company:swiss ag

    • First Light – Migration in the Swiss alps

      “Escape from hardship, because it is the only hope.” is what the father of the little Iranian boy explained to me as to why his son is named Vihan. (In Persian, the name Vihan can be translated as “First light” or hope)

      From August to October 2016 I had the opportunity to work as ‘artist in residence’, on a project for SMART (Sustainable Mountain Art programme) in Switzerland, creating pictures to raise awareness on the challenges facing mountain regions. I chose the theme of migration that has interested me for some time already.

      Since the middle ages, demographic pressure, armed conflict and oppression, natural disasters and overpopulation have driven the cause for Migration in the Swiss mountain regions. The largest mass emigration being of the Walser people from Lötschental, who over the course of 2 centuries established themselves over the Valais region and even as far as Austria.

      The foreigner’s lot was that of having very limited rights and labeled with the status of ‘inhabitant’, often not welcomed and even restricted by opposition to marriage to locals.

      I stayed in the historical village of #Medergen in the Graubünden, established by the #Walser people as early as 1300 with houses dating back to the 1700s, high in the alps at 2000m above sea level. A special, tiny village almost frozen in time, as people live a very modest life with no running water inside the house, which also means no flushing toilets or showers. Wooden stoves are used for cooking and heating water for washing, as there is no electricity either, except for the recent additions of solar panels. People use buckets to fetch water from the fresh water fountains, just like Heidi! :)

      In Litzirüti the closest village to Medergen, there is an old ski-hotel, that has been transformed into a temporary home for about 100 asylum seekers from various war torn and heavily oppressed countries such as Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan, Afghanistan, Turkey, Siria, Gambia, Tibet, awaiting the decision of the Swiss government to announce their fate, if they will be rejected or if they will be given permission to stay in Switzerland.

      During the time I worked on the project, I hiked four hours up and down the mountain every second or third day, spending time and getting to know some of the people who reside here. If you ask anyone they will say that they are very thankful to be here in this peaceful village of Litzirüti and to be so well looked after in this beautiful place. And thankful to be in a country where there is peace and modern prosperity.

      However, thankful for escaping the unimaginable oppression and life threatening situations in their home countries, it is clear that they now have to deal with new challenges and difficulty in their lives. The youth in particular find it challenging to be in such a tiny village where there isn’t a single shop or anything to stimulate their growing minds. Furthermore, most of the people have been in Switzerland for a year or more, still waiting to have an interview to have their reasons for needing asylum assessed and their fate and extent of freedom, decided accordingly.

      What I’ve learnt from my research and looking at both the history of migration and what is happening today, is that the same challenges that existed centuries ago still exist today, namely that whenever there are newcomers, inevitably there is at least a degree of resistance to their acceptance that they are met with and state control that is the decider of their fate, prolonging the process of integration, usually in order to protect the fears of the established.

      “Cultural diversity is as essential to humanity as biodiversity is to nature. It makes the world a richer and more varied place and enlarges the range of choices available. It is the breeding ground that allows different cultures to continue and develop and enrich themselves through contact with each other, without drifting towards rigid identities. It is one of the sources of development, which must be perceived not merely in terms of economic growth , but also as a means of attaining to a satisfying intellectual, emotional, moral and spiritual existence.”

      (Quote from the SDC – Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation on the importance of culture for development).

      By depicting the contrast between the history of migration in the Swiss alps and the rich traditions that has become established in time, with the current asylum seeker and refugee situation mostly being a state of limbo, I aim to raise awareness of the current day migrants (asylum seekers) and remind people that sooner or later in life we all were or will be migrants again.

      I believe that through time, if cultures can embrace their differences, be it language, colour, traditions or spirituality, they will see that on the other side is another human being with the same hopes and desires as themselves and that we can all benefit and be so much richer for getting to know each other and giving each other the freedom to live out our own identity that makes us complete and wholesome human beings.


      http://lavonne.co.za/lavonnebosmanphotographicart/portfolio/first-light-migration-swissalps
      #Suisse #Alpes #Grisons

    • The Italian Ski Resort

      From Libya via Lampedusa. In the dark, the hotel that loomed after the last hairpin bend looked rather like Overlook in Stanley Kubrick’s film The Shining. But that’s where the resemblance ends. Montecampione, altitude 1,800 meters, is a ski resort at the end of the road winding up the Camonica Valley in Lombardy. The most striking thing on arrival here is being greeted with the faces and voices from another continent. Since June 2011, more than 100 Africans who fled the war inhave been settled in this hotel by the Brescia police authority, in line with the Italian government’s policy of spreading thearound the country. In most places the local authorities have been required to house them, but here private enterprise has also been asked to contribute. The hotel in Montecampione houses and feeds the migrants for 40 euros a head per day. The nearest village in the valley is more than 20km away, so the migrants are cut off from the outside world while they await a decision on their fates.
      “We live in a strange situation here,” admitted a lively young Ghanaian called Michael. “We’ve got absolutely nothing to do, but we’re all impatient to find work and start our lives again.” The last five migrants to arrive in Montecampione are equally bewildered. They reached Lampedusa early in August, and were taken across Italy. They have got plenty of time to find out about where they have ended up.

      http://www.bclaudia.com/libya-refugees/eleanor-rigby
      #Italy #stations_de_ski

    • Des photos, mais aussi un #film...

