German economy rests on the future of its refugees

By: Paola Santiago Del Castillo
Edited by: Jaelynn Grisso

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has been criticized by
many for her recent decisions on asylum applications
for Syrian refugees. (via South China Morning Post)

Fiscal responsibility of the refugee crisis in Germany may not be a problem for now, but the economic future of Germany is on the fence.

Germany continues to bear the bulk of the refugee crisis as they expect 800,000 asylum applicants by the end of the year, according to the German Federal Government. As of September, Germany has received more than 300,000 reported asylum applications.

According to an article by the Journal of Migration andSecurity, it is hard to compare U.S. refugee response to German response because of the way asylum applications are filed and reported in each state. Based on numbers from 2014, the U.S. granted asylum received over 5,000 asylum applications compared to Germany who received almost 62,000 applications.

With a currently booming economy, the German economy can expect to support its refugees for as along as the tax revenues remain at their historical high,

According to Professor Gunther Shnabl of the Institute of Economic Policy in Leipzig University. The tax revenue of German public finance is currently is more than 620 billion Euro, according to the German federal statistical office.

“When the current stock and real estate bubble bursts, then financial stress may emerge,” said Schnbl. According to Germany’s federal statistical office, in 2014 Germany experienced an economic growth of 1.6 percent and a fully employed workforce of 42.7 million people.

Economic costs of supporting refugees are due to rise along with asylum applications. A single refugee receives more than 350 Euro a month. If an asylum seeker brings a family of four with children between the ages of four and 12, they will receive a stipend of more than 1000 Euros a month. This is not including the cost of housing and language integration, which is also provided by the federal government.

Schnbl said that the estimated time it takes for an asylum application to be processed is one year, although the federal government of Germany lists the procedures taking an average of five months. The incurred costs to federal states per refugee application is more than 600 Euro per month.

When refugees can work
After all the applications and all the money spent just to get the refugee safely within the borders of Germany, when can they be expected to give back to their German economy?

This is a question that is up in the air for the future of Germany. For a refugee to be allowed to work in Germany, they must first show full mastery of the German language, history and culture. This requires Germans to sign up for German integration courses which can take months to find an available spot and up to a year to complete the general courses.

For refugee minors the struggle for available space deepens as they first have to find a school that will teach them German along with regular schooling, a process that can also take months to a year.

Germans wait to welcome refugees coming from Syria
earlier this September. (via NBC News)

Professor Axel Dreher of the Alfred-Weber-Institute for Economics in Heidelberg, said that during this time span, refugees are left without being able to add to the economy as they do not have the language or standard German work skills.

“They do not know how to do anything or speak the language. They sit there in the middle of nowhere not knowing what to do simply because the system cannot integrate them fast enough.”

Dreher says that while he agrees with the German government’s humanitarian decisions, their decisions lack consideration for the general public and solid base to structure refugee policy. 

“We don’t have the space - we have no idea what to do with these people. We are lacking a concept,” said Dreher. Germany is currently focusing on providing non-cash aid to its refugees, including allocating funds to social housing and and establishing aid to unaccompanied minors.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s decision to drop the limits on asylum seeker applications may be criticized now, but politics aside, Dreher said that in the short-term, the German Economy can sustain the influx of refugees coming into the country but the long-term should have been considered with equal importance.

Many stay optimistic about German economy
Meanwhile some who are dealing day in and day out with the refugee crisis feel hopeful and confident that the German economy will stay strong.

Maria Stinner, a volunteer worker at Internationale Frauen in Leipzig handles refugee integration cases daily. She is responsible for accompanying and smoothing the application processes refugees and immigrants need to find housing, language courses, schooling, and economic aid.

A fellow immigrant herself, Stinner said (translated from Spanish) she is confident her country can provide for the German society.

“I am not afraid of the German economy because I think that with more refugees there will be more production. They will help our industries prosper and will ultimately increase the German income,” said Stinner.

Stinner said she expects that with the addition of refugees to the workforce, tax revenues will rise even more than that of their current state.

Schnabl commented that other compounding variables that will be determining the economic stability including the growing risks to German tax payers due to economic aid going out to countries in need.

The discrepancies between the number of asylum seekers applying to Germany versus the U.S. are due to many factors including but not limited to differences in policy, proximity, and aid being offered. Due to the attractive aid Germany offers, and the “open-door” policy Chancellor Angela Merkel has initiated, Germany receives the brunt of asylum applications compared to other European Union members and the U.S.

Italian youth struggle to break into the fashion industry

Italian fashion designer and blogger Chiara Ferragni, well-
known for her blog "The Blond Salad," hosted "Next
Generation/"

By: Franca Yang
Edited by: Jaelynn Grisso

The essence of style has long been distilled into the Italian way of life. Italy, amplified by its flamboyant history of art, exuberant characters and personalities, has brought many fascinations to the world. Sometimes it is easy to forget that Italy enjoys unique and deeply embedded traditions and cultural norms that hold the society together.

Although Milan Fashion Week successfully ended in the glamour of Giorgio Armani’s Spring/Summer 2016 show two weeks ago, the lack of young talent still put the city in sharp contrast with New York City, London and Paris. As fashion continues to be a key pillar of the Italian economy, employing over one million people, concerns have been raised about the industry’s future.

Inspired by the U.S. Vogue Fashion Fund, a competition that rewards emerging American fashion talent with monetary prizes and mentorship by established designers, CameraNazionale della Moda Italiana (National Chamber for Italian Fashion, similar to the Council of Fashion Designers of America,) is supporting young designers with the program, "Next Generation". According to Veronica Gianola, who works at the legal department of an Italian luxury department store, this program provides young designers who participate in the contests space to showcase their collections during the Milan fashion week. What is worth noticing is that the Camera executive board has been known to be out of sync with the digital world, and consists of all male members who are in their fifties and sixties and have held the positions for decades, which makes it very difficult for young generations to break the chokehold.

Breaking into an old system
According to Romina Spina, a freelance correspondent in Rome, the perceived difficulties are not unique to the fashion world, but serve to illustrate a broken economic system. The same thing is happening in many more industries in Italy, where young people cannot get ahead in their careers regardless of their drive and talent. The major cause of this is the fact that most professions in Italy have been characterized by rigid structures for a long time. Therefore people who got in power a long time ago are still at the top of the hierarchy.

