few days left till the games…
July 19, 2008
…
time to voice disagreement, protest and the attitude that not everybody will simply buy the nice pictures and proceed to the usual cheering.
Now – before I’ll post more entries about Beijing 2008 in the coming days – I want to show you videos I came across while reading an online newspaper (www.spiegel.de - also in English):
Ariane Mnouchkine from France is the artist who made those videos in cooperation with Chinese dissidents and her theatre group. The videos demand to boycott the Olympic Games in Beijing.
In an interview with the French newspaper “Liberation” she sais that she expects Sarkozy at least not to attend the opening ceremony.
1) “The Track”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NV0Ih_ngvr0&feature=related
In the end of the clip it says: “Everything is prepared.”
“One is awaiting you.”
2) “The Swimming Arena”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdV-J4rWDGI&feature=related
“It is not too late yet,
to understand and to choose.”
3) “A couple”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XyHM65Q74ZQ&feature=related
“Calm down.”
“You don’t need to worry about that.”
“It has been done already before your arrival.”
Critical videos. Do they make you think? Do you wonder what to do?
I hope we can discuss this, for exactly this is the question: “What do You chose?” And this is not only a question concerning Beijing 2008…
Beijing 2008…
July 18, 2008
…
2008, the year of the Olympic Games.
Beijing, world metropolis, capital of China and: host of the Olympic Games 2008. “Peoples Games”. “Green Games”. “One World One Dream”.
Beijing 2008
…
have you ever wondered what that stands for?
Does it stand for Zimbabwe? What do Zimbabwe and Beijing 2008 have in common, after all?
The plain answer is: interests.
The tyranny in Zimbabwe needs money, and most of all weapons, for its brutal fight against the opposition. Followers of Mugabe patrol through the country, raping, beating, killing relatives of members of the opposition. That leat to the retreat from the 2nd round of the Presidential Elections of Tvsangirai (Opposition leader) in fear of his own and his supporters’ deaths. Thousands of refugees urgently need to leave that country. Zimbabwe. Where the new president is the old tyrann.
The world knows about all that.
Is there anything we can do? Stand up and fight for respect of Human Rights?
Or are the Western politicians paralysed by their fear to lose in the comptetition for Africa’s rich resources when they stress the respect for Human Rights and democracy? A competition against China. Beijing 2008.
Here lies the connection: Zimababwe and Beijing 2008;
The EU and the USA say that the keys for the solution of Zimbabwe’s problems lie in Pretoria (capital of South Africa, neighbouring country) and Beijing (happiest city in 2008).
As a matter of fact, China is the most important economy partner of Zimbabwe. China, through credit infusions, keeps this regime alive. China, like in Sudan, has huge interests in Africa and it does not – in contrast to the EU – link its investments to respect for Human Rights, democratic institutions and other redundancies. Beijing 2008 needs resources. It needs employment for its millions of workers. It needs places to invest the new richness, in order to create alliances and dependencies – securing interest spheres.
Meanwhile, millions of people lose their homes, their belongings or their lives…
Soon, the Olympic Games will begin, under the motto: “One World One Dream”.
Beijing 2008 … What dream is this?
source:
the question of war and peace (attempt in a poem)…
July 9, 2008
…
Hej!
Hej You! Yes, You! Let me tell you something: This is Your world. This planet is Yours.
Do You know it?
Are You aware of it? Do you act like it?
Have you ever asked yourself what it would cost to defeat the hunger in the world?
More than Two Million human beings live on less than One Dollar per day. Every day there die 30.000 children. All over the world there are 860 Million human beings undernurished – that is almost twice as many as the populatn in the EU.
What would it cost to help them? How could we help them?
SIPRI has found an answer.
SIPRI is the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. They calculated that it would need 20 Billion € to defeat hunger in the world. 20 Billion Euro.
In 2007 – according to the SIPRI Annual Report - the states of the world spend 858 Billion € for armement and military. 858 Bllion Euro.
