At least there are some in France who have a conscience

Members of the French public and a number of politicians have spoken out against Sarkozy's Roma expulsion mania.  Today's Financial Times provides details.  A search of the FT's site finds 79 articles on the issue of Roma in France.  Peruse them to get a sense of the problems faced by these people everywhere.

Another attack on Roma...in Bratislava, this time

Leshka, 2005, Lithuania. by Andrew Miksys

Today, seven members of a Roma family were killed by a gunman; fourteen others were wounded;he then killed himself.

The Plight, and Forced Flight, of the Roma

So, the Roma are once again on the run.  This time it is the French who are kicking them about and kicking them out.  According to the New York Times, "On instructions from President Nicolas Sarkozy, the French police have been dismantling improvised Roma camps in recent weeks and deporting Roma groups to Bulgaria and Romania."  Bulgaria and Romania?  And how are the Roma treated there?: As reported in WAZ.euobserver.com: "The Romanian society sees the gypsies as a foreign element", said Claudiu Padurean, a journalist and executive director for the Human Rights League in Cluj, a Transylvanian city with a large gypsy population. "Their degree of integration into the society is very much reduced. One can only imagine what the general reaction would have been if the expelled people were ethnic Romanians, and not Rromas", Mr Padurean said."  As for the Bulgarians, perhaps their attitude is somewhat better than that of the Romanians

France is not alone:  Denmark began expulsions a few weeks ago, as well.

Horse Racing: stepping into a new universe

The universe in which horse racing exists is complex and requires that the novice learn a whole new vocabulary (do you know what a 'spinner' is? a 'stooper'?) including how to read the racing forms, how to bet, amongst other things, and calibrating a whole set of social strata.  There is the horse, the event, the aftermath.  The horse= owner (individual and/or syndicates) + trainer + groom(s) + jockey + food + housing + veterinarian + accoutrement + fees (for events, licenses, etc) = money.  The racing = venue, fees/licenses, vendors (restaurants, food, booze, souvenirs, linens, toilet paper, office supplies, cash machines, computers, etc), employees (management, event development/planning, janitorial, cashiers, judges, track maintenance, food service workers, supervisors, grounds maintenance, meeter/greeters, announcers, judges, IT), equipment (large and small, complicated and simple), racing forms,  TV monitors, camera operators/photographers, and associations for all of the above.  None of this would exist if it were not for the spectators, bettors, entourages.  These all form the pageant.  This requires a variety of fashion statements.

Kissmet: check out this band and lend them some hands!

Basil Davidson Died Last Month

Basil  Davidson was a path-breaking journalist and historian of Africa and Yugoslavia.  He was 95.  He called fascists to task.  He called imperialists and the settler class to task.  He did not shy from confrontation and lived a life of conviction and integrity. There are two tributes to him in the London Review of Books.  And perhaps one of the highest compliments paid to him is found at allafrica.com in piece by Cameron Duodu.

Those early humans are at it again...

makes me think of Dad....on what would have been his 86th birthday.....

Story in today's NYT on Lucy's ancestors as tool makers

The Daily Mess

This morning, Steve Inskeep, on NPR's Morning Edition, interviewed Tom Ricks about his prognosis for Iraq: it is cause for pause when someone is more hopeful about the future of Afghanistan (this link takes you to BBC stories) than Iraq!  Tom Ricks' book "Fiasco" is a must-read for anyone seeking a well-written and researched account of this misguided adventure.  Ricks also has a blog that is useful to check on.  Ricks is also a contributor to Foreign Policy.

Grim News

Venezuela is killing off union activists who disagree with Chavez.  Saudi Arabia and UAE plan to ban Blackberry use because they cannot break through its encryption software to spy on users.  Domestic workers are abused, physically and emotionally, in Kuwait. Stoning of women continues in Iran (and, Brazil offers to be an intermediary!).  Palestinians continue to live in limbo and their Arab neighbours do not really care.  Journalists and lawyers continue disappearing in China.  The US continues its great wall policy on the US-Mexico border.  US right wingnuts continue to insist that gun-toters in parks are just exercising their rights, even as two people get killed at a suburban Seattle lake-side park.  And then there is Sudan, Congo, Tibet, the Stans, Russia.

I think I'll look for the good news tomorrow.

Gorillaz in Damascus....

Gorillaz performed live at the Citadel in Damascus on 27 July, with the Syrian National Symphony Orchestra...that must have been some concert!  You can listen to it here, from NPR.

Back to old issues: China and Africa

For China watchers, there was an interesting letter in London Review of Books vol 32 No 12 from Hugh Miles in response to an article by Adam Shatz about the decline of Egypt under Hosni Mubarak.  The letter writer points out that while Shatz focuses on the relationship between Egypt and the US and Israel, another relationship has been developing:  the influence of China.

