Eastern Anatolia has always been the cradle of different ethnicities and religions. In search of the last Christians of Kurdistan, the Aramaic Christians of the Syrian church, after knocking on the doors of the few monasteries still in use in the town of Midyat, I came across quite by accident in a story unknown to the big history books. A story about a community of thousands of people who 50 years ago was brutally expelled from their lands, in the silence of the Turkish government. To get in contact with the Christian villages of Syrian culture was made possible thanks to two expatriates, respectively in Switzerland and Germany, who return each year in these lands, their land of origin, to bring basic supplies to the villages sited south of Midyat, at the border with Syria, in the heart of the mountains still partially controlled by the militias of the PKK. A story apart is the small town of Kafro, the most important centre of the community, which unlike the smaller villages, where some survivor resisted living inside homes destroyed decades ago (see photos of the elderly), Kafro was completely abandoned over 50 years ago as a result of the assault of the Arabic-speaking and Muslim peoples. Today the village is becoming an experiment of home-return by some of the many migrants who, unlike my companions, came back permanently.

In the pictures you can see the streets of the new city, the mayor and the guests visiting the modern church just rebuilt over the ruins of the one that was destroyed 50 years ago. The main church has remained in ruins (the interior is completely devastated, neither altar nor the paintings survived) On top of the mountain considered as the "Second Jerusalem by the Syrians," there is a beautiful monastery, Mor Malke, where currently only two monks reside. There are some visiting young learners. The senior priest refuses to be photographed but he tells me in detail the story of the struggle, that of the decades of abandonment after the invasion of the Islamic people, as their faith has allowed the monastery to remain almost intact. He talks about long periods of self-sufficiency thanks to the cultivated vegetable and water sources, in a very arid region where once agriculture and commerce towards Syria flourished. This was once a crossroads of peoples and rich valley. The monastery itself housed hundreds of pilgrims, today those visiting are to be counted on the palm of a hand. Photos show the meeting between the priest and the two migrants. Then, moments of the sacred ritual, where now only few people from neighbouring villages participate, a ritual made of songs and movements that recall the early Church, all people facing the altar, the priests and the common people, nobody officiating. It is not allowed to participate as external.

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© 2015 Marco Palladino – all rights reserved

 

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Every year, on the borders of the great White Desert in the northern Khutch, in Gujarat, a gigantic ethnic festival is organized. It attracts hundreds of thousands of Indian tourists. The large region of Kutch is the home for several ethnic minorities and its tribal villages are renowned for the handicrafts made of the most beautiful and varied metals, jewellery, textiles and pottery. However, the situation in which people live in many villages is of extreme poverty. The tradition is exploited to motivate tourism which actually does not bring any benefit to the local population if not through intermediaries. In some villages, such as Khavda, the producers are able to export their wares all over India at a fair price, but the situation is very different in others.  A significant example is one village that is very close to the most visited hot-spot, a lookout over the white desert where groups of Indian tourists and school classes arrive by bus and never stop in the villages below. Here, however, is where low-cost goods are manufactured, then sold in tourist areas up to five times the cost. It is clear however what is the current aim for development: tourism. Numbers are exponentially growing, hand by hand with the growth of well-being, and statistics aside the amount of tourists not only at the sites of the desert, even for recreational activities that are organized on the reservoirs, is visible.

It is a domestic tourism, but coming from the rest of India.  All the benefits declared by the central government remain to be seen, what you see are conditions of a widespread poverty. Despite the industrial wealth of the State, the living standards of the poor are very low. These villages can be considered relatively lucky, although there are important mineral resources (excluding gas reserves, in the salt desert there are lignite, bauxite and gypsum, in particular) the government has not subcontracted land use to any multinational companies nor started any campaign of displacement. Not likely for the time being, as in other parts of India, where people are removed or harshly repressed. Many statements about development projects are done in Gujarat, in line with the model of the large dams. There are ninety-seven small rivers in the district of Kutch. Twenty large dams and several smaller dams retain water in the rainy season runoff. While most of these dams do not affect, since being on rivers that flow directly into the Arabian Sea, in others the storage of water during the rainy season, and its use for irrigation, has significantly reduced the flow of available fresh water. A mainly pastoral society does not receive great benefits from projects designed for the agriculture and the tourism, even more so if we consider the enormous costs. And the needed resources are huge.

 

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Udaipur is a unique city. Located in the heart of Rajasthan, it is one of the three capitals of arts in the Indian State but also a crossroad leading to the neighbouring state of Gujarat. Its university welcomes many students from different parts of India. Economic development driven by tourism has made it home to various visual arts, with many renowned artists and photographers today even quoted in the entire country. It is also favoured by the proximity with both Delhi and Mumbai.

