"This sustainable floating city can house 7,000 people and produce zero waste"

Save us a seat.

"How The New York Times and the American public managed to ignore the Holocaust"

While many Americans assume that the Holocaust was a well-kept secret until the concentration camps were liberated, anyone with a New York Times subscription could have read about the atrocities during the Second World War. Regrettably, though, the persecution and murder of Jews was frequently buried by the ‘paper of record’. Of more than 23,000 front-page articles between 1939 and 1945, just 26 were about the Holocaust. This powerful documentary from the US director Emily Harrold recounts how and why the genocide of Jews was neglected and euphemised by the Times, and by extension, the American people.

Daqui

"Two halves: Poland copes with freedom" - Adam J. Chmielewski

On the 35th anniversary of Poland’s modernising transformation, the question arises, how was the emancipatory potential of the ‘Solidarity’ movement squandered?

"The Islamic Republic’s War on Women" - Ziba Mir-Hosseini

The election of Hassan Rouhani gave new momentum to Iran’s devout Muslim feminists – but the mullahs aren’t having it.

"A futuristic city for an urban future"

India is perhaps on the cusp of an unprecedented round of city creation

"Why Spinoza still matters" - Steven Nadler

At a time of religious zealotry, Spinoza’s fearless defence of intellectual freedom is more timely than ever

Portugal na imprensa estrangeira - "Alfama: El Corazón musical de Lisboa"

La capital portuguesa tiene en el barrio de Alfama algunos de los mejores exponentes del fado, la música que es patrimonio de la humanidad y - sobre todo - que mejor resume el espíritu de la ciudad. Así es una noche de nostalgia en el club más clásico del barrio más antiguo y popular.

"Neoliberalism – the ideology at the root of all our problems" - George Monbiot

Financial meltdown, environmental disaster and even the rise of Donald Trump – neoliberalism has played its part in them all. Why has the left failed to come up with an alternative?

"Film Noir" - 70 anos

Robert Siodmak’s THE KILLERS–a definitive film noir–premiered 70 years ago today, on August 28, 1946. The script, by Anthony Veiller (and, uncredited, John Huston and Richard Brooks) begins with a faithful evocation of Ernest Hemingway’s short story, then veers wildly into a flashback structure more convoluted than anything else in classic noir. The film grabs you from the shadowy opening shot of the two killers approaching the diner, accompanied by Miklós Rózsa's ominous four-note theme (which would be borrowed five years later for television’s DRAGNET). Starring Burt Lancaster (his debut) as the fall guy and Ava Gardner as one of cinema’s great femme fatales, and with magnificent cinematography by Elwood (Woody) Bredell, THE KILLERS was selected for the National Film Registry in 2008.

The film noir genre generally refers to mystery and crime dramas produced from the early 1940s to the late 1950s. Movies of this genre were characteristically shot in black and white, and featured stories involving femmes fatales, doomed heroes or anti-heroes, and tough, cynical detectives.The term film noir, French for "black film" (literal) or "dark film" (closer meaning),[1] first applied to Hollywood films by French criticNino Frank in 1946, was unrecognized by most American film industry professionals of that era.[2] Cinema historians and critics defined the category retrospectively. Before the notion was widely adopted in the 1970s, many of the classic films noir[a] were referred to as "melodramas". Whether film noir qualifies as a distinct genre is a matter of ongoing debate among scholars.

Lettre de Friedrich Nietzsche à Malwida von Meysenbug

Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (15 octobre 1844 – 25 août 1900) fut l’un des philosophes les plus décapants et influents du XIXe siècle. Si son visage le plus connu est celui de l’homme brillant qu’il était, il connut également de grands moments de remise en question. Malwida von Meysenbug, écrivaine, fut l’une des plus grandes amies du philosophe. À Rome, en 1882, elle lui présente une femme qui par la suite sera considérée comme l’une de celles qui comptera le plus pour l’auteur de Par-delà bien et mal, Lou Andreas-Salomé. Après une demande en mariage refusée par la jeune femme et l’échec d’une triple alliance entre Nietzsche, Lou et Rée, les deux amis s’éloignent. Dans cette lettre, Nietzsche fait ses adieux à Malwida et prouve qu’une amitié peut être tout aussi puissante qu’un amour et rompre ce lien peut être bien plus douloureux qu’une rupture amoureuse…

