Pera Palace, Beyoglu, Istanbul

Tags

Agata Christie, Anatolia, Ataturk, Bosphorus, Constantinople, Galata, Hotel, Istanbul, Orient Express, Pera, Sultan, Turkey

Thinking of Istanbul, I am remembering my frequent visits there and the wedding of Friends at the Ciragan Palace on the Bosphorus and their stay of the Pera Palace Hotel built in 1892 exclusively to house the passengers of the Orient Express. Room 411 is a museum to Agatha Christie, she stayed at the hotel and wrote her mystery novel Murder on the Orient Express. The number of famous people who at one time stayed at the Pera Palace is far to long to list, it defies the imagination. The hotel was beautifully restored to its original splendour just a few years ago. It is fun just to go to the bar and have a drink and think of all those people or have dinner in the restaurant, it has a charm and atmosphere all its own. I am currently reading the book of Charles King, Midnight at the Pera Palace, who gives a good description of Istanbul at the time and its history after 1919 and the fall of the Empire and the rise of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, a real page turner.

However after the fall of the Empire in 1921 and the emergence of the Republican government in Turkey, the Pera Palace fell on hard times and the new owner a Lebanese Arab who had acquired the new Turkish Nationality tried to maintain its standards but the Orient Express no longer travelled to Istanbul and the affluent clientele was rare. The Capital of the Turkish Republic had also moved to Ankara in the 1923. When I first visited the Pera Palace Hotel in 1995 it was a dusty old place with too many ghosts. It was no longer a luxury hotel but more a decent three star hotel, the decor had not changed, no but it was worn out. Since the neighbourhood of Pera or Beyoglu and the city have seen many changes for the better.

In the book Monsieur Poirot stays not at the Pera Palace but at the Tokatlian Hotel on the Grande Rue de Pera nowadays called Istiklal street. Unfortunately the Tokatlian no longer exist, the last news in 2011 mentioned that the hotel was in a state of ruin. It was the hotel of the high society in Istanbul for a very long time. Nonetheless many foreign government still keep Consulates, formerly Embassies, some are quite grand in architecture and decor. Istiklal is a very nice street to walk.

 

Renovated and re-opened Pera Palace Hotel in Istanbul

The old tram line on Istiklal street in Winter

The Suleymaniye Camii across the Golden Horn from Galata built in 1550 by Sinan for Suleiman the Magnificent. It is the largest mosque in Istanbul.

Visiting the old Imperial Mosques in the City is also very interesting because of their architecture, decorations and park settings. Each Sultan upon ascending the Imperial Throne would have a Camii (mosque) built. Note how they all follow the model of Hagia Sophia and this style is known as Ottoman Imperial style with its pencil like minarets. The old Ottoman cemeteries are fascinating, each tombstone indicates the rank of the person buried, or in the case of women carved stone bouquet of flowers indicates how many children she had. There are also the larger Mausoleum for the Sultan and his family members.

The mausoleum of Suleiman the Magnificent and his family, tombs are surmounted by White elaborate Turbans the Sultan would have worn and indicates his rank as a Sovereign.

Eyup Cemetery, is famous, the mosque of Eyup (Job) is considered to be the third most Holy Site in Islam after Mecca and Jerusalem. It is said to be the burial site of Eyup Ensari the friend and Standard bearer of the Prophet Mohamed, many devout Muslims pray here. There are many elaborate tombstones indicating the rank and attributes of those buried here, all have a different shape hats, turbans or fez which in life would indicate their social rank.

Coming back down the Golden Horn and following the Bosphorus we come to the Ciragan Palace built around 1867 was to have a rather sad story, the first inhabitant was Sultan Abdulaziz who did not live there very long, he was found dead one morning in 1876, just a few days after having been deposed by his brother Murad V who did not reign long for reason of mental illness. Murad was imprisoned in this opulent palace jail until his death in 1904 by his brother Sultan Abdulhamid II. A fire damaged the interior of the Palace in 1909 and with the end of the Ottoman Empire it was abandoned. Today the Palace has been restored and is operated by Kempinski as a  five star luxury hotel.

Ciragan Palace on the Bosphorus with its Sea Gate.

What I enjoyed was simply walking and looking around the City and its monuments, its old streets, the history and its secrets. Turkish people are charming and courteous. There is a certain elegance to this old city, though my last visit was many years ago, I wonder how I would find it now. But I also have to tell you about Yildiz and Dolmabache and Ortakoy one of my favourite spots in Istanbul.

The Mask has fallen

The mask if there ever was one is now truly fallen and it did on Friday 13 February in a radio interview in Quebec City given by our Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Without any prompting he explained to the radio host that people in Quebec loved his conservatives policies, strong law and order approach, war on terror, low taxes, unlike those people who work for the State Broadcaster Radio-Canada and CBC who are all leftists and who hate conservative values. He then proclaimed that Quebecers love and support conservatives values. It is true that a certain percentage of people living in the region of Quebec City vote conservative but this is not new, it has been thus for as long as I can remember and more, maybe since 1935. However he is sadly mistaken if he is thinking of Montreal or the rest of Quebec.

Today Tuesday (Mardi Gras) 17 February in the House of Commons in answer to a question from the Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau about that comment on the radio, Mr. Harper said that the enemies of conservative values are the money wasters in the Opposition, the NDP (the Official Parliamentary Opposition), the Liberals, the bureaucracy and the labour unions, who are with the Jihadists, who give Canadian tax dollars to their leftist friends and do not support the conservative agenda. The Prime Minister like all members in the House has full immunity and can say pretty much anything he wants without fear of lawsuit. So like George W. Bush, you are with the terrorists or with us. We heard such nonsense from his Cabinet but never from him.

On chats and on twitter you will note that the trolls who support him constantly attack leftists who do not support the Conservative agenda. They make all manner of outlandish claims. On Sun News Network now bankrupt and gone, attacks on the Opposition or Liberals was vitriolic and hysterical, offensive and hateful. They strongly support the extreme right wing evangelical agenda of the Harper Regime. Reading them is scary but now that the PM himself has clearly identified the enemies of the State we can see the tone of this election campaign. It is going to be ugly and the list of enemies will be a long one. I dare say 64% of Canadians who did not vote for him in 2011.

