The world is ready for change

By Sara Svensson

My name is Sara Svensson, and I’m from Sweden. Tomorrow is my 25th birthday, but I won’t be eating birthday cake this year.

I’ve been involved in different kinds of climate activism for most of my life. I studied International Project Management for Social Movements and NGOs, combined with environmental science.

I have committed to participate in Climate Justice Fast, an international hunger strike for climate justice. From today and until we meet again in Copenhagen, I will be eating nothing and drinking only water.

The end date of the fast is still open. When I break the fast depends on what happens in the climate negotiations and in the world. The only thing I can guarantee is that I will end the fast if our demands are met.

Climate change is the defining issue for my generation. Previous generations did not understand the problem, and for future generations it will be too late to do something about it. It is up to us.

I’m undertaking this fast out of love. Love for life, for our beautiful planet with all its species and future generations. There’s nothing more important I can do in my life than to contribute in the strongest possible way, with full devotion, to set an end to climate change and injustice and be part of the movement that will lead us to a sustainable future.

I’m showing how much I care. How much I’m willing to risk, how much I’m prepared to offer. How deeply devoted I am to this cause. I hope that it will inspire others and help the necessary shift to happen.

I love life and health, but I’m willing to risk it to secure the survival of others. Food is good, chewing is fun and I will miss jumping around full of energy. It will not be easy to abstain from something as essential as food.

Still, my personal sacrifice is nothing compared to the suffering of the hundreds of thousands of people who already die from climate change each year, and the many millions of people who would be suffering in the years to come if we would fail to solve climate change. Voluntarily abstaining from food is not easy, but it’s possible. Solving climate change is also not an easy task, but it’s possible, and we will.

This is the right thing to do at the right time. Turn to essentials, turn to emotions. The pure, the true, the real. Touch hearts. Push the limits, move on to the next level.

I will enjoy this peaceful time to reflect while others are busy. We will focus on the big picture while COP15 gets lost and stuck in a thousand details.

Now is the time to mobilise the movement for change.

We call on all people to get involved in the climate movement. We know the science. Educate yourself. Think about what’s most important? Change your mindset. Your goal in life can’t be a comfortable life where you consume everything you want. Widen your perspective. Think of the invisible consequences behind your actions. Challenge yourself.

No specific person is to blame. There’s no single enemy responsible for causing the problem. Yet climate change is happening, and it’s deeply unjust and immoral. With knowledge comes responsibility. We ask every single person on this planet to seek for solutions within themselves, and find the courage to act with global consciousness.

Hunger striking is a positive act of humble nonviolence that we are undertaking as extremely concerned citizens. Judging from the support we are getting, a lot of people feel the same way.

We’re not only in a climate crisis, but also a democracy crisis. We must highlight the failure of our democracies to reflect the best interests and opinions of their population.

Many species throughout history have polluted, consumed or overpopulated themselves into extinction. But if we as humanity fail to solve the climate crisis, we may well become the first species who has done so in full knowledge and awareness of its own actions. I believe in humanity, we can’t be that stupid.

Climate change is an opportunity to redefine our common values, and to create the just and sustainable world that most people everywhere want. “The world is ready for change”. This is the start of the sustainability era”.

To move into that era, we have to do all what we can, right now, when there’s still the smallest amount of time left. We must be able to look back and know that we did all what we could do. Maybe I’ll have children one day, and I must be able to look them in the eye.

(Awesome girls and climate campaigners Anna Kennan and Sara Svensson began a hunger strike urging world leaders to take serious and urgent action to solve the climate crisis and demanding an ambitious, fair and LEGALLY binding climate treaty at Copenhagen Climate Summit. This inspiring speech was delivered by Sara on November 6 at the press conference in Barcelona during UNFCCC Barcelona Climate Change Talks 2009. Please support them- whatever you can. You can find more at http://www.climatejusticefast.com)

60 Shots – more than meet the lenses!

By: Protim Mallick

“A single photograph can speak a thousand words.” With this idea, 50 young amateur photo-hunters from home and abroad had put 60 of their finest images under the open sky to display their creative power. Organized by “Bangladeshi Photographers”, which started as an online community in www.flickr.com, the exhibition “60 Shots” started on the 13th of August at “Chobir-Haat”, opposite the Charukola Institute in Dhaka University area, Bangladesh.

