- in English below - 

(de Julio Barrera/S4C Colombia)

La vida sigue, el paro sigue, pero hoy, 25 de noviembre de 2019, cerca de la media noche, la vida de Dilan Cruz, un joven estudiante de 17 años quien acababa de terminar el bachillerato, se detuvo para siempre fruto de una agresión por parte de un oficial del Escuadrón Móvil Antidisturbios ESMAD, una unidad especial de la Policía Nacional.

 

Colombia es gobernada actualmente por el presidente Iván Duque, miembro del partido político Centro Democrático. Este es un joven político que el año pasado subió al poder amparado y protegido (dicen muchos, manipulado) por el expresidente Álvaro Uribe Vélez.

 

A lo largo de su primer año de mandato, el gobierno de Duque ha tenido más percances que éxitos y su popularidad cae en picada. El proceso de paz se ha ido deteriorando debido a la desinteresada aplicación del mismo por parte del estado, el crimen sistemático de líderes sociales crece día a día, la educación sufre constantemente de recortes en presupuesto, las pensiones se ven cada vez más embolatadas entro muchos otros problemas.

 

Ante la indiferencia, inexperiencia o incluso desidia del presidente y su equipo de trabajo ante los constantes pedidos de la ciudadanía, se convoca un paro general que inicia el pasado 21 de noviembre.

 

La primera y masiva manifestación, es finalmente reprimida por la Policía Nacional y el ESMAD, pero inesperadamente, la ciudadanía se organiza y en la noche se inician una serie de cacerolazos que surgen en diferentes barrios de la ciudad en donde se arenga contra el presidente, contra Álvaro Uribe Vélez y contra el sistema capitalista actual que se implanta en el país.

Las marchas y su respectiva represión continúan el día 22 de noviembre y se decreta toque de queda en la ciudad de Cali y Bogotá. Pero los cacerolazos son imparables y estos se celebran hasta pasadas varias horas del toque de queda.

 

Esta dinámica de marcha represión y cacerolazo continúa durante el 23, 24 y 25 de noviembre. Sin embargo, el pasado sábado 23 de noviembre, el joven Dilan Cruz fue agredido en una marcha pacífica por un oficial del ESMAD quien le dispara una granada de gas lacrimógeno por la espalda y a quemarropa a menos de 10 metros de distancia ocasionándole una serie de lesiones que finalmente, hoy 25 de noviembre le han causado la muerte.

 

Hasta el momento, el paro nacional ha sido pacífico en su gran mayoría y aun cuando se han presentado hechos de vandalismo, la ciudadanía en su gran mayoría se ha expresado en las calles con bailes, pitos y algarabía al son de comparsas en donde sobresale la constante “Uribe, paraco, el pueblo está Berraco”.

Pero hoy, cuando ha terminado el quinto día de protesta general me pregunto, ¿Cómo continuara este paro luego de la muerte de este joven e inocente estudiante que tenía todo por entregar a su país pero que murió a manos del estado? Es difícil saber que ocurrirá en los próximos días, pero de seguro, parte de la alegría que mostró el pueblo colombiano protestando contra Iván Duque y su gobierno, habrán de desaparecer dando paso a la indignación y la ira.

 

Julio Barrera

(below in Spanish)

Last June, the Shoot4Change team formed by the photographer Davide Camesasca, the filmmaker Nicoló Bruna and the journalist Judit Figueras, spent 13 days in Namibia. The aim of their trip was to document the situation of children living in a village in the southeast of the country, Gochas.

 

During their stay, Davide, Nicoló and Judit carried out an audiovisual workshop addressed to the primary school students of Gochas. Throughout the day, the Shoot4Change team briefed the children on the basic concepts of photography and video, showing them examples of professional audiovisual and photographic samples.

 

Lastly, they conducted a practical exercise with the multiple digital cameras that had been collected before the trip. In this last assignment, different small groups were set up so that the students could learn how the camera works and how to use it properly. Once the practice was over, the children were given a photographic task about their day-to-day life in the community and they had to deliver it within three days.

 

The images that the kids portrayed reflected a harsh reality and difficult living conditions. Most of the children in Gochas live in an area called 'the location'. In this marginalized zone, the houses are shacks made of rubbish, plastics, wood and asbestos. These shanties have neither a tap nor access to electricity.

 

Like most Namibian villages, Gochas is split into two and sometimes three parts. The white population and the Basters (descendants of Dutch and indigenous people) live in the more wealthy sectors and in the 'location' resides the majority of the Nama ethnic population, which is the black community.

 

In Gochas, the Nama people still drag on a colonial and historical legacy marked by marginalization and racial separation. After Germany's defeat in World War I, the League of Nations handed over Namibia, then known as the German South West Africa and controlled by the Germans since 1840, for the benefit of the South African Union, which is now South Africa.

