Sunday, 28 December 2008
Saturday, 27 December 2008
WHAT'S THE POINT?
Israeli warplanes have launched a wave of air strikes on Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip.More than 200 Palestinians have been killed, 300 others were hurt in the attacks.
Missiles hit security compounds and militant bases across Gaza. Israel said the operation would go on "as long as necessary".
Israel said the strikes were in response to continued rocket fire by Palestinian militants against Israeli towns.
The strikes, the most intense Israeli attacks on Gaza in decades, come after the expiry of a truce with Hamas earlier this month.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice accused Hamas of having triggered the new bout of violence.
Israel said it initially began a staged easing of the blockade, but this was halted when Hamas failed to fulfil what Israel says were agreed conditions, including ending all rocket fire and halting weapons smuggling.
From BBC News_
Monday, 22 December 2008
Power and Influence
Roughly speaking, power is the ability to make people do things (or suffer the consequences); influence is the ability to get people to do things on their own (to gain the benefits). NATO has lots of power (and a good bit of influence), while the EU has an enormous amount of influence, but less power. Pointy-haired bosses use their power; good businesspeople use their influence.
Influence is not a second-rate type of power (soft rather than hard); it’s a separate, if related, capacity. So: power and influence.
Sunday, 21 December 2008
GOING ON IN EUROPE...
RESISTANCE: The ability not to be affected by something, especially adversely _Thesaurus English Dictionary
Tuesday, 16 December 2008
Ripescato dallo scaffale-Rescued from a shelf
-his friends-
we called him Roy.
To others he was known
as that horrible Toxic Boy.
He loved ammonia and asbestos,
and lots of cigarette smoke.
What he breathed in for air
would make other people choke!
His very favorite toy
was a can of aerosol spray;
he'd sit quietly and shake it,
and spray it all the day.
He'd stand inside the garage
in the early-morning frost,
waiting for the car to start
and fill him with exhaust.
The one and only time
I ever saw Toxic Boy cry
was when some sodium chloride
got into his eye.
One day for fresh air
they put him in the garden.
His face went deathly pale
and his body began to harden.
The final gasp of his short life
was sickly with despair.
Whoever thought that you could die
from breathing outdoor air?
As Roy's soul left his body
we all said a silent prayer.
It drifted up to heaven
and left a hole in the ozone layer.
ROY, THE TOXIC BOY
Deserved To Be Posted!
BAGHDAD — To throw shoes at the president of the greatest superpower in the world is not something that you see every day in Iraq. It never happened before, and who knows when it will happen again.
The Iraqi journalist, Muntader al-Zaidi, 28, a correspondent for Al Baghdadia, an independent Iraqi station, stood up about 3.5 meters, about 12 feet, from Bush and shouted in Arabic: "This is a gift from the Iraqis; this is the farewell kiss, you dog!" He then threw a shoe at Bush, who ducked and narrowly avoided it.
As stunned security agents and guards, officials and journalists watched, Zaidi then threw his other shoe, shouting in Arabic, "This is from the widows, the orphans and those who were killed in Iraq!" That shoe also narrowly missed Bush as Maliki stuck a hand in front of the president's face to help shield him _ (International Herald Tribune)
During the press conference Mr. Bush said: “That’s what people do in a free society, draw attention to themselves.” Well, I don’t know how true is this but I know one thing: no one during Saddam’s era would have dared to think about doing that. He would have been executed, and maybe also his family, and the journalists who witnessed the incident. (Atheer Kakan)
ViDEO
I don't know either he was wrong or right. I just know I would have liked somebody to do it soon or later. No one in the world can blame on that journalist. Somehow it did not feel wrong, at least to me...
During the press conference Mr. Bush said: “That’s what people do in a free society, draw attention to themselves.” Well, I don’t know how true is this but I know one thing: no one during Saddam’s era would have dared to think about doing that. He would have been executed, and maybe also his family, and the journalists who witnessed the incident. (Atheer Kakan)
ViDEO
I don't know either he was wrong or right. I just know I would have liked somebody to do it soon or later. No one in the world can blame on that journalist. Somehow it did not feel wrong, at least to me...
