One more for good measure

Rob Hughes wrote recently that football must take care of its own. He was discussing the Icarus-like life of many stars of globalized football. Specifically, he mentions Gazza and Best as the fallen ones. Best died of alcoholism and Gazza may soon find a similar fate. I am mentioning this because, in part, I agree with Hughes, and in part, I think there is no true remedy.

Football, the sport and all those who control it, is responsible for those who make it their life, their source of income, and their identity. Football is attractive and alluring, it awakens passion, love and hate. As a little boy and an adult man, I have often dreamed of donning the shirt of FCB and running out with the lads, splitting the defense of the opposition with a deft pass, or stealing the last minuet winner. I wonder if I wouldn't give up everything to be endowed with good timing and golden legs? Of course, for most of us it is a fantasy to be indulged in as a fantasy.

But for many it becomes a reality. And one the individual is incorporated into the system of professional football, well, then the system carries some responsibility. Of course, all individuals have a choice at every given moment, but the system is responsible for its output: i.e. the players. While part of what is seductive about football is the physical contest, the other part is the glory. The glory today, as always I suppose, is fame and fortune. Soccer players are celebrities, fashion icons, goodwill ambassadors and movie stars. In short, they are brands.

This affords them much attention, wealth, luxury and excess. They are, in a sense, free of much of what keep the rest of us behind the desk, behaving in a moderate manner. But this is also where the danger lies, as in the case of Gazza and Best. Once you taste the sweet nectar of fortune and fame, who wants to go back? Some of us simply cannot handle that pressure and go mad. Soccer stars become drunks, criminals and megalomaniacs. And it is the sport and those behind the sport, which created this, thus they share the burden of responsibility. When Gazza gets wasted in a bar and gets in a fight, he is doing so, I would argue, because he needs the fight, the attention and the distraction.

But there is an even deeper problem here, one which is fundamental part of the sport itself (indeed, this is part of team sport in general). That flaw is the fact that football is at its essence a game of combat, of tactics and moves designed to crush the opponent. As such, it doesn't allow for understanding of the plight of the others, nor of the weak members of your own. It is highly aggressive and at times violent. This, in turn, is how the individuals within the sport are brought up, cultured, and expected to perform. In order to succeed, this becomes their life, and more often than not, it spills over into their private life: with violence, with drink, and with drugs. This is particularly acute in the post-career period, when the one thing you spent your life working on, is no-longer available to you, it is only natural that you also experience a loss of identity. Loss of identity, as we know from nationalism, always paves the way for violent counter-reaction.

But I also suggested that the sport cannot solve this problem, and I said so because it would mean introducing ideas, through counselling and adapted training methods, etc., that are antithetical to competition, professionalization, and war. For these types of individuals not to emerge, the focus on competition, besting, success, and glory would all have to be removed. An then? Well, then it just wouldn't be football anymore. Then there wouldn't be any Gerd Mullers, or Lionel Messis, there would be no games on TV, and at the World Cup, everyone would win.

Of course, what has been done, can be undone. That means that though the sport cannot ever avoid the creation of Icarus, it can help catch them on the way down, provide them with post career counseling, etc., what ever they need to not destroy themselves and their loved ones.

Change you can believe in!

Half day at work and little to be done.

It is the turning of another year, the moment where, in our minds, the old is passing into history and the new is being dreamed up and born. For many of us, the year will be born in a violent, angry drunken rage, yet these hours seem to me better suited for reflection on what has passed, what is, and what will be.

We can take so many different approaches to the year's ending/beginning. Is it just another day in the seemingly endless cycle of days and nights, seasons and ages? Is it really the moment of renewal, when the leaves of the West are turned over and everyone gets a new start? Is it a global conspiracy by clubs and beer companies to raise their profits? Is it a mechanism of control where we throw off our chains for a night, fly into a savage rage, only to wake up with such a hang over that we resolve to be more in control (and dutifully put the chains back on)?

It is, in my eyes, all of these things and none of them. It is what it needs to be for each of us, and it has been many things for me over the 28 years of my life. At times a raging party to shed excess energy and cover insecurity over my future in a warm blanket of excess; at times a quiet evening, just another in a series that will continue until I die; at times an evening for self-imposed isolation meant to provide answers for what-ever it was I was searching. It has been a lonely night, and lively night, and a night to feel loved or in love. It has been forgettable and memorable. Some times it has dragged on, other times it was all over to quickly.

Tonight I will be in Belgrade, Serbia. Most likely the night will be some combination of the above: I will reflect on the moments past and those still to come, I will find quiet moments before heading out to join the party. At that point I will likely drink a bit to much, leaving me feeling a bit destabilized in the morning and with a promise to be more dignified and sober over the years to come.

But no matter where or with which friends I spend the evening, I know that I will think about how to structure the New Year. After all, I am a product of the Western ideology which has taught me to observe the New Year as a time to make resolutions, to focus my desire for self-improvement onto tomorrow, and to spend the night with friends. So now I ask myself, in honor of this tradition, what is this New Year going to mean for me? What will I do that is better than last year? How will I take control of the chaos and forge it into something meaningful (as if chaos had no meaning)?

Well, it is a hard one to answer, but try I must. My 'answers' will not appear here however, they will be scribbled down somewhere, or stored in my memory banks with a note to review again December 31st, 2009. Ultimately I do not take the ritual seriously, and I don't believe this is my chance at making change for the year ahead; rather I think change comes whenever you want it too. You just have to make a choice and work on it.

With that said, all that is left to say is Cheers! Cheers to 2008 and all that was part of that period of time; cheers to the people I interacted with; cheers to all the experiences I had; cheers to all the tears and laughs; cheers to all the death and life; cheers to good food, great music and long drinks; cheers to good football where ever it occurs...

... and cheers to you. Welcome to the brand new world, bienvenue en 2009

Face to Face with my Thesis

I know the blog has taken on a life of its own, that it has strayed far from the original concept - a blog/log of my work on the topic of Football and Politics. While this may be true, I can say that the topic is never far from my thoughts, and from time to time, I see something or experience something, which brings home one or more of my fundamental arguments.

I had such an experience on Sunday. I was playing with my usual team. We had fun, we scored goals, we made good and bad passes, and we scuffed a lot of shots. But no-one got angry; well, apart from Marco, who got angry when "the ball hit me in the face for the second time, and the fat guy laughed." But apart from that we all had a great time, and as usual, I felt the tensions melt away.

One of the regulars on my team, a giant of a man, is, it turns out, a real live hooligan. He is that guy, who follows Svezda around the country (both the football and basketball team) and watches the game with the Delije. He also has a tattoo, which expresses his opinion of the police; and he is no fan. But this guy, for all that he is close to 7ft, is one of the happiest, nicest, gentle and well mannered people I have met. There is nothing about him and the way he presents himself, which would suggest violence and allegiance to a ultra-nationalist organization. More over, he really likes me, and likes speaking in English, which also doesn't fit the Serbian hooligan image.

Thus we see the contradiction, and one that is seen in many hooligan cultures. How can a nice, friendly man, like my team-mate, have such a fascination with, and participate in, such a violent community? As I said, he is not exceptional though. In the heyday of English hooliganism, there were many "respectable" citizens (doctors, lawyers, etc...) who were in the various firms around the country. I don't know where the answer to this lies, except to suggest that, in my team-mate, we witness the artificial nature, the constructed nature, of identity. It is this construction that allows two seemingly contradictory persona to co-exist in a single individual.

When I returned home, I switched on the TV and found myself watching Shalke Vs. Hoffenheim. The game was the final game of this first part of the season. I was, I must say, a bit shocked at how nasty the game was. There were endless fouls and fights, two red cards, and continuous yelling. All of this on the pitch, not in the stands, where you might expect it. As I was watching it, I though, how is it possible that a game, being broadcast live on TV, with professional players, in a stadium, with no less than 4 referees, be so dirty? There is so much regulation, and real consequences to the fouls and fighting. Yet, the game I had just played had no regulation at all, except for the honor system (self-regulation), and not once has there been a fight, and excessive foul, or verbal abuse.

Again, I don't have the answer, except to suggest it may be the fact that in the Bundesliga, they are playing for a prize, and their wages; while in the little bubble next to the basketball stadium, we are not. So, while my game restored my faith that the game can be a simple, fun game, as I watched the Shalke game, I was once more disappointed.

Not the 20.00 News...

