La Fête de la Musique en Arménie!

Held around the world in 130 countries and 400 cities, and this year for the first time in Yerevan, the Fête de la Musique is my new favorite obsession! Concerts held all over the streets, in the open air. As the French have told me "it is the night when no one can tell you to be quiet!" Perfect weather, music resonating off old buildings, diverse bands and musicians playing just meters away from one another...a mass celebration of music all over the world, on the longest days of the year- the summer solstice.

In Yerevan, the philharmonic orchestra played a free concert, children's singing groups performed by Komitas' statue, but later in the evening it was lovely Abovian street whose scene was not to be missed. Reggae-band Reincarnation brought smiles to everyone crowded around Square One, The Beautified Project and of course Bambir brought their unstopable energy out to Charles Aznavour square...and the Fête ended with a finale of a remarkable new jazz band The Zoo playing at the French Terrace (how apropos), under cafe umbrellas while the warm summer rain started to drizzle in, with the smell of wine and strawberry hookah floating in the air...

http://www.21juin2007.net/
http://fetedelamusique.culture.fr/index_flash.php

World Press Photo of the Year 2006

Do you remember last summer?

http://www.worldpressphoto.org/index.php?option=com_photogallery&task=view&id=823&Itemid=146

Morality

NEW YORK TIMES

INTERNATIONAL / EUROPE March 3, 2007

Rebellious Diplomat Finds Work as Envoy of the Voiceless

PRISTINA, Kosovo

GUILT is not a word that most diplomats would choose to sum up their careers, but Carne Ross uses just that as he looks back at much of his work over 15 years. Guilt, frustration and anger.

Until about two years ago, this 40-year-old with closely cropped hair had a promising career ahead of him in the most prestigious ministry in British government, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. By his 30s, he had done foreign service in Germany and Afghanistan and held a senior post in the British delegation at the United Nations Security Council, where he was responsible for Iraq policy.

He seemed headed toward an ambassadorship as a member of the elite, fast stream of the Foreign Office, followed by a comfortable retirement.

But things fell apart in the most public fashion, unusual among the tight-lipped mandarins of Britain’s foreign service.

Unhappy with American and British claims that Iraq was developing unconventional weapons, Mr. Ross testified in June 2004 at an official inquiry into the British government’s use of intelligence. Two months later, convinced he could no longer work in the foreign service, he resigned. Since then he has written many articles criticizing the American and British rationale for going to war.

But it is his broad critique of the way international diplomacy is conducted that has ruffled feathers the most.

In a book released in April, “Independent Diplomat: Dispatches From an Unaccountable Elite,” he takes the foreign service to task. He says it routinely made “bad decisions in closed rooms” and acted “with little or no consultation of the people in whose name those decisions are made.”

The British Foreign Office scrutinized the book before publication to see if it breached the Official Secrets Act. It deleted some parts and concluded that Mr. Ross “risks damaging the credibility and morale of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the relationship of confidence and trust within the government,” according to a statement later released to the news media.

MR. ROSS seems to relish the controversy. The rupture of his career over Iraq, he says, made him realize that much of what he did in the foreign service gave scant thought to the people he was affecting, and that realization gave rise to his anger.

“Diplomacy is too closed a box,” Mr. Ross said, dominated as it is by the big powers on the United Nations Security Council. Its permanent members — Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States — create policies without insight into their impact, Mr. Ross argues.

“More often than not, we took decisions with little understanding of the situation,” he said. “The people we were discussing were not present, whether it was Iraq, Palestine or the Western Sahara.”

That prompted to him to find a way to help those countries and regions he considered to be excluded from the world of international diplomacy.

The result is a nonprofit agency called Independent Diplomat, like his book. It offers advice to inexperienced or politically marginalized regions and groups. Its motto is “a diplomatic service for those who need it most,” a phrase that some former colleagues derided, he said.

Full article here.

Reminds me of Confessions of an Economic Hitman and Joseph Stiglitz's Globalization and its Discontents, among others.

I wonder if these critiques and exposés coming from insiders mean our institutions must prepare to make some changes? Or ar they just attempts by a few individuals to personally repent for what they have been a part of, while accepting that the big wheel keeps on turning.

"A problem from hell"

Perhaps in the 21st century, closure on the issue of genocide can be somewhat provided by international legal structures- even if emotional scars remain. Fascinating process which exposes the politics, symantics, nuances, guilt, victimization, collective hurt and retribution on a grand, human scale.

New York Times

February 27, 2007
Court Declares Bosnia Killings Were Genocide
By Marlise Simons

THE HAGUE, Feb. 26 — The International Court of Justice on Monday for the first time called the massacre of Bosnian Muslims at Srebrenica in 1995 an act of genocide, but determined that Serbia itself was not guilty of the enormous crime.

Nonetheless, it faulted Serbia, saying it “could and should” have prevented the genocide and, in its aftermath, should have punished the Bosnian Serbs who systematically killed close to 8,000 men and
boys in July 1995.

