أنشودة ياما كان فيها ممالك - مشاري العفاسي(فيديو كليب

Nina Simone visit to Abu Ghraib Prison-Farhat Art Museum

http://www.farhatartmuseum.info
Farhat Art Museum Collection , Abu Ghraib prison by five Artists "
Vannessa Stafford (America) , Laila Kubba (Iraq) . Rihab Jaafar (Lebanon) , Abed Al-Kadiri (Lebanon) Gerardo Gomez (El Salvador)

Art and Pictogram - European Values XXI Century

A new works about XXI century values of European area. With deportation centers as Lamperdusa, Lesvos or Malta we need to think about Human Rights facts in European socities. Because Forteress Europe still rising walls, perscute imigrant & refugees we need to open our mind in a XXI Century globalisation construction.

US - 1 Million of Deportations soon with S-Comm program

From Just seeds : Artists cooperative

"the administration has moved to ramp up deportations, expanding the brutal efficiency of a system that Mr. Obama has acknowledged is broken, arbitrary and unjust." - New York Times, Aug 15. 2011

After hitting a record 1 MILLION deportations, the Obama administration just did the unthinkable: Forcing states and police departments to comply with a controversial program called Secure Communities or S-Comm – a move guaranteed to deport many more millions of people.

S-Comm is a highly criticized federal program that is deporting immigrants who have done nothing wrong, encouraging racial profiling, devastating communities around the country, and making us all less safe. In fact, under S-Comm authorities can deport a woman reporting domestic violence, instead of protecting her. Huge immigrant states like Illinois and New York opted out of the program because it breeds distrust of the police – and now President Obama is forcing them to comply.

We need a massive outcry—and fast—if we are to stop this disastrous program. Since Thursday, the organization I helped found, Presente.org, began a petition to end S-Comm, and since then, more than 20,000 people have signed on!! Will you help us get to 30,000 signatures?

Click here to sign the petition asking President Obama to end S-Comm

Under the Obama Administration, ICE and DHS have gone out of their way to mislead the public about Secure Communities. And despite rhetoric about supporting fair immigration reform and relief for our communities, their actions are speaking much louder than their words.

Now they are poised to force local officials to make this situation even worse. Until recently, the Obama Administration used to sign agreements with states, cities, and towns regarding whether or not these localities wanted to enroll in S-Comm. But when local governments started to say they didn’t want the program, the Obama administration changed their own rules. On Friday, August 5th, they ended agreements with 42 states, claiming that local permission wasn’t needed to force every local police department into the program by 2013.

If we don’t do something about it, S-Comm will come to every neighborhood in the country—including yours! The Obama administration has already deported more than 1 MILLION people, more than any other administration in history. S-Comm will bring about even more devastating consequences.

We’ll start by compiling these signatures and delivering them to the President and the media. We’ll work with immigrant rights organizations, state-based groups, and law enforcement to educate the public and help organize a major pushback on the administration’s dangerous move.

Click here to sign the petition asking President Obama to end S-Comm

AHMED By Guido Gazzilli - African refugees

I went to Lampedusa when the “emergency” was on every Italian’s mind, say Guido Gazzilli. It was the front page of every paper, the opener for every news cycle, the topic during talk shows. The main point I was getting was that the Lampedusans were angry, the island devastated by these people who were essentially squatting everywhere, that the locals had taken to not leaving their homes, their lives destroyed. I went there to look for a story about a young refugee man.















































I saw the opposite, the locals taking in these immigrants, feeding them, clothing them, some families hosting 3 or 4 immigrants under their roof, others giving them their boats to sleep in, or their garages.

I met local volunteers, the Matinas family, who were hosting a lot of immigrants. that’s how I met Ahmed, a 23-year-old Tunisian who was being looked after by the Matinas. A great man. The family gave him clothes, allowed him to use the bathroom, cooked for him,they said to him “This house is your house now”, .He had been on the island nine days, happy to be there and nervous about having to be possibly re-patriated.









































Ahmed told me he earned 60 euros a month as a waiter in Biserta, where he lived, and had to pay bordercrossers 800 euros for a 25 hour boat ride with another two dozen Tunisians. His mother had sold half her belongings in order to help him take the trip.