Digging in the Dirt

Well, time to get my hands dirty. I just received the confirmation from Columbia Univ. that my proposed paper has been accepted. I'll be presenting a paper at ASN Convention 2009 on my Birthday. That means I am committed to being in NYC in the spring; I've always liked the City in the spring. The topic of my paper you ask? 

"Roma's 'Gazella' Settlement in Belgrade: Between Nationalism and Globalism"

This will be my first  conference presentation (unless you include Thinking Matters), and will be fun. But how to address this issue? It will be a combination of interviews with the Gazella inhabitants and Serbian (non-Roma) citizens, theoretical discourse, and a small project with the kids of Gazella. I'll be reaching back to some of the theories from my thesis and HON 299 class (Critical Multiculturalism, Performance Ethnography, Carl Schmitt, Balibar, Foucault, etc...).

~~

From a while back:

Americans have no clear idea what a powerful force Nationalism can be, and how it can be a true barrier for equal access in so many parts of the World. National identity in the US is virtually non-existent, and is synonymous with citizenship. People in the US, by and large, are loyal to their state first, then to any ethnic affiliation they have. For the African-Americans and the South American-Americans this relationship is the most difficult, and these two communities are often the most distinct from the hegemonic "American-ness", yet if push came to a shove, if, to use Huntington's language for a moment, there were a clash of civilizations, then I believe their American identity would trump the day. As a result of this configuration, this loyalty to citizenship and state, it is possible to have multicultural communities live side-by-side.

This is a very different story in the rest of the world. Looking at this corner of the world, Serbia (and this can be applied to the wider Balkan peninsula), ethnicity is first, then citizenship. Even if you share a citizenship, you will likely split if there were tensions/conflict between your ethnicities. In Serbia, you have people claiming to be Serbs (in this case the ethnicity is determined by affiliation to the Orthodox Church, thus you can only be a Serb if you are Orthodox. A Jew or catholic could only be a Serbian Citizen), Croatians, Albanians, Bosnians, Bosniaks, Hungarians, Romanians, Vlachs, Roma, etc.

In all these cases, the ethnic affiliation is more primary over the citizenship. It is also the cause of significant discrimination for those not belonging to the Hegemon, which in the case of Serbia, is Serb ethnicity. I would argue, if there were conflict between Albania and Serbia, or Serbia and Croatia (both of which have occurred in the past), then the Serbian citizens who identified as Croatians or the Serbian citizens who identified as Albanians would side with their ethnic affiliation, not their passport.

I wrote this piece (it has been edited since) on the way home from visiting Councils for Inter-ethnic Relations in Vojvodina. I'm thinking now, however, that the exception to the rule is likely the Roma population. They are exceptional in many ways however, as there is no homeland they can claim, no geographical expression (historical or current) which they claim. Furthermore, they are persecuted in every corner of the world; they tend to be impoverished and; most of them are not registered in any formal manner. Thus, they are often 'invisible' persons.

US Media in Crisis

The Times of India reported today that three of the largest papers in the US, were on the verge of failure: LA Times and Chicago Tribune are filing for bankruptcy, and the New York Times is refinancing its office building to keep the lights on...

Is this getting much media coverage in the US? When I google it, all I get is the one story in the Times of India.

 

Why Serbia Doesn't See Change in 'You Know Who'

To be clear to all the Obama-ites out there, this entry is not a personal political statement, but rather a reflection of how his appointments are viewed from over here, on the fringe. So please don't send the Rightist Police after me...

~Vice President: Joe "I split up Yugoslavia" Biden

~Secretary of State: Hillary "I encouraged Bill to use NATO forces in Serbia" Clinton

~National Security Advisor: James "I used to Run NATO" Jones

~Defense Secretary: Robert "I was appointed by Bush" Gates

~Treasury Secretary: Timothy "I worked for the IMF" Geithner

~Commerce Secretary: Bill "I worked for Clinton" Richardson

~Chief of Staff: Rahm "I also worked for Clinton and I have brass balls" Emanuel

I am, of course having a bit of fun here. I don't know if these choices will end up being wise or not, and they may well be. I hope so. But irrespective, the opinion in Serbia of these individuals is less than choice. All of them, in some form, are associated with the Clinton era, the NATO bombing and Kosovo conflict, and in general, with the Washington establishment.

Thus, for Serbia, there will be little tangible change coming from the US after Jan. 20th. Naturally, Obama cannot ponder every single country when making these appointments, but he will have to expect that the choice he made, will send a negative message to quiet a few corners of the World. 

History of Soccer in America

Self-Ethnography

Where am I now? What do I mean by that? Physically I am in my apartment in Belgrade, Serbia, in my 28th year, of the year 2008 in the western calender. I'm putting Bob Dylan CD's into my Itunes and revisiting them, with a bit of Ani thrown in for good measure.

Philosophically I am in a place of great decisions, biding my time to observe how the landscape arranges itself. What do I mean with landscape? The variety of options and possibilities, in terms of career and academic opportunities, that are being juggled by yours truly. What do I mean by career? The activity that will take most of my time over the course of the next 30 years of my life, and through which I will gain most of my income.

In this moment I am also feeling somewhat nostalgic, a product of Bob Dylan and that Nashville Skyline, but also because I have spent a good portion of the morning dismantling my old blog, and transcribing the old entries I valued. What do I mean by value? The entries that presented a coherent opinion on global event and trends, personal development and introspection, and entries that captured a specific moment in time and froze it in words.

I will spend a few years editing the 50 pages of entries I salvaged, and then think of doing something with it. It presents a glimps of my self-evolution (on multiple fronts) over the period of October 2005 - November 2007. But the reification of David A. Brown in not complete,  and continues in this forum instead. Now somewhat more cautious with how the ink is spilt.

What do I mean more cautious? Careful and pragmatic with what is posted for public consumption, often with career possibilities in mind.

Fruska Gora

Traveling with a couple friends last weekend, we stopped off at an Orthodox Monastery in Fruska Gora, not far from Novi Sad. The place was beautifully maintained with nice mosaics in the outer walls of the place. The church itself resembled an Austrian Catholic design in the yellow color and shape of its steeple. Subsequent conversations with a few of the other guests revealed that it was indeed of Austrian design, built during the Austro-Hungarian control of Vojvodina.

Behind the Monastery was a small path leading into the hills. We climbed for about 45 minuets, passing through fruit orchards, clusters of various types of trees, herds of sheep, and moments of total silence. It was thoroughly relaxing and pleasant.

Returning from the hills, we entered the Monastery, which was, as expected, calm and well kept. I find the Orthodox churches interesting for their lack of space to sit. It strikes me every time I enter one, and recently I asked a friend about it. She said that people just stand during the sermons. Men on the right, women on the left, the sermons don't last too long (up to about 45 minuets) making it manageable. Also, there is not the attendance ritual in the Orthodox tradition that you find in Catholicism. By that I mean people don't go every Sunday at a certain time. They can go any day of the week. Furthermore, the sermons consist of the monks gathering in the church to read, though it's much more like singing, from their sacred texts. Attending church is simply going during these times, standing and listening, crossing yourself at the (many) appropriate time(s) and at the end, going to the front to kiss the pictures of the saints.

As we left the church, one of my friends stopped to buy a small token from an old nun. She was selling various, religious type goods (candles, crosses, pictures...). My friend is American, the Nun is Serbian, so they struggled to communicate. She asked if he spoke German. He didn't, but I did, and we conducted business in German. Then she asked where we were from. I told her we were American. She threw her hands up in disgust: "ohh!" she said. "Ich spreche Deutsche aber kein English. English nicht wollen. NATO bomben!" In her eyes, we were the responsible party for what happened in 1999. For that reason, she didn't like our language, though she still sold her goods to my friend. Apparently out language wasn't welcome, but our money was ok.

None of us wanted to get drawn into a debate on this issue, nor would it have been appropriate. We thanked her and left, followed by her unflinching stare, and a look on her face that suggested she was bursting to tell us something; she remained quiet. She even followed us to the door and asked if we had questions about the church. We declined the offer.

As we left the church my friend asked me what she had said. I told him. "I thought so" he said. "Excuse me" said a man behind us. "Can I tell you something about the church?" he was a Serbian man with very good English. As we were pressed for time, we declined, but we all walked together to where our cars were parked. He and his wife were clearly interested in us, how we found this place, and why we were in Serbia. The fact that we were American had no negative impact on his interest in us. We left with an invitation to his Bakery in Zemun, following him as he guided us back to the Highway.

We drove back to BG to pick someone up from the Airport, which is right next to the airplane museum. The only museum in the world to host a shot down American Stealth Bomber. Shot down by the Serbians during the 1999 NATO bombing.

