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4. Italian Mafia:
Stronger Than Ever
Edgardo Schiena
8. What You Did Not Know About Photography Zena Alhiti
12. Pop Culture feminism have we gone too far? bianca barsan
16. #RUReferenceList 22. “Chiara Ferragni: Madison Melton
The Astonishing Success Story of a Blog� Sharon Tirado
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Italian Mafia: Stronger Than Ever
SCHIENAS, EDGARDO @Eschienas
Italian Mafia: Stronger Than Ever | schienas edgardo
During the last century many of us have been witnesses of movies about organized crime, a detailed representation of the spread and eradication of the Mafia around the globe and the establishment of the most powerful families of the Italian organized crime in particular. Hollywood always tried to be as truthful as possible when representing this obscure world, but every Italian that will read this article will certainly agree that things changed, and that the current situation is far from the cinematographic representations we are used to. Mafia is not anymore about Thompsons, suits with ties, expensive cars or watches. Most of the Italian Mafia’s activities happen in the shadow, hidden from our eyes. This phenomenon is in constant increase to an extent that not even the Italian government knows exactly what is going on. Nobody knows the number of members, clans and families that currently are active for certain, since new members join their cause every day. Mafia clans are involved in any illegal activity you can imagine; prostitution, drugs, garbage industry, racketeering, construction industry and many others. But their main focus is no longer crimes and massacres. The Mafia is growing, evolving into a more economic-political-focused organization. Their main objective now is to take control of the major political and economic
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institutions of the Italian state and exert even more influence within our society. A research commissioned by the Italian Parliament by the anti-mafia commission stated that more than 13 million Italians are directly affected by organized crime. Most of these people are in the Southern part of the country, where the highest concentration of people living under the shadow of the Mafia can be found. In Agrigento, Sicily, the rate is as high as 95.5%. Currently, there are 4 major mobs in Italy, equally distributed in the major regions of the southern hemisphere; Sicily’s Cosa Nostra, Naples Camorra, Calabrian ‘Ndrangheta and the Puglian Sacra Corona. All of them combined have an annual turnover of 130 billion Euro,mostly stored in offshore accounts. In the cities of Sicily and Palermo, 80% of the shops and businesses pay protection money to the Mafia, starting from 500 Euro a month. These are just very few examples of shocking statistics. These are constantly changing numbers, from day to day, from hour to hour. It’s a phenomenon that has been rampant in the Italian society since the times of
the unification of Italy, and since then no one has ever found the way to stop this phenomenon from becoming more common, not just nationally but also internationally. Still, their influence in their Italian headquarters is greater than ever. Many people lost their lives fighting against organized crime in Italy; judges, police men, politicians, civilians. In order to understand the impact of living parallel to the Mafia on one’s personal life, one actually needs to experience it live. What the news media portray about this topic is not even close to the full picture of the real situation. Italian authorities are making a huge effort in order to extinguish once and for all the grip of the Mafia in Italy. But the more times you cut off the head of this beast, the more heads grow. It has been a long battle, and especially now it more challenging than ever. I recommend the readers to what the movie “Gomorrah”, based on the book “Gomorrah” by Italian writer Roberto Saviano, which, right after his book came out, he had to live with two policemen for months.
Italian Mafia: Stronger Than Ever | schienas edgardo
SCHIENAS, EDGARDO @Eschienas
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What You Did Not Know About Photography Alhiti, Zena @zenaalhiti
Photo Credit: Louis Daguerre
What You Did Not Know About Photography | chiba zareen
A photograph speaks more than the colors it carries. A photograph holds messages, stories and memories. Despite a photograph being taken moments ago, its presence can still be felt today. Have you ever wondered about who took the first photograph? How and when the camera was invented? Historically the origin of cameras can be traced much further back from the introduction of photography to the published Book of Optics in 1021 AD by the An Arab physicist, Ibn al-Haytham where his work was credited with the invention of the first camera obscura. Cameras evolved from the camera obscura, changing through many generations of photographic technology, including daguerreotypes, calotypes, dry plates, film and recently digital cameras. Since the public display of the first practical photographic process, unveiled in 1839, Louis Daguerre has put in a lot of work to ensure cameras and photography have evolved and will continue to evolve moving to 3-Dimensional (3D) and High-Dimensional (HD) pictures.
