donderdag 27 oktober 2011

Wat de Hel!

Wat de hel! speelt zich af in de nabije toekomst in een samenleving die veel weg heeft van het Nederland van 2011. Het systeem is allesbepalend voor de levensloop van individuen.
Drie vrouwen verzetten zich tegen de heersende cultuur en doen een poging te ontsnappen aan hun lot.

Lisette, 84, dement, geestig en avontuurlijk, kijkt anders naar de wereld dan de meeste anderen. Ze gaat de strijd aan met dementie.
Haar dochter, een nuchtere succesvolle nieuwslezeres gaat op zoek naar Lisette als die weggelopen is en maakt een maatschappelijk ongewenste keuze.
De derde vrouw is Samya, uit Nigeria. Ze is naar Nederland gebracht door vrouwenhandelaren, ontsnapt en komt in de verwarrende wereld van asielzoekers terecht.
De levens van de vrouwen raken in elkaar verweven wat leidt tot surreële gebeurtenissen, waarvan sommige op waarheid berusten.

Van de personages is Samya naar voorbeeld van echte vrouwen getekend. Caro Sicking heeft vijf jaar gewerkt met uitgeprocedeerde vrouwen en kinderen, waarvan een aantal slachtoffer van mensenhandel was.

Eerste zin Wat de Hel!
‘Vanaf de dag dat ik geboren werd, de eerste dag in het jaar waarop de zon scheen over de vlakke stad tussen twee rivieren, waar geen muziek gemaakt werd, geen stoel getimmerd, geen sla verbouwd, de stad waar niets gemaakt werd, maar waar de mensen zich lieten betalen voor het doorschuiven van de arbeid van anderen, bereidde ze me voor op het ergste: leven.’

Hoofdstuk 1 lezen? Klik WdH hfdstk 1

Uitgeverij: Studio nonfiXe ISBN e-book: 978.94.90665.005 (€ 4,95) ISBN hard copy: 978.94.900665.128 (€ 18,-)
Auteur: Caro Sicking Redactie: Frank van Empel

Een greep uit eerdere publicaties van Caro Sicking:
Nin, novelle, 2010.
Verhalenbundels: ‘Thuis’, ‘Ontmoeten’ en ‘Ontdekken’ met Frank van Empel
Monografieën van diverse beeldend kunstenaars.
‘Beleef 2030, 4 toekomstscenario’s voor de energiewereld’, met Frank van Empel
Redactie van diverse tijdschriften, waaronder muziekblad Mixed Magazine.
Websites, ondermeer: www.nonfixe.nl en www.ecolutie.nl

nonfiXe
De naam nonfiXe verwijst naar ‘niet gefixeerd’ ofwel ‘niet vastomlijnd’. Alle vormen van expressie kunnen onder de titel nonfiXe een thuis vinden.
nonfiXe werkt samen met vrienden uit de hele wereld om de kracht van verschil uit te dragen. Het is een podium, website, uitgeverij, studio, atelier waar verschil gekoesterd en geweldloos verzet tegen alle vormen van onderdrukking gepropageerd wordt.

In al haar variatie richt nonfiXe zich op expressie en op mensen.
www.nonfixe.nl is zuster site van Ecolutie

Andere fragmenten uit het boek, al dan niet geschrapt, zijn te vinden onder de werktitel:’ Samya, verkocht’ op nonfiXe.

maandag 24 oktober 2011

From Libya in fear

Underneath post was deleted from this blog after requests from Libyan Freedom Fighters and their supporters. Now Libya is free! The text explains on the worldwide anxiousness for people in hazardous situations and how others - strangers - look out for them.

Finally there is news from Tripoli tweeters again. They are still alive and one of them found his way to the Internet once more. For his friend things are rough, he is still in silence but living. Twitter is blazing with relief. ‘I have a lot to say, but I’ll be back later,’ the message aired some 13 hours ago after weeks of silence. So we wait, one eye on the timeline, praying for good news from people we’ve grown attached too and hoping for sincere reports on the situation in Tripoli.

Apart from relief, there is doubt to be read in tweets of some followers, the struggle between heart and head, is this really Abukhit, or did someone hack his account? It wouldn’t be the first hoax. Liliane Khalil writes in Duped! Who is Operation Libya? how she was conned into donating (and asking others to donate) money for a Libyan that did not exist: ‘Further investigation today has led me to conclude that there was never a Khalid Alghirani, a Zainab, a Mohammed, or a cousin Abdul Basit. In fact, the funds raised by Operation Libya have most likely went to the pockets of a criminal who was successful in duping me and countless others who gave far too much trust to a single Twitter account.’