“If you just consider the fashion world, you're looking at old masters like Armani, Valentino and Dolce&Gabbana who have dominated the world for as long as we can remember. In such a context, it's hard for new talent to emerge. The power dynamics are very difficult if not impossible to change because generally, there's not a lot of interest in promoting young professionals with fresh ideas. Perhaps there are notable exceptions, but I would argue that there are too few of them. That's why younger generations prefer to leave, because they want to have an opportunity and grow in an environment that is not hostile to them,” Spina said.

The rigid system is not the only thing to blame for straggling oxygen off of young people in Italy. Unlike in the U.S. where success at an early age is celebrated, Giacomo Baletti, head of the Italian Law Firm in China, said that it is a different story in Italy, and described the Italian business market as “nightmare”, for incentives for those who want to launch or advance their careers are almost non-existent.

“Any honest Italian would tell you this. In Italy, there is a very strange, deep-rooted mentality. Every day, on the newspapers, if you read the success stories you will see tons of comments regarding them as losers because they have rich parents or have been “helped”. I think because of this mentality, people are kind of waiting for a job. In a system like this, people are scared of trying because they don’t want to be judged. This is definitely a mechanism that we need to switch,” said Baletti.

Fashion in Italy is still a point of pride for many.

Tiberio Pezzolato, who recently graduated from college and started a job at the Milan Expo, agreed with what Baletti said about the abnormal mentality that Italian people have toward young people’s success.

“The lack of encouragement is serious and the job market for young people like me in Italy is extremely strict because of the absurd laws. Public Universities and the job market do not always adjoin,” said Pezzolato.

Many Italians remain optimistic
Although the Italian fashion industry is considered by the U.S. media as losing out to uprising New York and London, people in Italy believe that the good traditions would keep Italy strong.

“If you think about all the luxury products that are produced in Italy with the “made in Italy” label, like Chanel leather bags and Christian Louboutin shoes, you would know Italy has a lot of potential. People here are smart, we’ve always had the very good tradition of design, fashion, and invention,” said Baletti.

The same optimism is also seen among the young generation in Italy.

“Italian brands are still my favorite and very popular among my friends. And people are proud of our own design,” said Licia Becchetti, a college student at University of Utrecht.

“Made-in-Italy is one of the things that I am most proud of when it comes to talking about my country. A good "fresco lana" is an expression of an industrial culture. Buy one today and will wear it forever, it will never go out of fashion,” said Pezzolato.

“In any case, even in a period of crisis, fashion (big brands) hardly suffers,” said Gianola, because fashion and Italy are inseparable.

“Fashion is a way of life for Italians. It is strange, different, classic, all the adjectives and the ways of being characterize Italian people. We are warm, strange, sometimes we are simply ‘too much’. As a way of being Italian, we are excessive, just like fashion. You can find so many different sides and shades in an Italian person, that it is just like fashion. It also gives you the chance to express so freely, which is why an Italian can always find their answers and refuge in fashion,” said Gianola.

Black Cubans Experience a Different Kind of Discrimination

By: Olivia Hitchcock
Edited by: Joshua Lim

An Afro-Cuban dance troupe performs in Havana, Cuba, at the beginning
of 2014. (via Wikipedia Commons)

When Arsenio Rodríguez Quintana walked down the streets of Havana, Cuba — where he lived for much of his life — with his then-spouse, police officers would often stop him.

He said they would accuse him, a black Cuban, of trying to rob the light-skinned woman next to him.

Though the island nation of 11 million is a melting pot of ethnicities, dark-skinned residents have been barred from some opportunities their lighter-skinned neighbors are afforded, as seen in the mostly white government.

It is racism, Rodríguez said bluntly in Spanish during a video interview, but it is a different type than what blacks experience in countries like the United States.He said communities are more segregated than in Cuba.

“It is universal,” Rodríguez said. “But no one can imagine the racism in Cuba.”

Racism in Cuba
More than one-fifth of the Cuban population identifies as mestizo, and about half as many consider themselves to be black, a 2012 survey of the country’s demographics showed. Nearly three-quarters of U.S. citizens identify as white, according to the 2010 census. About 13 percent identify as black.

Frank Calzon, executive director of the Center for a Free Cuba, a human rights group based in New York, said it is hard to explain to Cubans that the U.S. has a black president.

“The Cuban government denies, it’s in denial that they have a race problem in Cuba, and they do have a serious race problem,” Calzon said.

Fidel Castro declared that the Cuban Revolution of the 1950s would put an end to racism in Cuba.

It is common to see mulattos with green eyes and smooth hair, and blacks with narrowly shaped eyes in the same Havana neighborhoods, according to Juan Carlos Zabala Pico, a doctor from Ecuador who has lived in the country for 11 years.

Zabala said they have a saying in Cuba, “El que no tiene de Congo tiene de Carabali,” which means “He who does not have Congolese in him has a mix of all the other races.”

Foreigners, such as Limam Boicha, who moved to Cuba in the early 1980s from Western Sahara, contribute to the cultural mix found on the island, as well. However, Boicha, who lived in Cuba for nearly 13 years, said he never experienced racism.

“In Cuba, I never felt like a foreigner, and the people never discriminate against you for the color of your skin, nor for being a foreigner, on the contrary they treat you well, very well,” Boicha said.

Cultural integration in Cuba
Blacks brought from Africa to Cuba as slaves were able to maintain parts of their culture, including languages, religion, music and dances. As a result, African traditions can be heard in Cuban music, tasted in the food and seen in the street performances in the island’s cities, Rodríguez said.

Compared to black slaves’ experiences in the U.S., Cuban blacks were given more freedom to retain their traditional cultures, Rodríguez said.

Rayko Ferrer Iglesias said that “mezcla,” which means mix, of ethnicities in Cuba has morphed into what is now known as the Afro-Cuban culture.

Ferrer is a dance professor from Cuba, who teaches Afro-Cuban culture mainly through art, on the island of Dominica. He said in an email that Afro-Cuban folklore has become synonymous with Cuban arts. Arguably, the most evident examples are heard in the rhythms of Cuban music.

Santeria is a system of beliefs that merge the Yoruba religion
with the Roma Catholic and Native Indian traditions.
(via Jorge Royan)

“Any Cuban that tells you that we are not integrated would be lying,” Ferrer said. He added that traditional African dress can be seen in the countryside, and many medicines are rooted in African “recipes.”