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Technology today has made photography accessible to the society at large, be it with a fancy digital camera or a simple mobile phone. This enables people to capture real time events anywhere around the globe at any time. A photograph capturing the scenic sunset in the Maldives can easily be viewed by millions with the click of ‘POST’ on social media. Nevertheless, the true message or story behind the photograph can only be told by the photographers themselves.
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viewer. Is it not beautiful how each photograph can allow you to go back in time and remind you of all the treasured memories?
They say a picture often tells a genuine story and to this day, that holds true. Every photograph that I capture carries a different background, a different meaning, and a different story. Maybe it is time for you to capture your story today. One has told me that a good photograph is achieved when a fortuitous buddy captures a right portrait in the right time- I would add further, that passion It is incredible how a is the essence to bring a photograph can trigger photograph to life. feelings, thoughts and different perspectives within every individual
What You Did Not Know About Photography | chiba zareen
Photo Credit: Dorothea Lange
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Pop Culture feminism have we gone too far?
Pop Culture feminism have we gone too far? |
Throughout the last years, we have had an invasion of ‘feminist’ activists in the media: on TV, between the covers of magazines and especially on the Internet. Poster girl for this was, at first, Emma Watson, who actually did some pretty cool things for the movement (I guess) and who was then followed by the likes of other pop icons: Kim Kardashian, Beyonce, Meryl Streep and so on. Oh, and of course, Lena Dunham.
barsan bianca
Now, the problem I seem to have with this modern-day feminism is that I feel like a) it does not reflect the large socio-political issues of women globally – think education, spousal and employment opportunities and rights – and b) it does not do women any favor at all, really. Remember Kim’s nude selfie? The one that was quickly followed by Emily Ratajkowski’s topless selfies? Yeah, I fail to see how that is empowering to women: it stands to say women can go topless because men can, and because this is how we stop men from objectifying and sexualizing our bodies, but the fact is, any naked body is objectified by the gaze staring into it. Be it man or woman, or anything in between. Furthermore, what about those women whose bodies are less than perfect and who get even more insecure with all this imagery all over
BARSAN, BIANCA @biancaomikami
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social media? Feminism should not create exclusion, but rather unity – among both men and women – yet it seem to be failing us: we end up having a group of women telling a different group of women how to be feminists. We have rules about what a feminist should do or say, we get angry at men for holding doors open for us, we shame the woman who says she is fine with cooking for her husband and we shame the woman who shaves her armpits because she gave in to the standards set by men– thanks for that Lena Dunham.
Personally, I think that feminism, as it originated, is meant to advance the status of women towards and equal position with men, be it career or education-wise, or even on a personal level: the inferiority of a wife in the household, legal rape of one’s wife and female genital mutilation are real problems, just as access to education, or lack thereof, is, or the many laws regarding women in Gulf states are. I do not think we should concern ourselves with men who offer to hold an umbrella for us, or help us carry
Pop Culture feminism have we gone too far? |
a heavy bag – thank you to all who have done this for me at any point, please keep being this way! Being polite has nothing to do with being sexist. On the other hand, the social and economic status of the women is what we need to worry about, and I really, truly, do not begin to comprehend how letting my hairs grow or posting nude on social media would fix that. Or even advance it in the slightest. Let us not reinforce the patriarchal gaze by feeding into this ‘naked bodies’ feminism, and let us not believe in the desires of several celebrities to actually do something for our girls, when all they crave
barsan bianca
is more money, more fame, more attention just to feel good about themselves. Our very own ISM is involved in a project that is actually beneficial to young girls in marginalized areas of Tanzania: New Hope for Girls, which works towards raising a generation of girls which are ‘valuable, not vulnerable’. If you would like to get involved too, you can find more details here and do make sure to check their success stories: http://newhopeforgirls.org/
BARSAN, BIANCA @biancaomikami
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#RUReferenceList In her first month at university, she is raped in her dormitory by someone she was starting to consider a new friend. In one version of this story, she reports the assault. The evidence is found to be inconclusive. In second version, she does not. Can barely get out of bed/throws herself into her work/tells her family, friends, strangers, wanting to be heard/tells no one at all. He is popular on their university campus. He comes up often in stories told amongst acquaintances in classes, in bars. Once, a professor recommends she go to him for extra help with her introductory Calculus class.