      Ilmurrán

      Nell’estate 2014, una giovane ragazza Maasai ha raggiunto una “pastora” piemontese sui pascoli delle Alpi Marittime. Due donne lontanissime tra loro, diverse per colore di pelle, generazione e lingua hanno vissuto una stagione d’alpeggio insieme, condividendo il lavoro, raccontandosi la loro storia, riconoscendosi più vicine.

      Le loro voci arrivano da lontano. Silvia si muove tra elementi primordiali, produce il formaggio con gli strumenti dei suoi antenati, ha tramandato la passione a suo figlio come in un rituale. Leah ha impressi a fuoco sulla pelle i simboli di un popolo pastore che ancora sopravvive sugli altipiani del Kenya. L’una e l’altra incarnano culture che oggi si trovano di fronte a scelte decisive, necessarie per la loro sopravvivenza. Ilmurrán significa “guerrieri”, perché la loro è una storia di resistenza.

      L’incontro è nato come un’esperienza antropologica a tutti gli effetti, realizzata in regime di completa autoproduzione dall’Associazione Culturale Geronimo Carbonò.


      http://www.ilmurran.it
      #Italie #Maasaï #pastoralisme #Alpes_maritimes #femmes

  • PASS presents : Circadian Clocks - YouTube

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZqhW-H2MAg

    C’est recommandé (chaudement) par Chimurenga en Afrique du Sud, ça ne peut-être que très bien.

    Ajoutée le 29 oct. 2016

    This episode of Stories About Music in Africa presents Cara Stacey, accompanied by Reza Khota (guitar) and Brydon Bolton (double bass). This is the sixth installment of the series recorded live at Chimurenga HQ, Cape Town.

    Cara Stacy is pianist and plays southern African musical bows (umrhubhe, uhadi, makhoyane). Cara is a founding member of Inclement Quartet and collaborates with percussionist and drummer Sarathy Korwar in the project Pergola.

    “Stories about Music in Africa” is an ongoing project of the Pan African Space Station, produced with the kind support of Pro Helvetia Johannesburg with the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC).

    Stories About Music in Africa | Pan African Space Station
    http://panafricanspacestation.org.za/stories-about-music-in-africa

    Stories about Music in Africa is a series that presents concert-lectures and audio/visual stories recorded at the Chimurenga headquarters in Cape Town as well as satellite locations across the African world.

    The Pan African Space Station plays host to genre-busting music outfits from global Africa dedicated to exploring new musical territory.

    #musique #afrique #chimurenga

  • Ethiopia studies Mongolia’s artisanal mining | The UB Post
    http://ubpost.mongolnews.mn/?p=16066#comment-50024

    Representatives led by the Minister of Mining of Ethiopia, Tewodros Gebregzabher, are paying a seven-day visit to Mongolia to become acquainted with the nation’s artisanal mining industry and policies.
    On Tuesday, the Ethiopian delegation was received by the Ministry of Mining of Mongolia and introduced to the conventional and artisanal mining sector’s current conditions, as well as its legal environment and achievements.
    During their visit, the delegation will meet representatives from governmental and non-governmental mining organizations to exchange experience on legalizing and formalizing micro-mining, defining its economic contributions, as well as on land reclamation, and the working conditions of micro-miners.
    The Ethiopian team is also studying health and social insurance accessibility for micro-miners in Mongolia. They will meet micro-miners in Bayankhongor Province’s Bayan-Ovoo soum and visit the Monpolymet Group, which is engaged in gold mining land reclamation in Zaamar soum, Tuv Province. The delegation will also become acquainted with the progress of a sustainable micro-mining project which is being implemented in Mongolia with the aid from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation.

    Mongol News spoke with the Chairman of the Policy Coordination Department of the Ministry of Mining, B.Batkhuu, regarding Mongolia and Ethiopia’s micro-mining conditions.

    Major representatives of the Mongolian micro-mining sectors are small gold mining companies and individuals. A law on micro-mining was also approved to support them, but gold delivery to Mongol Bank is not increasing. Can you explain why?
    It is directly related to poor government policy. Gold reserves at Mongol Bank have drastically decreased, because of the 68 percent tax that was being imposed. At the beginning of 2000, gold delivered to Mongol Bank reached 20 tons, and it dropped to two tons as a result of this tax.
    Some companies were also illegally exporting gold to foreign countries. It was a good decision to cancel the tax in order to keep gold in the country. Now gold reserves are gradually increasing.

    En commentaire Satoshi Murao, cette mention de la mise en place de mesures anti-#ninjas dont je n’ai pas trace pour le moment.

    Mongolia is spearheading countermeasures on the artisanal/small-scale gold mining (ASGM) and the experiences should be shared with the world like this news.