restoration of Italian buildings are a major priority as they are part of the nation’s cultural heritage and history. Somalis with degrees from Italy can also be found in the areas of culture, media, medicine, engineering, politics and business. It is certainly positive that Somalia is becoming more and more stable and that a semblance of a functioning government and institutions are in place. But although there may not be open fighting and killing in the streets for the moment, the country maintain a precarious form of stability, as there is a risk of old grudges and hostilities between clans and militias resurfacing. The Italian influence is a double edged sword; on the one hand, Italian higher education has made it possible for Somalis to take place in a new Somali society, on the other hand, these groups of people may be perceived as a form of colonial elite by those lacking education or by those left out of decision-making processes. Å Text: Martin Andersson 55.
Photo: liebeslakritze
FENCED IN - The Russian Barrier Cutting Through Georgia
Russia is doing it again – building a barrier. This time, it’s not drawn through central Berlin, but through the rural landscape of Georgia. Nonetheless, this barbed wire, camera monitored fence separate families, stops farmers from getting to their fields and stops children from getting to their schools.
national Crisis Group, South Ossetia signed an agreement at the end of the war delegating all security and military decisions to Russia as well as allowing Russia to station around 4000 troops in the country for 49 years. On top of this, Russia is building front posts along the barrier and Russian soldiers are patrolling the border.
fter the Russo-Georgian war which lasted for five days in august in 2008, the de facto state of South Ossetia was declared in an almost 4000 square kilometer large part of northern Georgia. However, the republic of South Ossetia is only recognized by four states, Russia, Nicaragua, Venezuela and the pacific island state of Nauru.
The barrier is called the administrative border line or the ABL. Exactly when the erection of the barrier started is still debated, but according to most sources construction began sometime during 2011. The barrier, which is a fence complete with barbed wire and surveillance cameras, is to stretch almost 400 kilometers along what the Russians say is the established border of the former South Ossetian oblast. However, the circa 50 kilometer that are already in place cuts through communities, farmland and even people’s backyards.
A The 2008 War - Russia invaded Georgia on August the 8th with 15,000 men. - The war claimed about 400 lives - 133,000 people were displaced
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Weak states in need of recognition have a tendency to compensate this by strengthening their borders and clearly demarcate the boundaries. Building fences and walls give them a physical and concrete symbol of their political entity. It is also a separation of “us” and “them”. This is the case in South Ossetia. Though this could be seen as a South Ossetian enterprise, the barrier seems to be more Russian than anything else. According to the Inter-
Farmers need to bring their passport when tending their cattle on what used to be their own lands. People’s livelihoods are taken away. - The Russian border guards told me my orchards were no longer mine— they were part of South Ossetia, not
Georgia, says Georgi Chatlitschvi, a farmer who has lived his whole life in the village of Gogeti, to Vice News. Another issue is the sudden change in currency. The Georgian elderly who ended up on the South Ossetian side of the ABL need to cross it to collect their pension. However, the pension is in Lari which is not accepted in South Ossetia who has changed currency to the Russian Ruble.
- It’s an extremely volatile situation. Freedom of movement is a huge issue, and detention cases are around five to six per week. It’s a crisis, says Ann Vassen, spokesperson of the EU Monitoring Mission in Georgia, to Vice News. Whenever a border separates a region there will be a certain amount of duplication on both sides of the barrier. Berlin, for example, have two opera houses, one on each side of the former wall. But until infrastructure has caught up, there is a vacuum. An example of this can be seen in the part of South Ossetia where the fence has not yet been erected. Children seek across the border to attend their school. It’s the only one in the area and they have no other option yet. The ABL may have marked the establishment of a new republic in the Caucasus, but it is still under Russian control and it’s an area that most of the world still regards as Georgian
Photo: Bohan Shen
The situation is even more complicated further down the ABL. Even though the fences are not yet erected along this part of the border, the South Ossetian and Russian border guards still see the border as closed. This leads to many unintentional trespassers who are not used to have a border stretching outside their house or across their farmlands. When people cross the border by accident and are discovered by the border patrols they are usually arrested.
sovereign territory. The situation is at a standstill, a frozen conflict with a negative peace where the direct violence is absent but the people living in the borderlands, caught in the middle, still suffers. Å Text: Simon Fridolfsson
The Barrier - It is to stretch almost 400 kilometers. - The Russians claim that the new borderline is based on an old map of the South Ossetian Oblast from 1984. However, the barrier in reality bears little resemblance to the line from ’84. - Half of all the barriers built after the Second World War were built post-2000. 57.
