Dates: 7-13 August 2015

Country: UK

Broken Borders is a new season of films exploring different and deeper perspectives on the Middle East crisis, terrorism and migration. This trilogy of creative documentaries shines a light on the interlinked struggles, fates and fortunes of the people who exist beyond the news coverage and spiralling statistics.

Warriors from the North, Queens of Syria and Those who feel the fire burning are screened at the Bertha DocHouse in London from the 7th to the 13th of August.

Published: 3 August 2015

Country: Sri Lanka

Ahead of August 17 Parliamentary elections, all Sri Lankans are talking about is whether the former president, Mahinda Rajapaksa would win enough votes to get back in power, this time as Prime Minister. Add to it a laconic statement, ‘yes, it is better since Rajapaksa lost the January presidential elections, but, not that much better’ and this is, more or less, where any similarity between the Sinhalese majority (mainly Buddhist) and Tamils, the largest minority (mainly Hindu), stops.

Thirty years of bloody civil war ended in 2009, only for Rajapaksa to use all his power – which was enormous – to silence any criticism of his regime, turn Sri Lanka into one of the world’s most dangerous countries for any journalists who dare to question his deeds, and make post-war media continue their patriotic discourse.  Hate speech continued to be used by both politicians and the media  when referring to the ‘other side’.  The island remained heavily divided and according to many analysts and experts, Rajapaksa used his popularity to further alienate the Tamils. 

Published: 2 August 2015

Country: Serbia

Almost 80 per cent of young academics in Serbia do not believe their country offers them a good perspective for the future. 30 per cent of Serbian academics are seeking prosperity somewhere else actively trying to leave the country. According to a research published by the Association of People holding PhD – “Doktoranti Srbije”, the main raison for seeking a future outside of Serbia is not a difficult financial situation, but rather distorted value system, nepotism, employment based on political parties’ membership, negative selection and lack of possibilities for employment and continuation of scientific research.

Aiming to tackle this issue, the Media Diversity Institute (MDI) Western Balkans partnered with the Youth Education Committee, a Belgrade-based youth CSO, in implementing a 5-month long project “Towards more transparent high education”. MDI Western Balkans and the Youth Education Committee will do a research and analysis on phenomenon of recruitment and employment favouring the members of mostly, governing political parties, at the University of Belgrade. After all the data is gathered and analysed, the team will launch a media campaign making the project’s results visible and informing the general public on the key findings.

Deadline: 20 August 2015

Region: Europe

Do you want to contribute to the fight against antisemitism at a European level?

Do you want to take part in a unique training with leading experts on antisemitism?

Do you want to be an actor of change against online hate speech?

Within the Media Diversity Institute-led project “Get the trolls out!” CEJI – A Jewish Contribution to an Inclusive Europe is organising a 2 day seminar with leading practitioners on the fight against antisemitism online.

Published: 28 July 2015

Region: Worldwide

‘Islam needs a feminist revolution. It will be hard. What can we do to help?’ This tweet by renowned atheist and writer Richard Dawkins caused quite some controversy on social media, sparking a debate between those who considered his remark a ‘genuine desire to help’ oppressed Muslim women and those who identified his statement as ‘patronizing white savior paternalist Islamophobia’.