Monday, 15 December 2008
Japanese Photographic Culture
志賀 理江子Shiga Lieko
"On Your Body"
岡部 東京、Okabe Tokyo
ヨッシヲールド
"Yosshi World"
保谷 綾乃
Hoya Ayano
"Gift"
LiNks:
New Cosmos of Photography
Tokyo Exhibition 2008
Metropolitan Museum of Photography
Eguchi Masaru
Sawada Tomoko
Shiga Lieko
From a Friend...
自分で自分が解らなくなった。
自分は何だろう。
自分はお母さんから生まれたが、この自分という気持ちはどこから生まれたのだろう。
自分は何で自分と思うのだろう『。。』
(...Gracias)
自分は何だろう。
自分はお母さんから生まれたが、この自分という気持ちはどこから生まれたのだろう。
自分は何で自分と思うのだろう『。。』
(...Gracias)
Sunday, 14 December 2008
From _Heaven Lake
What is the purpose, I wonder of all this restlessness?
I sometimes seem to myself to wander around the world merely accumulating material for future nostalgias (...)
I sometimes seem to myself to wander around the world merely accumulating material for future nostalgias (...)
JAPANESE WOMEN REBELS
" Since I was at girls school, all our teachers taught us that to achieve our happiness we must learn to be satisfied with our lot. They taught us to close our eyes and eliminate all the impulses that well up in our hearts (...) What is this happiness that we are taught by our teachers to seek? How agonizing and painful it must be to suppress, one's natural inner desires . I feel pity rather than anger at the shallow-so-called educators who teach us that this must be endured for the meager, temporary peace and happiness of the moment. I feel deep sorrow for the women who have been crippled by the ignorant- I do not hesitate to use this term- educators."
_Noe Ito, 伊藤 野枝 1895-1923.
Anarchist, social critic, author and feminist. Beaten to death_
From:
PEASANTS, REBELS, WOMEN AND OUTCASTS.
The Underside of modern Japan.
(Mikiso Hane)
see also:
_Kanno Suga, 1881-1911.
Japanese Political activist. Sentenced to death by hanging_
_Fumiko Kaneko, 金子 文子1903 - 1926.
Japanese anarchist and nihilist. After having been arrested, she died in prison_
MONOLOGO II
E sento che hai ragione se mi vieni a dire
che l'uomo sta correndo
e coi progressi della scienza ha già stravolto il mondo
però non sa capire che cosa c'è di vero
nell'arco di una vita, tra la culla e il cimitero.
E TU MI VIENI A DIRE, 1999
Perché è la storia che come sempre fa casino, capisci? Ti cambia da un giorno all’altro il significato delle parole, perché lei, la storia, c’ha un suo percorso, no? e allora tu prima di parlare con uno devi sapere a che punto sta lui della storia, no? (...) E invece allora parole di pace, di inflazione: stop! Energia, Einstein: stop! Cultura: stop! Sfratti, religione: stop! Politica: stop! Stop! Stop! Accordiamoci sul senso!
Il senso?
Ma che senso ha il senso?
Il SENSO, 1984
Non mi piace la troppa informazione
odio anche i giornali e la televisione
la cultura per le masse è un'idiozia
(...)
Non mi piace il mercato globale
che è il paradiso di ogni multinazionale
e un domani state pur tranquilli
ci saranno sempre più poveri e più ricchi
ma tutti più imbecilli.
E immagino un futuro
senza alcun rimedio
una specie di massa
senza più un individuo
e vedo il nostro stato
che è pavido e impotente
è sempre più allo sfascio
e non gliene frega niente
e vedo anche una Chiesa
che incalza più che mai
io vorrei che sprofondasse
con tutti i Papi e i Giubilei.
Ma questa è un'astrazione
è un'idea di chi appartiene
a una razza
in estinzione.
La RAZZA in ESTINZIONE, 2001
Gaber-Luporini
che l'uomo sta correndo
e coi progressi della scienza ha già stravolto il mondo
però non sa capire che cosa c'è di vero
nell'arco di una vita, tra la culla e il cimitero.
E TU MI VIENI A DIRE, 1999
Perché è la storia che come sempre fa casino, capisci? Ti cambia da un giorno all’altro il significato delle parole, perché lei, la storia, c’ha un suo percorso, no? e allora tu prima di parlare con uno devi sapere a che punto sta lui della storia, no? (...) E invece allora parole di pace, di inflazione: stop! Energia, Einstein: stop! Cultura: stop! Sfratti, religione: stop! Politica: stop! Stop! Stop! Accordiamoci sul senso!
