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This group is made to collect names for this call to change the name of the A.P.Moeller school in Schleswig, Germany. By signing up to this group you sign this petition that can be read below in Danish, German, English and Spanish. Names of those signing up here will be used in further campaigning, such as press releases to the media and mailings to decision makers. Be therefore adviced that by signing up this group you are giving your consensus to your name being used in this way!
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Fjern A. P. Møllers navn fra skolen i Slesvig!
Sydslesvig har fået et andet og nyt dansk gymnasium.
I månedsvis før den officielle åbning blev det fænomenale byg beundret. Ikke bare af folk tilknyttet det danske skole- og foreningssystem, men også af de beboere, som til dagligt kun benytter sig af de tyske institutioner i landsdelen. Under åbningen var endda dronningen på besøg, og i Arnold Mærsk McKinney Møllers tale blev vi gjort opmærksomme på det private erhvervslivs rolle i at bygge de danske institutioner syd for grænsen op.
Ret har han dermed:
Det private pumpede en del penge ind i det mislykkede forsøg på at få dansk flertal i Zone II under afstemningen 1920 og sørgede specielt for en ekspansion mod syd i efterkrigsårene. Axel Johnsons forskning i A.P. Møllers finansielle støtte og semimilitaristiske fremstød mod Ejderen frem til 1969 ? imod de danske regeringers officielle politik ? er et skræmmende bevis på hvilke bagtanker der lå (og ligger?) bag den slags "støtte". Under anden verdenskrig havde A.P. Møller derimod mindre problemer med Tyskland. Som største delaktionaer i Riffelsyndikatet producerede familien våben til nazisterne -- og prøvede at klage til London da produktionen blev udsat for sabotage.
Men hvor kommer de penge egentlig fra idag?
MAERSK er et globalt firma med indtægtsgivende aktiviteter i mange lande. Alene mellem 2003 og 2004 voksede Mærsks handel med Pentagon i forbindelse med logistikopgaver mellem USA og Irak fra godt 239 til 639 mia. dollars. Og mens MAERSK i Sydslesvig opfører sig som velgører, så er det lidt anderledes i land som f.eks. El Salvador.
Et eksempel som vi kender til fra Counterpunch.orgs nyhedsbrev fra 3. december 2004: I 2001 fyrede og sort-listede selskabet 100 chaufførerer i et forsøg på at ødelægge fagforeningens organiseringsaktiviteter.
Tre år senere, i 2004, blev fagforeningsaktivisten José Gilberto Soto fra International Brotherhood of Teamsters, som var på besøg i landet for at prøve at oprette kontakten med havnearbejdere i El Salvador, skudt af to væbnede mænd udenfor sin mors hus. Soto havde da arbejdet i New Jersey med at opklare MAERSK's overtrædelser af arbejdsrettigheder i flere år. MAERSKs talsperson hævdede at de ikke kendte til Soto, og fagforeningsaktivister har siden protesteret mod den den såkaldte "uafhængige undersøgelse" i Sotos død som MAERSK startede i samarbejde med regeringen, fordi de mener den afleder opmærksomheden fra de sande fakta.
MAERSK kontrollerer 80% af containermarkedet i El Salvador, og det er klart, at hvis arbejderne dér skulle få betalt en højere løn, så vil MAERSKs profitandel gå ned. Der ville vel alligevel være nok tilovers til at kunne forære en opera og en skole i mega-klassen i ny og næ, men det kunne jo være interessant for skolens elever at vide, hvilken slags aktiviteter pengene til skolebygningen oprindeligt kom fra.
Uafhængigt af, om MAERSK selv var direkte involveret i mordet eller ej, mener vi, at det er personer som Soto, som er de sande helte, der forbedrer verdens fattiges livsbetingelser - og ikke de storkoncerner, som tjener godt på at udnytte de svagt stillede. Også selv om koncernerne så af og til giver noget af deres overskud til den ene aller anden velgørenhed.
Nu hvor dronningen er tilbage i kongeriget, skolen er bygget og man egentlig har fået alt det man vil fra A.P. Møller, kunne det måske være passende at vise et tegn.
Til det formål vil vi foreslå at man omdøber A. P. Møller Skolen. Et passende navn kunne være "Gilberto Soto Skolen".
