Igår fredag hann vi med att bese den omfångsrika konstmässan med asiatisk konst. Den lanseras nu på marknaden och har länge varit på framväxt. Whitneymuseet har en stor utställning med Kara Walker. Hon tycks representera den form av social kritik som institutionerna är förtjusta över i staden. För några månader sedan visades hon på Metropolitanmuseet. Det handlar alltså om slaveriepoken och den svarta protesten, genomförd av en på alla sätt trovärdig konstnär.
På kvällen höll jag mitt anförande om mina projekt. Apexart var fullsatt men det skall inte överdrivas eftersom det är en ganska liten lokal. Min historia om Nimis, Arx och Ladonia går alltid hem och så även här. Jag fick också tillfälle att presentera rondellhundarna och intresset för musikalformen som presentation var inte att ta miste på.
Så kul det skulle vara med en off-Broadway-uppsättning!
Av någon anledning, som jag inte hunnit fundera över varför – så skulle det kännas som om ”cirkeln sluts”…
Flyttar fram.
js skrev:
—Ämnet historia är på förslag att bli ett kärnämne i skolan. Behovet av kunskap om vår historia är stort. —
Inte bara stort – avgörande för samhällsutvecklingen. Såväl som för den personliga dito, förstås.
För vem vill göra om samma misstag in extendum?
Att lära av historien, sade man förr.
Kunskapssamlande driver ju inte bara forskning av allehanda slag framåt. Det är väl den primära framåtdrivande funktionen inom alla områden – även de mindre faktamässigt avhängiga. De lite flummigare… sociala ditona.
Utan historia blir livet svårare. Det är också skälet till att det andra diktaturer gör, är att “stänga ner” historiefunktionen. (Den första är förstås att strypa nutidsinformationen).
Utan info från nutid och dåtid, så blir livet lätt ett gungfly, där det är svårt att se klart. Livet krymper ner till just bara här-och-nu.
Så är det ju ofta i stort även i de fria samhällena (här-och-nu, alltså). PK är väl ett bra exempel på det. Men PK förändras ju ständigt – just för att det alltid finns människor som utmanar det etablerade. Det är en intressant och livsviktig växelverkan.
Den heter bl a dialog, tror jag.
Åter till historia. Att historia är vad som gett oss vår omvärldsuppfattning, är väl odiskutabelt?
Jag min västerländska. Och kvinnan i sjal utanför IKEA, hennes.Ett facsierande möte.
Jag min med långt släktträd. Och den 100% svenska grannen med kort… eller är det kanske inte kort?
Värderingar man har “odlat” under hundratals år, “sitter där” kanske. För alla. Oavsett personligt släktträd :-)?
Jag läste om en intressant doktorsavhandling för en del år sedan- en kvinna i Lund hade skrivit den.
Den handlade om annektering. Hon skrev att Skåne var unikt i det hänseendet (kan ha fel, om SDS skrev illa).
Hon menade att Skåne var outstanding i integration när det gällde annekterade landområden. Att Skåne på “bara” 350 år hade blivit till 50% svenskt (rekord) – och att antagligen det tidiga svenska skolsystemet bidragit till det.
Så tänker jag på alla människor…. som är så “hooked” på sin “egen” identitet. Vad säger man då… inget, kanske.
Vad ska man säga? Inget. Bara att “göra” – för “göra-människor”.
Sen tappade jag slutet. Sorry.
Finns säkert de som vill fylla i?
Aj, aj. Kollade lite Sara Walken på nätet.
Hur stor del av USA:s befolkning är afroamerikaner? Faktiskt – jämfört med i media?
Ja, som svensk så gissar jag en gång i tiden på säkert… 25%.
Isch vad dåligt samvete kan ställa till det. PK har många ansikten…
Sen att de ”25%en” tycker att Africa sucks… kanske för att de inte blir hyllade när de kommer ”hem”. Är ju en annan 5:a?
I vilket fall som helst, så har de ju lyckats.
USA är utvandrade européer. De som var trötta. Som vågade chansa.
USA är fortfarande Europa. Eller hur?
Och vad är en afroamerikan? Och en en australoeuropé, en euroafrikan? Alla dessa klassifikationer…
Visst är det kul – afroamerikan. Folk behöver känna sig ”hemma” historiskt.. själv skiter jag gladeligen i det. Önskar alla detsamma.
Bortskämda Cecilia….
Eftersom det inget finns att se i New York så föreslår jag ett besök på Eslövs Biennalen 🙂 Om inget annat så virtuellt i alal fall. Läs om temat, kolla bilderna: http://www.ministryofart.se/biennal2007
Musikalen vore fin att få över till Broadway faktiskt… 🙂
Och vad det gäller amerikaner, så är dom faktiskt utvandrade Europeer. Har aldrig mött en amerikan som säger att han/hon är ”amerikan”, dom presenterar sig som grek, dansk, tysk eller whathaveyou. I alla fall i situationer där det är uppenbart att dom är amerikaner… som på en Bar i Texas eller New York t.ex.
