What we have considered as problems were no problems at all.

This is what Covid-19 has made us realize. Something else we have realized is that without the right organization and solidarity, any crisis that was hoped to provide an alternative can strengthen this unfair order even more. Now the so-called Western civilization has developed the vaccine and turned their back on the rest of the World. When we look beyond all the meaningless globalization nonsense, we can see that even this much has yet to be understood by the wealthier side of the World. As long as the Syrians, Sudanese and the Senegalese continue to carry this virus, and you continue to destruct their options for local production as the colonialist that you are, this pandemic will not be over.

What have we run out of? Patience and the words to say. Not dwelling on the subject that goes like “Bezos and Zuckerberg have increased their wealth a lot during the pandemic” nonsense, we see that even Elon Musk who was supposed to save the world with his electrical car has invested in this thing called Bitcoin. His investment is around two billion dollars, the second largest amount ever to be invested in Bitcoin. These Bitcoin mines consume as much electricity as Argentina. One’s face twitches like Peter Sellers’ Inspector Clouseau’s chief in “Pink Panther” while looking at what is happening on this beautiful blue planet, which seems to consist of nothing but lies and nonsense.

There was a military coup in Myanmar. The people of Myanmar are extremely brave and they have been on the streets for weeks. We cannot keep ourselves from asking the question: Where were these people valuing democracy deeply, when Rohingya people were being tortured, burned, murdered and hundreds of thousands of people fled to Bangladesh? The people who rallied for independence in Hong Kong were carrying Trump’s photos and British flags.

In New Zealand, another part of the planet we all share, when one person gets infected with Covid-19, immediate precautions are taken and a strict quarantine starts in the area. Right now, there are zero cases in the entire country. It is hard to believe but shows that all of this could be prevented. The state of the countries with woman leaders in charge during the pandemic is remarkably better than the others. How can this be overlooked when it is a matter of life and death? How can we accept it? Because we do not have the power. And this world is awfully male.

While newer and supposedly even more dangerous variants of Covid-19 emerge, WHO expresses that it could take seven years for the entire population of the world to be vaccinated. Despite all this, we are looking forward to receiving your documentaries, made in the middle of this absurdity, with devotion and discipline, standing in solidarity with the oppressed.

We need to see what we do, how we do it, and why we are doing it. This is the only way we can see the bigger picture.

Petra Holzer & Ethem Özgüven & Hakan C. Yılmaz
with the entire BIFED 21 team