Migration & border issues (48)

Info:

Info:
first Italian podcast radio dedicated to feminist issues, founded in 2009 and maintained by the feminist magazine Marea, especially by their editor in chief Monica Lanfranco; emphasis on feminist theory and activism, feminist news, history of feminism, interviews with feminist activists, body/body politics, literature, politics, homophobia, migrant women/anti-racism, (alternative) globalisation, family/motherhood, etc.

Statement:

Perché una radio web/podcast di donne?

Im Fokus: "Migration & Medien"
www.migrazine.at

Seit einiger Zeit kommt Bewegung in die hiesige Medienlandschaft: Mehrheits-Medien und die Kommunikationswissenschaft entdecken die Migrant_innen neu - als Produzent_innen und Konsument_innen von medialen Inhalten. Zugleich wächst auch das Interesse an Medien von und für Migrant_innen, nicht zuletzt aus ökonomischen Gründen. Ein Themenschwerpunkt über die Möglichkeiten der medialen Selbstrepräsentation für Migrant_innen und die Sackgassen der Diversitätslogik im Medien-Mainstream.

Queer with(out) Borders
Asylpolitiken in der Festung Europa

In Solidarity with “Out of Place”
(posted on behalf of ‘In solidarity with “Out of Place”, London’)

This statement is written by a group of white non-Muslim queer activists in solidarity and support for the writers of the article “Gay Imperialism: Gender and Sexuality Discourse in the ‘War on Terror’” (2008) by Jin Haritaworn, Tamsila Tauquir and Esra Erdem. This article problematises the role of the white queer activist Peter Tatchell, amongst others, in the construction of Muslim communities as homophobic, highlighting the racist and imperialist effect such constructions have in the context of the ‘War on Terror’. Haritaworn et al. point out that in many of Tatchell’s campaigns and political statements the discourse he uses reinforces the idea of Muslims as dangerous extremists, and constructs Muslims as “the other” of white gay people, and that in doing so he dismisses and marginalises the voices and experiences of queer Muslims, in particular those who object to having Tatchell as a spokesperson for their struggles.

Migrantas has been working on projects related to migration, identity and dialogue between different cultures. Their projects combine tools from the social sciences, graphic design and the visual arts to create a reflection of the migrant condition. Mobility, migration and transculturality are not exceptional any longer. On the contrary, they are becoming a very central phenomenon of our times. The thoughts and emotions of the immigrants though remain invisible to the greater part of society. Through their projects Migrantas aims to offer a means of making visible in the urban space the feelings and reflections of those who are now living in a new country. The members of Migrantas have themselves emigrated from Buenos Aires to Berlin. They conceive of their work with other migrants as a horizontal dialogue.

Verein MAIZ is a self-organisation by and for migrant women. Through our work we attempt to create space for migrant women to articulate themselves as protagonists. „MigraZine“ is a project for an online magazine by and for migrant women and as such, is intended to contribute to the participation of migrant women. The motivations for this project are manifold:

* We refuse to be perceived solely in the role of victim or as offender. We are producers who can and want to speak for ourselves.
* Migrant women’s access to print and online media is limited and one-sided. The intention of the project is to provide the possibility to decide throughout the whole process - starting from the idea to its form and its design.
* Furthermore, with regards to their participation in the media, migrant women are confronted with a lack of technical knowledge, a scarcity of resources and insufficient knowledge of German and English, the dominant languages.
* An online magazine, the medium of choice for this task, is, among other things due to the low costs involved.
* This project will be carried out for a limited period of time. However, we understand it as a first step with leaving the option open to further develop it.
* A feminist and at the same time an anti-racist publication.