A footballing experience

I played soccer on Thursday night with a group of lads from work, Serbs and Italians, and me. It was such a bad experience, and I won't be playing with them again. But it was also fascinating to be part of the experience. I was rotating every 10 minuets with Marco, so I was able to play and watch these middle aged guys get progressively more angry and aggressive as the hour bore on. I knew before the match ended that this would be my only appearance with this group.

You see, for me football is like a hobby. I take it seriously, I try to play well, I work hard, but it has to be relaxing and fun. If it is not, there is no point to it. I am 28, I will never be a pro, nor will I ever get much better than I am now (without serious training), so all I can hope for is to maintain my level, and have fun playing this beautiful game. This philosophy is not shared by the Thursday evening crew.

Granted, they play at a slightly higher level than me, but their attitude is so hyper aggressive, that no-one has any pleasure in playing. They spend most of the game yelling at each other every time a pass is miss hit, or every time a shot goes wide. I took a lot of abuse for my weak passing. If I was in training with Cvezda or Partizan, then I could understand the shouting. But guys, we are playing a 5-a-side match, we are all of us never going to be pro-players, so relax and enjoy it!

The yelling continued after the game. As all the men returned to the changing room they were arguing over the bad passes and missed opportunities. I never felt like it was going to get violent, but they were practically screaming at each other. What I found hilarious about all this was, that as these men were arguing vigorously, they were also getting naked in front of each other. They then all went into the shower, to wash down in front of each other, where the shouting continued. A great juxtaposition I must say.

What I take away from this, because if I take nothing away from this then the evening really was a waste, is that these men exposed the mechanism with-in team sports which can encourage domination, aggression and eventually violence. The desire for victory is so strong with these men that they are willing, even on such an insignificant occasion, to let themselves get angry at their friends for not finding the back of the net. It is the engagement in the activity of football that brings out this attitude and mental state.

Of course, I can only speculate why they get this way, but if I had to guess, I would say they feel a level of frustration in other parts of their lives. Football is the only moment they have to release physical energy, and as soon as the lid is off on this tension, it quickly boils over into aggression.

I have the exact opposite experience every Sunday with my team. We are relaxed before, during and after the game. We take shots from the most improbable angles, we miss hit passes all the time, yet no-one yells at us. In short, we have fun while we play because we have no pretensions about what we are on the pitch. We are a group of young guys who enjoy kicking a ball around. Period.

*******

I was meditating today and became aware of how all my thoughts were directed towards what I saw a missing from my life. Every thought started with 'I need' or 'I should' or 'I want'. I wasn't spending anytime thinking about what I have, what is now.

An amalgamation of mental capital...

Now that the dust has settled, and I clearly need to move on and stop suggesting that a certain person might not have the effect everyone hopes he/she will have, I'll get back to business. I have a bunch of odds and ends to throw up here, stuff I jotted down in my notebook over the last month.

~Date: Unknown

There is always a lot of time to think and reflect when you are in a car full of Serbs, you can't understand what they are saying, and your not the one driving.

In this moment, as I am silent, life appears to me like a flock of birds in flight. I don't mean those migrating birds, flying in some organized pattern, with leaders and followers (though this presents another metaphor we could explore...), I mean those simply flying above a field or around a town. There is some basic reason for their flight, some objective governing and guiding their actions, but that is not how it appears to me.

Between the point of departure and the moment they attain their objective seems to be a series of acts of chaos, spontaneous choices and irrational movements. There appears to be no leader, no solid direction, and what little direction there is, shifts without rhyme or reason. I think our lives are somewhat like this no? Or at least, they can be.

Everything is constantly changing even as it appears to remain the same. We exert little to no control over life's course, and we are always, as Hunter S. Thompson once said, subject to the whims of the great magnet. For my context, I might say, subject to the way.

~Date: 30/10/2008

I should be more thankful for the rain. It is a blessed thing for all those who don't get enough. Yet when it fall here, we run away from it, cursing, as though it were some great evil.

Election Night Part II

Right, something about the election. I have something of a cynical view of the Obama rally cry 'Hope' and 'Change', partly because I am not convinced that Obama wants what he tells us he wants, but also because I think as President, he won't be able to bring the change he promised. The system just won't take it.

I'm afraid that this will have a devastating effect on the American public, making them hopelessly cynical, angry and afraid. This reaction, if it happens, will open the door to an even more fierce brand of conservatism than the Bush years have given us. Obama has been brilliant at tapping social power, but he is treading on dangerous waters: the mob in ever susceptible to changes. If he succeed, or at least maintain the appearance of success, the mobilized mob will quickly become his nightmare.

My cynicism also makes me question whether a man who was put in the most powerful seat in the world, would really want to make changes that would limit and reduce that power.

Obama presents the US with a paradox: a victory for McCain will confirm the racist character of the American voter, yet a victory for Obama will, and I believe can, only result in huge disappointment for Americans who seem so caught up in Obamainia. A disappointment, which, in this collapsing economy, and polarizing world, will fast turn in to extremism. E, scolding me for my cynicism, said that the US doesn't need immediate results, but rather the ideas, and a break from the old order.

I don't understand why people think the president has so much power to make change? The office doesn't, it requires a lot of other people to go along and implement the initiative. Sure, Obama will have a lot of popular support going in, and I expect he will find a double majority in congress, but he is also going to e subject to the people who funded his 605 million dollar campaign. Ok, many of whom were lower and middle class, but he also took money from large companies, and they are not the kind that like to much change, and only a bit of hope.

But I do have hope: hope that I am wrong about Obama; hope that he will make the changes he talks about; hope he governs without self interest and with profound respect for the people who voted him in; I hope E is right, that the idea will be enough. Only time will tell.

Time for a cat nap.

Election Night

Calm before the storm. It's almost 11 pm here, one more hour until NH and VA close their polls and we start to see results trickle in. I've been watching Champions League and hanging out with Aleks and Nico, determining that all we had in common was that our reason for being was to be there at that moment. I'm stocked up on junk food and waiting for the slaughter to start. So, to pass the time, I'll put down some thoughts, and stop hoping, quietly, that Ralph Nader wins the election.

I was re-reading some notes before sending off 5 pages of writings/confessions/reflections and thinking about my future here in the Balkans, thinking about how my ideas of this corner have changed through experience. I have to admit, that I held some real prejudice against Balkans people since my youth. These feelings were impressed upon me through friends and the relative poverty these Eastern Europeans lived in when they were in Germany.

They were the marginal elements of our town, living in the worst houses, wearing the cheapest clothes and riding the oldest bikes, and to us young kids, that seemed to put them below us in someway. They also never participated in our football games, and never attended our school. We were, for all intents and purposes, living segregated. The aggressive, at times violent behaviour of the immigrants, I understand now, was more related to their living conditions than any inherent character flaw.

At the time, this behaviour was just irrational to me. Of course, I felt that way because I didn't understand anything about them. My opinion is now different, and has been changing over the last years as a result of exposure and experience with this community/culture/people. Now I live in this part of the world, and I doubt it's a coincidence. I have of course met people who seemed to confirm my racism, but I did meet these types in the US also. For every one who has confirmed this feeling, I have meet two or three who have proved me wrong. As a result of opening myself to this, I now feel quiet comfortable here, in this culture, in this part of the world.

It's no worse than any other part of the World I have seen, and in some ways more interesting and open.

...and now for November!

It's a big month if your name is Obama or McCain {or Langevin ;-) } I'll be up watching the returns as long as it seems relevant, but I think it might be a short night, unless of course the immigration issue explodes, but so far it seems like its too little to late for McCain. As Alex said, two days until we avoid a war with Iran...

I have a computer at home again. Its' nice, but for the last few weeks, I have been reading more, and today, I was online most of the day... yes, yes, it's a question of discipline, blah, blah. I was also writing by hand, and on real paper too! How novel.

Well, I had be constructive today, so this entry is my effort. I have a host of reading to do, and over the next month I'll post about Stara Planina, Halloween, and all the other things that occurred during this media blackout. Till then... peace

Once more for October!

Il nous rest deux jour en Oktobre, donc j'ecrit un dernier text, dedier a ce mois manifique. Really, It has been a fantastic month, fantastique comme on dit, and I am always sad to see October go. While the changing of the leaves hasn't been spectacular in Belgrade, it has been in the rest of Serbia. I think the fact that we have had warm weather and little rain this month, has really made the colors pop. Stara Planina was stunning. The most untouched nature I have ever seen. But more on that another time...

