Belong Magazine Issue 8

Issue 8 - Migration and Movement

Life After With COVID-19

Ways work is changing, probably for the better

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Advice From Wingless Wanderers Experts weigh in on a global movement to stay grounded

Passport Poverty The document that can make all the difference when climbing the corporate ladder

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Editor’s Note

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he past year has been a challenge for many of us and there is no doubt that it will be one to go down in the history books. 2020 has touched us deeply, from the wrath of a global pandemic that continues to take thousands of lives and restrict mobility, to our rekindled commitment to change oppressive systems after the murder of yet another Black life.

Even Truly Belong postponed this issue due to these uncertain times. But now, more than ever, we want to establish what it means to belong in an ever-shifting world that might temporarily be at a standstill. That is why this issue takes on the theme of movement.

As a South-African person who started this magazine in the UK, movement has been an essential tool to establish my network. Our team of diverse writers and editors, while working from home, have channelled their citizen of the world ethos into the stories that follow.

From acknowledging upcoming anniversaries of mass migrations in our photo essay to finding sustainable ways to travel in our features section, this issue of Truly Belong aims to tell stories of individuals who, like many of us, depend upon movement.

Despite movement being an indicator of human civilisation, today it has become reserved for those that have a certain privilege – whether it be the right passport or sufficient funds. Those without either must fight tooth and nail or undergo dangerous journeys for a better life.

In this issue, we hold up a magnifying glass to the stories that honour those who’ve found success amid the odds. We re-envision a world where citizens of the world extend their hand to those from faraway lands and call for the protection of humanity’s future.

I hope this issue transports you to lands and cultures far and wide that cherish physical movement while challenging the conceptual ones.

Stay safe, Micha-Rose Emmett Editor-in-chief (Micha-Rose Emmett is the Group CEO for the international legal consulting firm, CS Global Partners)

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CONTENTS 32.

28.

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rethinking flying as flight shaming takes off 36. The Changing Identity of Romani People: A nomadic community fighting to retain their culture and heritage: 40. Dominica: A model for

50.

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climate resiliency

Spotlight 46. The Intersection of Art and Environmentalism: This artist is making the underwater arena his canvas

6. Humanity on the Move: A global migration timeline 8. A Safe Passage in the Digital Age: As travel documents advance to artificial intelligence, we examine how exactly we got here 10. Project Dastaan: Oxfordbacked project connects Partition survivors to their ancestral homes

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19. The Road Less Travelled: Human-induced climate change threatens animal migration 21. Life with COVID-19: Three ways work is changing 24. Too Close to Shore: Commercial real estate’s next great challenge is climate change

Features

Perspectives

28. Passport Poverty: How

18. ‘Where is Home?’: Overlooking pandemic, home has taken on a new meaning

global citizens behind

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travel limitations are leaving

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32. Advice From Wingless Wanderers: Travellers are

48. St Kitts and Nevis: A sanctuary for security, stability and safety 52. Salaam: The video game promoting peace and conflict resolution 54. ‘Coming to Light’: Undocumented migrants in France are fighting imperial ideology 56. Families That Risk All: Netflix’s ‘Living Undocumented’ is a difficult series to watch, and exactly why we should 58. Behind Belong: A magazine that starts conversations

COVER STORY

Contributors

Rebekah Heaney Passport Poverty

Rebekah Heaney is a freelance writer who spent much of the last decade in Dubai covering the lifestyle beat. Since 2019, she has been based in Surrey, UK.

Passport Poverty How travel limitations are leaving global citizens behind Page 28

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Micha-Rose Emmett

Fakiha Baig @FakihaBaig Too Close to Shore ‘Where is Home?’

Fakiha Baig is a Pakistani-Canadian journalist currently working in Edmonton, Canada at CBC News.

DEPUTY EDITOR: Zahra Khozema MANAGING EDITOR: Aisha Mohamed ASSOCIATE EDITOR: Fakiha Baig DESIGN & LAYOUT: Diego Aramendi PRINT & DISTRIBUTION MANAGER: Monika Karanedeva Contents copyright @ 2021 by Truly Belong may not be reprinted, reproduced, copied, or transmitted in any form or by any means or stored in any information storage or retrieval system without the publisher’s written permission.

For story pitches, advertising or general inquiries, contact us at info@trulybelong.com

ABOUT US Founded in 2014 for international businesspeople, Truly Belong soon evolved as a platform for those who identify as citizens of the world. Previous print issues have focused on global citizenship, sustainability, and celebration of women. Truly Belong is also available online. Truly Belong and TrulyBelong.com are owned and operated by CS Global Partners, a London-headquartered legal government advisory and marketing firm.

Ananya Sriram @_ananyas_ ‘Coming to Light’

Ananya Sriram is a fourth year French and International Relations student at the University of Leeds. She enjoys writing about human rights for student papers and loves zine-making, poetry, reading and yoga.

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Humanity on the Move: A timeline of global migration

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60,000 years ago 1-FIRST HOMO SAPIENS LEAVE AFRICA Reports show that the first Homo sapiens began leaving Africa – where the human species first evolved – around 60,000 years ago.

It is unclear what triggered this movement, but experts believe it could be linked to a change in climate, among several other factors.

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1492 to 1820 2-COLONISATION OF THE AMERICAS Between the periods of 1492 to 1820, around 2.6 million Europeans migrated to the Americas. Among the European nations to colonise the Americas were Britain, France, Spain, Portugal and the Netherlands.

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1916 to 1970 4-A RACE FUELLED MIGRATION More than four million African Americans migrated from the South over the span of 30 years. A lack of jobs, opportunities, and an overall onslaught of racial discrimination and prejudice caused the migration to the Midwest and East Coast.

1939 1525 to 1866 3-TRANSATLANTIC SLAVE TRADE According to estimates, around 12.5 million Africans were taken as slaves between 1525 and 1866 to the Caribbean, North America and South America. Only 10.7 million survived the treacherous journey.

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5-DISPLACEMENT OF JEWS BEFORE, DURING AND AFTER WWII After Adolf Hitler came into power, Jewish people began leaving Germany and other Nazi occupied countries in Europe. Bolivia welcomed 30,000 refugees while more than 60,000 German-Jewish people fled to Palestine in the 1930s. The UK and US also provided shelter to Jewish refugees.

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1947 6-THE PARTITION OF INDIA After Britain’s rule over India came to an end, the subcontinent was divided into two separate nations – Muslim-majority Pakistan and Hindu-majority India. While exact numbers are disputed, the partition displaced approximately 14 million people along religious lines.

1948

1972

1975

7-THE CREATION OF ISRAEL

8-FROM INDIA TO UGANDA TO UK

9-FLEEING THE VIETNAM WAR

After the creation of Israel in 1948, Palestinian people were subjected to ethnic cleansing and genocide, otherwise known as the Nakba. Israeli forces displaced at least 750,000 people but today, it is estimated that there are 7.2 million Palestinian refugees worldwide.

Thousands of Indians were brought to Africa in the 1890s to build the Uganda National Railway connecting its capital Kampala to Mombasa, Kenya. In 1972, because of Indophobia, Ugandan dictator Idi Amin gave his country’s minority Asian community 90 days to leave. Around 55,000 Ugandan-Asians were expelled and more than half settled in the UK.

A large-scale migration to the US from Vietnam began at the end of the Vietnam War in 1975. As the humanitarian crisis in the region intensified and communism deepened, almost 125,000 Vietnamese refugees were admitted into the US.

Late 90s to Present 10-INVASIONS AND CIVIL UNREST IN AFGHANISTAN The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in the late 90s was followed by a rise of extremism and civil unrest that eventually triggered a NATO intervention.

The years of conflict led to Afghanistan having the world’s second-largest refugee population. According to the UNHCR, the country has about 2.6 million registered refugees.

Close to 1.5 million Afghan refugees live in Pakistan.

1991 to 2001 11-THE YUGOSLAV WARS The Yugoslav Wars were a series of ethnic conflicts and wars of independence and insurgencies fought in the former Yugoslavia from 1991 to 2001. This directed the breakup of the Yugoslav state into seven nations and displaced more than 4 million while killing over 140,000.

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2011 12-THE SYRIAN REFUGEE CRISIS 7

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In April 2011, hundreds died in clashes between the Syrian Army and opposition forces. A human rights group estimated the death toll to be 511,000 since the start of the war until 2018. As of 2016, the UN estimates over 13.5 million Syrians displaced — the highest population of refugees worldwide. Approximately seven million are displaced internally, while others have sought refuge in Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and Egypt.

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2017 13-MYANMAR’S ROHINGYA CRISIS Since 2017, more than 740,000 people from Myanmar have fled across the border to Bangladesh due to extreme violence.

Most of the refugees identify as Rohingya, a Muslim minority ethnic group in predominantly Buddhist Myanmar. Many Rohingya migrated near the border town of Cox’s Bazar, the world’s largest, most densely populated refugee camp.

2030 14-CHINA’S FLOATING POPULATION While it is often difficult to collect accurate statistical data on floating migrant populations, the number is undoubtedly quite large.

According to the World Bank, by 2030, it is estimated that up to 70 percent of the Chinese population will be living in cities. In 2020, China’s total population is to reach 1.5 billion.

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by: Daniela Cortes Parra

A Safe Passage in the Digital Age As travel documents advance to artificial intelligence, we examine how exactly we got here

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hat’s the most tedious part of travelling?

Excluding losing your luggage or missing your flight, most people would agree that waiting in line at border control might be it. Although tedious, it’s essential for international security, and the entire process relies on a small book each traveller carries.

