14/05/2016

Changements en vue à Grande-Synthe



Les dernières infos, dans le quotidien La Voix du Nord :

http://www.lavoixdunord.fr/region/grande-synthe-l-etat-et-la-ville-veulent-remettre-de-ia17b47594n3504085


Grande-Synthe : l’État et la ville veulent remettre de l’ordre au camp de migrants de la Linière 

PUBLIÉ LE 
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L’association Utopia56 a coordonné l’ouverture du camp humanitaire de Grande Synthe depuis son ouverture le 7 mars. L’Etat a annoncé qu’il va en reprendre la gestion et nous sommes actuellement en attente d’information. 
Les réfugiés peuvent compter sur nous : entre 50 et 100 bénévoles, venus de toute l’Europe, s’inscrivent tous les jours aux différents postes nécessaires à la vie quotidienne du camp, pour assurer la distribution de repas, de vêtement, la veille incendie, l’accueil des nouveaux réfugiés, la laverie, la construction de cuisines collectives, etc.
Nous soutenons et remercions la Mairie de Grande-Synthe pour sa confiance. Nous rendons hommage à Médecins Sans Frontières pour leur engagement et leur aide indéfectible. Nous remercions particulièrement les associations locales qui nous appuient quotidiennement et les bénévoles qui ont travaillé jour et nuit en collaboration avec les réfugiés pour obtenir le feu vert de la commission de sécurité du 25 mars.
Nous appelons les bénévoles à rester mobilisés et à s’inscrire sur Utopia56.com pour venir aider dans les camps du Nord Pas de Calais où notre action est nécessaire.
Les réfugiés peuvent compter sur nous et nous comptons sur vous smile emoticon

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We, the association Utopia 56, have been running the Grande Synthe humanitarian camp since it opened on 7th March. The state has announced that it is going to take over management of the camp and we are currently awaiting more information. 
The refugees can count on us: between 50 and 100 volunteers from all over Europe are here each day, helping to run the camp - distributing meals, clothes, keeping an eye out for fires, welcoming new refugees, doing laundry, building shared kitchens, etc.
We support, and would like to thank, the mayor of Grande Synthe for placing his trust in us. We pay homage to Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) for their commitment and tireless assistance. We would particularly like to thank the local associations who support us each day and the volunteers who worked day and night with the refugees to obtain the go-ahead from the security commission on 25th March.
Volunteers! Please remain available and sign up on Utopia56.com to come and help in camps of the Nord Pas de Calais region where our help is needed. 
The refugees can count on us, and we are counting on you smile emoticon

Message from Giles Duley about the refugee crisis and the power of stories

We cannot listen to this man enough. 

So grateful some people are doing such a great work with so much involvement. 

He's right: we can make a difference! Listen to his stories, share, think, try to understand the situation of the refugees from the inside, instead of just remaining afraid and puzzled. We are one world! Their problems are our problems.

Giles Duley started as a music photographer before finding he needed to report on news, crisis and war. He paid a high price for his involvement and only got stronger and stronger, and more committed.

He is one of the photographers who documented the whole of the recent refugee crisis, from the Syrian war to the shores of Greek islands, to mainland Europe. And it's not over.

Who wants to choose to remain insensitive in front of such a tragedy?


Here is Giles Duley's talk at the TedX Exeter, in southern England:



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Here are some of my photographs from Calais and from Northern Iraq. They are not as powerful but they are my way, as a journalist and storyteller, of involvement. 
We are messengers. 
It's very little but it's already something...



Calais, Afghan restaurant open by migrants:





Calais, The "Jungle":




Grande-Synthe, near Dunkirk, volunteers from D'Ici et D'Ailleurs, Feb. 2016:







Debaga camp for displaced people, Kurdistan, Iraq, April 2016:





Sardehti, Sinjar Montains, Nineweh province, Iraq:




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NB. I'm organising an exhibition of photos of refugees in Greece and Serbia by Livia Saavedra for the NGO WAHA International, in Paris. It'll be in the 10th art, in the town hall, from June the 20th to the 30th. More here soon.

13/05/2016

Nuit Debout reaches Bristol


Invoking the spirit of 15M movement in Spain, #NuitDebout is now inviting people across the globe to join a #GlobalDebout on May 15, and so will we do in Bristol!

We invite you to participate in an global day of action on the 15th of May 2016, called by Nuit Debout in France and coinciding with the fifth anniversary of 15M in Spain. We will meet at College Green on the 15th of May at 12:00 in order to show our rejection to a system based on competition and individualism and answer with solidarity, participatory democracy and collective action. After the concentration, we would like to carry on with an open asssembly, a workshop and with a popular meal in College Green, where we can share our thoughts and ideas. Please, feel free to bring some food.

