Art has a history of inspiring social change, creating awareness and questioning human nature. The public can infer artists’ thoughts on immigration and social issues through their work.
Approximately 227,316 migrants have entered Europe and 2,920 were reported dead or missing on Mediterranean and African routes in 2016, according to the International Organization for Migration.
Three elite artists have brought issues surrounding immigration to the forefront as tensions continue to increase around the world.
Doris Salcedo
In 2007, Colombian artist Doris Salcedo changed the floor of the Tate modern with her installation piece, Shibboleth. The work is a 548-foot long crack that began very thin and steadily grew wider, ultimately splitting the entire gallery in two.
The crack represents the experience of being an immigrant in Europe and the segregation and discrimination that accompanies it. A wire mesh lines the inside of the crack’s walls, replicating a chain wire fence, which is a common divider along borders.
The name, Shibboleth, holds much significance. It is a word that distinguishes a specific class or social group of those who belong from those who do not belong.
Shibboleth changed the museum space itself, forcing a disruption in the gallery that visitors had to become used to. The piece illustrates in an abstract, but unavoidably literal way, the racism and hatred that divides Europe.
Ai Weiwei
Chinese artist Ai Weiwei created an installation on the Konzerthaus Berlin for the Cinema for Peace Gala on February 15, 2016. He wrapped each of the buildings six columns with over 14,000 life jackets that were salvaged from refugees entering Europe.
This artists’ thoughts on immigration are hard to ignore — the life jacket installation acknowledged the thousands of lives lost in the past year and reminded us of the hardships undergone by those trying to reach safety.
Ai is also known for his political activism. The artist closed his “Ruptures” exhibition in Copenhagen to protest Denmark’s new laws that deter refugees from seeking asylum in January 2016.
Banksy
The elusive Banksy has also contributed to the ongoing migration discussion with powerful pieces that appeared recently.
One of Banksy’s pieces depicts a girl from Les Misérables emerging from tear gas with a torn French flag in the background. This mural followed reports of French officials entering the camp with tear gas to drive out refugees. The Quick Response (QR) code in the bottom left corner of the mural links to a video of the police raids at the Calais Camp.
The Calais Refugee Camp, also known as “The Jungle,” holds about 7,000 refugees, according to the BBC. Banksy donated wood and supplies from his closed Dismaland “bemusement park” to help build shelters at the refugee camp. The materials were used to build 12 accommodations, a playground and a community center.
Another Banksy mural surfaced on the wall of a tunnel in the Calais Refugee Camp in December 2015. The piece portrays former Apple CEO Steve Jobs carrying an early Apple computer in one hand and holding a bag over his shoulder.
Banksy makes it clear through his work that artists’ thoughts on immigration can make the refugee issue a worldwide conversation.
Highlighting Jobs’ origin as the son of a Syrian migrant, Banksy reminded viewers that, “Apple is the world’s most profitable company, [one that] pays over $7 billion a year in taxes — and it only exists because they allowed in a young man from Homs.”
His statement stands in stark contrast to the popular opinion that accepting refugees will have a negative impact on a country’s economy.
Banksy’s recent murals are part of a new series centered on Europe’s treatment of refugees in the current migration crisis.
Each of the pieces by Salcedo, Ai and Banksy show how artists’ thoughts on immigration can be used as a powerful tool for social awareness. At a critical time of forced movement and migration around the world, an artist’s striking representation of current events and issues promotes empathy and critical thought.
– Erica Rawles
Photo: Flickr
Nonprofit Aims to Increase Women’s Land Rights in India
Rajesh Prabhakar Patil of the Impatient Optimists agrees with Melinda Gates that data is generally sexist, meaning there is often more research about men than women. He also believes that there is an urban bias — individuals living in rural areas are often excluded from studies.
This means that it can be especially difficult to find information about the plight of rural women. Patil, along with the nonprofit Landesa, seeks to change and gather more information about women’s land rights in India.
The Plight for Women’s Rights
Patil’s passion for women’s land rights in India stems from his personal belief that “land can provide [women] with a powerful tool to fight poverty — [the ability] to create opportunity.”
In rural India, one in 10 families includes a “dispossessed woman” who cannot own property. This could be a woman who is disabled, divorced, widowed or otherwise unable to live independently due to the stipulations regarding land rights for women.
