Translation

.يولد جميع الناس أحرارا متساوين في الكرامة والحقوق. وقد وهبوا عقلا وضميرا وعليهم أن يعامل بعضهم بعضا بروح الإخاء‎
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Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Le parlement de Catalogne donne l'estocade aux corridas

par Vanessa Romeo

Le parlement de Barcelone a voté mercredi l'interdiction des corridas en Catalogne à partir de 2012, une première en Espagne exception faite des îles Canaries.

Soixante-huit députés ont voté l'interdiction, 55 s'y sont opposés et neuf se sont abstenus.

Ce résultat était attendu depuis qu'en décembre dernier le parlement catalan avait décidé de prendre en considération une pétition du groupe anti-corrida Prou! (Assez!), qui avait recueilli 180.000 signatures.

L'interdiction entrera en vigueur en 2012. Les dernières arènes actives de Barcelone, la capitale catalane, fermeront alors, de même que les rares autres encore en service dans le reste de la région.

Le groupe Prou! compte étendre sa campagne à d'autres régions d'Espagne.

Selon l'organisation Humane Society International, 250.000 taureaux meurent chaque année dans les arènes.
Au cours du débat, les députés ont invoqué, outre le traitement cruel infligé aux animaux, la défaveur que connaissent les corridas en Espagne où les arènes sont de moins en moins fréquentées.

"Il y a certaines traditions qui ne peuvent plus être maintenues alors que la société change. Il ne faut pas tout interdire mais certaines pratiques avilissantes doivent disparaître", a dit Josep Rull, député du parti nationaliste catalan CiU.

Mais pour Rafael Luna, élu du Parti populaire (conservateur), "interdire la corrida en cette période de crise économique est une folie". Les ventes de billets en Espagne et en France représenteraient chaque année environ 100 millions d'euros.

DÉSAFFECTION
Si les corridas connaissent une certaine désaffection en Espagne, elles sont pratiquées aussi au Portugal, dans le sud de la France et dans certains pays latino-américains: Colombie, Venezuela, Pérou, Equateur et Mexique. Dans certains pays, il est illégal de tuer le taureau dans l'arène.

Dans l'arène, le torero principal, le picador et les "peones" se servent de capes, de lances et de banderilles pour fatiguer le taureau. Le matador utilise une épée pour la rituelle mise à mort.

Les îles Canaries ont été la première région espagnole à interdire la corrida, en 1991.

Aux yeux de ses adversaires, la tauromachie impose aux animaux des souffrances gratuites qui n'ont pas leur place dans une société moderne.

Pour ses partisans, le face-à-face du torero et du taureau furieux magnifie une forme d'émotion qui plonge au coeur du caractère espagnol et qu'ont célébrée des artistes et des poètes de l'envergure de Pablo Picasso ou de Federico Garcia Lorca.

Ceux qui défendent la tradition font aussi valoir qu'elle crée des milliers d'emplois et constitue un élément central de l'attrait touristique du pays.

José Tomas devait toréer cet été à Barcelone dans le cadre d'une contre-campagne mais il a dû y renoncer après avoir été grièvement blessé d'un coup de corne en avril au Mexique.

Une interdiction serait une "terrible perte", a-t-il déclaré récemment au journal La Razon. "L'idée qu'ils puissent voler une partie de ce que vous admirez le plus, et qui a une telle importance dans votre vie, c'est très dur."

Commentateurs et parlementaires assurent que le mouvement anti-corrida n'est pas lié au séparatisme en Catalogne.
Mais pour Carlos Nunez, président de la fédération des éleveurs taurins, il est intégralement politique. "Les dirigeants politiques catalans en font un prétexte pour créer une identité artificielle", a-t-il dit.

Avec Alice Tozer, Guy Kerivel pour le service français, édité par Gilles Trequesser

Catalonia bullfight ban divides Spaniards

Barcelona - When prosperous Catalonia became the first part of mainland Spain to ban bullfighting on Wednesday, it sent a powerful signal to the rest of the country.

Namely, that bullfights are not an intrinsic and untouchable part of Spanish identity, but a form of animal abuse which can be abolished.

That was the message sent out by the 135-member regional parliament when it voted to approve a ban proposed by animal rights activists.

Spain's Canary Islands had already outlawed bullfights back in 1991, as part of a more general animal protection law, but that decision had gone largely unnoticed - the Catalan move, however, has ignited discussion and divided opinion across the rest of the country.