NEVER AGAIN During 100 days, close to a million people were killed, 2 million displaced and approximately 250,000 women raped, in what has been called the most brutally efficient killing spree in human history. It has been 20 years since the genocide in Rwanda, but what has happened since? Has there been justice?
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T
Photo: UK Department for International Development
he conflict was born of years of tension primarily between the two ethnic groups Hutu and Tutsi. The minority, Tutsi, were favored during colonization over Hutus through a hierarchical system imposed by Belgium. These predicated tensions between the groups continually grew from independence in 1962 when the Hutus found themselves in power. In the coming decades ten thousand Tutsis were killed and simultaneously Rwanda’s economic and political stability weakened. In April of 1994 the Hutu genocide of the Tutsi population and moderate Hutus started.
Jonathan Kubakundimana was only 6 months old when the genocide started. His father being Hutu and his mother being Tutsi put the family in an extremely vulnerable situation. The Hutu militia put Kubakundimana and his mother on an extermination list and before long, the militia came looking for them. His father was able to bribe them the first time but as 10,000 people a day were being killed, they realized they were not going to be so lucky the next time. Knowing that, they decided to flee and made their way to Scotland. Kubakundimana’s extended family however did not make it, and the knowledge that nearly all of them were brutally butchered in the genocide has been hard for him to live with. Although the international community had several opportunities to intervene and stop the genocide, nothing happened. Olof Beckman, associate professor in Human Rights at Lund University, says this partly can be explained by the lack of national interest for the US, but he adds that this is not the complete picture. By the US decision to not support sending peacekeeping troops, several other countries were able to evade criticism for their inaction, so to only blame the
US is not entirely correct. The reality is that no other country had the military capacity or will to act without the US. Kubakundimana says: - The genocide in Rwanda was preventable. It could have been stopped and it should have been stopped. The world failed us in our hour of dire need and one million people were systematically slaughtered. The Rwandan genocide is described to be extremely brutal as much of the killings were conducted by stabbing people to death with machete knives. Alongside all the murderers are the survivors, many whom were victims of systematic rapes and mutilation. It can be hard to understand how this even happened. But it is about a complete societal demolition, a demonizing process through organized propaganda and a destruction of national unity. Beckman concludes, “genocide is not about discriminate violence, it is about extreme and violent discrimination”.
The genocide in >>Rwanda was preventable
Since the genocide, over 1.2 million cases have been tried in The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, the national court system, and the Gacaca courts. In 1999, the National Unity and Reconciliation Commission were established. The main focus in the reconciliation process has been to reconstruct the Rwandan identity as well as trying to achieve justice, truth, peace and security. The Gacaca courts, which are local courts, have played a particularly important part in the reconciliation process where offenders have offered release from prison in return for confessions and expressions of remorse. 59.
Photo: Graham Holliday
LĂŠon Mugesera, a member of the Hutu MRND party, delivered many speeches urging for the killing of Tutsis. He fled to Canada after the genocide and was granted permanent citizenship status. In 2012 Mugesera was deported from Canada to Rwanda to face trial.