In 1948, the Afrikaners, an ethnic group of Dutch descent that arrived in Namibia after the country fell under South African hegemony, imposed an Apartheid system in South Africa and, therefore, also in the region of South-West Africa, the current Namibia. Apartheid, which means "separation" in Afrikaans, implanted a segregation system between different racial groups for the political benefit of the white population. Despite the fact that in 1966 the South West African People's Organization (Swapo), an insurgent guerrilla group, declared war on the South African regime and in 1990 proclaimed the country's independence, Namibia's black population remains economically disadvantaged in comparison to whites. In fact, according to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Namibia is the second most unequal country in the world in terms of its population’s wealth, only surpassed by its neighbour South Africa. 

Some of the child cases that Shoot4change team was able to screen had either dropped out of school or were at risk of doing so. Most of them are orphans and live with a family member who, in almost all cases, is addicted to alcohol. Alcoholism, due to a very high unemployment rate and the aftermath of colonialism, is the main problem affecting the Nama population and, consequently, the minors. The adults in charge of these children are no longer responsible under the effects of this substance and, in many cases, the kids do not have food, clean clothes and a minimum of hygiene.

 

Theopauline Goliath, the former principal of the primary school in Gochas, showed the situation of the children who were in a more critical situation. She is the one who invited Shoot4Change to travel to Gochas and asked them help in the construction of a shelter that would give the children a safe home with a healthy environment.

 

One of the most worrying stories was Flora's, a 10-year-old girl who lost her parents, both affected by AIDS, and now lives with an adult couple (59 and 60 years old) who do not work and spend most of their time drinking in a shack that brews beer. Flora also lives with her younger sister, Michelle, and the two grandchildren of the couple she lives with, whom she cares for, feeds and cleans. On weekends, she feeds the other children living in the district. With other children, she organizes groups to hunt birds, pluck them and roast them on the fire. According to Flora, she helps other children because she feels sorry for them. In addition, the child admits that she doesn't like living with her adoptive grandmother because when she drinks too much, she punishes her, beats her and insults her.

After the fieldwork, the three members of Shoot4Change now start their photographic, audiovisual and journalistic projects, in which they will capture the reality of the children who live in this Namibian village.

 

Shoot4Change does not forget its social mission and, therefore, the result of their efforts will be used to carry out a fundraising campaign aimed at improving the lives of these children. 

[French and Italian version below]

text and photos: Antonio Amendola (@antonioamendola)

 

The migration crisis, with all that entails, has long touched the heart of Europe: Brussels.

The Maximillian park, a few steps from the Gare du Nord, has become its symbol. For better or for worse.

Populated by a high number of asylum seekers mostly from Africa who arrived here after the closure of "the Jungle" of Calais, France, in a short time managed to catalyze the worst but also, luckily, the best this city can express.

As in many other European countries, the rhetoric and populist anti-immigrant narrative, even political, alternates with spontaneous gestures of solidarity of Belgian citizens who, however, do not make it on the mainstream media.

I was lucky enough to witness the latter.

Let's start from the facts, from what I saw a couple of nights ago, in the middle of the anomalous wave of Siberian frost that hit Brussels, certainly not a lucky place from the climatic point of view.

The Maximillian park is always very dark in the evening and it is even more so because it is surrounded by modern high-tech high-rise buildings that make it even more dark. Around 8/9 pm it gets populated with a multitude of refugees, asylum seekers, more or less regular immigrants and many Belgian volunteers. Some known NGOs (few, to be honest, apart from the Red Cross) but above all private citizens, young people, elderly ones, girls, boys, professionals. They bring hot soup, prepares coffee, distribute warm and clean clothes, offer health care.

Others simply chat with those who only need to be heard.

I was there with my friend Patrick Mestdagh, a well-known Belgian antiquarian, who decided to do something with a group of friends.

3 or 4 times a week, in turn, they go to the park and offer hospitality to some asylum seekers in an apartment put at their disposal by a friend. And like them, so many other people started doing it. They offer a safe and heated environment for one night, a warm meal, new clothes and the security of escaping the polar cold.

Here, this is what I saw last night. A bustle of good people coordinated by spontaneous volunteer associations that offer hospitality and humanity to those poor desperate people.

Ok, now you will tell me that "desperate" is not a fact, that it is my personal assessment. And since we live sad and vulgar times in which the facts must be separated from the opinions, this is not allowed.

And yet ...