Well, I have about four or five journal entries to post when I have time (they are all hand written) and hopefully that will be soon. A very generous friend is lending me her laptop for November and December. I'll be connected again! I mean, she is also doing it because I am doing grant research for her, but still, it is most kind.

Just a quick note on the film Body of Lies. Very disappointing as it relies on some awful ideological crap to justify some really nasty deaths. Only Russle Crowe was worth watching, doing a sort of 'G W Bush runs the CIA' routine. But the plot was weak - a strange sort of coming of age film for a CIA agent who has to murder a bunch of Arabs before he sees the 'light'. The one good line comes at the beginning of the film when the Jordanian head of Intelligence tells the Americans, torture doesn't work. After that, if your just looking for brutal action and violence, this is your film, but you won't find anything resembling a decent, honest debate about the state of American - Mid East relations.

R. Scott tried, I got the feeling, but fell short. There are those moments when the CIA is portrait as a big incapable organization, and the Arab intelligence service as sleek and effective, using 'homegrown' methods. But it's all overshadowed by this rather thick covering of patriotic treacle, and I guess most people will miss these finer points.

So tonight I'll be off to see Bangkok Dangerous, a hard boiled Nic Cage thriller. At least I am not hoping this one will tackle serious geopolitical themes... ;-)

R.I.P Macbook Jun '07 - October '08

Yeah, no more lap top...rotten. Means that if I want to write in the blog, I have to stay late at the office... a rather uninspiring atmosphere... So, it's going to be quiet in this space for a while, but my paper notebook will be filling up, and one day I'm start posting again...

Until then...

A few notes from Meeting with Prof. Duhašek:

Read Arendt "life of the mind"
On my question of whether those with knowledge also have political responsibility, her answer was emphatically yes!

~Even for fringe elements there is responsibility. If there is no sense of political responsibility in all elements of society, then there should be...
~If this sense of responsibility is not created, then there is always a chance that evil can return;
~The responsibility needs to be integrated into the very fundamentals of citizenship.
~Serbian Media never listed Karađič's crimes after his arrest;
~Responsibility can be easily displaced unless it is imposed;
~Women in black - take idea of "Not in my Name" to all corners of society;
~Victim mentality never allows for a dealing with the past. You have to think also about the ways in which your own political community has hurt others and your responsibility for that hurt;
~It's my responsibility to see how I have hurt others, not how others have hurt me; that is their responsibility...

...Interesting stuff.

email exchange

There is so much to write these days, but I am finding myself fairly tired at the end of every day. Its the type of tired where inspiration is low and all you want to do is sit on the couch and watch TV. I remember feeling that way a lot in California. Well, I'll catch up with everything over time, for now, because I don't want to totally ignore the Wall Street crash, here is an email exchange with a former professor.

My email:

As for Wall street, I seem to agree most with Nader when he calls the whole financial system a global casino. I feel fairly conflicted, because somehow I don't want them to get the bail-out from the very pockets of the people they have been taking advantage of for so long. Yet, if there is no bail-out, what happens then? What happens to the US, and the Global economy? Total meltdown could have terrifying geo-political consequences.

I guess, in the end, I would say give them the bailout but with significant regulation. However, you cannot legislate in good behavior, and I guess the system will spend the next 50 years trying to undo these regulations, like it did after the 1930s. So, regulation alone is not an answer. There is a more fundamental issue of greed and a disconnection from responsibility which needs addressing; and how you do that...

I just read an article in the nation by Greider. In case you haven't already seen it:

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20081006/greider2

Professors response:

Check out Kucinich's web site and the article by Paul Craig Roberts (Oct.3-5) on the Counterpunch site. The only approach that has a chance to be successful is one that addresses the problem from the bottom up. If people are working, and if their house payments are lowered by re financing them at reasonable interest rates (or at values that can be sustained over the long run), then people will be able to pay most of their debts on time and the financial system, on the whole, will remain solvent.

The rub in the financial sector, however, is similar to what Greider discussed in the SE Asian crisis: When the financial sector is uncertain of profits they withdraw their funds and starve the real economy. The government can address this liquidity problem by injecting funds, not to the main finance center banks (who will hold on to it to cover their speculative losses), but instead to local banks and credit unions who will lend it to local customers.

None of this will stop some contraction of the real economy as we adjust to the difference between what the capitalists imagined they could squeeze out from folks around the world and what people were actually able to produce for them; and as borrowers (individual, corporate and government) adjust their consumption to come into balance with what they can actually pay for over the longer term. Count on a real decline (with price and currency rate adjustments) of between 10 and 20%. No fun at all.

Reflections on Political Responsibility

Well, I could be writing about the stock-market I guess, but really, I just don't have much to say about it. It's not a shock to me; the financial market is a big, global casino and like at any good casino, poor Jane and Joe who are hoping for the a roll of the dice to change their lives, are getting fucked in a bad way. I'm sorry for them. That's it.

I would much rather write a short entry in response to, or in reflection on, an article written by Serbian political scientist Dasa Duhacek on the role of individual and collective responsibility in Serbian. She is making her analysis of the events of the 1991-1999 period through the lens of Hanna Arendt's thesis of responsibility. In essence Arendt, and subsequently Duhacek, argue that it is the responsibility of the individual for crimes committed in their name, by their political representatives, elected or not.

As Duhacek suggests, "No leader, no hierarchical structure can stand without the support of a plurality of individuals..." Thus it is suggested that anyone who participates in an unjust system, who does not actively oppose or declare their "disloyalty" is responsible for all acts carried out by the system. Arendt's most famous work on the subject is, of course, Eichmann in Jerusalem.

As I read Duhacek's text, and the parallels she draws to Serbian society, I found myself in agreement, nodding my head in a somber, scholarly fashion at the appropriate moments. But a question jumped out at me half way through: what about knowledge? I wondered what the role of knowledge was in relation to individual responsibility? I know that for myself, knowledge is precisely what makes me responsible for what is carried out by my government (as I have not done much to oppose it or declare myself disloyal...). Yet, can we say the same about individuals who, for one reason or another, have never been educated to construct such critical thoughts of the political system under which they live?

I thought of these question in the Serbian context. There is a significant gap in wealth between Belgrade and the rest of the country, and again between the region of Vojvodina and Central and South Serbia. As a result, educational centers such as top academies and Universities tend to be clustered in Belgrade and Vojvodina (with a few minor exceptions). Thus it is also logical to conclude that there is a difference in level, strength, and access of education also.

So, can we say that a person, to poor to move to Belgrade and attend university, where they would acquire the same critical analysis skills I posses, is also responsible? What about agricultural communities? There lives are focused on the production of food, there academic education is secondary to the agricultural one. What is their relationship to responsibility?

My question, finally, is simply, what responsibility does an individual have, who has no knowledge, and therefore no ability or tools with which to critically asses their lives as political, towards the actions of the state?

Luckily, I will have the occasion to ask Dasa Duhacek herself tomorrow. Stay tuned...

It came to me at 2 am...

“Degenerates, degenerate. You'll turn into monkeys!”

The above quote was taken from an interview with Slavoj Zizek. It is called Zizek on Vegetarianism and can be found on youtube.com. I am mentioning this because since my arrival in Serbia I have chosen to follow a vegetarian diet.

The reasons for this conversion are interesting, to me at least. In part I am doing this to test myself, to see how much meat is a habit, and how deeply it is ingrained in human culture. Serbia is particularly meat orientated and not always open minded towards new ideas or identities, adding to the challenge. A fellow (Serbian) vegetarian shared the story of a time when he was offered some food, which he refused due to the meat content. The food pusher, however, protested that there was no meet in the dish. Only noodles and chicken.

The question here is whether I eat meat because my body needs it, or simply because that is how I was brought up, with the societies around me (including the educational system) telling me I need proteins (which I do) and that I get that from eating meat (which is true), but not telling me where else I can get it. I have also learned that the process of digesting animal proteins, turning them into something my body can use, takes a huge amount of energy, and thus is not particularly efficient, particularly in relation to the proteins derived from non-meat sources, which are already in a form our body can use.

I have also chosen to abstain from eating meat due to conditions suffered by the animals born and raised for human use and consumption. Not only do their lives amount to a miserable torture, but also, the waste produced is an environmental disaster. The waste created by thousands of cows, or pigs or chickens living in a tiny geographical area generally gets dumped into nearby water supplies, and contains all sorts of bacteria that should not be there. This water is then eventually consumed by other earthlings, making them sick, and spreading disease.