Il senso?
Ma che senso ha il senso?
Il SENSO, 1984
Non mi piace la troppa informazione
odio anche i giornali e la televisione
la cultura per le masse è un'idiozia
(...)
Non mi piace il mercato globale
che è il paradiso di ogni multinazionale
e un domani state pur tranquilli
ci saranno sempre più poveri e più ricchi
ma tutti più imbecilli.
E immagino un futuro
senza alcun rimedio
una specie di massa
senza più un individuo
e vedo il nostro stato
che è pavido e impotente
è sempre più allo sfascio
e non gliene frega niente
e vedo anche una Chiesa
che incalza più che mai
io vorrei che sprofondasse
con tutti i Papi e i Giubilei.
Ma questa è un'astrazione
è un'idea di chi appartiene
a una razza
in estinzione.
La RAZZA in ESTINZIONE, 2001
Gaber-Luporini
MONOLOGO
Secondo me gli italiani e l'Italia hanno sempre avuto un rapporto conflittuale. Ma la colpa non è certo dell'Italia, ma degli italiani che sono sempre stati un popolo indisciplinato, individualista, se vogliamo un po' anarchico, ribelle, e troppo spesso cialtrone.
Secondo me gli italiani non si sentono per niente italiani. Ma quando vanno all'estero li riconoscono subito.
Secondo me gli italiani sono cattolici e laici. Ma anche ai più laici piace la benedizione del Papa. Non si sa mai...
Secondo me gli italiani sono poco aggiornati e un po' confusi perché non leggono i giornali. Figuriamoci se li leggessero!
Secondo me non è vero che gli italiani sono antifemministi. Per loro la donna è troppo importante. Specialmente la mamma.
Secondo me gli italiani hanno sempre avuto come modello i russi e gli americani. Ecco come va a finire quando si frequentano le cattive compagnie.
Secondo me gli italiani sentono che lo Stato gli vuol bene. Anche perché non li lascia mai soli.
Secondo me gli italiani sono più intelligenti degli svizzeri. Ma se si guarda il reddito medio procapite della Svizzera, viene il sospetto che sarebbe meglio essere un po' più scemi.
Secondo me gli italiani sono tutti dei grandi amatori. Peccato che nessuna moglie italiana se ne sia accorta.
Secondo me gli italiani al bar sono tutti dei grandi statisti. Ma quando vanno in parlamento sono tutti statisti da bar.
Secondo me un italiano quando incontra uno che la pensa come lui fa un partito. In due è già maggioranza.
Secondo me gli italiani sono i maggiori acquirenti di telefonini. E non è vero che tutti quelli che hanno il telefonino sono imbecilli... è che tutti gli imbecilli hanno il telefonino.
Secondo me gli italiani non sono affatto orgogliosi di essere italiani. E questo è grave. Gli altri invece sono orgogliosi di essere inglesi, tedeschi, francesi, e anche americani… e questo è gravissimo.
Secondo me gli italiani sono i più bravi a parlare con i gesti. E quando devono pagare le tasso fanno… [gesto dell'ombrello].
"Italiani popolo di combattenti". L'ha detto Giosuè Carducci.
"Italiani popolo di pensatori". L'ha detto Benedetto Croce.
"Italiani popolo di eroi". L'ha detto Gabriele D'Annunzio.
"Italiani popolo di sognatori". L'ha detto Gigi Marzullo.
Secondo me gli italiani e l'Italia hanno sempre avuto un rapporto conflittuale. Ma la colpa non è certo degli italiani, ma dell'Italia che ha sempre avuto dei governi con uomini incapaci, deboli, arroganti, opportunisti, troppo spesso ladri, e in passato a volte addirittura assassini.
Eppure gli italiani, non si sa con quale miracolo, sono riusciti a rendere questo paese accettabile, vivibile, addirittura allegro.
Complimenti!
