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 politics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label politics. 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.
12 October 2009
Today's moment is brought to you by the Duomo's roof.
I had an "I live here!!!!!?!?!?!?" moment today.
I have them sometimes. They come in two forms.
One form is the type that is accompanied by a contorted grimace of revulsion or sadness and usually occurs in response to one of the following:
1. Berlusconi is on TV saying something incriminating, or having laws made to protect his dealings (actually they rules against his random law-making recently, not that it will change much).
2. I see old ladies curled up on the sidewalk with their hands outstretched. OLD LADIES. They aren't using it for drugs, that's for sure. Why are they so poor? Or, I see desperate buskers board subway trains and begin to play, badly, on a broken violin or a crap accordion, smiling in vain at the obviously annoyed passengers, as their malnourished child goes around and holds out a duct-taped coffee cup.
3. I read stuff like this. Italy's right-wing government doesn't give a ... about gay rights, until three days ago? How many young gay Italians have to conceal their physical injuries and refuse to go to hospitals when they are beaten, because they haven't come out to their parents? How many clubs have to be raided, how many have to emigrate with their partners, how may have to die before this country realizes it's living in a really warped, religion-steeped vacuum?? There was another beating in Rome this week, the homicide rate is way up, and Berlusconi is under fire for a lot of other things, so maybe it's an opportunity to score some points by pouring some of his hard-earned money into a subway ad campaign that will just get defaced by the belligerent youth for whom it is too late, who have learned too early and too well what's right and wrong. Not that I'm proposing a solution. It's a deep-seeded problem. But you might be able to tell I think it's an important one.
4. I try to do things that are green and fail because the facilities don't exist (eg, must take elevators or escalators, must throw out paper or plastic, must use 1290843 sheets of paper to properly document coursework for teaching because everything is so complicated here, must take receipt for every single purchase made because otherwise the police will question whether you stole it, nowhere to compost, too dangerous to bike here, list goes on). Stay tuned for when I try a No-Impact challenge in one of the self-admittedly least green places on earth.
Sometimes, these moments are accompanied by absolute awe and wonder, amusement, reverence, and any combination of these and other similar emotions. Today's was like this and happened on the roof of a building, which, if you're going to have an epiphany, is just as good a spot as any, really. They happen on occasions such as the following:
1. I wander around an ENORMOUS church on a Monday afternoon when I have nothing better to do, see the preserved body of a dead archbishop and numerous very lovely paintings, and then take an elevator to wander around on the ROOF of said Duomo, from which you can see the ALPS and also all the little people and pigeons in the square below, and all the cranes and church spires and wee skyscrapers of Milano around you and all the saints presiding over the cities from their perches on the church spires are at eye level. The gargoyles are fantastic close up. ANd the Madonnina really is a wee little Mary made of gold perched on the topmost spire. THe spires are backlit by the sun and everything looks cream-coloured.
I sometimes have a really hard time getting over the fact that there is so much history just strewn about the cities here, and people go about their daily modern lives as if nothing were amiss, with no air of reverence, no eggshells underfoot, no neck-craning and google eyes. It's amazing to me that I can rush across a square in a hurry to get somewhere and not even notice that the square, and its subway stop, is named after the tenth-century church that is smack in the middle of it.
2. I have chocolate for breakfast, and that's not only OK, it's advised.
3. I sit on the tram or the subway and look around, and there are Italians, Africans, probably Brits and Canadians and Americans, Filipinos, Chinese and Japanese, and I know we all have at least one thing in common: we all speak great Italian. At home I don't take it as a given that you speak English, although most people do speak it. Some speak French, and some don't have a great level of English at all. Sure, in other parts of the world, it's probably the same- in South Korea, I imagine the dominant language is Korean, for example. But this is Europe, where languages mix a lot more easily, and in Italy, the 4 big ones (French, English, German, Italian) are taught in high school. In countries like Germany, the default fall-back is English; France I would imagine too. In Sweden they practically all speak fluent English, as far as my experiences with Swedes demonstrate. Here, you can't really get by -- as a resident -- without a perfect understanding of Italian and a really good ability to speak. Most Italians have very little to no English, ditto French and German. So there is that one thing that each and every one of us on that tram has struggled with and achieved. In a weird way, it's unifying and comforting.