The good news is that some countries are advancing on digital and artificial intelligence to limit wait time. For example, France is committed to having full biometric capability by 2024. China is also using facial recognition systems for nationals, and the UAE has entered the era of scanning.

Although these countries are offering a new digital way to go through security, how did we get here?

Travelling is a notion that dates back to nomadic lifestyles. However, as some groups became territorial, passing through lands became harder. Bible scriptures report the first form of border permission as “a safe passage”.

As kingdoms grew, so did rivalries. In 1414, King Henry V, the former King of England, issued documents to anyone who agreed not to start a war while moving across territories. Later, the record became known as a “passport”, a term that describes the passing from one port to another.

Immigrants at Ellis Island, New York, NY, early 20th century

In 1414, King Henry V issued documents to anyone who agreed not to start a war while moving across territories. Later, the record became known as a “passport”, a term that describes the passing from one port to another.

After World War One, passports became a priority as immigration became even more common. The Great

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War redefined borders, and in some cases, started civil wars. Those who sought refuge began to move to different countries in a rush and often undocumented.

In 1921, due to the Russian Civil War, the government revoked the citizenship of thousands of Russians that left the country. A year later, the League of Nations (now known as the United Nations) issued the Nansen passport to verify the identity those in the region who became stateless.

Named after Norwegian explorer Fridtjof Nansen, the Nansen Passport allowed its holders to cross borders to find work and protected them from deportation. As the first head of the Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees for the League of Nations, Nansen helped create a little booklet that would, for at least a year, allow the holder to move between countries to find work or family members.

In 1926, more than 20 member states of the League of Nations agreed that holders of a Nansen passport could leave the country of issue and be allowed back in.

The modality extended to other nationalities and became a document for refugees.

The United States also started issuing passports to anyone going through Ellis Islands, a central passing point in New York for immigrants. It is estimated that close to 40 percent of all current US citizens can trace at least one of their ancestors to Ellis Island. This mass migration led to the Immigration Act in 1924, which placed a limit on how many immigrants America administered.

Passports Equal Privilege Depending on which you have, a passport can have benefits and restrictions. Countries that have tighter border control policies often require an entrance visa from non-citizens which creates a filter for governments to keep track of who may or may not enter a country.

States assess quality of life, economies and human rights violations before issuing visas to other countries.

Often, these authorisations are expensive and require paperwork to ensure visitors do not overstay their visit.

The topic of immigration remains a top agenda item for the world’s developed nations. Receiving new people implies offering the same benefits citizens have, like health, education, work, and can put pressure on social services.

These benefits, which all immigrants don’t necessarily receive upon arrival, make relaxed immigration policies a

controversial law for many.

Using biometric ID, electronic passports and artificial intelligence at border control can be potential solutions to stop illegal migration and passport fraud, but these technologies also raise new concerns.

Many question the legitimacy of governments collecting traveller information and doubt the safekeeping of their data.

“It seems that [Dominic] Cummings [the British Prime Minister’s Chief Advisor] plans to expand current digital ID implementations into the web – giving the government much more user data to feed on,” says Carl Sinclair, from Reclaim The Net, a group that advocates pushing back against big tech. Think of the convenience of Sign in with Apple, Google or Facebook. It’s perfectly understandable to want to offer new digital ID cards for more efficiency, especially when it comes along with user data that can be sold, he adds.

In the US, facial recognition is optional for citizens, but it is implemented for all international passengers. In the land of freedom, it becomes a constitutional issue. “If we give in to this, we are allowing the government and the airlines to build up giant face-recognition databases of all of us,” says Jennifer Lynch, the surveillance litigation director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

According to the US constitution, people can not be searched unless they are suspected of a crime, and anonymity is vital for freedom of speech. Government access to digital IDs makes way for plenty of opportunities to breach the public trust.

Despite the consequences, the public remains wary and sceptical. Many countries around the world are already moving forward with digital passports - “a safe passage” into the future of travel.

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by: Zahra Khozema @Zahra_Khozema

Project Dastaan: Oxford-backed project connects Partition survivors to their ancestral homes

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s the 75th anniversary of the Partition of India approaches in 2022, a team backed by the University of Oxford is creating a virtual reality project that aims to reconnect the survivors of one of the largest human migrations in history to their childhood homes.

Project Dastaan tells the stories of those displaced after the British withdrew from the Indian subcontinent in 1947 and created borders between India, Pakistan and Bangladesh based on religious grounds.

“These stories will be lost if they’re not told,” said Sparsh Ahuja, the founder of the project, since those who lived through Partition have reached old age.

Ahuja and his team hope to visit the towns of 75

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survivors and capture their homes and experiences through VR. Many Partition survivors have not returned to their familial homes since the forced migration due to visa restrictions between the countries.

When creators of Project Dastaan show survivors their childhood homes for the first time through VR, Ahuja says that “it’s very emotional, sometimes people break down.”

While promoting cultural dialogue between Bangladesh, India and Pakistan, neighbours who have complex interwoven histories, Project Dastaan wants to “highlight the absurdity of these borders.”

“Having [a] different identity shouldn’t necessarily mean conflict,” Ahuja said.

Truly Belong is sharing some of the featured stories of the survivors.

Sparsh Ahuja, founder of Project Dastaan

AFGHANISTAN

KASHMIR

CHINA TIBET BUTAN NEPAL

WEST PAKISTAN

INDIA MYANMAR EAST PAKISTAN Arabian sea

BANGLADESH since 1971

HYDERABAD

Gulf of Bengal British Indian Frontier (1939) Union of India

SRI LANKA

(independence in 1948) Map of the Partition that displaced over 14 million people and killed hundreds of thousands.

(Source: Themightyquill and Robot8A)

East / West Pakistan (1947) States not included in the participation plan Border conflicts Areas with riots after partition Hindu and Sikh refugee movement Muslim refugee movement

Source: Sam Dalrymple

Ishar Das Arora Ishar Das Arora holds photographs of his late parents taken in 1947 in Delhi. Arora, founder Sparsh Ahuja’s grandfather, was the inspiration for Project Dastaan.

Arora was born in a small village on the southern coast of Pakistan. He was seven-years-old when he migrated to New Delhi, India with his family. Arora stayed in several refugee camps during his journey across the subcontinent.

Arora fondly recalls his village with clay houses and a river where he and his friends would take baths. “People would live with love and there was no hatred – but later... friends became enemies,” he said. Arora is now retired in India, after having worked as an engineer in Delhi.

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Source: Sam Dalrymple

Bahadur Ali and Jannat Phambra Bahadur Ali Phambra and his wife Jannat Bibi migrated from a village near Jalandhar, India to Sheikhupura, Pakistan as children. They had to escape as violence and fires broke out in nearby villages. They eventually settled in Faisalabad, Pakistan and later in the UK. The couple always wanted to visit home but were unable.

Bahadur Ali and Jannat Bibi were from neighbouring villages and had family ties. They married each other in Pakistan in 1961. Though Ali visits Pakistan often, he has never been able to visit India due to visa difficulties.

Source: Abu Sufiyan

Trilochan Singh Trilochan Singh was born in Peshawar, Pakistan and later migrated to Delhi. He grew up to be an activist and was imprisoned for leading marches against the British.

At the age of 15, Trilochan Singh was arrested for organising picketing at the schools in his neighbourhood. The police charged the crowd with batons and that’s when Singh said he was hurt and “taken away to the jail.”

He had a personal relationship with many significant figures fighting the British colonial rule in India – including Gandhi, with whom he shared a jail cell in Lahore.

Singh (left) is being interviewed by members of the Project Dastaan team, who are traveling across South Asia to capture stories of people who survived the Partition of India, as well as celebrated author Aanchal Malhotra (right).

Wasim Siddiqui Wasim Siddiqui was studying geology in Aligarh, India at the time of partition. He was bright and ambitious but uncertain about his future in India where limitations were placed on the employment of Muslims at the time. Thus, he made the decision to migrate to Pakistan alone, leaving his home and family behind.

In 1955, Siddiqui crossed into Pakistan through the Rajasthan desert and settled in Karachi. He is a graduate of Imperial College London, a Fulbright scholar, and has worked in power generation across Pakistan. He remembers Aligarh as the place he found his voice, community and friends.

Siddiqui is holding a photo of his family taken during his childhood in India.

Source Saadia Gardezi

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Source: Sam Dalrymple

Mohan Kahlon Mohan Kahlon, a celebrated Punjabi novelist, holding up his novel “Vishleshan Te Mulanka”, was born in Chhani Tika, a village near the banks of the Ravi River in East Punjab, modern-day Pakistan. At the time of Partition, he migrated first to Jalandhar, then eventually to Kolkata, where he now lives.

“You’re asking about how the journey was – we didn’t even have clothes around our neck,” said Kahlon about crossing from Pakistan to India.

“ We are like pawns on a chessboard.

Source: Sparsh Ahuja

I don’t trust any ideology, no nation, no one.

Tarapade De Reminiscing through a childhood photo album, Tarapade De said the Partition was a forced event.

“We are like pawns on a chessboard. I don’t trust any ideology, no nation, no one.”

Source: Sparsh Ahuja

Kamala Devi Kamala Devi, a Sindhi-Hindu, migrated from Chachro, Pakistan to Barmer, India when she was around 13-years-old. She was very fond of the temple in her village square, and the Gujarati folk prayers her elders would sing in the desert.

“At times, during the night, I dream about the temple. When we stayed there, it was great; when we left, it got lost,” she said.

Many members of her family remain in Pakistan.

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Source: Saadia Gardezi

Zarina Akram Chaudhry Zarina Akram Chaudhry was 13 at the time of Partition and the eldest girl in a family of 11 siblings. Her father was away working in Bhatinda, India when her family was suddenly advised to leave as violence broke out around them. In Pakistan, Chaudhry became the backbone of her family, ensuring her younger siblings went to school and were educated.

