NeverStopExploring...2006-2009
An italian blog about ideas, music, books and trips. Especially Trips...Into the world, into the soul, into the wild
The execution of 3 palestinian children by the Israel Army
Published domenica, febbraio 22, 2009 by Stefano Brandini.
"Voices from the rubble" - Time - February 9, 2009 - Tim McGirk/Jebel Al-Kashif
Standing with his grieving wife, Khaled Abed Rabu insists on showing the old report cards of his 7-year-old daughter Suwad as if the fact that she was an excellent student makes her death any more unfair or inexplicable. He reads out the teacher's comments in a faltering voice. "See?" he says. "She was the best student in her class."
You can measure the destruction in Gaza by the number of bombs dropped or buildings flattened or the price to rebuild it all, but the real cost lies within people like Abed Rabu, whose pain and sense of loss are apparent from the moment you meet him. Two weeks after the end of Israel's 22-day operation against Hamas militants, the battle to control the story of what happened in Gaza continues. The U.N. and human-rights groups accuse the Israeli military of using disproportionate force and even of committing war crimes. The Israeli government has responded to such charges by arguing that Hamas deliberately positioned weapons and fighters in areas populated by civilians. Israel has begun investigating some of the more egregious allegations about civilian deaths, which are multiplying as Gaza picks itself up from the rubble. One such account was presented to Time by Abed Rabu.
Abed Rabu says his daughter Suwad died in Gaza on Jan. 7, the day Israeli tanks churned across the strawberry fields and knocked their way into a little park about 20 yards (18 m) from the family home. Residents of Jebel al-Kashif recall being warned by the Israelis through loudspeakers to evacuate their homes. "There was no fighting, so we weren't too worried when the Israelis told us to leave," Abed Rabu recalls. "I told my girls, 'Don't be scared. We've done nothing to the Israelis, so they won't hurt us.'"
The patriarch says he herded his wife, mother and three young daughters, Amal, 2; Samar, 4; and Suwad to the door and gave the children a white flag to wave. "Two Israeli soldiers were beside their tank, eating chocolate and potato chips," he recounts, waving empty wrappers bearing Hebrew writing that he found later in the debris. "It was like a picnic for them."
According to Abed Rabu, a third Israeli soldier then popped out of the tank with an M-16 and fired a single shot. "I didn't understand what happened," says Abed Rabu. "I thought he was firing in the air, and then I looked down and saw my 2-year-old daughter lying there with her insides spilling out.
"I started screaming, 'Why are you doing this?' And then the soldier shot my two other girls. My wife fainted. And when my mother tried to drag Suwad inside the house, the soldier shot my mother in the chest, her shoulder and her leg."
Interviews with Abed Rabu's wife Kauthar, his mother-in-law and three neighbors, including Saad Abed Rabu and Khadra Abed Rabu (from the same clan), matched his account of the shootings, and certainly the family's grief and anger appear genuine. Two of the daughters died of bullet wounds, Palestinian doctors say, while the third, Samar, was evacuated from Shifa Hospital by the Red Crescent through Egypt and airlifted to a Belgian hospital, where she lies paralyzed. "Samar still doesn't know that her two sisters died," says Abed Rabu. "We don't want to shock her while she is still so fragile."
Whether the Israeli troops believed they were under threat when they opened fire is unclear. Most residents of Jebel al-Kashif claim there were no Hamas fighters in the area at the time of the alleged incident, but a middle-aged farmer in a battered army jacket took me aside and said, in a near whisper, that Hamas had been firing rockets from the vicinity of where the episode took place. An Israeli military spokesman told journalists investigating the shootings that the army had no information on the alleged incident but said the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) is "currently engaged in postoperational investigations." The IDF has stressed that Israeli troops were under orders to protect civilians during the offensive and have accused Hamas fighters of using civilians as human shields.
After the shootings, Abed Rabu says, he dragged his wounded children and mother into the doorway and shouted for help. "I could see an ambulance nearby," he says. The ambulance driver, Samiyeh al-Sheikh, who lives close by, said he heard shots and screams coming from Abed Rabu's house. "But when I tried to go toward them, the Israeli soldiers beat me up. Then, with a bulldozer, the soldiers backed the ambulance against my house and crushed it like sand." The twisted wreckage of the ambulance, partly buried under a house, was visible when reporters arrived several days later.
Inside his house, Abed Rabu moved his injured family under the staircase for protection. Frantic, he began phoning the Red Crescent, friends with cars, anyone who might help him reach a hospital. His 2-year-old daughter, shot in the stomach, was demanding water. "I wet her lips with my finger. It was all I could do," says Kauthar, the mother.
For two hours, Abed Rabu says, he was unable to summon help or move from the house. He says he pleaded with the soldiers to let him leave with his injured family, but they refused. Finally, his aged father picked up Samar in his arms and stood in the doorway. He said, "I'm willing to risk my life to take her to the hospital." This time, Abed Rabu says, the soldiers allowed them out. He and nine family members followed, carrying the two other wounded children and their grandmother. "I couldn't tell if Suwad and Amal were still breathing, but there was still a chance they might be alive," says Abed Rabu. "As we walked up the road, the soldiers shot at the dirt around our feet." Abed Rabu says he carried his daughters more than a mile. By the time they reached the hospital, the girls were dead.