“60 Shots” has aimed to give these young photographers, who are all below 25 years of age, a platform to present what they think and how they think to the viewers. Their images gave us the very idea of our country from the perspective of young people. The photographers made an effort to freeze the precious moments in life, no matter how simple, in a 16 by 12 inch frame. With the slogan “We share, We care, We inspire” Bangladeshi Photographers, had asked the young photographers to submit their images for “60 Shots”. Thus from a very large number of submissions 60 images from 50 photographs were selected.

The exhibition received a very big response at its first day, where people, young and old, had applauded the creativity of the young talented photographers. One of the many reasons for this was their ingenious idea of holding the exhibition under the open sky. There was enough crowd just at the first hour since the exhibition started! Major General Ibrahim, a great war-hero, was the chief guest invited in this exhibition. On asking, what he thought of “60 Shots”, he said:

“I am so delighted and pleased to have attended this exhibition showcasing the works of young amateur photographers, that I am unable to express my feeling in words. These young people are so much talented, that this may have been hard for me to believe, had I not witnessed it myself. Therefore, I would like to congratulate the organizers, and if there is anything that I can help with, I will surely do my best. I wish with all my heart that these young people go on further. Amena, Bristy, Rowena, Roman, Apurbo – I will remember the names of all the photographers, and I will definitely remember how Protim is shaking.”

He seemed to be enjoying the whole time of his stay, touring through the pool of images. For the photographers this had been a day of sheer joy and happiness where their creations were the centre of attraction.

One of the most important aims of this exhibition was also to inspire youths who are interested in this form of art. “Bangladeshi Photographers” group creates a community for every Bangladeshi photographer at home or abroad, to share their vision of photography. Bangladeshi Photographers group always welcomes new photographers to learn various forms of this art, and has now taken an initiative to showcase the talents of young undergraduate photographers. Since many young photographers may not be able to continue photography after a certain period of time, due to lack of time or any other negative factors, it will be organizing such exhibitions regularly to provide a constant source of inspiration to the upcoming photographers.

The exhibition continued til the 15th of August, everyday from 3:00 pm to 8:00 pm. For those of you who missed this event, you don’t have to worry much because the next event is coming soon!

Nepal’s Future: In Whose Hands?

Nepal’s peace process is in danger of collapse. The fall of the Maoist-led government, a mess largely of the Maoists’ own making, was a symptom of the deeper malaise underlying the political settlement. Consensus has steadily given way to a polarisation which has fed the more militaristic elements on both sides. While all moderate politicians still publicly insist that there is no alternative to pursuing the process, private talk of a return to war – led by generals of the Nepalese Army who have never reconciled themselves to peace – has grown louder. Outright resumption of hostilities remains unlikely in the short term but only concerted efforts to re-establish a minimal working consensus and a national unity government including the Maoists can avert the likelihood of a more dangerous erosion of trust. Strong international backing, with India eschewing short-term interference in favour of longer-term guardianship of the process it itself initiated, will be essential.

The immediate cause of the Maoists’ departure from government on 4 May 2009 was their bungled attempt to dismiss the army chief. As the consent for action that they had secured from coalition partners unravelled under external pressure, they pushed ahead unilaterally. Their legally dubious sacking order prompted an even more contentious intervention by the ceremonial president to countermand it. Maoist leader Prachanda quit on grounds of principle; the question of the balance of power between prime minister and president remains in dispute.

The Maoist resignation made the formation of a new administration an urgent necessity and, by Nepal’s standards, the transition was relatively prompt and smooth. However, the new government, led by the centrist Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist), UML, is inherently unstable and incapable of addressing the most pressing challenges. Backed by 22 parties, it is yet to take full form and its major constituents are internally riven. Many UML leaders are openly sceptical of the new government, while the Madhesi Janadhikar Forum (MJF) is now formally split. Between them, they have achieved the unlikely feat of making the Nepali Congress (NC) look the most cohesive and internally democratic of the non-Maoist parties.

