Local – Pike & Hurricane

The beauty of who we are

Eman Said Omran — Thu, 04 Nov 2021 10:49:49 +0000

If you have plans for exotic travel, then book a flight to South Asia, Pakistan, in particular. Once you arrive in Pakistan, prepare yourself for an interesting road trip on the famous Karakoram highway, where you will be surrounded by serene nature and breathtaking mountains all the way to the Gilgit Baltistan region. From Gilgit Baltistan, take a shorter ride to Hunza Valley, the land of apricot orchards, peaches, apples, mulberry, walnuts, and grapes. The land of glacial streams and forests of poplar trees. In Hunza Valley you will get to meet the famous Shukrat Bibi, the protector of Hunza cultural heritage and one of the guardians of its identity.

Ms Shukrat Bibi’s shop at Karimabad.
Photo credit: Eman Said Omran

Shukrat Bibi is an 86-year-old artisan who uses her needlework to preserve the cultural heritage of Hunza Valley. She owns a small shop in Karimabad, the capital of Hunza Valley. The shop looks like a safe cave made of rocks. At the shopfront, one can see colourful handmade products, decorated with exquisite embroidery hanging on the door. An enchanting sight that lures you into the shop where you will find many more treasures of meticulously handmade beautiful embroidery. Shukrat Bibi uses her magical needle to sew traditional dresses, handbags, colourful caps and festive accessories.

Ms Shukrat Bibi in front of her shop at Karimabad
Photo credit: Eman Said Omran

At the entrance of the shop, Shukrat Bibi sits with her needle in hand. Dressed in the traditional Hunza attire and wearing a colourful Hunza cap, she welcomes national and international visitors into her world. She has a warm and friendly demeanor, an air of serenity. Hanging on the wall behind her a newspaper article is displayed about her precious work. She sees the article as a sign of appreciation and acknowledgement that she is keeping her Hunza heritage alive and flourishing (The Express Tribune). Inside the shop, one sees the Presidential Pride of Performance Award, an award granted by the President to recognize people with “notable achievements in the field of art, science, literature, sports, and nursing”. Shukrat Bibi’s award clearly acknowledges Pakistan’s gratitude for her hard work in “keeping the delicate art of do sutti karhai (embroidery) alive in the region”.

The Presidential Pride of Performance Award, 1992.
Photo credit: Eman Said Omran

At the age of 10, Shukrat Bibi’s mother taught her the art of embroidery. Now, Shukrat Bibi at the age of 86 has passed her skills and talent to hundreds of women in Hunza. The skills which she has passed on to them have contributed to their financial independence and they have become members of her cavalry fighting to preserve Hunza culture. Shukrat Bibi takes great pride in her efforts to keep the culture of handmade embroidery of Hunza alive and hopes that her students will continue this tradition.

Nowadays, the world has become a village. Today, the exotic Hunza Valley is a famous touristic spot not only for Pakistanis but for international travellers alike. Visiting Hunza brings benefits not only for the travellers themselves lucky enough to see it but for the district itself and for Pakistan as a country. However, it is important that the Hunza Valley retains its identity and unique charm in this age of globalization. Hunza Valley is blessed to have inhabitants like Shukrat Bibi and all of her students. A talented group of women who love their culture and identity and are proud to share their timeless history in our modern, globalized world.

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Model United Nations – A game with an impact

Julia Kavanto — Tue, 23 Mar 2021 17:11:15 +0000

UF Malmö’s Head of MUN Rebecca Coluccino

I first came across the Model United Nations (MUN) as a child when I was watching Northern American television shows for children. It was something American children did on TV: like prom, but for politics. I did not understand it, and I never got the chance to take part in it.

To learn more about this “simulation game”, I reached out to the one person I know is passionate about MUN: UF Malmö’s Head of MUN Rebecca Coluccino. She first became acquainted with MUN in her school in Italy. There was a bit of luck involved, too. Rebecca’s school sent her to her first-ever MUN Conference at the United Nations headquarters in New York in 2016. At the time, Rebecca did not understand the technical procedures of the conference. Regardless, she was very interested in learning to debate about political issues and understand other cultures.

Is the MUN conference a game?

The MUN is a simulation game. The players are called delegates, and each participant is assigned a country they will be representing in the discussions. The delegates are pretending to be diplomats of a specific country the delegate is assigned to, for example, ‘the diplomat of Sweden to the United Nations’, but that is just a technical term.

