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Radio Utopistan
Radio Utopistan episodes
- 23 Minutos, 15 Segundos. Volver a lo actualRadio Utopistan
Este episodio forma parte de nuestra exposición sobre naturaleza y justicia en Hamburgo y en Quito.
En Ecuador se llama “Natura al habla” y se exhibe en el Centro Cultural Metropolitano en Quito hasta el veintidos de septiembre. Se enfoca en el hecho de que la naturaleza también es un ser vivo y debe ser tratado con respeto.
En este episodio puedes escuchar el audio de mi instalación sonora: "23 minutos, 15 segundos"
Procede de un estudio. La Universidad de California llegó a la conclusión de que, por lo general, las personas necesitan 23 minutos y 15 segundos para volver a concentrarse plenamente en una tarea después de una interrupción.
Entonces pensé: Asumimos que lo que dicen muchos pueblos indígenas es cierto, es decir, que la tarea de los humanos en este planeta es cuidar de una interacción equilibrada entre los diversos seres vivos. Entonces los siguientes 23 minutos y 15 segundos son un intento de devolvernos a esta tarea. Es una meditación con sonidos de diferentes ecosistemas y con distintas voces indígenas. Disfrútalo.
28 min - 23 Minuten, 15 Sekunden. Zurück zum EigentlichenRadio Utopistan
Heute geht es um Kunst und Meditation. In Kollaboration mit verschiedenen Institutionen haben wir eine Ausstellung an drei Orten in Hamburg organisiert. Es geht um Natur und Gerechtigkeit: Akut - Should Trees have Standing?
In dieser Episode könnt ihr das Audio zu meiner Soundinstallation hören: "23 Minuten, 15 Sekunden"
Der Titel stammt aus einer Studie.
Die Universität von Kalifornien kam nämlich zu dem Schluss, dass Menschen im Allgemeinen 23 Minuten und 15 Sekunden brauchen, um sich nach einer Unterbrechung wieder voll auf eine Aufgabe konzentrieren zu können.
Wenn wir nun davon ausgehen, dass stimmt, was viele indigene Völker sagen, dass nämlich die Aufgabe des Menschen auf diesem Planeten darin besteht, sich um ein ausbalanciertes Zusammenspiel
der verschiedenen Lebewesen zu kümmern, dann sind die folgenden 23 Minuten und 15 Sekunden ein Versuch, uns zurückzuführen zu dieser Aufgabe.Es ist eine Art Meditation mit Geräuschen aus verschiedenen Ökosystemen und mit Stimmen von Indigenen. Viel Vergnügen.
29 min - 23 Minutes, 15 Seconds. Back to the essentialsRadio Utopistan
Today we go into art and meditation. In collaboration with different institutions we set up a big exhibition about nature and justice in Hamburg. It is starting today and called “Akut – Should Trees have Standing?”. I curated and organized it together with my friend and artist Sam Gora. Within this exhibition I have the honor to present something myself. This episode will give you the audio of the sound installation "23 minutes, 15 Seconds". The title comes from a study.
The University of California came to the conclusion that people generally need 23 minutes and 15 seconds to return to full concentration on a task after an interruption. Constant interruptions also lead to an increased level of stress and high blood pressure. And other studies show that attention spans have become shorter and shorter in recent decades.
If we now assume that it is true what many indigenous peoples say, which is that the task of humans on this planet is to take care of a balanced interplay and interconnection between the different living beings, then "23 minutes, 15 seconds" is an attempt to bring us back to this task.
It is some kind of a meditation with sounds from different ecosystems and the voices of indigenous people explaining their view of the world.
Enjoy the journey
29 min - Key to Decolonization. Rights of Nature and the Commons in IrelandIreland is the only place in Europe that was once a colony. Because of this experience the Irish people have a very special connection to their land and to decolonial struggles around the world, says Peter Doran.
Peter is a senior lecturer at the school of law at Queens University in Belfast and has been involved in the struggle for justice on the island of Ireland since many years. Within the peace process after a long violent conflict and within the environmental movement. He is one of the authors and activists behind the proposal that wants Ireland to recognize Rights of Nature on a constitutional level.
Ireland is very close to becoming the first country in Europe to implement this legal revolution on a constitutional level. The citizen assembly (a highly respected democratic instrument in Ireland) proposed to the government to make a constitutional referendum on RoN. A real breakthrough, says Peter.
We talk about his background story growing up in Derry, a center of the “the troubles”, the violent conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted almost 30 years and killed 3.500 people.
