Vaclav Havel and the dangers of a global civilization

“Ladies and gentlemen,

“I find myself at perhaps the most famous university in the most powerful country in the world. With your permission, I will say a few words on the subject of the politics of a great power.” … (for the full speech : civilisation’s thin veneer, 1995, Vaclav Havel, Harvard University)

Writer, dissident during the soviet regime in the former Czechoslovakia. Vaclav Havel got elected (1993 & 1998) president of the independent Czech Republic right away after its independence.

He became Doctor Honoris Causa from Harvard University (1995).


harvard uni

Harvard, one of the most famous and traditional USAmerican universities (Republican vision mostly)… where official speeches make clear analogies between New-York and Rome, the US and the Roman Empire, preach about the American duty to educate the world according to its values.
Some of my friends studied there, and went through the PPE (Philosophy, Politics and Economics) Master, and frankly speaking, even if some of them are great minds, when topics were about the US, a clear-cut rationality was no more. A US values brainwashing university ?

The speech, you should take the time to go through, is pretty much a double-edged criticism of great powers, as their responsibilities about the current globalization and localization trends. To great power, there is a great responsibility,… but a great humility as well.

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Persepolis, une histoire d’Iran et de “libertés”

Persepolis, “ville Perse”, une des plus anciennes civilisations, berceau de l’histoire, passage obligé Est-Ouest, balloté de régimes en régimes, maintenant dans une ère qui l’étouffe, une ère dirigée par des terroristes, une ère de terreur où tout autre livre que l’Unique est un crime, où l’interprétation autre qu’”officielle” est considérée comme blasphème (lire “one book and the loss of mankind“).

Ce long métrage d’animation (prix à Cannes 2007) m’a ravivé pas mal de souvenirs, beaucoup de personnes. Des profils de femmes que j’avais rencontrés lors de ma vie en Asie : belles, raffinées, intelligentes,… et sans voile.

S., issue d’une province autonome, championne nationale d’arts martiaux, ingénieur civil. Rien que d’y penser, les émotions me submergent - elle fait maintenant un doctorat quelque part en Europe. Reviendra-t-elle au pays ?

R., née en France, d’une famille illustre d’antan qui avait prévu des bagages d’une semaine. Semaines qui se sont allongées, pour devenir des mois, des années,… une vie. Avocate brillante.

marble palace

Ce court-métrage animé en noir et blanc, avec un casting sur mesure, neuf, original, pur. Employant le langage de l’innocence - un “dessin-animé”, c’est pour les enfants… ôtant toute dimension marketing, publicitaire de ces acteurs aux pensées idéologiques douteuses et aux cachets honteux. Ce noir et blanc pour le côté incisif ; des couleurs minimalistes et cannibales des tchadors et de la peau cachée du soleil. Le rose a été absorbé. La mise en scène et le style isolent l’histoire dans son essence, où l’humour fait figure de sel sur ces blessures béantes tailladées par les coups de fouet réguliers du film.

Une vie à travers les différents “Irans”, les différentes périodes de l’Iran. Le message est clair, sans fioritures, ni explosions hollywoodiennes. La suggestion y est très sincère et humaine… un ton politiquement (humainement) orienté, qui présentait une opinion très claire sur le shah, la révolution, la transition, Les bombes, l’Irak, le lycée français de Vienne, les conseils de la Révolution, les polices de la vertu, les supermarchés vides, la traque, la terreur, l’obscurantisme, le changement, la résistance, l’exil, la femme, la reconstruction à l’étranger, l’héritage et mémoire culturelle, l’oubli de ses origines, l’oubli des générations, l’instinct de survie, refaire sa vie, l’assimilation, la rage de vaincre, la rage de vivre.

L’héritage culturel, intellectuel, de savoir-être, savoir-faire, sont certainement les raisons pour lesquelles ces apatrides survivent, vivent, voire revivent. Ils sont devenus les gardiens de la mémoire, de leurs héritages “effacés” avec force au pays. Ayant le devoir et l’obligation de transmettre ce passé, ne pas “réussir” est impensable.

Vivant à ce jour l’expérience démocratique, ils accommoderont le système dégénérant, lui apporteront modernité, mais lui rendront sa mémoire et son histoire… aussi sanglante et/ou raffinée qu’elle puisse avoir été, car un pays sans Histoire n’est plus que terre impersonnelle sans ordre, ni foi, ni loi. Probablement le but des réalisateurs de Persepolis (Marjane Satrapi & Vincent Paronnaud).

Autres articles (sur l’Iran) : les foulards de couleur, what the world is looking for, 300

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Posted on by tanguy
Filed under: FRANCAIS, culture, littérature, art, expériences interculturelles, immigration, guerre, religion, sociétés, populations, tendances, un peu humour, c'est pour rire... (vraiment?) | No Comments »

Flags by colours - quiz

If we compile colours of all the flags from the world, what would be the main colours coming up ?
Answer (at the end of the linked page).

What could be a conclusion out of this ?

Does red mainly have a communist connotation ?
No. Look at the Taiwan flag. Conclusions of a political divide of the world by flag’s colours is therefore irrelevant (damned, it would have been so cool !).

White sounds to be the main shared colour, the most neutral, apolitical.
Blue would come up on the 3d position, closely followed by green, yellow and black.