" Secondo me gli Italiani "
Gaber - Luporini 1999
Sunday, 23 November 2008
Breaking The Silence
" The collusion between politicians and criminal organisations represents the true strength of the Camorra and Mafia"
The Italian film Gomorra, depicting the insidious and destructive workings of the Neapolitan criminal organisation, the Camorra, is based on a book by the Italian writer Roberto Saviano. The Camorra now says it wants him dead by Christmas. Increasingly it is brave individuals - not the Italian state - who are taking on the Camorra, by breaking the code of silence and stripping away the glamour that surrounds organised crime in Italy _ (Pascale Harter reports from Naples, BBC WORLD News)
READ:
LISTEN:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_7737000/7737202.stm
Wednesday, 19 November 2008
Sulla Liberta di Stampa e Stampa Indipendente
A Burmese soldier shoots japanese reporter Kenji Nagai at close range in Rangoon on 27 September 2007Nel 2003 Reporter Senza Frontiere pubblicava la classifica mondiale sulla libertà di stampa. La situazione piu catastrofica era in Asia con 8 paesi presenti fra i 10 peggior classificati: Corea del Nord, Birmania, Laos, China, Vietnam, Turmenistan, Iran, Butan.
Cuba occupava il 165° posto nella classifica mondiale. Solo nella primavera del 2003 26 furono i giornalisti incarcerati con pena da i 14 ai 27 anni.
Eritrea al 162°presentava invece la situazione peggiore nel continente africano. 14 erano i giornalisti segrtamente detenuti.
Simile la situazione per molti tra i paesi Arabi: Oman, Ibia, Siria, Arabia Saudita intorno al 155 posto nella classifica mondiale per la liberta di stampa.
L'Unione Europea si classifcava bene ad eccezione per Italia (53) dove la situazione del conflitto di interessi di SiLVio BeRLuScoNi non incontrava risoluzione, a fronte anche della legge proposta per mezzo dello stesso, che dovrebbe ma non garantisce il pluralismo di informazione; e Spagna (42) situazione imputabile alle difficoltà che incontrava l'esercizio di giornalisti nel Paese Basco, per la presenza dell' organizzazione terroristica ETA.
In altri paesi democratici, dove nonostante esista liberta di stampa indipendente, i giornalisti incontrano ancora forti resistenze e o vincoli da parte non direttamente dello stato ma di gruppi politici o mafia o gruppi armati e ribelli. è il caso di Colombia (147) Bangladesh (143) Filippine (118) o Nepal (150)_
Ad oggi, l'ultmo index è del 2008 e vede la situazione poco cambiata per quei paesi Asiatici e Arabi sopra descritti. Nonchè un peggioramento per la situazione Cubana ora al 165°posto.
L'Italia (44) e la Spagna (32) sembrano invece aver guadagnato qualche vittoria, anche la Colombia (126) dove pero nel 2007, sei furono i giornalisti assasinati e il media restano ancora soggetti alle forze armate.
_Questo è quanto ho potuto apprendere da una breve ricerca fatta in rete confrontando gli index anno dopo anno, leggendo entrambe i report degli anni 2002 e 2008.
Alcuni link, tante informazioni, paese per paese...
REPORTERS WITHOUT BORDERS, Annual Report
Worldwide Press Freedom Index Ranking
Cuba occupava il 165° posto nella classifica mondiale. Solo nella primavera del 2003 26 furono i giornalisti incarcerati con pena da i 14 ai 27 anni.
Eritrea al 162°presentava invece la situazione peggiore nel continente africano. 14 erano i giornalisti segrtamente detenuti.
Simile la situazione per molti tra i paesi Arabi: Oman, Ibia, Siria, Arabia Saudita intorno al 155 posto nella classifica mondiale per la liberta di stampa.
L'Unione Europea si classifcava bene ad eccezione per Italia (53) dove la situazione del conflitto di interessi di SiLVio BeRLuScoNi non incontrava risoluzione, a fronte anche della legge proposta per mezzo dello stesso, che dovrebbe ma non garantisce il pluralismo di informazione; e Spagna (42) situazione imputabile alle difficoltà che incontrava l'esercizio di giornalisti nel Paese Basco, per la presenza dell' organizzazione terroristica ETA.
In altri paesi democratici, dove nonostante esista liberta di stampa indipendente, i giornalisti incontrano ancora forti resistenze e o vincoli da parte non direttamente dello stato ma di gruppi politici o mafia o gruppi armati e ribelli. è il caso di Colombia (147) Bangladesh (143) Filippine (118) o Nepal (150)_
Ad oggi, l'ultmo index è del 2008 e vede la situazione poco cambiata per quei paesi Asiatici e Arabi sopra descritti. Nonchè un peggioramento per la situazione Cubana ora al 165°posto.
