Latest news with #Diaspora
Yahoo
3 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Statement by Minister Guilbeault on Portuguese Heritage Month
The Government of Canada issues a statement to mark Portuguese Heritage Month OTTAWA, ON, June 1, 2025 /CNW/ - In June, we are pleased to mark Portuguese Heritage Month, an opportunity to celebrate the history and culture of the Luso-Canadian community, an integral part of our national fabric. Portuguese people have made Canada their home since the early 1950s—most of them from the Azores and Madeira—in search of a better life. Armed with their courage and will, they settled on Canadian soil to help create the country we cherish today. More than 500 years after the first Portuguese explorers set foot in Canada, there are now almost 500,000 people of Portuguese origin living here. Present in all our major cities, they form one of the largest Portuguese diasporas in the world. They also excel in a variety of fields; from education and politics to the arts, finance and community service, members of Luso-Canadian communities are making Canada stronger through their vitality and hard work. Throughout June, I invite everyone to celebrate the heritage and culture of Luso-Canadians and to mark Portugal Day on June 10. Dia de Portugal, de Camões e das Comunidades Portuguesas is the perfect time to reflect on what unites us and recognize just how significantly our fellow citizens of Portuguese origin have contributed to our culture and diversity. Happy Portuguese Heritage Month! SOURCE Canadian Heritage View original content:
Zawya
26-05-2025
- Politics
- Zawya
Message of the President of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM) on the occasion of the celebration of Africa Day, 25 May 2025
My dear brothers and sisters of our beloved Africa and its islands, It is with pride, but also with a great concern that I address you on this African day of 25 May, while we are celebrating the 62nd anniversary of the establishment of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) now the African Union (AU). As the African Union's theme for the Year 2025 is calling to 'Justice for Africans and People of African Descent Through Reparations', I would like to salute the AU Commission for this choice to call on attention to the urgency of the need of Justice for the entire African Peoples on the Continent, its Islands and the Diaspora. We will never cease to reiterate our concern for the urgent challenges facing our continent and its lovely people, including injustice, terrorism, conflict, poverty, issues of education, healthcare, dialogue, inter-religious dialogue, ecology, refugees and displaced people, Human trafficking, etc. According to the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights (ACHPR), 'contemporary conflict and crisis situations (in Africa) have forced millions of people – men, women and children – to flee in order to escape suffering, human rights violations and starvation' (Addressing Human Rights Issues in Conflict Situations, 2019). And, unfortunately, vulnerable groups, especially women and children, 'suffer the most egregious human rights abuses in conflict'. As Catholic Church, Family of God in Africa, we trust that African Leaders will very care of the appeals and pastoral exhortations of Pope Leo XIV, following in the footsteps of his predecessor Pope Francis, is reinforcing the Church's commitment to justice, peace, and the dignity of all the peoples, particularly the poor, the marginalized, and those suffering the consequences of conflict, inequality, and neglect. We echo the prophetic message delivered by Pope Francis during his apostolic journey to the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan from January 31st to February 5th, 2023, while in his impassioned plea, the Holy Father implored, 'Hands off Africa! Stop choking Africa: it is not a mine to be stripped or a terrain to be plundered. May Africa be the protagonist of its own destiny! May Africa, the smile and hope of the world, count for more. May it be spoken of more frequently, and have greater weight and prestige among the nations!' The Justice, Peace and Development Commission (JPDC) of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences in Africa and Madagascar (SECAM) continue carrying his mission and we invite you all to be the architects of 'the Africa we want', a better Africa, made up with joy and hope. This is part of our mission that we carry out through SECAM-JPDC and our Liaison Office in Addis Ababa. Participating as partner in the Conference held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from 27 to 28 February 2025, under the theme 'The Role of Faith Communities and Ethical Organizations in Advancing Justice for Africans and People of African Descent through Reparations', the AU SECAM Liaison Office along with representatives from religious organizations, scientific and ethical institutions, and cultural associations of African and international civil society, launched an important appeal to the world for the reparation of the damage caused to the Africans and People of African Descent. On this Africa Day, we urge African and world leaders, but also all individuals, to mobilize and work for justice and human rights, while combating all forms of discrimination, economic exploitation, illegal exploitation of natural and mineral resources, inhuman and degrading treatment, emotional trauma and all kinds of suffering endured by Africans. Let us all, as 'Pilgrims of Hope', promote and protect every single life, reduce poverty, take care of 'Our Common Home' – the Earth – building Bridges for Peace and Hope everywhere on the African continent and beyond. Happy Africa Day. Sunday, 25 May 2025 ✠ Fridolin Cardinal Ambongo Besungu Archbishop of Kinshasa President of SECAM Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM).
