Budapest Adventure

Libby and I spent five(!) fabulous hours in Budapest -- just one afternoon and then back on the train, all the way to Germany. We had a picnic and played all silly-like in the park...


We stumbled upon the memorial to the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. The memorial is beautiful, a huge set of giant pillars, that are at first disparate and then come together into one.



Then there´s this nice plaque...


And a flag which is reminiscient of the revolutionary days, when people cut the communist emblem out of the center of the flag:


Then I had the tremendous luck to be able to play two fun games of chess with this old man. He spoke no english whatsoever, but was sweet as could be. Oh, and he did say one thing in english. When I had been trying to take one of his pawns for many moves, and then he just stepped the pawn out of the way, he said, "tick, tock. tock, tick." Just like that.


Then we went to these fabulous thermal baths. It was incredibly fun. All of the pools were from natural mineral water springs. Some were 38 degrees celsius, others more like pool temperature, some with jets like a hot tub, others just relaxing. And, in the pool one, there was this circular area with jets coming out of the walls, so you could just float and spin around in circles along with dozens of other laughing kids and adults. Fabulous!


The only down side was that we ended up taking a night train which had no more beds available, so we had a lousy night of sleep in the bike storage car of the train:

Awesome Austria

Libby and I had a nice restful and playful time in Wien, Austria. We stayed with friends of Gesa (a friend we made in Berlin) and they were super sweet and made us feel totally at home.


The family that hosted us, Lajos (the young one) Bettina, and Rudi...

Communism and After

Billy Says:

Poland:

"I didn´t like France," our friend Ania (from Krakow) says, "they are much more communistic there, and I couldn´t explain how horrible communism was, for those of us who lived through it here." There was, for example, a law under communism that the state could assign a family with new/extra flat-mates if they determined (by some math) that there was spare space. (It has been a challenge in the last 17 years, because humanitarian law enacted with the transition makes evicting these folks illegal, but staying living together isn´t necessarily easy or desirable). Ania tried telling a French friend about the indignity and discomfort of such a policy. "At least you don´t have any homeless people," the friend replies. "That´s easy for her to say, with a comfortable apartment in Paris... why doesn´t she let homeless people stay in her house?"

In fact, it´s a very difficult conversation. It´s quite difficult to imagine a society that is simultaneously totalitarian and also meeting "all" human needs. Maybe the hardest part about the paradox is realizing that human needs can be met in a totalitarian way (such as forcing people to live in cramped quarters so that no one goes without shelter). But to have grown up in a society where human needs are bought and sold (still there´s plenty of totalitarianism, all the same) it´s hard to swallow a simple, "it was horrible." And, of course, I still believe that it was horrible.

Aside from one or two "Milk Bars," most of the positive aspects of communism in Poland are being (or have been already) erased and replaced with the flashy gawdiness of capitalism (and, delightfully, America replaces Russia as the cultural and linguistic Master of the society). Our friend Ola told us that even the memory of anti-capitalist participants in the solidarity movement has been erased. (Solidarity is a trade union movement which fought against the stalinist state and swept a huge body of support in the early eighties: "Within a few months, 10 million workers [out of 13 million employees] had left the ‘official’ state-run unions to set up their own independent unions under the umbrella of ‘Solidarnosc’. Peasants and students set up their own committees. Even 40,000 police set up an independent union! In an opinion poll at the time, 83% of the population said they were in support of the strikers." This situation led to years of martial law and harsh repression which stuck till the ´89 collapse. The union is now part of the ruling capitalist state.) There is no discussion allowed of people saying that they had fought in the solidarity years for a non-totalitarian, but still not profit-based system. Only the capitalists and catholics are allowed to claim a victory. As if they were the only ones brave enough to stand up to the communist regime.

Now Poland´s capitalist economy is growing so fast that only China´s post-communist economy is growing faster.

There is one more piece to this. Consistently in my conversations with people raised under communism, there is a little anecdote which sticks out where the person´s generally demeanor about the system suddenly changes, and I hear something nostalgic, wistful, happy about the old times.

