stories

Like all rivers, the Dniester is also a river that divides. A boundary, not only geographically. Cultures, languages, traditions, peoples. In 1992 the river, by metaphor of division , becomes a real line of demarcation. Following Moldova's decision to abolish Russian as official language, the Transnistrian region, a Russian majority, decides to declare independence. Along the Dniester is fought for months, the separatists backed by Russia, Moldova with Romania's support. As early as 1944, when the Red Army crosses it for the reconquest of Bessarabia, the Dniester claims her blood ration. Thus it was born the Transnistria, Придністровська Молдавська Республіка (Prydnistrovs'ka Moldavs'ka Respublika), or Pridnestrovie, literally "Beyond the Dniester River." Today, Transnistria is a “De Facto,” nation, unrecognized, like Nagorno Karabakh, South Ossetia and Abkhazia, one of the most closed in the world. A country with so many souls and roots, which seem misses, sometimes touching, but never understand each other or love each other to the very end. Often told only as a last bastion of post-Soviet memory and vestiges , it is a complex and articulated land. Russian, Ukraine and Moldova identities, do not yet seem to be able to blend in a real identity of Transnistria, and perhaps there is no will of a specific identity. The perception is that of being in Russian territory, as evidenced by the referendum for annexation to Russia , won by yes with more than 90%. In particular young people grow up with the myth of Putin, the USSR, the hammer and sickle in a jumble of ideas, ideologies and hopes. The economic crisis, caused by the international embargo and consequent closure of 90% of the largest industries, led the post independence generations to dream of moving abroad. The only large company is the Sheriff, active in virtually all areas of life of the country. Founded in 1993 by two former members of the secret services, it has gradually expanded in all segments of society ganglia. In this scenario the youth of the country, far from any kind of nationalism, follow the Western or Russian model, in the absence of real cultural or traditional references of Transnistria. Between sports, music, weekend in Odessa, looking for a job or a love that you can take you away, or at least a husband and a son to leave the parental home, so life flows in Tiraspol and Bender, Pridnestrovie, and so flows the Dniester, river, border.

The Reindeer Police (Norwegian: Reinpolitiet) is a special branch of the Norwegian Police Service established in 1949 and a subdivision of Eastern Finnmark Police District.
Its main task is to combat crimes against nature and the environment and to police Sami reindeer herding within its area of jurisdiction, which covers the county of Finnmark and the northern parts of the county of Troms – an area of 56,000 square kilometers. This vast territory is policed by a mere 15 officers.
This special police corp exists in Norway only.

More than 80 percent of the fighters of the PKK and PJAK are women.  During the war of liberation from daesh being fought today in Syria and in Iraq the formations of the two groups are at the forefront.  The political idea behind the military political movement is that as long as there is only one people or one human being oppressed no one can be said to be free.   For this reason, these women and men consider their struggle a struggle for freedom of all peoples and not just the Kurdish people. The PKK and PJAK are fighting today against Daesh and against the Syria, turkish and Iranian army.  Their bases in the mountains of Qandil, between Iran and Iraq, are almost unattainable and constantly under attack.  these women are studying and fighting for an idea of ​​social revolution that affects all peoples. A society in which men and women are truly equal and complementary.  These are their stories.

Imagine to find yourself in Finland, into the woods. Imagine you have crossed Europe on you bare feet and the mediterranean sea on an inflatable boat. Imagine now to have to start you life all over again, thousands of kilometres from home and that this is very much depending from the decision that an officer will take, based on the story of your life. Ihab and his uncle Yousef in the last year have been through all of this, leaving Baghdad and ending in Velkua, a little village of no more than 200 people, between the Finnish woods and the nordic sea. There they started to rebuild their life, with the hope to have a “bad enough background” to be accepted as refugees in the nordic country.

Shortly, the Olympic Games are taking off in Rio de Janeiro – but the city’s churches are busy with a competition of their own. Clerics and lay folk in this very Catholic city are running against the clock to chase miracles: Stories of saved lives and healings that a local saint has wrought. The church elders of Rio are pushing the Vatikan to declare a person called Guido Schaffer a Holy Man: a former seminarist, medical doctor, savior of many homeless people in the city – and, most Brazilian of all, a passionate surfer and sports fan. When he died 7 years ago, taken by a wave, Catholics all over the city started to talk of his good deeds. The problem is: In order to canonize him, there need to be miracles. These are difficult to find and prove. A commission from Rome passed time in town to inspect the evidence. Some priests are not even wasting theirs: There already are statues and a shrine for “Holy Guido”. Praying leaflets and books are sold, showing an attractive young man on a surfboard in the waves. There is a trade in memorabilia. Guido’s surfboard has been locked away: The church considers it a reliquary. Giorgio Palmera’s photo reportage shows the Catholic Church of Rio in a desperate race to attract a younger crowd: After all, this sports lover and man of god is seen as a perfect antidote to the evangelical churches, who speak to the city’s young much more easily. But the report then enters the serious side of things. Palmera traces the footsteps of Schaffers work with the homeless and crack victims of Rio. He looks into the abyss of urban poverty and social inequalities in the Olympic town: Schaffer, the Holy Man in waiting, can indeed guide us to both sides of Rio – its careless beach life for the upper classes, and its underworld of poverty, drug abuse and despair.

On the night of April 2, 2016, Azere forces attacked all along the contact line the border with Nagorno Karabakh, reopening in fact a conflict that had never officially closed. It was since 25 years there was an escalation of such violence. Practically every woman in the country, even the most disinterested previously in military and political issues, was actively involved in the events supporting on the web its soldiers and taking part in every kind of event or initiative. In fact every woman Karabakh or Artsakh, as it is called the country in the local language, have in the family a brother, a father, a son who is a professional military or who joined the army in last days. Many have the whole family in the army. They live waiting for their return with anxiety but, at the same time, it is thanks to their contribution that life in the country is able to move forward. In many, in fact, they hold important positions within the government and make decisions crucial to the future of this part of the world does not recognize from foreign countries hidden in the mountains of the Caucasus. From the simple family mother to the minister of culture and youth affairs, from the common employee in a beauty salon to cop to the head of the supreme court of justice, women are the soul of Karabakh, the strength of this country, in some ministries they account for 80% of employed personnel. They dream of independence made of peace to build a different future for their children. They love intensely, fight tenaciously, often suffer in silence, and believe in their traditions. They are brave and fragile. This is their story.

More than 2 million displaced, unknown thousands of dead, and countless raped and maimed: the South Sudan civil war provoked the biggest humanitarian crisis in the world. Fightings continue in the Unity, Jonglei and Upper Nile states, and other millions people are forced to leave their homes. The soldiers of UNMISS mission have not been able to prevent many attacks on civilian around their bases. The situation, because of famine starting, become worst day after day. But reporting from South Sudan crisis is not so simple. Many South sudanese journalists are being kidnapped, tortured, burned. The work of foreign journalists is not easier. The witnesses of brutality are afraid. In South Sudan, decades of civil war have resulted in widespread trauma, and the chronically underdeveloped nation is struggling to provide facilities, staff and treatment for those in need of mental healthcare. The South Sudan Medical Journal reports that depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety and substance abuse are major mental health issues affecting the country. The only recent prevalence data derive from a 2007 survey of 1,242 adults in Juba, which found that 36 percent of respondents met symptom criteria for PTSD and half met symptom criteria for depression.

Life after Kony or how I often called it "silence of guns" is a long-term project about the devastation and aftermath of the events surrounding the atrocities committed by Kony (LRA, Lord´s Resistance Army). More than 100,000 people were severely affected by this civil and brutal war in Northern Uganda from 1987-2006 and nearly two million were forced to seek refuge in displacement camps. A former Catholic altar boy from northern Uganda, Joseph Kony claims that his LRA movement has been fighting to install a government in Uganda based on the Biblical 10 Commandments. But his rebels now terrorize large swathes of the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan and the Central African Republic, communities live with the constant and paralyzing fear that their children will be abducted, and either killed or transformed into killers. From 1987-2006 thousands were brutally killed, family members were lost and misplaced. More than 10,000 survivors are still waiting and hoping for justice against those who committed murder and rape during the insurgency. Years of abductions, where children were forced to kill their own parents or friends in brutal initiations, has left the group both feared and hated. The International Criminal Court in The Hague has indicted their leader and self-styled messiah for crimes against humanity. African union troops are trying to hunt them down with the help of US Special Forces soldiers. Most victims feel that government failed to protect them and that no real compensation and repairs took place, knowing that no money of the world can repair the physical and mental damages. Many promises have been made by registration campaigns of them, mostly before special events like elections.
 

