Border wars: profiting from refugee tragedy
A new report by Transnational Institute (TNI) is out – it focuses on the arms dealers profiting from the refugee crisis. The report exposes the military and security companies that are winning contracts to provide the equipment to border guards, the surveillance technology to monitor frontiers, and the IT infrastructure to track population movements.
Continue reading on Middle East Revised
Television of the month
“One begins to wonder, what is the real message being promoted during the holy month?”
This question, asked in front of a TV airing endless Ramadan-specific shows and entertainment, got artist and designer Khalid Mezaina from the UAE to devote an entire series of illustrations, released and shared daily, to the essence and meaning of Ramadan today. His images portray snapshots of things he remembers from years of watching televised Ramadan series, and they invite people to think, just like himself, about what place the holy month has in today’s fast and commercialised life.
Continue reading on Mashallah News
An ancient melancholy
Over 3,500 kilometres from the Iberian Peninsula – not to mention a temporal separation of half a millennium – Jak Esim, a Sephardic Jew, houses in his Istanbul home what he believes is the most comprehensive archive of Judeo-Spanish folk music in the world. Esim has lived in Istanbul his entire life, but traces his roots to that small landmass jutting into the eastern Atlantic.
Continue reading on Reorient