Underskrifter:
Weronika Adamiec, Katerina Arne Aemwargel, Nina Agerskov, Mille Kamilla Albrektsen, Katrne Nymann Amtoft, Nosizwe Lise Baqwa, Ed Basye, Katrin Becker, Kaja Beton, Are Blomfeldt, Tanja Bohm, Ben Brusniak, Eva Bühler, Pedro Caba, Thomas Clausen, Jan Willi Christiansen, Lauritz Nykjær Dahl, Johan Kristensen Dal, Nikolai Dragnes, Matthias Dreve, Bjørn Tore Egeberg, Henning Eichberg, Stian Rødven Eide, Bjønnulv Evenrud, Mike Fallwell, Hans Petter De Fine, Line Flo, Mathias Hunskår Furevik, Jason Glaser, Sara Devi Graaf, Kathrin Grundmann, Kathrin Haase, Marit Halse, Bjarne Speth Hansen, Camilla Hansen, Wiebke Hansen, Bob Hatton, Peter Heinen, Solvor Horrig Helland, Hunt Hoffman, Anne Høy Horsberg, Rasmus Höfer, Pia Qu Hyrland, Gunvald Ims, Alexandru Iorga, Helen Jackson, Nika Jamnikar, Bruno Jerup, Helene Mercedes Johansen, Christian Juhl, Nikos Karadilion, Nina Kaschel, Aleksandra Spryt Kawecka, Ronny Kjelsberg, Marieke Klauder, Christoph Klinger, Anna Katharina Kramer, Diana Kress, Morten Godtkjær Larsen, Angela Lieber, Arne List, Olga Makowska, Malene Meisner, Allan Berg Mortensen, Federico De Musso, Margit Neuhold, Christian Neumann, Thomas Nielsen, Magnhild Nilsen, Erik Nygaard, Diego Olavarría, Lasse Olsen, Barbara Paech, Daniel Panduro, Sjur Cappelen Papazian, Eva Paulsen, Anusa Pisanec, Aleksandra Pytko, Friedrich Reimann, Andreas Rohde, Hanns-Jørg Rohwedder, Eduardo Rosales, Kjell Rønningsbakk, Yader Sánchez, Anker Schjerning, Martin Schmidt, Björn Schulz, Jesper Nedergaard Semmelhack, Ingvar Tølløv Skjerve, Simon Spiekermann, Felix Storch, Linus Strothmann, Teresa Svejnoha, Aleksandra Szwed, Petter Helstad Torp, Leif Trampenau, Monika Tworzydlo, Boris Uran, Douglas Augusto Varela Vilchez, Lindsey Weatherall, Jakob Wilm, Johannes Wilm, Julius Wilm, Miha Zadnikar, Justyna Zietek
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Entfernt den Namen A.P. Møller's von der dänischen Schule in Schleswig!
Süd-Schleswig, das Gebiet südlich der deutsch-dänischen Grenze, erhielt vor kurzem ein zweites dänisches Gymnasium. Es liegt in der Stadt Schleswig und ist gesponsert von A.P. Møller, der für sein MAERSK Unternehmen bekannt ist. Die Schule trägt den Namen "A. P. Møller-Schule".
In den Monaten vor der offiziellen Eröffnung wurde das eindrucksvolle Gebäude nicht nur von Menschen bewundert, die mit dem dänischen Schulwesen und Vereinsleben verbunden sind, sondern auch von Bewohnern, die nur die deutschen Institutionen in der Region in Anspruch nehmen. Der Eröffnung wohnte die Königin von Dänemark bei, und in der Rede von Arnold Mærsk McKinney Møller wurde dem Publikum die wichtige Rolle des privaten Sektors beim Aufbau der dänischen Institutionen südlich der Grenze erklärt.
Und Recht hatte er damit:
Der private Sektor pumpte Geld in den gescheiterten Versuch, eine dänische Mehrheit in der Region vor der Abstimmung von 1920 um den Grenzverlauf zu erreichen, und sorgte dann in den Nachkriegsjahren für die Expansion nach Süden. Axel Johnsons Forschung über A.P. Møllers finanzielle Unterstützung und semimilitaristischen Schub in Richtung Süden bis 1969 -- gegen die offizielle Politik der dänischen Regierungen -- ist ein erschreckender Beweis dafür, welche Hintergedanken es da gab (und gibt?) bei dieser Art von "Unterstützung". Während des zweiten Weltkriegs hatte A.P.Møller hingegen weniger Probleme mit Deutschland. Als größter Einzelaktionär der Firma Riffelsyndikatet produzierte die Familie Waffen für die Nazis -- und versuchte, sich in London über die Sabotageversuche zu beklagen, die die Produktion stoppen sollten.
Und woher kommt das Geld heute?
