Transcripts For DW Focus On Europe - Spotlight On People 201

DW Focus On Europe - Spotlight On People November 19, 2017

Continues to rise so much so that in some places tourism is becoming a liability consider venice the mega ocean liners that dock here every day flood the lagoon city with thousands of tourists while endangering the citys fragile foundations. Thanks to its unique canals romantic alleyways and Renaissance Architecture venice is considered one of the most beautiful cities in the world for now that is with thirty million tourists and almost five hundred cruise ships passing through the lagoons each year the city is literally falling apart you know it was threatening to withdraw and it says World Heritage status now locals many of whom earn their living from the travel industry are calling for more sustainable tourism. Every time tour guide power so crosses the reale to a bridge he cant help but wonder where did his charming city go the one thats now overrun with millions of tourists how can then as protect itself from the onslaught of visitors hes sure this piece of world Cultural Heritage wont survive as a photo backdrop alone. My love for this city makes me seek out places and people who are keeping venice alive. Because there are enough people who are countersteering and navigating the city into troubled waters. Because they get it through on a case that and then go to. Like most clinicians paolo lives from tourism which presents him with a dilemma he now conducts special tours to draw attention to the citys problems like in his own district where rents are rising as flats are being used as holiday homes more and more of the nations are moving away at the bar paolo frequence venice is decline is a hot topic. Twenty years ago the city was full of craftspeople who produce things for the local people upholsterers carpenters locksmiths bookbinders. Theyre all gone today no one makes mattresses or repairs shoes anymore. And thats when did the nations pride is this all thats left of their once so prosperous trading city power shows us the america to the reality the old fish and Vegetable Market now its just a tourist trap venice has become a city in which few people actually live. Here there are more tourists taking photos than paying customers that provokes people which is why a few fishmongers are considering asking for money to pose for photos in front of this tourist backdrop. The cruise ships are also a huge problem activist Stefano Micheletti is outraged not only do these huge vessels flood the city with daytrippers theyre also threatening the lagoon citys very foundations remain. The big ships propellers have a piston effect. They china the subsoil so clay and silt from the lagoon are gradually washed into the open sea. As a result venice a city built on wooden piles is slowly sinking and could eventually be completely underwater but nicoletti isnt giving up his Citizens Initiative has managed to prevent even more cruise ships from coming into venice. On the bus from around the just when a ship like that goes by the water level in the nearby canals sinks by around twenty centimeters and then rises again right afterwards due to the displacement this hugely powerful force eats away at the foundations of the palaces churches and bridges. But not everyone in venice is happy about nicollette is initiative the Port Authority has invested millions of euros in modern cruise terminals now due to the success of the protests only half of them can be used. For four years weve been listening to these fears that our ships could even ram into venice i can only keep reassuring people even with the biggest ships the chances of that happening are zero. So the industry is still fighting to keep the huge ships cruising by st marks square its a business worth millions but resistance is growing also due to the exhaust fumes the ships release into the air. More and more of the nations feel their city is not on the right course. So far big Construction Projects have been decided by the corporations operates in the port and the airport its only about growth ever bigger ever more as for the citys welfare theres no strategy whatsoever. That makes paolo patootie so both angry and sad each year venice is fifty five thousand residents are overrun by thirty million tourists many think the time has come for radical counter strategies but. Its paradoxical but the best tourist for venice is the one who stays at home were more than full up with thirty million visitors a year. Its clear something must be done to reduce the number of visitors to a reasonable figure but for that to happen the nations will have to sacrifice some tourist dollars to save their beloved city. Government has responded by the way with plans for a new dog outside the City Catering to the big cruise ships although it will take years to build. Mercedes for the lobos was about fifty when she discovered she would lie to her entire life including by her parents they confirmed a nagging suspicion of hers that she was adopted but to her horror she discovered she was not given up by her birth mother willingly like hundreds of thousands of other babies she was stolen and sold what began as a politically motivated practice against francos opponents during the civil war became a lucrative business for decades profiting doctors attorneys and clinics those children now seek justice and in some cases their birth parents. Remembering her childhood makes mercedes sad her parents lied to her all her life only on his deathbed ten years ago did her father admit to her what she had long suspected he and his wife were not her biological parents. They raised me to be honest and upright and to always tell the truth. But then they did this to me. After they died mercedes began researching and found conflicting documents two birth certificates one from allah got them one from seville