In the meantime the government has introduced bill C-51 which will make protest of any kind a criminal offence especially if it is on a subject regarding Official government policy on a range of topics. The bill will make the judges an instrument of the police in giving them on there asking search warrants. They would be able to search homes and confiscate property, install surveillance devices, detain people for indefinite periods of time, tap phones, disrupt mail and bank accounts, etc… All this is unknown in Canada and most Canadians sleep thinking this has nothing to do with them. Already many charitable organizations have been driven to bankruptcy and audited to death by the Revenue Agency on the orders of the PM for criticizing him. No one seems to notice much.

In Parliament today the Conservative Government majority voted to give all Parliamentary security matters to the RCMP, they in turn report directly to the Prime Minister. The Speaker of the House has been shoved aside rudely, matters in the Parliamentary precinct have always been his responsibility. So now the personal police guards of the PM will be in charge of watching other members of Parliament under the guise of security. It does not take a genius to quickly understand how this can be abused.

In the play Stuff Happens, the Iraqi Janitor says at the end of the play that he has been a refugee from his country for 29 years. He goes on to say that the mistake of the Iraqi people was to put their faith in others, like the Americans. The Iraqi people did not take care of themselves nor of their country. He concludes by saying, if something bad happens in your country it’s your fault because you did not take care of it. The situation in Canada is our fault because we knew that Harper had a secret agenda and we ignored it. We wanted change in government, we got it, but this is not what anyone envisage.

2015 is an election year, let’s hope that Canadians will wake up and reflect on what is happening to our Country and put an end to this train wreck of a government. It is very important that people get involved in their local area and vote for an inclusive government for all of us.

Cairo Markets

Tags

Cairo, Egypt, Fatimid, Khan al Khalili

One of the pleasures of Cairo is its old market place the Khan al Khalili. It is in the centre of the old Islamic heart of the city, bordered by Bab-Al-Futtuh (Gate of Conquest) Bab al-Nasr (Gate of Victory) and the Mosques of Al-Azhar, Al-Hakim and Al-Hussein all dating from 1000 years ago, marvels of Islamic Architecture. There are also many wonderful monuments to the different dynasties and rulers of the City from the Fatimid period.

Within all this architecture a great Souk established itself and has been in place for centuries now. You find everything in the Khan, from food to furniture, gold and silver jewellery, to tailors, spice vendors, restaurants, cafés, it is truly like Ali BaBa’s cavern.

One of the oldest Café’s in the old Khan al Khalili, Al-Fishawy always a nice place to have a Turkish coffee or a glass of tea with mint.

So many of the old Khan al Khalili is featured in the books of Nobel Literature prize Laureate (1988), Naguib Mahfouz, just like this street, an area he knew very well.

Naguib Mahfouz (1911-2006), I had the very great pleasure to speak with him at the Zamalek Marriott Hotel in 1990. His books are wonderful, especially the Cairo Trilogy, full of humanity and life’s unruly details, his characters are so very real, the reader feels an attachment to them.

Bread delivery on a bicycle, I often saw them, day and night and wondered how do they do it without falling or being run over by a car or bus.

An area I came to know very well and I always enjoyed walking around 

The Khan al Khalili was also an excellent gold market, Cairo was the Mint of the Ottoman Empire and to this day solid gold coins can be found and many other good quality gold jewellery pieces in 18k, 22K and 24K. White and Yellow gold rings, bracelets and necklaces with good craftsmanship can be bought. No gold is sold under 18K because it is not considered of good value by Egyptian customers. I bought my wedding ring in the Khan 22K white and yellow gold, the metal is so soft it took the imprint of my finger with time.

I also bought an old pocket watch with a Swiss movement, these watches were common as conductors on Tramways and trains used them in the Ottoman Empire to mark time and keep tram schedules. I bought two had them cleaned and they work fine to this day. I determine that the watches are about 105 years old. If they could talk the stories these watches could tell.

Cairo the City of one thousand minarets

Topkapi Sarayi

Tags

Harem, Istanbul, Kumkapi, Ottoman, Topkapi, Turkey

The charm of Istanbul is the many little streets, the architecture of the City, its monuments, neighbourhoods and history. Once you have visited the Hagia Sophia behind the church is the Imperial Gate, entrance way to the Topkapi Sarayi (Palace), this was the Residence of the Ottoman Sultan from 1462 to 1856 when the Sultan moved to a European Baroque style Palace known as Dolma Bahce on the Bosphorus, which will be the Residence of the Sovereign until 1922, in both cases the Palaces are opulent and luxurious, far more so than any Palace I have ever seen elsewhere in the World.

The Imperial Gate and the calligraphy above the door.

Sultanahmet is the old walled city, the flavour of the old city is everywhere in the stones and streets. This old neighbourhood has stories to tell, you simply have to look around to discover them. There are lots of good restaurants, fish and meat dishes, many sweets. I remember walking to Kumkapi, which is a neighbourhood by the giant city walls, many fish restaurants in that area, nothing fancy but lots of fun.

One place a friend and I went in was typically Turkish, the fish was on display and you pointed at what you wanted and asked how much it was, the weight and name of the fish determines the price, it is then prepared for you as you wish, usually grilled served with lemon is how I like it, some french fries or a small salad. At a corner table was a group of 4 men in badly cut black suits, they looked like killers and made me nervous. No one else in this small restaurants paid them no attention, it was probably ok then. Suddenly they pull out musical instruments and start playing old Turkish tunes. So they were musicians and entertained us with lively Oriental music. This small restaurant certainly had lots of atmosphere and the food was good. We walked back to our hotel in semi-darkness in very quiet streets. Istanbul certainly has lots of atmosphere.

Now to return to our topic of the Topkapi Palace, once inside the Imperial Gate you are in a very large courtyard, to your left is a Church Hagia Irene or Holy Peace, no longer in use, this first courtyard of the Palace was open to all Citizens to come and leave a petition for the Sultan or the Grand Vizier, it was a great meeting place. In this large area is also the Polo Pavilion where the Sultan could watch matches, you will note that much of the architecture is similar to what you see in Persia. The influence comes from the Seljuk Dynasty of Persia (Iran) a Turkic people in origin. When the Turks came to finally settle into Anatolia it was the end of their long migration from Central Asia over many centuries.

