Una nuova rubrica: Hate crimes in Europe!
nuova rubrica intitolata HATE CRIMES IN EUROPE!. Sarà tenuta, il
giovedì ogni due settimane, da Cinzia D’Ambrosi (www.cinziadambrosi.com), fotoreporter di
origine italiana che vive a Londra. Di seguito la presentazione del
progetto.
aver accettato la collaborazione con l’Associazione per i Diritti
Umani.
crimes in Europe!
crimes in Europe! e’
composto da una serie di reportages che trattano di crimini d’odio in
Europa. Il progetto e’ nato dal desiderio di documentare e rendere
visibile l’enormita’ dei crimini d’odio e cio’ che pericolosamente
rappresentano.
e’ quello di approfondire questa tematica tramite le storie di coloro
che sono state vittime e di evidenziare anche i riscontri negativi
che questi eventi creano su di loro e sulla societa’ in generale.
Hate crimes in Europe!
investiga e documenta, infatti, non solo le storie delle vittime ma
anche i luoghi dove questi crimini sono piu’ frequenti. Il progetto
si svolge attraverso un percorso d’immagini raccolte nei luoghi
europei dove il sorgere di movimenti di estrema destra, la poverta’
ed enormi cambiamenti politici, economici o sociali hanno inciso a
tal punto da diventare fulcro di molti episodi d’odio.
D’Ambrosi freelance fotogiornalista ha dato vita al progetto in
Grecia dove ha riscontrato l’esistenza di attacchi e pregiudizi verso
coloro che hanno cercato rifugio nel Paese, dopo essere scappati da
zone di guerra, in particolare dall’Africa sub-sahariana. Scioccata,
ha intervistato e fotografato rifugiati sudanesi, eritrei e di altri
Paesi africani.
constatato, inoltre, che i crimini sono notevolmente aumentati in
tutta l’Europa. Attacchi a moschee in Bulgaria da membri dell’estrema
destra, in Germania, l’ascesa dell’ UKIP in Inghilterra, e il
dilagare dei partiti di estrema destra in altre aree europee non
hanno fatto altro che moltiplicare le manifestazioni di violenza nei
confronti di migranti e di profughi. Questi sono attacchi rivolti
verso coloro che ‘rappresentano’ uno stereotipo e gli stereotipi
formano pregiudizi che sfociano, troppo spesso, nella violenza fisica
e verbale.
di Hate crimes in Europe!
È quello di voler abbattere gli stereotipi e di formare una società
accogliente e rispettosa.
 |
| Images copyright Cinzia D’Ambrosi |
Badara Sila sta ricevendo un trattamento medico da parte di una
ONG per disturbi da stress dopo aver subito un attacco atroce da
alcuni membri del Golden Dawn in Grecia. Le violenze lo hanno
costretto a rimanere in ospedale per alcune settimane.
Badara Sila is now receiving treatment from an NGO for anxiety
and stress disorder after he was victim of an atrocious attack by
members of the Golden Dawn in Greece
which left him for weeks in hospital.
Hate
crimes in Europe!
Other Europe is a collection of photo stories that expose the
increasing number of hate crimes.
Crimes of hatred and
prejudice are becoming more common by the day. Europe seems to have
forgotten its recent history and to be heading towards reaping itself
in a loop. Attacks to Mosques in Bulgaria from members of the far
right party Attak, Neo Fascist Pegida in Germany burning down hostels
where refugees have been given shelter, UKIP in UK proclaiming
Britishness, Golden Dawn in Greece attacking black communities and
anyone that is not Greek, and the inhuman treatment of refugees
seeking shelter in Europe are tell-tales of rising prejudices and
hate in European countries. These are some of the escalating events
that have reached the headlines, but everyday, increasingly, people
become victim of attacks, hate speeches and discrimination.
Unfortunately, most of these crimes go unreported.
