Ziad Zitoun Visual Arts: people

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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)

time lapse - Day-to-Night at Djemaa el Fna square - Marrakech

Nita Naldi - Mediterranean Beauty

Meditteranean song - Ahwak - Zaki Nassif

Another video shot on a sunny sunday afternoon in Beirut with Heba el mansoury and her lovely husband Majed .
It is shot as usual with a digital still camera , i hope u ll excuse the quality .
the song is by Zaki Nassif , i have re arranged it . I am producing some tracks for Heba , i really love her voice , there will be more to come ...

Rizzle Kicks - Down With The Trumpets

Graphic design in Chefchaouen

Spanish graphic designer and multimedia artist Javier Reta's digital collages are inspired from the two years he spent living in Chefchaouen, in Morocco's northern Rif region.

This series is entitled "Into Jebl" (Into the mountain).

Javier's mixed-medias draw from his "devotion to these mountain woman and their hard work," his curiosity with Arabic typography as graphic elements and his personal photography.

His photography is also quite stunning, veering towards the abstract. See this series 'Blue & Orange.'

All images courtesy Javier Reta. For more of his work, visit his website or portfolio.

TIMELAPSE - MOROCCO

Morocco from Stian Rekdal on Vimeo.

BEST VIEWED IN FULLSCREEN HD - SCALING OFF

In september of 2011 I spent 2 weeks travelling around Morocco covering over 3200km (2000 miles). It was my first visit to this beautiful country, but it will definetly not be the last.

Locations include: Marrakesh, Ait Ben Haddou, Dades Gorge, Erg Chebbi, Fez, Meknes, Chefchaouen, El Jadida, Essaouira and Legzira beach.

Equipment:

Dynamic Perception Stage Zero Dolly - http://www.dynamicperception.com/
Nikon D700
Nikon D7000
Nikon 14-24mm F2.8 G ED AF-S
Nikon 50mm F1.4G AF-S
Sigma 24-70mm F2.8 IF EX DG HSM
Nikon 18-105mm F3-5-5-6G ED VR AF-S DX

Software:

Adobe After Effects
Adobe Photoshop
Adobe Lightroom
LRTimelapse
GBDeflicker
Photomatix Pro
SNS HDR Pro
Topaz Adjust 4
Nik Color Efex Pro 4

Next Stop: Tenerife & La Gomera!

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."

SPOTLIGHT - INVISIBLE BORDERS 2009

In 2009, 10 Nigerian photographers came together and embarked on a project called INVISIBLE BORDERS 2009 – a trip from Lagos to Bamako by road. The project was inspired by the 8th edition of the Festival of photography in Bamako.

This initiative arose as a result of an urgent need to address the notion of dividing borders between countries in the African continent. It was an attempt to acquire a more realistic sense of the similarities and difference between peoples suggested by cultural and geographical divides. The mission of the Initiative is to tell Africa’s stories, by Africans, through photography and inspiring artistic interventions; to encourage exposure of upcoming African photographers towards art and photography as practiced in other parts of the continent.; to establish a platform that encourages and embraces trans- African artistic relationships within the continent, and to contribute towards the socio-political discourse shaping Africa of the 21st Century.

Later, it was decided that it becomes an annual event which will anchor itself to the different cultural and artistic events taking place all over the continent, thereby forming a cultural and artistic network between cities and countries in Africa from its departure point Lagos, Nigeria.