While the journey was terrifying, Chaudhry is grateful they reached Bahawalnagar, Pakistan safely. She says it may be because her house in Ferozpur was between two mosques, and this blessing protected their family. “I do feel like going and looking at my house … it was such a privilege, one mosque on this hand and one on the other hand,” she said.

Source: Sam Dalrymple

Manjari Dasgupta Manjari Dasgupta is now a widowed housewife based in Kolkata, India. She spent most of her childhood days in Jamalpur, Bangladesh until the riots started and her entire family had to take refuge in a nearby temple for seven days.

“So many houses were burnt. The thought still gives me goosebumps.”

Desgupta’s family eventually moved to her sister’s residence in present-day India. Holding a photo of herself and her husband Jatin Dasgupta in their youth, she remembers the Muslim labourers who would say salaam, a greating in Urdu meaning “peace”, to her father. He was a jute businessman in Jamalpur. Her wish to visit her childhood town endures.

Source: Sam Dalrymple

Sunanda Biswas Sunanda Biswas, along with her female relatives, moved from Sylhet, Bangladesh to Silchar, India in 1947. She always thinks about the friendly Hindu-Muslim relations of the pre-Partition times. Biswas said she used to call her journey across the border a “vacation” because it was unknown at the time that the migration was permanent. Recalling the lush greenery of Sylhet, she says she still misses the place.

All information was provided by Project Dastaan but has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.

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An overcrowded train transferring refugees during the Partition of India, 1947.

Lord Mountbatten Viceroy of India at the ceremony marking the independence of India, 1947.

British colonial administrators meeting with Lord Mountbatten Viceroy of India to plan the partition of India, 1947.

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, touring India during the partition riots following Independence 1947. Gandhi (2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), was the preeminent leader of the Indian independence movement in British-ruled India.

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TOPICS

Perspectives

‘Where is Home?’

My hyphenated identity doesn’t help me pin-point a location but the pandemic has brought me closer to an answer

The Road Less Travelled As humans worsen the climate crisis, we aren’t the only ones being forced to migrate

Life with COVID-19 Ways work is changing, probably for the better

Too Close to Shore

Commercial real estate’s next great challenge is climate change

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‘Where Is Home?’

Overlooking pandemic, home has taken on a new meaning

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n such a globalised economy, it’s common to see someone born in one country, work in another, and then settle in an entirely new place while adapting to the culture, weather and language simultaneously.

From this home, I see neighbours dedicated to finding new and innovative ways to stay connected with loved ones, and their will to sacrifice their freedoms for those more vulnerable in their surroundings.

Like one in five Canadians, I was also born elsewhere. My family and I moved to a suburb in Ontario from Pakistan when I was young, and since, I’ve hopped the continent for school and work.

In this crisis, my whereabouts have pushed me to look beyond passport labels and addresses. As cliché as it may sound, it has reminded me that the Earth is my home first, and despite the borders that may confine us, all life on this planet is interconnected.

So, when I get asked “where are you from?”, I can’t pinpoint an exact location. However, somewhere in the struggle to balance the duality of my identity and witnessing the of chaos COVID-19 force millions of people inside in unprecedented ways, I found a glimmer of hope, and perhaps an answer too.

Where I’m from, I see the undeniable wrath of a pandemic, especially on the marginalised communities of Indigenous, Black and Brown people, who face a higher death rate due to little or no access to health services.

But I also recognise that the worst has also brought out the good in humanity.

From here, I see our growing appreciation for health care providers and essential staff whose hard work is often overlooked.

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I’ve started seeing myself as a citizen of the world because I realise I belong to so many places and cultures. I feel a desire to rest, reset and rethink my sense of duty to our planet because the health of our planet and future of humanity are inseparable. Home feels like every continent and sea because I understand clearer our dependence on cleaner air and healthier forests, and our collective responsibility to prevent other health and environmental crises.

COVID-19 proves that despite our individual identities, at the heart of humanity, is a common fear of loss and sickness, and the understanding that when our planet suffers, we are all at a loss. This is why I feel that I am more than my location or nationality; I am a citizen of the world.

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by: Fakiha Baig @FakihaBaig

Perspectives

by: Aisha Mohamed @blackpowerpufff

The Road Less Travelled Human-induced climate change threatens animal migration

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rom the hottest deserts to the coolest mountains, insects, animals and even plants are on a constant move, in search of optimal climate, food or ideal mating conditions. However, the harmful effects of the climate crisis are forcing different species to adapt to their changing environment. Journeys that have been traced by humans for a millennium are now disappearing or swerving off the track. Experts estimate that from the beginning of time if you were to list every species on Earth, from the tiniest mould spore to the largest mammal, 99.9 percent of them would now be extinct.

As habitat destruction continues to be the leading cause of animal extinction, the rate of species extinctions is also accelerating. The World Wildlife Foundation says that the rapid loss of the species we see today is estimated to be between 1,000 and 10,000 times higher than the natural extinction rate. But it isn’t just the changing climate that’s altering migratory routes, it’s the human contribution to climate change in particular that has resulted in altered and challenging landscapes. Here are some examples of species facing extinction due to their changing environment:

Wildebeest Africa’s Serengeti, one of the continent’s natural wonders, hosts one of the greatest migrations ever seen. Each year, more than a million wildebeest take part in a 1000 kilometre migratory loop around Tanzania and Kenya in search of green grass to graze. The movement of so many animals at the same time is one of the region’s greatest natural attractions.

However, experts say new dangers await the wildebeest population, with the first being human development infringing on their space to roam. Not only do the growing number of fences, farms and settlements overstep boundaries, but agricultural production and livestock overgrazing leave the species with very little to eat.

Secondly, as climate change presents more droughts, it can potentially wipe off a significant number of the population,

particularly if the Mara River, which spans across Kenya and Tanzania, dries up. With increased rainfall, flooding could make the treacherous journey even more dangerous, especially as the wildebeests try to cross the river.

Despite the wildebeest migration dating back at least a million years, human-induced climate change and the shifting landscape are threatening the future of the species, and thus the future of one of the most important ecosystems in the world.

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White Stork Remember asking your parents where babies come from? Many may recall the elaborate tale of the white stork that delivered new-borns in a bundle of white cloth, as popularised by European folklore.

The white stork is part of the Ciconiidae family of storks, a large bird described as a long-distance migrant. The species usually spends its winters in southern Africa and summers in Europe. But human activity is changing that.

A paper published by Science Advances found that the migratory route of white storks has shifted to take advantage of garbage dumps and landfills in Northern Africa. This fast-track urbanisation occurring in many parts of the world continues to hurt animals the most. Additionally, migrating birds commonly eat insects, fish and frogs, changing the natural course of the bird, which experts say can have unknown and dire consequences.

Adélie Penguins Many species know how to adapt to changing temperatures but researchers believe that the unprecedented temperatures witnessed in recent years might be all-too heavy to bear for some of the world’s oldest species. Adélie penguins have been in the Antarctic for thousands of years, acclimating to whatever was thrown their way throughout evolution.

Their yearly migration involves travelling from breeding colonies to out to sea where they forage for food, and back.

Unfortunately, as global warming contributes to the loss of sea ice and a rise in ocean temperatures, colonies of Adélie penguins have been forced to migrate thousands of miles through the continent in hopes of surviving.

According to a University of Delaware study, up to 60 percent of the current Adélie penguin habitat will not be able to host colonies by the end of the century. In efforts to preserve the species, the penguins have been listed as near threatened with extinction.

Humpback Whales Changes in the climate are usually a prompt for animals to begin migrating, but, as ocean temperatures change drastically due to the climate crisis, sea creatures are migrating earlier than usual.

The humpback whales migrate from the freezing waters of Antarctica all the way to equatorial countries like Ecuador and Colombia to give birth. Yet, where they once arrived in July, they’re now appearing as early as May. The warm waters have also killed a significant portion of krill – a major food source for humpback whales. Many fail to survive the journey to the equator, while others arrive weak and thin.

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Perspectives

Life After With COVID-19 Three ways work is changing

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uring a global pandemic, most of us accepted change early on, others stayed in denial a little longer, and some are still stuck in a parallel world thinking everything will go back to normal. As many nations work on relaxing lockdowns, some are thinking about when they can stop working at their home office or kitchen tables and return to work, while others might want to stick to their new routine. But despite the uncertain times, experts say what is certain is that we’ll all be returning to a life much different than before. How would that look like exactly? Here’s a roundup of three big changes you can expect.

1. Opt-In to Work from Home According to a Gallup poll, early this April, 62 percent of employed Americans worked at home during the global crisis, compared with about 25 percent a couple of years ago. Tech giants like Twitter, Google and Facebook announced during the pandemic that they are moving much of their staff on a permanently remote basis, giving them a better work-life balance. Remote work can allow employees to save time and money by living in more affordable locations, based on what is best for their children’s education, while possibly working in proximity to elderly parents, open natural spaces, or decent healthcare, all while being liberated from long work commutes.

Flexibility is not a thing of the future – it is the now.

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Remote working is not a one-size-fits-all solution, however, according to the American consultancy firm McKinsey & Company, in return, companies can save money in the long term by accessing new pools of talent without locational restraints, adopt innovative processes to boost productivity, create a stronger work culture, and significantly reduce real-estate costs. Office use could also be reduced to confidential client appointments and key staff meetings.

2. Flexibility Narrowing Gaps for Marginalised Groups “Here goes another one” – the shocking but common thought some bosses have when a worker announces that they are expecting a child and need to go on maternity leave. This makes companies prefer hiring men over women, especially at an early stage in their careers when it is likely a woman may want to start a family. This unspoken discrimination can damage a woman’s career progression and salary.

