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There are some problems with internet explorer (IE). Not everybody are able to see the movie on top of the page with IE. Please use another browser (firefox, google chrome, opera or another). Or use the embedded version of the movie (above).

See the video from the 2012 Copper Canyon “Caballo Blanco” Ultramarathon and the interviews that we made with Micah True “Caballo Blanco” in February/March 2012.

The video had to be remade after the late events regarding Caballo Blanco (see the video). For those of you that miss some of the invterviews with the runners I can tell that they will be posted in a couple of weeks.

Feel free to share and comment the video. Press here to on of my earlier post, and see the picture story from the 2012 CCUM.

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It’s said to be one of the worlds most spectacular ultramarathons. The Copper Canyon Ultramarathon, also called Caballo Blanco Ultramarathon, is held every February in Urique, Mexico. About 70 foreign ultra-marathoners compete against Tarahumaras in a 80 km long run.

See the movie about Copper Canyon Ultra Marathon and Micah True “Caballo Blanco” tomorrow!

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The race is divided into three loops, respectively 35, 29 and 16 kilometers. For each loop the runners finish they recieve gift cards. The cards can be used throughout the area as vouchers to get food. It costs nothing for the Tarahumaras to participate in the race, and Caballo Blanco encourage all foreigners to donate money.
While the Indians are here because of the food, many of the foreigners are here because of the book “Born to run”. A book about the running technique of the Tarahumaras and about the legendary Micah True “Caballo Blanco”.

When I first learned about Tarahumara, I thought, wait a minute, they do not use special equipment, they are not damaged, they run from an early age until they are about 80 – so what makes them so special? They remember that running is a knowledge. The rest of us have made it a commodity, a product, but it is a physical knowledge.

— Micah True Caballo Blanco

It’s the Tarahumara Miguel Lara that wins the race with the incredible time, six hours and 40 minutes (06h 40m), an average speed of 12 kilometers per hour in the mexican heat, up and down the mountain in the wilderness. He wins some 17,000 NOK (3.000 USD), a fortune for a Tarahumara. And he wins food stamps equivalent to a ton of corn.
Daniel Orálek takes the second place, only four minutes behind. German Silva is third, eleven minutes behind the first place. All of the three break the old course record (07h 04m) held by Miguel Lara.

Containers both in homes and stores around in Norway are filled every day with delicious food for thousands of norwegian kroner. The easter holiday and christmas holiday are the worst periods of the year.

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For a month I’ve lived as a freegan. My goal is to show that too much food and equipment, that still can be eaten or used, is thrown away in Norway. Most of the food trown away is still in its original package and untouched. As good as in the store.

Most of the food trown away is still in its original package and untouched.

— Luca Kleve-Ruud

Freeganism is an anti-consumerist lifestyle whereby people employ alternative living strategies based on “limited participation in the conventional economy and minimal consumption of resources”. Freegans find food in the garbage of restaurants, grocery stores, and other food related industries, which they claim allows them to avoid spending money on products that exploit the world’s resources, contribute to urban sprawl, treat workers unfairly, or disregard animal rights.

30 days as a freegan

The lights have been switched off for a long time and all the cars from the parkinglot are gone. There is no sign of life from the local store were I usually buy my stuff. Maybe not that strange since it’s past one o’clock at night. I place my hood from my gray jacket made of wool well over my head and sneak around to the back of the groceryshop. My heart pounds. The light from a single streetlight hits a black container by a brick wall and awaits to be searched. High up on the wall a blinking red light. The garbage is guarded and I’m watched.

I have thousands of thoughts in my head. How will I respond to the fact that people is going to see my search through the garbage? What if the police comes and stops me?

I regret I started this project. But I suddenly forget all my regrets when it comes to my eyes that five fresh baked bread are lying on a trolley. Not a bad start for my life as a freegan. I’m still not used to the fact of looking into a container, but I think to myself; Yes, I’m a freegan. Or at least on my way on becoming one. With three bread under my arm and a smile on my mouth, I start walking home.

410.000 ton of food is thrown away.

— Norway

Norwegians buy and throw away huge amounts of goods. An average household in Norway buys 952 kg. of food every year. 200 kg. of that amount is thrown away. With a little more than 2 million households, 410.000 ton of food is thrown away. Enough to feed 1 million persons for one year! the worst are young people between the age of 26-39 years. Added to that amount is the 50.000 ton of food thrown away by groceryshops in Norway. Often food that has not passed the expiry date such as fruit, vegetable, meat, fish and bread. After easter holiday and Christmas holiday tons of food are thrown away because the labeling and package is wrong. The shops can’t sell hot dogs with Santa Claus on after Christmas, even though the food inside the package is just the same.