Supported by Bristol People's Assembly Against Austerity and by Bristol IWW.

INTERNATIONAL CALL:
We call for a #GlobalDebout day of action on may 15, 2016!


We call on peoples’ movements across the world to mobilize for justice and real democracy on May 15, 2016 for a #GLOBALDEBOUT. We invite you to come to Paris for an international gathering of movements at Place de la Republique on May 7 and 8.

Today #46mars (April 15) is just two weeks after one million people mobilized in Paris, and the Nuit Debout movement continues to grow. In numerous cities, both in France and abroad, #Nuitdebout (Night on our Feet) is a light in the dark, giving testimony to our hopes, dreams and common rebellions. Those who have taken the squares in the past and those who are taking them now: we know something is happening.

The struggle for a better world is global and without borders, let’s construct together a global spring of resistance! Join to us on May 7 and 8 in Paris at Place de la Republique to debate, to share our experiences and to begin to construct common solutions. There we will strategize and prepare for an International day of Action on May 15 (#76mars). On this date we will occupy, mobilize and take direct action together across the world.

Nuit Debout’s first aim is to create a space for the ‘convergence of struggles’. We hope this convergence will go beyond France and spread across the globe. There exist numerous links between social movements in all four corners of the world; from unemployment to the imposition of the financial markets, from the destruction of the environment to war and unacceptable inequality.

In response to a system based on competition and individualism, we answer with solidarity, participatory democracy and collective action. Our differences are not a source of divisions, but rather our strength, as we complement each other’s struggles. We are neither listened to, nor represented by the current economic system.

Together we retake public space and politics because politics is a matter of all of us. Now is not the moment retreat, but to come together for change.

We are the 99% and we are here to reject the financial and political rule of the 1% and their world. We are here to take back our cities, our places of work and our lives.

On May 7 and 8, let’s come together to Paris to the square of the Republic!

On the day of May 15 we will rise up together for a global day of action.

#NuitDebout everywhere! #GlobalDebout!



More info:

http://twitter.com/GlobalDebout

https://www.facebook.com/events/254751298208004/

intnuitdebout@riseup.net

Via nuitdebout.fr



“Yesterday’s News" - June 7 - 11 - London


Next month in London:

Come and see a photo exhibition dealing with the highly important issue of "what become news when it's no more news"? Remarkable work from brilliant photographers and a debate on June 11th in the very interesting area of Southwark.

Details below.


"Yesterday’s News"





PRESS RELEASE



“Yesterday’s News brings together the work of three photographers that focuses on three
sites of past disasters: Chernobyl, Bosnia and Nepal.

It is presented at the newly opened and critically acclaimed Platform Southwark, an exhibition space at the intersection of visual and performative art.
Each artist presents their photography in collaboration with set designers and a sound artist. The space has been reconstructed as an immersive journey, portraying how people live in remains of catastrophes.

Public Event: 11 June | 15:00

Join a panel of professionals for ‘Yesterday’s News / Today’s Context’ with:

. Tony Barber, Europe Editor of the Financial Times, Moscow correspondent for Reuters news agency at the time of Chernobyl and war reporter for The Independent during the Bosnian war.
. Mario Petrucci, PhD physicist and metaphysical poet, winner of the 2002 Arvon/ Daily Telegraph International Poetry Prize for ‘Heavy Water, a Poem for Chernobyl’.


PHOTOGRAPHER 1: KAREN BLOCK

Karen Block specialises in fine art and social documentary. She is a qualified member of the Royal Photographic Society and has been selected for UK Graduates 2015 – Darwin Magazine, June 2015 and is currently represented by the Travers Smith Art Program 2015-16.
Her contribution is based on her visits to Belarus and documents the broken lives and landscapes associated with the fall out of Chernobyl.
She presents thirty photographs, one for each year since the disaster.
Karen was struck by the long term unseen effects and the hidden illnesses related directly to the catastrophe.
Her work becomes a poignant statement of the limitless impact of a nuclear contamination.


PHOTOGRAPHER 2: SOPHIE FAUCHIER

Sophie Fauchier is a fine art photographer specialising in photographic narratives.
MuSA International Art Space has recently selected her photography for their new publication project: ‘Woman’s Essence’.
Initially, she was commissioned to document the work achieved by ‘Miracles Centre for Prosthesis and Care’ a small NGO based in Mostar.
Her new project documents her journey through the devastation of the Bosnian war, which was once headline news.
She has captured the scars left on the earth, remnant of a forgotten war. In dialogue with its survivors she has created photos that serve as artefacts of human suffering.