Now, a parent can feel less pressure about choosing between starting a family and balancing work. The earlier a company embraces flexibility, the more likely they are to have higher quality and loyal candidates.

Similar to working mothers, studies also show that people with various mental and physical disabilities are often at a significant disadvantage in the workplace in numerous ways. But now experts say that with this newfound “flexibility”, employers may be more willing to hire workers with disabilities for home-based positions due to less concern about accommodating their needs.

Flexibility is not a thing of the future – it is the now.

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Perspectives 3. Resilient Business Models Business owners know that wise portfolio diversification with a crisis-proof product or service can prevent a complete collapse. During the lockdown, some US restaurants turned their spaces into grocery stores or started delivering food. A small traditional Italian pizzeria realised their oven is hot enough to melt plastic, so they started producing Personal Protective Equipment.

Similarly, a tiny boardgame manufacturer from Moldova used its 3D printers to produce visors and donate them to undersupplied hospitals.

These companies may have adapted out of necessity, whether for profit or out of citizenship duty, but they emerged from the pandemic with a new business model.

These changes are just a few examples of how much work-life can change in such a short period. Many are questioning and reimagining how work should be done and what the role of the “office” is. According to McKinsey & Company, ultimately the answer is different for every organization. “A well-planned return to offices can use this moment to reinvent their role and create a better experience for talent, improve collaboration and productivity, and reduce costs,” their website states.

“Change will require transformational thinking grounded in facts. Ultimately, the aim of this reinvention will be what good companies have always wanted: a safe environment where people can enjoy their work, collaborate with their colleagues, and achieve the objectives of their organizations.”

Companies may have adapted out of necessity, whether for profit or out of citizenship duty, but they emerged from the pandemic with a new business model.

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Too Close to Shore

Fakiha Baig @FakihaBaig

Commercial real estate’s next great challenge is climate change

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limate change is forcing real estate investors and vacationers to take a step back from their shoreline destinations and reconsider how they invest and travel.

As global warming forces itself upon various industries and presents numerous unprecedented challenges, real estate investors are realising how rising seas levels and storm-driven flooding is impacting properties and changing the way they invest.

“The traditional ‘Let’s see how close to the ocean we can build,’ and ‘how many trees we can fall’ in the process to create areas where people can come and get sunburned, that type of tourism, we’re learning is not something that’s sustainable,” says Sam Raphael. Raphael is the owner of Jungle Bay Resort in Dominica, a small Caribbean island that pledged climate resilience after facing the horrors of Hurricane Maria in 2017.

The resort owner has become a preeminent sustainable tourism developer in the Caribbean and has been named a top sustainable tourism leader

by Virgin Holidays, Conde Nast Traveler and others because of the various environmentally friendly characteristics he has added to his resort.

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“We need to recognise that we will need places to live where we’re not going to be overrun by tidal waves. We’re kind of stepping back from the shoreline. So, to speak, we’re looking at our water flow in development,” Raphael added.

According to a report by the New York Times, American home buyers, for example, are increasingly using mortgages that make it easier to stop making monthly payments and walk away from the loan if the home floods, becomes unsellable, or unlivable.

“More banks are getting buyers in coastal areas to make bigger down payments — often as much as 40 per cent of the purchase price, up from the traditional 20 per cent — a sign that lenders have awakened to climate dangers and want to put less of their own money at risk,” the report states.

A 2018 assessment by American investment bank Morgan Stanley found that in 2017, property and infrastructure damage from natural disasters accounted for about $330 billion in global economic losses.

According to data collected from American counties by Attom Data Solutions, a provider of real estate and property data, home sales in floodprone areas grew about 25 per cent less quickly over the last five years than in counties that were not known for flooding.

In the past year, despite home sales increasing by 2.6 per cent nationally, Miami-Dade County saw a drop of about 7.6 per cent in high-risk flood zones, according to American housing data.

“Just now all developers need to move with some level of urgency towards the preservation of the environment,” Raphael said.

“I think we were right on point in being in this movement early on. Now that we have COVID-19, I think the aftermath of the pandemic will be that

people will again be looking for things that are natural and safe.”

Aside from flooding, the 2018 Morgan Stanley report also outlines the more gradual climate risks investors should consider, including varying weather patterns such as drought and heat stress.

While not as dramatic or identifiable as a natural disaster, these forces can damage properties over time, leading to higher maintenance and operating costs.

The 2018 report emphasises the importance of assessing homes and future real estate investments for climate risks, such as the likely climate hazards the area faces.

It also recommends looking into insurance that specifically manages climate risks.

In 2012, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Finance Initiative established the Principles for Sustainable Insurance, which outlined a common framework for real estate industries around the world to address environmental, social and governance opportunities, including the risks of climate change.

The outline guides insurers to embed environmental criteria into decisionmaking across businesses, including in risk management, which, in time, will necessitate a more direct approach to pricing climate risk.

Morgan Stanley said this move could help investors play an active role in their insurance planning, and bolster the resilience of real estate and infrastructure so they can preserve the long-term insurability of their most at-risk assets.

Resort owners like Raphael have already taken on this idea. Raphael limited construction on his Dominica resort that was close to the shoreline and said that people “want to go into a paradise that’s free from stress and the challenges of the time.”

“I think it’s key and this is becoming more of a commonplace, and hopefully, we can encourage other players to follow suit.”

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TOPICS

Features

Passport Poverty The document that can make all the difference when climbing the corporate ladder

Advice From Wingless Wanderers Experts weigh in on a global movement to stay grounded

The Changing Identity of Romani People Centuries of discrimination against the nomadic people has made it harder to retain their history and culture

Dominica

How Citizenship by Investment has helped a once storm-ravaged island become resilient

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by: Rebekah Heaney

Passport Poverty How travel limitations are leaving global citizens behind

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ravel, despite current pandemic related restrictions, is here to stay. Thanks to budget airlines, digital booking services, and innovative BnB start-ups, the number of annual trips taken by tourists have surged from a mere 400 million in the 90s to 1.4 billion in 2018 and is only expected to rise, according to the World Tourism Organisation. Business trips, for example, made up one percent of all airline journeys in 2019, but represented 75 percent of airline profits. We’ve become a world of travellers, where investment in traversing the globe is as essential for professional reasons as personal ones.

While international movement has grown, so too has our mindset. There is even a label for wanderlusting members of society: global citizens. Global citizens are individuals who believe their identity transcends geography or political borders, and their numbers have been steadily on the rise in the last decade, according to a poll conducted for the BBC. One such person is *Ayesha Farooqi, who was born in Malawi, and in turns has been a resident of Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and the US, among other countries. “I feel very at home in a lot of diverse contexts, socially and economically, and I think that’s part of identifying with global citizenship,” she said.

But even as modern travel opens a world of possibilities, many travellers are still limited by a major factor: the colour of their passport.

This element places each of us in a world-wide hierarchy.

Passport indexes are provided by several different organisations, but all measure the value of travel documents based on the access they grant to the world, and by extension, a world of global opportunities. Passportindex.org, for example, refers to this index as your ‘mobility score’, the total number of countries that can be easily visited with a given passport, based on visa-free, visa-on-arrival and similar schemes. Whether for business or tourism, Western passports from North America and Europe have remained firmly at the top of these charts since their conception, while regardless of education, income or qualification, people from those countries unable to move up in the indexes face a daunting stack of challenges often referred to as ‘passport poverty’.

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Features According to the same index, the world’s most powerful passport currently belongs to nationals of the United Arab Emirates, the same place where self-identified global citizen Farooqi operates her corporate sustainability and social responsibility consultancy, among the glittering hotels and towering skyscrapers of Dubai. According to a 2018 census, more than 90 percent of the desert city’s three-millionpopulation is expatriate, with large numbers hailing from South Asia, Africa and the Middle East. Quite simply, the city’s population is more international than not, and this global composition is reflected in its economy. Annually, Dubai does around £212 billion in foreign trade and is one of the most visited cities in the world.

In 2018, it attracted nearly 16 million tourists. “There’s a very strategically planned, well-thought-out package on behalf of the Dubai government that really does make you feel like the world is coming to you,” Farooqi told Truly Belong.

Therefore, Dubai is for many a poster child of the opportunities that beckon when a place opens its doors to an expatriate workforce.

However, it currently does not issue citizenship to residents aside from a few, rare exceptional circumstances.

The residents here are mostly economic migrants, people from around the world who’ve left their home country to seek work elsewhere.

Yet, considering the city’s almost uniquely international identity, these residents — a host of people who may very well exemplify global citizenship — are no more exempt from the trials of passport limitations than anyone else.

Ipshita Sharma, an Indian national now residing in Dubai, looks back on a career in sales management “haunted” by passport poverty. She explains the problems of facing visa applications every time she needed to travel, even to regions like Europe which she had visited extensively before. She says passport poverty has made doing business “difficult and cumbersome.”

This feeling climaxed when Sharma worked as an international sales manager for a massive multinational’s entire Middle East division. When relocation and a promotion became available in the UK, instead of being moved into the position as expected, Sharma was let go. “There were strong hints,” she explains when asked if this was due to the restrictions presented by her Indian passport.

Sharma was told that work visas for her passport were too expensive and weren’t an investment the company wanted to consider. Sharma said she felt her singular expertise and experience was overlooked because of the nationality of the passport she carried.

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This shows how passport poverty poses a litany of obstacles, some as detrimental as potentially closing off access to networking opportunities, internal business meetings, and partner and client liaisons. In a media office, for example, press trips frequently become the perk of employees with more ‘valuable’ passports simply by way of convenience for the companies involved, resulting in increased opportunities for coverage and bylines.