and two baptismal certificates she knows these documents must be forged and so the sixty year old has a devastating suspicion. I think i was stolen when i was a baby these documents are like those of other stolen children. From the one nine hundred thirty s. Through the one nine hundred ninety s. Up to three hundred thousand children were taken away from their parents who were told that the children had died the newborn infants of political opponents or unwed mothers were sold to childless couples who supported franco. Genetic tests have proven that birth certificates were forged to conceal these dealings. Mari cruz is convinced that she too was a victim of such schemes she gave birth to a premature baby in madrid in one nine hundred eighty six days after his birth the incubator was empty and she was told her son had died mari cruz and her husband wanted to see their dead baby and take it right above the knee and. They refused to show us the baby. They said it was so deformed that they didnt want to upset us. When we insisted they asked whether we had two hundred thousand for the burial. In the one nine hundred eighty s. That was a lot of money. Mary cruz let herself be intimidated but now shes looking for her son whom she is sure was stolen from her. She works in a Selfhelp Group for other victims mothers fathers and children and attorney as representing the victims in Court Finally one of the people involved in this mass crime kind of college just edoardo of a lot has been accused of child abduction and document forgery. The eighty five year old defendant refuses to give interviews but in two thousand and ten some victims questioned him with a hidden camera he claimed that distressed mothers had given their children up voluntarily though there were no documents to show this. Show. Us the archive with the mothers documents has been banned so. I personally banned the obstetric records and the parents declarations of agreement to adoption. It just makes me sick it infuriates me that this man might die before hes convicted. The Attorney Says the parents did not agree to give these children up for adoption it was a systematic political and business measure with government and church complicity. Or this this is not the idea of one doctor alone. He needed officials who knew about and covered up these irregularities. Every day and. The scandal involves all of spain children for money. The Justice Department refuses to comment. Mercedes is tormented by so many questions why is she sold if so then how much did the couple who adopted her pay for her she cant imagine that the people who brought her up with so much love could have known about the crimes underlying the adoption. I think that they too were deceived i dont think they acted maliciously at. Sadies has taken a genetic test and added the result to a database she hopes to find blood relatives siblings nieces or nephews maybe even her biological parents and to learn what happened to her after her birth. We wish her luck in her search. Every fall the city of london the Financial Center of the british capital alecks its highest dignitary the lord mayors main role is to represent support and promote both businesses and residents in this small but mighty square mile this year the position has taken on a special significance in light of brags that as britain prepares to leave the e. U. Businesses are worried about their future some companies have already moved thousands of jobs abroad the newly installed lord mayor Charles Bowman is doing his best to calm nerves. Londons financial district known as the city has welcomed the six hundred ninetieth lord mayor Charles Bowman the office is largely symbolic but the festivities arent lacking in pomp and circumstance the city one of the most powerful Financial Centers in the world is usually very buttoned down but this year the main aural celebration seemed especially fanatic perhaps they were something of a release valve for london financiers facing an uncertain future because of bracks it boman accepted some blessings a little help from above cant hurt the same is true for networking and. Often the caricature is somebody sits in a gold cake she was frills and the tricorder hatch but in reality that in a cancer some five percent of what most of my time is missing with business with regulations with visiting heads of state important stuff to support this wonderful primitives label Financial Services help them run sweet bowman will also meet with british Prime Minister theresa may her reception will be friendly as decorum demands even though the gala dinner will be overshadowed by financial leaders unhappiness at the political instability of the may government and its lack of a clear bricks and strategy. The city of london is barely one square mile but its more than one thousand years old which helps explain its giant status in the banking world. The district projects confidence its a mix of tradition and high tech guilds and globalization. In the streets billions are moved around the world in the blink of an eye more than half a Million People pour into the city to work their only goal to make money. When bowman surveys the city he sees a number of construction cranes the city wants to expand and ambitious aim in times as uncertain as these but the mayor is confident twelve percent of g. D. P. Preeminence within within that within the clay with the streams and so on and we will continue that. Diana chan doesnt share this optimism shes the director of the London Branch of a dutch Clearing House london is an important location for her as half of her customers are from britain bricks it lose large in the back of her mind she doesnt want to discuss it but uncertainty is growing. Chances people in the Financial Sector are busy making contingency plans for a hard brecks it one with no new trade deal with the e. U. Business is need a lot