People have and buy more than they need, and the industry produces more than they can sell.

— Freegan

On my way on becoming a freegan I met a lot of people. They all decided to live as freegans, partially or full time, not because they can’t afford to buy stuff, but because of the society of mass consumption we live in today. Everyone of them I’ve met tell me the same. It’s not a big problem to find food and goods in dumpsters in Norway. People have and buy more than they need, and the industry produces more than they can sell.

Because of the rules in our society, I still find it difficult to digg into dumpsters. But those boundaries are slowly being faded away as I realize that I live as a king. My fridge has never been this full, and my joy and excitement of finding stuff has never been bigger. I feel a mix of happiness and fright, as I think back to the time I was 10, walking around on dumpsterfields trying to find hidden treasures. And I can not believe how much people throw away. From unopened packs of beer, meat, cheese, chips, fruit, vegetable to clothes, lamps still in their original box and computers. People buy more than they need. Maybe tricked by good advertisement and cheap prices.

According to SIFOs calculations for individual spending during a month (for a norwegian) I was supposed to use 2.270 NOK (380 USD) for food and beverage. During this month I used less than 200 NOK (33 USD) just by searching through containers. The money was used to buy fresh milk and some fish.

As I search for food, I’m also trying to furnish a room with all necessities. It seem way too easy. At my first attempt I find five washing machines, two tumble dryers, four stoves, five fridges with a small freezer, a big freezer, DVD-players, micros and TVs.
As I put my hands around the tumble dryer and lift it up my eyes meet a red sign. “Removing items from this area is considered as theft.” And close to the sign a see my friend, the red light, again. Why is everyone so obsessed with guarding their trash? Every year norwegians throw away 130.000 tons of clothes and a unknown amount of furniture and equipment. About 147.500 tons of electrical articles are recycled in Norway, how much that goes to waste is unknown.

FIVH made a calculation as an illustration of how much a family of four uses in five years here in Norway.

1 dishwasher
1 wasahing machine
1 fridge
1 photocamera
2 DVD-players
3 TVs
6 radios/stereo
9 cellulare phones
37 kg travelequipment, bags
84 kg sportsequipment
135 kg cosmetics and similiar
175 kg toys for children
288 kg clothes
1165 kg furniture

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Portraits of Touraj Keshtkar (May 26 1987), known simply as Tooji. He is a Norwegian singer, model and television host. Tooji will represent Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 in Baku, Azerbaijan.

This short story is filmed in Oslo, Norway. We follow two traceurs through the Norwegian capital.

 
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There are two movies: One with subs and the other without. Remember to press the fullscreen button (down on the right hand side).

The movie is shot with Nikon D3s and a Nikkor 28mm (2.8). And the “matrix” shots are made from 17 Nikon cameras (D3s, D3, D700, D300).

If you want the movie on your iPad, download the free DN-app from appstore: HERE
You´ll find the movie in the second edition of the newspaper.
In the third edition you´ll find the behind the scenes movie from the recording of Parkour & Freerunning short movie.

Producer/Film/Photo/Editing:
Luca Kleve-Ruud

Music by:
Indianarane

Traceurs:
Snorre Jøllanger and Preben Hunstad

Executive producer:
Dagens Næringsliv, Aleksander Nordahl, Luca Kleve-Ruud

Assistant manager:
Dag Alvang

Assistants:
Helena Marie Krekling, Didrik Linnerud, Vetle Opedal, Sjur Stølen and Jannik Semb Fredricsson

Please leave a comment on why you liked/didn´t like the movie.

Norway suffered dual attacks on Friday, when powerful explosions from one or more car bombs shook the government center in the capital and, shortly after, a gunman dressed as a police officer stalked youths on an island summer camp for children of members of the governing Labor Party.

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Terrified youths jumped into the water to escape the gunman. Many could not flee in time. The police said that at least 60 people were killed at the camp, but that they expected the toll to rise.

All together at least 10 people are confirmed dead from the bombing and several injuried. The force of the explosion in the capital, Oslo, blew out nearly every window in the main center, panicking people fled to the streets from the several government buildings in the area, including one housing the office of the Norwegian prime minister, Jens Stoltenberg, who was unharmed. Analysts say that the vehicle bomb would have been very difficult for a ‘lone wolf’ attacker to carry out, but not impossible. The suspect is believed to have been spotted in the area of the bombing a few hours before the explosion.

