THE BERTHA CHALLENGE

Why Activists and Investigative Journalists?

Activists and investigative journalists are at the forefront of speaking truth to power. Their efforts to expose injustice and amplify diverse voices are increasingly important at a time of rising inequality, conflict, environmental degradation, fiscal austerity, fake news and populism.

This is especially true for land and housing injustice because its effects, causes and solutions are so varied and complex. Every day, millions who are homeless or face eviction ask why this is happening to them and what can be done to prevent it. Activists and investigative journalists play a vital role in providing answers.      

Investigative journalism has exposed some of the biggest political and corporate scandals of our time: the Snowden files, the Panama Papers, the Gupta-leaks on state capture in South Africa, the Cambridge Analytica data breach, President Trump's tax dodging, the exposure of a U.S.-supported military coup in Burkina Faso that has left hundreds of civilians dead, the criminal trial against Shell for underpaying the Nigerian government for mining an oil block. These stories and others have reverberated around the world, permanently shifting the way people view politics.

Activists increasingly put themselves on the line to support causes that resist abuses of power. They call on the state to adopt more socially just policies and also work to expose and confront private and corporate power that is increasingly global in scope. They understand conditions on the ground because this is where they live and work. Through their own research, extensive networks, training and media programs they create awareness and build leadership in their immediate communities and beyond. Recent global campaigns against race and gender discrimination, climate change, nationalism, autocracy and corporate lawlessness have been instrumental in advancing justice and democracy.  

Investigating and amplifying stories that expose injustice is increasingly achieved by work that cuts across organizations and professions. The scale and complexity of large investigative stories is often too intricate for one journalist or one activist, or even one newsroom or social justice movement to handle alone.

The Bertha Challenge recognizes that investigative journalists and activists have distinct roles. This Challenge offers the opportunity to engage not only with the complexity of the issue of land, ownership and power but also strengthen relationships between activists and investigative journalists grappling with the same topic. Bertha Fellows will be expected to explore new methodologies for working collaboratively and outside their traditional silos while maintaining their integrity and autonomy.

The Focus on Land & Housing

Billions of people across the world are deprived of land needed for housing, food production, public services and countless other social, cultural and personal requirements to living with security and dignity. At Bertha, we support work to advance more equitable access to land and housing because we believe it fundamentally improves lives, and also challenges the engine of the remorseless pursuit of profit and accompanying political systems that maintains injustice and inequality across societies.

Today, land is used more than any other resource to make the rich richer and the poor poorer. $217 trillion or 60% of the world’s wealth (including all stock, bonds and gold) is in urban real-estate. Investors increasingly buy land at home and abroad not to live or work on, but with the hope that its value will appreciate so it can be sold later for a profit.

"Housing has lost its social function and is seen instead as a vehicle for wealth and asset growth. It has become a financial commodity, robbed of its connection to community, dignity and the idea of home."

- Leilani Farha, UN Rapporteur on Housing

The surge in speculative investment in land, especially since the 2008 economic crash, has made the poor in cities across the world more vulnerable than ever before. The race by investors for higher profits accelerates until a “bubble” bursts, like it did a decade ago. These crises cause widespread poverty, unemployment, homelessness and political instability that affects poor, working and middle-class people in a far more devastating way than wealthy investors.

This cycle of injustice continues in part because the vast wealth held by those who profit off land almost always coexists with enormous power. This influence is exercised not only to lobby governments on what they can do with land they own, but also to lobby against progressive public policies and laws perceived to threaten current and future investment opportunities.

Increasingly government officials and public representatives find themselves either in the pockets of property power or politically curtailed. This has had grave social consequences - in both urban and rural areas.  

In cities and towns, public housing is torn down to make way for exclusive development.  Funding for government subsidized housing is cut. Laws that protect tenants from unfair evictions and rent increases are either ignored or policy is lacking. Well-located government (publicly) owned land - ideal for new affordable housing or other public use - is being sold off to the highest bidder.

Unregulated short-letting services (like AirBnB) reduces already limited housing supplies even further and drives up rental costs for local residents. The ease with which money can move across borders - often anonymously - allows billions of dollars to flow in and out property markets at the click of a button causing unprecedented housing market volatility.  

Researchers predict that if this large-scale commodification of housing continues, cities will lose not only their history and character but also their cosmopolitanism. According to Saskia Sassen, "Such transformation has deep and significant implications for equity, democracy and rights of the poor."

In less urbanized and rural areas, land that communities have lived on for generation is taken - often illegally and without consultation - by large corporations for industrial, commercial or extractive use.

As in cities, rural land is increasingly purchased not for its productive capacity but as a commodity that can be traded later for profit. Vast tracts of farmland are being bought by overseas investors who halt food production, retrench workers and leave the land dormant to appreciate in value. In some cases this “land banking” has created regional food security crises.

Illegal evictions of indigenous communities, farmworkers, miners and other rural workers happens regularly but receives much less attention than evictions in urban areas where there is a greater civil society presence. Government officials are often complicit, ignoring or waiving regulations and protections with devastating consequences for residents, local economies and the environment.

While rural land challenges manifest differently to those in cities, many of the systemic causes are very similar. Unpacking these causes and finding solutions are at the heart of the Bertha Challenge.

INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISTS CRITERIA

• Mid-career journalists with at least five years experience and a track record and passion for doing investigative journalism.
  

• Strong connections to a diverse range of groups working in support of land and housing justice in their city, country or region including with social movements, community organizations, NGOs, academics, activists, progressive government officials, fundraisers, etc.
  

• Experience in working with diverse groups of people, organizations and cultures.
  

• Research ability, comprehensive understanding of the political landscape concerning the subject matter, understanding of the law(s) and political structures governing development and procurement and the ability to work independently.
  

• Affiliation to an appropriate host media organization that could publish/broadcast your work produced during the Bertha Challenge.
  

About Bertha Foundation

Bertha Foundation supports activists, storytellers and lawyers who work to bring about social and economic justice and human rights for all.  

Bertha’s approach to funding is traditionally issue agnostic - we fund those who use the tools of organizing, storytelling and law to advance human rights. To anchor a program on one specific area is a new departure for us. However, land justice is an issue close to Bertha’s heart.

We see the complexity of land ownership, particularly in areas where land dispossession and resource extraction has been rife. Bertha is fortunate to have access to retreat spaces and we have chosen to engage with the opportunity as a way of opening these rarefied spaces for sanctuary for our network and as a way to begin to develop a model for deep engagement with the local communities and histories of each site.

We take seriously our responsibility to the land and the people in these places and have created guiding principles in order to expand our notion of the possibilities and opportunities that exist within this framework. These center around: community engagement - participation, integration and negotiation; sustainability - human, financial and environmental; and ethical business practices.

With the Bertha Challenge, Bertha is ready to amplify, scale-up and accelerate our existing support for activists and investigative journalists in order to create opportunities for Bertha Fellows to serve this particular struggle. Fellows are integral to the Bertha network and we envision the ten selected activists and investigative journalists will act as bridges across regions and areas of work throughout the various phases of the program.