The New Freedom to the New Normal

No one is more a slave than he who considers himself free without being so. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

The fairy tale cartoon-like “Teleport Art” of Thai artist Kantapon “Gongkan” Metheekul has recently gained momentum at home and abroad. Courtesy of the artist.

Wonderbra

A woman goes shopping at a weekly municipal non-food market as the country eases COVID-19 restrictions, in Espinho, Portugal. Photo: Violeta Santos Moura/Reuters.

The Drowned World

A lone swimmer lockdowned in Trat province, Koh Chang island, Thailand. Photo: Jorge Silva/Reuters.

The Through

The Student Trap. One day, deep in the COVID-19 lockdown, a girl looks out from the crack in the door. Photo: 武术 (Wǔshù) Master 弹棉花 (Tán Miánhuā).

Between Scylla and Charybdis

A woman in a mask walks past a mural of a hand on the side of a building in New York City, United States. The photo was taken on April 22, during the citywide COVID-19 lockdown, and is on display in the exhibition The Pandemic as a part of the 2nd International Festival of Photojournalism in Perpignan, France. Photo: Timothy A. Clary/AFP.

The Importance of Not Being Arcovazzi

While cold weather was hitting, a right-wing deputy mayor in Italy’s northeastern city of Trieste — who is also a fellow member of the interior minister’s far-right party — boasted on his social media accounts about throwing a homeless man’s clothes and blankets into the trash. The boast by the “first citizen” in pectore caused severe indignation among most city residents, who hurried to bring warm clothing and bedding to the same spot, along with a sign reading: “Dear friend, we hope that tonight you will suffer less from the cold. We apologize on behalf of the city of Trieste”. Photo: Diego D’Amelio (@_damelio_).

Through the Wall

Naples, Italy: Jorit, a street artist, works on a mural depicting the author Ilaria Cucchi. Photo: Roberta Basile/Shutterstock.

Alice Through the Looking Glass

Egyptian photojournalist Mahmoud Abu Zeid, widely known as Shawkan, mimes a photographer inside a soundproof glass dock during his trial in Cairo. Photo: AFP/Mohamed el-Shahed.

Goliardic youth

On Wednesday, August 15, 2018 three young people, including two minors, shot pellets from a window in Aprilia, a town south of Rome, Italy and wounded a Cameroonian man in the foot. The incident follows the killing of a Moroccan man in the same city last July 29, when three men — who later said they took him to be a thief — decided to take justice into their own hands. With respect to Wednesday’s shoot-off, the three young people deny any racial reason.

A young man removes graffiti reading “Free Mandela” from a wall of King’s College Chapel in the University of Cambridge, Cambridge, England in 1965. Nelson Mandela was imprisoned in 1964 for opposing the Apartheid of the South African government and was not released until 1990. He later became South Africa’s President. Photo © Hulton-Deutsch Collection/Corbis via Getty Images.

• Ylenia Gostoli, 9 shootings in 50 days: Italy’s ugly face of racism, Deutsche Welle, August 17, 2018

The Importance of Not Being Arcovazzi

The Wikipedia page on “Racism in Italy” recaps the story of racism in Italy, from the infamous “racial laws” promulgated in 1938 till the racists attacks, shootings and murders in 2018.

The goliards

Minorities including a one-year-old Roma child shot following far-right gains, but discrimination often unacknowledged. [Read more].

• Ylenia Gostoli, In post-election Italy, violent racist attacks becoming routine, Al Jazeera, August 7, 2018

Ministry of Ship Contractors

Vessel allegedly broke international law by returning 108 people rescued from Mediterranean to Tripoli A search and rescue charity has alleged that an Italian ship returned scores of people rescued from the Mediterranean to Libya, even though Libya is not regarded by Europe as a safe place under international law. In what would be an unprecedented case if confirmed, the Asso 28, an oil rig support vessel, allegedly saved 108 people from a dinghy and then took them to Tripoli. [Read more].

• Angela Giuffrida, Italian ship returned rescued people to Libya, charity says, The Guardian, July 31, 2018

It is against the law for one country to return people to another territory that is at war, or where they could be subjected to the death penalty, torture or other inhumane conditions. Photo: Jon Nazca/Reuters.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest

Egyptian photojournalist Mahmoud Abu Zeid, also known as Shawkan, makes a gesture mimicking taking a picture from inside a soundproof glass dock, during his trial in the capital Cairo. Photo: AFP/Khaled Desouki.

The Four Season Landscape

• Tom Phillips, A human rights activist, a secret prison and a tale from 习近平 (Xí Jìnpíng)’s new China, The Guardian, January 3, 2017

Peter Dahlin spent 23 days in a “black prison” in 北京 (Běijīng), where he says he was deprived of sleep and questioned with a “communication enhancement” machine. Here he tells the story of his incarceration and expulsion from the People’s Republic. [Read more].

The arrest of Peter Dahlin, as described to the Chiang Mai-based Mexican-American artist Nicolas Luna Fleck.

The activist says his interrogators then refused to let him sleep until he offered them detailed information and only relented after he protested to the centre’s boss – a woman who gave her name as Mrs. Zhang – that his treatment violated the UN convention against torture, which China ratified in 1988. “She was very upset”, Dahlin says of her reaction. “And went on about how nicely I’m being treated”. [Read more].

Peter Dahlin faces his interrogators. Illustration: Nicolas Luna Fleck.

The chair of a chief

A gold toilet
Photo: chinanews.com

Rainbow Behind the Back

You know Arcovazzi says he is the true head of the latrines attached to the Transnational Garbage Management Office, and he also says that his wife is only his maid in representing him there. Indeed, the cleaning man don’t even hand him the key of the toilet, and every time Arcovazzi needs to empty his bowel (at least one time per day), he must hang up his (artificial) silk tie outside the bathroom window to send any intruder a strong signal of cogito ergo sum. In other words, that is the “price of power”. Photo: Christopher Moagi.

Please Arcovazzi, can you get out of the toilet?

“I tried to stay positive but I found myself in the toilets fighting back the tears all too frequently”. Photo: Alamy.

會議室 (Conference hall)

“Tired of begging for the bathroom key at Starbucks?”. Photo: Getty Images.

Visible and Invisible Realms

Men and women have roles to play in development. Photo: Getty Images.

Arcovazzia coup d’état (when he was deposed by he himself)

Istanbul, Turkey: Women react during the funeral of a victim of the failed coup. The Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, refused to rule out executing the ringleaders of the attempted coup, despite repeated warnings from western leaders who said the use of the death penalty would end Turkish hopes of joining the European Union. Photo: Gürcan Öztürk/AFP/Getty Images.