In every conference, there are two questions. The debates around the questions aim to obtain a resolution that your country would benefit, and that the resolution is acceptable to the other delegations. There is no ‘winning’ at the conference, but some people will try to win the simulation anyway. The goal is to have good debates and seek common good with the discussions. Sure, there are some awards, but you will not win it if you treat the conference as a competition.

Who organises the conference?

Technically anyone could organise a Model UN conference, but it is often a school organising the conference. In our case, though, it is a student association. UF Malmö has many different committees for different activities. One of them is the editorial committee making this particular magazine possible. Another is the MUN of Malmö committee. Rebecca was elected to be the head of MUN of Malmö for this semester, which means that she is the one organising the conference this year. She collected her team for organising the event this year, and they have set the dates to be 21.-23. of May 2021 (mark your calendars!).

Without going into further details on how exactly is the conference organised, I will say it seems like a lot of work but very doable. If you wish to take a closer look, there is a guide provided by the United Nations. But worry not, to join the conference as a delegate you would not have to know how to organise such an event. The first steps for this year’s conference have been completed as Rebecca has a team working on different topics, such as financial and logistics.

A month before the conference, the application process begins. You do not have to be a delegate, i.e. represent a country in the conference. You could also apply to be a member of staff or a chairperson. There is room for a ton of people, as there are many countries in the United Nations. The only restriction is that you need to be a student. Students at Malmö University will be prioritised, but all university students are considered. The size of the conference depends on the number of applicants. I asked Rebecca if I could join, being an English Studies student, not a Global Politics student. She said that there are people from all possible study paths. To be able to join the conference you just have to be motivated.

Why do students join?

I believe many would be interested to know what you get out of joining the conference: valuable experiences, for the first. Any employer would be interested in an employee who can collaborate with people from different cultures and state their opinions coherently. It looks good on your CV, in other words. There is also a social aspect to it that many are lacking during the pandemic. In ordinary times people taking part in the conference would spend time together after the debating. This year the conference is held in Zoom, so you “start zoom and start debating” as Rebecca says. Her team will try to come up with something to have the social aspect of the conference online, too. Even held in Zoom, you would meet new people who share an interest in global affairs. You should expect the application period to start in mid-April.

People are sometimes scared of the MUN conference, Rebecca says. They worry they do not know enough to join. Rebecca wanted to change that. She encourages people to ask questions and come as they are. Rebecca had her first experience in MUN too. No one explained to her the terms, but she will explain them to you. Remembering all the terms is not important, Rebecca says. You could say: “Ay, can we all just talk about this political issue?” and the chair would know that you mean round robin.

Here are four terms explained by Rebecca:

Round robin: All delegates participating in the debate give a short speech about their position after the chairperson calls their country.

Point of personal privilege: Literally, if something is annoying you and you want to say it. For example: “I can’t hear China’s Delegate, could they speak up?”

Moderated Caucus: a debate on a determined issue (usually “motion for a 10 minutes moderated caucus on topic A/to discuss […] with 30 seconds speaking time”), where delegates have to raise their placards and wait for the chair to allow them to speak. Not everyone has the chance to speak, and it is up to the chair who does and when. In this case, when the 10 minutes end, the Caucus ends too. The “30 seconds speaking time” means that you can only talk for 30 seconds once you have been allowed to do so. Time changes, and theoretically, one can propose anything.

Unmoderated Caucus: same rules apply for timing, but delegates are free to move around and speak to other delegates without restraints or lists. People get confused about this because sometimes it can also be called a lobbying session or informal session.

Have questions about MUN of Malmö? Ask Rebecca at munmomalmo@gmail.com or reach out to her on LinkedIn.

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Circular Economy – Interview with the founders of “sveeka”

Franziska Fink — Fri, 22 Jan 2021 18:48:06 +0000

Climate change and the Covid-19 pandemic are just the latest examples of fundamental threats to our current world order. Even though threats are usually seen as something negative and frightening, they might also bring some positive aspects with them. Often, they are merely mirroring the malfunctions of our world, highlighting all that is disastrous, wrong or ineffective within a system. Yes, climate change is slowly turning our earth into a degraded and inhabitable planet, and it is true that the corona virus is responsible for millions of deaths and a complete turn-over of our lives compared to as we have used to live them. But nevertheless, in all their dreadfulness, they have the potential of changing our world to the better. By inspiring creative and innovative minds to come up with solutions of how we can not only fight threats but avoid them altogether through the creation of a stronger, more just and more sustainable system.