In the north of Lesvos there's a group of foreign women who recollect and clean all the clothes left by migrants after their arrival. Wet shirts, pants and socks - as well as shoes - are collected in specific boxes spotted all around the main disembarkation points. Clothes are picked up and transferred to a laundry where these women (Swedish, Australian, British, etc.) take charge of the all laundry process.They are the only ones in the island who do collect, wash, dry and redistribute clothes in a big quantity which previously were simply thrown away, with a negative environmental impact on the island. The group has been founded by Allison Terry Evans last September 2015 and thanks to a crowdfunding campaign she has been able to collect up to 48.000 €.   In a period where European countries don't act with a common policy toward migration flows, we think it may be interesting to show how their own citizens invest their money and time to help other people, creating a big contrast with the individual (state) attitudes

Based on the latest ISTAT data (2014) the percentage of disabled people in Italy is around 5%. The amount of money spent on social healthcare is one of the lowest in all of the EU (5,8% compared with the 7,7% average in the EU zone). Often behind a disabled person there is a family that daily takes care of majority of the relative’s needs. The same family also lives in a complete uncertainty about the future of their beloved. The parents of a disabled person live in the terrible situation of not knowing what will happen to their son or daughter, once they will no longer be able to take care of him or her, not only physically but affectionately. Affection is a crucial aspect of life for all human beings, even more so for disabled people, who might experience difficulties in just interacting with other people. What will happen to my child when I’ll be gone? This is the yet unanswered question of tens of thousands of disabled people’s families in Italy.

In 1997, shortly after Kazakhstan’s independence from the Soviet Union, President Nursultan Nazarbayev moved the country’s capital from Almaty to Astana, the latter being rich in minerals and oil wells. During this shift, Almaty experienced a radical change in terms of population composition. All government offices and activities moved away from the city and with them the workers too. Most men abandoned the city leaving the women behind, making Almaty one the cities with the highest number of females in the entire world. In Almaty, summers are hot and until October trees offer a warm and colorful backdrop; this time of the year is called BAB'E LETO in Russian, literally Old Women’s Summer; its meaning implies something that is already gone and will never come back, just like a summer fading into winter. It evokes those women in their late forties who will never be young and beautiful again, like a blooming flower before withering. Patriarchy is still highly pervasive in the Kazakh culture, especially outside the biggest cities where women conditions are very difficult. They usually get married very young, have many children and don't work in order to fully dedicate themselves to their family. Women can divorce but seldom marry a second time. Almost no women hold senior positions in the country, neither in government nor in the private sector. Almaty is an exception to all this. It is THE CITY OF WOMEN, a place in which BAB'E LETO does not seem to exist. Here, women live a sort of second youth, resistant to the cold winter. This is a story of women, this is a story of female loneliness, this is a story of human strength.
 

The “Spiagge Bianche” is a stretch of sand unrolling for about 4Km in the province of Livorno(Italy); it extends between the towns of Rosignano Solvay and Vada. The coast with its real tropical-like beach attracts, over the summer, many Italians and foreigner tourists. Although its beauty the white sand and clear water hide a huge environmental risk due to pollutions . The site in fact has been included, as described in a report published by United Nations Environment Programme, among the most polluted areas of the Mediterranean coasts. The history of Rosignano Solvay began in the early ‘900 when the Belgian entrepreneur and politician Ernest Solvay decided to build a factory for the production of soda that has became at present one of the largest in Europe. In short time with the Solvay factory driving the development, a new city was born; quite soon streets, avenues, houses, recreation and after work centers were built to accomodate the factory’s manpower and the families. Although the positive economical impact of the Solvay a consistent pollution of the coast raised over the years. The so-called “Spiagge Bianche”(White Beaches in Italian) have been formed by the deposition of industrial water discharges(to date about 100 thousand tons per year) headed out to the sea, and made of limestone(about 90% of the total), bioaccumulative heavy metals(mercury, arsenic, cadmium, chromium and lead), ammonia and organic solvents. The economical interests on the factory are various. The Solvay Group is among the biggest chemical companies in the world and the only site of Rosignano provides the biggest share of the italian’s soda ash requirements. Furthermore, over the years the local population has begun to exploit the pollution effect thanks to the great attraction guaranteed by the beautiful colors of the coast.

Bussoro in a small village in Rwanda,  a few hundred people, mostly farmers. The village is in an area of high geological risk, built near a river. The next day, the village would be destroyed, because of the risk of flooding. Although there is a project of the Rwandan government, called "Reducing Vulnerability to Climate Change in north-western Rwanda through Community Based Adaptation (RV3CBA)", under the ministry of Infrastructure, the inhabitants of this small village was not offered any alternative housing or economic compensation . They are simply waiting for the arrival of the bulldozers that will destroy the houses. I decided to document the last day of the village, a tangible sign of climate change and how this can affect people's lives.

Dario has always wanted to sing. From an early age. He dreamed of a stage, taking part in competitions and shows on television. Growing up, the dream became a necessity, Dario has to sing and to match what he feels to be with his daily life. He won a scholarship for Romarockschool, and he moved there. The Dream approaches, it feels at hand, but in the end It doesn't become reality. Dario is a story of willpower, tenacity, but also of Broken Dreams. Dario works at Bingo Torpignattara, one of the most popular districts of the city. He is not yet a rock star, but that does not stop him from feeling like a rock star, to live like a rock star, to love like a rock star, perfectly consistently with himself. On his chest, a tattoo: "Night Walk With Me". And it is at night that Dario prefers to live, when reality becomes a little magic and his dream seems a bit closer.

(Vietnam, 2015). Fifty years ago it began the war against USA. Forty years ago, with the conquest of Saigon the North, Vietnamese Army won the war and thousands of veterans came back to their villages trying to start a new life. Today, just in Huè (Central Vietnam) which was one of the more hit part of the country by the fighting, close to the DMZ zone, there were settled 25.000 veterans, 4.000 of them are invalid and 2.000 victims of the Agent Orange. They have a lot of problems to solve, as how to build a new life with their families. In fact, many Veterans didn’t get married at that time. But the entire community welcomed them as heroes, in particular North Vietnamese, while in the south the situation was different because of the long presence of the American Army there. South Veteran’s Families were scared of the revenges but after some years the situation was changed and the harmony was established again. Today, after 40 years, there are no longer distances and they live all together. Another issue was how to solve the social consequences of the war (destruction of the territory, villages, structures), both mental and economic because after the war, the government stopped to help them so, they’ll start to gain money by themselves. They are grouped in Vietnam Veterans Associations (VVA) divided in many levels of importance: Provincial level, City/district level, Ward/commune level that includes Veterans of the French war, the oldest who are more than 80 years old which fought in both the wars and lived the aftermath and the rebuilt period, veterans of the American War (a larger group) and those who served after the reunification of 1975.
During their service, the veterans had a code of life: “FIGHT FOR PEOPLE, DIE FOR PEOPLE”.

Gjakmarrja is part of the kanun, a medieval law that regulated life in Albania for many years. According to this code, anyone committing a murder had to pay, and the family of the person killed could regain his honor by killing any member of the family of the murderer. With the fall of the communist regime this old tradition is back in vogue. Because of ignorance and fear, the whole family under threat never leaves the house anymore. Liljana Luani, a primary school teacher in Shkoder, for many years he went every week to give lessons to the children locked up at home for Gjakmarrija, convinced that education is the only way to counter this ancient tradition. In addition, in 2015, it has finally managed to open a center to help women, where he teaches a work for the women involved in Gjakmarrja, offering them the opportunity to leave the house and take home a different perspective to end the culture of revenge.

