A pre-election Mai first in Antwerp

There are important elections in Belgium in a couple of weeks, thus the first of Mai is a good day to gather the democratic, progressive forces in Belgium. These four women are all top of a list. But the first of Mai also has a tradition of being international... People from Chile have been a long time part of each parade, but ow also musician from all over Europe end  some from Africa contribute to the festive atmosphere of the day. Some private people along the route have contributed by signs or window dressings. The record shop had a full window with records about solidarity and struggle for a better world.

Several themes of the march were social justice and not paying more taxes as a cleaning lady than a large corporation. Of course local issues were also part of this day.

 This is a protest against the solution the current, rather conservative and extremely Flemish Mair has chosen to make it 'easier' driving around Antwerp on the Freeway. Odd word, since it is never free but always stuck... There are much more sound solutions that the awful BAM Tracé which would create 18 lanes, going along schools, spewing their fine dust around schools and hospitals, polluting the city. I hope that once in the booth to vote, people will not follow the populists who are spreading fear and values I cannot share.

70 Hopi Katsinam friends in auction - continued...

Yesterday I explained a bit why these Friends should not be auctioned off but returned to the Hopi Nation.

One should be aware that the items to be auctioned by Néret-Minet are religious artifacts, cultural property and considered by the Hopi people to be stolen goods. As I explained yesterday these objects have a deep spiritual meaning and are extremely important to the continuation of Hopi religion. The well-being of the Hopi people depends also on them in the long run. If someone years ago has bought these items then  one should be aware that whomever had those items in custody sa only the caretaker of those items and not the owner. That person had no legal authority to sell them. These Katsinam masks are community property as well as cultural property. By law and custom these items are not mere old religious paraphernalia. The spirit of the beings they represent is contained in them. Translated from Hopi language, they are Friends and can never be personal property. I am convinced that American law, if not international law protect just this kind of items. When a few weeks ago catholic items were robbed from a church in Hungary, there followed an outcry that these old object are not art objects, but items used in religious ceremonies. It is truly important that these Hopi Friends be returned home to the Hopi religious societies that have always been and still are responsible for the welfare and care-taking of these Masks and other objects. I hope the auction house well engage in a dialog with the Hopis so that these Friends can be repatriated to the appropriate Hopi religious society. I only now begin to understand what it means to have a structured worldview with different societies and clans each fulfilling a function within the whole of Hopi and the world according to a strict calendar where time and space is linked and thus forms the religious ceremonial cycle.  And don’t think it is all sullen and serious….  Hopi like to laugh and talk and joke.  In Hopi culture there are no medicine men. Hopi have healers, often specializing in broken bones or broken spirits… To mend broken spirits the communal ceremonies are important and for that all the Katsinam need to come home. I add a declaration of the Hopi Nation:
          "Pursuant to ARTICLE VI –POWERS OF THE TRIBAL COUNCIL, SECTION 1, (k) CONSTITUTION AND BY-LAWS OF THE HOPI TRIBE, the Hopi Tribe/Hopi Cultural Preservation Office, of Arizona, USA, strongly opposes any sale of Hopi religious objects, described by your auction house as “70 Katsinam masks of the Hopi Indians of Arizona…”.  These Katsina friends are sacred objects and objects of cultural patrimony held under religious custody by the Hopi people:
                "It is our position that these sacred objects should have never left the jurisdiction of the Hopi Tribe.  Also, no Hopi has any right or authority to transfer and sell these items currently in your possession as they are considered cultural patrimony.
                "Religious objects such as these, have no commercial value.  It is our position that no one, other than a Hopi tribal member, has a right to possess these ceremonial objects.
                "You are urgently asked to take these item off your auction and inform your clients that the Hopi tribe does not approve of them being auctioned off.  Rather, we urge you and your clients to make immediate contact with the Hopi Cultural Preservation Office to begin respectful discussions to return them back to the tribe.
                "You may also know that the country of France, was among the first nations to sign the United Nations Declaration on Indigenous Rights.  Your auction house needs to respect this important international recognition of indigenous and Hopi rights.
                "Thank you for your consideration of our position on this matter.”