I think it also symbolizes our detachment from the natural world in which we have no choice but to inhabit anyway. Our subjugation of animals is but another level of power games and crude domination. The fact that meat is not a necessity for living a healthy comfortable life means this treatment of other earthlings is also not needed. As such, I am doing my best not to participate in this system.

Anyone interested in a deeply disturbing hour long documentary should watch “Earthlings”, you can google it and watch it for free on google video.

It has been interesting to observe my own willingness to admit my vegetarianism. Thus far I have been cautious to admit it, and I find myself, particularly in company where I fear a hostile reaction, minimizing its significance, or shying away from admission to not eating meat. What is this symbolic of? A fear of being the outsider? Or not wanting to challenge the norm (which is to eat meat)? Both I guess. Being a minority is never an easy thing, as the rest of society considers you a fringe element, as different, even if they are not overtly hostile towards you.

Ok, maybe being a vegitarian is not as serious as being an ethnic minority, but the mechanism of social marginalization is the same. If you don't fit in somehow, people like to question and make fun of you. I doubt I will ever be beaten up because I like veggies more than meat, but I can still feel unwelcome, like there is something wrong with me for my lifestyle. On some level that is just as brutal as being beaten up, because it make me feel pshycologically inferior or not normal.

It's an ongoing process for now, and a learning experience. At least I can say I haven’t had any meat for more than two months now, and I feel fine. No different from when I did consume beef, pork, or chicken (wait, that’s not meat…). I guess meat is not essential to our survival, and while I am suddenly growing hair in strange places, at least I am not a monkey yet.

e-dialogue

The text below is a response to an email from a good friend in Maine. She was emailing me about my entry "Odds and Ends" in which I discussed my reaction to an interaction with a man in the street. My friend question whether the response was truly racist, or was it not more classist?

"To answer your question, re: "odds and ends", I tend to think of racism as being another term for discrimination, which can take place in many contexts (class, skin color, gender, etc.) so you are right to recognize a classist element to situation (what are you, a Marxist or something!! ;)). There is a huge financial gulf between myself and the Roma communities of the world and my prejudice towards this man is a general discrimination. I think I tended to focus on the ethnicity issue simply because it was the most obvious signifier for my response to this man.

I also know that as I was growing up in Paris, which has a significant Roma population, I was feed the stereotype of Roma as "Gypsies and thieves". Of course, this is just as much a classist mentality as a racist one.

What it ultimately boils down to is a fear of what is different from yourself, because in so many aspects of our childhood socialization process we are taught to discriminate against difference, against otherness (what ever form it takes). This was, in some way, the point I tried to make in my thesis, that by introducing team mentality and segregation through team colors, soccer (or any team sport) is encouraging a rigid, discriminatory ideology, and the physical (violent) element only enhances this type of hierarchy.

Certainly, the situation I found myself in vis-a-vis the Roma man could have happened anywhere, and it was not entirely his skin color that triggered my response. It was a combination of signifiers that made my mind assign him with the label of 'other'."

From Slavoj...

Defining moments

Well, September doesn't look like it's going to break records on this blog, in terms of entries anyway. Between the sudden increase in workload, starting Serbian class, and a brief sejourn from home Internet connectivity (unpaid bills will do that to you, E said) have made for less than inspired evenings. But all is well here.

Over in Serbian politics, I think September will be a record month however. The implosion of the Radical party alone has the country shocked. Nikolic's split with the Radicals is as shocking as it would be if suddenly Hilary Clinton left the dems and started her own party. The Radicals (SRS) are arguably the single most popular party in Serbia, and the only reason they aren't in power is because no-one wants to coalition with them, and currently the Democrats (DS) have a fairly solid coalition with the Socialists (SPS) and some of the smaller progressive parties (like LDP and G-17).

The fact that Nikolic, who wasn't even the leader of the party, could single handedly tear it in two, virtually overnight, is amazing. Furthermore, he has already established a new party (Forward Serbia) and co-opted a significant portion of the SRS MPs. Its as if he was planning this all along... I have to say, I do find it ironic that the issue that triggered Nikolic's departure was the ratification of the Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) by Serbian Parliament. This issue, a key step in eventual EU integration, should be a no brainer for a nationalist: no way should they support it! But there was support within SRS for signing it, most notably by Nikolic. He even publicly announced the SRS would support it. Then Seselj, calling long distance from Holland, said: au contraire mon ami, SRS will not support this!

Nikolic left the party on the spot, and the SRS MPs boycotted the vote, and Serbian Parliament ratified the SAA. Briliant stuff. As A said, looks like the radicals are just going where the money is. It made me think for a moment, in a way, maybe this is exactly what democracy does, it tempers views, bringing everyone toward the middle. The middle is where the largest pot of votes and cash are.

The other significant event thus far in September are the developments in getting the Serbia's case on Kosovo heard by the ICJ (today the GA added it to their agenda: big score for Vuk!). 

Odds and Ends

Travel clearly is good for the writer in me. I am glad to say that August was the second busiest month, in terms of entries, on this blog. :)

I was confronted by my own deeply repressed racism the other day. It was the day where I was wandering around suburban Beograd, searching for my dentist. I was going round in circles, 30 minuets late when a Roma man, who was going through the trash and extracting the recyclable materials, called me over. In my frustration, and embarrassment at being totally clueless about where I was going, I wanted to ignore him, but I didn't. I went over and he started rattling off in Serbian, and I didn't understand anything. Eventually we figured out what the other was trying to do, and he managed to give me directions (albeit to the wrong dentist). But as he was talking to me, I noticed that I was keeping a certain distance from him and that I had my hand over my wallet in my back pocket. I had done these things subconsciously, but I felt awful once I realized what was going on.

This man had reached out and tried to help me the best he could, and my immediate reaction to him was to condemn him as a thief. It made me think back to HON 299, because I think, in some way, this is the very learned reaction, totally artificial, that Dusan was trying to get us to recognize was part of us. The critical multiculturalist in me has now exposed the deeply subconscious suspicions of otherness, embodied by this Roma man. Now I am aware of this mechanism and hope that I can deal with it in future encounters with the other.

Hmm, is it racist of me to even describe the man by (what I am assuming) is his ethnic origin? I ask this because it feels like I am not looking past his ethnicity if I continue to use it for my social cues. Rather than being a "Roma" man, maybe he is just a man.

Email from abroad

"One thing struck me about your thesis and your bibliography (this is me don't forget) and that is how are you tying gender into all this? For instance - something struck me about the football game ( and the same thing hits me again and again when listening to the news, looking at captions under pictures and soon). You talk about the number of "people" in the stadium and the"fans".

I've put those words in inverted commas because I wonder what those collective nouns are hiding - where they "people" or were they men with a few women? Were they fans or again where they actually men who happened to be fans? If you think about the way collective nouns are used in reporting events, especially from societies where men predominate - they hide lots of things...."

This is the second time in two weeks this topic has come up re:my thesis. Its true, when I look at my bibliography, that I have defined everything from a masculine point of view, and thus made assumptions about the subjects of my discourse. The only female writer I can say had an impact on my thinking is Silvia Federici (Caliban and the Witch), but she didn't get a nod in the actual text.

It is clear that I need to take these issues into consideration. When looking over my main theoretical arguments, particularly in relation to discrimination, gender has a significant aspect to contribute. Hmm, that sounds like I am belittling it. No, what I mean is that I cannot exclude it from the discourse; I cannot pick and choose.

To my critics, I say Merci; this is an ongoing body of work and mental evolution for me, and you are contributing to its shape. Weiter so...

blogging before bed

What a day. Long. At work at 810 am to prepare for the morning department meeting, then a long (longer than it needed to be) meeting, and then into the dentist chair. I have one cavity, and otherwise perfect teeth. But the cavity is now plugged, and my teeth are shiny again.

Why write about this? Well, two years ago I went to the dentists in the US, Aspen Dental, and had a check up and a cleaning. They charged $60 for the cleaning, and then the dentist tried to tell me I needed 4 (four) minor fillings. I was surprised, but when they told me the total for the four fillings would be around $1000 dollars, I was devastated. No way I could afford that. So, I just brushed like a crazy man, and didn't get the fillings.

How surprised was I today when my Serbian dentists told me my teeth were in great shape, bar the one small cavity. I certainly didn't need 4 fillings. So, I was pleased, of course, but also in-sensed at the fact that I was almost scammed by this dental chain. How ironic that I was saved by poverty. By the way, one filling in Serbia cost $35 dollars, not $250. Even if I didn't have dental coverage, I would still be able to afford it.

