How to kidnap a kid

"On a humid Thursday afternoon in February, I am riding in a rented van in Central America with a man who abducts children for a living. The van’s windows are tinted, and Gustavo Zamora Jr. is speeding east on a two-lane highway toward Siquirres, a town buried in the lush abundance of eastern Costa Rica. Gus is planning to snatch Andres, a 9-year-old American boy who has been claimed by too many parents. Sitting behind me is one of them: Todd Hopson, a 48-year-old lawyer from Ocala, Florida, who considers himself the boy’s father, by rights of love and U.S. law. Ahead of me in the front passenger seat is Gus’s 22-year-old son and partner, Gustavo Zamora III."

[...]

As Gus continues to drive east, evaluating prospective switch points, we pass pineapple fields before turning left off Highway 32 toward Siquirres. In a minute or so, we are at the town square, a stretch of grass dominated by soccer goalposts. Gus points to a bench where he says a bus picks up Andres for school each day.
Musing aloud, Gus runs through potential scenarios. Where’s the best spot to grab Andres? At the bus stop, on his way to school? A possibility, but Jason or Jason’s father sometimes waits with the boy there. At the school itself? Maybe, depending on how far it is from Highway 32. During one of Helen’s supervised visits with Andres at the home of Jason’s parents?
Across the street from the square is a yellow house with a black iron gate. Todd identifies it as the home of Andres’s paternal grandparents, where Helen has her custodial visits. Gus likes what he sees; Helen could walk through the gate with Andres to the waiting SUV. “They could come and get in,” Gus says. “This is a straight shot. The highway’s right up here,” allowing a quick getaway.
“It’s a very short route,” Todd agrees.
“I like that a lot better. She can walk out the door,” Gus says. “She walks down the street, gets in the van. Boom, gone …”

[...]

Don’t drive fast, especially on the wet roads,” Gus counsels Helen, who is standing under the awning of the purple motel, watching the rain pour down. It’s 6a.m. on Tuesday. The parrots are chirping, and the palm trees bend under the weight of the water. “Take your time and get here,” Gus adds. “It’s only a couple of minutes.”
Gus is prepping Helen to snatch Andres at the bus stop. If a stranger like Gus tried to grab the boy, witnesses might intervene, and the police would react immediately. But a mother calling out to her son and inviting him to step into her car might not trigger an alarm. Ordinarily, Gus would ride along in the car with Helen, but he doesn’t trust her. He also has doubts about whether Andres will go with his mother. He has more faith in Todd’s relationship with the boy, so he has decided that Todd should be in the SUV with Helen. Gus and his son will wait in the getaway van at the purple motel, preparing for a run to the Panama border

[...]

“Did Chino see me?” Todd asks, referring to Andres’s companion, who is his uncle. Helen says yes. Todd tells Helen to get out of the car and get Andres.
“He doesn’t want me to,” she says.
“Go out and get him, Helen,” Todd says, his voice rising in frustration. “Just go out and get him.” Helen drives on. Todd moves aggressively into the space between the front seats, directing Helen to do a U-turn and return to Andres. She obeys, warning Todd that Andres’s bus is coming.
“I don’t care, because we’re made. Let’s go,” Todd shouts. “I’m going to get him. Just go!” Helen sniffs, and Todd orders her to stop the SUV. He leaps out and goes to Andres, who is wearing an olive-green backpack.
“Let’s go,” he says, touching Andres’s shoulder. “Come on, buddy!”
Helen adds her encouragement from the driver’s seat. “Come, Andres!”
Andres hesitates, glances at Chino, and then walks quickly to the open door of the SUV. Todd throws himself into the SUV behind Andres and slams the door. “Go!” he shouts.
Helen hits the accelerator.
“Hi, buddy,” Todd says to Andres, hugging him. “How are you, sweetie?”
“Hi,” Andres mutters. He’s clearly unnerved.
“Don’t worry, Papi,” Todd assures him. “It’s going to be okay.”
In the rearview mirror, Helen can see Chino running toward the yellow house. Todd tells her to focus on the road. “Nice and easy,” he says. But Helen careens around the corner, narrowly missing an old man on a bicycle as she swerves to avoid an oncoming bus. As she drives, she keeps asking Andres why he refused to come to her. “He’s scared,” Todd says.

Nadya Labi, The Atlantic. The Snatchback.

Abraham Biggs (clues to depression)

1. "Abraham Biggs, 19, aus Florida gab gern den Entertainer, obwohl er unter Depressionen litt.

2. Der Junge hat dem Objektiv den Rücken zugewandt, ein Arm ist unter seinen Oberkörper geklemmt, die nackten Beine liegen aufeinander. Seit zehn Stunden liegt er nun schon da.

3. Abraham Biggs hatte im Netz angekündigt, er werde eine »Überdosis« nehmen, dann hat er die Medikamente aufgezählt, die er schlucken werde. Und er hat auf eine Webseite verwiesen, auf der man ihm dabei zusehen kann. Live. 220 Menschen schauen an diesem Nachmittag des 19. November 2008 auf Abraham Biggs, die Zahl ist auf der Webseite eingeblendet. In Großbritannien sehen sie ihm zu, in Australien, in Mexiko, in den USA. Sie blicken nach Pembroke Pines, einer Kleinstadt an der Ostküste Floridas.

4. Er ist keiner dieser Jungen, die ihr Leben im Schein des Monitorlichts fristen. Er ist eins neunzig groß und sportlich, ein Mädchentyp, der seine Freundinnen so oft wechselt, dass seine Mutter irgendwann aufhört, sich ihre Namen zu merken. Abraham gibt gern den Entertainer. Auf seiner Seite bei der Onlinegemeinschaft MySpace hat er ausschließlich Partyfotos von sich und Freunden hochgeladen, als wolle er allen zeigen, wie viel Spaß er hat.

5. Nachdem sein Vater zu Bett gegangen ist, schickt Abraham um 4.17 Uhr eine SMS an seine Mutter. Sie ist Krankenschwester im Memorial Hospital [...] Sie verlässt das Patientenzimmer und liest die SMS: "Ich hasse mich."