                Leigh J, Kuwanwisiwma, Director, Hopi Cultural Preservation Office, Hopi Tribe

Antifascist reflections I

Seeing last night a TV item about the Flemish National Sing-along in Antwerp I felt my stomach tighten. I saw the usual suspects from nva and it's unloved mayor sitting brotherly side by side with the Vlaams Belang (former Flemish Block. Looking at the images I saw faces of people I have spoken with and realized how insidious nationalism can be. Good five-thousand people opened thousandfold their throat in unison. If it were mere folklore, I might not feel so uncomfortable with it. Yet this singing is a political signal:" Flemish independence is no luxury" What? It foolishness, a luxury we cannot afford. In Kenya today there are elections and there too are two ethnic, linguistic groups. Last elections 1300 people died in the uproar. In Belgium it are not the people who die, but the state which is slaughtered. After the last general elections, you'll remember over 555 day's of negotiations were needed to find a livable compromise. If however Flanders would be independent, we would have an outbreak of pestilent nationalism. The flags and banner-waving, the strange uniforms reminiscent of a certain WWII faction, I saw it all on TV.

What about working together, being an open society, inclusive and working for peace and a clean environment having friends who speak other languages, even languages one doesn't understand, broadens the mind. Antwerp is great city, being taken down by a faction of the Flemish ruling class, but with these people I can only imagine dystopian futures...

The magnificent chaos and women's lives

The magnificent chaos and women’s lives is to me the perfect title for a page about a contemporary female writer from India. The most famous author is without doubt Arundhati Roy. With her debut novel ‘God of small things’ she won the Booker prize in 1997. At the last count the book had been translated into 40 languages. The book is set in Kerala, India. She uses her own experiences as to what it is like to grow up in Kerala. Interestingly it is the place in the world where all the world religions/ideologies coincide: Christianity (her mother was Christian), Hinduism, Marxism and Islam.  One could call the book a tale of the decline and fall of an Indian family. Through a mixture of past and present, we learn about the night of Sophie Mol’s death. The book begins in 1969 when the twins are 7. They never have really grown up and still live in a world of their own making. The characters are exactly that: a character: the elegant grandmother, scheming Baby Kochamma, the house servant, the charming uncle, an Oxford educated Marxist taking over the family pickling business and of course ruining it. The untouchable carpenter is the only one who can influence life and not just accept it as it comes… When I read the book in 1997 I loved it for its sheer luxury of language: language like a Cirque du Soleil exuberant balancing acts, sharp and funny, metaphors and strange riddles and nonsense rhymes, nuanced and convoluted… I would love to quote from the book alas, somebody is reading it since a couple of years and I forgot who has the book…  Read the book, after all the drama, there is also a residue of tenderness and happiness that will stay with you after you closed the book. Take this roller coaster ride.

 Suzanna Arundhati Roy was born on the 24^th of November 1961. Her father was a Bengali Hindu tea planter, who was not really part of her life. She left home at the age of 16, living precariously in a squatter’s colony in Delhi. She was trained as an architect, and wrote two screenplays for films. She used the proceeds of her prize and book to become a full time social activist using her writing skills for political essays. She wanted to make a difference. Sadly she lost the fight against a large dam as construction started in 2003. Sometimes the bulldozer is mightier than the pen. She also is a travel writer, before going on holiday to India, look for travel books….

The unacceptable

Racism, war, molesting little girls or boys, exploitation of another person, poverty, ruining the planet, Leonard Peltier still in jail, capital punishment... all unacceptable. Our feelings wake up. And I realize that all of this has to do with our values and the judgments based on these values. Yet there is also the unacceptable within myself: traits I don’t like, anger I don’t  want to feel, the dark shadow shrouding my soul, my very private hurts, shortcomings, my darker hidden self which stems from hurt... In the Western world these values are more or less shared  yet abortion, euthanasia, same sex marriage is not accepted in all layers of western population or even illegal in some countries. The more issues are seen as unacceptable, the greater intolerance will become within any given society or political system and thus opposing groups will form. Often the questioning of these shared values will not be tolerated because these values lend an illusionary sense of security. Thus authoritarian attitudes and routine dictate the course of life, suffocating creativity, change, innovation and even our freedom of expression. And still, with all the rules that should be followed, it are always the girls and women who should be decent, less ambitious, not too loud, not too much make up... Actually they are often not allowed to dream or follow their dreams. When young children are killed, we, as a world community know, we feel that this is unacceptable, we grieve with the parents and have to think about how our society functions. Assault weapons are to me unacceptable in the hands of any civilian. Thou shall not kill! Now I have a lot of friends with revolvers, guns, rifles, even uzi’s... I don’t understand the need, nor the fascination of it. I also think of Gaza, of Syria, of  my sister in law’s sun wounded severely in Iraq training paramedics... How many lives lost, maimed. To me violence is unacceptable in whatever guise. Peace on earth always means no war! The light returns... A happy, peaceful New Year to all.

