Their Version of Peace, the Peace Bomb

Peace can be understood in two ways, first you have peace as the state of harmony, the lack of conflict, and secondly you have peace as death. This being said, the American method of bringing peace in the world is highly effective, although, it refers to the second definition and, so, their achievements are not to be commended but condemned. Sadly, people are so brainwashed with American propaganda that even if you think and know that the United States is using the world as a playground, you are unlikely to take a stand. We shouldn't reject American culture, it definitely has many positive elements, what we should reject and actively oppose is their desire to take over the world through their self-centered mentality that feeds on false patriotism.

Everyone should take life in their own hands, nobody should rely on anyone for help and if help comes, it usually has a cost and it's up to you to accept or refuse. Assuming this doesn't apply to geopolitics is like assuming that on the Moon people no longer need to breath. I would like to see America developing a national consensus on what is good and productive. Acting like a superhero with a dissociative identity disorder in neither good, nor productive. I hope as many American people will read this article. If you see someone who considers himself the richest, smartest and most powerful man on the planet, you don't expect him to attack a homeless individual which could possibly be envious of his success. If he does that he is not much greater than him. This can translate into Bush Jr. transforming the American nation into sheepherders. The amount of anger the Taliban and other militant Islamist movements show against the West is disproportionately increased and redirected back to them, and in the process countless innocent people die. 

Other articles on the United States and related:  / :  دیگر مقالات در مورد آمریکا و مرتبط

Edward Hopper (visual) and Ernest Farres (text)

Presenting poetry and paintings together isn't something new, I remember reading that Turner had the habit of presenting a few verses along with his works. Not many artists have/had this interest, Edward Hopper, as it seems, didn't have it. Nonetheless, all is not lost, and thanks to the internationalized American culture, we can now read poems created by the Catalan writer, Ernest Farres, that are inspired, or for a better choice of words, are dedicated to Hopper's paintings.

Hopper was fascinated by lights and shadows, not like Caravaggio... and not like Turner either... for him, these played a central role in the painting itself. There are mostly two degrees, rarely something in between. He renders American life from his own personal perspective and I like to point out that in his paintings, people usually can be found reading, sitting, waiting and occasionally, engaged in conversation. Not the moment for a detailed article about him and his work, but I will write it, eventually. Overall, I admire his clean and precise style, it has a calm inducing effect on my psyche, which is a good thing.

Farres wrote the volume entitled Edward Hopper in 2006 in Catalan, so what you will read here are translations made by Lawrence Venuti. I am more of a traditionalist when it comes to verses but I found his poems excellent with and without the paintings by their side. Enjoy.

1909 - Summer Interior

1923 - East River

The greatest influence
     my reading of Siddartha
     exercised on me
     had much to do with rivers.
Ever since that moment
     they acquired a meaning
     most profound and symbolic.
     For a while I’ve played with the edge
of knowing we live in a never-ending
     dream. I refer to an urban dream jam-packed
     with buildings, hydrocarbons, aromatic mint teas,
     textile factories, tanneries, and a river
that reflects the essence of dusk and provokes
     a weird effect, cathartic and liberating. The city
     institutes laws and rivers are rebels that try their damndest
     to break them (although they rarely get away with it).
Every river is a type
     of dream that lies inside
     a more global dream of life,
     and flowing it resembles us:
descending from pretty far away
     by fits and starts, it disseminates
     and embodies the spirit
     of what could have been.

1925 - House by the Railroad

1926 -     Railroad Sunset - Whitney Museum of American Art

1931 - The Barber Shop

1932 - Room in New York

1933 - Burly Cobb's House, South Truro

1937 - Sheridan Theatre

1938 - Compartment C, Car 193

Face stern, hair
more or less blonde, eyes
with an inward-looking glint,
skin in the pink, wearing
a stare-till-you're-bored attitude
in a black dress that hugged her breasts
and a pair of long legs, in good working order,
she looked real swell, sure enough,
and "independent," as the saying goes.

The down time on the train was just
the ticket for stealing looks at her
as she sat across the aisle, reading
—poor kid— with such concentration
that at dusk she completely missed
the sun's last rays burning in the west,
stuck to the limitless vault of the sky.