The Maoists had not proved as effective in power as many had hoped. Moreover, they alienated two important constituencies: India (both by appearing to make overtures towards China and by refusing to become a pliant, moderate force) and the Kathmandu upper middle classes (by making them pay taxes and failing to deliver basic services, in particular electricity). Yet their main problem is their own refusal to give clear and credible assurances on their commitment to political pluralism and non-violence. Prominent ideologues within the party have given added credence to the argument that they will never alter their strategic goal of state capture and de facto totalitarian rule. In response, the leadership’s insistence that the party has embraced multiparty democracy has been less than fully convincing.

On the other side, the army has adopted a more overt, assertive political role. It is encouraged and supported by many who see it as the only credible opposition to the Maoists. It not only survived the republican transition but has thrived. Helped by timorous parties, it has successfully pushed for a substantial budgetary increase, protected its de facto autonomy, retained its full strength and pressed for new lethal arms imports – in breach of the ceasefire.

Behind much of the recent instability lies an Indian change of course. New Delhi framed the peace deal and acted as its de facto guarantor, pressing all parties to comply with its terms. Never able to digest the Maoist victory and uncomfortable with popular demands for change, it has pursued increasingly interventionist tactics through proxies in Nepali political parties while continuing its policy of ring-fencing the army as the most reliable bastion against Maoist takeover or anarchy. Its resolute opposition to all but token People’s Liberation Army (PLA) integration has unbalanced the peace equation without offering any alternative.

The background against which Kathmandu’s incestuous intrigues are played out is neither stable nor unchanging. Public security remains weak, alarmingly so in several areas. Local governance remains patchy at best and non-existent in places. Peace committees bringing together parties and civil society representatives are functional in some districts but lack a coherent agenda. Identity-based and other newer political movements are impatient with a constitutional process that, while not stalled, looks less and less likely to deliver a broadly acceptable new constitution on schedule. Civil society, a crucial force in the early stages of the peace process, is divided and demoralised.

India’s perceived partisanship has not helped international cohesion. From being the leader of the pack, successfully lining up other international players behind its strategy, it has become something of a lone wolf. It continues to criticise the UN mission, whose credibility was dented by a videotape showing Maoist leader Prachanda boasting that he had duped them into accepting vastly inflated PLA numbers. The UN would like to claim success and get out but cannot refuse requests to monitor arms as long as the situation – over which it has no direct influence – remains unresolved. In the meantime its role in preserving a fragile peace and affording Nepal some shelter from total Indian domination is under-appreciated.

Donors are keen to return to normal development activities and have been willing to fund the peace process. But their patience is wearing thin, conditions for business as usual are yet to materialise and international funding is subsidising a bloated and unaffordable security sector. The army alone far outnumbers the national civil service; it, cantoned PLA combatants and the paramilitary armed police are of no use in addressing the basic need for law and order.

It is true that all parties are still talking and there is a tradition of last-minute deals to stave off disaster. The same could happen again. But that should not obscure the fact that the rifts between the major players have grown wider and the grounds for compromise narrower. Averting a slide back to conflict will require a clear-sighted recognition of the dangers, genuine cooperation between Nepal’s parties to address them and much more solid international backing for the process, starting with a decisive lead from India.

(Source: International Crisis Group,Asia Report N°173, You can read full Report at: http://www.crisisgroup.org/home/index.cfm?id=6269&l=1)

Eve Teasing in Bangladesh

By: Tasnuva Tabassum

As I was waiting in the car, immovable in the well-known traffic jam of Dhaka city, looking around for something exciting to catch my eyes, what I noticed was a girl waiting for the bus in a bus stop and two men behind her continuously staring at the “wrong places” and passing comments to each other. The girl looked uncomfortable as she waited for the bus, which never seemed to show up among the cluttered vehicles in the road. As I was witnessing this kind of an unethical behavior of the men towards the girl, I wondered why the girl was weak enough to not raise her voice and just ask them to “shut up”. Why she chose ignorance instead of what, that could make a change?