Très chère Mademoiselle,

Nous nous sommes en fait dit notre dernier adieu — et ce fut la crainte de tels mots ultimes qui m’a rendu muet à votre égard si longtemps. Entre-temps, la force vitale et toutes sortes de forces sont en moi agissantes : je vis donc une deuxième existence, et c’est avec ravissement que j’apprends que vous n’aviez jamais complètement renié cette croyance en une deuxième vie chez moi. Je vous en prie aujourd’hui, vivez longtemps, très longtemps : ainsi, je pourrai encore vous procurer quelques joies. Mais je ne dois rien précipiter – l’arc selon lequel court mon existence est grand, et, en chacun de ses points, il me faut avoir vécu tout aussi profondément et avec autant d’énergie : il me faut être jeune longtemps, longtemps encore bien que je m’approche déjà de la quarantaine.

Que tout le monde me laisse actuellement seul, je ne m’en plains pas — je trouve, au contraire, que c’est, premièrement, utile et, deuxièmement, naturel. C’est et ce fut toujours la règle. Même l’attitude de Wagner à mon égard fait partie de cette banalité de la règle. En outre, c’est l’homme de son propre parti, et le hasard de son existence lui en a donné une image si arbitraire et si incomplète qu’il ne peut pas comprendre la gravité et la nécessité de mon genre de passions. L’idée que Wagner ait pu un jour croire que je partageais ses vues me fait aujourd’hui rougir. Finalement, si je ne me trompe pas tout à fait sur mon avenir, c’est dans l’influence que j’exercerai que survivra la meilleure part du wagnérisme — et c’est pour ainsi dire ce qu’il y a de drôle dans l’affaire…

Envoyez-moi, je vous en prie, votre article sur Pieve di Cadore : c’est volontiers que je mettrai mes pas dans les vôtres. Il y a deux ans, c’est justement vers cet endroit que se tournaient avec envie mes regards.

Ne croyez pas ce que Rée vous dit de moi — il a trop bonne opinion de moi —, ou plutôt : je suis la victime de son instinct idéaliste.

À vous de tout coeur, je reste le vieux, même si c’est le nouveau,

Friedrich Nietzsche.

Daqui

"Reform or Divorce in Europe" - Joseph E. Stiglitz

... Of course, every divorce is costly; but muddling through would be even more costly. As we’ve already seen this summer in the United Kingdom, if European leaders can’t or won’t make the hard decisions, European voters will make the decisions for them – and the leaders may not be happy with the results.

Os 50 melhores discos da música brasileira - 31

Legião Urbana

"How to design the future" - Jon Turney

As technological choices become ever more complex, design fiction, not science, hints at the future we actually wantechnological choices become ever more complex, design fiction, not science, hints at the future we actually want

"END THE HORROR IN SYRIA'S TORTURE PRISONS"

Since 2011, thousands of people have died in custody in Syria’s brutal detention centres. Tens of thousands more have experienced shocking torture.

Magnum Photography Awards 2016 - Sandra Hoyn - "The Longing of the Others"

Pakhi,15 years old, with a customer in her room in the brothel. She has lived for one year in the brothel. She was married when 12, but then ran away from home. A man picked her up from the streets and sold her into the brothel.

Kajol with a customer. She thinks she is 17 years but does not know her exact age. She was married for 9 years. Her aunt sold her to the Kandapara brothel. She has a 6-month old son, Mehedi. Two weeks after the birth, she was forced to have sex again with customers. Because of the baby, her business has not been so good.

Cigarettes, covered with the lipstick of the sex workers, sitting in an ashtray.

Bonna, 27, a sex-worker in the brothel. Here, we see her fighting with another woman.

Five-day-old twins lie on the bed. They do not yet have a name. Jhinik, 20 years old, is a sex worker in the brothel. She gave birth to them.

Meghla, 23, with a customer. She started working for a garment factory when she was 12 years old. There, she met a man who promised her a better job with more money. He then sold her into a brothel.

