North Kivu, in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, is a land on the dangerous margin of things. Life and death have no boundaries, faith falters and evil is a tautology formed throughout the ages. Africa, Democratic Republic of...
Dawn in the hills of North Kivu is in the absence of the sun: a dense sulphurous fog shrouds the forests and villages. It is eerie and carries with it the phantoms of the night. As it lifts like a...
According to many the Sufism is also the mystic branch of the Islamic faith and, in order to reach a true knowledge, that is to say the divine dimension, adepts shall commit to culture, arts, poetry, music and dance. Some of them live as hermits, others in communities, they follow the cult of the masters who preceded them and, above all, they do not believe in divisions, even in the one between Sunnites and Shiites, and they do not build barriers against the “infidels”.
In Pakistan the transgender world is still victim of a big social stigmatization. The Khawaja Siras are, indeed, targets of the conservative groups and of that of the Islamic extremists, and in order to survive the most of them are forced to beg, prostitute or dance during baptisms, circumcisions or other celebrations, since they are renowned for their choreographic capabilities and for bringing good luck.
Inside Over are in a suburb of Lahore, in a brick factory where Christians work from dawn until dusk in slave-like conditions. The inhumane conditions and daily abuses in these factories are demonstative of a true apartheid against Pakistan's Christian minority.Produced by Daniele Bellocchio and Marco Gualazzini.
The Sufism is the branch of Islam that aspires to realize, yet during the earthly life, the presence of God in humans. According to many it is also the mystic branch of the Islamic faith and, above all, it does not believe in divisions, even in the one between Sunnites and Shiites, and it does not build barriers against the “infidels”.
But it is still Easter Eve in Pakistan, the alert is at the highest level; the soldiers patrol each single entry of the Gulshan and Iqbal Park, but not just them: all the streets leading toward the churches and Catholic places of worship are closed and controlled by the soldiers of the Pakistani army. The Lahore cathedral is going to host the celebration of the festivity. Hundreds of people are converging toward the church. It is evening, there is a celebratory mood in the air and there is a great desire to participate in the scene. There is the Lahore bishop Sebastian Francis Shaw, and there is father Mani, who explains: "In the past they tried to make a terror attack here, but they didn't make it. However they made a massacre in the Yohannabad quarter and on the day of Easter and just before the Holy Days there are always critical moments because, taking advantage of the vast participation of the devotees, the terrorists try to infiltrate and to cause a mass killing".
To get into heroin, in the world of its consumers, to immerse in that abyss of drug addiction in Pakistan, a preliminary abandonment of certainties and a prior assimilation of certain concepts is necessary, it is necessary to unveil the cataloging that marks such weakness and despair, it is necessary to be devoid of every stigma and every accusation: only after having set aside all of this, one can understand the reality of those who left for the war, but who have a conscious awareness of being defeated.
Formally, Pakistani transsexuals are endowed with more rights than in other countries around the world, but in fact they are victims of stigmatization. The Khawaja Siras, the term that defines the transsexual in Pakistan and India, are indeed, targets of the conservative groups and of that of the Islamic extremists, and in order to survive the most of them are forced to beg, prostitute or dance during baptisms, circumcisions or other celebrations, since they are renowned for their choreographic capabilities and for bringing good luck.
The third millennium, awaited as no other century ever before with a thrill of futuristic hope in the power of modernity, all-out technology and progress, has instead brought us into a feverish and unexpected era: that of Exodus. The Exodus is desecrating and overwhelming the frontiers, the structures of a world where models taken as absolutes are collapsing or trembling on their hinges. On the one hand there are people, the refugees, driven either by their last shred of hope or maybe an extreme reaction to eternal despair, who make a long journey towards their destiny.On the other there are the places that become lands of arrival, havens, like Uganda, the world’s 163rd poorest country, for decades confined to the margins of the globe, but today a leading player on the contemporary scene.
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