And yet, talking to many of them the other night, I listened to dozens of stories about two-year-long journeys, of torture at the various national borders in Africa, of tragedies (difficult to mimic their gesture that indicated the slaughtering) on Libyan shores to be able to board a boat to cross the sea and reach the Italian shores. And every time, every damn time, I asked them if - knowing what they would meet and their current conditions - they would leave their home anyways, the answer was always: yes, of course.

This is a fact. And I call it desperation.

Fortunately, the reaction of the Belgians is much better than what they want us to believe and there are people like Patrick and his friends who do so much, in silence.

If you want to help them, visit this page and follow his #guessgetgive initiative.

It is a way to be with all of them, in the evening, at the Maximillian park here in the heart of Europe.

Antonio Amendola / S4C Brussels

The collective exhibition #Inspiring 1080 in Molenbeek (Brussels) is still going on at the House of Cultures and Social Cohesion. And the title says it all. It is actually inspiring visitors that are looking at location and people of their community in a totally new, different and creative way.

 The famous canal, the Karreveld castle, the Place Communale, the Mima, the Maison des Cultures, the funerary gallery of the communal cemetery ... some emblematic places in the municipality of Molenbeek-Saint-Jean.... Some well known, some less obvious, some conceptual ones and other totally unpredictable (a kitchen!). But all vibrant with emotions captured in the images.

And the characters portrayed... A young world boxing champion, a professional footballer, a soul musician, two young lovers, etc.

The young storytellers (trained by S4C friend Zakaria El Bakkali, the artistic collaboration of Merel T'Hart and Guillaume Vandenbergh and S4C support) are Ahsan Ahmed SIDDIQUI, Asmae MALHA, Eslem AKDAG, Housna MALHA, Mariya Mirabella IHNAT, Rachida SOUFIANE, Yasmine AJJI, Yassine HAYANI.

These teenagers live all in Molenbeek and took up our challenge: to portray inspiring persons of their community to tell positive stories of places otherwise wrongly depicted by mainstream media. 

The project has been sponsored by AT&T with the aim of empowering young talents with the right creative tools to become storytellers of positive stories of change.

From the young football player portrayed in a kitchen (as a symbol of all those young girls that want to grow up knowing they can achieve whatever they dream, without being confined in stereotypes) to a classical dancer portrayed in the main square of Molenbeek that has hit the media for weeks after last year terror attacks. 

We  engaged those young storytellers in the making with  long conversations about some classic photographers, some of our heroes and some of the most compelling and historic collective storytelling (like the one of the Farm Security Administration photo storytelling of rural America between 1939 and 1944): Gordon Parks, Walker Evans, Dorothea Lange, Margaret Bourke White, all those who keep inspiring us....

It's  clear they understood their lesson. They understood that Photography (at least they way S4C interprets it) is about letting yourself be involved by what happens to the People, to a community.  It's about keeping the eyes open and looking for small great stories that - maybe - you always had in front of your eyes but never tried to tell.

Photography is very important to me because with that I can send a msg to the world; a positive message like we did with our exposition about Molenbeek. After the negative impact on medias we decided to show the positive image of Molenbeek via an exposition about our own community (Zara Bhatti).

We love this project, we love this exhibition (that was also possibile thanks to the great work of the local municipality) and we can't wait to see and read the other stories in the pipeline.

This is what happens when you inspire young talents. And this is the inspiration we get from them.

S4C Brussels

[catalan version below]

"Barcelona, The Other Side" is a collective work always in progress - of Team Shoot4Change Barcelona. This  multimedia, then, is just one example of this work.

Barcelona is one of the most important tourist destinations in the world. Each year, crowds come to visit the Sagrada Familia, Gaudi's building, Picasso Museum, Camp Nou ... ramble down the Rambla, buy on Passeig de Gràcia, spend days sunbathing on the beaches and in the evening at any of the 10,000 bars and restaurants of the city. It is, in the words of the writer Eduardo Mendoza, a city of wonders.
But there is another side of Barcelona, dark, hidden to tourists.
It's time to visiting the other side of Barcelona. (Stephen Burgen/S4C Spain)

Voice over: Sarah Davison

Texts: Stephen Burgen, Elena Fernández, Eva Parey, Mingo Venero, Marco Ansaloni, Joan Alvado, Xavi Piera i David Suñol

Soundtrack is licensed under Creative Commons (www.freemusicarchive.org): Kai Engel, Dave Depper, Mascaras, Podington Bear

Video screen shots, timelapses and video editing: David Suñol

(english version below)

video and photo: Antonio Amendola/S4C

Raccontando storie di rifugiati, noi di S4C abbiamo capito da tempo che "rifugiato" non è un sostantivo; è un aggettivo. Si è sempre altro, si è stati e si è altro. E si è momentaneamente rifugiati. E invece ce lo dimentichiamo...