Roni dancing in the brothel. He is a shop owner and the son of a sex-worker.

Papia, 18, lies with two customers on a bed in the brothel.

Used condoms outside the brothel in Tangail.

Enamul, 21, Apurbo, 20, and Ullash, 20, are students and regular customers in the brothel.

Sandra Hoyn
 

"Morreu a “menina da rádio”"

A actriz Maria Eugénia Pinto do Amaral, que se celebrizou aos 17 anos como protagonista do filmeA Menina da Rádio, morreu esta quinta-feira em Lisboa aos 89 anos.

Clássicos do "Film Noir" - "Blonde Ice"

Realização de Jack Bernhard

Jorge Luis Borges

Jorge Luis Borges

"Claude Monet - Filmed Painting Outdoors (1915)"

"From the destruction of Greece to democracy in Europe" - James K. Galbraith

... That is why Europe needs the Democracy in Europe Movement. DiEM25, started by Varoufakis, is a new transnational European progressive movement. It is just getting underway, and it may go nowhere. But it presents a last, slim hope of holding the European Union together on terms that the peoples of Europe might accept....

"The Seven Year Itch: or Maybe It’s Time to Try Something Different"

This short excerpt from Jamal Al Attar is the personification of the joy we met on the day we arrived in Gaza 8 years ago. With all of the tragedy that surrounds this small enclave, we need to remember the exhilaration of that day. Not only did we sail four more times successfully, but caravans began to come in and other initiatives sprung up and Egypt had a pretty much open border.


It can and it will happen again.

Seven years ago, we sailed into the port of Gaza; exhausted, exhilarated and shocked that we had made it. We had spent over a month analyzing what we would do if brutally stopped by the Israeli navy. After all, they were threatening to stop us every day. Then we saw the shores of Gaza.

“My mum came to my room with a smile on her face, ‘‘Jamal, the boats are visible on TV.’’ So I jumped from my bed and asked her, ‘‘When?’’ She said, “It is just breaking news.” I can’t remember how, when, or why I found myself on a bus going back to the port with the scouts. I can’t remember how we managed to be together again going to the Port of Gaza. We all jumped on board different fishing boats and sailed to the open sea again. There, on the horizon, I saw three elements: A beautiful sunset, the Liberty, and the Free Gaza. On the east side of the Port, more and more people from Gaza were gathering. This time, their disappointed faces were not there. We could hear the people laughing high and delighted as they strained to catch sight of the boats.” Jamal Al Attar, August 23, 2008

This is the day we will never forget; Palestinians waiting for us 44 bedraggled and seasick passengers. We watched the shoreline of Gaza shimmering in the late afternoon sun getting ever closer. We were not going to be stopped by the Israeli navy. We were sailing in.

“The emotional climax came with the sighting of the breakwater’s endless masses of cheering Gazans 40,000 strong. Children dove from the boats into the polluted water, far from shore, eagerly grabbing for the balloons that we started blowing up an hour earlier and tossed into the bay. Then, as if to seal the two-year promise by FG to close the gap and make Palestine’s sea route open once and for all, the boats sidled up to Free Gaza and Liberty and spilled their teary-eyed passengers onto our deck, who then embraced us as if we were liberating soldiers. Ren Tawil, passenger, August 23, 2008

Two years, thousands of volunteers, $700,000 raised from donors around the world, 44 activists, none of us famous… all boiled down to this moment, the moment we sailed into port to the shouts and whistles of an imprisoned people who thought everyone had forgotten them.

Arriving in Gaza

Here is how we felt, best described in the poem of Vittorio Arrigoni on that wonderful day when everyone thought there was hope for freedom and justice for Palestinians. We might finally open the only border that Israel had no right to control. They said to the world that Gaza was free. Our arrival solidified that.

“History is us… History is not cowardly governments with their loyalty to whoever has the strongest military… History is made by ordinary people everyday people, with family at home and a regular job who are committed to peace as a great ideal to the rights of all to staying human… History is us who risked our lives to bring utopia within reach to offer a dream, a hope, to hundreds of thousands of people Who cried with us as we reached the port of Gaza… Our message of peace is a call to action for other ordinary people like ourselves not to hand over your lives to whatever puppeteer is in charge this time round… But to take responsibility for the revolution… First, the inner revolution to give love, to give empathy It is this that will change the world We have shown that peace is not an impossible utopia… Or perhaps we have shown that sometimes utopia can be possible… Believe this… Stand firm against intimidation, fear, and despair And simply remain human.”

