Guillem Valle, Photographer

Description

Photographers from around the globe converged on remote areas devastated by the Japan Earthquake-Tsunami. Among them, prestigious Leica Oskar Barnack Newcomer Award-winning Magnum nominee Dominic Nahr, this year’s Pictures of the Year International (POYi) award winner Adam Dean, World Press Photo award winner Guillem Valle and many other world-renowned photojournalists have graciously agreed to share their visions of the massive disaster and recovery efforts―along with their heartfelt spoken messages to the victims―via this online application. This app includes a total of 120 images by 14 photographers.

* Kodansha will donate all proceeds from this project to Japanese Red Cross Society.

 1) En Oriente Próximo son siempre los árabes quienes atacan primero, y siempre es Israel quien se defiende. Esa defensa se llama “represalia”.

2) Ni árabes, ni palestinos ni libaneses tienen derecho a matar civiles. A eso se le llama “terrorismo”.

3) Israel tiene derecho a matar civiles. Eso se llama “legítima defensa”.

4) Cuando Israel mata civiles en masa, las potencias occidentales piden que lo haga con mayor comedimiento. Eso se llama “reacción de la comunidad internacional”.

5) Ni palestinos ni libaneses tienen derecho a capturar soldados israelíes dentro de instalaciones militares con centinelas y puestos de combate. A eso hay que llamarlo “secuestro de personas indefensas”.

6) Israel tiene derecho a secuestrar a cualquiera hora y en cualquier lugar a cuantos palestinos y libaneses se le antoje. Su cifra actual ronda los 10 mil, 300 de los cuales son niños y mil, mujeres. No se precisa prueba alguna de culpabilidad. Israel tiene derecho a mantener secuestrados presos indefinidamente, ya sean autoridades democráticamente elegidas por los palestinos. A eso se le llama “encarcelamiento de terroristas”.

7) Cuando se menciona la palabra “Hezbollah”, es obligatorio añadir en la misma frase “apoyados y financiados por Siria y por Irán”.

8 ) Cuando se menciona “Israel”, está terminantemente prohibido añadir: “apoyados y financiados por EEUU”. Eso podría dar la impresión de que el conflicto es desigual y de que la existencia de Israel no corre peligro.

9) En informaciones sobre Israel, hay que evitar siempre que aparezcan las siguientes locuciones: “Territorios ocupados”, “Resoluciones de la ONU”, “Violaciones de los Derechos Humanos” y “Convención de Ginebra”.

10) Los palestinos, lo mismo que los libaneses, son siempre “cobardes” que se esconden entre una población civil que “no los quiere”. Hay que obviar siempre el dato de que toda Gaza, de hecho, está urbanizada. Si duermen en casa con sus familias, eso tiene un nombre: “cobardía”. Israel tiene derecho a aniquilar con bombas y misiles los barrios donde duermen. A eso se le llama “acción quirúrgica de alta precisión”.

11) Los israelíes hablan mejor inglés, francés, castellano o portugués que los árabes. Por eso merecen ser entrevistados con mayor frecuencia y tener más oportunidades que los árabes para explicar al gran público las presentes reglas de redacción (de la 1 a la 10). A eso se le llama “neutralidad periodística”.

12) Todas las personas que no están de acuerdo con las sobredichas Reglas, son, y así debe hacerse constar, “colaboradores de terroristas” y/o “antisemitas”.

The Democratic Republic of Congo has fallen victim to rebels who use revenue from illegal mining to purchase arms and feed the conflict.
Moreover, the government has established a repressive and corrupt military regime in mineral producing regions to protect their “national interests”. Local populations rarely see any profits and are subjected to environmental damage and a systematic violation of human rights by both the rebel groups and the Congolese army itself.

These countries, rich in minerals such as cobalt, coltan, cassiterite, copper, and gold, are often marred by corruption, authoritarian repression, militarization, and civil war. Rebel groups, government and mining companies exploit mineral resources, fuelling civil and interstate conflict as players vie for control over riches.

While these players reap millions of dollars a year, the workers of gold mines such as this one put their lives at risk on a daily basis to extract precious metals in order to obtain meagre economic compensation.

The images of this reportage were made in one of the many gold mines of South Kivu province in eastern Congo.

© Guillem Valle

More at www.guillemvalle.com

The Democratic Republic of Congo has been embroiled in a bloody war for more than a decade.
Over the years, the Congolese army and various insurgent groups, including guerrillas from neighbouring countries such as Rwanda, have disputed strategic enclaves, mainly due to the presence of mineral deposits of gold, coltan, cassiterite, etc..

The parties in the Congo conflict, particularly in eastern provinces of North and South Kivu, are the Armed Forces of Congo (FARDC), where the Tutsi guerrillas of General Nkunda so called CNDP were integrated in just a few months ago,  and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR).

The rape of women has become a powerful weapon. According to MSF, 90% of rapes in the country are committed by men wearing uniform.  “The attackers belong to both, FDLR and FARDC, but it is the latter who perpetrate more violations,” the director of Oxfam in Congo, Marcel Stoessel says.

The UN military mission in the country (MONUC), the largest UN contingent that has been sent to a war-torn country, has completed a mandate  of 10 years in Congo.

Since early this year MONUC started giving military support to Congolese army, more than 7,000 women and girls have been raped and more than 1,000 civilians have died, according to Oxfam. The same statistics show that for every demobilized member of the FDLR, one civilian is killed, 7 women are raped and 900 people are displaced.


Most of the NGOs operating in the area follow a similar work pattern: Offering medical and psychological care at first, then teaching them a trade, usually seam. Finally, integrating them back into society by helping them to find a way of life, home, etc.. This point is essential because rape is a stigma in Congo which means staying out of the whole society, something terrible in a society that has always lived in community.

© Guillem Valle

More at www.guillemvalle.com