These days you often hear politicians, economists and leaders of civil society claiming that the world after Covid-19 will be an entirely different one. Especially in economic terms, the voices calling for a fundamental system change are becoming louder and louder. Many people are suffering from the socio-economic effects the pandemic has brought upon them and which the system has failed to prevent. Millions of people all over the world lost their jobs, their home, and presumably a good deal of their social life and contacts, which resulted in yet another plague: a growing mental health pandemic.

How can we reorganize and rebuild the structures of our world then, to better deal with such hazardous threats such as climate change and pandemics in the future?

Even though Sweden might have not been the most exemplary model to follow in terms of its management of the Covid-19 pandemic, the country might be on the right track when it comes to reimagining of how a sustainable political economy could look like.

Earlier this year, Sweden announced that it is in the midst of transitioning to a circular economy.

At the core of the nation’s strategy is a vision: “A society in which resources are used efficiently in toxin-free circular flows, replacing new materials.”

But for effective systematic and sustainable changes to actually occur, a simple top-down approach will not be enough. Initiatives from both the state, everyday citizens and the business sector are needed for a fundamental and wide-ranging transformation.

Pike & Hurricane had the opportunity to talk to alumnis from Malmö University whose startup is a telling example for what a business model within the circular economy could look like. Katha, Lissy and Ellen are three friends that got to know each other during their time in Malmö. Together they founded sveeka, a startup that makes sustainable postcards from grass paper.

Pike & Hurricane: Tell us a bit more about sveeka and how you came up with this unusual idea.

sveeka: One of us (Katha) already knew about grass paper before as it is being produced close to her hometown. She wanted to do something with it to raise awareness for this great alternative paper.

When we were brainstorming for the first time about what could be a good product to start a business with, we decided on postcards as the most practical option. We didn’t need a big amount of money to get it going, nor a big storage space. The production was easy and also the shipping to our customer was quite manageable.

So that’s how we started with postcards!

Now for our Christmas edition we made foldable cards as well and we are looking forward to what the next year will bring…

P&H: Have you heard about the circular economy before? In what way did this influence your business concept?

s: We definitely heard of it before and especially Lissy is quite a fangirl when it comes to the concept of circular economy. We first got introduced to it when we did a field trip back in Malmö where we visited Repamera, a circular clothes repairing business whose founder also started the initiative Circular Monday (former white Monday).

When creating our products, sustainability was always included in our decision-making process but it never occurred to us that our product could be circular.

When we randomly got in contact with the Circular Monday team they reassured us that we are actually providing not only a sustainable but a circular product – and therefore sveeka can be a Circular Monday buddy alongside other popular companies like toogoodtogo, hejhej mats, Recup, wye and many others. As we are using grass and recycled paper for our postcards they are falling under the circular category of “reusing”.

P&H: Where are the buyers of sveeka postcards located?

s: Most of our customers are located in Germany, that is also where we have the most retailers selling our postcards. Nevertheless, we have also had customers from Austria, Sweden, Switzerland and the Netherlands.

P&H: Katha and Lissy, you are from Germany, Ellen is Dutch but grew up in Germany… however you started your business while you were all studying in Sweden, one of the first countries that has committed to transforming to a Circular Economy. Do you think there is a difference regarding mentalities of sustainability between Germany and Sweden?

s: Maybe Sweden is a bit more connected to sustainability as there is more nature around and people live more in the countryside and are doing outdoor activities, but you can see that Sweden is already ahead when it comes to the circular economy. For example, providing citizens with tools such as “smarta kartan” to live more sustainably and to use circular offers in a city is a great initiative that we haven’t seen in Germany in the same way.

In general, we are super happy to see that the circular economy is getting more known all over the world, including Germany, and initiatives like Circular Monday and new startups working within the circular economy are definitely a big reason why.

P&H: In your starting phase, sveeka was supported by Drivhuset, the Malmö University’s support team for student start-ups. How big of an impact do you think that had for sveeka’s success? Do you think you would have gotten similar support in Germany?

s: It was great to have somebody to talk to and to get honest and professional feedback for our ideas. If we would have founded the company officially in Sweden it would have helped us even more, as getting businesses off the ground is their daily business.

