entAlenSimic
Alen Simic's photography
28 items found for your search. If no results were found please broaden your search.
Alen Simic's photography
Protestors, in a mile long marching parade, arrive at the police blockade at Michigan Avenue just outside McCormick Place, the meeting place of the 2012 NATO summit.
Rev. Jesse Jackson participates in a protest march on Michigan Avenue in Chicago during the city's first ever NATO summit.
A protester distributes literature titled, “The Plague of Capitalism.”
Protestors and members of Chicago’s Hare Krishna Temple, join in dance and chanting of the Hare Krishna Mantra.
Protesters display a strong anti-Obama sentiment during a rally held in Chicago’s Grant Park during the city's first-ever NATO summit.
Members of the Occupy Chicago group formed the “Clowns Attack” group for the march held during Chicago’s first ever NATO Summit.
“Trisha” (Right), distributed anti-FBI stickers during the rally held in Chicago’s Grant Park, during the citiy’s 2012 NATO summit.
Medina Benjamin (left), leads the Code Pink march during Chicago’s first ever NATO summit. Code Pink is a women’s rights organization which seeks to protect women from human rights abuses around the globe.
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Chicago-- Sunday marked Chicago’s first ever NATO summit. At 10 a.m., protestors and organizers from the Coalition against NATO-G8, who were largely responsible for the march, started arriving in the cities Grant Park, where a three-hour long rally took place with protestors from across the country.Student from Minnesota University gathered in the park, making signs and banners on behalf of Students for a Democratic Society and would later join the march down Michigan Avenue.There was strong anti-Obama sentiment throughout the rally, with much of it directed at the president’s economic policies. In the same vein, the protestors cried out against austerity measures taken through the European Union, claiming these to be the cause of the continent’s continuing economic instability.The rally was a conglomeration of many organizations protesting NATO action and lack of action.Veterans for Peace, an organization composed of American war veterans who oppose war and NATO’s use of military action were one of the many groups present. “We oppose Proxy wars, the use of military drones and believe that NATO is a criminal organization and that America has committed acts of terrorism,” said group organizer Lenny Bianchy.The rally ended at 2 p.m. and the protestors began marching toward Michigan Avenue, chanting slogans like “NATO, go home, worry about the Euro-zone!” and “Today is the day we destroy the system.”After the two-hour long march, the protestors arrived near McCormick Place, where organizers of the protest began making speeches decrying NATO, its use of military force and free-market capitalism. The protestors remained organized and relatively calm through the majority of the proceedings.
n Chicago’s Grant Park, students from Minnesota University help to organize protests on behalf of Students for a Democratic Society.
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The time had come for me to depart for Jorpati. We drove along a dusty road, leaving the noise of the city behind. For miles we saw nothing but the peculiar pastel-colored homes we’d grown so accustomed to until we arrived at what looked to be a construction site. We exited the car and were instantly met with curious glances coming from within the unfinished structure. Children poked their heads through the windows, and as we approached them they shouted, “Hello brother, hello sister!” This unfinished building, consisting of nothing but cement walls and dusty unfinished floors, was the orphanage. My fellow volunteers and I took a tour of the place, only to find small children sitting on the filthy floor eating from dirty metal plates. The children slept on cardboard and makeshift mattresses laid out on the concrete floors. The blankets the children slept under smelled of mold.The staircase leading to the upper floors was covered in cracks. Rust covered the few metal railings, and the rest of the place was nothing but a disaster waiting to happen. However, the children were sweet and all too unaware of their surroundings. They seemed at home there, as any of us would if it was all we knew. I was told the children had been living there for the past two years, and construction had all but ground to a halt. Workers would come and go as they pleased; on the days they did decide to arrive, they spent much of their time smoking and chit-chatting on top of the unfinished roof. There was little accountability for anyone working at the orphanage, and the Nepali government makes little effort to manage these places. The ones that receive funding are not held to quality standards and are often run by third parties that come and go. We wondered where the money we donated to Hope and Home went. Clearly the orphanages weren’t benefiting from our presence and monetary contribution. Are the construction workers pocketing the cash? They did solicit us for funding, telling us they needed at least 100,000 Nepali rupees to complete the floors, which were still in disrepair.There was nothing real we could do for the children. We served them meals, helped with their homework and did as much as we could to make their surroundings more pleasant. But our efforts would always be futile as long as the system was as broken and corrupt as it is in Nepal. As hopeless as it seemed, however, we carried on and did what little we could.
A young boy lays in a bed in an orphanage is Jorparti, Nepal.
