This one goes to João Borges

A couple of weeks ago I decided to order two books from Amazon and, as it happens often, I ended up by ordering three CDs too… As soon as I pressed the « point of no return » key, I started thinking how stupid I am for spending so much money on impulsive buys… but now that I have received the order and listened to the CDs, I must say that I am very happy for having spent that money. And this is so because I bought three of the best CDs recently released, and I can’t get enough of any of them!

The first one is “Jukebox”, by Cat Power. Chan Marshall, the one of the snake hips and smoky elocution, makes light work of her heroes on this collection of unlikely karaoke gems. James Brown’s “Lost Someone” becomes a Memphis front-porch torch song and “Don’t Explain” makes Billie Holiday’s version seem non confessional. Joni Mitchell’s icily beautiful “Blue” gets a thaw and a late-night feel that is completely different but just as compelling as the original. And the only new track, “Song to Bobby”, dedicated to and inspired by Dylan, is simply brilliant. As if this was not enough, the edition I bought comes with an extra-track: a wonderful cover of Nick Cave’s “Breathless”! “Jukebox” oozes breathy intimacy and classy cathedral calm, and the drummer Jim White holds a big share of the responsibility.

The second one is “Mano Suave”. With a history that takes in the Spanish banishment of Sephardic Jews in the 15th century and their subsequent flight to the Ottoman Empire-controlled areas brought up to date by a father who is also a synagogue’s liturgical lead singer, Yasmin Levy’s yearning, lilting, nuanced songs on love, loss and homeland possess a pretty reasonable, well-travelled soul. Sung in the moribund Judean-Spanish Ladino, Spanish folk music, nestled along Middle East traces and influences from all around the Mediterranean, informs a record of irresistible musicality and real beauty. Her voice brings us to paradise, and the Paraguayan harp brings us back to earth with a smile in our face!

Last, but definitely not the least, “19” by Adele. The title reflects Adele’s age at the time of the album’s release and not some kind of homage to this blog; my neighbours from next door are sad but will forgive her after they listen to the record… She hails from Brixton and attended the Brit School where young ladies such as Amy Winehouse and Lilly Allen honed their skills at smoking, twirling gum around their index fingers and delivering the most poignant British pop of the past decade. Training a voice reminiscent of Winehouse and Peggy Lee over pop and piano-driven soul, Adele Atkins is every bit as good as the other old girls. Even if the UK press dubs her as the next Amy Winehouse, for me she’s more like the new Suzanne Vega. And coming from me, this is a compliment!

10,000

Ten thousand visitors! Wow! I know that others do it in one single day, and that it took us more than two and a half years to get here... but, still, I think it is worth the celebration! I feel happy and proud and hope to be able to keep you reading this stuff. And that we get to 20,000 visitors before the end of 2010!

The US and International Law

I was in Skopje when, last Thursday, the demonstration organised by the Serbian Government to protest against the unilateral declaration of independence of its Southern province of Kosovo ended up with a group of violent protesters breaking away from a largely non-violent mass action and targeting the American embassy, making it into the compound, setting fire and tearing down the American flag. I watched all this live, on Macedonian television. In spite of my efforts and eagerness to learn it, I still don’t understand much of the Macedonian language and, therefore, one of the few things I understood well from the whole emission was the statement of the US Ambassador to the United Nations claiming that he was outraged by the “mob attack” against the embassy and that it was the Government of Serbia’s responsibility, “under international law”, to protect diplomatic facilities in Belgrade. I have to say that he’s right. And I can even add that the pictures of that Thursday evening in Belgrade made me sad and many of my Serbian friends ashamed. The most interesting aspect of Mr Khalilzad’s statement, however, is the extraordinary acknowledgment by someone from the Bush administration that there is such thing as international law! After all, the international law was never invoked to address the prison camps at Guantanamo, the wide use of torture, the invasion and occupation of sovereign countries or the extraordinary rendition program… Yes, the Serbian government should have prevented the embassy from being torched and ransacked; but the US has little moral authority not just in invoking international law, but also in invoking international law when speaking about attacks on embassies in Belgrade… Or did they already forget that, back in 1999, they bombed the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, killing three Chinese citizens, including two journalists? If the US was serious about international law and the protection of embassies, those responsible for that bombing would have been tried at The Hague, along with other alleged war criminals. International law matters only when it is convenient for the US… If you don’t believe it, just ask the Kurds, or the Palestinians. In a moment in which the candidate Clinton tries so hard to show her differences towards President Bush, the quick recognition of Kosovo’s independence gives a powerful reminder of a fact that it is too often overlooked these days: the American empire is bipartisan. George Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush have never hesitated to use the same tactics, the same rhetoric and the same bombs to defend and expand it. One more reason to support Obama!

