Met Undercover Snatch and Grab Squad at Soho Square - April 29

have a look at this vid. appears to be a number of plain clothes (possibly TSG, SO15, maybe even army...fat, steroidal... definitely not London Met) snatching an individual for singing - the rest are British transport police except one chap with a clipboard who is also TSG (U on the shoulder).

Cover of The Strokes - Angles

Cover of album 2011 "Angles" of American rock band The Strokes.
http://im-possible.info/english/art/misc/cd/the-strokes.html

Indigenous fight for the Great Lakes Commons with water walk

(Water commons stuff at 3 mins in)Deterritorialization may mean to take the control and order away from a land or place (territory) that is already established. It is to undo what has been done. For example, when the Spanish conquered the Aztecs, the Spanish eliminated many symbols of Aztec beliefs and rituals. Reterritorialization usually follows, as in the example when the Spanish replaced the

5th May, ULU, Right to protest meeting with Alfie Meadows, Fortnum & Mason occupiers etc

EMERGENCY OPEN MEETING - STAND UP TO THESE ATTACKS ON OUR RIGHT TO PROTESTTime 05 May · 18:30 - 21:30Location University of London Union (ULU), Malet Street, WC1Created by: Right To Protest, Hannah Dee, Susan MatthewsShow all (7)More info Speakers to include:ALFIE MEADOWS-arrested protesterJOHN McDONNELL MPFORTNUM & MASONS OCCUPIER and defendantUK UNCUTNINA POWER Senior Lecturer and

Term 'Radical Media' copy write, protest on tuesday!

It has come to our attention that you are using the RADICAL MEDIA trademark to advertise a conference to be held in central London on 8th and 9th October 2011. This conference is not an event licensed by @radical and you will therefore appreciate that your use of the RADICAL MEDIA registered trademark constitutes an infringement and passing-off of @radical’s valuable intellectual property rights.

List of the fifty Facebook sites closed on Royal Wedding day

FB, etc, they do what they are told, whether in China or UK or Bahrain....one world with elites in control!Open BirkbeckUWE OccupationChesterfield StopthecutsCamberwell AntiCutsIVA WomensrevolutionTower Hamlets GreensNo CutsArtsAgainst CutsLondon Student AssemblyBeat’n StreetsRoscoe ‘Manchester’ OccupationBristol BookfairNewcastle OccupationSocialist UnityWhospeaks ForusOurland FreeLandBristol

Sign up for solidarity with censored Ecosocialist FB

The Ecosocialist United Facebook group has been taken down as part of purge of 50 groups on royal wedding day.Britain is like Bahrain!Please provide solidarity and sign up to the Ecosocialist list on the web!http://www.ecosocialistsunite.com/the-list.html

Frames from Fallen miniseries

http://im-possible.info/english/art/films/fallen.html

Mumia Abu-Jamal death sentence reversed.

MOVE people were not middle class. Many of them were high-school dropouts. Many of them were mothers without husbands. Or young men who refused any inducement to 'fit in'. Yet they had the nerve to critique the system. To reject it and to set up, in place of its rules, guidelines for living that reflected their own beliefs.The people of MOVE are proof that poor people, not just upper- and

DEREK WALL AT LONDON SOCIALIST FILM COOP, 8TH MAY

Great to be back at the London Socialist Film Coop, catch me next sunday, companeros!TIME TO TACKLE CLIMATE CHANGE Alexandra Posada and Andre Camargo global release 2009 [E], DVD, 21 mins Made for Sustain Labour and the International Trade Union Confederation, the video was first launched at the COP 15 Climate Change Convention in Copenhagen and showcases trade unions’ concrete experiences,

NOT THE ROYAL WEDDING - TODAY!

going to stay in and practice my Spanish, did think of going to this but hey its a trek into to the city but if you are going enjoy and stay safe.Hello everyoneThe timetable is as follows:1-7pm (or until it rains!): ANTI-MONARCHY STREET PARTY with punch, cake, music and even some performances! Underneath the 'Christ Life' sign 7-10pm: ROYAL WEDDING? WOT A JOKE! Stand up comics, spoken word and

Royal Wedding arrests continue as Chris Knight taken in

Chris Knight was arrested yesterday in case he took part in street theatre during the Royal Wedding.Says it all about Britain today.Let me make it clear. This is a day of celebration, joy and pageantry for Great Britain. Any criminals attempting to disrupt it - be that in the guise of protest or otherwise - will be met by a robust, decisive, flexible and proportionate policing response. Part of

Is Morocco Still Safe For Tourists?

In the past I've always maintained that Morocco is a wonderful and safe place for tourists to visit-- and I've been there over a dozen times, starting in 1969. The post linked above is from 6 years ago. Lately I've come to the conclusion that it's still wonderful, of course, but not quite so safe. Nowhere in the Middle East/North Africa region is. Last time I was there, this past December, I rented a riad in Marrakech, one of Africa's most cosmopolitan cities. Yesterday my friend Helen alerted me to a terrorist attack aimed right at the heart of Moroccan tourism.

In Marrakech all roads lead to the Jemma el-Fna, the main square of the old city, and no matter where you're going in town, you start and you end there. Even distances are measured from how far it is from the square. It's been crawling with tourists-- sometimes thousands and thousands of them-- for decades, if not centuries. The cafes that line the sqaure may not serve the best food in town but theey're the most popular because of their locations and their rooftop terraces. I suspect there'll be a lot of people canceling their reservations now.

A massive terrorist bombing tore through a tourist cafe in the bustling heart of Marrakech's old quarter Thursday, killing at least 11 foreigners and three Moroccans in the country's deadliest attack in eight years.

At least 23 people were wounded in the blast a few minutes before noon in Djemma el-Fna square, one of the top attractions in a country that depends heavily on tourism, Moroccan Interior Minister Taib Chergaoui said.

Government spokesman Khalid Naciri told the AP it was too soon to lay blame for what he called a terrorist attack but he noted that Morocco regularly dismantles cells linked to al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb and says it has disrupted several plots.

At least eight French citizens were being treated at Marrakech's main Tofail Hospital, along with one Canadian, a British citizen and three Moroccans, emergency room chief Hicham Nejmi said. Others were being treated at a military hospital and a handful in private clinics.

April marks the start of Morocco's tourist season, when visitors gather to watch snake charmers, storytellers, jugglers and local musicians, filling the cafes that ring the edges of the iconic square on the route to the city's major open-air souk, or market.

Death toll has grown to 16 now. We'd eaten at the Argana several times, mostly because it was a place to hang out to watch the circus that is the Jemma al-Fna. There are half a dozen other places just like it. Moroccans are determined to kick out the plutocratic old regime. It's going to be very painful. There couldn't have been a more effective way than this to deal a major blow to Morocco's economy.

4 months ago Helen took this photo of our friends Mieke and Toon on the Argana terrace, where the bomb exploded this week

UPDATE: More Trouble Brewin'?

The pressure's definitely on and I'd think twive before booking tickets to Morocco any time soon. Today Hisham al-Miraat, co-founder of Talk Morocco, posted a warning at Foreign Policy called Showdown In Morocco. Short version: the Arab Spring is turning into an Arab Summer and it could get pretty hot.

The makhzen refers to an ancient institution in Morocco-- the extended power apparatus close to the Moroccan monarchy, made up of a network of power and privilege. It allows the King to act as an absolute monarch and the de facto head of the executive. Beneath the give and take of everyday politics, the makhzen has always been the ultimate guarantor of the status quo. For three months, the pro-democracy youth movement, known as "February 20," has been advocating against that status quo. Protests have not been targeting the monarchy directly, but instead have been urging for reform that would yield a system in which the King reigns but does not rule.

What started as a small group on Facebook earlier this year, has since grown into a nationwide movement made up of a loose coalition of leftists, liberals and members of the conservative Islamist right. Inspired by the Tunisian and Egyptian uprisings and powered by new media, the movement convinced hundreds of thousands to take to the streets. The demonstrations held week in, week out, were remarkably peaceful. In response, King Mohammed VI promised a package of constitutional reforms to be submitted to a referendum in June. But as protesters, unconvinced by the King's promise, vow to keep up pressure on the regime, authorities seem increasingly impatient and determined to break up protests violently, paving the way toward escalation and confrontation with the street. The middle class is joining the mass of demonstrators, moving the protests beyond the core of mobilized youth. Their target is the makhzen-- which has become a code word for the monarchy's abuses of power and monopoly over large sectors of the economy.

...[O]n April 28 a terrorist bomb attack hit a popular restaurant in the heart of Marrakech, killing 17 people. The country was plunged into a state of shock. Beyond the unanimous condemnation, the timing of the attack raised many questions. The fear of a security clampdown and a freeze of liberties were the main concerns of pro-democracy advocates. Their fear is justified. The makhzen has traditionally actively sought to nurture an image of stability-- an exception to the turmoil in the Arab world. That strategy has worked for a time for the regime: Morocco is routinely praised by western officials as an ally of the West in a rather hostile region. The country holds an advanced status with the European Union; it has signed a free trade agreement with the U.S.; it is actively cooperating with the Americans in their global "War on Terror," and it enjoys the status of a Major Non-NATO Ally. The specter of terrorism has long been a useful card for gaining external support.