Due to vacation the government buildings were mostly empty, but death toll will rise.
One man (32-years) has been arrested after the shooting and police see a connection between the two attacks. The shooter has links to right-wing extremism. The police is now searching the gunmans house.

48 million women give each year birth without any professional assistance and even without having received any checkups during pregnancy.

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Because of cultural reasons pregnant women in some countries give birth at home without a midwife, with only a dirty blade to cut the umbilical cord and herbs from a traditional healer to try and combat infection. Two million of these women deliver their babies completely alone – often with devastating consequences.

There is a global shortage of 350,000 midwives,16 which is part of a worldwide shortage of 3.5 million healthcare workers.

— 'Missing Midwives'-report

In Ethiopia 94% give birth with no skilled birth attendant, in Bangladesh 76%. As a result, 1,000 women and 2,000 babies die every day from birth complications which could be easily prevented. One woman every minute – die as a result of pregnancy.

One woman every minute – die as a result of pregnancy.

— 'Missing Midwives'-report

Every year more than 2 million women give birth completely alone.

— Save The Children

How many children dies each year?
•2 million the day of birth
•3 million within a week
•4 million within 28 days after birth
•8,1 million children die before reaching the age of 5

The three biggest killers of newborn babies in the first month are:
• complications arising from prematurity, eg, breathing difficulties due to underdeveloped lungs, or feeding difficulties due to an under-developed digestive system (28%)
• asphyxia, when a baby is deprived of oxygen during delivery and is more likely to need resuscitation when it is born (23%)
• sepsis, an infection of the blood (15%).

2011 Mothers’ Index Rankings
Read the “Missing Midwives”-report (PDF from Save The Children)
The distance between the first on the list, Norway, and the last country on the list, Afghanistan, is abysmal: in Norway every birth occurs in the presence of qualified personnel while in Afghanistan, this occurs only in 16% of births. One Norwegian woman out of 175 will lose their babies before reaching the age of 5, while at the other extreme, in Afghanistan every woman undergoes the loss of a child throughout her life. Looking at other countries at the bottom of the list, comparisons are no less dramatic: a woman out of 14 in Chad and Somalia are in danger of dying during pregnancy or childbirth. In Italy the risk of maternal mortality is less than 1 out of 15,000 women.

Top 10 best places to be a mother
1 Norway
2 Australia
2 Iceland
4 Sweden
5 Denmark
6 New Zealand
7 Finland
8 Belgium
9 Netherlands
10 France

Bottom 10 Worst Places To Be A Mother
155 Central African Republic
156 Sudan
157 Mali
158 Eritrea
159 DR Congo
160 Chad
161 Yemen
162 Guinea-Bissau
163 Niger
164 Afghanistan

 For 10 years Maoists armed to their teeth prowled Nepal’s remote Himalayan trails dodging attacks from army helicopters. Today, five years after a peace accord ended the insurgency, tourists armed with cameras and water purification tablets are following in the rebels’ footsteps.

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The Maoist have been called terrorists but think about themselves as the saviors of the poor and the opposition against the urban elite. Even though the war is over and the Maoist are in power, many are still suffering from the mistakes made from Nepal’s new leaders.

Sometimes to get everybody to appear the Maoist arranged activities at the school and called up our names. The teachers told that all children from the third grade and up would be kidnapped. I was scared and I never answered when they said my name.

— Keshari (13)

It’s barely four o’clock in the mourning. The fog is lies smooth as silk over the mountains that surrounds the small village were Keshari (13) lives. Her mother wakes her gently up, as she has done every single morning since Keshari was five. Keshari stands up and puts the same clothes as she has done for the last week. A red and worn t-skirt, a black pair of sweatpants full of holes and a pair of yellow sandals that lost the pattern on the sole a long time ago. Her brothers Khum (10) and Til (5) are no early birds and are still sleeping on the clay floor covered with a thin filthy wool carpet. In the same room her little sister sleeps in the mothers bed well wrapped. The door is open and the cold morning winds sweeps into the room.

I met Keshari in 2008. Two years after Keshari and her big brother, Aaitu, walked together on the way back home. They had done all their chores that day, fetched water, carried dirt to the fields, fed the animals, chopped wood and been to school. They walked on a dusty road when something caught their attention. A shiny round object. Aaitu took his sickle, pried it and took it up with his hands and showed it to his sister.
Keshari’s eyes are quickly filled up with tears as she continues
- there was nothing left of my brother she says. She was injured and her brother died from the land mine that the Maoist had put out.
Keshari doesn’t like to show her weakness and turns quickly away and stares to the ground.