MAERSK ist ein globales Unternehmen mit Einnahmequellen in vielen Ländern. Allein zwischen 2003 und 2004 wuchs MAERSKs Handel mit dem Pentagon im Zusammenhang mit logistischen Aufgaben zwischen den USA und dem Irak von 239 auf 639 Milliarden US-Dollar. Und während MAERSK sich in Süd-Schleswig als Wohltäter verhält, ist die Rolle des Konzerns eine andere in Ländern wie El Salvador.
Ein Beispiel, das im Counterpunch.orgs Newsletter vom 3. Dezember 2004 genannt ist: 2001 feuerte MAERSK 100 Fahrer als Teil einer Anti-Gewerkschaftsstragie.
Drei Jahre später, im Jahre 2004, wurde der Gewerkschaftsaktivist José Gilberto Soto von der International Brotherhood of Teamsters bei einem gewerkschaftsorientertem Besuch des Landes, bei dem er Kontakt mit den Hafenarbeitnehmer aufnehmen wollte, von zwei bewaffneten Männern vor dem Haus seiner Mutter erschossen. Soto hatte zuvor in New Jersey mehrere Jahre lang daran gearbeitet, MAERSKs Verletzungen des Arbeitsrechts anzuprangern und aufzuklären. MAERSKs Sprecher kommentierte nach dem Tode, sie kennten Soto nicht. Seitdem haben gewerkschaftliche Aktivisten gegen die so genannte "unabhängige Untersuchung" von Sotos Tod, die MAERSK in Zusammenarbeit mit der Regierung startete, protestiert, denn sie glauben, dass diese nur von den wahren Geschehnissen ablenkt.
MAERSK kontrolliert 80% des Container-Marktes in El Salvador, und es ist klar dass MAERSKs Gewinnüberschuss verringert würde, wenn die Firma ihren Arbeitnehmern dort mehr Lohn zahlen würden. Trotzdem wäre wahrscheinlich immer noch genug dafür übrig, die eine oder andere Oper und Schule in der Megaklasse zu verschenken. Aber es könnte für die Schüler der Schule in Schleswig interessant sein zu wissen, von welcher Art von Aktivitäten das Geld für den Aufbau ihrer Schule ursprünglich kam.
Egal ob MAERSK direkt am Mord beteiligt war oder nicht, meinen wir dass es Menschen wie Soto sind, die die wahren Helden sind, die die Lebensbedingungen der Armen der Welt verbessern ? und nicht die großen Konzerne, die an der Ausnutzung der Unterdrückten verdienen. Das gilt auch, wenn diese Unternehmen einen Teil ihres Überschusses für wohltätige Zwecke weggeben.
Jetzt, da die Königin ins Königreich Dänemark zurückgekehrt ist, die Schule gebaut ist, und man alles hat, was man von A.P. Møller wollte, wäre es angebracht ein Zeichen zu setzen. Zu diesem Zweck schlagen wir vor, die A.P. Møller-Schule umzubenennen. Ein passender Name könnte der Name "Gilberto Soto-Schule" sein.
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Remove A. P. Møller's name from the Danish school in Schleswig!
The area of Southern Schleswig, situated just south of the German-Danish border in German territory, recently received a second Danish high school in the city of Schleswig, sponsored by A.P. Møller, who is known for his MAERSK company. The school was named the "A.P. Møller School".
In the months before the official opening, the phenomenal building was admired not just by people associated with the Danish school and association system, but also of those inhabitants who only a day to take advantage of the German institutions in the region. The opening was visited by the Queen of Denmark, and in Arnold Mærsk McKinney Møller's speech, we were made aware of the role of the private sector in building up the Danish institutions south of the border.
And he was right with that: The private sector pumped well some money into the failed attempts to get a Danish majority in the area before a vote on the borderline in 1920 and financed the expansion of the Danish institutions southward in the post-war years. Axel Johnsons research in A.P. Møller's financial support and semimilitaristic push towards the south until 1969 -- against the Danish governments' official policy -- is a frightening proof of what ulterior motives were -- and are? -- behind that kind of "support". During the second world war A.P.Møller had less problems with Germany. As the biggest stockholder in the company Riffelsyndikatet, the family produced weapons for the Nazis -- and tried to get London to stop any attempts of sabotage.
But where does the money come from today?
MAERSK is a global company with revenue producing activities in many countries. Just between 2003 and 2004 MAERSK's trade with the Pentagon grew in connection with logistical tasks between the U.S. and Iraq from just 239 to 639 Billion U.S. dollars. And while MAERSK in South Schleswig behave as benefactor, its role is slightly different in countries such as El Salvador.
An example from Counterpunch.orgs newsletter from the 3rd December 2004: In 2001, MAERSK fired and black-listed 100 company drivers as part of a union busting strategy.