L'Italia (44) e la Spagna (32) sembrano invece aver guadagnato qualche vittoria, anche la Colombia (126) dove pero nel 2007, sei furono i giornalisti assasinati e il media restano ancora soggetti alle forze armate.
_Questo è quanto ho potuto apprendere da una breve ricerca fatta in rete confrontando gli index anno dopo anno, leggendo entrambe i report degli anni 2002 e 2008.
Alcuni link, tante informazioni, paese per paese...
REPORTERS WITHOUT BORDERS, Annual Report
Worldwide Press Freedom Index Ranking
http://www.rsf.org
El periodismo debe mantener a la sociedad despierta... sacar la vida palpitante de los hechos y los pedacitos de verdad que hay en ellos. Y esto se logra con el ejercicio de la libertad.
Javier Dario Restrepo, miembro de medios para la paz
http://www.mediosparalapaz.org
Sunday, 16 November 2008
Changed Times
"We are talking about the G20 because the G8 doesn't have any more reason to exist, in other words, the emerging economies have to be taken into consideration in today's globalized world.
The existing multilateral organizations and the international rules in place were rejected by history. Both the IMF and the World Bank should open themselves to bigger participation of developing economies."
The existing multilateral organizations and the international rules in place were rejected by history. Both the IMF and the World Bank should open themselves to bigger participation of developing economies."
_LUIZ INACIO LULA DA SILVA, BRAZILIAN PRESIDENT_
(From BBC WORLD News)
Friday, 14 November 2008
Explaining War to Who Leaves in Peace II _ RIGHT TO SELF-DETERMINATION To TamiL Community in SRI LANKA
Sri Lanka is a multi-ethnic country, and an ancient centre of Buddhism. It also has a significant number of Hindus, Christians and Muslims.
For much of the last 20 years Sri Lanka has suffered fighting between the armed forces of the predominantly Sinhalese government and Tamil Tiger rebels who want an independent homeland in the north and east.
Because of the civil war more than 70,000 people have died so far. Now the army says victory is finally in sight.
Over the years war and the army has become a way of life for many families.
Fighting has become the best career option for young men.
The origins of the current violence go back to the island's independence from Britain in 1948.
Tensions developped between the majority Sinhalese community - who are mostly Buddhist - and the Tamil community who are mostly either Hindu or Roman Catholic.
The communities speak different languages - Sinhala and Tamil - and both claim their ancestors were original settlers on the island. Throughout the 1980s, 1990s and for parts of this decade, the country has witnessed a combination of Tamil Tiger suicide attacks on the one hand and repeated military skirmishes in the north and east on the other.
The violence over this time period has been interspersed by various international efforts to negotiate a peace settlement: technically the two sides are not at war despite the recent violence, as neither has formally withdrawn from a peace treaty signed in 2002.
Both the military and the Tamil Tigers have been frequently accused of gross violations of human rights by international rights groups.
Civilians have been routinely murdered and thousands made homeless by the years of war...
(From BBC WORLD News)
_I feel ashamed when I think of so many conflicts in the world whose reason has been lost through the time, and whose causes have stopped to be looked at!
When this happens we let things getting more complex until the solution becomes just impossible to see!
Ending War and sufferance in Sri Lanka should begin from recognizing the right to self-determination of Eezham Tamils and the integrity of their homeland...
For much of the last 20 years Sri Lanka has suffered fighting between the armed forces of the predominantly Sinhalese government and Tamil Tiger rebels who want an independent homeland in the north and east.
Because of the civil war more than 70,000 people have died so far. Now the army says victory is finally in sight.
Over the years war and the army has become a way of life for many families.
Fighting has become the best career option for young men.
The origins of the current violence go back to the island's independence from Britain in 1948.
Tensions developped between the majority Sinhalese community - who are mostly Buddhist - and the Tamil community who are mostly either Hindu or Roman Catholic.
The communities speak different languages - Sinhala and Tamil - and both claim their ancestors were original settlers on the island. Throughout the 1980s, 1990s and for parts of this decade, the country has witnessed a combination of Tamil Tiger suicide attacks on the one hand and repeated military skirmishes in the north and east on the other.