The ruling resulted from a civil lawsuit Bosnia had brought against Serbia, the first in which one country sued another for genocide.

The 15 international judges who held nine weeks of hearings and deliberated for nearly 10 months relied in part on evidence presented in criminal cases heard by the United Nations Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, which has found two Bosnian Serb officers guilty of genocide for the Srebrenica massacre.

In the end, the lawsuit resolved Monday may have been the most complex case handled in the 60-year history of the World Court, which the United Nations set up to resolve legal disputes between
states.

The ruling appeared to give some satisfaction — and frustration — to both sides. It freed Serbia of the stigma of being a genocidal nation and absolved it from having to pay war reparations, as demanded by
Bosnia.

At the same time, Bosnia obtained what it said it wanted from the outset: a recognition of Serbia’s guilt.

[...]

In a statement after the session, Judge Higgins noted that the findings did not completely satisfy either side. “That does not mean, of course, that the court has been seeking a political compromise,” she
said.

All the same, the ruling, even if strictly based on the law, hews close to the political wishes of Western
countries that want to pull Serbia into a wider Western European community, rather than see it isolated as a pariah state, possibly accused of genocide, with its extreme nationalists growing in strength.

[...]

Lawyers for Bosnia had tried to convince the court that the pattern of atrocities across many communities in Bosnia demonstrated the intention to commit genocide, not only by killing, imprisoning
and deporting the population, but also by destroying evidence of their presence.

Andras Riedlmayer, a historian testifying for Bosnia, said the Serb campaign to purge 26 municipalities of Bosnia of non-Serbs had destroyed or damaged 958 mosques and close to 300 Roman Catholic churches and monasteries.

But the judges ruled that demonstrating a pattern of conduct or of atrocities was “too broad” to qualify for the definition of genocide. The crime of genocide required showing convincingly there was a specific plan or the specific intention to destroy the group or part of it, they ruled.

In essence, they did not answer the question often asked in The Hague: when does ethnic cleansing become genocide?

The beautiful game?

What the hell is wrong with people. I've tried to educate myself and understand the fanaticism surrounding football (albeit only from one source thus far: Franklin Foer's 2004 book, outlining his, arguably, wobbly theory "How Soccer Explains the World"). I've heard of the English hooligan ("On a smaller scale, the English hooligan has become like the gangsta rapper or the Mafioso, a glamorized, commodified criminal. When the BBC finds itself in need of a ratings boost, it airs one of its many hooligan documentaries."). Read of the notoriously violent fans of Belgrade's Red Star club and their perceived complicity in the Balkan Wars of the 1990's ("But at Red Star the violent fans occupy a place of honor, and more than that...From Red Star's own ranks, a hooligan paramilitary force was organized and armed. Krle, who took a bullet in his leg, would serve in this army. The Red Star fans would become Milosevic's shock troops, the most active agents of ethnic cleansling, highly efficient practitioners of genocide").

But in bella italia? The most scathing thing Franklin Foer had to say about Italian soccer in the book was just "To understand the importance of refereeing requires a brief word on the paradox of Italian soccer. As everyone knows, Italian men are the most foppish representatives of their sex on the planet. They smear on substantial quantities of hair care products and expend considerable mental energies color-coordinating socks with belts [sidebar- did anyone see that the spokesperson for the Italian football federation was wearing a matching pink collared shirt under his pink sweater during the press conference?]. Because of their dandyism, the world has Vespa, Prada, and Renzo Piano. With such theological devotion to aesthetic pleasure, it is truly perplexing that their national style of soccer should be so devoid of this quality."

Now, I have personally seen the crowd rush the field, rip up grass and break down the goal-posts during Fiorentina's closing match of the season...but fatalities? Tear gas thrown onto the field while the game is in play?

Violence erupts in Italy

All matches suspended after officer killed in fan riot

CATANIA, Sicily (AP) -- A police officer was killed Friday when fans rioted at a Serie A game between Sicilian sides Catania and Palermo, prompting the Italian soccer federation to suspend all league matches in the country's top two divisions this weekend.

Fans rioted outside Catania's Angelo Massimino stadium during the second half. Police fired tear gas, which wafted into the stadium and forced the match to be temporarily suspended in the 58th minute with Palermo leading 1-0.

Police said the officer died after an explosive device was thrown inside his vehicle.

The violence continued after the game, in which Palermo beat Catania 2-1, trapping hundreds of fans inside the stadium as authorities sought to avoid further violence and stop people from leaving.

So, understanding that Sicily is a whole separate animal, I wonder, Franklin, how does soccer explain the world in such a deplorable situation?

"...[S]occer clubs represent communities or neighborhoods. And when you're representing a neighborhood, you're representing a very specific segment of the population. Soccer clubs become proxies for ethnicity, class, religion, or social caste. That makes them inherently more political. So soccer matches usually signify a clash of religions, classes, and castes. To me, that's what makes the game so thrilling to watch. There's always some elevated stake to the game.