6. Vier Monate später hat die Mutter die Nachricht immer noch auf ihrem Handy gespeichert. Auf ihrem Wohnzimmertisch liegen ihre letzten drei Mobiltelefone, deren Speicher randvoll mit Textnachrichten ihres Sohnes sind. »Ich komme zu dir, es geht mir so schlecht«, hatte er ihr ein paar Monate vor seinem Tod geschrieben, »ich will Antidepressiva.« Abraham litt an einer bipolaren Störung, bei der sich extreme Manie und Depression abwechseln. Die Mutter hoffte, Abraham und sie würden irgendwann einmal zusammen die SMS-Nachrichten lesen und sich freuen, dass diese Zeit vorbei ist.

7. »Ich will sterben«, antwortet CandyJunkie um 5.05 Uhr. »lol«, schreibt jonB89; lol bedeutet laughing out loud – lautes Gelächter. Ein weiteres Forumsmitglied fragt ihn, wie viele Tabletten er genommen habe. »8 Xanax. 7 roxies und 3 ultram.« Xanax, das Abraham gegen seine Angstzustände verschrieben bekommen hat, ist in den USA ein gängiges Medikament. Dass es in dieser Menge und in Kombination mit den beiden Schmerzmitteln Roxicet und Ultram zum Tod führen kann, weiß vermutlich niemand im Forum. »Nicht schon wieder, der versagt jedes Mal«, schreibt Fairy.

8. »Das Netz allein macht die Menschen nicht kälter«, sagt der Internetexperte Urs Gasser, Professor für Informationsrecht im schweizerischen Sankt Gallen und Direktor des Berkman Center for Internet & Society an der Harvard University. Wenn bei Jugendlichen eine emotionale Abstumpfung zu beobachten sei, sagt Gasser, sei nicht das Internet schuld, sondern der insgesamt erhöhte Medienkonsum. »Wenn ein Jugendlicher schon Hunderte von Leichen im Fernseher gesehen hat, kann das natürlich Folgen haben.

9. Etwa zur selben Zeit sitzt am anderen Ende der Welt in Ahmedabad, Indien, der 17 Jahre alte Dushyant Dubey beim Abendessen, bei ihm ist es 23 Uhr. Er hat an diesem Tag lange gearbeitet. Obwohl er noch zur Schule geht, hat er schon eine Onlinemarketing-Firma gegründet. Wenn er nicht am Computer sitzt, boxt er und stemmt Gewichte. Dushyant ist täglich stundenlang online, seitdem er sechs ist. Er ist einer jener digital natives, wie Soziologen Jugendliche nennen, die ins digitale Zeitalter hineingeboren sind [...] Etwa zur selben Zeit sitzt am anderen Ende der Welt in Ahmedabad, Indien, der 17 Jahre alte Dushyant Dubey beim Abendessen, bei ihm ist es 23 Uhr. Er hat an diesem Tag lange gearbeitet. Obwohl er noch zur Schule geht, hat er schon eine Onlinemarketing-Firma gegründet. Wenn er nicht am Computer sitzt, boxt er und stemmt Gewichte. Dushyant ist täglich stundenlang online, seitdem er sechs ist. Er ist einer jener digital natives, wie Soziologen Jugendliche nennen, die ins digitale Zeitalter hineingeboren sind.

10. Psychologen erklären solche Untätigkeit mit dem »Bystander-Effekt«, auch »Genovese-Syndrom« genannt. Der Name geht zurück auf die Ermordung der 28-jährigen New Yorkerin Kitty Genovese im Jahr 1964. Damals ignorierten Dutzende von Nachbarn die Schreie der Frau, während sie vergewaltigt und erstochen wurde. Ihr Unglück war, dass zu viele ihre Schreie hörten. Niemand fühlte sich persönlich gefordert. Wenn die anderen nicht reagieren, glaubt der Einzelne oft, es liege kein Notfall vor."

Annabel Wahba, Die Zeit. Der letzte Chat.

(Fast food translation into English: 1. Abraham Biggs, a 19 years-old boy from Florida, was a good entertainer despite he was suffering depression. // 2. The kid turns his back to the camera, one arm is jammed under his body, the two naked legs lie on each other. He has been in this position for the last 10 hours. // 3. Abraham Biggs announced on the Internet that he was going to take an overdose, then he counted the drugs he was going to take. And he refered the netizens to a website where they could watch him. Live. 220 people watched Abraham Biggs that noon on November 19th, 2008, the total number of viewers is registered on the website. They watched him in Great Britain, in Australia, in Mexico, in the USA. They were looking at Pembroke Pines, a small town on the East coast of Florida. // 4. He is not one of those youngs who spend their lives in front of the computer screen. He is 1,9 meters tall and an athletic guy, someone who girls like, someone who changes his girlfriend so often that his mother stopped trying to remember their names. Abraham enjoyed being an entertainer. On his Myspace website he downloaded his party photos, as he was trying to show how fun he had. // 5. After his father went to sleep, at 4:17 a.m. he sent an SMS to his mother. She is a nurse at the Memorial Hospital [...] She left the patient's room and read the SMS: "I hate myself". // 6. Four months later, his mother still keeps saved the message. At her bedroom she keeps the three cellphones that she has with SMS of her son. "I want to go with you, I feel very bad", he wrote to her two months before his death. "I want anti-depressives". Abraham suffered a bipolar syindrome that changed extremely his mood. His mother hoped that one day they could read together those SMS and celebrate that those moments were over. // 7. "I wanna die", replied Candy-Junkie at 5:05. "lol", wrote jonB89; lol means laughing out loud. Another forum's member asked him how many pills did he take. "8 Xanax, 7 roxies and 3 ultram". [...] No one on the forum knew that all these drugs combined could bring someone to death. "Not another time, he always fails", writes Fairy. // 8. The Web alone doesn't make people colder, says the Internet expert Urs Gasser, professor of Information Law at Sankt Gallen and director of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society, Harvard University. When there are big emotional alterations in young people, says Gasser, not only is responsible the Internet but the whole high media consume. "When a young watches on TV hundreds of dead bodies, of course it may have consequences." // 9. At the sime time at the other end of the world, in Ahmedabad, India, the 17-years-old Dushyant Debey is having dinner. He has worked hard that day. Althought he still goes to school, he has already founded an online marketing company. When he is not sitting at his computer desk, he boxes and lifts weights. Dushyant is every day online since he was 6 years old. He is one of those digital natives, as the sociologists call youngs who are born in the digital era. When Dushyant saw the images at justin.tv, he realizes immediately that they were real [...] and he saw that the boy on the bed was not breathing anymore. dushyant was 12 years old when he was witness, while taking part on a chatroom, of an American who infront of his webcam took some medicines and lost his consciousness. Most of the observers thought that he would recover. Dushyant discovered the next day that the man was dead. // 10. Psychologists explain this unaction as a result of the Bystander Efect, also named the Genovese Syndrome...