Two years later, a friend of hers dates him for several months. In one version of the story, she tells her friend what happened. Her friend says that is ridiculous and she is just jealous. For a while, she wonders if this is true. In the second version, she says nothing. She feels guilty. She worries he will assault her friend, too. But they seem to really like each other, and under the circumstances she is worried she will just appear jealous. When they graduate, he gets one of the loudest and longest rounds of applause at the graduation ceremony. One month later, although there is no specific instigating factor, something tugs at her nerves. She names him and shares her story on Facebook. She feels exhilarated, empowered, terrified, nauseous. Phone calls start coming in. She answers some, not others. She
#RUReferenceList |
disables comments on the post because she feels they are never constructive. Several weeks later she is served by his lawyers. He takes her to court for defamation. In one version of the story, the old university case is referred to, and his lawyer argues that he was found not guilty. This is not untrue. In second version, the lawyer argues that she’s never even reported. What does she expect the court to do? This is vigilantism. What would society look like if everyone took justice into their own hands? Can’t she see? They ask rhetorically. They have already decided that she cannot. The punishment is severe; she owes him a lot of money. She goes to work each morning and thinks about how many hours of her day are indebted to him.
melton madison
The debt, her anxiety, and the less-thanflattering news coverage of the case hold her back in her career. There are murmurs about him for a while, but only in certain circles and they soon recede into the background. He is successful, his children photograph well, and he has a lawn that is nicely landscaped. On Sunday night, April 17th, a list of names was anonymously published to a Rhodes University queer crushes and confessions page. It was titled “Reference List,” and
MELTON, MADISON @nomad_melton
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included the names of eleven male students and recent graduates and concluded with et. al. A screenshot of the list was soon shared to the student page most often used for university-wide communication and discussion. Despite the fact that the post included nothing else to indicate its meaning, within an hour, based on the reputations of those named, students had determined that it was a list of alleged rapists. The hashtag #RUReferenceList started trending, protests broke out, and the university was shut down for a week. Five student protestors were arrested, and an interdict was taken out by the university to quell the protests, naming three individuals specifically as well as the whole university body in general. Students called for immediate and concrete changes to the university’s policy on sexual assault, and were dissatisfied by a lukewarm response from management. The protests made headlines in some international media outlets the Tuesday after the list was published when students protested topless to demonstrate ownership and agency over their bodies. Similar movements have been sparked at other universities. In the first few days of that week, despite supporting the objectives of the protest
#RUReferenceList |
wholeheartedly, I was a bit of a fence-sitter about the issue of the list itself. Is it ever morally justifiable for justice to be taken into the hands of the people? Under ordinary circumstances I would say no, but perhaps it’s less important to consider whether it was right or not and more constructive to think of it in terms of why. Vigilantism is often equated to the breakdown of protective legal structures, but I think it is not an equation but a response. Sexual assault cases are among the most difficult to prosecute, in part for very practical reasons. Evidence that is easily collected and found to be conclusive in the prosecution of other crimes is difficult and oftentimes impossible to acquire in cases of sexual assault. Rates of report are low, although this is almost certainly in part due to the hopelessness bred by such low prosecution rates. With lack of a guilty verdict, despite having little to do with whether or not there is the presence of actual guilt, victims/survivors are shoved into a corner, now legally responsible for speaking about their experiences, and the successful prosecution rates for defamation are much higher. The principles behind the law is that it supports and protects both the
melton madison