Further on in the article Liliane Khalil reaches the same conclusion like I do: There are criminals trying to counterfeit every where, but this does not mean that there are no Khalids, Zainabs, Mohammeds and Abduls in Libya who need support from the outside world, from us.
The freedom tweeters don’t ask for any funding. They ask for the world to see what is going on in their country. They cry for peace and liberty. Any person demanding peace and liberty has a right to be supported. The Tripoli guys earned that right starting the beginning of the Libyan revolution.
If anyone stole the reviving account, we’ll find out soon enough. Now we eagerly watch our timelines for his and his friend’s messages, wishing them health and safety, supporting them from miles away, in thoughts, blogs and tweets.

nonfiXe on Libya and her freedomtweeters:
March 6 2011
To all anonymous repliers, March 23 2011


All names and personal information are deleted from this blog on May 8th 2011

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Looking for the man from Tripoli

The article underneath was deleted after several requests from Libyan Freedom Fighters and their supporters. Now Libya is free, no more fear!
Since the text shows how social media functionned and how afraid but brave ordinary civilians were, we publish it again.
The tweep from Tripoli survived Gaddafi's crackdown on his own people and is a celebrated blogger by now.


Recently I encountered a guy on twitter. His name: I promised not to tell. He was an IT specialist from Tripoli, Libya. He has a profile on Linkedin that says: 'Seek an IT professional position utilizing my experience: Managing a Microsoft environment, servers & remote sites.' Currently he was working as IT consultant, in Libya. My man from Tripoli looked like any ordinary guy, a bit bald, somewhere in his thirties. He had few connections and was outside my network according to Linkedin. His tweets were about daily life and death in the Libyan capital and beyond.

Soon this unknown guy, who seemed sincere in his messaging, became a looked for informant, a close by insider on the revolution in Gaddafi country. His braveness and his fear expressed in 140 signs talking about his toddler, about shooting in the street, disappearing friends and troubled connection, compelled admiration.

His bio reads: ‘Freedom fighter. My goal is to make a positive difference whenever, wherever and with whoever I can.’

Now he disappeared; all of a sudden no more TripoliTweets ran through my timeline. Maybe the connection broke down…

Then I checked his account. It has been taken over by another. The bio stayed the same. Who the fuck is this? Are they the good guys or the bad ones? How come they just take over the man from Tripoli’s account and his followers without making an announcement? Without explanation, without any reference?

My concern over my new Libyan friend made me google him again. His twitter account connected to linkedin says he did not tweet once (!) though he did the first time I looked him up. The accountrobber on the other hand twittered over 10.000 messages and appears to be followed by Nick Kristof, which is a recommendation in my eyes. But Kristof followed the man from Tripoli as well, maybe he too is conned into following like I am - Just looking at the picture, not at the name attached -

One of the first google hits for the missing Tripoli tweeter came from the US, Kansas. The blog quotes a tweet from the Tripoli freedomtweeter I missed: ‘i just found out that a close friend is with the regime. i was talking freely with him. there is a seizure possibility.’ It was posted March 4, two days ago.

The blogger writes that unconfirmed news is that the tweeter's body is found dead after torturing in a Tripoli hospital. He too wonders who/what the new name on the account is.

Now we are in the dark, about the brave man from Tripoli who has a family to take care of, about other daring reporters from inside Libya. We are in the dark over friends whose existence was unknown to us before the revolution. But with whom we feel connected because they shared their lives, their hopes, fears and thoughts with us. Mental cases like colonel Gaddafi think they can murder these people unpunished and without anyone knowing. We have to prove them wrong! Like my friend Mongi Farhani, filmer from Tunisia, said during diner tonight: ‘Politics of hate don’t work anymore.’

Mongi is right. Muammar Gaddafi will soon find out.

In the meantime I keep looking for my man from Tripoli, hoping the blogger from Kansas is wrong, wishing to see Libyan tweets crawling up my timeline again, soon, very soon.




All names and personal information are deleted from this blog on May 8th 2011
Original post March 6
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zaterdag 22 oktober 2011

De eerste wankele stap naar vrijheid - Verkiezingen in Tunesië

Morgen zijn er verkiezingen in Tunesië, de eerste Arabische staat waar het volk in opstand kwam tegen dictator Ben Ali en de eerste waar gestemd gaat worden. De mensen in de straten van hoofdstad Tunis zijn vrolijk en vooral de jeugd is optimistisch.

Het is dan ook de revolutie van de jeugd en die is vastbesloten om nooit meer een dictatuur te accepteren. 'We weten hoe we ons moeten verzetten,' lacht de jonge facebook activiste Emna Dabbech. Ze weet nog niet op wie ze gaat stemmen, een week voor de grote gebeurtenis. Er zijn 116 partijen in het land dat 23 jaar geregeerd werd door één man en zijn entourage, Ben Ali.