“I am a born radical. I inherited a radical perspective. I am being true and faithful to my heritage. As an Irish man who grew up on the streets of Derry where we have a long history of asking difficult questions of the status quo and confronting injustice on our doorstep and across the world.”
He sees the local struggles, the local attempts to transform the world in front of your doorstep, connected to the struggles in the world. “We are always acting in solidarity with other peoples and with the earth as well.”
“The Irish identify with Europe, they see EU as a peace process. But they are also a people who have been colonized. For hundreds of years the colonial process subjugated our land, our people and our language. There is an intuitive sense that in reaching for the Rights of Nature discourse and the underlying world views that we challenge this notion that the world is simply an object there for the taking.”
“The RoN project is a process of recalling a deep memory, deep practices, recalling that there are others ways of being in the world, outside of the European modern experience.”
About the Commons:
“A notion that the real value that we generate today comes not from competition, not from private claims on things but from our ability to bring and support and cultivate the genius that arises from connection, from sharing, from caring. And from understanding that all that we value, that all things come from our relationships. That everything is preceded by relationship and the quality of our relationships.”
About Palestine:
“In the Gaza scenario, what we are seeing there is an acceleration of the deep settler colonial violence that has been part of our history as a Western privileged people. What we are seeing there is a microcosm, an acceleration of a feature of the world that has been experienced by many people through the times of empires and colonialism.”
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit radioutopistan.substack.com/subscribe53 min - A glimpse into a more just future. Los Cedros and the revolutionary idea of Rights of NatureThe Los Cedros case is evidence that a more just future is possible. It is a constructive story in times when we almost only get dystopian news about the world we live in. It is a story humans need to not lose hope in democracy and civil engagement. It shows us how powerful and transforming civil society can be. How human rights and nature rights are interconnected and how justice can be implemented.
The cloud forest of Los Cedros in Ecuador was the first case in which a court clearly and irretrievable recognized the Rights of Nature. It ruled in favor of the forest and against an open pit copper mine and against its own government. This was only possible because a strong social movement fought for it.
The Rights of Nature movement and within it the Los Cedros case are the beginning of a revolution. They have the power to change everything. It means to respect nature as a subject, as a being, as a partner and not as an object, a commodity or a servant we can exploit and use as we like. It is a world view. If we live by it it would change how we organize our economy, our food supply, our transportation system, our housing, everything.
In this episode we visit the cloud forest and talk to biologist Elisa Levy-Ortiz who is a research coordinator in the Los Cedros nature reserve and was part of the group that started the legal case and the social movement around Los Cedros.
You'll learn:
What is the magic behind the Rights of Nature concept, why is it relevant?
How could Rights of Nature dissolve the systems colonialism and patriarchy brought us
What made the social movement around the Los Cedros case so successful
What does it need to implement justice and win a landmark court case
What is the connection between Rights of Nature and Human Rights
What is the connection between nature and justice
More information and connection:
Website of Los Cedros
https://reservaloscedros.org/
OMASNE, Alianza de Organizaciones por los Derechos Humanos y de la Naturaleza del Ecuador
https://www.instagram.com/omasne_ecuador/
CEDEMNA
https://www.instagram.com/cedenma.ec/
GARN, Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature
https://www.instagram.com/garnglobal/
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit radioutopistan.substack.com/subscribe56 min - Watermelons for Gaza. How to protest when freedom rights are heavily restrictedIt is now almost six weeks since the horrors in Israel and Palestine started – again, but this time in an unprecedented manner. It has never been so cruel so far. So much has been said about all of it already and it is still happening anyway. People are still getting killed on a daily basis by a huge military apparatus that is supported by the big Western countries of this world. Words don`t seem relevant or powerful enough in the face of this.
The increasingly loud and aggressive discussions about Israel and Palestine seem to create more and more division instead of an understanding and an end to the killing. We took some time to reflect how we could add something constructive to the horrors unfolding. Because especially in those dark and violent times Utopias are needed more than ever.
So in this episode we don`t give you a lecture about “the conflict”. We`ll tell you how we tried to create an Utopian moment in the midst of all the darkness, violence and despair happening. A tiny moment of freedom and justice from Germany for Gaza and for people in Germany that do not feel heard in their pain and disagreement towards what is happening. We`ll talk about:
How we organized a protest with watermelons and for freedom rights for all people
The very special German relation to Israel and Palestine
The difference between antisemitism and criticizing the government of Israel
The importance of freedom rights, especially the right of free speech
The relation between journalism and activism
A Haward study on the success of non-violent protest
A young man from Gaza who is sending messages of comfort to the protesters in Hamburg
More information about context and history of Israel/Palestine:
BOOKS:
The blue between sky and water by Susan Abulhawa
The Birth of Israel: Myths and Realities by Simha Flapan
The Hundred Years' War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance, 1917–2017 by Rashid Khalidi
Gaza: An Inquest Into Its Martyrdom by Norman Finkelstein
The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine by Ilan Pappé
FILMS:
The Promise
Omar
5 Broken Cameras
The heart of Jenin
PODCASTS:
in German: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjYxIkjGvQE
in English: recommendations?
