The openDemocracy Show

Usman Khalid wanted to set up a coffee shop with a difference - Haven Coffee is a social enterprise, a cafe with a mission of breaking false narratives around migration. 

Their Laff-Uccino comedy gigs are regular events in London, with comedians of refugee or migrant background and Kryzsia, one of the comedians involved, talks comedy, migration and accents.

From comedy in London to music on a Greek island, we head to Mythinini, Lesvos, where Bairbre meets Ramozmontana, a Saudi Arabian/Somali artist on the island, and Farhad, an Iranian musician.

This is the last episode in this series and we’d like to thank openDemocracy and The Irish Examiner for their joint broadcasting, The Pulitzer Grant Center for their funding and support, and all the people who shared their experiences and observations with us.

Thanks also to our team Caroline Dipanda, Osama Gaweesh, Wael Habbal and Reza Nouri for all their work on this series. Omar Alkilani who wrote and performed our theme music and Haya Halaw who designed our artwork.

From producer Bairbre Flood and presenter Mahmoud Hassino, thanks for listening!

Wael Habbal started the  Syrian Greek Youth Forum, (the SGYF) in 2018 to advocate for human rights, to connect people together, to break stereotypes around migration, and to create their own opportunities in Athens.

He sits down with another member of SGYF - Kareem Al Kabbani - and our reporter Bairbre Flood to talk about how activism, creativity and active citizenship intersect.

You can listen to some of their work on Movement Radio part of Onassis Stegi.

Two LGBT refugees in Yalova, Turkiye, Mehdi and Nihal, are setting up their own group, From All Over. Bairbre Flood met them at their home to see why they need this group, and what life is like for LGBT refugees outside of Istanbul. 

Presenter Mahmoud Hassino also shares some of his personal experiences helping to organise a Mr Gay Syria event which was documented in a film by Turkish director Ayse Toprak.

Art and migration in Türkiye, Jordan and Ireland.

Arthereistanbul is a community space, an art centre and place where artists can create in peace. Founder Omar Berakdar and artist and curator Sherin Zeraaty talk to Bairbre Flood.

In Jordan, Syrian illustrator and painter Haya Halaw is having her first solo exhibition show in Jacaranda Gallery in Amman.

And finally in Cork, Ireland, meet artist Hina Khan, whose exhibition ‘No Seradan’ (‘No Borders’) draws on her family history of forced migration from Pakistan and her own deeply personal ideas around borders and nationalism.

Presented by Mahmoud Hassino and produced by Bairbre Flood.

Theme music by Omar Alkilani. Artwork by Haya Halaw.

With thanks to the Pulitzer Center for funding support.

Mohamad Khalf has been teaching photography in Zaatari refugee camp, Jordan, for many years – instilling a love of learning and creative expression in his students Ali and Mohammed Nour Al-Babisi.

They talk to Bairbre Flood about the photography exhibition Mohmamad Khalf organised in the camp, called ‘Ana Surie’ (‘I Am Syrian’) and why they are Syrian first – not refugees.

Nour Al-Hariri shares her rap music and explains why she writes about early marriage, child labour, and other issues - and why the many talented and creative women in the camp should be supported more.

Watch some of the short films created by Al-Balbisi.

Presented by Mahmoud Hassino and produced by Bairbre Flood.

Theme music by Omar Alkilani. Artwork by Haya Halaw.

With thanks to the Pulitzer Center for funding support.

A look at migration and the media with journalists Osama Gaweesh, Nasruddin Nizami and Mohammad Subat.

Osama Gaweesh is an Egyptian journalist who joined the Refugee Journalism Project in the UK. He explains how the project works, and why it’s so important – not just for individual journalists, but for the quality of news and media overall. His own podcast, Untold Stories, is available wherever you listen to your podcasts.

Nasruddin Nizami, from Afghanistan, is co-founder of the online magazine Solomon, in Athens, and Mohammad Subat set up the first magazine by refugees in Spain, Baynana (which is Arabic for ‘between us’).

Presented by Mahmoud Hassino and produced by Bairbre Flood.

Theme music by Omar Alkilani. Artwork by Haya Halaw.

With thanks to the Pulitzer Center for funding support.

Welcome to our new series, created in collaboration with some of the refugee community organisers, activists and artists working to challenge stereotypes around migration. Bairbre Flood talks to three community organisers across three countries: Anas Al Natour in Türkiye, Safdar Salmani in Greece and Mavis Ramazani in Ireland. We explore why it’s so important refugees themselves have ownership of their organisations and support – and see how different communities experienced in forced migration help to organise themselves.

Anas is the community liaison officer with Small Projects Istanbul, Safdar Salmani is a community volunteer who works with One Happy Family and Wave of Hope for the Future in Greece (with thanks to Fionn Macarthur, who interprets the conversation) and Mavis Ramazani works with MASI (the Movement of Asylum Seekers Ireland).

Presented by Mahmoud Hassino and produced by Bairbre Flood.

Theme music by Omar Alkilani. Artwork by Haya Halaw.

With thanks to the Pulitzer Center for funding support.

Gerry Ortega - a community leader and environmentalist in the Philippines who used his primetime daily radio show to speak out against local government corruption - was shot dead on 24 January 2011 as he browsed in a thrift shop. Some people are in prison. But the alleged mastermind, a former governor, remains at large and is running for the governor job again in May elections - despite a warrant having been issued for his arrest for the murder of Gerry Ortega. 

In partnership with A Safer World for the Truth, openDemocracy examines Gerry’s death - and commemorates his life.

Original music and sound design by Lee Sparey. Episode research by Anita Mureithi. Written, produced and hosted by Penny Dale. 

For more information about the case of Gerry Ortega, download the A Safer World for the Truth investigation. And find out more about the work of openDemocracy.

Deyda Hydara - one of The Gambia’s most respected journalists who stood up to the dictatorial regime of former president Yahya Jammeh -  was killed in a drive-by shooting on 16 December 2004.

In 2019, testifying before the country’s Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission, a soldier confessed that he was part of an elite paramilitary death squad that killed Deyda - on the direct orders of Jammeh. No one has yet been prosecuted for the crime. In partnership with A Safer World for the Truth, openDemocracy examines Deyda’s death - and commemorates his life. 

Jaliba Kuyateh played the music he wrote especially for this episode. Sound design by Lee Sparey. Episode research by Anita Mureithi. Written, produced and hosted by Penny Dale. 

Find out more about the work of A Safer World for the Truth  and openDemocracy.

Episode 2: The Case of Gauri Lankesh

Gauri Lankesh - a high-profile journalist and activist who spoke out against the rise of right-wing Hindu extremism and stood up for India’s marginalised people - was shot to death on 5 September 2017. Gauri was posthumously awarded the Anna Politkovskaya Award for her work. The trial of the seventeen people being held in remand has yet to start. In partnership with A Safer World for the Truth, openDemocracy examines Gauri’s death - and commemorates her life.

Original music and sound design by Lee Sparey. Episode research by Anita Mureithi. Written, produced and hosted by Penny Dale. 

For more information about A Safer World for the Truth  - https://www.saferworldforthetruth.com/

And about the work of openDemocracy: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/