There are similar support organizations in some German universities but having Drivhuset already around, coming to lectures, holding events and reminding students to apply for grants and to take part in boot camps definitely leads to an entrepreneurial spirit at Malmö University which also encouraged us to just start our own business.

P&H: How is sveeka doing now? What is your vision for the future?

We are super proud that we have sold all of our Christmas cards and will now work on our next collection. We also started doing personalized design for companies and private people. Moreover, we are thinking about expanding our portfolio, but we do not know yet if that is going to happen already in 2021. After all it is our hobby, and we need to work our normal jobs next to it as well.

sveeka founders Katha, Lissy and Ellen (from the left)

Related articles:

Nigeria: from recession toward sustainability

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Don’t Read The News

Eje Brundin — Fri, 22 Jan 2021 18:00:39 +0000

This is a featured article from Pike & Hurricane’s partner magazine The Perspective of Lund University.

What is the state of the world today? Where have we been, where are we, and where are we going? Weapons of mass destruction, famine, climate crisis, asteroids hitting the earth, future pandemics, arms races, overcrowded refugee camps, super-volcanoes, fascism and alternative facts are only a few of the numerous problems that humanity faces. It can get overwhelming when trying to process all of this. However, the news tends to prioritize war over reality—when, in fact, humans are doing pretty well.

As a student of Peace and Conflict Studies at Lund University, I see patterns of polarization, violence, and the breakdown of states everywhere I look. Democracy is in global decline, rape is used as a weapon of war, nuclear arms deals are failing and social media is polarizing us into frightening bubbles of self-righteous, aggravating rhetoric. The problems are huge and complex, and affect people and families all over the world. Being hopeful is difficult, but let me help.

“Where cooperation has created death and destruction it is also the solution.”

When we see war and cruelty, there are deep patterns of cooperation that we tend to overlook. We read about war, murders, environmental degradation, and then think that human nature is greedy, selfish and cruel. However, when we say that the winners write the history books, we forget what made the writer a winner: human cooperation. You have a war? That is two or more sides, each one cooperating to win over the other. You have a nuclear bomb? It was created by scientists that cooperated through sharing knowledge. You have THE PERSPECTIVE in your hand? I am happy to say that we cooperated to get this delivered to you. Human cooperation is everywhere and we take it for granted. War and nuclear bombs are horrific things, but where cooperation has created death and destruction it is also the solution.

Cooperation is what makes humans unique. In the widely read novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding, the stranded boys slowly descend into chaos and are described to hold a beast-like quality in their human core. Rutger Bregman, a Dutch historian, found the real-life example of Lord of the Flies. It turns out six boys stranded on an island in Tonga constructively cooperated to survive for more than a year. One even broke a leg, and the others compensated to let their friend heal. Lord of the Flies is a good novel, but that’s all it is. In reality, we usually do better. We are the only species on the planet that can cooperate in large numbers with other unknown humans. This is an incredible advantage we have over other animals. Animals like wolves or monkeys can only cooperate in small numbers and not outside their circle or kin. Put ten million chimpanzees in Paris and you get chaos, but in the same space ten million humans manage to cooperate and co-exist. Human reality tends to lean toward cooperation and we see it in international politics, too.

Last year the United Nations celebrated 75 years of existence. It can be considered the pinnacle of human cooperation. It has served an instrumental role in creating peaceful international relations. States across the globe come together to discuss issues, to reach agreements and to ensure international peace. This inter-state organization has been an incredible success. Since its creation, there have been no superpower-wars. Let me say that again: there have been zero wars between superpowers while the United Nations has existed. This point might sound trivial, but oh, so important to make!

The existence of the United Nations is taken for granted today. According to Our World in Data, out of the world’s population in 2019, less than 8% is 65 years or older. This means that almost nobody alive today was of an age to witness and understand the creation of the United Nations. The pinnacle of human cooperation, to us, has always been there. Our standards of international relations and peace are very different than those who lived through the first and second World Wars. To put it into perspective, imagine instead what might have happened if there had been no United Nations at all during the Cold War. The UN has given the world the Laws of War and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and much more. Without it, wars today would be much worse than what they currently are.

This positive development is a slow and long-term one, but it is an important one. There is much data to support this worldview. Since 1945, global life expectancy has gone up, child mortality has gone down, hunger has decreased, access to electricity has gone up, democracies have increased, war deaths are decreasing, homicides are decreasing—I could go on and on. This has only been 75 years. If we instead look back 300 years, it is fair to say that humanity has progressed just fine. If you want to know more, look at all this data by yourself through Our World in Data.