Ett tillägg till uppräkningen ”De som var trötta. Som vågade chansa.” Glöm inte bort ”De som blev utsparkade” – vart tror ni alla religiösa fanatiker i USA kommer ifrån?? 🙂 Just det, Europa kickade iväg en massa tosingar och döskallar till USA där det fanns gott om plats och religiös frihet. Så blev det born-again politiker som Bush efter några år… Shit pommes frites alltså. Det är såklart vårt fel att dom stackars amerikaner som eventuellt röstade på honom får dras med en gammal kokainsniffare och alkoholmissbrukare till dönicke med oljepengar och vapenfetishism.
Aj, aj… Kanske det är i USA som överallt. När man tar med sig seder utan uppdatering av utvecklingen ”hemma”, så stagnerar det.
Tycker dock USA har lyckats bättre än andra många utvandrarländer.
Utsparkade – jo men visst. Och vadå, då? Vi kloka blev ju kvar…. 🙂
Skämt åsido – samarbete är väl inte piss ändå? Och samarbetet finns där, vare sig man vill det eller inte. Som jag ser det. I en dialog…. vilket inbegriper olika åsikter. Eller?
SAMFÖRSTÅND – vad ger det? Framåtskridande.. eller kanske…stagnation…?
You can’t live in peace, if your angry neighbour doesn’t like it.
KONSTEN I ESLÖV
Eslövsbiennalen 2007
Tema: ”Eslöv, Gotik och Rymden”
http://www.ministryofart.se/biennal2007/tema.htm
bilder från ”medborgarhuset” var finns Elsöv, Gotiken, Rymden och konsten ?
http://www.ministryofart.se/biennal2007/bilder.htm
Men Lars ande vakar över hela arrangemanget.
Känn stödet ?
http://www.ministryofart.se/biennal2007/041.jpg
PS.
MoA: Du menar alltså att USA är den västerländska versionen av fundamentalism? Inte oävet resonemang.
Fast jag som västerlänning, gillar ju förstås den bättre än den muslimska. Såklart. Det går liksom att snacka… ibland i alla fall.
Stefan skrev:
—bilder från “medborgarhuset” var finns Elsöv, Gotiken, Rymden och konsten ?—
Överallt. Överallt. Åtminstone Eslöv. Och då också gotiken. Och självklart rymden.
Den gör inget undantag, vad jag vet :-).
Envis rackare, är det.
Men konsten… nja, den är selektiv. Som ofta.
Varför inte intressera sig för Köpenhamn. en aningen större metropol än Eslöv. För vissa av oss räcker inte vingarna ända till New York och att resa till Eslöv och kanske bli slagen på truten av nysvenskar lockar inte. Alla klarar ju danskan med glans numera sedan Vilks varit på besök i Köpenhamn.
Eminenta danskan Kimpolina har bra förslag på alternativpartier inför det förestånde danska valet. (http://www.polemiken.net/?p=5086).
T.ex:
”Journalistpartiet” (- kan även kallas ”Pravda-partiet”)
som består av den redan betydande maktinstansen av journalister på den röda och radikala kanten, vars motto är: ”Vi skapar den verklighet som Vi anser att Ni skall ha”.
Err motto värdigt också en Olle Ingvar Bert Svenning på aftontidningen Kvälls-Horan.
Stefan undrade vart Eslöv, Gotiken och Rymden fanns och (i?) konsten. Var det en allvarlig fråga? Isåfall kan jag svara på den. Redan i bild 002 (www.ministryofart.se/biennal2007/002.jpg) skymtar man Eslöv i bakgrunden. Och i förgrunden ser man en slags gotik, nämligen en Goth-rockare… (från yttre rymden om vi dessutom ska vara petiga). Rymdinslagen är också närvarande i bild 040 (www.ministryofart.se/biennal2007/040.jpg) och 004 (www.ministryofart.se/biennal2007/004.jpg) där en Meteorit från Framtiden och dess nedslagsplats avbildas. Och i bilder som 008 (www.ministryofart.se/biennal2007/008.jpg) får man smakprov på cyberrymden. Och på en bild som 023 (www.ministryofart.se/biennal2007/023.jpg) kan man se (samtids)konsten med en blick i backspegeln (Rauchenberg/De Kooning). Och i en bild som 015 (www.ministryofart.se/biennal2007/015.jpg) skulle man kunna skymta gotiken… eller på bild 018 (www.ministryofart.se/biennal2007/018.jpg) där gotiska uttryck fullkomligt flödar. Men som sagt, Stefan kanske inte menade nåt med sin (retoriska?) fråga, så vi kan lämna svaret här ovan där hän. Annars Stefan kan du slänga ett getöga på temat: http://www.ministryofart.se/biennal2007/tema.htm
Och In, visst är Köpenhamn intressant, men det är ju så långt från Eslöv…
Lite okonstnärligt av mig, men ändå. Läser i National Review’s blogg,” Iran News Round Up”:
After Swedish caricaturist Lars Wilks announces plan to produce a musical about Muhammad, Raja criticizes the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs for not dealing more firmly with Wilks’ caricature of the prophet of Islam two months ago.
http://www.rajanews.com/News/?18208
Min persiska är inte vad den borde vara. Vad säger Raja för intressant?
