Leaving the Lisbon

The digital thermometer on the wall reads 32 degrees celcius. Needless to say, I’m very glad my visit to Portugal has come to an end. As much as I love this city, my Lisbon, and travelling around the country with my family, I’m ready to get back to Amsterdam and the cool weather and the rain and back to doing my life’s work — observing the world and being a watchdog for injustice…. like the three amigo’s only I don’t have the uniform and I’m only one.

My time in the south of Portugal was a very disconnected time, hence the first 48 hour lapse in posting in… I don’t know how long. I’m also still catching up with the latest reports and developments in places besides Lebanon, the UK and the US. (tv news only seems to give me that)

As I warm up and get back into podcasting/blogging form, I have a few links to share: first, there’s my former professor, mentor, and friend Steve Shalom who wrote a piece related to Lebanon-Israel on ZNet.
then there’s Rupert Murdoch who’s made some big deals in Italy and Turkey and still seems bent on taking over the world’s media.
And finally, on a non-news related note… the beloved Della and her man have arrived in Korea, and you can follow the adventure of another in the growing number of expats out here in the world.

Catch you when Im back in amsterdam.

The Portuguese on Lebanon

Since this blog is written in English, I’m going to guess at least some of your other media consumption is also in English. And I’ll go out on a limb a little further and guess that perhaps you don’t often hear what the Portuguese people (nevermind the media) think about the sad state of affairs in Lebanon and Israel. Well I have had the privledge of spending many days with constant contact with the Portuguese elderly of my family; grandparents, cousins, great aunts and uncles, and occasionally after all the pleasantries have passed – they express strong opinions on what is happening.

Before I head in to what they say, I should first point out why it matters. To me, it matters because the elderly of Portugal lived most of their lives under a dictatorship. Beyond that, most of them also lived and fought in the nightmare of wars in Mozambique, Angola, and Guinea-Bissau of the 60’s and 70’s… where a still unknown and vast number of people were killed, frequently in gruesome ways. Those wars eventually ended in stalemate and eventually withdrawal by the Portuguese, returning home to a country that had been extremely impoverished and who’s population had dwindled thanks to the government’s obsession with fighting those wars.

I kept all of this in mind over the past days, as relatives and friends in their golden years, spoke about their disgust with what they understood to be happening in Lebanon. My great uncle in particular, who served in the military during colonialism and had even settled in Mozambique until war drove him from his home, he had a particular sadness for the images on the news. I had expected him to support the action of the Israeli military… self-defense, as they call it. I figured he’d support that.

Instead he looked on in frustration:

“There’s no real goal. They have no real goal, and thats obvious from the evidence we see before our eyes. All this destruction and death; They just drop bombs and make war with these unattainable objectives. I’m no fan of terrorism or murder of any kind, but this military strategy is crazy. And of course, (he turns away from the TV to look at me now) you know who makes lots of money on this, don’t you? Besides all the parties involved, it’s the companies that make bombs and tanks and planes that cash in on this. Now they’ll have lot’s of new orders and plenty of money. And the American government is very good friends with these companies, you know BM?”

Of course you can write him off. He’s old. He’s not your great uncle. And surely he’s not a first hand observer, or Israeli or Lebanese for that matter.

But I listened with special attention… because of the life experience he has had. A man who knows all about what military sactioned violence has done and can do. Sure terrorism is terrible, and attention should be given to its causes and to reduce terrorist acts. But clearly if we look to history and those who lived it, there is much to indicate that the stategy of the Israeli military is more dangerous and misguided then noble or necessary.

bm146 Truth, Reconciliation, and Cambodia

Should the show go on if Pol Pot and other key members of the Khmer Rouge are dead? In this program I discuss the history of the KR, the plan for an international tribunal, and what function a truth and reconciliation type court serves a society shattered by mass killing on an unimaginable scale. Once again this program is recorded on the road, this time from a hotel room in Coimbra, Portugal.

 

Putting the Old in Old Country

Part of being in Portugal means visiting very old relatives in very old little villages. I’m an expert at that since my parents and I have been doing this practically every summer since I was a toddler. Naturally it is a very interesting and enriching thing to do mentally and spiritually, for the obvious reasons. But the sad and confusing thing underlying much of the emmigrant-family dynamic, is what happens to the elderly who stay in the country of orgin.

pt070602I’m referring to caring for the elderly… who will do it.. who can do it.. and how to handle it if you live on the other side of the ocean, or.. say.. europe. A daunting issue.. with lots of mixed feelings, guilt, fear, bittersweet moments. It is rather amazing to see how some families do it. While it is depressing to see how many elderly are left stranded in tiny towns, isolated from the world other than kind hearted neighbors who check up on them occasionally.

It leaves me planning in my head… daydreaming.. of how to handle different scenarios. And being one of the few younger generation located somewhere in Europe (as opposed to the US) I think of myself as the first line of emergency response, should anything ever happen here in Portugal. But what kind of emergency response would I be? How equipped am I to handle whats needs to be done in that moment of need?

But as I mentioned earlier… this is not just about me or my family. This is a global tradition.. handled in so many different ways. It is the way of the world that individuals or families migrate to a new country for professional, political, financial, health, etc. reasons. Lots of attention is given to that reality. But what of the older generation seemingly left behind. How do they cope with being so far from their children and younger family?

bmtv15 Windmill Windup 2006

Well, it has taken me some time to finally release this videoblog… and beware it is very big (15 min. long).

My frisbee association in Amsterdam hosted this tournament last month… voila a videoblog of the fun.

Considering all the pain and sufferring in the world.. at this very moment. I present this vlog as one of the few examples these days of many nations and many cultures coming together peacefully thanks to a common bond – ultimate frisbee.

Isolated Somewhere in Portugal

The family upstairs lives in Switzerland. The other family upstairs, their car has French license plates. Apparently the other apartment that’s for sale in this modest little building, that guy is Canadian.

We’re all Portuguese, mind you. But this is the reality of Portugal, especially in the summer. A population that probably has more people living outside its borders than the 9 million+ living within those borders. Where every town has its emmigrants, who are like clockwork when it comes to being present in the summer time.

While the alarmist and often xenophobic governments of European nations scramble to adopt some tough policies against refugees. Following the alleged death of the proposed European Consitution. Despite all the hoopla about how Europe isn’t really one block and the dream is far from reality… many of the Portuguese are living the reality. Beyond Europe, they have long made the globe their menu of destinations, in search of a better quality of life, or… just better paying jobs.

Out of the criticisms one can have of Europe, and I’m aware of how long that list is. The one thing I see first hand, almost everyday whether I’m in Lisbon or Amsterdam, is that people are making it their business to be European. Politicians and Diplomats can and will continue to sit around pouting about things they won’t budge on. Disagreements regarding foreign policy or mobile phone roaming costs may go on indefinitely in parliaments. But outside, multiple generations, including my own, are exercising our freedom and ability to move country, learn languages, and then move again if we so choose. At some point we cease to be just Portuguese or French or Maltese, we gain a second if not third identity. It is not one of patriotism or nationalism or even supranationalism. It is the freedom from old borders or language barriers or cultural limits. We have become the living breathing myth that so many so-called important people denounce… European Citizens.

If I can find internet, tomorrow I’ll talk a bit about Raul Castro and how I like his baseball cap.