“I left for my future, for my family,” he told me. The Matinas even wanted him to stay on the island, but Ahmed had to be moved to another CIE (“Center for Identification and Expulsion). He spent 10 days in the CIE of Campobasso, I tried to meet him but i had no permission to get in, he finally obtained a temporary permit for six months, now he has to find a job or he will be re-patriated.

Ahmed went to Verona where his sister lives, she works in a bar with her boyfriend. Unfortunately they have no space in their house and not job opportunities for him...















http://www.guidogazzilli.com/

Europe: the dangerous rise of xenophobia & racist discrimination

Xenophobia is becoming a serious threat for Europe, as the brutal attack in Norway has shown. Human rights groups and experts warn that far-right political parties have played an important role in bringing the threat posed by extremist groups to the extent it has reached today.

Norwegian police believe a 32-year-old Norwegian suspect, Anders Behring Breivik, is to blame for the attacks on Norway’s government headquarters and a youth retreat that left at least 93 dead. Breivik was described as a fundamentalist Christian and Muslim-hater.

He had connections to the Norwegian far right, was a member of a Swedish neo-Nazi internet forum and hailed the anti-Islam PVV movement of Geert Wilders in the Netherlands as “the only true party for conservatives”. According to sociologist Hikmet Aydın, the educational system in Europe and the attitude of governments towards Muslims in recent years have created a fertile ground for the emergence of vicious killers like Breivik in Norway.

In a report titled: “Islam, Islamism and Islamophobia in Europe,” the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) noted last year -- with deep concern -- that in many of the Council of Europe’s 47 member states, Muslims feel socially excluded, stigmatized and discriminated against, stressing that they have become victims of stereotypes, social marginalization and political extremism because of their different religious and cultural traditions.

The report lambasted some member states where far right-wing parties have changed their traditional hostile campaign against immigration and foreigners and now exploit the public fear of Islam. The PACE report underlined: “Their political campaigns encourage anti-Muslim sentiments and the amalgamation of Muslims with religious extremists. They advocate the fear of Europe being swamped by Muslims.”

The rise of populist, xenophobic, nationalist far right parties in Europe and abroad is alarming. It's about 10-15 percent of the populations in many countries of Europe. Far-right parties gained seats in recent elections in Hungary, Belgium, Netherlands, France and Finland. Politicians started to capitalize on the fears of people, hoping that such a strategy will deliver them votes.

The populist parties emerging in Europe differ from traditional neofascist parties in that they have garnered a much broader voting base. The parties are able to do so by playing off the fear of rising immigration levels in their countries. The group found that “in some countries, they have even established themselves as the second largest party with around 30% of the votes, sometimes denying their rivals a governing majority.” These parties are quickly gaining momentum, which threatens the security of immigrants across the continent. Even those currently in power are actively participating in discrimination against immigrants and minority groups.

Far-right rhetoric is used not just by the extremist parties in Europe but by the mainstream parties as well. A negative attitude developed by Sarkozy at the heart of Europe was reflected on the streets. People started look for someone to blame for the all ills of the economy. They put the blame on new arrivals to the country and immigrants. It is a gross injustice and many immigrants now feel threatened and unwelcome, and rightly so.

Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel at the Congress of the Young Christian Democrats said that, "This [multicultural] approach has failed, utterly failed." These sentiments echoed by various politicians and pundits throughout Europe raise the heat on a plethora of issues, from immigration and minority rights to Islam and the Roma. The sentiment among many now is that Europe, once a beacon of hope for many foreigners and a rich, vibrant cosmopolitan society, is reverting back to nationalist sentiments.
According to the BBC, many Europeans feel that immigrants and Islam are attacking valued principles, mainly secularism and the notion of the unified, indivisible state and citizenry who are able to assimilate in the nation. The flash-points of these movements and the mobilization against foreigners are occurring throughout Europe.

France has been on the attack. According to the BBC, the National Assembly and the Senate approved a bill banning the Islamic full veil in public, a measure supported by a large portion of the population and the president Nicolas Sarkozy. The riots of 2005 caused by youth dissent also highlighted the race and immigrant relations, as well as the fear of Islam and immigrant communities by many in France. France has a vibrant far right party, the National Front. The party is nativist, protectionist and traditionalist, alongside being blatantly racist and downplaying the holocaust. According to PBS, in the presidential election of 2002, Le Pen received 17 % of the vote for the presidency. This may not seem like a large number for a national election, but the sole fact that 17 %of the French electorate would vote for an imbecile like National Front leader is beyond comprehension.