A trip into the complex dynamics of a group, inside the "non-compliant" realities of the far-right in Rome. This work, focuses on the official activities during the day, on the other side, it is an endless march in the night through Italy and Europe following many young boys and girls for whom words like "comraderie" and "ownership" become a sacred code. symbols are very important for them and sometimes are also impressed on their skin, the alliances are multiple and frequent. For most of them take one side in a battle and make "group" is an obvious choice and a fundamental value. Today in Italy the far right realities are extremely divided and, unlike other European countries where there is a rise of nationalism, they dont refer to a single party able to obtain a number of votes enough to gain strength and voice into the Parliament. A universe of associations, many of which are released by the dynamics of the parties, divided for political current of inspiration, history and religion. There are clubs, libraries, music genres, sports, student movements and even tattoo artists in this underground and hidden world. ZENIT far right militant community is one of the leading groups of the European Solidarity Front for Syria and for Kosovo, supporting the Bashar Al Assad party in Syria and the Serbians in Kosovo. Filter the truth from the media lies is their mission and the gas mask is a real identifying symbol as well as a way to protect themselves from the world around them.

Raina and her friends are living in Kolkata (West Bengal, India) and they identify as Kothis. This story revolves around Raina, she had been a sex worker and she used to live in the Hijras community in Delhi. At the time when she lost her parents, she had been deciding to start a new life as a human rights activist. Rania often hosts friends at her house because in their own family’s homes they cannot dress up as women, wear makeup, be themselves. Most people in the Kothi community (a spectrum of feminine identified persons assigned male at birth, ranging from feminine males to transgender women) seek to live a life within Indian society, but for them it is hard to stay with their families and to find a job. Hijras may be classified as a branch of the Kothi family, differentiated by their kinship system, occupational practices and initiation rites. They live in separate communities with their own rituals and professions (like begging, dancing at weddings or blessing babies).  Some Hijra identify as Kothi as well, while not all Kothis identify as Hijra, and pursue a variety of professions although many are marginalized and lack occupational options besides sex work.

The Kurds, after the end of II World War were divided by the creation of new borders and nation states. Some of them, broken by a line of border between Turkey and Syria, lives in the south east of the anatolian country and in the northern part of Arab Republic. This caused the break-up of many families that once lived in the same context. The Kurdish people in the  syrian area, called in Kurdish, "Rojava", have passed on the international news headlines for the siege of more than one hundred and forty days of the militias of the Islamic State on Kobanî city, in Arabic, Eyn Al Arab. Many Kurds, despite the historical repression exercised by the turkish state, managed to escape from the besieged city, taking refuge in different parts of Kurdistan under the control of Turkey. The city of Kobanî was heavily damaged by the constant attacks of IS (Islamic State) and by the bombing of the international coalition anti IS. The People's protection Units and the Women's Protection Units(YPG-YPJ), after an exhausting resistance, have managed to liberate the city, thus allowing a large number of displaced Kurds and other minorities that inhabit the area, returning slowly in the city, opening the way to a gradual and difficult reconstruction of life.

The highway 613 connecting Brindisi to Lecce,  through villages that are located in an area between the industrial area of ​​Brindisi (including among others the petrochemical complex, Edipower, pharmaceutical SANOFI AVENTIS, sugar factory S.F.I.R., the airport and the harbour)t and the coal’s thermal power plant Enel Federico II. With an area of ​​270 hectares,  it is the second largest power plant in Italy and one of the largest in Europe. Coal moves through one of the longest conveyor belts in Europe. 13 km that connect the central to the port of Brindisi,  able to transfer to the central 2, 000 tons of coal per hour. The construction of the canal passing through the conveyor belt was performed,  for most of the route, 15 meters underground,  piercing the ground water,  causing the drying up of farmland and water pollution. Today,  whole families of farmers must every day supply of drinking water to about 5 km away. In 2007 it was imposed a ban on cultivation of an area of four acres adjacent to the central. In 2011 the area of Micorosa was banned,  fifty acres of "regional protected area" in which there were found underground tons of waste., In Brindisi infants with birth defects are 18% higher than the European average,  those with cardiovascular malformations are over 68% more. Scientists at the National Research Council found that there is a correlation between neonatal malformations and a pollutant substance produced by industrial activity. Also alarming is the situation in Torchiarolo. Here the level of PM10 is the highest of all the region.

In Kos Polje,  not far from Pristina,  there is a place called the Plain of Blackbirds. There,  in 1389,  the Prince Lazaar,  chief of the Christian Serbian army,  was defeated by the Ottoman Sultan Murad I. It was a tremendous defeat for Serbia,  giving off the Turkish rule in the territory. Thus the conflict between the population of the Serbian Orthodox and Muslim Albanians began. It has peaked in the history during the Kosovo war. Today,  in this place stands the Gazimestan monument,  the symbol of the pride of Serbia,  guarded by a patrol of the UN to protect it from Albanians attacks. Fifteen years after the end of the conflict in the Balkans and six from the independence declaration,  the situation is still difficult. After the end of the war,  the UN intervention has permitted a gradual return of the Albanians in the territory. So it started furious revenges against Serbs. In 10 years,  about 200.000 Serbs were forced to leave the territory of Kosovo and Metohija seeking shelter in safe areas,  hundreds of Orthodox churches and monasteries were burned or desecrated. Among the not destroyed buildings,  the most important is the monastery of Decani,  where a group of priests live,  under the fear of being attacked. The only school,  the Sharski Odred,  located in the small village of Sevce is occupied by 380 students and it is divided into a headquarters and two branches. But the freedom of movement is limited: to venture outside of their areas puts them at great risk of retaliation,  and at night the danger increases. Kosovska Mitrovica is the symbol of the ethnic conflict in Kosovo. A city divided by the river Ibar in a Serbian part on north and an Albanian,  on south. In the north there are institutions recognized from Belgrade but not by the breakaway government of Pristina.  A solution to this conflict is difficult to achieve.  Kosovka Mitrovica is a trench in Europe.

For young Muslim and Hindu girls in the outskirts of Calcutta,  boxing is becoming the path to a brighter future. In 2011 there were around 200 female boxers in India. The Muslim communities of West Bengal contribute about 55 per cent of the total. This would have been unthinkable 10 years ago.With a rape occurring every 20 minutes in a country with a population of 1.2 billion,  women are far from being seen as equal in all segments of Indian society. To combat this,  training academies around Calcutta set out to boosts girls’ morale,  and self-confidence,  as well as to help them learn self-defence and to stay fit. Private colleges also hire professional martial arts trainers and organize short-term courses for their students. All these initiatives are aimed at making women strong,  so that they can defend themselves in case of rape.

On April 24th, 2015, Armenians celebrated the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, one of the most important events in the history of the country, which brought the world’s attention to the memory of the million and a half Armenians killed in 1915. In the capital Yerevan the entire population went to Dzidzernagapert, the memorial of Genocide, to leave a flower, and in Echmiadzin - considered the Armenian Vatican and the seat of the Catholicos Karekin II, head of the national church - the Armenian martyrs were canonized. Armenia, the oldest country to adopt Christianity as a state religion in 301, is officially at war with Azerbaijan for the control of Nagorno-Karabakh, former Armenian enclave in Azerbaijani territory assigned to Baku by Stalin. And the Soviet past has still a very strong infuelnce in the daily life of the country, Russian is commonly spoken and studied in schools; in Yerevan and in vacation destinations near the capital architecture is still very much influenced by the Soviet period. But Yerevan is also a living city, rich in art, culture and entertainment, despite a difficult economic situation and the arrival of Syrian refugees of Armenian descent, fleeing the war in Syria.