I hate them.

— Keshari (13)

Since her father was the “mokia” (chief of the village) they got a lot of attention. And the envy came along as well because of the visits from the Maoist. The Maoist wanted to excuse what had happend and made Aaitu a Maoist martyr. They even donated 2000 rupies (50$). After all this attention rumors about the family being Maoist-friendly started in the village. I wasn’t true but nobody believed them. Their house was set on fire, Keshari’s father lost the position as the “mokia” and moved to India to earn enough money to rebuild their house and send the kids to school.
- We speak to him once a week on the phone. There is one telephone here in the village.
Keshari’s father left nine months ago and will be away for several years.

Two years ago Keshari had to leave school because of the accident and had to see her school friends pass to the next grade without her. It was not the first time her school period was disturbed. Keshari tells about all the episodes were fully armed Maoist came by the school and pupils were told to stay home for days because it was not safe enough.
- Sometimes to get everybody to appear the Maoist arranged activities at the school and called up our names. The teachers told that all children from the third grade and up would be kidnapped. I was scared and I never answered when they said my name, Keshari tells.

Now it’s Keshari’s last day at school again for this year and it’s the day of the important exam at school. Unfortunately she flunked. Not because she’s not good enough, but because of her injuries. She has constant headaches, pain in her neck, back and legs and finds it impossible to concentrate for a long period of time. And the pain grows because of the heavy work she does. Together with her mother she has to do all the farming, since her oldest brother is dead and the father had to leave.

This is just a small part of a long documentary about Keshari’s life.
The story became also a childrens book for Save The Children (given out to schools in Norway). See the book here.
Keshari is now a part of a Save The Children program in Nepal.

During the last four days 19 palestinians have been killed. 57 are injuried. Both Israel and Hamas now agrees on cease-fire.

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(pictures are from the 2008 war in Gaza)
The violence started when a rocket was fired against an Israeli school bus thursday. Two persons were injuried. The Israeli responded with firing back.

More than hundred rockets from the Gaza-strip have been fired against Israeli settlements. 38 rockets were fired saturday against the regions of Negev and Lachish. No injuried or killed have been reported from these attacks. Some infrastructure and homes are destroyed. These are the worst attacks since the 2008 conflict.

During the 22 days of war in 2008, 1400 Palestinians were killed and 5000 were injuried. 400 of the deceased and 1890 of the injuried were children.
5000 homes, 16 government buildings and 20 mosques were destroyed. 25000 homes were damaged.

Many Hmong are being forced to relocate from their highland homes to areas with poor agricultural potential.

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They were hunted as wild animals.

—

Little was known about the ethnic Hmong people, and even less about those rumoured to be fighting a low-level war against the Lao Government. But what seems certain, according to numerous human rights reports, is that many of the Hmong in Laos have a poor standard of living, and often feel marginalised by the authorities. And over the last 40 years these people were hunted like wild animals. In public the Lao government has always denied that the Hmong existed.

Now they are recognized but the Lao Government often accuses the Hmong of being the cause of the country’s problems, such as the high levels of deforestation and widespread cultivation of opium.

The problem stems from the Vietnam War, when large numbers of ethnic Hmong sided with the United States army, as the conflict spread from Vietnam into neighbouring Laos and Cambodia. The Hmongs became a Special Guerrilla Unit trained by the CIA and led by General Vang Pao. About 60% of the Hmong men in Laos were assisted by the CIA to join fighting for the “Secret War” in Laos. Between 1962 and 1975, some 12,000 Hmong also died fighting against Communist Pathet Lao troops.

The Hmong are an Asian ethnic group from the mountainous regions of China, Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand. Hmong groups began a gradual southward migration in the 18th century due to political unrest and to find more arable land. A number of Hmong people fought against the communist-nationalist Pathet Lao during the Laotian Civil War. Hmong people were singled out for retribution when the Pathet Lao took over the Laotian government in 1975, and tens of thousands fled to Thailand seeking political asylum. Thousands of these refugees have resettled in Western countries since the late 1970s, mostly the United States but also Australia, France, French Guiana, and Canada. Others have been returned to Laos under United Nations-sponsored repatriation programs. Around 8,000 Hmong refugees remain in Thailand.

Movie of Hmong people. The secret CIA army: “The Lost Tribe”