The next gate of the Topkapi Palace complex has two towers, it is the main gate into the walled Palace area and was reserved for Ambassadors, Ministers (Viziers) and the Grand Vizier and other functionaries. 

This is the Divan Courtyard a semi-public space. This is where all the affairs of the empire were carried out. Buildings in this courtyard serve administrative and general purposes. The Sultans would appear here only two times in a year, during the religious festivals. The funeral ceremonies and accession rituals took place here. This courtyard is enormous with the sizes of 130 metres length and 110 metres width. The Imperial Council Hall (Divan) where viziers of the Sultan gathered for meetings is over-looking gardens. In the Divan Courtyard is also located the Harem buildings for all the wives and children of the Sultan. They are exquisite rooms of great luxury, but a gilded cage since the occupants very rarely left this area. All paths reach to the Gate of Felicity (Bab-üs Saadet) that gives access to the Third Courtyard. Which was most private and was reserved for the Sultan and his family. No one else was allowed to enter this gate.

What is interesting about the Topkapi Palace is how it is very similar to the Forbidden City in Beijing in the lay out of progressive gates, courtyards and gardens.

Click on image to enlarge

It takes a long time to visit this palace and its grounds, you have to understand how it all functioned, it was a family home for the Sultan, it was also a business centre for the subjects who came to present petitions and seek solutions to their problems, it was government administration centre for a vast Empire, it was the seat of the Executive and Council Chambers, including the execution ground for Viziers who no longer pleased the Sultan, heads will roll! literally in the case of Topkapi, it was also a treasury with fabulous treasures in precious gems and gold and finally it was a nursery for the children and wives of the Sultan in the Harem, the proverbial gilded cage.  The Harem though may bring up ideas of sensual and luxurious pleasure, was also a terrible place, where deadly rivalry took place amongst the wives of the Sultan all of it governed by his mother.

The position was perhaps the most important in the Ottoman Empire after the sultan himself. As the mother to the sultan, by Islamic tradition (“A mother’s right is God’s right”), the valide sultan would have a significant influence on the affairs of the empire. She had great power in the court and her own rooms (always adjacent to her son’s) and state staff.

Again was is interesting about this system is how similar it is the Chinese Imperial System or the Mongol one. This is not so surprising given that the Turks came from Asia and brought with them their Asiatic traditions.

Some photos of the Harem of the Topkapi Palace. Click on photo to enlarge.

 

The small pavilion for the breakfast of the Sultan in the Harem, the view of Istanbul is beautiful from that spot.

50 th Anniversary of the flag of CANADA.

Tags

Anniversary, Canada., Canadian flag

I was 9 years old in 1965, in schools around Canada we had all participated in the Flag design and debate. Was it going to be 3 maple leafs on the new flag or one Maple Leaf symbolizing one country for all. There was a great deal of excitement across the country because this was seen by many Canadians as a very exciting National question. These where the years leading up to the Centennial of Confederation 1967. Montreal was building a new subway(Métro) system that would be traveling on inflated tires and not rail. The World International Exhibition was also coming and the economy was prosperous, everything seemed possible in Canada, the future was bright. Prime Minister Lester B.Pearson, the great Nobel Peace Prize Winner was leading the country. He had promised a new distinct Canadian Flag and he was making good on that promise and Canadians were happy. No one questioned the unity of the Country, we were all Canadians. It was not perfection across the country but optimism was the buzz word. Here is a short video from the steps of Parliament in Ottawa on that cold February day in 1965 in the presence of all the Members of Parliament and Senators, the Prime Minister and H.E. the Governor General and a large crowd of people on the Hill. The Ceremony was broadcasted Nationally on the network of the CBC and Radio-Canada. This video is taken from Radio-Canada, an interesting details is the flag being hoisted on a makeshift flag pole by the Central Entrance of Parliament instead of the top of the Peace Tower. The commentator explains that the personal flag of the Governor General is flying from the top of the tower so later when he leaves the Hill, the new National Flag will replace it. Royal Protocol demands that the flag of the Sovereign or the Governor General always flies above the National Flag, a detail for those who forget that Canada is a Kingdom.

Canada has changed a great deal since 1965 and we have gone through many crisis and we are not as prosperous as we once were but we endure on this year of the fiftieth Anniversary of our flag.

H.E. the Governor General, the Right Honourable, General George P. Vanier

The Right Honourable, the Prime Minister, Lester B.Pearson, (1963-1968), Nobel Peace Prize Laureate 1957 (Suez Canal Crisis)

ALL CANADIANS SHOULD FEEL CONCERTEDLY INCLUDED AND ‘UNHYPHENATED, WITH PRIDE IN OUR NATION AND ITS CITIZENSHIP, PRIDE IN THE SYMBOLS OF THAT CITIZENSHIP. THE FLAG IS ONE SUCH SYMBOL’. – Lester B. Pearson

I also reproduce here an article by John Geddes of Maclean’s Magazine of 5 February 2015 on the topic of our Canadian Flag.

The story of the creation of the Canadian flag, which was officially flown for the first time over Parliament Hill 50 years ago on Feb. 15, is usually told in terms of political wrangling.

On this milestone anniversary, count on the tale being thoroughly hashed over again—how Lester B. Pearson’s Liberals succeeded in pushing through the flag Canadians have come to love against passionate opposition from John Diefenbaker’s Conservatives.

It’s a great yarn. But when I gaze up at the flag these days, I’m not inclined to revisit that old clash between Tory reverence for British heritage and Liberal insistence on a distinct Canadian identity. I’m more prone think about, for instance, the Contempra phone.

You remember the Contempra. Introduced in 1967, Canada’s centennial year, the sleek phone dreamed up and made here in Canada was sold around the world for two decades. It was the signature success in an extraordinary period of Canadian design creativity.

Or perhaps one of two signature successes. The flag exemplifies much the same modern design ethos as the Contempra—simple and symmetrical, bright and bold. And these shared virtues are no accident.

Of course, the maple leaf’s history as a Canadian emblem starts long before the sixties. Rich Archbold’s book A Flag for Canada traces, with engrossing illustrations, how the leaf, especially emblazoned on military and athletic uniforms, had taken hold by early in the last century. But those older leafs tended to look rather realistic. The stylized one on our flag is, as we would now say, pure mid-century modern.