Sending young girls to work as domestic servants, known as Kamalaris, is a common practice and long-lived tradition in the ethnic Tharu community in the South-West of Nepal. The girls are sent to work because of economic hardship. Often the families sending their daughters are severely indebted or can’t pay their rent. Girls as young as 5 work for landlords or wealthy, higher-caste families. Kamalaris are forced to work long hours under stressful conditions for only a small amount of money (usually 20–30 euros a year) paid directly to their fathers. While in bonded labor, they are often denied access to basic rights such as education and an adequate standard of living. Many Kamalaris face verbal and physical abuse and sexual harassment. In 2006, The Supreme Court of Nepal affirmed that the Kamalari practice is illegal. However, it continues to exist. After the year 2000 more than 12 000 girls were sold as Kamalaris of which more than 11 000 have been rescued. "My father was badly indebted, and sold me as a kamalari-slave when I was 13 years old. I cried and I felt rejected, but I do not want to blame my parents. I did not see my family for three years. In the new upper caste family my job was to do all the household and field work. It was an incredibly happy moment, when I was freed and I got home. Now that I am free, I receive love and I can once again dream. As a kamalari I could only dream of becoming free. I fight for the cause that no girl would have to be a slave like I have been. I would like to eradicate kamalari-slavery in Nepal. Parents need to understand how slave labor steals the childhood of their daughters."  Anita Chaudhary, 18, Nepal Former Kamalari slave and present human rights activist

In Donbass are fighting volunteers of all the nations of Western Europe and Eastern Europe, the Russian Federation, the Middle East. French against the French, Italians against Italians, Chechens against Chechens, Spaniards against Spaniards, Russians against Russians, Afghans against Afghans. The war in Ukraine is like a Russian doll. In his belly welcomes tens of fratricidal wars that testify to the disintegration of a civilization, that of Europe, who chose suicide, hostage of a political class of financial terrorists who have overwhelmed the identity of the continent itself. Ideologies that bring about men and women to kill each other on the the Ukrainian soil, belong to a distant era, destroyed by the advent of neoliberalism that has no boundaries It's a confrontation between two different fascisms, but identical in substance, led by oligarchs of global finance. This does not mean that these ideas are not entirely real in the minds of the fighters, fed and supported by a massive propaganda. Here the portraits, the stories and the ideas of 12 men, and women, who have voluntarily enlisted to fight in the Donbass.

The war in Ukraine caused more than six thousand dead and hundreds of thousands displaced. Despite the agreements signed in Minsk every day there are violations of the ceasefire On March 2, 2015 the High Commission for Human Rights released a report according to which the dead would be many more of 6000 declared. Over a million and 250 thousand displaced people. Torture, kidnappings, deliberate bombings on areas inhabited by civilians, war crimes allegedly committed by both sides. Debatselvo, fallen after a harsh siege, is now a ghost town. Buildings razed, booby traps and landmines scattered everywhere. three thousand people survive out of a population that exceeded twenty thousand. Ther's no water, gas, nor electricity. Who could flee did it. According to a report recently released by Rusi (Royal United Services Institute) there are, in the Donbass area, about 10,000 Russian soldiers since December of 2014, while unit of special forces (Spetnaz) would be operating in the region since July. Many Ukrainian citizens and foreigners were enrolled in the ultranationalist battalion like Pravy sector. For them, the war will end only when all the territory will be back under Ukrainian control. The scar on the neck of Zaur is fresh, uneven edges. Is the only one not move a step when the Kalash barking sporadic bursts. Chechen enlisted in Vostok, fights in the Donbass since the war began. In his company the majority of the fighters are Ukrainians, almost all former miners. None of them consider this war a civil war. They fight against fascism and neo-liberal financial West, against the aggression of NATO to the motherland Russia. The truth is far more complex. The possibility that in the Donbass collide two opposing fascism, but basically identical, is a question that no one can afford in the frontline.
Pictures and text by Ugo Borga and Loredana Taglieri

Milan will host in a few months one of the most important international events, the Expo2015. It is not an easy city. At first glance it is a cold city, inhospitable, unreadable, hidden. In Italy it is considered the most dynamic city, the capital of work, fashion, design and economy. People are always in a hurry, Milan is a fast city. You run for the office, you run to go on a date, to a meeting, you run to go home. Millions of tourists come to Milan for Expo2015, and try to discover Milan using public transportation. Trams, buses, subways. In the frenzy of the city a few minutes spent in a tram are sometimes a few moments to get away, to think, to be alone. Gianmarco Maraviglia, born in Milan, decided to tell his hometown. With a cell phone tells Milan through the relationship between the places, people and public transport. A instinctive tale, dirty and non-linear, to give suggestions and sensations that can help you better understand Milan and the people living there.
All pictures taken and processed with a mobile phone.

The Donbass is a coal-mining district in the east of Ukraine, lying on the border with Russia and more than 700 km from the capital city of Kiev. Except from some heavy industry and a breathtaking countryside, the Donbass does not have much to offer to its inhabitants, especially in terms of life choices. In fact, for the vast majority there is only one job available, that of the miner. The region might be poor and underdeveloped, but its underground is rich in coal, forcing generation after generation of its young men to embark on a life largely spent in the darkness, digging for the black gold.The young miners of the Donbass  face the uncertainties that cloud the future of the region. Dozens of mines have been closed in the last decade because of poor productivity, making thousands of miners unemployed. The prospect of economic integration with Europe to the detriment of Russia, and the adoption of stricter mining standards, alienated miners and played an important role in sparking the current pro-Russian uprising, which in turn places additional insecurity on the entire region, whose youth now don't even know in which country they will live in the future.On their part, the young miners speak, think and sing in Russian, and have little attachment to Ukraine, a country that they feel never gave them anything. They often speak of how the more westernized people in Kiev and the rest of the country see them as ignorant menial workers and show no respect for the hardships and dangers that miners face every day. To them, Ukraine is a failed state, especially when compared to the Soviet Union that they have never experienced. Back then, they say, workers and miners in particular were the backbone of a strong country, and nobody would look down on them.

In the 1961 Portugal, governed by the dictator Salazar, started a war in one of his colony, Angola. Soon problems emerge also in the others African Colonies, Guiné Bissau and Mozambique, the war quickly expanded on the three fronts. This bloody war, that was going to be named Portuguese Colonial War, ended only in the 1974 when the Portuguese regimen fall down.  While in the rest of Europe the youth was fighting for their rights and for a new society, in Portugal an entire generation of men between 18 and 30 years old was receiving a mandatory call to go to the war. During the postcolonial war, in the three fronts (Angola, Mozambique and Guiné Bissau) the number of men sent was 149 thousand (the Portugal population is 10 millions including elders, women and children); 8289 died on the fields and 15507 report injuries; in these statistics are not counted all the ones that later suffered of PTSD.  For the ones injured the worst still have had to come. In fact back to Portugal, the regimen first and the Portuguese govern after the 1974 didn’t want to show  the population the effect of the war. The people injured were hidden and segregated in military hospitals where only few people was able to access and also after they was dismissed several fundamental rights wasn’t recognized. The Portuguese Govern recognized the PTSD as disease only in 1999, 25 years after the end of the war. The Portuguese veterans represent the long-­‐term effect of the war. Forgotten by  society, hidden by the authority their physical and psychological trauma have become every year more acute.

Learning while playing games has proven to be a successful way of learning. This method is used and appreciated by more and more schools world wide. This modern idea of teaching was not easily accepted in Sicily where people struggle with problems like illiteracy, poverty and a high rate of unemployment. In Gela - a town in the south of sicily, Carmelita Di Mauro, a teacher who created a revolutionary teaching method inspired by chess, was extremely challenged introducing her modern way of teaching in a relative conservative and traditional context. However, the method of Carmelita has proven to be very effective with children, especially pupils who have difficulties learning mathematics.  Carmelita implemented a sequence of steps allowing pupils to interpret the chessboard as a series of logic boxes. These colored boxes, and their specific numbers, help the brain creating associations, which are useful when storing and remembering information. Moreover, this modern and playful way of teaching learns students how to deal with competition, improves concentration while the students are having a lot of fun. Thanks to this method a lot of Carmelita's students became extremely talented in mathematics and chess champions. One student even made it to the chess world championships.