Many of Cuba’s religions has its roots in Africa. Malcom Alomia Quieñones, a Columbian doctor who studied and lived in Cuba for nine years but recently moved back to Columbia, practices the African religion of Yoruba. In Cuba, it has been integrated into Santería, a religion based in multiple African beliefs.

“It is frequent that a person practices two or three religions,” Alomia said.

Various organizations exist in Cuba that aim to educate about African traditions, said Lazaro G. Guevara Lopez, a Cuban writer. But they do not necessarily tell the most authentic history of blacks on the island, he said.

So Guevara and Rodríguez have started multiple groups, such as the Foundation African American of Cuba, promoting equality in the country. They are only given that freedom, however, because they now live in Barcelona, Spain.

Rodríguez said it costs about $5 to use the Internet for an hour in Cuba, and online access is restricted, with numerous media outlets being blocked. Included in the inaccessible sites is his blog, which publishes criticisms of the racism in Cuba. Thanks to social media sites such as Facebook, Rodríguez can stay up-to-date with the racial tensions in Cuba. And from his home in Spain, he is able to publish Cubans’ experiences online.

“It is easy for an immigrant to communicate with someone in the country,” Rodríguez said. It just requires using indirect means, such as emailing his blog posts to people, as opposed to them reading it on the site.

Rodríguez said that despite racial tensions in Cuba, “the mix (of ethnicities) is normal.”

But so is the racism, he added.

Zabala recalled a time when he saw a black 15-year-old running from a white teenager who was throwing rocks at him in the streets of Havana. The 30-year-old orthopedic surgeon, who worked at the hospital Calixto Garcia de la Habana, said similar incidents are common.

Calzon said inequality is felt more subtly as well.

“If your skin is very, very black, your chances of getting a job at a front desk or something at a hotel, your chances are very limited,” Calzon said.

When asked about his own ethnicity, Calzon was quick to answer.

“To be a Cuban is to be an Afro-Cuban,” he said. “We eat the black beans the slaves brought from Africa.”

Rededication of Mexico City temple prompts believers to reflect on growth

Picture of the Mexico City temple
from 200, before the rededication.
(via Saucedo)

By: Sam Howard
Edited by: Joshua Lim

A summer that saw a rededication ceremony and a three-week public open house at the Mexico City temple says it all for Antonio Hernández Sanchez.

To Hernández, a lifelong parishioner in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, it is proof of the church’s rapid growth in a nation that has the second-most Mormons of any country in the world.

The 52-year-old Mexico City resident made sure he was there for the rededication ceremony in mid-September, presided over by church President Henry Eyring.

The ceremony was “especial,” Hernández said, for many reasons.

Special, he said, to welcome thousands of Mormons and non-Mormons alike into Mexico’s biggest and oldest temple.

And special, he said, to see firsthand the fruits of his church’s growth in Latin America — and his home country of Mexico, in particular.

The LDS Church first came to Mexico on the backs of six missionaries in 1876, sent by forefather, American Brigham Young. The Mexico City temple was founded in 1983. Since 1989, the number of Mormons in Mexico has more than doubled, according to LDS Church statistics.

Currently the church estimates there are just under 1.4 million Mexican Mormons, though the Mexican government’s 2010 census claimed that number was much lower, just above 300,000.

There are roughly 6.5 million Mormons in the U.S., according to the latest church estimates.

The haves and have-nots
Hernández, a middle school teacher, said the recipe for growth is simple: It boils down to the haves and have-nots.

Mexico has a good deal of the latter, he said.

“The people are looking for a better life,” Hernández said.

His lifelong friend, Josue Carmona, who now lives in Fort Worth, Texas, but often returns to his homeland, agrees.

Though, as Carmona puts it, his parents “barely went to school;” his desire for a better life only strengthened his faith.

The 56-year-old translator said that desire is the same for many throughout Mexico — and it is what draws people to the LDS Church, sometimes in droves.

“We very strongly believe (in our faith), because the church helped us keep our eyes on new horizons,” he said.

The LDS Church, an offshoot denomination of protestant Christianity, was established by New Yorker Joseph Smith in 1830. Within 20 years, Mormon pioneers settled in Utah’s Salt Lake Valley, where Salt Lake City was later established.

In 1983, LDS officials dedicated their Mexico City temple, the country’s first. During the last 32 years, the church has built 11 more temples throughout the large nation.

Though many Mexican Mormons now have a temple within two or three hours of driving time, the Mexico City temple remains most important for many, said Jose Manuel Castillo Estrada.

The 28-year-old teacher supervisor said he watched a live transmission of the Sept. 13 rededication ceremony with more than 100 other Mormons at a stake center in his native Tehuacán, a city of about 250,000 residents roughly 300 kilometers southeast of Mexico City.

Castillo said the temple is a reminder of the early days of the church in Mexico, when many needed to travel hundreds of miles just to link up with a congregation to worship alongside.

“The Mexico City temple is more important for us … (and) it represents a lot for us,” he said.

Castillo said he usually worships with a fairly small congregation — usually about 60 or 70 people — but added that he thinks the small size attracts newcomers looking for a family in faith.

“Family is very important (to Mexicans),” he said. “The church preaches about families. That’s something most people are interested in.”

The Oakland California Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day
Saints. (via Calibas)

Mormon teachings in Mexico similar to the United States
What church leaders teach and how they teach it — be it through prayers, sermons or hymns — are essentially the same as their counterparts in temples and churches throughout the U.S., said Kaitlynn Nall, an American Mormon currently living in Tehuacán.

Nall, who is taking time away from studying international studies at Brigham Young University - Idaho to teach English at Castillo’s school, said kids even hear the same Sunday school lessons they would in the U.S.

She said her congregation size is roughly the same as some churches she’s worshipped in the U.S.

But doctrine aside, the 23-year-old Brigham Young junior said there are many cultural differences she’s had to adjust to.

“When there are church activities, it’s all very different,” she said. “Mexicans love to dance.”

Nall said they particularly love the cumbia – a dance with African, Native American and Spanish roots that is sort of similar to the salsa.

Compared to other Latin American countries, the Mexican church stands out, said Anthony Yovera Cuba by email. The 22-year-old now lives in Callao, Peru and works for insurance company Pacífico Seguros, but did a two-year mission in Guadalajara, Mexico’s fourth-largest city.

Yovera attributes Mexico’s “very large” church population to its proximity to the U.S. and the convenience that offers LDS leadership.