Abed Rabu sits alone beside his blasted home. "I don't understand. I'm not Hamas. My girls weren't Hamas. Why did they do this to us?" he asks. In a reply to TIME's query, the military press office said, "The Israel Defense Forces is an ethical army and ... has no knowledge of such an incident."
Standing with his grieving wife, Khaled Abed Rabu insists on showing the old report cards of his 7-year-old daughter Suwad as if the fact that she was an excellent student makes her death any more unfair or inexplicable. He reads out the teacher's comments in a faltering voice. "See?" he says. "She was the best student in her class."
You can measure the destruction in Gaza by the number of bombs dropped or buildings flattened or the price to rebuild it all, but the real cost lies within people like Abed Rabu, whose pain and sense of loss are apparent from the moment you meet him. Two weeks after the end of Israel's 22-day operation against Hamas militants, the battle to control the story of what happened in Gaza continues. The U.N. and human-rights groups accuse the Israeli military of using disproportionate force and even of committing war crimes. The Israeli government has responded to such charges by arguing that Hamas deliberately positioned weapons and fighters in areas populated by civilians. Israel has begun investigating some of the more egregious allegations about civilian deaths, which are multiplying as Gaza picks itself up from the rubble. One such account was presented to Time by Abed Rabu.
Abed Rabu says his daughter Suwad died in Gaza on Jan. 7, the day Israeli tanks churned across the strawberry fields and knocked their way into a little park about 20 yards (18 m) from the family home. Residents of Jebel al-Kashif recall being warned by the Israelis through loudspeakers to evacuate their homes. "There was no fighting, so we weren't too worried when the Israelis told us to leave," Abed Rabu recalls. "I told my girls, 'Don't be scared. We've done nothing to the Israelis, so they won't hurt us.'"
The patriarch says he herded his wife, mother and three young daughters, Amal, 2; Samar, 4; and Suwad to the door and gave the children a white flag to wave. "Two Israeli soldiers were beside their tank, eating chocolate and potato chips," he recounts, waving empty wrappers bearing Hebrew writing that he found later in the debris. "It was like a picnic for them."
According to Abed Rabu, a third Israeli soldier then popped out of the tank with an M-16 and fired a single shot. "I didn't understand what happened," says Abed Rabu. "I thought he was firing in the air, and then I looked down and saw my 2-year-old daughter lying there with her insides spilling out.
"I started screaming, 'Why are you doing this?' And then the soldier shot my two other girls. My wife fainted. And when my mother tried to drag Suwad inside the house, the soldier shot my mother in the chest, her shoulder and her leg."
Interviews with Abed Rabu's wife Kauthar, his mother-in-law and three neighbors, including Saad Abed Rabu and Khadra Abed Rabu (from the same clan), matched his account of the shootings, and certainly the family's grief and anger appear genuine. Two of the daughters died of bullet wounds, Palestinian doctors say, while the third, Samar, was evacuated from Shifa Hospital by the Red Crescent through Egypt and airlifted to a Belgian hospital, where she lies paralyzed. "Samar still doesn't know that her two sisters died," says Abed Rabu. "We don't want to shock her while she is still so fragile."
Whether the Israeli troops believed they were under threat when they opened fire is unclear. Most residents of Jebel al-Kashif claim there were no Hamas fighters in the area at the time of the alleged incident, but a middle-aged farmer in a battered army jacket took me aside and said, in a near whisper, that Hamas had been firing rockets from the vicinity of where the episode took place. An Israeli military spokesman told journalists investigating the shootings that the army had no information on the alleged incident but said the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) is "currently engaged in postoperational investigations." The IDF has stressed that Israeli troops were under orders to protect civilians during the offensive and have accused Hamas fighters of using civilians as human shields.
After the shootings, Abed Rabu says, he dragged his wounded children and mother into the doorway and shouted for help. "I could see an ambulance nearby," he says. The ambulance driver, Samiyeh al-Sheikh, who lives close by, said he heard shots and screams coming from Abed Rabu's house. "But when I tried to go toward them, the Israeli soldiers beat me up. Then, with a bulldozer, the soldiers backed the ambulance against my house and crushed it like sand." The twisted wreckage of the ambulance, partly buried under a house, was visible when reporters arrived several days later.
Inside his house, Abed Rabu moved his injured family under the staircase for protection. Frantic, he began phoning the Red Crescent, friends with cars, anyone who might help him reach a hospital. His 2-year-old daughter, shot in the stomach, was demanding water. "I wet her lips with my finger. It was all I could do," says Kauthar, the mother.