Back when the Italians were the ones emigrating abroad, men used to leave their families behind, only to see them years — if not decades — later. Nowadays, it’s mostly women who bid farewell to their native countries to support their families. They move to Italy and work as housemaids or caregivers, and 75% of them leave their children at home.

It is a wound that cuts deep and sometimes leads to tragic outcomes: as shown by humanitarian associations, about forty Romanian children committed suicide since 2008 because of their mothers’ absence.

This painful experience doesn't only affect the children left behind but also the women forced to abandon their countries to find a job. Such condition has been connected to what the psychologists call “the Italian Syndrome”, which is a severe form of depression increasingly more common among both the immigrants working as caregivers in our country and their children. Andrei is a 10 year-old boy and just a while ago he was living the cheerful life that every child deserves to live. With the occurrence of the economic crisis his father got fired and his mum moved to Italy to find a job. Over the months, the absence of his mother as well as his father’s alcohol abuse had become a tough burden to bear. The presence of his relatives and the strong affection to his motherland cannot fill the emptiness inside him. After a long and painful lawsuit between his parents, Andrei finally catches up with his mother in Italy but what seems to be a happy ending is actually the beginning of a new life where everything looks different and where expectations turn into delusions. Andrei deeply misses his old habits and finds it difficult to integrate into the new society. This generates a strong discomfort that gets even worse because of the arduous relationship between the boy and his mother’s new partner. Andrei shuts himself out, avoids people and isolates himself into a mental and physical cage. He hardly ever leaves the flat that, although it does not feel like home, it is the only refuge he has. His body is in Italy but his spirit is still there in Romany, since Andrei has arrived somewhere but not here…

Since ISIS' declaration of a caliphate headquartered in Mosul, many in the media have drawn comparisons between Iraq and Afghanistan. Although the American-brokered unity government is set to take the reigns of the country, the threat of insecurity looms. People still remember the terrorist attacks on soft targets in the capital this spring, but despite these memories, a relaxed atmosphere permeates through parts of Kabul. The average per capita income in Afghanistan is around $700 per year, but there is a growing segment of Kabuli society that earns significantly more, and they are looking for ways to enjoy their free time. For young Afghans, this can be gathering at someone's house to listen to music or smoke hookah. Outside the home, there is an array of options: in recent years, a water park, bowling alley, and karaoke bar have opened up in the city. The latest addition to the entertainment scene is Kabul Paintball Park, an outdoor arena where visitors use weapons that shoot paint instead of ones that shoot bullets.

Cambodia is a country in great development. where foreign investment, mostly Russians and French, have changed the habits and the lifestyle of many people. But, not very far from the tourist beach of Serendipity Sianoukville or the magnificent temples of Angkor, people are living in a desperate way. In particular, the country continues to be littered with landmines, sad legacy of the tragic history experienced in the last 25 years of the last century. The mines were used in mass by the Khmer Rouge from 1975 to 1979. During these years, their leader Pol Pot was the architect of one of the most radical and bloody revolutions in human history.  About 1.8 million people died in those years, thousands of people were killed in the countryside or in labor camps. Cambodia was liberated by the Vietnamese army and, later in the 80s the same Vietnamese who, using the local forced labor, built a minefield of 700km along the entire border between Cambodia and Thailand . After their retire, more mines were placed by cambodian government to prevent a new invasion and, again, by the Khmer Rouge in order to protect the areas where they had taken refuge, and from which they developed guerrilla actions until the death of Pol Pot took place on April 15 1998.

A referendum on whether Scotland should be an independent country will take place on Thursday 18 September 2014. Following an agreement between the Scottish Government and the United Kingdom Government, the Scottish Independence Referendum Bill, setting out the arrangements for this referendum, was put forward on 21 March 2013, passed by the Scottish Parliament on 14 November 2013 and received Royal Assent on 17 December 2013. The referendum question, as recommended by the Electoral Commission, will be "Should Scotland be an independent country?” The referendum is a once-in-a-generation opportunity for people in Scotland to have their say about the country’s future. This work work is part of a bigger project aiming to analyze independence movements in Europe and it’s focused only on the people in favor of the independence of Scotland to analyze the reasons that push people to take such a risky decision, what they see in an independent Scotland that can not be achieved just remaining part of the UK.
Alessandro Rampazzo travelled through Scotland, from Edinburgh to Inverness to the isle of Skye, meeting people from different groups supporting the independence as much as normal people just in favor of an independent Scotland  to understand the different reasons, as much as the shared ones, for voting yes to the independence of Scotland.

Text: Lea Pakkanen

Myanmar's first years as a democratic state haven't been rosy for everyone. Instead of new opportunities the country's Muslim Rohingya minority has become victims of ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity brought upon them by their Buddhist countrymen and Myanmar's government officials. The Rohingya, already discriminated in Myanmar for decades by moving restrictions, family size limitations, marriage restrictions, limitations on education and negation of Myanmar's citizenship unless able to prove ancestorship prior to British rule, sees their future now more darker than ever. During the sectarian clashes of 2012 5000 houses and entire Rohingya villages were destroyed with arson all over Rakhine state. Hundreds of people were killed as the buddhist Rakhine citizens armed with machetes and boosted into killing frenzy by buddhist monks looted the Muslim quarters. Mass graves were dug up by government officials to store the brutally murdered Rohingyas. Now over 100 000 Rohingyas have been living in the refugee camps across the state for almost two years.  "I was lucky to jump into the sea and hide underwater. Otherwise I would have been shot by the police," says Aung Min, a 28-year old Rohingya father of three and a community leader in a Rohingya refugee camp near Sittwe. Human rights organization Human Rights Watch accuses Myanmar's officials of committing ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity on the Rohingya population. Empty slots that stand in place of the torched Rohingya villages dot the landscape of Sittwe. The state's capital air is filled with fear and suspicion as the rumors of Rohingya terrorists being trained at Al Qaida camps spread around. We are afraid that the Muslims want to kill us all, says a market seller in Sittwe harbor market, which has now been emptied of it's Muslim vendors. The international aid organizations responsible for the maintenance of the refugee camps are terrified about the future conditions of continuing the aid work as the contempt of the Rakhine Buddhist population towards the "helpers of the Muslims" grows. The Buddhists see the aid NGOs as being partial to the Rohingya, despite the fact that 95% of the internal refugees caused by the conflict are Rohingya, and only 5% Buddhists. With the coming Myanmar's population census the situation is not getting any brighter for the Rohingya. The government has shown no interest in including the estimated 1 000 000  strong minority into the list of the official Myanmar's citizen minorities. Already now the question of census heats the discussion among the Myanmar people, Buddhist and Rohingya. The future clashes seem inevitable.

The Predio da Caixa is located in the downtown point in Niterói, close to Rio De Janeiro. Hundreds of prostitutes live and work in the apartments that in May, were raided by officers from 76th Police Precinct and DEAM Niterói. Warrantless officers raided four floors of the building, and took more than 100 women to the station and seized their property. According to Heloise Melino, women were assaulted and raped – Police put his hands on genitals of prostitutes and forced the women to do oral sex with them.
Over 400 prostitutes who live or work at the site have been displaced. The trade shops and hairdressing salons are also being closed. Seniors who live at the site for years have to face now the 9 floors of stairs because the elevator was also stopped. Transvestites, gays and lesbians who found shelter in the region are on the street. The official reason for the eviction was that the whole building of the 9 floors was not anymore suitable for living. Nevertheless, the police evicted only the floors were the prostitutes lived and put documents on the doors indicating “Partial Interdiction”. Melino says: "They can do it with prostitutes, because they have certainty of impunity and ensuring that society will not hear them scream." The action is part of series of impunities committed daily in the name of a “cleaner” city. Property speculation, which is present in large centers, expropriates violently thousands of families from their homes. What draws attention to the case is, how the police treats the case, taking advantage of women and seizing their assets with the assurance of corporate impunity. The essay documents the resistance of women who refused to leave from their homes and workplaces to the streets, and the conditions in which they live daily.