England has also been in the news for their increasing reactionary movements and parties. According to the BBC, the British National Party has increased in popularity over recent years, taking over half a million votes (an increase of 1.2 percent) in the UK national election in 2010. According to the BNP website, the policies they support that set them apart from the other parties are, "the threat to our security posed by Islam and the danger of the European Union to our sovereignty." Along with the rise of the BNP is the energetic English Defense League, whose goal is to prevent the "Islamification" of Britain.

According to MSNBC, Germany's chairman of the Christian Social Union, Horst Seehofer, has reaffirmed the need for strong immigration policies denying any more people from "alien cultures." The Netherlands have Geert Wilders, a Dutch politician who claims that there is no moderate Islam and that anyone who is a Muslim will one day be radicalized. According to The Guardian, the ultraconservative Sweden Democrats received 6% of the vote in the national election in September, meaning they will get 20 Members of Parliament. The Guardian also reports that this party, which has support from Skinhead groups, bears the slogan "tradition and security," and is against Islamification. They too seek to crack down on immigration.

With the Swiss referendum in 2009, Islamophobia has become institutionalized, sanctioned by the constitution drawing an analogy to anti-Semitic sentiments of the 1930s.

The Roma people are under enormous pressure in many nations around Europe. There have been expulsions in France, Italy and attacks against them in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary.

Many Europeans have forgotten the lessons of the past. The Holocaust, along with the conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina to name a few, were a direct result of these nationalist, intolerant and racist beliefs.

While this occurs in Europe, it is also stirring movements in the United States as well. According to The Guardian, the English Defense League and Tea Party have forged ties, mainly against Islam and the supposed rise of Sharia law in government. These vivacious and populist parties are spewing their venom of hatred and propaganda and attracting many into their flock, including countless youth. We must stand up, voice our concern and let the radicals know that we will not allow them to take control. Do not be apathetic but show your care and concern for the poor, oppressed and minorities.

Never forget the words of Pastor Niemoller, who said that the German intellectuals had failed to speak up against Nazism. When the Nazi party attacked group after group and finally came for clergy members. "Then they came for me," he said, "and by that time no one was left to speak up."

THIS IS FAMINE - SOMALIA

Today, UN declares famine in southern Somalia. The Feeding centre in Dollo Ado is under emergency. European governments have been accused of "wilful neglect" by aid agencies working in Somalia, parts of which are officially in a state of famine, the United Nations (UN) has confirmed, saying that over 300,000 are currently experiencing acute malnutrition. International development secretary Andrew Mitchell said that men, women and children were dying of starvation.





"It is time for the world to help but sadly the response from many countries has been derisory and dangerously inadequate," he said. Oxfam agreed, saying that while the UK had led the way on aid, countries like Denmark, Italy and France had not provided any extra aid. As you read this, whole communities in Somalia are faced with what has been described by some observers as the worst humanitarian tragedy in decades.
























United Nations High Commission for Refugees, as having called the drought now affecting more than 11 million people in Kenya, Somalia, and Ethiopia, the worst humanitarian crisis in the world today which is turning into a human tragedy of unimaginable proportions. Refugees fleeing the region's worst drought in 60 years. The UN is appealing for "massive support" from the international community. UN Children's Fund estimating at least two million children are suffering from malnourishment.
























UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres said that those at the camp were "the poorest of the poor and the most vulnerable of the vulnerable"."The mortality rates we are witnessing are three times the level of emergency ceilings," he said.

from A. Njuguna photographer, UNHCR's photo album in facebook here

lampedusa festival 2011

LAMPEDUSAINFESTIVAL – “Festival of Migrations and the Recovery of Oral History”, from 19 to 23 July 2011, Lampedusa (Italy) – is to give space and visibility to international works (fiction or documentaries) that tell stories of people. In a historic moment in which there are many debates about issues that seemed to have been solved by the mediterranean countries (the rights of workers, the role of women in society) and full of new instances to wonder about (the revolts against the authoritarian and corrupt regimes, the attitude of the new/old Europe towards migratory flows, the value of the culture and the state of the artistic and environmental Italian heritage), we think that we should look at the faces, learn the names e know the stories of the people who are – voluntarily or not – leading actors in history.