For two hours, Abed Rabu says, he was unable to summon help or move from the house. He says he pleaded with the soldiers to let him leave with his injured family, but they refused. Finally, his aged father picked up Samar in his arms and stood in the doorway. He said, "I'm willing to risk my life to take her to the hospital." This time, Abed Rabu says, the soldiers allowed them out. He and nine family members followed, carrying the two other wounded children and their grandmother. "I couldn't tell if Suwad and Amal were still breathing, but there was still a chance they might be alive," says Abed Rabu. "As we walked up the road, the soldiers shot at the dirt around our feet." Abed Rabu says he carried his daughters more than a mile. By the time they reached the hospital, the girls were dead.
Abed Rabu sits alone beside his blasted home. "I don't understand. I'm not Hamas. My girls weren't Hamas. Why did they do this to us?" he asks. In a reply to TIME's query, the military press office said, "The Israel Defense Forces is an ethical army and ... has no knowledge of such an incident."
A real masterpiece, outstanding, hypnotic, psychedelic, unforgettable and the OST is OSCAR deserving too...
Il marchese De Rays e la colonia di New Italy nel New South Wales (AUS)
Published sabato, ottobre 18, 2008 by Stefano Brandini.
Partiamo alla volta di Byron Bay. Siamo in 4 in macchina: Tamas, un ragazzo canadese, un ragazzo francese ed io. Passiamo la notte in un campeggio di Crescent Head e il giorno dopo facciamo rotta su Byron Bay. Ad un centinaio di chilometri dalla nostra destinazione, sulla Pacific Highway n.1 c'è New Italy. O per lo meno quello che ne rimane ora. Spinto dalla curiosità convinco i miei compagni di viaggio a fermarsi per una sosta. In questa piccola area, proprio al lato della strada, c'è un museo nel quale sono rappresentate tutte le regioni italiane con foto di monumenti e qualche cenno storico. Poi c'è un caffè con qualche reperto della vecchia New Italy. La mia attenzione viene rapita da qualche articolo di giornale vecchio più di 100 anni che fa riferimento ad un manipolo di emigranti veneti finiti vittima della truffa di un marchese francese. La mia curiosità è tale che compro un libro sull'argomento scritto da un italiano, Floriano Volpato.
Mentre mi dirigo verso la macchina do un'occhiata furtiva al racconto e mi rendo subito conto che la storia è di quelle incredibili…
Questo marchese De Rays nasce in Bretagna nel 1832 da una nobile e vecchia famiglia francese e da giovane si lancia in imprese commerciali fallimentari negli Stati Uniti prima, poi in Senegal e in Madagascar…All'età di 45 anni il suo senso di avventura non si è placato e spinto da letture picaresche concentra la sua attenzione diabolica sull'Oceania…Rimane colpito dalla descrizione fatta da un certo comandante Duperrey che aveva navigato nei mari del Pacifico a nord dell'Australia, esattamente fra le isole ad oriente della Nuova Guinea, ribattezzando le terre Nuova Irlanda. Il nostro marchese De Rays mette in piedi un progetto folle di colonizzazione che è a tutti gli effetti una truffa colossale e che costerà la vita a decine e decine di ignari innocenti. Annuncia la fondazione della colonia "La Nouvelle France" e fa stampare simultaneamente migliaia di falsi certificati di proprietà. Poi da alla luce un manifesto in 400 mila copie che descriveva le terre del Pacifico come un vero e proprio paradiso terrestre con 2 raccolti garantiti all'anno. La capitale, Port Breton, viene descritta come una città moderna con tanto di edifici, strade e tutto quanto. Poco dopo il megalomane marchese si autoproclama "Charles Presidente dell'Oceania"!
Il 14 settembre 1879 il veliero "Chandernagor" leva gli ormeggi dal porto di Flessingue, Olanda, con i primi 90 emigranti. Il veliero batte bandiera americana ma dopo Madera ripiega su quella liberiana…Il viaggio dura 4 mesi e fa un solo, breve, scalo. Il 16 gennaio 1880 gli emigranti vedono finalmente la loro terra promessa e quello che hanni di fronte è simile ad un inferno dantesco. Port Breton, la capitale, non esiste; vi è solo una spiaggia stretta stretta a ridosso di una giungla foltissima che risale ripidamente sul fianco del minaccioso monte Veron. I coloni avrebbero fatto presto conoscenza di un terreno incoltivabile, di un'aria intrisa dalla malaria e soprattutto dei padroni di casa: i terribili tagliatori di teste.
6 dei superstiti del viaggio preferirono allora tentare l'avventura in mare piuttosto che rimanere a morire nell'isola maledetta. Con un canotto abbandonato dal "Chandernagor" andarono alla deriva per 5 giorni e approdarono su di un'altra isola quando ormai la loro fine era prossima. Appena sbarcati furono però catturati dai selvaggi locali che li misero all'ingrasso per una cerimonia cannibale. Solo uno di loro riuscì a salvarsi: Boero, un italiano. Finì anche lui vittima di una tribù ma, preso da una crisi isterica iniziò a piangere e tale fu lo stupore dei cannibali che da quel giorno Boero divenne il giullare del re Bouka che lo faceva ridere e piangere a suo piacimento. Fino a che, un giorno, la seconda spedizione della nave "Genil" fece scalo sull'isola e il capitano impietositosi di fronte allo spettacolo di Boero lo riscattò dagli indigeni per un paio di accette…
Da quella spiaggia che doveva essere Port Breton, gli emigranti della "Chandernagor" si diressero faticosamente in un'altra spiaggia dell'isola detta Liki-Liki e lì aspettarono, rassegnati, la loro fine fino a quando una missione cristiana li mise in salvo e li portò fino a Sidney.