The population of Brazil, as recorded by the 2008 PNAD, is approximately 190 million and 83.75% of the population is defined as urban.
Brazil’s housing deficit is around 7 million units, referring to the number of shelters which do not have adequate conditions to be habitable, in addition to the number of housing units that need to be built to shelter all families who currently lack one. As a result, they share a shelter with another household in overcrowded conditions.
São Paulo is the biggest city of Brazil and South America with almost 20 million people living in the city.
Housing, in Brazil largest city São Paulo, is one of the biggest issues poor people have been facing in the last years.
Since 2008, real estate prices in São Paulo have shot up by nearly 200%.
Over the last five years, rising real estate speculation in central São Paulo has created a deficit of affordable housing. In response, left wing housing movements seize abandoned buildings, transforming them into housing units for poor and vulnerable families.
In some cases these buildings can host up to one thousand people. The size of the apartment is generally around 40sq meters, and the bathroom is normally shared within few families. Cinema Marrocos stands in the paulista capital downtown.
When inaugurated, in 1951, it has been called "The best and most luxury cinema of South America". In 2013 after many years in which the cinema remained closed, a social movement occupied the cinema and the 12 floor building above. Since October 2013 around 370 families live there, for a total amount of more than 1000 people.
This is their story.

Donetsk, May 25, 2014
While in Lenin Square is proclaimed the independent republic of Nova Russia, no polling station is open in the city center. A few smaller towns in the region show a very low turnout in the Ukrainian presidential elections. The new President-elect Poroshenko in the evening announces that there will be no mediation with the pro-Russia Separatist militia who patrol the entrances to the city. During the night and in the morning of May 26 clashes come close to the city, from the front line arrive the first war bulletins. And the first victims among civilians. In Donetsk the streets are empty as people begin to feel something ambiguous, firefights and bombings closer and closer in to the city center.

“In Uganda starting from February 24th 2014, when the anti-gay law had been approved, everything it has changed” stays S. , 30 years old from Kampala. “My life has had a meltdown and now I live in constant fear that someone will knock on my door and arrest me, or worse, make me disappear.” This law, in the form in which it had been  approved, provides for penalties of up to life imprisonment for everyone who is accused  of the "crime of homosexuality" and up to 7 years for everyone  who is accused of aiding and abetting. Crime of aiding that can “condemn” even the lawyers of the accused person or a witness. It makes extremely difficult to defend those who are accused. Now, in addition, it is no longer necessary to take the a person  in the sexual act: in the fragrance of full ratification,  suspicion of homosexuality is enough to be accused. All the churches in the country,  in particular the Evangelical Church and the Pentecostal Church , after being among  the promoters of the law are now  those who promote and lead  the most anti-gay propaganda. In the latest  months, because of  fear and  inability to go out  even just to take a bus, alcoholism has increased greatly within the gay community. For lots of them it has become the only way to escape  reality or to spend  their  time. Their life enjoys if they can take the opportunity to live in  protected locations. The majority go to bar  owned by people they can trust blindly, friends who do not  abandon them . The richest people usually go to  places frequented mainly by the few Westerners in the country. Exclusive places extremely expensive.

Mr Jacob is the first man in Mozambique that obtained a forestall concession for fauna conservation; it consist in 35000 hectares in the Querimbas National Park of bush, forest and wild life where he built few cottages for touristic purposes. But  Mozambique is loosing the war against poachers . Untill September 2013 an elephant was visiting Jacob camp every morning. When he was killed the poachers left the head of the animal in the middle of the road that reach Jacob camp as an advise. The WWF calculate that the number of elephant poached in Mozambique in 2013 is more than 2500. In the last 14 months 85 elephants were killed in Jacob reserve. Mr Jacob has Kenyan origins, his father and his grandfather were professional hunters, he decide to change the destiny of his family and to start to protect the animals. He moved to Mozambique during the civil war and just after he obtained the forestall concession, the elephant population  was growing again. But in the last  years a new market emerged in Mozambique: the Ivory Market.  The buyers of Ivory are mostly Chinese and Vietnamese but the poachers are from African country and they  are now equipped with helicopters registered in the Comoros island, automatic weapons and have a military training. The rangers of Mr Jacob have just an old Russian rifle from II World War.  The last year has been the worst. The  poachers now  hunt babies for meat. What is remaining in Jacob concession is just his elephant skeleton heads collection.

From Milan to Crotone, Italy Deep South. On foot. Marcello Fauci has decided to tell his country walking from North to South. Few things in the backpack, and a camera. No trains, cars nor buses, walked for two months, covering 1500km, sleeping by the people encountered during his trip. The result is a fantastic portrait of the country, made of diversity, contrasts, traditions and landscapes. A kind of inner journey, to tell people and places that only the slowness allows you to explore, to seek the cultural roots of a country is not always easy to understand

After the war in Kosovo in 99 , thousands of refugees poured in Montenegro , still federated with Serbia , and that's why they still have the status of " Internally Displazed ." On the outskirts of Podgorica was created what is still the largest refugee camp in the Balkans, Camp Konic . In conditions of extreme poverty , absolute lack of hygiene and social unrest , even today, 15 years after the end of the war , in Konic thousands of people live , close to the largest landfill in the country. They are RAE, Roma , Ashkai, Egyptians from Kosovo , who survive mostly by digging into the layers of the nearby garbage dump in search of some object to resell. The refugees camp is divided into two different areas , Konic One and Konic Two , and it represents a microcosm in which they recreated the dynamics that led to the war of 1999. On the one hand the Roma from Kosovo Serbs, on the other hand , the refugees of Albanian language, separated by a kind of desolate no man's land . The tension between the two groups is likely to worsen due to the decision of the Podgorica municipality , which has prompted the evacuation of Konic Two, to make room for the landfill. Within a few months all the inhabitants of the camp will move to Konic One (the work has already started) and all will live in close contact .

"The room was dark, and it was so full of smoke that it was difficult to breathe inside. Nasirian was tied from her arms and legs. The girl was strong and struggled. Six women were on all fours on the ground and tried to keep her down. He was not numb, and no pain relief was used on her. Except a bucket of cold water poured into her naked body. One of the ladies revealed an ordinary razor blade in her hands for the mutilation. Nasirian cried and the floor was streaming from blood. The more she leaked, the more she screamed. After few minutes her genitals were completely unrecognizable. "

Nasirian and Isina are 14-year old stepsisters in a small Masai village, South-West Kenya. They have been advised not to cry during female circumcision. The genital cutting is said to be done to get them married in the future. The World Health Organization estimates that there are more than 140 million mutilated women in the world. Female genital mutilation is a tradition practiced worldwide in 29 countries, mainly in Africa and Middle-East. Muslims follow the old way of the tradition, but equally Christians and practitioners of nature religions. Girls' circumcision has been illegal in Kenya since 2001, but among some tribes such as the Masai people, it is still a valued tradition. The tradition stems from the belief that woman's sexual organs are considered to be impure. The intention is also to reduce women's sexual pleasure, and thus women's adultery . In some places the girls are cut as infants, others are only in their teens. The violent operation differ from cutting off a small piece of the clitoris and the removal of all external genitalia: the clitoral hood, the clitoris and the minor and major labia. Sometimes the mouth of the vagina is sewn shut leaving a small hole for urine, menstrual blood and sexual intercourse. Surgery is usually done under primitive conditions and girls are subjected to a variety of risks. The girl can die because of the pain of shock and blood poisoning. Later, women may suffer from persistent infections, and urination and intercourse can be painful, and giving birth life-threatening. Female genital cutting has been widely judged as a procedure against human rights and as a serious violation against women's sexual independence.

