Gender and Violence

Photo: Marcus Bleasdale, project Rape of a Nation (Darfur)

- Women and children hiding under a tree during the day, so the airplanes do not spot movement and burn their village. Gathering of food, water and fire wood happens during the night and so does the majority of violence -

text:              © Tea Durmić, May 2010

-          FGM is a highly contested violent practice and is condemned by WHO and other NGO´s.

Culture is something that we do, not what we have and our actions are cultural practices, depending on race, gender, class, ethnicity, sexuality, religion, age … It is dangerous to defend certain practices in a culture like they are 'natural' in that environment. Culture is created and it is not a strict form, it transforms over space and time. Thus, also gender is created, and it is not a biological category. Therefore, male and female roles and power positions are ‘the collection of believes, attitudes and values that an individual or a group holds’ (French in Semra, 98) depending on their environment and experiences. One of the most violent practices in the world is female genital mutilation, sometimes called ‘circumcision’. I will use the term FGM, because it states the gruesome act of violence and women, as for circumcision implies a medical procedure.

“The term 'circumcision' implies male circumcision, where the foreskin is removed without damaging the organ itself. On the contrary, the damage to females is much more extensive/…/’Sunna’ circumcision of females is equivalent to cutting of the head of the penis. The male equivalent of clitoridectomy would be the amputation of most of the penis. The male equivalent of infibulations is the removal of all the penis, its roots of soft tissue, and part of the scrotal skin.’ Furthermore, the difference between even the harshest form of penis-cutting, which would be the so called infibulations, does not cause further medical complications for the male, as for ‘the scars created by the female operation lead to terrible problems at childbirth as normal dilatation is prevented’ (Semra, 92; my own emphasis).

From this I claim that circumcision cannot be compared or equated with FGM in any way, even through the narrative - apart from both being procedures, done on sex organs. If we equate these two, we give way for a spread of this violence, in addition to already fighting off the claims of FGM being a cultural practice, which is slowing down the process immensely. FGM is momentarily spread in Africa and in most of the Muslim countries[1] and one of the cruelest situations for women in general, not just because of FGM, is evolving in Democratic Republic of Congo as we speak. These women are facing every sort of human rights violations and gender discrimination possible. From fetuses to old ladies they suffer violence, sexual abuse, emotional and physical abuse etc [2]. Male violence against women is packed in a form of FGM, which is a practice thought to cure sexual deviancies, such as girls being sexually active before marriage or outside of it, which is unacceptable in Congo for example; another mirror to this is that females do not or should not (have to) enjoy sex, and therefore they are stripped of their ability to achieve orgasms; and not the least also promotes men’s virility, since he has to forcefully penetrate the woman during sexual intercourse.[3] When we heard the reasons from local village men in Congo as to why this practice is done, they first named ‘health reasons’, which are quite the opposite from what happens in reality. The general believe is that cutting is going to make child birth easier, but it often causes sever complications for the mother as well as for the child, which is backed up by most of the literature available, also strongly condoned by the World Health Organization[4]. Many reports state that women are actually the ones keeping this tradition alive the most, and one of the stories illustrates nicely how deeply influenced by the society this practice really is: a girl was feeling left out of a group of piers, because she did not have a stitched vagina to show to other girls. She was called dirty, because she wasn’t shaved as it is usually done during this ‘passage from girl to woman’. She was being ridiculed in a similar way that I remember being teased for not owning the newest ‘model’ of Barbie while growing up. Kids who didn’t have the ‘right things’, couldn’t be in the gang, hang out and play. This just goes to show the differences in our cultures, where what we value the most, is money and material things; what is trying to be preserved and valued through FGM is virginity and purity of the female, and at the same time keep her subordinated and passive. With a sick twist to this believe, the practice itself more often than not has huge medical complications and even death for the woman, not to mention unexplainable pain she undergoes ‘especially when it comes to infibulations. We are facing yet another torture for the female, since the vagina is intentionally sewn together, leaving just a tiny hole for urine and menstrual blood to come through. This means that the women goes through the same horrible experience more than once in her life, since the skin is cut in order to perform intercourse after the marriage ceremony or to give birth to multiple children, which is expected (if not even required of a woman)’ (Semra, page 94). Again, in order to support the ideals of femininity and masculinity. So much so, that the left-out un-cut little girl one day couldn’t stand the ridicule anymore, so she took a knife and a string and she performed a clitoridectomy on herself[5] … When the physical abuse is done, women are excluded from the public scene, confined in their homes; tied first to her father, she is bound emotionally and economically; then, to her husband; then, to her son. She is also unmarriable, if she doesn’t undergo FGM. She is passed on like a commodity that needs to produce as big of a surplus value (kids) as possible. Semra claims that FGM is not solely an act of violence, but that it is

‘an initiation into life-long violence and abuse, including future genital mutilations /…/ ‘first, her capacity for sexual enjoyment destroyed or diminished, she will be a breeding machine to perpetuate her husband’s line fertility (and polygamy)/…/secondly, domestic confinement, which stems directly from the above to enforce her husband’s control’’ (page 99).

What needs to be done is education of the population as the first step, followed by legislation, religious authorities and social responsibility - anatomy and sexuality are taboo topics in most of the African countries[6].

-          Self-harm is an increasing problem in our society, but is at the same time challenging gender norms.

Gender has been widely researched in poststructuralist approaches. Influence of feminist history led to a distinction from a historical profession, which was favoring biological essentialism[7]. Of course feminists ideas were strongly opposed this starting point.  Theories do not focus solely on female issues or gender issues, but start to incorporate ideas of class, rase and power into the equation. Design and pop culture also became a part of the research, since these mediums are highly influential on our lives. At the end of 19th century in USA we can see different groups in design, for example »ladies, mens' and boys' knives«.

'The differences between designs of manufactured goods became the incarnation of contemporary ideas of social difference. Unlike the muddled and contradictory form that these ideas usually took in the minds of ordinary men and women, design represented them in a from that was at once clear, tangible and irrefutable' (Forty, 63).

For example, trousers appeared as unisex clothing in the '60, and now it is fully accepted that women ware 'male clothing', meaning pants. At the same time, women are still almost exclusively the sole wearers of skirts and particularly dresses. Even though temporary fashion design is expanding their limits beyond the borders of (these created) gender roles, men (with an exception of the old Scottish kilt wearing tradition) are not considered 'normal' or 'manly' if they put on a skirt. Even though the only physical difference in pants and skirts is only in the way that materials are cut and sewn together, there is a symbolism and an ideology behind it. Similarly to the WC signs that are still widely used (one showing a male with pants, other female with skirt), even though there have been pushes for using the Venus & Mars symbols or to not use gender stereotypezations at all (what about transsexuals, do they belong nowhere then?!) … Similarly to this, self-cutters derive from the notion that ‘the contemporary Western body is normally closed and impenetrable, avoids bleeding and proliferating itself via scars and bumps, does not gape. The mode of bodily representation chosen by scarifiers deviates from contemporary Western bodily norms in its use of fluid body boundaries, its messiness, its carnivalesque character’ (Pitts and Hewitt in Brickman, 107).

Patients were being guinea pigs for psychiatrists during the 20^th century, but only around the late 1990s trend towards representations in the public sphere increased.[8] Psychiatrists tried to explain this new form of ‘typical’ self-mutilative behavior, which they named ‘delicate self-cutting’[9]. Brickman goes on in saying that cutters are not solely female and white, as it has been presented in the media: 'In short, the white, suburban, attractive teenage girl persists as the face of self-mutilation' (Brickman, p. 87). These sorts of conclusions were done through decades in public sphere, because of the first doctors that concluded that the majority of self-cutters were young, female and white[10]. But, drawing from Brickman’s article, we can see that the number of boys vs girls in prevalence of self-cutting the ratio is about the same. As we have heard from Anna Johansson in her thesis, the online forums she has researched show that boys are actually ashamed and afraid to come forward exactly because of this presentation – as it being a female problem. If we draw from Susan Bordo, we can talk about the so called ‘second wave feminism’ that in particular examined both representations of the female body and the material body itself as a ‘site of political struggle’:

‘feminism imagined the human body as itself a politically inscribed entity, its physiology and morphology shaped by histories and practices of containment and control – from foot-binding and corseting to rape and battery to compulsory heterosexuality, forced sterilization, unwanted pregnancy, and (in the case of the African American slave woman) explicit commodification’ (Bordo in Brickman, p. 89).

