Maddy On the Road

Did the Earth rebel, and say, "enough!" ?

2010-04-16T14:03:00.000-07:00

Maybe we could measure the amount of carbon emissions reduced by the number of flights cancelled by this volcano phenomenon...

Of course, the volcano itself has let off emmissions. But the Earth has the right to cry out in pain.

Haiti

2010-01-13T20:09:00.000-08:00

100,000 people died tonight,
A few thousand kilometers from me.
God decided to rummage out
A piece of uneven earth,
And toed out a smidge of dirt.

Like kicking out a fleck
Of sand into the ocean
Which crumbles and disappears,
And you didn´t think it would vanish
But it does and goes in mounds.

And suddenly they´re all gone.

And I sit on my sofa, and listen to cars pass by.

Jaime Sabines - a great Mexican poet

2009-12-30T21:51:00.001-08:00

Digo que no puede decirse el amor...

Digo que no puede decirse el amor.
El amor se come como un pan.
se muerde como un labio,
se bebe como un manantial.
El amor se llora como a un muerto,
se goza como un disfraz.
El amor duele como un callo,
arturde como un panal,
y es sabroso como la uva de cera
y como la vida es mortal.

El amor no se dice con nada,
ni con palabras ni con callar.
Trata de decirlo el aire
y lo está ensayando el mar.
Pero el amante lo tiene prendido,
untando en la sangre lunar,
y el amor es igual que una brasa
y una espiga de sal.

La mano de un manco lo puede tocar,
la lengua de un mudo, los ojos de un ciego,
decir y mirar.
El amor no tiene remedio
y sólo quiere jugar.

Alabanza - Song of Praise

2009-12-30T20:49:00.000-08:00

Give me the sound of water, some copper-coloured earth, verdant landscape and some lazy cows, and I am happy.

Song of praise - for everything in 2009. And blessings for 2010.

Se acaba el año - The year is coming to a close

2009-12-23T18:33:00.000-08:00

I recently sat down and idly leafed through my 2009 diary. It made me laugh, and remember all the things that have happened this year. 2009 has been a giant monster of a year. A year of growth. And I have to admit I´m exhausted!

I found looking through my diary somehow therapeutic. It was a moment to pause and remind myself that my fatigue does come from somewhere, and that actually, it´s time to rest up, after this wonderful, chaotic year, full of changes.

Here are some snapshots of the scribbles throughout my 2009 diary. Maybe this won´t mean anything for the outside observer, but for me it was nice to jot some of this down.

Life is very fast, and I believe these moments of pause at the end of the year are times for calm and comfort. Merry Christmas everyone! especially to my family. See you in February. Miss you lots!

Budget - 43,000 pesos November!; Drinks with Chapman and friends; Armario/Alacena, NIsh´s wedding!, Reyes Magos; Call HURIDOCS, Lee Docs EPU; Evento Carmen Aristegui, Reserve Room UN Palace; Ometusco 10 # 8; Supper @Margarets; Agendar Reunión Amnistía Internacional; G & G; Centro Budista; Carta - Rodolfo y Teodoro; Rolling Stone Fact Checking; Solicitud OMCT; Fiesta Javier; Curso Meditación; Atenco/Oaxaca; Mi Cumpleaños 26!; Press Contacts Geneva; News Ad - Atenco, Merida Initiative; Write neatly maddy!; Cobadonga; H & M arrive!!!; Itzlan, 2pm, Fiesta Carlos; Chicago; Meditate: survivor; nomasabusos.org; Diagonal San Antonio 1684 #13 entre Vertiz y Cuahutémoc, Campaña, PAY GAS; Blues Fest; PRESS KIT; Josh Pyke downloads, CALL NAB BANK; Mari - paella preparation; Finnish reportage; Joint Statement VAW; USB, Jacinta, sandwiches; co-sponsors, interpreter, Carlos? Texcoco, write to Camilla; Viduldo; Rupert; Apunta detalles James; Llama Commission Nationale Francia; Rosa Luxemburgo (Torchtaser Exit, 8pm); Mem, Winstrasser 62; Anniversario Tlachi!; UNDERSTAND URIBE! (ask JC); Fiesta - Quetzal, Cena con Nury; Office - Microsoft!; Hermanos Loxicha; SEGOB; Ir a ver a Margaret; Dad´s birthday; Embajada EEUU - Tortura; HRW; Noche Brasileña; Kenziah Jones; BB Shower Tania; Misa Jesus; Study Climate Change!!; Vidal Embassy Security Check; Cachito de texto; DIPLOMADO!; Obra de Lulu; Antes de que se nos olvide - Caifanes; Blood Type?? Visit Judith Macgregor; Hilltop Hoods - Still Standing; NOUR - sell jewellery!; Ring hannah - bday; SALSA; Nueva York!; Richard´s housewarming; Cecilia USAID; Copenhagen pre-summit events!; MILIBAND!; www.kyron.com; Dr Vladimir - Ginecologia; Guitarra 7-8pm; Mum´s 60th!!; Ibero - diploma: Away Day.

Christmas Concert

2009-12-23T17:41:00.001-08:00

My guitar teacher Pablo hosted an informal Christmas concert in his house last week. Pablo is a very soulful guy, with lots of love to give to everyone. We had kids, adults, a teenage rapper who writes his own lyrics, amateur pop-singers, all together enjoying a few hours of musical appreciation. I sang a song by John Lennon and one by Bob Dylan (not with guitar - not yet advanced enough!), and I played tambourine and back-up singer for Pablo on "Have you Ever seen the Rain" by Creedence.

FUN!
Here's to a 2010 full of music. Grateful for the little angels in my life like Pablo.

In my neighbourhood IV

2009-12-23T17:27:00.000-08:00

Teenagers in romantic embrace in the Zona Rosa

Construction of the world's biggest christmas tree, on Paseo de la Reforma. "That bloody ***ing tree", as it would be come to be known by many, for the traffic and circulation problems it has caused. I personally have harboured a smouldering disdain for this tree. At night it gets lit up with some pretty lights, but overall it's a huge Pepsi promotional gimmick, and the whole of Paseo de la Refoma has been Pepsi-fied as well, branded up to its eyeballs. Bah humbug. Give me a good Mexican piñata any day.

Happy 60th birthday Mum

2009-11-29T16:55:00.000-08:00

I remember a few years ago Mum had an experience on the street in the middle of Sydney. A friendly man walked by, took one look at Mum and said "you´re still beautiful".

Happy birthday Mum. 60, Beautiful and inspiring as ever. I love you and miss you!

who can pick the glaring contradiction in this?

2009-11-25T16:42:00.000-08:00

U.S. President Barack Obama will deliver a speech next week in which he is expected to reveal a new strategy for the 8-year-old war in Afghanistan, one that is likely to include an exit strategy as well as a fresh injection of troops....

hmm..

Currently reading "The Great War for Civilisation - The Conquest of the Middle East" by awarn winning foreign correspondent Robert Fisk. Gripping stuff.

A good road trip is a wonderful thing

2009-11-22T21:17:00.000-08:00

Last weekend I had an incredible road trip adventure with my best mate Steve. In two days we had such a variety of experiences, and all within 2 hours of Mexico City.

We bussed out of DF on Friday night to the little town of Amecameca, to head up to Popocatepetl and Ixtacihautl, Mexico´s 2nd and 3rd largest volcanoes the next day. These two volcanoes are the stuff of legends - the white dormant mountain representing a lady, and her lover, the smoking active volcano, looking over her.
(4500m and over 5000m, respectively - we were there in the non snowy-season)

On the saturday evening we headed out of Amecameca, faithfully following the locals´ instructions to link up with the buses passing on a nearby highway, under a bridge, which were supposed to take us to Tlaxcala (another state). We waited under the bridge in the absolute middle of nowhere in the dark, only to be offered a ride by a reasonably unsuspicious looking sort of man. We accepted the hike and climbed along. Zooming along the highway, our driver told us he was a Federal Policeman and used to be in the Army. After we got out of the car 45 mins later, on the side of the highway, Steve said to me "Pinche Maddy - I know you too well. As soon as the guy said he was a cop, you froze and went silent in the back seat, so I had to do all the damn conversation." Hehe. Steve later admitted that he was also imagining what his final words would be as the policeman kidnapped us and held us for ransom before execution. Ha! On the side of the road in San Martin (we didnt know whether we were in Puebla or Tlaxcala state), we were told that it was a quick crossing of the highway to where the buses left for the town we wanted to get to. The "quick crossing" ended up being a hair-raising dash through a 50cm hole in a wall between cars on the highway going 120kph! Phew.

We finally arrived in beautiful, enchanted Tlaxcala on Saturday night and enjoyed the charming town, its history, colours, old ladies hand weaving, adorable little Bulls-plaza, and excellent coloured lighting. We felt we had stumbled across a well-kept secret. Mexico has so many of these.

3 small examples of why living in Mexico is amazing

2009-11-15T13:01:00.001-08:00

1. I head down to the market at Balderas to buy a few books and a new hammock. As I come out of the metro I decide to make a detour by the plaza del son to watch the die-hard fans of son (slower, yummier version of salsa) taking a whirl under the Saturday sun. A dignified senior in a suit asks me to dance. I put down my shopping bags and spin a couple of songs around the fountain with him, watching everyone else and admiring their stylish steps. I thank my dance partner and continue along my with day.

I get to the market and the man that sells me a hammock tells me that he´s been in this same market for 40 years, that he and his wife were orphans and have been married for 58 years and have 11 children, who have all sorts of professions, from surgeons to lawyers. The hammock man has travelled all around europe, USA, but he still believes that "we´re living the glory in Mexico".

2. I'm sitting in the back of my friend's car and suddenly I cry out "sí, por favor!" and lean out to a flower seller standing at the traffic lights in front of us. My friend has just received some great news and as a joyful gesture we grab two enormous bunches of flowers - about 30 long stemmed roses among others - for only about $4AUD. I reach out to pay and the vendor stuffs the flowers into the back of the car so that it´s overflowing with colour. The lights turned green and we keep speeding on. Love it.

3. A heartfelt waling session with Andrés on guitar and my old Centro Prodh chums, all singing a melodramatic song of misery from José José, one of Mexico´s most famous singers. Everyone just goes for it! Well this video says it all.

As Margaret would say, now that is what you call the spice of life.

A fin la tristeza es la muerte lenta de las simples cosas..

2009-11-15T12:56:00.001-08:00

20 years on

2009-11-08T20:29:00.000-08:00

In November 1989 I was 6 years old and no doubt thinking more about the lollies in my local shop than one of the most significant events of our generation.

20 years on from the fall of the Berlin Wall, what does it mean for me to have grown up in a post- Cold War world? I am a product of consumer capitalism, for better or worse. Be as it may that my political views tend to rally against the excesses and abuses of capitalism, I cannot for a minute deny that this much hated and much loved system is also responsible for the economic growth that has pulled many nations out of poverty. But of course it would be far too simplistic to put it like that. Inequality has generally soared throughout many parts of the world and the environmental cost of this beast are plain for all to see. However I continue to speak in platitudes. I am a mere law/anthropology graduate without any formal economic education. The closer I get to working on economics through my different jobs, the more I am flabbergasted by its complexity, by the necessity of trade but also the cruelty of it, by the need for competitiveness, but at what price, and the overall thing that seems to hit me is that you can´t be simplistic with economics. Who is to say that nationalising a company is bad for economics? Who is to say that private is necessarily bad or public is necessarily good? These are questions that rattle in my head and prick me constantly. They have for a long time, since working with the campaigners of Oxfam to witnessing the corruption of some Mexican unions to hearing the heartbreaking tales of Mexicans crossing the US-Mexico border in search for a future to feed their families. Sometimes I just say, oh sheesh! Bloody economics!!

On occasion of this anniversary, the BBC has published an extremely interesting and ambitious survey of 29,000 people in 27 countries to gauge the general reflections on global capitalism. The report card shows a thumping disappointment with capitalism.

I would tend to go with the yellows here. Yep. Capitalism cannot be the best model we have, surely.

Based on this survey above, the Mexicans and French show up as deeply confused: they have the highest rate of disapproval for free-market capitalism, however both countries have given support to clearly right-wing governments. Oh but dammit, who is to say that free market capitalism is the monopoly of the right wing? O gawd, take me back to the class room now!

Central Park, New York City

2009-11-05T18:54:00.000-08:00

Day of the Dead (Día de los Muertos)

2009-10-25T18:44:00.000-07:00

Wonderful Day of the Dead comes around again! Here of some photos from my trip to the market to get my altar supplies:

And my altar dedicated to my grandparents. I even found a skeleton of a man driving a race car, for my grandfather who was a car mechanic and enthusiast. A businessman skeleton for my other grandfather, two lovely ladies with flowers for my granmothers, and other touches. yay!

Learning to Think

2009-10-25T18:22:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I went to an exhibition of the English sculptor Anthony Gorman. It was one of the stand-out exhibitions I have seen recently.
Here is one of many sculptures of Gormley. He really plays around with space and bodies, and our consciousness within all of that. I wish I could have gotten more photos, but they were kind of forbidden. Everything was so participative. One of my favourite works was called "Learning how to Think", which was a number of life size sculptures of bodies suspended from the ceiling from their shoulders down (so their head was missing). I loved it. It made me think about the few meditation classes I´ve taken this year. They´ve taught me that the more we turn off the mind, the more we learn how to think. The more we re-enter our body, focus on it, realise its power, we enter our consciousness, or even our unconscious, and we learn to leave all the discourse and noise of our head behind.

I´m currently attending a short course on "Managing the Unconscious" that my good friend Nury raved about so much until I went along with her. It´s taught by her philosophy teacher and quite interesting stuff. Funnily enough, on the first class we did a really cool meditation and then the teacher asked us to draw a picture of ourselves. Afterwards she started talking about the different shakra points in the body and where are energies are. We looked at our self portraits. She took one look at mind and just said "you are all heart and all mind. Where is your grounding?! You gotta remember your body!"

One day after work I came out late with a particularly pestering and buzzing mind. I went straight down to the Angel of Independence, where the sky was like nothing I´s ever seen. I took off my shoes and stuck my feet deep in the grass next to the Angel. connecting with the earth, somehow. Somehow, learning how to think. I hope.

A couple of weekends ago I went to an old convent in the pined woods around Mexico City. I hugged a huge old tree and just breathed and turned off the mind. Who knows how to think, in the end. But I do know that these sorts of things, that I am only waking up to, work for me.

Viva México

2009-10-25T18:13:00.001-07:00

Photo courtesy of Jorge, a UNAM student (National University) I made friends with at the light show in the Zocalo as part of Independence Day celebrations last month. It was such a funny night - with so many people there was quite a lot of hubbub and a few situations that were just so Mexican.