Less tangible, but no less important, benefits are lost too. “Going to a place with a different culture can help employees develop new ideas, see things with a new perspective, and ultimately become better thinkers and workers,” business consultant Larry Alton, writes for Forbes.

As a business owner, Farooqi, like Sharma, has faced these issues. She was once a US resident who had invested time and money into attaining a coveted American passport, which according to various indexes ranks in the top ten most powerful for its visa-free travel opportunities. However, she decided later to not get her US citizenship and solely rely on the passport of her ethnic background, Pakistan. This decision was personal for Farooqi, and she chose to not disclose it to Truly Belong.

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Nevertheless, the decision came with its own challenges. “It has been a hindrance in delivering services because clients still like facetime, so not being able to visit them when they want is a barrier,” she says. The Pakistani passport currently sits at fourth to last out of 199 countries on the passport poverty index, followed

by Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. As a result, Farooqi’s passport has limited her access to her biggest market, Saudi Arabia, and the expensive visas she requires to travel to the Kingdom impacts her business’ viability.

Regardless, Farooqi continues to attempt developing strategies to overcome travel barriers, like switching to virtual connectivity as a substitute for face-to-face interaction. “I’ve conducted entire projects virtually with people on the phone,” she says, “some of them are open to that.”

As an employee, however, Sharma feels more helpless. “If a company cannot invest in a visa for you, even though you have brought millions to that company, what else can you expect from them,” she says.

In her story is a strong message: establishing support, whether it be a travel fund, or an HR department better equipped to

Features

tackle the complications of passport restrictions, is an investment in making employees feel valued. Multiple psychology studies suggest that workers treated as such add value to the business and this basic tenet of good business aside, the benefits of workplace diversity are easily confirmed. A study by the Boston Consulting Group looked at 1,700 companies across eight countries and found that “increasing the diversity of leadership teams leads to more and better innovation and improved financial performance” and precipitates a boost to the bottom line that’s worth making accommodations for.

It’s paradoxical that the very documents meant to facilitate travel nonetheless have whole nations of people shut out of the global game. Yet, while Sharma identifies with the notion of ‘passport poverty’, and sees it as directly impacting her professional advancement, Farooqi argues that the phrase is problematic. Many like herself, she points out, continue to choose the colour of their passport regardless of financial or business concerns. Still, she expresses frustration at the innate bias at work in the world.

“People are very curious about where you’re from and what your passport is, and while it’s an indicator for various life experiences, it’s not a very good indicator of your professional merit,” she says. It is a salient point, as the progress that globalisation promises can only truly reach its full potential when its players are entirely free to shape it, and until all passports are recognised as what they are, just travel documents, some global citizens will continue to be left behind. *Truly Belong is using a pseudonym for Farooqi because she does not want to use her real name.

People are very curious about where you’re from and what your passport is and while it’s an indicator for various life experiences, it’s not a very good indicator of your professional merit.

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by: Zahra Khozema @Zahra_Khozema

Advice From Wingless Wanderers Travellers are rethinking flying as flight shaming takes off

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n the Netherlands, they say vliegschaamte; in Sweden, it’s flygskam; and in Germany, flugscham.

The words all mean “flight shame”, a pang of guilt travellers should experience when they fly knowing they are contributing to climate change. The phrase is used by a small but growing community of anti-flyers who are drastically reducing the number of flights they take or giving up air travel altogether.

Commercial aviation generates about three percent of the world’s carbon emissions and is mainly generated by burning jet fuel. Due to COVID-19, the International Air Transport Association said in April global flight numbers were down by 70 percent compared to the same time last year, but scientists predict that the slowdown will likely be short-lived.

With passenger numbers set to double by 2030, experts pinpoint flying as the most destructive form of travel and say there must be “rapid, unprecedented change” to our lifestyles to avoid climate catastrophe. So as air passenger numbers continue to grow, so too does the debate around the ethics of air travel.

How do we stay connected in a world with interwoven economies, dispersed loved ones and a need for unravelling in exotic landscapes?

Michael Karr, a former editor of the Telegraph’s travel section who now runs a website called Deskbound Traveller, says that it helps to know your environmental damage to better understand your contribution to global carbon emissions. An economy-class return flight from London to New York, for example, emits an estimated 0.67 tonnes of CO2 per passenger, according to a UN aviation agency. That’s equivalent to 11 percent of the average annual emissions for someone in the United Kingdom, or

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about the same carbon emitted in the span of a year by someone living in Ghana.

“You can’t make others feel shame, it’s personal,” said Karr, who is a part of the no-fly movement.

“Not only was I flying, but my readers were also booking trips after reading my pieces,” said Karr, who decided to stop travelling by air for his work last year. He said his commitment to staying grounded grew from the shame of realising the culmination of the carbon footprint he was contributing to.

Similarly, in Sweden, flygskam made way for tagskryt, or “train bragging”. A Facebook group, called “Tagsemester”, which now has over 110,000 members, helps provide travel advice for those trying to cut back on flying by using environmentally friendlier and slower transportation methods like trains or bicycles. The online community was started

by Swedish entrepreneur Susanna Elfors in 2014.

“I wanted to fly less because it’s so devastating for the climate and the environment,” Elfors said. “I was always interested in sustainability, so I started the group.” Now, Elefors says, “you can brag about doing something positive.”

Two years later in 2016, young climate activist Greta Thunbergs’s mother, Malena Ernman, famously made the commitment to give up flying after Thunberg placed pressure on her to do more to tackle climate change. As Thunberg continued her protests, famously sailing across the North Atlantic twice to avoid flying, she gave a global spotlight to the anti-flying movement.

According to Reuters, in December, domestic travel reportedly fell by seven percent and overall traffic was

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You can brag about doing something positive.

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down four percent in Sweden. This growing resistance to aviation has reinvigorated rail travel and made tagskryt a word that people use to go from despair to hope, Elfors told Truly Belong.

Susanna Elfors

As the global lockdown due to COVID-19 resulted in clearer skies and less polluted air, Elfors considers this change a rehearsal for the long-run when more people are ready to address aviation’s climate impact. She suggests curbing potential flight emissions by vacationing closer to home, using the train and combining vacations and business trips.

“It’s more of a journey, you can experience things on your trip, and you will feel the travel in your body in another way.

You won’t be jet lagged. It’s a different experience.”

In addition to knowing your carbon footprint, Paul Chatterton, a professor of urban futures at the University of Leeds, insists that the middle class also needs to step up.

After acknowledging his class privilege, Chatterton hasn’t flown since 2004. “I have to practice what I preach,” he said in an interview with the BBC. “I think every academic has to justify why they are flying to that particular ‘must-go’ conference. If we have something really important to say, say it in a different way,” said Chatterton, who travels to conferences in Europe by train instead.

“One of the privileges of being a middle-income professional — and this is a direct plea to other middleincome professionals — is that you can negotiate with your boss and you have a bit more money to get the train,” he said.

This not only allows individuals to take responsibility for their own carbon footprint, but also places the onus on employers and corporations to find a more eco-friendly form of operating their businesses.

London-based Wholegrain Digital, which develops websites for ethically minded organisations, is one example of a company that has joined a version of the flight shaming movement. Wholegrain Digital offers its employees perks for ditching air travel by offering at least two days per year of paid time off for employees who use buses, trains, boats or carpools to go on holiday, rather than flights or solo car journeys.

Some corporations like KLM Royal Dutch Airlines are also taking accountability and setting an example for what companies can do. In an open letter, KLM invited all air travellers to take “responsible decisions about flying.”

KLM also admitted that “aviation is far from sustainable today, even if we have been – and are – working hard to improve every aspect of our business.” The airline suggested that its potential customers travelling for business avoid flying by making use of video conferences or taking the train. On their website, KLM also advises its passengers to pack light and encourages companies to think about ways to compensate for their emissions.

Incorporating carbon offsetting schemes to your air travel is one way of doing that. These schemes allow individuals and companies to invest in environmental projects around the world in order to balance out carbon footprints. The projects are usually based in developing countries and are commonly designed to reduce future emissions. A project, for example, might involve rolling out clean energy technologies or

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Features soaking up CO2 from the air by planting trees.

For high emitting activities like flying, travellers or their companies can also visit an offset website, use the online tools to calculate the emissions of their trip, and then pay the offset company to reduce emissions by the same amount – thus making the flight “carbon neutral”.

However, many offsetting companies like Carbonfootprint.com acknowledge that more needs to be done. “Climate change will only be addressed if individuals, businesses and government organisations all take responsible steps to reduce our CO2 emissions as much as possible and then offset the remaining unavoidable emissions,” their website states.

[Trains are] more of a journey, you can experience things on your trip, and you will feel the travel in your body in another way.

For Elfors, the mission to make people feel good about flying less and making more environmentally cautious choices continues. “[When] you feel bad for doing something that is not good… you can change your habits and do something good.”

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by: Elsie Haldane @elsie_haldane

The Changing Identity of Romani People A nomadic community fighting to retain their culture and heritage

Two Romani caravans travelling the roads of Kent near Romney Marsh.

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Features

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hen Romani people first arrived in Scotland in the 15th century, their clothes, skin colour and customs made them stand out. Seen as exotic, they were referred to as “Gypsies” due to a mistaken belief they had come from Egypt. However, Romani and Traveller communities originate from the northwestern parts of India, from where they then travelled to Europe. Ornately painted barrel-topped wagons and colourful clothes are, for many, still the image that comes to mind when visualising the Romani community. One distinguishing feature of this rich culture is that Roma people have been a nomadic community for centuries. Although a few travel today, nomadism remains a significant part of Romani heritage.