The idea of a flag featuring a single leaf between red bars was first proposed by George Stanley, then dean of arts at the Royal Military College of Canada in Kingston, Ont. Stanley’s concept was accepted, after bitter debate, by a House committee on Oct. 22, 1964. Only after that political choice was made, though, was the fine work on how the flag would ultimately look taken up in earnest.

Pearson assigned Ontario MP John Matheson to spearhead the project. Matheson turned to Patrick Reid, who was then heading the federal government’s exhibition commission, for expertise. The commission’s top-flight graphics section, which executed everything from trade-show displays to world’s fair pavilions, made it the logical choice. Reid called in his best designer, Jacques St-Cyr.

And so it came about that Matheson, Reid and St-Cyr worked long into an early November night back in 1964, devising our flag’s finished graphic scheme. Of the three men, Reid, now 90 and living in Vancouver, is the last one living, and he gives St-Cyr full credit for the final product.

Strangely, St-Cyr rates at best a passing mention in most accounts of the flag’s creation. He grew up in Trois-Rivières, Que., served in Europe during the Second World War, then studied design in New York before coming to work for the government. Over a long career, he rose to senior posts in Ottawa, including heading design for federal museums.

Although his death in 1996 drew scant notice, St-Cyr is remembered warmly by old colleagues. Michel St-Jean, who was a top federal museum designer before moving on to a notable career in retail-store design, started out under St-Cyr in 1969. In an interview from Peterborough, Ont., St-Jean told me St-Cyr was a sensitive mentor, with an intellectual streak, as evidenced by the extensive book collection in the Ottawa apartment where he often cooked fine meals for friends.

Sometimes over dinner they discussed their craft. “I remember Jacques saying, ‘We’ve got to simplify everything—everything should be clear, concise, well-balanced, readable’,” St-Jean said. “I think the whole flag came out of that, especially the leaf. He was very much a product of that European simplification that came out after the war.”

Don McGregor, who also worked for the exhibition commission, met St-Cyr in the late sixties, when they were both attached to what was called the National Design Council. McGregor remembers how the modernist verve of designers like St-Cyr burst into the consciousness of Canadians with Expo 67 in Montreal. And Expo, McGregor notes, was deeply and directly influenced by what was happening in European design, particularly in Switzerland.

“Jacques was one of those guys who was very aware of all the trends in design,” he says. “What we ended up with is one of the most recognizable flags in the world. I mean, it’s so simple. And that’s what was inherent in that new sense of design that was coming into Canada at the time.”

Back in 2005, the Canadian Museum of Civilization (now the Canadian Museum of History) put on a show called Cool ’60s Design, in which curator Alan Elder succeeded in capturing the way objects from the era managed to somehow combine discipline and delight.

By that, I mean the way a Contempra felt fun while also being eminently functional. Expo delivered that potent combination again and again. Odd chairs turned out to be comfortable. Groovy bubble phone booths kept the rain off. Paul Arthur’s pictograph signage was cool but clear. Our flag is like that. St-Cyr insisted that it be instantly “readable” at a distance, not blurry. Yet the effect isn’t just efficient in signifying “Canada”—it’s beautiful.

Our flag was the product several currents. History turned the maple leaf into our emblem. Politics put it on a flag of our own. But design made that flag excellent. We should remember, on Feb. 15, that it wasn’t an accident.

The Pavilion of Canada at the Montreal Expo 1967 

Istanbul or Constantinople

Tags

Constantinople, Istanbul, Justinian, Mehmet II, Ottoman, Sultanahmet, Turkey, Turkiye

Many decades ago a movie called Midnight Express (1978) made a bit of a splash, it was the story, a true story we were told, of an American tourist Billy Hayes who spent some time in jail in Turkey for drug smuggling. Some 30 years later the truth came out and the protagonist of the movie confessed that he had in fact dealt drugs and was guilty as charged and he invented a fanciful story for a movie and book deal to make money. At the time Turkey got a black eye out of it, the country was seen as corrupt and dangerous, not a place to go to and it fuelled all the usually silly story from uninformed tourists about any and all countries they might travel to including innocuous Liechtenstein.

I travelled to Istanbul for the first time for my 40th birthday and spent a week there. I was living in Jordan at the time and it was an easy direct flight a little over two hours. The weather was cold being March but Istanbul has the most spectacular geographic location in the world. With the Sea of Marmara, the Golden Horn and the Bosphorus at the border of Asia and Europe, it is magical. Istanbul the former Imperial Capital of the Ottoman Empire and before that known as Constantinople, the New Rome of Emperor Constantine, a city that was created for greatness from the beginning, it is reflected in its architecture and history. Turkey is an ancient country with a rich culture and history full of exoticism. As a diplomat I always wanted to be accredited to the Sublime Porte, though the Turkish Foreign Ministry is no longer known as that since 1923.

La Sublime Porte (today)

Porte is French for “gate”. When Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent sealed an alliance with King Francis I of France in 1536, the French diplomats walked through the monumental gate or Bab-ı Ali in order to reach the Vizierate of Constantinople, seat of the Sultan’s government. French being the language of diplomacy, the French translation Sublime Porte (the adjective being unusually placed ahead of the word to emphasize its importance) was soon adopted in most other European languages, including English, to refer not only to the actual gate but as a metaphor for the Ottoman Empire.

The particular term was used in the context of diplomacy by Western States, as their diplomats were received at the Porte. During the second constitutional era of the Empire after 1908, the functions of the classical Divan-ı Hümayun were replaced by the reformed Imperial Government, and “porte” came to refer to the Foreign Ministry. During this period, the office of the Grand Vizier came to refer to the equivalent to that of a Prime Minister, and viziers became members of the Grand Vizier’s cabinet as government ministers.

King Francis I of France and Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent

Istanbul as a former capital has a lot to offer and much to visit, art, culture and good restaurants. I remember staying and walking in the older part of the city, Sultanahmet neighbourhood where you find the Topkapi Palace, the Sultanahmet or Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sophia, the Hippodrome and numerous museums and of course the Grand Bazaar.