Police violence in recent days has escalated. On May 15, peaceful demonstrators who wanted to protest in front of an alleged secret detention center in Temara (dubbed Guan-Temara by protesters) near the capital Rabat faced repression. A week later, anti-riot police systematically and violently disrupted peaceful gatherings in public squares. This may be the sign that the regime is shifting its attitude toward the street and taking a much more hardline stance. As with other Arab regimes, the makhzen faces a dilemma: if it clamps down hard on peaceful protesters, it risks loosing its reputation as a model of democratic reform in a region often perceived in the West as averse to the liberal ideals of democracy. If it loosens up, then it will have to face the challenge to its own existence posed by a determined and organized street.

The "February 20" youth movement is vowing to keep up street pressure, rejecting the King's offer of token reform. If the regime insists on denying the people their rights of assembly and free expression, then the country will be heading toward the unknown. Against the backdrop of the Arab revolutions, change looks inevitable. It is still in the power of the monarchy to ensure a peaceful transition and at the same time ensure its own survival. The more the makhzen drags its feet, the more it runs the risk of undermining the stability of the country and, at the end of the day, its own existence.

Things are beginning to come to a head in Morocco's big cities as the monarchy takes off the gloves and prepares to kill anyone and everyone who wants to change the system. The corrupt regime will fall but it will be very bloody.

GM Paxson's Impossible Waterfall

GM Paxson's Impossible Waterfall  by Carl Skanberg  http://im-possible.info/english/art/cartoons/carl-skanberg.html

Tips For Choosing An Africa-Based Overland Tour Operator

This is third in our series from traveller and author Pete Mandra. If you're planning a trip to Africa, you might want to take a look at the first two posts, here and here. Today Pete is being very practical for us:

I like to think of guided overland travel through Africa-- where you travel with a group from Point A to Point B in a customized vehicle-- as a rustic (sometimes VERY rustic) take on an all-inclusive vacation.

Exploring South Africa to Kenya? Nothing for you to do but sit back and enjoy the scenery. Need overnight accommodations? Typically included in the cost of your tour package, along with meals and some attraction entry fees.

Using the Web to find a list of Africa-based overland tour operators is never a problem. But finding the best fit for you personally, as operators and packages vary wildly-- is the challenge. So if you’re considering such a trip, I offer the following related advice, based on my personal experience:

• Follow the leader. When I first signed on for my overland trip, I naively imagined my tour truck situated in the middle of nowhere, solitarily navigating across the vast expanse of Africa by its lonesome. The reality? Not so much. In truth, my route (South Africa to Kenya) is wildly popular and followed by many similar tour groups, all stopping at the same locations to take in the same sights. Do your research, but know that with few exceptions, most itineraries along major routes are essentially the same.

• Comfort is king (or not…) The biggest difference between overland tour operators? Level of comfort, which naturally directly impacts overall price. Remember how I described overland travel as a ‘rustic take on an all-inclusive vacation’? It didn’t get much more rustic for me, spending most nights in a tent (with the opportunity to upgrade indoors to a hostel bed about once a week). I didn’t mind it too much, but took some pity on the elderly Canadian couple traveling with me who experienced the same (the hard ground did nothing for the old guy’s back!) Conversely, other tour operators treat their groups to warm beds every night. The lesson? When you factor price into your decision, keep in mind your desired level of comfort. That dirt ground can feel pretty hard after a few weeks…

• Not all meals are created equally. Ever heard of a TLC sandwich? I didn’t either, before overlanding through Africa, but the Tomato-Lettuce-and-Cheese sandwich quickly became THE (largely unsatisfying) lunch staple of my trip. No matter the operator, meal choices will be limited, but like choosing your level of comfort, meal treatment also varies widely. On our trip, the guides provided staples for simple, self catering breakfasts (bread, cereal, fruit) and lunches (the ‘glorious’ TLC sandwich, along with the occasional tin of sardines). Dinner was slightly different-- cooked by the guides and limited to pastas, hamburgers, and local fare like pap, a traditional maize-based porridge. Though it was nice to be cooked for, we’d often not eat until well into the night, after the guides performed all of their tasks to prepare for the next day on the road.

Though I believe other tour operators handled breakfast and lunch similarly, one group put a very interesting spin on dinner, where travelers partnered up and cooked dinner for the entire group on a given night, purchasing more premium ingredients from local markets with a collected ‘food kitty.’ So do you prefer being cooked for, or a little more variety to your meals? Again, just something to be aware of so you can make the decision that’s best for you.

• Know what’s NOT included (and bring enough money for it!) Snacks during those long truck rides and special excursion ‘add-ons’ (like helicopter rides over Victoria Falls, or special game preserve drives in the wee hours of the morning, when animals are most active) are typically not included in package pricing, so make sure you bring enough money to splurge when you feel like it. Many tourist ‘hubs’ exist throughout Africa that offer everything from hot air ballooning to ATV driving to bungee jumping-- the more commercial an area is (like Victoria Falls, for example), the more choices you will have-- and the more you will pay. My personal advice? Always opt for a game drive at dawn for the best animal viewing. And for the best soft drink on the planet, pick up a bottle of Stoney Tangawizi, a crisp and refreshing ginger ale I would love to see available in the States!

• Don’t arrive empty-handed. This last piece of advice is not so much specific to overland travel, but don’t overlook the power of barter-- it almost always gets you a better deal on that souvenir you are bargaining for. What you barter with doesn’t have to be anything special, but I find that sports team merchandise like logo-branded shirts do best (plus they can usually be had for cheap and are easy to pack!) Or better yet, bring some pencils and pens for gifting to young children, who may not have access to adequate school supplies, to spread some goodwill and joy along your travels.

Repression rises as cops shut down community film in Bristol

One said " I always thought the police were to protect us, when they showed up in riot vans and clothes, then blocked all 3 exits to the park; I got to feel like a criminal. I just brought my son to watch a movie and involve him in community discussion"Comment on St Werburghs film showing....yes we do live in a police state, look at all the secret police infiltrating activist groups and political

Police shut down dissident film in Bristol

Hey not as many secret police as Libya but quite a few.Protest the Royal Wedding and you get clapped in irons.Alfie Meadows injured by the police charged with assault.Lots of lovely dictators at the wedding.In Bristol show a dissident film and get rounded up....got keep tescopoly in power!Incidentally lived in St Werburghs and fought Tescopoly in Bristol.There seems to be a confrontation building

Windsor and Slough Against the Cuts March –, 7th May

Are you worried about cuts to the fire service?Is your job under threat because of the cuts?Are you angry that bank bailouts are being paid for by the destruction of local services?Join the march against cuts.Saturday, 7th May.Slough to Windsor.Meet Salt Hill Park, 11AMMORE DETAILS HERE

Interesting article on Salafism in Gaza

Interesting article on Salafism in Gaza.The Saudi oil state armed to the teeth by the US and UK, addicted to oil and the most regressive type of Islam is the source.Anyway on to article:Traditional Salafism arrived in Gaza in the 1970s when Palestinian students returned from religious schools in Saudi Arabia. To this day Salafi groups in Gaza receive support from Saudi sources. According to

Tibet, The EuroZone, And Back Home-- Open Borders Closing? Passports Becoming Harder To Get?

We were feeling lucky. We were about the close the deal on a fantastic villa in Damascus for the summer just when the Middle East exploded in protest. We've been wanting to visit Damascus forever but we wisely decided to put it off in case the protests spread from Egypt. Did they ever! So we were proud of ourselves that we had the foresight to forego the charms of Beit Al Kamar and plan a trip around Nepal and Tibet instead. Tibet can be sketchy in the best of times and Nepal has had some troubles of it's own (and only has 16 hours a day of electricity in the capital city). But these trips have an inertia of their own and right now our bags are practically packed and we're totally ready to rock. And then, trouble in Shangri-La.

China is stepping up security measures throughout ethnic Tibetan areas following a crackdown on unrest around a monastery in Sichuan province, in a sign of growing tension in the region.

Residents of Gannan Tibetan autonomous prefecture reached by telephone on Sunday reported that armed patrols in the streets had been increased.

One said a truck with “troops” was standing in front of the Labrang monastery in Xiahe, a mainly Tibetan-inhabited town in the area in southern Gansu province.

A resident in another area, the Deqen Tibetan autonomous prefecture in Yunnan province, said local authorities has intensified pressure on Tibetan residents. “Cadres have been making more visits to the villages, and talking about harmony and patriotism,” the person said. Local residents also reported a greater presence of armed police and soldiers in nearby towns.

Beijing drastically increased troop presence in Tibet amid its crackdown on the uprisings in the area in early 2008 as it did following ethnic Uighur riots in Xinjiang the following year, so armed police patrols and deployments at strategic spots are not an unusual sight in these areas. But the residents’ descriptions suggest that those forces are staging a show of strength.