No Country for Old Men

Is it me, or did the Academy use this year's Awards to send a clear and loud message to John McCain and Ralph Nader and their supporters?

Nice Job

Being back at home, alone, after one great week spent in wonderful company is always difficult. If, on the top of everything, the weather is disappointing and the week ahead looks busy, it only gets worse. On the other hand, knowing that the most desired reward will be awaiting me at the end of it, gives me the hope and the energy needed to face this week! Plus, the week will include returning to Istanbul, a city I like a lot, and where I will hopefully meet an old and beloved friend, and a recent yet dear one. That’s the wonder of my job: it allows me to meet great people who eventually become my friends and to see them again when I travel for professional reasons. I know that when this is all over, I am going to miss it a lot…

Obama

After 10 primary wins in a row, but still before securing the nomination, time has come for I to declare that I support the Democrat candidate Barack Obama for US President. There are many reasons I could invoke to justify my choice, but, to keep it simple, I will borrow Alec Baldwin’s: “What Mrs. Clinton has that Mr. Obama does not have, Mr. Obama can get. What Mr. Obama has that Mrs. Clinton does not have, she can never get.”

World Campaign against Sleep Deprivation

Since all the big international institutions, like the UN, the WHO, the EU and even the Council of Europe, have decided to ignore the hints I have been publishing in this blog for the last few weeks, I decided to join forces with Arianna Huffington, and initiate, together with her, a World Campaign against Sleep Deprivation. Arianna doesn’t know about it, but she already commented: “I think we all feel like we’re doing more if we don’t sleep as much. And you don’t. Plus you don’t enjoy life. When I’m tired I become moodier and more reactive to what happens.” I agree. Join the campaign and spread the word: let’s free the world from sleep deprivation! After the great success of this one, the next campaign to be initiated on this blog will be on what we eat. I promise.