Veel Tunesiërs praten voor het eerst in hun leven openlijk over politiek. En dat doen ze overal, op straat, in theehuizen, terwijl ze fetisjen der overwinning verkopen aan gewonde Libische vrijheidsstrijders die de hotels, terrassen, taxi's en ziekenhuizen van Tunis bevolken in afwachting van terugkeer naar hun inmiddels ook bevrijde land. De geest is uit de fles met wapperende vlaggen van vrijheid in beide handen.

Ondertussen worden ministeries en andere strategische plekken in de stad zwaar bewaakt door politie en militairen die met grote geweren achter prikkeldraad paraderen. Vreemde sfeer.

Tijdens de verkiezingen heeft Emna geen les aan de universiteit. Uit voorzorg zijn alle colleges afgelast. Voorzorg? Angst voor relletjes... Tunesië balanceert op de rand tussen nog niet beproefde vrijheid en nieuwe vormen van onderdrukking. Onder de opluchting is wantrouwen voelbaar. Bijvoorbeeld tegen de Islamitische partij Ennahdha (wedergeboorte) die naar verwachting een groot deel van de stemmen ophaalt. Zouden ze de Sharia willen invoeren? Polygamie toelaten? Sluiers verplichten? Ze zeggen van niet, maar zijn ze te vertrouwen?

Ennahdha is de beweging die zwaar is onderdrukt door het regiem Ben Ali. Leden ervan (ruim 30.000) hebben jaren doorgebracht in barre gevangenissen, zijn gemarteld en verminkt. Na vrijlating kregen ze geen werkvergunning en moesten zich meerdere malen op een dag melden bij de politie, zo vertelden mensen op het partij bureau in Kef.

Mensen die ergens tegen zijn, beginnen meteen een protestactie en gaan de straat op. Televisie station Nemssa moest het bekopen na uitzending van de film Persepolis, van Marjan Satrapi. Er zou een afbeelding van God getoond worden. Extreme Salafisten bekogelden het station met stenen en bedreigden de directeur. Media sprongen er boven op. Pas op voor de Islam! luidde de boodschap. Sommigen wijzen naar Ennahdha. Inderdaad zijn partijleden tegen de vertoning van dergelijke films. Maar ze ontkennen geweld te gebruiken om dat tegen te gaan.

Het dunne koord van de vrijheid is verstrengeld met bittere armoede en slechte publieke voorzieningen, zoals de vuilnis ophaaldienst, wegen, riolering en politie bureaus en staatsziekenhuizen die op instorten staan, de gewoonte der corruptie en eindeloze bureaucratie. Toeristen blijven weg in deze dagen van revolutie. Gelukkig zorgen 1 miljoen Libiërs voor wat inkomsten van hotels en restaurants. Waar weer tegenover staat dat prijzen van bijvoorbeeld melk stijgen, omdat het buurland zulke enorme tekorten heeft en alles opkoopt.

Kortom Tunesië heeft economische impulsen nodig, uit het buitenland. En dialogen tussen opponenten, in het binnenland. Tunesië moet zichzelf opnieuw uitvinden en zet morgen de eerste wankele stap door een afvaardiging te kiezen die de grondwet gaat (her)schrijven en vrijheden en verantwoordelijkheden definiëren. Geruststellend is dat geen enkele partij de absolute meerderheid kan halen. Concurrerende politici moeten dus met elkaar in overleg.

De eerste Arabische republiek die zichzelf vrijvocht, gaat weer voor met deze verkiezingen. Egypte kijkt, Libië kijkt, Syrië kijkt van achter de wurgende gordijnen die Assad om zijn volk geweven heeft, de wereld kijkt. Als het goed verloopt, is er hoop.

Foto's in volgorde: Man bekijkt partij affiches op een muur in Tunis, prikkeldraad voor een van de overheidsgebouwen, het hoofdkantoor van Ennahdha in Kef, vuilnis op straat, plattelandsvrouwen in de regio Bir Ali, nabij Sfax.

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zaterdag 8 oktober 2011

Yasmine Sun

Too late to join the AB11, Arab Bloggers Conference, but in time to catch the hot Yasmine Sun, we leave for Tunis next Monday. Thirteen days before elections will be held between some 110 parties. Elections to form an assembly that will write the new constitution of Tunisia after 23 years of dictatorship by president Ben Ali. His regime was toppled on January 14th 2011.
These elections are an epreuve of democracy. Technical issues - 400.000 voters lacking a voter card - caused delay, but now it seems to really set off.