Seven years later, the situation in Gaza is worse, three massacres, thousands murdered and maimed by the Israeli Occupation Army, the infrastructure in ruins, but we will not forget, and we will not stop trying to break Israel’s illegal siege on 1.8 million people. We promised we would return, and another 14 voyages have sailed to Gaza, four of them successful. And now there is now talk about opening a trade lane from Larnaca, Cyprus to Gaza and back. Free Gaza should be proud if this happens.

Musheir AlFarra, the only Palestinian on board our boats who actually is from Gaza reminds us why we will not stop:

“The day before we were due to leave, I went to my mother’s grave. “Mother, I am here. I am visiting you despite their siege.” I used to joke with my mother. “Do not die when I cannot be with you.” She would laugh and say, “Don’t worry, I will not if you promise to place me in my grave with your own hands.” I had promised to do that, but was unable to. It was a great feeling, a feeling of freedom that I had never experienced. It was the first time in my life that I had visited home without the humiliation of being questioned or interrogated by the Israelis, without being threatened, having my travel documents thrown in my face, and not knowing whether I would be able to get out or not. It is a sense of liberation I hope every Palestinian will experience one day. I am proud of being one of the first Palestinians from the Occupied Territories to enter Palestine without Israeli permission since 1967.”

Perhaps it’s time to look at a different tactic. We proved that we could break the siege by sea. Maybe it’s time to break the siege by air… hot air balloons? Fixed wing planes? Small helicopters? Hang gliders? We’re thinking, and that makes us dangerous to the Israeli authorities.

Greta Berlin and Mary Hughes Thompson, Co-Founders, The Free Gaza movement. Illustration courtesty of Carl John Freeman.

Daqui

Toots Thielemans - RIP!

Toots has died on Monday August 22, 2016 at the age of 94. He will be greatly missed.

"The Raid - In Bulgled Spying Operation, NSA Targeted Pro-Democracy Campaigner"

TONY FULLMAN IS a middle-aged former tax man and a pro-democracy activist. But four years ago, a botched operation launched by New Zealand spies meant he suddenly found himself deemed a potential terrorist — his passport was revoked, his home was raided, and he was placed on a top-secret National Security Agency surveillance list.

Lettre d’Antonin Artaud à Colette Thomas

Colette Thomas épousa le romancier Henri Thomas et par lui fit la rencontre de la personnalité à la fois captivante et redoutable d’Antonin Artaud. Comédienne jusqu’alors restée dans l’ombre elle sera selon Artaud : « la plus grande actrice que le théâtre ait vue ». Les rapports d’Artaud avec les femmes ont toujours été complexes. Jeune acteur, d’une beauté rayonnante, il vivra des aventures sans lendemains du temps de la courte vie du Théâtre de la Cruauté, mais Colette Thomas surgira alors qu’il est aux bords de sa mort, vieillard éructant, porté par une gloire sulfureuse et lui-même enfermé dans une virulente haine du sexe et comme frappé d’un esprit d’inquisiteur. Colette ne pouvait qu’être une de « ses filles de cœur ».

Chère Colette,

Disant publiquement que les enfants de la mise en scène princpe ne sont pas dans le son mais dans le con, vous ne serez pas une actrice mais la plus grande amie de mon âme désireuse de manifester et d’imposer l’un de mes élans de cœur, à tous.

Ce qui nous empêche de vivre, vous et moi, c’est la masse, et elle recule comme Béémoth devant la manifestation plus massive qu’elle de certaines vérités. —

Ne rien faire, ne plus quitter Saint-Germain, c’est se laisser enliser par elle, la masse, et se laisser pénétrer par son insuline, c’est se faire faire sans le savoir une cure d’insulinothérapie.