of clarity and what i concerned about is that between november and march there will be sufficient clarity and then people will need to embark on implementing their worst Case Scenario once those plans have started to be implemented they will be finished there is no turning back so if somebody decided to go they go yes yes. The city could lose as many as seventy five thousand jobs to Financial Centers in the remaining e. U. Countries so far not many people have actually left but tweets by Lloyd Blankfein chairman of the board of Goldman Sachs calling frankfurt and paris great places set off alarm bells. Thats not what the leaders of the city want to hear the british financial elite is not accustomed to anyone questioning their status for centuries british bankers believe they had a god given right to dominate the financial world attitudes from the era of the banking guilds persist no matter how much they may fly in the face of present day realities. In fact guilds still exist in the city one of them is the Worshipful Company of international bankers. Peter asplin is the head or middle warden of the guild. He personally regards brixton as a huge mistake. But in his official function he argues that challenges can be the source of new opportunities i think at a halt we are survivors and we will work out the best solution to my biggest concerns arms around briggss theyre around tackling the development of cyber as we become more and more digitized economy breaks its compared to that of small. The truth is no one knows where britain is headed at the moment people in the city just hope they dont get lost in the bricks of fog. The village of credulity in the foothills of the Caucasus Mountains is divided by barbed wire fences and well meant checkpoints making up the demarcation line between Central Georgia and south a setia now russia is consolidating its military presence there after the collapse of the soviet union the province of South Ossetia declared independence from georgia but in two thousand and eight when georgia tried to retake control of the region russia occupied south setia since then the conflict remains unresolved our reporter visited the demarcation line which cuts through villages and separates families. Barbed wire cuts across the village of curveball that he in Central Georgia the town is divided as some places were divided during the cold war only animals can pass through unhindered. Since the end of the russian georgian war in two thousand and eight two hundred European Union observers have watched over the demarcation line and what they see has them worried the ceasefire is Still Holding but south a set is isolating itself with negative consequences for the people here. Farmer Dato Ivanishvili tells us his story which is typical of many people spades in the region. What. Kind of this was georgian territory for eighty is and now what has it turned russian ive lived here for eighty as thats my house over there. When i built it sometimes i was hungry and sometimes i had enough to eat where should i go now. I will never leave here alive my mother lives in the cemetery over there this is where i buried my brothers and my father my whole family. In april two thousand and eight south a city a seceded from georgia in august georgia tried to recover the territory by military force that let russia to intervene its forces defeated the Georgian Army and the russian government recognized south a set as an independent country. At that time shot it would be lee was head of the Analytic Center of georgias interior ministry he explains why russia acted as the protector of the o. Said he and separatists. Who accused of his or goal i think use to have control over the south caucasus to deny this area. To any other International Presence and the reason for wanting to control its hold caucasus barclays for things like location from important means to control the flow from their drink from the caspian basin and through the political world. A number of major Oil Pipelines run through georgia theyre all important for europe. Meanwhile russia continues to build military bases in south a set here which International Law still regards as part of georgia here on the highway to tbilisi a handful of people still steadfastly protest russias land grab almost every day in all kinds of weather the capital is only an hours drive away the demonstrators tell us that russia is improving the connections between its military bases. To three basic rules. The georgian government raises the alarm every time russia further entrench is itself in south has said here because that blocks georgias path to europe the southern caucasian country wants to join the European Union and nato but the unresolved conflict with russia stands in the way and russian soldiers create a new fait accompli almost daily as the e. U. Mission in georgia tells us. Main problems have to do with the process we call border isolation the establishment of physical infrastructure which hinders freedom of movement for local populations so they cannot commute freely across theres a socalled border regime in place and that affects the population a number of ways it affects their livelihoods their access to land a possibility to have regular connection with family members the e. U. Observers can call up a precise map of the line of demarcation on their g. P. S. Devices which they also need for their own safety. Officially the conflict over south a set is considered frozen. The farmers here in the disputed region think thats a strange term theyre suffering under the countrys ongoing divisions. They say beauty is in the eye of the beholder over many and photographer has made it her mission to prove that same thing with her own as she calls it atlas of beauty after giving up her job at a television station she traveled around the world to photograph women like her t

© 2025 Vimarsana