Sometimes, women who are dependent upon their family, but are caught in dysfunctional relationships, cannot escape abuse due to their inability to purchase land and property that could serve as a refuge.
The lack of data regarding rural women in India can have a negative impact on women and their families. The government of the state of Odisha introduced a policy to give government-owned land to rural families in 2005. Unfortunately, due to a lack of documentation, many rural women were not considered as recipients for the program.
Landesa
Landesa, a nonprofit supported by the Gates Foundation, aims to find and assist women in India and other parts of the world who seek land ownership.
The organization conducts field research and works with local government officials to identify women and families in need of land. In India alone, 1,105,000 families have benefited from Landesa’s work.
According to Landesa’s website, an estimated 18 million families are both poor and landless in India. Their goal is to provide land to these women and lift their families out of poverty. The organization has been working with government leaders from various Indian states since 2000.
“What women do need is to be counted and to have programs responsive to their existence and their needs,” said Patil in a June 2016 post.
Patil appears optimistic about Landesa’s work on increasing women’s land rights in India. Rural women’s quality of life and access to opportunity may see an increase if they’re given the right to own land.
– Carrie Robinson
Photo: Flickr
10 Facts About Democratic Republic of the Congo Refugees
According to the BBC, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has suffered from political instability, insecurity and violence since its independence in 1960. As a result, the country hosts a considerable amount of Democratic Republic of the Congo refugees.
From 1997 to 2003, the country experienced a violent civil war. In addition, the Congolese army fought Rwandan forces and rebel groups near the Rwandan border. Multiple armed groups continue to fight among themselves and with the government for control of the resource-rich eastern provinces.
The extreme level of violence and human rights abuses in the eastern DRC have caused thousands to flee the area. Here are 10 facts about Democratic Republic of the Congo refugees:
In order to improve the living conditions of Democratic Republic of the Congo, refugees need additional aid in countries like Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda. Host countries must continue to provide (and improve) education and employment opportunities.
Furthermore, as in Uganda’s refugee settlements, Democratic Republic of the Congo refugees need the means and the training that will allow them to provide for themselves in times of employment scarcity. Consequently, this will reduce refugees’ dependence on foreign aid. It will also increase their ability to integrate and improve their standards of living.
– Christina Egerstrom
Photo: Flickr
Stronger Anti-Poverty Efforts for Disadvantaged Children
The United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) warned that 69 million disadvantaged children under the age of five will die of preventable causes by 2030 unless countries strengthen their anti-poverty efforts.
The World’s Children
UNICEF’s annual flagship report, the “State of the World’s Children 2016,” said that based on current trends, 167 million adolescents will live in poverty and 750 million women will have been married as children by 2030.
Despite recent advances in reducing global poverty, the report reflected the increasing risk that the world’s most disadvantaged face and the need for governments and aid organizations to do more to tackle inequality.
Many countries in the West were unwilling to accept millions of refugees and migrants fleeing poverty and conflict, mostly in the Middle East and Africa, around the time the 172-page report was released.
In a foreword to the report, Anthony Lake, the executive director of UNICEF said that inequities are shaping the survival rates of poor children and “perpetuat[ing] intergenerational cycles of disadvantage and inequity that undermine the stability of societies.”
Progress is Progress, but We Need More
The report acknowledged that progress was made to expand development and improve the plight of the world’s poor. Extreme poverty and global under-five mortality rates have been nearly halved since the 1990s and boys and girls attend primary school in equal numbers in 129 countries.
However, the report noted the benefits of anti-poverty efforts have been unequal and limited in many developing areas around the world.
Children born to uneducated mothers are three times more likely to die before the age of five than those born to women with secondary education in sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia. Girls who grow up in extreme poverty are also twice as likely to be married as children than girls from the wealthiest neighborhoods.
Nearly half of the 69 million disadvantaged children projected to perish from preventable causes will reside in sub-Saharan Africa where 247 children live in multidimensional poverty.
The report also found that insufficient access to quality education is still prevalent. Between 2010 and 2013, development assistance for basic education declined by 11%.
The number of children who do not attend school has also increased since 2011 and almost two in five adolescents who do finish primary school have not learned to read, write or do basic arithmetic.