Now, compare these hard facts to the news. Have you ever heard reporters say “Today 137,000 people escaped extreme poverty” every day for the last 25 years? The answer is no, despite this being a truth of global human development. Our human reality is a reality of positives and negatives merged into one world. You almost give up on humanity when you read the news, but that is because these slow, positive developments are not covered in popular media.

“Humans are not problem-oriented; we are solution-oriented.”

In exclusive correspondence with THE PERSPECTIVE, Dr. Steven Pinker, a cognitive psychologist, writes that “peace consists of nothing happening, which by definition is not news.” News media tend to follow the motto of “when it bleeds, it leads,” but reality is not a big pile of blood. To understand the world, you cannot only look at the news. When you look at countries at war, look at the countries at peace at the same time to get the whole picture. To be fair, the fact that the news media mainly covers problems and human suffering is a very constructive and cooperative act in and of itself as well. While being aware of the positive progress humans are making, you are also getting information about problems humans have to solve to improve human life even further.

Humans are not problem-oriented; we are solution-oriented. Dr. Pinker emphasized that by looking at data and seeing trends in the long-term, we can “muster the energy to reduce [war] further.” We learn from looking at what we did wrong in the past. We also learn by looking at what we are doing right, and it seems we have more to learn about what we’re doing right. It is difficult to process all the problems we face today, but it is because we are more aware and know more about all of our problems today. We are facing immense inequality, traumatizing wars and environmental crises. Alone, it can feel impossible to deal with it, understand it, and try to change it. Luckily, we are by nature experts at cooperating and in the last centuries we have (statistically) passed the challenge of progress with flying colors.

Featured image: Japanese Women Visit Lake Success, by United Nations Photo, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

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The legality of abortion

Elena Wasserzier — Mon, 02 Nov 2020 14:50:09 +0000

On the 28th of September, the Amnesty International Student Association of Malmö University hosted a movie screening about the fight for safe abortion rights in Ireland, since the date also hallmarks the international day of safe abortions. The association made use of the occasion to remind people all over the world of women’s reproductive rights.

Additionally to the movie screening, a song written by Robin Atiken about “the legality of abortion” was performed. The song renders facts that can be found on the official website of Amnesty International and it constitutes a display of circumstances and reality for women across the globe.

The lyrics are presented below:

The legality of abortion is seen as somewhat crude

but listen as I sing, it will help you out dude

A quarter of pregnancies,

end in this procedure

So take that at your leisure.

If safety’s your worry then listen don’t hurry

25 million unsafe abortions,

Are done each year

This whole issue brings me a harsh tear

It it were safe,

Women would be saved

Are you hearing me quite clear?

A medical error called

the “chilling effect”

Where the line of abortion is not

scientifically checked

Post abortion care goes down

That makes all of us some clowns

If you shun the operation

A stigma will be the occasion

Our culture will be shamed

And we’ll all be to blame

CHORUS: x3

Why fight?

It’s a woman’s right.

If you disagree you can choose as you please.

People are delusional, when they think we have already achieved equality in regards to the sexes. This is not the case and the world still struggles to change old patriarchal patterns towards equity and equality for all. Even as recently as 2020, reproductive rights remain a major element in women’s fight for equality in multiple countries across the globe.

As depicted in the movie “When Women Won”, Ireland has just allowed the right for safe and legal abortions in 2018, which is only two years ago. Before that, women had to travel to England, literally cross a country border, to receive a safe abortion and be able to decide over their own body and their reproductive rights. The referendum which was adopted on the 28th of May 2018, granted the repeal of the almost constitutional abortion ban.

This illustrates that the world is very far from the progress women’s rights advocates aspire to see. Literal baby steps are taken in regard to women’s reproductive rights, because Ireland is not the only country which is late in history. The USA, for example has shown in the last couple of years that history can also go backwards in its timeline, when a couple of states, e.g. Virginia, decided to ban abortions and to deem it illegal. When this did not work out completely, the state aggravated its abortion laws, which made it a lot harder for women to seek an abortion when needed.