La seconda spedizione, quella del "Genil", battente anch'essa bandiera liberiana arriva a Liki-Liki quando i superstiti della prima sono stati appena evacuati e si ancora nelle acque di Port Breton. Ma è la terza spedizione quella che ci interessa più da vicino perché gli agenti del marchese De Rays si erano spinti fino al Veneto in cerca di "clienti". Intere famiglie vendettero le loro case, i loro poderi per inseguire il sogno di una nuova vita nelle calde isole del Pacifico. Con i soli veneti il marchese riuscì a riempire la terza spedizione che salperà da Barcellona il 9 luglio 1880 con la nave "India": 340 persone che andavano raggianti e fiduciose incontro ad una nuova catastrofe…Quando l'"India" arriva a Port Breton è il 14 ottobre e la visione infernale della rada, sovrastata dal monte Veron, è resa ancora più apocalittica dal cielo reso nero e cupo da un'imminente temporale.
Gli italiani resistono a Port Breton fra stenti indicibili fino al 15 febbraio del 1881, quando, spinti dalla disperazione, costringono il capitano dell'India a salpare dall'isola e a fare rotta verso la Nuova Caledonia, che era una colonia penale francese. Vi arrivano vivi in 225…115 persone sono già morte. Qui interviene il console italiano di Sidney, che è stato avvertito della situazione dal collega inglese di stanza a Noumea, la capitale della Nuova Caledonia. Il console italiano Manaro convince il premier del New South Wales a organizzare una spedizione per salvare i disperati e portarli in Australia. È il 7 aprile 1881 quando i sopravissuti all'odissea vedono finalmente le luci di una vera città, è la baia di Sidney.
Mentre una quarta spedizione, sul veliero a vapore "La Nouvelle Bretagne", andava incontro al medesimo brutale destino il marchese De Rays venne finalmente arrestato in Spagna nel giugno del 1882 con un mandato di estradizione delle autorità francesi ma, nonostante le testimonianze inoppugnabili se la cavò con soli 6 anni di carcere e 3mila franchi di multa. A quel tempo il marchese era riuscito a vendere già 600.000 ettari di terra, della quale non era mai stato in possesso, ricavandone 5 milioni di franchi…
Gli italiani dell'India sono a Sidney, ancora increduli della loro disavventura, quando un marinaio italiano, Rocco Camminiti, descrive loro una zona meravigliosa, a nord, sulle rive del fiume Richmond, dove è possibile iniziare una nuova vita, comprando il terreno per una sterlina ad acro. Gli italiani, nonostante fossero già stati ingannati da chi gli aveva propugnato la visione di un facile El Dorado a queste latitudini, hanno ancora voglia di sognare e credono al marinaio. Quell'uomo sembra sincero, dimostra di conoscere bene la regione che descrive e, soprattutto, parla la loro lingua. Si imbarcano per il loro ultimo viaggio, con il cuore gonfio di tristezza per i tanti cari morti ma al tempo stesso fiduciosi che il destino stia volgendo loro una faccia amica, finalmente. Risalgono il fiume con dei piroscafi a vapore e poi, scesi a Woodburn o Swan Bay, proseguono a piedi per una decina di chilometri fino alla meta tanta agognata. Di fronte a loro magnifich foreste di alberi altissimi che risalivano i dolci pendii delle colline. Quella terra era la loro terra promessa e in molti si lasciarono vincere da un pianto liberatorio. Nel 1887 sulle sponde destre del fiume Richmond, nella regione di Lismore, 200 italiani popolavano la New Italy. Col passare degli anni la piccola comunità crebbe fiorente e fu motivo di ammirazione da parte degli australiani della regione. Negli anni però i giovani cominciarono a trasferirsi verso i centri urbani più grandi e la cittadina di New Italy si svuotò fino a quando negli anni '30 rimase il solo Giacomo Piccoli a vegliare il ricordo di quella storia incredibile. Per 20 anni, fino al 1955, anno della sua morte, Giacomo rimase da solo nella "sua" terra, rasserenato da quella brezza leggera dove aveva finalmente trovato la sua Pace. Recintò un appezzamento di terreno e lo intitolò Parco della Pace. Quel terreno era il suolo dove ora sorgeva il museo e il monumento in ricordo degli eroici italiani.
