World Literature
Video by Director of World Literature Program featured in The Tyee
A video produced by Melek Ortabasi, Director of the World Literature Program, is featured in The Tyee.
Titled “The Ban,” the two-minute documentary video features the personal stories of Canadian residents who have been affected by American President Donald Trump’s contested “travel ban” barring travelers holding passports from seven predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States.
Ortabasi calls the video “a truly local and specifically SFU effort”: produced by Ortabasi, an SFU faculty member, the video features two students and a staff member, and was shot and edited by Ashik Hossain of SFU’s IT Services. Also included in “The Ban” are appearances by local activist and journalist Harsha Walia and Order of Canada winner and author Joy Kogawa.
Ortabasi says “this ban has already had widespread negative effects on everyday people and has made many of our communities feel unfairly targeted and unsafe. In spreading the inclusive message of this video as widely as possible, we hope to counter the cruelty and cynicism inherent in the ban, and instead promote the democratic and diverse values that make us great.”