I never was much of a fan of "our Nic" but this is cool and applaudable:

2009-10-22T20:31:00.000-07:00

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5ihYo1g9OBhtoTU6vivBGPdiEEudA

Isn´t there a better way to do things Kevin??

2009-10-14T17:39:00.000-07:00

Australia May Expand Detention Center Amid Influx of Refugees

By Ed Johnson and Jesse Riseborough

Oct. 14 (Bloomberg) -- The Australian government said it may further expand its offshore detention center for asylum seekers as the opposition blamed weak border controls for an influx of refugees from countries such as Sri Lanka.

The government has added 200 beds at the center on Christmas Island, more than 800 kilometers (500 miles) off the northwestern coast, where refugees are held while they undergo checks, the Immigration Department said today.

The capacity may be further increased “as part of our contingency plan,” Immigration Minister Chris Evans told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio.

The opposition says 41 boats carrying almost 2,000 refugees reached Australian waters since Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s Labor government changed asylum rules in August 2008. The issue of illegal immigration is politically sensitive for Rudd, who is accused by the opposition of weakening the policies of his predecessor John Howard.

“This Labor government is soft on national security and has completely lost control of our borders,” Sussan Ley, the opposition justice and customs spokeswoman, said in a statement. “What kind of message is this sending to the insidious world of people smugglers?”

Since winning office in November 2007, Rudd has moved to dismantle Howard’s “Pacific Solution” policy of detaining refugees in island camps and has pledged to speed up the process of assessing claims for asylum. The government last year closed detention centers on the Pacific island of Nauru and on Manus, a province in Papua New Guinea.

Intercepted at Sea

All asylum seekers intercepted at sea are now detained on Christmas Island, where they have access to legal assistance and an independent review of decisions. Asylum seekers who make it to mainland Australia are locked up only as a last resort while they are processed.

The opposition says the new policy has made Australia a more attractive destination to asylum seekers and boosting people smuggling.

The number of refugees on Christmas Island this week reached more than 1,000 and a further 56 are on their way after their boat was intercepted two days ago, the Immigration Department said. Capacity has been increased to about 1,400 from 1,200 and there are “contingency plans in place” to further increase accommodation on the island, the department said in an e-mailed statement.

The government denies its policies are attracting asylum seekers and says conflicts in countries such as Afghanistan and Sri Lanka have led to a global increase in refugees.

Global Problem

“This is a global and regional problem,” Rudd told ABC radio today. “Our approach to people smuggling and our approach to asylum seekers is tough but humane.”

The prime minister said he speaks regularly with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on how to tackle people smuggling.

A boat carrying 260 Sri Lankan asylum seekers was detained by the Indonesian navy at the weekend after Rudd asked Yudhoyono to intervene, the Australian newspaper reported.

The refugees, who boarded the boat in Malaysia 13 days ago after flying there from Sri Lanka, yesterday threatened to blow up the wooden craft if the Indonesian navy forced them to disembark at the port of Merak, according to the report.

Australia says it’s working with countries in the region to stop traffickers smuggling people from the Middle East and Central Asia through transit points in Malaysia and Indonesia.

R.I.P. Mercedes Sosa

2009-10-04T13:01:00.000-07:00

"Today, from the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina, we have to inform you that Ms Mercedes Sosa, Latin America´s most important artist of popular folk music, has left us."

- from her family´s press statement.

Gracias a la vida. Thankyou life.

And I encourage you to listen to this song, and turn it loud, as it continues to build and build up, and the drums come in, and you feel like you can take on the world: Todo Cambia. Everything changes. In these faraway lands.

DEPECHE MODE, MEXICO CITY, Oct 3, 2009

2009-10-04T03:08:00.001-07:00

Dust Storm, Sydney, 23 September 2009

2009-09-22T19:12:00.000-07:00

coogee beach, or mars?

"How would you rate your overall call quality?"

2009-09-08T20:28:00.000-07:00

Tonight I rang my sister for her 28th birthday. Bursting with pride for my dear Mem over such wonderful reviews for her "tour de force" play, I was so excited to wish her happy birthday.

It´s funny how skype asks you after your calls, "How would you rate your overall call quality?"
Exellent/Good/Average/Bad/Terrible.

Sometimes after calls home I think skype has it all wrong. Dont they know they are servicing those living on the lonely planet? Far away from loved ones?

The post-call question from skype should be the following:
"Exhiliarating and euphoric/Warm fuzzies/Nostalgic and sentimental/Homesick/Heart Wrenching/Just plain upsetting"

Ah. I did pick a very far away place to be.

Film clip of the year

2009-09-07T19:42:00.000-07:00

oh oh oh oh oh I love this new album from Sarah Blasko. I am so impressed by it, by its heart, its fragility, its truth in so many ways, its strength. It´s so spot on.

This film clip is a triumph.

Arriba Sarah!!

Acto Público

2009-09-07T16:21:00.000-07:00

On Saturday we organized a public demonstration alongside other human rights organizations in relation to the bleak impunity for human rights violations in Mexico: Torture, arbitrary detentions, extrajudicial executions, forced disappearances.

Here are some graphics and photos.

So much to learn, so much to grow, human rights defense and advocacy is a long road and I´ll never stop reflecting and learning. Yeah. Peace.

Oscar Chavez

2009-09-03T19:32:00.000-07:00

On saturday night I went along with some mates to see the classic singer of Mexican trova, Oscar Chavez. I think I have referred to trova in earlier posts (political acoustic songs derived from folk traditions).

If you like trova, you love it. You crowd around with friends singing the greats: Silvio Rodriguez, Óscar Chávez, Fernando Delgadillo, Luis Eduardo Aute, Pablo Milanez, etc etc. The small amount I know from the universe of trova, I love it.
Trova is probably one of the most unique contributions to music from Latin America and Spain. It can mix in boleros, sons, rancheros and other genres into a very nostalgic, empassioned, haunting mix.

Oscar Chavez is one of the older trovadores, with a big booming deep voice, he rouses the crowds in his usual khaki get up and ponytail. Here are two of his classic songs. The first one, "Por ti" (because of you), is not advised to be taken in concentrated doses. It is a bit of a bomb, and gets the audience almost at weeping point. This is a very glammed up TV set video and not usually what Oscar looks like, but it was the best recording I could get on youtube:

"Por ti, yo dejé de pensar en el mar. Por ti, yo dejé de fijarme en el cielo..."
"Because of you, I´ve stopped thinking about the sea. Because of you, I´ve stopped noticing the sky.."...
Uff. We heard the song played by Oscar´s co-performer in the first half of the concert, and then there was an interval, and we had a tequila, and Oscar sang "Por ti" again. uuf, the effect of the song was even more potent after a good tequila.

Now, this is also a classic song of trova. Hasta siempre. SO many people sing this song, this famous poem dedicated to Che Guevara. I happen to think this version by Oscar Chavez is one of the best. Check out this video, it´s tremendously entertaining!
"Aquí, se quedará clara
La entrañable transparencia
De tu querida presencia,
Comandante Che Guevara"

"Here it will remain clear,
The loveable openness
of your dear presence,
Commandante Che Guevara"

When this song is played sometimes you´ll see the audience all silently raise their hands with a closed fisted salute.

__________

And whilen Í´m at it, I cant help but post a song from my most beloved trovador, Silvio Rodriguez. From the most bass of trovadores (Oscar Chavez), to the most tenor (Silvio), here is Te doy una Cancion, a song I have also spoken about on this blog. And if you continue on this video, you get another really lovely song from Silvio. Enjoy!

New York Times

2009-09-03T19:07:00.000-07:00

I thought I´d post this link to a story in New York Times a couple of weeks ago where I was inadvertedly quoted!

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/19/world/americas/19mexico.html?_r=1&ref=world

In my neighbourhood - Part III

2009-08-27T20:22:00.000-07:00

Right next to Centro Prodh we have a wonderful old building of apartments, un vecindario. I love it.

Okay, maybe I am cheating on my rules. This is about 12 blocks from my house instead of about 10. Bosque de Chapultepec (like Central Park but bigger. The Mexican president lives inside this park, in his own forest. There are about 10 museums inside the park).
This photo was taken after having a 3 hour breakfast with my friend Javier. suffice to say we didnt jog like this guy.

Watch out...

2009-08-24T17:24:00.001-07:00

There is a sequence here. Colombia > México. Uufff.

Se me está quedando bien

2009-08-23T20:22:00.001-07:00

I had a few work friends and their partners over on friday night. Good times.

Here are some shots.

After a year in my apartment I have really started to feel it as my home, with a few touches: curtains, fun things, touches here and there etc, and I really like inviting people over to my little pad.

In my neighbourhood - Part II

2009-08-17T18:17:00.001-07:00

I just love this old bicycle workshop. It is a real classic:

"Tonio and his friends"

Part 3 in the Infuriating Series on Women´s rights in Afghanistan!

2009-08-14T15:49:00.000-07:00

DEPLORABLE

http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2009/08/13/afghanistan-law-curbing-women-s-rights-takes-effect

Human Rights Watch learned today that the amended bill was published in the official Gazette on July 27, 2009 (Gazette 988), bringing the law into force.

"Karzai has made an unthinkable deal to sell Afghan women out in return for the support of fundamentalists in the August 20 election," said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "So much for any credentials he claimed as a moderate on women's issues."

A copy of the final law seen by Human Rights Watch shows that many regressive articles remain, which strip away women's rights that are enshrined in Afghanistan's constitution. The law gives a husband the right to withdraw basic maintenance from his wife, including food, if she refuses to obey his sexual demands. It grants guardianship of children exclusively to their fathers and grandfathers. It requires women to get permission from their husbands to work. It also effectively allows a rapist to avoid prosecution by paying "blood money" to a girl who was injured when he raped her.

IMPUNITY

2009-08-11T01:00:00.000-07:00

Today, that was it.

We just put a big black banner on the entry to our website saying:

IMPUNITY

The Mexican supreme court balks at their opportunity.

www.centroprodh.org.mx

Templo Mayor

2009-08-09T18:46:00.000-07:00

I was almost eaten by Aztec serpents today. On a Sunday afternoon I found myself in Mexico City´s Zocalo (main square), walking through the ruins of the main Aztec temple of Tenochtitlan, the great Aztec city that the Spaniards destroyed in 1521.

There was a general hubbub in the Zocalo today that was more intense than normal. The Aztec drummers reached a united volume that I hadn´t before witnessed, thundering on the stones of the ancient city. The Zocalo seemed to sway slightly, swelling with people and street vendors, and for a few moments I thought that the underbelly of the plaza might double in on itself, and the bodies of smouldering Aztec warriers might burst out from beneath our feet.

It was as if a magician had passed a magic sheet over the plaza and it could at any moment become airborne, lifting itself up like a hot air balloon and floating above the ground, freeing the nine underworlds and Mictlantecuhtli, the Lord of the Underworld below. That at any second there would be blue-painted frogs raining on us to celebrate the goddess Tozozlontli, or someone might make a dash for my beating heart and place it on an altar as divine food to the sun.

As the Spanish conquistador Bernal Díaz wrote in his journals, the sight of Tenochtitlan was beyond words and awe. Men who had beheld cities such as Constantinople, great sites in France and Italy, had never seen a city such as this, and the Zocalo inspired many words from Díaz. Great temples rising as pyramids out of a city built on a lake island.
A Mexican girl standing next to me in the temple ruins exclaimed "Sons of whores. Fucking foreigners", referring to the Spanish who had destroyed Tenochtitlan and used the stones of relics and pyramids to build their city.

My head was filling up with incense from the drummers and dancers in the square. The drumming got louder, louder, and I was walking in the old temple, feeling slightly giddy from the insence and the cleaning products I´d inhaled during my morning spring clean in my house. But I had been transported so far away from anything domestic or familiar; I felt drunk. A plaza that I knew so well, loved so dearly, was almost about to caterpault itself from within the temple, the entrails of history trampling on mere mortals like me.

The sky became overcast and the drumming dimmed, overtaken by the chiming of bells from the Cathedral, the Spanish grey monolith overlooking the square. The magic and the underworlds began to retreat under the sound of the bells. A light rain began to fall on the square. The street vendors covered their goods and scurried to shelter, calling our for the last sales of the day. The incense dispersed. The crowds scattered under the raindrops. The Zocalo stopped swaying and the magician laid his sheet on the table again.
Just as well, as we were all on the point of being swallowed by giant serpents.

I walked through the rain, out of the Zocalo, and warmed myself with a hot chocolate and churros in the Churrería el Moro on Eje Central. I came back into the afternoon.

My neighbourhood: Part 1.

2009-08-06T22:54:00.001-07:00

I´ve decided to start a series on my blog dedicated to images of completely normal happenings, people and places within 10 blocks of my house.
The area I live in is very central - it mixes the old and the new, the foreign and the traditional of Mexico City.

There is a sculpture by José Luis Cuevas near my house.

Prostitutes on the corner a block from my house.

Early morning standing round a taco stall near a parking lot.

Front page of Washington post.....

2009-08-06T22:23:00.001-07:00

It´s been a big week at our office..

Leahy Blocks Positive Report on Mexico's Rights Record
Skepticism About Conclusions Delays U.S. Anti-Drug Aid
By William Booth and Steve Fainaru
Washington Post Foreign Service
Wednesday, August 5, 2009

MEXICO CITY, Aug. 4 -- A key senator rejected a State Department plan to issue a report this week affirming that Mexico is respecting human rights in its war against drug traffickers, delaying the release of millions of dollars in U.S. anti-narcotics assistance, according to U.S. officials and congressional sources.

The State Department intended to send the favorable report on Mexico's human rights record to Congress in advance of President Obama's visit to Guadalajara for a summit of North American leaders this weekend, U.S. officials familiar with the report said.

That plan was scrapped after aides to Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), chairman of the Senate Appropriations foreign operations subcommittee, told State Department officials that the findings contradicted reports of human rights violations in Mexico, including torture and forced disappearances, in connection with the drug war.

At stake is more than $100 million in U.S. aid under the Merida Initiative, a three-year, $1.4 billion counternarcotics package begun by President George W. Bush in 2007. The law requires Congress to withhold 15 percent of most of the funds until the secretary of state reports that Mexico has made progress on human rights.

"Those requirements have not been met, so it is premature to send the report to Congress," Leahy said in a statement. "We had good faith discussions with Mexican and U.S. officials in reaching these requirements in the law, and I hope we can continue in that spirit."

Soaring Violence
The State Department's failure to push through the report is a setback for the U.S. and Mexican governments at a time when drug violence in Mexico continues to soar and President Felipe Calderón has come under growing pressure to revise his U.S.-backed anti-narcotics strategy, which relies heavily on the military to fight the cartels.

State Department officials said they are considering whether to rewrite the report before submitting it to Congress, probably after it reconvenes Sept. 7.