American elections - I voted early and you?

Being an ex-pat I voted early from abroad and yes I voted for Obama. I must admit it was with a bit less of enthusiasm than the first time. I have signed many petitions to the president, some of which he has taken on board, others not. My main reason to vote for him is that we share more of a caring approach, a world view for society than I will ever share with the other candidate. Climate change is at least acknowledged and thought about. The fact that in Arizona reproductive rights for women are not in the health insurance package but Viagra is, says something about the other party. Being a woman, the only to vote for me is Obama. With democrats we have the chance that we can autonomously decide about reproductive issues without an employer being able to influence what is included in one's health insurance. That is a personal issue and should not be taken away from women. I also thank the president for standing for GLTB rights. My beef with Obama is that, although less of a hawk than his opponent, although he has ended the Iraq war, for which I am grateful, he still uses drones and signs for each attack with them. And of course capital punishment in my heart, mind and soul is wrong. Not granting presidential pardons, commuting the sentences of people on death row is a lost opportunity. Yet I am deeply convinced that Obama is better for the world and the USA and that better options for good possible futures for all might be open.

The ugly face of flemish nationalism

I am compelled to write about politics today. In Belgium there where communal elections and in Flanders' biggest city Antwerp he, whose name I don't want to give more google hits, won. The arrogant, aggressive, power hungry bully declared "The city is ours"... Ours? A non-inclusive city, with strict separations between who is part of 'us' and who is not? No way. The city's slogan used to be "The city belongs to everybody", an inclusive idea which worked. Commentators say it is good that 'he' won since the extreme right lost half their votes. A good thing it is not: The extreme right was a clear enemy, surrounded by a 'sanitarian cordon' meaning that no other party would govern a town with them. According to their own figures his party, the N-VA, has 21 % people who came from the 'Vlaams Belang' (former Flemish Bloc) embedded in its list. According to vlaams belang even 40%. So the extreme right becomes salonfähig and thus invisible in its workings. The leader who won was biting in his speeches, merciless in his moment of victory. He and his supporters marched loudly as a mob to the town hall, almost storming it, claiming it theirs. The man lost half his weight in a short time with a crash diet. He not only cuts a sharp image now a days but he is even sharper and ruder than before. He declared the local elections to be a preview for the next elections in 2014, when he hopes Belgium will be turned into a loose confederation. Flemish Chocolate? Walloon steel? To me that would be an aberration since I perceive there is something like 'Belgitude': Magritte, Ensor, Absurdity, 13 dog breeds, a joie de vivre. The storming of the town hall, the physical demonstration of their power is over the edge of democratic behavior. Oh how sad it is to be an aging hippie, living in an non-inclusive society where rudeness and aggression is rewarded. Ugliness rules. All the efforts to keep Antwerp a lively town with not to many cars and car free walking streets will also be undone with parkings in front of the Rubens' house and the Town square, two places where now one can walk around, go for a drink and relax, talk with friends.

With N-VA as the leading party there can be no relaxation. We all need to be vigilant and live our values, whatever may come, lest we end up in the capital of Dystopia.

Breathless in Antwerp

City life can be really dusty. Especially fine dust is a real killer. In many European countries the freeway is still cutting cities in half, causing noise pollution and also a lot of fine dust being spread through the cities, causing lung problems. There are communal elections coming up. The aim of today's gathering was to raise awareness and to ask people to vote for one of the four parties - ranging from a pro industry party - called 'liberals' but not in the American understanding of the word - to the greens and a left wing party involved in health service 'medicine for the people'. In Antwerp there are two contenders to become Mayor, yet none of them were present, nor seem they to be interested it what is a very important issue. Covering the ring, making a tunnel, for the 300.000 cars a day which impact over 300.000 inhabitants would provide cleaner air. The citizens would breathe better and be healthier. The city expects 100.000 new inhabitants: schools, kindergartens, social housing all has to be build. In covering the ring, a green lung for the city would be created and new space where the urgently needed provisions could arise. The through traffic would be lead around the city in what is called the Meccano plan. To show support for the plan four poets read, among whom the former City Poet Laureate, speeches were delivered by Ademloos founder Wim van Hees and Manu Claeys from StRaten generaal. People were invited to bring a pick nick, and while I blog tango is being danced on top of the Craeybecks-tunnel  where the whole action is held in pleasant green surroundings.