Tapani,
Iranska utrikesministeriet kanske mindes svensken Jan Bernhoff http://tinyurl.com/2pwut3 och då står Sveriges konto i Teheran sammanlagt på plus. 😉
Sätt yxan till roten: Kriminalisera Muhammedanismen!
Fredrikzon
Du har här länge propagerat för inskränkningar i yttrandefriheten, men så fort det börjar handla om att inskränka Muhammedanismens yttrandefrihet så blir det helt plötsligt annat ljud i skällan!
Du är inkonsekvent, motsägelsefull och skum!
Ps Att dra parallell mellan Vilks harmlösa teckningar och Koranens barbariska texter är helt GALET!
GALET också att blanda ihop sexköp och Trafficking!
”För övrigt anser jag att både Mecka, Jerusalem och Vatikanen bör förstöras”!!!
Muhammedansk bil!
Den malaysiska biltillverkaren Proton har länge dragits med förluster. Men nu har företaget en ny idé för världsmarknaden. Det vill producera “muhammedanska bilar” i samarbete med Iran och Turkiet!
Bilarna ska utrustas med
en kompass som kan visa riktningen mot Mecka!
kupén ska ha särskilt utrymme för Koranen!
särskilt utrymme för huvuddukar!
– “Bilen kommer att ha alla de kännetecken man förknippar med Muhammedanismen och är tänkt för export”, säger Protons vd Saed Zainal Abidin till nyhetsbyrån Bernama!
Saed Zainal Abidin blev emellertid upprörd när han fick frågan om föraren kommer att utrustas med säkerhetsbälte istället för bombbälte och avvisade den som insinuant och muhammedanismofobisk!
The Star-Ledger (Newark, New Jersey) September 19, 2007 Wednesday:
”AROUND THE GLOBE
Jury selection opens in Miami terror trial MIAMI – Jury selection began yesterday in the trial of seven men accused of plotting to destroy Chicago’s Sears Tower and bomb FBI offices around the country in hopes of inciting an anti-government insurrection.
U.S. District Judge Joan Lenard said it could take up to two weeks to seat a jury for a trial that could take three months. The laborious task began with an initial group of 34 prospective jurors, who are being kept anonymous under court order. Those who pass the initial round will be brought back for a second day of more detailed questioning, including addressing their views of terrorism and Islam.
The seven men, all from Miami’s blighted Liberty City neighborhood, face up to 70 years in prison if convicted on charges that include conspiracy to levy war against the United States and conspiracy to provide material support to al Qaeda.
They were charged in June 2006 following an FBI investigation in which a paid informant known to the men as Mohammed posed as an al Qaeda operative who would help them take down the 110-story Sears Tower and attack FBI offices in Miami.
Swedish artist shows anti-Prophet cartoon
STOCKHOLM, Sweden – A Swedish artist displayed a cartoon of Muhammad to a seminar in Stockholm yesterday despite a death threat from al Qaeda in Iraq.
”Nobody has really seen this image and it has just become more and more impossible to show it, so I thought that ordinary people should be given the possibility to see it live,” Lars Vilks told a crowd of about 100 people at a seminar.
He then held up the drawing – a rough sketch depicting Muhammad’s head on a dog’s body – to applause from the crowd at the Berwaldhallen concert hall in the Swedish capital.
Dogs are considered unclean by conservative Muslims, and Islamic law generally opposes any depiction of the Prophet, even favorable, for fear it could lead to idolatry.
On Saturday, the putative leader of al Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, offered rewards for the killing of Vilks and a Swedish newspaper editor who published the cartoon Aug. 19.”
Associated Press Worldstream September 19, 2007 Wednesday 4:06 PM GMT:
”Media watchdog condemns death threats against Swedish artist, editor
VIENNA Austria
A global media watchdog condemned Wednesday death threats against a Swedish cartoonist and an editor who recently produced and published images considered insulting to Islam.
On Saturday, the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq, Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, put a bounty on the head of artist Lars Vilks for depicting the head of the Prophet Muhammad on a dog’s body. Dogs are considered unclean by conservative Muslims, and Islamic law generally opposes any depiction of the prophet, even favorable, for fear it could lead to idolatry.
He also offered a reward for the killing of Ulf Johansson, the chief editor of a local newspaper, Nerikes Allehanda, which reprinted Vilks’ cartoon on Aug. 19.
In a statement, the Vienna-based International Press Institute said it was aware the cartoons may have been offensive to some but added that the only rightful limitations on freedom of the press and freedom of expression were those provided by law.
Other individuals or organizations should not be able to create additional restrictions on these fundamental rights, the group said, adding that it strongly condemns the murder threats and ”alleged issue of bounty.”
”The threat of violence is never justified as a means to curb freedom of expression or to encourage censorship,” IPI Director Johann P. Fritz said.
On Tuesday, Vilks displayed a rough sketch depicting Muhammad’s head on a dog’s body to a seminar in Stockholm and said he made a series of drawings to test the boundaries of artistic freedom.”
