Gallimaufry 5

Theater in English

Tonight I'm meeting some friends in Geneva and we'll attend an English-language play.  In part due to the numerous English speakers in the area of Geneva and western Vaud, in particular, there are at least two excellent amateur theater (or "theatre" as is more often used here) groups that present drama and musical fare in English to very appreciative audiences.  While we're now coming to the end of the 2009-2010 season, auditions will soon be scheduled for future productions.

The website that provides fairly comprehensive information about these events is the Theatre in English, which presents an overview of the current season's offerings, as well as a monthy calendar which also announces professional productions, such as one this month, a performance of "Othello" at the castle of Prangins 17-19 June by Howard Productions.   The Theatre in English site also contains links to the two amateur groups: the Geneva English Drama Society (GEDS) and the Geneva Amateur Operatic Society (GAOS).

Tonight my friends and I will be attending a performance of Enid Bagnold's "The Chalk Garden."   Given the generally high quality of these productions, it should be great fun.

Stemming the flow

Recent reports state that, while British Petroleum has succeeded in lowering a "top cap" over a severed pipe over the massive human-caused catastrophe that is somewhat disingenuously referred to as an "oil spill" in the Gulf of Mexico, the "top cap" is apparently not tight enough to contain the gushing oil.  It had been hoped that this technique would contain up to 90 percent of the so-called "spill" and that the "captured" oil could be siphoned to tankers on the surface.  So far, that is not the case, at least not yet.  I am certain that I am not alone in hoping as fervently as possible that efforts to contain the oil will succeed, and as soon as possible.  Not only have human error, negligence, selfishness and perhaps even criminal actions and omissions been responsible for creating this disaster, it is long, long past time that alternative energy sources be seriously committed to and developed.  Anyone who has been on the moon or asleep for the past month can see for themselves what has been happening by consulting the BP live webcams - or by consulting numerous YouTube videos that have been posted.

Blockades, armed attacks, piracy and diplomatic disasters

In the Mediterranean, the Israeli-Palestinian debacle lurches from bad to worse with each passing hour due to intransigeant zealots on all sides of the equation.  It is enough to wish a pox on all religions.  Still, it has been inarguably and repeatedly demonstrated that one side is better organized, funded and supplied with deadly weapons than the other, with a lot of that funding and deadly weaponry coming from my own country.  That is the part that most outrages me literally beyond reason.  In any event, this week's badly conceived and even worse implemented Israeli assault on ships bound for Gaza to bring humanitarian supplies to the Gaza ghetto - and that is the kindest description of the situation - has not helped the Israeli situation one whit.  If anything, Israel has probably irreparably lost Turkey, its longest and staunchest Middle Eastern ally.  The visible reactions in Turkey are only the tip of the iceberg.  Events are not being given much balanced attention in US media so far as I can see.  To the contrary, apologists for Israeli actions have flocked to the airwaves there in an effort to convince that pipes, sticks and knives (knives have innocuous purposes, after all) are literally akin to tear gas, deadly force and semi-automatic weapons and that the dead victims were at fault for being there in the first place.  But away from the US MSM, the real stories are being played out - and they're not at all pretty.  A Swede, Henning Mankell, who was not on the Turkish ship where people were killed, reported:

"They got very aggressive and ordered us to come down. There was one older man who was a little slow, so the Israelis attacked him with an electric stun gun. He was in a lot of pain. So was another passenger who was covered in paint after being hit with a paint ball missile."  He also recounted that the commandos searched the ship thoroughly and emerged waving a razor and a metal-box cutting tool, which they claimed were "weapons" intended to be used against them.  All the passengers were then herded into a group, with armed guards standing watch as the ship was taken to Israel.  "When we got off ... we were made to walk down a corridor of armed commandos who filmed all of us with cameras. They stole my mobile phone, my money, my clothes and my credit cards." Mr Mankell said.  He was held in a cell for 24 hours along with an MP from Sweden's Green Party, and then deported "without his socks." 

It is interesting and very ironic that efforts to draw attention to the inexcusable plight of Gazans can be likened to the Berlin Airlift.  We did the right thing then.  And so, in the end, did the Soviet Union, when it lifted the blockade.