When speaking of restorative justice it often refers to repairing the harm caused by criminal behavior. This is best accomplished by including both victims and offenders in a cooperative process. Beckman states it is equally important for the victims and the country as a whole to get new leaders who played no part in the genocide. Furthermore, socio-economic rearmament which enables everyday life, education, and freedom of speech to proceed, is also essential. Kubakundimana is pleased with the reconciliation process: - The justice and reconciliation process in Rwanda has been nothing short of incredible. Rwanda realized early on that our justice system needed to be based on healing and not retribution. After the genocide, Rwanda was a broken country, we had descended to the deepest depths of hell itself and in the ashes, almost impossibly, we decided
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as a people to build ourselves back up. We became Rwandans, not Tutsis or Hutus, but Rwandans. Today, Kubakundimana is a student of political science in South Carolina, USA with hopes of a future in diplomacy or international law. He says that the genocide has shaped who he is today and the fact that he has moved around has allowed him to develop a unique perspective on the progress of Rwanda. Kubakundimana did a commemoration event at his school, Furman University, to raise awareness of the genocide but also to enlighten people on the remarkable steps that Rwanda has taken since then. - Rwanda is my home and Rwandans are my people. I love Rwanda and even though I’m hardly home, I never forget where I’m from and always aim to be an ambassador of my country and my people, Kubakundimana says
- When I was in high school, it was breathtaking to see how far Kigali would progress in only three months, every single time I came back there were new roads, new skyscrapers, new medical advances, education was improving and so much more. It’s one thing to hear the amazing statistics: an explosive 7 percent real GDP growth per year for the last decade, least corrupt country in Africa, one of the safest and cleanest cities in Africa, but it’s another thing to witness it.
Photo: Graham Holliday
The younger generation, that grew up after the genocide, embody the hope of a Rwandan identity who unite, not by ethnicity, but by nationality. Kubakundimana says:
- We must teach our children and our children’s children what happened and ensure that when we say ‘never again’ the words are not empty; we must live those words. I do. We do. Å Text: Charlotte Tapani
The Genocide in Rwanda - Occured between 6th of April until 18th of June 1994. - 800.000 to 1.000.000 people were killed. - 2.000.000 were displaced. - 250.000 to 500.000 were raped. - 1.2 to 1.5 million cases have been tried in court.
Jonathan Kubakundimana now studies political science in North Carolina, US.
Photo: Private
He has a positive outlook on the future of Rwanda, which he says is completely unrecognizable from 20 years ago. He explains:
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62. Foto: Sigfrid Lundberg
da m e D ördö F
n de set m u n o t. I lj la e t g t ba entli edia tiv e m i k d ad sk pp or den rspe rdag n sve at u rtom espe rs va n o e ik o ss r d blo ga b Utr nisk a h n n n ar ret tione tt trä t”, h a mä å e s e a a ast migr yfte blem v des n e t s EU- ch i s rpro gra a e D ade a, o gga nå lid ök dett v ”ti slag orn a d B s av den t ne rcu a l t i b rt e 63. t: M o ex j T . g nd Lu
D
et är tidig förmiddag när vi vandrar den kullerstensbelagda vägen ned mot Kvarteret Ugglan, genom ett lätt morgondisigt, men liksom skimrande och lummigt vackert Lund, som inramas av den klara majhimlen som välver sig över staden. Karnevalshetsen har precis lagt sig, avslutningsfyrverkerierna har avfyrats och i Lundagård har den stora nedmonteringsprocessen tagit vid. Kvarteret Ugglan ligger inklämt mellan Södra Esplanaden och Mårtenstorget, mellan Parentesen och McDonald’s. Vi har stämt träff med Nada Perlenberg, som arbetar som socialkurator på Svenska Kyrkans diakonicentral som är inhyst i ett gammalt tegelhus på gatan. Ämnet som ska diskuteras är Lunds EU-migranters tillvaro, en fråga som hon har jobbat med sedan de allra första tiggarna kom till staden för tre år sedan. När hon tar emot oss berättar hon att det var i de här kvarteren som överlevarna från de nazistiska koncentrationslägrena som kom till Lund med Folke Bernadottes vita bussar hamnade.