PHOTOGRAPHER 3: CHRIS GRAVETT

Chris Gravett is a freelance photographer specialising in social documentary.
His previous work includes ‘Gravette, the Heart of Hometown America’ featured in The British Journal of Photography and ‘Aftershock’ which documents the humanitarian support following the 2015 earthquake in Nepal. To commemorate the one year anniversary of the Nepalese disaster, it was part of a co-host exhibition with human organisation Kidasha.
Through ‘Yesterday’s News’, Chris reveals the resilience of a society riven by economic and agricultural depression underlying child labour, human trafficking, exploitation and chronic poverty.

INSTALLATION DESIGN: JOJO FAUCHIER & DARCY DAVIES.

Students of Central St Martins specialising in performance design, their main interest lies in creating immersive experiences.
Darcy has previously made work for the Royal Albert Hall and The Hospital Club.
Jojo’s previous work includes collaboration with Rambert Dance Company, Drama Centre London and YouMeBumBumTrain.

SOUND DESIGN: EVAN LOPEZ DE BERGARA

Evan Lopez de Bergara is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, sound designer and producer, whose main means of expression is electronic music, as a vehicle for deep immersion and transduction of cognitive and
emotional nodes.
His trajectory includes record production, television work and mixed media.
Currently studying an audio production Master's Degree, he is increasingly interested in the power of soundas a cognitive aid and as consciousness catalyst.


yesterday’s news

Platform Southwark
1 Joan Street | London | SE1 8DD
Private View
Tuesday 7 June |18.00 - 21.00
Exhibition Dates
8 - 11 June | 12.30 - 20.00
Karen Block | Chernobyl Sophie Fauchier | Bosnia Chris Gravett | Nepal



11/05/2016

England, photography and poetry, music and politics, May and June



 Thinking of England...
I'll be back soon in this country where I feel so alive, so much more encouraged, so inspired.

One more event:
Broad Street, Bristol, BS1 2EZ

Date: 09/06/16  
Time: 7:00pm - 10:30pm 
Price: £3

Life, Love and Mortality: A literary night - Bristol St John's
A literary night focused on the things that can stop us in our tracks and spur us on to achieve our dreams.
Performers will share literary works and music inspired by the setting, and by the themes life, love and mortality.


Featuring the words of Judy Darley, Paul Deaton, Louise Gethin, Harriet Kline, Mike Manson, Helen Sheppard, and Claire Williamson, plus the music of Joanna Butler and Paul Bradley, this promises to be a memorable evening. 

 See more at: http://www.visitchurches.org.uk/Whatson/Fulleventslist/2016-06-09/Life-LoveMortalityliterary-night-Bristol-St-Johns/#sthash.2OvpmDkd.dpuf



About one's dream



 Yesterday, despite the rain, the weird hot coldness, the sound of police cars everywhere in Paris, despite the state of emergency and all the dramas travelling in my head due to my job - refugee crisis, instability in Iraq, etc - yesterday I realised one of my oldest dreams: I had my first real singing lesson.

It was as simple as that to find pure bliss, listening to you inner desire...

So, for my second lesson, on top of an Armenian traditional song, here are two songs I want to work on...


--


Firstly, relevantly, 'Silent All These Years'...

"Cause sometimes
I said sometimes
I hear my voice
And it's been here
Silent All These"...




Tori Amos - "Silent All These Years"





Lyrics

"Silent All These Years"
Excuse me but can I be you for a while
My dog won't bite if you sit real still
I got the anti-Christ in the kitchen yellin' at me again
Yeah I can hear that
Been saved again by the garbage truck
I got something to say you know
But nothing comes
Yes I know what you think of me
You never shut-up
Yeah I can hear that

But what if I'm a mermaid 
In these jeans of his 
With her name still on it
Hey but I don't care
Cause sometimes
I said sometimes
I hear my voice
And it's been here
Silent All These Years

So you found a girl
Who thinks really deep thoughts
What's so amazing about really deep thoughts
Boy you best praya that I bleed real soon
How's that thought for you
My scream got lost in a paper cup
You think there's a heaven
Where some screams have gone
I got 25 bucks and a cracker
Do you think it's enough
To get us there

Cause what if I'm a mermaid 
In these jeans of his 
With her name still on it
Hey but I don't care
Cause sometimes
I said sometimes
I hear my voice
And it's been here
Silent All These...