One of his favorite things about the church is certainly the same worldwide: The Book of Mormon, the religion’s sacred text.

“I love the Book of Mormon very much,” Yovera said. “I read it when I go to work on the bus.”

That dedication to one’s faith, Castillo said, is common to see throughout Mexico, regardless of faith.

Fewer than 5 percent of the population reported not following a religion in the nation’s 2010 census.

“I think, in general, Mexican people are religious,” Castillo said. “It doesn’t matter their religion or faith.

“Most people are looking for God all their lives.”

Voodoo engrained in Haitian culture and life

By: Erin Davoran
Edited by: Danielle Keeton-Olsen

Legend has it that when Haitians revolted against the French at the end of the 18th century, they were able to win because they sold their souls and the country to Voodoo deities: Satan, to some.

Frednel Isma, a Haitian who was raised to fear Voodoo but recently chose to learn about it from a sociological perspective, doubts the legend.

“I don’t think Satan was buying,” Isma said.

Myths abound about the practice of Voodoo, which was recognized as an official religion in Haiti in 2003, according to the CIA World Fact Book.

HaitianVoodoo originated in the Caribbean in the 17th century when African slaves forced to the region had to suppress their religions and conform to Christianity, much like African slaves brought to the United States.

Voodoo emerged, masked behind Catholicism. For example, Isma said many voodoo deities are disguised as Catholic saints, so voodooists could worship in public without drawing the eyes of the country’s Catholic leaders.

To this day, many Haitians identify as Christian or Catholic and still practice Voodoo.

Questions surround validity of Voodoo
Jacques Alexis, who at age 12 was forced to practice Voodoo by his uncle, does not believe people can be Christian and practice what he calls “black magic.”

“I’ve never heard of a genuine Christian doing that,” Alexis said.

Born in Haiti, Alexis said when he and his sister, were initiated into Voodoo, they were made to sign a contract in blood to serve the devil for the rest of their lives.

“I think it’s very sacrificial, especially for children who don’t have a choice,” said Lauren Neal, orphanage director at Jesus in Haiti Ministries, just north of the capital of Haiti, Port-Au-Prince.

Neal said she has experienced Voodoo during church services when voodooists become possessed.

A voodoo ceremony in Jacmel, Haiti. (via Wikimedia)

“This probably sounds so crazy but with the practice of Voodoo, people cast evil spirits into the individual and so usually those spirits are subdued, but whenever the individual is around the spirit of God, of Christ, that’s when the evil spirits are aroused,” she said.

Elizabeth McAlister, an associate professor of religion at Wesleyan University and author of “Rara! Vodou, Power, and Performance in Haiti and its Diaspora,” wrote in Encyclopedia Britannica that spirit possession plays an important role in the religion, as it does in other religions as well.

Isma has doubts about the validity of possessions.

“People keep telling me its possible. Why? What happened?” said Isma, who thinks medical experts are needed to talk about the so-called possessions, which he said people claim happen in Christianity also.

Isma sees Voodoo as more poison and publicity than black magic.

“Those guys are doing nothing different than anybody can do with poison,” he said.

As to supernatural power Voodoo priests might have: “I’ve seen them running when people come to kill them,” he said.

“When they say they can kill you, they can, but it’s like saying they can shoot you. That’s the same thing,” he said.

Though Neal and Isma both say Voodoo is practiced more openly now, getting those in the practice to speak about it candidly to people outside the religion can be tricky.

“Getting information about Vodou and being protected by someone trust(worthy) is not easy to find,” Nora Chavenet, a friend of Isma’s who lives in Haiti, said in an email. “There are also a lot of informations that are transmitted… that nobody knows if you do not initiate or know someone you trust that is an initiate.”

Voodoo is spelled Vodou in Haiti.

Beliefs and practices
So what exactly is it?

According to the Haitian Consulate in Chicago, voodooists believe there is one god, the “Bondyè” or Good God, the creator of all, who is distant from creation. Therefore voodooists pray to the Bonyè’s spirits.

McAlister wrote that Voodoo “is a worldview encompassing philosophy, medicine, justice, and religion. Its fundamental principle is that everything is spirit.”

Isma has problems with how the religion is established.

“It doesn’t look like a myth, but it looks like, those people didn’t have anything as gospel or Quran…they just go in nature and start calling things god,” he said.

Haitian Vodou altar created during a festival for the Guede
spirits, Boston, M.A. Top right area is offerings to Rada
spirits; top left to Petwo spirits; bottom to Gede.
(via Calvin Hennick for WBUR Boston)

According to the consulate, Voodoo rituals involve preparation of an altar and food at a Voodoo house, Catholic prayers, a lot of singing, litany and verses to the spirits honored by the house, and visits by the spirits by way of possessions.

Men and women can be Voodoo priests, called Houngans and Manbos, respectively.

“In Haitian Vodou the sexual orientation or gender identity and expression of a practitioner is of no concern in a ritual setting. It is seen as just the way God made a person,” according to the consulate.

Voodoo's impact on Haitian culture
Voodoo ceremonies are a big draw for tourists. Even Bill and Hillary attended aceremony on their first trip to the country in 1975, according to The Washington Post.

As fascinating as the practice may be to some, others are against it. Neal and Alexis believe Voodoo is pure satanism.

“I think it’s totally satanic. The goal is death,” Neal said.

“There was never a way it wasn’t satanic,” Alexis said. He got out of the practice and into Christianity at age 15. He moved to the United States in 1996 and now lives in Cincinnati, Ohio. He is in the seminary studying divinity.

“If (people) don’t know the Lord, anything goes,” he said.

But how prevalent is the practice of Voodoo?

“They say Haiti is 80 percent Catholic, 100 percent Voodooists,” Isma said.

Though Haiti is actually about 50 percent Catholic now according to the World Factbook, Isma still thinks the saying is valid.

Isma said that while he and many others are not practicing Voodoo, when they see people who are “you stay away from it. That means you believe it has power.

Whether supernatural or not, Voodoo no doubt has influenced the Caribbean country.

“If you see the culture, there’s no way you can miss it. It’s Voodoo,” Isma said. “Whether we’re aware of it or not, the inheritance of Voodoo in the culture is very strong.”