med den enorma >>fattigdom som de
lever med, kommer förmodligen allt fler söka sig hit - Det är Lunds gamla fattigkvarter. När vår verksamhet startades upp 1901, var det traditionell fattigvård vi ägnade oss åt, berättar Nada. - Detta förändrades dock i samband med att folkhemmet byggdes upp, då
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en stor del av stadens fattiga försvann från stadens centrum. Sedan dess är det framförallt alkoholister och missbrukare vi har arbetat med. Och sedan tre år tillbaka med EU-migranter som kommer hit från Rumänien och Slovakien. Vi slår oss ned på Nadas kontor. Hon berättar att hon minns när de första migranterna anlände – det var en skara på åtta personer – och att detta utgjorde startskottet på ett inflöde som sedan dess bara har ökat och ökat. Nada är en energisk, mörkhårig kvinna runt de femtio, vars föräldrar flydde till USA efter andra världskriget för att undkomma kommunistdiktaturen i Ungern. Tack vare hennes ungerska påbrå kan hon tala med migranterna från de ungersktalande delarna av Slovakien och Rumänien. Hon tror att den förändrade migrationstillströmningen vi har märkt av den senaste tiden förmodligen bara är början. - Vi som arbetar inom den här typen av verksamheten märker ofta av effekterna av stora samhällsförändringar tidigare än andra, vilket speglas i debatten om romerna som kommer till Sverige. Den har nu pågått i ungefär ett och ett halvt år, men romerna – för det är i 98 procent av fallen romer det rör sig om – har funnits här i tre år. Det är en form av folkvandring vi ser och som situationen ser ut för romerna i Slovakien, Bulgarien och framförallt Rumänien, med den enorma fattigdom som de lever med, kommer förmodligen allt fler söka sig hit. För tillfället vistas ett åttiotal EU-migranter i Lund, uppger Nada, och av dessa vänder sig en betydande andel till Diakonicentralen Ugglan. Hit kommer de för att äta frukost och ta en dusch innan de går ut och sätter sig på gatorna. Det händer att Ugglan förser dem med begagnade kläder om detta behövs. Eller nya leksaker, till de som åker hem för att hälsa på sina barn.
På plats i Ugglans kafé, där alla kan få sig en gratis kopp kaffe och en macka för några kronor, sitter Laszlo och samlar krafterna inför sin sista dag som tiggare i Sverige: han har inte tjänat så pass bra som han hade hoppats, och under eftermiddagen ska han påbörja den långa resan hem till Transsylvanien i Rumänien. Där hemma väntar hans fru och tre barn på honom. Nada agerar tolk åt oss och när vi ber honom beskriva situationen i Rumänien, så säger han att det är hopplöst att hitta ett jobb och att det inte ens är går att överleva på att tigga i landet. Laszlo uppger att han är rom på sin pappas sida och ungrare på sin mammas, men att det är lika illa för alla rumäner att försörja sig – det är inte bara romerna som är utsatta.
Laszlo säger att trots att Sverige inte var vad han hade hoppats på, så funderar han på att komma tillbaka.
I Rumänien är >>romerna utsatta
för en strukturell rasism - Jag har varit i Polen tidigare eftersom jag har släkt där, men där blev jag betydligt sämre behandlad än i Sverige. Alla svenskar har varit väldigt snälla mot oss. Han berättar emellertid att han aldrig sover i sin bil på samma plats två
Nada Perlenberg berättar att EU-migranter, i huvudsak från Rumänien börjarde dyka upp på Svenska kyrkans diakonicentral för tre år sedan
Foto: Ivar Johansson
- Det florerar ju en del föreställningar om att de som kommer hit är en del av organiserade ligor, men något sådant har jag inte stött på i vår verksamhet. Det är människor som har tagit sig hundratals mil för att försörja sina familjer, vilket de inte kan göra i sina hemländer. I Rumänien är romerna utsatta för en enorm strukturell rasism – de har ingen tillgång till arbetsmarknaden, de flesta får inte lov att utbilda sig och de kan inte ens försörja sig genom att tigga eftersom folk har det så dåligt ekonomiskt. Oavsett hur många barn en familj har får de 500 euro i socialunderstöd, av vilka 300 går till hyra och 150 till el, och därmed återstår bara 50 euro till mat för kanske sex personer, berättar Nada.
- Det är därför det är så många som är här, säger han uppgivet. - Det finns inte bostäder så att det räcker, det råder en enorm brist på lägenheter och det finns inga jobb. Själv tror jag inte att jag någonsin kommer att hitta ett arbete, men jag har en familj att försörja, så vad kan jag göra än att komma hit?
