Articles Archive

Breaking Ground

“It’s not just land that is broken, but more importantly, our relationship to land” - R.W. Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass

The uncomfortable, constant, and necessary work of decolonization

Imagine sitting down for a cup of tea with an artist, while she unravels her life’s stories and discusses reshaping our understanding of history, through a rich blend of artistic expressions. This is the captivating experience that "Things I Found Nelle Viscere" by Camilla Pontiggia has offered to us last June, at the Museum of Geography in Padua, followed by a discussion with the audience, moderated by Prof. Mariasole Pepa, from University of Padua. The exhibition weaved together stories and visceral feelings experienced in the immigration between two continents, Africa and Europe, delving into deep places of memory and lived experiences. The title hints at Camilla's belief that embracing the visceral and uncomfortable sensations that the exhibition provokes can be a powerful decolonial and political act.

exotic terrestrial

I would always find it unsettling whenever someone would describe me as "exotic." But I would just laugh it off and blame it on a lack of creativity. However, I finally got what the word meant when I myself had a brush with the "exotic," in a cold, mostly blonde, predominantly white country in Northern Europe.

To End Up Like Venice

"We don’t want to end up like Venice!" declares a determined, mustachoied gentleman during a television debate on mass tourism affecting Italian cities. This magic formula is often used to immediately convey the potential catastrophic consequences of continuing to prioritize tourism, which has always been touted as the saviour and driving force for Italy's shaky economy. But what does the end of Venice mean? What has become of Venice? The thought of this resignation irritates me, and I turn off the television.

Plenty of Homes

Some days ago I saw the profile of my English teacher, Prof. Ana Bessa Carvalho, who I had the pleasure to have as a professor and friend. She posted a frame of a book in which this sentence was written. Finding a house in this precarious word that leaves us homeless if we are not as productive as they want us to be is very difficult, and finding a home is difficult too. But maybe it is easier, because we can find at home in the company of another person and in the company of ourselves

There is no fortune cookie in China

American talk show actor Trevor Noah once said that he thought fortune cookies were made in the kitchen by an Asian chef who knew fortune telling. However, when he came to Beijing, he discovered that there was no such thing in China!

Homes for People

Take responsibility for your home, take control of your space, take care of your home

Fighting Menstrual Stigma

According to the World Bank, on every given day around 300 million women are menstruating, and approximately 500 million people do not have access to menstrual products or suitable facilities for menstrual hygiene management.

All the Homes

My home is a beautiful place, it is surrounded by tall green trees, it has hundreds little paths, and thousands of people have walked them before me. My home is a horrible place, it is surrounded by tall cold walls, it has hundreds of long arms, and it wants to catch thousands of us.

Building Tenant Power

With rent increases vastly outstripping wages, renters across the world are organising into unions to defend their rights from profit-seeking landlords, and to fight for legal protections. Iniciativa nájemníků a nájemnic, or Tenant’s Initiative, is one such union, formed in the Czech Republic to bring social and institutional change to the post-socialist housing market. We talked to one of the founders, Yuliya Moskvina, about the housing conditions in the Czech Republic, how to organise for social power, and the hopes for building alternative structures to neoliberal capitalism.

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To see more of Rina's work, follow her on Instagram at @toomanyrinas

This Cinema Must Not Close!

The Super movie theatre is the last cinema left in Valdagno.