"Berlin - the greatest cultural extravaganza that one could imagine." David Bowie
Moving to Berlin was always an adult dream of mine. I imagined Berlin to be a place of artists, writers, musicians and hippies. I imagined it was a place of left-wing movements, a place of freedom, and the most significant location in modern European history.
I had watched The Lives of Others and Berlin Calling in awe. My techno-loving heart yearned to get a taste of Berghain. I wanted to see the remains of the Berlin wall, wander around second-hand vintage shops, and most importantly, be granted the freedom to be myself in place that did not judge people for being themselves.
Even as a child, I held a piece of the fallen Berlin Wall in my hand after a school-friend's father managed to salvage a few pieces during his visit in 1989. I could not have foreseen back then I would one day walk past the East Side Gallery, and be more engrossed with what my German friend was saying about his intrinsic motivations for moving to Berlin, than what I would be by some famous commissioned art on this international memorial for freedom.
I do not romantise Berlin. After living here for nearly one year, I have certainly had my ups and downs. I even saw a post on an English-speaking expat site, when searching for a doctor, people talking about getting a psychologist for simply being an expat, to relieve the difficulties faced for being a foreigner in a foreign place.
I do love Berlin though. The loveheart traffic light, seen here in Prenzlauer Berg, (there are similar in Kreuzberg), hopefully suggests Berlin loves me too. Hmm, she says, perhaps I should have waited for the lights to change...
"If justice is not always the outcome, at least it is not dead yet."
Julian Assange
It is extraordinary how many books in the world have been banned and even stranger for the reasons behind the barring. Alice in Wonderland was banned in China in 1931 by the governor of Hunan Province on the grounds that "animals should not use human language" and that it "was disastrous to put animals and human beings on the same level."
Well yes, I can understand that logic actually, what with it being human beings committing some of the most abominable acts known to man. Sorry, make that livestock. Hmm, and that would bring us back to books and how it was the Third Reich who did not just commit the unforgivable Holocaust, but burned 25,000 volumes of "un-German" books in 1933 which did not tow the line to Nazi beliefs.
The Spy Catcher, written by Peter Wright with Paul Greengrass, after Wright spent 20 years service with MI5, is part memoir and part expose of what he considered the institutional failings of Britain's security services. The book went on to become an international best-seller but was banned in the UK when the British government waged a lengthy, expensive and ultimately unsuccessful legal battle to prevent its publication in Australia.
Then there is George Orwell's Animal Farm. On Time magazine's 2005 list of best novels, the book was banned in the USSR for being anti-Communist. It was then banned in the USA for having Communist material in its introduction, despite the novel being a complete satire on Stalin.
Oh yes, you see, "the masses will revolt" won't they? Or, will they...
But in the case of the Wikileaks editor-in-chief Julian Assange, it appears those masses may just be the vast number of government officials and not every day citizens. Numbers have to count afterall. For someone like Assange, who believes (and practices) that journalism is "transparent" and should have a "scientific approach" because data proves the facts, I am going to cheekily go against the grain and say from opinion alone that I think his arrest for sexual assault charges is based on a load of bolloxs.
His organisation has released materials on Guantanamo Bay procedures, US involvement in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and about toxic waste dumping in Africa. As soon as he pisses off the Whitehouse by releasing leaks on diplomatic cables, he is branded by Fox News as a "terrorist". Quite. Not granted bail in December 16, 2010 until a £200,000 pay-out was made, his arrest in London lasted nine days and he had been labelled as a possible fugitive.
In Cruel Britannia: Reports on the Sinister and the Preposterous by journalist Nick Cohen, his chapter The News Is What They Say It Is, points out that newly recruited Observer hacks are given a spoof set of instructions that says: "Everything that ever has been said, is being said and will be said by a PR is, by definition a lie." He also ponders on the 21st century role of journalists, who inhabit "barbed wire, private security patrols, CCTV cameras and card swipers on every door" that then, "emphasise their isolation from the country they are meant to cover."