Movie director Agustin Diaz Yanes described it as a 'cultural tragedy' whilst anti-bullfighting activists hailed it as sending 'a message of progress to humanity.'
The Catalan decision takes place against a background of increased separatist feelings in the region of 7.5 million people, after Spain's Constitutional Court trimmed its autonomy rights.
Bullfighting opponents were forced to reject claims by conservatives that Catalonia wanted to abolish corridas - the Spanish word for bullfights - because it was a symbol of Spanishness.
'We are not talking about identities here, but about very serious ethical arguments against the ill-treatment of animals,' said Jordi Portabella from the leftist separatist party ERC.
Bullfights have traditionally been regarded as an important part of Spanish culture, and more than 11,000 bulls are killed annually.
Fans say the spectacle pits the intelligence of the human being against the brute force of the beast.
Bullfighting also has an economic side to consider, with an annual turnover of nearly 1.5 billion euros (1.9 billion dollars) and gives direct or indirect employment to around 200,000 people.
However, less than 27 per cent of Spaniards were interested in bullfighting in 2006, according to one poll - down from 38 per cent in 1999.
Bullfighting had long been on the decline in Catalonia, where the capital Barcelona declared itself an 'anti-bullfight' city in 2004, and dozens of other municipalities followed suit.
Two of Barcelona's three bullrings were closed down, leaving the Monumental as Catalonia's only bullring to still stage corridas on a regular basis.
The anti-bullfighting group Prou ('Enough' in Catalan) collected 180,000 signatures to request the ban which parliament then agreed to consider.
The Catalonia debate then spread to Madrid, where in response conservative regional Prime Minister Esperanza Aguirre announced that her region would declare corridas a part of its cultural heritage.
Animal rights activists retaliated by asking the Madrid regional parliament to discuss a Catalan-style ban.
But the bullfighting question has turned out to be complex, with intellectuals and artists taking sides both for and against.
Corridas 'represent a form of spiritual and emotional nourishment as intense and enriching as a concert by Beethoven, (or) a comedy by Shakespeare,' Peruvian author Mario Vargas Llosa wrote.
Bullfighting inspired the likes of painter Pablo Picasso and poet Federico Garcia Lorca, he argued, describing it as a 'sign of identity' for much of the Spanish-speaking world.
Bullfighting fans also stress the healthy life of the Iberian fighting bulls, which are raised in environmentally-friendly sanctuaries measuring a total of 400,000 hectares, and which would be closed if corridas were abolished.
Animal rights campaigners, on the other hand, stress the suffering of the bull, which gets long darts pushed into its body before the matador finally kills it with a sword - often after several failed attempts.
Bulls are herbivores which prefer to flee rather than fight, philosopher Jesus Mosterin wrote.
Critics also condemn bullfights as a cowardly bloodsport which leaves the animal no chance to defend itself. Matadors do get gored, but it is very rare for them to get killed by bulls.
The controversy is expected to continue even in Catalonia, where Spain's main opposition conservative People's Party (PP) has announced possible parliamentary or legal initiatives in order to overturn the ban.
Trying to prohibit bullfights was like prohibiting football , conservative representative Juan Manuel Albendea quipped - an ominous joke in a country which has just won the football World Cup.

Saturday, July 17, 2010

Etno Grupa Trag - Zvuci Balkana

In May 2008. they finished recording their first album, titled "Sounds of the Balkans." It is 15 tracks from the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia and Bulgaria. A special place on the album found the music Lijevča field, far less familiar to the audience as the folk music of the area before 2007. The explored zabiljžena.

On the set for several months. For the arrangement is primarily responsible Goran Ćetojević and vocal arrangements Valentina Milekic, but other members in their peculiar manner impressed them his personal seal. Recording cameramen and producers were Ninoslav Dobrijević - Tiki and Dragan Bosnjak - Bole. Photos to pack worked Vladimir Milaković. The design was done by Valentina Milekic, a technical editor Dragan Grahovac. The album was recorded in two studios: "Digital Boyler" and "Studio 4" in Banja Luka.

1. Falcon fly
2. Be merry, hosts
3. Seven hours of stroke
4. Carnation is the time saved
5. The string of songs from Montenegro
6. Moonlight
7. All the birds sang
8. Šetnala the Kuzum Stana
9. Judging from my e clear skies
10. Marijo, deli bela kumrijo
11. Udade the Živka Sirinićka
12. Vrbice, VRBO Green
13. We three sisters, we sing
14. Oh, Krajina
15. Navigate kume kićane wedding

MP3 320 kbps including full scans

HERE

Thursday, July 15, 2010

The Gay Closet; Uganda, and Germany

An expose of gay life in Uganda has Afrogay angry.

They've had a journalist infiltrate the Kampala gay community to try and ferret out what makes gay boys tick. It's not the first time this sort of thing has happened and the only thing that sets it apart is that this journalist has made a clumsy attempt to be balanced. That said, this journalist simply knows too much about the gay community for me to believe that he didn't get embedded deeper than he admits.And that is a great cause for discomfort.
The tactics the journalist are pretty basic and that he seems to be so successful merely attests to the humanity in all of us. But it is also a wake-up call for those Ugandan gay boys who seem unable to take the simplest precautions in this day and age when stalkers, blackmailers and malevolent people are on the prowl, with gay boys and girls as their target.
~
Indeed, for guys who are under pressure, the pressure of one of the most homophobic countries in the world, it is simply too easy to infiltrate us. And, it is possible.

