Some of my 2015 Photographs
Text Selection 2015
Category: English works
Quite the country’s Christian tradition, Dave!
When the prime minister of Great Britain states,what religion the country has, you must wonder. We heard such definitions before from his predecessor and yet he went to a war that reaped long-lasting injustice and chaos.
When Cameron now states that Britain was Christian from the beginning, you must wonder when one starts counting ? Celts and early Romans were certainly not Christian.
It makes one remember the intensity with which some early colonialists imagined themselves as new keepers of Jerusalem, and talking of which those who sent in part brutal knights for similar causes hundred of years earlier. Or perhaps those who called for the Jews of York to be killed? They surely were all Christian? Or the wars fought and people killed, tormented and tortured during in the struggles of which Christian faith was in deed the correct one? The king and nation serving faith or the Rome serving faith? Once they assured themselves to have the correct version they went to force it upon the parts of the world they occupied and exploited. Stealing with one arm and preaching with the other. In the name of Jesus Christ our Lord and the gracious King or Queen, long live he or she! Or the token Christianity that thrived on holding the poor of this country in deep misery for centuries?
Secondly him advising to talk about refugees is a bit of shoe polish on a partially rotten shoe. He is not the one who has a proud record on welcoming refugees when compared with all other European neighbouring countries, and then there is his governments appalling record on Calais, his inability and unwillingness to trash the right wing press and parties into the bin of bigots.
In deed, if this was a Christian country, what would Jesus do? And then there is his record on how he treats the poor and sick, his lack of sufficient policy to guard the environment and his selectivity into which causes he steers his lot to save. One wished Britain was a Christian country actually, the kind of deep philosophical, humble way of submitting oneself to do only good, help the poor, sick and needy and share the riches of society for the betterment of all. Token Christianity for the sake of cheap nation building is the tool of politicians who use religion to better their own ends. It has been abused to justify anything from slavery to war to hang people at the gallows of Tyburn and elsewhere. I don’t think the current prime minister fails that tradition.
Perhaps Mr Cameron would care to invite some Syrian refugees, some disabled and poor, some London homeless and impoverished students to his table this Christmas, and perhaps he could make permanent assurances to them and take the lead on what being Christian ought to mean?
Radio Feature:World in Progress: Jewish Child Refugee
A new radio feature on DW Radio English on Jewish child refugees to England.
Child refugees Radio DW
Brexit sentiments are not “the genuine fears of hard working people!”
Half of Brits, according to latest polls, want to leave the EU. I shall not stay here, when the country crumbles to pieces and human rights get cut the way social services are cut at present. The problem is that both Tories and Labour bent down for too long to populist sensationalist ethnocentric phobia on the excuse that these expressions were “genuine fears of hard working people.” They are not! They are the misguided scapegoating of immigrants and the EU for the sell out of this country and all its inequalities from top down over centuries and decades. Does it hurt too much to point fingers at fine distinguised people just because of their position and because they are also Brits and above all English, or is it an inability to do so, because somehow the state of order here is accepted and people feel it is easier to blame outsiders? That attitude we know has amongst others let to decades of whitewashing of sexual abuse cases. You could not possibly blame the homegrown privileged, could you? But there is hope. Once Britain closes itself off, it will have to find new victims to blame. Perhaps this would induce a closer look at how power is divided here, given not by merit, but mostly by innate or economic advantage.
Islam ≠ Islam! Besuch in der ostlondoner Moschee | Report from East London Mosque
Zwei Tage verbrachte ich in der Ostlondoner Moschee, der Moschee mit der größten Mitgliedschaft in Großbritannien und hörte zu, wie man sich und den Islam dort im IS Zeitalter definiert.
ENGLISH: I spent two days in the East London Mosque in Whitchapel, which is the mosque with the greatest number of followers in Great Britain, and listened how people see themselves and Islam.
Link:
Afraid of the women behind the black veil? A comment on the ECHR judgement regarding the Niqab
When the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) judgement on the claim of breach of human rights against a Muslim woman in France, affected by the government ban on the wearing of the Niqab, was released, I felt bewildered. Somehow the court managed to abrogate her claims of human rights violations and argued instead, that the rights of all others were infringed. Its reasons are even more strange. Read my comment in Open Democracy
Anti-social subjectivity infringing the principle of ‘Living Together’
http://www.opendemocracy.net/can-europe-make-it/daniel-zylbersztajn/antisocial-subjectivity-infringing-principle-of-%E2%80%98living-toget DEUTSCH Als der Europäische Gerichtshof die Klage einer muslimischen Frau auf Menschenrechtsverletzungen in Lichte des Bannes der Niqab zurückwies und stattdessen entschloss, dass eine Frau die dieses Gewand trägt, die Rechte aller anderen beschränke, musste ich erst mal genauer hinsehen was sie damit meinten. Hier ist meine Antwort in einem Kommentar auf dem politischen E-Zine Open Democracy (Englisch). WER HAT ANGST VOR DER FRAU HINTER DEM SCHWARZEN SCHLEIER Die antisoziale Subjektivität und das Zusammenleben http://www.opendemocracy.net/can-europe-make-it/daniel-zylbersztajn/antisocial-subjectivity-infringing-principle-of-%E2%80%98living-toget
The incomplete struggle for self-determination.