The report recommended an increase in the investment of youth and education in order to guarantee a better future for the world’s children. According to UNICEF, cash transfers have helped children stay in school longer and each additional year of education that a child receives can increase his or her adult earnings by 10%.
Disadvantaged children need strengthened anti-poverty efforts for increased access to education, disease prevention and lower mortality rates — tasks that the global community can help accomplish.
– Sam Turken
Photo: Flickr
Improving Water Quality in Haiti Benefits Thousands
The lack of proper sanitation and unsafe water quality in Haiti fosters the spread of disease. For example, a cholera epidemic ensued after the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, and 8,700 lives have been lost since. Although diagnosed cases of cholera have decreased, heavy rains in the early months of 2015 brought a surge of new cases.
Stand pipes or water points with hand pumps are the main systems used for water transportation in Haiti. Due to lack of funding, many of these water systems are no longer in service. Thankfully, the World Bank found a way to improve the situation by funding a program located in the southern region of Haiti. This global organization built professional operators whose main purpose is to maintain many of the water supply systems.
Over 60,000 people have benefited from these system improvements. The program also helped train community health workers and medical personnel, as well as strengthening the country by making it more self-sustaining.
The Board of Directors of the World Bank also authorized a $50 million grant from the International Development Association (IDA). “The Sustainable Rural and Small Towns Water and Sanitation project aims to save lives by preventing cholera and waterborne diseases in high prevalence zones, and strengthen the capacity of local agencies to deliver water and sanitation services in rural areas and small towns.” This grant will help nearly 300,000 people gain access to potable water and proper sanitation.
This project will also be linked to a ten-year, government-supported Cholera Elimination Plan. This long-term plan will save thousands of Haitian kids from waterborne, disease-related deaths. Benito Dumay, the Director General of the National Water and Sanitation Directorate, understands how essential healthy water quality is for Haiti, and is determined for the project to succeed.
Water is a catalyst for life, and now thousands of Haitians will be able to access this life-saving liquid for the first time. The World Bank reached out to the U.N., the U.N.’s development partners and the Haitian Government to collectively discuss the financing gap and what they learned about fighting cholera.
The Borgen Project has also done a great deal of work at the political level when it comes to advocating for clean water and sanitation. This nonprofit helped build support for the Water for the World Act. The organization also met with hundreds of Congressional offices, equating to 410 meetings, to discuss activism regarding water-quality programs.
Between 2009 and 2014, The Borgen Project helped mobilize thousands of Americans to email and call their congressional leaders in support of the Water for the World legislation. The bill was passed in December 2014, and millions of people gained first-time access to potable water and appropriate sanitation.
As numerous organizations fight the battle for water quality in Haiti and around the world, their tremendous progress makes the future of water quality that much clearer.
– Terry J. Halloran
Photo: Flickr
Protect Against Zika: Can New Trends in Vaccinations Help?
These novel prevention and intervention procedures could change the way that the public health field addresses epidemics, namely viruses.
Leading the pack with the first grant, biotech company Inovio received approval from the Food and Drug Administration to conduct an experimental Zika vaccine trial on humans. They have already been able to prevent the virus from taking hold in monkeys, and Harvard Medical School reports developing two successful Zika vaccines that have shown promise in mice.
Although many companies and institutions are gunning to be the first, funding can be problematic. President Obama said that a Zika vaccine could be produced relatively quickly should Congress provide a budget for it. Democrats struck down a bill allotting 1.1 billion dollars to research for the vaccine because of tacked-on, unrelated political moves. The president attributed the denial of the bill to typical politics.
Despite this setback, new technology still allows for research to be conducted by private institutions. A relatively recent bit of tech called DNA vaccination now allows current Zika researchers to develop effective vaccines. This form of the shot only contains a fraction of the viral DNA, as opposed to an entire viral unit, allowing the production of these treatments to be more cost-effective and less dangerous.
In the past, one pitfall for researchers was the potency of the vaccine. This type of shot has to enter a cell in order to take hold (unusual in the world of vaccines), so it became necessary to invent new delivery technologies. Now, an electric shock may replace the classic puncture-style injection– a development claimed by Inovio.
So, can new trends in vaccinations help protect against Zika? Researchers hope to have a successful answer and vaccine in mass production by 2018.