If you want to develop a worldwide brand… maybe these are the colours you should only use… oh btw, what about the Localingo logo ? No green :-)

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Posted on by tornado
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Countries without an army…

Yes, some recognized countries in our beloved world do not possess any army (even if sometimes limited armed forces).
Some countries in our deep loved world do not massively buy weapons… Politically “weak”, dependent of a foreign armed force, sometimes rogue bank island heavens no-one dares tickling, trade-offs are plenty though, and weapons are sometimes less lethal than a few billion USD from a dodgy origin…

http://flickr.com/photos/xiaming/92409757/

Europe
Andorra : 81 200 nationals, under protection of France and Spain
Iceland : 309 699, under protection of NATO & the US, some armed forces though, but limited
Liechtenstein : 35 000, under protection of Switzerland
Vatican City : 800, under protection of Italy
Monaco : 33 000, under protection of France
San Marino : 31 000, under protection of Italy

America
Costa Rica : 4 468 000, under protection of the US
Dominica : 67 000, under protection of a “Regional Security System”
Grenada : 106 000, under protection of a “Regional Security System”
Haiti : 9 598 000, some military units
Marshall Islands : 59 000, under protection of the US
Panama : 3 343 000, under protection of the US
Saint Kitts and Nevis : 50 000, under protection of a “Regional Security System”
Saint Lucia : 165 000, under protection of a “Regional Security System”
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines : 120 000, under protection of a “Regional Security System”

Pacific
Kiribati : 95 000, under protection of Australia & New Zealand
Micronesia : 111 000, under protection of the US
Nauru : 10 000, under protection of Australia
Palau : 20 000, under protection of the US
Samoa : 187 000, under protection of New Zealand
Solomon Islands : 496 000, no standing army (besides the internal conflicts)
Tuvalu : 11 000, no army
Vanuatu : 226 000, small mobile military force

Indian Ocean
Mauritius : 1 262 000, unofficially under protection of India

It does not mean, as you might have noticed, these listed countries have never experienced war and violence. Haiti, Solomon Islands for instance had many heavy internal conflicts… Army, a necessary evil ?

source : wikipedia.
Article’s idea while going through the blog of war.

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The Silk Road - historical maps.

An historical bridge between East and West, West and East, a constant exchange throughout History. “A concept that illustrates the way that commodities, empires, religions, and even music, have traveled throughout Eurasia for thousands of years”.

almaty mountains

This time map (pop-ups to be allowed) shows how many ways / routes existed when going from one side to the other ; an evolution from the Roman Empire, Alexander the Great, Marco Polo, Sir Aurel Stein (?), Ruy Gonzales de Clavijo, Anthony Jenkinson, Benedict Goës,… Only European explorers were mentioned - what about Asians ? There must have certainly been some (Genghis Khan ?).. Arabs used as well to extensively travel the world. (A pity the only information taught in (Belgian) school is mainly about “national progress for humanity”, forgetting the foreign ones. When history is about politics…)

From a cultural point of view, the same organization (ECAI Berkeley) made up a similar map concerning music instruments… very interesting

When you give a closer look to the map, you can notice the importance of Persia (currently Iran) in this global transportation network : a compulsory gate controlling two seas,… I can just imagine the cultural heritage 2500 years+ of caravans must have left to this country.

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Posted on by tanguy
Filed under: Asia, ENGLISH, Europe, Middle East, cross-cultural, ethnic, "race", multicultural, mixity, economy, maps, travel | 1 Comment »

China (a few years ago ?)

Splendid photo documentary in Black & White about life in China (60’s or nowadays ? No dates were provided) - in 3 parts : Survival, Relationships, Desire.

Frankly speaking, I couldn’t tell when these pictures have been taken. In (remote ?) parts of the country, this situation should be still on (not all cities look like Shanghai or Beijing). When taking a deeper look at some picture’s quality, the “60’s” or so could be a fair guess (to my opinion, there are several dates).

From this amazing EASTSOUTHWESTNORTH weblog you should definitely browse for interesting articles, pictures and videos.

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Posted on by tanguy
Filed under: Asia, ENGLISH, culture, literature, architecture, photography, art, society, demography, global trends, Zeitgeist | No Comments »

Historical architectureS of Asia… quiz

from Borodur (Yogyakarta - Indonesia), Emin minaret (Turpan - China), City walls and Bell Tower (Xian - China), Wat Dhoi Suthep (Chiang Mai - Thailand), Imperial City (Hue - Viet Nam) to Psar Thmei (Pnomh Penh - Cambodia)… the ones who think Asia as just a standardized “Chinatown” continent, without any diversity (a bit like the Asian restaurants in Europe / America, where all serve a standardized mix of Chinese / Vietnamese and Thai food) should definitely spend some time on this Asian map ; a snapshot of historical architectures where you would realize that comparing a Mongol yurt to a Malaysian one is like comparing a Finish sauna to a Spaniard one…

Would you be able to recognize the architecture style down here ? Any idea about where these buildings are located (as their purposes) ?

Bell tower xi an


psar thmei

Read the rest of this entry »

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Posted on by tanguy
Filed under: Asia, ENGLISH, Quiz, tests - are you from earth ?, culture, literature, architecture, photography, art, travel | No Comments »
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