Can we talk about poverty in a way that doesn’t exoticise it? Is this possible anymore? When we talk about elitism and about golf courses and convertibles, can we admit that conversations about privilege are also about government housing, about skipped school fieldtrips, and the way roaches will scatter in swarms across tile floors when you flip the kitchen switch at midnight?

This is Worldtown contributor Seemi Choudry reviews Lukas Moodysson’s film “Mammoth” starring Gael Garcia Bernal and Michelle Williams.

“The story is about families and how they can communicate without communicating. Telecommunication replaces actual human communication.”

This Is Worldtown contributor Abdullah Malik takes on the must-see films of 2009, with a mix of mainstream releases and some quieter gems, to check out in to the new year.

Compared to the juggernaut films that ruled the cinema in 2008, one couldn’t expect 2009 to top the cinema experience that last year did. But somehow, the last three hundred and sixty odd days brought with it a gamut of unmissable films. Here are the five most essential films of ‘09…

Diaspora Youth Speak (DYS) is a project based in Toronto for youth who identify as part of a Diasporic community. DYS uses multi-media arts to explore themes of displacement and mobility to reflect on personal stories and the roles that we play in local and global contexts as Diasporic peoples– fostering leadership & participation; strengthening the voice of Diasporic youth.
Find out more…watch the video…

On October 10th 2009, the Canadian Arab Federation hosted an evening entitled ‘Disowning Canadians Abroad’ where a number of guest speakers discussed the trend of Canadian citizens from racialized backgrounds being abandoned by the Canadian government when facing challenges while abroad. Many spoke from first-hand experience. Faraz Siddiqui was one of the speakers.

Our lives, our cultures, are composed of many overlapping stories. Novelist Chimamanda Adichie tells the story of how she found her authentic cultural voice — and warns that if we hear only a single story about another person or country, we risk a critical misunderstanding.
How do you get there?

Aruna Boodram - My audio documentary project is intended to show the pluralities of women that Islam has affected, whether they be practicing Muslims or not… I wanted to know how they understood Islam, how they understood feminism, and determining what the combination of the two would mean for them as Muslim women or those in solidarity with Muslim women. I also wanted to know how Islam has provided the vehicle in which these women have understood and managed realms of empowerment, strength and resistance to globalization, Western discourses and every day problems.
Listen here for the full audio documentary…

One of the first things a (good) transnational activist learns is the practical meaning of solidarity — which, as the latest issue of New York Times Magazine illustrates, is a concept not easily grasped by even the worldliest and most committed of advocates. This week’s installment of the NYT Magazine manages (for the most part) to thoughtfully and contextually explore the plights of Third World women, while examining some of the the hard realities of transnational activism. Nevertheless, the clear subtext of the articles belies the contributors’ apparent commitment to building real and lasting solidarity movements. As journalist Edwin Okong’o points out, the lead feature paints a rather two-dimensional (albeit compassionate) portrait of life in the brutal third world, but shies away from covering the efforts of impactful Third World activists and movements in favor of spotlighting the high-dollar (emphasis on the $) development projects of western nonprofit organizations.

I am too young to have lived through the period where coups and dictatorships were common in Latin America but many of the elders in my community are not and it is their very real and personal stories that have motivated me to do everything I can to support the resistance against the coup.

For those who are not especially politically inclined, there is the enormous, rambunctious Carnaval that is Independence Day. Cars, streets and houses sprout dark green flags. Fairy lights that belie the national power crisis hang in ropes off monuments and shopping plazas. Young men (always men, mind you), high-spirited gaggles, swathes and hordes of them, pile into cars and onto motorbikes and careen down main thoroughfares. It’s a much-needed release.