LGBTs fight a lone battle in Bangladesh

By: Nisha Garud
Edited by: Danielle Keeton-Olsen

LGBT rights rally during the 2015 Pohela Boishakh in Dhaka.
(via Nahid Sultan, Wikimedia)

Sohel Rana was working at the Bangladesh Medical Studies and Research Institute for almost 10 years. In May 2013, when he came back from leave after attending to his ailing father, he was fired.

Rana, who had opened about his homosexuality, managed to start working again after making constant appeals to his supervisor. However, the authorities took away his employment benefits.

After five months of no pay, Rana approached the Bandhu Social Welfare Society (BSWS), which works particularly for "men who have sex with men," or MSM, and transgender in Bangladesh. Through their service called Ain Alap (translated as "legal talk"), BSWS submitted a dispute to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC).

“NHRC filed a case against Rana’s employer during which it was revealed that Rana was subject to offensive and abusive remarks from his colleagues but continued working,” informed Shale Ahmed, Executive Director of BSWS.

Rana’s struggle for justice was long, and seven hearings later, his plea was accepted. Rana was reinstated and paid his pending salary.

Unlike in the United States where the law favors Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual and Transgenders (LGBTs) union, such discrimination, injustice and atrocities against this community is a commonplace phenomenon in Bangladesh where the ‘secular’ government, instead of advocating equal status, enforces criminal penalties against same-sex couple.

LGBT population becomes increasingly visible
According to a website, Asianews.it, there are about 1.6 to 4.8 million LGBTs in Bangladesh, but only about 1,000 have identified themselves.

In 2013, the Bangladesh government refused to accept the United Nations’ request to decriminalize homosexuality because it would conflict with “socio-cultural values of the country.”

An LGBT activist, who wished to remain anonymous for protection, pointed out to that laws are needed to protect people like him in a conservative and heteronormative society.

“Fundamentalism and social and cultural practices have suppressed LGBTs and have prevented from living freely. LGBTs also lack confidence because of societal pressure, as they are forced to live with a non-existent sexual orientation and gender identity,” he said.

Mohammad Fhakrul Islam, Coordinator for Multi-Country South Asia Global Fund HIV Programme at BSWS said, “HIV, Aids and other sexually transmitted diseases are common among LGBTs.

Their biggest challenge is to seek treatment for these. Because of their sexual orientation, LGBTs are denied of medical health facilities.”

His organization creates awareness about HIV among homosexuals through Community Systems Strengthening (CSS).

“The biggest problem that LBGTs face is that of social isolation. It is difficult to find a person to talk about one’s sexual orientation. LGBTs do not have knowledge to help them understand their sexual orientation,” said Imran Mazid, a Bangladeshi doctoral student at Ohio University, whose research focuses on mediated communication among LGBTs in the United States, including Bangladesh.

A rainbow flag for Bangladeshi LGBT people designed by
John Ashley (via Wikimedia)

Issues facing the community
Nazia Zebin, a social activist, said, “LGBT community in Bangladesh is an issue no one talks about. One might think they don't exist as whenever any news related to the community comes up, one of the common responses is, ‘Gay in Bangladesh!?’ aside from threats of killing gay people.”

The issues of lesbians have been overlooked because of gender inequality and patriarchy.

Zebin, who hints at being a lesbian but does not openly talk about it, said, “Women are not considered to have sexual desires in a patriarchal culture. The existence of lesbians is heavily questioned. Most people regard this as a phase that would be “resolved” if the woman gets married.” She added, “People think that women turn into lesbians because they are hurt by a man, a true example of patriarchal perspective.

Zebin agreed that gays and lesbians face similar problems in terms of societal acceptance. However, the key difference was on family acceptance.

“In Bangladesh, getting daughters married is one of the major responsibilities of parents. So if a girl chooses to not marry, it brings shame to the family.”

Social conditions make LGBTs to network and connect behind closed doors.

Support for LGBT individuals
Social media such as Facebook and Twitter, including blogs, Yahoo groups and Whats App are used to stay connected and communicate information about activities, demonstrations and seek support.

“Social media has given a platform to LGBTs, who cannot come out in the open. Many gays in the country live a dual life —acting ‘straight’ in society, marrying women and networking with others of their sexual orientation in strict secrecy,” said Mazid.

Roopbaan and Boys of Bangladesh (BoB), are a few leading LGBT groups, which have managed to survive the threats from religious leaders.

BoB, which started as an online group, has developed into the largest network of self-identified Bangladeshi gay men. BoB conducted a study that found that ‘Bangladeshi LGBT movement was weak because of absence of a well-established LGBT network led to the lack of awareness and knowledge about violations’.

Shakhawat Hossain, a gay rights activist working with BoB for 12 years, said, “We interviewed about 50 LGBTs and activists in two phases. Many of them feel that there is a communication gap between the members because some regions do not have a platform where LGBTs can join in activities that address violations faced by them.”

To address these issues, Roopbaan, an organization which first started as a magazine on gender and sexual diversity, organizes numerous activities to give LGBT visibility.

“We organize Rainbow Rally every year on Pohela Baishakh, the Bengali new year. Our regular activities, social get-togethers, parties, discussions allow LGBTs to vent their suppressed emotions. At our 'Pink Slip' events LGBTs can address their sexual health concerns. We believe that social acceptance will only come with greater visibility,” said the anonymous activist, who also volunteers at Roopbaan.

Hossain, however, points out that visibility can also create problems.

“Transgenders are more visible in society due to their gender expressions and cultural role and hence face backlash such as threats, verbal abuses, rapes and police harassment. On the other hand, the LGB group hide their identities but suffer because they cannot not express their sexuality and report harassment openly.”

Ukrainian students feel impact of conflict

Protests continue in Kiev, everyday life in the Maidan, about
a million people came to the popular assembly, independence
Square in Kiev, Ukraine, on Dec. 29, 2013.
(via maksymenko oleksandr)

By: Austin Greene
Edited by: Danielle Keeton-Olsen

In February of 2014, a series of violent protests in Ukraine led to the ouster of then-President Viktor Yanukovych.

The events that followed rapidly changed the political climate of the country. Yanukovych had signed a deal that created closer ties with Russia, after turning down a similar offer from the European Union. By April, pro-Russian separatists in the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts declared their independence, and the War in Donbass had officially begun.

Ever since a ceasefire came into effect in February of 2015, global attention has shifted elsewhere. However, many Ukrainians, especially students, are still dealing with the lasting effects of the conflict.

Cutting costs of education
Vladimir Belous is a student at Odessa University. He and his peers had to go to Crimea for a geology study, but were not able to enter after Russia annexed the peninsula.