“Romani” is the term used to describe the many ethnic subgroups within it, one of which is the Romanichal in the UK. The UK also places Romani people, or Roma, under the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller (GRT) communities title along with a wide range of individuals who may be defined in relation to their ethnicity, heritage and way of life, including Scottish Gypsy Travellers and Irish Travellers. Nowadays, Romani people make up about 200,000 of the country’s population, with an unofficial figure estimated to be higher. Nonetheless, their world population is estimated to be between two to 12 million, with the largest demographic living in the United States. The community is a part of the rich fabric of world history and has cultivated a strong identity over centuries. But is this identity in danger today?

Nomadism is an important part of Romani history and culture. According to The Traveller’s Times, all people were nomadic at one time, until around 10,000 years ago when agriculture was developed and farming became the norm. Those that did not settle around this time, due to drought, war or simply lifestyle, became travelling people. Today, travelling is still a key aspect of Romani identity and is most under threat.

A recent Conservative government proposal aims to criminalise trespassing in the UK, meaning that setting up encampments on land one does not own could result in prison time. Until now, it has only been a civil offence to set up encampments on someone else’s land, so landowners needed a court order to be able to evict people.

During the Essex Dale Farm evictions in 2011, for example, 80 families living on a land plot once grounds for Europe’s largest traveller site were evicted from their homes. Although the travellers lost the legal battle to continue to live there, the eviction took 10-years to happen, which allowed the families of Dale Farm to not have to uproot their lives at a moment’s notice.

Now, the government wants to give police officers the

power to evict nomadic people on the spot. UK officials have made it no secret that this proposal specifically targets travelling communities, reiterating the party’s manifesto which pledges to “tackle unauthorised traveller camps.”

According to Home Secretary Priti Patel, the reason for this crackdown is that unauthorised encampments “cause misery to those who live nearby, with reports of damage to property, noise, abuse and littering”.

However, the charity Friends, Families and Travellers (FFT) has condemned these ideas as discriminatory, pointing out that they focus on the actions of a minority to lump all travellers into the same group.

Last March, seven caravans were burned in Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire at a site reserved for travellers.

According to the BBC, it was treated as both arson and a hate crime. If this proposal becomes enshrined in law, it will further legitimise hateful attitudes towards GRT communities, and strip the communities of their freedom and right to practice their cultural heritage.

It is particularly telling that this aggressive policy is seen as the solution to unauthorised campsites, instead of building new sites or expanding existing ones. “If there was a real appetite to address the issue of unauthorised encampments, the government would have invested in site provision,” FFT said. They also argue the idea is “criminalising families who have no place to go [which] is inhumane and wrong.”

Besides Romani customs, the community’s language is also at risk. People of Romani ancestry speak Romani, also known as Romany or Romanes. FFT describe it as “a global language of Indian origin with millions of speakers.” Nowadays, it can be heard among members of the community, often mixed with English, which scholars refer to as “Angloromani”.

Perhaps “Angloromani” can be seen as an indication of the forced integration travelling communities have faced in modern-day Britain. The language was once spoken by most British-Romani — approximately 40,000 speakers in the UK — demonstrating the significant presence it has in Britain. “It’s a historical language of this country that’s been spoken here since before Protestantism was part of the Church of England,” said Damien Le Bas, former editor of The Travellers’ Times and spokesperson for FFT. “That’s the kind of time scale we’re talking about.” The language is at risk, as the United Nations has given it a “definitely endangered” status. Le Bas also argues that if Romani were to receive official recognition as a minority language in the UK, such as languages like Welsh, Scots and Gaelic, it might help secure the linguistic heritage of Romani people, and save a part of their culture which is slowly becoming diluted.

Unfortunately, the centuries of discrimination against

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Roma community in London begins celebrating International Roma Day

the Romani community makes it harder to retain significant parts of their culture and history. During the Second World War, Nazis killed 500,000 Romani people in concentration camps. In the Romani language, the genocide is known as the Porajmos, meaning “The Devouring”. While “devour” conjures a powerful image, the mass killing of Roma people remains a relatively unknown aspect of Holocaust history. After the liberation of the Nazi concentration camps, governments began educating people on the past and compensating former Jewish prisoners. But, Romani people were excluded from this as they were not recognised as victims of the Holocaust. The Nazis continued to say that the Romani were taken to concentration camps purely due to criminality, not their ethnicity, said Mihai Bica, a member of the Eastern European Roma community, and an Advocacy and Campaigning Project Worker for the charity Roma Support Group. Romani witnesses were not called upon during the Nuremberg trials for this reason.

And shockingly, to this day, as Bica says, “there are European countries that do not recognise the Romani genocide.” According to the Council of Europe, Italy, Belgium and Russia recognise Romani deaths, but not as the crime of genocide. It was in 1982, only 38-years ago, that Germany acknowledged the deaths of Romani people as a genocide and rectified Holocaust education.

Traveller History Month since 2008. Many schools have taken part in educational activities whilst participating in the celebration. Bica says that “we want to have our children in school, and we want education, it’s the negative experiences that have stopped us.” Bica told Truly Belong that the British school system is a good environment for Roma children to learn in, especially compared to other countries. He explained that there is no segregation of children, which is rife in Eastern European countries such as Bulgaria, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Romania and Slovakia. The European Roma Rights Commission has collected data that suggests 6,000 to 8,000 Roma children living in Hungary study in completely segregated classes from their non-Roma schoolmates. Bica says in the UK, it is “very easy for Roma children to blend, they’re not recognised for being Roma.”

Universities are also improving their awareness of the issues that GRT face in accessing education.

According to a report from King’s College London (KCL), only three to four percent of all GRT accessed higher education in 2014. KCL has a programme to increase support for GRT communities, called “Rom Belong”. Christine Brown, the programme lead, says that Rom Belong engages with youth through “one to one advice, priority and special consideration” and “promotes role models of Gypsies, Roma and

In light of this dark history, some positive steps are being taken. The UK has been celebrating Gypsy, Roma and

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Roma community in London begins celebrating International Roma Day

Features Roma community in London begins celebrating International Roma Day

Travellers at university.” The programme also works to dispel stigma and is “a voice to remind people [to] include GRT in an educational space.”

Other universities also provide support for GRT students. Lois, a Romani student at the University of Chester, describes her story in the Rom Belong film series, created with The Travellers’ Times. “My university has been excellent. They’ve offered me everything from funding opportunities to networking opportunities,” she says. Her advice to other minority students is to “be unapologetic in your pride and your heritage and where you come from.”

Charities like London Gypsies & Travellers also offer programs such as “Step Forward,” a project that empowers women by equipping them with IT skills so they can go onto further training or find paid employment.

We only need to glance briefly at the story of Europe to see that Romani identity is resilient.

Though Romani identity has been attacked throughout history, it continues to stand strong.

If our society doesn’t change the way it treats Romani people, we might soon find ourselves in a world with one less culture to celebrate.

Govanhill, Glasgow, Scotland, UK. 7th April, 2018. The 5th annual International Roma Day was celebrated in Govanhill with a parade, traditional dress, food and music

Roma community in London begins celebrating International Roma Day

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Dr the Honourable Roosevelt Skerrit Prime Minister Commonwealth of Dominica

Dominica: This Caribbean Island Provides a Template for Climate Resilience Thanks to Dominica’s Citizenship by Investment Programme, ‘the island stands stronger than ever.’

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Features

St Kitts and Nevis

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s a tropical island blessed with beaches, abundant rainforestdraped mountains and hot springs, the Commonwealth of Dominica has emerged from disaster as an eco-aware paradise that has found a sweet spot to balance a range of evocative boutique hotels and luxury spas. The island has rebranded itself as a compelling destination for quality family time and adventure sports.

However, Dominica’s wins did not come easy. The nation’s determination in the age of the climate crisis has set an example on the world’s stage. When the island was devastated by Hurricane Maria in 2017, 65 people were killed and 90 percent of the island’s infrastructure was wiped out. “Our green forests were stripped of their leaves and homes built on riverbanks swept off to sea,” said the Caribbean island’s Prime Minister, Roosevelt Skerrit.

In this time of crisis, the Prime Minister, who once held the title of the youngest head of government in the democratic world, responded strategically by issuing The Resiliency Act. The Act, which aims to make Dominica world’s first climate resilient country, included the launching of the Housing Revolution, an initiative designed to build hurricane-resilient housing for all Dominicans.

“To deny climate change… is to deny a truth we have just lived,” said the Prime Minister.

The new homes, according to him, are constructed with the purpose of withstanding natural disasters and have features like reinforced concrete.

Roofs have also been re-engineered to use screws rather than nails and they are built at a steep angle to withstand high winds.

All housing projects are fully financed by Dominica’s world-leading Citizenship by Investment (CBI) Programme. “Dominican citizens love the Programme because of the direct benefit they can see. Our National Employment Programme, our infrastructure – schools, roads, hospitals – were all rebuilt using money from the Citizenship by Investment Programmes,” said the Prime Minister, who has now led the country for almost 16 years.

Introduced in 1993, Dominica’s CBI Programme is recognised as the world’s best offering for second citizenship. Under the programme, investors gain Dominican citizenship once making a financial

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contribution to the nation. Not only does the Programme encourage direct foreign investment, and facilitate growth in the country’s private sector, but it “prioritises environmentally friendly projects,” according to Prime Minister Skerrit.

“Through CBI, foreign investors help [the island] pave a path to resiliency while reaping the benefits of representing a strong nation,” he said.

