THE FORGOTTEN COLONY The Sahrawi population lives separated by a 2200 kilometre long wall, surrounded by millions of mines. On the one side refugee camps in the Algerian part of the Sahara desert. On the other torture and disappearances in their occupied homeland. After Spain’s decolonisation of Western Sahara in 1975 Morocco invaded the country and by napalm and cluster bombs forced half of its population over the border to Algeria. The Sahrawis resistance force Polisario then proclaimed Western Sahara as an sovereign country and has since then been acknowledged by more than 80 countries. After 16 years of war UN established an armistice and promised the Sahrawis an election for independence. Supported by powerful western nations Morocco has procrastinated the election and thus Western Sahara is called ”the last colony of Africa”. The frustration over the stalemate in a conflict, which seems to be forgotten by the world, drives evermore Sahrawis to start talk about taking to arms again. View story |
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MOVIES FOR DESERTED No red carpet leads to the International film festival of Sahara. Not even a road. In a refugee camp, two and a half hours by car into the Sahara desert, the festival tries to draw attention to a forgotten conflict. The daily life in the Sahrawi refugee camps in Algeria is characterized by waiting. But the Film Festival “Fisahara” is arranged every year to give pleasure to the Sahrawis and to put some light on the conflict. In April 2007 the fourth edition of the Festival took place and just like former years the Spanish arrangers hope that this years festival will be the last one.  View story
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DREAM OF EUROPE The flow of illegal immigrants from the poor countries along the west coast of Africa into Europe has been going on for many years. But during 2006 it increased into a stampede. Or rather into a human tragedy. Predominantly young men risk their life trying to reach the continent of their dreams in the hope of getting a job and being able to send home money to parents, wives and children. Many lose their life on the way. Merely to the Canary Islands this flow of attempting immigrants increased in 2006 by six times and over 31 000 paperless immigrants reached the islands that year. ”The Paradise of European Tourists” has turned into the new target for human trafficking. And the traffickers charge dearly. Rumour has it that a seat onboard one of the rickety, open boats used for the crossing coasts over 850€. Money that it takes a long-time, hard work and the saving of many relatives to get together.  View story
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GOODBYE POVERTY He was a feared criminal in Nairobi’s most dangerous slum area. However, today Wilson Maina is a settler in Kaputiei, the town that is growing up on the African savannah and which brings poor Kenyans out of the slum. The journey of life that Wilson and all others who are to inhabit Kaputiei´s 2000 house has made is only possible thanks to the organization Jamii Bora and its micro-credits. Today Wilson is helping other people to follow his way put of poverty. More than half of Kenya’s population lives in poverty and more than half of Nairobi’s population lives in slums. With 170 000 members Jamii Bora – ”A Better Family” – is the nation’s biggest organization for micro-credits. Its aim is to provide poor people with the means to help themselves to a better life. The instrument for this is small loans with no other security than the money that the borrower has already saved. Jamii Bora´s most recent project Kaputiei attracts attention all over the world – a completely new town for poor people 60 km south of Nairobi.  View story
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VIOLENCE IN KENYA The conflict that erupted in Kenya after the presidential election in December 2007 has exposed fissures in the facade of the leading East African country. Now Kenya finds itself in a crisis where its population is forced to equilibrate between alternatives. Justice or peace. To break the law or to escape. Since New Year 2008 Kenya has plunged into a deep crisis with ethnic cleansing, discourage tourists and an arriving humanitarian catastrophe. It all began the 30th of December, when the election result was made official and the president in power, Mwai Kibaki, was announced as the winner. Hasty and secretly he was sworn in for five more years at the power. One month after the election more than 250.000 people have been displaced by the violence and the official death toll of 1000 is probably heavily under-estimated.  View story
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DESPLAZADO In Colombia there are around four million internally displaced persons. Whether they are fleeing the paramilitaries or the guerrillas, they often ends up in the slums outsides Colombia’s largest cities. Around 200 000 people are each year forced on the run in Colombia but last year the figure was higher when over 300 000 people left their homes. Only Sudan has more internally displaced people than Colombia.  View story
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CHAMPION To be a catch driver is more a lifestyle than a profession. Björn Goop is the swedish harness driver champion and he works seven days a week, from morning to evening. The working week is often 80-100 hours long. Bjorn Goop drives in more than 2000 races per year and he sits behind a horse four hours a day, 365 days a year.  View story
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IN DEPTH To many Swedes welfare today has a secluded existence. Roughly 400 000 Swedes are in debt to the Enforcement Authority - Sweden has changed from a welfare society into a credit society. A common development in the wake of capitalism. In a credit society you must take risks to achieve success. For example, a bank that does not have a certain percentage of borrowers with payment problems is not a successful bank. It has been overly cautious and has thus missed profits. Banks calculate with a "loss". Those who pay the price are the indebted. An employee at the Enforcement Authority made a metaphor: a bank robber convicted of aggravated robbery is sentenced to five years in prison. During those five years he gets food, a place to sleep and even a small daily fee. If the robber behaves well he can be released earlier and he has ”paid” his crime. But if you have payment difficulties and end up in debt your sentence is poverty, often for life, and you will be pushed off to the outskirts of society.  View story
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