Associated Press Online September 19, 2007 Wednesday 6:31 PM GMT:
”Editorial Roundup
The Associated Press
Excerpts from recent editorials in newspapers in the United States and abroad:
Sept. 18
South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Fort Lauderdale, on O.J. Simpson’s arrest:
There is surely a yearning to cheer and let out a loud ”Yes!” after hearing of O.J. Simpson’s arrest for the alleged armed robbery of sports memorabilia in Las Vegas.
Indeed, O.J., a South Florida resident, has had more than his share of minor and not-so-minor scrapes with the law since he was infamously acquitted of double murder in 1995. You would have thought he would go deep into hiding after that trial, but O.J. loves the spotlight too much.
Now that he’s in it again, there are two things to hope for.
First, hope investigators do a better job than those involved in the double murder. If they indeed have the goods on O.J. in Las Vegas, they need to present their case fairly and certainly more professionally than in the previous Trial of the Century in Los Angeles.
And second, just hope there isn’t the usual South Florida connection to all this that will bring the international media hordes here. We’ve seen enough of O.J. here already.
On the Net:
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/opinion/editorial/sfl-editgsojcapnbsep18,0, 2165502.story
Sept. 18
Times Union, Albany, N.Y., on Alan Greenspan:
Many critics of the administration’s Iraq policies would no doubt agree with the former chairman of the Federal Reserve that oil was an overriding reason for the war. But Mr. Greenspan is already retreating from his words, explaining, in an interview with Bob Woodward of The Washington Post, that he did not mean to suggest that oil was the Bush administration’s motive for the war. Instead, Mr. Greenspan says, he was the one raising the oil issue by warning the White House that Saddam Hussein was preparing to seize the Straits of Hormuz, where he could disrupt global oil shipments and drive prices up to $120 a barrel, plunging the U.S. and other economies into turmoil.
Perhaps. But why didn’t Mr. Greenspan include that in his book, which runs more than 500 pages? More to the point, why did he wait so long before speaking out on the Bush administration’s economic and tax policies? As Fed chairman, he was entrusted to oversee the U.S. economy. Yet he acted more like a White House cheerleader than watchful steward. …
… Why wasn’t he speaking out when he was in office, and when his words would surely have had an impact? …
On the Web:
http://www.timesunion.com
Sept. 16
The Press Democrat, Santa Rosa, Calif., on teens, cell phones and driving:
More than half of 16- and 17-year-old drivers regularly talk on their cell phones while driving, according to a survey by the American Automobile Association and Seventeen magazine.
Nearly as many admit to sending text messages while behind the wheel.
Soon neither will be legal in California, thanks to a bill signed into law.
SB 33 by state Sen. Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto, prohibits drivers under the age of 18 from talking on the cell phone or sending text messages.
But the law has two shortcomings. First, it is a ”secondary offense law,” meaning teens can only be cited if they’re pulled over for another offense, such as speeding or driving erratically.
Second, the law doesn’t go far enough. While it’s wise to start with young drivers, the law should be expanded to include everyone else.
Nobody should be texting while operating a moving vehicle. Suggesting otherwise would be sending teen drivers a mixed message.
On the Web:
http://www.pressdemocrat.com
Sept. 12
The Northwest Herald (Crystal Lake, Ill.), on health issues following Sept. 11:
In coming years we are going to have come to terms with the health disaster from the cleanup of Sept. 11.
Six years after the terrorist attacks, it is becoming clear that the toxic-dust cloud that enveloped New York after the Twin Towers collapsed might claim more lives than the terrorist attacks themselves. At the heart of the issue is the culpability of public officials who told people that it was safe to return home and to go back to work when in fact it was not.
A 2006 study by Mount Sinai of ground zero workers found that 70 percent of them were sick. Discover magazine reported this month that if a similar illness rate was applied to people who lived and worked near the Twin Towers, there could be as many as 300,000 people who eventually fall ill.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi this week said that she supported the reopening of a federal fund to help sick ground zero workers. The fund was closed in 2003, even though it could be years before health affects from toxic exposure become apparent.
The fund should be reopened. Workers many of whom toiled for this country without basic protection, such as respirators deserve that much. …
In retrospect, the promotion of the can-do, patriotic attitude at ground zero by the government after the attacks was exploitive and dangerous. The government should have been more concerned about the safety of workers and nearby residents and less worried about a return to normalcy.
On the Net:
http://www.nwherald.com.
Sept. 13
The Montrose (Colo.) Daily Press, on reaction to MoveOn.org’s recent newspaper ad:
When Muslims rioted in response to the publication of a couple of juvenile cartoons that dared portray their prophet in a less-than-perfect light, much of the Western world was furious.
… We in the enlightened West would never behave in such a manner, just because some visual art offended us. Why, no matter how much we dislike someone else’s message, we’ll defend his right to convey it!
… Consider the leftist blog MoveOn.org’s recent full-page ad in the New York Times, which made a pun of Gen. David Petraeus’ name, asking whether he should be called ”General Petraeus, or General Betray Us?” This is hardly clever and there are most certainly better ways to air a viewpoint. It’s also true a polished propaganda agency of MoveOn’s ilk knows those ways.
