astoreinacamp-blog

[astoreinacamp-blog]

Just the Beginning

This project was a lot. From the beginning it made me think about what happens in the world that is actually important. The things that affect people, the walls that we build in our own lives and the walls that have been left up by the generations before us. We were forced to adopt a feminist mindset in this class and to think intersectionally in order to address these inherencies and to focus on a particular topic that spoke to us. This was important because it allowed personal motivation to be a guiding force in our own Zine. In that we were forced to face a reality. A reality made of memory and pain, one that looked you in the eye and told you about who you really were. I was challenged by this expectation to confront this truth and I had a very difficult time picking a topic that spoke to me personally. This is largely vested in the fact that I haven’t really been challenged to overcome that adversity that this class reminded us existed. Thus I had to confront that I am one of the lucky few that was positioned at the business end of whiteness. I was not taken forcibly from my land to America, my ancestors came here on purpose because they wanted more freedom then they already had. This Zine required me to acknowledge this reality and to find a source of injustice or inadequacy in this world that is entirely separate from my own existence. I chose to discuss the refugee because perhaps at a deep level it’s easy to understand the desire for a life. A life that isn’t necessarily defined by the American Dream, but a life that is simply free from conflict, a life that is safe from war. The reality of this type of life is lost to the stateless and the refugee and I feel that, though I’ll never understand it for it truly is. Though I think that sort of gets at what this whole story was meant to tell us. That it is the least we can do as the young and the free is to stay woke. We have to keep an ear to the road and to know about the rumblings to the East and to the West though it may not be easy to do. There is pain and there is no justice for those responsible, but we can stand with those who suffer.

This project is not over. 

[astoreinacamp-blog]

This story is in reference to information collected through research related to the Yazidi Genocide and their exodus from Iraq. The idea of a store is based upon a story from This American Life.

https://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/593/dont-have-to-live-like-a-refugee

Additional Information was gathered from the following sources concerning the plight of the Yazidi’s and their historical conflicts with more traditional Islamic groups.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/07/who-yazidi-isis-iraq-religion-ethnicity-mountains

http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-magazine-monitor-28686607

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-37851235

The current conditions of Yazidi camps in Greece are unlivable at times and can be read about here

https://www.pri.org/stories/2016-08-10/yazidis-greece-safety-and-security-still-out-reach

Statelessness is a reality faced by the Yazidi’s and many others. For a different context yet effective definition of what it might mean to be stateless, look no further then Yen Le Espiritu’s “Body Counts”.

The refugee crisis is ongoing and often misunderstood, the easiest way to help these people is to learn more about it and to stand for a moment in their worn down shoes.

[astoreinacamp-blog]

Feedback

  Summary

 Jasmine’s *still to be named* Zine is a piece upon marketing done by Coca-Cola in the 1950s onward. It has a heavy emphasis upon imagery as an indicator of social and racial norms depending upon the time of their publications. Through analysis of advertisements this piece works to show that there are particular representations of success in America, and that this success is heavily dependent upon a racial element that is black and white.

 Compelling Quote

 An interesting quote that I read was based upon the difference in clothing that can be observed in the advertisements. Specifically, “clothing definitely sets the white people and black people apart”. This is an interesting point to bring up in one way or another, because though it may be a commonly ignored factor in image based media it tells an underlying story. This story is one of representation and so called “class divides” that clearly exist, the evidence can be seen in the way that ads dress it’s characters.

 Compelling Anecdote

 So I think the most striking way that you could represent the sort of class divide that exists in these adds is by showing other similar divides that are racially based during this time. There are plenty of examples of a stark contrast between black and white in this time, it might be interesting for you to compare and contrast how Coke represented black people vs. white people versus how other media contrasted black vs. white people.  