Mexico is likely to lose some of the money if it is not released by Sept. 30, U.S. officials said. U.S. aid under the Merida Initiative is used to buy helicopters and surveillance aircraft, train police, and improve intelligence-gathering in the fight against the drug cartels.

But congressional aides and human rights experts expressed doubt that the State Department would be able to make a compelling case that Mexico has made sufficient progress.

"In the area of prosecuting human rights abuses and ending the impunity, I don't believe we have seen any real progress," said Maureen Meyer, who oversees Mexico for the Washington Office on Latin America, a human rights group that opposes release of the funds. "There is no sign that people are being held accountable. Every major human rights group has opposed releasing the money."

Push for Transparency
Mexican officials acknowledge that human rights violations have occurred in the fight against traffickers but say the cases are isolated.

The Mexican government is sensitive to U.S. criticism about rights violations because the military is a respected institution -- and many Mexican leaders say the U.S. government has not done enough to reduce consumption of illegal drugs in the United States or stem the flow of weapons and cash heading south.

In recent weeks, frustrated U.S. officials have pressed the Mexican government, including Defense Secretary Guillermo Galván Galván, to provide additional information, according to three officials involved in the campaign.

Late last week, after the report was completed, Mexican officials disclosed details of a number of cases in which they said soldiers had been tried on charges of human rights violations, according to a U.S. official. He said the State Department is trying to verify whether the soldiers were prosecuted and has not decided whether to include the new information.

"We are looking for the Mexicans to be as transparent as possible," said a U.S. official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the discussions. "We are pushing them to be more transparent than they think they can be. What happens when complaints are lodged? What do they do with them? What processes do they go through? What happens to individuals accused of abuses?"

A spokesman for the Mexican military said it would be unable to comment. Arturo Sarukhan, Mexico's ambassador to Washington, said Tuesday: "Mexico is unequivocally committed to ensuring the protection of human rights in the fight against drug-trafficking organizations." He added, "We are confident that this will be recognized by Congress."

140 Complaints a Month
Since Calderón launched his war against the cartels after taking office in December 2006, human rights complaints against the military have soared 600 percent, rising to 140 a month this year, according to government statistics. The National Human Rights Commission has issued reports on 26 cases involving the military since the beginning of Calderón's term, and it found evidence of torture in 17 of the cases.

In April, Human Rights Watch issued a report highlighting 17 cases, including several from 2007 and 2008, involving what it said were military abuses of more than 70 victims. The alleged abuses include killings, torture, rapes and arbitrary detentions. According to that report, "not one of the military investigations into these crimes has led to a conviction for even a single soldier on human rights violations."

On July 9, The Washington Post reported that the Mexican army had carried out numerous acts of torture, forced disappearances and illegal raids in pursuit of traffickers, according to court documents, political leaders and human rights monitors in Mexico's most conflicted regions.

With the State Department report imminent, many prominent human rights organizations in the United States and Mexico released advance statements saying that Mexico had failed to meet the Merida Initiative requirements and urging the U.S. government to withhold the money.

"Why is this so important? Because Mexico cannot win this fight against drug cartels without human rights protections. Human rights provisions are not a headache. They are absolutely critical to the success of the whole initiative," said José Miguel Vivanco, director of the Americas program at Human Rights Watch.

Carlos Cepeda, of the Miguel Agustín Pro Juarez Human Rights Center, said: "Mexico is not fulfilling the human rights requirements of the initiative and the government does not seem close to fulfilling them, and so of course it is a bad idea to release the funds. It would be a green light for further human rights abuses and for continued impunity for the military."

A Case Not Yet Made
Under Merida, the State Department is required to report to Congress on Mexico's progress in four areas: improving transparency and accountability; establishing regular consultations with civil institutions; ensuring that civilian and judicial authorities are prosecuting police and military officers credibly accused of violations; and prohibiting the use of testimony obtained through torture.

The most controversial of the provisions is determining whether the Mexican government is prosecuting human rights offenders. To date, the military has handled all allegations of crimes under its own justice system. U.S. officials and Mexican and international human rights groups say the Mexican military is secretive and hostile to scrutiny by outsiders.

Last month, amid growing allegations of abuses, Gen. Jaime Antonio López Portillo, head of the military's human rights office, held a news conference and announced that the military had prosecuted seven human rights cases dating to 1996, in which 12 members of the armed forces were found guilty of crimes, including homicide and kidnapping.

Only one of the completed cases appeared to date from the Calderón term. An additional 14 cases involving 53 troops were working their way through the military's judicial process, according to López Portillo.

The State Department had still intended to argue for the release of the Merida funds this week, U.S. officials said. But officials with the department's bureau of Western Hemisphere affairs got a chilly reception from Leahy's foreign policy expert, Tim Rieser, at a meeting last week. According to people familiar with the meeting, Rieser told officials that they had not made the case on any of the four areas required under Merida.

After receiving the additional information from Mexico, State Department officials went back to Rieser over the weekend to find out whether Leahy would support the report. He said he would not.

Next week Mexico's Supreme Court will address whether it is unconstitutional to try cases of human rights violations in military courts. The legal challenge, brought by the Miguel Agustín center, involves four civilians who were shot dead in Sinaloa state last year, allegedly by Mexican soldiers. Mexico's attorney general declined to take the case, and the military investigated the deaths instead.

"¡Vacilón! ¡Vuelta! ¡Díle que no! ¡Peínala!"

2009-08-04T22:10:00.000-07:00

After searching and trying different options, I have finally found the perfect salsa class. This may sound like a small thing but it really means a lot to me. I had been to some here and there, but I had became picky: one place taught Los Angeles style, which I don´t like (too showy, not enough feeling to it), another place was really basic in its level, or another place was just too incovenient. All great fun of course, but I began to get lazy, and before I knew it I hadn´t been to classes for many months, and that annoyed me. Well besides parties, which are the best learning experiences anyway.

Now I have finally found one which fits my level and above all, it is really Cuban salsa. The teacher is fantastic, and I am delighted at all the Cuban idiosynctratic names to their steps. A classic cross body turn is called "Díle que no!" or "tell him no!, because the girl has to kind of stop in her tracks like she is refusing the man, and then she retakes the floor once again to spin. Or, another favourite of the teacher is to call out the steps, and tell us to do a turn, and then he cries suddenly "MENTIRA", (lie!), which means you have to quickly stop your turn, clap twice, and then pivot back to your spot. If, like Simon Says, you dont do that and continue with your turn, the teacher makes fun of you and says "LIAR!" Of course he loves saying this to the girls. He says "ah women, of course, what do I expect". Its funny.
Last night in class we were doing a new step and I made a stuff-up and said to my partner "woops, sorry, that was me." The teacher jumped on my comment and said "No, it wasn´t your mistake, it is NEVER the woman´s mistake. The man is the one that carries and leads in salsa. It is men that make the mistakes". Interesting commentary there. This dance could only ever be Latin in origin.

http://www.esn.studorg.liu.se/~esn/files/images-news/42152D~Salsa-Posters.jpg

Mi Julieta

2009-07-30T22:10:00.000-07:00

Here is a great Julieta Venegas song before she became pop. But I love all of her - before pop, now pop, everything. Love her voice, her dedication to the very Mexican accordian sound... And will always love her for helping me to learn so much Spanish through her songs.

New Strategy Urged in Mexico

2009-07-28T13:21:00.000-07:00

Calderón's U.S.-Backed War Against Drug Cartels Losing Political Support

By William Booth and Steve Fainaru
Washington Post Foreign Service
Tuesday, July 28, 2009

MEXICO CITY -- President Felipe Calderón is under growing pressure to overhaul a U.S.-backed anti-narcotics strategy that many political leaders and analysts said is failing amid spectacular drug cartel assaults against the government.

Full article:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/27/AR2009072703074_pf.html

This articles gives a good insight into the current situation of the drug war in Mexico: more deaths from drug-related violence daily than Afghanistan....

It misses the point of human rights violations by the military a bit, but we will forgive the reporters as they have, in previous articles, also covered that angle.

This one goes out to Mum and Dad

2009-07-24T20:47:00.000-07:00

I had a lovely chat with Mum and Dad the other day on occasion of my Dad´s birthday. Here they are on skype webcam speaking to me. Just for the record, my parents are the best.
Thanks for always being there for me and giving me wise insight into all my life plans and decisions!

I came down with a yucky fever and diarrea in the last two days, I felt so lonely, and I am just getting back to myself now...I just wanted my mummy and daddy!! Mum, I got THREE pages of translation done in the end by the way, and am going to bed now. yeah.

Dad, this goes out to you! Happy birthday! It has never been a coincidence to me that your birthday is the same as Nelson Mandela´s. For me you are my role model for social justice.

su hija, Maddy.

Ya llegó! (She´s arrived!)

2009-07-24T20:23:00.000-07:00

I´m very excited about the new addition to my house.
The painting of my Cuban piano player was extracted from me... but I had other ideas in mind.
I have enlarged and framed this photo of a Cuban salsa cabaret dancer that I took in March 2008 in Havana.
I was so excited to hang her on my wall, and she looks so wonderfully at home, that I didn´t even stop to move my sunday morning cleaning clutter on my couch and table to take this photo..
She accompanies me very nicely, as "la vida es un carnaval", after all.

So Far From God, So Close to Wall St.

2009-07-20T09:24:00.001-07:00

Excellent analysis on Mexico´s bleak past, present and future.

By Jeff Faux
July 15, 2009
This past winter both the outgoing director of the CIA and a separate Pentagon report declared political instability in Mexico to be on a par with Pakistan and Iran as top-ranking threats to US national security. It was an exaggeration; Mexico is not yet a "failed state." On the other hand, it is certainly drifting in that direction.
A vicious war among narco-trafficking cartels last year killed at least 6,000 people, including public officials, police and journalists. The country leads the world in kidnappings (Pakistan is second). And with the global crisis, the chronically anemic economy is hemorrhaging jobs, businesses and hope.
Not surprisingly, voters turned against President Felipe Calderón's right-wing National Action Party (PAN) in the July 5 midterm elections. But the left-wing Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD)--which many believe was robbed of the presidency in the 2006 election--has ripped itself apart with factional infighting. So frustrated Mexicans gave their Congress back to the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), whose decades of corrupt authoritarian rule were supposed to have permanently ended in 2000. At least, thought many voters, the PRI knows how to keep order.
Mexicans are of course responsible for their own country. But geography has always forced them to play out their history in the shadow of their northern neighbor. "Poor Mexico," goes the saying. "So far from God, so close to the United States." Today, Mexico is a prime example of the socially destructive effects of the neoliberal economics promoted throughout the world by the US governing class.
The North American Free Trade Agreement--proposed by Ronald Reagan, negotiated by George Bush I and pushed through Congress by Bill Clinton in 1993--is both symbol and substance of neoliberalism. It was sold to the citizens of the United States, Mexico and Canada with the promise that free trade in goods and money would transform Mexico into a booming middle-class economy, dramatically reducing illegal immigration and creating a vast market for US and, to a lesser extent, Canadian exports.
Fifteen years later, Mexico is still unable to create enough jobs to employ its people. Out-migration has doubled, and on both sides of the US-Mexico border labor-market competition has kept wages down. At the top, income and wealth have ballooned. It is no accident that among NAFTA's prominent godfathers were former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin (Democrat) and former Federal Reserve chair Alan Greenspan (Republican), whose fingerprints are all over the current global financial disaster.
I was an opponent of NAFTA. Still, I thought the best case for it was that efficiencies from economic integration could at least make US and Mexican businesses more internationally competitive. But even that argument turned out to be worth no more than a share of Bernie Madoff's hedge fund.
Several years ago I gave a speech to a group of businesspeople in Mexico City. Those from the multinational banks and corporations thought NAFTA was a great success, but smaller Mexican businessmen saw it differently. You Americans, said one, promised that with your technology and our cheap labor, we'd be partners in competing with Asia. Then you opened up your markets to China and invested there instead. "Sure," he said. "We can make TV parts for half what it costs in the United States. But the Chinese can make them, and ship them, for a tenth. So instead of closing the gap between Mexico and the United States by raising wages, we have to narrow the gap between Mexico and China by lowering them."
When I mentioned the conversation to a New York investment banker who had lobbied for NAFTA, he conceded that his side may have talked vaguely about partnership with Mexico. But he shrugged and added, "Things changed"--that is, profit opportunities in China dwarfed anything Mexico had to offer.
The Wall Streeters had little interest in making Mexico more competitive. They also had little interest in making the United States more competitive. Their purpose was just the opposite: to disconnect themselves and their corporate partners from the fate of any particular country. The World Trade Organization, the opening of the US market to China and a parade of bilateral trade agreements followed in NAFTA's wake.
In Mexico, the political and financial elite were willing collaborators. For example, NAFTA opened up Mexican banks to foreign ownership: political insiders who had bought the giant Banamex from the government for $3.2 billion and gotten the government to provide it with permanent subsidies then sold the firm, with the subsidies, to Citigroup for $12.5 billion. Today roughly 90 percent of the banking system is owned by US and other foreign investors, who do not have to recycle Mexicans' deposits, or the Mexican government's money, back into Mexico but can invest them anyplace in the world.
The Banamex deal was negotiated by Rubin after he became Citigroup's $17 million-a-year executive committee chair. In the late 1980s, when he was at Goldman Sachs, Rubin had midwifed the privatization of Mexico's phone system to Carlos Slim, a politically connected Mexican businessman. Slim then used the monopoly profits from his high phone rates to invest all over the globe--including a substantial ownership stake in the New York Times. The latest Forbes rating says he's the world's third-richest man.
Still, as long as the US economy was blowing dot-com and subprime bubbles, the neoliberal model seemed stable. US investors got Mexican bank deposits and cheaper labor on both sides of the border. Through out-migration to the States, Mexico's oligarchs got rid of frustrated workers who might otherwise have been politically troublesome. The economy also benefited from hard-currency remittances migrants sent back home.
Another infusion of cash to the Mexican economy, unacknowledged in the official statistics, is the roughly $25 billion in illegal drug exports to the States. Today, with remittances, oil prices and tourism depressed, the narco trade is probably Mexico's largest single earner of hard currency.
NAFTA and the neoliberal ideology it represents are certainly not the root causes of narco-trafficking. But they have been major factors in its recent monstrous growth. For starters, the trade agreement created a two-way overland superhighway for contraband; the Mexican drug lords use the dollars they have earned from their exports to import guns, aircraft and sophisticated military equipment from the United States to fight their territorial wars. By wiping out small Mexican farms that could not compete with heavily subsidized US agribusiness, NAFTA also expanded the pool of unemployed young people that provides the narco-traffickers with recruits. And banking integration under NAFTA made money laundering much easier.
Perhaps most important, NAFTA has helped maintain the corrupt network of Mexican oligarchs. The 1988 presidential election--which the then-ruling PRI had to steal from the PRD to win--shocked the establishment on both sides of the border. By opening up Mexico to US money and influence, NAFTA was a way, as the US Trade Representative said to me at the time, "to keep the Mexican left out of power."
Until the 1980s, Mexican drug (mostly marijuana) smuggling to the north was modest in scale and generally tolerated by successive PRI governments. Their message was: we don't care what you sell to the gringos, but no rough stuff here, keep it away from our kids and of course share a little of the profit under the table. But the US-backed neoliberals who took over the PRI in the 1980s had closer ties with the Mexican cartels. The brother and father of president and NAFTA champion Carlos Salinas--hailed in Washington as a good-government reformer--were widely accused of being connected to the drug business. In Salinas's first year in office his national police chief was found with $2.4 million in drug money in the trunk of his car.
In the 1990s, as the geographically better-positioned Mexican cartels muscled out the Colombians as chief cocaine retailers to the US market, their profits and political influence grew. But so did the rivalry among them and their allied government factions for control of trade routes. Bullet-riddled bodies began showing up on the streets, making the public nervous.
Seeking legitimacy after his 2006 election was tainted by charges of fraud, President Felipe Calderón declared war on the narco-traffickers. It was a popular gesture, but given that the police, the military and the legal system are heavily infiltrated by the gangs, it backfired. The narcos reacted with horrific violence--assassinations, beheadings and mutilations of police and soldiers as well as thugs, brazenly displayed on YouTube. Losing control, Calderón appealed to George Bush II for help. The result: the Mérida Initiative, a $400 million-per-year program to provide aircraft, military equipment and training to the Mexican police and military.
After decades of keeping its distance from the United States, the Mexican military--like the armed forces of Colombia, Honduras and other Latin American countries--is becoming a Pentagon client. In turn, Mexican society is itself becoming militarized. Corrupt local police are being replaced by soldiers who may be slightly less corrupt but who are a greater threat to human rights and democracy. An April Human Rights Watch report identified seventeen specific cases of abuse by the Mexican military, including "killings, torture, rapes, and arbitrary detentions."
To his credit, Barack Obama has acknowledged what his predecessors failed to: that the US demand for drugs and its supplying of arms makes it an enabler in the rise of narco warlords. But he has also made it clear that neither issue is on his administration's agenda. Moreover, just as Bill Clinton carried the water for George Bush I's NAFTA, Barack Obama has endorsed Bush II's Mérida Initiative.
Given the unwillingness of US politicians to deal with the demand side of the market, the Mérida Initiative is not likely to be any more successful in eradicating the drug trade than the $6 billion Plan Colombia has been. The best one can hope for is some sort of market-sharing deal among the cartels that would be implicitly endorsed by the Mexican government while Washington tactfully averts its eyes. Given that in many areas, drug money is the chief source of campaign financing, a PRI-dominated Mexican Congress might be just the right forum for a cynical, but welcome, end to the killings.
Meanwhile, the drug violence has frightened away tourists and investors, making Mexico's recession even worse. Most forecasters expect the economy to contract some 6 percent this year--a huge hit to a country in which 45 percent live on $2 a day or less. Calderón's response is to tread water--rescuing big businesses that speculated on Wall Street derivatives and dribbling out a bit more public spending--while waiting for the United States to once again suck up Mexico's surplus labor.
But even when the US economy recovers, it is unlikely to re-create the credit boom that kept the NAFTA deal afloat. In the post-crash era, the United States will finally be forced to address its trade deficits and its massive foreign debt. Americans will have to slow down consumer spending, increase savings and sell more to--and buy less from--the rest of the world. If Mexico could not prosper during fifteen years of exporting goods and people to a bloated US consumer market, it is hard to believe it will be able to do so when that market has slimmed down.
The entire relationship must be rethought. In this regard, Obama's abandonment of his campaign pledge to renegotiate NAFTA was a missed opportunity. A renewed debate over the trade deal could have spurred public discussion of the failure of neoliberal economics, the "war on drugs" and an immigration policy that ignores conditions in Mexico that drive people across the border. It could have been a forum to think through the question of how continental integration can work for working people rather than just investors. For example, what kind of cooperative transportation, energy and green industrial policies would make the people of three nations--now bound together in one market--globally competitive?
Obama's Wall Street advisers have no more interest in this sort of change than did Bush's. And without a new economic direction, life for the average Mexican will surely worsen and social tensions rise. Some Mexican friends point out that the revolution against Spain erupted in 1810 and the one against the US-backed dictator Porfirio Díaz in 1910. And in 2010... ?
In any event, Mexico's growing troubles will not stay conveniently on the other side of the Rio Grande. Build a ten-foot wall, and desperate people will find twelve-foot ladders. Free trade will, of course, continue to flourish; Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano estimates that Mexican drug cartels are now operating in 230 US cities.
So, thanks to the people who brought you the subprime mortgage disaster, the credit freeze and the Great Recession, the next Mexican revolution may come closer to home than you think.