It comes amid a growing country-wide crackdown on dissent which has peaked with the detention of Ai Weiwei, the outspoken artist, as the government frets about a wide array of challenges to its grip on power.

But Tibet is seen by the political leadership as fundamental to the country’s stability and national integrity with religious minorities encouraged to stay in line. Last week’s oil price protests by striking truck drivers in Shanghai, the world’s busiest port, was a reminder of the potent threat posed by inflation.

The latest security measures come in the wake of unrest at Kirti, a Tibetan monastery in Sichuan province, which could mark the biggest unrest in the region since the uprising and the subsequent crackdown in March 2008. The government says the riots back then left 22 dead but exile groups say several times that number were killed, many by security forces.

According to Tibetan rights groups, a 60-year-old Tibetan man and a 65-year-old woman died at Kirti when they, together with other local residents, tried to prevent security forces from removing hundreds of monks from the monastery last Thursday.

More than 300 monks were taken away on army trucks on Thursday night, and more monks were removed on Friday, said Free Tibet, a US-based group, citing sources in Aba prefecture, where Kirti is located.

“As the monks were being driven away in large trucks, the group of lay people – mainly in their sixties or older-- who had been standing vigil at the monastery gate were beaten “mercilessly” by police,” said the International Campaign for Tibet, citing local sources. It quoted an exiled Kirti monk as saying people had their arms and legs broken.

Meanwhile Tibetans in eastern Tibet have been staging a widespread and high-intensity boycott of Han-owned vegetable stores to protest high prices Chinese store owners are charging Tibetans. These are the kinds of conditions under which the Chinese stop issuing tourist visas. We're nervous.

It would be a lot less stable if we just went to Paris or Rome, right? Well, kind of, but even Europe is going through some serious changes right now. Other than the adoption of the Euro itself as a common currency, the biggest deal in tying the European countries together as a nascent super-state is the Schengen Agreement which allows for passport-free travel between the member states. It made it as easy to go from Germany to Portugal as from Vermont to Virginia. It looks like the exodus of thousands of North Africa refugees to Italy is upending Schengen. Sarkozy and Berlusconi have called for a "partial reintroduction of national border controls across Europe, a move that would put the brakes on European integration and curb passport-free travel for more than 400 million people in 25 countries."

Earlier this month, Berlusconi's government outraged several EU governments, including France, by offering the migrants temporary residence permits which, in principle, allowed them to travel to other member states under the Schengen agreement. An Italian junior minister said on Sunday that Rome had so far issued some 8,000 permits and expected the number would rise to 11,000.

Launched in 1995, Schengen allows passport-free travel in most of the EU, Switzerland, Norway and Iceland. But the documents issued by the Italian authorities are only valid if the holders can show they have the means to support themselves, and French police have rounded up or turned back an unknown number of migrants in recent days.

On 17 April, Paris blocked trains crossing the frontier at Ventimiglia in protest at the Italian initiative. "Rarely have the two countries seemed so far apart," said Le Monde in an editorial on Monday.

Yet, with both leaders under pressure from the far right, French and Italian officials appear to have agreed a common position on amending Schengen so that national border checks can be reintroduced in "special circumstances."

...Sarkozy, low in the polls and hoping for re-election next year, is threatened by the Front National and its leader, Marine Le Pen, who calls for the total scrapping of Schengen.

Berlusconi, whose poll ratings have also been sliding, is dependent for his majority in parliament on the xenophobic Northern League, one of whose leaders, Roberto Maroni, is Italy's interior minister.

Even before the exodus from Tunisia, gains by far-right, anti-immigrant parties in north Europe had put Schengen under strain. Centrist parties in Germany, Austria, Belgium and the Netherlands have all tried to appease the far right by threatening to re-erect national border controls.

This is a big step backward for Europe, a tightening of border controls that many recognize as an early step in the rise of authoritarianism. It's a movement that the U.S. isn't exactly immune to either. In fact, this week the State Department is tightening up on the ability of Americans to get passports.

The U.S. Department of State is proposing a new Biographical Questionnaire for some passport applicants: The proposed new  Form DS-5513 asks for all addresses since birth; lifetime employment history including employers’ and supervisors names, addresses, and telephone numbers; personal details of all siblings; mother’s address one year prior to your birth; any “religious ceremony” around the time of birth; and a variety of other information.  According to the proposed form, “failure to provide the information requested may result in … the denial of your U.S. passport application.”

The best reporting I've seen on this so far isn't on CNN or MSNBC but at BoingBoing which points out that "the form itself remains a Kafkaesque impossibility for most people to complete."

It seems likely that only some, not all, applicants will be required to fill out the new questionnaire, but no criteria have been made public for determining who will be subjected to these additional new written interrogatories. So if the passport examiner wants to deny your application, all they will have to do is give you the impossible new form to complete.

It's not clear from the supporting statement, statement of legal authorities, or regulatory assessment submitted by the State Department to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) why declining to discuss one's siblings or to provide the phone number of your first supervisor when you were a teenager working at McDonalds would be a legitimate basis for denial of a passport to a U.S. citizen.

Would you consider me paranoid if I admitted I've been feeling for the last few years that the ruling elites think all this easy travel has gotten out of hand and that they want to dial it back... a lot?

Green Party video argues Education is not for sale

Earth First! and the anti-roads movement

Book of my phd (that's put you off) from 1999, its not cheap so if you are interested try and may be get a library copy.Earth First! UK dropped the deep ecology, fought the road menace and morphed into Reclaim the Streets, anti-globalization movement and ultimately Climate Camp...Review here, review was from Amazon but if you do buy books go for Housemans or Bookmarks or Word Power or News from

Impossible rectangle on the Moon

Impossible rectangle on the Moon  by Michel Sassel  http://im-possible.info/english/art/pixel/michel-sassel.html

Stop Vandalism - 3

Stop Vandalism - 3  by Vicente Meavilla  http://im-possible.info/english/art/vicente/for-children-9.html#11

Green Party member risks 10 years in jail for spoof website

Climate activist Kevin Lister has been threatened with a possible 10 years in prison for a spoof website that said that an air tatoo had been cancelled.Wreck the environment and you get a medal, protect it and you are an enemy.I still very bitter how the indigenous people at Bagua were killed with impunity so that corporations could cut into the Peruvian Amazon for oil....no protest of course by

Amazon indigenous call GM crop plan an assault on Mother Earth

Its later than you think, there is a very serious crisis on our planet and most environmental action is proving tokenistic and irrelevent.However indigenous people are fighting for ecology, while we must reject romantic bullshit, indigenous can get things badly wrong as well, because indigenous people depend on local environments they have generally found ways of managing them ecologically.Green

'My mother was a suffragette' says oldest Green Party election candidate

Long time campaigner and Green party member, Edith East, is proud to be standing for Medway council in next months full local election in her home ward of Walderslade. She has been an activist most of her adult life and this year volunteered to be the Green candidate in her ward. Edith reaches a respectable 90 years old in October this year but feels that age should not be a barrier in politics,

Lowkey 'Where does hip hop live?'

Impossible tree

Impossible tree by PotatochipXD  http://im-possible.info/english/art/pencil/potatochipxd.html

By itself worth the trip to Staten Island's Snug Harbor Cultural Center: The Noble Maritime Collection

The houseboat that seaman-artist John A. Noble used as a studio (mounted on a barge on the industrial Bayonne side of the Kill Van Kill, which separates New Jersey from the north shore of Staten Island) was laboriously disassembled, transported, reconstructed, and painstakingly restored in the Noble Maritime Collection, a constituent of Staten Island's Snug Harbor Cultural Center. During Noble's lifetime, the houseboat-studio was featured in a 1954 issue of National Geographic.

by Ken

As I mentioned Friday night, my principal activity yesterday was a Municipal Art Society all-day trip to and walking tour of Snug Harbor Cultural Center on the north shore of Staten Island. The weather was lousy, but held up well enough for tour leader Francis Morrone, a noted architectural historian (best known for his extensive writing on the architecture of Brooklyn, but he's quick to point out that it has been a largely accidental "specialty," and some of the best MAS tours I've taken with him, like this one, have been in other boroughs), to give us a splendid introduction to the history of the first five buildings (known, efficiently, as Buildings A to E), all in the Greek Revival style that was in vogue in the early 1930s, for the "decrepit" sailors' home, Sailors' Snug Harbor, funded by the will of Robert Richard Randall -- a fascinating story in its own right.

"Temple Row": the original five buildings, in Greek Revival style, for what was then Sailors' Snug Harbor and is now the Snug Harbor Cultural Center. The central building, "Building C" -- begun in 1931 and finished in 1933 -- was discovered as late as 1970 to have been designed by the massively influential architect Minard Lafever. (Other buildings were built, Francis explained to us, from Lafever's wildly popular published plan books.)