Anna, a friend we made in Warszawa but raised in the GDR says that she can´t relate to people born just 5 or 6 years after her, people who have lived only under capitalist. She says there is a whole different attitude towards life, a whole different ethic towards human relations, that quite simply turns her off to them, alienates her. When she was enrolled in university in western germany she´d say to her friends, "I´m going home to Germany... oops, I mean, Berlin," because she felt the west to be so foreign as to be another country entirely.

GDR:

I went to the Checkpoint Charlie Museum in Berlin to try and learn more about the division of Berlin and the Cold War generally. I got what I paid for I suppose. Certainly I got a much clearer glimpse into the specific horrors of the wall, which without a doubt terrorized the inhabitants of a beautifully city. I left with a clear sensation that there was a large portion of the German population that felt strongly (immediately after the war and consistently afterwards) that they didn´t want their country to be divided - for the purposes of a war between two distant empires.
Still, on the whole, I couldn´t entirely trust the viewpoint of the creators of the museum. I felt almost bludgeoned by the incessant references to the "free economy," (or even "free world") of the West. If I had been raised in a "free" economy, I wouldn´t feel the desparate desire to eradicate the injustices of my society that I now do. Really, speaking of Capitalism as the "free" economy is pure religious indoctrination. So, take what I learned at the Museum with a grain of salt.

I was most struck by one story, which the museum went to lengths to tell in detail. On June 17th, 1953, there was a massive rebellion that spread throughout East Germany. The starting point for the rebellion was a strike of construction workers against the forced increases in "efficiency" and gross productivity that the state economic planners were demanding. Failing to get anyone in the government to negotiate with them, a call was made for a general strike, and some hundreds of thousands of protestors descended on government buildings in east Berlin. The strikes, riots and clashes with the "people´s army" spread throughout the country, including 24 locations where prisons were ransacked by a furious population and the prisoners released. The insurrection was put down by martial law and the rolling in of soviet tanks to different cities.

It´s a compelling story. I find it most interesting that the igniting point for the rebellion is exactly the workplace, the place that the Marxists claim to liberate first and foremost. From this I understand that life under a planned economy of this sort was not an increase in human freedom. Of course not, as the goal was increased "efficiency," not freedom. So, I´m all for the rebellion, the attacks on the prisons and government buildings, the strikes, all of it. I am inspired and encouraged. Ok, but check this out...

West Germany and the USA went to lengths to encourage the general strike and the clash with the GDR government. They printed up newspapers that were distributed in the east, broadcast over radio and Tv in support, etc. This is strange, eh? Suddenly the "free" economy is in support of general strikes and rioting? The capitalists aren´t willing to force workers to increase efficiency and gross productivity? Not a chance. Had the same thing happened anywhere in the west, the state response would be exactly the same: martial law, mass arrests and murder of protesters. Witness France, 1968, LA 1992, Katrina, 2005, etc.

Friends in Poland

Let Fela Kuti lead you on a stroll through beautiful Poland...



Upon arrival in Warszawa, we stayed with Ola and her wonderful family. Ola is a political science student and is working to help bring to life a museum for the History of the Polish Jews, though she is not Jewish. We had many excellent conversations about Poland and America. Her parents were very sweet and supportive.
Ola´s mother is happily making us potato latkes:
We also stayed with Roman and Elizabeth, good friends of Libby´s uncle Denny. They own five coffee shops in Warszawa, of which we enjoyed only the main one, Cafe Adi, right across the street from a famous theatre.


***

In Krakow, we stayed a beautiful hostel, called DoDo Hostel, which unfortunately we have no photos of, but you can check their website.

We also had the joy to meet friends from Massolit Books, an english-language bookstore that Sam, a friend of Libby´s worked at, and overall a fabulous place:
Here´s Karen, the bookstore owner:

Street Art and Political Posters

There's so much amazing grafitti and radical posters that we didn't remember to or weren't able to photograph. A few we did get.

Just one of the dozens of anti-G8 posters in Berlin and Rostock (and frankly not the best of them):



Some of our favorites from South Africa (well, there were dozens at the Mayibuye Archives at UWC, but photography is prohibited there):





One of the good Mozambiquan ones, interesting because it depicts the three symbols used on the flag that the United States government hates so much: the book, the hoe, and the gun.

A couple of Paris gems:


In Belgium, there was this graffiti, which i take as an interesting critique, though i can't read the french, really:


Also in Paris there was this set of three, on a bridge. What the hell?