Now, as the Muhammad cartoons did in Europe and the Mid East, MoveOn’s ad sparked an angry reaction. There have been no riots. But there’s also been little talk of freedom and free speech; little defense of MoveOn.org’s right to convey the message of its choice. …
So, once more: Freedom of speech exists for all. Yet we’ve allowed the concept of ”free speech” to be redefined, and there is a strong tendency across the political spectrum to view it as worthy of protection only when it reflects our sensibilities. …
On the Net:
http://tinyurl.com/3bzzqz
Sept. 11
Texarkana (Ark.) Gazette, on the Sept. 11 anniversary:
It has been six years since the morning of Sept. 11, 2001. But the memories are still vivid for most of us. It was 7:46 a.m. in Texarkana that Tuesday morning when the first jet, American Airlines Flight 11, hit the North Tower of the World Trade Center. Some of us were already at our workplaces. Some were up and getting ready for work. And some were awakened by frantic phone calls from friends, relatives and co-workers, urging them to turn on the TV. …
The U.S. government quickly found out who was behind the attacks of Sept. 11. Osama bin Laden, head of the Islamic terror group al-Qaida, initially denied any involvement in the attacks. He, at various times, was seen admitting that he knew about the attacks in advance and that he supported violence against the U.S.
But it wasn’t until 2004 that he admitted he and his group planned and carried them out. President George W. Bush sent U.S. troops into Afghanistan about a month after the attacks. The Taliban government there was suspected of harboring bin Laden and his inner circle. We dispatched the Taliban. We got some al-Qaida operatives. But no bin Laden.
… We still don’t have justice for the victims of Sept. 11, 2001. It is time the president spent less time worrying about democracy in Iraq and more on finding the man responsible for killing nearly 3,000 fellow citizens on Sept. 11, 2001.
On the Net:
http://www.texarkanagazette.com/
Sept. 18
The Staten Island (N.Y.) Advance, on the toy industry:
Going into the holiday shopping season, the toy industry is in turmoil. More than 80 percent of the toys sold in U.S. stores are made in China. So a wave of product recalls involving the safety of Chinese-manufactured toys has big business running scared. Nobody is certain about how American shoppers are going to react. …
China has promised reforms. And Mattel plans to test the safety of Chinese-made products in its own laboratories or those certified by the company.
Which seems like very little, very late. …
”This situation cannot continue,” says Nancy Nord, acting chief of the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Yet it’s the government that has long expected industry to do a good job of monitoring itself.
More funding is needed for the CPSC, whose staff dropped from almost 800 employees in 1974 to an all-time low now of about 400.
Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) found that there is just one CPSC employee responsible for testing and ensuring toy safety throughout the country.
This is unacceptable, of course.
Toy sales during the holiday season will be a telling gauge of how fast the industry reacts to safety concerns. …
On the Net:
http://www.silive.com
Sept. 17
The Daily Sentinel, Grand Junction, Colo., on Iraq:
In the past few months, Gen. David Petraeus and U.S. military personnel have demonstrated that with adequate troop strength and the right military strategy, they can put the terrorists in Iraq on the run and reduce overall violence.
What remains far from certain, however, is whether the Iraqis themselves can build on our military success, take control of their own security and establish a stable government.
That’s the basis for much of the political debate in this country following last week’s congressional testimony by Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker and President George W. Bush’s address to the nation last Thursday. …
First, and most importantly, even though the troop reductions Petraeus has called for over the next few months will be modest, they will begin to give an indication of whether the military success can be maintained by Iraqis as U.S. troop strength is reduced. …
A large troop withdrawal at this point all but ensures more violence, civil war and the resurgence of foreign-backed terrorists. However, there is little chance of that happening immediately. Washington observers say Democrats don’t have the votes to win approval for their own hazy plan, much less to override a veto.
Fortunately, the United States is unlikely to abandon Iraq now and open the floodgates to terrorists just as there are signs of success.
On the Net:
http://tinyurl.com/2vdhvw
Sept. 18
Diena, Riga, Latvia, on the European energy market and Russia:
Today the European Commission is publishing more bundles of documents, the aim of which is to specify legislation and make the EU energy market more secure. In practice this could amount to limitations on third-country energy companies that, while claiming to be strategic investors, would like to buy controlling stakes in EU energy production and transmission enterprises. …
The EU draft documents are essentially an answer to Russia’s energy policy, in which two trends have been clearly pronounced. Namely, Russia, for whom foreign investment, on the one hand, is very useful, has all but closed its energy sector; while on the other, Russia appeals to free market principals when facing opposition to its aspirations to grow roots in the EU energy sphere. The EU’s endeavors to make the energy market more open is contradictory to Russia’s goal to place even more stringent state control in this sphere on its own territory.
Essentially, the EU is proposing Russia the same rules of the game, which more or less provide for equal investment rights, and nothing more. This is all about the Energy Charter, which Russia doesn’t want to ratify since it would oblige Russia, at least partially, to open its energy sector to foreign investment. …
On the Net:
http://www.diena.lv
Sept. 18
Hufvudstadsbladet, Helsinki, Finland, on al-Qaida death threat against Swedish cartoonist:
International Muslim organizations are now strongly distancing themselves from the death threat on Lars Vilks, the artist, and chief editor Ulf Johansson. According to secretary-general Hussein Halawa, the European Council for Fatwa and Research will soon issue an international statement which will declare the death threat ”haram,” or forbidden by Islam. The Federation of Islamic Organizations in Europe is also trying to ensure that the conflict does not spread internationally.
