The wings of music
written for the Peace Boat website on January 14th, 2013 >>
written for the Peace Boat website on January 14th, 2013 >>
Estela de Carlotto, grande dame of the Argentinean civil rights movement, has finally found her stolen grandson Guido.. 37 years after his parents were murdered and he was made to live with a couple close to the military regime. What a day for the Abuelas de la Plaza de Mayo! However, there are still 400 unidentified grandchildren out there… Do they have the slightest idea? And if they do, what keeps them from coming out?
published by Peace Boat (>> and >>, Youtube >>), in Spanish >> and in the German magazine “Südlink” 2/2013 >>
What to do if your own city has just gone through a civil war and will not wake up? If everybody locks themselves into their homes and their neighbours out? In the desert town of Villa El Salvador, a 16-year-old went out into the empty streets with a clown nose. Many followed her – until today.
written for the Peace Boat website on January 14th, 2013 >>
Two decades after Nelson Mandela’s release out od prison, the legacy of apartheid prevails in Manenberg, Cape Town’s largest township.
written for the Peace Boat website, January 11, 2013 >>
written for the Peace Boat website, Dec 30, 2012 >>
written for the Peace Boat website on Dec 25th, 2012 >>
Cruises can be really boring, many people warned me before I got on board the Ocean Dream to surround the world with hundreds of Japanese people. Well, this one wasn’t – thanks to the people on board. Let me present just 5 out of more than a thousand: the interpreter, the captain’s right hand, the activist, the volunteer and the child.
In a Taiwanese village regularly shuttered by earthquakes a second “Fukushima” type powerplant is currently being constructed. Local fisherfolks have successfully delayed its completion for two decades – with the help of whistleblowing workers and the spiritual support of a sea goddess, as they say.
written for Peace Boat’s website, December 19th, 2012 >>
The Fukushima nuclear meltdown came like a wakeup call to the Taiwanese people: Don’t they live on the same seismic fault line? And don’t they have several equally exposed power plants on the shoreline, close to cities? Activist Wang Shun-Wei and her Taipeh based NGO help fishermen and office workers to voice their concerns.
written for the Peace Boat website, Dec 16th, 2012 >>
One year ago, we departed on a voyage that I will never forget. While Yokohama became smaller and smaller in a rain of ribbons, music and goodbyes, I felt that these 102 days would mark a turning point in my life – a presentiment which was true, but in a different way than I had expected. This voyage gave me the optimism and ‘genkiness’ that I needed later on in 2013 – thanks to all the incredible people onboard and in ports! Hope to see you again!