Three years later, in 2004, trade union activist José Gilberto Soto from the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, who was visiting the country to try to establish contact with port workers, was shot by two armed men outside his mother's house. Soto had worked in New Jersey to investigate MAERSK's violations of labor rights for several years prior to that. MAERSK spokesperson claimed that they did not know about Soto, and trade union activists have since protested against the so-called "independent investigation" into Sotos death, that MAERSK started in cooperation with the government, because they believe it diverts attention from the true facts.
MAERSK controls 80% of the container market in El Salvador, and it is clear that if the workers there would have paid a higher salary, then MAERSK's profit share would diminish. There would probably still be enough left over to give away an opera and a super expensive school every now and then. But it could be interesting for the students to know what kind of activities the money for building their school originated from.
Regardless of whether MAERSK was directly involved in the murder or not, we believe it is people like Soto who are the true heroes that improve the living confitions of the world's poor -- and not the large corporations who earn good at exploiting the disadvantaged. That is still true, even if such companies give parts of their profits to some charity or another.
Now that the queen is back in the Kingdom of Denmark, the school is built, and one really has been everything one wants from A.P. Møller, it could perhaps be appropriate to show a sign. For this purpose, we propose to rename the A.P. Møller School. An appropriate name could be the "Gilberto Soto School".
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¡Quiten el nombre de AP Møller de la escuela danesa en Schleswig!
En la región alemana Schleswig del Sur, situada en la frontera con Dinamarca, fue construida hace poco la segunda escuela de secundaria danesa en la ciudad de Schleswig, patrocinada por el fondo de AP Møller, quien es conocido por su empresa MAERSK. La escuela fue nombrada "Escuela de A. P. Møller".
En los meses anteriores a la apertura oficial, el enorme edificio fue admirado no sólo por personas vinculadas con escuelas y el sistema de asociaciones danesas, sino también por aquellos habitantes que normalmente sólo usan las instituciones alemanas en la región. La apertura fue visitada por la Reina de Dinamarca y en la charla dada por Arnold Mærsk McKinney Møller, destacó el papel del sector privado en la creación de las instituciones danesas en el sur de la frontera.
Y tenía razón: el sector privado financió muchos de los fallidos intentos de obtener una mayoría danesa en la zona durante una votación sobre la línea de la frontera en 1920 y también financió gran parte de la expansión del sistema danés hacia el sur en los años de la posguerra. Las investigaciones de Axel Johnsons sobre el apoyo financiero de A.P.Møller y su empuje semimilitarístico hacia el sur hasta el 1969 - contra las líneas políticas oficiales de los gobiernos daneses - es una aterradora prueba de lo que fueron las segundas intenciones (¿y posiblemente todavía son?) con ese tipo de "apoyo". En los años de la segunda guerra mundial, a A.P.Møller le gustaba Alemania mas. Como dueño de 31.6% de los acciones de la empresa Riffelsyndikatet, la familia produjo armas para los Nazis -- y trató de contactar a Londres para poner fin al sabotaje de la producción.
Pero, ¿de dónde viene este dinero realmenten ahora?
MAERSK es una compañía global con actividades que producen ingresos en muchos países. Sólo entre 2003 y 2004 el comercio entre MAERSK y el Pentágono creció, gracias a operaciones de logística entre los EE.UU. e Iraq, de 239 a 639 mil millones de dólares. Mientras que MAERSK en Schleswig del Sur se comporta como benefactor, su función es ligeramente diferente en países como El Salvador.
Un ejemplo del boletín de Counterpunch.orgs del 3 de diciembre de 2004: En 2001, Maersk dispidió y puso en una lista negra a 100 conductores de la empresa como parte de una estrategia contra el sindicalismo.
Tres años más tarde, en 2004, el activista sindical José Gilberto Soto de la International Brotherhood of Teamsters, que se encontraba de visita en el país para tratar de establecer contacto con los trabajadores portuarios, fue baleado por dos hombres armados fuera de la vivienda de su madre. Soto había trabajado en Nueva Jersey para investigar las violaciones de los derechos laborales de MAERSK durante unos años antes de la tragedia. El portavoz de MAERSK declaró que no conocía a Soto, y los activistas sindicales protestaron contra la "investigación independiente" de la muerte de Soto, que Maersk hizo en cooperación con el gobierno, porqué creen que desvía la atención de los verdaderos hechos.
MAERSK controla el 80% del mercado de contenedores en El Salvador, y es evidente que si hubieran pagado un salario más alto a los trabajadores, el porcentaje de ganancia de MAERSK hubiera disminuido. Es probable que todavía tuvieran suficientes fondos para continuar financiando óperas y escuelas super caras. Tiene que ser interesante para los estudiantes saber de qué tipos de actividades provienen los fondos que han financiado la construcción de su escuela.