Years go by 
Will I still be waiting
For somebody else to understand
Years go by
If I'm stripped of my beauty
And the orange clouds
Raining in head
Years go by 
Will I choke on my tears
Till finally there is nothing left
One more casualty
You know we're too easy Easy Easy

Well I love the way we communicate
Your eyes focus on my funny lip shape
Let's hear what you think of me now
But baby don't look up
The sky is falling
Your mother shows up in a nasty dress
It's your turn now to stand where I stand
Everybody lookin' at you here
Take hold of my hand
Yeah I can hear them

But what if I'm a mermaid 
In these jeans of his 
With her name still on it
Hey but I don't care
Cause sometimes
I said sometimes
I hear my voice [x3]

And it's been here
Silent All These Years
I've been here
Silent All These Years


--

Second song:



'Morenika'








Lyrics:

Morenika a mi me yaman
Yo blanka nasi
I del sol del enverano 
Yo me hize ansi

Morenika, graciozika sos 
Morena yo graciozo
I ojos pretos tu

Morenika a mi me yaman 
Los marineros
Si otra ves a mi me yaman
Me vo kon eyos

Morenika, graciozika sos 
Morena yo graciozo
I ojos pretos tu



Translation:


"The dark girl they call me
my skin was pure white
From the fire of the summer sun
I am dark
Dark girl, so very beautiful
In your eyes - a burning fire
my heart is all yours 
The dark girl, they call me
all those who go down to the sea
if again they call me
I will go with them 
Dark girl, so very beautiful
In your eyes - a burning fire
my heart is all yours"

--

Yes, the dark girl they call me...

About local politics



Though it seems very unlikely to happen here in Paris anytime soon, I do believe in local politics very much. Examples like this one are always welcome. Let's be the change!

The Guardian, yesterday:

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/may/10/labours-marvin-rees-bristol-mayor-shows-future-is-local-politics

Bristol’s mayor shows the future is local politics



Afew days ago, a late-middle-aged, casually attired party leader met a youthful, snappily dressed, eloquent new mayor in Bristol. They were pictured in a local cafe. Rarely have the contrasting images of local and national politics been thrown into such sharp focus: young and relatively old; the future and the past; Marvin Rees and Jeremy Corbyn.
Marvin who? Elected mayor of Bristol at the second attempt, he is destined to become an articulate, passionate voice in English local government – a fresh face for the party nationally. He will be going places. Where the Labour leader ends up is anyone’s guess.

This is no direct criticism of Corbyn, who raced to congratulate 43-year-old Rees soon after his victory and has supported him well since becoming party leader. But the House of Commons, after all, has its fair share of uninspiring, if worthy, MPs across all parties, overshadowed these days by brighter, visionary leaders in town halls around the country. Many council leaders, of all parties, outshine ministers.
They get precious little credit. From Newcastle upon Tyne to Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds and beyond to Conservative shires, English local government boasts pragmatic leaders struggling to deliver essential services – against the toughest austerity programme ever visited upon town and county halls – while, at the same time, boosting the economies of their patches with a string of initiatives that should put Westminster to shame.
The skylines of our great cities, cranes towering over construction sites, neighbourhoods being rebuilt – against every obstacle set by a regressive government – attest to their ingenuity. In contrast, ministers rarely deliver much of substance as they bear down on council finances with a vengeance, even eyeing self-financing local authority pension schemes – around £200bn of investments generating £7bn annually – with a recklessness that beggars belief. (In the civil service, growing pension liabilities are met from departmental budgets.)
Likewise, ministers are fond of lecturing councils on dipping into an estimated £17.1bn they hold in reserves, seemingly unaware that they would be empty in almost two years if local authorities used them to plug further cuts in funding. In that scenario, auditors – already alarmed that some councils are fighting to stay afloat – would judge town halls perilously close to sinking.
Who, you might ask, would want to become mayor, or a council leader, with local authorities facing such a daunting financial future? It seems, an unexpected number of career politicians, fed up with a life of opposition in the Commons and seeing a new breed of cities providing them with more opportunities locally than nationally. Might Andy Burnham, shadow home secretary and one-time Labour leadership contender, be the first in a string of national politicians sensing more challenges and opportunities locally: in his case, seeking Labour’s nomination to run for “metro mayor” of Greater Manchester next year?
Marvin Rees, a father of three, is the son of an English mother and Jamaican father, rooted in the community and social fabric of St Pauls in his native Bristol, dedicated to youth work and much else, educated in local schools, then university in Swansea and the USA. Should we be surprised that he this week started running a unitary, all-purpose council in a large, attractive, multi-ethnic port city with stronger powers than the limited, partly strategic functions, from transport to planning, enjoyed by the new mayor of London, Sadiq Khan?
Might George Osborne’s devolution package offer new opportunities for visionary and ambitious politicians in other cities, if councils seize the available opportunities (although several devolution deals around greater Tyneside, and Leeds, already appear to be floundering)? We shall see.
But Bristol, with a population of 442,500, is in another league. Its electorate supported the concept of an elected mayor in a local referendum in 2012 when voters in other cities rejected the idea. Rees, who last week beat the incumbent George Ferguson, architect and entrepreneur, has promised to reach out – “transparent, inclusive, sharing power and empowering”. Who knows how far he will go?
Peter Hetherington writes on regeneration and communities