Freedom was bitterly fought over in South Africa. It was not just the last episode that most seem to remember about the late Nelson Mandela. There were assassinations, bombs, murder and much blood shed against the oppressive Apartheid regime of South Africa based on implicit European dominance. In fact Mandela himself was linked with the armed wing of the ANC Umkhonto we Sizwe (Spear of the Nation).
“Self-management? Not in a 1000 years!”
The South African friend of a family in Kensington where I once worked as a child minder in my student years in 1992 expressed Apartheid best. The very wealthy man (as was the family whose son I looked after who also came from “Rhodesia” and South Africa) told me “confidentially” over the kitchen table, how black South Africans needed the Europeans. “It was their luck to be enslaved, as they would not have the capacity to rule themselves, not in a 1000 years,” he claimed. “Just look at the rest of Africa,” he stated, as if that was evidence. The left over of years of colonialism and neo-colonialism and consequent bad political leadership used (not infrequently by many others) as evidence that Africans were after all inferior for tolerating such conditions.
Once Mandela was free, there was no reason why South Africa could not have become another Zimbabwe, by that I do not just mean the total fight of all to do with European legacy, but also the eventual inward self-destruction. Once you win over your enemy the attention frequently goes inwards. They would have had any right to go down that route. In choosing not to Mandela in the end abrogated his entitlement to full justice and settling instead for peace. Of course peace is relative It is not what Hippies thought of as the flowery union of embracing people, but much rather the absence of overt conflict. Mandela together with Archbishop Tutu chose not just peace but also truth over justice, through the famous truth and reconciliation commission.
A saint?
It is worth remembering that it was this, along with his endurance in captivity that made him what some called a saint. Most sympathetically, he was of course most human, as his so public struggle with his Winnie and other family relatives showed amongst others. And humans die, although he was blessed long many years of healthy and active retirement in which he sought to inspire the world through his story. That too must be remembered, it was not about him, it was also about thanking those who helped South Africa become free and to inspire anyone to politically engage in the future. When people put up statues of Mandela, for many the only African politician they know, he resembles a symbol of the fight for freedom and self-determination. The statutes and words of praise, invitations and speeches later came easier than open support in the years where it was most needed. That important political players were supporting Apartheid over many decades is however historical fact.
But South Africa is not all free. Inequality is still an issue in modern South Africa, from industrial and environmental exploitation and continued rich in the face of large poverty to the hate of migrants. But neither is the continent of Africa as a whole free. Above all global economic interests along with extremely bad political leaders who do not lead and who do not distribute whatever resources are yielded to the benefit of all keep many parts in conflict and chains of poverty. Instead of being freed from the European, USSR and American legacies, the continent is now sold also to Chinese interests and borders that were only meant to divide Africa into chunks European powers could distribute amongst them (with some borders continuing to be as straight as the rulers that drew them) continue to be countries. Development organisations upkeep dependency in many places, doing the jobs that governments ought to take themselves. Extreme militant and well armed Islamic movements, just as alien to most of African history as some of the version of Christianity that were imported as the excuse for colonisation and enslavement, are ravaging large areas. As if all that was not enough huge terrorising and well armed drug cartels have left Latin America and the Caribbean and invaded huge pockets on both the Western and and Eastern coasts.
The struggle continues:
The struggle for self-determination is certainly not over. But in the end it is not just a battle at home, but part of the obligation for democratic accountability and ethical industrial behaviour wherever we live, including how we make politicians and industry and corporates accountable in how we choose or vote.
Voting, political engagement, and being a consumer are not accidental givens, they are obligations and not to be taken lightly.
(c) Daniel Zylbersztajn 2013
Daniel Zylbersztajn studied Politics of Africa and Third World History at SOAS, London between 1991-1995, and researched several years a non finished phD an Black and Jewish militants and violence as method of resistance.
Related articles
- Don’t Distort the Meaning of Mandela (commentarymagazine.com)
- Nelson Mandela: a Man for the Ages (joanmoseley.wordpress.com)
- Breaking News – Former South African President & Anti-Apartheid Leader, Nelson Mandela, Passes Away at 95 (libertynews.com)
- Passing of Mandela, but problems remain (thekiwisonfire.wordpress.com)
- workinglife.org.au/2013/12/06/vale-nelson-mandela-1918-2013/#comment-3282
- South Africa Faces Difficulties After Mandela (voidpoetry.com)
A readers complaint. Does British media still lack ethics and morals after Leveson? The Peckford Place Media Disaster.