However, Virginia was eventually sued over their unfair abortion laws by Planned Parenthood, Center for Reproductive Rights, and the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia. The lawsuit considered the following laws as “burdensome and medically unnecessary”:

Second trimester abortions must be performed in a hospital;

Abortions must only be performed by a physician;

Medical facilities providing more than four first trimester abortions per month must undergo strict licensing requirements;

Patients must undergo an ultrasound and counseling 24 hours before an abortion, requiring them to make two trips to a clinic; and

Abortion is a class 4 felony if the requirements are not followed

The plaintiffs claimed that “the Commonwealth of Virginia has spent over four decades enacting layer upon layer of unnecessary and onerous abortion statutes and regulations.”

The list goes on: El Salvador and Nicaragua, in Central America, still enforce discriminatory laws that ban abortions in almost all conditions. More than 40% of the world’s women in childbearing age live in countries where, abortion is medically either very restricted, not accessible at all or banned and illegal, with partly grave penalties as a result of violation of the law.

Related articles:

Politics of fertility

Politically conscious art as backlash: Amanda Palmer’s “There Will Be No Intermission”

Picture Credits:

The Handmaid’s Tale, by Victoria Pickering, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

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Photo story: Black Lives Matter Malmö [4 June 2020; 9 June 2020]

Merle Emrich — Sat, 13 Jun 2020 15:42:45 +0000

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International Women’s Day 2020: Malmö

Merle Emrich — Tue, 24 Mar 2020 15:56:57 +0000

Ta Natten Tillbaka

[7 March 2020] Protest against violence against women and/or trans people.

Women’s March

[8 March 2020]

by Merle Emrich

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Women’s march: feminism from below smashing the patriarchy

Silas de Saram — Tue, 24 Mar 2020 15:09:55 +0000

On March 8 (International Women’s Day), I had the pleasure to attend the women’s march in Malmö, which was organized and attended by multiple feminist and leftist organizations. Especially prevalent were the groups ‘Feminism Underifrån’, a feminist group from Malmö, ‘Activista Feminista’, a Malmö based anticapitalist collective fighting for Women’s rights and LGBTQ+ emancipation, and ‘Mangla’, a group fighting for women’s rights and trans rights in Sweden.

The demonstration began at Möllevängstorget, where speeches by various organizations, as well as by the swedish Left Party (Vänsterpartiet), who’s protest occurred earlier on the same day. One speaker stressed the importance of fighting fatphobia as a part of the fight against sexism and racism. Another speech was held on the topic of LGBTQ+ rights in Poland under the Polish far-right administration. The third speech was held on the topic of Rojava, the Kurdish autonomous region in northeastern Syria.

After the speeches, the procession began moving through the streets of Malmö’s Möllevången and Rådmansvången.

Especially visible was the banner of ‘Revolutionär Kommunistisk Ungdom’ (RUK), the youth wing of the Swedish Communist Party (Kommunistiska Partiet), a revolutionary Marxist-Leninist party.

Multiple anarchist groups were in attendance, such as Sveriges Arbetares Centralorganisation (SAC), Syndikalistiska Ungdomsförbundet (SUF) and Red and Black Collective.

Many different feminist issues were represented at the Women’s March. One specific issue that was represented is the horrible abuse of women in Mexico, and the staggering numbers of femicide in the country.

Overall there appeared to be a large anticapitalist presence, this women’s march was attended by a more revolutionary audience than the protest of the Left Party, earlier on the same day.

by Silas de Saram

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Building power- where architecture constructs more than houses

Nina Kolarzik — Wed, 06 Nov 2019 12:32:33 +0000

Power can be horrifying- when it is demonstrated in an obvious way, like parades showing off military strength. The more subtle, underlying ways of power we often do not notice, even though (or because) they are visible in all aspects of life.

A design of power

Have you ever tried to sit down comfortably on one of the benches at Malmö Central Station? Or did you try to get to the 8th floor in Niagara but could not? Or did you wonder why prisons sometimes have the shape of a star?

I am asking you this because I want to talk about the link between power and architecture. Or, to be more specific, how architecture and design can be used as a tool to execute power. Not in terms of the historical examples of megalomaniac emperors who celebrate themselves with a massive triumphal arch or buildings from the times of national socialism.

Instead I want to pay attention to where we can find it in our contemporary environment. Because once you open your eyes you will see the expression of power everywhere.