~~

Yesterday I wrote about the experience in the Red Star stadium, and today I thought some more about it. I conceptualized the "North Curve" as a kind of law-free zone, where there is basically a state of anarchy, and in which you can do anything you want. Into this zone, no figures of legal authority dare set foot, at least not until things get so bad that the riot forces are called in.

Some one asked me today if the three kids smoking pot could have done the same in the US? I said no, certainly not in that context. Not so openly and blatantly, right in front of the security forces. In the US, those kids would have been busted for sure. But the stadium culture is also different, less violent and anarchistic, as the average US sports fan is a more law abiding person than a Serbian soccer fan.

Hello September...

Sunday was perfect. A football match followed by a football match. First stop was the Red Star game at Svezda stadium. The match was very poorly attended, I estimate about 5,000 people, but it was like being one step away from my thesis. The people in the stadium, at least the ones in the section where we were (North Curve, Red Star section), were only a generation away from their predecessors who went to Zagreb in 1991, who followed Arkan to the front line, and who fought in Vukovar.

Watching the leader of the firm stand on his bench and pump up the crowd, and seeing the many young (by young, I mean 10-15) I felt I was literally witnessing the moment of where the ideology was being transfered and propagated. It was both devastating and fascinating at the same time. The singing went, as the game deteriorated for Red Star, from encouraging support from the fans no matter what, to calling for the coaches head to threatening the players by telling them they were going to break into the training ground and beat them up.

But the most telling moment came as the game ended. The firm, en mass moved towards the very front rows of the north curve. They did this to call the players to come to them over. It was not an aggressive move, yet before they even got all the way down, the riot police appeared out of no where and formed a barrier along the fence. It seemed to me an unnecessary move on their part, and is actually what provoked the most violent behavior of the evening when the Delijer began to actually launch the flares and  at the cops. This in turn provoked a small stamped of people out of the stadium, I guess out of fear of what may happen. But that was also where it ended, and slowly the crowed dispersed.

During the match I watched three young boys smoke a joint in plain sight. They were not even hiding it from the security forces right on the other side of the fence. It made me think of something DB said a few weeks ago as we discussed the situation over the Karadzic riot. It appears as if the cops are a little less committed to the rule of law, than the hooligans are to chaos. Maybe it's a stretch to make the connection here, but the kids stood in plain sight breaking the law, the security force, clearly recognizing what was going on, did nothing. He just watched.

email to a friend

"Dear Xxxxxx,

Glad to see the convention went well. How was it from the front row? Lots of interesting jockeying going on in the race these days. Its particularly interesting to see it all from a Serbian perspective. I can tell you that Joe Biden is one unpopular man in this country! Wow. The media here are slamming Obama for his choice. I guess they still harbor bad feelings over Biden's involvement in the Balkans conflict.

But, they are no great supporters of McCain here either. I think in general, Serbs tend to think American Political power is to great and is used in ways it shouldn't. Of course, I find this fairly ironic considering Serbia's own recent political history, and the power of the Nationalists here. But then, it's always easier to criticize others. It seems this is one of Serbia's major problems, and why it is always in danger of reverting to nationalism and totalitarianism: Serbs don't face their own problems. They just blame everyone else for them.

Anyway... Send me your impressions of the convention. I am following the developments in the campaigns with much eagerness these days. It should be a good race, with a good result at the end."

Off in the distance, behind me, Edith is singing her heart out.

The political sanctions made Milosevic, he said.

At last, I am finding satisfaction of my intellectual curiosity and want of, what I consider profound conversation. MD is sitting in his office, casually slouched in his chair wearing his usual black jeans and white shirt, going into details over how the western sanctions essentially backfired and enabled Serbia's decline into austere nationalism.

In the 1960s we lived as westerners did. Rock music, I wanted to look like James Dean, I read James Joyce and Faulkner, he continued. But what is important is that MD doesn't want to make the mistake most Serbs make when looking at themselves in the mirror. He doesn't want to export blame onto to someone else.

We are like children in this sense, he suggests. Always blaming others for our misfortune, never recognizing that we are partners in this situation. He calls it self purification, but it seems to me that it is only skin deep, and doesn't lead to any change. Rather the result is in fact a worsening of ones psychological situation. Neither MD or I think that the Serb is totally to blame, that every actor in this theatrical performance we call geo-politics shares the blame. But as long as blame is being externalized, then the Serb remains a victim, and thus a prisoner, of their situation.

Take the paradox of the SRS party (the Radicals) who are fighting hard against EU encroachment in Serbia. Their support for the Pro-Karadzic rallies is case in point - they tell Serbs that Tadic (Tadic Juda!) is going to destroy Serbia by handing it over to those pesky Europeans. What they offer as an alternative is trully the paradox of paradox: A nationalist Serbia in league with its Russian Brothers. Slavic solidarity, though it has never existed historically, is the order of the day. Do they really not see that they are mearly trading one hegemon for another, and that they will still not be in control of their own house?

The conclusion is that this political rhetoric is just another way to justify political movements, and to gain power; it has neigh to do with a desire for Serb freedom or an improvement of life for the ordinary Serb. I ask if maybe this is not the signs of a dying party; a last ditch attempt to regain power? My colleagues at work all think that Serbia is on the European path, from which it will never stray. MD shruggs, and I agree with that sentiment. Who knows?

In the 1980s we all saw Serbia's future as a Western one, part of Europe. No-one could even imagine Milosevic back then, he said. History is never absolute, and always finds ways to shift gears.

Further reflections on a changing society

Serbia, the Serbian man: such complex constructs of history, time, religion, porno, and handbags. Yes, male handbags, or as the Serbian man likes to call them, Pederuca. You will recognize in the first part of that word 'pede', which is French is slang for homosexual. Thus these handbags a basically fag bags. But these are not items worn by the gay community, rather, they are high fashion among the hetero community. Yet they retain the title of Pederuca within the mainstream; a sort of recognition of the homo-erotic nature of this highly chauvinist male culture.

Thus the Serbian man can recognize his fag-ness without having to confront his own repressed desire to try 'it', even if only once. But it also serves as a way for the men to try and dominate each other (as if that isn't homo erotic), by making fun of each others Pederuca. I can hear them now: "nice pederuca, what, are you a fa***t?" Its similar to how American baseball players like to slap each others asses, or how high school jocks do the "sack whack." Alternatively of course, one might conclude that this is in fact a sign of how secure the Serbian man is, in his sexuality. Maybe, but if he is, then why is he so afraid of Homosexuals?

Serbia is on many levels a very intolerant society, including towards differing ethnicity, skin color, gender, and sexual preference (unless you are two hot lesbians making out in public, then they love it).  I am no expert in these issues, but I remember reading somewhere that we (earthlings) have a tendency to strike out at things we don't know, or understand. In the modern era that has evolved into what we call discrimination (racism, sexism, nationalism, patriotism, etc). It's all still based on fear in any case. So if the Serbian man is so safe with the knowledge that he really only wants to be with women, then why the hate?

The 'Out' Serbian Gay community is very small as a result, and it is fairly intimidated by everyone else. As a result of my flatmate, A., being gay, I have met a lot of the gay community here in Belgrade, thus I have this insight. The hate that this community feels is the product of the mainstream ideology not being entirely sure of its own identity, seeing in the "alternative" lifestyle a challenger. For what ever reason (I blame religious indoctrination, and recommend Caliban and the Witch to anyone who disagrees) this paradigm exists, it is symbolic of an ideological struggle and, more significantly in my opinion, a shifting society. With Serbia becoming a more open place welcoming in a growing number of tourists, western rapprochement, and with a growing gay community, the ideology is necessarily changing also. Even though ideology has never been a stable thing, the majority always try and make it so, in an attempt to stay on top, and react with violence when it is challenged, clinging to symbols of their ideology (i.e. the Orthodox Church).

Don't believe me? Go down to the Church next to the small Roma pre-school for the Gazela kids, and ask the Clergy why they are building a wall on top of the wall. Surly they won't tell you it's because they can't stand the thought of Roma being given a chance. Or you could ask a Serbian man if his Pederuca doesn't make him feel...a bit gay. 

News...

...from what seems, at times, like a distant star.

http://www.wgme.com/News/story_detail/story_detail_13.shtml?readmore

I am so please to see this coverage of the PUSL. The league really deserves this coverage. I hope this will generate some more interest for next season, as well as more revenue.

