Captions

001
“Universal Embassy has been established by a network constituted around the struggle of people without papers. It wants to bring together, beyond the borders of disciplines, citizens concerned with a universal thinking. On a short term, the Embassy is an emergency housing.”

Text by Universal Embassy, from the “Declaration de l’ambassade universelle Bruxelles”
Photo shot with Abdelwahab Hakem, Universal Embassy resident

002
“Behind the curtains of one Viennese landmark, the city hall, a naturalization machine is trying to create a balance by using a meticulous selection procedure. While taking into account the Austrian population’s fear of foreigners, the necessary task of integrating some migrants as citizens is undertaken.”

Text by Babak Houman
Photo shot with Babak Houman, lives in Vienna (A)

003
“The only minaret allowed in Slovenia is situated in Metelkova. Muslims have demanded to be allowed to build a mosque for more than 30 years, however, the main counter-argument put forward is the alleged incongruity of the minaret with traditional Central European architecture. This helped me to understand the meaning of the term ‘cultural racism.’”

Text by Jasminka Dedic
Photo shot with Jasminka Dedic, lives in Ljubljana (Sl)

004
“Chiala is a project that I had in mind for a long time, and then I created it, for me. It is a little Africa in Graz. A type of home for me and also a place for Africans where they can meet, in peace, and without any difficulties from the authorities. There is a mixture of different things here such as art works, exhibitions, and we are also planning to set up a hair salon. Before it was difficult because it was necessary to rent a room and sometimes we couldn’t get one because the owner didn’t want us to, or because it was too expensive.”

Text by Emmanuel Kamdem
Photo shot with Emmanuel Kamdem, lives in Graz (A)

005
“The ASSOCIATION AAPRI (Algerian Association for Intercultural Relations) has about 100 members. Our tasks include mediating between the country of origin and France, welcoming new immigrants and helping with administrative matters.
The city provided us with a free room, though due to the lack of money we cannot continue renovations.”

Text by Ahmed Ben Abdallah
Photo shot with Ahmed Ben Abdallah, lives in Brest (FR)

009
“The ‘Stadion’ is one of the most amazing places in Warsaw, one of the former, most important sports objects in the capital. Soon after the fall of communism it became the central market of the city. One can buy everything cheaper there. It is a multinational market, but most of the people come from the ex-Soviet Union. At the top of the stadium they mostly sell illegal ‘pirate’ CD’s, which cost a sixth of the normal price, videos, and cheap vodka. Closer to the basement is the clothing market of the Poles, who evidently have monopolistic control over the market. And finally, on the north-east side are the Vietnamese who have their own tier, mostly with clothes, but also food, toys, and other small things. For several years now, the music enterprise has demanded the closing of the stadium, but it still stands like it was ten years ago.”

Text by Rigels Halili,
Photo shot with Rigels Halili, lives in Warsaw (PL)

014
“Yugoslav Federal Army soldiers built and used the military barracks in Roška street until 1991. After they left and demolished the building, new settlers found their home in it – the refugees, the people who were actually forced to become refugees after their homes were demolished by the same army.”

Text by Amila Adrovic
Photo shot with Amila Adrovic, lives in Ljubljana (Sl)

016
“It is so nice of the authorities that they have ‘given’ the refugees a five-floor hotel! How are refugees taken care of in Austria in such a refugee home? Like before, there are five or six people in a room. If you want to leave you have to put your name down on a list, report where you are going, and return promptly. You have no work permit. The best is for you to stay ‘at home’ in the ‘hotel,’ where the police come to control almost every day to see if you were involved in a fight or if you were dealing drugs.”

Text by Emmanuel Kamdem
Photo shot with Emmanuel Kamdem, lives in Graz (A)
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036
“As a child, enjoying the Vienna’s New Year Concert with my whole family (the only ‘foreign’ entertainment during the New Year’s holiday in the communist regime in Albania), young ballerinas were dancing in different Viennese gardens. I imagined Vienna to be like this with sunny weather in December. The first time I went to a park in Warsaw I said to myself: ‘You made it to Vienna.’”

Text by Rigels Halili
Photo shot with Rigels Halili, lives in Warsaw (PL)

045
“In the evening we often meet and stay the whole night at the bench. You see the sea, the bench is warm here, because it is heated in the night and my friends are willing to talk here. It’s also our place to meet other Russian people, whom we contact via e-mail and Internet before. Many of them come to Helsingborg just to meet us.”

Text by Diana Andersson
Photo shot with Diana Andersson, lives in Helsingborg (S)

060
“The KUD (Association of Culture), being present among the refugees and with open doors, is striking down the fences of cultural and social ghettos, opening access to cultural and social goods and artistic expression for those who find themselves on the margins of social life.”

Text by Amila Adrovic
Photo shot with Amila Adrovic, lives in Ljubljana (Sl)

061
“I played a piece of theater in the Universal Embassy. The piece was about: The minister of internal affairs in Belgium thinks that he is in danger because of the presence of refugees. He decides to seek political asylum in his own country, in Belgium. He goes to the office of migration, the only place in Belgium where you can ask for asylum. But they reject it and they give him five days to leave the country. He doesn’t want to accept that.
They tell him that they will try to find another place for him in Africa or in Eastern Europe to send him out from the Belgium territory. They put him in a closed center and he can’t believe he finds himself in a prison, but they tell him that these closed centers (which actually he had created) are like hotels.”

Text by Albertino Rakipi
Photo shot with Albertino Rakipi, Universal Embassy resident

062
“Screen searches concentrate on men of Islamic faith aged between 20 and 35 years who study technical or natural sciences, are single, childless, and come from one of 11 Arab states, Pakistan, or Iran. All these characteristics apply to me.”

Text by Babak Houman
Photo shot with Babak Houman, lives in Vienna (A)

068
"Some people prefer to fight with guns; others with bricks and stones. I would much rather use the microphone (and a well oiled tangue) "

Text by Khalid Geire
Photo shot with Khalid Geire, living in Helsingborg (SWE)

069
“In school, during the colonization era I had to learn La Marseillaise and other French national poems and hymns.
After immigrating to France, one day my children came home from school and they showed me what they had to learn on this day: The same French nationalistic poems and songs. I thought to myself ‘history is capricious and often repeats itself.’”

Text by Kader Boudarene
Photo shot with Kader Boudarene, lives in Brest (FR)

070
“This is the inhabitants card, it is not an official carte d’identité, but nevertheless it allows me to identify myself.”

Text by Josef Usabyimana
Photo shot with Josef Usabyimana, Universal Embassy resident