Independiente de si MAERSK está directamente involucrada en el asesinato o no, creemos que es la gente como Soto, que son los verdaderos héroes, los que mejoran las condicionse de la vida de los pobres del mundo - y no las grandes empresas, aquéllas que ganan dinero en la explotación de los desfavorecidos. Eso sigue siendo cierto, incluso si estas empresas dan parte de sus beneficios a la caridad de algún tipo.
Ahora que la Reina ya regresó a su Reino de Dinamarca, la escuela ya fue construida, y el pueblo ya ha obtenido lo que quería de AP Møller, es el momento para denunciar el hecho con una señal. Por eso proponemos que cambien el nombre de la Escuela A.P. Møller. Un nombre apropiado podría ser la "Escuela de Gilberto Soto".
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http://www.teamsters.org/press-release.aspx?id=15486
http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/gi_0199-3406547/Teamsters-Reject-Maersk-Offer-to.html
http://www.nlcnet.org/campaigns/soto/report.shtml
http://dbacon.igc.org/Work/2005maersk.html
http://www.counterpunch.org/allen12032004.html
http://www.cispes.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=131&Itemid=27
http://www.counterpunch.org/allen11112005.html
http://www.laborradio.org/node/608
http://www.teamsters.org/press-release.aspx?id=15694
"Krigens Købmænd" ved Christian Jensen, Tomas Kristiansen og Karl Erik Nielsen, udgivet af Gyldendal, ISBN 87-00-46974-2
When former minister of education of East Germany, Margot Honecker, received a medal for her help here in Nicaragua in the literacy campaign in the 1980s as part of the celebrations of the revolution on July 19th, I tried everything I could to get an interview with her. I also got through to all the officials and the spokespeople of president and ministry. Unfortunately though, in the end she declined.
Nevertheless, my search for possible questions cause enough stir around my friends in Germany that I was contacted in connection with this group trying to find their old class mates from a cadre school in East Germany. The Nicaraguans who had participated had for security reasons not used their real names and had never talked about where they where from.
Poster currently hanging around most of León
Nevertheless, my search for possible questions cause enough stir around my friends in Germany that I was contacted in connection with this group trying to find their old class mates from a cadre school in East Germany. The Nicaraguans who had participated had for security reasons not used their real names and had never talked about where they where from.
Poster currently hanging around most of León
Hey everybody. It's not like I'm not experiencing anything. I've been studying in London, went to Belfast and interviewed representatives of opposing but leftist/socialist parties, I went all across the States from Portland, OR to Miami, FL, stopping by in Berkley/Oakland, CA, Douglas/Tucson, AZ and NOLA (all by land) while meeting tons of people. And I've started fieldwork here in Nicaragua where I meet and talk to everything from open source software students (explaining to them all about LAMP) to hardline Sandinistas involved in land occupations, backpackers of all types and intellectual elites.
Johannes -- thinking
I started writing a number of texts, but I just can't get myself to finish anything to be published. Maybe I'll do sometime in the future, but don't count on it. I don't really think I'm obligated to tell anyone why, but it's just how it happens to be. If nothing else, it was getting boring having a constant deadline waiting for me just around the corner.
If you really want to know what I'm doing, it's probably best to send me an email or contact me on Facebook (email: j.wilm (a) gold.ac.uk), and I'm sure I'll tell you something or other, depending on who you are.
PS: If you are from Denmark/Norway (or feel close to those countries), check out the national campaign websites for these countries to get their soldiers home from Afghanistan that I've created recently: Norway & Denmark.
Johannes -- thinking
I started writing a number of texts, but I just can't get myself to finish anything to be published. Maybe I'll do sometime in the future, but don't count on it. I don't really think I'm obligated to tell anyone why, but it's just how it happens to be. If nothing else, it was getting boring having a constant deadline waiting for me just around the corner.
If you really want to know what I'm doing, it's probably best to send me an email or contact me on Facebook (email: j.wilm (a) gold.ac.uk), and I'm sure I'll tell you something or other, depending on who you are.
PS: If you are from Denmark/Norway (or feel close to those countries), check out the national campaign websites for these countries to get their soldiers home from Afghanistan that I've created recently: Norway & Denmark.
So, you haven't heard from me in a while. Well, the past three weeks I have been studying Spanish at the Xinabajul Spanish school in Huehuetenango, Guatemala. Although Huehuetenango is really untouristy (and full of traffic), I really saw no point in describing experiences that probably are 100% alike of those all other language students in Guatemala have.