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Kathmandu, Nepal — For the first time in days I had awoken to the sound of nothing. The city seemed to have all but ground to a halt. No car horns, no music, not even the sound of the rooster living on my rooftop.It seems the whole of Kathmandu, rooster and all, had taken a holiday from producing its noxious sounds, sights and smells. It was only when I had left the comfort of our guest home’s courtyard that I realized what was happening.Bund. The residents of Kathmandu were on strike. It would not be last time the city’s inhabitants would close their storefronts, blockade roads and refuse to provide taxi services for the duration of my stay here.To place the current and severely underreported state of politics within Nepal in a sort of meaningful context, one must first understand the country’s tortured past. Additionally, one must comprehend the events which have lead up to its present level of political disarray, corruption and complete loss of faith in the system amongst the populace.It was only in 1990 that Nepal was declared a Parliamentary Monarchy, a system that allocated political power from the monarch over to a Prime Minister. Prior to this, the country conducted itself as an Absolute Monarchy with then King Birendra enacting executive control over the state. Nepal’s Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) won the 1994 elections. However, halfway through the year, the losing party, Nepali Congress Party, dissolved congress due to political infighting and dissent, thus forming an unstable coalition government within the state. In 1996, the Maoists had committed an insurgency against the state. During the insurgency, close to 13,000 Maoist rebels and civilians were killed. Violent acts against the state, on behalf of the Maoists, continued throughout all 75 districts of Nepal until the government announced a cease-fire in 2001. Maoists continued to commit violent acts against the state even after the cease-fire on a much smaller scale. In Feburary 2005, then King Gyanendra had suspended parliament and enforced martial law, thus declaring himself sole executive ruler of Nepal, claiming the Parliamentary states inability to cope with continued Maoist rebellion. It was soon after that Nepal’s citizens took to the streets in protest of the Monarch; and due to fear of being overthrown by the people, King Gyanendra reinstated the House of Representatives on April 24, 2006.Only weeks later Parliament had taken full control of the state, abolishing the Kings council of royal advisors and declaring Nepal a secular state and no longer a Hindu Kingdom. King Gyanendra was held under scrutiny for his actions and his property was put up for taxation by Parliament.In April 2008, Nepal held elections during which the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoists) gained majority control; and soon after in May, declared Nepal a Federal Republic, thus abolishing the Monarchy and it’s 240-year reign over the country. Much of the populace had believed the country’s political and economic troubles could finally be resolved, but continued corruption and political infighting have made it near impossible for the powers to design a constitution all parties could agree on. The most prominent of the many issues unresolved to this day is that of the treatment of the aforementioned Maoist insurgence, who are forced to live in camps separated from the rest of Nepali society. Economic problems and instability have only served to make the populace increasingly impatient with the governing powers then they already have been.A temporary constitution had been in place for the first two years after Nepal had been declared a Federal Republic, granting Parliament enough time to design a permanent one.The deadline was only weeks away, and tensions were visible within Kathmandu. Bund would only increase in duration and frequency in the coming days, along with the number of armed military and police forces patrolling the streets, wielding arms and bamboo sticks, throwing the occasional civilian a threatening glance or even engaging in a shouting match or two.I had ventured beyond Thamel and along the main streets witnessed the Maoists marching through the streets. They were followed by busses loaded with protestors who had spilled over onto the roofs, shouting, singing and waving Maoist Communist flags.
A girl watches from inside a protest bus as it travels down a main road in Jorparti, a town outside of Katmandu.
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>It was May 17, 2011, and Buddha’s birthday was upon us. My fellow volunteers and I started our day as we had any other, breakfast with the comically rude kitchen staff and a language lesson before we were off exploring. We spent much of our day wandering about Kathmandu aimlessly, valiantly attempting to memorize streets and landmarks we could use to find our way should we ever become lost.Finally the time came for us to venture to Boudhanath stupa, a large Buddhist place of worship within the Kathmandu Valley in a small community called Jorparti. Boudhanath stupa is the largest Buddhist temple in Nepal, dominating Jorpartis’ skyline and one of the most important religious sites within the valley. The site is visited by thousands of Buddhists from all over the world each year. Tibetan refugees have opened restaurants and set up shops, selling trinkets and jewelry to touring foreigners in the square encompassing the stupa.We had boarded a small van for Jorparti with Rajesh, our young Nepali guide and everyone’s favorite local due to his honest, gentle spirit. If the world were to come to an end, you’d want Rajesh at your side because he’d find a way to make you feel good about it.Upon our arrival in Jorparti, we were dropped off along the main street and waded through the mass onslaught of crowds. I had never witnessed such tremendous numbers of people and vehicles, not even in New Delhi.The air was heavy and thick with pollution from the unusual influx of vehicles in the area. It seemed as though everyone here today came to see Boudhanath. We eventually fought our way to the gate, which signaled the entrance into the square that housed the stupa.To put it quite simply, the stupa was enormous. The stone mandala was awe-inspiring. Like so many important religious sites around the world, the ominous, towering nature of Boudhanath and the massive eyes which had been painted atop the golden pillar served their purpose in making you feel oh-so-small and insignificant.Tibetans, Nepali and tourists alike, paid tribute to Prince Siddhartha, Buddha, born on this very day more than 2,500 years ago, right here in Nepal in a community called Lumbini. Persons of all colors and backgrounds had lit incense and brought flowers and fruit as an offering to the stupa site. It was incredible to see so many people come together and rejoice on this occasion, but this was a short-lived moment of goodness. All around us, beggars and homeless Tibetans cried out in desperation; it was difficult to thoroughly enjoy the festivities knowing that so many people around us, even on this day, were suffering. Child pickpockets were present as well, attempting to distract tourists while their friends did the dirty deed. They tugged on our bags and attempted to do the same with us, performing their cute stick, and one of our volunteers did lose his iPhone to their tiny sticky fingers.Rajesh had made an attempt at retrieving the mobile but to no avail. The culprit had vanished into the crowds, and recovery seemed futile.Nonetheless, the festivities were grand and beautiful. Marching bands played around the square while school children sang and danced. Some were so touched, they wept at the stupa’s walls. Others spent the day sitting atop Boudhanath’s roof with their families to watch the happenings below. While fighting my way through the crowd, clutching my bag and trying as best as I could to stay with my group, I overheard what was either an American or Canadian couple (being from the Balkans still have difficulty discerning from the two) proclaim their disdain for the locals and these sort of events. I was amused to say the least.We left Boudhanath and said our goodbyes to Rajesh. Though there were some casualties, I was finally feeling as though I had grown to like, or at least to understand, Kathmandu.
"It seemed as though everyone here today came to see Boudhanath."
"I had never witnessed such tremendous numbers of people and vehicles, not even in New Delhi."
"All around us beggars and homeless Tibetans cried out in desperation; it was difficult to thoroughly enjoy the festivities knowing that so many people around, even on this day, were suffering."
"It was incredible to see so many people come together and rejoice on this occasion..."