victim of a crime and the alleged perpetrator with equal measure, but when this equality is so severely unbalanced, are unconventional efforts to take back some of that power to be seen as anarchy or the desperate expression of those who are committed to change? Realistically speaking, it seemed to be the only thing that worked. The list gathered greater momentum behind this issue in an hour than a decade of dialogue has been able to accomplish. Perhaps this is the old ‘does the ends justify the means’ argument, but truly, I now firmly believe it was worth it. Whether the specific individuals named are indeed rapists is not for me to say, but the et. al at the end of the list is telling. There are rapists at Rhodes, because there are rapists at every university and in every town and amongst many people’s friends and family. They are men, women, and gender nonbinary people; young, old, and middle-aged; acting with malicious intent and acting with dangerous ignorance. They are survivors themselves, parents, teachers, doctors, politicians, people’s children. I don’t know if I have ever thought so much as I did during the course of these protests. I was mentally and emotionally exhausted from the sheer brain power required to keep
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up with the course of fast-changing events, re-evaluating my position and perspectives, it seemed, every fifteen minutes or so. These weeks, there has been relative quiet, and I think more than anything else the campus feels drained. However, this does not feel discouraging. With issues like these, people often feel at mercy of structures outside of their control. Things feel a little bit different now. Sure, the interdict shook a lot of people very hard and made them stare straight into the face of the university’s power to silence, but there also seems more hope now because, with the publication of the list, the issue was taken on in a completely new, more powerful display of a refusal to back down, to be held hostage by experiences that people have little ability to name and acknowledge. A luta continua. #RUReferenceList.
MELTON, MADISON @nomad_melton
#RUReferenceList |
melton madison
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“Chiara Ferragni: The Astonishing Success Story of a Blog”
“Chiara Ferragni: The Astonishing Success Story of a Blog” | triado sharon
When Chiara was born in 1987, she had no idea how the future would have surprised her. “The Blonde Salad” turned out to be more than a blog after its foundation by Chiara in 2009 while she was studying Law at the university of Bocconi.
The now model and image of Pantene, owns two companies which generated her $8 Million dollars of profits in the past year. She has been the cover girl of the top magazines in the fashion industry, won several awards that recognize her work and she even earned the attention of the Harvard Business School to create a Business Case about her amazing strategy and story. Chiara Ferragni stopped being a simple name and started to be an asset and a brand itself when she started her blog. Nowadays, every follower, reader and site visitor counts, and this is something Chiara took into account when she decided to share her style with the rest of the world. Every month more than 500,000 unique visitors read her blog, resulting in more than $1.5 million revenues in advertising and referred sales.
TIRADO, SHARON @shatirado
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“Chiara Ferragni: The Astonishing Success Story of a Blog” | triado sharon
Today, Chiara has 6 Million followers on Instagram, the most powerful tool when it comes to sharing fashion-related topics or even art. In terms of the number of followers, the higher the number of followers the higher the value of your brand and the stronger your currency as the advertisement that you make on this social media will eventually be served to more people. Harvard Professor Anat Keinan referred to Chiara’s business saying that “She was very creative in monetizing her blog and turning it into a real business, a multi-milliondollar business. One of the main reasons for her success is this ability to be relatable but also aspirational at the same time.” Her biggest source of profits is her line of shoes, which brought her 70% of her profits in the past year.
But how did a student of Law become an influencer in the fashion industry and a successful digital entrepreneur from one day to another? First of all, we can say Chiara was a pioneer when she created her fashion blog. Before 2009, a “fashion-blog culture” was basically non-existent and people were simply displaying outfits in the streets but not on the Internet. Secondly, starting late 2009 and 2010, the society started to socialize more in a “digital way” as new applications such as Instagram or Pinterest come out. In other words, Chiara found herself in the right place, at the right time. However, as the blogger said, there is always that big percentage of effort behind all her work in the past years followed by creativity and being her true self no matter what.
TIRADO, SHARON @shatirado
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