Y a-t-il beaucoup d’êtres au monde, Colette, qui tiennent à vous de toute leur âme et qui veulent que votre moi et votre personnalité existent, je ne le crois pas et je crois que votre mère est au fond et en fait votre ennemie, il fautchoisir entre vos parents et moi.

Je vous ai dit que je m’enfermerai dans ma tour abolie parce que vous m’avez désespéré avec de faux prétextes pour ne pas rester avec moi pour travailler aujourd’hui.

Vous êtes une fleur unique que le monde ne veut pas laisser vivre.

Je crois avoir perçu cette fleur telle qu’elle est et pour rien au monde je ne voudrais la léser physiquement ou moralement, mais cette fleur a besoin de moi, et on le sait et on voudrait bien l’enlever de mon atmosphère pour me désespérer et la désespérer d’échapper au conformisme général : famille : société :

« Tu resteras incluse ailleurs que dans tout ce qui est Artaud ».

Colette, il faut réagir à tout instant et à tout prix.

Je vous embrasse.

ANTONIN ARTAUD

Daqui

"Stop weapons to South Sudan"

Government forces have chased civilians through swamps, crushed them with tanks, and even used attack helicopters to fire on a hospital. The opposition, for its part, has lured children into battle by giving them new guns. An arms embargo could help to curb these abuses.

In response to the latest round of slaughter, the UN Security Council recently decided to send 4,000 more peacekeepers to South Sudan. Many countries asked for an immediate arms embargo as well, but US officials said they will support an embargo only if South Sudan blocks these new peacekeepers. Using the embargo as a bargaining chip has been tried before. The South Sudanese increasingly see it as an empty threat.

Trostky

Alexandre O'Neill

Sei os teus seios

Sei os teus seios.
Sei-os de cor.

Para a frente, para cima,
Despontam, alegres, os teus seios.

Vitoriosos já,
Mas não ainda triunfais.

Quem comparou os seios que são teus
(Banal imagem) a colinas!

Com donaire avançam os teus seios,
Ó minha embarcação!

Porque não há
Padarias que em vez de pão nos dêem seios
Logo p'la manhã?

Quantas vezes
Interrogaste, ao espelho, os seios?

Tão tolos os teus seios! Toda a noite
Com inveja um do outro, toda a santa
Noite!

Quantos seios ficaram por amar?

Seios pasmados, seios lorpas, seios
Como barrigas de glutões!

Seios decrépitos e no entanto belos
Como o que já viveu e fez viver!

Seios inacessíveis e tão altos
Como um orgulho que há-de rebentar
Em deseperadas, quarentonas lágrimas...

Seios fortes como os da Liberdade
-Delacroix-guiando o Povo.

Seios que vão à escola p'ra de lá saírem
Direitinhos p'ra casa...

Seios que deram o bom leite da vida
A vorazes filhos alheios!

Diz-se rijo dum seio que, vencido,
Acaba por vencer...

O amor excessivo dum poeta:
"E hei-de mandar fazer um almanaque
da pele encadernado do teu seio"
(Gomes Leal)

Retirar-me para uns seios que me esperam
Há tantos anos, fielmente, na província!

Arrulho de pequenos seios
No peitoril de uma janela
Aberta sobre a vida.

Botas, botirrafas
Pisando tudo, até os seios
Em que o amor se exalta e robustece!

Seios adivinhados, entrevistos,
Jamais possuídos, sempre desejados!

"Oculta, pois, oculta esses objectos
Altares onde fazem sacrifícios
Quantos os vêem com olhos indiscretos"
(Abade de Jazente)

Raimundo Lúlio, a mulher casada
Que cortejaste, que perseguiste
Até entrares, a cavalo, p'la igreja
Onde fora rezar,
Mudou-te a vida quando te mostrou
("É isto que amas?")
De repente a podridão do seio.

Raparigas dos limões a oferecerem
Fruta mais atrevida: inesperados seios...

Uma roda de velhos seios despeitados,
Rabujando,
A pretexto de chá...

Engolfo-me num seio até perder
Memória de quem sou...

Quantos seios devorou a guerra, quantos,
Depressa ou devagar, roubou à vida,
À alegria, ao amor e às gulosas
Bocas dos miúdos!