Hasta el fondo de mi tristeza

"Él piensa que aunque a mí me quede poco dinero encima, eso no me preocupa mucho, porque soy un artista que vive, como dice él, "en una montaña de la luna" y que únicamente desciende en algunos instantes, lleno de gracia y perdón para esta pequeña ciudad, en la que se hace tan difícil que yo pueda dar aunque sea un solo concierto de piano. Por eso, porque no cree en mi angustia terrestre, es que me cuenta, con una increíble riqueza de detalles, todos los fracasos que ha tenido para financiar ese concierto. Pero yo no sólo estoy en la tierra, pensando cómo podré pagar el hotel y el ómnibus que me saque de aquí, sino que estoy en el suelo; y como me cuesta mucho levantarme y llegar a los altos lugares en que me han puesto las ilusiones que él se hace de mí, prefiero meter los ojos y la cara en este papel y despistar a mi amigo con esta fuga de signos. Dicen que hay que tratar de reaccionar. Ya estoy aburrido de eso, pero pienso que si me dejo caer hasta el fondo de mi tristeza, es posible que tenga una mejor reacción después."

Felisberto Hernández, La casa nueva.

[p.d: diagnóstico: depresión]

Nationalismus ist die alles umstürzende Kraft

"Der Nationalismus ist die alles umstürzende Kraft. Das Haus Piemont-Sardinien hat sich an die Spitze der italienischen Freiheitsbestrebungen gesetzt. Camillo Cavour, Premierminister in Turin, nutzt die Gunst der Stunde. Zuerst schickt er 1855 ein piemontesisches Heer gegen den Zaren in den Krimkrieg, um die italienische Sache zu internationalisieren, dann gewinnt er Napoleon III. für sich, und schließlich provoziert er die Österreicher so lange, bis diese in die Falle tappen und Piemont den Krieg erklären.

Franz Joseph ist nach Italien gekommen, um sein Recht zu verteidigen, Cavour aber hat die Zeit auf seiner Seite. In seinem 1932 erschienenen Roman Radetzkymarsch, der mit den Ereignissen des Jahres 1859 beginnt [die Solferino Schlacht], lässt Joseph Roth den skeptischen Grafen Chojnicki über das Schicksal der Habsburger Vielvölkermonarchie meditieren: "Sie zerfällt bei lebendigem Leibe. Sie zerfällt, sie ist schon zerfallen! […] Die Zeit will uns nicht mehr! Diese Zeit will sich selbständige Nationalstaaten schaffen!"

Peter und Ulrich Ladurner, Die Zeit. Wasser, rot vom Blut.

(my free-style translation into English:

"Nationalism is the all-overturning power. The House of Piedmont-Sardinia leaded the freedom movements in Italy. Camillo Cavour, prime minister in Turin, used the oportunity. First he sent in 1855 an army to fight the Crimean war against the Zars with the aim to give an international significance to the Italian conflict. Afterhat he won the support of Napoleon III and finally he provoked Austria until they declared the war to Piedmont.
Franz Joseph [the Austrio-hungarian emperor] came to Italty to defend its rights but Cavour had the timing in his favour. In his Joseph Roth's novel The Radetzky March, which begins with the events of 1859 [the Solferino battle], Count Chojnicki meditates about the fate of the Habsburg multicultural monarchie: "it is decaying because living forces. It is crumbling, already crumbled! Time is not us anymore! Now Time will bring independent national States!")

(and now it came the time to so say good-bye to the national States.)

How hard it is to be alone

"My wife and I have asked a crowd of craps
To come and waste their time and ours: perhaps
You'd care to join us? In a pig's arse, friend.
Day comes to an end.
The gas fire breathes, the trees are darkly swayed.
And so Dear Warlock-Williams: I'm afraid -
Funny how hard it is to be alone.
I could spend half my evenings, if I wanted,
Holding a glass of washing sherry, canted
Over to catch the drivel of some bitch
Who's read nothing but Which;
Just think of all the spare time that has flown
Straight into nothingness by being filled
With forks and faces, rather than repaid
Under a lamp, hearing the noise of wind,
And looking out to see the moon thinned
To an air-sharpened blade.
A life, and yet how sternly it's instilled
All solitude is selfish. No one now
Believes the hermit with his gown and dish
Talking to God (who's gone too); the big wish
Is to have people nice to you, which means
Doing it back somehow.
Virtue is social. Are, then, these routines
Playing at goodness, like going to church?
Something that bores us, something we don't do well
(Asking that ass about his fool research)
But try to feel, because, however crudely,
It shows us what should be?
Too subtle, that. Too decent, too. Oh hell,
Only the young can be alone freely.
The time is shorter now for company,
And sitting by a lamp more often brings
Not peace, but other things.
Beyond the light stand failure and remorse
Whispering Dear Warlock-Williams: Why, of course -"

Philip Larkin, Vérs de Société.