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Foto: Tamás Zádor
Det senaste året har präglats av debatter om ”tiggarproblemet”, med rykten om att tiggarna skulle vara offer för organiserad brottslighet som aktivt underblåses av Sverigedemokraterna (men även företrädare för de övriga riksdagspartierna). Nyheter om tiggare som har avvisats från restauranger, fått hinkar med vatten hällda över sig, och som har blivit avhysta från sina lägerplatser har spridit sig i riksmedia. För att inte tala om de av Skånepolisen upprättade ”rom-registren”. Samtidigt har allmänhetens kännedom om EU-migranternas miserabla förhållanden i sina hemländer ökat, och åtgärder har vidtagits både på lokal- och myndighetsnivå för att bekämpa rasismen de utsätts för. Exempelvis kan den av regeringen nyligen publicerade ”Vitboken”, i vilken det strukturella förtryck som romerna utsatts för i Sverige redogörs för, och den nytillsatta romkommissionen som ska kartlägga den svenska antiziganismen, skådas i detta ljus. Romerna i Slovaken, Bulgarien och Rumänien lever ofta i fattigdom och utsätt för strukturell rasism och diskriminering.
gånger i rad – ”för att ingen ska störa oss”, säger han med en menande blick – och Nada berättar att en hotbild har börjat växa fram mot tiggarna i Sverige. - Köksbordsrasismen flödar som aldrig förr, förklarar hon allvarsamt och berättar att tiggare här i Lund har blivit misshandlade.
Köksbords>> rasismen flödar som aldrig förr
- För ett litet tag sedan var det ett äldre par som gav sig på dem, började slå och spotta på dem. Kvinnan, som var klädd i päls, spottade i en näsduk som hon tryckte upp i ansiktet på en tiggare.
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Nada säger att hon ställer sig oförstående till den rasism EU-migranterna, och framförallt romerna möter, i det att de inte utgör någon belastning för samhällets välfärd. De har ju inte rätt till svenska socialbidrag, förklarar hon, och vill man inte skänka dem en slant, vilket hon dock tycker att man borde, så kan man låta bli. Men samtidigt förstår hon att många har svårt att hantera den nya utvecklingen. - Vi svenskar har alltid varit generösa, vi har alltid givit en massa i bistånd – både som privatpersoner och genom staten – och när vi har gjort det har vi känt att vi har gjort vårt för världen. Men nu plötsligt är världen här, rätt framför våra näsor. Och det är fantastiskt på många sätt att vi har den här öppenheten, men med den kommer en ny verklighet. Vi har alltid vetat att det har funnits fattiga människor, vi har sett dem på TV eller när vi har varit ute och rest i världen. Men nu är de plötsligt här och inte där längre.
När samtalet med Laszlo är över ler han stort när vi tar varandra i hand. Trots de dystra omständigheterna som har fört honom till Sverige verkar han inte speciellt nedslagen. När vi tar upp detta med Nada säger hon att hon upplever detsamma: de ofta är trötta, stundtals desperata och ledsna, men aldrig bittra. Hon tror att det kan ha att göra med att flesta av migranterna som kommer hit har en djup gudstro. - Det är som med många som har suttit fängslade för sina religiösa övertygelser, eller de som överlevde Auschwitz – ofta var gudstron det enda som höll dem levande. När jag frågar de som har kommit hit hur de tänker inför framtiden så svarar de: ”Med guds hjälp så kommer det bli bättre”. När jag då frågar vad de menar svarar de: ”Ja, men ni finns ju här, och ni jobbar för Gud” Det är min syn på Gud också, det är inte en gubbe som sitter på ett moln,
Vi har alltid >>vetat att det har
funnits fattiga människor. Men nu är de plötsligt här och inte där längre. det är vår känsla av medmänsklighet och solidaritet och hopp. Det är vad vi försöker göra här: Vi kan inte ge dem hopp, men vi kan försöka förmedla det, säger Nada och ler. Å
Inte bara Sverigedemokraterna har talat om att förbjuda tiggeri. I mars 2013 skrev Eva Solberg, ordförande för Moderatkvinnorna i Stockholms stad, en debattartikel i Dagens Nyheter där hon uppmande till att “förbjuda det organiserade tiggeriet på våra gator”.
Foto: The Hamster Factor
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