Do you think that's part of why soccer has gotten such a firm grip on the world's imagination?

I do. For all the globalization that it obviously embodies, in most cases soccer is still firmly rooted in the local. Your identification with a particular soccer club has a lot to do with how you define yourself as a human being. That's part of why the game is responsible for so much violence. It has this dark side associated with its fan culture, because the clubs represent so much more than just what city you live in."

Murder of Hrant Dink, Journalist

a somewhat incomplete article, but it's the first one I could find. more to follow.


Outspoken journalist shot dead in Istanbul
POSTED: 10:48 a.m. EST, January 19, 2007

ISTANBUL, Turkey (CNN) -- A prominent Turkish-Armenian journalist who spoke out against the killings of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire early last century was shot to death Friday.
Hrant Dink, 53, editor of the Armenian-Turkish language weekly Agos newspaper, was shot dead in front of the Istanbul publication as he was leaving.

The killing prompted swift denunciation by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who said the attack was a "shock" and an "insult" to the Turkish nation and a "dark day" -- not only for Dink's family but for all of Turkey as well.

"The dark hands that killed him will be found and punished," Erdogan said, in televised remarks.

Authorities are looking into a lead that he was shot four times by a young man who appeared to be 18 or 19 years old.

Described as a "well-known commentator on Armenian affairs," Dink has faced a number of cases in connection with "insulting" the Turkish state for his writings.

"Some of the trial hearings have been marred by violent scenes inside and outside the courtrooms, instigated by nationalist activists calling for Dink to be punished," said a profile on the Web site of Pen American Center -- the writers' group that promotes free expression.
Agos, an Armenian-Turkish language weekly, was established in 1996.

Andrew Finkel, a journalist in Turkey and a friend of Dink's, emphasized that the killing was "a tragedy" for a country attempting to "come to terms with its past."

Finkel said resentment toward Dink existed among ultranationalist Turks, and said the same people who staged "ugly scenes" at his trials are the same people who staged rallies directed at Orhan Pamuk, the Nobel Prize-winning Turkish writer who faced charges of insulting Turkishness as well.

He described Dink as a "bright" and brash" man who was a "well-known figure in Istanbul" and an advocate for Turkey's small Armenian community -- a once-populous group now numbering around 60,000 or 70,000.

"If anything, he was a great Turkish patriot," Finkel told CNN in an interview.
Pen's profile said that in 2005, Dink "had been charged for an article published in Agos in which he discussed the impact on present day Armenian diaspora of the killings of hundreds of thousands of Armenians by the Ottoman army in 1915-17."

Hot-button issue

This is a hot-button issue in the region, Pen notes.

Armenians and other countries regard the killings of Armenians in the early 20th century as a a genocide, a claim rejected by the Turkish government, which says Armenians and Turks were killed in civil warfare.

Dink was one of the most prominent voices of Turkey's shrinking Armenian community.
A Turkish citizen of Armenian descent, he had received threats from nationalists, who viewed him as a traitor.

In an earlier interview with The Associated Press, Dink had cried as he talked about some of his fellow countrymen's hatred for him, saying he could not stay in a country where he was unwanted.

Joel Campagna, Mideast program coordinator for the Committee to Protect Journalists, said, "Like dozens of other Turkish journalists, Hrant Dink has faced political persecution because of his work. Now it appears he's paid the ultimate price for it."

Campagna said that Turkey "must ensure that this crime does not go unpunished like other cases in the past and that those responsible for his murder are brought to justice."

He said that over the last 15 years, 18 Turkish journalists have been killed -- making the country the eighth deadliest in the world for journalists in that period. He said that many of the deaths took place in the early 1990s "at the peak of the Kurdish separatist insurgency."

He said killings, other attacks against journalists that don't result in deaths, and the many cases of Turkish journalists facing criminal charges under "vague statutes" create a "chilling effect" among media workers.

Private NTV television said police were searching for the suspected murderer, believed to be a teenager wearing a white hat and a denim jacket, but the identity and motivation of the shooter were unknown, AP reported.

Dink's body could be seen covered with a white sheet in front of the newspaper's entrance. NTV said four empty shell casings were found on the ground and that he was killed by two bullets to the head.

Fehmi Koru, a columnist at the Yeni Safak newspaper, said the murder was aimed at destabilizing Turkey.

"His loss is the loss of Turkey," Koru said.

Copyright 2007 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.

i concur in astonishment at such disconfirmed expectations

“We thought after 9/11, 5 years ago, that there would be a move towards understanding in the region, the adopting of responsible middle-east policy, and realization that in order to put an end to fundamentalism, to extremism, to jihadism, you must resolve the issues from which they stem. Instead we got a politicized simplistic policy of angels versus deamons, with-us or against-us.”

- Palestinian Member of Parliament