At its zenith, Sailors' Snug Harbor housed some 1000 retired seamen who upon being no longer fit for seagoing had no place on dry land to "retire" to. With changes in the way maritime commerce is conducted in the 20th century, not to mention social innovations like Social Security, the haven enjoyed steadily declining use, until finally the last residents were moved to a new facility in North Carolina. Over the clamoring of developers eager to get their clutches on the extraordinary site, with immense effort on the part of the rising preservation movement of the 1960s most of the site was eventually landmarked and designated for use as a new Snug Harbor Cultural Center, already home to an assortment of constituents, with the rest of the site still very much a work in progress.

We actually benefited from the lousy weather. It encouraged our leaders, Francis and the MAS's director of tours and programs, Tamara Coombs, herself a Staten Islander, to revise the original plan for the afternoon to concentrate on indoor-type activities, notably allowing us additional time in the John A. Noble Maritime Collection, which occupies Building D. We were already scheduled to eat our lunches there (we had been instructed to come sack-lunch-equipped) but wound up with an extra hour to explore a museum I'd never heard of, but which has become one of my prized spots in the city. Now that I know what and where it is (Snug Harbor, by the way, is a barely 10-minute bus ride from the St. George Staten island Ferry terminal), I definitely plan to go back. As I said to our incredibly gracious and informative host (I feel terrible for not getting his name -- the collection's assistant director, Ciro Galeno, perhaps?), the Noble Collection is a destination worth the trip by itself.

John A. Noble was a seaman-slash-artist, who developed an early fascination for the way the sea tested the men who made their living sailing it, and for a number of years made his living at it, but gradually retired from active seagoing when he discovered he could make a living as an artist of the sea. He drew and painted, but discovered he had a special affinity for lithography, which also provided him with a regular source of income. Noble's parents, both artists, split their time between France, where the younger John was born, and the U.S. The elder John Noble, a painter, somehow managed to be known in France as "Wichita Bill." One of the remarkable exhibits in the museum is a room called "The Atelier of Wichita Bill," a painstaking reconstruction, using actual family objects, of the senior John Noble's studio in France.

Noble's passion for tugboats is well documented in the Noble Maritime Collection's current exhibition on the subject. As our host pointed out to us, tugboats are still an active part of harbor life, and the exhibit has drawn a lot of visitors just for their interest in the tugboat life.

Probably the most fascinating exhibit is the transplanted and restored houseboat that Noble used as a studio, eventually mounted on a barge on the industrial Bayonne side of the Kill van Kull, which separates New Jersey from the northwestern corner of Staten Island. His bio on the Noble Maritime Collection website (noblemaritime.org) explains:

From 1928 until 1945, Noble worked as a seaman on schooners and in marine salvage. In 1928, while on a schooner that was towing out down the Kill van Kull, the waterway that separates Staten Island from New Jersey, he saw the old Port Johnston coal docks for the first time. It was a sight, he later asserted, which affected him for life. Port Johnston was "the largest graveyard of wooden sailing vessels in the world." Filled with new but obsolete ships, the great coalport had become a great boneyard. In 1941, Noble began to build his floating studio there, out of parts of vessels he salvaged. From 1946 on, he worked as a full-time artist. Often accompanied by his wife, he set off from his studio in a rowboat to explore the Harbor. These explorations resulted in a unique and exacting record of Harbor history in which its rarely documented characters, industries, and vessels are faithfully recorded.

.
Along with the restored studio houseboat itself, the exhibit includes wonderful photographs showing how the houseboat was actually moved to and then into the museum and then restored. As our host (given his tremendous hospitality and helpfulness, I feel terrible for not getting his name -- the collection's assistant director, Ciro Galeno?) pointed out, the story of how the exhibit came to be is probably at least as fascinating as the exhibit.

And throughout the museum there is a sensational attention in the presentation to context, with writings of Noble's to provide background for his artwork, and all manner of objects, from Noble and a wide range of other sources, to fit both Noble's life and work and the history and mission of Snug Harbor in context. There is, for example, a room that's been reconstructed to the state it would have been when it housed a pair of Snug Harbor residents. There's a room that has been left unaltered for a glimpse of the state the building was in when the museum was created in Building D.

The museum's executive director, Erin Urban, had met and interviewed Noble not long before his death and became fascinated by both his life and his work, and after his death determined that the latter needed to be made accessible, out of which came the idea for the Noble Maritime Collection, taking full advantage of its constituency in Snug Harbor Cultural Center. Apparently through sheer force of will Urban has made into a reality, with a staggering range of activities, and support not just from funders but from a small army of volunteers known as the Noble Crew, whose estimated $1 million worth of labor she has paraded before all manner of potential donors to raise more money.

If you're in the city and have a free day for the expedition, don't miss the Noble Maritime Collection. The gallery is open Thursday-Sunday, 1-5pm.


SPEAKING OF GREAT NYC OUTINGS, A REMINDER ABOUT "THE WORLD OF THE #7 TRAIN" THIS SATURDAY

The last I heard there were still openings for what "urban geographer" Jack Eichenbaum calls his "signature tour," coming up this Saturday, April 30 -- an all-day exploration of selected sites along the route of the no. 7 subway line to Flushing in Queens, which I mentioned recently. Jack is a terrific tour guide, and this is some of his favorite turf. Here again is his description:

THE WORLD OF THE #7 TRAIN 10am-5:30pm SATURDAY, APRIL 30, 2011
This series of six walks and connecting rides along North Queens’ transportation corridor is my signature tour. We focus on what the #7 train has done to and for surrounding neighborhoods since it began service in 1914. Walks take place in Long Island City, Sunnyside, Flushing, Corona, Woodside and Jackson Heights and lunch is in Flushing’s Asiatown. Tour fee is $39 and you need to preregister with Jack Eichenbaum. The full day’s program and other info is available by email jaconet@aol.com. Questions? 718-961-8406. The tour is limited to 25 people. Don’t get left out!

You can also get information on Jack's website. I sent my check in as soon as I heard about the tour. It sounds to me like a unique opportunity.

#

Greens fight in 1,600 seats on anti-cuts platform.

The Green Party of England and Wales is running 1,600 candidates in the local elections. This is a fantastic achievement for a party with 12,000 members. I am standing in Winkfield and Cranbourne ward and like many Greens I face just Conservative and Labour candidates, many Liberal Democrats have with drawn and the BNP is only running in a third of the seats it contested in 2010.There will be a

Royal Wedding Dictators invite list

"William Hague approved royal dictators?" asks Peter Tatchell Palace said it acted with FCO agreement "Exceedingly poor judgement, an insult to the victims of royal repression" Invitations should be withdrawn - Tyrants not welcome London - 25 April 2011 "St James's Palaceclaims the Queen invited eight royal dictators to the royal wedding with the agreement of the Foreign Office. This approval was

Torturers are us!

We know how it works, the secret services and police find vulnerable people and lean on them. Ends are said to justify means.You might know somebody is innocent but pressure can be put on them to use as an assett.Wikileaks for backing up what is known with solid documentation is enemy number one for the US. A number of British nationals and residents were held for years even though US

The Terrace

The Terrace  by Lopes dos Santos http://im-possible.info/english/art/montage/lopes-dos-santos.html

Bolivia Celebrates Law Granting Rights to Mother Earth

Bolivia Celebrates Law Granting Rights to Mother EarthLA PAZ, Bolivia, April 20, 2011 (ENS) - Bolivia today marked the International Day of Mother Earth with a ceremony in the Plaza Murillo, the center of political power. An ancient ritual shared center stage with speeches in which authorities in this Andean nation extolled the Law of Mother Earth - the world's first legislation that grants to

Joe Glenton 'Vote Green on May 5th’

Lucky to count Joe Glenton as a personal friend.He told me a few weeks back about his time in prison for refusing to fight a second tour of duty in Afghanistan, he said in military prison he had a lot of support and understanding for other soldiers.And he returned his medal as a protest against the war.Really proud to know ex-military comrades like my amigo Shane who is a Kansas based radical and

Oppose racist 'March for England' 11am, Brighton station, today

If you want to celebrate St George's Day then go and have a picnic on the Downs somewhere. Despite what you may think no group of 'Muslamics' is going to descend on you to stop you celebrating..DON'T march through our town, we don't want it and despite what you say you are only doing it to be confrontational. You're all about as 'patriotically English' as Adolf Hitler. You want to raise money?

Rock and Roll - Anterior

Rock and Roll - AnteriorVitor Locatelli, Felipe Jacomossi, Márcio Yuji Fukuji, Caio D Andréahttp://im-possible.info/english/art/various/guerra.html

Nine Queens

Just rewatched 'Nine Queens' excellent Argentinean film about two con men. A cast of interesting characters, lots of twists.Gets you thinking too of the spectral nature of money and the way banks are rather more dangerous to most people than bank robbers.Ok its got a narrative but shows you can have films beyond Planet Hollywood.Watch and enjoy. As this review from Novel Adventures (a pretty

Logo of Discovery Place

Logo of educational organization Discovery Place  http://im-possible.info/english/art/logotypes/page4.html#discovery

Derek Wall 'In a desert of eco bullshit, climate camp is an oasis of real action.'