This week I received a readers complaint regarding facts that circulated everywhere in the media in the UK. It were the names of the occupants of the house in which an alleged slave holding is said to have occurred. Later it was suggested, that it may have had also something to do with one of the occupants former political activities.
When we run my update on the latest revelations and names on Thursday (28/11/13) in the German paper Taz, Die Tageszeitung, the German broadsheet newspaper I write for, the main reason was that the story everybody thought they knew, had changed from merely a trafficked people story to one of people possibly being trapped by a political ideology and the person behind it, and there were also issues coming up, concerning the unresolved death of a woman in 1997, who fell out of a bathroom window subscribed to the supposed political collective.
A reader felt compelled to write and complain, why we published all these names and why with so many question-marks? More to the point why did we publish names and circumstances that have not been confirmed yet, and were just speculative? The “readers-letters editor”highlighted the letter and I answered it for the Saturday edition 30/11/13. In my response I speak of different cultural norms, the fact that the British media was totally full with the names and we had a duty to report, although in the most careful language. I thanked the reader though for raising the issue and showing that for her the pain threshold had been over stepped.
In honesty, I felt she was quite right, but the facts were totally public in the UK for days. The same facts would not as easily have come to light in Germany though. And I felt that the way the UK-press had addressed the story was tasteless and in part immoral too. You have to consider here that right to privacy and anonymity are principles most Germans will defend at all costs (still paradoxically Germans have their private family names on all their letter boxes and bells in Germany, unlike the anonymous door number system here in Britain).
Papers like The Sun and the Daily Express allegedly had paid for information given to them by neighbours, who had been quiet for months and years about what they knew about the circumstances of these people next-door. Why did a person who received over 500 letters, as we read, and lived next door, never raise the issue with any external agency, but then willingly gave much of it or all away to the sensationalist press, allegedly for large sums of money? And why did the mainstream press including The Guardian, The Independent, ITV and even the BBC then build upon that data released by the sensationalists amongst our profession?
Why did British media overall not think that it was wrong to publish the alleged name of the 30-year old on Sunday evening, as well as the names of all the other occupants after that? For sure everybody knew the women were vulnerable and facts were under investigation?
As a matter of fact on Tuesday an e-mail reached me by the Metropolitan Police asking journalists to stop speculating and stating that the revelations interfered with investigations. Still on the very same day and on the day after that more names and facts came out and unlike the photo of the 30-year old published on Sunday with her face hidden – that publication itself a scandal – the same photo was later shown with her full profile visible, giving away any anonymity she may have preferred to keep. That is immoral.
As a correspondent I played a role in carrying these facts forward to Germany, but only after they were common knowledge in Britain by all in the UK who read papers, or listen or watch news, and because these facts changed the facts on the grounds.
But it was hardly ethical by the British press to reveal the possible details of women, who very much were victims and deserve society’s protection. If the women chose to come out and talk to the media it is a different matter, but some of the facts were revealed using private and confidential letters of clearly failed neighbours (in my judgement), who did not alert supporting agencies when they could and should have done, and chose to cash in on the misfortune of their neighbours for personal gain through the hands of journalists or people who call themselves that.
I can not change the way news is made in the UK, and as a correspondent I act often reactive anyway, and have the duty to let people in Germany know what is happening here, but I wonder if in deed I could have done it differently, perhaps not naming any of the people in spite of them being given here? I just wonder though how it would have looked? Most other German media also gave all the facts away.
But for Britain these are the post-Leveson-Inquiry days. Rebecca Brooks is still in the Old Bailey being tried.
There is a reason why organisations like the BBC do usually not pay for interviews, and I think that all media should follow suit, unless exceptional circumstances ask for a different approach. Further there must be a more moral and communal accountability in such cases.
So I must agree with my German reader. Still I did put a lot of question marks and words like alleged, presumed, not officially confirmed in my report of the 28th of November, making it clear, the information was others guesswork. But that was what it was at in London at the time, and the papers were full of it.
Part of me wonders if in deed one must approach the British way of reporting in a different and novel way. I will think about this in the months to follow. That’s my job. But what is the job of my UK colleagues?
What is our purpose as journalists? Is it not also to help the world to become better by thinking about the mistakes of others for example?
In my opinion the second biggest headline over the last days has been missed by most of my UK colleagues- not by me:
In my report in the Taz on Monday the 25th I put my fingers clearly on the neighbours, who did not talk and sold their story. Here was scandalous footage, one that could have altered behaviour by other neighbours to continue to be bystanders and silent witnesses to terrible abuse. The papers should have been more full with that, than the names and photos of the victims.
Now that the intoxication of the Lambeth story wears of, it would be very much time to think about the cure for the hang-over, and perhaps get off the bottle of sensationalism in the future all together!?