E' per questo che raccontiamo queste storie. Per non dimenticarlo.

 

"Belgian gothic" ho pensato quando ho chiesto a Rand di sistemarsi davanti alla bandiera belga. E' la famosa foto iconica di Gordon Parks che lo ha reso quello che è stato e che ha forse iniziato il concetto di storytelling sociale.

Rand ha 21 anni e studia a flauto a Damasco.

Si è rifugiata a Bruxelles lo scorso settembre.

Dopo gli attacchi si è chiesta se davvero sia possibile trovare un posto sicuro al mondo dove vivere in pace la propria vita.

Sono scappata da una guerra per finire in un'altra

Si trova bene a Bruxelles, "la gente è straordinaria, accogliente e aperta. Ho la possibilità di conoscere gente da tutto il Mondo. E qui mi trattano come un essere umano".

Shoot4Change la sta formando insegnandole la fotografia.

"La fortuna ha voluto che incontrassi Shoot4Change. E ora grazie a loro ho questa macchina fotografica. Se l'avessi avuta prima avrei potuto salvare...anzi "conservare" delle vite, raccontando la loro storia e facendo vedere a tutti quello che ho dovuto vedere io".

Non avevo la mia macchina fotografica, ho usato lo smartphone.
Mi ha raccontato la sua storia e le ho chiesto di sedersi davanti a una bandiera belga in una birreria di Bruxelles.

"Belgian Gothic" ho pensato.

Ho scattato e poi le ho chiesto di parlarmi di lei.
Ecco la sua storia

Click

Ps ringraziamo Asus Italia e Intel Italia per la donazione a S4C e per aver fornito gli smartphone Asus ZenFone con i quali un team S4C sta raccontando la nostra quotidianità. Seguiteli sui sociali con l'hashtag #s4c_onthefield

 

[english version below]

(di Elio Germani/S4C Brussels)

Grecia, regione di Kilkis, primi giorni di marzo. A pochi metri dall’autostrada che porta in Macedonia, una stazione di servizio in disuso della Kaoil è ormai da qualche tempo diventata un accampamento sulla rotta verso Idomeni. “Welcome to Greece” recita una grande insegna con un omino in abiti tradizionali greci. Qualche decina di tende montate sotto le tettoie disponibili sostituiscono le automobili. Da quest’area di servizio le famiglie cariche di coperte, sacchi a pelo e fagotti imboccano la scorciatoia che porta a Idomeni, ad appena qualche chilometro di distanza.

Mi incammino insieme ad un gruppo che si dirige ancora speranzoso verso il confine macedone; il sentiero corre lungo i campi coltivati, il paesaggio è dolce e primaverile. In lontananza, da una parte le cime innevate delle montagne e dall’altra Gevgelja, cittadina macedone.

Appena attraversato il ponte sul Vardar una famiglia di Aleppo si ferma per una breve sosta. Un ragazzo tira fuori dalla giacca un tubetto di plastica e, in un attimo, decine di bolle di sapone volteggiano nell’aria. Non si direbbe che a meno di due chilometri si trovino migliaia di persone accampate a ridosso del confine, in condizioni, a dir poco, precarie.

Il tempo di vedere le bolle disperdersi e riprendiamo il cammino verso il confine. Per terra, nel fango che si sta lentamente asciugando sotto il sole mattutino, qualcosa richiama la mia attenzione: un orologio da polso di plastica con un grosso buco al centro al posto del meccanismo. Un simbolo casuale del tempo sospeso di chi scappa dalle persecuzioni senza trovare accoglienza.

In pochi minuti arriviamo ad un boschetto accanto alla ferrovia, vicino alla stazione di Idomeni, dove uomini di tutte le età si procurano la legna.

La presenza del campo si percepisce ancor prima di poterlo scorgere. Il fumo aspro dei fuochi accesi durante la notte arriva lontano: non è solo legna quella che brucia ma tutto ciò che può ardere, plastica e rifiuti compresi.

La ferrovia collega Salonicco a Skopje e taglia in due il campo, una distesa di tende da campeggio e tendoni bianchi delle ong. Le tende occupano un’area che va dalla stazione alla doppia barriera di rete metallica e filo spinato che corre lungo il confine. La prima è stata innalzata a novembre 2015 e a febbraio 2016 le autorità macedoni ne hanno costruita una seconda a 5 metri dalla precedente. Tra le due recinzioni una strada sterrata permette ai mezzi dell’esercito e della polizia di frontiera di percorrere e controllare il confine.

Nei pressi dell’unico accesso, che si apriva per massimo 200 persone al giorno, una folla in attesa.

 

[GALLERIA FOTOGRAFICA]