The violence over this time period has been interspersed by various international efforts to negotiate a peace settlement: technically the two sides are not at war despite the recent violence, as neither has formally withdrawn from a peace treaty signed in 2002.
Both the military and the Tamil Tigers have been frequently accused of gross violations of human rights by international rights groups.
Civilians have been routinely murdered and thousands made homeless by the years of war...
(From BBC WORLD News)
_I feel ashamed when I think of so many conflicts in the world whose reason has been lost through the time, and whose causes have stopped to be looked at!
When this happens we let things getting more complex until the solution becomes just impossible to see!
Ending War and sufferance in Sri Lanka should begin from recognizing the right to self-determination of Eezham Tamils and the integrity of their homeland...
Thursday, 13 November 2008
Explaining War To who Leaves in Peace _ ON THE CONFLICT IN CONGO
Nella Repubblica Democratica del Congo, Solo chi puo scappa, chi no muore... solo chi puo mangia, chi no muore... Solo chi ha le gambe corre, chi no resta e... muore. Solo chi ha il coraggio di resistere puo sperare in un destino diverso, chi no solo disperare. Penso all'inferno di questa donna, e che se ero nata in Congo questa donna oggi ero io....
"There was a lot of gunfire and 'mabombi'(explotions) I saw them die; and after seeing them I knew we had to run away or else we would also die with them.
We ran through the night in the dark for a long time [...] and we suffered until we arrived at this camp.
We arrived with nothing but ourselves but I thank God that my family are all together. We are sleeping outside. It is raining a lot.
Life is desperate at the camp; we are going through a very difficult time.
We keep being told that they [...] are bringing us food but up till now it hasn't arrived and so we haven't got any food.
What I fear most is an outbreak of disease because there are so many of us staying here, all together and so close to one another.
The other thing I really fear is rape because we are sleeping all over.
The army could rape us women. Other men could also rape us.
Of everything though, the only thing I am asking for is peace.
Peace is my first priority."
Anatasia Ndaonduye, 30 _Congolese
IN THE PICs: CONGO's CHILD SOLDIERS
Groups of children are being kidnapped and forced to fight in the Democratic Republic of Congo, bolstering rebel militia numbers.
As the violence in the region escalates, HAS THE RESTORATION OF PEACE BECOME AN IMPOSSIBLE TASK FOR UN FORCES?
From BBC WORLD News
Tuesday, 11 November 2008
Questions of Travel
Think of the long trip home.
Should we have stayed at home and thought of here?
Where should we be today?
Is it right to be watching strangers in a play
in this strangest of theatres?
What childishness is it that while there's a breath of life
in our bodies, we are determined to rush
to see the sun the other way around?
The tiniest green hummingbird in the world?
To stare at some inexplicable old stonework,
inexplicable and impenetrable,
at any view,
instantly seen and always, always delightful?
Oh, must we dream our dreams
and have them, too?
And have we room
for one more folded sunset, still quite warm?
But surely it would have been a pity
not to have seen the trees along this road...
...And never to have had to listen to rain
so much like politicians' speeches:
two hours of unrelenting oratory
and then a sudden golden silence
in which the traveller takes a notebook, writes:
"Is it lack of imagination that makes us come
to imagined places, not just stay at home?
Or could Pascal have been not entirely right
about just sitting quietly in one's room?
Continent, city, country, society:
the choice is never wide and never free.
And here, or there . . . No. Should we have stayed at home,
wherever that may be?"
Elizabeth Bishop
"Questions Of Travel"
Should we have stayed at home and thought of here?
Where should we be today?
Is it right to be watching strangers in a play
in this strangest of theatres?
What childishness is it that while there's a breath of life
in our bodies, we are determined to rush
to see the sun the other way around?
The tiniest green hummingbird in the world?
To stare at some inexplicable old stonework,
inexplicable and impenetrable,
at any view,
instantly seen and always, always delightful?
Oh, must we dream our dreams
and have them, too?
And have we room
for one more folded sunset, still quite warm?
But surely it would have been a pity
not to have seen the trees along this road...
...And never to have had to listen to rain
so much like politicians' speeches:
two hours of unrelenting oratory
and then a sudden golden silence
in which the traveller takes a notebook, writes:
"Is it lack of imagination that makes us come
to imagined places, not just stay at home?