I always chose an hotel in Sultanahmet because it is the neighbourhood to stay in when visiting Istanbul. I stayed on Yerebatan Caddesi because it is central to everything. Istanbul is a huge city, I could either walk of take a taxi to my destinations, however you have to be mindful that car traffic, in this city hugged by the sea on so many fronts, is horrendous in the full sense of the word.

On this first visit some 19 years ago, I visited the Hagia Sophia (Holy Wisdom) this great church built by Emperor Justinian in 532 A.D. or C.E. as we say today. This great Cathedral was far larger than the original St-Peter basilica in Rome or the Lateran Cathedral of Rome, it was the first church in all Christendom. In its 1400 year history it was a church, then a Mosque and now a Museum. Its dome is 108 feet in diameter or 33 meters, its crown rises 180 feet or 55 meters above the floor. The building is 270 feet long or 82 meters and 240 long or 72 meters wide. A huge building for its time considering that none of it is steel, all brick and mortar. The architects were Isidore the Elder and Anthemius, it was completed in 6 years. You have to consider that centuries later it would take 100 years to build any great cathedral in Europe.

It is to this day awe inspiring and magnificent to see. The Sultan Mehmet II came to pray here upon entering the city in 1453. He was very impressed with the structure and decreed it be converted into a mosque.

The Hagia Sophia as it looked as a Christian Church (prior to Ottoman additions)

Hagia Sophia as it looks today

The Hagia Sophia has two levels, the ground floor and a gallery above. The presence of the two levels mean that people were organized according to gender and class when services were held at the cathedral. In Hagia Sophia a part of the gallery was used as an imperial lodge, from which the empress and occasionally the emperor attended the services.

The central or Imperial Door was reserved for the use of the emperor and his attendants, and provides the most perfect approach to the interior of the church.

The decorations within the Hagia Sophia at the time of construction were probably very simple, images of crosses for instances. Over time this changed to include a variety of ornate mosaics.

“There are a number of mosaics that have been added over the centuries, imperial portraits, images of the imperial family, images of Christ and different emperors, those have been added since Justinian’s day. Many survived to this day the conversion to a Mosque. The Apse Mosaic in the Hagia Sophia shows the Virgin Mary holding baby Jesus.  Dedicated on March 29, 867, it is located 30 meters (almost 100 feet) above the church floor.

In 1453 the Byzantine Empire ended, with Constantinople falling to the armies of Mehmed II, the Ottoman Sultan.

The Byzantine Empire had been in decline for centuries and by 1453 the Hagia Sophia had fallen into disrepair, the Christian cathedral made a strong impression on the new Ottoman rulers and they decided to convert it into a mosque.

Outside the church, four minarets would eventually be added, these four slender pencil-shaped minarets are more than 200 feet (60 meters) tall and are among the tallest ever constructed.

Changes occurred on the inside as well, after the Ottoman conquest the mosaics were hidden under yellow paint with the exception of the Theotokos [Virgin Mary with child] in the apse. In addition Monograms of the four caliphs were put on the pillars flanking the apse and the entrance of the nave.

The style of the Hagia Sophia, in particular its dome, would go on to influence Ottoman architecture, most notably in the development of the Blue Mosque, built in Istanbul during the 17th century.

The Sultanahmet or Blue Mosque. (it is called blue because of the blue tile decoration inside) 

In 1934, the government of Turkey secularized the Hagia Sophia and turned it into a museum. The Turkish Council of Ministers stated that due “to its historical significance, the conversion of the (Hagia Sophia) mosque, a unique architectural monument of art located in Istanbul, into a museum will please the entire Eastern world and its conversion to a museum will cause humanity to gain a new institution of knowledge.

To be continued… 

Some photos of the stunning Christian Mosaics remaining inside the Hagia Sophia. The Ottoman Turks did not destroy the Christian art of the building when it was converted to a Mosque.

Click on photos to enlarge

Relations between countries, no one is a friend.

Tags

Africa, China, Colonies, diplomacy, Foreign Relations, France, Iran, Jordan, La Sublime Porte, Lebanon, London, Paris, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Syria, Turkey

Recently the King of Saudi Arabia died and he was replaced within a few hours by Prince Salman. In the wake of his death, commentators wrote about the relationship of  the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the rest of the Western World. On the chat lines many people questioned why we had relations with that country and presenting their views, mostly and largely uninformed. I do not know why politicians love to use the term our good friends in country X or the expression we are shoulder to shoulder with this country, blah blah. It is simply a false statement, a delusion, it is true that Statesman can see eye to eye on a specific point of mutual benefit and interest but that is usually limited in time and focused on a specific topic.

What most people do not seem to know or take into consideration is the fact that all relations between nations is dominated by self-interest, fierce competition, one upmanship and little else. It is true that in the last 70 years countries like Canada have enjoyed peaceful political relations with many other countries, some relations are old and well established, there are many common interest but at the same time elements that devise and irritate the other party. This is true of our relations with the USA, the UK, France, which historically have been mixed at many levels. Our first Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald knew this and he always kept a weary eye on both London and Washington.

Somerset House Conference 1604, Peace between Britain and Spain.

To return to the events of last week, in the case of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia we have to think of the geopolitics of the region and its long and old history. How the Arab Monarchies of the Arab Peninsula dislike Iran and fear its influence. Currently Iran is negotiating with the USA on nuclear matters and preventing Iran from developing Nuclear weapons. Saudi Arabia is fearful of a deal or arrangement which would leave them out. Iran is a regional power and has been influential in the region for a very long time, centuries in fact. Iran supports military groups in Lebanon and Syria. It enjoyed good relations with the Assad regime, father and son. It plays a role in Iraqi politics and supports Shia politicians and their armed groups. This to the great displeasure of Saudi Arabia who is a new regional power, new in the sense of since 1973 when the oil prices jumped and created new wealth for the Saudis.

Canada has relations with Saudi Arabia, again relatively new relations, we are newcomers to this region compared to Britain. Our relationship is also very different in historical terms. We have more than 500 post-graduate students in Canada and this alone brings in millions of dollars to our Universities, cities and in taxes not counting also consumer goods they buy. This is a wealthy group of students who often drive luxury cars and live in tony neighbourhoods. Many Canadian companies do very profitable business with the Kingdom, Canadians profit economically in many various ways. Our politicians need to consider this carefully when making decisions on Foreign Policy matters.