A new media phenomenon has emerged in Brazil as a result of mass protests that are spreading in the country since June. The collective information NINJA Midia , with its model of broadcasting live from the streets based on " no cuts , no censorship," has attracted the attention and admiration of thousands of people in recent weeks. NINJA is the portuguese acronym for " Narratives Independent Journalism and Action ." And it is the last word -­‐ action -­‐ that set the tone for their journalistic style and sparked a debate over whether it still makes sense to separate journalism from activism . NINJA mainly uses 4G mobile phones and other devices to produce its programs, which are mostly improvised and do not have a running order behind. If it is true that live broadcasts are nothing new , what is striking is the exposure , as Ninja is able to reach more than 200,000 spectators. The " ninjas " share their content via POST TV and social media and receive relevant answers from the audience , beating the average of the interactions that major Brazilian media recorded on their pages. NINJA has already more than 230,000 'likes ' on his Facebook page , even though the group was created a few months ago.

Honduras is currently the country with the highest murder rate in the world. More than 20 people are killed daily by firearms in this Central American country. One of the main causes of this structural violence is definitely family breakdown. Most of honduran moms and grandmothers, with low economic resources, must go ahead with lots of children and with the absence of the father figure and its respective eco- nomic contribution. One of the rising factor within the family breakdown structure is teen pregnancy. Only in the year 2012 more than 50,000 teenage girls became pregnant in Honduras. According to the report State of the World Population, conducted by the United Nations, Honduras is the second Latin American country with the highest rate of teenage pregnancies, after Nicaragua and second only to sub-Saharan Africa. Official data show that in Honduras 22 of every 100 pregnancies are adolescents, a value which increases year after year. In the Hospital Escuela in Tegucigalpa, which receives daily lot of pregnant teens are girls between 12 and 18 years, 34% of the deliveries are from teenagers. According to the United Nations Population Fund teen pregnancy is not related to responsive to decisions of young women but to the lack of opportunities, social, cultural, eco- nomic pressures, and the context in which they live. In that sense the girls under 18 with low income, living in rural areas and with less educational background are more likely to become pregnant than others. Among the main causes of teenage pregnancy also include lack of family planning, lack of access to contraception, banning emergency contraception, sexual stimuli present in the media, the prevailing sexism in the underlying patriarchal culture and the alarming rates of intrafamily violations (by the father or the partner of her moms) who suffer the region. Young mums live pregnancy as a break from the transition between childhood and adulthood. His early pregnancy carries negative connotations and is accompanied by feelings of guilt, rejection and lack of connection with the newborn. Many teen moms usually drop out her studies after delivery and it has an impact on future economic condition of both mom and baby. For the current Honduran society, marked by violence and hopelessness, teen pregnancy remains as an obstacle to their emancipation.

"Forgotten Crisis" is the technical term that NGO use to those conflicts that have not enough media coverage. The internal conflict in Colombia is part of this group, although the numbers are creepy: 5 million internal refugees, farmers, indigenous and fro descendent forced to leave their villages and their lands with threats and violence. 12 million hectares of arable land usurped to make way for plantations of coca leaf and extensive livestock farming of cattle. 30,000 people killed in the last 10 years, mostly people who had nothing to do with drug trafficking or the guerrillas. A kilometer southwest of Bogota , capital of Colombia, is the  village of Soacha . Other than the capital and full of contrasts is the mirror of  multi-cultural  Colombia . There are approximately 500,000 people from all over the country , most of them fled from the war that plagues Colombia since 50 years . According to official data , 79 % of the population of Soacha is  from other regions and only 21% was born in the village. On a hilltop near  Soacha is perched Altos de la Florida. Along rough trails lie some isolated brick houses surrounded by myriads of corrugated iron shacks . Almost all the families who live in Altos de la Florida were expelled by force from the most disparate rural areas of Colombia. From the Atlantic Coast or the Pacific , from the Andes to the great plains have arrived families with different culture and ethnicity and  in common only the history of forced expulsion . Exhausted by violence and threats from paramilitaries, drug traffickers and guerrilla million of people have fled their villages of origin to seek refuge in Bogota. Without experience of life in the city , without family and without economic resources many have been forced to sleep under bridges living by begging. Suffocated by debt and unable to support themselves and their families, are again the victims of a " desplazamiento " , this time for economic reasons. And Altos de Florida becomes the only option.
Text by Nadya Gonzalez

There is a new generation of Indians that struggles in the name of love. They risk their lives in order to fulfill their dream of marrying the person they want. They run away from their families who, due to the social context, condemn their choices and try to hurt or kill them. They break with the traditional system of values and create a new order. They fight against the caste - still present in India even though Gandhi declared it illegal - and a strict religious system, overcoming these formidable obstacles and following their hearts instead. There are no certain numbers concerning the size of this group because the government, considering them a danger rather than a resource, doesn't have an interest in supporting them. This movement is particularly strong in some areas of northern India, in places such as Delhi, Rajasthan, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, where the consequences of globalization and Indian economic development crash against the medieval structures of the society. The struggles of these people are hard: many of them are caught after their escape. Women are imprisoned in rooms where they are bitten and tortured by male family members (father, brothers, uncles, cousins) and forced to stay without food and water. They are coerced into marrying men they don't love. If they refuse they are killed in a horrific way. The rage of the female’s families are also passed on to their lovers. If they are taken they are murdered. The only protection for these “rebels of love” is in shelters which are developing in Delhi and Haryana, such as the Love Commandos (a group that offers protection to couples who face threats), or in government refuges.

The hip-hop and underground Egyptian movement began well before the revolution of 2011 to denounce the injustice of the Mubarak regime . Tahrir Square was the conculsion of a long social journey in which even the band of local rappers have reaped the rewards of their protests and their songs have become anthems of the revolution. The ‘underground’ Arab seems to have found the initial message of protest without imitating the American movement , keeping proud roots in the Egyptian culture , mixing sounds and traditions. The fame achieved by some of these bands have also allowed others to come out and many disciplines to finally have a recognition , from street art to skate-boarding , from parkour to freestyle football . The movement underground becomes a set of expressions of personal freedom , in which the real revolution is not just politics , but especially the social and above all the cultural , a generation that for the first time break the rules of tradition, toward a real change . With the military back to power after the SCAF , after Morsi, are these young boys and girls, that feel they have been a little robbed of “their revolution “ to remind the powers that they are the ones to inculcate in the generations to come the seeds of the next revolution

Tahrir lies at the heart of the Egyptian revolution; this square epitomizes change and hope, yet it is also the place where the fiercest riots between civil society and the regime took place. It is a square where for two years two anonymous armies have been fighting, acting as the unaware actors, day after day, of a deeply historic role, where the people embodied progress and the regimes the preservation of a status quo. The former leveraged new technologies and modern values to take inspiration and mobilize the masses, while the latter resorted to brutality to repress and discredit them. This exploited and, if need be, manipulated microcosm is a small mirror on the heart of the most densely populated capital in the Arab world, reflecting the myriad of contradictions and inner struggles that have scarred this part of the world to this day. The struggle of Egyptian women, for instance, saw them as the protagonists in a revolution that is still unfolding and that, by nature, searched the deepest recesses of political and social life to renew it. Still, it hasn’t given justice to tens of women who, as they were protesting in Tahrir, were the victims of unspeakable violence, rape and abuse orchestrated by the regime to scare them and force them into silence. The memories of these crimes are still sharp and vivid in these women’s minds; in some instances the evidence against the police is clear. Moreover, the way these crimes were perpetrated casts shadows on the regime, which would appear to have resorted to criminals and plain- clothes police agents to terrorize and hit political opponents, much like under Mubarak’s regime.