This feminist philosopher was for example writing about plastic surgery in the West from a similar  perspective, that is showing the act itself being done voluntarily by women, to themselves, in order to ’fit in’, to be a ‘normal’ part of the society and culture as the rest of people. This is interesting, since self-cutting can be an expression of not conforming to accepted social rules, as a personal act of disobedience. And yet, both plastic surgery for esthetic ideals and the need to undergo FGM, derive from the same place. This reminds me of the story of a girl in Africa, that felt ugly and unfeminine compared to other girls, because she hasn’t undergone the brutal ritual of FGM that we, in the Western culture, perceive as torture … Is not plastic surgery only a means of conforming with the existing power structures as well?! (Bordo, p. 24-25) Practices such as cosmetic surgery, obsessive dieting and physical training represent, for Bordo, how cultural “representations homogenize” and how “these homogenized images normalize”. Unbearable Weight also makes the connection between culture and female disorders and further emphasizes the fact that disorders such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia cannot simply be defined from medical and psychological standpoints but must be viewed from within a cultural context, as “complex crystallizations of culture”   (Bordo, p. 35).

-          Girls´ and/or women´s violence has long been a non-issue both in politics and research. Why has the interest for girls´/women´s violence been so low in the society? Has violence by girls/women increased at the end of the twentieth century? 

Western society was mostly influenced by two main ideas: Christian tradition and ancient Greek philosophers, namely Aristotle[11]. Both contained strong ideas of patriarchy or in general the male sex was predominant. Common ideas about femininity are that women cannot own their own sexuality, they need to be controlled and guided, they are soft and emotional and irrational, as opposed to male, who is sturdy, sexual, self-controlled and rational. Women, they are blindly ruled by sex; notion behind the responses of males in Congo as to why their culture follows FGM or Congolese soldiers as to why they rape was that they have to be controlled, even though the soldiers were more open when it came to their response. This sounds strangely familiar, doesn’t it? Not so long ago, there were thousands of women[12] burned under the accusation of being witches in Europe (also in a new-founded colony Massachusetts, USA) and basically all they did ‘wrong’, that is did not conform to the ideas of society, was that they had ‘special healing powers’. To us, now, this might seem absurd and even funny, but for these ‘witches’ harsh reality was that they were getting burned alive because they did not act the same as the rest of their social group[13]. With the processes of democratization and liberalization in the West during 20^th century and the surge of mass media on a global scale in 21^st century, public arena became open to some issues that are still taboo in certain cultures (like African, for example). Freedom of speech became an important part of every democratic country and therefore talk about topics previously hushed, started. If ‘childhood’ is a Western construct[14], than also the idea of learning through play is[15]. Girls and boys play together in our culture all the time and fights between boys are usually accepted (in a sense ‘boys will be boys’), but fights between girls?? Or even the unimaginable, a girl beating a boy?!? Questions like ‘where has our society gone to? Have we fallen so deep into the gutter that our good, nice, behaved girls are hooligans?!?’ have been set in the media and thus in the public debate. Sheila Batacharya explains the description of white women in Western societies by saying that all the discourses surrounding them are excluding the role of white women as agents of domination. In patriarchal discourses women are perceived as objects/property or as victims/resisters in gender-centric feminist discourse (adopted from page 63). ‘The narrative of girl violence is constructed around the idea that violent girls are a new phenomenon. This new trend is explained as either a result of eroding gender roles or due to violence against women that caused otherwise nonviolent white girls to be violent’ (Batacharya, p. 67) Similarly to moral panic[16] that surrounded the murder of an Indian teenager Reena Virk, there was a huge moral panic[17] and media scandal surrounding brutal killings of stray cats in my home country of Slovenia. Boys that mutilated these poor animals were all in their early teens and the public was shocked at the fact that these children come from ‘good families’, and that they were ‘good boys’ – what in the world caused this horrific behavior in them?! What was worse, they were not immigrant or deviant or any of the labels that could stereotypically ‘explain’ this sort of behavior. The media helped to start a huge moral panic, which was widely written about in the academia later on as well.[18] It is not only the gender that we should be focusing on when we talk about these issues, because we ‘fail to identify the insidious presence of white supremacy in the form of hegemonic femininity that can be found in some feminist theorizing and activism’ (Batacharya, 78).

-          Rape is a problem that has to do with male and female sexuality, but it also functions as a war strategy: the case of DR Congo

‘Rape and other forms of sexual violence continue to be major social problems worldwide. The global statistics on sexual violence against women are staggering. MacDonald (2000) noted that at least one in every five women may experience rape or attempted rape during her lifetime’ (Viki et al., 789).

But what is violence anyways? It is

'The intentional use of physical force or power, threatened or actual, against oneself, another person, or against a group or community, that either results in or has a high likelihood of resulting in injury, death, psychological harm, underdevelopment or deprivation. /…/ The inclusion of the word ‘‘power’’, in addition to the phrase ‘‘use of physical force’’, broadens the nature of a violent act and expands the conventional understanding of violence to include those acts that result from a power relationship, including threats and intimidation. /…/ Thus, ‘‘the use of physical force or power’’ should be understood to include neglect and all types of physical, sexual and psychological abuse, as well as suicide and other self-abusive acts' (WHO report, page 5).

Rape in particular has connections to most of the above: power, physical force, sex, threats, psychological damage etc. As we read in Pernilla Ouis’ study of Sweden, there is a lot more sexual abuse going on daily than we imagined. One of the misleading notions is apparently also that dark, secluded streets are more dangerous than our home environment, since the most sexual assaults according to this study happen behind four walls, even with a known perpetrator. But, in a case of rape in war, the violence gets an added dimension. The majority of sexual assault victims are (very) young and it has been extensively documented in recent civil conflicts (such as the one in Bosnia and Herzegovina), and has been used systematically as an instrument of torture or ethnic domination, which is an added category.

‘Now, with precedents set at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, in Tanzania, and the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, at The Hague, for mass rape, other acts such as sexual assault, sexual slavery, forced prostitution, forced sterilization, forced abortion, and forced pregnancy may qualify as crimes of torture, crimes against humanity, and even some as crimes of genocide’ (UNFPA)[19].

The UN troops in Congo do not even go into the most dangerous areas, since it is too dangerous even for them. Women in these rural remote areas are feeling hopeless and left to rot, being raped day after day and the cruelest crimes against humanity being committed on them. There are no men in these villages, and there is no sense of security what so ever[20]. One of Beasdale’s photos shows women and children hiding under a large tree during the day so they do not get spotted by airplanes. As he explained in one of his presentations, these women’s only chance to collect firewood and water is during the night, so they sit silently in the shade in order to survive. When the night falls, the real battle begins. On their miles long walks they are being intercepted by militias from both sides, that loot, torture and rape. And even available water is not necessarily safe and drinkable, so we can see how environmental problems as well are mostly affecting women in particular.  They are facing a struggle for basic survival, because the country does not have any structural security. The only way these people can stay remotely secure is to move to one of the refugee camps set by the UN and other NGOs. Huge slums are being created, where all the food and water needs to be delivered. Rape in war becomes a weapon on its’ own, a way to subjugate a nation, a means to morally crush women and men at the same time. But women are the ones that are suffering on multiple levels, from physical to psychological damages, to being excluded from the society as rape victims, to being tortured over and over again, having babies from rapes and trying to provide for them … Machism is not displayed in a ‘safe’ arena, like in a club where guys are showing off to girls and trying to be ‘manly’, to be cool – but it shifts from this patriarchic ideal of a country like Serbia, that has always thrived on manly symbols and armies and masculine ideals, to a mass of rapist soldiers that are raping Muslim Bosnian women in order to control them, to diminish them, to bring them to their knees both physically and mentally, in order to occupy their land.

