What a relief to hear that Iason Athanasiadis is in Dubai, confirmedly free! We are anxious to hear what happened from Iason himself. We know that Roxana Saberi, another colleague who was held in Iran, endured much during her detention, physically and psychologically. Chilling to note that many other journalists, all Iranian, are still being held. Our thoughts are with them.
Waiting for Iason
Rather than rewrite yesterday’s post (is that even allowed?) we thought we’d say that news of Iason’s release, which has been widely reported, is still at the “Iranian foreign ministry officials confirmed” level of certainty. As of this hour, we haven’t seen proof that Iason is out of custody. We’ll either confirm the news when we hear it or sneak back and delete this post (surely that is allowed – you may not be able to rewrite history, but you can always erase it!). Still, feeling hopeful.
Iason is Free!
Great news today from Tehran. Colleague Iason Athanasiadis, who was detained by Iranian authorities after reporting on the disputed elections last month, was released after more than two weeks in detention. The government of Greece and officials of the Greek Orthodox Church had been pushing hard for this. According to today’s news reports, Iason was the only non-Iranian journalist being held. Things in Iran are clearly in turmoil after yesterday’s announcement by leading clerics that the election results were invalid and the government crackdown unjustifiable. Anyway, welcome back Iason!
Friend of Homelands Held in Iran
Iason Athanasiadis, an extraordinary young freelance writer, radio producer and photographer, was detained by Iranian authorities on June 19 while trying to board a plane to leave the country. Iason had been covering the contested elections there. Homelands Productions joins many other media organizations in calling for his release. We know Iason as an intelligent, fair-minded, compassionate reporter with deep knowledge of the Middle East and Central Asia. A 2008 Nieman Fellow at Harvard University, Iason was raised in Greece and educated in England and Iran. He holds a degree in Arabic and Modern Middle Eastern Studies at Oxford and a masters degree in Persian and Contemporary Iranian Studies from the Tehran School of International Relations. You can read and see some of Iason’s work at http://www.iason.ws.
P.S. You can read an op-ed about Iason and his detention by Homelands Productions co-founder Sandy Tolan on Salon.com.
Babu Hussein, Shipbreaking Worker
Ismael “Babu” Hussein works as an assistant in one of Bangladesh’s giant shipbreaking yards, where armies of laborers dismantle huge old vessels with little more than hammers and blowtorches. The work is perilous, the bosses abusive, the hours exhausting. Babu’s reward? Just over two dollars a day, and nightmares about being crushed by giant sheets of steel. Pretty heavy stuff for a 13-year-old kid.
You can hear Sandy Tolan‘s profile of Babu on Marketplace on Thursday, June 18th. There are great photos and an excellent introduction to the issues of shipbreaking and child labor at the WORKING websites – http://marketplace.org/segments/working and http://working.homelands.org.
Please let us know what you think!
Jon
Brandon Davies, Banker
Brandon Davies‘ work is all about risk. After 32 years at Barclays Bank, he decided to try his luck as an independent operator. He quickly found himself with six or seven different jobs. He was hired to head an international association of risk professionals. He was recruited to the boards of two new banks with ties to the developing world. He began trading equities and currencies, using his own money. He helped set up one-off insurance and property deals. Risk, he told producer Sean Cole, is how we learn and grow as people. We should embrace it, not avoid it. At least that’s what he said last summer, when Sean spent a few days with him in London. Then the global financial system collapsed. Sean took a deep breath and called him back.
The profile of Brandon Davies aired on Marketplace on the 28th of May. It is the 27th profile in the WORKING series. For those of you in the public radio world, please note that all but the most recent profiles are now available on PRX.
Of course you can hear all the profiles, and see slideshows and read reporter’s notebooks, at the Worker Browser site, which was created especially for this project. While you’re there, why not tell the world what you think about your job?
Cheers,
Jon
Happy May Day!
In nearly every country in the world, May First is an important holiday – a time when people come together to celebrate the dignity of labor, and to reflect on the crucial role that ordinary workers play in building better societies. For the last two years, we at Homelands Productions have tried to do both those things, and it has been a profoundly uplifting experience.
It’s worth remembering, though, how hard life is for so many working people. Workplaces are too often zones of exploitation, where employers squeeze what they can from their employees with little regard for their basic human rights. Big corporations disrupt thousands of lives with the stroke of an accountant’s pen. Small businesses use family obligations or personal debts to hold their workers hostage. People toiling in the informal economy are tormented by everyone from street gangs to police. Incredibly, millions of people, many of them children, are still bought and sold and forced to work against their wills. Governments too often leave working people physically or legally unprotected.
We’ve touched on a few of these issues in the WORKING series. We profiled a teenage tannery worker, Mohmen, who isn’t allowed to go to the window when the fumes overtake him. We profiled a metal worker, Pedro, who can’t get his bosses to compensate him for a deadly lung disease he contracted on the job. We profiled a miner, Fidele, who is shaken down by corrupt soldiers every time he finds minerals. We profiled a sex worker, Samanta, who has been threatened by zealots, harassed by police, and stabbed by a client. We profiled a lobster diver, Romulo, who was nearly killed because of corner-cutting by boat owners and negligence by government regulators. We profiled a middle-aged woman, Vicki, whose attempt to start a recycling business was nearly thwarted by jealous neighbors and bribe-seeking officials. And we profiled a young labor inspector, Leandro, who has devoted his life to freeing slaves, of whom, he has found, there are still far too many.
Our hope for WORKING was that it would remind our audience how work connects us to millions of other human beings around the world – to real people with hearts and lungs and families and dreams and needs and desires. It’s an obvious point, but one worth noting, and celebrating. And one that comes with a dose of responsibility as well.
Jon
Vicki Ponce, Recycler
For Mexican women of a certain age, finding decent work can be nearly impossible. Vicki Ponce was in her 50s, selling tamales on the street, when she and some women friends decided to try their luck in the electronic waste business. They butted heads with local officials and withstood the taunts of jealous neighbors. Today Las Chicas Bravas (“The Tough Girls”) spend their days dismantling old computers and TV sets and selling the parts to buyers around the world. Now if only they could convince the mayor to turn on the power.
Ingrid Lobet’s profile of Vicki Ponce aired on Marketplace on 29 April, the latest segment in the WORKING series. If you didn’t have a chance to hear it, please check it out online. You can also see photos of Vicki and read Ingrid’s reporter’s notebook.
On the subject of Mexico – our thoughts are with the people of that good country as they head into two of their most important holidays – Labor Day and Cinco de Mayo – under strict instructions not to gather in public. Estamos con Ustedes, amigos!