This article appeared in the August 3, 2009 edition of The Nation.

The Chaser takes on Cheney and torture

2009-07-20T08:07:00.001-07:00

This is great!!

http://bit.ly/cXiZm

2009-07-18T22:00:00.000-07:00

Index finger, ring finger, raised. ROCK MEXICANO

2009-07-12T18:08:00.000-07:00

Mestizo hair stretched and matted up. Black jeans, chili covered chicarron, 10 peso fan mugs, giant litre cups of beer. Fresh tacos and tortas being made on the grill.

Yep. It´s a rock festival in Mexico. yum.

Last night I rocked along with some usual suspects to see 3 classic Mexican bands impress us with their rolas (tracks).

It wasn´t just any music festival. Due to its location, it was epic. We went to the valle de chalco (Chalco valley), the sticks on the outskirts of Mexico City, well it´s even out of Mexico City, in the state of Mexico... it meant making a huge hike and getting lost through all these down-and-out areas and backstreets and gas stations and dusty roads. And we arrived, and it was awesome. The concert was small, only a few thousand people, the sun went down over the valley and the dogs were running around in the streets outside, the lesbian girls next to us were very much in love and decided to show it, (great in mexico), the kids next to us made a huge tower of paper Corona cups, and everyone sang to the classic songs of their childhood from the Jaguares (a band with 20 years history, used to be called the Caifanes).

We also saw Zoe, which is a fantastically unique contemporary Mexican band, and Fobia, which is great rock!

Very old 80s track of Caifanes (now Jaguares):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SooM_Sy11_Y&feature=related

And a more recent one, from the Jaguares, which I really like:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjV8j0T9uwE

Zoe - Te soñe ("I dreamt of you")

Fobia: "El Diablo" (The Devil)

On the way back home we got lost in the car, again, all singing at the top of our voices, to giants of Rock en español, like Soda Stereo and Los Amantes de Lola, of course.

rape in afghanistan

2009-07-08T16:07:00.000-07:00

part 2 of an infuriating series!

Rape a "huge problem" in Afghanistan, U.N. says

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/SP443928.htm

Geneva

2009-07-08T14:51:00.000-07:00

My dear colleague Aga made a lovely little video of our work by Mexican NGOs in Geneva at the UN Human Rights Council, our meeting with UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Ms Navy Pillay, among other activities.

Check it out, it is very quick and cute:

http://animoto.com/play/82SCSPwTQgkbPh2pkBVEVA

We had fun, worked hard, and achieved outcomes. And we had a little phrase that we used after almost every meeting "memorable!" "magnifico!"

Thanks Aga, Humberto, Ángeles, Sara and Luis. los quiero mucho!

Blog Number 100

2009-07-07T17:46:00.000-07:00

It´s been a blast, and here is to 100 more blogs! I have developed a real affection for my little corner of cyperspace.

To celebrate this milestone, here is a delicious treat:

Joaquin Sabina: "19 días y 500 noches"

What a scrumptious Spanish flame of a singer/songwriter - he is awesome and has fantastic lyrics.

Watch and enjoy this video, it just keeps building up and getting better.

NUMBER 100!!

Guerrero

2009-07-03T21:38:00.001-07:00

Last weekend I accompanied some mates from Centro Prodh and Amnesty International to the 15th anniversary celebrations of the Human Rights Center of the Mountain "Tlachinollan", in the state of Guerrero. What an awesome celebration and a great road trip!! Long live Tlachinollan!! These photos didnt come out too badly, for being my nokia phone camara.

PARIS. Off with their heads.

2009-06-25T21:18:00.000-07:00

Jewish Museum, Berlin, #2

2009-06-25T20:59:00.000-07:00

Once again. The Jewish museum in Berlin was incredible.

I realized that I did not have much understanding of Jewish history, philosophy or culture. I had been lucky to discover a whole lot of other cultures through friends at school and uni, but for some reason was never really introduced by a Jewish friend into their fascinating culture and religion.

The visit to the museum was like making a new friend. The quotes from Jewish philosophers were amazing. The importance placed on "The greatest good", being learning, was excellent.

Here is a 13th century painting of a teacher and his student:

Scary Post: Holocaust Tower, Jewish Museum, Berlin

2009-06-25T20:15:00.000-07:00

The Jewish museum in Berlin was amazing. I will shortly write another post about it.

Basically I had a couple of short hours there and decided, on the whole, not go to the WWII or Holocaust part of the museum. I felt that in some small way, I had already been exposed to that story. In my coming post I will write about the wonderful sections of the museum on Jewish history, philosophy and culture that I discovered.

However, on the map/plan of the museum there was one prominent bit that stuck out. It was called the Holocaust Tower. I don´t want to give it away for anyone that goes there after me, but basically:

On entering the space I unconsciously said "Oh my god..." out loud.

Then, without even thinking, I just took out my camara and started pictures with my hand extended, at any angle, without any intention, without any planning or any posed gestures. My reactions to the space came out in some shots, and in fact the positions of people around me were also shocking:

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It was an overwhelming experiment.

Berlin. 2009.

2009-06-20T08:25:00.000-07:00

The remnants of the Berlin wall in the year 2009 gave me an experience to remember.
I wanted to take a photo of this section of the wall that I had by luck stumbled across.

I approached a bystander who was having his cigarette. It was a quiet street on a Friday afternoon. I asked him to take a photo of me, apologizing bashfully for interrupting his cigarette, which he didn´t seem too keen to neglect, and joking with him that it would be "a fun artistic photo", and I assured him he´d enjoy himself.

I pulled out my camara only to find that it didn´t have any battery left.
My aquaintance then had the idea to kindly take the photos from his camara which he happened to have on him, and then email them to me.

My aquaintance´s name was Mahdi, and he is from Iran. I told him my name was Maddy. We were standing taking photos of a site that calls for world peace.

Madhi kindly sent me the photos. He surpassed the idea that the photos would be merely artistic. They were astonishing.

In his email, at the end, Madhi sends me a quote:

"Consider the momentous event in architecture when the wall parted and the column became.", Louis Kahn

I hope for the parting of all walls and all barriers to tolerance, peace, plurality and understanding.
I hope for Madhi, and for his country. This week more than ever.

I missed my flight

2009-06-17T00:32:00.000-07:00

They didn´t let me on the plane. I arrived a good 20 minutes beforehand and despite the fact that the plane was still physically there and it would have only taken them 5 minutes to escort me to get on, they didnt let me.

The Air Berlin rep was SO unhelpful. I have gone through this before and the reality is there is always a way to help a passenger get on the airplane... but she was just hard. And right. I did arrive late. But come on. Late by 10 minutes!!

The worst part is that she said I could go on an upcoming flight via Dusseldorf but that would cost 350 euros. and then another couple turned up who had missed the flight and she gave them the dusseldorf flight free, because their original booking had a small mistake on it. uuuf!!

So after checking trains flights and everything and saying to this chic "So, Air Berlin has absolutely nothing to offer in order to help?", "You realize, as we are speaking the passengers and air crew are doing absolutely nothing on the flight but flicking through the magazines and adjusting their seatbelts, and I could just get on that plane".

So I am taking an Easyjet plane at 1:30pm for 150 euros..... I may offer to personally pay that I think...see what my boss says..

Its not actually a big thing as the meetings today are kind of non- essential, tomorrow is the big day, and in fact my counterparts will not make a big thing of it in Berlin as I am not the only NGO person who is coming and they told me to meet up with them today whenever I could, kind of...i hope...

Anyway. I was really pissed off and really started to debate with the lady from AirBelin. I hope someone gives her swine flu.

But now a really cool Algerian waiter in the cafe here made me laugh. I took out 100Euros by mistake to pay for a coffee and he said "you are rich". I said "No, I am poor, I earn mexican pesos and I just had to pay for a flight for no reason". And he said "well you may not be rich but you are obviously a very important person". haha. He could see I was upset. And then we started to talk about Mexico City´s football stadium and algerian language.

so that was that. joder.

Melting Pot

2009-06-07T10:15:00.000-07:00

A man in a shop in geneva yesterday almost fell over with laughter when I told him that I was an Australia living in Mexico and here in Geneva for work. He just thought it was hilarious. Internationality, man.

Gettin to know meeself

2009-05-08T21:26:00.000-07:00

It is proven. I´m a died in the wool activist.

Yesterday I was in a meeting with some close colleagues of mine from various Mexican human rights NGOS. We were analyzing and discussing constitutional reform on human rights in Mexico, and how we were going to respond, as well as an extremely concerning package of reforms in Congress that could allow for further military involvement in public security and a lack of civil controls on executive power.

After 2 hours of discussion in the meeting, something burst out from inside of me and I made the following pronouncement:

"WE ARE 0.005% OF THE POPULATION IN MEXICO WHO KNOWS ABOUT THIS FOR GOODNESS SAKE!! CAN WE PLEASE STOP BEING LAWYERS AND BE ACTIVISTS FOR A MOMENT!"

I then continued to propose a whole variety of international and media strategies. Maybe my reaction was exaggerated, but it was fun, and I made a point and had colleagues nodding. Here´s hoping we can carry the ideas through.

It was a funny moment for myself and my colleagues, and I was happy to know that it was a meeting where we could all debate and just get things off our chest.

Legal analysis for me is of course extremely important and I rely on it daily, however if things don´t MOVE socially, I get frustrated.

I have been wondering for a while if I am a jurist or an activist. Yesterday´s sponteanous and unconscious reaction just gave me my answer.

things calming down in the biggest city in the world...I think...

2009-05-03T21:14:00.000-07:00

Did Mexico over-react on swine flu?
As tests suggest the swine flu virus in Mexico may be less virulent than first feared, the BBC's Stephen Gibbs in Mexico City looks at whether the response was an over-reaction.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8031132.stm

2 de mayo de 2009

2009-05-03T21:10:00.000-07:00

In the end, all colours come from nature. How would we know how to create such tones if we hadn´t seen them in the natural world? Magenta, ochre, verdant green, cool grey?