It seems that for the average person issues like women having to wear a veil or not being able to drive or having their civic rights curtailed by tradition and culture. Every one has a horror story they read in the newspapers about Saudi Arabia. A country were the death penalty is still applied with a high number of executions per year. Such items in the news always disturbs Canadian sensibilities and that would be enough reasons to cut off diplomatic relations for most people. Luckily such decisions are not in the hands of public opinion. Breaking diplomatic relations would be very shortsighted, it would go against our self-interests.

The same reasons could apply to many countries, according to that train of thought we should simply walk away from such countries, because they are corrupt or have a justice system different from ours or their culture and history is offensive to us. Public opinion says shame them for behaving contrary to our norms and beliefs. Such reactions are emotional or based on ignorance. Diplomatic relations are far more complicated than that, because you must never forget that if you break relations with one country, it will be very difficult to re-establish them later and many years may pass before being able to negotiate a new understanding on mutual relations, concessions may be asked which may not be to our liking and then what about Consular relations and the protection of your own citizens who visit countries with whom you have no relations. Currently Canada has broken off relations with Iran and Syria. Other countries may seek to exploit the vacuum for political and commercial reasons. They will step in to take your place economically and politically, those same countries may be a NATO ally or a country with whom you have long peaceful relations. They will profit at your expense and you will lose because you want to stand on principle. Principles are fine but in the end such a narrow position would not be sustainable economically nor politically. Careful analysis must be made of every situation and disagreement before taking action you may later regret.

The ambassador of Siam at the Court of the Sun King presenting gifts.

Diplomacy and Foreign Relations is not about morals or ethics, Diplomacy is an amoral business. You have to be a hard nose realist and pragmatic in any relations you conduct, emotions and feelings have no place in Foreign Relations. Our Prime Minister likes to say that we conduct a moral or ethical Foreign Policy, that for domestic consumption is great speechifying and the common person may rejoice that our PM will tell those people what is what. Think again, it does not work that way at all and Harper found out the hard way with China. He snubbed China for three years and made hostile and intemperate statements at home to please his local base of right wingers. When he finally went to China, the Chinese made him apologise and publicly rebuked him. Harper understood that commercially the Chinese were far more important than he had ever imagined or understood.

China is pursuing an aggressive Foreign Policy, they have the population and economic might to regain the old glory of Imperial days and despite the fact that they may say that they are bridging the gap, resolving differences through mutual understanding, all that is again words for the naive. In any negotiations the Chinese are very tough and unyielding, they know their weight and know that Western consumers want cheap products, Western governments cannot refuse to satisfy the demands of shoppers back home. At the same time the Chinese understand the limits of aggressive behaviour in Asia against neighbours with whom they have irritants with Vietnam, Japan, India to name a few countries. The Chinese are also careful not to get involved in International crisis by taking sides, Crimea, Syria, North Korea, ISIS or ISIL terrorism etc.. they always say that they do not want to get involved in what they consider internal crisis. Their interest is to protect their markets and economic development. At home the Chinese Communist government can only survive if they give the population more wealth and if the country prosper.

China has routinely blocked with its Veto any economic sanction measures at the UN all the while negotiating that Veto vote with the countries most concerned by proposed sanctions. China is only doing what is good for China and its people. Though some have suggested that with its increased International profile China will have to get more involved in crisis around the world that is unlikely to happen.

European Embassy being presented to the Ottoman Sultan, La Sublime Porte

Relations between Canada and China are interesting, China sees us as a supplier of raw resources and nothing else. We do not matter much to Chinese geopolitical way of thinking. On the other hand our politicians believe that because we have a large Chinese population made up mostly by Cantonese speaking Southern Chinese (AKA Hong Kong and Guandong Province) we must matter to China, you know we had this Canadian Norman Bethune who helped Mao in the late 1930’s and we supplied wheat to China during the great famine of the late 1950’s that must mean something. Wrong, it means little though the Chinese are very clever at playing this up knowing we think it is important. When Canadian politicians travel to China be it a Provincial Premier or a Mayor of some metropolitan area, said Canadian politicians fully expect to be received at the highest level of the Chinese Government, i.e. the President or the Prime Minister of China. Wrong again, usually Provincial premiers will be lucky to meet with a member of the Politburo the Chinese judge to be of an equal level as the Canadian provincial premier. As for Canadian Mayors usually the calculation is based on the population size of the City in Canada compared to a neighbourhood in Beijing. A deputy Mayor for that area of the Chinese Capital will meet with the Canadian Mayor. Many Canadian politicians have been dismayed at the polite, courteous but junior level reception they got. So our Canadian politician must make a big deal of any trip to China and show results at home but it is usually pocket change investments for the Chinese.

The Chinese are experts at assessing the opposite side and responding at the level they judge proper in relation to their own view of the world and their place in it. Can we call China our great friend? No not at all, we have correct business like relations which are often difficult and that is it.

Another area where interest matter is commercial contracts. Trade as always been since time immemorial the driver of much of the diplomatic ties between Kings and Princes and today between States.  The power and wealth of Nations depends on trade, not just military strength. Venice is a prime example as a City State, the Hansa of Northern European Cities is another, Spain and Seville after 1492 and under Charles V was the wealthiest of Empire due to the riches from the Americas and the trade in goods that were then sold to other European States, Britain and its Empire, German industrial might and its merchant navy, etc.

Trade disputes often lead to war with devastating effect. Then you have the case of France, it had many African colonies and it decolonized in the late 1950’s early 1960’s but to this day France keeps a tight watch on so many of its former colonies for commercial reasons which favour French Companies. The diplomatic relationship in this case is incestuous, patronizing and the success or downfall of any French speaking ex colony depends very much on how much the President for Life of country X is willing to play ball with the Elysée Palace in Paris. France will not hesitate to send troops to any of its ex-colonies to protect commercial interests disregarding National Sovereignty of those countries, i.e. Côte d’Ivoire, Mali, etc.