Nazism and after

Billy Says:

The legacy of Nazism is everywhere here. Even in way northern Norway, into the arctic circle, there's memorials and museums to mark the Nazi occupation and anti-Nazi resistance (see Narvik post). Then, of course, Berlin has a huge memorial (see Berlin post). Paris had my favorite memorial. You're led down a staircase, which opens to huge walls and triangle spikes staring you down, then bars and a small window to the sea beyond. You have to figure out that the memorial is behind you, but while you figure it out, you're usefully suspended in feeling confined and threatened.

In Wien, there's a giant cement block, comprised of hundreds of books (made of cement), all with their spine inward, so as to be unreadable. This is to represent the knowledge lost due to the holocaust. This has been criticized because of course not only the intelligentsia were killed. But my friend Rudi replies, "all the same, it's a huge block of cement; it'd be pretty hard to remove if the right wing came to power, and i think that's part of the point."

Warszawa is subtly horrifying, in that it seems nice enough, but 90% of the city has been completely rebuilt after the Nazis attempted to annihilate the city, the Jews, the Poles who hid Jews, the Polish Jews, the anti-capitalists and anti-Nazis, and Poland in general. IN a way, the whole city is a grim reminder of Nazism, and what spirit of Jewish vibrancy and human institutions remain is a memorial to the necessity of living in resistance.

Auschwitz, on the other hand, is simply horrifying. Libby broke out in tears as we stood in the gas chamber and the playful cries of an infant echoed off the walls which have held so many screams of death. The moment I entered the "dorm" for children (and mothers) at Birkenau, I felt a wave of sheer revulsion, and i think i would have vomitted if i had stayed longer than ( or ten minutes. In the whole place there is a feeling that overtakes you and cannot be easily explained. Death happens. Even death by oppression is understandable, known, and able to be grappled with, given the passing of time. But to stand on a piece of land where 1.5 million were killed in just one or two years? Unbelievably wretched.

In addition, the way in which Anti-Nazism influences a radical/anarchist politics in Europe - and Germany, Poland, and Austria in particular - is fascinating and instructive. I was intrigued to learn that Austria was isolated, governmentally and financially, in 2000 when 25-30% of parliament was elected Neo-Nazi. This, i'm told, gave useful sanction and encouragement to the street anti-fascist movement, and to anarchist rebellion generally. But, as the years passed; the "regular" Nazis, the average voters who elected these extremist-right candidates felt a new determination to bring their politics to life, rather than feeling discouraged or defeated.

I've spoken with so-called regular Germans who struggle with any displays of German flags or patriotism, and outside of sporting this is rather rare anyway. But our friend Rudi in Wien showed us photos of German soccer fans flagrantly displaying German flags, WWI (yes, one) military helmets and generally violent, macho patriotism. Rudi says with disgust, "Look at them, proudly displaying that flag which reminds the world of evil they had never before imagined." He also told me of Holocaust survivors who could never again speak or hear German spoken without traumatics memories of the brutal commanding language of their captors and killers.

Rudi is sympathetic to the "anti-deutsch" anti-fascist tendency, and he presented himself in a way in which was able to have some of taht sympathy rub off on me. I have thought before of the "anti-deutsch" folks as making crude pro-Israel and pro-America displays that I can't even slightly respect. But for Rudi, the emphasis was on establishing a culture of "zero tolerance" for any hints of a recurrence of "National Socialism." For example, Rudi told a story about organizing a caravan of Indian anti-Globalization activists throughout Europe. During the journery, one Indian man turned to Rudi and said, "Hitler was great, he killed lots of Jews." Rudi paid the airline fee to have the man immediately flown back to India. Many people tried to tell him that maybe the man simply didn't understand what he had said, didn't mean it, and so on. Rudi insists, "If I had done anything less, I would have been treating him like a child, not taking him seriously in his opinions."

It feels clear to me that the Nazi "episode" has an aftermath which we are not yet out of. I don't know what it will take to bury the ordeal once and for all, but we aren't finished doing it yet, that's for sure.

***

here´s the view from the bottom of the steps at the paris memorial:

and from the inside looking out:

"But All of Warsaw is a Cemetery"

Every place has its own hell
"but all of Warsaw is a cemetery."

