Today marked my first and only attempt at environmental activism.
I heard about a march in Milano in honor of 350 Day, which is basically to get world leaders to talk about climate change in Copenhagen at the summit. (350 refers to the parts per million of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere that is considered liveable for Earth; we are at 385 right now.)
I showed up in Piazza de' Mercanti to find that there was another demonstration happening as well; some people were handing out flyers and denouncing Berlusconi in the name of freedom of speech and of the press. Can you believe that in a so-called democracy, such a thing occurs? Maybe it's just the Canadian in me whose sensibilities are offended. I know that people live differently the world over, but Italy is a developed, European nation with a democratic government in place; yes it's a rightist government, but its people should still be able to express their opinions of said government. No?
Anyway, I saw a mass of bicycles behind them, all with people atop them sporting cloth signs saying "NO" to various things related to oil and greenhouse gases, and they all seemed to know each other. Needless to say, the activist community in Italy is small but mighty. I went up to a girl handing out cloth banner thingies and asked if there were people walking.
Girl: No. We're all riding our bikes. But there's a march on foot at Parco Sempione in a n hour.
Me: Oh. Thanks.
So, it woul dhave been really nice if the website told me where to go for which event. I saw them off, then wandered around downtown for a while before going to the pool and then coming home to sign up for an internet chat room as a volunteer ESL teacher. It's based in Afghanistan, which is only a three-hour time difference from Italy, and I'll be chatting with Afghan women in various stages of education and emancipation and providing ESL support, international perspective, and maybe just a friendly presence on sort of a part-time basis.
It's something I've been meaning to do, and I'm comfortable putting my efforts towards this type of cause. I've never been the type to get in your face with a megaphone about any cause; I am also a terrible fundraiser. I just don't like to make my personal opinions the immediate problem of anyone else, as I don't like it happening to me, even if I happen to agree. When my help is asked for, it's a different story. When I feel my efforts actually make a tangible difference to someone else, also a different story.
Though I didn't actually participate in 350 day, I am still impressed by the website today. Many photos and videos from all over the world have been uploaded and it's heartwarming to see the variety of events, settings, nationalities and languages represented. It makes me want an elementary school class of my very own for one split second because that's the type of group that's really interested in this type of activism. The feeling passes quickly, though.
Tomorrow is an Eco-Sabbath... we also turn our clocks back tonight. Good bye, dinners in the waning light of day!
Bonjour, c'est moi.
- Danielle
- Your average Canadian soprano sallies forth into the big bad world of classical music in search of integrated, meaningful experiences as a performer and spectator. Currently in Baltimore, MD, pursuing a Masters degree in voice performance under the tutelage of Phyllis Bryn-Julson. Special interest in contemporary and experimental classical music, as well as interdisciplinary projects.
Showing posts with label berlusconi. Show all posts
Showing posts with label berlusconi. Show all posts
24 October 2009
21 October 2009
All Hail Newsweek
This article turned a few heads on the subway, as its headline was plastered across the cover of my international edition today. DUMP BERLUSCONI is pretty unequivocal even to your average non-English speaking Italian.
Il Cavaliere has just been hit with two really major court rulings, which in itself is a first. THis is, after all, the guy who rewrites laws to suit his own ends. He was ordered to pay damages as he is partially responsible for a corruption case invovled ina judge in the 90's. The second, and in my opinion more important, ruling is that the law that makes him immune from criminal prosecution as the prime minister (guess who wrote that one) has been declared unconstitutional, and rightfully so.
This author lays out the reasons for Berlusconi's early popularity (his policies in the 90's, when he first came into power, lined up really neatly with the general Italian sentiment following the "mani pulite" debaucle in which the political heavyweights were unseated on corruption charges -- he was anti-politics and against taxes), and why it just doens't work in the long run ("If he were the father of his country, he'd be feeding his children pure sugar"). He outlines Italy's current problems -- aging population, labour force dwindling (and would-be labourers from abroad are treated with hostility), economy struggling, education an embarrassment, and the prime minister is doing very little about anything except his own interests.
The truth of the matter is that there are and have been and will be terrible world leaders who behave badly or who run their countries in a questionable manner. Berlusconi is not only doing this but also driving Italy's dignity into the ground. Not too many world leaders want to sit at the table with the guy who cracks jokes about Obama's suntan, who pays for hookers for his distinguished guests, and puts his neighbour in Sardegna into Parliament to settle a personal dispute over the use of their shared land.
The problem? It's an English-language magazine. Berlusconi himself controls the TV that most Italians watch and he controls the major avenues of the press, as well. Journalists who write against them have lost their jobs. He files against those outlets not in his control regularly. We are the only ones hearing this kind of news, and we are not the people who need to hear it -- voting Italians do. But they have accepted him and the censureship that comes with him, or so it may seem.