Con qualche canguro che mi guardava curioso dal giardino, volsi un ultimo sguardo a quella "terra promessa", salii in macchina e facemmo rotta su Byron Bay…
Mentre mi dirigo verso la macchina do un'occhiata furtiva al racconto e mi rendo subito conto che la storia è di quelle incredibili…
Questo marchese De Rays nasce in Bretagna nel 1832 da una nobile e vecchia famiglia francese e da giovane si lancia in imprese commerciali fallimentari negli Stati Uniti prima, poi in Senegal e in Madagascar…All'età di 45 anni il suo senso di avventura non si è placato e spinto da letture picaresche concentra la sua attenzione diabolica sull'Oceania…Rimane colpito dalla descrizione fatta da un certo comandante Duperrey che aveva navigato nei mari del Pacifico a nord dell'Australia, esattamente fra le isole ad oriente della Nuova Guinea, ribattezzando le terre Nuova Irlanda. Il nostro marchese De Rays mette in piedi un progetto folle di colonizzazione che è a tutti gli effetti una truffa colossale e che costerà la vita a decine e decine di ignari innocenti. Annuncia la fondazione della colonia "La Nouvelle France" e fa stampare simultaneamente migliaia di falsi certificati di proprietà. Poi da alla luce un manifesto in 400 mila copie che descriveva le terre del Pacifico come un vero e proprio paradiso terrestre con 2 raccolti garantiti all'anno. La capitale, Port Breton, viene descritta come una città moderna con tanto di edifici, strade e tutto quanto. Poco dopo il megalomane marchese si autoproclama "Charles Presidente dell'Oceania"!
Il 14 settembre 1879 il veliero "Chandernagor" leva gli ormeggi dal porto di Flessingue, Olanda, con i primi 90 emigranti. Il veliero batte bandiera americana ma dopo Madera ripiega su quella liberiana…Il viaggio dura 4 mesi e fa un solo, breve, scalo. Il 16 gennaio 1880 gli emigranti vedono finalmente la loro terra promessa e quello che hanni di fronte è simile ad un inferno dantesco. Port Breton, la capitale, non esiste; vi è solo una spiaggia stretta stretta a ridosso di una giungla foltissima che risale ripidamente sul fianco del minaccioso monte Veron. I coloni avrebbero fatto presto conoscenza di un terreno incoltivabile, di un'aria intrisa dalla malaria e soprattutto dei padroni di casa: i terribili tagliatori di teste.
6 dei superstiti del viaggio preferirono allora tentare l'avventura in mare piuttosto che rimanere a morire nell'isola maledetta. Con un canotto abbandonato dal "Chandernagor" andarono alla deriva per 5 giorni e approdarono su di un'altra isola quando ormai la loro fine era prossima. Appena sbarcati furono però catturati dai selvaggi locali che li misero all'ingrasso per una cerimonia cannibale. Solo uno di loro riuscì a salvarsi: Boero, un italiano. Finì anche lui vittima di una tribù ma, preso da una crisi isterica iniziò a piangere e tale fu lo stupore dei cannibali che da quel giorno Boero divenne il giullare del re Bouka che lo faceva ridere e piangere a suo piacimento. Fino a che, un giorno, la seconda spedizione della nave "Genil" fece scalo sull'isola e il capitano impietositosi di fronte allo spettacolo di Boero lo riscattò dagli indigeni per un paio di accette…
Da quella spiaggia che doveva essere Port Breton, gli emigranti della "Chandernagor" si diressero faticosamente in un'altra spiaggia dell'isola detta Liki-Liki e lì aspettarono, rassegnati, la loro fine fino a quando una missione cristiana li mise in salvo e li portò fino a Sidney.
La seconda spedizione, quella del "Genil", battente anch'essa bandiera liberiana arriva a Liki-Liki quando i superstiti della prima sono stati appena evacuati e si ancora nelle acque di Port Breton. Ma è la terza spedizione quella che ci interessa più da vicino perché gli agenti del marchese De Rays si erano spinti fino al Veneto in cerca di "clienti". Intere famiglie vendettero le loro case, i loro poderi per inseguire il sogno di una nuova vita nelle calde isole del Pacifico. Con i soli veneti il marchese riuscì a riempire la terza spedizione che salperà da Barcellona il 9 luglio 1880 con la nave "India": 340 persone che andavano raggianti e fiduciose incontro ad una nuova catastrofe…Quando l'"India" arriva a Port Breton è il 14 ottobre e la visione infernale della rada, sovrastata dal monte Veron, è resa ancora più apocalittica dal cielo reso nero e cupo da un'imminente temporale.
Gli italiani resistono a Port Breton fra stenti indicibili fino al 15 febbraio del 1881, quando, spinti dalla disperazione, costringono il capitano dell'India a salpare dall'isola e a fare rotta verso la Nuova Caledonia, che era una colonia penale francese. Vi arrivano vivi in 225…115 persone sono già morte. Qui interviene il console italiano di Sidney, che è stato avvertito della situazione dal collega inglese di stanza a Noumea, la capitale della Nuova Caledonia. Il console italiano Manaro convince il premier del New South Wales a organizzare una spedizione per salvare i disperati e portarli in Australia. È il 7 aprile 1881 quando i sopravissuti all'odissea vedono finalmente le luci di una vera città, è la baia di Sidney.