How would art know where to start, if not from nature? In many ways, can we say that visual forms, by their very being, are natural?

Is art really an unconscious exercise of trying to catch something natural in a represented form, so that the creation itself takes on something of nature?

In the end, all colour comes from nature.

El sol (the sun) and other Shakespearean insights

2009-05-03T20:59:00.000-07:00

“Send the governess to warmer climes and rid her of
this heavy pestilance”, one would say.

I feel like a tightly bound Elizabethan governess in an oppressively thick smock, that has just been let out of a cage and sent to a summary escape in Spain to strip off my garters and lie in a field of sunflowers.

I´m sitting in full sun next to a pool, one and half hours south of Mexico City, 10 days into this Swine Flu outbreak. Aaah.

Let´s just say that Mexico City knows how to do a crisis. It puts on a good drama:

Act I Scene I is the week-long water cut during Easter which sees millions of people without running water and steeped in desperate conditions.
Act I Scene II introduces the villian: a naughty and unknown bug is suddenly in newspapers. No one thinks much of it, and continues along as normal until,
Act I Scene III arrives with a national broadcast announcement cancelling all classes the next day ( at the timely hour of 11pm the eve before, in a population where no one rests....)

Act II and things get more sinister, and more confused. As the chracters of the play try to diffuse their worry over a laughter-filled weekend, Act II Scene II arrives with a clambering reprisal for their folly and a 5.7 richter scale earthquake.

Act II Scene II is the crux of the drama: the protagonist´s colleague comes down with a high fever and her body starts rejecting every substance that goes into it. The medication prescribed is doubted by the lead character. She sends word to her father in a far flung land who responds with common sense and sound antipodean medical advice. Missives from her beloved father come flooding through, remedies and counsels to confront the epidemic.
However, the situation does not improve.
Act II Scene III is a frantic dash for rescue by all the main characters. The colleague´s symptoms are increasingly dire and her alarmed family calls for her to flee to Connecticut, with haste. The protagonist frets by the side of her dear friend Juan next to a Human Rights Watch press conference as she communicates with her colleague´s escort on route to the airport. Two kind Jesuit priests carry the colleague to safe transport, and within a few hours she is in Texas. She is isolated like a leper, locked away for 14 hours with medicine. The characters pray through the evening and try to send her healing light from the other side of the border (the condemned side).

Act III Scene I presents a jubilant face. The colleague has miraculously recovered, and appears to not have been smited with the notorious ill, but rather some other ailment that is less contagious. The characters rejoice with relief, and the protagonist reflects on how much she loves her friend and dear colleague. She bathes in a glow of humanity and gives thanks for good fortune.

While there is a cooling hush over the scale of the emergency however, the plot thickens.

Act III Scene II presents the laughing fool in the face of the drama: Mariachis uncharacteristically appear in the street below the protagonists´s house with full trumpets in the dark of the early morning, as if to cackle to the hopeless humanity of the continuing epidemic. The protagonist loses sleep and wonders at the surreal beast of a city that can allow for such carnavale in the midst of melancholy.

Act III Scene III provides a pause. The protagonist takes respite with her two best friends and recovers after the shocks of the times.

The populous of men and other characters lick their wounds and try and gather for any coming storms. Trouble brews in the west: folk of Acapulco threaten to throw stones [literally] at metropolitan residents who come to holiday for the weekend.

I don´t know how many acts this drama will entail. Will this be like Henry VIII or will it be a less tortured drama? All I know is, I am taking gallons of human learning and trying to grasp the real and the poignant in all of this.

the Decameron

2009-04-28T20:49:00.001-07:00

After a few days of Flu provoked hermit-like practices: working in a near empty office, coming home and staying home only to make a few quick dashes to the supermarket for essentials...

here is a little ode to the book that I have just started reading, and which is serving as a nice tonic at the end of days at the moment which are turning out to be riddled with bits of worry, strong winds, and, oh, just an eathquake here and there for good measure:

"The Enchantress of Florence" by Salman Rushdie. Talk about escaping to another world, to another time!! adventures and emperors and all sorts of wonders of story telling!

Perhaps not unlike the marvels of "The Decameron" written by Giovanni Boccaccio en 1351, at the time of the Black Plague - a book of 100 short tales that kept a group of young Italian people happily entertained while being cooped up indoors and warding off the plague... chuckling away at the smutty tales of the Decameron.

here is to chuckling and good humour in bleak times!!

salsa salsa salsa

2009-04-26T11:51:00.000-07:00

This is what I would like to be doing this weekend. However we have a flu epidemic.

Here is a little salsa video that I particularly like. It is from a movie about a famous Puerto Rican salsa singer. I never knew that Marc Anthony could sing like this, I just thought he was J-Lo´s boyfriend.

This is a great video clip and very pumped, and of course la J-Lo looks nice in her red dress and with her salsa shoes. hehe.

A bit of harmless fun:

I would have to say that for me, salsa dancing is one of my most favourite things to do. There is nothing like going for a whirl on the dance floor and getting your legs and hips moving in time with a good dance partner. I can dance for hours with salsa - my tolerance for staying on the dance floor with salsa music far surpasses that of other genres. For me it is total diversion from everyday thoughts and it is just such wonderful, symmetrical, good clean fun!

Sisters´ visit and feeling inquieta

2009-04-26T09:54:00.000-07:00

My sisters Mem and Hannah left Mexico 10 days ago now.

The trip was magnificent. Luck was on our side so we saw some stand-out cultural gems and we coincided with surreal Easter festivities.

We were also really fortunate to spend some great time with my friends here in Mexico. On their last night, I threw a party at my house. Being a thursday night I thought it would be a pretty chilled affair, but heaps of people turned up and it rocked on until 2am. We also visited my friend Melina in her small community high up in the mountains of Oaxaca, which was very special.

Sure, we had the usual travel things with a bit of tummy upsets and sick stuff for my sisters at some points ("Moctezuma´s revenge" as they say here), lots of movement and plans and such, as trips normally involve!

I have to say, in all the excitement and emotion that their trip provoked in me, I am left feeling afterwards in a little dip of energy. I feel that myself and Hannah and Mem are such headstrong, bold, complex women, that 2 weeks seemed like a short amount of time to be with them after such a long stretch without constant contact (besides my trip in December). I get sad when I think about our relationship at distances and the fact that we live in 3 different cities and know less about each other than when we used to live in the same house, share the same room, eat dinner together.
I wish I could grab all the fun moments we had in these two short weeks together in Mexico and keep them inside me:
Watching crazy fireworks being ignited off the heads of dancing women in Oaxaca; laughing with my sisters and mates on the boats in Xochimilco; even getting through car-sickness on a very windy road through the mountains. All of this. I don´t want these memories to just dissipate..

I have been feeling a little inquieta these days: Restless. It is almost May and I feel like the year is rolling along without me having changed my routine much. I promised myself last year that I would exercise more, do more creative things, stretch myself beyond purely work related things. In a sense, it has happened to some extent. I have started making earrings at times, learnt a bit of meditation and so on, as well as getting out of the city, which has always been an important part of my life. I am supposedly joining a basketball team, however with this bloody Influenza outbreak all sports activities are off!

I suppose in the end it is not my routine or work schedule or extra-curricular activities that are making me feel restless and in a bit of a funk. I think having my sisters here and then seeing them get on a plane and go back to Australia kind of gave me a gulp in my throat and made me realize how long I have been away from home, how far far away I am.

I could keep constructing great things in my life here in Mexico, and I am still learning a lot. There is my salsa to keep developing, my friendships here, my knowledge of mexican cooking could be enriched further, you name it. But there is also a whole life in Australia that is being put on stand by!
I miss the beach, I miss my dog Rudi, triple J on the radio, cricket on the TV, and the tranquility of Oz.
And I miss my parents, a lot!

I am cooped up in the house today with this flu alert going on and feeling a bit down, a bit alone, a bit deflated and out of motivation to be honest.

Oh well, here is a famous and spectacular song by Celia Cruz to lift the spirits:

"Life is a Carnaval, you´ve got to live it, and there are only bad moments, that all pass by"
"Everything can be overcome by singing"

If there were a hispanic salsa singing version of nina simone, celia cruz would be it. what a booming voice!!

going backwards

2009-03-31T18:52:00.000-07:00

Restricting a woman´s right to leave the house, and denying a woman´s right to refuse sex with her husband.

How on earth do these things make any sense?

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/afghan-leader-accused-of-bid-to-legalise-rape-1658049.html

I don´t know anything about how to better the situation in Afghanistan. I don´t know whether anyone has the answer, even if they say they do.

All I know is that if I were an Afhgani woman I would need to have an iron will just to wake up every day and live such an oppressive lifestyle. Especially if I were an Aghani woman who had in her living memory the experience of having left the house, of having studied, of having lived life.

One of the best novels I have read in a long time is precisely about the hell that women in Afghanistan have gone through:

I can´t believe this proposed law in Afghanistan, and I can´t believe the Afghani president is backing it.

Read it.

International Women´s Day

2009-03-11T20:44:00.000-07:00

I dedicate this blog entry to one of the bravest women I know.

Claudia Hernandez.

I dedicate this to a week that was so inspiring. I accompanied Claudia on a trip organized by Amnesty International to Chicago. After 3 years without justice and as a survivor of everything that happened in San Salvador Atenco.

I can´t begin to congratulate you enough Claudia for everything you are overcoming, living, by inspiring others and struggling for justice.

Eres una gran mujer, eres una luz para mi.

Sundays in the Zocalo: Life in Sepia

2009-03-01T21:06:00.000-08:00

There are days when

Cuenta que en Oaxaca, se toma mezcal con cafe

2009-02-13T16:13:00.000-08:00

Mezcal is drunk with coffee when in Oaxaca, count on that.... Lila Downs

I just came back from a short trip to Oaxaca. A city, a state which has been a long theme of inspiration for me during my time in Mexico. This was my 5th visit to Oaxaca.
Oaxaca, for me, is so much: it is art (a disproportionate amount of incredible Mexican artists are from Oaxaca), indigenous diversity, pain, beauty and conflict; not to mention the extraordinary cuisine of this state.

Here is a photo from the Sierra Juarez mountains taken from last year on the Day of the Dead in Mexico - in the very region where Mexico´s first indigenous president, Benito Juarez, was born;

During 2006, Oaxaca lived through a low-intensity war or social conflict, in which over 200 people were arbitrarily detained with charges and many more were detained for shorter periods, as well as dozens of people tortured and during this period 26 deaths including that of a foreign journalist:

And now, this week, I was privileged to be in a public press forum in Oaxaca this week called "Mexico in the eyes of the United Nations", as this week mexico was examined in the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of the Human Rights Council in Geneva.
We debated about the aspects of international law mechanisms and their relevance for social struggles such as those in Oaxaca.
We showed the video of the Mexican Ministry of the Interior speaking about the advances in indigenous rights and poverty erradication in Mexico before the Human Rights Council.
On witnessing the lies that his own government was making towards the international community , one older indigenous man even got to talking with tears in his eyes.

I drank a few mezcals (like tequila, but more complex and stronger) with one of the most amazing social activists I have met. Before the social conflict of 2006 she was doing her own thing as a mother of a family and completing a masters. then came June 2006 and she was shocked by what was happening. Something has to be done, she said. the next day she put out an announcement convoking lawyers from everywhere. The next day over 60 lawyers arrived in response to her announcement. A committee of lawyers was formed, and then kept reducing in size, as there were ones who were in it for personal and political gain. After more than 2 years, this social activist now has a small juridical and activist committee basically made up of 3 women. thanks to these 3 women, some 109 prisoners from the political conflict have been freed from prison. And all of this without negotiating with authorities, but rather using stictly legal recourses to obtain unconditional liberty for these prisoners.

Being an international lawyer it is sometimes so hard to insist on the importance of utilizing such intangible mechanisms as UN treaty bodies and other such instruments. However, I am convinced that it is due to the international attention lent to Oaxaca and the many international observation missions during and after the conflict of 2006that some of the human rights defenders in the region are now better supported, visibilised and backed up.
That´s not to say the situation is still not very grave in Oaxaca.

But its great to see the city alive again, art and beauty radiating as always.

And I give you a song, by Lila Downs from Oaxaca: More than anything else, this video shows you Oaxaca!
It´s waiting for you, my dear sisters!

2 years. A humble collage.

2008-12-03T20:32:00.000-08:00

I have come to the end of 2 years overseas. It is time for a hiatus.

I originally wanted to do a photo slideshow with music for this post, however all of the programs and websites I found were very annoying... so I have pasted a few photos here to commemorate 2 years of adventures.

I think I have learnt a lot during this time: I can't even begin to compile all my experiences.
Some things I hope I have learnt, and I believe have affected me, have been: the power and importance of compassion, and community.

More to come.

"Solo le pido a Dios,
Que el dolor no me sea indiferente
Que la reseca muerte no me encuentre
Vacía y sola sin haber hecho lo suficiente"

- Mercedes Sosa

Maddy speaking spanish

2008-11-23T09:01:00.001-08:00

hehehe, For a sample of me speaking another tongue, listen to this link of a radio interview:

http://www.emedios.com.mx/tools/detallenota/muestra_detalle_nota_radio_tv.asp?id_noticia=7771031

Photos from recent trip to Hidalgo

2008-10-19T21:46:00.000-07:00

After reviewing my blog, especially my more serious post of "women. men. love and life." I realised that it may have been getting a little heavy and above all a little unnerving, for my mother! Looking at that post and making it clear - that it is not based on things that I have experienced!

anyway, as a counter balance to the heaviness of late on this blog, here are some lovely photos from an awesome trip I and the mates from my old Uni had to the countryside of Hidalgo, a state above mexico city.

we stayed in a cabin and kayaked and played boardgames and read and drank good tequila, and passed by a lovely old mining town on the way back where we drank hot fruit punch in the square and ate hot bread and empanadas inspired by the Cornish miners who arrived in this town years ago and gave mexico the wonder of pasties.
and i got an eight buck poncho and a one buck green ring. how nice it was. very "relax" as they say here in mexico.

Fun!

2008-10-19T21:30:00.001-07:00

On Friday, it was fun to do something for a campaign that I used to be very part of:

It was really good, in the middle of a very heavy time in the Center, with cases of torture, disappearances and a general overworkload, : just to get together for a simple and fun act of good old activism.

Taking advantage that we had a number of people in the Center on Friday for an indigenous rights workshop, we grouped everyone together and took a photo to support the "Stand Up Against Poverty" global campaign.

