bicyclemark

Smile As You Destroy Their Democracy

There list of hypocracies and deadly inconsistancies continues to grow between Israel and Palestine.
sit ubu sit, good dog. On this blog I’ve been very vocal at the distress I felt seeing the international community demand elections in Palestine, and then slapping them with financial and political penalties for party they elected.
As I’ve said so often: you (nations) may not like Hamas, but you can’t just refuse to acknowledge their legitimacy because you didn’t want them to win.

But thats old news. The hypocracies I’ve been watching tonight on this late night CNN that I sometimes turn on, are of a whole new dimension. Apparently, if CNN can manage to report something accurately, the Israeli Army has bombed the Palestinian Interior Ministry, offices of FATAH (the former governing party) and offices of Hamas (the recently elected party in power).
Putting aside, if at all possible, the hostile moves such as the kidnapping of Israeli soldiers, on the part of some vaguely named Palestinian extremist group, what kind of statement does this look like from the Israeli government and the western powers that support it, financially and politically.
Will they really soon recognize a Palestinian state? If so, will they then proceed to bomb the government buildings whenever they deem it necessary? How is that respecting democracy and being committed to dialogue?
Of course there are radical elements on both sides that commit crimes. But it seems extra baffling to see that the most violent (with the most capacity for carrying out violent attacks) and the most radical of the groups involved is in fact the Israeli government’s own military!

And once again, before all this destruction, signs and statements that Hamas is changing and can be counted on to participate in dialogue.

All this darkness…. that’s it.. I’m hitching a ride to Paris for the weekend.

Cuban Doctor Blog Goes Missing

Some kind of post-Berlin lack of energy depression is effecting everything I do lately. Not sure the cause yet, though experts seem to agree.. sleep would help. But before I try to head off to sleep at a slightly more reasonable hour than normal, I wanted to share some disturbing news that Warwick of Nimbin radio alerted me to in the comments yesterday.

You may recall a few weeks ago I did a podcast on the troubles in East Timor, during which I referred to a few bloggers who are working there. One of them was a Cuban Doctor, working in Timor. His blog, written in Spanish, was one of my particular favorites for its honest observations and especially for the photos. The latest of which were particularly graphic with the many injured in the recent violence. Fingers missing, bloody headwounds, etc… as he described “the pain” in his own words:

El dolor no se siente por la TV, ni tampoco se puede percibir a través de la mejor de las fotos… el dolor se siente solamente en uno mismo…

His blog has recently gone down. Seemingly, someone has taken it down, perhaps even he himself. But why, I still don’t know. I emailed the author – Alexis – wishing him well and thanking him for his work. I generally hope he is ok, perhaps it’s nothing more than the Cuban authorities telling him those images and stories are not allowed to be shared through a blog. That at least would be better than hearing something bad happened to him physically or mentally. Naturally I also hope his blogging resumes, somehow, somewhere, as his first hand testimony was far better than much of what one finds in the big media outlets.

Fortunately for those who use RSS, his feed still works and you can read some of the text and some of the images. I’ve saved a few for my own records, so that his blog lives on, in some form.

Less Reality For the News Reports

Back in action here in soggy and cool Amsterdam. As I catch up with my news feeds, I notice, especially in respectable sources like Germany’s Spiegel online, a dominance of world cup related stories. Where once they addressed issues regarding people’s lives around the world, since the world cup began it is endless “match reports” and photo shows of who lost against who. And while I realize my blog has had a little of that lately, I expect better from respected news sources that people depend on to know what is happening and why, in the world around them.

It actually reminds me of a conversation I had with a friend in Berlin who works for a very respected news radio network there. Normally my friend researches and records segments regarding the lives of immigrants in Germany and the issues that are of major concern in those communities. – An important line of reporting, needless to say, to give voice to the often voiceless.

Yet as I sat having lunch with my friend, I was told about how since the Cup began, her bosses have turned many of her pieces away. Making “room” for world cup related content, they told her. Nevermind which children’s school is in a state of chaos or dissaray, we need to hear more from fans who have painted their chests in black, yellow, and red.

I tried to console my friend by mentioning a little sign I saw in many extra-alternative cafes near the Kastanien Allee, which read: “world cup free zone”. These places looked empty, but admist all the obsession and ignoring of real things happening to suffering and struggling people everywhere, a world cup free zone might do us all some good.

Bad Things Happen in Nuremberg

Someone needs to make a musical version of tonight’s Portugal versus Netherlands match. I hate talking sports, but in this case we are talking musical theater. Like West Side Story meets Hamlet. Actually maybe not Hamlet.

It had everything… drama, dance, anger, love, and an insane Russian referee. Fantastic! All that’s missing is the music and we can take this show to broadway. If you didn’t see the match, go find it on bittorent, it’s not a sport, it is a show worthy of Andrew Lloyd Weber. 2 thumbs up!

bmtv11 Berlin Intellectual Football Viewing

While in Berlin, Tim invited me to see Germany play…. from a former bath house in a very cool area. It was a very unique and truely Berlin experience.

Watch the Video

Angola, Iran… and Poof Its Over.

I’ve been slow to post because life in Berlin was like a vacuum of time. No matter what time it was, I was supposed to be going somewhere to see something or someone.

Not that I’m complaining; it so happens that I have some of the finest friends a guy could have waiting for me in Berlin whenever I’m up for a visit. They’re so influencial, I now have a new city I might one day like to live in. (I can hear my mom gasping already)

But summaries and additional stories will come soon, as well as getting back to real issues instead of the world cup distraction from reality. First I want to talk briefly of my visit to Leipzig to see Angola take on Iran.

My intention is not to talk about the game itself. You can read sports blogs for that crap. But I do want to talk about the people… fans.. as some call them. It was already exciting to be seeing a world cup match, in Germany, in a city was part of old East Germany. But to be seated amongst so many Iranian supporters, and a few sections over from a huge crowd of Angolans… it was quite the experience.

In both cases, it is unlikely any of these fans had actually flown in from the home countries. Most were probably immigrants living in Germany, perhaps even second or third generation. They didn’t sing the songs I think you’d hear at a stadium back in Luanda or Tehran, because they probably haven’t been in a stadium in either city in a long time. Instead they dawned the colors, joined with friends, and filled the stadium. They also cursed their players when they messed up, and shouted their favorite player names, over and over.

As I sat there thinking to myself…this is not a matter of nationalism for one’s country. This is about culture… roots.. and remembering. To cheer for a miracle or at least, a good day, for the idea of a noble and admirable nation that at that moment.. in that stadium… becomes a reality.

On the way out of the stadium, I was happy to hear Portuguese. Angolan Portuguese of course, the sweetest of all the accents, as far as I’m concerned. I listened and watched, as families and neighbors joked with each other about the failures of their team. Flag trading and handshakes were also a common sight between the two groups of fans.

At this point, lots of sports writers these days would praise this is the key to world peace and a sign of how great the world is. But I disagree. As nice as it was, both these groups have sufferred greatly to arrive where they are today. Entire lives were uprooted because of overwhelming and complicated circumstances.

A world cup match may provide some nice stories and some unforgettably sweet moments, but it should not mask the truth about the kind of world we live in and helped create.