(traducció al català, cortesia del nostre amic Marc:

La meva dona i jo hem convidat una colla de desgraciats perquè vinguin a perdre el seu temps i el nostre: t'hi voldries afegir? Ni parlar-ne, amic meu. S'està fent fosc. L'estufa de gas respira, els arbres es balancegen foscament. Així doncs Benvolgut Warlock-Williams: em sap greu... Sembla mentida que costi tant estar sol. Em podria passar la meitat dels vespres, si volgués, amb una copa de xerès aigualit a la mà, inclinant-mea escoltar les bestieses de qualsevol mala pècora que no ha llegit més que revistes del cor; només de pensar en el temps lliure que s'ha esquitllat de dret cap al no-res mentre l'omplíem amb forquilles i rostres, en lloc de posar-lo sota un llum i escoltar la remor del vent i sortir a fora per veure la lluna reduïda a una navalla esmolada per l'aire...Una vida i, tanmateix, com ens inculquen severament que la solitud sempre és egoista. Ara ningú no es creu l'eremita de la túnica i el platet que parla amb Déu (que també se n'ha anat); el gran desigés que la gent sigui amable amb tu, i això vol dir ser-ho tu amb ells, no saps com. La virtut és social. ¿Són, doncs, aquestes rutines una manera de jugar a fer bondat, com anar a missa? ¿Una cosa que ens avorreix o que no fem bé (demanar a aquell imbècil com va la seva recerca estúpida) tot i esforçar-nos-hi maldestrament, però que ens ensenya com haurien de ser les coses? Massa subtil, tot plegat. Fins i tot massa decent. Maleït sia, només els joves poden estar sols tranquil·lament. Ara queda menys temps per a la companyia, i seure sota un llum sovint ens portano pas pau, sinó altres coses. Més enllà de la llum hi ha el fracàs i el remordiment que remuguen Benvolgut Warlock-Williams: I tant que sí...)

Mi primer concierto

"El día de mi primer concierto tuve sufrimientos extraños y algún conocimiento imprevisto de mí mismo. Me había levantado a las seis de la mañana. Esto era contrario a mi costumbre, ya que de noche no sólo tocaba en un café sino que tardaba en dormirme. Y algunas noches al llegar a mi pieza y encontrarme con un pequeño piano negro que parecía un sarcófago, no podía acostarme y entonces salía a caminar. Así me había ocurrido la noche antes del concierto. Sin embargo, al otro día me encerré desde muy temprano en un teatro vacío. Era más bien pequeño y la baranda de la tertulia estaba hecha de columnas de latón pintadas de blanco. Allí sería el concierto. Ya estaba en el escenario el piano; era viejo, negro y lo rodeaban papeles rojos y dorados: representaban una sala. Por algunos agujeros entraban rayos de sol empolvados y en el techo el aire inflaba telas de araña. Yo tenía desconfianza de mí, y aquella mañana me puse a repasar el programa como el que cuenta su dinero porque sospecha que en la noche lo han robado."

Felisberto Hernández, Mi primer concierto.

La pedra on pixen els gossos

La figura d'un home de cabells molt curts i ulleres de pasta inseparable del seu cigar és present a cada racó de Berlín. Avui es commemoren els cinquanta anys de la seva mort i Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956) ressuscita per uns dies a la ciutat. El dramaturg alemany és objecte de culte. Hi ha una programació exhaustiva de la seva obra, lectures públiques i intensos debats a diferents teatres de la ciutat. La provocació de Brecht segueix dividint la societat, però com més anys passen més evident es fa la seva condició de clàssic.

Des de l'inici de la Guerra Freda i fins a l'arribada de la generació del 68, l'obra de Brecht era gairebé un tabú a l'Alemanya Occidental i a bona part d'Europa, perquè va ser una figura propera al comunisme i les seves peces de teatre eren interpretades com a propaganda marxista. Li va passar factura la instrumentalització que en va fer la República Democràtica Alemanya (RDA). Brecht va acabar sent una persona trista: el 1933, un dia després que els nazis cremessin el Reichstag, Brecht va iniciar amb la seva família un exili de catorze anys. Els pitjors van ser als Estats Units, on no es va adaptar al sistema cultural i on les autoritats mai se'n van refiar. L'única cosa rellevant que hi va fer és l'escenificació el 1947 de La vida de Galileo, amb Charles Laughton, amb les modificacions que va fer de l'original per atacar la comunitat científica després del desenvolupament de la bomba atòmica.

Quan va tornar a Alemanya no se li va concedir un permís de residència a la zona ocupada pels americans, però sí a la zona soviètica. Al Berlín Oriental hi havia la majoria dels teatres dels seus anys d'èxit. El 1949 va posar en marxa, amb la seva tercera dona, l'actriu Helene Weigel, el Berliner Ensemble. A la seva seu de la Schiffbauerdamm, Brecht i Kurt Weill van estrenar el 1928 L'òpera de tres rals.
Brecht no va militar mai a cap partit, però sí que va ser fidel al nou poder socialista. Va criticar l'estalinisme de manera discreta, però la repressió violenta contra les manifestacions sindicals del juny del 1953 li van suposar una dura depressió. Un any després acceptava el Premi Stalin de la Pau després que el rebutgés el seu rival intel·lectual, Thomas Mann.

La premsa conservadora encara el critica. El diari Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) va ser especialment cruel en la seva edició de diumenge passat. El considera un hipòcrita que va sacrificar la moral per l'èxit. "Un vividor amb hàbits escenificats de proletari" i "un dandi més amb tendències pel totalitarisme". El FAZ també valora que la poesia de Brecht és cultura juvenil i que l'Òpera de tres rals "com a obra de teatre, és pura confusió", i que només se salva per l'excel·lent música de Weill.

Però les sensacions canvien i la millor prova és el missatge especial per a l'ocasió del secretari d'estat de Cultura del govern alemany, el democristià Bernd Neumann: "És molt dubtós que Brecht hagués acceptat amb el seu rigorós idealisme el Mur, els filats i la Stasi. Hem de separar l'escriptor Bertolt Brecht dels seus errors polítics i descobrir-lo de nou", diu Neumann. El diari Die Welt, proper a la democràcia cristiana, també ha admès que Brecht "era un combatent per la pau".