This is an oh-so-familiar phenomenon in the streets of Dhaka, which is happening every day. Eve-teasing, as we call it, is men’s street sexual harassment or molestation of young women who travel their own streets to and from work, school, or their assorted tasks. In the male dominated society of Bangladesh, this eve-teasing, has mostly been ignored. These teasers, who have nothing better to do, have the decency of their souls sold out to the devils of disrespect towards women. This particular issue needs a recipe for change because eve teasing leaves a huge impact in both our individual and national life. Victimized women and girls do not only get psychologically troubled, but also continuously feel insecure to go outside their homes. They develop a sense of disbelieve and humiliation against men. In fact, within the patriarchal social fabric, eve teasing is a weapon to weaken, hurt or force women to consign to domestic affairs. It evidently restricts women’s mobility in the public, which contributes to their diminishing participation and contribution in outdoor activities and also causes early marriage. There is increasing realization that eve teasing severely restricts the mobility of women and girls, which is unquestionably a threat to women’s empowerment. All together, though apparently invisible, the cost of eve teasing is huge at our national and individual life in Bangladesh.

Along with that, in Bangladesh, it has gradually become brutal form of sexual harassment often resulting in grievous hurt, abduction, acid throwing, rape murder and forced suicide. Eve-teasing, though, had been previously considered under the VAW reports of BNWLA since 2000, but from 2005 the organization has declared crusade against eve-teasing and published a poster trying to bring this matter into the limelight and held various discussions, meetings and event held a press conference to create awareness as well. In 2004-5 the Bangladeshi women’s group, Mahila Parishad distributed a poster and conducted a campaign against eve-teasing because several young women, students, and even young girls committed suicide owing to social pressures-shame-daily harassment. In 2007, Advocate Habibun Nessa of Naripokkho, reported 29 suicide deaths in the last four years. In some cases the police colluded with the eve-teasers and blamed the women for their own problems. Bangladesh has no laws against eve-teasing, much less respect for women who dare to venture alone or even in groups in the streets.

Along with the law enforcement being weak on this issue, there are also various other causes which leads to this unacceptable behavior of these teasers. Firstly, it’s the silence and ignorance. The silence and ignorance of these victims add up to themselves being teased frequently. If every girl was brave enough to just say “SHUT UP” in the faces of these big –mouth-bastards, who are apparently “small everywhere”, then to some extent, we could see less of eve teasing. It is very much disgraceful, shameful, and dishonorable for us if we ignore them and increase their guts to speak trash with their big mouths. However, in some cases, raising our voices is not enough when it becomes inaudible to the world. But in that case, we should not be weak enough to let our voices end up inaudible. With the spread of education and economic well-being, the consequences of eve teasing are now widely known. We should demand perpetrators brought to justice. So, what we need most now is to voice collective protest and action against eve teasing. Side by side, without ensuring a sensitive, supportive and responsible law-enforcing force, all efforts will go in vain. After all, they have a huge role in preventing all dreadful and unlawful incidents including eve teasing. So let’s get together and voice our collective protest against eve teasing and be familiar with it as a crime against humanity. For dignity, respect and self-confidence, every woman has to raise their voices, shut up the big mouths and therefore, make a statement.

One World. One Love. One Language?

By: Karen Lim for Voyage Film

ANKARA, Turkey - Wouldn’t it be nice to attend a UN conference without having the need to wear those earphones that takes a while before you finally manage to make it work? But no, we are cursed. Our forefathers earned God’s ire, tore down what was known as the tower of Babel and sent all men in different directions speaking in different tongues.

And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do; and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they imagined to do. Go to, let us go down, and there confounded their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech (GENESIS 11:6-7).

So, blame it on those guys who built the tower so high they wanted to reach the sky and show God who is in command. If not for them we would have been ordering Chinese food without second-guessing its main ingredient, or watch the opera and pierce our heart with meaningful words not just through its melodramatic music.

Sure it makes a good argument on whether or not this bible passage is for real, but I leave that for theological debate. True or not, this pretty much shattered the linguists utopia of a unified language – as elusive as peace is one spoken language. This doesn’t mean defeat. It means more work, both for the language teacher and for the learner.