Even so, liberal Italians have hope. The family I live with is very very leftist and they say often that the country will turn around when Berlusconi dies and another takes his place. But I personally don't think much will change.
The same issue ran an article on why Obama shouldn't have won the Nobel Peace Prize and why the Nobel Peace Prize is a big sham anyhow so it doesn't matter. It drops a few too many names but certainly outlines a strong opinion.
My school subscribes to Newsweek and though I think it's beyond most of the students' level, it's certainly nice for me to have some reading material that also keeps me up to date. Italian press is a bit skewed, due to the fact that Il Cavaliere owns it all, so sometimes I feel like I don't know what to believe. I can't imagine a world in which Berlusconi's news was my only news but that is the case for a good portion of Italians, and the scary thing is, they don't mind.
Il Cavaliere has just been hit with two really major court rulings, which in itself is a first. THis is, after all, the guy who rewrites laws to suit his own ends. He was ordered to pay damages as he is partially responsible for a corruption case invovled ina judge in the 90's. The second, and in my opinion more important, ruling is that the law that makes him immune from criminal prosecution as the prime minister (guess who wrote that one) has been declared unconstitutional, and rightfully so.
This author lays out the reasons for Berlusconi's early popularity (his policies in the 90's, when he first came into power, lined up really neatly with the general Italian sentiment following the "mani pulite" debaucle in which the political heavyweights were unseated on corruption charges -- he was anti-politics and against taxes), and why it just doens't work in the long run ("If he were the father of his country, he'd be feeding his children pure sugar"). He outlines Italy's current problems -- aging population, labour force dwindling (and would-be labourers from abroad are treated with hostility), economy struggling, education an embarrassment, and the prime minister is doing very little about anything except his own interests.
The truth of the matter is that there are and have been and will be terrible world leaders who behave badly or who run their countries in a questionable manner. Berlusconi is not only doing this but also driving Italy's dignity into the ground. Not too many world leaders want to sit at the table with the guy who cracks jokes about Obama's suntan, who pays for hookers for his distinguished guests, and puts his neighbour in Sardegna into Parliament to settle a personal dispute over the use of their shared land.
The problem? It's an English-language magazine. Berlusconi himself controls the TV that most Italians watch and he controls the major avenues of the press, as well. Journalists who write against them have lost their jobs. He files against those outlets not in his control regularly. We are the only ones hearing this kind of news, and we are not the people who need to hear it -- voting Italians do. But they have accepted him and the censureship that comes with him, or so it may seem.
Even so, liberal Italians have hope. The family I live with is very very leftist and they say often that the country will turn around when Berlusconi dies and another takes his place. But I personally don't think much will change.
The same issue ran an article on why Obama shouldn't have won the Nobel Peace Prize and why the Nobel Peace Prize is a big sham anyhow so it doesn't matter. It drops a few too many names but certainly outlines a strong opinion.
My school subscribes to Newsweek and though I think it's beyond most of the students' level, it's certainly nice for me to have some reading material that also keeps me up to date. Italian press is a bit skewed, due to the fact that Il Cavaliere owns it all, so sometimes I feel like I don't know what to believe. I can't imagine a world in which Berlusconi's news was my only news but that is the case for a good portion of Italians, and the scary thing is, they don't mind.
01 October 2009
Bologna, Berlusconi, Biblioteca
I was in Bologna on Tuesday for a voice lesson with Paola Molinari, which was absolutely ottimo. I met her at the audition for Mirella Freni's masterclass -- she is the long-time collaborator of La Freni and others like Ghiarov, real legends. These people are the real deal. I sang Susanna, Gilda, and Giulietta for her, and I was struck by the difference between the style she was asking for and the way we are encouraged to prepare these arias at home. I can remember one coaching I had on Giulietta with a highly respected coach in Canada, who encouraged me to take artistic liberty with the bel canto repertoire; not so with La Molinari. The bel canto style is still alive and well in Europe and there is a way to do it, to sound idiomatic. The same goes for Mozart; I have never felt so strongly that my recit sounded legitimate and natural. Sometimes you just have to hear it from the horse's mouth. Needless to say, I hope to coach with her again.
Bologna is really a beautiful city. It is seriously old. It is home to the world's oldest legitimate university (founded in the 11th century), was a hub of European activity during the Middle Ages, and in my opinion is especially notable for its liberal viewpoints in the Renaissance, during which time women were allowed to attend the University and flourish in their chosen professions.