At the canal to the left - Bij het kanaal naar links

The play by Alex Van Warmerdam is a co-production between Toneelhuis ( Belgium) and Orkater (The Netherlands). When I bought the tickets for the performances, the person on the phone said: Oh you will enjoy that one. As it is: I feel bewildered, dissatisfied, wondering... The content: two families (one consisting of four people: mother, father, brother Machien, sister Angelique and the other just a father and son Lucien) have a feud since a few generations. Living in dystopian times the mother, seen the father hasn't been paid for a long time, and the son of the other family look for cooperation setting in motion a chain of events. From a depressed woman, she becomes strong while the policeman father grows weaker and grayer. Machien hates the other family for not being of pure blood. The two families are the only six white people left, Angelique being 'the only fertile female'. Under the bridge are the Congolese, to the east 'the pretty but dark' Iranians, to the south the gypsies and Mongolians and along the canal 'it is black with people and who knows where they are from'. Luciens plan is to make a child with Anglique. The mother brokers the deal. After the suggested intercourse, she goes home, embraces her brother who kills her. End of play. People, also the bunch of young boys from an out of town school who had chosen this as a cultural activity laughed. I failed to appreciate the jokes. The play was what a classical play and listening to other theater goers on the way out, it seems I was not the only one to be dumbfounded. A strange effect of the co-production was that in each of the families there was one character speaking the Flemish variant of Dutch which puzzled me for a while what it mean, why...
The introduction was right: I quote: I see a full house. It happens outside, but all of you came here. I don't know whether you made the right choice. I suggest you lower your expectations.
A last positive remark: the actors did a great job in the performance and the school boys were giggly after the suggested intercourse and having seen naked breasts...

Capital punishment

Further information on UA: 176/12
Issue Date: 28 June 2012
Country: USA

ARIZONA CARRIES OUT USA’S 1300TH EXECUTION
Sammy Lopez was executed in the US state of Arizona on 27 June for a murder committed in 1986. Samuel Villegas Lopez (known as Sammy Lopez) was sentenced to death for the murder in October 1986 of Estefana Holmes, a 59-year-old woman. The details of the defendant’s background of extreme poverty and severe childhood abuse and its effects on him were not presented to the sentencing judge, either at the 1987 trial or at the 1990 re-sentencing.

The execution reportedly ended at 10:37am, about 40 minutes after the lethal injection process began with the insertion of intravenous tubes into the condemned man’s veins.

This was the 23rd execution in the USA this year, and the 1300th since the USA resumed judicial killing in 1977. Arizona has carried out 32 of these executions, four of them this year.
Name: Samuel Villegas Lopez (m)
Issue(s): Death penalty

I signed the petition not to execute Troy Davis and also for Samuel Villegas Lopez. The death penalty is contrary to the right to life. It is an affront to human rights. No democracy should have capital punishment as a normal means of dealing with convicted felons. It is sad to state that the convictions to death penalty are riddled by all kinds of ills: human error, economic or racial bias. Since I am a part time resident of Arizona, I feel the need to speak out, because this execution was not carried out in my name. It is my ethical obligation to speak out against the death penalty.
A figure to make us think: with 1300 death penalties since 1973, 138 people have afterwards been exonerated: that is over 10 percent of the executions. That is an inadmissible margin of error.
For claiming to be a civilized and democratic country the USA is one of the five most executing nations. We should be the 140th nation to end executions. Stop capital punishment now.

There now over 3200 people on death row. With the above said margin of error that would constitute over 330 innocents: to me that is mass murder. End capital punishment, now.

Walk of fame II -Startiing with Kermit the Frog

The stars on Hollywood Boulevard: 2000 of them are interesting, some names remind us of good times, fine music, great acting, wonderful locations like the Kodac theater and the colorful Capitan.

All is for sale:

Rocket launchers and arsenals for private wars.
Machine guns, grenades, hand guns and of course pepper spray.
 Frilly underwear for more personal power games. I saw the woman I never became, shoes I could never wear.