Here is the letter in full:
"Seventeen thousand Chinese are now officially resident in Egypt and the volume of trade between the two countries has gone from $635 million in 1999 to more than $5.86 billion in 2009. Besides granite and marble, China imports Egyptian cotton, oil, carpets and kitchen sinks. English is the main language of business, but around the Free Trade Zones, cheap manufacturing bases close to European markets with very few export restrictions, most of the road signs are in Chinese. According to Egypt’s General Authority for Investment, there are 1038 Chinese companies operating in Egypt, representing a total investment of $311 million.
‘Before the Chinese arrived everyone was leaving this neighbourhood,’ I was told recently by an estate agent in the Cairo suburb of New Maadi. ‘Nowadays you see more Chinese round here than Egyptians. They’re here for this.’ He tapped the granite counter. ‘After the first wave came all kinds of small businesses to service the community, like gyms, restaurants and shops. Then a second wave came to work for Huawei when it replaced Siemens and Alcatel as Etisalat’s main contractor in Egypt.’ Huawei Technologies is the second largest telecoms company in the world. Last November Wen Jiabao opened its $20 million new training centre in Cairo’s Smart Village. ‘We have a business relationship,’ the estate agent said. ‘They don’t care for football or religion. All they think about is business, except when they are drinking tea and playing cards. But there are no problems and we say hello to one another when we pass each other in the street.’
The Chinese Embassy has gone on a charm offensive of film festivals, photo exhibitions and, last February in Rihab City on Cairo’s eastern outskirts, a cultural week showcasing martial arts, Chinese music and tea art. Two Confucius institutes have been established and last year China Central Television launched a new Arabic-language satellite TV channel.
The love-in appears to be reciprocal. From 1999 to 2009 Egypt’s exports to China grew from $15 million to $989 million, creating thousands of new jobs. In the last six years, five Egyptian universities have opened Chinese departments and Chinese goods are a familiar part of everyday life. A new character has made an appearance in Egyptian soap operas: the Arabic-speaking Chinese saleswoman going from door to door, offering cheap consumer goods, bootleg DVDs and snappy haircuts. Egyptians joke about the quality of the imports and grumble that the Chinese never spend any money. Their fathers used to grumble about the Soviets for the same reason.
China’s relationship with the Arabs dates back to the Silk Road, but modern relations can be traced to 30 May 1956 when Nasser defied the US policy of containment to become the first Arab or African country to establish diplomatic ties with the Communist state. (Later that year Chinese newspapers celebrated the nationalisation of the Suez Canal.) Mubarak himself has been to China at least seven times. In 1999 he signed a key strategic agreement in Beijing and since then co-operation has deepened to include infrastructure building, training, energy and defence. There are goodwill politburo visits every few months and at the start of May Egypt’s Oil Ministry signed a memorandum of understanding with China National Petroleum Corp to build Egypt’s biggest ever oil refinery in a contract worth $2 billion. ‘Things are going perfectly,’ according to Zhijie Zeng, the director of the China Development Bank. ‘We are eager to deepen the co-operation. Africa and China have a win-win relationship.’
But the press has spoken of China’s ‘commercial attack’ on Egypt, and there have been accusations of Chinese products being dumped in Egypt at below cost price. In January a Chinese ship accidentally destroyed coral reefs in South Sinai. And in the second half of last year China abruptly halted trade shipments to Egypt. The official reason was to combat smuggling but the move sent the price of some commodities shooting up 40 per cent."
Hugh Miles
Cairo

Just makes one think.....

Lights and lighting in Syria

Armenian Church, Aleppo

One of the delights of touring the souks, citadels, churches, hotels, and other buildings, was the lighting.  At times, there was the feeling of being in an Ottoman fairytale.  CFL bulbs are used everywhere and while that seems so environmentally with-it, garbage disposal is such a nightmare in Syria, one really wonders where the used bulbs end up.

Below are some examples of such interest and beauty.

Reception Room, Citadel, Aleppo

Umayyad mosque, Damascus

Lights, Marian Church, Homs

Talisman Hotel, Damascus, divan room

Souk, Aleppo

Divan room, Talisman Hotel, Damascus

Ceiling of bath house, Citadel, Aleppo. Alabaster inserts

Lights in mosque, Hama

Bedroom, Talisman Hotel, Damascus

Courtyard, Casa Mia restaurant & boutique hotel, Palmyra

Fruit & vegetable market at 11pm, Aleppo

Lights in the Armenian Church, Aleppo.  Note Mamaluk-style arch

Maybe the niqab will fall by the wayside......

On 19 July, NPR reported that the Syrian government had banned the niqab in universities and on 20 July they reported, in the full education system. Only thing is, it was not announced in the media.

Arches: architectural & engineering things of beauty

Wandering among the ruins and the cities of Syria, I was constantly reminded of just what amazing structures we humans have built. Whether buildings had been erected in Roman, Byzantine, Umayyad, Ottoman, or any other times before, during, and after (such as the Dead Cities), often all that remains of a structure are its arches . They have withstood earthquakes, wind, dust storms, neglect.
Below are photographs taken all through our trip of arches in mosques, churches, Roman temples, monasteries, other public and private buildings, walls, gates, aqueducts.