Captain Tsubasa. I reconnected with this series, thanks to youtube. It's a Japanese Anime series from the 1980s, which appeared both in Manga comics and as TV shows from the 1980s through today. As a kid in France I discovered the show by chance, and through it improved my French, where it was called Oliver et Tom.

The opening lines of the first episode caught my attention as I re-watched it for the first time recently. Tsubasa is in the process of moving to a new town in order to develop his football skills an become a professional. He is looking at a picture of the Italian national team celebrating their victory in the 1982 World Cup in Spain. Over the radio we here a voice announcing the Italian victory, and then speculating when Japan will be there, the best football nation in the world. The radio voice concludes that it should happen soon.

This scene is clearly setting Tsubasa up to be the hope for Japan, but more interestingly, it is also instilling a sense of National honor in viewers of the show (mostly young boys, I assume). This suggests that Football was one way for Japan to (re)claim national standing (which had been a touchy subject since WWII), and even that there was an imperative to do so. As such, football can be one way to promote national glory, to inspire the young to be proud of Japan, and maintain a healthy youth population.

There are also other indicators of cultural ideology present in the show, such as the housewife mother of Tsubasa, who only seems to exist in order to provide a home in which Tsubasa can become the hope of Japanese football. She spends her days cleaning, worrying, and providing, but never working.

Moving along

It's been a strange week, plagued by the illness of two colleagues, and the deaths of the mothers of two people I know. But the week ended with two days of traveling, first to Novi Sad and then to Alibunar for work related reasons. But the schedule was not to heavy, and thus, on our way home from Novi Sad, we stopped by a small winery and ended up spending two hours there, getting a tour of the facilities, going through the Bee museum (as the winery also maintains honey producing bees), and sitting with the owner, sampling the wine and listening to his philosophy on life. It boils down to something like Daoism: no experience is unhealthy, but must be embraced with moderation. It's like wine and honey, according to the owner, as there are only healthy ingredients in these two products, but consumed in excess, they can be dangerous.

I picked up a liter of honey and three bottles of red wine for less than 20 Euro. Plus I got a nice experience out of it.

On Friday I also went to the Tito mausoleum, which is just around the corner from work. The building is really nice, typical grandious Socialist construction, and the contents were pure mythology. The first exibit is a museum of all the gifts given to Tito by foreign dignitaries, leaders, and by Liz Taylor and Rich Burton (go figure). It seems Liz, Rich, the Marshall and Mrs. Broz were regular chums, with the only picture of Tito in casual attire being the one with these two thespians. It is also worth noting that all the gifts are made of silver, and include bracelets given by the Right Honorable Mr. Eden, tea sets from South Korea, and plates from Mexico.

Then you go out into the gardens, which are extensive, and walk up to a second museum filled with traditional gifts from various parts of Yugoslavia (clothing, weapons, furniture), symbolic of the unity of the State, and confirming Tito as the creator of that unity. The rumor is that a lot of the artifacts were plundered in the early 1990s by the Military under Slobodan M. After passing through this part, you continue through the garden and up to the actual burial site. The tomb is inside a building, with a few extra rooms filled with Tito's favorite stuff, including a Chinese dinning room set up, and the symbolic 'torches' carried by the Yugoslavs in public demonstrations of support for the dictator.  All in all, it was well worth the visit (not least because it was also free), even if it was bit heavy on mythology and glorification.

It does go some measure in explaining why this man still has a fairly well respected name across all of the former Federal Republic. People often talk about how Serbia, in the 1970s and 1980s was comparable, in terms of technology and living standards, to the west. It was thus in a great position to embark on its own journey (as a separate identity), yet those who took charge after Joseph Broz Tito, particularly the thugs in the 1990s, plundered the state, and set it back 10-15 years. This is best reflected in the countryside, where the infrastructure and farm technology reminds me of a German farming community from the 1980s, rather than the modernized ones of today.

The Chess Game

Das schach Spiel im Kaukasus enhüllt sich langsam. Deutschland macht das erste Schritt und unterstutzt Geogiens NATO-Mitgliedschaft.

 http://www.sueddeutsche.de/politik/602/306561/text/

Odds and Ends

Amalgamated thoughts and experiences:

Went to the 'Marine House' again on Thursday. Every Thursday the US Marines open their doors to guests to use the pool and the Volley Ball court. Its a strange experience for me, because it feels like stepping into an American party; loud electric and hip hip music are played, the women, all of them Serbian and artificial, are under dressed and looking to hook up with beef cake US soldiers. Then there are the Marines themselves: loud, aggressive, stacked, and living in the moment. Some of them are ok, some of them are not.

I had the (dis)pleasure of conversing with Dan, who had asked me to explain my job in small simple words because, as he put it, he only understands words he can spell. He then proceeded to suggest that "everyone in Serbia was really angry, but at least we weren't in Africa, because Africans were even worse than Serbs." Thanks Dan, and have a nice life. We will not be friends, as you are not interested in any of the counter arguments I attempted to offer.

I'm not sure if I have ever met such a blatant racist in my life before. It was a bit shocking to be honest. I thought, as I watched him consuming more and more alcohol, and become more aggressive, of the totalitarian character in the Republic. Old Joe from the Bronx had emailed me recently and told me to tick off the descending order of Plato's characters as I encountered them. Well, I have one down. I wonder how Dan feels today? Maybe he isn't showing it, but inside I bet he is torn to pieces. At least, if Plato was right, then that is how he feels.

~~

There was another protest the other day, this time it was on my street, right in front of the Foreign Ministry. The protesters managed to shut down Kneza Milosa and Nemanjina. We hadn't heard anything at work about this, so I was surprised when I saw my street shut off. At first it made me nervous because I could see a lot of Serbian flags waiving, and I thought it might be the SRS again. Instead it was a group of Serbian veterans from the Kosovo War in 1999 demanding back pay. Apparently these old boys haven't been paid yet! 8 years on, I might be a bit upset myself.

It made me think how refreshing it was to see people take to the street so often. Despite the fact that I disagreed with all of the causes of the various protests thus far, I like seeing people stand up for what they think is right. This is, of course, a dangerous thing and it invites the violence seen at the Karadzic protests. It also opens the door to a manipulation of the public by strong charismatic people (as Freud suggested). Yet, if all sides are reasonable, it places these issues into the public discourse in a way that it cannot just be ignored. I think America needs a little more social action. To often are big topics just glossed over because people don't take to the street, or if they do, then they do so in small groups, and thus they are marginalized and even ridiculed by the media.

~~

Off to Ada tonight to give S a farewell bash. He is a fell intern and heading back to the US on Sunday. Sadly though, my planned trip to Bosnia fell through as I am serious low on funds. But life is cheap here, and people generous, thus I will not starve.

The temperature hit 38C/97F today, and my God was that hot. Even just heading down the street to get lunch was brutal, not to mention the bus ride home after work. Sweat was running down my back the whole way. The weekend should be better, and tonight will be spent by the water, so it should be cooler.

The speculation continues...

I have been thinking about this since Skyping with a mentor earlier today.

Really, what could have possessed Saakashvili to think he even had a snowballs chance in hell to re-taking S. Ossetia? I mean, the Georgian military was vastly outnumbered and there was no way that Russia would not respond to a sudden military incursion into a de facto Russian province. So, I see two possibilities, and I am currently leaning towards the second.

1) Saakashvili was going for broke, thinking he would override forces (separatists and Russian peacekeepers) in S. Ossetia. His swollen military budget (and ego) and friendship with the West gave him a false sense of power. He thought he could get the Russian border ahead of Russian re-enforcements and consolidate. Maybe he also underestimated Russian resolve to control the province. Finally, he may also have counted on a strong NATO/US/EU response to Russian retaliation, forcing the Russian forces back.

or...

2) Saakashvili made this move to enhance his own power, and consolidate his position within the Western hierarchy. I came to this thought because what the end effect of his actions are, at this point, is an exposure of the West's inability to exert any control over Russia in this region. It is plain for everyone to see that Russia can regain its old Soviet sphere of influence if it felt the need. The speed at which Russian forces over ran the Georgians was rather shocking, particularly to the EU, which has some painful historical memories to a similar effect.

Ok, so what? how does this consolidate Saakashvili? Well, first off, it will play well to Georgians outside of S. Ossetia, because their leader fearlessly stood up and tried to reclaim what would be theirs. Second, it will likely re-invigorate the debate over admission to NATO. If Russia is able to so easily crush Georgia, it is clear that this territory is really their sphere of influence, and not the West's. Admitting Georgia into NATO would allow the West to beef up the forces there, and remove the State from under Russia's thumb.

