A bibliophile's paradise

This morning, I set out to discover the legendary Brussels second hand bookshop, Pele Mele and, boy, did I discover it. 'Cavernous' doesn't do it justice. High shelves stacked with books of every genre, edition and format with a vast selection in English. Serious fellow bibliophiles with baskets full of classic and contemporary literature.

In my own basket was:

• Aminata Forna, Memory of Love
• Andrea Levy, Small Island
• Zadie Smith, On Beauty
• Aravind Adiga, The White Tiger
• Hisham Matar, In The Country of Men
• Karen Blixen, Out of Africa
• Greg Mortenson, Three Cups of Tea

...all for the paltry sum of just €13! And hardly a cracked spine in sight! I fear a love affair is just beginning...

The beautiful Boston Athenæum

A tale of two lefts

During last night's audience with Nichi Vendola, a completely un-scripted, two-way engagement between the politician and his supporters, I couldn't help feeling dismayed at the contrast between the Italian left and the British left. Yes, the left in Italy has been dismal over the past twenty years, barely able to rise above the chronic in-fighting and ideological divide between the various factions. However, at a time of real crisis, they've seen their opportunity and are doing everything to seize it. Who would have predicted, just six months ago, that Silvio Berlusconi would lose his stranglehold on Milan or suffer a humiliating defeat in three successive referenda? Not many.

By contrast, the British left, supposedly bouyed by the election of a new, young leader less than a year ago, is in uncontrolable freefall. I felt embarassed when asked about the situation in Britain in relation to the left by Italians excited at the prospect of change in their own country. As someone politically non-aligned, I believe that a strong oposition only benefits the democratic system, regardless of which side of the political spectrum that opposition is on. And bearing in mind that the LibCon coalition does represent a change from thirteen years of Labour government, it could be argued that we in Britain have had our evolution, if not revolution, and, for once, are freakishly in line with our European cousins in our swing to the right.

But my nagging feeling of disillusionment was only compounded when I returned home to read on the Twittersphere about Ed Miliband's bizarre performance in a television interview. The video of the interview has since become an internet sensation and added fuel to the fire of those calling for Ed's head. If Ed had nine lives before the infamous interview, now he must surely have at least six fewer.

Yesterday's Guardian boldly predicted that France will turn to the left at next year's elections. That seems  outlandish even by French standards. Assuming the esteemed leader writers at the Guardian are right, though, and given the turn of events in Germany and Italy, in this respect, at least, Britain is lagging behind the rest of Europe. And if things don't change soon, it could take another generation, another Blair, to reignite the spark that the British left has all but lost.

The man who would be PM

The Italian Obama? Nichi Vendola

Last night, in a trendy bar in Brussels’ beautiful Parc Cinquantenaire, three hundred young, professional, Italians crowded into a room, each vying for space. Elbows were sharpened. The atmosphere was electric. You'd think it was an intimate gig by a big rock band. There was a buzz and an energy. There was passion and determination. There was beer and there were burgers but neither was of any interest to this crowd, who’d hurried to the venue after work to secure themselves a prime spot. They were all here to see the man who would be the next prime minister of Italy and they hung on to his every word.

Nichi Vendola has been dubbed ‘the Italian Obama’. His following has been called cult-like and his politics ‘all things to all people’. But for these people here, many of whom left Italy because they saw no future for themselves in their native, he is the best hope they have for a revival of their homeland. A former communist, openly gay and devoutly Catholic, he may seem an extreme choice but, after two decades of Berlusconi, it’s Vendola’s extreme difference that makes him such an attractive proposition to many.

Three topics dominated the agenda: ‘precarious’ jobs, the stability pact and the bankruptcy of the European left. Vendola didn’t have all the answers but he was honest enough to admit it and humble enough to invite free thinking on the issues.

Young Italians, like young Spaniards, young Egyptians and young Tunisians are desperate for change. Who knows? Come 2013 they may finally get it. Fingers crossed.

The good, the exceptional and the downright disastrous: Couleur Cafe

Kooky and credible: the super-talented Janelle Monae

I take it all back. The indifference, the ambivalence, the dismissiveness. All hail Janelle Monae! This girl rocks! Not only does she rock, she does it gracefully, too: artistically, creatively, theatrically, dramatically. Having seen her bring the house down at this year's Couleur Cafe opening night, I'm now a believer, converted by an engaging, consummate performer delivering a stellar show, including her whole band. An hour long set that was a monochrome riot of energy and talent that was matchless on this particular night. I can't wait to see her again in a better setting i.e. where the sound mixers actually work.