Nevertheless, besides camping in Mexico city and studying Spanish here, I have also been helping to get the latest version of the Norwegian social anthropological yearly journal Betwixt and Between edited, written, layouted and printed. I don't know if articles I have been editing are representative of the entire collection (220 pages in total), but at least as far as what I've seen, the articles tend to be of a more activist nature in that it's not just all about describing things using the most advanced version of the Bourdieu-analysis-toolkit, but rather it is to actually try to point at some real problems/issues out there. (Un)fortunately, almost all the articles this year are written in Norwegian (one in Swedish) and few in English. While I understand the point of writing articles for those who do not know English (or any other language of size, however not in order to just keep Norwegian around as a museum type artifact), the problem is of course that writing an article in Norwegian severely hinders the spreading of the knowledge gathered specifically for the article.
Nevertheless, besides camping in Mexico city and studying Spanish here, I have also been helping to get the latest version of the Norwegian social anthropological yearly journal Betwixt and Between edited, written, layouted and printed. I don't know if articles I have been editing are representative of the entire collection (220 pages in total), but at least as far as what I've seen, the articles tend to be of a more activist nature in that it's not just all about describing things using the most advanced version of the Bourdieu-analysis-toolkit, but rather it is to actually try to point at some real problems/issues out there. (Un)fortunately, almost all the articles this year are written in Norwegian (one in Swedish) and few in English. While I understand the point of writing articles for those who do not know English (or any other language of size, however not in order to just keep Norwegian around as a museum type artifact), the problem is of course that writing an article in Norwegian severely hinders the spreading of the knowledge gathered specifically for the article.
I had promised to give some news updates here as to what is happening at the AMLO camp in Mexico City. Unfortunately, the organizers have decided that from now on, all news have to go through the PRD office and no person at the camp is allowed to speak to any kind of media directly. AT lkeast one interview that I had planned can therefore not be conducted, at least not currently. In general though, I can say that at this time the camp is growing. It has been more than 40 days of camping now, and so a lot of people had to go home and several tents were only manned sparely during the time that I have been here. However today, the first busses with people attending the conference next weekend have arrived. In contrast to those who have been here up until now, these seem to be more traditional party activists. The last few days it has been my experience that many are actually here because they do not actually have any other home. Several of them have also asked me as to what chances there are for them to obtain poilitical asylumn somewhere in Scandinavia, once "all this is over," because they fear repressions under president Calderon (PAN) and many "don't like Anglos [people from USA, Canada, UK]." Anothe rgorup that is present, although to a small degree, is people at student age, who have been able to take off for some time. I will be back with further updates, and I hope that the news ban will be lifted soon.
The camp of the leftwing Mexican president candidate AMLO has much of the same feeling as many of the anticamps of the intercontinental governmental conferences: no-one quite know how many protestors will come, no-one quite knows whether the police or military will react violently and turn it all into a bloodbath. But most of all: no one quite knows whether one will make a difference, or at least stop or hinder some of the meetings behind closed doors.
The AMLO camp in central Mexico city
The AMLO camp in central Mexico city
01/09: Leaving Douglas
So this is it. My third stay in Douglas is over. Tonight I will be taking the bus to Chihuahua where I will hopefully arrive by tomorrow morning. And I am leaving alone. I am really not sure about where I am going other than that I am going south for now at least.
Last night I spent with Robert, the son of the librarian who comes to town every once in a while and otherwise lives in Tucson. I tried to update him on recent events and rumors on what I had heard and witnessed in Douglas over the last two and a half weeks, and that was when I once again realized the enormous relative size of conspiracies here in town. I am quite sure that I have been involved or witnessed more of those during two and a half weeks of Douglas compared to 1.5 years previously in Oslo. But Robert charged me with maybe not really understanding what is going on: "well, I just can't imagine that you know these people here very well... you have been here like six months, and then been back twice over the past two years?" Well, true enough. According to all rules of probability, it is highly unlikely that I have much of a clue what is going on here....
leaving Douglas -- am i allowed to feel at home here?
Last night I spent with Robert, the son of the librarian who comes to town every once in a while and otherwise lives in Tucson. I tried to update him on recent events and rumors on what I had heard and witnessed in Douglas over the last two and a half weeks, and that was when I once again realized the enormous relative size of conspiracies here in town. I am quite sure that I have been involved or witnessed more of those during two and a half weeks of Douglas compared to 1.5 years previously in Oslo. But Robert charged me with maybe not really understanding what is going on: "well, I just can't imagine that you know these people here very well... you have been here like six months, and then been back twice over the past two years?" Well, true enough. According to all rules of probability, it is highly unlikely that I have much of a clue what is going on here....
leaving Douglas -- am i allowed to feel at home here?