Interestingly the Middle-East is another region where France played a role prior to the Second World War, a secret Treaty Sykes-Picot of 1916 created Lebanon to protect the Arab Christian population with allegiance to France. Was the population consulted, of course not, one could argue cynically this was done for their own good. Same for much of the Middle-East, Syria, Iraq, Jordan created by Britain out of a promise made to Sheik Hussain of Mecca with the help of T.E.Lawrence who was the British Liaison Officer in the great Arab Revolt against Ottoman rule.

France today would like to play a greater role in the Middle-East but would have to be let in by the USA. France did not participate in the Wars involving Iraq and various coalitions since the invasion of Kuwait by Iraq in 1990-1991. France was suspicious and angry that US oil companies in the event of victory and an overthrow of the Saddam Hussein Regime would lose oil contracts it had negotiated for TOTAL the French oil company. TOTAL did lose its contracts in Iraq.

Here in Canada the Harper Government has badly played its hand in its diplomatic relations with the White House and the Obama Administration. It is obvious that our Prime Minister is much more philosophically in tune with the GOP and the Tea Party in Congress and in the Senate. He does not hide his preference and that is bad politics and diplomacy. President Obama does not like him much and is tired of being hectored by the likes of the now ex-Foreign Minister John Baird, who according  to former Canadian diplomats, the worst Foreign Minister we’ve ever had in Canada. However Baird was a faithful servant of his master Stephen Harper. This in itself is the job of any diplomat to carry the message of your master no matter how distasteful it may be to you personally, you must defend the message and endorse it that is what a diplomat does. So no Canada does not have friendly relations with the USA and the USA is not our friend. We have a complex relationship based on commercial interests, supply of energy products and military dependency for our National Defence.  People can be friendly towards each other and this is very often the case but not Governments, simply because they have other objectives and interests.

King Louis XV

In closing a bit of music by Jean-Philippe Rameau composed to celebrate a diplomatic & military victory of France with the successful conclusion to the War of the Austrian Succession during the reign of Louis XV.

Keeping healthy despite it all

Tags

Africa, camps, Ethiopia, Health, malaria, mosquitoes, Omdurman, refugees

Before going on any posting abroad with the Canadian Foreign Service, we had to do a medical assessment. It was not thorough but enough for the employer to be reassured that you would not drop dead while on posting. Mind you many did manage to do just that with undiagnosed heart conditions or something worse. Which made you wonder about the Public Health doctors and nurses who were suppose to look after us.

One of the joys of going on posting was to be given needles for just about every tropical and exotic disease near the Equator. The knowledge about those diseases and how to pick up on the symptoms remains to this day rather vague notion for our Canadian Medical establishment but they know a chicken with the flu when they see one. We were also given malaria pills, the size of pills given to horses, the unpleasant side effects were stomach cramps, nausea, fever, headaches, etc… but you were protected up to 60% from catching the disease if a mosquito bit you between 5pm and 9pm. As if mosquitoes go to bed at 9pm, we had to wear long pants and long sleeve shirts with a collar and stay away from cologne or after shave which contain sweet ingredients. Because of the heat we would also stay indoors at night.

There was also briefings on what to eat and not to eat on postings in tropical climes. This advice was followed because it was common sense, in a restaurant never eat cold dishes, no salads or berries of any kind, no melons, no dairy products, ice cream, no sauces or mayonnaise. All that is deadly where sanitary conditions and heat combine. Ice cubes was not necessarily a problem if the water used had been filtered, but you did learn to drink without ice, just keep your gin and vodka or beer in the fridge at all times. I also started using UHT Milk which was safe to drink.

I remember in Cairo a colleague who had just arrived was staying at the Marriott in Zamalek, a very nice hotel built into the old Palace which had been built for Empress Eugénie of France when she came to Cairo for a few days to inaugurate the Suez Canal on behalf of her husband Emperor Napoleon III. This colleague tells us that she had to eat sensibly and lose some weight, she was not obese nor fat really. Anyway that night, she had a big salad, she almost died and spent 8 weeks recuperating loosing some 50 lbs that she did not need to lose and looking like a skeleton afterwards. She had been warned but disregarded the advice because it was a 5 Star Hotel and felt safe.

The medical advice had always been eat only fruits and vegetables you can peel and cook, eat only fried or completely cooked meats, stay away from the rest. I was deathly ill in Mexico but never in any other posts like Cairo, Khartoum, Amman, Beijing.

In my travels in the Sudan conditions were primitive, we had good transport and drivers and would stay when possible in UN compounds where we knew we could get a hot shower, clean sheets and a full meal in good sanitary conditions. When we arrived in Kassala from Suakin, the conditions in that town on the border with Ethiopia were far from sanitary. Again the hotel we stayed at was very primitive, the restaurant was on the roof on the third floor and was also used as a dormitory and lounge. Being high up on the roof meant no snakes or scorpions or other little critters, you still had to give your shoes a very good shake in the morning before putting them on. The food menu was very limited, basically eggs and bread. We had scrambled eggs and bread, which you ate with your right hand scooping up the eggs with a piece of flat bread, there were no knife, spoons or forks. I discovered later that Ethiopians also eat using flat bread to scoop up food.  Never use your left hand in a Muslim country for eating or social intercourse, absolutely never, unless you want to gross out your host or dinner companions and get disapproving looks.

Kassala is on the Ghash River and is home since 1970 to large influx of Ethiopian and Eritrean refugees, there are also large number of Africans from South Sudan displaced by war and genocide. It is a commercial hub for traders, it was once a garrison town under the Ottoman Turks, then the Italians and later British Army. Kassala is ringed by large UN refugee camps under the guard of the Sudanese army, which is not a good thing for the refugee who endure much abuse and violence. In 1990 it was estimated that up to one million people lived as refugees in the Sudan mostly in Eastern border towns or in Khartoum. I remember reading a medical report on the health of the refugees compared to the native Sudanese population. The refugees were in far better health than the  Sudanese with much less incidence of disease. According to the medical report this was due to the fact that a refugee knew that to make it out of the camp and be resettled abroad you had to be in good general health.