Condé Nast Traveler
17-05-2025
- General
- Condé Nast Traveler
In London, the Many Lives of Turkish Food
In a new series, Place at the Table, we look at diasporic enclaves around the world through their cuisines—and the people who, in trying to recreate a taste of home, have forged exciting food scenes that invite others in. Take a walk along Green Lanes, a seemingly nondescript stretch of main road that slices through northeast London, and the scent of smoky charcoal soon becomes intoxicating. It unfurls from within the many ocakbaşıs (grill houses) and kebab shops that occupy the street's small, brightly lit store fronts, where hulks of meat spin majestically on skewers and freshly-made pide is methodically slid in and out of ovens. This strip may look like a disorderly milieu of takeout spots best intended to serve late night drinkers. But any Londoner well versed in their city's cultural fabric knows that the burning of the mangal grills here is a piece of living, edible, history—and one linked to decades of Turkish and Kurdish migration to the capital. I first experienced this side of London at age 13, on New Year's Eve—an evening marked by the rich flavors of a lamb kebab my parents ordered and a rambunctious waiter who drank so much that he attempted to lift a table up with his teeth. We still talk about that waiter to this day, but otherwise nothing felt remarkable about being another Turkish-British family in London, bidding farewell to one year and optimistically raising our glasses to the next. My father is originally from Adana in the south, and like many children of a diaspora, it's taken me a long time to develop a curiosity about the side of myself I didn't feel rooted in. On recent visits to Istanbul, I've begun connecting the city's modern identity with that of my own, but time and distance from London have allowed me to see that cultural touchstones were never far from home. The Turkish community in London extends far beyond Green Lanes, too, down into Dalston—and now, a breadth of new flavors have emerged, thanks to a proliferation of contemporary Turkish restaurants in recent years. Cull yaw köfte with grilled apple sauce, sourdough pide, and grilled chickpea hummus at Mangal II. Edvinas Bruzas Chef Ferhat Dirik has been running family-owned Mangal II in Dalston since 2021. Edvinas Bruzas Ferhat Dirik, who runs Mangal II in Dalston, is another second-generation immigrant who has only recently begun forging a path to understand his own heritage—although his journey has been more pre-determined than mine. The son of Ali Dirik, a chef who moved from Anatolia in the 1980s and opened Mangal Ocakbaşı (named after the traditional charcoal cooking method) followed by Mangal II in 1994, Ferhat took over the operations of the latter in 2021 and began to enmesh himself with Turkish cuisine in a deeper way. 'For years I had traveled everywhere but Turkey,' he says. 'Maybe it was an age thing, maybe it was an identity thing. Then, of course, I learned that Istanbul is the best city in the world, and there are many Turks there who share the same values and ideals as Londoners. The more I realized that, the more connected I felt.' In a storyline that could have been ripped straight from The Bear, he and his chef brother, Sertaç, took on the challenge of reinventing a family-run restaurant cherished by locals for its consistency (artists Gilbert & George famously had dinner there every night, only switching to the original, now named Mangal 1, after the brothers 'installed a music system') and set out to create a more refined menu that reflected the new era of Turkish cuisine they were witnessing on their travels to Istanbul and other parts of the country. The menu still retains plenty of familiarity (pickles and smoked hummus in a pool of olive oil; red pepper dolma and yogurt) but tradition is now served with a pinch of innovation: cured mackerel, caught in British waters, is doused with peppery Anatolian flavors; mutton koftë sits atop grilled apple; cornish chicken is stuffed with garlic and Aleppo-spiced sausage. Mangal 1 introduced Turkish charcoal grilling techniques to much of London in the 1980s. Edvinas Bruzas Meat sizzles on the grill at Mangal 1 Edvinas Bruzas 'I think the Turkish population is increasingly open to displaying aspects of our cuisine that go beyond [kebabs]—which is a great thing when done right—because there is a lot more to Turkish culture,' says Ferhat. After decades of Turkish restaurants not being granted the same weight as other more Euro-centric counterparts—often considered more of a cheap eat than an elevated dining experience—Ferhat says, there is less of a need to prove their worth. Perhaps, in part, because the British palate has become more open-minded. 'It's an exciting moment for Turkish cuisine because the perception is changing,' he says. 'We no longer have to sell ourselves short by charging less to be hospitable and accommodating, which is part of our culture and our dignity, but also expected of us. You don't see Spanish restaurants offering free bread or free wine. We have to remain confident in our cuisine.'