29/08: On the Margins, 2nd edition
After months of proofreading and editing, the second edition of On the Margins" is finally available at lulu.com. Online stores should be updating their version within a few days. Strangely, this comes somewhat synchronously with me leaving Douglas once more after having spent the last few weeks here. Douglas is still a site of much (personal) drama which also I have a hard time staying away from, at the same time as it seems to exist somewhat independently of time and space around it. Besides having grammar fascists and people unfamiliar with Marxist theory run through the book again and again until they could not find any more unclear passages (thanks, Edwin M. Basye!) , also some of the names have been changed in order for them to be more realistic, and new pictures have been added (by filling out white space and not adding any extra pages at all).
the border, version two, and me
Also, it seems like there is a whole genre of books on scandals in Douglas. One of the recent books is The Reaper's Line, which, according to those supporting it, reveals quite a bit of the corruption that is going on in Douglas. The author Lee Morgan is a former drug enforcement agent and his language (goddam, fuck, ...) reveals that he tries to be a real redneck. The interesting part is that he is naming all the various people he is accusing of being corrupt. Other Douglasites however claim to have been present during some of the instances he describes and they say that since the description of those have little to do with reality, they doubt that the rest holds much water either.
The Reaper's Line -- truth or fiction?
One argument I've heard against Morgan even seems to originate in the Scandinavian cultural conduct code "janteloven": He thinks he is somebody, and that they'll put him on all the TV shows... whereas really "all of us" (that is all Douglasites + me) really do not matter to the world.
"In Douglas live the most beautiful women in the state," one Tucsoniantold me some years ago, and others have confirmed that it is a common conception. And the third book is called Beyond Betrayal --- One woman's journey through infidelity and can, to my knowledge only be bought at the Gadsden Hotel in downtown Douglas. In it a seemingly nymphomanic former school teacher describes her various sex escapades in Douglas. "She looked real attractive and so everybody wanted a piece of her," one Douglasite tells me --- and seemingly they all got what they wanted. Her husband decided to get involved with a girl in Agua Prieta though, and although they have moved far away by now, it is said that he still comes down here to see her.
the border, version two, and me
Also, it seems like there is a whole genre of books on scandals in Douglas. One of the recent books is The Reaper's Line, which, according to those supporting it, reveals quite a bit of the corruption that is going on in Douglas. The author Lee Morgan is a former drug enforcement agent and his language (goddam, fuck, ...) reveals that he tries to be a real redneck. The interesting part is that he is naming all the various people he is accusing of being corrupt. Other Douglasites however claim to have been present during some of the instances he describes and they say that since the description of those have little to do with reality, they doubt that the rest holds much water either.
The Reaper's Line -- truth or fiction?
One argument I've heard against Morgan even seems to originate in the Scandinavian cultural conduct code "janteloven": He thinks he is somebody, and that they'll put him on all the TV shows... whereas really "all of us" (that is all Douglasites + me) really do not matter to the world.
"In Douglas live the most beautiful women in the state," one Tucsoniantold me some years ago, and others have confirmed that it is a common conception. And the third book is called Beyond Betrayal --- One woman's journey through infidelity and can, to my knowledge only be bought at the Gadsden Hotel in downtown Douglas. In it a seemingly nymphomanic former school teacher describes her various sex escapades in Douglas. "She looked real attractive and so everybody wanted a piece of her," one Douglasite tells me --- and seemingly they all got what they wanted. Her husband decided to get involved with a girl in Agua Prieta though, and although they have moved far away by now, it is said that he still comes down here to see her.
Interrailing is great fun and despite low air plane tickets these days, there are still many reasons to engage in interrailing. For example, the fact that you can decide on the spot whether to stay in a place or leave to the next city. Once you hook up with some other interrailers, it can quickly mean that you trash your entire pre-planning and instead just decide to hang around with them instead.
Interrail map -- leaving out parts of Norway, Sweden, Finland, Marocco and Turkey
Also, interrailing is something entirely different than driving around Europe with a car, even though you might have borrowed the car from a family member and are leaving cheaply in all other ways, simply because you don't really meet your fellow travellers very much. And when you do, it is somewhere at a gas station in the middle of nowhere, with both cars heading in different directions. Meetings like that seldom last beyond just a few minutes.