Related articles
- Leveson: Britain’s press needs to learn humility – I should know | David Yelland (theguardian.com)
- Post- Leveson: Is British press better? (edition.cnn.com)
- Press industry’s proposed watchdog ‘not up to snuff’, says ex-Sun editor (theguardian.com)
Beheadings in Mexico how to deal with real violence on the internet – Enthauptung einer Frau in Mexiko. Wie man mit echter Gewalt im Internet umgehen muss.
The English article can be read in full here:
Deutsch Zusammenfassung:
In diesem Text diskutiere ich, im Nachruf der Debatte zur “mexikanischen Enthauptung” auf Facebook, wie durch die Verbreitung roher Gewalt und Mord Live, Gewaltverarbeitung und demokratische und sozial-politische Erziehung für heranwachsende Jugendliche weltweit immer wichtiger wird. Ich argumentiere für die Konfrontation mit der Gewalt, statt deren Ausblockung sobald Jugendliche dafür reif sind. Dies, so behaupte ich, ist, wegen der Macht des Internets genauso wichtig, wie Mathe oder Englisch.
googltranslate übersetzt auch diesen Bericht ins Deutsche
See also on the issue of violence other works I produced:
Violent Puppet Play in England, and violence free puppet play in Germany are there consequences to children? (Deutsche Welle)
The possibilities and impossibilities of being a neighbour, Shoa contextualized for Kings Cross (Open Democracy)
Related articles
- Facebook removes beheading video (theguardian.com)
Only Autobahn with Autogas? Car manufacturers fail to run LPG in the UK, but in Germany amongst the greenest drives says environmental group.
Only Autobahn with Autogas?
LPG is currently greener than petrol says a German environmental lobby group, but car manufacturers dumped the UK for this technology.Report by Daniel Zylbersztajn,
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED CO (2013)
THIS ARTICLE IS AVAILABLE FOR REPRINTING AND REPUBLICATION
BUT AUTHORS PERMISSION MUST BE SOUGHT!
LPG, Liquid Petroleum Gas powered cars can save their owners a lot of costs on fuel, but they seem to have become rather rare in the UK. This is because vehicles that run on LPG are no longer sold directly through car manufacturers in the UK. The only alternative is to convert a petrol run car privately.
This differs from the situation in countries like Germany and Italy. Not only are new LPG-powered vehicles sold there straight from factory, but LPG has recently been praised by the German environmental think-tank VCD (Verkehrsclub Deutschland e.V. ) that lobbies on ecological transport policy.Every year VCD sets up a rank-table of the most environmentally sound cars. This year they elected three LPG-powered models by the Volkswagen Group as their shared 2013 /2014 annual winners, alongside another winner the hybrid Toyota Prius. This is because the models VW Eco Up!, Seat Mii Ecofuel, and Skoda Citigo Green tec – all not sold in the UK – have a CO2 rating of only 79mg /per kilometre. That is very low compared, to most other carbon fuelled vehicles, unless they are hybrids or electric.
The VW-Group states that the reason why they do not sell these cars in the U.K, is because of an insufficient fuelling infrastructure in Britain. But the government disagrees. The Department of Transport (DfT) issued a statement insisting that Britain has a core infrastructure in place to ensure motorists are within easy reach of a filling station that stocks LPG. They further highlight that LPG continues to enjoy favourable duty rates.
Mike Chapman a spokesperson and manager of the British LPG trade association UK-LPG agrees with the DfT. He says that as far as he knows, the amount of LPG fuelling stations per area are in fact higher than in other European countries. Instead Chapman reckons that the reasons for the VW-Group and others to keep LPG vehicles off Great Britain’s roads are due to the UK being a rather small market compared to other European countries, and crucially he adds because the reduced fuel duty on LPG is no longer fixed and guaranteed for longer periods. UK-LPG concludes that the net-effect of this is that car manufacturers see Britain as a country too risky for LPG-powered cars, because they would have to invest in the re-fitting of garages and training of staff in LPG-technology. “The situation is however absurd,!” complains Chapman.
“You have LPG powered cars, like a model by Ford manufactured in the UK, only to bypass the British market and to be directly exported to continental Europe.”
In ‘efficient Germany’ on the other hand LPG has become very popular, especially amongst those who rely heavily on cars or amongst businesses who own a fleet. The main factor for this popularity is not environmentally driven, but due to economics. LPG, which also enjoys a reduced fuel duty in Germany yields huge savings on fuel spending, compared to any of the conventional fuels available such as diesel or petrol.As to LPGs environmental credentials, which made the VW-Group’s three cars winners of the VCD’s league table, Anja Smetanin, the VCD spokeswoman explains, that what really turns it around for LPG in terms of its environmental impact, is, that “toxic small particle emissions are hardly an issue here”.VCD advises, that LPG is currently preferable to Benzine, because exhaust filter systems that will limit Benzine’s pollutants are only coming into place by September 2014, along with the forthcoming Euro 6 emission norm. Up until now, Benzine-powered cars did not require, unlike cars with Diesel engines, sophisticated exhaust filters that significantly reduce cancer causing air-borne pollutants.