– Connor Borden
Photo: Pixabay
Solving the Energy Poverty Crisis, One Windmill at a Time
According to Sri Mulyani Indrawati, Managing Director of the World Bank, energy poverty implies that “poor people are the least likely to have access to power, and they are more likely to remain poor if they stay unconnected.” The key to solving energy poverty likely lies in the choice of power, with renewable resources being both the cheaper and environmentally cleaner option.
Misconceptions of Renewable Energy
The term renewable energy often conjures up images of developed, wealthy nations experimenting with different resources while using the most modern, up-to-date technology. However, renewable energy is now spreading to the farthest corners of the earth, achieving goals of environmental and economic sustainability. Renewable energy is often thought of as a luxury, but in some parts of the world, it has become a necessary way of life.
According to World Bank data, a large number of poor countries rank as some of the top users for renewable energy. Joining the ranks of eco-friendly Albania, Paraguay and Iceland are Kenya, Zambia, Mozambique and many other African countries. Falling at number 16, three-quarters of Kenya’s electricity production is derived from renewable resources, especially hydropower. In fact, developed countries, in general, lagged behind poorer countries in their use of renewable resources.
Renewable Resources: Budget and Environmentally Friendly
Utilizing renewable resources to create energy is not only environmentally friendly but also budget-friendly for many communities. The U.S. based nonprofit EarthSpark recently set up a solar microgrid in Haiti, which is an affordable energy solution for homes and businesses. Microgrid users pay for the service in advance, ensuring that customers only use the energy that they are able to afford.
Another benefit of renewable energy is that new technology often brings along new employment opportunities. In Haiti, 109 entrepreneurs were trained to work with and market microgrid technologies.
Countries still bypassing the usage of renewable resources for coal need to realize that solving energy poverty requires, as Huffington Post writer Edward Cavanough notes, the “pragmatic use of local and sustainable energy sources to meet immediate and long-term demand while fostering sustainable growth.” Renewable resources are the energy of the future, and it’s in the world’s best fiscal and environmental interest to utilize them.
– Carrie Robinson
Photo: Flickr
5 Things To Know about Poverty in Samoa
5 Things to Know About Poverty in Samoa
The number of impoverished individuals in such a stable economy such as Samoa is quite rare. To end poverty in Samoa, especially for those living in rural areas, new jobs and better farming techniques must be implemented. If the island works together, one day Samoa’s economic gap will narrow and create a much better future for their population.
– Bella Chaffey
Photo: Flickr
Room for Improvement: Reducing Poverty in Malaysia
The Southeast Asian nation of Malaysia is not a desperately poor country. Poverty in Malaysia is fairly low — the percentage of citizens at or below the national poverty line was 0.6 percent in 2014. Life expectancy and the infant mortality rate are about the same as in the U.S. and the GDP is growing.
Reducing poverty in Malaysia has come a long way since 1990 when the United Nations introduced the Millennium Development Goals. The first goal for the U.N. — to halve the number of people living on less than $1.25 a day by 2015 — was reached in Malaysia.
However, Malaysia has significant poverty and income inequality lurking just below the surface. While extreme poverty in Malaysia (income of less than $1.25 per day) is down to less than one percent, more than 25 percent of the population lives on less than $5 per day. Furthermore, about 60 percent of Malaysian families live on less than $1600 a month according to Al Jazeera.
About 20 million of the 30 million people in Malaysia live on the peninsula and approximately 72 percent of the population is urban.
The area in the need of the most support is the rural sector of Sabah on the island of Borneo. Borneo is a large island shared by Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia so migration around the island is common.
The country is now home to about 2 million immigrants due to migration and recent political turmoil in neighboring Thailand. At this time there is no process for asylum seekers in Malaysia.
Both legal and illegal immigrants are known to be treated harshly and do not receive government support. It is imperative for the Malaysian government to address the needs of migrants as they make up over 10 percent of the population.
Malaysia also has relatively high levels of income inequality. The GINI index measures how much income levels deviate from totally equal distribution. Malaysia places higher than most countries, including all of its neighboring countries and the United States, with a GINI index of 46.2.