Mentre una quarta spedizione, sul veliero a vapore "La Nouvelle Bretagne", andava incontro al medesimo brutale destino il marchese De Rays venne finalmente arrestato in Spagna nel giugno del 1882 con un mandato di estradizione delle autorità francesi ma, nonostante le testimonianze inoppugnabili se la cavò con soli 6 anni di carcere e 3mila franchi di multa. A quel tempo il marchese era riuscito a vendere già 600.000 ettari di terra, della quale non era mai stato in possesso, ricavandone 5 milioni di franchi…
Gli italiani dell'India sono a Sidney, ancora increduli della loro disavventura, quando un marinaio italiano, Rocco Camminiti, descrive loro una zona meravigliosa, a nord, sulle rive del fiume Richmond, dove è possibile iniziare una nuova vita, comprando il terreno per una sterlina ad acro. Gli italiani, nonostante fossero già stati ingannati da chi gli aveva propugnato la visione di un facile El Dorado a queste latitudini, hanno ancora voglia di sognare e credono al marinaio. Quell'uomo sembra sincero, dimostra di conoscere bene la regione che descrive e, soprattutto, parla la loro lingua. Si imbarcano per il loro ultimo viaggio, con il cuore gonfio di tristezza per i tanti cari morti ma al tempo stesso fiduciosi che il destino stia volgendo loro una faccia amica, finalmente. Risalgono il fiume con dei piroscafi a vapore e poi, scesi a Woodburn o Swan Bay, proseguono a piedi per una decina di chilometri fino alla meta tanta agognata. Di fronte a loro magnifich foreste di alberi altissimi che risalivano i dolci pendii delle colline. Quella terra era la loro terra promessa e in molti si lasciarono vincere da un pianto liberatorio. Nel 1887 sulle sponde destre del fiume Richmond, nella regione di Lismore, 200 italiani popolavano la New Italy. Col passare degli anni la piccola comunità crebbe fiorente e fu motivo di ammirazione da parte degli australiani della regione. Negli anni però i giovani cominciarono a trasferirsi verso i centri urbani più grandi e la cittadina di New Italy si svuotò fino a quando negli anni '30 rimase il solo Giacomo Piccoli a vegliare il ricordo di quella storia incredibile. Per 20 anni, fino al 1955, anno della sua morte, Giacomo rimase da solo nella "sua" terra, rasserenato da quella brezza leggera dove aveva finalmente trovato la sua Pace. Recintò un appezzamento di terreno e lo intitolò Parco della Pace. Quel terreno era il suolo dove ora sorgeva il museo e il monumento in ricordo degli eroici italiani.
Con qualche canguro che mi guardava curioso dal giardino, volsi un ultimo sguardo a quella "terra promessa", salii in macchina e facemmo rotta su Byron Bay…
Music: "Dirge", Death In Vegas, The Contino Sessions, 1999
Article by Andrew Sullivan on The Sunday Times, UK
There is one reason the job of vice-president exists. In a system with a single executive, you need someone to fill in if the president is incapacitated or dies. In war time this is especially important. More salient: McCain just turned 72 and would be the oldest first term president in American history with four cancer scares and the awful residue of Vietnamese torture in his bones.
The pick is also the first presidential-level decision a candidate has to make. You learn a lot about the candidate. And with Obama and McCain, we have two men who have never been executives - just legislators, book-writers and celebrities. So the decision is the first time we can compare the two men on a presidential decision level.
In Joe Biden, Obama revealed his core temperamental conservatism. It was a safe choice of someone deeply versed in foreign policy, and with roots that connected to the working class white ethnics he needed. It wasn't flashy; and was even a little underwhelming; but it was highly professional.
What we have learned about John McCain from his selection of Sarah Palin is that he is as impulsive and reckless a decision-maker as George W. Bush. We know this not because of what we have learned about this Pentecostalist populist since she exploded on the scene last Friday morning (and God knows we have learned more than we ever wanted). We know it because of how McCain made the decision. He wanted his best friend, Joe Lieberman, the former Democratic vice-presidential candidate for Al Gore. That pick would have been remarkable for its bipartisan nature, would have impressed independents, and signaled a centrist presidency centered on foreign policy. It would have been bold while not being rash.
But McCain is in charge of a party that is now, at its core, religiously motivated. Joe Lieberman, for all his political talents, is Jewish, pro-choice on abortion, gay-inclusive, and domestically liberal. McCain faced an insurrection in his party base if he picked him. Without the evangelical base, he wasn't going to win.
So last week, McCain picked someone he had only met once before. I repeat: he picked someone he had only met once before. His vetting chief sat Palin down for a face-to-face interview the Wednesday before last. It's very hard to overstate how nutty and irresponsible this is. Would any corporate chieftain pick a number two on those grounds and not be dismissed by his board for recklessness?
The recklessness was much more fatal in the new media world than in the old one. In the old media world, the Republicans could try to control the flow of information, browbeat the press and prevent the entire weird family background and series of scandals and rumors of quite incredible events from getting into the mainstream. But those days are over. Within minutes of the announcement, everyone reached for Google. I recommend for starters the two following stories that appeared in the Anchorage Daily News last March and April.