Oh well....

To my friends out there, I must confess I am more paranoid than lots of people. I mean, I have aided connection and lessening of our isolation in more than one way. Yet I continue to be anonymous. I am gayuganda, gug. And that is who I want to be. Gay, and closeted, and damned shy! Some have more to lose than others. Maybe I am just a coward.

Yes, I know lots of people know who I am. But, not to the extent of opening up to people like in this journalist's expose.
Within a period of three weeks, I learnt that gay relationships are almost like straight ones. Those involved charm, seduce, deceive, try to manipulate with money and even plead with whoever they are interested in to give into them and yes, they also get cheated on It was a hot Tuesday morning and I was seated in front of my computer reading an online article about gays in Uganda. The page had a link to a website called icebreakersuganda.org.
I clicked on it out of curiosity. It is probably one of the boldest gay things I have seen in this country. It’s a website that encourages gay people to come out and embrace their sexuality (thus the name icebreaker) and it connects gay people in Uganda. The website has a guestbook link where visitors of the site can update any comments or ideas on their mind about the website.
However, most of the comments posted on the website’s guestbook are announcements of gay people who want to meet other gays for mere company, sex or love. Consequently, this segment of the website has been turned into a “lonely hearts” of sorts for gay people. Some of the posted messages are darkly explicit and complete with e-mail addresses and phone numbers.
One of the posted messages on the website was an announcement for a gay party of sorts. It had a phone number attached to it.
Gay, in the closet, in Uganda? Why the recklessness of those who are gay in Uganda?

Because it is very hard to live in self denial; and sometimes recklessness takes the place of despair.

I was mourning about the closet in Uganda. We are not alone. The German national team, the one which did so well in the World Cup of football? Well, they are a 'bunch of gays' Ha ha ha ha ha!
I am not alone in my woes about the goodness of the closet. Says one former manager of the Bundesliga-
The whole issue of gay players in the Bundesliga is a sensitive issue in Germany. In March former football manager Rudi Assauer provoked outrage outrage by saying there is ‘no place' for gay players in football.
Assauer, who was boss of Schalke in Germany, said: "Perhaps they are OK in other sports but not in football.
"If a player came to me and said he was gay I would say to him: 'You have shown courage.' But then I would tell him to find something else to do.
"That's because those who out themselves always end up busted by it, ridiculed by their fellow players and by people in the stands. We should spare them these witch-hunts."
His outburst is set to enrage world footballing authorities who are making concerted efforts to rid the game of homophobia.
Asked whether he had ever met a gay footballer during his many years as both player and manager, 65-year-old Assauer replied: "No, never.”
Ugh, of course German football is so holy a spot that no gay people make their way into that holy of holies. Self deception at its best

Saturday, July 3, 2010

UK Rejects ACTA Calls To Criminalize Illicit File-Sharing

A leaked ACTA document published by citizen advocacy group La Quadrature du Net revealed the intention to introduce criminal sanctions into the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) for file-sharing offenses.

The ACTA Chapter 2 Criminal Provisions document (.pdf) stated that “each party shall provide for effective proportionate and dissuasive penalties” to include “imprisonment and monetary fines”.

“The ACTA agreement, by its opacity and undemocratic nature, allows criminal sanctions to be simply negotiated,” commented Jérémie Zimmermann, spokesperson for La Quadrature du Net. “The leaked document shows that the EU Member States are willing to impose prison sanctions for non-commercial usages of copyrighted works on the Internet as well as for ‘inciting and aiding’, a notion so broad that it could cover any Internet service or speech questioning copyright policies.”

As noted by Zimmermann, the ACTA text includes proposals to apply criminal sanctions to “infringements that have no direct or indirect motivation of financial gain”. There are suggestions that “financial gain” could simply be obtaining anything without paying.

However, it seems that at least one country is showing a reluctance to go along with suggestions that file-sharers should feel the full weight of a criminal court. The UK Government has now said that it feels that criminal sanctions are an inappropriate way to deal with this type of copyright infringement.

“Acta should not introduce new intellectual property laws or offences. Instead, it should provide a framework to better enforce existing laws,” a UK Intellectual Property Office representative told ComputerActive.

Currently, personal-use file-sharing on a non-commercial scale is almost always considered a civil offense in the UK. However, there have been exceptions. In the case of the OiNK uploaders (who actually uploaded very little indeed), their cases were heard in a criminal court and they ultimately received fines and community service orders. This proves that when powerful enough people get involved, it’s trivial to escalate an offense way above its standing.

That said, it would be ridiculous to have small infringements dealt with by the criminal courts as a matter of course, so hopefully the UK Government stands strong. Jim Killock, Chief Executive at the Open Rights Group said the Government now needs to make its opposition to these proposals both public and clear to the US and EU.