There are over 125 million girls and women in the world who have gone through female genital mutilation (FGM). Female circumcision is a custom to remove parts of girls' genitals because of cultural beliefs or tradition. Female genital cutting has been widely judged as a procedure against human rights and as a serious violation against women's sexual independence. FGM is done in most of the cases because of the belief of keeping the girl as a virgin for marriage by the cutting and closing of the vagina.Elisabeth Nkere, 17, was supposed to become a wife to a 65-year-old man when she was 11 years old. The tradition of her village was to circumcise the bride before the planned wedding. Members of the family and relatives prepared Elisabeth's body for the ritual of circumcision. They told her not to cry because the cutting would be for her own benefit, to transform her from childhood to womanhood. The father had received animals, 30 kilos of sugar and 20 kilos of fabrics as exchange for his daughter. Elisabeth escaped on the night before her scheduled circumcision. She left during the night and walked for three days through the savannah without food or water. Finally she met a woman who helped to bring her to a girls' safe house, called Tasaru. Elisabeth and 64 other Masai girls have been rescued by this safe house, where they now live in sisterhood. Elisabeth's father ignored his daughter's existence after she refused to get married. After the escape he threatened to kill her if she dared to ever return.  Circumcision has been the fate for over 130 million women. Escaping has been an alternative only for those who have had the courage to leave despite of the threat to life.  The project is on-going and will be carried on in Africa, the Middle East, Europe and the United States. The long- term project aims for a publication Right for my body in which circumcised women share their struggles in daily life resulting from an incident which took such a short time, but had irreversible consequences for the rest of their lives.

The small village of Duisi has a group of women maintaining the old tradition of Sufism which includes their sacred Zikr ritual. The Chechens have settled in the Pankisi Valley in Georgia for 200 years and they have been engaged with Sufism since, but on this day the people coming from Chechnya to Georgia are increasingly preferring to follow the fundamentalist way of Islam. The old women's Sufism is not pleasing the newcomers in the village and it has caused a tensed fight between the liberal elder and conservative youth. Six thousand inhabitants of Duisi has divided into two.For decades the old women have enjoyed the respect from all the villagers, as well as the status of authority. Now they have started to act as mediators between the two groups following two different ways.So far, old women are not being attacked, but as in other Muslim countries, they are considered as a big threat for the Conservatives on Islam. Caucasus, the situation has been unstable since the collapse of the Soviet Union, and all this time young people have been recruited into the guerrilla forces. Even from Duisi the young learners are often sent on a journey to Saudi Arabia, so that they "can get to the right path of Islam." As in many other Muslim countries, the younger generation is much more conservative than their parents.Article's of the main characters is a twenty-year-old Melsi, whose family carries liberal Sufism, but from which herself has moved away to follow the path of the right conservative Islam. Melsi's grandmother, 80-year-old Makvala forms the old women's meetings and rituals, but Melsi's view, this is not part of the real Koran. The main Sufi woman Makvala and 11 other women tell their story and why Sufism would guarantee peace and understanding in Caucasus. The group has managed to draw international attention to the issue of peace in the Caucasus by bringing the zikr ritual to western cultural events. This is the only group in the world, which has brought the religious ritual of women's zikr to the public seeing.

"Whilst the Columbian government and army FARC (Forze Armate Rivoluzionarie Colombiane) sent out a white flag, last November, 4 million refugees have to face everyday the consequences of an on-going 50 year old conflict. Columbia, 48 million inhabitants, and the second country after Sudan having internal refugees: 1/3 of the agricultural population have been forced to leave their own farmlands. Without our land, we are orphans, says Jorge Aleán, Governor of the indigenous tribe Zenù di Tierra Santa, La Apartada, situated in the province of Cordoba, in the north of Columbia. The Desplazados – indigenous, afro-descedants and farmers running from the pacific coast until the amazon forests – have been forced to live on the outskirts, living in miserable conditions, deprived of every right or public service, in secluded conditions, impossibile to move, even to cultivate a small plot or pick forest fruits, with greater sustenance repercussions."

The process of transforming Rio in a more functional and safer destination is a challenge that the government has taken to a further level, it feels like the pride of a nation depends on qualifying as a successful host. The city has been neglected since the shift of political power in the sixties to the current capital city, Brasilia, resulting in a dark process of decadency where the city rapidly turned into a melting pot of violence and a tropical hidden temptation for sleazy tourists craving for local beauties. The great numbers behind the public and private investments which are transforming the entire city into a chaotic working site are a clear sign that Rio is ready to byte back and take full advantage of its growing curve.Forced removal of city dwellers, illegal building of five stars hotel and shopping malls in protect natural parks, real estate speculation and general lack of communication and transparency have raised suspicions and discontent. People are beginning to wonder if these events will actually bring some real benefits to the city and its inhabitants or will only fatten up the greedy claws of corrupt politicians and local tycoons.
Text by Chiara Rimoldi

Mustafa was at Al Qusayr when, in April, Bashar forces attacked the village, killing dozens of people. He wasbehind one of the regime's tanks and he knew personally some of the men who killed. "Suddenly I realized that I was not fighting against terrorists hired from America, as they kept telling us in military barracks." Then Mustafa decided to leave the Army. But the terror of any potential retaliation against his family kept him in the ranks of Bashar for other two months. Then off to Lebanon where he met dozens of former comrades. All together, everyone with own AK47 received from the Army, passed in Turkey to set their tyrants on the wrong track. From there they got back Syria in order to fight their war, but on the other side… "The right one" as they say today.

During the course of the last year (2012) the Lord's Resistance Army have kidnapped more than five hundred and fifty people. Largely kids, boys and girls between the ages 8-15, used as sex slaves, compelled to decimate steps and often killing those who can't afford to walk anymore. Since December 2009 until date, the Christian fundamentalist group, also known as the army of the twelve commandments, have expressed responsibility for the death of the 1168 civilians and 2676 kidnapping cases, indiscriminate attacks and human trafficking. Torture, rape, mutilation and death: The Lord's Resistance Army is considered as one of the most ferocious rebel groups. The terror aroused spotting a single LRA rebel, could be responsible to provoke the movement of tens of thousands of people. In Obo, a remote village in the centre of the Republican Africa, on the borders of South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, besieged bt the LRA, the local hunters have transformed into hunters of the human flesh. The "LRA Hunters" organize battles to track down and kill the rebels, protecting villages, escorting civilians on their way to their farms, kids going to school, street patrol, supporting the local central African and Ugandese armies taking advantage of their knowledge of the territory. " How can one recognize a person coming from the Lord's Resistance Army?" From their smell, replies Joseph Fele, head of the military. " Just need the smell to know that there is a devil within the forest".

On November 25, 2011, in Vernazza & Monterosso, two of the most famous locations in 5 Terre, hit by one of the most devastating floods ever, causing death and destruction, both to land & property, in a highly touristic location.
Gianmarco Maraviglia, thanks to the Italian Costal Guards, one of the first few photographers to cover this natural disaster.
After a year, returning back to be able to document the situation, finding a whole new constructed city, thanks to the combined forces of all the inhabitants and the want to move forward.

How about putting 'soccer' to the test now? Stalled, with no other means out, somebody had the brilliant idea to put a ball between the feet of children, instead of a machine gun in their hands. In this way, kicking out 'war' using a ball as a potential mass media object promoting a dream: that of a palestinian state. Sport, an old trick, always with a new twist, to this cause provocating acceptance and sympathy. Surely a project concerning kids, in need of a professional champion and a national star.

This series of portraits of young prostitutes from various villages in Uganda and Africa now gathered in Kampala, has been taken by photographer Giorgio Palmera using his trademark limpid and direct style. He evokes an ambient of warm intimacy and intriguing atmospheres, mixing disinhibition and naivety. The portraits are striking because they are anything but clichés. There is respect, love, the desire to understand.  The pictures are accompanied by the carefully crafted interviews, sensitively gathered by anthropologist Gino Bianchi in the best traditions of Fotografi Senza Frontiere reports. And the girls demonstrate their trust, they relax and tell their own stories as women warriors. Pictures expressing the strength of caresses that bring comfort.
 

In 1966, the Egyptian President Nasser, created what has become a national circus, which until today is a 'unique' experience in the Arab countries. The artists formed during the Ex-Soviet Union reign alongside the national circus, appearing all around the world; until the Mubarak regimen stopped funding their needs. Egypt adhered & eventually transformed from a socialist imposition to a neo-liberal system & from a socialist party appearing to be a democratic one. Today this national circus, nevertheless represents the most important driving force in terms of earnings in the Arts & Crafts sector, stated by the Cultural affairs minister, which has been completely ignored and which could shut down.