WIthin hours, the McCain campaign was under siege, as the vetting process the professionals didn't do was done by thousands of bloggers and citizen journalists. Palin's reality show family life, her vendetta against her ex brother-in-law, her endorsement of a mayoral candidate who ran against her own mother-in-law, her attempt to ban books in her local library, her friendship with one of her husband's former business partners, and on and on: this was the first major campaign event that was covered by the underground media before it reached the mainstream. The American mainstream press spent a large part of last week wondering how much truth the public could bear to hear.
McCain's entire campaign, moreover, was based on his superior experience to Obama, who was allegedly too unknown and risky for the Oval Office, and too jejune on foreign policy. And then McCain turned around and picked a total unknown who had been a mayor of a town in Alaska of a few thousand and then had only just got elected as governor of a very strange state with 700,000 people. More to the point, there is virtually no record anywhere of her views on foreign policy in the public record.
There is one documented instance. It came in an interview with the Alaskan Business Monthly in December 2006. She was asked about the central issue of McCain's campaign: the surge in Iraq, which he championed. She said she hadn't focused on the war with Iraq but had heard about the surge "on the news." She then said that she hoped there was an "exit plan." That was it. So on the central issue of McCain's campaign, Palin took the opposite position to John McCain.
McCain's major domestic issue in the election, moreover, is the economy and the rocky time many middle class Americans are having. All the polls show that he needs to offer something tangible to counter Obama's reconstructed Clintonomics and universal healthcare. By his own admission, he has never been that interested in economic issues. And his vulnerability is the sense that he doesn't get how distressed many Americans feel. So who does he pick? A governor whose state is essentially an oil company and whose major problem in the two mintes she has been in office has been what to do with a $5 billion oil surplus! She decided to send half a billion dollars' worth of checks to every Alaskan this summer. And people wonder why she's popular in her state.
It would be very hard to pick a governor in America who knows less about the struggles of most Americans in the current economy. Alaska's economy is currently like Russia's: booming because of commodity prices. And her one key policy issue in Alaska has been drilling for oil in the protected Alaskan National Wilderness Reserve - a policy McCain, against most of his Republican colleagues, has always opposed! Oh, and she's against protecting the polar bears as well. This is McCain's green conservatism: building pipelines, drilling in protected wildernesses and screwing the polar bears.
There are other obvious liabilities with Palin. To say the very least, her private life and family are colorful. The rumors about them do not stop coming, and the tabloid press has only just arrived in what can only be called Arkansas with penguins. Palin, moreover, currently has two ethics investigations into her conduct in the 18 months she has been in office - and one report is scheduled to go public days before the election. What was McCain thinking? And Palin's edcuation? Six colleges in five years ending in a degree in sports journalism from the University of Idaho. That's the background of someone who could be president of the United States at any moment after next January.
Who does John McCain think he's kidding? And what on earth was he thinking? This was a rash, impulsive, reckless pick. We have no idea where it's headed - and i wouldn't hazard a wild guess what we will have found out about Palin in a week's time. Maybe it will win some votes from evangelicals. Maybe Palin will reveal herself as something more than a former sportscaster who can deliver a speech. But it shows a deep unseriousness about governing the most powerful nation on earth at a time of great peril.
If you thought a president who went to war on flawed intelligence with no plan for the aftermath was reckless, then I have news for you. You haven't seen anything yet. Imagine the kind of decision-making McCain has just demonstrated applied to ife-and-death decisions with respect to Iran and Russia.
Yes, you have permission to be afraid.
There is one reason the job of vice-president exists. In a system with a single executive, you need someone to fill in if the president is incapacitated or dies. In war time this is especially important. More salient: McCain just turned 72 and would be the oldest first term president in American history with four cancer scares and the awful residue of Vietnamese torture in his bones.
The pick is also the first presidential-level decision a candidate has to make. You learn a lot about the candidate. And with Obama and McCain, we have two men who have never been executives - just legislators, book-writers and celebrities. So the decision is the first time we can compare the two men on a presidential decision level.
In Joe Biden, Obama revealed his core temperamental conservatism. It was a safe choice of someone deeply versed in foreign policy, and with roots that connected to the working class white ethnics he needed. It wasn't flashy; and was even a little underwhelming; but it was highly professional.
What we have learned about John McCain from his selection of Sarah Palin is that he is as impulsive and reckless a decision-maker as George W. Bush. We know this not because of what we have learned about this Pentecostalist populist since she exploded on the scene last Friday morning (and God knows we have learned more than we ever wanted). We know it because of how McCain made the decision. He wanted his best friend, Joe Lieberman, the former Democratic vice-presidential candidate for Al Gore. That pick would have been remarkable for its bipartisan nature, would have impressed independents, and signaled a centrist presidency centered on foreign policy. It would have been bold while not being rash.