With LPG, they say, there is always an approximate 10% percent reduction of C02 and a reduction of the highly carcinogenic Arene (aromatic hydrocarbon), compared to benzine driven cars. But at the same time VCD admits, that the benefits are not completely straightforward as the advantages only telly up against petrol driven cars. Compared with Diesel and CNG-powered (natural gas) cars, LPG actually yields higher CO2 emissions. However VW produces the same vehicles with any gas, be they LPG, or the stated cleaner CNG and Biogas (ethanol) engines, the later being regarded by some as environmentally deficient, because Biogas crops compete with food crops.
Still, even compared to most Diesel-powered engines the new VW-Group LPG engines are low in CO2 by any means, with their 79 mg / km emissions, except for London, where they fail the test of newer strict CO2 limits for any exemption on the congestion charge in London, set to a maximum level of 75mg/km, which would make less interesting to fleet owners there and keeps electric and hybrid engines ahead of the game.
But VCD say that in spite of the zero emission advantage electric cars have, they currently do not, and they emphasize the word ‘yet’, advise customers to go mad on electric cars. Says Anja Smetanin in Berlin:
“Electric cars are still too expensive and their reach is still too limited. We also find the data given about them quite unreliable, as the energy consumption rises hugely in the cold months, with a much reduced reach as a consequence.”
So for the time being VCD give LPG the green light, and they add “ this counts as long as the production of LPG does not involve any fracking, which remains forbidden in Germany due to what they say is its negative environmental impact.”
Last month London was hosting the World LPG Forum. The retailer Autogas (co-owned by Calor and Shell) was busy to attempt to promote the environmental credentials. But it remains to be seen if this had a favourable effect for the reintroduction of the technology in new cars in Britain. Fleet owners, curious to take on the advantage of promised savings, will be watching developments carefully.
Related articles
- UK makes cars just for Germans (uk.express.feedsportal.com)
“Zu viele Mohren” | “Too many moors” Black History Walks in London
Deutsch:
Meinem Bericht über die Black History Walks in London ist wie er in der Sonntaz steht nicht viel beizutragen. http://www.taz.de/!123686/
Interessant war jedoch ein sofortiger Angriff dieser Initiative eines deutschen Beobachters, der dieser Geschichtserweiterung nicht wohl gesinnt war. Es sei politisch korrekter Rassismus. Dabei fehlt gerade die schwarze Geschichte an vielen Stellen in London, nicht zu Letzt auch in den englischen Schulbüchern. Hier redet man lieber darüber, dass Großbritannien einer der ersten Länder war, die den Sklavenhandel abgeschafft hat. Experten sagen aber, dass dies nicht so gewesen wäre, hätten nicht Sklaven selber immer wieder gegen die Sklaverei rebelliert.
Einige zusätzlichen Fotos füge ich hier meinem Blog bei. Viel Spass beim lesen. Die Adresse zur Buchung steht im Bericht.
—-
ENGLISH SUMMARY
This article highlights London’s African and African-Caribbean History throuh a guided Black History Walk I attended. You can use googletranslate to get a relatively good translation of the article which gives an interesting extension of what you may know about London. The point is that this history is still missing on most ordinary city walks, or the British conscience of itself. Black history in the mind of Brits consists of having abolished slavery, being the good man, rather than a driving factor in discrimination, subjugaton, exploitation, theft and murder on grounds of the priviledge of the European background and lighter skin complexion.
Read here:
Pharaonenkopf im Britischen Museum (All rights Reserved Daniel Zylbersztajn)
Hier wurde der Sklavenhandel ausgearbeitet.
(All rights Reserved Daniel Zylbersztajn)
Londons Roemische Mauern, die auch einen afrikanischen Kaiser schützten.
(All rights Reserved Daniel Zylbersztajn)
(All rights Reserved Daniel Zylbersztajn)
Wilberforce ist in der London Guildhall als ehemalliger London Mayor abgebildet Er war auch einer der groessten Sklavenhalter seiner Zeit.
Blacks were here IRA suspects, City Police London (All rights Reserved Daniel Zylbersztajn)
(All rights Reserved Daniel Zylbersztajn)
Man bildet britische Geschichte nur aus der Sicht der Briten . (All rights Reserved Daniel Zylbersztajn)ab… (Guildhall, London)
Die Entlaufene Sklavin Mary Prince schockte mit ihren Schildreungen das Gewissen der Briten
Nelson Mandela the only African on most tours of London. (All rights Reserved Daniel Zylbersztajn)
Ein Obelisk auf einem Dach. (All rights Reserved Daniel Zylbersztajn)
Door of Bank of England
(All rights Reserved Daniel Zylbersztajn)
(All rights Reserved Daniel Zylbersztajn)
Das Gold Gueneas schaffte den Reichtum der Bank.