The root causes for
these crimes are subject to debates and research, however the
escalating events in the Middle East, the tragedies of war, foreign
interventions, the shootings at the French satirical newspaper
Charles Hebdo, the current fighting of ISIS and the refugee crisis
that is enveloping Europe have all fuelled the emergency of racial
and religious hate crimes. This has often translated into a political
and media rhetoric that targets migrants, refugees, ethnic minorities
and the black communities, those that practice the Islamic faith
given rise to extreme right thinking but also to prejudices and
discrimination. Thus, it comes into play stereotypes; for example
those that practice the Islam faith are more easily suspected of
terrorism, or black young people are more likely to be be subjected
to stop and search from the police than white young people. The
economic downfall and consequetenly a greater inequality in society
are also contributing to these events. To a large externd, the
countries with an increased number of hate crimes are those where
there have been greater changes economically and have had a greater
involvement in the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and presently in Syria.
As a photojournalist,
I am very keen on reporting on hate crimes with the aim to highlight
with my work this pressing and important issue and I believe that
story telling in a visual manner provides a greater immediacy from
the public. The objective is to create a body of work on an European
level constructed by various stories based on victims of hate crimes
to bring forth the effects that those have on people, but also to
achieve a greater understanding of these crimes and ways to denounce
them. The project will have a portal with interactive based levels
where public can listen to audio interviews, follow photo-essays and
videos. The web site will be the key element for information on the
project, thus I am hoping for involvement from charities and NGO’s on
the level that will be able to support and grow the project network
and thus increase awareness of this issue. Unless these incidents
are tackled at the very beginning raising awareness and proactively
denounce them, there will be no end to them. Thus, sensibilize on
ground with a campaign that is visually conveying with photo stories
of those that have been hit hard by prejudice and hate becomes
poignant as it will sensibilize the public on reporting hate crimes.
There is a desperate need for this to happen. Europe as a whole has
a need to counteract these incidents with a firm position. What it
does happen in one country is not disjointed to the others; what
happens with Golden Dawn in Greece is not separated from what is
happening with Pegida in Germany.
The Photo Stories
The photo stories will
be exploring stories based on those that have fallen victim of hate
crimes, investigate on the root causes, and highlight the
environments which have become hots spots in the dissemination of
hate crimes in Europe. Stories will be investigating key angles for
instance racism, Islamophobia, ethnicity. The plan is to work in
countries, cities and particular areas where there is a greater
appeal of far right ideologies and where there is a greater need for
intervention.
Greece is one of these
countries, which is suffering from severe austerity measures and
rising racism. Greece is one of the main entry gates into Europe for
refugees fleeing their home countries on the search for safety. In
Greece however, refugees are faced with deficiencies in the asylum
procedure and appalling detention and living conditions. Without
housing, legal papers or support, they are faced with increasing and
often violent racism. The black communities are the most targeted by
blatant acts of racism, random attacks from members of the Golden
Dawn, and or from the police. Despite the severity of the cases
which include murder, state and police seem unwilling to address the
issue. This project is shedding a light on the crimes committed and
the frequent daily occurrences of racism and discrimination among the
black refugee communities in Greece.
Vision
The vision is to
develop this work on an European level documenting the lives of
people that have been negatively impacted by hate crimes with their
photo stories. The objective is to highlight the need for
intervention; the need to educate, to eradicate the roots for hate
and to investigate where these are more frequent in order to
understand the environments and the impact of media, politics etc on
the occurrence of these crimes. I am researching and beginning to
liase with NGOs, charities and foundations that work towards raising
awareness of hate crimes. Some of the ideas being generated is to
construct regular blogs, Seminars, Workshops and Exhibitions. But
also approaching print, online media and broadcasting and the social
channels. This to generate and build the necessary profile to reach
out to a large amount of people.
It will be amazing to
create photo stories in real time so that there will an online stream
of the photo-essays as they happen. There are a lot of possible ideas
that can be developed, but some of these look at working on an
Interactive Web Documentary based presentation so that the photo
stories are presented in various interconnected platforms so that
they can interact with the public in audios, videos, multimedia and
stills to enhance the story telling experience and responsiveness.
This is quite strong possibility. I have already approached a
Producer who is keen on producing this Interactive Web platform for
the project.