I was taking the photo, and we are in the entrance of Center Prodh in front of one of the murals.
"Fin de la pobreza indigena" = "End Indigenous Poverty"

http://flickr.com/photos/standagainstpoverty/2957240464/

PD/PS - humanity and fragility

2008-09-07T14:03:00.000-07:00

After getting some jittery comments from my family about my recent posts, and after passing a rather explosive weekend (Margaret tells me that Jupiter is reigning at the moment and apparently that means conflict), I thought it would be fitting to write a little PS:

I just went down to my local market, which for me is always a good Sunday activity that gives good respite - the vendors there fill my heart and really treat me well.

I was also able to talk about these recent thuderous thoughts with a couple of friends - my Colombian friend, who is only too familiar with violence and conflict, shrugged his shoulders and said "don´t let yourself get affected". He's right. I cannot let myself get sangrona, hot blooded and edgy.

Then, it all just clicked: I'm tired. I want to go home.
Ever since having my ticket back to Sydney booked, my thoughts have been in another place, and I feel ever more inquieta. However much I love this country and I adore my life at the moment, and am so grateful for my job, my blessings, everything. I am tired.

Suddenly, my own words jumped into my head: words that I used a year ago, writing on this very blog, living in this very same country, learning about it; growing back then as I am now:

I am facing it straight on, getting up and coming and goin, and realising that the millions of lives struggling to make their way in this city do NOT funnily enough combine to make it a trampling rat race, but rather you feel lifted up and carried by the collective journeys of so many dreams travelling around you. And you feel people caring for people - understanding that at the end of the day they have their aunt, their brother, their friend to look after and share life with. The infallible Mexican community identity always comes through. The truth that is felt so strongly in this country is that the people around you are the most important part of your life.

It´s been a journey, a long one. I am ready to be on Australian shores, and rest for a bit, before coming back to my beloved Mexico.

Being in Europe (Geneva and Berlin) next week will be very good for me I think.

Signing off from a somewhat more calm state of mind.....!

Some very whacked statements

2008-09-06T21:43:00.000-07:00

In a nutshell, Mexico is going through a period of alarming increases in violence related to organized crime, (in case I hadnt made that clear in earlier posts, ahem)...

Anyway, I thought I wanted to publish some of the more whacked statements that have come out as of late:

Of course there is the classic from the president Felipe Calderon: "If you see dust flying, don´t worry, we are just cleaning the house" (justifying the dramatic rise in deaths)

And then, today, this one is a special freakshow of its own:

The death penalty has recently been thrown around in Mexico as a popular and demagogic response to fear over crime levels:
Yesterday,María Elena Morera, the head of "Mexico United Against Crime" (a citizens group that brings together the worst of knee-jerk policy responses and is in bed with the big business sector), stated:

"If the public is asking for life sentences and the death penalty for serious crimes, we should give it to them, although this does not solve the problem. I wonder whether we crimes such as house robberies should also be considered for the death penalty".

What a corker.

All this comes admist proposals from the Mexican Army to train all federal police in military formation, and to top them off with the death penalty if they dont behave.

Yep. They´re really across it all.

Men and Women. Life and Love.

2008-09-06T17:00:00.000-07:00

How can it be that a country, a culture, is so violent? So macho? How is it, that over coffee today a neighbour told me that of her circle of friends of women about 60 years old, only one of them had not experienced violence against her in her life? How can it be that this same neighbour can tell me of almost being killed by her former husband? But really, how?

How can it be so: That it's not unheard of for a mexican woman to think that her husband doesn't love her anymore because he hasn't beaten her in 2 weeks?

How can it be that 13,000 women in mexico each year die at the hands of their partners?

How can it be that men can beat their wives and then retreat into regret over their actions, tequila and a pathetic ranchero song whose lyrics speak to the immaturity of the phenomenon of maschimso, lamenting "take me back my love, I need you, I am nothing without you"...... yeah, great self esteem on both the part of women and men there.

I suppose it's what happens when the foundation of a country and a culture is based on rape. The pattern is repeated, over and over and over again.

This all may sound too extreme, and it is not all like this. And violence does happen everywhere, australia, finland, not just in mexico. I know some of the most gorgeous mexican couples that love each other in the most beautiful way.

There are days when I just get so angry about the culture of violence, machismo, complete corruption and impunity that I think it is insurmoutable. The fact that even teachers are corrupt and buy their way into jobs and cheat on teaching exams, and that 80 per cent of kids in 9th grade dont have basic literacy skills, and that the lack of a strong education system is stuffing the whole thing up, and that the amount of deaths in mexico in june from drug-trafficking related violence was practically at a par at the deaths in Iraq. And that we´re up to 5,000 deaths in 18 months.

How can it be, how is it, that when the young man at my local shop stares in my eyes with a grin and asks me, "so do you live alone, or with friends?", that I should conceive that question as a form of violence? That I feel like shouting back at him and saying "it´s none of your bloody business man!!" - why do I feel vulnerable? Why does the taxi driver turn his rearview mirror so he can look straight at me? why do people even feel scared to drop you off even just a block from your house, and instead will make a massive bottleneck turn just to drop you at your door? Why the hell is there no phrase to say "I am embarrassed" and the literal translation is "It causes me pain" ("me da pena") - what in god's name is going on with phrases that contain such a lack of self belief and a need to keep in form and in line with appearances? Why did I feel like sharply replying to my friend today when he commented on my unmade bed on a lazy saturday morning and I thought "so what, I'm not fulfilling a woman´s role then?" what on earth provokes such thoughts? Such anger and heightened sensitivity to things that before I wouldn't have cared about? Such conflict?

Where the hell did love go? How did it become grabbing each other, asking the girl where she has been, who she has been with, pulling her hair firmly, pushing her, .... these are the realities of relationships in mexico, that often start with these signs in younger years between boyfriends and girlfriends, and then when life gets more serious and pressured between husband and wife, with kids, it becomes insults, shouts, beatings and even deaths.

I felt sick about all this walking home today, and then out of no-where the song "where is love, does it comes from skies above, is it underneath a willow tree, that I´ve been dreaming of".. -from the musical Oliver - came into my head.

Really, it makes me sad.

Where is the love of lying on the grass and laughing in the summertime, of talking about favourite songs and sharing music, of staying awake just to hear someone's voice, of talking of dreams and ambitions and who we are as people and what gives us joy, of tenderness, a childish excitement, a real respect, true love?

Ella!

2008-08-06T17:00:00.001-07:00

This is the video clip for the song "Ella" ("She") by the Spanish singer Bebe.

Although it starts off faintly resembling a cosmetics adverstisement, it gets more joyful and diverse as it goes on.

More than anything, the song is a great energy-lifter: The album is called "out spiderwebs" and some lyrics , "Oh come down and discover that the world is just for you, that no- one can do you harm" etc... a good song for chicas.

I have realized how many feminist pep-talks I have given on my blog in recent months! hehe. everything is fine and be assured I am going through no crises! Haha.

Anyway enjoy the song.

La vida se abarató - life has been cheapened. In mexico.

2008-07-23T21:35:00.000-07:00

I heard a very interesting analysis from a human rights defender in the northern state of Sinaloa today.
By way of context: Sinaloa is a state that in the last few months has seen an alarming spike in the number of deaths related to drug trafficking. One major drug cartel in the area has recently had a big falling out and there is a war between them to carve up territory. It's a very ugly situation, an average of 6 deaths per day, sometimes 15 or more. And when you throw police and military into the mix, human rights violations increase.
In such a context, I thought it was so interesting what this colleague said:
Life has been cheapened. The right to life. At the moment, the violence is being ignored by many because "ah, it´s just between narcos". But such reasoning means that crimes and human rights violations are left in impunity. And how far does this logic go? The next could be that they´ll ignore violence because "ah, it's just between politicans", or "ah, it's just between prostitutes"...or whatever it could be. The arbitrary deprivation of the right to life is something so visible in mexico at the moment. In mexico city it is not felt so much, but in some states of mexico the violence is comparable to statistics in Iraq in terms of number of deaths. Life is being cheapened.

ps. dont worry mum!

The Mission.

2008-07-04T20:43:00.001-07:00

Me toco un reto y un privilegio. A challenge came my way recently. A professional challenge and privilege.

At Center Prodh we recently coordinated the International Human Rights Mission of the World Organization Againt Torture (OMCT), specifically its program on the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders.

It was the first international human rights mission that I have been part of and it was a big learning experience. An incredible amount of work, coordinating everything from the entry of the independent experts into the country, to the composition of meetings and the dynamic in between different mexican NGOs and then accompanying the mission on their visit to Oaxaca, a southern state of mexico. The whole experience was new, stressful, nervewracking, inspiring, exhausting and gratifying.

I learnt a lot and was witness to the sharing of experiences from the brave and determined human rights defenders throughout mexico - who have been threatened, assulted, harassed and even disappeared, tortured and killed for their work througout the country.

I learnt to shut up about what I said in a taxi, I learnt a little bit more about the dealing with mexican authorities (I still have a long way to go, it's a maze!), and I learnt a great deal from the mission members themselves.
The subtlety of the whole exercise was rather impressive. Building up that knowledge of how to manoever in such a situation is something that I am eager to work on.

Here are some photos from beloved oaxaca.

New apartment, new journey.

2008-07-04T20:11:00.001-07:00

With much excitement, I have moved into a new apartment: My first place that is completely my own!
It is a great pad.
I am living in the same building as my mate Hannah, so it is the best of both worlds: I have my own space but at the same time I have a friend close by.

I hope to make this place a space of learning and fun, inspiration and life!

Here are some photos of the bare apartment and a moving in shot. I have a hammock!

Stay tuned for more photos as the place gets set up!

para las chicas! for the girls....

2008-07-04T19:07:00.000-07:00

I wanted to make a little tribute to the friendships that I have been so lucky to have forged with some remarkable women.

Tere, my mexican sister who I lived with for 9 months and whose strength and sense and intuition astounds me - although she is younger than me I treat her like a big sister!
Mari, wonderful Mari - my first mexican mum and my lifelong friend - here with some of her students.

Kate, my fellow antipodean in the crazy world that is mexico. my kiwi kate (shouts out to my other kiwi kate evans). Kate is a great chum, who just "gets it" without any cultural differences, divides or anything. its great to have an anzac friend.

Stephanie: incredible workmate, Harvard's bright star, unbelievable brain for international law, tough, hilarious and bloody inspirational

Andrea: is now my neighbour! No one can put up a tent better than her. A tent for 10 people in fact. te quiero linda!

Nury: beautiful Nury. My first girlfriend in Mexico and my continuing companion. Love ya Nury.

Lauren: my supervisor at work, my mentor and guide through relationships, professional life, health and heart. shouts out to lauren and long live colorado!

Hannanita. Hannah. About three quarters mexican, lots of spanish and a bit of english in her. Love you hannah. My partner in crime. Besote!

Katleen, my wonderful Belgian buddy who is at once a ballerina and also a bundle of peace and fun.

Thank you Margaret

2008-07-04T18:48:00.000-07:00

There are some people that come into your life like angels and you start to wonder why they crossed your path and how on earth you had the great fortune to meet them.

I have been fortunate to have a number of angels cross my path along the trajectory of adventures I have had since leaving australia.

One of these is Margaret.

This post is dedicated to my "adopted aunt/mother" here in Mexico who I have only known for 6 months but who has become such a kindred spirit and a light in my difficult recent months. Artist, woman, adventurer, half english-spanish-mexican, and, angel.

Margaret: I know I will have to log into my computer to show you this, as you hate and never use computers:

Thank you for everything. For your companionship, cheese, wine, chats and laughs!

It was great living with you for the past 2 months. thank you. thank you.

I will miss your sculptures in the apartment, your fun and humanity. Of course I will still continue to see you at least once a week, but nevertheless I wanted to say a little farewell! Thanks for being there.

Estoy muy muy agradecida. (I am very very grateful)

Ser extranjera (being a foreigner)

2008-05-26T18:22:00.000-07:00

I wanted to share a passage from a book I recently read. The Namesake, by Jhumpa Lahiri. A very good read, excellent Indian literature.

"For being a foreigner, Ashima is beginning to realize, is a sort of lifelong pregnancy - a perpetual wait, a constant burden, a continuous feeling out of sorts. It is an ongoing responsibility, a parenthesis in what had once been ordinary life, only to discover that that previous life has vanished, replaced by something more complicated and demanding. Like pregnancy, being a foreigner...... is something that elicits the same curiosity from strangers, the same combination of pity and respect."

I suppose this passage is not exactly what I feel, as I know I will be going back to Sydney at the end of the year. But at the same time, identify with it so much. Despite all the joy and magic in my life in Mexico, in my quieter, darker moments I clutch a similar view as this one.
I sometimes just long to walk down a street, dressed up beautifully and feeling like a woman, wihout having that joy dragged away from me by eyes and yelps and whistles. I have come to feel as though I own the streets a bit more in mexico these days, but it is still not the same as staring down a Sydney street and knowing it was yours, to fling yourself to the wind without caution.
But slowly, I am becoming and have already become to some extent, a chilanga (mexico city resident). My slang, my late night cravings for tacos del pastor, my ability to now be pushed and push back if needed on the metro (for better or worse).

And yet, a long day, a small comment, a weakened smile from a stranger. These things still have the capacity to make you melt and just feel like a small creature on a planet in outer space.

And then, on the good days: there is a buzz inside and every now and then you get a sudden flash: my god, I am doing what I wanted to. And I'm on my own in another country, and have been away for 18 months. I'm doing it, you realize.
The little girl I was who had wanted to cry at a Brownies camp when I was away for one night from home, now here I have found myself. Every now and then you get a charge of happy jitters when you think these thoughts and you realize the crazy things you are doing: Today as I walked out of the National Institute of Migration after having a meeting about the visas for an international human rights observation mission we are organizing..... on these afternoons the light catches in the trees and lifts you up and makes you remember: I'm doing it. Even if sometimes I feel like I'm the weakest little dot, I'm doing it.

Todo cambia (everything changes)

2008-05-17T12:48:00.000-07:00

"en esta tierra lejana" in this far-away land. Everthing changes. - Mercedes Sosa.

I have been living with the wonderful Margaret in Coyoacan since early April. Coyoacan is old Mexico, a little colonial town tucked in the middle of the urban sprawl, where you can still walk along cobblestoned streets and somewhat escape the big drag of the megapolis.

I have been spending much time in the company of girlfriends who have distracted me with giggles and chats. Here are a few photos of friends and places around Coyoacan.

From the left: Margaret, Hannah, me, Lauren

These are the things that make you proud of your country

2008-04-21T16:14:00.000-07:00

From little things

It makes me want to get home and be a part of it!

Aprendimos a quererte - CUBA. coming soon.

2008-03-29T10:24:00.000-07:00

Cuba was a riot for the head and the emotions.

So far I still have not managed to transfer my written down thoughts on my trip into a blog post. It was incredible how many ideas, doubts and feelings were provoked on such a short 6 day trip to Havana.