Kosovo

I am in Skopje, the capital of the Republic of Macedonia, just a few kilometers away from Pristina, the capital of Kosovo, the region which has unilaterally declared its independence from Serbia on Sunday. Some big and “important” countries, like the USA, the UK, France, Germany and Italy, and others “not so important”, like Belgium, Denmark, Finland and Poland, have already recognized Kosovo’s independence. Other “important” countries like China and Russia, and other “not so important”, like Cyprus, Romania, Slovakia and Spain and, of course, Serbia, have announced that they won’t do it, ever or at least for now. What is there with such a small territory with a not so big population that splits the world in two? Well, I won’t pretend to be able to explain such a complex situation in a post… but I will give you my opinion. Some ten years ago, there was an American president who was caught in a sexual scandal. This American president had probably watched the movie “Wag the Dog” and thought that a war would probably be a good way of splitting the attention of the media. Counting on the support of a public opinion that was still feeling guilty about what had happened in Bosnia and had been educated to identify Serbians as the seeds of all evil in the Balkans (for which Mr. Milosevic also helped, of course), he decided to launch a war against Serbia (which at that time was still called Yugoslavia) and occupied, through NATO, the region of Kosovo. Since then, Kosovo has been ruled by the UN and the EU, based on the military support of NATO. The intervention, which was justified by the need to protect the Albanian population from the ethnic cleansing perpetrated by the Serbian minority, soon turned out to be a way of actually transferring the power from one (Serbian) to the other (Albanian) ethnic community. On the way, thousands of Serbian were expelled and deprived from their rights, properties and political influence. Ten years after, the region became, de facto, ruled by the Albanian majority and when, some moths ago, the people chose one of their most radical leaders as prime minister, everyone knew what was going to happen. Interestingly, the so-called international community, which was supposed to be neutral, instead of trying to build an agreement between Kosovo and Serbia, preferred to impose the independence of Kosovo to Serbia, and blame them for everything. The need to defend an ethnic minority might be enough for most of you to accept what happened on Sunday; for me, it’s not. First of all, because whatever it is at stake, the rule of law should prevail; and, according to the UN Charter, a unilateral declaration of independence is not legal. Then, because I don’t agree with the principle that says that if a certain ethnic minority becomes the majority in a certain territory, it immediately gains the right for self-determination. Kosovo was Serbian for centuries and Albanians became a majority there since some decades only, due to demographic patterns specific to this community. If this principle is to be applied everywhere, not only Russia will be more than entitled to recognize the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia regions in Georgia, but any neighborhood/city/region inhabited by migrants in any big city or region in any country in the world, will be entitled to declare its independence too. Moreover, I find it ironic that the first countries to recognize Kosovo’s independence are exactly countries like the USA which have simply got rid of their indigenous populations and deprived them from any political right at all; or like the UK, which still today occupies Northern Ireland (not to mention Scotland and Wales) and Gibraltar; or Germany, which seems to be now taking its revenge from their defeat in the Balkans on World War I. In my opinion, dear readers, nothing of this is about the rights of poor Albanians or the right of people’s self-determination in general: this is just another play in the after-cold war conflict between Russia and the USA, between the East and the West. They have invented it, portrayed it for us, and now they need to show some evidence of it. And, as they have done it previously with the mass-destruction arms in Iraq, when there’s none, they create them for us. The recognition of the independence of Kosovo, and everything in the process that led to what happened last Sunday, is, on the top of everything, a tremendous lack of respect and gratefulness for everything that the people in this region has done, throughout the centuries, in “protecting” the Western world from the Ottoman empire. It’s shameful to see the same leaders that claim that Turkey cannot join the EU because Christianity is the cornerstone of the European idea, being the first ones recognizing Kosovo’s independence. I can’t help asking myself if the result would be the same if Serbia, instead of being Orthodox, was Catholic or Protestant. Honestly, I’m afraid it wouldn’t… My sincere wish, after saying all this, is that everything works well, for the people of Kosovo, as well as for the one of Serbia; but also for the people liviving in other countries in the region where Albanian minorities’ wishes for more autonomy or even independence have just received a boost, and where in the past people have already died on inter-ethnic conflicts, as it is Macedonia’s case. I also wish that these powerful people sitting in their comfortable cabinets in nice Western cities, think about all the people living in this region and in their right for a peaceful and prosperous future, before taking decisions that are easy to take when we don’t have nothing to do with them; because, after all, politics shouldn’t be about states, but about people. In an era when so many of us are committed to tear down the walls, the borders and all kind of barriers to people and their ideas, the birth of a new country is never an event to celebrate.

Chinese Poetry

A room's like a woman: it also possesses you. Besides, you have to spend time and put a lot of efforts to make it love you… As I already wrote in here, I have troubles in falling asleep after an eventful day. As my life is full of eventful days, I think I can say that I have a lot of troubles in falling asleep. Very often, as I gaze up at the shadows flickering across my bedroom’s ceiling, surges of loneliness come rushing over me. Occasionally, I even enjoy a touch of solitude in the depth of night. But, sometimes, I am struck by more than a melancholy sense of being alone; at those times, it is like if my very existence became doubtful… Being professionally successful can make one’s personal life difficult in a variety of ways, and I know that from my own experience. This difficulty can take different forms, and I have already experienced several of them. For instance, my room doesn’t love me. I am not completely sure, but it might be because I don’t spend enough time in it. And yet, it possesses me. Therefore, I need to put even more efforts: last Saturday I cleaned it deeply; this morning I had to do it again. Don’t understand why it gets so dusty, if I don’t even use it much! Or maybe it is exactly because of that. Whatever… Tomorrow a new European country might be born, in the region where all the new European countries are born: the Balkans. Most people will call it Kosovo. I will be close by. Not because I want to see its birth from close; but rather because when my existence starts to become doubtful, there’s no better remedy than to be complete again. And because my room can’t be the only one possessing me.