Today, it is common to find special features in public places and constructions. “Anti-homeless spikes” under bridges or on stairs and walls, benches with central armrests or sloping seats, metal lumps, … Every possible thing that may prevent homeless people from sleeping in public areas, people from vandalising, or even skateboarding in public spaces. In other words, they try to prevent the unwanted.

Please, sit down!?

In the professional jargon this is called hostile or defensive architecture. “Hostile architecture or hostile design is when public spaces are intentionally designed to exclude humans or hinder human use.” The original thought, was to prevent crime and make public spaces safer- which sounds like a good intention. But the more recent developments lead to the designing of public spaces for certain interests. Whether on purpose or not, processes of power are involved in this. In the words of Ocean Howell that means: “When we talk about the ‘public’, we’re never actually talking about ‘everyone’.” That reinforces a social division, but the prevention of bad behaviour is used as justification for these measurements.

Those with a bad social representation who are associated with a certain behaviour are hit and dehumanised- their treatment being similar to how pigeons are treated in cities. Simultaneously, these social groups barely have social power or representation on their own since they are not politically organised. And since the armrests on benches are as uncomfortable for a homeless person as everyone else who wants to take a nap they cannot be labelled as discriminating.

These and many more similar ideas can be found in mega cities around the world, from New York to Peking.

Barely visible, but it is uncomfortable to sit at: the short and uneven benches in Malmö C

The procedure is not solving the social problem, but only removing it from our eyesight. And not always the so called “anti-social behaviour” is taking place. The unofficial, but colourful Southbank Skate Park in London for example was saved by UK skaters from closing and by now has become a well-known sight of the city. In British media, especially, this practise has recently been debated.

Why is this important to talk about, especially in connection to foreign affairs? Because it means that those in power can control and regulate spaces and access rights, define what is normal and appropriate in societies and construct an image of “normality” through the architectural construction of spaces.

Open your eyes to Malmö: education seen through a different lens

Exercising social power does exist in infrastructural designs of cities. Not only public spaces but also the inside of buildings can reveal power dimensions. An example is Bentham’s Panopticon, a concept of constructing a building that is perfectly designed for surveillance. A center is surrounded by several wings of cells, for example. That makes it possible for a single person to constantly observe the people in the wings of the building, however, the inmates cannot know whether they are observed- the fact that they could be anytime is enough to discipline and control them. This concept is suitable for prisons (multiple ones exist around the world) but also for factories, hospitals or schools and in the digital age of CCTV.

Thinking about schools is a good call- in exam rooms the structural power of teachers is particularly visible: they can watch everyone at the same time from the front and see the slightest irregularity through the position of the tables. Once you start questioning architecture, other examples catch the attention, where the separation of society or exclusion through access rights manifests. But not all are as extreme as the examples above.

One building that crossed my mind is part of our own university: Niagara. Without knowing the true intention behind its architectural design, it does send some messages. Within its special triangulation of an A, B and C building, one part is mainly reserved for those working at the university. Students cannot use the elevator in the “C building” or access the levels above the 6th floor. Since the students are not able to enter the higher floors, the staff is literally standing above the students. That prompts the question: does it mean more than the spatial location? Is it meant as statement, a separation or even exclusion? Or was the design of the differently high towers a purely aesthetic and practical creation? In other universities the staff rooms are often accessible to visitors- which is necessary for getting into contact with each other. Is there a connection? Are people feeling the effect and how do teachers think about this division?

Is that art or trash?

There are also voices of defense that argue that not every design is intended to be hostile or excluding. But who can judge if a wavy bench is meant to be modern art or uncomfortable to lie down upon?

It is also important to think about how to address the original problematic in a more positive way. The Edible Bus Stop is an example of a community project in London, where the design includes not only benches but also an edible garden. The community which at first was afraid that the benches would encourage anti-social behaviour, now uses the space, looks after the garden, and started to be proud of their spaces. A whole new article could be written about how the designing of public spaces can encourage good behaviour (instead of preemptively punishing bad one).

by Nina Kolarzik

Photo Credits

A Park for Unpleasant Design, Kathleen Fu, CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

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UF trip to Albania

Isa Tiilikainen and Jasmin-Leyla Virta — Tue, 05 Nov 2019 13:57:12 +0000

Albania is said to be one of the oldest European nations and yet the history and the culture of the nation and the country itself are not very familiar to most of us. In the beginning of October 2019 we had the unique chance of travelling to Albania and getting to know the country as part of the fall trip arranged by UF Malmö.