This photo isn't mine, but I still haven't figured out how to get pictures off my phone. It's the Piazza Maggiore, which I only saw in the daytime, but really is that cool. I took a bus from La Molinari's pad to the public gardens, ate my lunch sitting on a huge outcropping of quartz-like rock overlooking the greenish pond and watched the turtles go by. I walked up through the university and back down through the town and ended up at the Piazza Maggiore before I tripped back up the central Via to the train station.
The town itself, though beautiful, failed to impress me in terms of navigability (word?). Nothing is signed and the streets are a huge circular grid-like maze. Overhead view here-- also not mine.
Compare this to Milan, where EVERY street is signed and it looks more like this.
Have I mentioned I love Milan? I have yet to do anything touristy, but I do plan on it, and soon I will write an entry that will tell you more about it.
Anyway as you can see, in Milano, you can see past buildings to the next street, around the corners, etc, whereas in Bologna, walking down one street you feel as though nothing else in the world exists but that one, because the buildings are constructed such that they block the view of anything else and the streets' curvature makes it first of all impossible to see what's ahead, and secondly impossible to know in what direction you are heading. I went down so many streets for blocks and blocks before seeing a sign and figuring out that I had to turn around!
Despite all that Bologna is seriously cute. It has extreme Renaissance flavour and a really vibrant young population due to the university. There is a lot of graffiti and urine, though, but also great shopping -- it is like a mini Milan.
Shopping in Italy is very important, as I am sure you have guessed. There are no end to the designer boutiques, but for us mere mortals, Zara, H and M, something called Pimkie, and a department store called Coin (a lot like the Bay now that the Bay has gone all designer) reign supreme. Shoes are huge, and they have Timberland and Bata here, but also a great many independent shops and yes, even in Milano and Bologna, ad hoc markets in the streets, especially near public transit. Prices are a little higher than they are at home, even without the exchange - I think things are just cheap in North America compared to the rest of the world. The styles range from hipster to extreme runway and everything in between, but there are NO lululemons, no jogging pants, no running shoes (Converse, though, yes), no hoodies, except where young teenagers are concerned. I saw one shop called Canadian Flea Market in Bologna on a side street, whose owner is probably from Vancouver, which sold Roots and down parkas, which had me giggling. Other than that, absolutely no trace of what we consider comfort wear.
Anyway, I spent the day wandering and caught a regional train back to Milano, which was only supposed to be 2.5 hours versus a very expensive hour-long direct ride on a Eurostar. I spent 30 minutes waiting in Piacenza for my connection to Milano - oh, the joy of delayed trains!! -- and got home in time for a quick dinner and an extended conversation with my "housemates" about Italian politics.
My understanding of the situation is spotty at best; Italian news is in Italian, and the politics are hard to understand even if you've lived here your whole life. But the overwhelming sense I get is that Berlusconi is a bad man, and Italy knows it, and noone can seem to do anything about it. Simply because this post would become too long I won't go into everything here, but the current complaint is one of freedom of speech: it seems this weekend there will be a demonstration against the censureship of the press, which Berlusconi achieves by bribing advertisers away from publications that speak ill of him so as to cripple them economically, not to mention by owning Italy's complement of private TV channels. THe thing is, they are really only speaking the truth-- Berlusconi did this or that, and maybe it isn't so cool (prostitutes, 18-year-old heiresses etc), and whose fault is that in the end? I think his actions in these cases -- to create laws that make whatever it is he's up to legal, to manipulate the press, etc -- really just betray an insecurity in his own choices and demonstrate a lack of moral fiber, something that I think is a serious flaw in a political leader. It has led me to reflect on Stephen Harper in a different way. If I blogged about Harper like this, he wouldn't trace me and shut me down, but it might happen if this was in Italian and had a readership. Harper isn't a terrible human being, though we may take issue with his choices. But you can't even compare the two, because at the end of the day, it's apples and oranges. Berlusconi isn't even really running a true democracy.
Enough on that, and more when I understand it better. Oh! The big news of the day is that they just passed an OFFICIAL law against illegal immigrants, so everyone is scrambling to get their papers in order. There wasn't one before...??
I finally got to the library and got some books. It's great that anyone can be a member. I didn't have to show anything with my address on it. You can have books for a month, as well, and fines weren't mentioned although I am sure they exist.
Though the libraries are small and few in number, it's nice to make use of them. I am reading one Italian book for every English book I read; the selection is not great in terms of books in English so I picked up some Ian Rankin, and The English Patient, which I have been meaning to read, as well as Carlo Levi's Christ stopped at Eboli and some Nick Hornby, both in Italian. I feel like an addict or something -- it feels amazing to be turning the pages of something again!
Bologna is really a beautiful city. It is seriously old. It is home to the world's oldest legitimate university (founded in the 11th century), was a hub of European activity during the Middle Ages, and in my opinion is especially notable for its liberal viewpoints in the Renaissance, during which time women were allowed to attend the University and flourish in their chosen professions.