PEOPLE/ORGANISATIONS TO FOLLOW
Breaking the silence
B'Tselem
Motaz Azaiza
Noura Erakat
Issa Amro
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit radioutopistan.substack.com/subscribe31 min - Keynote: How constructive storytelling can boost your life and impact in the worldWe are back from a long brake - with even more passion and new tools to interconnect visionary people and bold ideas from around the world. Our mission still is to inspire a more just future through storytelling. Through constructive storytelling. And today Elisabeth will share some insights about the power of constructive storytelling.
You will learn the very basics of:
* what is constructive storytelling and solution journalism
* why humans are always paying attention to the horror stories and how that is affecting our mental health
* three principles + one tiny tool on how to brake the negativity cycle
* the areas where constructive storytelling is working: in your head, your home, society and business
* how constructive stories are used in media
* how Elisabeth came to constructive storytelling and what is her Utopia
You can dive deeper in all of this and more in our masterclasses. We work with you on the role you can play in all of this. How you can apply this power to your personal life, to your community, your movement or your social business. Online or in person. Information on our website: www.radioutopistan.de
Links:
Solution Journalism Network, USA: https://www.solutionsjournalism.org/
Constructive Institute, Denmark: https://constructiveinstitute.org/
Bonn Institute, Germany: https://www.bonn-institute.org/
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit radioutopistan.substack.com/subscribe25 min - Ronja von Wurmb Seibel on solution journalism and AfghanistanWhen she had just become a journalist Ronja went to Afghanistan for almost two years.
There she did reports about the war, about drug addiction, poverty and other really devastating things. Sometimes all the misery left her hopeless and without perspective. So she started to look for the constructive aspects within her stories: for people who are trying to find a way out, for projects that are offering solutions.
This is called constructive journalism or solution journalism. She didn`t know it by then because it is a recent but very much needed version of journalism. It doesn`t mean to ignore the problems and crises but rather to focus on possible solutions.
Now, ten years after her first journey to Afghanistan Ronja wrote a book about constructive storytelling. She finished it last summer while the Taliban were taking over Kabul. On the phone in Germany she helped people escape the deadly regime thousand miles away. So, around her the world was falling apart and inside her head she was thinking about good news.
We talk about what stories and news can do to your mind and mood. How we all are storytellers in our everyday life and how we can turn the negative narratives into constructive ones without ignoring reality. She even has a formula for it. It goes like: S**t + X
Her book is called “How we see the world” in German. It's still not available in English yet, but soon it will be published in Polish, Czech and Korean. Maybe in Arabic.
You can find her here:
https://www.vonwurmbseibel.com/
@ronjavws
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit radioutopistan.substack.com/subscribe44 min - Carolyn Ekyarisiima: Why coding is a superpower in Tanzania and anywhereCarolyn Ekyarisiima wanted to become a doctor to help people. Now she is an IT-Expert training thousands of girls in Tanzania how to use technology to create the world they want to live in.
She founded the organization Apps and Girls. They are teaching girls how to code. And how to use IT and technology to get their voices heard and ideas out into the world. When she founded the NGO in 2014 she was pregnant, today she has four kids and 11 employees. In the last eight years more than 100.000 girls learned about the power of IT with Apps and Girls.
Thez focus on girls and young women from underprivileged backgrounds to reduce the gender gap in IT and empower more change makers in Tanzania and across Africa.
We talk about:
* Her story on how she managed to build Apps and Girls, starting with voluntary teaching sessions in her living room up until now with 11 full time employees and some voluntaries in almost 200 schools in Tanzania and Uganda.
* Best practice example of one of her students: coding against harassment
* How it is still not easy to get funding, but how they do it anyway.
* What Europe could learn from Africa Tecwise.
* How coding is a super power.
Carolyn`s Utopia:
Apps and Girls becoming an Pan-African organization. Offering girls the technology to create different solutions and to have a positive impact on their communities. I see female developed big start-ups creating a better world everywhere because technology is an enabler. You need it in health, in economy in everything.