Seun Kuti and Egypt 80: taking over from where Fela left off

Seun Kuti played on the same stage as Janelle Monae and gave a good performance. But something was missing. Can't  put my finger on it.  Nothing wrong with it but it didn't compare to his performance at Cargo some years ago, which came on the back of the release of his debut album, the politically potent Many Things. For one thing, he didn't make good use of the stage. You could barely see his dancers, who were hidden away at the back. But that wasn't it. Perhaps it was the lack of connection with the audience or jet-lag, who knows? The highlight of the set, though, was a rendition of a song called Rise, taken from his latest offering, the wonderfully-titled From Africa With Fury. Definitely one to download.

Purveyors of true hip-hop: I Am

The other day I told my multilingual colleague how lucky he was to be able to enjoy music from around the world whereas us monolingual English speakers are confined by laziness to consuming the commercialism that the industry inflicts upon us. What prompted this comment was the Couleur Cafe line-up. I knew a few of the artists but not nearly as many as the non-British seemed to know. And everybody else was raving about seeing one group in particular. Now I know why. I'd never heard of I Am until a few days before the festival and now I'll be joining the masses in singing their praises. I Am delivered a tight hip-hop set that combined a tight, lyrical flow over heavy street beats with consummate professionalism. These guys are veterans and ground breakers on the French rap scene and, though they've been around since the 1990's they haven't lost any of their fire. Unlike these two...

Legends dishing out old rope: Method Man and Redman

Method Man and Redman were supposed to be the highlight of our night. The 10.30pm billing was testament to that. But I'll leave it to my equally bemused friend to sum up their 'performance': 'This is like a parody of a hip-hop show. I've invested my life in this music and they're pissing on my memories.'

Nuff said!

Antwerpen Centraal Station: A magnificent destination

This is hilarious!

Lisboa (June 2011)

Lisboa (June 2011), a set on Flickr.

One Strong Belief

I believe that where there is no way, make your own. Too often, we are discouraged by what we perceive as lack of opportunity but opportunity exists wherever you create it. Sometimes the psychological barriers to success are as insurmountable, if not more so, than the physical ones. I believe what inspires me most in my thinking on this particular subject is the experience and example of my own parents. They arrived in the UK with not much to their name, but more than some, and built for themselves a life that benefitted not only themselves but their family and the community. They had aspirations that were modest but worked and pursued them as if they were big. And, in fact, for the time, for people of their background being first generation immigrants, they were pioneers in their own little way.

The will to succeed for myself and the world is inherent in me. It comes from always being conscious of my heritage. It comes from knowing that there were those before me who died for the opportunities that we waste today, failing even to recognise them as such because we have too much as a result of having done little. Thanks to our ancestors, whether they perished crossing the Middle Passage or in the trenches of the Somme or on the cotton fields of America, we live better than ever before. It’s time we recognise that and take up the revolutionary mantle.

Opportunity is where you take it or make it. This is my belief. So when one door closes, which it inevitably will, carve out a nook and keep on chipping away until there’s nothing left standing between you and the other side.  

Today

Today is better than yesterday but not as good as tomorrow.

Fifteen minutes to live

How do you condense two times 15 plus four years into 15 minutes? The word ‘sorry’ springs to mind. Sorry that I won’t be able to enjoy another beautiful day on this beautiful earth with all its horrors and tragedies. Sorry that I won’t get another chance to walk in the sun and be warmed and comforted by its rays. Sorry that I won’t get to journey to faraway lands to meet faraway people whose lives are so very different yet similar to my own for, at the end of the day, we’re all human after all, some for longer than others for when my fifteen minutes are up, I cease to be. That doesn’t void my previous existence though, and, in fact, I’m comforted by the thought that my passing makes way for someone else to come into existence. I just hope that I can leave the world a better place than when I entered it, for my nephews and their relatives to be. 

Life has been a wonderful challenge. A constant battle and a constant pleasure. For, as the saying goes, how can you appreciate pleasure without first having experienced the bitterness of pain? That makes the good things all the more sweeter. And there were plenty of good things to accompany the plenty of bad. In fact, the good far outweighed the bad. 

Thank you for the music. This isn’t a reference to Abba but a heartfelt appreciation that, while alive, I inhabited a fully-functioning body whose five senses were in perfect working order allowing me to experience the world in all its fullness. And music for me is the pinnacle of pleasure. Thank God for music. Thank God for family, my nuclear one at least. Mum, dad, brother, nephews, boyfriend. Not to mention the uncles who stepped into the breach when my dad was prematurely taken from us. He is irreplaceable but they were stellar substitutes and for that I’m grateful. 

My mum. Not even fifteen lifetimes would be enough to sum up my debt to her let alone fifteen minutes. So all I shall say is… 

And to all those I offended, I apologise. Not least to myself, for I spent a lot of time admonishing rather than forgiving myself and moving on. And as I move over to the other side I can honestly say that I’ve enjoyed every minute of my last fifteen and every year of the 34 that preceded it. To those who remain, have a blessed life.