By making an investment into either Dominica’s government fund, or preapproved eco-luxury real estate, well-vetted applicants are rewarded with visa-free access to 140 countries and territories and the ability to pass citizenship to future generations.

Another project funded by the CBI Programme is Dominica’s new geothermal energy plant, he said, which aims to help the island combat climate change, reduce energy costs and relieve reliance on imported fossil fuels. The plant can drive the country’s energy mix to 51 percent renewables and generate seven megawatts of clean energy across its population. “Eventually, we will export green energy to nearby territories like Martinique and Guadeloupe,” he added.

Beaming with lush mountains and a river for each day of the year, Dominica’s rehabilitation of its tourism sector has also been vital in infusing resilience into its economy. Through CBI’s real estate investment option, the country has approved several luxury hotels and eco-resorts.

“To be approved, we ensure the project maintains sustainability and contributes to the green economy… that is key for us,” Prime Minister Skerrit said.

Properties like the Kempinsiki’s Cabrits Report & Spa, Marriott’s Anichi Resort & Spa, Bois Colette, Jungle Bay Eco Villas, Hilton’s Tranquillity Beach and Secret Bay employ hundreds of locals, implement environmentally friendly practices and strengthen Dominica’s growing economy while providing investors with a secure and stable route to second citizenship.

Since Hurricane Maria, Dominica has won several awards for its recovery efforts, and has been noted as a top travel destination in publications like Travel + Leisure and Condé Nast Traveller.

Prime Minister Skerrit says that “Dominicans know that this Programme helps the more fortunate and the ones who need it more.” CBI helps ensure the island can bounce back in a matter of weeks and not months if faced with adversity. Dominica has also been internationally recognised as offering the world’s best Programme for four consecutive years by the Financial Times’ PWM magazine, “so investors can rest assured that despite its size, Dominica offers an abundance of opportunities.”

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TOPICS

Spotlight

The Intersection of Art and Environmentalism This artist is making the underwater arena his canvas

St Kitts and Nevis

A sanctuary for security, stability and safety

Salaam

‘Coming to Light’

A video game that highlights the refugee crisis

Activists fight France’s imperial ideology

Families That Risk All

Behind Belong

Netflix’s ‘Living Undocumented’ is a difficult series to watch and exactly why we should

A magazine that starts conversations

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by: Aisha Mohamed @blackpowerpufff

The Intersection of Art and Environmentalism This artist is making the underwater arena his canvas

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rt allows us to immortalise the past, providing us with a platform to inspect, analyse and learn from our history. Other times, art can inform our future, enabling us to inspire drastic social change, something that British artist Jason deCaires Taylor is all too

familiar.

Taylor is responsible for creating the world’s first underwater sculpture park and museum. The Molinere Underwater Sculpture Park, located on a sandy beach floor in Grenada, is home to 75 sculptures and was first constructed in 2006. Aside from being aesthetically pleasing, these sculptures play a vital role in revitalising marine life.

The impressive larger-than-life sculptures have been listed as one of the 25 Wonders of the World by National Geographic. Since then, Taylor’s work has spanned several countries and oceans from Mexico to Spain.

What inspired you to create underwater sculptures, and why Grenada?

I was teaching scuba-diving at one of the local dive centres [in Grenada] and realised that there were a lot of visitors snorkelling around the island, but they were all heading to the same spots – and that was causing quite a bit of degradation of damage to those areas. So, I started to think about how we could potentially change that.

One of the bays in Grenada had been badly hit by a hurricane which damaged a large percentage of the coral cover. I thought if I could make something interesting and attract people to that area, it would minimise their impact. I had this longstanding idea to work with sculpture underwater.

Most of my degree in sculpture was focused on art in various contexts around the world. So, I thought, an underwater arena is a place that’s so little explored, artistically speaking. I started with a few initial pieces, that’s now grown to thousands of sculptures around the world in different oceans and seas.

Climate change has become one of the world’s most pressing environmental issue. How does this underwater museum aid conservation efforts?

They are all form an artificial reef designed with environmentally sensitive materials that attract marine life. They allow for the settlement of corals and sponges, providing all sorts of nooks and crannies for creatures to live.

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Spotlight

I’m not here to make decorative art. There are so many pressing issues that are happening around the world, and it’s an obligation for me to discuss some of these.

They also help to divert tourists from natural sites [and] provide income for local communities and jobs for marine rangers and scuba diving guides. I try to highlight the effects of climate change and show that corals are at the forefront of climate change. Some scientists have predicted that we won’t have any coral reefs left in 50 years.

I try to focus my work on trying to convey that message.

Caribbean locals interpret your Vicissitudes project as a memory of the slave trade. In today’s context, it could relate to the ongoing refugee crisis with migrant crossings. What did you want it to reflect?

Well, that particular piece was all about children. It was carved as local children on the island and was about how children are shaped and morphed by the situation they are in and how their environment nurtures them.

The idea of the circle was exposed to different currents and water movements, and that meant that some of them developed very differently to others. Some of them had a lot more coral growth, and some had less. It was about how we absorb the characteristics of our environment.

As an artist, how important is it for your work to reflect social issues?

It’s critical. I’m not here to make decorative art. There are so many pressing issues that are happening around the world, and it’s an obligation for me to discuss some of these. Especially in terms of what’s happening to our environment, there’s a huge gap between what scientists are saying and what we’re feeling. Art plays a very important role in manifesting statistics into something emotive, visceral and engaging.

This year, you debuted the Australian underwater museum. So, what next?

Has COVID-19 affected your work at all?

It’s had positives and negatives.

We’re currently in the process of building two installations in the Mediterranean Sea, and that’s been quite interesting for me as I’ve never worked in those locations before.

This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.

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Dr the Honourable Timothy S. Harris, Prime Minister, Federation of St Kitts and Nevis

St Kitts and Nevis: Security, Stability and Safety Prime Minister Timothy Harris leads the dual-island’s CBI Programme into the future

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he Caribbean is home to a few small nations, yet its influence on the world is significant. From mouthwatering cuisines to beautiful beaches, it is a mustsee for those who live to explore. But besides the lure of a perfect vacation, the region is also the birthplace of the Citizenship by Investment (CBI) Programme, a major industry in the investment immigration realm.

In 1984, the dual-island nation of St Kitts and Nevis introduced the world’s first – and now oldest – CBI Programme, hoping to attract foreign direct investment. More than 35 years later, investors continue to flock to the islands. The initiative offers high-net-worth investors a second citizenship in exchange for an economic contribution to the nation. Today, over a handful of countries around the world offer similar programmes.

With over three decades of experience in CBI, St Kitts and Nevis is seasoned to adapt with the times. Prime Minister Timothy Harris and his Team Unity administration were elected in 2015, and since, the programme has been revitalised, becoming even more attractive to foreign investors. The programme has strengthened its due diligence processes, ensuring that it isn’t susceptible to any vulnerabilities. Last year, the country announced the implementation of new biometric checks and stricter legislation to eliminate any dishonourable applicants. “Our multi-agency approach to due diligence, which no doubt has become industry standard across the region, has resulted in our regional programmes being highly regarded as safe and robust,” PM Harris told Truly Belong.

But transforming the programme isn’t the only feat accomplished by PM Harris. In 2018, he introduced the newest investment channel under the CBI Programme, the Sustainable Growth Fund. Not only has it been hailed as the most straightforward route to obtaining a second citizenship, but it has become a popular route for wealthy investors across the globe. PM Harris confirmed that “Applications to the Citizenship

by Investment Programme have increased tremendously over recent years and they continue to rise.”

St Kitts and Nevis bids to investors a wealth of benefits under its programme, including alternative entrepreneurial opportunities, and the ability to pass citizenship down for generations to come.

However, the most prestigious benefit is increased access to global mobility. St Kitts and Nevis offers citizens visa-free travel to nearly 160 destinations, including key business hubs like Singapore and the Schengen Area.

For individuals that hail from a country with a passport that limits travel opportunities, CBI enables access to hassle-free mobility for those wishing to conduct business abroad or who simply desire to see the world. Basil Kadara, a businessman living in the UAE with a Syrian passport, is an example of this. Kadara told Gulf News that since travel is a key part of his life, he decided to obtain a St Kitts and Nevis citizenship. Compared to his Syrian passport, St Kitts and Nevis’ is ranked among one of the strongest in the world.

Today, as many borders around the world maintain strict restrictions, travelling has undoubtedly come to a halt. The ones who can still globe-trot are citizens with multiple nationalities whose respective countries can repatriate them.

With the unprecedented and ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the world’s wealthy are considering where they want to be when new crises hit. Investors want to know that the country they become citizens of have efficient systems in place, particularly in healthcare, while still upholding a high standard of living. Though visa-free travel may no longer be a priority, a second citizenship will always be an asset among the world’s wealthiest with St Kitts and Nevis as a top destination for foreign investors. ”Our Platinum Brand is considered the most attractive and that is demonstrated by the confidence of our clients and agents,” PM Harris said.

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Our multi-agency approach to due diligence‌has resulted in our regional programmes being highly regarded as safe and robust.

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Lual Mayen by: Aisha Mohamed @blackpowerpufff

Salaam The video game promoting peace and conflict resolution

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alaam, the Arabic word for peace, is a video game of its own league.

While playing in the shoes of a refugee, the premise of the game is unique because the goal is to simply survive and find peace. The game allows you to empathise with the struggles asylum seekers face and relate to their fears.

The game’s storyline was created by a refugee himself.

The 25-year-old developer, Lual Mayen from Sudan, was born during his family’s 200-mile journey to a refugee camp in Uganda. At the camp, Mayen’s mother saw her young son’s interest in computers, so she saved $300 over three years and gifted him a laptop.