Lampedusa In Festival 2011 from Ondemotive on Vimeo.

Aspettando "LampedusaInFestival - III° Edizione" (19 - 23 luglio 2011)

Lampedusa Festival Website here

Somalia - Until children dying - the worst humanitarian disaster in the world

DAI KUROKAWA 29 06 2011

DADAAB REFUGEE CAMP, KENYA. The bigest refugee camp in the world is over control. Famine desease rise again. Refugees fleeing the region's worst drought in 60 years. We are scared to come back in the same disaster than 1992. in july 2011, it's a vision of hell at the Dabaab camp. World's biggest refugee camp sees alarming spike in child deaths. The situation in drought-hit Somalia can be described as the "worst humanitarian disaster" in the world.

The UN is appealing for "massive support" from the international community for the more than 380,000 people estimated to be living in Dadaab. The World Food Programme estimates that more than 10 million people are already in need of humanitarian aid, with the UN Children's Fund estimating at least two million children are suffering from malnourishment. Those children are in need of lifesaving action, the UN says.1,500 people were arriving in Dadaab every day and that the situation was extremely serious. Most of the arrivals to the camps are women and very young children, many of whom are in very bad physical condition. The people that are arriving are absolutely desperate after 10-15 days walking. Thousands more are waiting at reception centres outside the Dadaab camp.

UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres said that those at the camp were "the poorest of the poor and the most vulnerable of the vulnerable"."The mortality rates we are witnessing are three times the level of emergency ceilings," he said. He appealing for "massive support" from the international community."I have no doubt that in today's world, Somalia corresponds to the worst humanitarian disaster. I have never seen in a refugee camp people coming in such desperate conditions."

UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres after a visit in the camp ,Mukoya Thomas
























Anonymous























a child in refugee graves where birds dancing around bodies - 22 agust 2009, Spencer Platt































Sayyid Azim 6 july 2011
























Rebecca Blackwell

20 OF JUNE - WORLD REFUGEE DAY

For years, many countries and regions have been holding their own Refugee Days and even Weeks. One of the most widespread is Africa Refugee Day, which is celebrated on 20 June in several countries.

The UN General Assembly, on 4 December 2000, adopted resolution 55/76 where it noted that 2001 marked the 50th anniversary of the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, and that the Organization of African Unity (OAU) had agreed to have International Refugee Day coincide with Africa Refugee Day on 20 June.

The General Assembly therefore decided that, from 2001, 20 June would be celebrated as World Refugee Day. This year the UN refugee agency, in its 60th year, will mark World Refugee Day with a rich and varied programme of events in locations worldwide and the launch of a new global awareness campaign. Every day, millions of refugees face murder, rape and terror. We believe even 1 is too many.

POLITICAL DESIGN

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL : “No one will keep us from seeing.”

PHOTOGRAPHING THE EXODUS - JUAN MEDINA

A would-be immigrant crawls past sunbathers after his arrival on a makeshift boat on the Gran Tarajal beach in Spain's Canary Islands May 5, 2006. Some 38 would-be immigrants arrived at the beach on a makeshift boat and some 39 were intercepted on a makeshift boat off Spain's Canary Island of Fuerteventura on their way to reach European soil from Africa. In 2007 & 2010, 2 photography was been censured during exhibitions in Canarias and Valencía.

PHOTOGRAPHY - GO NO GO - AD VAN DENDEREN

Between 1988 and 2003 Ad van Denderen photographed migrants and refugees who were under way to the rich West. He lodged for weeks in filthy pensions in Istanbul where Pakistanis waited for human traffickers who would take them to Greece. He joined police patrols along the borders between Greece and Turkey, where particularly Sri Lankans were arrested, and watched how at night men and women disembarked soaking wet from small boats at Tarifa in Spain, after their difficult travel by sea from Morocco.

Following you can see the photobook about the project :

Go No Go project here http://www.go-no-go.nl/gonogo.php