Climate Camp has set up in a closed down school in Lewes.Location:St. Anne’s School (disused)Rotten RowLewesEast SussexBN7 1LJIts happening now and you should get down there asap because they need numbers to hold it and make it happen.In a desert of eco bullshit, climate camp is an oasis of real action.please if you love your planet get down to Lewes, easy by train from London.MORE DETAILS HERE

Anti-Tesco riot video

Analysis from Laurie Penny here

Logo of InterYEA

Logo of InterYEA design studio.http://im-possible.info/english/art/logotypes/page4.html#interyea

Mark Bergfeld wins NUS post

Sadly my good friend Mark only came third for NUS President but I have just heard from him that he was elected as a part time member of the NUS executive.A victory for the (green) left.Mark is not of course a member of the Green Party but he has researched climate justice for his masters and is a good socialist with a strong concern for ecological issues.Good news!

GREEN MEP SAYS LYDD AIRPORT IS ‘DEEPLY WORRYING THREAT’ TO RARE DUNGENESS WILDLIFE

Date: Tuesday 26 April 2011Time: 11.30 a.m.Place: RSPB Dungeness Visitor Centre GREEN MEP SAYS LYDD AIRPORT IS ‘DEEPLY WORRYING THREAT’ TO RARE DUNGENESS WILDLIFEOn Tuesday Keith Taylor will be visiting Kent to sign the Natura 2000 pledge at the RSPB’s Dungeness Nature Reserve. The reserve is part of the European-wide Natura 2000 network.Keith is supporting the campaign against the proposed

Is It Safe, Health-wise, For Tourists To Go Galavanting Around Africa?

camping next to a termite mound

This is the second in a series of posts intrepid traveler and novelist Pete Mandra is doing for us. In way of a little background, Pete began his writing career freelancing for various Chicagoland publications before settling in as a news reporter at the famed City News Bureau, where covering breaking crime news proved the perfect compliment to the dark sense of humor you see so fully developed in Overland. Always more of a homebody who had only left the country once for a stay in the Bahamas, Pete's world turned upside when he met his future wife, Jessica in 2000, who shared with him her infectious spirit of travel and adventure. In short order, the two left their corporate jobs, cashed in their savings and gave up their apartment to backpack around the world, including Africa, the Middle East, Alaska and Europe.

-by Pete Mandra

As a travel destination, the African continent offers much in terms of thrilling excitement, though taking certain medical precautions is an absolute must. Spotting a pride of lions stealthily creeping through the savanna grassland? Absolutely exhilarating. Needing medical attention after contracting an unusual parasite or virus? Not so much.

After participating myself in a six-week tour through Africa, I offer the following medical advice to anyone considering a similar trip through Africa, with the goal of making your experience as memorable as mine with as little health-related stress as possible. My advice is not designed to scare-- only to encourage you to use common sense. And if you happen to be the ‘paranoid’ type, the one who relies on the internet to diagnose their ever-changing ‘life threatening’ symptoms? Take a deep breath and read on. Calmly.

Prior to your trip, seek out a travel clinic for necessary vaccines. By law, you are only required to be vaccinated for Yellow Fever before entering many African countries. However, if you visit a travel clinic (usually affiliated with major hospitals), a medical practioner will review your itinerary and advise you on other potential medical risks and recommend additional vaccines when appropriate.

Malaria medication-- choose wisely. In most cases, you will be prescribed antimalarial medication, which vary greatly in terms of side-effects and dosage requirements (some, like Lariam, require taking once a week, while some, like Doxycycline, require daily dosing). Based on your medical history, you may be allowed to select your medication preference. Results vary, but my own experience with the drug Lariam made me wish I had opted for an alternative. With potential side effects of eliciting strange dreams and hallucinations, Lariam did not disappoint-- many nights I’d wake up from a sound sleep inside our tent convinced it was moving!

A water filter can be your best friend. Schistosomiasis, also known as bilharziasis, is a snail-transmitted, water-borne parasite found in sub-Saharan African fresh water (lakes and rivers) with severe consequences of infection, including bladder cancer and renal failure. So imagine my dismay, on my group tour, when the guide created a lunchtime fruit drink by dunking the empty pitcher into Namibia’s Orange River, the ideal habitat! Additionally, other parasites also exist in African fresh water that do not play very nicely with ‘Western’ immune systems.

Though filtering drinking water is a personal choice (my wife and I were the only ones on the group tour who brought one), I had peace of mind in doing so (though filtering enough water every night for the following day got old in a hurry). It’s also very hard to resist the temptation to dunk yourself in a stunning, African lake to cool off on a hot afternoon, but that, too, increases your risk.

I can’t link drinking filtered water with my staying healthy my entire six weeks in Africa, but I did learn post-trip that some of my fellow travelers ended up being treated for a variety of symptoms later on.

If you need medical attention, beware of ‘local’ cures. Lastly, in terms of medical advice, if you aren’t feeling well during your Africa adventure, be wary of any ‘cures’ offered by the locals to treat your symptoms. Though well-meaning, such ‘cures’ can lead to more issues. For example, during my group trip, a woman unable to have a ‘movement’ for several days (!) took the advice of a local man and consumed a strange root rather than seeking the immediate medical attention she should have. The result? The root made her nauseous, even more miserable, and did nothing to avoid her being air lifted to the nearest hospital to remove the intestinal blockage.

So there you have it-- some practical medical advice for your trip to Africa. It’s hard and stressful enough trekking through the rugged Africa terrain-- anything you can do from a health-related perspective will make life that much easier.

Green Party condemns new sale of Britain's forests

_40,000 hectares stillto be sold, with no guarantee on the rest_ Defra recently announced thatthe plan to sell off 15% of England's public forest - started under thelast government, and which was never subject to consultation but merelypostponed (1) - is to go ahead within the span of the spending review (2).This means that 40,000 hectares will be sold within the next four years,with no genuine

Watercolour Escher's Belvedere

Escher's Belvedere by Peter Kastmiler http://im-possible.info/english/art/escher-inspired/peter-kastmiler.html

Bill Hicks 'We let the little demons run amok'

Bill Hicks love the man.Very sad he died so young.Excellent attack on advertising.In the USA more cash is spent on advertising than education.Then he gets on to fundamentalism, sex, forgiveness, war....love the man.....Great Bill Hicks movie here, watch and learn.

Frames 2

Frames 2 by Andreas Aronsson http://im-possible.info/english/art/computer/andreas-aronsson.html#2011-04-19

Stop Vandalism - 2

Stop Vandalism - 2 by Vicente Meavilla http://im-possible.info/english/art/vicente/for-children-9.html#10

Architecture - You're doing it wrong

Architecture - You're doing it wrong by sjem http://im-possible.info/english/art/computer/sjem.html

Derek Wall: “Green politics is the most important thing and one of the most difficult."

Derrida said that the meaning of a word was always deferred. He meant that words have meaning only in contrast to other words. Black makes no sense without white and so on. The search for the meaning of a word goes on forever.Sometimes it seems that green politics is always deferred. Just when you think you have reached an example of green politics, you see a flaw and look for another example and

Like Rudi never died

Mark Bergfeld, who came 3rd in this year's UK National Union of Students' presidency election. "For a fighting NUS!"Filmed April 13th at the 2011 NUS National Conference, in Gateshead, Newcastle. His final speech before voting opened.NUS is sewn up by career politicians, the lowest of the low.No nice jobs on a dead planet, stooges!However Mark Bergfeld raised the flag of rebellion!Good for him!

Malcolm X no sell out!