-          Honor-related violence, honor killings, early marriage etc. Are there any differences or similarities between “normal” intimate partner violence and honor-related violence?

It feels like we are stepping backwards hundreds of years when we start discussing a situation like the one in Congo in present times. In the case of debating Western situation, as nicely presented in the report by Eva Lundgren The Captured Queen on violence of men in 'equal' Sweden, we go to details concerning gender equality. Lundgren for example researches the term controlling behavior, which 'includes such manifestations as jealousy, the man preventing the woman from seeing relatives and friends, calling her disparaging names or forbidding her to make her own decisions about money’ (Lundgren, 28). Would such category be even included in a research of Congo? I severely doubt it, but certainly not because I would discard such categories, but simply because there is much more to be done in terms of major shifts in society and culture on the way that locals perceive gender and practices (such as FGM) connected with this. Even implementation of basic Human Development Goals set by the UNDP is a major challenge for everyone involved, from UN troops to activists and other NGOs. The first steps would have to be first implementing the three UNDP goals, and then we could start going deeper and deeper into the problem. For example, the study Captured Queen also presents forms of violence conducted not by spouses, but by ‘boyfriends’[21]. Lundgren explains this term as ‘Boyfriend signifies a man with whom a woman has or has had a sexual relationship but not cohabited' (Lundgren, 41). This would be perceived as socially unacceptable in Congo. Therefore, we have to concentrate on different subcategories inside of one major overall topic of gender equality or violence against women, in order to fully grasp the situations that are present on different continents, surrounded with different situations and cultures.

One of such is honor-based society. Pernilla Ouis writes about the girls[22] in the Middle East that have been victims of gender-based sexual discrimination and violence. Such practices are early marriage, sexual abuse and honor violence. She set out to research the particular cultural mechanisms that underline this gender-based sexual violence. I shall concentrate only on honor violence. She claims that (in these societies) ‘children are threatened or exposed to violence in relation to codes of sexual morality and general behaviour’ (Ouis, 2009). Violence is not reserved solely to females, even though they prevail. We can see the connection between a patriarchal society and honor culture, since it is trying to control female behavior: ‘Girls(…)are denied leisure time, or to play with boys, as they are kept inside and are subjected to strong moral rules(…)playing games or bicycling are not always accepted for girls(…)because of the fear of ‘loosing virginity’ during such activities(…)they have to stay inside the homes and be ‘good girls’ (Ouis, 2009). This sets the rules of conduct up from an early age, thus females impose the appropriate behavior on themselves most of the time. A high percentage of girls themselves claimed that in order to not be punished for your misbehavior, one should just not misbehave. And if they do, they deserve punishment. Going hand in hand with this ‘the attribution of the blame for sexual assault and rape is on the victim, not on the offender. Sometimes the imprisonment of the victims is the only protection from the violence and killing in the name of honor(…)to imprison victims year after year is definitely a violation of these children’s rights’ states Ouis in her research. Main basis for this are honor values. If we compare those against Western idea(l)s, we can still see similarities – because we are talking about ideologies in both cases. Ouis cleverly states that honor values are actually honor ideology – because ‘ideology deals with mental constructions (i.e. values, traditions, ideas) related to power(…)oppressing particular groups while giving power to others based on gender and sexuality’. The main difference that I see here between forms of violence is that honor values are supported by the system and vice versus, so people are trying to live accordingly to what is expected of them. On the contrary, violence in a partner relationship in the West for example, would be considered deviant and outside of the norm of conduct, thus the ‘system’ would be helping and supporting the victim, not the perpetrator. Honor values thus give way for the whole structure of the patriarchal system to fall in place and maintain its’ position.

References

Alder, C. & Worrall, A. 2004, Girls' Violence: Myths and Realities. Albany, N.Y.:

State University of New York Press

- articles: Racism, "Girl violence," and the murder of Reena Virk by Batacharya, Sheila

(p. 61-81)      and

Coming out to play? Young women and violence on the street by Pearce, J. Jenny (p.131-151)

Brickman, B. J.2004, Body & Society: "Delicate" Cutters: Gendered Self-mutilation and Attractive Flesh in Medical Discourse (2004, vol. 10, issue 4, p. 87-111)

Cohen, S. 1972, Folk Devils and Moral Panics. London: MacGibbon and Kee

Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women, General Assembly, UN (1993). A/RES/48/104    http://www.unhchr.ch/huridocda/huridoca.nsf/%28symbol%29/a.res.48.104.en

Forty, A. 1986, Objects of Desire: Design and Society Since 1750. Cameron Books, London.

Green, A. 2008, Theory and History: Cultural History. Palgrave Macmillan, London.

Lundgren, E. et al. 2002, Captured Queen: Men's Violence Against Women in "Equal" Sweden, a prevalence study Umeå: Brottsoffermyndigheten

Ouis, P. 2009, Honourable Traditions? Honour Violence, Early Marriage and Sexual Abuse of Teenage Girls in Lebanon, the Occupied Palestinian Territories and Yemen
International Journal of Children's Rights, 2009, vol. 17, issue 3, p. 445-474

Tendayi, Viki G. et al. 2006, Hostile Sexism, Type of Rape, and Self-Reported Rape Proclivity Within a Sample of Zimbabwean Males          Violence Against Women (2006, vol 12, no 8, p 789-800)

World report on violence and health, Krug, E. G. et al. 2002,. Geneva : World Health Organization WHO http://www.who.int/violence_injury_prevention/violence/world_report/en/summary_en.pdf

Wiesner, E. M. 2000, Women and Gender in Early Modern Europe. Cambridge University Press, second edition, London.

UNFPA http://www.unfpa.org/gender/violence.htm

"Until the Violence Stops" Excerpt: Agnes Pareyio http://vimeo.com/6760260

FGM    http://www.who.int/reproductivehealth/topics/fgm/en/

Year of ratification of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (Congo is one of the signature countries) http://hdrstats.undp.org/en/indicators/71.html

One of the examples is a movie Girl, Interrupted from 1990 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0172493/ 

Bordo, S. 2003, Unbearable Weight: Feminism, Western Culture, and the Body. Tenth Anniversary Edition. University of California Press, London.

Bulc, M. 2002,  Serijski morilci mačk (Serial Cat-Killers) Journal of Communication Inquiry, Vol. 26, No. 3, 300-325 (2002) http://jci.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/26/3/300

Viki T., Chiroro P., Abrams D. et al. 2006, Violence Against Women: Hostile Sexism, Type of Rape, and Self-Reported Rape Proclivity Within a Sample of Zimbabwean Males

http://vaw.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/12/8/789

http://www.unicef.org/crc/  UN Convention of the Rights of the Child 

Happy Holidays AKA:

New Year … and all that shit!

Nothing much has changed in four months. It was 25 C when I left Novo mesto, and now we're snowed in, but otherwise same-old … After a week of seeing the people I wanted (or needed) to see, a few errands and I was ready to go into my hibernation-study mode.

The year is nearly over, but I feel like a new year has started for me already. The first week of December was so crucial, that this upcoming last one doesn’t stand a chance for being more important. Eye-opening events have made my 'early-New-Year's-day' first depressing (how appropriate!) and later revealing & emotional & life-changing. What a way to end the year, huh?!

My Christmas present came early this year, in a form of a harsh moral slap in the face – from myself! Certainly, the hand that was directing the motion of the slap might have come from outside sources, but that’s beside the point.

The point is that I felt like everything that I was lying (or denying) to myself about, came flying right at me with full speed, crashing down on my chest like Wild Coyote’s anvil. It sobered me up like a bucket of icy water on a hot summer’s day. I often heard about ‘eye-opening-experiences’, but when I think about it, it has never really happened to me before. Sure, realizations about others or certain events – but never about me!