 Compelling Imagery

 So this is I think what needs the most work here. You set up this sort of 50s era analysis and got me ready to see images of black vs. white from the time, but your collage doesn’t seem super relevant to what your notebooks set up? I understand that you transitioned your topic a bit, but the shape of the bottles changing and Michael Jordan? I didn’t exactly follow what you meant by those images. And I guess some sort of explanation of the tweets and the woman in a burqa as well would be useful in putting the images into context. So I guess what Im getting at is contextualizing it, like you did with the 50s black vs. white stuff. Then, the imagery here would make a lot more sense.

 Also, in terms of layout, you should have less density, and include text blocks here and there to explain why you included the images. The images are interesting, but I think we as your readers would get more out of it if you explained to us what it meant.

 Reword Analysis

 I am going to reword the one about the American dream being denied to black people.

 Based on the images provided **Provides images** it’s pretty clear what exactly the advertisers are trying to accomplish. They want to provide a glamorous and appealing version of their product. Something that will be stylish for the young and will hold it’s value gracefully as they age.  However, the underlying message seems to say a bit more. In any point a black person is included in one of these adds they are portrayed in the subservient role. Their role is one of service of this beverage to those that fit into this narrow definition of who should be drinking Coca-Cola products. It is clear in the 50s who was buying the most Coca-Cola. There is an interesting development however. When prominent athletes like Michael Jordan were at the height of their game they were made into promoters of Coca-Cola. Suddenly it became okay for black people to be represented as deserving of Coca-Cola, when just 30 years before they were the ones serving it.

 This analysis is a powerful one because it brings this issue of a difference and a normalization of prejudice to light. Not only this, but it contextualizes it by bringing a beloved athlete in to the question and making the analysis a lot more relevant.

 I would include a direct line between the two things and why this relationship is important. These things are all related, but it’s tough to see exactly why.

 **these are just thoughts, I know you aren’t done yet, but that’s just what I kind of am seein’ at this point**

Notebook 4  Zines

[astoreinacamp-blog]

This is a rough rough cut of my final Zine. Probably as I work on it I’ll add more pictures and stuff. But this is something. That’s for sure

[astoreinacamp-blog]

Notebook 3

Brian McCoy

  I have focused in a bit with “Statelessness” and the actual figure of the refugee. I read a portion of the Yen Le Espiritu work on Refugees/Statelessness and it really helped put the whole idea into a unique context for me.

 Relational Analysis (Statelessness/Islam(Yazidi))

A refugee camp is a space of “Bare Life,” according to Yen Le Espiritu, it is a place that can all too quickly transform from a benevolent place of shelter to a prison unbeknownst to its’ captives. In the Greek Yazidi camp, freedoms still exist; but, in a distrusting world, how can a group of stateless refugees ever be accepted anywhere? The circumstances that landed the Yazidis in their current situation as stateless refugees can unequivocally be tied to their being a religious minority.

To be a refugee is a tragic circumstance, but to be a stateless refugee is by far a greater predicament. We can define a stateless refugee as one who was displaced by conflict or persecution from a place, and that by the law of that very place, they can no longer call it home. For examples of such a conflict one must look to a place like Israel, or even California, places where the indigenous land owners were displaced in favor of a different people. These conflicts set a historical precedence of disavowal and can lead to future problems. For instance, the Yazidis are ethnic Kurds, their religion is a combination of Islam, Christianity and Judaism; hence, they were considered separate from the traditionally Islamic nation they lived in. As a result, ISIL forces displaced this minority; and, the tenuous locale the Yazidi’s once existed in vanished indefinitely. The Yazidis’ identification as a religious minority occasion a déjà vu effect when one reflects on similar predicaments in history.

To see what I mean, we must once again look to Espiritu who made many acute observations about exactly what refugees were and what statelessness looked like. Specifically, as was pointed out, refugees can fall into different categories based upon what their goals are. In the case of Vietnamese, as Espiritu points out, those displaced were looking for a better place to raise families and work during the Vietnam War. The Yazidis fall into a similar category now, as they are just looking for a place to live peacefully and find subsistence without having to fear for the safety of their families.

