Thursday, January 17, 2008
Kosovo and other business...
Well, Tadić SAYS there won't be any violence as a result of an independant Kosovo, but there will not be recognition. There are countries lining up to recognize an independant Kosovo, and some sort of action is likely on this issue soon after the Serbian elections, this is from BHT1, FTV, and Euronews.
From Euronews, the E.U. narrowly voted down a proposal to prohibit girls in elementary schools who are Muslim from wearing head-scarves. A Dutch person on the body voted against it, because 1. It will not change anyone's mind, and 2. She doesn't like telling people how to dress! That is good, I am glad calmer, more sensible heads prevailed on this issue.
To be noted, Muslim girls who are not old enough to have periods don't have to wear scarves, most elementary school girls are therefore too young to be under 'obligation' in this department. Also the rules in this department are not so strict as some people seem to think, women over a certain age are not obligated either. I think they mean the age for hot flashes, when sometimes women want to go out and roll naked in the snow! :)
Also to be noted, Europeans used to be a lot more modest before WWI when fabric rationing deprived women of enough to wear. Somehow not enough to wear got confused with being 'modern'. The fashion designers, most of whom are men, and men who leave a lot to be desired in the character department did the rest of the damage.
Then corporate society enforced certain modes of dress on everyone who wants a job in their world. Maybe they don't throw people in jail for not doing things their way, but they do enforce it make no mistake. Cultural imposition is not a one way street, it is a busy cross-roads. I am very glad the E.U. did not make the mistake of voting for such a stupid measure as banning head scarves, but it points up one of the flaws of the E.U. Who the fuck ARE these people to decide this stuff? And they used to talk about Communism! jebiga!
Interesting documentaries. Last night I watched a documentary on women who herd sheep someplace, I think in Hercegovina. Most if not all of these women seem to be Muslim. They nearly all lost husbands, sons and brothers in the war, so are left to fend for themselves, and raise their kids on their own. They not only have sheep, some have small herds of Bosnian ponies. There is something about them that reminds me of the Navajo people. The women are pretty decisive, and hard-working. The kids interviewed seemed to me to be happier than children growing up in cities pretty much anyplace. There was one really charming little boy interviewed. Perhaps he was 12 or 13. He just was all smiles and very cute.
These women make a living by selling cheese made from sheeps milk, wool, knitted things they make, and of course sheep. They seem to have a better life than one would expect, even though they are living without electricity or running water in many cases.
This morning there was a neat documentary about a poet and writer here named Josip Pejaković. He really loves dogs, especially he loves the Tornjak dog, which looks like a very calm collie on steroids. He has written poems and movies over the years. He is from Travnik. You know you are in a good country with good people when they will PAY to get into a poetry reading, not only that, LARGE numbers of them paid to get in to hear this man read his work, and dressed up for the occasion! Even in San Francisco which prides itself on being a great town for poetry, I never saw such numbers pay to go to a reading! It was great to see.
It is on the cloudy side today. I am just in the neighborhood. My mother if she had lived to be an internet junkie would have loved Club BIT, it is smoke filled and has a noisy esspresso machine. The people who run it are nice.
From Euronews, the E.U. narrowly voted down a proposal to prohibit girls in elementary schools who are Muslim from wearing head-scarves. A Dutch person on the body voted against it, because 1. It will not change anyone's mind, and 2. She doesn't like telling people how to dress! That is good, I am glad calmer, more sensible heads prevailed on this issue.
To be noted, Muslim girls who are not old enough to have periods don't have to wear scarves, most elementary school girls are therefore too young to be under 'obligation' in this department. Also the rules in this department are not so strict as some people seem to think, women over a certain age are not obligated either. I think they mean the age for hot flashes, when sometimes women want to go out and roll naked in the snow! :)
Also to be noted, Europeans used to be a lot more modest before WWI when fabric rationing deprived women of enough to wear. Somehow not enough to wear got confused with being 'modern'. The fashion designers, most of whom are men, and men who leave a lot to be desired in the character department did the rest of the damage.
Then corporate society enforced certain modes of dress on everyone who wants a job in their world. Maybe they don't throw people in jail for not doing things their way, but they do enforce it make no mistake. Cultural imposition is not a one way street, it is a busy cross-roads. I am very glad the E.U. did not make the mistake of voting for such a stupid measure as banning head scarves, but it points up one of the flaws of the E.U. Who the fuck ARE these people to decide this stuff? And they used to talk about Communism! jebiga!
Interesting documentaries. Last night I watched a documentary on women who herd sheep someplace, I think in Hercegovina. Most if not all of these women seem to be Muslim. They nearly all lost husbands, sons and brothers in the war, so are left to fend for themselves, and raise their kids on their own. They not only have sheep, some have small herds of Bosnian ponies. There is something about them that reminds me of the Navajo people. The women are pretty decisive, and hard-working. The kids interviewed seemed to me to be happier than children growing up in cities pretty much anyplace. There was one really charming little boy interviewed. Perhaps he was 12 or 13. He just was all smiles and very cute.
These women make a living by selling cheese made from sheeps milk, wool, knitted things they make, and of course sheep. They seem to have a better life than one would expect, even though they are living without electricity or running water in many cases.
This morning there was a neat documentary about a poet and writer here named Josip Pejaković. He really loves dogs, especially he loves the Tornjak dog, which looks like a very calm collie on steroids. He has written poems and movies over the years. He is from Travnik. You know you are in a good country with good people when they will PAY to get into a poetry reading, not only that, LARGE numbers of them paid to get in to hear this man read his work, and dressed up for the occasion! Even in San Francisco which prides itself on being a great town for poetry, I never saw such numbers pay to go to a reading! It was great to see.
It is on the cloudy side today. I am just in the neighborhood. My mother if she had lived to be an internet junkie would have loved Club BIT, it is smoke filled and has a noisy esspresso machine. The people who run it are nice.
# posted by Katja R. @ 12:45 AM 