These are welcome standpoints, which hopefully will have an impact on the 92 organizations around the world that will distribute that message. It is also a welcome sign that the Muslim organizations jointly condemn the death threat as an unacceptable action, which is not supported by anyone else except extremists.
On the Net:
http://www.hbl.fi/
Sept. 15
Winnipeg Free Press, Canada, on poverty and the family:
… No one needs to go hungry or homeless in this country unless they have special problems and prefer the freedom of getting by on their own. Reports on these subjects surface annually, sometimes bi-annually, usually accompanied by plaintive cries for more spending on government programs.
One such report was released earlier this week. The Summoned to Stewardship report said Manitoba had the second-highest rate of child poverty in Canada and it made the usual connections between poverty, gang violence, the sex trade and addictions. The report didn’t say anyone was starving to death or dying from exposure, which would have been meaningful definitions of poverty in the past, but it stressed that society was at risk for more violence and anti-social behaviour unless something radical was done to end child poverty. …
Statistics Canada’s latest census information shows that we are a society that is divorcing in record numbers and that one in four families today is led by just one parent. The dramatic collapse of the traditional family unit is an alarming trend. The children of single-parent families are generally subject to more stress, fewer opportunities and more challenges than families led by two parents. Most of them are also poorer than traditional households with two incomes.
Family breakdown, therefore, can also be interpreted as a threat to social harmony. As such, family health, whether it is for families in Winnipeg’s North End or in River Heights, may be a more meaningful subject for discussion than child poverty in terms of understanding anti-social behaviour. Many of Winnipeg’s finest citizens grew up in poverty in the North End, but they transcended difficult beginnings because they had loving, motivated parents. By today’s standards, they could be classified as survivors of child poverty, a term that is largely meaningless in Canada today.
On the Net:
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/
Sept. 19
the Independent, London, on the Northern Rock banking crisis:
In the end, Chancellor Alistair Darling had little choice. All attempts to reassure the worried savers queuing outside branches of Northern Rock had failed. There was nothing left but to announce that all deposits in the building society would be guaranteed by the Government ”guaranteed safe and secure”, as the statement put it for extra emphasis. That it had to resort to such a measure, however, is an indictment of the Government’s handling of the crisis and sad testimony to the continuing climate of mistrust. The more reassurances the Chancellor offered, the more worried Northern Rock’s customers became. The risk that the crisis would spread was something the Government, rightly, could not countenance.
So it is now the taxpayer who will pick up the tab for the high-risk business practices of Northern Rock. But it will also be impossible for the Government to deny equivalent support to any other banks that might find themselves in similar straits. Public confidence in the banking system has been bought at a price that could prove very high and not only in financial terms.
It will not escape attention that in the international fallout from the US sub-prime mortgage crisis, only Britain has suffered a run on a bank. While other central banks quietly underwrote faltering institutions, the Bank of England declined to do so. Its motives that high-risk businesses had to reap what they had sown and that bail-outs could encourage irresponsible lending were commendable in principle; in practice, they proved untenable. …
The Chancellor’s guarantee may bring the immediate crisis to an end. But it has exposed worrying weaknesses in a banking system that we had, perhaps complacently, believed among the most solid in the world. …
On the Net:
http://comment.independent.co.uk/leading articles/article2976638.ece”
The Associated Press September 18, 2007 Tuesday 8:45 PM GMT:
”Swedish artist displays prophet cartoon at seminar despite al-Qaida threat
By LOUISE NORDSTROM, Associated Press Writer
STOCKHOLM Sweden
A Swedish artist displayed a cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad to a seminar in Stockholm on Tuesday despite a death threat from al-Qaida in Iraq.
”Nobody has really seen this image and it has just become more and more impossible to show it, so I thought that ordinary people should be given the possibility to see it live,” Lars Vilks told a crowd of about 100 people at a seminar.
He then held up the drawing a rough sketch depicting Muhammad’s head on a dog’s body to applause from the crowd at the Berwaldhallen concert hall in the Swedish capital.
Dogs are considered unclean by conservative Muslims, and Islamic law generally opposes any depiction of the prophet, even favorable, for fear it could lead to idolatry.
On Saturday, the putative leader of al-Qaida in Iraq, Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, offered rewards for the killing of Vilks and a Swedish newspaper editor who published the cartoon on Aug. 19.
Vilks said Monday that police had moved him to a secret location and told him he cannot return to his home following the threat.
Security guards searched the bags of visitors entering the concert hall where the 61-year-old artist joined a panel of speakers Tuesday for discussions on freedom of expression and Islam as a politicized religion.
During a question-and-answer session, a bearded man wearing a knitted skullcap walked up to a podium on the stage and delivered what appeared to be a threat against Vilks.
”I hope that your fate will be a lesson for you others,” the man said in broken Swedish, drawing an angry reaction from a majority of the crowd, who booed, whistled and shouted at the man to get off the stage.
The man, who didn’t give his name or identify the group he was representing, left the auditorium with an entourage of about 10 people and security guards following closely behind.
