It´s All About the Language

 

Everything starts and ends with the language. Wars, discrimination, crimes, but also education, relationships and social and political change. This duplicity of the language brings not only risks but also responsibility and hope. Because actually there is a chance that once we acknowledge what a powerful tool we acquire - through education, birth priviledges or disadvantages, family and social interactions, to name only a few - we can realise the shortcomings and proceed to the changes.

German journalist Kübra Gümüșay is a patient observer of the German everyday complex relationship with identity. Sprache und Sein is an excellent work of reflection and applied hope for redefining the power of words. The everyday words we are using, not necessarily fully aware of the meanings those words are carrying. Painful meaning for some. 

One of the things that in a way suprise me in Germany is, on one side, the curiosity towards other religions, languages and identities - I don´t remember how many times people were in awe upon being informed about the number of languages I do speak - but without a real awareness about what really means to be different. It´s like you are asked where you are coming from but once you mention the exact geography, you are in fact talking about a place hardly someone can figure out where it is on the map. Thus, you are requested to rather find a place in the safe geography of your place/country of residence.

It´s not superficiality the word that may describe this situation. It´s also not mind laziness. But what it happens for sure in the case of the person whose identity is on a display in a very carnavalesque way is that after a while you are getting tired. You may be asked more than once by the same person the same amount of classical questions, and the reaction will be as the first time. No one asks you about what is the name of the food you like, or what is your favorite poetry or about your fashion sense. Such questions are not on the list.

Gümüșay is an excellent social doctor, spotting the paradigms of conservative refusal of identity but at the same time searching to identify and set new realms for discussing and recognising the difference(s). It´s a spin change which on the long term will definitely challenge the German post-war paradigm. But it took two generations - at least - for verbalize the need to end the intolerance of words. The diverse reality of nowadays Germany request a new vocabulary of freedom.

About Women in Journalism

Women journalists do have much more challenges to cope with than men, especially when dispatched in areas with a high potential of conflict. Journalists everywhere are at increased risk of being replaced by kind of Artificial Intelligence production of news where all should look good, neutral and eventually copy-pasted from agencies´ websites.

I believe in the power of words, in the power that journalists do have to change and say the truth to power. No matter what power. Journalists are not made to be a cozy comfortable presence. Power should be afraid of them and the pressure of the opinion public represented by journalists should be strong enough to force politicians and other public appointees to never forget whose interests do they represent.

Theoretically. In reality things are more complicated...

Former head of the ARD Studio in Tehran, Munich-born Natalie Amiri took the risk(s) - literally - of becoming the voice of those unheard in Iran. In addition to the everyday news reporting, she is also is able to seize the nuances and distinctions between different layers of power and the social reflections. Her successful book - Zwischen den Welten. Von Macht und Ohnmacht im Iran (In my approximate translation: Between Worlds. About Power and Powerless in Iran) - is not only a love story to Iran but also an example of why and how journalists should be knowledgeable of the culture, language and history of the countries they are reporting from.

The book includes dramatic episodes from the recent history of Iran, including the 2009-Green Movement as well as profiles women like Nasrin Sotoudeh who are a model of strength and accountability. Amiri´s encounters with the representatives of the security aparatus are horrible and terrible but it shows the high risks journalists are exposed when on assignments in countries ruled by repressive regimes. 

The book is a must read from everyone interested to understand more about the everyday life in Iran, beyond the simplistic black-and-white portrayals.

Photojournalist Julia Leeb is on the forefront of conflict reporting. She was in about to be killed in Libya and escaped an aggressive mob in Egypt during the ´Arab Spring´. She reported from North Korea, South Sudan and the state-who-does-not-exist: Transnistria. Her visual stories - some of them published in the book - are looking deep into the soul of the people, the pawns who are making everyday history.

One may start respecting more journalists and the risks some may take for every single bit of information. The reports from the war fronts by Julia Leeb are a reminder that good work still can be done but everything comes with a risk. Especially for women.