So, was war the folly of one power hungry leader, or a shrewd Machiavellian move? Who knows... I'll never know all the details to really say. Plus, how would Russia react to Georgian NATO membership? Not well. The reaction would probably also manifest, in part, with a sudden drying up of energy flow into the EU.

a few more thoughts...

While Putin and Bush stood side-by-side at the Olympic opening ceremony offering the world beaming smiles and happy handshakes, Russia was beginning a crushing assault on Georgian forces in S. Ossetia. To be sure, both sides (Georgia and Russia) share the responsibility of subjecting these citizens to devastation.

Yet as Russian and Georgia faced off on a different pitch, the two sides came together afterwards to show that its really just a game, and they are just people. Salukvadze (of Georgia) came in third place in the Olympic Shooting event, second place went to Paderina (of Russia), and despite the war between their respective nations, the women were somehow able to stand together and exchange embraces.

What does this mean? Maybe that war is entirely fictional and created by a few individuals who have to much power. If war were natural, then these two athletes should have turned their rifles at each other and fired. At the very least they should not have been able to stand side by side.

~~

On another note, I have re-read some of my recent posts, and feel like I have been painting a slightly negative picture of Serbia. This is not my intention. I am having a fantastic time here, and have felt very welcome everywhere I have been. Certainly I have not been subject to any discriminations, beyond what one expects in any big, busy city on this planet.

D Time

Sunday is a great day in Belgrade, as the streets are quiet, traffic is low, and everyone is taking it easy, including me. So time to put on a little jazz and catch up on some writing. The following is impressions I wrote after my first few days at work.

~18/6/2008~

The Lady with the Che Mug

Two days of work are behind me now, and I have yet to figure out exactly what it is I am meant to be doing on a daily basis. More over, I only just got access to my computer (email and Internet also) and still am waiting on my security debriefing, at which point I also get my security pass. Well, ok, these are irrelevant details and I must say that on the whole, it has been a dobro experience, both Belgrade and work. I have also had a positive reception from all the people at work. That is, except for the IT department, but I blame my boss for that, as moments before they came to set me up, she fried my computer! Luckily the problem was quickly solved and we all got on our way.

So far, the only down side I can see is the fairly lengthy bureaucracy for any and all procedures. It really get in the way of work! I watched two of my colleagues spend tri hours just to fill out a funding request for a small project. At one point, one of them commented that you needed to fill all this stuff out even you are only asking for more pens... Then again, this is all tax payer money we are spending. So the level of transparency should be fairly high, and these bureaucratic methods do ensure that to some degree. Still, it does have a knack for killing creativity and spontaneity.

What intrigued me the most on my first day was being greeted by the department head as she sipped kafa from a Che Guevara mug. This evoked two responses from me:

1) I felt a fool for having left my Che shirt in Maine. I had done so because I was nervous about working for a major western political organization by day, and supporting repressive socialist ideologues by night.

2) I wondered if the department head used this as a conversation piece. It gave her a certain distance from the American regime (a desirable thing in this political climate.) and was thus a hit with the Serbian ministers.

Who knows? In any case the irony was not lost on me: here was a woman heading the department most intimately involved in re-education of the Serbian political and social community to adopt a more western ideology, and she was walking around the office accompanied by one of the most ardent critics of that very ideology.

Maybe she had a more sinister agenda here: maybe this was her form of victory dance. Western liberalism had won out over socialism and now she was drinking for the head of the vanquished. Is this her nod to tribal rituals of past eras? One day, I'll have to ask her.

Russia, oh Russia

Once again, there is war afoot. Once again it is in a region all to familiar with this brutal, life altering event. It looks almost inevitable that Russia and Georgia will be at War, if they are not already. What will this mean for the West? for the US? Will NATO be drawn in? Surly this is the front line with Russia, and both the US and NATO have strategic reasons for 'coming to the rescue'. All this can yield is further escalation between the Russians and the West, and history is all to familiar with that dynamic...

As I have just watched Zeitgeist, it seems so convenient (from the point of view of the Military Industrial Complex) that war and conflict is getting a healthy little booster, as if Iraq and the "War" on terror wasn't enough. Really, lets try something new for a change. I think 6,000 years of conflict is enough.

But what really has me mad, is the fact that S. Ossetia is right next door to Chechnya. Remember? That province in Russia that also wants to be free, but has been ruthlessly crushed over and over again. Sorry, why do they not have the rights that S. Ossetia has? And why does Kosovo not have this right either? Well, the reasons are economic and political in my mind. Obviously Russia wants to weaken Georgia, a country trying desperately to be part of NATO and the West, and Russia would like to strengthen Serbia, which (until recently) was fairly anti-West.

Lets not just pick on Russia here though, for the West is guilty of the same hypocrisy, only in reverse. The only reason they want to support Georgia, Chechnya and Kosovo is because it strengthens their position in this region. Why will the West raise military power against Russia here (in the name of freedom, self determination, etc.) but not on behalf of the most peaceful people in the World: the Tibetans? Basically, because we need China and can't really confront it, nor is there a huge strategic gain in liberating Tibet right now. But, to use Cold War terms, Containment is totally relevant in relations with Russia.

Once again, it all comes down to a war, a slaughter, over an invisible line in the dirt. We are witnessing exactly what powerful things national borders are. Yet, they only exist in our minds, and still they create such amazing devastation.

Democracy and the Serb

My body is still adjusting to this new life: 65% humidity, 28-35 degrees C, smog, creative driving solutions, strong coffee and cigarets, Yugos, weak beer and heavy food, bureaucracy, 45 hrs+ work week, Serbian language, diplomacy, and deeply rooted fear of the outsider.

What do I mean by fear of the outsider? While I think that Serbia is moving towards Europe (see below entries), there are plenty here who would disagree. The picture to the left is the name of a hooligan firm in BG, associated with Partizan Football Klub. Their name, Anti-Romi (anti Roma people) suggests their politics is Serbia for Serbs. This part of society is not interested in having anyone from the outside (Roma, Croatians, Bosnians, Muslims, Albanians, and Westeners fall into that category) tell them how to live, which laws to adapt and which of their heros to arrest.

Well, this is nothing new, any country that has been occupied and re-occupied for huge swaths of its existence would feel the same. But for Serbia (and possibly for the rest of the Balkans), the other factor contributing to its split personality is fear of change. This is a fascinating time to be here for that very reason. The country, thanks to the forcefulness of its political system, is currently inching towards EU integration, towards Westernism, towards Ipods, Nescafe and BMWs.  It is moving away from socialism, Kafa Domacha and Yugos. Cost of living in places like BG is already very high for such a low income country, tourists are coming with higher frequency, and Kosovo is slowly slipping away.

What isn't changing is the fact that change is being produced by totalitarian means. What's new right? Well, it's an interesting picture here though. I get the sense that if the country were to hold a popular referendum on whether to join the EU, the vote would be split 50-50, or the 'no' vote would just barely win out. In the the face of this indecision, the government is able to maneuver fairly easily. The voting population is uninformed and confused: 8 years ago NATO was destroying buildings in BG, today they are being labeled as friends. 20 years ago Serbs were once again standing up for their own unique identity, but today they are being told to exchange it for a European one (which comes standard with an ipod...).

The government is also fortunate to have a fairly significant concentration of power at its command (despite my current efforts at decentralization) and a disregard for transparency. As a result, legislation, when necessary, passes quietly and without public scrutiny (not unlike the UK in many regards). The saving grace at the moment is, ironically, the radical opposition in Parliament. Only they have the power to stop the current government from doing what ever it wants. This opposition has been able to shut parliament down for all of the last 4 weeks, and it will remain so until early September.

Anyway, whatever the mechanism, Serbians are recognizing they lack control in there own affairs. They (or at least part of 'they') are directing that fear at the most obvious target (Europe, the West, etc) without realizing they have never really controlled their fate (who has?). The result is polarization and anxiety, taken out on foreigners. The most obvious foreigners are the Roma.

I went to a Roma school the other day and celebrated the last day of class with young Roma kids, who wanted to do what all young kids want to do on the last day of class: sing, dance and have fun. But the Church, which occupies the neighboring lot, is so xenophobic towards this Roma school (god forbid they get an education...) that it is building an extension of the already existing wall, so they never have to look upon these kids. Its amazing, and perfectly illustrates how Serbian society is reacting to change. On the one hand you have the Serbs who work with me to help such marginalized groups find a voice, while other Serbs to to great lengths to pretend these margins don't exist.