After the seminar, Vilks said he took the al-Qaida threat seriously, but added he was not afraid.
”Because I’m brave,” he said, laughing. ”But if they are going to do something they will probably wait a while. It will be more dangerous a few weeks from now.”
Vilks told the seminar that he made a series of drawings of Muhammad to test the boundaries of artistic freedom, saying ”a work of art is successful when it meets resistance.”
His drawings drew protests from Muslims in Sweden and abroad after Nerikes Allehanda, a newspaper in Orebro, published one of them in an editorial criticizing Swedish art galleries for refusing to exhibit the cartoons.
Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt invited 22 ambassadors from Muslim countries on Sept. 7 to talk about the sketch in an attempt to prevent a repeat of last year’s uproar over Danish newspaper cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.”
Muhammedanislamofob (blev det rätt nu?)
Aldrig får man vara riktigt glad. Nu trodde jag vi hade en bra debatt i gång och så kommer dina vanliga insinuationer som ett brev på posten.
”Du har här länge propagerat för inskränkningar i yttrandefriheten”.
Det har jag inte alls! Jag har försökt uppmärksamma panelen på att vi faktisk HAR inskränkningar i vår yttrandefrihet. Det vore en olycklig synvilla att tro annat. Och vill du förbjuda islam på grund av koranen får du förmodligen också förbjuda kristendomen på grund av bibeln. Samma regler får gälla för alla. Och du får också acceptera protester mot Vilks rondellhundar. Du och jag kan tycka det är harmlösa hundar men alla andra tycker inte som vi. Lite fantasi och inlevelseförmåga om jag får be!
”GALET också att blanda ihop sexköp och Trafficking!”
Jasså? Muhammedanislamofoben anar inget som helst sammanhang?
Hej Vilks
OIC enters your beautyful piece of art!
You are, as of now, a threat to world peace! Thats something! Well done……:o)
http://www.oic-oci.org/press/English/2007/11/swedish.htm
Enligt referatet från mötet igår mellan riksdagsdirektör Anders Forsberg och den turkiske generalsekreteraren för OIC (Organization of the Islamic Conference) skulle den förre ha sagt ”… the acts of people like Lars Vilks had no support of the Swedish people.”
Ska vi ta en omröstning? 🙂
Jag har blivit uppmärksam på att jag allt oftare möter normen, trots att jag inte särskilt letar efter den stöter ”vi” ihop.
Idag var jag med dottern på biblioteket, bredvid den förväntade droginformationen låg det några broschyrer med titeln; ”Liten praktika om analsex”
Bibliotikarien som plockade i hyllan såg att jag uppmärksammade den lilla trycksaken och hon ondgjorde sig över ”sådant” sex och att hon var tvungen att ha denna broschyr liggande på ”sitt” bord. Hon hade sannolikt helst sett att ingen kommit på idéen.
Jag frågade henne om hon trodde att man kunde tiga ihjäl sex som man inte gillar, och sa att om analsex blir alltmer populärt är det väl bra om ungdomarna lär sig ”handgreppet” och kan undvika de mest uppenbara skaderiskerna. Ingen tror väl att analsex blir mindre intressant om vuxenvärlden eller de ”uppfostrande myndigheterna” ryter till.
Är det ens önskvärt?
Om sedan alla tjejer och killar som har analsex får ut något av det är en mer komplicerad fråga som de bör hitta ett eget svar på genom att känna efter, diskutera med sina partners, vänninor och andra som vill lyssna. Kanske en utmärkt diskussion att ta också i skolan tillsammans med en rodnande lärare.
Förutom skaderisk och eventuellt press från gänget eller partner(s) kan inte analsex med automatik fördömas. Analsex förekommer, vad samhället och den övriga omgivningen kan göra är att stödja individen till att känna efter själv.
Jag utgår från att myndigheternas eller de vuxnas sexvärdering inte tillför något och ännu mindre kan vara ett rättesnöre eller norm för sexakten.
Har du läst; ”Liten praktika om analsex”
The Australian (Australia) September 18, 2007 Tuesday:
”Swedish PM urges calm after al-Qa’ida threatens cartoonist
AFP, The Times
Correspondents in Stockholm
SWEDEN’S Prime Minister has appealed for calm following an al-Qa’ida death warrant on two journalists for a cartoon portraying the prophet Mohammed as a dog and threats to attack top Swedish firms.
Swedish companies lowered their profile in the Middle East yesterday amid fears of reprisals.
Telecoms giant Ericsson removed the Swedish flag from offices in several countries, including Iraq, after a statement purporting to be from al-Qa’ida put a $US100,000 ($119,000) bounty on the head of the cartoonist, Lars Vilks.
The statement, in the name of Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, head of al-Qa’ida in Iraq, offered a 50per cent bonus if Vilks was ”slaughtered like a lamb” by having his throat cut.
It also placed $US50,000 on the life of Ulf Johansson, editor-in-chief of Nerikes Allehanda, the newspaper that printed the cartoon featuring Mohammed’s head on a dog’s body on August18.
Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt sought to defuse tensions yesterday after talks with local Islamic leaders.