De les seves trenta obres de teatre -igual d'importants són els 1.300 poemes, les tres novel·les i molts assaigs que va escriure-, només tres van ser creades a l'exili i cap després del seu retorn a Berlín. Brecht es va instal·lar a Mitte, al barri central de la ciutat, perquè aleshores era encara una zona de lliure moviment. Des de casa seva, al carrer Chausee, avui la seu de l'Arxiu Brecht-Weigel, l'autor podia arribar a l'Ensemble amb un curt passeig. Allà polia els seus mètodes de perfecció de l'escenografia -al cinema Hackesher Höfe s'ha estrenat un documental sobre la seva obsessió per millorar la representació a través de seqüències fotogràfiques- i en el Teatre Èpic: "El distanciament crític de l'espectador, l'allunyament de l'acció en comptes de la identificació amb els herois", segons definició del Museu Alemany d'Història.

El teatre èpic i el compromís polític de l'art és el principal llegat de Brecht. "A Alemanya la seva influència només es pot comparar amb la de Goethe: va canviar la literatura per ampliar-ne la temàtica... sense Brecht no hi hauria un Théatre du Soleil, d'Ariane Mnouchkine, tampoc l'art representatiu furiós de Dario Fo, ni les problemàtiques socials d'Arthur Miller o els Fanals del mal, de Harold Pinter", assegura Jan Knopf, cap de la càtedra Bertolt Brecht de la Universitat de Karlsruhe.

També deixa un món màgic que es diu Berliner Ensemble. A més dels recitals de Gisela May o les paròdies de Hitler que ha fet Martin Wuttke a L'ascens d'Arturo Ui, encara s'hi poden viure nits de teatre compromès sota l'enorme creu pintada de vermell que li va fer Brecht a una àguila prussiana.
Des d'aquest cap de setmana i fins al setembre, el teatre alemany i grups internacionals com el Teatre Lliure, amb el muntatge Santa Joana dels Escorxadors, es dedicaran a l'Ensemble a la seva memòria. Brecht segueix tranquil al cementiri municipal de Dorotheen, sota una simple llosa amb el seu nom, que ell mateix va dir que havia de recordar "la típica pedra on pixen els gossos".

Cristian Segura, Diari Avui, any 2006. Tribut al geni Brecht.

Embrace human cloning

"Human clones, it is widely assumed, would be monstrous perversions of nature. Yet chances are, you already know one. Indeed, you may know several and even have dated a clone. They walk among us in the form of identical twins: people who share exact sets of DNA. Such twins almost always look alike and often have similar quirks. But their minds, experiences, and personalities are different, and no one supposes they are less than fully human. And if identical twins are fully human, wouldn't cloned people be as well?
Suppose scientists could create a clone from an adult human: It would probably be more distinct from its predecessor than most identical twins are from each other. A clone from a grown-up would have the same DNA but would come into the world as a gurgling baby, not an instant adult, as in sci-fi. The clone would go through childhood and adolescence with the same life-shaping unpredictability as any kid.
The eminent University of Chicago ethicist Leon Kass has argued that human cloning would be offensive in part because the clone would "not be fully a surprise to the world." True, but what child is? Almost all share physical traits and mannerisms with their parents. By having different experiences than their parents (er, parent) and developing their own personalities, clones would become distinct individuals with the same originality and dignity as identical twins—or anyone else.
Others argue that cloning is "unnatural." But nature wants us to pass on our genes; if cloning assists in that effort, nature would not be offended. Moreover, cloning itself isn't new; there have been many species that reproduced clonally and a few that still do. And there's nothing intrinsically unnatural about human inventions that improve reproductive odds—does anyone think nature is offended by hospital delivery made safe by banks of machines?
This does not necessarily make human cloning desirable; there are complicated issues to consider. Initial mammalian cloning experiments, with sheep and other species, have produced many sickly offspring that die quickly. Could it ever be ethical to conduct research that produces sick babies in the hope of figuring out how to make healthy clones? And clones might be treated as inferiors, rendering them unhappy.
Still, human cloning should not be out of the question. In vitro fertilization was once seen as depraved God-playing and is now embraced, even by many of the devoutly religious. Cloning could be a blessing for the infertile, who otherwise could not experience biological parenthood. And, of course, it would be a blessing for the clone itself. Suppose a clone is later asked, "Are you glad you exist even though you are physically quite similar to someone else, or do you wish you had never existed?" We all know what the answer would be."

Greg Easterbrook, Wired magazine. Embrace human cloning. 12 shocking ideas that could change the world.

Just as the sun when it lights on us

"In 1908, in a wild and remote area of the North Caucasus, Leo Tolstoy, the greatest writer of the age, was the guest of a tribal chief "living far away from civilized life in the mountains." Gathering his family and friends, the chief asked Tolstoy to tell stories about the famous men of history. Tolstoy told how he entertained the eager crowd for hours with tales of Alexander, Caesar, Frederick the Great, Napoleon. When he was winding to a close, the chief stood and said, "But you have not told us a syllable about the greatest general and greatest ruler of the world. We want to know something about him. He was a hero. He spoke with the voice of thunder; he laughed like the sunrise and his deeds were strong as the rock .... His name was Lincoln and the country in which he lived is called America, which is so far away that if a youth should journey to reach it he would be an old man when he arrived. Tell us of that man."

[...]

Tolstoy went on to observe, "This little incident proves how largely the name of Lincoln is worshipped throughout the world and how legendary his personality has become. Now, why was Lincoln so great that he overshadows all other national heroes? He really was not a great general like Napoleon or Washington; he was not a skilful statesman like Gladstone or Frederick the Great; but his supremacy expresses itself altogether in his peculiar moral power and in the greatness of his character. "Washington was a typical American. Napoleon was a typical Frenchman, but Lincoln was a humanitarian as broad as the world. He was bigger than his country -- bigger than all the Presidents together. "We are still too near to his greatness," Tolstoy concluded, "but after a few centuries more our posterity will find him considerably bigger than we do. His genius is still too strong and too powerful for the common understanding, just as the sun is too hot when its light beams directly on us."