Malaysia stands out among its surroundings despite these problems. Nations like Laos, Myanmar and the Philippines all hover around a 25 percent poverty rate and an infant mortality rate that is between three and seven times higher than Malaysia.
Malaysia is also the only country among them with a functional and robust social welfare system. It is clear that further steps must be taken but remarkable progress has been made to reduce poverty in Malaysia in the past few decades.
– John English
Photo: Flickr
3 Artists’ Thoughts on Immigration: Salcedo, Ai and Banksy
Approximately 227,316 migrants have entered Europe and 2,920 were reported dead or missing on Mediterranean and African routes in 2016, according to the International Organization for Migration.
Three elite artists have brought issues surrounding immigration to the forefront as tensions continue to increase around the world.
Doris Salcedo
In 2007, Colombian artist Doris Salcedo changed the floor of the Tate modern with her installation piece, Shibboleth. The work is a 548-foot long crack that began very thin and steadily grew wider, ultimately splitting the entire gallery in two.
The crack represents the experience of being an immigrant in Europe and the segregation and discrimination that accompanies it. A wire mesh lines the inside of the crack’s walls, replicating a chain wire fence, which is a common divider along borders.
The name, Shibboleth, holds much significance. It is a word that distinguishes a specific class or social group of those who belong from those who do not belong.
Shibboleth changed the museum space itself, forcing a disruption in the gallery that visitors had to become used to. The piece illustrates in an abstract, but unavoidably literal way, the racism and hatred that divides Europe.
Ai Weiwei
Chinese artist Ai Weiwei created an installation on the Konzerthaus Berlin for the Cinema for Peace Gala on February 15, 2016. He wrapped each of the buildings six columns with over 14,000 life jackets that were salvaged from refugees entering Europe.
This artists’ thoughts on immigration are hard to ignore — the life jacket installation acknowledged the thousands of lives lost in the past year and reminded us of the hardships undergone by those trying to reach safety.
Ai is also known for his political activism. The artist closed his “Ruptures” exhibition in Copenhagen to protest Denmark’s new laws that deter refugees from seeking asylum in January 2016.
Banksy
The elusive Banksy has also contributed to the ongoing migration discussion with powerful pieces that appeared recently.
One of Banksy’s pieces depicts a girl from Les Misérables emerging from tear gas with a torn French flag in the background. This mural followed reports of French officials entering the camp with tear gas to drive out refugees. The Quick Response (QR) code in the bottom left corner of the mural links to a video of the police raids at the Calais Camp.
The Calais Refugee Camp, also known as “The Jungle,” holds about 7,000 refugees, according to the BBC. Banksy donated wood and supplies from his closed Dismaland “bemusement park” to help build shelters at the refugee camp. The materials were used to build 12 accommodations, a playground and a community center.
Another Banksy mural surfaced on the wall of a tunnel in the Calais Refugee Camp in December 2015. The piece portrays former Apple CEO Steve Jobs carrying an early Apple computer in one hand and holding a bag over his shoulder.
Banksy makes it clear through his work that artists’ thoughts on immigration can make the refugee issue a worldwide conversation.
Highlighting Jobs’ origin as the son of a Syrian migrant, Banksy reminded viewers that, “Apple is the world’s most profitable company, [one that] pays over $7 billion a year in taxes — and it only exists because they allowed in a young man from Homs.”
His statement stands in stark contrast to the popular opinion that accepting refugees will have a negative impact on a country’s economy.
Banksy’s recent murals are part of a new series centered on Europe’s treatment of refugees in the current migration crisis.
Each of the pieces by Salcedo, Ai and Banksy show how artists’ thoughts on immigration can be used as a powerful tool for social awareness. At a critical time of forced movement and migration around the world, an artist’s striking representation of current events and issues promotes empathy and critical thought.
– Erica Rawles
Photo: Flickr
10 Important and Interesting Facts About Refugees in Turkey
10 Facts About Turkey’s Refugee Population
A thwarted coup attempt in Turkey on July 15, 2016 generated concern as to the possible implications it could have on the EU-Turkey deal agreed to in March to end erratic migration from Turkey to the EU.
Prior to the coup attempt, there were EU concerns going forward with the deal. This unease may now be heightened due to the internal disquiet occurring presently in the country.
– Heidi Grossman
Photo: Flickr