How can one be surprised about one’s own self?!? Apparently, it happens. And when it does, there’s no way of preparing yourself for it. You might have a feeling, a certain notion, that shit’s about to hit the fan. But you’re denying it even when it starts smelling. And when it gets so stinky, that you really can’t handle it anymore, you decide to call the cleaning service. And they come, with vacuums-a-blazing, but the final verdict is even shittier: you gotta clean the crap by yourself!

While you clean the crap, there’s a lot to think about. The more you clean, the less it stinks. And you think, and you inter-debate, and listen to other people – because of course you feel like you need some help with all that shit! But it turns into an even bigger pile of crap and you finally realize that you really have to do it on your own.

And you do. It is hard work, it smells, it looks like it’s never going to end – just horrible work conditions … No health insurance either …

Anyways, it does end. Yes, there’s a light at the end of this shitty tunnel! 

Once it’s all cleaned up, it actually smells pretty nice; doesn’t look that dark anymore, either! 

I wish you all happy holidays & a successful start of the New Year! And remember, pick up that shovel and get that crap out of your driveway – New Year is gonna smell much nicer and look prettier! Mine just came 4 weeks early … 

xoxo, Tea

Politika vs stroka na kulturnem področju

Kulturna politika v Sloveniji bi se morala bolj zanašati na stroko - vendar naj bo stroka del političnega telesa, ki bo sprejemalo odločitve

Osebnostno in v samem jedru delovanja se kulturniki in politiki razlikujejo na več področjih. Ena od teh razlik se nahaja v podobnem jedru delovanja obeh skupin. Obe naj bi si prizadevale za javno dobro; le da si kulturniki želijo različnih kulturnih vsebin za vse državljane, ker je to del ustavnih pravic vsakega posameznika in ohranja kvaliteto življenja – politiki pa preko proračuna in birokratskih ovir pregledajo možnosti izvajanja določenih vsebin. Denarja na koncu vedno zmanjka za kulturo, češ 'saj imate že eno predstavo Dostojevskega, zakaj bi rabili še Tolstoja?' Seveda banaliziram, vendar si je tak ugled Kulturno ministrstvo 'prigaralo' v zadnjem preteklem mandatu. Nonšalantnost kulturnega ministra, močno oslabljeno delovanje filmskega področja, zmanjšanje ali ukinitev finančne podpore določenim uspešnim kulturnim projektom in zaprtje Kinodvora so le utrinki odnosa do kulture v Sloveniji.

Včasih bi politiko najraje kar odtrgali od kulture, vendar popolna ločitev kulture od države ni možna, saj gre le logistično gledano za prevelik projekt, da bi ga ločili na manjše sklope. Poleg tega pa bi s tako dejansko privatizacijo kulture prišli do še bolj tržno naravnanega konteksta kulture v Sloveniji, kar lahko primerjamo recimo s pritiskom oglaševalcev v medijih. Medij, ki je odvisen od oglaševalca, do njega ne bo kritičen; v kulturi bi se finančni uspeh prenesel v smer komercialne kulture, ki bi poplavila trg. Že danes, ko naj bi bila kultura podpirana z javnimi sredstvi in je na kulturnem področju veliko 'resnejših' vsebin, se te ali pojavljajo z isto vsebino v različnih izvedbah ali pa gre za iste avtorje z različnimi deli.

Za alternativo je že danes premalo prostora, kar bi morala urediti kulturna politika - vendar s pomočjo stroke in skozi nek javni dialog. Definitivno bi potrebovali (in potrebujemo!) tudi specializirane menedžerje v kulturnih ustanovah. Podoben premik ali poseg je bil prevzem Kinodvora, sicer s strani ljubljanske občine, ki zdaj končno spet ponuja kvalitetne filmske vsebine. Če pa bi trg prevzel vajeti kulture v Sloveniji, pa bi dobili nove in nove predstave Moških in Žensk, le njihovo število in vloge bi rahlo spreminjali; ker se te vsebine pač prodajajo. In s tem seveda ni nič narobe, vendar bi morali ravno zato pospešiti zarjavelo kolesje slovenske kulturne politike, da bi nam ponudila različne in kvalitetne kulturne vsebine.

Zaprtje Kinodvora, 4. junij 2008:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciN7k4BcJFI

(www.vest.si) Kinodvor v Azilu:

Ob osmem marcu ...

Neenakopravnost žensk v sodobni družbi predstavlja pereč problem, ki se ga mednarodna skupnost vedno bolj zaveda. Kljub splošni volilni pravici, pravici do samoodločanja o številu otrok, enakopravnosti na delovnem položaju in v družbi so ženske drugorazredne članice skupnosti. Kljub boju za enakopravnost pred več sto leti, ženske še vedno niso enakopravne članice skupnosti. Z analizo primarnih in sekundarnih virov bom opozorila na nekatere kršitve človekovih pravic in še konkretneje, pravic žensk.

Človekove osnovne pravice so podprte s Splošno deklaracijo človekovih pravic, ki je bila pravna podlaga  za Mednarodni pakt o državljanskih in političnih pravicah ter Mednarodni pakt o ekonomskih, socialnih in kulturnih pravicah. Pravice žensk natančneje določajo Konvencija Združenih narodov o eliminaciji diskriminacije proti ženskam¹ in Konvencija proti nasilju nad ženskami.²

Kljub konvencijam in zakonom pa je nasilje nad ženskami in otroci vseprisotno v naši družbi. Samo v Sloveniji je bilo po podatkih policije v petih letih, od 1998 do 2003, »izvršenih skupno 890 kaznivih dejanj zoper spolno nedotakljivost. Registriranih je bilo 454 primerov posilstev in 397 primerov spolnega nasilja nad žensko, kar je povprečno nekaj več kot 150 prijavljenih³ dejanj posilstva in spolnega nasilja na leto« (Černič Istenič in dr. 2003, 67).

Razkol med zapisanimi pravili in dejanskostjo je vse večji z vedno večjo vlogo žensk v skupnosti. S »pravico do življenja, svobode in varnosti« (Splošna deklaracija človekovih pravic[1], 3. člen) se seveda vsi strinjamo, da »nihče ne bo podvržen mučenju ter nehumanemu in ponižujočemu odnosu« (Splošna deklaracija človekovih pravic, 5. člen) je 'človeško'.

Da pa so ljudje v vsakdanjih in kriznih situacijah lahko ne več 'najpametnejša žival', temveč le še žival, se vsakodnevno kaže na področju kršenja pravic žensk in otrok. Mučenje je »kakršnokoli dejanje, ki povzroča psihično ali fizično bolečino in trpljenje« (Konvencija proti mučenju in ostalim nehumanim, ponižujočim odnosom ali kazni, 1. člen), enako ravnanje je neopravičljivo tudi v času »vojne ali grožnje vojne, notranjepolitične ali kake druge javne nestabilnosti« (prav tam, 2. člen).

