Tag Archives: nation

Somaliland: An Experiment In Democracy

In 1991 the northern section of Somalia declared itself an independent democratic state, since then Somaliland has struggled on its path to find international recognition while the rest of Somalia has become infamous for anarchy and violence.

Somaliland: An Experiment in Democracy follows the 2012 election spotlighting the difficulties of running an election in an undeveloped country with a fragile infrastructure. While threats from outside (including terrorism and piracy) and inside (such as factionalism and vote rigging) loom over the process, one man is tasked with keeping the election fair.

We follow Ali – an ex-investment banker from Toronto – who gave up his old life to run the electoral commission, and it is through him that we see the scale of the challenge facing Somaliland’s nascent democracy.

Somaliland: An Experiment in Democracy is a close up look at how democracy functions under difficult and unfamiliar circumstances, and gives an insight into why so many countries fail in their attempts to have a system based on popular representation.

The Good Neighbour

The Good Neighbour highlights the operations of the Norwegian oil company  Statoil,  in the notorious Canadian oil sands industry. Statoil is primarily owned by the Norwegian people and  has in recent years become a major player in global oil production.

The controversial oil sands in Northern Canada  are the biggest energy project in the world.

It is well established that the oil sands are an environmental disaster – however is it also a human rights disaster? The land belongs to First Nation Peoples who are fighting against environmental damages. Norway is the richest country in the world and Statoil promotes itself as being at the forefront of a developing industry that prioritizes equality, social justice and the importance of environmental responsibility. Do they fulfil this commitment from the perspective of the First Nations people?

A young Norwegian woman Julie Strand Offerdal wants answers and embarks on an epic journey from Montreal to Fort McMurray in a truck that runs on used vegetable oil. She navigates through a system, which proves to lack monitoring mechanisms, governmental rules and regulations, and violates  First Nation´s human and land-based constitutional rights. The overbearing presence of the companies weaves into the fabric of the every day lives of the people in an irreversible way, altering for better or worse the way of life of the First Nation’s people forever.