90% of the city bombed?
87% of the population disenfranchised, enslaved, even?
Recovery, of a sort, has happened.
But to live atop the ashes of the slaughtered?
Something altogether else is required (of you).

"All of Warsaw is a cemetery."
"And what of the park?
What of literature?
Where are the monuments to the living?"

They say no one reacted to the burning of the Ghetto
because gunshots and screams
were an everyday occurrence.
How little does it take?
What is the minimum brutality needed
to produce a complacent population?
Or is it always maximum brutality?
We are still the same as them, right?
The Poles, 1943, we're just like them, right?

***

The secret agent tapping your phone
politely asks you to the cut the conversation short;
it's late, and he needs his rest.
You have no freedom
but your oppressor earns the same wage as you.
You have no freedom
but you have food, housing, medicine and education.
You have no freedom,
but plenty of time to sit and talk with friends.

***

How long does it take a people to forget
the hell of war?
As long as you can say,
"and to my grandfather, they..."
"before... (the war)..."
"before... (the peace)..."
The war is still on.

Pareeee: July 1st-4th

Augsburg -- Lib visits college friends from International House

coffee in the town square with Stefan (and Harald, guest photographer)

From Wendy's hospitality in Brussels, I took my first solo flight (this trip) and trained down to Augsburg to visit Harald and Stefan, 2 good friends of mine from the college days of living in the International House. I was curious about rediscovering my "independent" self-- about how I function on mz own while traveling, not being so dependent on Billy to get us to our destinations (he's a timetable whiz!). I'm not as good at taking the most efficient route, I don't think. For starters, I accidentally told the guy at the ticket counter in Brussels that I needed to know the connections to Munich, when really I needed to go to Augsburg, and consequently I spent some mental energy juggling around how I would modify my transfers in different towns to go straight to Augsburg. I figured it out eventually and transfered in Nuremburg. I had by that time finished a book by Winnie Mandela that Billy and I had been reading, and for the first time got deeply into writing some reflections. Unfortunately, I was so intent on my writing that I stayed seated to finish a thought as we pulled into the Augsburg station, and misjudged the length of the stop. As I pulled my bag down from the overhead rack, other passengers getting onboard blocked my quick escape, and I heard the "door closing" bell chime just as I rushed past them. I reached the door just as it had a few inches left. Had I been bolder, perhaps I'd have thrust my hand or arm into the line of fire, but once it closed --and it did -- there was no getting out. For the first time on the trip, even though weäve had a few travel snafus, I really just wanted to cry. There I was, in Augsburg, and now condemned to go all the waz to Munich (40 minutes) and take another train back (thank god for the rail pass). At some point after 20 minutes or so of feeling shaky and upset about my judgment error, I decided I had to choose to think this was absurdly hilarious, and began to feel alot better (also, a cheap scoop of gelato at the Munich train station was of further comfort).

When I got back to Augsburg, Stefan was waiting for me at the station. We could recognize each other from 100 yards away, and it immediately felt impossible that 2 years could have passed since we lived together in I-House. We went back to his place and then met up with Harald at a coffeeshop/bar that night and chatted for a while, catching each other up.
Harald and I went running together with a friend of his the next morning, then Stefan and I walked all around Augsburg that afternoon. We saw the cathedral, the old town, and I learned more about the history of the town, named after Augustus during the Roman Empire's glory days. We climbed hundreds of steps of a bel tower in the city square, and spent time on a sandy beach created on the top of a parking garage, sipping organic ginger-orange lemonade ("Bionade", a German phenomenon) from our lounge chairs in the sunny breeze. Harald made us a delicious vegetable lasagna dinner, and we reminisced and laughed into the wee hours.

After another day of exploring the city, and patronizing once more the city's coffee shops, I got on a night train and headed back west, to rejoin Billy in Paris. It was great to see my friends, if only for 2 days.

reverent worship of the statues in town

Augsburg from the bell tower in town square-- record race to the top is 53 seconds... it took us 3:40 at a leisurely clip

you can't escape the black water of capitalism, even in the Munich train station!

The great Augustus, after whom Augsburg is named.

an old merchant house, now commercial buildings

part of an art series celebrating water

Harald prepares bruschetta and lasagna in the kitchen

the dynamic duo, just as in the olden days of I-House