Še posebej v čustvenih, stresnih in nevarnih situacijah se pokaže pravi odraz družbe in njen odnos do žensk, saj so »spolne vloge pogosto imele smrtonosne posledice, ki so bile analogne smrtonosnim posledicam rasnih, verskih in razrednih predsodkov« (Warren 1985, 22). V času genocida v Ruandi leta 1994 so, kot pravi Gilles Courtemanche (2003, 213)¹ »/m/oške ubijali hitro, s strelom ali mačeto, ženske pa niso imele te pravice. Bile so mučene, pohabljene, posiljene; pustili so jih poginiti kot živali«.²

Grozovita dejanja, ki jih ne opraviči niti izbruh vojne, pa se v manj opaznih oblikah dogajajo tudi v naši družbi. Zaradi »ženskega boja za osvoboditev (npr. na spolnem, intimnem in ljubezenskem področju) in enakost (npr. na ekonomskem in političnem področju)« naj bi bile izzvane »različne nasilne reakcije nekaterih moških, ki se ne ‘znajdejo’ v novih razmerah (oz. v razmerjih z ‘novimi’ ženskami, ki nočejo več igrati tradicionalnih družbenih, spolnih, zakonskih ali družinskih vlog« (Kanduč 1999, 36). Vedno več je nasilja v domačem okolju štirih sten, kjer se žrtve počutijo ujete, nemočne in nezmožne spremeniti situacijo. Vendar one niso edine, tudi zakonske avtoritete priznavajo nemoč pri reševanju družinskega nasilja.³

[2]

Slovenska zakonodaja na tem področju močno šepa. Nesprejemljivo je, da je najnižja zaporna kazen za dejanja zoper spolno nedotakljivost šest mesecev. Popolnoma bi bilo potrebno spremeniti trenutno zakonodajo⁴, ki trenutno med drugim sporoča tudi, da je izsiljevanje včasih koristno. Dikcija je namreč sledeča: »Kdor prisili osebo drugega ali istega spola k spolnemu občevanju tako, da uporabi silo ali zagrozi z neposrednim napadom na življenje ali telo, se kaznuje z zaporom od enega do desetih let«, kdor pa stori popolnoma isto kaznivo dejanje, ki je seveda hkrati kršenje osnovnih človekovih pravic, s tem da žrtvi »zagrozi, da bo o njej ali njenih bližnjih odkril, kar bi škodovalo njeni ali njihovi časti ali dobremu imenu, ali da bo njej ali njenim bližnjim povzročil veliko premoženjsko škodo« (Kazenski zakonik, 180. člen), dobi kazen od šestih mesecev do petih let – se pravi pol manj, če je storilec iznajdljiv.¹

Poleg družinskega nasilja pa se zaradi vedno večje odprtosti mej povečuje trgovina z belim blagom, ki se ponovno nanaša na vprašanje ženskih pravic, saj so te poleg otrok najpogosteje njene žrtve, ki so v mnogih primerih prisiljene v prostitucijo. Boj za ženske pravice in emancipacijo pa je privedel tudi do tega, da se odpira vprašanje prostitucije kot oblike legalnega dela. Zahteva po klasifikaciji prostitucije kot obliki dela izhaja iz zahtev po »ženski enakopravnosti na delovnem mestu in normalnih delovnih pogojev« (Aradau 2006, 85). Tu pa se odpre kompleksno vprašanje legalizacije prostitucije (in s tem posredno tudi trgovine z belim blagom v tem primeru), kar je z vidika varovanja človekovih pravic nedopustno.²[3] Čeprav ni natančnih statistik o trgovini s človeškim blagom, posredni dokazi in raziskave kažejo, da je več sto tisoč – če ne par milijonov – ljudi premeščenih  na leto. Strokovnjaki so skupnega mnenja, da gre pri tej trgovini v večini primerov za ženske in deklice (glej Jordan 2002, 32).

Zaključki mednarodnih organizacij so jasni: osnovne človekove pravice in pravice žensk morajo biti omogočene, ženske morajo imeti večjo vlogo pri političnem in družbenem odločanju. Trenutno ima Slovenija več izobraženih žensk kot moških, kljub temu pa je v parlamentu samo okoli 11 % žensk, na ministrskih stolčkih pa jih sedi skoraj pol manj (povzeto po UNDP). Samo sprememba družbenega konsenza bo dosegla implementacijo človekovih pravic in zmanjšanje strukturnega nasilja³, zato moramo v družbo vpeljati spremembe, prekiniti strukturno nasilje ter doseči »žensko emancipacijo in enakopravnost v vseh sferah družbe, tudi pri procesu odločanja in dostopu do moči, kar so osnove za enakopravnost, razvoj in mir« (Pekinška deklaracija, 14. člen).

Luknja namesto nove narodne knjižnice

Liverpool kot Kulturna prestolnica 2008

(foto: http://www.bbc.co.uk/insideout/content/image_gallery/northwest_s12liverpool _capital_culture_gallery.shtml)

Tisti, ki ne potrebujemo nekoga, da nam ovrednoti slovenske kulturne entitete, se lahko na lastne oči prepričamo že odkar pomnim (sem letnik trgatve '85), le par korakov od Križevniškega samostana in Plečnikovih Križank o vrednotah, ki nam jih ponazarja slovenska kulturna politika. Jama namesto nove Narodne in univerzitetne knjižnice, železni panoji, ki popisani z grafiti pričajo o svoji trajnosti in hkrati zastirajo poglede na luknjo v srcu Ljubljane.

     Pogled na 'gradbišče (foto: http://www.delo.si/assets/media/picture/iman/2006_01/sz5_nuk2_gradbisce.jpg)

Najprej naj bi šlo za ustavitev del zaradi arheološkega izkopavanja, nato je vse obstalo. Če bi se odgovorne danes vprašalo, zakaj narodna knjižnica še nima temeljev, bi bil izgovor verjetno recesija – če bi se koga vprašalo. Pa se ne. Luknja je tam, med Francosko ambasado in Mrakom, luknja je tudi v medijih in političnih debatah. Edini premik so verjetno na novo pritrjene čudovite fotografije Ljubljane, ki prekrivajo železje in grafite. Vendar se pozornemu mimoidočemu oko še vedno ustavi in zazre skozi luknje v panojih, ki ponujajo prikriti pogled na razdejanje, ki zeva ob Slovenski cesti.

        Pročelje Plečnikovega NUK-a (foto: http://img.siol.net/08/319/633622763803166106_nuk1.jpg)

Ponovno ne gre za problem mesta, temveč za dolžnost obeh, države in mesta, da uporabnikom (državljanom in davkoplačevalcem) zgradi pričakovano novo narodno knjižnico. Vendar politične prioritete ležijo nekje drugje – recimo v izgradnji medicinskih objektov?

Gradnja in stanje Pediatrične klinike (foto: zurnal24.si in 24ur.com)

In vendar so se enaki (ali celo isti) zapleti  recimo s pediatrično kliniko pojavljali že tudi pred osmimi leti, ko smo kdaj z razredom Srednje oblikovne šole hodili skicirat na Grad. Ob jesenskih popoldnevih, ko se drevesa počasi znebijo listja, se tam zgoraj vidi čudovita ljubljanska panorama. Vidi se tudi luknja imaginarne knjižnice. Res pa je, da je opazna le, če pririneš na grajski grič ali kukaš skozi luknje v panojih.

Nekako podobno se obnaša tudi naša kulturna politika. Potrebno se je riniti, iskati alternative (navadno v privatnem sektorju) ali pa moledovati za izvedbo projektov. Če ti darežljivo odstopijo košček sredstev, moraš postati njen prijatelj, zagovornik. Politika je tvoj mecen in ti si obrtnik, ki zanjo ustvarja. Tako 'diktaturo kulture' je vpeljal minister Vasko Simoniti in nas s takim načinom popeljal stoletja v preteklost; zdaj pa je na vrsti ministrica Majda Širca, da kulturo ponovno vpelje v vsakodnevni javni in politični diskurz. 

Ljubljanski župan Zoran Jankovič in takratni kulturni minister Vasko Simoniti ob maketi nove stavbe NUK

(foto: http://www.delo.si/assets/media/picture/iman/2008_03/sz5_nuk2.blaz.samec.jpg)

In ker kultura in umetnost nista obrtni, je rezultat politike prejšnje oblasti marginaliziranje kulture in še nadaljnje ločevanje znotraj kulture same; ločevanje na elitno in komercialno, moderno in tradicionalno, črno in belo - sivega pa ni. Ravno odtenki sivin pa so tisti, ki nam lahko pomagajo razumeti ekstremno črne in najsvetlejše delčke.

Kulturo bi morali obravnavati kot barve. Slikar nikoli ne bo nanesel tovarniško namešane barve iz tube direktno na platno, ampak se bo z njo na igral, jo mešal z drugimi, opazoval, o njej razmišljal (!) in jo nazadnje pozorno nanesel kot del svoje umetnine, kjer bo zaživela. Tudi kulturo je treba namešati previdno in z občutkom po potrebah ljudi. Ljudje nismo na ekstremih barvnih lestvic, ampak smo vsak zase kombinacija barv, odtenkov in vsak je namešan po svoje. Naloga države pa je, da te odtenke tudi ponudi.