But McCain is in charge of a party that is now, at its core, religiously motivated. Joe Lieberman, for all his political talents, is Jewish, pro-choice on abortion, gay-inclusive, and domestically liberal. McCain faced an insurrection in his party base if he picked him. Without the evangelical base, he wasn't going to win.
So last week, McCain picked someone he had only met once before. I repeat: he picked someone he had only met once before. His vetting chief sat Palin down for a face-to-face interview the Wednesday before last. It's very hard to overstate how nutty and irresponsible this is. Would any corporate chieftain pick a number two on those grounds and not be dismissed by his board for recklessness?
The recklessness was much more fatal in the new media world than in the old one. In the old media world, the Republicans could try to control the flow of information, browbeat the press and prevent the entire weird family background and series of scandals and rumors of quite incredible events from getting into the mainstream. But those days are over. Within minutes of the announcement, everyone reached for Google. I recommend for starters the two following stories that appeared in the Anchorage Daily News last March and April.
WIthin hours, the McCain campaign was under siege, as the vetting process the professionals didn't do was done by thousands of bloggers and citizen journalists. Palin's reality show family life, her vendetta against her ex brother-in-law, her endorsement of a mayoral candidate who ran against her own mother-in-law, her attempt to ban books in her local library, her friendship with one of her husband's former business partners, and on and on: this was the first major campaign event that was covered by the underground media before it reached the mainstream. The American mainstream press spent a large part of last week wondering how much truth the public could bear to hear.
McCain's entire campaign, moreover, was based on his superior experience to Obama, who was allegedly too unknown and risky for the Oval Office, and too jejune on foreign policy. And then McCain turned around and picked a total unknown who had been a mayor of a town in Alaska of a few thousand and then had only just got elected as governor of a very strange state with 700,000 people. More to the point, there is virtually no record anywhere of her views on foreign policy in the public record.
There is one documented instance. It came in an interview with the Alaskan Business Monthly in December 2006. She was asked about the central issue of McCain's campaign: the surge in Iraq, which he championed. She said she hadn't focused on the war with Iraq but had heard about the surge "on the news." She then said that she hoped there was an "exit plan." That was it. So on the central issue of McCain's campaign, Palin took the opposite position to John McCain.
McCain's major domestic issue in the election, moreover, is the economy and the rocky time many middle class Americans are having. All the polls show that he needs to offer something tangible to counter Obama's reconstructed Clintonomics and universal healthcare. By his own admission, he has never been that interested in economic issues. And his vulnerability is the sense that he doesn't get how distressed many Americans feel. So who does he pick? A governor whose state is essentially an oil company and whose major problem in the two mintes she has been in office has been what to do with a $5 billion oil surplus! She decided to send half a billion dollars' worth of checks to every Alaskan this summer. And people wonder why she's popular in her state.
It would be very hard to pick a governor in America who knows less about the struggles of most Americans in the current economy. Alaska's economy is currently like Russia's: booming because of commodity prices. And her one key policy issue in Alaska has been drilling for oil in the protected Alaskan National Wilderness Reserve - a policy McCain, against most of his Republican colleagues, has always opposed! Oh, and she's against protecting the polar bears as well. This is McCain's green conservatism: building pipelines, drilling in protected wildernesses and screwing the polar bears.
There are other obvious liabilities with Palin. To say the very least, her private life and family are colorful. The rumors about them do not stop coming, and the tabloid press has only just arrived in what can only be called Arkansas with penguins. Palin, moreover, currently has two ethics investigations into her conduct in the 18 months she has been in office - and one report is scheduled to go public days before the election. What was McCain thinking? And Palin's edcuation? Six colleges in five years ending in a degree in sports journalism from the University of Idaho. That's the background of someone who could be president of the United States at any moment after next January.
Who does John McCain think he's kidding? And what on earth was he thinking? This was a rash, impulsive, reckless pick. We have no idea where it's headed - and i wouldn't hazard a wild guess what we will have found out about Palin in a week's time. Maybe it will win some votes from evangelicals. Maybe Palin will reveal herself as something more than a former sportscaster who can deliver a speech. But it shows a deep unseriousness about governing the most powerful nation on earth at a time of great peril.
If you thought a president who went to war on flawed intelligence with no plan for the aftermath was reckless, then I have news for you. You haven't seen anything yet. Imagine the kind of decision-making McCain has just demonstrated applied to ife-and-death decisions with respect to Iran and Russia.
Yes, you have permission to be afraid.
A legendary trekking, an infinite trip into the wild, that's the Continental Divide Trail, 5000 km, from Canada to Mexico, along the Rocky Mountains...Do you have 5 months free in your agenda?
http://www.cdtrail.org
Bearhat Mountain, quite similar to the holy Kailash in Tibet, isn't it?
5895 metres above savana...
Climbing Kilimanjaro Mountanin is an authentic milestone in a trekker's life. The expedition is quite easy and it lasts a mimimum of 5 days. One day of acclimatization in the middle of the expedition is required. Kilimanjaro is the highest mountain of Africa. It's 5895 metres above the sea level.
Best Brazilian Movie since "City of God":
The daily struggle between drug dealers and police in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro...Really Outstanding
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