On the first day of our trip, we took part in a walking tour of Tirana, saw a lot of important sights and heard interesting stories of its history. All the historical facts about Albania in this article are based on the information presented by the local guide on the tour.

The capital surprised us with its beauty, tons of greenery and colorful houses. The metropolitan area of Tirana hosts 1 million citizens, which is around a third of the country’s whole population.

The city of Tirana is located next to the mountains, to one of which we took a day trip.

Landscape of Tirana from Mount Dajti

Painting the city’s buildings in bright colours in the early 2000’s originally was the idea of the then city mayor, now Prime Minister of Albania, Edi Rama who is also a painter. It was his vision to highlight the bright and happy future ahead after the grey years of communism.

During our trip we gained a lot of insights into the historical chapter of Albania, in particular, when it was a lesser known communist dictatorship within Europe. However, this nation’s history starts from the ancient times, when the country was part of Illyria. Before the modern era, Albania was ruled under the Roman, the Byzantine and most significantly the Ottoman Empire, until it gained independence on 28th November 1912.

The most prominent feature of Albania’s recent history, has been it’s strict communist rule under Enver Hoxha from 1944 until 1991. Albania sometimes even was referred to as the ‘’North Korea of Europe’’ due to the personal cult surrounding Hoxha, strong restrictions to citizens freedoms and severe violations of human rights during this time period.

Small statue of Hoxha together with a statue of Lenin and two of Stalin

The beginning of Hoxha’s rule was strongly influenced by the Soviet leader Josef Stalin as Hoxha followed his footsteps in creating a communist regime with a closely planned economy. In the 1950s, once the Soviet Union abandoned Stalinism, Albania tightened its relations with the People’s Republic of China led by Mao Zedong but eventually also this relation was destroyed and Albania was left without allies. This lead to the isolation of the nation, and no man could freely enter or leave the country.

In the 1980s the Pyramid of Tirana was the Enver Hoxha Museum, today, it is waiting to be reconstructed as a youth center

The communist era was marked by Hoxha’s paranoia of foreign powers invading Albania. Its legacy is still one of the most visible features of the country, as the leader built over 700 000 bunkers all over the country to protect the people. Today, a great amount of these bunkers are still visible in the Albanian landscape and two museums called Bunk’art 1 and 2 are telling the story of communist Albania to the public.

Reconstructed bunker in the city center of Tirana

Collection of bunker photos at Bunk’art 1

In 1991 communism collapsed in Albania, surprisingly through elections, and the country was ready to open its borders and contribute to the international community.

Germany donated a piece of the original Berlin Wall to Albania as a memorial after the collapse of Communism

One rather ironic part symbolizing the end of communist era in Albania is the site of former leader Enver Hoxha’s house. The first international fast food chain ever to arrive in Albania was Kentucky Fried Chicken, and today their restaurant is located across the street from Hoxha’s house, the face of the logo smiling directly at it.

Enver Hoxha’s house

Since the communist rule, Albania has been developing rapidly, striving to get rid of the organized corruption and other societal issues, and today it is a member of many international organizations such as NATO and WTO. The modernization and shift to market economy took place quickly, as in the past 27 years the country has been able to establish remarkable reforms.

The country today is very pro-west and eager to join the EU, with as much as 94% of the population in favor of joining. Our visit in the Swedish Embassy in Tirana gave us more profound insights on Albania’s possible EU accession, and we discussed the role of Sweden as a big supporter of Albania’s accession after 50 years of bilateral cooperation. As you are reading this article, the EU leaders are discussing the opening of accession negotiations with Albania.

During our trip we also heard about the most current political and societal situation of Albania, when visiting CRCA – Children’s rights center Albania and Roma Active, an NGO helping Roma and working on challenges the minority faces in Albania. These visits gave us a lot of information about the current issues the nation is facing, especially in terms of becoming an applicant to the EU. One large problem is the fact that young people are leaving the country to study or work abroad and are not returning. NGOs like CRCA are working towards building trust and safety net for young people to return and invest in their home country. Though there are still major issues with transparency, grass-root corruption and trust in politicians, Albania seems to be on the right path in terms of becoming more and more democratic. It is likely that within the next decade, Albania will be ready to officially begin the EU application process, which we think would be beneficial to all parties.

UF Malmö visiting CRCA

by Isa Tiilikainen & Jasmin Virta

Photo credits

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