Forbes
01-05-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Building Resilience As A Sustainable Spice Company
Spice company Diaspora Co. and its CEO Sana Javeri Kadri have weathered much turbulence in recent years: from climate-related disruptions to harvests, to the global pandemic and geopolitical flare-ups. Adapting has become a core skill for Kadri; in her words, there is 'a new fire every day' to put out. This time on April 2nd, the disruption came from the Trump Administration's new tariff policy. Kadri reached out several days later to her customers to explain how the policy would impact Diaspora Co's operations. New import taxes - ranging between 25% to 45% - applied to two key sourcing countries: India, where 93% of Diaspora's spices come from, and Sri Lanka, where the remainder are grown. The email - and the assurances Kadri made - were astonishing. Diaspora Co. would not pass on any new costs to farmers and consumers. Customers would not see any price increases. There would be no cuts in wages to its regenerative farm partners - they would continue to be paid four times more than the commodity price. Maintaining these commitments - i.e. 'business per usual' - in the wake of such market upheaval seems infeasible. But as it turns out, Diaspora Co. operates in a unique niche. The NYU Stern Center for Sustainable Business (CSB) reports that products marketed as sustainable have grown every year since 2013, with a significant share increase during the pandemic and recent inflation. 'Sustainably marketed products are growing 2.3 times faster than conventional products and at a 27% price premium on average. So even if a product will be five or 10% more expensive due to tariffs, consumers are willing to pay. It may mean that companies are going to take a little bit less of a premium than they have been taking in the past, but there remains strong demand. Opportunities are there for small companies who have competitive advantages around their sustainability offerings versus more traditional companies,' said Tensie Whelan, Founding Director of NYU Stern's Center for Sustainable Business. Tins from Diaspora Co. In their study of what environmental sustainability claims resonate with consumers, CSB found that consumers care most about themselves and their families, especially when buying products that are made without harmful ingredients to human health. In spices, this is especially pertinent as many instances of lead and ethylene oxide, a known carcinogen, have been reported. In short, sustainability-focused enterprises - like Diaspora Co - enjoy more stable price points. But even then, there are other challenges and complexities to deal with. Some of these involve geography, traditions, and culture. Case in point: a counterpart once suggested that production of Diaspora's spices be shifted to American soil. For Kadri, that was not only logistically impossible, but also morally unconscionable. An ordinary observer may think Diaspora's spices are like other ordinary food items. But in fact, they have rich and storied histories and require specific growing conditions found only in their regions of origin within the South Asian subcontinent. Locals grow the crops with expertise inherited over thousands of years, across generations of their families. They work the same land their ancestors farmed. Sirārakhong (also spelled Sira Rakong) chilies drying process. Sirārakhong (also spelled Sira Rakong) chilies. 'Often when you devalue a product, or you think of it as inherently cheap, you are disconnected from where it comes from. You think it should be able to appear from anywhere. Take, for example, champagne. Would people ever expect champagne to not come from France? They know that the sparkling wine that comes from California is not champagne but there is a certain luxury that is ascribed to something coming from France and coming from England and coming from Europe at large, that is white supremacy and colonialism at work,' said Kadri. 'But when it comes from Asia. There is an intrinsic feeling that we can make that here. And that's not true. We are growing the equivalent of champagne from France. For example, we source black pepper from a region in Kerala -it is vine ripened, sun dried, and then hand processed, like it is the highest grade of pepper one can humanly grow.' Attempting to replicate this cultivation or these traditions elsewhere at scale isn't just impractical - it is a misunderstanding of what makes these ingredients valuable in the first place. They are indigenous to their specific regions and the knowhow to produce them also is native to those areas. Take cardamom, another spice that is indigenous to the hills of Kerala and has been growing there for thousands of years. It i's a deeply South Indian crop that eventually found its way to Guatemala where the rainforests are very similar in that they are very wet at high elevations. These are the only two regions globally that, by virtue of geography, grow cardamom at scale. But Diaspora's farm partner spent 15 years finding a way to grow cardamom in Kerala without pesticides while still maintaining maximum aroma and flavor. Kadri says, 'Even if I wanted to source from Guatemala tomorrow, I don't know if that beautiful, wild variety