'They take one little word out of what you sayIgnore all the restAnd then begin to magnify it all over the worldTo make you look like what you actually aren't.'This is a bit 1980s poptastic but still fabulous.Like Malcolm X, I mean he was fablulous not poptastic....He evolved amazingly politically from Nation of Islam to an appreciation of Islam and to socialist politics that went beyond

Hommage aan Arcimboldo - winter

Hommage aan Arcimboldo - winter by Jos de Mey http://im-possible.info/english/art/mey/mey11.html#95

R.I.P. Old illusion

R.I.P. Old illusion by PBDhttp://im-possible.info/english/art/montage/pbd.html

Stop Vandalism - 1

Stop Vandalism - 1 by Vicente Meavilla http://im-possible.info/english/art/vicente/for-children-9.html#9

Garden of impossible figures

Garden of impossible figures by unknown artisthttp://im-possible.info/english/art/various/unknown2.html#garden

A tribute to Vittorio Arrigoni (1975-2011)

As some one said 'there are some fucked up salifists in Gaza' and constant pressure from the IDF.Sad and terrible.Hat tip to teifidancer here

Derek Wall at Keep Our Forests public rally

Saturday May 14 Keep Our Forests Public. Rally/walk at Whiteways car park on A29 north of Arundel at 12 noon. Featuring speakers Marion Shoard (writer), Tony Whitbread (director Sussex Wildlife Trust) and Derek Wall (forner principal speaker of Green Party). Worthing meet-up for lift-sharing at Beechwood Hall, Wykeham Road, Worthing, 11am. Hotel open for coffee/breakfast from 8am but book ahead

Murdoch media attacks the Green Party

While Palestinian, Israeli and international non-violent protesters who march against Israel’s policies in the Occupied Territories are literally showered in sewage, beaten, arbitrarily arrested and sometimes killed by Israeli forces, the battle against non-violent resistance has taken its own ugly form in Australia.Supporters of the non-violent global boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS)

Christmas present

Christmas present by Oleg Zhevelev http://im-possible.info/english/art/computer/oleg-zhevelev.html#7

THE GREAT BP-SPONSORED SLEEP-IN

Sunday 17 April 2011, 2PM at Tate Modern, Bankside, London, SE1 9TG To mark the one year anniversary of the BP Gulf of Mexico oil spill, join us for ‘The great BP-sponsored sleep-in’, a 4-minute flashmob art installation inside Tate Modern. Imagine the turbine hall of this former power station filled with BP-branded sleeping figures, who will soon wake from their BP-sponsored coma to sound the

Double tribar

Double Tribar by Andreas Aronsson http://im-possible.info/english/art/computer/andreas-aronsson.html#16-04-2011

A Cockermouth man believes he is the oldest candidate standing in this year’s local elections.

Michael Baron, 82, of South Street, is representing the Green Party in the town’s Christ Church ward.Mr Baron, who has been a member of the Allerdale and Copeland Green party for five years, wants to raise the profile of green and environmental issues.He said: “We will be looking to promote pro-green issues because we have to look at things like climate change. We have to change our lifestyle.“We

Green Party broadcast says no to the cuts!

Great anti-cuts broadcast.

'as surely as Charlie Sheen generates gossip?'

In Praise of Marx By Terry Eagleton Praising Karl Marx might seem as perverse as putting in a good word for the Boston Strangler. Were not Marx's ideas responsible for despotism, mass murder, labor camps, economic catastrophe, and the loss of liberty for millions of men and women? Was not one of his devoted disciples a paranoid Georgian peasant by the name of Stalin, and another a brutal Chinese

Logo of The Interdependence Movement

http://im-possible.info/english/art/logotypes/page4.html#interd

Impossible string - 37

Impossible string - 37 by Vicente Meavilla http://im-possible.info/english/art/vicente/for-children-9.html#8

AV, Hilary says yes, Kevin says no

Do you think that AV will exclude creative minorities even more effectively than the first past the post system?At least, tactically, a genuine proportional representation system might allow more space for voices from beyond the mainstream. But the proposed Alternative Vote (AV) system isn’t proportionate. Instant run-off voting is designed to make the current ‘first-past-the-post’ system seem

Meet Pete Mandra-- And Overland Travel From Capetown To Nairobi

Pete Mandra is an experienced Africa traveler. He's the author of the humorous novel describing a real life, 6-week overland tour through Africa-- Overland. Here's the first of a series of posts he's agreed to do for us about his adventures:

The day my future wife Jessica and I had finally arrived in Cape Town, South Africa will forever be burned into my mind.

Cape Town is a city of contrasts, contrasts that appeared even sharper after our brutal flights to get there (14 hours in the air, from Chicago to Amsterdam to Johannesburg to (finally!) Cape Town). I see shanty-type huts, constructed from wood and sheet metal, crowding the main road, eventually giving way to the pristine, gated communities of those better off. Pollution and trash exist here as in any other city, yet seem markedly out of place as Table Mountain towers overhead, glowing in the setting red Africa sun.

We visited Africa, which led to the inspiration behind my book Overland, to get a taste of adventure and to see this beautiful continent for ourselves. In a way, Jessica and I were a contrast as well-- at a time in our lives when most couples are worrying about what school to send baby Timmy to, we were ending our apartment lease, cashing in our savings and quitting our jobs (since US firms NEVER give you enough time off!) to see the world.

Our plan was simple-- we had given ourselves three full days to explore Cape Town before meeting up with our tour group-- a full, six-week overland junket that would take us and an entire truckload of strangers from South Africa to Nairobi, Kenya and all points in-between. And as a launching point for our Africa odyssey, Cape Town proved perfect, a mix of majestic beauty, soaring landscapes and proud people.

Table Mountain? Magical (though take a cab back to your hotel, if you plan on hiking it!) Looking out from Cape Point, you can imagine how it earned its deserved reputation as the ‘point of no return’ for many a sailor. In the Cape Town area, I also had my first African wildlife experiences-- first spotting the playful Jackass Penguins near Port Elizabeth (again-- more contrasts!), and then foolishly slowing the car when I spied some baboons who interpreted my actions as a lunch delivery.

But as much as I loved Cape Town-- and I am very looking forward to returning one day-- I am very grateful that we didn’t decide to make it our only stop on the African continent. Africa is a very rich, very diverse land that can’t be represented by a single country within its geographical space, as we quickly found out as we moved through Namibia, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Tanzania and Kenya. One would not visit Greece thinking they’ve seen all of Europe-- South Africa is much the same way.

For strictly selfish reasons, though, I am certain staying put in Cape Town would not have afforded me the material for Overland, as the book, which I describe as ‘Bill Bryson meets Generation X’, is as much of a celebration of traveling through Africa as it is the trials of ‘joys’ of group travel. Travelling through a constantly churning continent like Africa will provide its share of anxiety from time to time. Throw a group of strangers into the mix, each one stranger than the next, and THEN you’ve got something...

Self-Pouring Bottle on a Twisted Page

Self-Pouring Bottle on a Twisted Page by Sandro del Pretehttp://im-possible.info/english/art/delprete/delprete_o2.html#6

Axis Mundi - Earth Center

Axis Mundi - Earth Center by Otto Rapp http://im-possible.info/english/art/pencil/otto-rapp.html

The Green Party is marching steadily towards being a credible party

Some on the whole wise words from Green Party member Brian Orr, hey I am less pessimistic and I don't agree with him on population and I think we still have our roots (I know I do) but worth reading comments welcome!The Green Party is marching steadily towards being a credible party with a prospect of slowly becominga genuine factor in British politics (with AV being of zero consequence here for

EUROPEAN CONFERENCE AGAINST CUTS 1ST OCTOBER, 2011

The Coalition of Resistance is organising a European conference against Austerity, Cuts and Privatisation, and in defence of the Welfare State on Saturday 1st October in London.In Britain, the appeal for the conference is supported by Tony Benn, Len McCluskey (Unite General Secretary), Bob Crow (RMT General Secretary), John McDonnell MP, Jeremy Corbyn MP, Caoline Lucas MP, Jeremy Dear, NUJ

Evangelicals support Gay Christian pilgrimage

This encourages me!Jeremy Marks, director of Courage UK, an evangelical group supportive of gay, lesbian and bisexual people, said: ‘Symon Hill’s pilgrimage of repentance is one of those projects that truly warms and encourages the heart of any gay person, because it recognises deeply held views yet illustrates the process of repentance in a very real and inspiring way. Let us pray that Symon’s

The Unfair Fare Dodge! A railway adventure

16 April, 12 noonDressed as The Railway Children (as much tweed as you can manage!) we willhold a rally at Monument station before taking red flannel petticoats andflags to the railway platform. From there you’re invited to join theUnfair Fare Dodge as we pay a reasonable fare for a 30 mile journey (we’llpay the amount you would pay for the equivalent journey in Europe). Ourgovernment plans to

RCN Nurses say up yours Lansley!

Well that was the sentiment if not the exact word used in the RCN motion.The Lib Dems and Cons want to destroy the NHS, although lets be honest Labour were having a good go at making it into a market too.NHS is life and death for us in the UK, great the nurses are up for a fight.The RCN conference passed the no confidence motion in the health minister with a huge majority.Going to be interesting

Green Party calls on RCN to revolt to save the NHS

Stuart Jeffery, the Green Party's health spokesperson has called on nurses to unite against the draft Health and Social Care Bill.Stuart, himself a registered nurse, has written to the Royal College of Nursing's president, Andrea Spyropoulos, and its general secretary, Peter Carter, calling for the RCN to come out fighting against the devatating changes to the NHS being driven through by the

Mirrar block uranium mining in solidarity with Japanese

The Mirrar People have renewed their opposition to the multibillion-dollarJabiluka uranium deposit in Australia's Northern territory, declaring theirwish, in solidarity with the people of Japan, to include the deposit as part ofthe UNESCO world heritage-listed Kakadu National Park.In a recent letter to UN Secretary-General Ban ki-Moon (PDF), Mirrar ElderYvonne Margarula lamented [...]Continue

Stop abortion

Stop abortion by Vicente Meavilla http://im-possible.info/english/art/vicente/for-children-9.html#7

Chris Bambery sets up new socialist party in Scotland!