Tunisia was the first Arab country that rose against its' rulers and appears frontrunner as well on establishing new forms of government. While in Egypt the military SCAF (Supreme Council of Armed Forces) muffles the voices of the revolutionary, keeping bloggers like Maikel Nabil in prison for expressing their views and moving on in the tradition of Hosni Mubarak surpressing freedom with harsh whippings and bullits. While in Libya Sirte is under fire, in Yemen activists go on protesting under Saleh's siege, but, no doubt feel supported by the Nobel price for peace for Tawakul Karman and Assad from Syria keeps firing at his people, Tunisia is on the turn.

The small North African country with a population of 11 million people may become the David of the Arab world, beating Grabbling Goliaths in a non-violent way. At least, that is the good hope.

It was a small voice that spirited the Arab Spring, a Tunisian voice. Mohamed Bouazizi, 26 year old, whose name is now chanted in streets that are renamed after him, became the revolution's hero. Next to him are millions of Arab youngsters, fathers, mothers and wifes who shout out for their right to be free.

Chances are that Tunisia takes the lead once more into giving these voices a stage in the form of a transparent and representative democracy.

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zondag 2 oktober 2011

Arab Bloggers meet

Tomorrow the third Arab Blogger Conference starts in Tunis, in the science center that stretches along the re(volution)new named boulevard Mohamed Bouazizi. Excitement sparkles out of the tweets of the attendants, meeting each other at various airports, apologizing for travelling first class, or getting stuck in traffic and missing planes.

The website of AB11 states: 'As Heinrich Boll Stiftung and Global Voices Online - the initiators - are convinced that it is important to further support initiatives of the Arab Blogosphere and provide Arab bloggers with the space to strengthen their impact on society, amplify silenced voices and add diversity to the field of information and activism, the two organizations will organize the Third Arab Bloggers Meeting (AB11) during 3-6 October 2011 in collaboration with Nawaat de Tunisie. As with AB09, AB11’s overall objective will be to enable face-to-face exchange, and to coach bloggers on how to leave their imprint on the international blogging sphere, make their voices heard, and to organize online and offline campaigns to pressure governments to stop censorship and restricting freedom of expression as well as build the mechanisms for debating transitional democracy, transparency and governance strategies.'

This is just the thing needed to prevent countries from falling back into dictator's hands and free other, still under some grabbing and choking thumb, nations.

Last Thursday, September 29th, Arnout van der Lynden spoke at Clingendael, The Hague, on the Arab Spring. He expressed a pessimistic point of view with regard to real change as oppressors have the habit of following up on each other. Mr Van der Lynden, who is an eloquent speaker very familiar with the North African region, however did miss out on the influence of bloggers and tweeps, organizing and empowering as we speak.
Because through freedom of expression that cannot be stopped anymore, not by guns, not by whips or chains, a freedom that virusses the world, democracy 3.0 will enter the global community that joins efforts over borders, across religions, in different tones and rythmes, and will not be stopped anymore. The checks & balances are in the mass, transparency and openness are forced by this mass in chainreactions.

If you are on twitter #AB11 will keep you posted on the conference in Tunis, starting Monday 3 October until the 6th.

While writing this, the Egyptian blogger Maikel Nabil detained by the military for his daring views, enters his 41th day of hungerstrike inside prison. Maikel Nabil just turned 26 and is - again - fighting in a nonviolent way for freedom of speech. The attendants of AB11 and all of their supporters will have to use their virtual pens for him, and for Egypt (!) And they do. Let's work together to become the free men and women we are by birth, no matter where on the planet that event happened.

Image: poster of the film Al Sharara on the beginning of the Arab Spring in Tunisia. The movie by Mongi Farhani was the opening of the Arab Filmfestival in Rotterdam (Nl) last September. Twice the public applauded during the show and rewarded the director with the Public Prize

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zaterdag 1 oktober 2011

From De Gruyter Fabriek & Everywhere Feet Touch Ground

So there is a new office, since yesterday, the last day of September. It still is empty, but the ceiling is heigh and sun enters through the windows. It is small, but has nice neighbours and a good catering! People officing next door produce things such as books and websites, paintings and theatre productions or interior design. Together we inhabit the place. nonfiXe is going to participate, with paintings, films, music and stories of course.
De Gruyter Fabriek is industrial heritage - just watch the photo above - and retrofitted to suite creative businesses in Den Bosch. De Gruyter Fabriek used to produce hagelslag and all different kinds of household products from cleaning to cooking. A bit taggy, yes.
VIBA friends, Jan & Karel, become neighbours and we'll go on writing and publishing from there, as well as from here, as well as from everywhere (our) feet touch ground.
Been quiet for some time, but busy. Writing about the POWER programme of the EU and some other green stuff, preparing Wat de Hel! (roman) and some other exiting stuff that has to do with the Arab Spring. It'll come out soon.... for better or worse ;)