RIP Gil Scott-Heron

Model on a Mission: Noella Coursaris

Noella Coursaris

Noella Coursaris’ face may be her fortune but her charity work is worth more than its weight in gold. In 2007, the model established the Georges Malaika Foundation (GMF), named after her late father, to provide educational opportunities for young girls in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). 

By Sylvia Arthur, from The Courier

Read more...

Word from the Portuguese street

From www.beinternacional.eu

From www.beinternacional.eu

10 ways to counter populism

Monica Frassoni addresses delegates at the European Green Party Council staging an anti-nuclear action in Budapest, Hungary on Saturday, 2 April 2011

Here are 10 ways to counter populism from my talk to the European Green Party Council in Budapest on 2 April, 2011:

1.   Use populism to counter populism

But not by appealing to the lowest common denominator. Think fair populism. Counter hyperbole with facts. Condense the message. Keep it simple. Don’t intellectualise the debate. Keep the same message but tell it in a way that people can identify with. Tell stories. Develop narratives that speak to the concerns of ordinary people. Humanise concepts.  Change the vocabulary. Don’t be afraid to engage in the debate.

2.   Avoid preaching to the converted

Don’t preach, it turns people off and don’t speak to the converted (but don’t neglect them either).Broaden your base by reaching out to people you wouldn't consider your natural constituency. Don't be afraid to engage them.

3.   Convince people of why they should vote Green

Every political party is Green now so why should voters opt for the Greens? Develop a portfolio of policies that address the concerns of ordinary people. Sell the social dimension while plugging the planet.

4.   A campaign is for life, not just for an election

People feel used and abandoned when politicians only engage them during election campaign periods. Continue interacting with voters throughout the year so that they know who you are, are clear what you stand for and what your values are and don’t just think that you’re only out to get their vote, even if you are. They have to believe that you care about them enough and not just at election time.

5.   Populism is proof that people matter not the planet

This may be the hardest thing for a Green to accept but it’s a fact - the majority of people care more about themselves and their families before they think about the planet. Greens have a tendency to think that because they’re arguing from a fundamentally moral standpoint that everyone should agree with them. But not everyone’s morality is the same. Listen to people’s concerns and address them in ways that are practical and plausible.

6.   Cultivate your own media

The internet is hugely important but it’s not a panacea. Not just using the web and internet but at a local level producing newsletters, holding events etc. Use examples from outside of groups that have managed to bypass the media but still get media attention e.g. UK Uncut.

7.   Never waste a good tragedy

Rahm Emmanuel, the former chief of staff of the White House, now mayor of Chicago, famously said “Never waste a good tragedy” and as populist as it is, it’s very true. Fukushima, freak floods, unexplained wildlife deaths, toxic sludge – green politics has never been more relevant and all these are opportunities to explain why Green politics matters. Appeal to self-interest. Even if people don’t care about what happens in Japan they do care about the fact that the same fate could befall them. This may be selfish but it’s human.

8.   Don’t just talk about it, be about it

Recruit a diverse and active membership. If you’re trying to convince people that not all Roma are scroungers, workshy and benefits claimants then include professional Roma in your membership and leadership. Show people that they’re wrong.

9.   Celebrity sells

Recruit as many high-profile advocates of the cause to your campaigns as possible.

10.  Offer solutions not just problems

As the saying goes, sell heaven not hell.

Why effective communications is a political no-brainer

Missing in inaction: Labour leader Ed Miliband

Spot on article by Johann Hari in today's Independent about where Ed Miliband's communications is going wrong:

The Labour leader isn't visible enough, his message is too often unclear – and it's not connecting with voters. If he made just three key changes, the Miliband brand could become a real winner

Read more from The Plan to Save Ed at The Independent.

Libyans demonstrate in Brussels - what will it take to stop the butchery?

Link to a report from the European Council on Foreign Relations on what Europe needs to do on Libya here.

London: UK Uncut stage bail in at Barclays Bank

Protesters targeted more than 35 branches of Barclays bank, with pickets, poetry readings and even colouring competitions, in another of a series of days of direct action organised by the UK Uncut group. They were highlighting Barclays' admission that it paid just £113m in UK corporation tax in 2009 – a year when it rang up a record £11.6bn in profits. At Tottenham Court Road (above), one of eight branches of Barclays in London to be targeted, some 40 to 50 people heard comedian Josie Lawrence pledge her support, before a group of people held a two-hour sit-in in the bank.

 

Copyright: Mary Carson

Italians protest for women - and against Berlusconi - in Brussels