that our farm partner domesticated and bred to be pesticide free would flourish in Guatemala. I certainly cannot transplant all of that knowledge overnight to Guatemala and, of course, importing into the US from Guatemala would be just as difficult.' For Kadri, there is an emotional and cultural significance of sourcing from India and Sri Lanka. She is committed to honoring the deep-rooted cultural and agricultural traditions, and ensuring the highest quality ingredients. Long before the inflationary pressure, Kadri was making hard concessions to the geopolitical conditions of the day. For example, as recently as two years ago, Diaspora Co. would separately import its packaging materials from China and its spices from India. The company would work with different co-packers in California, Colorado, and New York to blend the masalas, and pack the spices into jars. But in August 2023, Kadri made the decision to shift packaging production from Chinese manufacturers to Indian suppliers. It was a decision rooted not in concerns about quality or reliability, but great-power politics: there was increasing friction between China on one hand and the United States and India on the other. 'We saw the Chinese-American relationship shift towards animosity. If you ask Chinese manufacturers, they will say they have been planning for this for eight years," said Kadri. "The Chinese have been building factories in Vietnam and Bangladesh, and because they are the best, they have alternatives" Kadri asked Indian manufacturers to see whether they could replicate the Chinese standard of packaging. They were candid about not being able to do so. 'China manufactures the best packaging in the world. And the Indian manufacturers were super frank about it: 'China is operating in the future – in 2050 - we are operating in 2010. There's a 40-year difference.'' Kadri was wary of maintaining supply chains and operations across multiple countries so she decided to focus her company, headquartered in India, on stable supply chains in India and Sri Lanka. The modern Chinese tins were axed. In 2024, Diaspora Co. expanded globally: they launched in the United Kingdom last year and have plans to expand to Australia next year. And then there is the current populist atmosphere. Kadri recalls when Diaspora tote bags four years ago that were ethically sourced in India. Someone pointedly asked why American cotton was not used. Kadri noted that India ranks as the largest producer of organic cotton globally at 51%, according to the Textile Exchange. 'The larger question of being divorced from where things come from and how things get to you, that is the main problem, and that's what we need to address. If culturally, we can understand that, then as a country, I hope we would not accept these policies from our own government. Right now, there is a lack of understanding and ignorance. And our ignorance allows this stuff to happen, like thinking that we are somehow going to become a spice manufacturing country,' adds Kadri. Sustainability has been a personally rewarding and fulfilling model. But there are macro challenges. There are high costs to using platforms like Meta, Google, Shopify, and Amazon, and Kadri is now trying to minimize reliance on these platforms. She is not shy about her support for breaking up monopolies, supporting local innovation and resilience in certain parts of the United States, and getting more support from the Small Business Association (SBA). Despite the success and growth in market share of sustainability-focused ventures, many long-standing companies have not yet embraced it. If any do, they do it for de-risking or ethical reasons. Crucially, many neglect to track the financial benefits of sustainability - which, as it turns out, can be substantial. Whelan points to the example of McCormick & Company, a global company specializing in spices, flavorings, and baking products. Whelan studied the company and found that it benefited by approximately $6-million when it made its supply chains more sustainable. The company was surprised by the finding. They simply hadn't been examining their work through that lens. Madhur Jaggery Powder and Garam Masala Whelan worked on another case study with a smaller company extracting cocoa from West Africa. The findings were a surprise to that company as well: 'We determined that they get out of the commodity business and get more into sustainable, traceable cocoa. They would actually have a better business model. They would attract specialty buyers who were more interested in long term engagements, and who were willing to pay a premium price.' The demand is there if the quality is there, says Whelan. During President Trump's 90-day pause - which happens to be during Diaspora Co's harvest season - the company will maximize production while hoping for what Kadri calls wildly optimistic non-local food exemptions, similar to ones coffee lobbyists are also seeking. So far, what she has found is increased customs scrutiny and delays, complex shipping paperwork and confusion amongst customs brokers. But Kadri is holding fast. For her, it's about the importance of conscious consumption, choosing high-quality options over cheaper but less sustainable alternatives, and the need for systemic changes.