“The referendum happened and instead we went to some village near our city and just do nothing productive since there was nothing interesting geological going on there,” he said.

Belous said that due to currency devaluation, Odessa University had to cut time from the school year.

“In order to save more money we don't study in the winter at all. The dean says that it saves the university millions of hryvnias. Not only we do it, most universities in Odessa also do that.”

Valentin Sidorenko is a medical student at the National Medical University of Ukraine in Kiev. Like all medical students in Ukraine, he does not study any specific medical field. Ukrainian med school students study general medicine for 6 years, subsequently pursuing a specialization during an internship. He said that while primary schools’ budgets remained unaffected, he hasn’t been as fortunate.

“Devaluation took a huge toll on the healthcare system in general, because most drugs and medical equipment are imported from the EU/US and are now two-to-three times more expensive,” Sidorenko said. “For example, the hospital I'm studying in right now had its angiograph break down a couple months ago, and they haven't been able to afford a new one yet, so they have to send all the patients in need of the procedure to another hospital.”

Valentine Osnovyanenko was in his final year of high school, eleventh year for Ukrainian students, when the conflict initially broke out. He remembers seeing the protests in Independence Square in Kiev on the news.

“I remember that morning very well, when TV showed how students were violently dealt with,” he recalled. “The Berkut, the special police forces, beat everyone there, regardless of their age and behavior.”

Osnovyanenko currently studies at the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy (NaUKMA). His sisters have kept him informed of the changed climate around his high school after he left. A tradition at the school was to hold a festival with students from schools in Russia and Belarus. They called it the Eastern Slavs Festival. Visiting students used the opportunity to make friends and learn about the local history and culture. The last festival was held in the spring before the war broke out.

“That spring everyone came to Belarus and friends of mine who went there told me how tense the atmosphere was there, including physical fights and trash talking. Soon after, the festival had to be closed,” Osnovyanenko said.

Studying within the separatist divide
For students who were actually inside the separatist regions, the situation was substantially worse. Anton Toloknov worked as a software engineer in the city of Donetsk while his brother studied management at Donetsk State University.

“After the conflict started his university split up into two parts. One moved to Mariupol, a city under Ukraine's control, and another stayed in Donetsk,” he said. “All of his documents stayed in Donetsk, and they demanded money to get them back so we gave up on that. Also because we didn't want to go to Donetsk at that time, because it was too risky.”

Toloknov later moved north to the city of Kharkiv to escape the fighting. His brother went with him and enrolled in online classes with his university’s new campus in Mariupol.

One of the most badly damaged cities in the war was Horlivka, also in the Donetsk oblast. Dmitriy Kot was still attending school when separatist forces took control of the city. One of their first actions was to terminate every professor teaching Ukrainian courses.

Protests in Donetsk, April 26, 2014. (via DrupalCamp Donetsk)

“Those soldiers of DPR, as they call themselves, fired every single teacher who taught or even spoke Ukrainian,” he said.

In July of 2014, the fighting had reached Horlivka and Kot was forced to evacuate.

“On the night of July 20 or 21, I was watching a movie with my girlfriend when we heard very, very loud explosions,” he said. “That moment I realized my life was in danger. I was petrified.”

Kot and his girlfriend packed as much as they could over the course of three days, and fled the city on a train.

“As we stood there loading our stuff into our railroad car a bunch of armed men were watching us,” he said. “All those bags, the pressure. It was probably the worst day of my life.”

Like Anton Toloknov’s brother, Kot’s transcripts were held at the school. His mother had to travel to the city and bribe a clerk to retrieve them.

“With enough money you can obtain anyone’s personal data,” said Kot. “Anything you can think of. You can bribe almost anyone here.”

Kot later transferred to another school under Ukrainian control. As of October 2015, the conflict remains in stalemate.

Refugees Seek Better Life in Greece

Europe welcomes people from countries like Syria, who are in need of new
homes. (via Aggi Cantrill)

By: Erica King
Edited by: Joshua Lim

Some people are asleep, laying their heads to the person next to them as seawater splash their faces; others are stepping into a small boat, getting ready to make a long journey to a better life.

Roaring waters rock the boats, causing them to sway side to side. Food is scarce. There is nothing around these people except seawater and the unknown that lies underneath the water’s surface. They try to remain warm to avoid hypothermia.

These people are mainly from Syria and other countries, such as Turkey, Lebanon and Pakistan. They put their lives in jeopardy to travel to Europe in hopes of having better lives in return. They are people in desperate need of a new home. They are considered refugees. Syrians are fleeing their country from ongoing violence.

More than 200,000 people have lost their lives since 2011, including 70,000 civilians in the Syrian conflict between Kurdish militia members battling state forces, according to a World Post article titled A Brutal Reminder of Why SyriansAre Fleeing to Europe. The number of deaths continue to increase.

Most refugees are passing through or settling in Greece. Despite Greece’s economic issues, including the recent financial collapse, the Greeks still lend a helping hand to the incoming refugees.

Sophia Saouridou, a secretary for a volunteer group in Greece, helps collect canned goods, water, clothing and shoes for the refugees. Most refugees she and her team help are close to Greece’s border.

The refugees take buses to Idomeni, Greece, where they can receive medical help. The doctors that tend to the people are French and Norwegian. Saouridou is also trained in first aid and tends to the refugees in need of medical attention.

“The last time I went to the camp on Sept. 20, there were about 4,000 people who came through the camp in just 12 hours,” Saouridou said. “Because of the climate changes and colder temperatures, last Saturday I went on Oct. 4, there was an estimate of 2,500 refugees.”

Challenges crossing the Greek border
Although refugees are receiving help in Greece, crossing the border from Greece is not always an easy task. Their number one destination is Germany.

“A family of four was approached by a smuggler and had to pay the smuggler double just to reunite with the rest of their family,” Saouridou said. “They wouldn’t let them through the border line if they did not pay.”

She added if refugees had darker skin or were Pakistani, the patrol would close the borders and shoot them with plastic bullets.

Aggelos Konstantinidis, who works for the Civil Protection for Greece, agrees the refugees do not always have a smooth transition traveling from one country to another.

Konstantinidis has worked as a volunteer rescuer for 10 years. He even helped in Indonesia in 2005 after the country experienced a tsunami. With many years of experience, he was called to work as a team leader for the refugee mission. Konstnatinidis claims the process has to be quick in order for the refugees to keep moving along in their journey to their destination.