LINKS
Apps and Girls: https://www.appsandgirls.com/
@ecarolyne
@appsandgirls
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/13/magazine/women-coding-computer-programming.html
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit radioutopistan.substack.com/subscribe40 min - Carlos Zorrilla on how to protect the cloud forest of Intag against miningSince almost 30 years the people of Intag are successfully fighting a huge open pit copper mine in the tropical Andean mountains in northern Ecuador. It´s one of the most biodivers places left on earth, there live more species per hectare than in the Amazon.
But underneath it lies copper and some gold, worth millions and billions of dollar. Different transnational mining companies and also the state of Ecuador are trying to get it out. Exploration phase is now almost completed. Next step would be a huge and toxic hole in the rainforest. Meanwhile the hunger for copper is growing with the global shift to renewable energy.
Last hope now: Nature Rights. The people of Intag are suing their own government. Ecuador is the first and so far only country in the world where nature has rights as a legal subject on a constitutional level. That sounds a bit abstract, but is super fascinating. Some say it is as revolutionary as the end of slavery or women´s right to vote.
Carlos Zorrilla has been a leader in the resistance of Intag since the 90. He tells us what methods have helped to drive out two transnational mining companies and put another one on hold. Where his energy and hope come from and what to do with politicians you don´t like.
His Utopia: That people find another definition of wealth and a good life. For Carlos it´s not about money and cars but about harmony, with neighbors and with nature.
What you can do to support his Utopia: Ask yourself what a good life means to you and how much things and money you need for it.
GUEST
@toisan06
ORGANISATIONS working on the case:
www.decoin.org
www.cedenma.org
www.germanwatch.org
CREDITS
Host: @elisabeth_weydt
Executive producers: @_charlotte.horn and @christinafeemoebus
Music: Robert Pilgram http://robertpilgram.com/
Studio Sound: @seike_sound
MORE INFORMATION
recent articles in English:
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/nov/23/frog-back-from-the-dead-helps-fight-mine-plans-in-ecuadors-cloud-forest-aoe
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/dec/02/plan-to-mine-in-ecuador-forest-violate-rights-of-nature-court-rules-aoe
Documentaries:
Under Rich Earth
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRinnhejBIw
Javier con I, Intag
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YC2z5bnrR1Y
Radio Feature
German Public Radio
https://www1.wdr.de/radio/wdr5/sendungen/dok5/ecuador-kupferminen-bergbaufirmen-100.html
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit radioutopistan.substack.com/subscribe1 hr 19 min
About Radio Utopistan
From the publisher's feed
Radio Utopistan brings you stories, people and ideas on how to build a just and joyful future. For yourself and the collective
Utopian ideas drive us as humans, they drive humankind and humanity. And Radio Utopistan wants to find out what drives those visionary people. It was the belief that we could fly, conquer disease or live in permanent peace that gave women and men the courage to take risks, to step out, to try things and also to fail.
Many things that we take for granted today, were mere utopias in their day - and the people who fought for them were ridiculed, shamed, harassed and also killed. 200 years ago the end of slavery was still utopia. The fall of the Berlin Wall just 40 years ago. And then the end of Apartheid 30 years ago. Where does that leave us today? What are the utopias of our time? What about gender equality? Basic income? Nature rights? Peace in the Middle East?
Today we need Utopian ideas more than ever. To rebuild and reframe our global society in the aftermaths of Corona. Now we are being forced to see how everything is connected: China and Europe. Nature and humankind. We are all in this together. It’s a global net. We are also shown on the one hand how huge political decisions like closing down airports all around the world are possible. And then how on the other hand small daily actions from each and every one of us like leaving the house or washing your hands have a huge impact on the world.
So Radio Utopistan collects the stories of global and local visionaries, people that work on the outside or on the inside of humanity. The politician in Ecuador for example who sees nature as a person. He has written her as a legal person in his country’s constitution. The engineer with high heels and headscarf in Gaza who brings solar energy into houses under occupation. Or the friend in a wheelchair who can only move his brain and his tongue after an accident but who hasn’t lost his humor and keeps fighting for equality.
Elisabeth Weydt meets people who are striving towards and fighting for their Utopias, people who want to change the system or build some space outside the system. Elisabeth is an award-winning multimedia journalist based somewhere between Hamburg and Haifa. She mostly covers topics which revolve around radicalism and resources. She loves cooking and will meet her guests preferably at home, in bars or in the jungle.
The interviews on Radio Utopistan will mainly be in English. If not, there will be a summary about the guests and their Utopias in English.
Let’s go treasure hunting together.
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