4. Cities are circular and orbit around a main piazza. Life takes place in outdoor open spaces. They are always crowded with people walking, talking, sitting, eating, taking pictures, on cell phones, hanging out. I love piazzas. Why don't we have enormous open public spaces in the middle of downtown where you can set up runways for outdoor fashion shows and rock concerts, and that house enormous artifacts of history called Duomo's, EVERYWHERE?
To me this is indicative of a major cultural difference. It isn't just the church thing. Intersection after intersection in Toronto or New York, laid out in grids that really go nowhere; streets in parallel, angled bunches converging periodically in hubs with bars, banks, street markets, PEOPLE, that help define neighbourhoods and city zones, help drivers easily navigate between zones via roundabouts, and provide a mental and physical resting place from GOING. Which would you rather?
Having these points of arrival along your journey makes it meaningful and somehow, easier. At home I go from point A to point B. Here I go from point A to say, G or H with all the letters in between. I see more and experience more along the way. And resting points are built in. Just like siesta. Yes, that does happen in Milano, too.
5. People have met other opera singers before and they are familiar with the major works in the canon. Most have been to see at least one, usually in their hometown's theatre, and they probably liked it. They might even know someone who could help me, or their mom is a voice teacher. Opera happens everywhere. It's on TV, it's in small towns and it's relatively cheap. Your average Joe knows the words to La donna รจ mobile, Largo al Factotum, Una Voce poco fa, every soprano aria written by Puccini, and of course Va Pensiero. Entire blocks of streets are named after composers.
My point is... well, do I have to make it? I still haven't gotten over the novelty that I am not a novelty.
I never said it would all be roses, and Italy is a backwards country in a lot of ways. But there are some serious payoffs.
I have them sometimes. They come in two forms.
One form is the type that is accompanied by a contorted grimace of revulsion or sadness and usually occurs in response to one of the following:
1. Berlusconi is on TV saying something incriminating, or having laws made to protect his dealings (actually they rules against his random law-making recently, not that it will change much).
2. I see old ladies curled up on the sidewalk with their hands outstretched. OLD LADIES. They aren't using it for drugs, that's for sure. Why are they so poor? Or, I see desperate buskers board subway trains and begin to play, badly, on a broken violin or a crap accordion, smiling in vain at the obviously annoyed passengers, as their malnourished child goes around and holds out a duct-taped coffee cup.
3. I read stuff like this. Italy's right-wing government doesn't give a ... about gay rights, until three days ago? How many young gay Italians have to conceal their physical injuries and refuse to go to hospitals when they are beaten, because they haven't come out to their parents? How many clubs have to be raided, how many have to emigrate with their partners, how may have to die before this country realizes it's living in a really warped, religion-steeped vacuum?? There was another beating in Rome this week, the homicide rate is way up, and Berlusconi is under fire for a lot of other things, so maybe it's an opportunity to score some points by pouring some of his hard-earned money into a subway ad campaign that will just get defaced by the belligerent youth for whom it is too late, who have learned too early and too well what's right and wrong. Not that I'm proposing a solution. It's a deep-seeded problem. But you might be able to tell I think it's an important one.
4. I try to do things that are green and fail because the facilities don't exist (eg, must take elevators or escalators, must throw out paper or plastic, must use 1290843 sheets of paper to properly document coursework for teaching because everything is so complicated here, must take receipt for every single purchase made because otherwise the police will question whether you stole it, nowhere to compost, too dangerous to bike here, list goes on). Stay tuned for when I try a No-Impact challenge in one of the self-admittedly least green places on earth.