Doris Kearn Goodwin, Team of rivals. The political genius of Abraham Lincoln.

Counsel for the prisoner until his death

"In March 1846, a terrifying massacre took place in Seward's hometown. A 23 year-old black man named William Freeman, recently released from prison after serving five years for a crime it was later determined he did not commit, entered the home of John Van Nest, a wealthy farmer and friend of Seward's [William H. Seward]. Armed with two knives, he killed Van Nest, his pregnant wife, their small child, and Mrs. Van Nest's mother. When he was caught within hours, Freeman immediately confessed. He exhibited no remorse and laughed uncontrollably as he spoke. The sheriff hauled him away, barely reaching the jail ahead of an enraged mob intent upon lynching him. "I trust in the mercy of God that I shall never again be a witness to such an outburst of the spirit of vengeance as I saw while they were carrying the murdere past our door", Frances Seward told her husband in Albany at the time. Fortunately, the lab triumphed.·

Frances recognized at once an "incomprehensible" aspect to the entire affair, and she was correct. Investigation revealed a history of insanity in Freeman's family. Moreover, Freeman had suffered a series of floggings in jail that had left him deaf and deranged. When the trial opened, no lawyer was willing to take Freeman's case. The citizens of Auburn had threatened violence against any member of the bar who dared to defend the cold blooded murderer. When the courd asked, "will anyone defend this man?" a death-like stillness pervaded the crowded room," until Seward rose, his voice strong with emotion, and said, "may it please the court, I shall remain counsel for the prisoner until his death!"

[...]

Seward spent weekd investigating the case, interviewing Freeman's family, and summoning five doctors who testified to the prisoners extreme state of mental illness. In his summation, he pleaded with the jury not to be influenced by the color of the accused man's skin. "He is still your brother, and mine... Hold him then to be a man." Seward continued: "I am not the prisoner's lawyer... I am the lawyer of society, for mankind, shocked beyind the power of expression, as the scene I have witnessed here of trying a maniac as a malefactor." He argued that Freeman's conduct was "unexplainable on any principle of sanity," and begged the jury not to seek the death sentence. Commit him to an asylum for the term of his natural life, Seward urged: "there is not a white man or white woman who would not have been dismissed longe since from the perils of such a prosecution."

There was never any doubt that the local jury would return a guilty verdict. "In due time, gentlemen of the jury, Seward concluded, "when I shall have paid the debt of nature, my remains will rest here in your midst, with those of my kindred and neighbors. It is very possible they may be unhonored, neglected, spurned! But, perhaps years hence, when the passion and excitement which now agitate this community shall have passed away, some wandering stranger, some lone exile, some Indian, some negro, may erect over than a humble stone, and thereon this epitaph, 'he was Faithful!'" More than a century afterward, visitors to Seward's grave at the Fort Hill Cemetery in Auburn would find those very words engraved on his tombstone."

Doris Kearns Goodwin, Team of rivals.

The propaganda guru

Former journalist Dong Guanpeng, once a famous China Central Television (CCTV) anchor, was busy one afternoon last August answering questions from the foreign reporters in Beijing. He talked in a friendly and colloquial way. His attire was casual but elegant, and he made jokes and acted with grace. The qualities fit perfectly with his public relations role, but are rare in the organization he represents: the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). 

Dong is a top adviser on the Chinese government's communication and media policy. He also teaches at the State Council's National School of Administration and is the director of Tsinghua University's Global Journalism Institute. His work is part of CCP efforts to strength its public support using communication strategies of the 21st century.

The Foreign Correspondents Club of China (FCCC) hosted Dong's speech and it was an unusual occasion to listen to a first-hand description of the CCP's communications strategy. The FCCC announced that Global Times editor Wang Wen - Global Times is a CCP newspaper published in English - was going to give a speech together with Dong. But at the very last moment, Wang withdrew his participation, officially because he was not aware that the conference was on the record. 

In 2003, CCP officials reacted to the severe acute respiratory syindrome (SARS) outbreak first with silence and later provided false information about the real threat of the disease. That angered society and the rage soon appeared on the Internet, on the street and even within official media. Official records from that time confirm that the CCP began to modernize its public voice during the SARS crisis. 

But something else happened in 2003 that sped up the change in mentality: Beijing hosted the first meeting of six-party talks on the North Korea's nuclear program, and the international media covering the discussions were deeply unsatisfied with the lack of information released by the organizer. 

"They said that China had a lot of secrets to hide. But that's not true," said Dong. "There were not many things to hide. The problem was that we didn't have the experience to communicate because we had not done it before." That conflict made the CCP realize that being an international player involves allowing some transparency with your allies. 

The CCP currently use strict codes to guide central and provincial government leaders on their communication duties. They are even scrutinized for the number of annualpress conferences, according to Dong. He himself has written specific codes for Chinese officials to follow in crisis situations. These handbooks detail that public officers should reach journalists "as soon as possible and provide them with rich enough and updated information". To organize press conferences and establish a media center shall be priorities "to prevent journalists from looking for other sources". 

The era when the CCP kept silent in the face of public opinion has been substituted with a hyperactive communications strategy. There was a useful anecdote in Dong's speech that helps one understand the results of this transformation. In 2005, several delegations of Chinese representatives were staying in Washington to prepare the first US tour of President Hu Jintao. During a briefing with American journalists, one high-ranking Chinese officer was asked why he thought that, compared with the past, there were "so many good news stories about China" in the US press. "Because we are now the ones who write the news," was the reply. 

Pluralism and criticism are a dangerous business for the Chinese media. The CCP welcomes reporting by local journalists on corruption, but only if they do not cross the no-return line. "To criticize the government is a risk. Journalism is managed to legitimate first the government and then the party," commented Dong. A remarkable example of this restraint was exposed last July in The New Yorker. The magazine published a wide profile of Hu Shuli, the editor of Caijing, one of the most rigorous and liberal print media titles in China. 