Pouso a cabeça no teu seio
E nenhum desejo me estremece a carne.

Vejo os teus seios, absortos
Sobre um pequeno ser

Alexandre O'Neill

Jogos Olímpicos 2016 - Participação portuguesa excecional

A participação portuguesa nos Jogos Olímpicos foi, na minha opinião, excecional.

Uma medalha de bronze, 10 diplomas e a participação em 7 finais após eliminatórias.

Resultados:

Ciclismo – Estrada – 10º lugar – Rui Costa

Ciclismo - Contra-Relógio – 7º lugar – Nelson Oliveira

Judo - – 57 kg – 3º lugar (medalha de bronze) – Telma Monteiro

Canoagem - Slalom C1 Masculino – 9º lugar – José Carvalho

Ténis de Mesa - Singulares Masculinos – 5º lugar – Marcos Freitas

Atletismo - Maratona Feminina – 16º lugar – Dulce Félix

Atletismo - Triplo Salto Feminino – 6º lugar - Patrícia Mamona (final)

Atletismo - Triplo Salto Feminino – 9º lugar – Susana Costa (final)

Atletismo - Triplo Salto Masculino – 6º lugar – Nelson Évora (final)

Canoagem - K1 1000m Masculinos – 5º lugar – Fernando Pimenta (final)

Canoagem - K2 1000m Masculinos – 4º lugar – Emanuel Silva e João Ribeiro (final)

Triatlo – Masculino – 5º lugar – João Pereira

Atletismo - 20km Marcha Feminina – 6º lugar – Ana Cabecinha

Canoagem - K4 1000m Masculinos – 6º lugar - David Fernandes, Emanuel Silva, Fernando Pimenta, João Ribeiro (final)

Futebol masculino – quartos de final

Equestre - Salto de Obstáculo – 9º lugar – Luciana Diniz (final)

Há quem diga, como sempre, que é pouco. Por mim, considero todos os atletas verdadeiros heróis tendo em conta a realidade nacional:

- Não existe uma política de desporto escolar; mais, a Educação Física nas escolas é de péssima qualidade - poucas horas por semana, falta de ginásios, professores a recibos verdes, etc..

- Durante os 4 anos precedentes aos jogos, os media (todos) só se preocupam com o futebol (a não ser quando algum destes heróis é campeão de alguma coisa). Veja-se o que se passa com as transmissões televisivas das restantes modalidades.

- A maior parte destes atletas são amadores, com vidas profissionais ativas, com poucos patrocínios e apoio do estado que fazem sacrifícios imensos para praticarem desporto de alto nível.

- Até no tal futebol, o selecionador teve enormes dificuldades em constituir uma equipa ao nível de quem é campeão europeu.

Caso nada seja mudado, daqui a 4 anos a conversa vai ser a mesma.

Dia Mundial da Fotografia

"Property rights are still wretchedly insecure in Africa"

COSMAS MURUNGA was always proud to show off his mud-walled home, set in a clearing on the wooded slopes of Mount Elgon; to explain how his people coexisted with, and cared for, the forest and its wildlife on the border with Uganda. But that home is no more, burnt to the ground by around 50 Kenya Forest Service (KFS) rangers and police, along with 200 other dwellings, on June 20th and 21st. “We lost everything,” he says.

Marcel Carné - 110 anos

Marcel Carné

Livro recomendado: "O caso do camarada Tvlaev"

Victor Serge

"Western Sahara a 'shameful stain' on United Nations, says Polisario spokesman"

Another generation cannot "grow old as refugees": The UN must "assume its full responsibility" for advancing resolution of the conflict between the Saharawi people and Morocco over Western Sahara.

"Real Stories Of Child Refugees"

"Politics and the death penalty: for Clinton and Trump, safest stance may be silence"

Neither candidate seems keen to take on the controversial topic of capital punishment in the 2016 election, despite waning public support for it

Bela Lugosi

Bela Lugosi

Charles Bukowski

Charles Bukowski

"Pierre-Auguste Renoir - Filmed Painting at Home (1919)"

Magnum Photography Awards 2016 - Jens Juul - "Portrait"

Jens Juul, Dinamarca