Sometimes, these moments are accompanied by absolute awe and wonder, amusement, reverence, and any combination of these and other similar emotions. Today's was like this and happened on the roof of a building, which, if you're going to have an epiphany, is just as good a spot as any, really. They happen on occasions such as the following:
1. I wander around an ENORMOUS church on a Monday afternoon when I have nothing better to do, see the preserved body of a dead archbishop and numerous very lovely paintings, and then take an elevator to wander around on the ROOF of said Duomo, from which you can see the ALPS and also all the little people and pigeons in the square below, and all the cranes and church spires and wee skyscrapers of Milano around you and all the saints presiding over the cities from their perches on the church spires are at eye level. The gargoyles are fantastic close up. ANd the Madonnina really is a wee little Mary made of gold perched on the topmost spire. THe spires are backlit by the sun and everything looks cream-coloured.
I sometimes have a really hard time getting over the fact that there is so much history just strewn about the cities here, and people go about their daily modern lives as if nothing were amiss, with no air of reverence, no eggshells underfoot, no neck-craning and google eyes. It's amazing to me that I can rush across a square in a hurry to get somewhere and not even notice that the square, and its subway stop, is named after the tenth-century church that is smack in the middle of it.
2. I have chocolate for breakfast, and that's not only OK, it's advised.
3. I sit on the tram or the subway and look around, and there are Italians, Africans, probably Brits and Canadians and Americans, Filipinos, Chinese and Japanese, and I know we all have at least one thing in common: we all speak great Italian. At home I don't take it as a given that you speak English, although most people do speak it. Some speak French, and some don't have a great level of English at all. Sure, in other parts of the world, it's probably the same- in South Korea, I imagine the dominant language is Korean, for example. But this is Europe, where languages mix a lot more easily, and in Italy, the 4 big ones (French, English, German, Italian) are taught in high school. In countries like Germany, the default fall-back is English; France I would imagine too. In Sweden they practically all speak fluent English, as far as my experiences with Swedes demonstrate. Here, you can't really get by -- as a resident -- without a perfect understanding of Italian and a really good ability to speak. Most Italians have very little to no English, ditto French and German. So there is that one thing that each and every one of us on that tram has struggled with and achieved. In a weird way, it's unifying and comforting.
4. Cities are circular and orbit around a main piazza. Life takes place in outdoor open spaces. They are always crowded with people walking, talking, sitting, eating, taking pictures, on cell phones, hanging out. I love piazzas. Why don't we have enormous open public spaces in the middle of downtown where you can set up runways for outdoor fashion shows and rock concerts, and that house enormous artifacts of history called Duomo's, EVERYWHERE?
To me this is indicative of a major cultural difference. It isn't just the church thing. Intersection after intersection in Toronto or New York, laid out in grids that really go nowhere; streets in parallel, angled bunches converging periodically in hubs with bars, banks, street markets, PEOPLE, that help define neighbourhoods and city zones, help drivers easily navigate between zones via roundabouts, and provide a mental and physical resting place from GOING. Which would you rather?
Having these points of arrival along your journey makes it meaningful and somehow, easier. At home I go from point A to point B. Here I go from point A to say, G or H with all the letters in between. I see more and experience more along the way. And resting points are built in. Just like siesta. Yes, that does happen in Milano, too.
5. People have met other opera singers before and they are familiar with the major works in the canon. Most have been to see at least one, usually in their hometown's theatre, and they probably liked it. They might even know someone who could help me, or their mom is a voice teacher. Opera happens everywhere. It's on TV, it's in small towns and it's relatively cheap. Your average Joe knows the words to La donna รจ mobile, Largo al Factotum, Una Voce poco fa, every soprano aria written by Puccini, and of course Va Pensiero. Entire blocks of streets are named after composers.
My point is... well, do I have to make it? I still haven't gotten over the novelty that I am not a novelty.
I never said it would all be roses, and Italy is a backwards country in a lot of ways. But there are some serious payoffs.
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