After Fidel Castro seized power in 1959 and began to align the country with the Soviet Union, the U.S. placed an embargo on exports to Cuba in 1960. For decades, the U.S. has banned tourism travel to the country.
Obama sought to normalize relations between the U.S. and Cuba throughout his tenure. “The history of the United States and Cuba encompass revolution and conflict; struggle and sacrifice; retribution and, now, reconciliation,” Obama said in a speech about restoring the two countries’ relationship. “It is time, now, for us to leave the past behind.” Those were the days of hope when I visted Cuba.
In 2017, President Donald Trump announced he was rolling back the Obama-era policies.
Just over twenty years ago the world was horrified by the images that emerged from Roumania of emaciated disabled children and orphans living in horrific conditions in large overcrowded institutions. Under communist dictator Ceausescu, disabled children were often forcibly removed from or abandoned by their parents and were sent to inappropriate institutions hidden away from society.
According to Government statistics at the time, there were no disabled children in Romania. Like many people I remember watching these news reports and seeing the images of these uncared for children and wondering what the future could possibly hold for disabled people in Roumania..
The situation has changed now. Most of the institutions met modern requirements. But the children are still abandoned and hardly animated.
The concept of universal healthcare has been implemented in name only in Roumania. However, the patients were still required to pay some medical costs, and in some cases, the fees were too high. In consequence, healthcare was virtually only available to the middle class and upwards. The working class were in the position of having to use free clinics or hospitals run by charities.
Patricularly the situation of most of the elderly is very troublesome. To them, the availability of home care may well be a matter of life and death.
Auschwitz happened. The uprise of nationalism all over Europe has made migrants and refugees the new jews.
Auschwitz is very much amongst us again. Its appearance differs, its lies are the very same.
We have a desdription for them: they are “unaccompanied asylum seeking minors”. Categories hide the tragic fate of human beings. They help us rationalise. What we can rationalise, we can put away.
Categories have no face. Only humans do.
Vivamus massa tortor, tincidunt porta hendrerit vel, feugiat sed massa. In nec convallis sem, ac mollis massa. Duis dolor magna, rhoncus at purus ut, efficitur tincidunt velit. Donec quis nulla diam. Nullam ipsum ante, molestie in enim et, maximus sollicitudin odio. Integer consectetur, nisi eu aliquam blandit, justo purus maximus est, in tincidunt nisl nulla sit amet mauris. Vestibulum feugiat sollicitudin leo et interdum. Proin porttitor laoreet consequat. Mauris nibh felis, tincidunt at dapibus ac, mollis at arcu.
I occasionally work for a Flemish newspaper.
Didier Eribon was born in Reims into a working-class family. He was the first in his family to finish secondary education and abandon his working-class identity. He credits his mother with helping him achieve this; a factory worker, she had to work overtime to be able to pay for his education. Working as a hotel porter at night and going to college during day, abandoning his parents' ways of life, Eribon felt like a working-class "traitor". He never became part of the rich elite, whose children even in education have different routes, the grandes écoles or the elite. The non-elite attend the universities.
A wild story about the Russian Modernist artworks collected by the Toporovski’s.
Bulky waste. When you look at it with the right eye, it is art.
Alles schon dagewesen
Before visiting the camp, I had hardly ever heard of the place. Yet, I now think the world should know about the nazis’ maybe most cynical project: the Czech walled garrison town of Terezin, renamed Theresienstadt by the nazis. Hitler successfully used the Red Cross to show the world how well Jewish prisoners were treated in the nazi camps.
In 1943, five hundred Danish Jews were sent to Terezín. The Danish government insisted that the Red Cross be allowed access to the prisoners. That appeared to be no problem at all. In no time, in the Terezin camp, the Nazis set up fake cafes and shops. As the camp shouldn’t look overcrowded, many Jews were sent to Auschwitz. The remaining prisoners were in a room with no more than three people, previously with a few dozen. The Red Cross was 'satisfied' with the reception of Jews in Terezin and reported accordingly, adding its credibility to a monstrous lie.
The Red Cross communication filled the nazis with joy. They ordered a Jewish filmmaker to shoot a ‘documentary’ about the agreeable life in the camp. It was clear from the images that Herr Hitler gave the Jews a beautiful city. And what was all that fuss about concentration camps? The film shows Jewish prisoners practicing sports, shopping, licking ice cream, children playing happily, grandmothers knitting, and grandfathers playing chess. After the shooting, both the actors and director Kurt Gerron were sent to Auschwitz and gassed there. Even the Jews who betrayed their own people in the camp hoping to survive the nazi atrocities were eventually sent to Auschwitz.
We are right to be disgusted by Putin’s cynicism. But let’s not forget: Alles schon dagewesen.
