I've just come back from a performance of Journal d'une femme du Kosovo (Diary of a Kosovan Woman), a production by Konitza, a Brussels-based Albanian organisation named after the writer, Faik Konitza promoting Albanian arts and culture. The play was at a tiny community theatre in Evere, a suburb of Brussels, and there's just one word that comes to mind when describing the production: powerful.
Based on the diary of Sevdije Ahmeti, Journal tells the story of women during the Kosovo war of the 1990s. A simple set with a screen backdrop projecting images of suffering caused by conflict around the world was the pefect stage for a captivating performance by actress, Anila Dervishi and musician, Afzim Jahja who, together had the audience gripped with their compelling, stripped down performances.
Journal needs to be seen by more people. It's a timely reminder of the atrocities that have been committed in recent history and is deserving of wider notice and acclaim for all the right reasons in a time of so much wrong.
Students march in protest in Glasgow, Scotland Photograph: David Moir/Reuters
From The Guardian's live blog:
• Thousands of university students in tuition fees protest • Schoolchildren around the country join day of action • Violent scenes in London as police 'kettle' protesters • Disorder as students disperse from protest • Follow live updates here
Glad to see that people in the UK have finally woken up and caught up with rest of Europe... And in Portugal a national strike against budget cuts brought the country to a standstill. More here.
In 1956, Austrian-born Magnum photographer, Erich Lessing used his camera to capture the unfolding events of the Hungarian revolution in the streets of Budapest, unintentionally producing an important historical document. The BELvue Museum is showing a collection of the photographer's images along with more contemporary photographs from subsequent generations of East-European and Balkan artists who registered their own personal, often more nihilistic, view of the world. The (im)potence of the image depicts the new Europe from the post-war period but also that, in process of enlargement, of the men and women that were born there at that time and are still living and working in the region.
Background Budapest 1956. The 1956 Hungarian Revolution, was an anti-Soviet revolt in Hungary lasting from 23 October to 4 November 1956. The revolt was suppressed by Soviet troops, and to a much smaller degree the Hungarian ÁVH ('State Protection Authority'). Anywhere from 25,000 to 50,000 Hungarian rebels and 7,000 Soviet troops were killed, thousands more were wounded, and nearly a quarter of a million left the country as refugees.The beginning of the deStalinisation period in Hungary favoured the development of an opposition movement, particularly among students and intellectuals. Imre NAGY who was called in as Prime Minister had obtained the demand of Soviet troops being withdrawn. He became submerged by the spread of the insurrectional movement in Budapest and the provinces. Abolishing the 'unique' party system on the 13 October 1956 he demanded Hungary's withdrawal of the Warsaw Pact and neutrality. Armed insurrection started in the streets on 24 October until the Soviet troops occupied Budapest, on 1 November 1956, and crushed the movement.
Been to the wonderful Magritte Museum twice now and this remains the standout piece, a brilliantly luminous play on night and day, dark and light that has yet to cease to amaze me.
"Everything that we see hides another thing, we always want to see what is hidden by what we see, but it is impossible. Humans hide their secrets too well..."
In June Christopher Hitchens, the hard-drinking polemicist and atheist, met his toughest opponent yet when he was diagnosed with cancer. The question on many lips was: would his illness alter his beliefs – on Iraq, on Islam, on God? At home in Washington, with a large glass of Johnnie Walker to hand, he responds with characteristic combativeness
The verdict on Stephen Fry's The Fry Chronicleswas a respectable 7 out of 10.
The general consensus was that while the memoirs were an enjoyable read, even with the verbose language, they were somewhat lacking in substance. Fry's chronicles were in need of being placed in more of a social and historical context. As it is, from reading the book, it appears as though his life was lived in a vacuum in which the major events of the Eighties didn't really affect him, glossed over as they were. Perhaps they didn't and he does say that he has no real interest in politics and this is evident in the book.
That said, the non-Brits in the group said the memoirs gave them a good insight into the British class system and that Fry's self-awareness and various insecurities/neuroses made them look at the privileged in a less judgemental way, finding sympathy where previously there was none.
Everyone was in agreement that the ending left the reader wanting more, the cliffhanger a teasing appetiser for the next instalment of Fry's life story which, hopefully, we won't have to wait another thirteen years for.
Overall, an entertaining read from the all-round entertainer. Next up, Norwegian novelist Per Petterson's Out Stealing Horses.
Thank you to the fantastic staff at Le Cercles des Voyageurs for welcoming and accommodating us in the wonderfully atmospheric bibliotheque.
Cafe Rits continued its stimulating Philosophers on Screen series with a screening of A Revolt That Never Ends, a documentary by German filmmaker, Christian Beetz about the influential Italian philosopher and academic Antonio Negri.
The film profiles the controversial life and times of the university professor, philosopher, militant, prisoner, refugee, and 'enemy of the state.' It traces Negri's roots in the history of radical left-wing movements in Italy during the Sixties and Seventies, illustrated through archival footage of workers' strikes, factory occupations, terrorist actions, violent street confrontations, political repression, and government trials of dissidents.
The striking thing about this film, shot five years ago, is the parallel between today's economic crisis, and its fallout, with what happened in Italy (and Greece) more than three decades ago. It puts me in mind of Hegel's quote on history: "What experience and history teaches us is that people and governments have never learned anything from history, or acted on principles deduced from it” (Danke schön Alex!) and Marx's "History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce."
I may not agree with some of Negri's ideology but where this film succeeds is in getting the viewer to think about the issues and put today's circumstances in a broader, historical context.
I spent a wonderful evening in the company of Pulitzer prize-winning novelist Michael Cunningham, me and about ninety others, at Passaporta in Rue Antoine Dansaert. Cunningham read from his latest work, By Nightfall and engaged in an enlightening and honest discussion with Belgian TV and radio presenter, Chantal Pattyn, who made an excellent interlocutor.
Cunningham spoke about the practice of writing, literature, music, art and politics, highlighting the intersection between the various forms, and was engagingly refreshing. His reading and talk inspired me to buy By Nightfall, which he kindly signed for me, and I have since begun reading my first book of fiction in many, many years. So far, so good.
By Nightful is proving to be unputdownable. Economical with language but rich in tension, character and dialogue, it reminds me of why I've avoided fiction for so long, purely selfish reasons, of course. Reading good fiction highlights my own limitations as a writer and leaves me in awe of just how gifted certain writers are, a skill that you're born with, a natural talent that can't be taught. Because of this, fiction has often stifled me rather than inspired me.
Great storytellers, fiction and non-fiction, are needed now more than ever, in these uncertain times, to provide us with a source of much-needed escapism and/or to chronicle our unprecedented struggles - social, political and economic - in narrative form. I left Michael Cunningham's talk in admiration of his talent but encouraged to develop my own.
Another fantastic event from the team at Passaporta. The date of next year's festival is already in the diary!
Michael Cunningham is the author of the novels A Home at the End of the World, Flesh and Blood, The Hours (winner of the Pen/Faulkner Award & Pulitzer Prize), and Specimen Days. He lives in New York.
As-tu oublié Sarajevo ?