Seoul snapshots IV and V

Sungnyemun Gate, aka Namdaemun or South Gate. Seoul.

January 31st.

Sungnyemun Gate, aka Namdaemun or South Gate. Seoul. February 11th.

Around the sun

Wow! 4 days of sunshine in a row! Brussels is unrecognisable!

It has actually been so nice, and I am so surprised – and happy - that I actually managed to properly enjoy these sunny days! I’ve been walking a lot, and have used the weekend to spend time with friends instead of staying in the couch the whole day! So, I’m proud of myself!

This morning I walked all the way to the office, and it made me feel so well that I did the same on the way back. Yesterday I also strolled around for a couple of hours, and it really does well to be able to relax, and think, and discover new streets, and new shops, and new cafes and bakeries and pubs and so many other places! I don’t know for how long it will last, but it certainly makes me think of how nice it would be to live in a place where sunny weather would be the rule and not the exception. But it also makes me think that Brussels can be a really pleasant place to live in!

All these sunny days and all these walks that make my mind wander almost make me forget that there is a world out there. A world where fires destroy typical market places and ancient historical monuments, where young countries insist in postpone their hope and democratically elected leaders are shot by military rebels, where people commit money, time and votes to choose candidates for later presidential elections, where sport competitions go on and some teams win and others lose. The world is always there, around the sun. And, because life goes on, tomorrow I’m going to Barcelona.

It makes me sick!

I’ve been sick. Yes, you read it well, I’ve been sick. It all started with a slight impression in the throat when I woke up on that last morning in Seoul. And then, twelve hours in the dry, artificial atmosphere of the flight to Amsterdam, did the rest. When I landed in Brussels, on Saturday evening, I was shivering with fever. On Sunday, I could not even stand up. On Monday, I called in sick for the first time I started working for the Youth Forum. I lost my voice. I couldn’t even swallow water… Then, slowly, I got my voice back, I started being able to eat and drink again, I stopped taking medicines. Now, I seem to be back to life. And yet, I have the feeling that something changed.

When we don’t get sick very often or, at least, when we almost never get sick, we stop thinking, almost unconsciously, about our physical condition. I mean, if you don’t get sick, why worry? In a way, we start thinking that we are above that human condition of getting sick. And we start acting accordingly. So, for instance, if we are tired and don’t sleep enough, instead of getting worried and thinking that we need to change something in our life-style, we rather convince ourselves that we are different, that we don’t need that much sleep, that we can just simply go on. And we go. On and on and on.

So, now that my body said “enough!” and even prevented me from working one day, I can’t help thinking that I might be just another simple human after all… and that kind of sucks! Because if I also need to eat properly, sleep enough, take a break from time to time, do sports and pay attention to all those healthy advices… when will I finally be able to do the things I don’t have the time to do now?!

Seoul snapshots III

Yesterday I was quite tired and went to sleep very early. I did well: the long night of sleep only confirmed my theory that I don’t sleep enough… In the morning, I saw Giuseppe at breakfast and even though he seemed much better, I recommended him not to come with me to the meeting. So, I went alone. The journey didn’t really start well, as I forgot to bring the book I’m reading, which would surely have been a good companion for the almost-one-hour-long subway trip, and, on the top of everything, arrived late… But the iPod did the trick and the meeting itself went well: we reached an agreement that pleases all parties, I and the European Youth Forum were praised by all the partners involved, and the meeting ended with hugs and nice words, and gifts and one early yet nice lunch in a cosy Japanese restaurant in Banghwa. As the partly cloudy sky means that the temperature is a bit higher today, I decided to go back to the centre and after a shopping tour in the area, started walking towards the hotel, in Itaewon. It’s quite a long way, but a nice one too; and, as I need to exercise and normally use the lack of time as an excuse not to do it, it seemed a good idea. It was. Back in the hotel, I found out that Giuseppe isn’t in his room, which most probably means that he was feeling better and went out. I’m glad for him; it must be very annoying to spend three days in Seoul being sick… especially because tomorrow it will be time to go back to Brussels and real waffles!