The Journal
21-04-2025
- Business
- The Journal
Minister says Ireland will not cut aid budget, unlike other countries - and should increase it instead
A GOVERNMENT MINISTER has said that Ireland will not cut aid budgets, unlike other countries, and he is advocating to have the allocation increased. Neale Richmond, the Minister of State for International Development and Diaspora, made the comments during a visit to Sierra Leone and Liberia where he went to a number of Irish Aid projects. Richmond worked in the aid sector before becoming a TD, and lived in Ghana for a period. 'It's really important that we actually go and visit countries with Irish Aid projects in them particularly, to be quite frank, because other actors in the world are cutting their aid budgets, and we're not,' he said. He told The Journal that as countries such as the US, the UK and other places reduce their spend on international aid, Ireland does not believe that this is an appropriate way to handle crises. 'I think the responsibility in the international community now, particularly for countries like Ireland, is to stress why international development matters and how it genuinely impacts a man and woman in poverty,' he said. He said that aid is a way to ease problems in developing countries which can have an impact on other countries too. 'The more we have global instability, the more we have mass migration, the more we have conflict, the more that impacts our lives, the more our energy prices go up. 'Unfortunately, international development has become something that was just easy to cut or easy to undermine for some states. 'I'm really disappointed in fellow politicians in other countries who have allowed it to become something that so easily dismissed when, at the same time, they're dealing with the very real consequences of making [these things] priority issues in their own countries,' he said. Advertisement Richmond believes the cutting of aid is a 'strategic failure rather than an altruistic failure' of the international community. 'This is actually how you combat the issues that the world faces, the big macro issues,' he added. Richmond said that his aim now is to convince other Irish government colleagues to increase the allocations for international aid. 'Firstly, I'll be going to my ministerial colleagues at Budget time and telling them that not only do we need to maintain our allocation, but we need to seriously look at increasing it, despite the very real economic challenges that we're facing,' he said. Richmond will also be advocating for more communication with the public about why the funding is important. 'This isn't something that we should be doing in silence, we need to sell it. We need to justify it,' he added. The Irish State is a rare European country with embassies in both Liberia and Sierra Leone. Richmond said this shows Ireland's commitment to helping the people in both countries. Sierra Leone is one of the ten poorest countries in the world. 'It's a level of poverty that most people can't appreciate,' Richmond said. 'A distinct lack of electricity, no rural electrification, rolling blackouts, but in most cases, there are signs for hope,' he said. Both countries are also still suffering the fall out from their own civil wars. 'These are two countries that are facing really distinct challenges in terms of providing the population basic needs beyond what we take for granted. That includes running water and electricity. I am talking about the ability for girls to go to secondary school and not be married as teenagers, or have children as child brides,' he added. Neale Richmond laying a wreath at the monument to Sgt Derek Mooney, an Army Ranger Wing operator killed while on a peacekeeping mission in Liberia. DFA DFA While on the visit the Minister also visited the monument to Army Ranger Wing operator Sergeant Derek Mooney who was killed in a car crash in Liberia while serving on a peacekeeping mission in 2003. Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone... A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation. Learn More Support The Journal