These words seem relevant: of the famous song written by Cuban poet Nicolas Villegen(sp?) about Che Guevara, and sung by many a famous singer:

"Aprendimos a quererte" - We learnt how to love you.

Perhaps in a very short zapped time frame, I learnt a little about Cuba, about how to approach it, love it for all the confusion and sadness and frustration it makes you feel. Aprendí. (I learnt).

"Wherever you are, you're with the BBC"

2008-03-12T19:19:00.000-07:00

I felt compelled to write a short tribute to my BBC world briefing service.

In this day and age, with modern global media and fast internet connections, I still feel that there is something quaint about the BBC. Logging into my high speed wireless internet, it is a joy to load up the online world briefing provided by the BBC.

I try and imagine myself listening to a world update through a crackly radio stream in a forgotten decade of last century, an "Out of Africa" experience or something that conjures up being at the end of the world.
I realise that I live in the largest city in the world, and I could hardly decribe myself as disconnected from modern life.

Nevertheless, there is something in listening to the BBC that gives me a tingling of pioneerism, of being connected to the world while living on a far off frontier, a young australian dangling on the end of the transmission. And, I suppose, I like to feel the adventure of being funnelled the world's news at the click of a button, when in fact there are times when the world seems so out of reach to me.

In the chaos of Mexican news that is all-engrossing, it is somewhat good to make myself remember that the world continues to turn and continues, in all places and timzones, to be just as confusing and complex and alive.

Drug Trafficking, Militarization and Criminal Reform

2008-03-08T14:37:00.000-08:00

Mexico is an interesting place at the moment. Human rights violations are rampant and protected by a veil of impunity. Defenders of human rights and social protestors are often caught in the crossfire of a government policy that has been characterized by the "war on drug trafficking and organized crime". This government policy favours State Security over Human Security.

While maybe militarization to many people may sound like a scary prospect, certainly in Mexico it is something that goes largely unquestioned by a lot of people. In a country where the daily news is kidnappings, shoot outs with drug traffickers, police raids and big hoardes of narcotic substances uncovered, it many ways it makes a lot of sense that the public sees a man in khaki uniform and feels relieved. Especially when the police are so sorely hated for their corruption and colluding with drug traffickers. Yes, bring in the military, people will say.

So, this issue was particularly challenging to debate with many people a few weeks ago, when images of a shoot out between the military, police and drug traffickers right near a kindergarden in Tijuana were streamed across the country to the shock of citizens. Of course, as a parent, I understand that you would say "heck, if there are bullets near my child, I want anyone, the army, the navy, the fire brigade to get them out of there". And that's true. And the army can be called on in situations of emergency such as these, when done so in a limited response. There are cases where police will not have the capacities that the military have.

But what the military is not hired for, nor authorised to do, is the investigation, prosecution and enforcement of matters that by their nature are civilian.
Social protests, drug charges, undocumented immigration, these are matters that do not require nor merit the use of military forces.
There are number of reasons for this, some of the most important being that soldiers' training is just not police training, and they are not meant for civil law enforcement. Another huge reason is that when a military officer violates human rights, they are not judged bythe normal civil justice code, but "el fuero militar". The military system. Technically under Mexican law there are provisions saying that an off duty soldier should be charged like a normal criminal, but the interpretation and application of such a law does not turn out this way. Nor is it helpful that the military system of "orders" means that conduct by a soldier is often absolved on the assumed basis that it is in line with such orders.
Murders, rapes, raids, harrassment? Yeah, really things that are gonna be following the code.

It is interesting, as I said that there is plenty of fear in Mexico. The nighly news or the papers do not help. Oh, and a small bomb went off in Mexico City a few weeks ago, linked with drug trafficking and aimed at the head of the city police (it went off outside his office). That kind of unnerved lots of people, as usually the "frontline battles" are in the states of Mexico, and Mexico City just gets the kidnaps and the drug busts where police find millions of dollars in a house or escort a drug lord out of a heavily populated decadent restaurant.

So, with all these fear, many communities are willing to accept the incursion of the military in their lives, on their crops, etc. But as soon as communities realize the impact of the military, they start crying out for them to go away (eg. CHIAPAS).

There are countless other problems involved in the militarization of the country. One huge one is the PFP, la Policia Federal Preventativa a federal "police" force that has many military elements within it, totally blurring all legal definitions and turning up at every social protest to carry out brutally repressive operations.

In all of this context comes the recent criminal reforms that have made their way at a constitutional level into the mexican system. A lot of the reforms are actually very much needed, like moving from a written, inquisitory trial system to an oral one (which most of Latin America has already done to differing succes). However Centro Prodh where I work has been fighting against some of the provisions of the reform that have terribly worrying implications. Civil society has succeeded in getting some thing out of the reform: eg. stopping a constitutional sanction for all unwarranted entries into houses to be allowed without judicial orders.

However, some of the gravest parts remain: such as the infamous arraigo. A very very mexican form of arbitary preventative detention, so mexican that when we translate this term we can't even find a translation and leave it in spanish with italics!
Basically arraigo is kind of "a process before any legal process" that goes above and beyond any legal limits of locking someone up.
Enjoy!

I couldn´t put it better than Human Rights Watch:

Washington, D.C., March 6, 2008

President Felipe de Jesús Calderón Hinojosa
Los Pinos
México D.F.
México

Dear President Calderón,

I am writing to share some observations regarding the justice reform package that was approved by the Mexican Congress today. The reform is, in some respects, an historic step forward for Mexico, as it creates the basis for an oral and adversarial justice system and contains measures that are critical for promoting greater respect for fundamental rights. We welcome, for example, the proposal to include the basic guarantee of presumption of innocence in the Mexican Constitution.

At the same time, however, we are deeply concerned about other provisions that will violate Mexico’s international human rights obligations if this reform enters into force. Of particular concern is the proposal to modify article 16 of the Mexican Constitution to allow prosecutors, with judicial authorization, to detain individuals suspected of participating in organized crime before they are charged with a crime. This pre-charge detention would be possible for a period of up to 40 days if “it is necessary for the success of the investigation, to protect individuals or goods, or when there is a justified risk of flight.” The 40-day limit could be extended for up to an additional 40 days if the circumstances that gave rise to it continue to exist.

This proposed 80-day limit would be, by far, the longest of its kind in any Western democracy. In other countries, the limit for any form of pre-charge detention, or preventative detention, is generally less than seven days. In the context of combating terrorism, for example, the maximum period allowed for pre-charge detention in Canada is one day; in the United States, Germany and South Africa it is two days; in Italy and Spain it is five days; and in Ireland and Turkey it is seven days. The United Kingdom recently extended the time limit for pre-charge detention for certain terrorism related offenses to 28 days, making it the Western democracy with the longest pre-charge detention time. However, British courts have yet to adjudicate on whether this is consistent with human rights law, although previous case law indicates that such a long pre-charge detention period is not permitted.

Detention without charge for such a long period of time violates the fundamental right to liberty and security of the person and the associated protections against arbitrary detention enshrined in international law. The American Convention on Human Rights (Article 7, ACHR), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (Article 9, ICCPR), and the European Convention on Human Rights (Article 5, ECHR) all require that an individual arrested or detained on reasonable suspicion of having committed an offense must be “informed promptly” of the charge against him or her and “brought promptly” before a judge or other officer authorized by law to exercise judicial power. The Human Rights Committee applying Article 9 (2) of the ICCPR that requires anyone arrested to be “promptly informed of any charges against him” found detainment for seven days without charge to be a violation.1 The European Court of Human Rights has held that to hold a person for a period of fourteen or more days, even where there was a state of emergency and threat of terrorism, without them being charged was a violation. It deemed the period “exceptionally long,” rendering detainees vulnerable not only to arbitrary interference with the right to liberty but also to torture.2

A second provision proposed in the new constitutional text that also raises serious human rights concerns is the one that denies judges the power to decide, in cases involving one of a prescribed list of offenses, whether a defendant should remain in jail or be provisionally released pending and during trial. On the one hand, the reform package proposes that the right to presumption of innocence be incorporated in the Constitution and that pretrial detention should only be used when other precautionary measures are not enough to prevent, for example, the risk of flight, interference with the investigation, or security of the victim or witnesses. But it also states that judges must order pretrial detention if the person is accused of a series of crimes listed in the Constitution.

When there is no possibility of obtaining pre-trial liberty, the detention of accused but unconvicted persons, particularly where it may last for a substantial period, ultimately impinges on the presumption of innocence, one of the most established and widely accepted elements of the right to a fair trial. Article 8(2) of the ACHR expressly establishes that every person accused of a criminal offense has the right to be presumed innocent. Article 14 of the ICCPR also provides that “everyone charged with a criminal offense shall have the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law.” Article 9(3) of the ICCPR explicitly establishes that a person charged but not yet convicted of a crime should not, as a general rule, be kept in detention. According to the United Nations Human Rights Committee, pretrial detention may only be used if it is lawful, reasonable, and necessary. It is only appropriate if it is necessary “to prevent flight, interference with evidence or the recurrence of crime” or “where the person concerned constitutes a clear and serious threat to society which cannot be contained in any other manner.”3

Again, I would like to reiterate that the reform package contains historic measures that could greatly strengthen Mexico’s justice system. However, the two provisions discussed here, regarding pre-charge and pre-trial detention, will need to be modified in order to prevent serious human rights abuses in the future.

Sincerely,

José Miguel Vivanco
Executive Director
Americas Division

1 Kurbanov v Tajikistan, No.1096/2002 para. 7.2.
2 Aksoy v Turkey, [1996] ECHR 68 (December 18, 1996) para. 66 – 78.
3 Hugo van Alphen v. the Netherlands (No. 305/1988) (July 23, 1990), Official Records of the General Assembly, Forty-fifth Session, Supplement No.40 (A/45/40), vol. II., annex IX, sect. M., para. 5.8. Similarly, the Eighth United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders established that: (b) Pre-trial detention may be ordered only if there are reasonable grounds to believe that the persons concerned have been involved in the commission of the alleged offenses and there is a danger of their absconding or committing further serious offenses, or a danger that the courts of justice will be seriously interfered with if they are left free; (c) In considering whether pre-trial detention should be ordered, account should be taken of the circumstances of the individual case, in particular the nature and seriousness of the alleged offense, the strength of the evidence, the penalty likely to be incurred, and the conduct and personal and social circumstances of the person concerned, including his or her community ties. Eighth United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders, Havana, 27 August-7 September 1990: report prepared by the Secretariat (New York: United Nations, 1991), E.91, IV , chap.I, sect.C (para.2).

Diplomacy Latin style

2008-03-08T12:33:00.000-08:00

It has been a interesting few weeks in Latin America.
The Colombian forces' attack on members of the FARC was a really, really big deal.

And then we have had some really interesting reactions: President Correa and President Chavez getting all worked up and sending troops to their respective borders, all dramas! As my colleague Stephanie astutely noted, it seemed as though not much had changed since the 1970s with heavy handed left wing and right wing regimes going in for each other.

And then, all of a sudden everything changed and we had the Summit of the Rio group, with President Uribe of Colombia and President Chavez of Venezuela giving each other a hug! (below)

I also included the spunky declaration of President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner from Argentina, basically coming in like a mum or a sister and scolding all the boys at the table.

And if you scroll to the end of this video below you get Hugo Chavez breaking out into song: classic!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBNSWr5cnhw&feature=related

And so in the last couple of weeks there was a huge concert with hundreds of thousands of people on the border of Venezuela and Colombia, incredible pop culture stuff!

And since then, things have heated up again as President Correa of Ecuador has found out that indeed an Ecuadorian did in fact die in the Colombian attack in Euadorian territory. He is not happy!

Imagine working in an office like this:

2008-03-08T11:36:00.000-08:00

Go Google! Man oh man their offices are amazing!

http://www.elpais.com/fotogaleria/Googlelandia/algo/oficina/5210-5/elpgal/

Art. And Mexican Art.

2008-03-05T21:25:00.001-08:00

I have had the great privilege of having my eyes opened in the last number of months. Opened up to art. I have always of course enjoyed a good exhibition, been able to tell the difference between a Picasso and a Van Gogh, but really my appreciation of art has not got much further than that. I suppose I have always enjoyed it, but never really found true inspiration from it. (I am talking about fine arts here, plastic arts.)

But recently I have been realizing the scope and meaning that art can bring to me This is due to a few reasons: 1) You cannot escape the visual in Mexico. You become an art lover when you step off the plane. 2) I have become close to some committed art fans which has allowed me to be a lot more exposed. It has been a great privilege living with someone who knows so much about art and literature.

I have also recently had the pleasure to take on a private english student who happens to be a reasonably respected mexican artist. The two hours each week I spend with her have been fascinating, as all she wants to do is practice her near -perfect english by talking about art. From all perspectives - I am putting so many pieces together!
Why is Conceptual Art such a threat to the evolution of art - in my student's opinion it is an involution, artists such as Damien Hurst who have really no technical skills but are selling animals preserved in glass cases. We have talked about art as being "elite" by its definition, or about being for everyone. We have talked about the overwhelming aesthetic tradition that Mexico has - that the visual will always be important here! where as nowadays you may find people selling plastic water bottles as art, my student argues that that has destroyed the aesthetic experience of art which is so important, that if you have to first read a caption about an artwork to be able to form any sort of reaction that is a warped development in art.

Oh there are many more things I have learnt.

But then there comes the real clincher:
We were talking about that when an artist makes art, they have to think if it is going to communicate at all, if they are going to exhibit it, why? Because if it ´s just a cathartic process, why show it to others? why not just hang it on your wall in your house?
Well, basically this discussion got me thinking as I walked home from our class last night: artists are always thinking and labouring on their finished product, in a way that I find so inspiring. I was thinking that if I could inspire that fine brush tone to my work and consider what I do as some sort of art - a press release, an email or whatever must always be considered as a form of connecting. In this world where airbrushing or spell check or factories or any automated process can outdo the perfection of what we can do, unique voices need to keep coming through and being heard, whatever field we work in, be in artist or doctor. I suppose I found it inspiring to think about work as being a voice in the world. Of course I had thought about it that way perhaps, but the light that I have been getting from art has gone further than what I can explain here.

Finally, again, I repeat: Mexico is a country of artists. My student was demonstrating this by saying:

"You look, for example, at all of the famous, world renowned artists in the 20th century, let's say, from England. You would be lucky to count 3 or 4.

Mexico, in contrast, a country with much less privilege than England, can easily claim 5 world classers of the 20th century: Diego Rivera, David Siquieros, Frida Kahlo, Rufin Tamayo and (i think it was) Clemente Orozcos. All of these artists would easily be hung in the best museums in the world and go for a high price.

You don't find that sort of thing, let's say, in Peru, for example. Mexico is very unique."