“It’s difficult to keep together,” he said. “There are usually 30 to 40 buses arriving at the same time. A few thousand people have to go through the camp. They have to pass through the humanitarian line, get food and medical care.”

He explained the process has to be quick because authorities of neighboring countries can close the border without any notification. If the borders close, refugees will stay in house tents — thousands at a time and not all are protected from the weather elements.

“We’ve had no fatalities, thank God,” Konstantinidis said. “There have been cases where people had their lives in danger due to prior medical conditions, but they were treatable conditions.”

Limited funding to assist refugees


Konstantinidis said Greece has had little funding help from the European Union. Greece allows refugees to receive treatment from hospitals for free, but the country is partly inexperienced when a crisis occurs.

Syrian refugees strike in front of Budapest Keleti railway
station. (via MstyslavChernov)

Although the European Union hasn’t been much help, a Greece resident that would like to referred to as Jazz claims the EU gave nearly 167 million euros for internal security at the borders.

“It's way too easy to blame the EU for all Greece's problems; time to wake up,” Jazz said. “This country got messed up because we all let it go to hell by voting for the crooks (and some others, by no voting), by accepting bribes within our culture, by ignoring the law, if anything the EU has been too tolerant.

“We, our parents and our grandparents are responsible and it is our children the ones who are to eat or to emigrate to get away from all this.”

Dimitris, a Greek local who is not comfortable with giving his full name, disagrees and thinks the European Union is to blame.

“There have been funds given to Greece to deal with the problem, but the state is not only corrupt but also a monster of bureaucracy,” Dimitris said. “The system cannot deal with the past numbers let alone todays Europeans know this.”

Despite citizens’ opinions of the European Union, Greece seems to be handling the issue very well.

“Many Greek civilians are helping alleviate the pain,” Konstantinidis said.

Chrisa Chatzistouyanni, a volunteer group leader in Greece, said her organization has recently reached out to the mayor of Thessaloniki to make an announcement for help. Chatzistouyanni claims the volunteer group has even called families to help out.

“Families are having problems because of the debt crisis in Greece, but they are still trying to give,” Chatzistouyanni said. “We will see how efforts will go to see what can happen in the future.”

Amazigh population attempts to rise from oppression in Libya

By: Jaelynn Grisso
Edited by: Danielle Keeton-Olsen

A protestor holds a sign during an Amazigh demonstration in
2013. (via Mazigh Buzakhar)

In the western corner of Libya near the Tunisia border, sand-colored hills cover the landscape. Vibrant flags break up the dusty terrain alongside the main road leading into the Nefusa Mountains. Between waving Libyan flags are brightly colored flags with three bold horizontal stripes: blue to represent the sea, green to represent the land and yellow to represent the desert. Connecting them is a single, red stick figure, representing the Amazigh people living throughout the area, from sea to land to desert.

Under the late President Muammar Gadhafi, the Amazigh language and culture was suppressed in order to create a unified Arab identity for Libya. After he was overthrown in 2011, the country split into two opposing governments. Although an agreement between the two governments to form one unity government was recently reached, the future of the Amazigh – the indigenous people of North Africa – remains uncertain.

“[The new government is] not going to play a role to bring the whole country under stability,” Mazigh Buzakhar, an Amazigh activist, said. “They have been limited, and they’re going to be limited.”

Lacking representation in divided government
Since the revolution in 2011, Libya has been divided between two governments: a government in the capital of Tripoli and the internationally recognized government in the east. This divide culminated in a civil war beginning in 2014.

The two governments were formed from a transitional government created after the revolution. The transitional government was tasked with developing a new constitution for Libya. When it failed to do so before the set deadline, an election was held to create the House of Representative, the now internationally recognized government. However, a minority group from the transitional government held a separate election and formed the General National Congress. Some reports claim the General National Congress is backed by the Libya Dawn militia, which is believed to be an Islamist organization.

Many involved with the Amazigh movement do not recognize the General National Congress as a legitimate government, and they said they thought they had unfair representation in the House of Representatives, Mazigh said. In 2013, a committee to create a new constitution was intended to be formed through elections, with only two of the 60 seats allocated to the Amazigh. Unofficial estimates place the Amazigh population in Libya around 600,000, about 10 percent of the population.

As a result, the Amazigh people looked toward creating their own autonomous region, including drafting a constitution for the Amazigh-dominant Nefusa region, said Madghis Buzakhar, an Amazigh activist and brother of Mazigh. It is a possibility still being considered.

“It is our dream to have an Amazigh country,” Shokri Agmar, an Amazigh activist and lawyer, said. “It will be the most democratic country in the region. Diversity, democracy, respecting rights and openness to others is part of our culture.”

Fighting for our rights
Last August, Libyan Amazighs elected the Amazigh Supreme Council for the first time. They have also created a group called TIRA nnegh – “our book” in the Amazigh language – to raise constitutional awareness throughout Amazigh communities, Madghis said.

Although, succeeding from Libya is not without its challenges, said Asma Khalifa, an Amazigh activist and member of the Tamazight Woman Movement. While there are predominantly Amazigh regions, in many cases there are Arab-dominated cities in between.

Even with the new unity government, many Amazigh are not optimistic that the situation will improve.

Map of ethnic groups in Libya, including the Amazigh
(Berber) in bright orange. (via Wikimedia)

“Our problems are with the Arabism and Islamic dictatorship mentality,” Agmar said. “The new government if it exists, will be made by those two sides. And we will keep fighting for our rights.”

Khalifa expressed similar sentiments.

“I think the Amazigh will face further discrimination and racism,” Khalifa said. “The country will be very divided even under the unity government, and even if the unity government has a more open-minded approach towards minority rights, on the grass root level it will still be misinterpreted.”

Discrimination impacts culture, language, history
Taziz Hasairi, an Amazigh woman and member of the editorial board for the Amazigh magazine Tafat, said she does not think the issue lies with the government.

“Our issues and problems are not with governments, but mentalities,” she said.

The Amazigh culture and language, Tamazight, was severely limited under the Gadhafi regime as a push for Arab nationalism. The language was banned, parents could only use Arabic names for their children and the education about the Amazigh was restricted. Hasairi said her friend was arrested for singing in the Amazigh language, and Bukahar did not learn about the history of his ancestors until he studied abroad in Australia. These restrictions, and others, lead to a lack of knowledge about Amazighs for other Amazighs and the Arab majority.