Determined to prove the value of his mother’s gift, Mayen created the first version of a peace-building game for friends at the refugee camp as a means of distraction and entertainment.

The game has since evolved into a tool that allows players to step into the life of a refugee escaping conflict.

The social impact behind this game is huge, Leo Olebe, the Global Director of Games Partnerships at Facebook, told NPR. “Lual is actually making a difference in this world by inspiring people to be better,” he said, alluding to Salaam’s feature that allows the player to make in-app, real time purchases for food and water for refugees.

The young developer’s motivation to use technology to change people’s attitudes towards refugees and inspiring future policymakers, led him to be named the Global Gaming Citizen at the 2018 Game Awards.

Now, Mayen runs his own gaming company in Washington, where he’s working on further advancing Salaam. In a world where harmful discourse surrounding immigration is normalised, Mayen is determined to create a future where refugees are welcomed with open arms.

Salaam is set to release soon.

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Video game developer Lual Mayen, 25, who learned to code in a refugee camp after fleeing South Sudan, poses for a portrait at his home in Washington, D.C., U.S., January 7, 2020

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catering company Elior and the Hotel Ibis chain brought to light the extent to which many migrants are exploited, underpaid and taken advantage of by their employers. Elior, in particular, is contracted by the French state’s detention centres, meaning that many migrants are forced to provide cleaning and catering services to the very institutions that ultimately decide their fates.

by: Ananya Sriram @_ananyas_

‘Coming to Light’ Undocumented migrants in France are fighting imperial ideology

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rance’s projected image of liberty, equality and fraternity is being challenged by activist groups who say undocumented migrants face imperial injustices.

There are almost 400,000 undocumented migrants currently residing in France. Since 2017, deportations increased by 20 percent in 2018, compared to 14 percent the year before. Migrant aid groups say France has detained more migrants than any other country in the EU, most of whom come from North African nations.

In 2018, France also passed a controversial immigration and asylum bill. Its measures double the amount of time people can be detained.

“For us, it’s clear that this immigration — a forced immigration — is linked directly to the colonial destruction that so many countries have gone through,” said JeanClaude Amara, the co-founder of Droits Devant, a group that surfaced in 1994 to defend migrant rights.

Amara said he works with the leaders of different activist groups to “unite the struggles of common factions.” These include La Chapelle Debout, an anti-racist activist group advocating for migrant documentation and housing, and the gilets noirs, who support allocating French citizenship to undocumented African migrants. Obtaining citizenship, Amara believes, opens doors to stable employment, housing and social security, allowing migrants the dignity of life beyond just survival.

A 2017 government report found that many illegal migrants do labour jobs like construction, catering or cleaning. This accounts for a fundamental part of the French economy, propping up industries from tourism to trade.

Earlier this year, protests staged by the gilets noirs against

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Without citizenship, migrants cannot legally work or reside in France. In 2007, a decree to curb illegal immigration declared that the only way for migrants to obtain citizenship was if their employer submitted their documents to the prefecture. However, instead of doing so, many employers — wary of being penalised for employing undocumented workers — chose to fire employees they suspected resided in France illegally. Others continue to use the liminality of migrants’ positions to exploit them, knowing that if their workers complain, employers can go straight to the police.

Amara recognises that the problems linked to migration are systemic. Many migrants who come to France are forced to flee their home countries which have been ravaged by colonialism.

“We are, first and foremost, anti-colonial fighters”, says Amara. “For us, it is clear all the sans-papiers (those without legal papers) who come from the Global South to the Global North, are risking their lives, leaving their parents, their children and their culture behind.”

Spotlight

Last year, many anti-colonialism groups and their members occupied major Parisian landmarks like the Charles de Gaulle airport, the state’s launchpad for deportations, and the Panthéon, a tomb housing cultural French icons like Victor Hugo, Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Voltaire. The occupation laid bare the irony of a colonial state celebrating its foremost thinkers who championed universal human rights yet failed to extend the same rights to migrant workers.

For current President Emmanuel Macron, immigration remains a tough problem that requires a tough solution.

He argued in September 2019 that previous left-wing governments had “ignored the migration problem for decades”, and that he wanted to “tackle the issue head-on”.

But according to Amara, those in power do not have a problem with this because the bourgeoisie does not encounter it.

That is why asserting their humanity is at the very heart of the gilets noirs’ battle. While fighting to be seen as more than just a “problem” to be solved, the group has proved they are not afraid to reclaim the rights that France has denied them. Moreover, they have also succeeded in making themselves visible. For Amara, this is one of the movement’s most significant victories.

“When the sans-papiers began their fight, France was shocked to discover that each migrant had a smile, had emotions, had intelligence, and had something to say. This community that they were used to thinking of as hidden in the shadows had now dared to come into the light,” he said.

French president Emmanuel Macron at a press conference

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by: Aisha Mohamed @blackpowerpufff

Families That Risk All Netflix’s ‘Living Undocumented’ is a difficult series to watch, and exactly why we should

The refugees migrate to Europe

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lobal politics and an influx in migration have surged immigrant stories to the forefront of mainstream television. From Jane the Virgin to Fresh off the Boat, the entertainment industry is coming to realise the value of thought-provoking and complex stories of immigrants. But wherever mainstream fiction may minimise the multifaceted realities of border crossings and forced deportations with unrealistic happy endings, documentaries excel in authentically depicting what it means to be an immigrant today.

Netflix’s Living Undocumented is one series to have achieved such a feat. Directed by Aaron Saidman and Anna Chai, the docuseries follows the lives of eight families in the US without legal status. Saidman and Chai challenge a widespread anti-immigrant sentiment by offering a firsthand look into the lives of migrants. We watch as the families work, celebrate birthdays and interact with their loved ones even with the fear of being detained or deported.

What sets this series apart is how it manages to capture a range of immigrant experiences. “It could have been really easy to make the show about Mexico or Central America,” Chai told the Vulture, “but we purposely tried to find stories in other parts of the world…. because it’s not just an alien border story.”

In doing so, the plot personnalises an issue that has always been a hot-button in American politics: the reasons for migrations and the obstacles that come with it. Saidman and Chai remained focused on the lives affected by the country’s broken immigration system, detailing reasons from economic instability, gang violence, war and physical safety.

Despite what the American Dream may have you believe, the series shows that hardships for immigrants never stop.

Under the Trump Administration, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has redirected efforts from apprehending undocumented criminals, as they had under former President Barack Obama, to detaining and deporting anyone without papers — known as the ‘Zero Tolerance Policy’. This strategy includes separating children from their families with no plans for reunification. The series boldly shows the malicious methods used by ICE and the brazen means employed to achieve them.

In one shocking case, a Honduran man named Luis drives over 11 hours to drop his girlfriend’s son at an ICE facility where he is scheduled to be deported. Although Luis is also undocumented and risks being captured, he is told by ICE that he can say goodbye to the child outside the facility.

Instead, we watch as ICE officials deceptively lure Luis inside and detain him for two months, injuring his lawyer in the process. These scenes are all captured in the docuseries and witnessed by dozens of protestors.

With a team of experts and lawyers providing insight on the bureaucracy of the immigration system, Saidman and Chai don’t lose sight of their focus – the families. Whether it’s never seeing loved ones again or living in constant fear, Living Undocumented forces viewers to empathise with immigrants, an important accomplishment, particularly during a politically divisive era. Capturing the highs and lows, the series provides a stark reminder that immigration isn’t a one-size fits all issue and that behind each case is a person willing to risk everything.

A girl and her father stand with some 200,000 immigrants’ rights activists flood the National Mall to demand comprehensive immigration reform on March 21, 2010 in Washington DC.

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Behind Belong A magazine that starts conversations

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hey say you cannot control where you are born, and although that is true, you can choose where to go from there. And that’s where CS Global Partners, a legal government advisory and official marketing promoter of several Caribbean jurisdictions that conceived Truly Belong, comes in.

The company believes in two major principles: the freedom of movement and practicing global citizenship, according to CS Global Partners’ Director Paul Singh.

“We created Truly Belong in 2014 as an intersection of these principles,” says Singh. “This magazine is a way for us to really lay out those values and start a conversation.”

Headquartered in London, England, CS Global Partners promotes Citizenship by Investment (CBI), a programme that helps trusted international investors and their families obtain a second citizenship in exchange for their donation to government funds or purchase of real estate in that country.

“The world is filled with opportunities and we don’t want

borders to limit the potential of people who think globally,” Singh says. Truly Belong covers “issues like migration and the environment because these are the major concerns of this day and age,” he added.

Singh also said that much of the funds from CBI are put into sustainable and eco-friendly projects on the islands. For example, in Dominica, several eco-lodges, a geothermal energy plant and infrastructure that withstands natural disasters are built through CBI investments. Most recently, the St Kitts and Nevis also opened a new cruise terminal to welcome millions of travellers. The country’s CBI programme financed five million dollars to the project.

CS Global Partners advises governments in Eastern Caribbean countries like Dominica, St Kitts and Nevis and St Lucia — all countries whose passports allow visa-free and visa-on-arrival access to a plethora of business hubs and tourism destinations. A second citizenship in these nations also allows for the passing of citizenship onto future generations.

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Citizenship by Investment is the Perfect Plan B CS Global Partners is an award-winning industry-leading legal consultancy firm specialising in citizenship and residence solutions. We liaise between governments wishing to promote foreign investments in their countries, and individuals wanting to secure their future and become global citizens through intelligent economic citizenship.

+44 (0) 207 318 4343 • info@csglobalpartners.com • www.csglobalpartners.com LONDON • HONG KONG • BEIJING • DUBAI • NEW DELHI • ST KITTS & NEVIS • SINGAPORE