After interviewing Hu, Caijing's shareholders and a few of its reporters, the author of The New Yorker article asserted that they use a "language of loyal opposition" because instead of pointing out without hesitation the mistakes committed by the authorities, Caijing will ask for reforms on this or that matter. 

The Internet is now the main propaganda channel for the CCP, but it is also a threat. People find the web is the freest place to express their opinions. Because of that, there are many websites blocked in China. In a case such as social networking website Facebook, Dong assured it is banned because Tibetan and Uyghur "terrorist" groups use it to spread their messages and therefore, Facebook has been labeled a "national security risk". 

But the Internet is also used by common citizens to denounce government irregularities: 84 high representatives of the CCP and the public administration have stepped down from their posts after their misconduct was published online. Most of them were prosecuted by netizens in what is called the "human-flesh hunt". This phenomenon is so popular that a few weeks ago a film about it was released called Invisible Killer. The movie tells the story of a man and a woman who have an affair and are chased by netizens claiming they deserve to be punished for their infidelity. 

Xie Xiadong, producer of Invisible Killer , defended the film during a preview, saying that there is a real need for the law to control this "cyber-harassment" because often innocent people become victims and their private information is shown online. Xie said the government is trying to put limits on online vigilantes but faces difficulties because Chinese law should first define privacy rights more accurately. 

Effective communication has become a mantra for the CCP. Seventeen out of the 31 provincial secretary generals have previously worked at the party's information office. Communication experts have taken high positions that traditionally were reserved for engineers. Dong believes that the next step will be to achieve international recognition for the Chinese media: to see CCTV or the People's Daily quoted as respected sources by the foreign media. One would argue that this as unlikely since every Chinese television, newspaper or magazine must first send any news reports to censors. 

But Dong said Western media also have their own political and business interests. He said that the key to being recognized abroad is for Chinese journalists to be more creative and to create the proper platforms to release news in foreign languages.

Cristian Segura, Asia Times Online. Bejing hires a media guru.

(Aquí per llegir l'article en català)

El claro día en que el Señor pelea

"...En el intermedio de la primavera
Valcarce, dulce amigo, si tuviera
la voz que tuve antaño, cantaría
el intermedio de tu primavera
—porque aprendiz he sido de ruiseñor un día—,
y el rumor de tu huerto-entre las flores
el agua oculta corre, pasa y suena
por acequias, regatos y atanores—,
y el inquieto bullir de tu colmena,
y esa doliente juventud que tiene
ardores de faunalías,
y que pisando viene
la huella a mis sandalias.
Mas hoy... ¿Será porque el enigma grave
me tentó en la desierta galería,
y abrí con una diminuta llave
el ventanal del fondo que da a la mar sombría?
¿Será porque se ha ido
quien asentó mis pasos en la tierra,
y en este nuevo ejido
sin rubia mies, la soledad me aterra?
No sé, Valcarce, mas cantar no puedo:
se ha dormido la voz en mi garganta,
y tiene el corazón un salmo quedo.
Ya sólo reza el corazón, no canta.
Mas hoy, Valcarce, como un fraile viejo
puedo hacer confesión, que es dar consejo.
En este día claro, en que descansa
tu carne de quimeras y amoríos
—así en amplio silencio se remansa
el agua bullidora de los ríos—,
no guardes en tu cofre la galana
veste dominical, el limpio traje,
para llenar de lágrimas mañana
la mustia seda y el marchito encaje,
sino viste, Valcarce, dulce amigo,
gala de fiesta para andar contigo.
Y cíñete la espada rutilante,
y lleva tu armadura,
el peto de diamante
debajo de la blanca vestidura.
¡Quién sabe! Acaso tu domingo
sea la jornada guerrera y laboriosa,
el día del Señor que no reposa,
el claro día en que el Señor pelea."

Antonio Machado, A Xavier Valcarce.

(Dedicado a nuestro querido Leandro, en su aniversario)

Keep those lights burning

"-Carol: They're listening in America.

-Johnny: Okay, we'll tell 'em then. I can't read the rest of the speech I had, 'cause the lights have gone out, so I'll just have to speak from the cuff. All that noise you hear isn't static - it's death, coming to London. Yes, they're coming here now. You can hear the bombs falling on the streets and on the homes. Don't tune me out, hang on a while - this is a big story, and you're part of it, it's too late to do anything here now except stand in the dark and let them come... as if the lights were out everywhere, except in America. Keep those lights burning, cover them with steel, ring them with guns, build a canopy of battleships and bombing planes around them. Hello, America, hang on to your lights: they're the only ones left in the world!"

Foreign Correspondent, by Alfred Hitchcock.

A military catwalk

"Celebrations to mark the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China (PRC) reached a climax on Thursday morning with a grand military parade in Tiananmen Square in the capital to showcase the rise of the Middle Kingdom. Some advanced hardware developed and made in China and which has been kept secret, such as the People's Liberation Army's (PLA's) airborne early warning and control aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicles, were on display during the parade, which was reviewed by President Hu Jintao and other Chinese leaders.

The massive parade featuring thousands of troops - a Xinhua report said it involved nearly 200,000 servicemen and women and civilian - also showcased tanks and trucks carrying nuclear missiles, as fighter planes screamed overhead and a 2,000-strong military band belted out martial tunes. Following a 60-gun salute, the Chinese flag was hoisted in the square where Mao Zedong had announced the birth of the republic on October 1, 1949.

Hu, who is also chairman of the Central Military Commission, reviewed the troops from a black open-roof limousine. He wore a black Mao-style tunic, viewed by analysts as a symbol of his control of the military. In a speech delivered from the same place where Mao spoke 60 years ago, Hu said China had a bright future and that it had taken strides in the economic world, and that the country would unite all cultures and ethnicities. "Today, a socialist China [is] geared toward modernization, the world and the future, and towers majestically in the East," Hu said.