An interesting distinction is that the Vietnamese were perceived as “good” refugees by countries like the USA who took and relocated them throughout their country. If a group as a whole can be idealized as having the potential to benefit the country in which they are being resettled, then they are deemed as “good” refugees.  In 80s America, the “good” refugees were those happy and willing to work low wage dead end jobs and happily, as it was a greater alternative to war-torn Vietnam. This narrative of the “good” refugee ran in tandem with the ideal that America was doing a service to the global community by taking these people in and sheltering them. The reality was that the United States was putting them in advantageous low-income resettlements that, in addition, the Vietnamese inherently excelled at by the United States’ definition of what a refugee should do. This “good” refugee ideal brings up an important question in relation to the Yazidi religious and stateless minority: are they a “good” minority and will they be “good” refugees?

This question is an unfortunate one, mainly due to the fact that the Yazidi population is largely interpreted as Islamic. This facet of their culture should not be a significant deterrent towards countries resettling these stateless people; but, it is the most important aspect in being considered, because it stirs the most pots. Once again, considering the work of Espiritu, we can look at how the figure of the refugee was developed before looking to the modern era. In the early refugee camps that were put together in Southeast Asia to temporarily harbor those looking for eventual resettlement, problems arose. These problems were due to the fact that the countries with the camps did not want a large population of foreign people to be part of their seemingly exclusive society. Thus, in order to keep the refugees separate, the camps ambitions for temporary asylum became more and more permanent and eventually began denying these people basic fundamental rights in order to keep them from “mingling”. In other words, these bastions of peace and hope for the refugee became prisons from which there was no real escape, unless, however, some benevolent government decided to allow these condemned people a chance at a new life. These conditions caused “prisoner” uprisings where these refugees would rise up against their would-be overlords in attempt to seize the rights that were unjustly removed from them. These uprisings, which one would hope would be accepted as justified by the public, were universally looked down upon. These acts of rebellion occasioned the development of refugees becoming adjudged as “brutal killers”.

This dramatic definition of people looking for safety from conflict was just the beginning. In our contemporary era, developed nations now look upon minorities as hostile and dangerous people to be treated with caution and not immediately welcomed. If one needs example, look no further then the executive orders targeting religious minorities, specifically Muslims, from even traveling to and from the United States. The Islamic refugee has undergone bedevilment due to radical Islamic groups that were the ones that initially drove groups like the Yazidis into Europe.

Thus, we come full circle to the stateless refugee in Greece. These people who now have no home to go to are considered for resettlement; not, however, for the value of the humans they are, rather, for the political capital they may be worth. Some peoples’ misinformed prejudice of the past now causes refugees to be publically perceived as troublesome interlopers. Consequently, rather than refugees being seen as fellow human fleeing hopeless violence, they are assumed to be the very harbingers of death and destruction that drove them from their homes in the first place.  

[astoreinacamp-blog]

Petra in Winter (Yazidi Refugee Camp)

[astoreinacamp-blog]

The Bazaar, a place of everything. Any and all can be found in the Bazaar for the right price. A shopkeeper has a relaxed posture but a sharp tongue, quick to smile and happy to cut a deal. Ahmed’s store was in a small mountain village, but there are certain things all shopkeepers share.

[astoreinacamp-blog]

An Intersection

Notebook 2

 The slight change that I decided to make to my object was to focus more on Zakat, the Islamic pillar of charity and how it was brought to Greece by Ahmed’s store. It represents quite a few things and I think it’s a little bit easier to focus in on its implications as opposed to the much more general implications of a grocery store.