Haus von Mary Seacole am Soho Square (All rights Reserved Daniel Zylbersztajn)
Cleopatra’s Needle (All rights Reserved Daniel Zylbersztajn)
Imperial Hotel, Als Learie Constantine wegen Diskriminierung klagte, wurde der Fall zum Vorreiter der Fleichberechtigungsgesetze hier.
Cleopatra’s Needle, London (All rights Reserved Daniel Zylbersztajn)
Taz: Tierschützer an vorderster Front : Badgers, badgers, badgers…
Deutsch:
Gegen Gräueltaten in England!
Wer dachte das Europa oder der Mord von Woolwich englische Gemüter erregt, kennt dieses Volk nicht. Am Samstag gab es in Westminster ein gutes Beispiel davon.
Engländer lieben den Underdog!
- (c) Daniel
Zylbersztajn
Es ist ein Gerücht, dass die Engländer sich gewöhnlicherweise für die politischen Underdogs einsetzen. Am Samstag waren es aber keine Hunde, sonder Dachse und weder die rechtsextreme BNP noch die Antifaschisten konnten so viele Leute auf der Straße bringen wie die Anhänger der schwarz-weißen Vierbeiner, und das eineinhalb Wochen nach der brutalen Ermordung von Lee Rigby und mitten in der wirtschaftlichen Rezession.
www.taz.de/Demonstrationen-in-Grossbritannien/!117301/
Special English Commentary (this is not a translation of the German article but a specially
written separate commentary for my English blog readers):
When two opposite political groups are about to meet such as the BNP (British National Party and the UAF (Unite Against Fascism) you may think it is a major event. In fact it was, though the main reason for that were neither. It were the over 1000 demonstrators who called for an end of the budger cull. In the mean time the Metropolitan Police managed to keep all groups relatively well apart (but some badger supprters joined the UAF group later on). Still 58 arrests were made, all supporters of UAF.
The real story here is that most people are politically apathetic in the UK. This was very clearly seen during the last regional elections, with 
turn outs between 20 and 40 percent. The more significant it is, that a topic as insignificant to human lives in times of austerity as badger culling got people onto the streets en mass. For sure standing up for badgers brings humane morals towards animals to light, and it is an exercise of showing that the British government is pushing through supposedly unscientific advice, if you believe the supporters of this cause. But one and a half weeks after Woolwich, and after years of hardship and cuts I was left with a curious sense of disbelieve. Neither did the BNP get more people to support their anti-immigration and anti-Europe ticket, presumably those who hold such believes switched sided with a party that doesn’t have a long history of far right affiliations, UKIP , nor did the anti-fascist UAF supporters match the numbers of supporters of those four legged black and white creatures. It is in a way most peculiarly British phenomenon. Perhaps time for some of the right media like especially the Daily Mail and the Sun to switch their discussions about immigrants and the EU to the topic of animal rights. This is what the nation is really worried about, or so it seemed on Saturday.
You can read my original report using google translate (if you do not speak German) here:
www.taz.de/Demonstrationen-in-Grossbritannien/!117301/
England, England, EDL, EDL
Deutscher Bericht:
www.taz.de/Nach-dem-Mord-in-London/!116732/
English:
When I went to Woolwich yesterday to examine the scene after the murder, it wasn’t long until I witnessed a backlash action by the far right organisation EDL. Local young people of minority backgriund suspected it and spoke of fear of being penalized for the actions of some crazed loonies. There were some exchanges between the police and the EDL supporters, absurdly some of the EDL people had full pints of beer, a woman came with something that looked like a Martini, as if they had emerged from a pub.
I managed to quietly speak with three EDL supportes who explained to me quietly that they had enough, and felt urge to protest. Not all however were quiet there was quite some shouting and posturing as well in general. Some of the fans were rather young (15-18, and they seemed to have come from across the entire area).
www.taz.de/Nach-dem-Mord-in-London/!116732/Select link above and use googletranslate to get an English tranlation of the German original on the Online version of the article in Taz.
Related articles
- Woolwich Machete Attack: EDL Clash With Police After Leader Calls For ‘Feet On The Streets’ (wikkorg.wordpress.com)
- EDF trends as it is forced to point out it is NOT English Defence League (EDL) on Twitter (express.co.uk)
- Around 40 EDL members run at police in Woolwich (itv.com)
- Police clash with far-right EDL protesters in Woolwich (telegraph.co.uk)
Taz: Homophobie: Er lebt in mir. Amal Fashanu über ihren Onkel. Homophobia: He lives inside me! Amal Fashanu about her uncle.
In diesem Interview, dass ich mit Amal Fashanu in London führte , redet die Nichte des Fußballers Justin Fashanu, über ihre Erinnerungen an ihren Onkel, der einzige Profifußballer bisher der sich je outete, und über Rassismus und Homophobie im professionellen Kickersport. Das Interview wurde fasst ganz abgedruckt. Ihm galt eine ganze Seite in der Taz.