I think I am more sympathetic to the SWP but lets see, these left group do multiple don't they.glad to b green, less multiple splits.....Dear CC and Party Members,We, the undersigned, are writing to inform you of our resignation from the Socialist Workers Party. This is not a decision that we have taken lightly: for all of us, it is an immense emotional and political strain to abandon an

Liberal Democrat MEP expects angry voters to pick up guns and shoot Nick Clegg

It’s incredible to learn that some Liberal Democrat council candidates are reluctant to promote the achievements of the party in Government. “Keep it local,” they argue. “Don’t mention the Coalition or the cuts.”Jo Grimond, the former Liberal Party leader, said in 1963 that he would march his troops to the sound of gunfire. If he’d have looked behind when this lot were in his battalion he’d

HUGO BLANCO PERU ELECTION 'VOTE COCACHACRA"

This is a very rough translation of a statement from Hugo Blanco, the indigenous ecosocialist leader from Peru, sunday saw the first round of the Presidential election with Humula the most left of the candidates winning the first round.Hugo argues that all the candidates are constrained within an extractive capitalist model, those most oppose to this model and wanting justice have voted for

teifidancer

I can't really do design, although thanks to P for making this blog look passable, so I do love a good looking blog.Take a look at teifidancer which is beautiful and pushes thing a little I feel.Always had a soft spot for snails since I used to look at dead neolithic ones when I was an archaeologistResist the ordercelebrate diversityshake rattle and rolland all that jazz.Tremblethrough the

SWP CC on Chris Bambery’s resignation

Chris Bambery’s resignationChris Bambery has resigned from the Central Committee (CC) and the SWP. This is very disappointing, but we strongly reject the analysis Chris has put forward in his resignation letter.The CC has for some time had worries about aspects of Chris’s work. As Chris’s letter states, the CC asked him to step aside from responsibility for our work in Scotland, and after the

Impossible triangle with chess

http://im-possible.info/english/art/various/unknown.html#1

Independent Commission on Banking report means more debt and cuts

Mervyn King in a devastating speech argued that British banks are too big to fail.If a bank collapses like dominoes it knocks over the banking system and crashs the economy.Because they know this banks have a hidden subsidy, they can afford to take risks because if it all goes tits up, the government has to bail them out.The bank bailout is part of the reason why we have a fast appraoching £1

Penny Kemp on 'GREEN SURGE IN EUROPE '

Nice statement, once wrote a book with Penny, thats a while back now! The Green Party Press office does good workGreen politics across Europe received a boost asa new poll indicated that the German Greens have overtaken the SocialDemocrats as Germany's largest opposition party. The figures from theindependent poll put the party at 28%, and mean that if a national electionwere held today Germany

Chris Bambery resigns from the SWP

Saw this on Alex Snowdon's blog including Chris Bambery's resignation letter.To be honest while I have criticism of the SWP, generally they seem to have been doing good work, I have been very impressed with their support for climate action which has not been about parachuting in but long term steady work where people like Jonathan Neale and Martin Empson have worked cooperatively with Green Party

Communiqué From Anonymous to the British people

Just got sent this, make for it what you will, it was sent by anon.We are anonymous. And so are you. This is a call to all political activists and all people in the United Kingdom to join our fight against the UK establishment. We are aware that the government is increasingly indifferent to traditional forms of protest even when organised on large scale. Any effective means that the people may

Is It Immoral For Tourists To Visit Tibet?

The closest we could get to visiting Tibet in 1970 was to hike up to the border with Nepal and gaze across. Now there are regular flights from Kathmandu to Lhasa on China Air ($500 roundtrip). I always wanted to go and now I'm going to. Whenever I post something about it, I get barraged with sincere pleas not to go to Chinese-occupied Tibet because it will add to the plight on the Tibetan people, who would still like to maintain their national identity and even regain their national autonomy. Journalists aren't even allowed into the country at all.

We're staying at Yabshi Phunkang, a recently renovated residence of the 11th Dalai Lama that was built in 1838 in the heart of old Lhasa. Yabshi is title given to the parents of the Dalai Lama and Phunkhang is a short form of Phuntsok Khangsar (11th Dalai Lama’s family house). Presumably this notice, which is posted in every hotel in the country, will greet us when we arrive:

NOTICE

Ladies and Gentleman Welcome to Lhasa. So that you may have a safe and enjoyable travels, we would like you to be aware of the following government regulations:

1) Foreigners travelling in China must abide by Chinese law and must not endanger the national security of China, harm its Public interests, disturb the Public order, or engage in any other activities incompatible with tourists status.

2) If Chinese citizens are holding a rally or demonstration, it is strictly forbidden for foreigners to participation, follow along with, take pictures or video film any of these affairs. Foreigners are not allowed to interfere in Chinese internal affairs.

3) Foreigners are forbidden to distribute any propaganda material and join in any religious activity.

4) In accordance with regulations, foreigner tourists must go through all registration formalities and stay only at a designated hotel. Without prior permission it is forbidden to travel in unopened areas, to use undesignated transportation, to operate individual business or privately take up an occupation.

5) It's forbidden to visit and photograph the sky burial site according to the local government's regulations for the minority nationality's habits and customs. The tourist who breaks the regulation will be punished strictly.

6) For safety reasons, it is strictly forbidden for foreign tourists to travel by tractor or other privately operated means of transport. If by any hance a traffic accident happens, under these circumstances you will be responsible for your own actions and the results.

7) Valuables should deposit in checkroom, otherwise, the hotel won't be responsible for the loss.

As "political" as I am on my blog, I'm not travelling around the world looking to interfere in other countries' affairs. In Tibet just speaking with a foreign about politics could land a Tibetan in jail for 20 years. We're going there to see place and get a feel for it. I have enough to worry about with my own country's political dysfunction. On the other hand, I'm not unaware that China would like to turn Lhasa into a kind of Disneyland destination for insensitive tourists. And the beef with travellers going to Tibet is that by going there you implicitly condone the status quo and you enrich the oppressors in Beijing. Yeah, tell it to someone who shops in WalMart... or who owns an Apple computer. Here's a perspective that tries seeing it from all angles:

The first point is something which you must decide for yourself, but I feel that this worry is outweighed by the personal insight one can gain into the current political situation. It must also be borne in mind that over 98 percent of Tibetans live (willingly or otherwise) under the jurisdiction of the Peoples Republic of China and one cannot ignore them; they are trying just as hard to free their country as those in exile. Some live within the system, trying to get the best for themselves and their culture, whereas others attempt to live inspite of it, ignoring the rules.

It is true that Tourism in Tibet is used as a propaganda weapon by Beijing to purvey the message that all is calm in Tibet. If this irks you (as it does me) then make sure you tell people how it really was when you get back home.

The second point is something in my view is far more serious:

Many shops and restaurants are not owned by Tibetans, but by migrants. These migrants are encouraged by tax breaks and other government measures. The government would appear to be following a policy of cultural harmonisation by marginalising Tibetans and Tibeatan culture through a dilution of the Tibetan population. This is being done in the hope that future Tibetans will not be able to differentiate themselves from people in other parts of China. This policy would appear to have had some success in Chinese Inner Mongolia where Mongolians are outnumbered 20:1.

As tourism is an important part of the local economy, the growth of tourism will allow more migrants to earn a living in Tibet. There are two ways to combat this: don't go to Tibet, or if you do choose to visit, then you should stay in Tibetan owned hotels, shop in Tibetan stores and eat in Tibetan restaurants. Anyway, who wants to go all the way to Tibet just to eat cuisine from China? The Chinese and Hui food is far better in Chengdu and Linxia.

The Free Tibet website lists the pros and cons for travelling to Tibet.

Arguments for travelling to Tibet:
 
• The Dalai Lama  encourages foreigners to witness the oppression in Tibet and to inform others of their experiences on their return.

• Tourism provides a window to the outside world for Tibetans. 

• Tibetans find the presence of tourists in Tibet encouraging.

• Consider going to Tibetan populated areas outside the TAR in Sichuan, Gansu and Qinghai provinces, where you can travel without a special permit and the need to hire an official guide.
 
Arguments against travelling to Tibet:

• Tourism provides legitimacy to China's occupation.

• Most of the money you spend will go into the pockets of Chinese enterprises. The tourist infrastructure in Tibet is largely controlled by Chinese businesses with headquarters outside Tibet.

• It is hard to travel in Tibet without tacitly complying with the Chinese regime.

• Tourists are only allowed to travel to the TAR in an officially organised group, on an officially approved itinerary and guided by an officially approved guide.

And if you feel it's wrong to go to Tibet, where do you draw the line? Russia? Israel? Morocco? Myanmar? Arizona?

The Caroline effect

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Trekking In The Himalayas Can, If You'd Like It To, Bring You More Than Just Awesome Vistas

Yesterday we published a guest post by Jeffrey Rasley on safety in Nepal. Today we'll look at a more personal reminiscence by Jeff on his complex and exhilarating relationship to this relatively mysterious and inaccessible country. His new book, Bringing Progress to Paradise, combines adventure travel with service work in Himalayan villages and if anyone is interested in contacting him about either his e-mail address is jrasley@juno.com/.