Another interesting factor Cohen makes is that according to David Michie, a City public relations consultant, is that in 1967 there were 766 PR companies and departments and 10 years later, 9200 PR companies came into fruition. With the business being worth £2.3 billion a year it appears to be "recession-proof" and there are now "25,000 PRs in Britain and 50,000 journalists - one persuader for every two mediators."
So when it comes to spoon-fed news, it isn't just books that will make history for authorities banning them, but for the very words the power-hungry (or is it the famished) never even wanted us to hear. And in the words of George Orwell: "The people will believe what the media tells them they believe."
"If you can, help others; if you cannot do that, at least do not harm them."
Dalai Lama
Theresa May, how you like to save the pennies for a rainy day. Only trouble is, the rain has been battering down heavily for quite some time now. I'm not tory bashing here (then again, I most probably am), but the Home Secretary's decision to merge the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) into a National Crime Agency shows just how tight she actually is.
Never mind not expecting her to buy you a pint at the bar, more like do not expect her to listen to what human rights activists have to say full-stop. Oh she might have scrapped Labour's Big Brother plans for ID cards, and banned an English Defence League racist march in Bradford.
But since Jim Gamble, the chief executive of CEOP has resigned over her plans to join his unit with the Serious and Organised Crime Agency and the UK Border Agency because he believes it would sabotage their independence, it goes to show miserly her politics actually is.
Shy Keenan, a child protection campaigner said:"We need an independent Child Protection Force, that is focused only on child protection, not soaked into a massive team where he has to fight every single day for funding to do what actually has to be done, and needs to be done."
And coming from someone who founded the Phoenix Survivors to campaign for justice for victims of sexual abuse and to rescue children at risk after she herself was abused, you would think Millionaire-Mrs-May would listen.
With Sara Payne, media campaigner and mother of murdered Sarah Payne also speaking out against the "worst possible news" of this new quango, you would think the Home Secretary would LISTEN. But she hasn't, and she should.
Write to her to express your concern:
Rt Hon Theresa May MP
Home Secretary
2 Marsham Street
London
SW1P 4DF
public.enquiries@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk
Telephone number: 020 7035 4848
"Action speaks louder than words but not nearly as often."
Mark Twain
Lady Gaga in her meat dress - yuck. After seeing footage and pictures of the number one Freddy Mercury fan in her cow-corpse attire at the VMA Awards, like a lot of folk, I was less inclined to satisfy my taste buds at lunch-time.
Then again, after finding out the reasons behind her publicity steak-stunt, it was clear she was referring to the way the American army dismisses lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender soldiers when they are open about their sexual orientation.
Whether appalled or amused by Gaga's antics, one thing is for certain, she has used her fame to highlight a cause she cares about, to try and make change in the hazy cloud of prejudice.
In her own words:
"As you know I am the most judgment free human being on the earth. If we don't stand up for what we believe in and don't stand up for our rights pretty soon we're going to have as much rights as the meat on our bones."
And she is right (well, then again only in principle - slightly off-track in self righteousness to call herself the most judgment free human being on earth surely?) but we do owe it to our own human wonder to speak out. To speak out against the persecution, the hatred, the discrimination and to be frank, the utter shit innocent people suffer in the hands of those who fail to grasp the importance, of human wonder.
Yes, maybe self righteousness does have a selling point after all.
But in what way can it actually make a difference in practice?
Well, lets start with human trafficking. With an estimated 12.3 million people worldwide being exploited, the charity STOP THE TRAFFIK aims to educate, advocate and fundraise are more than a drop in the ocean.
One of their campaigns led to over a million signatures being handed over in protest at the United Nation's first worldwide assembly about trafficking. Actually, the top-of-the-ladder bloke from the charity (Steve Chalke) then became the UN Special Adviser on Community Action Against Trafficking after this enormously important meeting took place. Domino effect and all that.
See for yourself how you can get involved with their work, and be a part of their human wonders:
http://www.stopthetraffik.org/