 The divide in society is enormous, one sees the rich, the 1% and the players, the people trying to be that and those lost by the wayside, the 99%. Some sleeping rough, eating out of the thrown away food in garbage cans. Some wear their plight with dignity, but sleeping in doorways with just a blanket and a plastic bag with meager belongings shouldn't be a normal view in any town.

 Scientology and churches in general are prominently present. All denominations are represented.
Luckily there is a lot of creativity like in this nice mural where the seated audience looks at the strollers, the flaneurs of the boulevard.

Syrian poet and blogger jailed again - WIPC

The Writers in Prison Committee of PEN International and Pen Flanders fears for the safety of poet and blogger Dia’a Al-Abdullah, who was arrested on 13 February 2012 from his home in Asswaida by the Air Forces secret services after writing an open letter to the Syrian President. Al-Abdullah remains detained incommunicado at an unknown location, and is considered to be at serious risk of torture and ill-treatment. Concerns for his welfare are acute.

According to PEN’s information, Dia’a Al-Abdullah was arrested on 13 February 2012 when security forces raided his house after he published on his Facebook page an open letter entitled As A Syrian Citizen I Announce in which he demanded that the President step down in order to prevent further bloodshed.

Al-Abdullah was previously detained and interrogated for his writing on 29 June 2011. He was held incommunicado until his release on 13 January 2012. After his release, Al-Abdullah reported that he was subjected to severe torture during his detention.

Al-Abdullah was also arrested in 1999 and held for one year without trial or charge after publishing collection of poems.

A sample of his poetry follows, which was written during his previous imprisonment in 2011 http://deyaalabdalla.maktoobblog.com/recent-posts:

The crypt

Violence is
the means of people:

The jailor kills me with a sword
I answer with a word,
and he sets my pages alight

Oh God
I burn the cigarettes of these days
in my cell
My heart is the fifth wall;
I set it alight

Eid is coming
And it will bring
Only bad tobacco to smoke,
so I leave it aside

You promised
my heart would be made only for love;
now I am so enraged
– save me,
cover my heart with tenderness
Make it strong,
Offer him a touch
… a laugh …

The world has passed beneath me
And this place is the most terrible of all
I have begun to embrace
the sun of exhaustion

So, this is my homeland;
I became its enemy
by speaking out

Speaking out brings pain –
but how can we not?

My homeland,
if it were not for you
I would not be so brave,

and so:
they will not break me

My homeland,
I touch your hands
from behind bars

This child is a prisoner now,
and my mother screams:
Will no one bring down this oppressor?

I am strong
I scream
My mother

Translated from the Arabic by Ghias Aljundi , with Mitchell Albert


Background
Anti-government protests were sparked in mid-March 2011 and have since spread across the country. Mass arrests have taken place and security officers have responded to the continuing protests with excessive force, using tear gas and live bullets to disperse demonstrators, and bombarding opposition stronghold areas with mortar bombs and rockets. Thousands of civilians have been killed and many more wounded.  Protestors continue to demand political reform and to call upon President Bashar al-Assad to step down. Syrian authorities continue to suppress these protests with force, often indiscriminately, despite promises to end the violence.

With the internet and media already severely curtailed in recent years, the Syrian authorities have imposed even greater restrictions on freedom of expression and assembly in reaction to recent events. Most foreign reporters and correspondents have been asked to leave the country and access to any independent media is denied. 

Please send a letter inquiring about his wellbeing to  the Syrian Embassy in your country.
Pen Flanders

Superintendent of Big upper Branch of Massey indited

 In June last year while in Beckley, West Viginia, I met Delbert, one of the people from the shift of which 29 miners died on April 5th, 2010.

He was kind enough to take the time to show the memorials and talk about the substandard safety and working conditions ( at least in European eyes). On his helmet the record longwall 100 feet retreat in 24 hours... Without roof support, without trade unions. Now one Gary May has been indited for falsifying safety records and for sing code words tiping of the miners underground  if a surprise inspection came.. It is obvious that the way the mine worked was to get as much coal out as possible and not cutting only coal but also cutting corners  and having to work in unsafe circumstances. Maybe this brings closure for the families, maybe safety in all mines will be improved because of this gruesome disaster.
Thank you again Delbert for sharing your story.

There must be something wrong...

There must be something wrong, boys! ( and girls, of course!)