 The national binds that have cobbled together this motley group of refugees originates from a similar religious background, but an important development that now applies to these people is statelessness. The concept of being stateless was defined by the UNHCR (United Nations High Commission on Refugees) and applies to all who are permanently displaced. A modern example of a stateless people are the Kurds, over 20 million of them live throughout Syria, Iraq, Turkey and other nations but they are all minorities that identify as foreigners to the place they live. Nearly all refugees become at least temporarily stateless in the same way, except through long lasting violence that makes going home impossible. For the people of this refugee camp it means that the only place that they can call home is now a warzone, full of an opposition group that wants to kill them. This idea works to draw these people inexorably towards a similar citizenship in a void like place that now only exists in memory. What now remains for these people is a long wade through a bureaucratic institution in order to move on from the refugee camp to the next stage in their lives, which will most likely be in a new country. Yet, the bind which I already mentioned, of a shared religion is what caused the initial violence which forced the Yazidis from Iraq. Unfortunately these unique combinations of binds that unite the refugees in this Greek camp also make them unattractive as candidates to be allowed into a new country. Islamaphobia as a direct product of attacks upon people like the Yazidis of Iraq, comes full circle and hurts these refugees all over again because of a widespread fear of Islam. So, these people stay in the camp with what little they have left, and of what they have left they give to each other.      

 Zakat is sharing. It is being your neighbor’s keeper and it is one of the five pillars that define Islam. Clearly, it is what drives Ahmed to give the little he has to others as some form of charity. It is a very important part of Islam and it is often overlooked and forgotten when considering the subject of people of the Islamic faith. But the necessity for charity in the form of Zakat calls forth a great deal of other ideas of gender, ethnicity and faith that work to create an overall picture of these refugee camps. Islam is a mostly foreign religion to Greece,  with a small percentage of the citizens (4.7%) being of Islamic faith. Thus there is some trepidation with allowing this culturally heterogeneous group into one’s country. This makes it difficult for a country that is stretched as thin as Greece currently is economically to extend itself further to provide for a foreign people. This combination of inability and unwillingness to properly settle the Islamic-Yazidi refugees from North Iraq has resulted in a horrible set of circumstances for the refugees themselves. The mountains they are settled in turn cold and icy during the winter which results in an inability to raise children past infanthood. This directly affects traditional reproduction in these camps and the ability of women to take care of their offspring. Women also have very limited access to proper medical and personal supplies that they need, and are often forced to go without to the detriment of themselves and their families. This type of negligence comes back full circle to Zakat and why it is so necessary in such times of hardship. The winters are difficult and one would think that the Yazidi people who had gone through so much would be able to pull together and allay their resources to help those who need them. But the problem that accompanies Zakat, which seems to be a breath of fresh air in a musty hallway, is the rest of the traditional pillars of Islam. These pillars are upheld to a scary extent in a lot of cases. In these regions it is not uncommon for women to be treated as underlings socially. Domestic violence, infanticide, honor killings and genital mutilation are all practices that occur in Iraq despite international coalitions like the UNWomen organization for gender equality and the empowerment of women. It is simply a part of the tradition of Islam. This clash of ideals brings together yet another difficult conflict of interest that refugees face. War and the figure of the refugee can many times be it’s own self-fulfilling prophecy. In this case, the Yazidi people were forced into a  situation wherein they are viewed as the bad guys, the ones in turbans and burqa, something to be feared.

  http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/islam/practices/zakat.shtml

(Zakat)

 http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-29702440

(Kurds-stateless people)

 http://www.unhcr.org/en-us/stateless-people.html

(UNHCR Statelessness)

 https://www.hrw.org/news/2014/03/26/womens-rights-under-threat-iraq

(womens rights Iraq)

 http://www.unwomen.org/en/about-us/about-un-women

(UNWOMEN)

 http://www.pappaspost.com/photos-shocking-conditions-refugee-camps-greece-winter-sets/

(photo-winter camp)

 http://www.npr.org/2017/01/17/510204535/eu-declares-freezing-conditions-in-greek-refugee-camps-untenable

(conditions of greek camps)

 http://greece.greekreporter.com/2015/01/14/4-7-of-people-in-greece-are-muslims/

(statistic)

[astoreinacamp-blog]

A Store

Notebook 1: A Store

A store, a place to sell cigarettes and fruit.  This is the object I’ve chosen to focus upon. However, this is no ordinary store. It is a small shanty made out of loose planks gathered from an abandoned asylum and covered by old sleeping bag. It isn’t much, but it is one of the only fragments of community that still exists for the people of this Greek refugee camp.