Pobiranje prstnih odtisov samo v filmih

Vse pogostejše kraje v študentskih domovih v Ljubljani – Kdo je odgovoren za nastalo škodo? – Študentje se v lastnem domovanju ne počutijo več varne

- Ljubljana, 25. januar 2009

Pogled na notranje dvoriše Litostrojskega doma

foto: Tea Durmić

Po problemih z garjami se nadloge prebivalcev študentskih domov v Ljubljani kar ne končajo. Kraje v domovih so namreč vedno bolj pogoste, tatovi pa postajajo čedalje bolj drzni, kot namigujeta zadnja dva primera v najdražjem študentskem domu na Litostrojski pa razlog za preplah ni le materialna škoda, temveč sam način vdora. Lopov je namreč s ključem odklenil sobo in študentki Nini odnesel profesionalni fotoaparat, Miji pa je neznanec kar dvakrat vstopil v sobo. Toda ta neobičajni lopov ni ničesar odnesel, kvečjemu dodal, saj je za sabo pustil pepelnik poln cigaretnih ogorkov, prižigal pa si je tudi svečke. 

Zagotovo pa s tem ni pričaral romantike za preostale prebivalce doma, ki so zgroženi nad dejstvom, da se lahko kljub posebno zaščitenim ključem, varnostni službi, ki jo plačujejo, in nadzornimi kamerami nepridiprav mirno sprehaja od sobe do sobe. Generalni ključ, ki odpira vsa domska vrata, imata le hišnik, ki je takoj zamenjal ključavnice omenjenih sob, in Uprava študentskih domov, ki pa ne daje izjav iz »varnostnih razlogov«. Ključi sob pa naj bi imeli posebno zaščito, ki onemogoča kopiranje. Res pa je, da je s ključi podobno kot z računalniškimi hekerji: če je mojster dober, lahko premaga vsako zaščito.

Ključi s posebno zaščito

O krajah je bila obveščena tudi ljubljanska policija, ki za izjave ni bila dosegljiva. Sicer so opravili pregled in napisali zapisnik, študentje pa so njihovo delo ocenili kot površno in neresno. Študentki Patriciji in njeni sostanovalki je neznanec vlomil skozi balkonska vrata, si v njun kovček pospravil prenosnika in ostalo računalniško opremo v sobi ter mirno odkorakal. Ko je policiste prosila za pregled posnetkov na varnostnih kamerah, so jo odslovili, češ naj se jih loti sama, na vprašanje, zakaj s stekla ne poberejo prstnih odtisov, pa je dobila ciničen odgovor: »Deklica, to se dela samo v filmih!«

Uprava je oškodovancem sporočila, da niso odgovorni za nastale probleme in jih napotila na policijo ter dodala, da je »vsak študent ali delavec dolžan prvenstveno skrbeti za svoje stvari in se držati navodil iz domskega reda«. Tako pa se poraja vprašanje, kdo lahko študentom v takih primerih sploh pomaga. Nemočni in ogroženi pa se počutijo tudi ostali prebivalci domov, saj se v lastnih sobah več ne počutijo varne, in kot dodaja ena od sogovornic: »Ali bomo res morali počakati, da nekoga fizično poškodujejo, da se bo kdo od odgovornih zganil?«

Tea Durmić

Uporabne povezave

http://www.litostroj.sd-lj.si/  

Spletna stran študentskega doma

http://www.stud-dom-lj.si/si/

Uradna stran Študentskih domov

in

Uporabne informacije:

Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LllTRn303hE&feature=channel_page

Garje v študentskih domovih

http://24ur.com/novice/slovenija/studentje-brez-strehe-nad-glavo.html

Začetni zapleti z domom Litostroj

http://24ur.com/novice/slovenija/prevzeli-domove-brez-kljucev.html

Prevzem doma Litostroj

http://www.genspot.com/video-24193/vlamljanje-kljucavnic-oz-hekanje-kljucavnic.aspx

vsak vdor je mogoč, če le veš, kako …

http://carli-online.tv/?showid=fc0a1327618e3e21023562267f77a134

Razmere v Ljubljanskih Študentskih domovih

PKK, Kurdi, Turčija in mediji

Poskušam se navadit na visoko razvito turško nacionalističnost, pa mi nekako ne gre. Trenutno me dogodki na ulicah spominjajo na dogajanje med našo desetdnevno vojno in na posnetke iz Jugoslavije. Množice ljudi na ulicah, ki v duhu bratstva in enotnosti demonstrirajo za vojno proti PKK. Si lahko predstavljate kolono ljudi od ljubljanske Drame do Bavarca, ki nosi slovenske zastave in zahteva napad na neko teroristično skupino? Nepredstavljivo, kajne? Tukaj je to postal del vsakdana. Priča sem bila demonstracijam, v katerih se je taka kolona valila od centra Eskisehirja do občinske stavbe in se dokončno ustavila tam, na trgu pred Atatürkovim kipom. Po poročanju tujih agencij se podobno, vendar še bolj množično, dogaja tudi v Istanbulu, Izmirju in Ankari. Skandirajo parole, ki v skrajšani verziji sporočajo, da naj se preneha prelivanje krvi turških vojakov in dol s PKK.

Začetek kolone vodijo moški srednjih let, katerih globoki glasovi v meni prebudijo srh. Sledijo študentje, srednješolci in nazadnje še ženske in osnovnošolski otroci. Ne morem si pomagati, pogled na otroke, ki se ne zavedajo političnih razmer in poslušajo samo mnenja svojih razgretih staršev me razjezi. O trenutni situaciji poskušam spraševati vse, ki mi dajo priložnost: cimre, prijatelje, sošolce, profesorje, novinarje. Dobivam zelo skope odgovore, vendar še vseeno nadaljujem svojo mini raziskavo 'javnega mnenja'. Poskušam zajeti vse, različne starosti, spol, politično pripadnost, poskušam najti nekoga, ki bi bil proti napadu – vendar take osebe še nisem našla. Mnenje ljudi je odsev glasovanja v parlamentu v Ankari 17. oktobra, ko je za napad glasovalo 507 članov, proti pa le pičlih 19. Varira le mnenje glede Kurdov in njihove povezanosti s PKK. Na faksu mi vsi zatrjujejo, da PKK seveda ni isto kot Kurdi ter da bo ta napad pripomogel tudi k svobodi kurdskega ljudstva. Razlagajo mi, koliko so Kurdi pretrpeli v zadnjih desetletjih, veliko tudi zato, ker jih ljudje povezujejo s teroristično skupino in ne ločijo civilistov od PKK. Podpirajo napad med drugim tudi zato, ker zaradi PKK pada slaba luč na vse Kurde. Na našem faksu študira tudi veliko Kurdov in tudi oni so za napad. Nato sem pa še isti večer seznanjena z drugo stranjo.

Vse se je začelo, ko sem si kupila lepo rdeče-belo ruto s posebnim vezenjem in cofki.

Vedela sem, da ta ruta nekaj pomeni, vendar se nisem obremenjevala s tem, kaj točno. Prvič sem si jo zavezala ravno na dan največjih demonstracij in šla z njo v šolo. Pogledi so me po ulicah spremljali že navsezgodaj zjutraj, ampak nisem reagirala. Ob kavi pa mi sošolke povejo, da je to kurdska ruta, ki pa je značilna tudi za vzhodni, bolj konzervativni del Turčije, medtem ko je ruta, ki jo nosijo podporniki PKK rumeno-rdeče-zelena, tako kot kurdska zastava. Po dolgem zasliševanju z moje strani so mi zagotovile, da zaradi te rute ne bom imela nobenih problemov, saj 'PKK in Kurdi niso isto'. Na poti domov sem opazovala reakcije ljudi in predvsem starejši ljudje so me gledali z odobravanjem, nek starejši prodajalec v naši trgovini me je celo pohvalil, češ da je lepo, da kot tujka nosim to ruto.