At this day and age, statistics showed that ENGLISH is the global lingua franca. Never has there been more clamors to speak English than in our century where internet connects us all over the globe, where companies asked fluency both for spoken and written English and most importantly the domination of English as the international language in communication, business, aviation, entertainment, radio and diplomacy.

While it is only the third largest language behind Chinese and Spanish, combining both native and second language speakers makes English now the most spoken language.

With this facts on-hand one can only surmise that elsewhere, outside Philippines where English is one of the official language. If you ask “how are you,” you don’t expect “I’m 35 years old, thank you” answer coming from a person who said he is studying intermediate English. A full-grown man whose walls are decorated with all his certificates from graduate studies, translated English books to his native language will sweat profusely, grab the nearest pen and paper and start writing the English words coming out from my mouth so he can respond accordingly, hopefully before sundown.

In Turkey, English centers are in its all-time high. In the capital Ankara alone there are almost a hundred of them, mostly situated in the centre Kizilay where they are about ten steps away from each other. TESL (Teaching English as Second Language) teachers are having a field day; they have an option of teaching in government/private schools, language centers or private classes, the latter being the most financially rewarding among the other choices.

Foreigners usually grab this opportunity to earn the extra dough. Usually, native speakers are the most sought after. English learners find the dragged vowels and rolling consonants of the American accent appealing and the linguistic glamour of the British English when they say “sorry love can you hold the lift for me please?” impressive.

In fact, TESL teachers remain bankable; you can always find a student who wants to learn English even while having lunch with a friend, and the good news is they are willing to pay extra despite the economic crisis. For the more professionals though, hiring season usually starts September with a contract that ends in June. Target destinations where there are high demands for TESL teachers are usually China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, Thailand and South Korea in Asia, some European countries, and in the United States.

Some teachers just teach to travel, while others travel to teach, either way the weight is mostly on the learners. There is just no perfect teaching method that’s why all those language schools remain in business, and interactive CDs or online English language learning keep on multiplying by the day. What was missed was the pure hard labor of studying.

In Turkey for example a one-year English prep school is required for most of the universities. Yet, huge percentage of the Turks are mono-syllabic when it comes to speaking in English. Until they finish college and starts looking for a job will they realize they need to speak more than “hello,” and then they will start learning the basics again as in A-B-C alphabet basic let’s count 1-2-3…

However, the students are not at all faults here. What’s weird is that their government demands so much for the mastery of the English language yet modern English such as 21st century technology creation needs to pass the ministry of language and translate it to Turkish. “wi-fi” now becomes “kablosuz”.

All sorts of English test are hurdles for one’s desire of a good job but on the other hand, mass media are all in Turkish. They test your knowledge but never encourage. Now most of the language learner starts with feverish enthusiasm. “let’s study’s English everyday, no problem!” or “I want to speak English like water flowing” has been spoken like a broken record.

Two weeks had passed and they will start yawning, bored to death, three weeks and the water runs dry. For them task-based language learning is more comfortable: teacher speaks, students listen, teacher asks question number 1, student answers question number 1, etc. An interactive class has been proven to be more effective: teacher speaks-student speaks, watch, read and listen-all activities in English, this is otherwise known as the communicative language teaching. However, this is not for the faint-hearted, as it involves the use of brain for thinking and information processing, I have seen students almost crawling out of the classroom when this method is applied.
The good news is language learning is solid; you learn it once you know it forever, the grammar rules 20 or 30 years ago is still applicable 20 or 30 years after. That English article you wrote remains a masterpiece for the next generation to read. It just takes perseverance to master it, practice, talk.

Maybe one day we will be back again in biblical times where everyone speaks in the same tongue, this time in English tongue. No more lost in translation moment, just the Bob Marley song, everybody singing in unison…one world, one love, let’s get together and be alright!

About the author:
Karen Lim is a journalist covering mostly military activities and major political stories in Asia. Based in Ankara, Turkey Karen contributes to Voyage Film as story producer and project coordinator. For Turkey story coordinates, contact Karen at info@voyagefilm.com