Interrailers however meet mostly in trains between two transportation hubs (which usually are cities) or when they try to stay overnight in some town, preferably without having to pay for it (which usually can be done either in some park close to the train station by simply rendering the local police out of control by outnumbering them heavily in some of the main hubs or somewhere on the outskirts of cities, where no-one has thought about putting up a sign saying that you're not allowed to sleep under someones balcony). In both cases, they have many hours on them during which they can (and usually do) engage in discussions on all kinds of topics, though at least I end up talking about mid-term (between long- and shortterm) European politics (Is it better or worse in Poland now after the end of the soviet era? Did singer with the extremely deep voice who some Swedish travellers have on a CD just not become big because he was European and not American? etc.), sites one needs to have seen that no-one knows about, or experiences with control freak border guards.
I guess taking one of the far distance buses comes the closest in that they meet one another either while travelling between or within cities (a setup which I believe also comes closest to the experience people had during the early modernization period when trains connected inner-cites with one-another, before they were largely replaced by cars that are impossible to park in inner cities and instead suburbs, gas stations and interstate/highway restaurants and motels with one another). And often I do have some of the same conversations in the bus between Oslo and Copenhagen that I would have while interrailing. However, it is generally harder to move around in a bus and although a few bus pass systems exist now, they are few and probably due to another few reasons I haven't thought about, it all just ends up with contacts made on a bus breaking off immediately upon arrival, whereas interrail contacts often continue into finding a common place to stay, etc. .
Interrail map -- leaving out parts of Norway, Sweden, Finland, Marocco and Turkey
Also, interrailing is something entirely different than driving around Europe with a car, even though you might have borrowed the car from a family member and are leaving cheaply in all other ways, simply because you don't really meet your fellow travellers very much. And when you do, it is somewhere at a gas station in the middle of nowhere, with both cars heading in different directions. Meetings like that seldom last beyond just a few minutes.
Interrailers however meet mostly in trains between two transportation hubs (which usually are cities) or when they try to stay overnight in some town, preferably without having to pay for it (which usually can be done either in some park close to the train station by simply rendering the local police out of control by outnumbering them heavily in some of the main hubs or somewhere on the outskirts of cities, where no-one has thought about putting up a sign saying that you're not allowed to sleep under someones balcony). In both cases, they have many hours on them during which they can (and usually do) engage in discussions on all kinds of topics, though at least I end up talking about mid-term (between long- and shortterm) European politics (Is it better or worse in Poland now after the end of the soviet era? Did singer with the extremely deep voice who some Swedish travellers have on a CD just not become big because he was European and not American? etc.), sites one needs to have seen that no-one knows about, or experiences with control freak border guards.
I guess taking one of the far distance buses comes the closest in that they meet one another either while travelling between or within cities (a setup which I believe also comes closest to the experience people had during the early modernization period when trains connected inner-cites with one-another, before they were largely replaced by cars that are impossible to park in inner cities and instead suburbs, gas stations and interstate/highway restaurants and motels with one another). And often I do have some of the same conversations in the bus between Oslo and Copenhagen that I would have while interrailing. However, it is generally harder to move around in a bus and although a few bus pass systems exist now, they are few and probably due to another few reasons I haven't thought about, it all just ends up with contacts made on a bus breaking off immediately upon arrival, whereas interrail contacts often continue into finding a common place to stay, etc. .
18/07: Summer Holidays
Due to the summer holidays there are no updates to be expected in the near future. Also, I will be leaving for Hermosillo, MX taking off from Copenhagen, DK on August 11th, so updates will be scarce also in a somewhat longer perspective. In the last few days, I have been converting the clip on the Danish minority to another (and larger) format and transferred it from te commercial "Windows Movie Maker" to the free for use AVISynth. FOr those of you who had problems reading the subtitles on the previous version, the upcoming version should bring relief. Right now it's stuck in the Google Video approval system, but I'll update all links once it's up and running.
I am just about to finish another visit at my parents and so I'll be heading back to Oslo for now in order to help with the Afghan refugee actions, before I'll go to Berlin to visit my friends from highschool and take the IEALTS (English test) on July 29th, and from there on to Schwaan to participate in the Solid youth camp (watch the video from last year) up until August 6th. After that I'll hang around Zealand, Dk until I am to leave this continent.
Now you might wonder why I participate in a youth camp...
I am just about to finish another visit at my parents and so I'll be heading back to Oslo for now in order to help with the Afghan refugee actions, before I'll go to Berlin to visit my friends from highschool and take the IEALTS (English test) on July 29th, and from there on to Schwaan to participate in the Solid youth camp (watch the video from last year) up until August 6th. After that I'll hang around Zealand, Dk until I am to leave this continent.
Now you might wonder why I participate in a youth camp...
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