Tako sem se pomirjena dobila z znanci v njihovem stanovanju. Ko sem vstopila, me je eden od fantov takoj napadel, zakaj nosim to svinjarijo, da če si želim, da me nekdo pretepe, zakaj izzivam itd. Ko sem ga prosila, če mi lahko podrobneje razloži svojo reakcijo, se je začel pravi šok: PKK in Kurdi so ista stvar, vse je treba pobit oziroma z njegovimi besedami – 'prerezat vratove', nato se je začel dreti parole iz demonstracij in kazat znak s prsti

ki pomeni 'volk', kar po turško pomeni Kurd … Razložil je še, da ima Turčija zaradi 'teh ljudi' že skozi celo zgodovino same probleme, da so izdajalci, ker so se v začetku prejšnjega stoletja borili na turški strani, potem pa zahtevali nepredstavljivo v zameno: svojo lastno državo. In da se to ne bo nikoli uresničilo …

Spoznala sem še drugo stran, in to od ljudi, za katere si tega nikoli ne bi mislila. Vedno nasmejani, žurerski in prijazni ljudje so se v sekundi spremenili v čiste nacionaliste. Dodal je še, da naj bi večina Kurdov, ki živijo v Turčiji, glasovala za eno od treh najmočnejših strank, MPH, ki je desničarska nacionalistična stranka, ki naj bi podpirala PKK, Kurdi naj bi še vedno upali na svojo državo, ki jim jo lahko omogoči le PKK … Veliko nepotrjenih informacij, ki pa so zasidrane globoko v nekaterih glavah.

Zelo naivno primerjam situacijo v bivši Jugi in našo osamosvojitev z ustanovitvijo Kurdistana (priznam zmanjkovalo mi je materiala za provociranje …). Zakaj Turki ne odstopijo dela svojega ozemlja za Kurdistan in končajo dolgoletno nasilje ter težnje po ustanovitvi Kurdistana? Dobim zgrožene poglede in razlage, da bi s tem uničili avtonomijo turškega ozemlja ter da bi potem še vsi ostali hoteli košček Turčije. Kdo so ti 'ostali' ne izvem, ker se debata preusmeri na zgroženost glede nedavne izjave Condoleezze Rice, ko je prvič izjavila ime 'Kurdistan'. Turki že tako sovražijo ameriško politiko in njihove ukrepe, da se zdaj počutijo ogrožene ob ameriški omembi države, ki fizično ne obstaja. Menijo, da se začenja neka velika spletka Amerike, da bi pomagali ustanoviti Kurdistan. Vprašam jih še, kaj si mislijo o napovedanem glasovanju v ameriškem parlamentu, da bi napade leta 1915 na Armence uradno označili kot genocid? Nihče mi noče odgovoriti v angleščini, vsi samo govorijo drug čez drugega v turščini, prevod s profesorjeve strani pa je: vsi imajo zelo močna čustva glede te teme! Aja, ne res?!? Očitno so res močna, če se jih pet minut ni dalo ustaviti …

Medtem premier Recep Tayyip Erdoğan grozi Iraku z uvedbo ekonomskega embarga, na njegove grožnje pa je uradni Irak odgovoril, da bodo v tem primeru prenehali Turčiji dostavljati bencin, kar bi bila zaradi že tako visokih cen bencina prava katastrofa. Erdoğan je na sestanku v Romuniji prav tako pozval voditelje evropskih držav, da naj predajo kakršnekoli voditelje PKK, ki bi delovali v njihovih državah. Izrazil je mnenje, da ta napad ne bo vplival na nadaljevanje turških pogovorov o vstopu v Evropsko unijo in hkrati prosil Anglijo za podporo pri tem napadu, ne vem pa, kakšno: politično, ekonomsko, vojaško? Prejšnji teden pa je njegov telefonski pogovor z Georgom Bushem v Turčiji sprožil govorice, da Erdoğan prosi za Bushevo dovoljenje glede napada na PKK, kar je odločno zanikal in zatrdil, da Turčija ne rabi nikogaršnjega dovoljenja za napad.

Turški mediji so izrazito enostranski, opazila nisem niti enega poročila, ki bi kakorkoli dopuščal diplomatsko rešitev problema, temveč kvečjemu podpihujejo že tako razgreta nacionalna čustva. To so mi potrdili tudi novinarski kolegi, ki redno spremljajo dogajanje v medijih. Popolnoma sem bila šokirana tudi na posebnem predavanju pri predmetu Televizijske novice z francoskim gostom Yvesom Renardom, ki predava na univerzi za novinarstvo v Lillu. Imeli smo simulacijo televizijskega uredništva in poskušali narediti izbor novic, ki bi jih objavili v večernih poročilih. Študentje četrtega in tretjega letnika novinarstva so ga resno spraševali, zakaj sploh potrebujemo recimo odgovor oziroma posnetek reakcije iraškega premierja na grožnje turškega, kaj je novinarska objektivnost in zakaj je potrebna, ter zakaj naj ne bi podajali svojega mnenja v poročilih? Najprej sem mislila, da so vprašanja komično-ironična, po 30 minutah plazu takih vprašanj pa je postalo kristalno jasno, zakaj turški mediji poročajo tako, kot poročajo. S Pino si ob začetku trenutnih demonstracij in omemb o napadu nisva mogli razložiti, kako lahko nek novinar tako požre vse, kar so ga naučili na faksu in zanemari svoje vrednote do te mere, da poroča skladno z vsako politično izjavo turške strani. Zdaj sem ugotovila, da namen tukajšnjih medijev sploh ni biti kritičen do politikov, ampak da so novinarji nekakšni PRovci vlade … Še bolj presenetljivo je, da je kvaliteta študija tukaj na zelo visokem nivoju, na žalost pri veliko predmetih še na zelo višjem kot v Sloveniji, ampak tale učna ura me je čisto šokirala …

Po drugi strani pa je še vseeno razvito kritino razmišljanje, recimo glede napovedi o zvišanju cen elektrike, ogrevanja (se pravi plina), alkohola in cigaret, o čemer smo se vsi strinjali, da država uvaja podražitve ravno v času, ko večino medijskega prostora zavzemajo novice o PKK in Iraku, tako da ljudje niso pozorni na take 'malenkosti'. Zanimiv je tudi podatek, da vlada ukinja finančno pomoč invalidom, medtem ko so začeli graditi novo predsedniško palačo …

Fanta 'mam!!!

Moja cimra si je zadala nalogo, da mi predstavi vse samske mladce v Eskisehirju. Kljub mojem nenehnem ponavljanju, da imam fanta, se v našem stanovanju že prvi dan zvrsti kopica postavnih mladcev, ki si poskušajo izboljšat angleščino. Ko že petdesetič razlagam, da Slovenia ni Slovakia (hvala naši vladi za izbiro tako učinkovitih simbolov za predstavitev Slovenije v svetu, I Feel the Love Too!) ugotovim, da nekaj v tem stanovanju ne štima. Ne samo, da me je strah stopiti v banjo zaradi strahu pred glivicami in glede na cimrino spolno življenje hepatitisi Ž, N, J, zdi se mi, da tu živi malo več ljudi kot imam 'uraden' podatek.

Po neprespani noči na kavču, ker smo imeli na obisku 15 ljudi, me najprej okoli štirih zbudi možak, ki hodi po mestnih ulicah in nabija na ogromen boben, zraven pa se zverinsko dere meni nerazumljive stvari. Bobnar je tu zaradi Ramazana, ki je trenutno v polnem teku. Ljudje mu na ulici dajejo denar, študentje pa bi ga z visokih balkonov in oken zalili z ostanki hrane, saj je spanje v centru ob takem hrupu praktično nemogoče. Hrup njegovega okoli vratu obešenega bobna odmeva več ulic stran in to ravno takrat, ko se klubi zaprejo in se mestni utrip umiri. Končno zaspim, sledi pa nov zvočni šok - ob petih zjutraj me zbudi jutranja maša, ki se oglaša z bližnjega minareta. Vsi še spijo in ko si v dnevno sobo odnesem moj prvi pravi turški čaj na kavču spijo trije tipi, ki jih nisem še nikoli videla. Poleg njih so vse moje stvari, laptop, foto, dokumenti, denar, v odprtih kovčkih pa se je udobno namestil zlati prinašalec Kahul. Oblečem si trenirko polno rumenih dlak in se odpravim raziskovat mesto.