 Translation of an Appeal for a more democratic  and creative Antwerp...

Venting your opinion in a public space in the city of Antwerp becomes a difficult exercise. Occupy participants get ‘Administrative Communal Fines’ (GAS-fines) because they use city squares for their gatherings. Women who called out loud ‘shame’ twice because the old Linden trees were chopped off on the de Keizerlei are immediately arrested. The doctors from ‘Health for the People’ (Geneeskunde voor het Volk) are presented with a GAS-fine because of an action about the flu vaccine. Critical Mass on their cycle tours get super controls and are handed super fines by the police. And then we don’t even mention 2060 around De Coninck square, about what happens there when you loiter a bit long or if you, what a shame, drink a beer in public.

Is this the city of free speech? Is this the city where public space can be used to proclaim one’s opinion and what has happened to free movement? Is this the city were citizens may be critical in their remarks? What is the intention?

Were are artists and thus very sensitive if critical thought is shackled, if free thought is threatened. Out of freedom come our artistic possibilities. When citizens are silenced, then space is taken away from the artist to think and to act. These things go hand in hand. Repressive governance endangers every creative soul and undermines democracy.

This concern leads to our urgent request to the city council and administration to change its policy and to give back the public space to thinking and creative inhabitants. Antwerp, with the harbor as a gate to the world, cannot afford to have a narrow-minded attitude towards the ‘other voice’. This gate has to remain open, thoughts must be able to confront and encounter one another. Let the squares and streets of this city remain a meeting place for variation in thinking, which is the basis of each healthy democracy. We should not be worried and fear that the city government will take away our democratic rights, do we?

The GAS-fines? Make them disappear in the shredder.

Critical Mass. Let them cycle.

Occupy people? Grant them free speech.

Healing doctors? Let them give free vaccinations.

Ladies and Gentlemen? Let them shout.

Visitors of squares? Let them go about their business and meet each other.

Artists? Let them dream.
This city should not suffocate in a long AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

John Sinclair

John Sinclair performs on tour with a band. The band plays according to the lyrics spoken. A lot of the poetry is influenced by Jazz, so we were treated with Monk, a bit of Coltrane, good old blues... and the words which flowed. The band prepares and then plays a set of songs, lyrics by Ken Post. After the break, after a moment of stillness and concentration, poet-activist, icon of American sub-culture performs. A love poem with a twist, a poem about being on the road and in jail with the beau of his mother and making money because the prison guards loved their performance and brought them out every night to another club.

Strong
moving
to the point
surprising
love
and struggle
freedom
and all that...
Here you see the band, Lenny on the sax had his work cut out for him.

A fun night, without any of the tediousness of officialdom.
Honest en open jazzy poetry.
If  you have a chance to see John Sinclair perform, do go and listen.
It will warm the cockles of your heart.
Read the history of his struggle for the freedom to get high.

Occupy in Antwerp

 It was a beautiful fall day. Those not part of the 1% showed up in all its variety: Old politico's, alternative lifestyles, blond dread locked Rastafarian, between 7 and 10 police man in civilian clothes, at least two undercover guys and a bunch of policemen in uniform, babies, old friends, musicians, people with a tamburin, a djembe

Also people showing and flying their colors, showing what is on their mind and of course a stand with badges and some vegan food. The mood was serene, warm, meeting again people one hadn't seen in thirty years when we already marched and demonstrated together.

Discussion and dance, a motley crew taking a stance and for justice, for a better democracy, brighter futures for the kids, non-violent explorations of alternate ideas and a deep distrust towards the machinations and power of the corporations: in short a duty, a call for a world in which 99% have a voice.

Worldwide day against war also at salon 12b

 Whatever small gesture, one has to do what one can to denounce the horrors of war in all its facets. A bunch of poets held a reading at salon 12b. Poems about old wars and new situations, an eyewitness song about 9/11, intimate readings about light and fire and loud performance supported by music... The next performance will be on 9/11 in Casa Louisa in Hoboken and then there will be the 2nd European Festival of Poetry September 17/201 in Antwerp, in the Permeke lbrary at 8PM. There will be a special anti war performance under the name of the Moorsoldaten.
The poets featured here will also be there...


 Here you see Fred Schywek and Bart Stouten reading the Hama poem I have posted before, the rhythm flowed apart and together, beautiful performance.