“It was difficult to hide your culture and a part of your identity even to your own circle,” Khalifa said. “The rest of Libya knows so little about Amazigh and they were [and] are still very paranoid of what is different.”

Agmar said it was this treatment which lead him to activism.

“I felt that I was not happy with the situation that we are in,” he said. “The racial and cultural discrimination that I and my people had faced and suffered… I had a feeling that we are different, we are not Arabs as they are telling us in government schools every day, so I had to get involved and fix something to at least be close to normal people’s level of life.”

Amazighs played a major role in the revolution in 2011, Mazigh and others said. The location of Amazigh populations in the Nefusa Mountains played a critical role in eventually overthrowing the past regime.

Since Gadhafi, some of the activists said the situation for Amazigh has improved minimally. However, Agmar said it has not changed.

“It was very hard, but not very far [from] what we have been suffering today,” he said. “Almost the same with more work, efforts required by us to save our children’s future and rights. It is a huge responsibility.”

All above descriptions are created from recounts in interviews and photos, not by first-hand accounts.

India Sets Stage for Women to DJ

The stage for Sunburn Festival, an electronic music festival held yearly in
Goa. (via Wikimedia)

By: Danielle Keeton-Olsen
Edited by: Joshua Lim

Ma Faiza spent her first years in India on the beach. She was selling tapes at a flea market in the coastal village Anjuna throughout the 1990s, a time when few people in the nation listened to electronic music.

“I was listening to electronic music, and it just blew my mind,” she said, “I just kind of saw there was a whole lot of music in the UK that wasn’t in India, and I thought it should be.”

Since those years, the electronic music industry has blossomed in India, and so has Ma Faiza and other women taking up the DJ lifestyle.

India is widely known for Bollywood music, but the music industry isn’t limited to that genre.

Women are making new beats as DJs for an audience open to the changes, several artists said.

Not only are more women becoming DJs, being a DJ is now seen as a legitimate career, said Axailes Solar, who first started playing electro, minimal and progressive sounds in 1999.

“They pay the artists now, which was not the case in 2000,” Solar said. “It was a few meals, a few beers and you’re fine, but things changed because we imposed this.”

In addition to Djing for Antena Solar, a collaborative DJ project, Solar also hires DJs for parties in Goa through her brand Liquid Sky. Solar books DJs with a funky, sexy sound, but she also highlights talented female DJs through her Girls on Decks parties.

India’s major cities – Mumbai, Delhi and Goa– are receptive to the deeper underground and techno sounds, said DJ Anastasia Ito Malhotra.

DJs gaining popularity in smaller cities
But the smaller cities are catching on to the deeper sounds she creates with her husband, DJ Whosane!, in their project WA-TEC, she said.

“The underground scenes and the more deeper sounds are definitely coming up,” Anastasia said. “It’s a slow process but they’re coming up.”

DJ Candice Redding said smaller cities are where she finds “her people,” listeners just as excited about music as she is. A festival performance she thought would be empty turned into a packed four-hour jam session. Redding said she clicks with fans from villages where she is surprised to find an airport and a club.

“Whatever I feed to them, they take it in like it was the most amazing thing ever,” Redding said.

Although traditional Indian culture still resonates throughout India with the surge and international spread of Bollywood music. Some DJs, however, give it a new spin.

Angel Johal established a name for herself among DJs by mixing Bollywood music. She hopes to expose more people to Indian pop culture.

“I just want to take Bollywood music globally as much as I can, wherever I can,” Johal said.

Kini Rao, who plays shades of house and techno, took to the thrill of being at the turntable decks instantly, but it took performances and vast track knowledge to get “deep into it.”

“When you start playing gigs, there’s a lot of familiar faces plus a mix of clubbers and it in time it grows which makes you evolve as an artist in a very organic sense,” Rao said in an email.

In the commercial market of Bollywood sound, Ashrafi Oshidar said the competition causes DJs to take low pay just to get a gig. However, Oshidar said playing what her boss – the audience – wants gets her good gigs.

“I never say what is this girl doing or what is this guy doing, I just do my own thing,” Oshidar said.

Apart from competition, DJs with fewer years of experience in the scene look to veterans of the industry – Ma Faiza, Pearl and Ayesha – for inspiration.

Priyanjana Ghoshal got her first gigs by opening for Pearl, and then she dived into deep house, opening for Ma Faiza.

Vying for gigs makes competition unavoidable, she said, but in her experience, DJs help each other out.

“It’s not like we’re in touch on a day-to-day basis, but that’s support,” Ghoshal said. “If tomorrow someone asks me can you give me someone’s number, of course, if I’m not doing a gig I will pass it on to somebody else.”

The electronic scene in India is naturally supportive. Ma Faiza, who is also known as the "Mother of Electronic Music in India,” has never felt the need to hide the fact she is a lesbian, partially because she never received any backlash or homophobia from anyone in India.

Ma Faiza, a.k.a. the
"Mother of Electronic
Music in India," poses
for her Birthday Tour
picture. (Via Aabhishek
Mikael Gunaratnam)

One teenage boy came up to her and said he printed a huge poster of her and hung it on his wall, which shocked Ma Faiza, considering her childhood friends kept pinups in their bedrooms.

“It’s mad, all because it’s the power of be ‘you,’ because if I can do it, you can,” she said.

The Ma Faiza experience is about acceptance, she said. Fans find it inspiring when they see Ma Faiza’s mother in the crowd, cheering her on. Some teenagers listening to her music feel their parents might not relate if they are rooted in traditional values, Ma Faiza said.

“These young kids, they can never imagine a time when they could go out with their parents because the gap between their parents and the children it’s really, really strong,” Ma Faiza said.

Savitha Bala, known on stage as Digital Hippie, has visited Germany, California and Georgia, but she felt the deepest connection to Goa as a performer and a resident.

“It was the lifestyle of the people,” Bala said. “They were just so colorful and free and amazing, so I just wanted to be a part of it.”

In Goa, Bala’s music – which merges ethnic beats, funky jungle sounds, and classical and jazz vibes – is well-received. Bala said she might be the only woman playing to that niche of listeners, but the scene is open to the idea of innovative musicians.

“It’s a very exciting time. We have electronic music festivals, the field itself has opened up, so why not, why wouldn’t girls wanna do it?”