”We are appealing for calm; we are appealing for reflection. We reject these calls to violence and we reject any attempts to aggravate the situation,” he said.
He underscored Sweden’s commitment to freedom of speech and expression, echoing the local media, which backed the two journalists.
Vilks, who lives in an isolated area of Sweden, has been given police protection. ”I suppose you could say I was an easy target,” he said. ”But I am not paranoid. I think I possess a healthy rationality. I know there are some risks involved but one should not exaggerate them either.”
But he added: ”We must not give in. I’m starting to grow old. I could die at any time — it’s not a catastrophe.”
Vilks then made light of the assassination call: ”I suppose that this makes my art project a bit more serious. It is also good to know how much one is worth.”
The row recalls the controversy over 12 cartoons lampooning Islam published in a Danish newspaper in 2005 that provoked violent demonstrations, including attacks on Danish embassies.
Islam forbids as idolatry any depiction of Mohammed and Sweden, which has about 350,000 Muslims among a population of 9.1million, has been consumed by debate over freedom of expression after the publication in the newspaper, based in the western town of Orebro.
The internet threat stated: ”We know how to force you to apologise. If you do not, expect us to strike the businesses of firms like Ericsson, Scania, Volvo, Ikea and Electrolux.”
Ericsson spokeswoman Ase Lindskog said staff had been told to keep a low profile in Muslim countries. Helena Benouda, head of the Muslim Council of Sweden, denounced the threats. ”We do not think like this. It is criminal to call to kill somebody. It is really unnecessary and it is ugly.”
Egypt, Iran and Pakistan have lodged formal protests with the Swedish Government; religious leaders in Afghanistan and Jordan have condemned the cartoon.
Leading Swedish daily newspaper Dagens Nyheter yesterday republished the cartoon in an act of solidarity.
The daily newspaper Svenska Dagbladet urged Swedes to defend their right to free speech in the face of religious fanaticism.”
Calgary Sun (Alberta) September 18, 2007 Tuesday:
”SUNFLASHES COLUMN
ARTIST FORCED INTO HIDING
STOCKHOLM — Swedish artist Lars Vilks, under a death threat from al-Qaida over his drawing of Islam’s Prophet Muhammad, said yesterday that police have increased his security and will not allow him to live in his home. Vilks, who was whisked away by police on Sunday, said he was currently staying at a secret address after security police described the threats against him as ”very serious.””
Chinadaily.com.cn September 18, 2007 Tuesday:
” AROUND THE WORLD SWEDEN
Cartoonist being protected Swedish artist Lars Vilks, under a death threat from Al-Qaida, said yesterday that police have increased his security and will not allow him to live in his home.
Vilks, who was whisked away by police when he returned to Sweden from Germany on Sunday, said he was currently staying at a secret address after security police described the threats against him as ”very serious.” ”
The Frontrunner September 18, 2007 Tuesday:
”Swedish Cartoonist Threatened By Muslims Goes Into Hiding
The Washington Post /AP (9/18, A16, Nordstrom) reports, ”A Swedish cartoonist who depicted the prophet Muhammad with the body of a dog said Monday that police have taken him to a secret location and told him he cannot return home because of a death threat from insurgents in Iraq. Lars Vilks, who was whisked away by police when he returned to Sweden from Germany on Sunday, said authorities have described the threats against him as ’very serious.'” ”
Gates of Vienna September 18, 2007 Tuesday 9:07 PM EST:
”Lars Vilks Earns His Fatwa
Baron Bodissey
Sep. 18, 2007 — Not only did Lars Vilks merit a bounty for his blasphemy, but also a fatwa. Here’s the latest from Carpenter:>>The Modoggie affair has resulted in a Fatwa, issued by ”The European Council for Fatwa and Research”, whose existence I wasn’t aware of until just a minute ago. Expressen published the Fatwa yesterday, point by point. No English version is yet available, as far as I know. But here’s my translation of the ten items of the Fatwa in
1. We condemn the caricature and consider it an insult to the religion of all Muslims, and also an insult of all people’s religions.
2. We maintain our convictions on free press and strive for increased freedom of speech. But to insult other people’s sanctuaries is not included in freedom of speech; it’s a crime against human rights.
3. We consider the caricature conflicting with our struggle for a positive integration between different European societies in which Islam is a part.
4. We consider the caricature conflicting with our work on creating a inter-religious dialogue with other religious groups.
– – – – – – – –
5. We ask European authorities to protect Muslims and other believers from insults.
6. We ask religious and human rights organizations to counteract the insults to religions and sanctuaries.
7. We repudiate all acts of violence, including murder, because it’s insulting to other people as well as contradicting the doctrine of Islam.
8. We ask European legislatures to institute laws that criminalize insults to all religions and sanctuaries.
9. We ask Muslims in Europe to be reasonable and defend their sanctuaries with the help of current democratic laws and to repudiate everything related to violence and acts of crime.
10. We maintain our objective of helping European Muslims to contribute prosperity to their countries and that this mad caricature shouldn’t stop this important process.
>Carpenter ”Number 8 is my
>For previous posts on Lars Vilks and the Roundabout Dogs, see the Modoggie Archives.>”