2012 – Page 3 – Wis[s]e Words

Footballers against Israeli apartheid

Published on December 3, 20121 Comment

The 2014 under-21 European Championships are supposed to be held in Israel, which is a bit awkward considering it just destroyed a football stadium as a novel new way of expressing its displeasure with the Palestinians. Sport, like art, is of course important to the well being of any peoples and it’s no wonder then that Israel regularly targets both.

To their considerable credit, more than sixty European professional footballers have protested against these acts and urged UEFA to withdrawn the competition from Israel:

We, as European football players, express our solidarity with the people of Gaza who are living under siege and denied basic human dignity and freedom. The latest Israeli bombardment of Gaza, resulting in the death of over a hundred civilians, was yet another stain on the world’s conscience.

We are informed that on 10 November 2012 the Israeli army bombed a sports stadium in Gaza, resulting in the death of four young people playing football, Mohamed Harara and Ahmed Harara, 16 and 17 years old; Matar Rahman and Ahmed Al Dirdissawi, 18 years old.

We are also informed that since February 2012 two footballers with the club Al Amari, Omar Rowis, 23, and Mohammed Nemer, 22, have been detained in Israel without charge or trial.

It is unacceptable that children are killed while they play football. Israel hosting the UEFA Under-21 European Championship, in these circumstances, will be seen as a reward for actions that are contrary to sporting values.

Despite the recent ceasefire, Palestinians are still forced to endure a desperate existence under occupation, they must be protected by the international community. All people have the right to a life of dignity, freedom and security. We hope that a just settlement will finally emerge.

Well done.

Books read November

Published on December 1, 2012Leave a comment

Slim pickings this month and being busy at work didn’t help. Though be honest, I was reading 3-4 books at teh same time so I expect a glut of books finished in early December, but for now I’ve only read four books:

~~Faust~~ Eric — Terry Pratchett
A somewhat odd Discworld novel, as it was originally published as an illustrated chapbook. Eric tries to summon a demon and gets Rincewind instead. Hilarity ensues.

Imperial Women in Byzantium 1025 – 1204 — Barbara Hill
The Byzantine Empire had a larger than usual share of female rulers, no more so than in the period Barbara Hill discusses, when for various reasons there was more room for strong minded women to influence imperial politics.

A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush — Eric Newby
Newby was working as a tailor in London when a friend asked him to come to Afghanistan to visit the remote north east corner, Nuristan and climb some mountains there. Despite no experience as a mountaineer, how could he refuse?

Iron Kingdom — Christopher Clark
A largely sympathetic account of the history of Prussia, trying to avoid the teleology that dogs a lot of German history, looking forward to the Third Reich.

What Fun!

Published on November 30, 2012Leave a comment

The Reggea and ska revival was not just a British movement, in holland too a lot of reggea and ska influences started creeping up in Dutch language pop music as the punk movement with its d.i.y. ethos led to an explosion of new and interesting groups, most noticably Doe Maar, a band that at its peak was as popular in the Netherlands as the Beatles had been in Britain in the sixties. It was the music I grew with in the early eighties and which still influences a lot of what I listen to today But of course since most of that took place in a language few people outside of Holland and Belgium speak, so most of it remained world famous in Holland only.

But every now and again there were glimpses of bigger things. What Fun! was a mixed race band from Haarlem (and hence banned from being played in South Africa), with a sound that wasn’t all that far removed from proper 2-Tone who had their one and only real hit in 1983 with the catchy tune above, “the Right Side One”. Doing well over here, it started getting some real airplay on the BBC as well, until somebody finally noticed, hey, this might just be a song about the Falklands War and yanked it from the playlists…

Spain Rodriguez 1940 – 2012

Published on November 29, 20121 Comment

Tom Spurgeon has more.

Why talk about race in comics?

Published on November 28, 2012Leave a comment

David Brothers talks about why he writes about comics and race:

Why do I write about race? Partly because other people are so terrible or inept at recognizing the impact of race on their life, let alone actually talking about it. When I first started, it was a lark. Then I thought I could convince Marvel and DC to do something other than pander to their audience. Then I realized that was stupid, and I’d be better off just talking about this stuff. I’ll spit hollowpoints at them them when they miss, praise them when they hit, and hopefully someone who reads me will look and go, “Oh, this makes sense” and tomorrow will be a little better.

It took me forever to come to that point, though. I figure it’s obvious if you read my posts from that first Black History salvo on through today. Maybe not. Maybe I’m the only one that pays that much attention to what I do. But I have changed and grown as a result of talking about race and comics.