1940 - Office at Night - Walker Art Center

They stayed at the office, at night, alone,
and the tense atmosphere
wherein they find themselves plunges them
into uncertainty. The workplace
is their habitat, the substitute
for their homes. Forces
suprapersonal constrain
them both (this is called not letting on).
Beyond the slightest doubt,
shyness has taken root in them.
After knocking off, their cares are less intense
and before long forgotten (Deo gratias).
Private people suffering in private places
or, better than places, in a warren
of white walls and functional furniture.
Disturbed when confronting the idea
of a night sky filled with stars, the man,
the atomized and lonely man,
clings to the messiness of his desk.
The woman, standing at the file cabinet,
fishes for documents or something-or-other.
Sure enough, said woman’s dreams
and the man’s scruples converge
in a chronic fiasco. Anxiety
invades her till she loses
every point of reference.
This is the closed circle
through which they sink
from spiritual withdrawal
to absolute, physical solitude.


Poems mainly taken from The International Literary Quarterly, thanks.
Till next time, research these two artists, tell me if you like Hopper, yes or no, motivate your opinions, this also goes for Farres.

To Americans About a War With Iran

The world does not need such a war. I admire America, for the declaration of independence and the constitution, to begin with, but as a foreigner I no longer see these two documents respected. More than that, America developed into some kind of global police although no one asked her to do that. I understand you want to secure your interests, but don't kill innocent people while doing that... Is there a difference between someone bombing one of your buildings and you bombing villages in Pakistan hoping to kill a terrorist who has not been sentenced by any court or changing governments like furniture? It all rests in the hands of the American people, if you don't do something, soon, there will be peace... the deadly kind. 

Nobody wants war except the few that profit from it. We have to stop them!

image from The Economist

American Dream: Introduction and the Past

America is an important part of the world, how could it not be? The scientific developments mesmerize us, its military power makes us tremble and its culture inevitably changes everyone else's culture. All this power demands great responsibility and control, decisions must be taken for the good of mankind more than the good of its citizens.

INTRODUCTION

"We hold these truths to be self- evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." This is a fragment from the Declaration of Independence, unanimous signed by the thirteen American colonies. Too bad this fragment did not make it into the US Constitution, adopted in 1787. An amendment was in fact needed (The Bill of Rights) in order to specify the actual status of American citizens and their liberties.

"No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." The important word here is citizens, the ones who did not fit into this category were exposed to the possibility of having no rights. This possibility was, as we all know, a hard reality.

We can clearly see a great difference between the two texts when it comes to the ideas and the power of the words. "All man are created equal", if these words were the start of the US Constitution then yes, America would of been the land of the free and home of the brave. We should also look at the profound religious implications of the text, the word "Creator" stands for God, a universal God. The promise of a new and better form of government, a just state fundamentally different from what was seen in Europe was just that, a promise, hardly followed by concrete action.

The abolition of slavery was finally decided in 1865, through the passing of the Thirteenth Amendment of the US Constitution. Prior to this, Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, under his war powers. For 78 years, and many more decades after that, the black population was seen as something sub-human, too underdeveloped to make it on their own and too primitive to be set free because of fear of rebellion. The example of Haiti is indicative of the situation in that time, a former colony of France, recognized by its former master in 1825 and by America in 1862.

THE PAST

Chances are that the colonists would of never succeeded with the revolution if they did not have the support of France. This help had a cost, both the Americans and the French found an alliance rather tricky, imagine becoming a friend to a former enemy, nonetheless, France had only to gain from weakening the British Empire and the prospects of improved commercial activity with the US were a great bonus. The colonists managed to secure the support of one of the powers of the time and doing so, to secure their independence, theoretically.

What started as a fight for greater recognition of the colonies inside the British Empire transformed in a full fledged revolt against monarchy and the "old ways" of Europe (may I remind you that France was still a monarchy when it all started). There is a man that, in a way, changed the future of the world, or in a less mythical way, changed the destiny of the new world, he is Thomas Paine. He fought for some things not many people even bothered to think about, anyway, he was not the first of his kind nor the last but he managed to influence the people that started a revolution.

One of those people was Thomas Jefferson (a good friend of Paine). During his presidency, the United States saw their first foreign war, the Tripolitan War, a doubling of the territory and a few other things. Before independence, American merchants were protected in the Mediterranean by the British Navy, this security was lost after the war and so America was left without any real method of protecting its commercial route. The prior presidents, Washington and Adams, opted for ransoming the prisoners instead of fighting, creating a navy and maintaining it was thought to be much more costly. At a cost of 1 million dollars, the US signed treaties with Morocco, Algiers and Tripoli guaranteeing in return of an annual tribute, the security of American trade. Needless to say, the newborn country was weak.