This store is a part of a camp inhabited by Yazidis, a religious minority of people who lived in the northern mountainous regions of Iraq. In 2014 the Islamic State of the Levant (ISL) began genocide of religious minorities in that region of Iraq, thus beginning a mass displacement of nearly all of the 500,000 Yazidis who once called northern Iraq their homes. The Yazidi practice itself is separate from traditional Islam because their central object of worship is an angel, an intermediary between humanity and God named Tawusi Melek. The Yazidis see this figure as the main source of divinity towards man, but traditional Muslims interpret this deviation as akin to Satanic worship. Thus bringing upon the traditionally peaceful Yazidis armed militia, from whom the only defense was members of Kurdish fighting forces from Syria and Turkey. The flight of the Yazidis was also aided by controversial American airstrikes which helped to slow ISL in their pursuit of these now homeless refugees.

           A man named Ahmed runs the store, it’s the job he had back at home in Iraq before ISL displaced him and his people. After years of running from violence, Ahmed and his family (wife and seven kids) have set up shop in a Greek refugee camp in Petra that houses 1200 Yazidi. The store itself is an economic failure. His greatest commodities are cigarettes, which he sells for the reasonable price of 2.50 Euros a pack. Considering he takes the bus into town where he buys them for 2.35 Euros he is making nearly no money. For some things, Ahmed charges the same price he bought them for, like sugar, which is to valuable of a commodity to price his fellow refugees out of in the interest of profit. Ahmed’s store can lose hundreds of Euros a day, but that’s not really the point. People are free to walk up and take what they wish. If they have money to pay, they hand it to Ahmed. If they have no money, they are free to take what they wish on credit and when they have money again they can pay it back. The items are mostly non-essential comforts, but they are the only luxuries available for this group of people living in the stasis of a refugee camp. But beyond the luxuries available, the store itself affords the citizens of this refugee camp to have the luxury of going to the store…for something…for anything.

           This object fits squarely into the War and Figure of the Refugee category. It displays the basic humanity that is often forgotten in the countless millions of refugees fleeing violence and persecution. The bizarre nature of this “store” also goes beyond that. The refugees of this camp were pitted against many of the same horrible challenges on the road to the Greek camp, so despite conflict displacing these people there still exists a community that is arguably stronger then the original. One wherein those that can, take care of those who can’t, and a genuine desire to provide for the community pervades.

           Ahmed’s original store in Iraq was a bustling hub of his town’s community before the genocides of the Yazidis began in 2014. It was a store that would bring in over 250 euros a day in profit, and beyond that it was a meeting place. People from all walks would come to Ahmed’s store and just hang out, during the day he served tea and at night it was a place of cards and conversation. It was a place that supported the community but it perhaps did not hold the same value the store in Petra does today.

Though it may just be a fraction of his old store, Ahmed’s new store has actually gained more social relevance as a necessity of those in the refugee camp. The refugee camp at Petra has been described in many different ways, but the conclusions seems to be that the camp is poorly equipped at best, unlivable at worst. It is located in the foothills of Mount Olympus in Greece, which means the temperatures can fluctuate greatly and living conditions can be strenuous considering the refugees live in thin non-insulated tents. These refugees also have traditional familial concerns, they have to raise children and provide for them despite the fact that little specialized treatment is available from the already stretched thin Greek government. Many mothers have already lost young children who simply could not handle the rough way of living. Despite these difficult living conditions, a small return to normalcy is what the store offers, which is more valuable then anything that could have been sold in Ahmed’s store in Iraq. This difference gets right to the core of what a refugee is. They are people who are just looking for a place like home. It will never be the way it was, but simple reminders of what used to be have the weight of gold especially among these Iraqis. It is difficult to comprehend what these people must have gone through on their respective journeys from Iraq to Greece, but a pack of cigarettes and a knowing look from an old friend might bring back a reminder of something that was once thought lost.