Eskisehir se prebuja v nov sončen dan, jutranje meglice se dvigajo nad oddaljenimi gorami. Meščani hitijo na svoja delavna meste, šole, fakultete … Jaaa, itak!

Ura je sedem zjutraj in v mestu, kjer se uradi in trgovine odprejo ob devetih so ulice polne dostavnih tovornjakov, parkiranih starih avtov in pometačev. Gledajo me kot da sem padla z Marsa, 'navadni' ljudje se doma ravnokar prebujajo in kuhajo čaj, kavo, turški zajtrk. Ulice so polne mačjih brezdomcev in z veseljem brskajo po vrečah smeti, ki jih prebivalci ne odlagajo v smetnjake, temveč na pločnike. Bolj zavaljenih mačk še v življenju nisem videla …

Pravijo, da je vsak začetek težak. Nisem pa si mislila, da bo moj začetek najprej nevaren nato pa smrdeč

Ob treh zjutraj po turskem času sva s kolegico Pino prileteli na istanbulsko letališče Ataturk in ugotovili, da sicer ugodna cena leta z Adrio v Istanbul pomeni 4urno čakanje na podzemni vlak, ki pelje do glavne avtobusne postaje (turško otogar), od koder sva imeli bus za najino končno destinacijo – Eskisehir.

Otovorjeni s 40imi kilogrami prtljage (vsaka seveda) sva se počili na tla pred vhodom na letališče, ki je bilo ob tej uri polno zdolgočasenih delavcev, in to po večini moških. Najprej so naju hoteli ogoljufati in naju za ceno 15 evrov peljati na avtobusno postajo, kjer bi tako ali tako morali čakati na prvi bus, ki pelje ob šestih. Očitno je vame udarila Pinina gorenjska kri, saj sva odločno zavrnili ponudbo in se predali usodi.

Medtem ko sem ljubosumno opazovala turiste, ki so jih na letališču pobrali taksiji in odpeljali v udobne hotele, se nama je pridružil moški srednjih let, ki se je s svojo polomljeno angleščino na vsak način poskušal pogovarjat z nama. Lahko si predstavljate, da ga po nekajurnem letu in spoznanju, da postelja še zdaleč ni blizu, nisva bili ravno veseli. Ko je po polurni ignoranci še vedno čvekal, sva si našli novo družbo: študenta iz Prage, ki je že 10 ur čakal svojega prijatelja, ki je po pomoti z drugim prevoznikom pristal na drugem carigrajskem letališču, na čisto drugem koncu 16 milijonskega mesta. Ko nama je povedal še, da potujeta v Sirijo, kjer študira njegova punca, se mi je najin Eskisehir zdel vedno bližje.

Končno smo dočakali podzemni vlak, na katerega nas je uslužbenec spustil zastonj (ne vem, ali je temu botrovala jutranja zaspanost ali se je po turško kaj pokvarilo). Najina vožnja pa bi kmalu lahko postala najdražja v mojem življenju.

Tisti tip je bil še vedno z  nami in nam prijazno povedal, na kateri postaji moramo izstopiti. Dve postaji pred našim izstopom pa vstopijo trije čudni tipi, ki mu samo nekaj rečejo in pogledajo proti nam. Medtem ko so s hrbtom obrnjeni proti nam, kmalu opazim, da nas in našo prtljago opazujejo v šipi (hah, mami, zdaj si verjetno vesela, da gledam vse tiste 'neumne' filme, ne?!?). Moj s holivudskimi kriminalkami naspidiran čut mi pravi, da nekaj smrdi. Povem Pini, ki instinktno k sebi privije laptop, jaz pa se oklepam svojega novega fotoaparata. Že vidim, kako se bom morala po Jackie-Chanovsko braniti, ko model opazi, da ga gledam in takoj pogleda stran. Izstopna postaja se približuje, in najin Čeh nama prijazno pomaga prijeti prtljago (seveda, ker je tip in s primanjkljajem šestega čuta ni opazil ničesar čudnega …) in takrat se potencialni roparji prestrašijo in prvi odidejo z vlaka. Nas čudaški kompanjon nas še vedno zasleduje (joj, Vobič bi bil navdušen nad mojim kronološkim redom …), nekako se ga znebimo, s Pino se posloviva od prijaznega Čeha in si čim hitreje poskušava najti avtobus.

Postaja zgleda kot tržnica v Bihaću, vendar še bolj pisana (ja, tudi to je mogoče), seveda sva spet edini ženski in še sami s skupaj 80imi kilogrami prtljage. Can anybody say: easy target?!?

Kupiva karto in končno sva na busu, ki je bolj udoben kot naši mednarodni prevozniki. Ne mine pol ure in že nam ponudijo čaj, piškotke, vodo … Ko se nabutava z vsem, kar nama dajo, se zacne 6urna vožnja čez hribe in doline proti Eskisehirju.

Istanbul in njegovo predmestje še ohranita mojo pozornost, nato pa dolgočasna pokrajina in prečuta noč naredita svoje. Zbudim se nekje sredi hribovij in malih zapuščenih vasic s tremi hišami in štirimi kozami. Glede na to, da prihajam iz bivše Juge, in ker v naši malii državici še vedno divja vojna in nimamo centralne kurjave (predstave nekaterih Erazmovcev, ki so prišli na FDV), me seveda ne bi smelo biti strah mest, kjer so vse ženske pokrite z rutami in imajo po deset otrok, medtem ko na faksu itak nihče ne govori angleško in kjer se moram paziti, ker me lahko na vsakem koraku nekdo oropa ali napade (dobronamerna opozorila pred mojim odhodom v Turčijo).

Prispemo do nekega velikega mesta, je to mogoče Eskisehir?! Na levi se dviguje ogromen napis Andolu University – to je zihr to! Ponovno se z vso prtljago zbaševa z busa in tokrat čakava na avtobusni postaji. Ob pogledu na najino prtljago Pinin novi cimer prasne v smeh in vpraša, če je to vse najino. Ja itak, al' sva dve babi!

Nabutamo se v predpotopen ameriškorumen taksi, vso najino prtljago strpamo v prtljažnik, ki se ga seveda ne da zapreti, zato ga taksist mirno poveže z elastiko, očitno je že navajen … Najslabša stvar za želodec po dolgi in naporni noči ter samih sladkarijah in čaju je lahko le divja vožnja skozi ulice Eskisehirja s taksijem. Še dobro, da nisem verna, ker ne vem h komu bi molila: Jezus, Alah, Buda … Saj ni važno, samo naj se tale vlakec smrti konča!

Odložijo me v centru pred neznanim blokom, kjer me čaka moja nova cimra. Tako sem vesela, da je vožnje konec, da se niti ne poslovim od Pine. Staro dvigalo, vsa moja prtljaga in dekle, ki ne govori angleško. Jiiiihaaaa, show se lahko začne. Kazanje z rokami, ogled stanovanja in nato šok. Moja soba ni soba, ampak skladišče za razno šaro in kupe oblek bivše cimre, ki se noče izseliti; kopalnica ni kopalnica, ampak leglo bakterij in svinjarije in kljub temu, da smrdim po letalu in busu in taksiju si prisežem, da se moje nožice ne bodo dotaknile dna tiste banje! Pa kaj sploh nakladam, poglejte slike:

Dnevna soba, slavna turška igrica backgamon in izraelska zapestnica

Glavna ulica