Ai Weiwei detained for his refusal to tone down his views

The artist who is best known for his contribution to the outstanding Beijing stadium ‘The Bird Nest’ was detained at Beijing airport yesterday.


The most famous and recognized outspoken political modern artist, had recently reproduce one hundred million porcelain sunflower seeds. His masterpiece is exhibited at the Tate Modern and without a doubt bringing a huge audience that wants to delight themselves with what it seems at first gaze as pebble carpet.

The political art exhibition that took two and a half years to manufactured the porcelain seeds with the help of 1,600 Chinese’s artisans in the city of Jingdezhen. It has been exhibited since the 12^th of October 2010 and that will last until the 2^nd of May 2011 at the Turbine Hall, a vast space renowned internationally for its previous astonishing exhibitions at the Tate Modern.

For the Chinese artist, the sunflowers seeds symbolized the Chinese people, the millions of faceless factory workers, the millions of Chinese oppressed by the regime of Chairman Mao, the millions of skilled Chinese handcrafters and the millions of Chinese without internet access. Ai Weiwei said that he chose to replicate sunflower seeds to his compatriots because the seeds were one of the few sources of food during the famine years under Mao. For him, they also symbolize hope.

His political statement its easier to understand when you get the chance to walk along this massive rectangle, when your feet submerge in the immensity of the replicas layer after layer under your feet. You then realize its immeasurable amount of work, especially because every minimalistic detail of the work represents the hugeness of China’s population. In that gray pebble sea there isn’t two identical seeds, all of them are unique, each of them representing the uniqueness that each Chinese person, each Chinese life that we may  underestimate in the mass industrialized China.


The Chinese government has detained scores of lawyers, human rights activists, writers and bloggers in the past two months. According to Human Rights Watch "is the most severe campaign  of repression in China in more than a decade".

The Colombian Struggle

A few weeks ago, while I was doing some research about human rights violations in Colombia I came across with a web page of an NGO based in London called Justice for Colombia. I was astonished about the amount of information and their commitment for social justice in the northwester South American country.

More surprising was to find out the terrible situation which Colombian trade unionists are living in. To realize that this beautiful territory, full of ethnical, cultural and environmental diversity is suffocated with impunity, corruption and social misery.

Once I was immersed into the information about their campaigns and their work, I learnt about a Colombian political prisoner that is an inspiration, an example to follow, a woman that deserves admiration for her strength, fairness and tenacity. Liliany Obando is a Colombian dissident of inequality and who has been in prison since august 2008, without a trial.

Digging into her life, I discovered that she isn’t just an activist, she is also an independant film director. She has produced documentaries that are forbidden on Colombian national television. I found one of them “Postponed Dreams” - a film that tells the truth about experienced by everyday Colombians.

Please follow the link below and experience what this film has to say.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2witk_postponed-dreams_people

What We Can All Learn From Indigenous Cultures

Centuries after European colonization, discrimination faced by indigenous peoples remains the norm in many nations around the world. These peoples are seen by many as primitive but ‘developed cultures’ could learn a lot from them about sustainability. Indigenous cultures have lived, sometimes for thousands of years, in harmony with their environment, while modern societies are bringing irreversible cultural, social and environmental damage.

Arhuaco's Village

The circumstances that Latin American aborigines are confronting should concern us all. For instance how can the Peruvian government allow oil and gas exploration in indigenous land? Up to 70% of the Peruvian Amazon is being explored for oil which is not only destroying the rainforest but also could wipe out some of the world’s most vulnerable citizens. This Amazonian region is occupied by some of the most uncountable tribal people in the world stresses Prof. James Anaya, the UN’s special reporter on indigenous peoples assert.

In Colombia, at least 64 out of 102 indigenous groups are facing extinction says a report released by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. The government has introduced laws supposed to protect those communities but their land is still used by illegal armies for the growing and trafficking of drugs. An estimated 74,000 indigenous people have been forcibly evicted from their homes, says the country’s national indigenous peoples’ organization (ONIC).

Kogui Children

In Guatemala, the situation is also grave. Mayan descendants appeared to be removed from the political system, have little access to education and there is clear evidence of discrimination. “Much as black Africans were the majority in South Africa under apartheid, the Indigenous peoples of Guatemala constitute the disempowered (and persecuted) numerical majority,” says Prof. Valerie Alia internationally recognized for her work in media ethics and indigenous communications.

The critical situation that indigenous peoples have to face nowadays around the globe is unacceptable. Their traditions and sacred lands all deserve respect. But what can we do to help the situation of indigenous peoples’ human rights?  It is important to change the way indigenous peoples are perceived; we should educate people about different societies and the way that they survive. Pressure governments to implement policies which promote respect for indigenous peoples’ values.  We cannot help but be vigilant with regard to indigenous peoples’ human rights.

Aztec descendant

An Arsario child

Zulu Children

Peace Journalism, War and Conflict Resolution, Book Review

Peace journalism as a theory was introduced forty years ago by the sociologist Johan Galtung with his studies on peace and conflict. Today, we have been presented with Peace Journalism, War and Conflict Resolution which contains a collection of essays by leading international peace journalism writers, their concerns and reflections and valuable ideas for the future of journalism.  This book was edited by Proff Richard Keeble, Prof John Tulloch and Ph.D student Florian Zollmann, all from the University of Lincoln. They all have also contributed a chapter.

This engaging book gives us an international overview of the field of peace journalism. It provides us with the theory and the concept that peace journalism is its own distinct field of study. The collection of over 20 international writers is divided in three sections.

The approaches of the first section are diverse with styles taken from the mainstream media to alternative media debates. One of the highlights of this section is the call from Richard Keeble to “move away from the concept of the audience as a passive consumer” which demands a new perspective and alternative media.

 The second section focuses more on the practice and innovative methods on reporting conflicts and peace journalism as a whole. It includes a chapter with a remarkable approach written by Valerie Alia in which she explores the alternative ways that indigenous people around the world have been found to communicate and in which resolve conflicts.

The last section is a critique of the mainstream media and how can it be transformed. David Edwards writes about our apparent sense of freedom. He states that only people of great cognitive ability would have what is necessary to wake the people up to the fact that this is an illusion.

This text allows us to consider the role of peace journalist in the media, by criticizing the mainstream media we have been given a reason to question the status quo and demand a new perspective.

London’s demonstration of support to Egyptians

A demonstration to show the UK solidarity with the Egyptians will be held this Saturday in Trafalgar Square from midday until 2pm.

The pro-democracy revolt against Egyptian’s President Hosni Mubarak that erupted on January 25^th have left more than 300 people dead and figures on the toll are expected to rise.

Activists and journalists from Human Right Watch and Amnesty International were arrested last week in Egypt during the demonstrations against the regime. After been torture and kept in captivity for more than two days some of them were released.

The unacceptable arrests in Egypt require crucial attention as it violates human rights and freedom of expression. Amnesty International says: "The Egyptian authorities must now carry out an urgent independent investigation into why human rights activists monitoring protests in Cairo were targeted in this way, and who gave the orders for it."


The London demo is part of a global day of action in support for the rights of expression of protesters, observers, journalist, Egyptians an many others sufferers of human rights violation.