Link: www.taz.de/Schwuler-Fussballer-Justin-Fashanu/!105838/
English:
In this exclusive interview that I made with Amal Fashanu the niece of the late Justin Fashanu, she talks about her personal memories of her uncle, his death, homophobia and racism in professional league football. The interview appears almost in its complete length. Taz dedicated a whole page to it with a rare picture of Amal Fashanu together with her uncle.
Link: www.taz.de/Schwuler-Fussballer-Justin-Fashanu/!105838/
This interview can be made available via Taz.de in English (licence fee and translation fees will apply). For other language requests please get in contact wi
th me or via sport{at}taz.de
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D. Zylbersztajn: Ein Karton voller Liebe | A Box full of Love
A short true story that will revive your faith in people in great cities.
Eine wahre Geschichte die Ihren Glauben an das Gute von Menschen in Großstädten erneuern wird!
All Rights reserved! (C) 2012. Contact author for publication rights!
| Ein Karton voller Liebe | A box full love of love. |
| Daniel Zylbersztajn (Taz – London)Berlin Wenn man in London jemanden nach Hilfe fragt, muss man sich manchmal wundern wenn überhaupt jemand stehen bleibt. Das alte System der berüchtigten britischen Höflichkeit gibt es da nur noch selten. Meine Frau und ich haben haben dazu eine Anekdote aus den 90ger Jahren, die wir immer wieder erzählen. Eines Tages ging meine Frau um die Ecke zum „Newsagent.“ – eine Variante dessen was in Deutschland als Kiosk bezeichnet wird. Sie wollte, dass der Besitzer ihr „den Gefallen tut“ und 20 Pfund in zwei zehn Pfund Noten umtauscht. „Können sie mir bitte einen Gefallen tun?, fragte sie. „There are no favours here in my shop! – Hier in meinen Laden gibt es keine Gefälligkeiten!” brüllte der Verkäufer meiner verblüfften Frau entgegen, und setzte noch gleich hinzu, „Ich versuche hier ein Geschäft zu führen, keine Wohlfahrtseinrichtung, good bye!”Um so größer war meine Überraschung, als ich in Berlin-Friedrichshagen zur Post ging. Die Geschichte fing eigentlich damit an, dass ein ehemaliger Berliner Fahrradverkäufern bei dem ich vor Jahren ein Fahrrad gekauft hatte, und dem ich kurz bei meinem 14-tägigen Berliner Aufenthalt besuchte, aus seinem Keller ein nagelneues Hinterrad, inklusive Gangschaltung holte (Wert fast 300 Euro), weil meines kaputt war. „Das kannst Du haben! Ich brauche es nicht mehr. Es steht nur im Keller herum,“ sagte er. Somit stellte sich die Frage, wie dieses Rad jetzt nach London gebracht werden könnte, denn in den Koffer passte es nicht. Ich verpackte es und ging in meinem englischen Tweetanzug zur Post in Friedrichshagen, wo ich bei einem journalistischen Kollegen untergekommen bin. Als ich an die Reihe kam, war das erste wonach mich die Postangestellte fragte, ob ich dieses Rad nicht in eine „Kartonage“ legen könnte, dann müsste man es nicht als Speergepäck verschicken. Das würde mir mehr als 20 Euro sparen. Dann bot sie mir auch gleich an, das Rad kurz bei der Post zu lagern, umsonst, einfach so. In London hätte das keiner gemacht, da könnte ja auch eine Bombe drin sein, und überhaupt eine Post ist kein Lagerhaus! In Friedrichshagen da half man mir auch gleich mit Hinweisen, wo man denn so eine Kartonage bekommen könnte: Beim Supermarkt, beim Fernsehgeschäft hinter dem Marktplatz, oder im Fahrradladen an der S-Bahn Station.Also hinterließ ich das Hinterrad und begab mich in den Fahrradladen. Man schmiss mich nicht raus, aber am Vortag hätten sie leider alle Kartons recycelt. Danach ging ich ins Blumengeschäft, wieder war man nett und höflich, aber es gab keine passenden Kartons: Dann noch das andere Fahrradgeschäft in der der Hauptstraße von Friedrichshagen. Sie würden morgen eine große Lieferungen kriegen, einen Karton der richtigen Größe könne man mir gerne aufheben. Eine Gefälligkeit, ohne was zurück zu erwarten, oder ohne sich über meine Frage zu beschweren. Nachdenklich begab ich mich zur Post, um das gelagerte Rad dort wieder abzuholen. Ich hatte auch noch zwei Postkarten mit Grüßen aus Berlin zu verschicken. Ich bedankte mich bei den Postangestellten, dass sie mir so nett geholfen hatten, und erklärte, dass dies in London nicht so selbstverständlich sei. Sie verstanden es nicht, es war eigentlich alles ganz normal für sie. Wieso unnötig Geld verlieren? Und hier ein Zettel mit den Massen und den Preisen! Später meinte die Frau meines Kollegen, dass normalerweise die bei der Post gar nicht so nett sind. Dann liegt es entweder an meinem Tweetanzug aus England, oder dass es Berliner gar nicht mehr merken, dass sie eigentlich ganz freundlich zu einander sind, ungewöhnlich nett für einen Londoner zumindest. Als ich am nächsten Tag den leeren Karton abholte, fand ich beim Verpacken einen Zettel darin. Ich dachte es wäre von der vorherigen Sendung übriggebliebenen, dann las ich was da drauf stand: ” Ein bisschen groß, ihr Karton, aber mit viel Liebe kann man ihn auch kleiner machen.” Das Rad ist jetzt auf seinen Weg nach London,und ich habe nicht nur 20 Euro gespart, sondern auch Güte und Hilfsbereitschaft erlebt die mir schon fast fremd war. Morgen schicke ich noch ein zweites Päckchen nach London, es wird leer sein, nur mit Berliner Luft gefüllt. Die verteile ich dann nach Bedarf in London, damit die Leute sich