This photo isn't mine, but I still haven't figured out how to get pictures off my phone. It's the Piazza Maggiore, which I only saw in the daytime, but really is that cool. I took a bus from La Molinari's pad to the public gardens, ate my lunch sitting on a huge outcropping of quartz-like rock overlooking the greenish pond and watched the turtles go by. I walked up through the university and back down through the town and ended up at the Piazza Maggiore before I tripped back up the central Via to the train station.
The town itself, though beautiful, failed to impress me in terms of navigability (word?). Nothing is signed and the streets are a huge circular grid-like maze. Overhead view here-- also not mine.
Compare this to Milan, where EVERY street is signed and it looks more like this.
Have I mentioned I love Milan? I have yet to do anything touristy, but I do plan on it, and soon I will write an entry that will tell you more about it.
Anyway as you can see, in Milano, you can see past buildings to the next street, around the corners, etc, whereas in Bologna, walking down one street you feel as though nothing else in the world exists but that one, because the buildings are constructed such that they block the view of anything else and the streets' curvature makes it first of all impossible to see what's ahead, and secondly impossible to know in what direction you are heading. I went down so many streets for blocks and blocks before seeing a sign and figuring out that I had to turn around!
Despite all that Bologna is seriously cute. It has extreme Renaissance flavour and a really vibrant young population due to the university. There is a lot of graffiti and urine, though, but also great shopping -- it is like a mini Milan.
Shopping in Italy is very important, as I am sure you have guessed. There are no end to the designer boutiques, but for us mere mortals, Zara, H and M, something called Pimkie, and a department store called Coin (a lot like the Bay now that the Bay has gone all designer) reign supreme. Shoes are huge, and they have Timberland and Bata here, but also a great many independent shops and yes, even in Milano and Bologna, ad hoc markets in the streets, especially near public transit. Prices are a little higher than they are at home, even without the exchange - I think things are just cheap in North America compared to the rest of the world. The styles range from hipster to extreme runway and everything in between, but there are NO lululemons, no jogging pants, no running shoes (Converse, though, yes), no hoodies, except where young teenagers are concerned. I saw one shop called Canadian Flea Market in Bologna on a side street, whose owner is probably from Vancouver, which sold Roots and down parkas, which had me giggling. Other than that, absolutely no trace of what we consider comfort wear.
Anyway, I spent the day wandering and caught a regional train back to Milano, which was only supposed to be 2.5 hours versus a very expensive hour-long direct ride on a Eurostar. I spent 30 minutes waiting in Piacenza for my connection to Milano - oh, the joy of delayed trains!! -- and got home in time for a quick dinner and an extended conversation with my "housemates" about Italian politics.
My understanding of the situation is spotty at best; Italian news is in Italian, and the politics are hard to understand even if you've lived here your whole life. But the overwhelming sense I get is that Berlusconi is a bad man, and Italy knows it, and noone can seem to do anything about it. Simply because this post would become too long I won't go into everything here, but the current complaint is one of freedom of speech: it seems this weekend there will be a demonstration against the censureship of the press, which Berlusconi achieves by bribing advertisers away from publications that speak ill of him so as to cripple them economically, not to mention by owning Italy's complement of private TV channels. THe thing is, they are really only speaking the truth-- Berlusconi did this or that, and maybe it isn't so cool (prostitutes, 18-year-old heiresses etc), and whose fault is that in the end? I think his actions in these cases -- to create laws that make whatever it is he's up to legal, to manipulate the press, etc -- really just betray an insecurity in his own choices and demonstrate a lack of moral fiber, something that I think is a serious flaw in a political leader. It has led me to reflect on Stephen Harper in a different way. If I blogged about Harper like this, he wouldn't trace me and shut me down, but it might happen if this was in Italian and had a readership. Harper isn't a terrible human being, though we may take issue with his choices. But you can't even compare the two, because at the end of the day, it's apples and oranges. Berlusconi isn't even really running a true democracy.
Enough on that, and more when I understand it better. Oh! The big news of the day is that they just passed an OFFICIAL law against illegal immigrants, so everyone is scrambling to get their papers in order. There wasn't one before...??
I finally got to the library and got some books. It's great that anyone can be a member. I didn't have to show anything with my address on it. You can have books for a month, as well, and fines weren't mentioned although I am sure they exist.
Though the libraries are small and few in number, it's nice to make use of them. I am reading one Italian book for every English book I read; the selection is not great in terms of books in English so I picked up some Ian Rankin, and The English Patient, which I have been meaning to read, as well as Carlo Levi's Christ stopped at Eboli and some Nick Hornby, both in Italian. I feel like an addict or something -- it feels amazing to be turning the pages of something again!
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