Here you see the current city poet laureate of Antwerp Peter Holvoet-Hanssen on the harmonica, one of the attributes which is always near at hand in a reading.

The first verse of what he will perform on the 17th...

 Pain of War

    (background: Flemish traditional: drie schuin tamboers, die kwamen uit het Oosten)

I  marched by the most abhorrent horrors to the youngest anguishing wail

From the 25.000 throats of Béziers – in solidarity with the Cathars

I swept over pyres – over blood and the stench in the streets

rimbombo, rimbombo, I drummed in the rue Rivoli

danced on a flamethrower with fixed-bayonet

with the 15-inch-Howitser hewing at the cold

over Brandhoek, Ieper, Hellblast Corner, no-man’s land

ay the muster gas scorched us off the world

I sank down next to G. E. Ellison, lancer who fell last

mixed myself in the intercourse and rooted

in forgotten graves – Solferino, time upon time

 

Debate on climate change, culture and art

The panel

 

Plastic bag for culture, yet biodegradable

I went to listen to a debate about ecology and culture. Basically the question was 'what can the cultural sector do to prevent climate change which, when nothing is done, will make children sick in about 20 years'. There is a radical solution: Insulate your house, don’t eat meat or fish, don’t fly and in 20 years we would have avoided that the temperature would go up with the fatal 2°C. I learned that working half an hour equals drinking a glass of water. Each worth one unit, and the bad news is: one person has only 40 units per day for a good ecological footprint. Many solutions are at best tentative or even misleading. I try to buy organic and fair trade food and products, I have paid to carbon offset flights but it seems that is not the right system. Many artists have renovated their house in order to leave a smaller footprint, some installed solar power, others make artwork with low ecological impact. As a poet and literary translator I wonder whether I do have to feel guilty for using my laptop extensively, for using a lot of paper to check in print for mistakes. I wonder that people speak about not eating meat or fish, not flying, making tickets more expensive but don’t really deal with social injustice or the cost of war, cost in lives, in destruction, in pollution by the heavy armored tanks, the war planes. I wonder what the ecological cost is of war. Or is war just considered to be a branch of polluting industry? And if you want to know how I went to this debate: I walked, I shared one cup of coffee (bio & fair trade) and connected to people.

The Love Parade: One year later

I couldn't do a better post than what you find here, posted by Fred Schywek, honoring the people who died. Silence and respect and yes the Mayor Adolf Sauerland has to go. You can follow the memorial service at /www.nrw.de/. Warning: Probably these links in German will only function during about a week.

Het motregent verdriet

massaal in de wereld gezet

stilaan worden we allemaal

nat

Love parade

Duisburg
 *

One year after the Love Parade disaster, I see and hear the sorrow in others as it lives on, as it is brought back in all its vividness by the memory of fear for loved ones.

Sorrow brings loneliness. The only connection possible is one is held physically and feels supported. So memorials are a help. Survivors see their pain acknowledged, realize that others people know and understand that the survivors are still suffering in body and/or soul of the consequences of that fateful day. People who lost their loved ones can feel the solidarity and understanding of a mass of strangers and maybe just a feel a touch comforted by it. Twenty one people died, yet one young woman was pregnant. So a father to be lost two, just as grandparents lost a child and grandchild at once because of sloppy planning in the organization of the event. I understand the anger one feels at the dignitaries of Duisburg who refuse to take personal responsibility and refuse to leave their post. The kids just wanted a day of fun and dance and partying and they didn't find the joy of life, but panic and pain and death. Those who survived and the witnesses to the drama who were powerless to do more than what they did- some saving a life- some being wounded or unconscious and saved by a turn of fate are not yet healed.

It is three days after the bomb in Oslo, after the shooting of young people on a Nordic island, where they came together to look into ways on how to make a better, more just world.

It is Sunday and sadness reigns.

San Francisco Mime Troupe

       In the Dolores park the San Francisco Mime Troupe  offered a free play in the park. The Troupe has been performing their old style type political theater for 53 years: Death to the pigs! The fascist capitalist conglomerates, accepting money from the 'wrong side' is being a whore of the corporations. The singing and dancing is professional. The audience consists of colorful and happy people and pets. Pick nicks and wine and water, chairs and pillows, make shift  blankets, music and fun. Here two flower-children discuss  the task of the mayor to come.

View of the fog drifting into the bay as seen from Twin Peaks