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Seeking help in London can be a difficult task. You can call yourself lucky if somebody is prepared to stop their busy ways in order to help you with directions or anything else you might need. The famous British way of politesses and decency is now part of a by gone era. My wife and I have a little family anecdote about this. Some years ago my wife went into a local newsagent in order to ask the man behind the counter for a favour. She wanted a £20 Pound note changed into two £10 Pounds notes. Quite promptly the man replied to her with a forceful voice: “There are no favours here in my shop!” “I am trying to run a business here, not a charity, he added.Hence I was quite surprised when I made my way to the local Berlin-Friedrichshagen postal office. But lets start at the beginning. During a general short stay in Berlin I visited a former bicycle shop-owner in whose shop I had purchased a special bike some years ago. He and I had stayed in contact ever since. During the visit I told him that the rear wheel of that bike was currently undergoing repairs in London. Without asking, he informed me that he was going to give me a brand new wheel including the expensive hub gear system (worth about 300 Euro). “Don’t you worry, you can take it, because it is only taking up space in my cellar.” Having been on the receiving end of such unexpected kindness, my next task was how I would transport this huge wheel to London. For one, it wasn’t going to fit in my suitcase. So I bought some air bubble sheets and wrapping paper, safely wrapped it around the wheel, put my English tweet suit on and carried the wheel to the post office in Berlin-Frierichshagen, where I was staying with a journalist colleague. When it was my turn the assistant got straight to the point. “Sir,” she said. “Would it not be possible for you to insert the wheel into a cardboard box? It would save you over 20 Euros, because the way it looks now, it would have to be sent as an oversized bulky item!,” she explained. And then she offered to store the wheel inside the post office, whilst I would go outside to search for a suitable box. Try replicating this in London Royal Mail office, and they suspect a bomb or something, and tell you that they are not a public storage. Here in Berlin the lady not only stored the wheel, she proceeded giving me precise directions where I was to search for such empty boxes: The local supermarket, the TV-shop near the market, or the bicycle shop near the Friedrichshagen railway station.
I left my wheel and went on my mission to find that box. First I targeted the bicycle shop near the station. To my surprise I was not told off for asking, but the assistant politely regretted that he had recycled all left over boxes on the preceding day. So I tried the flower shop, but the boxes were to thin. Next was the other bicycle shop on Friedrichshagen’s main road. “You are lucky,” I was told. “Tommorow we get lots of deliveries. If you like we can keep you a an empty cardboard box!” A favour without demanding anything back, or having to moan about me asking. How rare was that in London. I went back to the post office to pick up my wheel and post two postcards. I thanked the postal assistants for their kind ways and helping me, but they seemed a little surprised. They only did what they would do to anyone, help you to not waste hard earned money. On top I was given a note with the permitted sizes and the rates to help me later. Later the wife of the colleague with whom I stayed argued that the postal officers are supposedly not always that nice. I could not help but thinking that perhaps it was my English tweet suit that made the difference. Perhaps it reminded people of that long forlorn style of English politeness? Or perhaps those who live in Berlin permanently fail to take notice of the good natured ways of their fellow local men and women in their expectation for nothing from anyone? When I collected my box on the following day from the cycle shop I discovered a note at its bottom. I thought it had been left there, a remainder from its previous use, but I found it was directed at me. It read: “You may find that your box is a little large, but given a little bit of love, it can be transformed into a smaller box.” The wheel has now been posted at its promised 20 Euro saving, but I think tomorrow I should send another parcel to London. Completely empty, with its only contents being a good dose of Berlin air. I shall then distribute this air in London as needed with the aim of helping Londoners to do loving small Berlin-style favours to each other. |
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dzx2.net - Daniel D. Z. Zylbersztajn - Lewandowski 
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