Bab Sharqi, Damascus


The Citadel, Aleppo


Roman columns & arches on the grounds of the Umayyad Mosque, Damascus


The baths, Apamea; those holes were where the water pipes came in


Old City, Hama


Grand Mosque, Damascus


Monastery courtyard, Krak de Chevalier


Khan off the Souk. Damascus


Inside St. George's Monastery


The Inn at Serjilla


The wine & olive presses, Serjilla


Church, Dead City of Serjilla


Remains of two story house, Dead City of Serjilla


Chapel ,Krak de Chevalier


Baalbek, Lebanon


Courtyard in a khan, Alepppo


Ressafa in a sand storm


Inside Ressafa


St. Simeon


At St. Simeon, north of Aleppo


Colonnade at Palmyra


The three arches, Palmyra

Searching for baskets in Syria

I am a devotee of baskets and basket makers. All cultures through time have made baskets, for utilitarian and decorative purposes. While designs and techniques may vary, there are an amazing number of similarities between cultures and geographic regions.

The first basket-sighting in Syria was made by my son at the ticket office at the entry to the Azm Palace in Hama. The man in the ticket booth indicated that these were very old baskets (there was one large, flat basket and one bowl-shaped one) and that there was a shop in Hama where we could find them....unfortunately, it was closed the day we went looking (most museums and other cultural attractions are closed on Tuesdays).

The next place we saw them was in Palmyra/Tadmor at the Traditional Palmyra Restaurant. The restaurant owner offered to take me to his cousin's shop the next day...we went to the ruins instead. Next stop, Damascus, at the government-certified craft market, the Tekke Sulimaniyah. The baskets there were very garish in colour and did not look as well-made as the older ones. At the Azm Palace in Damascus, one of the rooms displaying works by artisans in the Ottoman era, there was the most fabulous collection of baskets!...obviously, not for sale. It almost seemed that every effort I made to acquire a basket was being foiled, as I found none before we had to leave. Not one to be deterred from getting hold of a basket, a solution was found: my son and his girlfriend were going to be heading to Hama. So, they were dispatched with a mission...find mum a basket. They returned to the artists' quarter in the Old City in Hama and very late in the day found the basket shop. They were told the basket seller would be able to get there by 11 pm! So, they sat around, drank tea (a common experience with merchants and artists), and brought home three lovely old baskets for me. I found an interesting reference to Syrian baskets from 1909..check it out, as there are some great old photos.

Here is a photo of a basket maker:


And here are my three baskets:

Syria: no OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) here!

Unfinished buildings, abandoned projects, ruins and earthquakes. Those are nothing compared to the daily hazards workers and individuals face on the job and in the home. I won't even go into food handling issues. We saw many, many vehicle repair and illegal assembly "plants": mostly small scale outfits in towns and villages located in "store fronts".....think a small garage for your car at home. No ventilation. No one wearing any protective gear: exposed ears and eyes, often in sandals while wielding welding gear. We saw small construction sites creating new shops ,same thing, no gear, wires and cords everywhere. The wiring in buildings, between buildings, just hanging in and out of windows is enough to give any trained electrician heart failure. It gets cold in the winter and most houses do not have central heating. People use little pot-bellied kerosene heaters, called sobyas, that are hooked up to ducts and pipes as needed and vented to the outside.

Syria: clothing and other incidentals

Clothing...it's complicated. And in Syria, street fashion is complicated and convoluted.
Twenty years ago, 70% of women did not "cover"; now it is just the opposite. Ten percent of the population is Christian, so they don't cover. Of the women who cover, there are different levels of covering: head scarf (hijab)and regular clothing or medium length/long trench coat, fully cloaked with head scarf, fully cloaked with face veiled (niqab). Women not fully robed wear a variety of current fashions (jeans, stilettos, crop tops over t-shirts (many with sayings in English and/or "engrish" that are very suggestive), skirts to knees. What they wear under the trench coats or cloaks is hard to know. But, on younger women, the trench coats are very tight fitting, leaving little to the imagination. The decisions made by women on what to wear, do not seem to be religious in nature, which is what makes it complicated. Some decisions are based on fashion, family pressure, the desire by women to find husbands: men tend to marry late because they have to buy a house before marriage; they marry younger women because they want children and then want their wives scarved to show unavailability to other males.

Men's attire is much like anywhere, except for those in robes and/or wearing head scarves. Young men are in jeans and t-shirts with slogans and sayings most in "engrish": there must be some factory in China that sends all its seconds and misspelled logos to Syria! Shoe fashions for hip males tends towards the looong toe, squared off at the tip.
Below are some crowd photos taken around shops in the souks, people milling, shopping, etc.

Trench coats in a shop in the Damascus souk:



What to wear under the trench coats.......


Diorama in the Azm Palace, Hama: fashion in the 1750's:


We had to rent cloaks to enter the Umayyad Mosque, Damascus:


Many fashion statements in the souk, Homs:


Locals outside the Umayyad Mosque:


Jewelry Row in the souk, Damascus:


Locals between the souk and mosque, Damascus:


Back courtyard of the Umayyad Mosque outside Saladin's tomb:




Tourists are advised to dress modestly and neatly: no knees (as in shorts or short skirts), no sleeveless tops (even if you look great in them). But, there are always those (especially if they travel in large groups and so are somewhat distant from the locals), who choose otherwise.