20 Billion versus 858 Billion €…
Is this a small scandal or a big contradiction? Or have we reached dimensions that ordinary categories in an ordinary blogg cannot reflect any longer?
And I reflect: In the dawn of Iraq invasion, there were millions people on the streets in Rio, NY, Sydney, Berlin, Tokio… They were painting, screaming, carrying the NO to war into the world. Millions of people want peace – all over the world.
So, I wonder: How can decision – makers seriously defend that they spend 858 Billion € for armement and military? 858 Billion Euro, that equals expenses of 202 Dollars per person of 6.5 Billion earth inhabitants.
Who is going to ask decision – makers that? Who elected them (since the majority of costs from democratic systems) for that? Who?
Put down the guns!
Defeat hunger – and a major reason for conflicts and thus war will be extinguished!
Put down the guns and lift humanity!
sources:
a blogg and my Self…
July 6, 2008
…
writing a blogg means thinking about topics, formulating sentences, scanning the world for its small scandals and big contradictions and for projects, initiatives, actions that generate hope.
Reflecting about this, I realized that this kind of endeavour means liberation. This blogg is liberation of my Self. Liberation of the world.
When you write a blogg, you do this with the public, a public on your mind. To write for me means to invest my thoughts and heart into the matter, to invest my Soul. And it is a dificult step to dare and do so with the public on the mind, in the background.
What will people think? About the entry? About Me? How will they react? Will anybody read? Why won’t anybody read?
To dare and write, keep writing, this generates freedom.
Writing against the public, for my Self – which then turns into good; for the world gets better when one part, one element, one atom of it improves, sets itself free.
That is the hope. And here lies the liberation…
project of hope…
July 4, 2008
…
I googled and found this:
This blogg has the same name and the same aim and yet a different purpose.
There is also a book called “projects of hope”. It is a book about the alternative nobel price. The subheading reads: “Views on a different globalisation”. I got this book from an inspiring person, a person who gives me hope.
But this blogg is no comercial for either of the afore mentioned. It is another project of hope.
Is it a good sign that there seem to be many projects of hope?
the small scandals and the big contradictions…
July 4, 2008
…
this world, my world, your world, our world suffers from the small scandals, that happen day by day, that pass us by, unnoticed.
Unnoticed because this world, me, you, we are in a hurry all too often, in the hurry of life. Therefore in this blogg I take a breath, try to hold on and maybe even try to rewind.
What was this again? What happened there? What did they say and what actually did they do? The questions to get hold of the small scandals. The questions to excavate the big contradictions.
…
small scandals and big contradictions and people who are too hurried, too busy, too tired to look closely, watch carefully, listen attentively, feel boundlessly, think critically…
I am going to try and take a breath for a moment in my haste through this life, a breath in my haste of life.
A moment to think critical;
A moment to reflect on this, mine, your, our injust world;
A moment to try, to try and paint a bigger picture then they would want to let us see; But who are they? We?
A moment to question – the reflections above and moreover to question the obvious;
A moment – yes – to bring a drop of truth to a bigger public, but first of all to my world – this world, your world, our world. For, and this I hold high, if I affect my life, I can affect yours. Do you want me to?
A moment to excavate the negative – the lies “they” build, the information “they” faked or held back, the manipulations of us people; “They” is for instance the IOC who wants to have “green games” and even more shocking “peoples’ games” in Beijing – the capital of China – 2008. Where is the truth here?
A moment can contain a lot, the birth of a child, the crashing of cars, the song of a bird, the raindrop on a green morning leave, a smile in the crowded street… and in this spirit a moment of breath here will contain the hope to fight the negative, for it has to be brought to light, so that it can be overcome.
A moment – eventually – to overcome helplessness, passivity, fear, anger, the small scandals, dissappontment, the big contradictions, an Injust World, this injust world, my injust world, your injust world, our …