The war lasted from 1801 to 1805 but the result was not satisfactory and a new war was needed in 1812 to secure a decisive battle. This relatively long lasting conflict is of great importance because it marks the consolidation of the state and the creation of the navy. It would take much more time however before America would become the dominant force on the sea.

Although Jefferson was openly against the "old world" looking in retrospective we see his actions as nothing really new to a country in expansion. The Louisiana Purchase was a doubling in territorial size of the United States. This vast land was bought from the French for the price of 15 million dollars. Napoleon managed to get control of this land from Spain as a result of a treaty between the two powers. Florida remained in the hands of Spain and soon became a target for both Jefferson and his successor, Madison.

A major war broke out between the United States and Britain in the year 1812. The situation has been presented in such a way that the American people basically demanded war, this made Madison to ask Congress to engage in armed conflict with the British Empire. They were not prepared to face such an enemy and surprisingly, the Congress even rejected expanding the navy. The main reason for this war might have been the desire of some to take control of Canada. This ended up being known as the Second War of American Independence although it clearly was nothing more than a desire to take Canada while the British were in war with France. Taking advantage of the general situation, the United States went the second time into war with the Barbary States securing commerce in the Mediterranean.

The next important moment was the declaration of the Monroe Doctrine which was actually written by John Quincy Adams (who succeeded him as president), a man who dreamed at more than a republic from the Atlantic to the Pacific, he visioned the entire continent speaking one language, having one currency, one culture. In a meeting with the British minister to the United States, Stratford Canning, Adams said: "Keep what is yours and leave the rest of the continent to us". This is also an example of the type of arrogance America blessed the world with.

On December 2, 1823, in his message to Congress, Monroe declared: " (...) the occasion has been judged proper for asserting, as a principle in which the rights and interests of the United States are involved, that the American continents, by the free and independent condition which they have assumed and maintain, are henceforth not to be considered as subjects for future colonization by any European powers (...)"

Nations in both American continents were declaring their independence, these were events that promised much for the United States, from commercial benefits, to security and spheres of influence. Surprisingly, all this was done with a type of tacit British approval, the old master, turned enemy was now beginning to look more like a distant relative if not a friend. My purpose was not to give a complete history of America, an impossible undertaking for an article of this size but I needed to go through some key moments in time that steady began to create an American culture. We have seen that the promises from the Declaration of Independence were not followed by hard facts, civil rights movements continued till mid-late 20th century for example. The black people initially were perceived as too underdeveloped to take care of themselves, albeit many good and enlightened people from the northern states fought for the banning of slavery. The American Indians on the other hand were perceived as primitive but could be civilized, God knows how many of them got civilized in that period.

The United States turned up being like any other European power of that period with one important exception, the American Dream. This was why so many Europeans fought to get to the new world, to live a decent and happy life, black people and Asian people were not welcomed. The Chinese Exclusion Act which lasted till 1943 expressly stopped any Chinese immigration, a similar law was also applied to the Japanese.

Read Part 2

America, Israel and the World

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First of all, before the year 1948, Israel did not exist. In fact, the region was named Palestine because the people living there are Palestinians. Those Jews that fight for a Jewish state in Palestine are named Zionists, a form of national-socialism. Israel was founded by Ashkenazi Jews, meaning "German Jews", and while in the 11th century they were a small minority comprising no more than 3 percent of the world's Jewish population, they now represent around 80 percent. Their language is Yiddish, not Hebrew.

Theodor Herzl is the key figure in the forming of the Zionist ideology.

We must not fall into the trap of thinking that all Jews are extremists, there is a movement of Anti-Zionist Orthodox Jews that put peace and cooperation above death and terror. Sadly, the money and through this, the power, is in the hands of the Zionists, who want to eliminate all Arab communities in Palestine and gain an edge against other countries through the use of deceit. Why is America helping them, even if innocent Palestinians die? You can find the answer by yourself. Obama said in the AIPAC meeting that the security of Israel is important... why not also the security of Palestinians... why not peace? Tens of thousands of people protested against AIPAC and against the genocide that is taking place in Palestine. The world needs to wake up, it needs to put human development and well-being above stupid disputes. Israel must give up its nuclear weapons and start a process of cooperation with the Palestinians. The Palestinians also need to accept the Jews and try to live together because in the end they are all of the same origin.

The US must stop helping Israel and ask for UN Peacekeeping forces to intervene and stop the killings, why should the American citizens pay for Israelian bombs? Who would like to live thinking that their hands are stained with the blood of Palestinian children? The majority of Jews are dragged into this mess against their will, the same with most Arabs and their Islamic extremist "rulers".