I cannot help but agree. visual, visual, visual. When a Mexican says "que bonito (how pretty,) something is, they really mean it. Mexicans have the visual sensibilities of young children in many ways: the attraction to colour and texture is so evident here, it is lived in the blood.

Another great artist, the wonderful singer Steven Morrissey, describes the poetry he sees in Mexico: the struggle to get by in this country has not produced a group of drab doers but rather a nation of artists.

Finally, I am very proud of both my sisters who are artists!

close up and personal

2008-03-03T18:32:00.000-08:00

I think I have gotten to know the bums and groins and ribs of hundreds of chilangos (mexico city residents) over the last number of months. It may not be a thing I like to think about in such a way, but it is true.
If ever I felt starved of adrenalin in this city, which I don't, I could always rely on the metro or the metrobus to give me a swift dose of it. The absolute sardine piling on of people situation is not really done justice by this photograph.

TBC

One year in Mexico: welcoming 2008

2008-01-01T21:20:00.000-08:00

I arrived in Mexico on 4 January 2007. I am still running along here, and wanted to write a little tribute to a very memorable year, with a humble collection of random observations of this country, and this city that I have called home for a year.

- The average speed of vehicles in Mexico City is 16 kph.

- Tucked away from what many of us have been taught is "history", I have a theory about Mexico's past. It was the first major Hispanic civilisation conquered by Europeans, an amazing clash of brutal invaders and inhabitants of what was Tenochitlan, an amazing former day mexico city, then rising out of a lake valley with Aztec pyramids and ranking as the largest city in the world in that era, along with Constantinople. But this didn't really get in our history lessons. Then the country became independent while Napoleon was rampaging Europe. So Napoleon got priority in collective memory. And then, Mexico had its revolution when the rest of the world was living through WWI. The first socialist constitution in the world was made here. But we all remember 1917 in Russia before 1910 in Mexico.
Of course there's reasons for these perceptions, but it's interesting for me nonetheless. Because I have to admit that Mexico has, for me, the most gripping historical development I have ever learnt about.

- At once both refreshing and potentially problematic:
"Morenos", "Güeros", "Chinos" "Negros" "Mulatos" ... whatever the label for different skin colours and racial groups, there is no shame or gasps in mexico for calling someone, "hey whitey", "hey brownie" etcetc. Up to the point that describing a person, in or not in their company as "gordo" (fat or chubby) can just be normal.

- Mexican men. Not all of them, but a reasonable amount that I travel with on public transport, or pass by - have never learnt not to stare! 5 metro stations later, and the same ogler can still be mouth-open fixated on me. Turning around and determinedly staring back at them for a sharp second can work. Some of my blonde friends have had to go to more extreme measures. I thought I would be okay, not being blonde, but it seems as my green eyes drive them wild. Depending on the mood and the day and the person, some guy walking past me and honestly saying "what beautiful eyes you have" can either make me reply with a half relaxed "thanks" or an inner shudder and frustration. It's all about the tone.
Then there's the guys who are walking towards you on the street, and just as they pass within a whisker of your ear manage to utter self convincedly: something which would be translated as "how hot", or "tasty" or "what a beauty" or something. These guys make me wanna laugh - what, like their 2 second intervention is going to make me stop in my tracks and run back to them saying, yes you're the one for me, take me with you"? - gosh!
And then there are the outright unashamed ones. One guy the other day announced loudly "wow, look at this little one" as I was walking past him in he street. What he didnt realise is that Julio was behind me who proceeded to grab him brisquely by the shoulder and say "just watch what you say, alright?!" It was funny.

- The average speed of vehicles in Mexico City is 16 kmph. Worth repeating.

- Tequila, not always drunken straight, often with softdrink mixers, something I wouldnt have thought of before coming here. In Oz we slam in down masochistically, here it's just a normal part of almost every gathering or party.

- The intense sense of group identity here- families are stronger, and generally "looking out for each other" I feel is stronger. I feel as though yes, we have australian mateship and all, but that here I have learnt the habit and inclination to really be more concerned in other people in my circles, to offer them help and follow how the group dynamic works here, more so than the more individualistic society of Australia, USA, etc. A long topic to explain.

- The average speed of vehicles in Mexico City is 16kph

- Dismounting the clanky unpredictable "microbuses", the most extensive system of transport in mexico city alongside the metro subway system. The short little buses are a menace to get off, as you stoop your head and hold on for your life as the bus comes to a screeching halt. Either that or you want to jump out the window for frustration of the cumbersome brakes, the slow pace of the things while on hills or in traffic and the blaring music.

- Eating in the street, and taking out your money from your wallet to pay, at the very very very last moment. You will have taken a plate from the guy, walked half a block away to sit down and eat it, come back and only then will you have showed any sign of paying. I like that level of trust. Weare too goofy with a juggled intention of paying in the instant of a food purchase. Chill. Eat. Then pay. nice.

- My Spanish: It's "fluent". But a LONG way to refine and go. I speak it all day every day, but I constantly need to improve. There is always more vocab, and always errors to weed out. I cant say whether I am dreaming in spanish yet, not sure whether I remember words from dreams. But I can say that when I want to say something in english it sometimes come out in spanish. So that must mean I think in it substantially.
Of course a lot of this goes to crap when I have to talk to my higher boss, or am lost in emotions, or just in a nervous state where I am not so controlled. Then you just wanna say, bloody hell, give me the ingles.
The good thing is that I have become much quicker in Spanish to English written translations. I have to do a lot of that in my work and I have really got the rhythm of changing the sentence structures almost subconciously, so that bashing out a few pages of translation doesn't take long at all. It's a good skill.

- Music and gigs! I have been lucky to see a lot of great concerts this year. The best, on no order have been:

Travis (really really good, much better than expected)
Silvio Rodriguez ( tear jerker)
Soda Stereo (Argentinian giants of the 80s and 90s with brilliant epic tracks, under a packed stadium setting)
Los Bunkers (great rock outfit from Chile, one of my faves)
Molotov (mexican rascals of rock/rap, excellent national themes)
Cafe Tacuba (THE band of Mexico in thelast two decades)
Zoe (another great modern mexican group, very synthy rock)

Other great new musical discoveries-affairs have been: Morrissey! Admitting that Coldplay has good stuff and getting to really like them again! Los Amantes de Lola! Eduardo Aute! Discovering Fado, the folk music of Portugal! Joaquin Sabina!

Well, there finishes my little head dump for capping off 2007. I feel hopeful and energetic for 2008, grateful for good opportunities and mindful of the hard work I'll have to put in.
Here are some selected nice shots from the year.

HIRED!!!!

2008-01-01T21:18:00.000-08:00

News flash: Centre Prodh, the Human Rights Centre where I have been interning for 6 months, has hired me for 2008 in a part time position in the international relations area! So grateful. Here is to learning a lot more about international law and campaiging.

Visit to Trotsky's house

2008-01-01T20:19:00.000-08:00

A day out that I had been meaning to do for a long time, I finally got myself along to Leon Trotsky's house, site of this great socialist ideologue's death. Assassination by an icepick had always been one of the more intriuging details of my highschool history classes, and I was very pleased with the visit.

The most interesting part of it was seeing the life of this poor old comrade in exile, holed up in a house with high walls and reinforced windows for security. He tried to keep himself occupied with gardening, a rigourous routine of writing and chronicle keeping, and picnics with friends such as Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera and amazingly Andres Breton (just goes to show the melting pót of intellectuals that was Mexico in the 40s.)

There were a couple of assassination attempts - the most famous involving Siqieros, a famous Mexican artist and muralist, who for his art is amazing but for his Stalinist views and murderous (allegedly) qualities seems too interesting and freaky.

The final and successful plot against Trotsky's life occurred in his study room pictured here. A hired Spanish dude came in to do the trick.

Besides countless cool photos of Lenin and Trotsky, and also seeing trotsky's books and things... the most impressive thing was seeing an outline of Trotsky's family tree - siblings from two wives, nieces, nephews... practically all wiped out by Stalinists. They came for them in far flung reaches of the globe. all gone. pow.

Acapulco 2

2007-12-14T19:55:00.000-08:00

Again, I find myself in Acapulco.

Not believing the hype of everyone that says Acapulco is just dirty and tacky.

Yes, it has large high hotels stacked on the beach, but that is all forgiven when you see the majestic mountains rising behind them.

I stayed with people in the old part of the town, where all the people go about their daily things and their traditions so you don't feel the bite of resort sterile-ness. You hear the dogs barking in the lanes and feel the heat on your back as you go to the tortilleria (tortilla shop/mill) and watch the old men calling out in gargled voices "bolillos, bolillos" (bread rolls) in the morning. But then you can also get your kicks on the beach lapping up in lovely restaurants and getting massages.

We did some cool things: A big old ship was ported in the bay, we visited that with Julio and his aunt (pictured). We also went to an old fort, amazing! All the trade with the Phillipines and the expansion of Spanish power in this area came through Mexico, as well as pirates, independence fighters and French invaders.
We also watched the famous and incredible divers who jump twice each day off the Quebrada (pictured). It's a great feat: think of people diving off the Gap in Sydney, and surviving unscathed. These guys do that, but two at a time, and with unforgiving surf below. It's awesome.

But definitely one of the best things was the sunset, and then walking down from the cliffs of the Quebrada in the evening we found ourself part of a pilgrimage walking through the streets and lanes down to the main square, for the Day of the Virgin of Guadalupe (the national relgious symbol, Mary as an indigenous woman.. too much to explain here). The procession was awesome, very loco: letting off sharp amateur fireworks with everyone, that went dangerously close to telephone lines.. stopping local buses behind us in the street - they had to deal with it, the whole town was also processing, so it was normal... and the balmy zocalo (main square) full of people.

I DIDNT WANT TO COME BACK TO THE CITY! it was a short weekend away.

Rudd joy!!

2007-11-25T22:18:00.001-08:00

I have been logged into online election coverage for much of the last few days after voting at the australian embassy in mexico city the other day.

I am so ecstatic about the election result that I have decided to throw an australian theme party next weekend!!

Look at our cool invitation!

If anyone can suggest some typical aussie food to serve, let me know. So far I'm thinking vegemite, anzac bikkies and maybe a pavlova if I can pull it off!

On a more sentimental note, it just makes me so proud of australian civil society to see that we finally succeeded in getting Howard out! I feel far away and distant from fellow aussie campaigners, but when I look at emails of GetUp or see snippets of Hugh Evans popping up in election videos, it makes me so content to know that everyone is 'keeping it real' back home. I will be back at some point to join the fray.

50th anniversary of the witches' market!

2007-11-14T23:07:00.000-08:00

Sometime a few weeks back Julio and I went to check out the 50th anniversary of el Mercado de Sonora, a Mexico City vanguard of "brujeria" (witchcraft) and all things supernatural. This is the place that you go to buy black cats or wirey crows or sad looking creatures and then go and kill them in order to perform some magic. Or this is the place where you go to buy your herbs for concoctions of any sort.

Suffice to say, getting free tucker from any market stall, drinking fine tequila at midday and dancing away to mariachis and cumbia bands made foe a wonderful, wonderful day. And to top it all of, these very photos featured on www.cronica.com.mx thanks to Julio's editorial license..

Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead)

2007-11-11T17:39:00.000-08:00

Death is Democracy.
At the end of it all, everyone:
black, white, rich or poor -
all the world ends up being skeletons.

Jose Guadalupe Posada

The Day of the Dead has come and gone, and I want it to be here again.

What joy and surrealism comes out of these two days (1 and 2 Nov).
Graveyards all around the country are flooded with people and offerings and celebration.
Crazy skeleton exhibitions are seen everywhere - Jose Guadalupe Posada, one of my favourite Mexican artists, came up with this skeleton figure in the late 1900s in his caricaturas of daily life and politics. Now everything becomes a skeleton, and offerings tie in the daily life of people who are now dead.

I have included a picture of the offering we made in our apartment: We included food that was liked by loved ones that have died. All offerings should contain the four elements, as Julio's aunt taught me: Air (hanging paper) Earth (flowers) Fire (candles) and Water (glass of water).

I have also included some stunning photos of the offerings on the UNAM (national university) campus - check out the Rectory Building and its amazing Diego Rivera murals!

Also we went to a great concert of two beloved trova singers in the Zocalo on the evening of the Day of the Dead - great stuff!

The bad thing about the Day of the Dead is it brought on a big wave of sickness for me - I have only just overcome a horrid week of stomach upset and shocking flu! I definitely get sick more seriously here than in Australia.

Hope everyone enjoys the photos!

Blogs in Waiting

2007-11-04T17:23:00.000-08:00

Dear Readers,

I am dying to sit down with a long swig of time on my blog, with much to write and reflect - The Day of the Dead, general vignettes of my life or any other trivialities that I delight in posting here.

An apology on my part for not posting more as of late. We have just gone on a month in our new place and we STILL do not have internet up and running.. long story ... apparently although we are right in the centre of town and surrounded by embassies, wireless cables are still not covered in our street.. we are looking at options and figuring it out this week! Argh I hope!

I have just whiled away a long weekend with an annoying vomiting stomach thing. Not fun, and not something I wanted for a much awaited few days for R&R and fun. Oh well!

In anticiipation of more lyrical and informative posts.

Maddy

new apartment!

2007-10-14T20:48:00.000-07:00

Wow what changes! Now living with julio in the top right hand corner apartment of the flat pictured above. and isnt our street lovely!

The address is:

Río Po 68, Depto 14
Colonia Cuauhtémoc
06500, México, DF
MÉXICO

Cuauhtémoc was the last Aztec emperor, (not Moctezuma as commonly thought.) Cool hey ? We are living in the neighbourhood of the young warrior emperor who was killed fighting the Spanish invasion.

So, now that you all have the address I am expecting floods of letters and lovely packages arriving at my doorstep (I fully realise the irony of this given that I have a stack of envelopes sitting on my kitchen table waiting to send to Australia).....
Anyway, I challenge you all - the only packages I have received in all my time away have been from my mummy.

Will post interior photos in a little while, when we get some of our final frames sorted our for our walls. But right now, at a month in, the apartment is looking lovely.

VIVA MEXICO

2007-10-14T20:38:00.000-07:00

photos from september 15-16 Mexican Independence Day. Viva!!

More text very soon!

for avid fans of on the road... an update

2007-09-18T17:12:00.000-07:00

It has been a while between posts... but life seems to keep throwing me new challenges and changes.

As of the last status update, I have changed my job and started working at a highschool teaching rich unruly mexican kids. It's incredibly challenging and discipline a big stumbling block, but I suppose it's all a learning experience and they pay me well. But I reitterate, very challenging.

I am still in my human rights internship in the mornings and the evenings - all in all lots of running around.

And! Julio and I have just found the most perfect apartment and are moving in together in a few weeks.

More updates and photos very soon! Missing Australia, but I always hold it close in my heart.