Beep Beep Beep Goes Paris

Why bother trying to sleep… here in Paris people are hanging out their car windows shouting and harassing each other in celebration of the victory over Brazil. As we walked the streets from sitting on the banks of that canal, I must admit I’m too used to the Amsterdam small-town style of things, I was scared. B on the other hand walked in amusement. He kept saying “it’s great… I still can’t believe they won.” It was clear he enjoys seeing the city like this, and my fear is clearly a sign that I’m from out of town. He also pointed out that this victory is important for the national self esteem… apparently people have been pretty bummed sinced not getting the olympics and rejecting the EU constitution.

Let me try and salvage this from being another world cup post. The real story of my saturday in France was going out, for the second time in my life, to visit madame L at her little piece of paradise somewhere outside Paris. As I’m sure I mentioned during my last visit, I love the old house she lives in and the beautiful property around it including the old church. An extra bonus was that this time I brought MAdge with me… the long awaited meeting between the two of them… it was exciting. Together with the French man… the four of us poured over computers and cameras and sat outside enjoying conversation, but also the occasional comfortable silence. What a day.

I leave you with a photo of the house, which I hope the madame doesn’t mind me publishing. When I wake, and Paris is hung over, I will go to meet the Max and Stacey from Karmabanque for the Sunday Roast… and Im not talking food.

fr070604

When The Government Collapses, Drive South

I figured in honor of the pathetic Dutch government finally admitting they can’t hold it together, I would take a little visit to Paris. I’m sure it sounds flashy, Berlin last week, Paris this week; but please note: each journey costed under 60 euros round trip. That is the wonder of using the automobiles and sharing the cost among passengers. This particular journey I made use of, for the second time in the last year, hitchhikers.org. Great site and interesting people participating in the simple act of offerring a ride in exchange for a small fee… i.e. money for petrol.

Speaking of 4 wheeled vehicles that I normally avoid. You often hear about how the US has too many cars or too many big cars. Yet I think one point that deserves more attention, is Europe’s car addiction. Take the Netherlands; Im sure everyone things of bicycles.. but in fact.. highways full of traffic is also quite characteristic of the country. Today, en route through Belgium, near Antwerp and Brussels, huge traffic jams. And of course, on the outskirts of Paris.. I could have gotten out and walked here faster. Although all these countries have excellent rail systems, and even a decent bus option for collective international transport.. people still insist on the car. Even down in my dear Portugal… there are cars everywhere. People don’t even have money to buy them, but the wonders of credit will help to bring every man, woman, and of-driving-age child, a little hatchback with which to sit in traffic somewhere.

Maybe this isn’t news to the world, but I find there is an exaggeration of the US situation versus that of Europe. Both are in big trouble in terms of future prospects for going anywhere by car, not to mention the air quality.

But let me be a carefree tourist for a moment and ignore the harsh realities of the world. I’m here at B and E’s place, my dearest expat friends since waaay back. And if I ever get to sleep, I shall meet up with Madge in the morning and together, me and the sweaty Lesbian will get on a train and go visit Madame L at her secret undisclosed hideout way out where google maps can’t see.

Smile As You Destroy Their Democracy

There list of hypocracies and deadly inconsistancies continues to grow between Israel and Palestine.
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.

bm138 CocaCola and Human Rights Violations Worldwide

To call it a soda company would be an understatement. There is no corner of the world where the name isn’t known, and in the last decade, communities in places like Kerela, India, have shed new light on the business practices of the cocacola company. They site cases of human rights violations and environmental terrorism. Cocacola, meanwhile, says its quite the opposite.. so who’s opinion do the facts support?

Background Briefing from Australian Public Radio, Episode on Water in India

Common Dreams Article on Dasani Water
CorpWatch on CokeIndia, Uzbekistan

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.

Photo Hosted at Buzznet.comYou 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.

berlin0606211It 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.