Or could Pascal have been not entirely right
about just sitting quietly in one's room?
Continent, city, country, society:
the choice is never wide and never free.
And here, or there . . . No. Should we have stayed at home,
wherever that may be?"
Elizabeth Bishop
"Questions Of Travel"
Conforming to Uniforms
It' s not been a long time since I live in Japan and I don't how much longer I will be here either.
Every morning I take the 8 am train to Kyoto from the place I live. As every morning all platforms are full of people waiting for the train. As every morning all faces look just like the same as some other morning.
Ordered people, in ordered suits. Standing one next to the other.
With the same posture, office men and office ladies holding their bags.
All of them dressed in gray, black and white, but no one differs very much from another.
All of them apply to a uniform code, so true that you can find uniformed shirts in any 24 hours shop on the way.
All uniforms apply to a structural scheme.
Students, boys and girls of different schools, wear all different uniforms according to their grade.
Kids of 4 years old wear visible uncomfortable hats, all girls skirts, all guys pants.
Even the schoolbag is the same for everybody.
For anybody waiting for that train their uniform is their identity: it tells people around what's your role within the society.
Uniforms are not just about a dress code. Uniformed ways and manners are part of our social behavior. In Japan there are structured ways of doing things. When buying something you will assist to the same procedure of packaging, taking money, counting money. Also you will be asked the same questions with the exact same words you would have heard in a different shop or with a different costumer, any time you will enter a shop. You can try 10 thousands times per day.
There is no active communication. When The guy behind the counter is not actually talking to you, you start not listening to him either. There's no exchange. The only thing I see here is about accomplishing the procedure.
When waiting for the train every morning, I wander in which way I am starting conforming myself too. We can think of ourselves as much free as we like. By time it's a reality and passes for everybody.
The world around affects you, whoever you are.
And when thinking about how long I will be here still, I think it should not be too long...
Sunday, 9 November 2008
Friday, 7 November 2008
Those Who Dare
"IF we give up the fight, those currently in power win by default and the human rights situation will have little chance of improving much. But if we keep pushing, keep protesting, we can nudge the government, and the other authorities to accept the changes needed to produce a brighter human rights condition for all."_Chua Tian Chang
"IN every era there are always those who will struggle for freedom... they will be rejected, bullied, humiliated, imprisoned and even killed. These freedom-fighters crawl along a narrow path. But in the end, those who follow will widen the path into a a broad avenue. Freedom-fighters may rot physically, but their courage and commitment will enhance human civilization and last forever.
Freedom-fighters don't belong to today, but they will leave on tomorrow."_Shih Ming-teh
(From Those Who Dare, Voices of Asian Democrats)
Whenever talking about freedom and human rights, democratization is a concept that comes along. There is no doubt on good effect of democracy, but the- ation suffix implies a process than when applied to some other country, its people and society, it is not far from being some other sort of imposition.
On this regard we must reflect on if and how that principle of freedom does still exist. All in all, it's a matter of ethic. And escape the issue is not at all that easy.
But when the process is started by those same people and societies the democratiz-ation will affect, then we have freedom and real chances that through it people will come to a real understanding of human needs and peace as one of those .
Thanks to those who stand up and fight, who energize the creative power of ideas.
Chiara Cirillo, author of this blog
"IN every era there are always those who will struggle for freedom... they will be rejected, bullied, humiliated, imprisoned and even killed. These freedom-fighters crawl along a narrow path. But in the end, those who follow will widen the path into a a broad avenue. Freedom-fighters may rot physically, but their courage and commitment will enhance human civilization and last forever.
Freedom-fighters don't belong to today, but they will leave on tomorrow."_Shih Ming-teh
(From Those Who Dare, Voices of Asian Democrats)
Whenever talking about freedom and human rights, democratization is a concept that comes along. There is no doubt on good effect of democracy, but the- ation suffix implies a process than when applied to some other country, its people and society, it is not far from being some other sort of imposition.
On this regard we must reflect on if and how that principle of freedom does still exist. All in all, it's a matter of ethic. And escape the issue is not at all that easy.
But when the process is started by those same people and societies the democratiz-ation will affect, then we have freedom and real chances that through it people will come to a real understanding of human needs and peace as one of those .
Thanks to those who stand up and fight, who energize the creative power of ideas.
Chiara Cirillo, author of this blog
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