It is the 25th of April, although I may be far from Portugal, here in some corner of Ulan Bataar, Mongolia, I still wanted to pause from the travel posts, videos and audios and pay my respects. To the countless who stood up to fascism and repression in the name of liberation and social justice. They marched and sang in the streets of Lisbon, after so many decades of suffering and war without end. They kicked out a tyrant and in doing so took great steps to improving the quality of people’s lives in Portugal. For all these reasons and more, today I pause and say thanks to all those who helped make it possible.
In searching for videos I know well and have never seen before I came across this recounting of that day, which includes photos and audio testimony. Its in Portuguese, but even if you can’t understand I think you can decipher the passion in the voices and the power of the images.
Only a few more days of my Portugal-Family vacation remain. Today I’m quickly checking in with a video I captured in the Bica, downtown Lisbon, over the weekend. What initially looked like a demonstration coming way, very quickly turns out to be a scene from a film being shot in my neighborhood.
Kind of shame, looked like it would have been a great protest.
Getting adjusted and taking care of a long list of errands for my 2 weeks in Portugal that have just begun.? Will return to posting AND podcasting, this weekend. Here’s a photo from today.
In the past I’ve made frequent references to the Sephardi jews that in the 15th century fled the Spanish inquisition and Portuguese King’s policies and settled in Amsterdam. I like to refer to that group in history as a clever ancestral anicdote as to why I like living in the Netherlands.
But then I find myself in Istanbul surrounded by some of the finest guides and friends a boy can ever wish for, and when I bring up the sarphatic jews and my long lost possibly jewish roots back many generations, Mr. B turns to me and says — you know where else they settled? – Istanbul.? The Ottoman empire, for various reasons, decided to give them a place to settle, right here in this city. (actually one of two places in Turkey)Continue reading “Sephardi Istanbul”
It is the 25th of April, although I may be far from Portugal, here in some corner of Ulan Bataar, Mongolia, I still wanted to pause from the travel posts, videos and audios and pay my respects. To the countless who stood up to fascism and repression in the name of liberation and social justice. They marched and sang in the streets of Lisbon, after so many decades of suffering and war without end. They kicked out a tyrant and in doing so took great steps to improving the quality of people’s lives in Portugal. For all these reasons and more, today I pause and say thanks to all those who helped make it possible.
In the past I’ve made frequent references to the Sephardi jews that in the 15th century fled the Spanish inquisition and Portuguese King’s policies and settled in Amsterdam. I like to refer to that group in history as a clever ancestral anicdote as to why I like living in the Netherlands.