Iran on Fire
Check this page and this page if you haven’t heard about this great event already, Iran is experiencing massive rioting, at a scale never before seen since the 1979 revolution, after the reformist politician Mousavi lost to the hardliner Ahmedinejad in what many people believe is a rigged election. Days of rioting have left the capital, Tehran, in a state of chaos, and a recount of the votes has been ordered. The pictures from the protests look like something big is happening indeed. Could it be that the Islamic Republic of Iran, one of the strongest regimes ruled by theocratic principles, is tethering on the brink of change?
Filed Under History & traditions, Human Rights, Media & Society, Politics
If the world were a village of 100 people
Filed Under Art, Creativity, Design, Environment, Food, Human Rights, Social Communication
Gaza Hip-Hop
Slingshot Hip Hop is a documentary that tells the stories of young Palestinians living in Israel, Gaza, and the West Bank as they discover Hip Hop and employ it as a tool to surmount divisions imposed by occupation and poverty.
Filed Under Creativity, Diversity, Human Rights, Politics
Shoot an Iraqi - The Art of Wafaa Bilal
Wafaa Bilal is an Iraqi multimedia artist who achieved global fame with his work, “Domestic Tension,” during which he lived for a month inside a cage with a remote-controlled paintball gun that visitors from the internet could control to shoot - or not shoot at the artist. While some visitors used the gun to actively pursue and shoot at Bilal, others took turns to “hijack” the system so that the artist could get sleep, rest, etc. In my opinion, it is one of the greatest artistic comments on the recent spate of conflicts in the Middle East. This, however, is not Bilal’s only work. Make sure you visit the artist’s web site for a comprehensive tour of his work, including complete recreations of the houses and rooms destroyed by war in Iraq. Make sure you look at the latest issue of COLORS magazine to see more of Wafaa’s work.
Filed Under Art, Creativity, Events, Human Rights, Media & Society, Politics
Where’s the most remote place on earth?
The New Scientist publishes a map of the most remote places on earth. Surprisingly enough, less than 10% of the world’s land is more than 48 hours of ground-based travel from the nearest city.
“In the Amazon, for example, extensive river networks and an increasing number of roads mean that only 20 per cent of the land is more than two days from a city - around the same proportion as Canada’s Quebec province. ”
Nevertheless, most people still don’t have access to the most basic resources such as water, education and medical care.
Filed Under Environment, Food, Human Rights, Water, World Health
Squatters of the World Unite!
Squatting involves using loopholes in local laws to build and occupy housing, free of charge. While a streak of anarchic activism has always run through squatters, in some cases they can create social problems, or give indirect support to crime and drug-dealing. Regardless of its consequences, squatters are a global phenomenon, and they usually find themselves in the middle of conflicts between local populations and the companies and governments of a globalizing and gentrifying world.Author Robert Neuwirth has written a bestselling book on the squatting phenomenon, and edits what is possibly one of the most comprehensive squatting-related blogs over at Squattercity. From the century-long occupation of flats in an expensive district of London, from the Brazilian favelas to the newly-spreading “tent cities” in depression-stricken America, this blog is a must-see.
Filed Under Diversity, Environment, Human Rights, Modern Life
Another wall
Rio de Janeiro government decided to build walls around 11 favelas.
The minds behind the idea say the intention is to protect the rainforest. The residents say it is a way to segregate them from the rest of society.
I say it’s surreal that we are still building physical barriers to solve either social or environmental problems.
Wouldn’t those 40 million reais spent on the walls do better invested in Education?
Filed Under Environment, Human Rights, Modern Life, Politics