A Resting Place in Nepal
by Jeff Rasley

I first went to the Himalayan Mountains in Nepal as an adventurer and mountain climber in 1995. After four Himalayan expeditions in five years I’d had enough. In 1999 my climbing team barely escaped an avalanche that killed three Nepalese porters. Even though there was nothing I could have done to help these men, I was plagued by guilt over their deaths.

The men who staffed our Himalayan expeditions as guides and porters were the strongest and kindest people I had ever known. They emanated a beautiful spirituality and displayed almost super-human strength. After seeing those three men swept away in a tsunami of ice, snow and rock, I resolved not to go back to Nepal. There were other places to go adventuring, which would put only me in danger, not others.

But a call to return to Nepal in May 2003 was too strong to resist. It was the Jubilee celebration of the 50th anniversary of the first recorded summit of Mt. Everest by Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay. The country was suffering through a civil war and needed tourist Dollars. The King of Nepal and Sir Edmund Hillary made a joint appeal to mountaineers throughout the world to come join in the celebration.

So in the spring of 2003 I trekked through the Khumbu region of Nepal and up to Mt. Everest Base Camp at 18,000 feet. I trekked with twenty members of the Hillary family for two days along the Base Camp trail. They were making a pilgrimage led by Sir Edmund’s older sister June, who was 86. I learned much about Sir Edmund’s devotion to the Sherpa people. After he became rich and world-famous, Hillary devoted much of the rest of his life to philanthropy for the Sherpa people. He greatly admired the unique character of strength and Buddhist gentleness he found in the high mountain people of Nepal.

The Jubilee experience had a profound effect on me. I felt the pull of Nepal again, but it was more than just the mountains, the culture, and the need for adventure. My encounter with the Hillary family compelled me to think about what I could do for Nepal and then to act. I’m not rich or famous, like Hillary. I don’t have the time or inclination to own and operate an expedition company, like Peter Hillary, Sir Edmund’s son. But I decided I would try in my own small way to help make a meaningful connection between the high mountain people of Nepal and friends from the West.

My plan was put into action the year after the Jubilee. I organized a three-member expedition. We raised $1,000 for a water project in the Dolpo region of Nepal and delivered 65 pounds of children’s clothes and school supplies. Since then, I have returned each year with a new group. Our trekking groups and related fundraising efforts have helped to finish construction of a village school, employed two teachers, connected a village school with two American schools in pen pal relationships, and distributed hundreds of pounds of school and medical supplies, clothing and toys. In 2009 our group included seventeen members and more than 90 people have made cash donations.

So here I am again. It’s just after sundown on December 1, 2010 and I’m sitting with Ganesh Rai and Buddiraj Rai by a campfire on the Ratnagi Danda, a 10,000 foot high ridge in the Nepal Himalayas. Everyone else is asleep in their tents. We are on our way out of the mountains trekking back to the airstrip at Paphlu village to fly to Katmandu. Our trekking group delivered a hydroelectric generator and the equipment to create electricity for Buddi and Ganesh’s little village, called Basa, which means “resting place.” The villagers have lived for hundreds of years in Basa without any source of power except burning wood. Now the village will have electricity.

Sitting by the campfire with Ganesh and Buddi I hoped to gain a deeper understanding of the unique spirit of the high mountain people. They had promised to share with me the traditional stories and rituals of the Rai people of Basa. Because I had helped finish the village school and had helped to provide employment for villagers by bringing trekking groups to Basa, the villagers called me “dhai” (elder brother).

Ganesh and Buddi knew that I had written a book about the special relationship I have developed with Basa village. They had requested permission from Kumar Rai, the senior porter of our staff and son of the village shaman, to tell me the ancient stories and rituals. Kumar had granted permission and told them he hoped I would write another book and bring more “white people” to Basa.

But working with the village is not a one-way street of Westerners bringing our money and higher material standard of living to Basa village. Yes, my friends gave Basa the capital to build a hydroelectric power station. But “the resting place” can give my friends and me a different power-- the power of spiritual contentment.

I will try to fulfill Kumar’s hope. What I learned from Ganesh Rai and Buddiraj Rai that night high on the Ratnagi Danda will be the beginning of my next book.

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Is Nepal A Safe Place To Visit? Guest Post By Jeffrey Rasley

Author and Himalayan Mountains expedition organizer Jeffrey Rasley is one of America's foremost experts on Nepal. Since I'm getting ready for my third trip to that country, I was happy to find out he's releasing his second book about the country, Bringing Progress To Paradise. I was even happier when he agreed to do a guest post for the blog.

A Change To Violence

-by Jeffrey Rasley

In the 1980s and ’90s, the trekking-tourist industry grew rapidly. Many Nepalese were lifted out of poverty in the tourist destination areas such as the Katmandu Valley, the Khumbu along the Base Camp Trail, Langtang, Pokhara, and around the Annapurna Circuit Trail. But the boom was short-lived and busted by the end of the ’90s. The 2003 Jubilee celebrations caused an uptick, but the truce between the government and the Maoist rebels ended after the celebrations, and the return to violence again scared off the tourists, particularly Americans, because President Bush declared the Maoists an international terrorist organization.

In October 2004, while I was mucking around in Tribhuvan International Airport dealing with lost bags, friend Elliot was waiting for me outside the airport when he saw an explosion in downtown Katmandu. The Maoists had rolled three hand grenades into an office building. That was the closest anyone in my trekking groups came to experiencing violence or being directly affected by the civil war in Nepal. But fear of violence and the political instability of Nepal frightened some friends away from joining my expeditions.

Beginning in the late 1990s, the Maoists claimed territorial rights over certain trekking trails. These trekking trails became revenue sources for the Maoists. Armed bands would block trails and require trekkers to pay a fee to use the trail. The leader of the band would give the trekkers a lecture about politics in Nepal and then issue each trekker a certificate declaring the fee had been paid so other Maoist bands would not collect the fee a second time. If a trekker didn’t have enough money to pay the fee, the Maoists would take a camera, climbing gear, down jackets, or other valuable possessions. The fee was generally around $100, but after the U.S. government declared the Maoists international terrorists, Americans were required to pay double the amount of all other nationals. When the Maoist insurgency was at its worst, I wrote “Canada” on my trekking duffel with a Sharpie, just in case.

The Maoists were unsuccessful in penetrating Sherpa communities in the Khumbu, so, happily, I never had an encounter with one of their armed bands. Every Westerner I met in Nepal who hiked the Annapurna Circuit from the mid-90s through 2006 had a Maoist encounter. In the Khumbu, what we encountered was an ever-increasing military presence. Each year, we passed more government soldiers on the trails and had to cross through additional military checkpoints.

In Katmandu, the king would periodically impose a curfew on citizens, which usually didn’t apply to tourists. Walking back to our hotel in 2004 after a night out with Nepalese friends, Briggie, Elliot, and I had to endure the hard stares of young soldiers with loaded carbines. They were understandably resentful that we were allowed to walk the streets of Katmandu freely, while our Nepalese friends had to skulk down alleys and hide from the soldiers, or risk arrest or a beating. Most of the army recruits during the civil war were young uneducated village boys. Their training was poor, evidenced by the fact that they lost most of the pitched battles against the Maoists, and the allegiance of the Nepalese people eroded and eventually swung in favor of the Maoists. So it sent a little shiver down my spine when that young soldier stepped out in front of us, pointing his rifle at us, while intently eyeballing Briggie, a tall, slim, blond, blue-eyed South African. But with a sneer and jerk of his head, he let us pass.

****

I have never been the victim or even seen any real violence in Nepal, but what I did experience was amazement and disbelief at the change in the Nepalese attitude toward violence as the Maoist Rebellion became a full-fledged civil war. Just before my first visit to Nepal in 1995, a Nepalese guy killed a European in a bar fight in Katmandu. The entire nation was in mourning when we arrived because of the felt national disgrace and sorrow over a guest of Nepal being killed. In the ten-year civil war, from 1996 to 2006, an estimated 12,800 Nepalis died. I found it unbelievable that the Maoists and the government could have brought such a degree of fear, death, and destruction to a nation that mourned so soulfully over the death of one person two years before the war began.

In 2006, as the war reached its climax, a friend was brutally beaten in Katmandu. Raaj is a native Nepali, but grew up in India, has long hair, owned a tea shop in Katmandu, and is the leader of a rock band. He looks like a dissident, but he was not a Maoist, just a guy who loves Western rock music. One night when walking home after a gig in Thamel, Raaj and his band mates were jumped and beaten by “royalists.” Raaj’s arm and nose were broken. When I saw him a month or so after the beating, of course I was upset for him, but I also found it hard to accept that such a thing could happen in this country that had been a beacon of peace in a violent world just a few years before.



More on Jeffrey's Nepali observations tomorrow.