It is not only a tourist destination, it’s also a place chosen by the growing rich elite living in the modern and luxurious villas on the outskirts of the city. The historic centre, in the old quarter, still maintains the traditional connotations and characteristics. Several painters have painted the walls with images inspired by the traditional emblems, figures of elephants and Rajahs, and even today this tradition is kept alive by many artisans.

Udaipur homes a flourishing craft, not only paintings but also refined manufacturing of all types of metals. Walking through the narrow streets in the morning is a unique acoustic experience, the rhythm of the hammers that forge fabricated metals comes to the ears as a background music.

Just beyond the lake and canals that have given this city the abused epithet of Indian Venice, the countryside starts, set by peaks and crags, where life takes place in a whole different rhythm.

 

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Every year, on the borders of the great White Desert in the northern Khutch, in Gujarat, a gigantic ethnic festival is organized. It attracts hundreds of thousands of Indian tourists. The large region of Kutch is the home for several ethnic minorities and its tribal villages are renowned for the handicrafts made of the most beautiful and varied metals, jewellery, textiles and pottery. However, the situation in many villages is of extreme poverty. Tradition is exploited in order to motivate tourism which actually does not bring any benefit to the local population if not through intermediaries. In some villages, such as Khavda, the producers are able to export their products all over India at a fair price, but the situation is very different in others. The big White Desert. This inhospitable salty lowland, rich in natural gas, was one scene of perennial border disputes between India and Pakistan that, in April 1965, contributed to the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965. The Little Rann of Kutch is known for its traditional salt production and various references mention this to be a 600-year-old activity.

During the British period, this activity increased. It was used to fund a substantial part of the military expenses of the British government. Communities involved in salt production are mainly Chunvaliya Koli, Ahir and Miyana (Muslim), residing in 107 villages in the periphery of Lesser Rann of Kutch. These communities are traditionally known to have the skills of salt production and are known as ‘Agariyas’. Water quality in 107 villages of Lesser Rann of Kutch is saline, thus agriculture is not an option. Hence, salt production is the only livelihood option for Agariyas.Today there are 45000 Agariyas working in the salt pans of Kutch. The traditional extraction techniques, as well as those for mining, date back to a time before the industrial age. They do not devastate the environment, are limited to the needs of the local population. When taken over by a company that must export all over the world, in addition to the destructive techniques, the extraction intensifies up to the collapse.

 

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© 2014 Marco Palladino – all rights reserved

 

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by Silvio Zappi

ARTICOLO IN ITALIANO >>

Gerda Taro in Guadalajara Juli 1937

Gerda Taro (real name Gerta Pohorylle) was born in Germany in 1911. She is defined as one of the first war photographer and she is still remembered for his political commitment to opposition to fascism. Jewish and coming from a middle-class family, was arrested in 1933 accused of propaganda against the Nazi regime and subversive activities; once at liberty soon finds refuge in the Paris of the '30s, home of a cultural and artistic enthusiasm fueled by a variety of motivated artists, intellectuals and photographers from around the world.

It was in Paris that met the man of her life, Endre Friedmann, a Hungarian photographer, Jewish like her and two years younger, in search of affirmation. A photographer as there were many, but that soon Gerda turned into legend. In fact, she proposed to Friedmann a commercial expedient inventing an imaginary successful photographer, and pretending (under the name of Gerda Taro) as assistants of the unreal character. Unfortunately, the strategy brought international fame only to him, after few years he became the greatest war photographer of all time - in fact the name of the invented photographer was Robert Capa.

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In the heart of Anatolia, there is a village of Hittite origin, Hasankeyf, a jewel with historic ruins of great value currently inhabited by a mostly Kurdish population.

The intense faces of the women in this age-old place, where life seems identical to hundreds of years ago, is what perhaps mostly impresses even more than the landscape itself, also very intense.

Hasankeyf, as well as other historic sites on the Tigris, will be flooded due to the construction of yet another dam built by a central power sadly addicted to magnify the national pride with buildings that are so monumental and costly as unnecessary and harmful. Its population is obviously going to be displaced.

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Nel cuore dell'Anatolia, c'è un villaggio di origine ittita, Hasankeyf, un gioiello con rovine storiche di grande pregio attualmente abitato da una popolazione prevalentemente curda.

I volti intensi delle donne di questo luogo millenario, dove la vita sembra identica a centinaia di anni fa, mi hanno colpito forse più del paesaggio stesso, pure assai bello.

Hasankeyf, così come altri luoghi storici sul Tigri, verrà inondata a causa della costruzione dell'ennesima diga voluta da un potere centrale tristemente dedito a magnificare l'orgoglio nazionale con opere tanto monumentali e costose quanto inutili e dannose. La sua popolazione ovviamente verrà sfollata.

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© 2009 Marco Palladino

 

 

 

 

 

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