What is novel in this year's military parade is not only the display of hitherto classified weapons, but also Beijing's unprecedented transparency in the release of information regarding military modernization, as well as the organization of the parade itself. Analysts say this shows Beijing's growing confidence in opening up its military to improve its image overseas. In the past, what weapons were to be displayed in a parade and the training of the guard of honor were kept top secret. But this year, weeks ago, PLA generals began to reveal what weapons were to be showcased. Rehearsals for the parade on weekend evenings were also open to the media. Chinese journalists were invited to camps to cover the training of the guards of honor of the three services. For instance, on September 21, Lieutenant General Fang Fenghui, general director of the military parade, told the state-run Xinhua News Agency that 52 types of new weapons systems, all developed with Chinese technology, were to be showcased. Chinese Minister of Defense General Liang Guanglie also proudly said the Chinese defense industry had been upgraded from copying Russian-made weapons in the 1950s and the 1960s to become self-reliant in design and manufacture from the 1970s onwards. He announced that some of China's most advanced weaponry was already being used. A senior PLA officer based in the southern city of Shenzhen told Asia Times Online, "The increased transparency shows our growing confidence in modernizing the military with our own efforts. In the past, we were shy to show our weapons, largely because they were quite backward. But now we are catching up rapidly. We are confident that we can create a weaponry system of our own comparable to those of the United States, Russia and European nations." Li Daguang, a senior military expert at the PLA University of National Defense, told the Global Times, a sister publication of the Communist Party's People's Daily, "A Chinese weaponry system, which is practical, cheap and suitable for defense on home soil, will eventually come into being." China has to rely on its own efforts because "the international environment happens to be unhelpful for China's weapon development", he said, citing weapons embargoes against China by the European Union and the United States.

As part of Beijing's efforts to increase transparency in its military and improve its image overseas, as well as to showcase the advancement of its military industry, the PLA opened a camp in Beijing to foreign journalists on the eve of Army Day on August 1.

On July 28, Colonel Leng Jiesong stood alone on a dias in the conference hall of the PLA's Third Guard Division base in Beijing, looking anxious as a horde of journalists settled themselves. The colonel commands 10,000 disciplined soldiers at the base, and the unruly media visibly unsettled him. Leng said he was glad the PLA could finally meet the international media because it was "a big step forward in the process of opening up" the army, and he proudly proclaimed that all of the hardware to be displayed on October 1 would be Chinese-made. Defense is the only industrial sector in which China has moved forward without strong support from the US, the EU and Japan. Since the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators, the US and the EU have maintained a weapons embargo on China that limits defense trade between their national companies.

This has resulted in China struggling to keep the PLA's equipment updated, especially in comparison to neighbors such as Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and even India, which this year built its first nuclear-powered submarine in collaboration with several Western suppliers.

All the same, China is the world's leading weapons importer, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), with more than 90% of its foreign purchases coming from Russia. In terms of investment per infantry unit, the Chinese military muscle is much lower than other top countries because the PLA is the biggest army in the world, with 2.3 million soldiers. Even this is down from the six million in service 25 years ago. Former US intelligence officer Dennis J Blasko writes in his 2006 book The Chinese Army Today that most of the imports go to the navy and the air force, while "the vast majority of equipment in the PLA ground forces is produced by the Chinese defense industries. Much of the ground forces' weaponry is based on Soviet designs of the 1950s and 1960s, which have been modified and upgraded for contemporary use."

The US government is firmly committed to the weapons embargo, while this is not the case in the EU. SIPRI notes that in 2008, French contractors sold China US$72 million in military equipment, 4% of total French military exports. The United Kingdom sold $30 million and Germany $5 million. Gudrun Wacker, a China expert at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, says such sales are possible because "the embargo is not legally binding. Especially, the UK and France declared in the 1990s that they have their own interpretation of the embargo." The exports are "mainly engines for helicopters or radars, but no platforms and no 'lethal weapons'," says Wacker. She believes that a priority for the PLA is to improve its professionalism. One of the weakest points of the PLA is a lack of combat experience. The country's last major conflict was in 1978, when China failed to invade Vietnam after the latter occupied Cambodia with the blessing of the Soviet Union. "The lack of experience is one of the reasons why China is doing more and more military exercises, including with other countries," said Wacker.

In his book, Blasko recounts that ancient war treatises are important for the PLA. "These ancient and modern texts provide the PLA with a military heritage that is imprinted on soldiers before they enter the service through their social roots and then throughout their professional military education experience." The aim of the Communist Party is to modernize the PLA in a way that will combine this ancient knowledge with high-technology resources.

Li Shaoting, the commanding officer of the Third Guard Division, insisted that the PLA had nothing to envy in the US or any other big power in terms of the quality of light weapons and the skills of the infantry. The times when China went to war with millions of soldiers to compensate for a lack of military technology were over, he said. Li quoted from the Defense White Book released by the government in 2008, which introduced the mantra of a "new PLA". "The priority is a technological revolution, to move from mechanization to informationalization." This evolution is first to be achieved in the navy and the air force; it is imperative that China can control sea trade lanes and gain air superiority.

Ten years ago, the 50th anniversary parade was used to indicate the direction in which the PLA was heading and which military areas required significant investments. Foreign governments and defense corporations will be paying close attention to Thursday's parade for the same reason. Defense Minister Liang recently told Xinhua that China had drawn up a three-step development strategy to modernize its military by 2050. According to the blueprint, the army will give priority to nationwide mobility, instead of regional defense. The navy will develop strong coastal defense capabilities, as well as means to fight further out to sea. The air force will be upgraded from mere territorial defense to a combination of offense and defense. And finally, China's missile systems will be used for both conventional and nuclear launches. While reviewing the troops on Thursday, President Hu shouted through a microphone, "Greetings, comrades" and "Comrades, you are working hard." The soldiers barked back in unison, "Greetings, leader" and "We serve the people". Clearly, Beijing has decided that the troops will have the best possible arms and equipment to do their job.

Wu Zhong and Cristian Segura, Asia Times Online, China's military struts its stuff.