Nonetheless the trek out of Ethiopia or Eritrea was dangerous on many levels. Women were very often raped repeatedly by soldiers, then they would be shunned by their own kin.  Men were subjected to beatings and some were killed right out. Women alone or with small children had to sell themselves to a man for protection. Culturally a widow was not very valuable and seen as used goods, however if she could cook and keep house then she could be of some use. Small children were often sold into slavery and treated like dogs, chained in the yard. Crossing rivers on foot could be also very dangerous due to crocodiles and snakes, people had to know were to cross and when, the journey was long and difficult. I heard much horrors and could do little since I was just there to report on conditions. I was also being watched by the Sudanese Authorities who did not want negative reports sent about their mistreatment of refugee population on their territory. Young soldiers on duty in such areas were often nervous and unsure of their orders and suspicious of anyone who came from the Capital especially a foreigner. It was best to keep cool, polite and say nothing, let them do the talking. Apologize if need be for disturbing them and be on your way quickly, offering cigarettes like Marlboro a whole pack or a carton was also very helpful to calm a jittery soldier. Back in Khartoum I could report to the UNHCR and the ICRC (Red Cross) what I had seen and come to an understanding on best we could help the refugee population. I am happy to say that I was able to help out several thousand people, many were resettled in Canada.

After Kassala we drove back to Khartoum on a Chinese built road. I was quite glad to be back in a City with a curfew and martial law and in a hotel with hot water and decent food.

Before I returned to Cairo, I crossed the bridge to Omdurman. There is a large market where many merchants sell goods and souvenirs. Carved figurines of African Animals in ebony or mahogany, tribal masks and other artifacts and filigree gold jewellery.

Omdurman is also where the Silver dome Tomb of the Mahdi is located, it is more of a memorial since when Lord Kitchener arrived in town, defeating the Mahdist Army he had the body Muhamad Ahmad Ibn Abdallah Al-Mahdi exhumed and burned in the furnace of his gunboat and the ashes thrown in the Nile. This to avenge the assassination of General Gordon during the siege of Khartoum by the Army of the Mahdi. The body of General Gordon was never found, no one knows in the aftermath of the battle and chaos what happened. Though it is known that his head was brought to the Mahdi who was angry at being disobeyed since he wanted Gordon alive. The Mahdi’s family was also imprisoned by the British and were never freed.

Omdurman unlike Khartoum across the Nile was always gripped by an epidemic of some kind, always contagious. At night the markets were always a pleasant area to go before the curfew. Cairo had great markets also but it was an Arabic style market place, whereas Omdurman was a mix of African and Arab market place rich in both cultures.

Traveling in the Sudan in 1990.

Tags

Kassala, Khartoum, Nile river, Omdurman, Port Sudan, Red Sea., Suakin, Sudan

During my regular visits to the Sudan I had the opportunity to travel to other cities. At that time the Sudan was the largest African country. In the South which will eventually become independent from the North after a vicious Civil War a great armed conflict was taking place and we could not travel there. Darfur to the West of Khartoum was also in turmoil though it was not yet in the news, you would have to wait another 10 years before the World noticed the problem. In the East on the Red Sea was Port Sudan, at Kassala on the border with Ethiopia masses of Ethiopian refugees were crossing into the Sudan at very great risk to their lives.

I was offered by the UNHCR, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugee’s Office to travel with another UN Officer to Port Sudan, Suakin and to Kassala. It was relatively safe and we had official documents to travel within the country. We made contact with UN Outposts and organized our trip.

In 1989 the Government of the People’s Republic of China was already present in the Sudan. This was the beginning of the great investments China would make in the World on various continents. First in Africa and later in Latin America and later still in Europe. The Chinese were after 2 things which mattered to them, first an ally for any International question that might arise at the UN or in other forum where they needed a friendly vote or support. The Chinese were quite dispose to vote buying. Secondly they were after raw resources to fuel their development. They were willing to invest massively into companies or natural resources in order to exploit them to fuel their own development at home. In return the Chinese would provide the Government of that Country with political support and financial gifts of all kinds including bursaries to study in China for the children of the political elite. The Chinese did not invent influence peddling with infusion of large cash gifts, many countries have done so in the past. They were simply new at the game and they had significantly more money than anyone in the game including the Russian and the Americans. It was also important to understand that China had a relationship with Africa NOT with Africans, this remains true to this day.

They already had building crews in the Sudan, building hotels, restaurants and roads. Their buildings looked Chinese in architecture and it was quite funny to see in an African country. Their crews all live in compounds and ate Chinese foods and did not venture out except to work, they were always segregated from the local population. Later the Libyan Government of Colonel Ghadaffi would finance important building projects in the Sudan and in Khartoum the Capital. Iraq under Saddam Hussein also came calling in the late 1980’s but it did not produce the monetary investments the Sudanese regime was looking for.

To go to Port Sudan from Khartoum you had to fly to your destination, the Red Sea Hills a great rocky dessert had to be crossed and flying was the easiest way. A service was provided by a private Canadian company with two Canadian bush pilots. The plane was a 6 seater. The trip was uneventful and for me an expedition, once in Port Sudan we had a UN Jeep 4X4, in those days Port Sudan was primitive, there were hotels of sort but is was spartan to say the least. The hotel we were staying at was a concrete block white washed and all the wood trims and desks were a light blue colour.

The rooms if you can call them that were windowless concrete rectangles, where the window should have been a air conditioning unit was jammed in and made a dull roar to keep the room cold and humid like a meat locker. There was electrical lights, you had to bring with you a flashlight otherwise you had to use matches or get used to the pitch black darkness of your cell like room. I immediately asked to be move to something less spartan and dark. I did not want the AC unit to cool things down, the manager at the Front desk was amazed that as a foreigner I did not want that convenience. It is very hot in the day time, a dry heat around 45 C and at night it falls to a cool 30 C. I asked to sleep on the roof under the stars. They did have cots made of wood and the mattress was thick ropes, your travel bag could be your pillow. We would have an early start in the morning anyways. The call to prayers from the Minarets is at dawn, you really cannot sleep through that, not that I am religious, it is just that it is so loud you cannot miss it.

I had learned after one year living in Egypt that the five prayer calls during the day are all different. Some Muezzin have beautiful voices while others had that unpleasant Arabic nasal pronunciation. I also had learned the call to prayer by heart, pretty easy to do when you hear it five times each day of the week all year round. It always starts with God is Great, Mohamed is the Messenger of God then you would hear the sentence for that specific prayer inviting you to come to pray. The last prayer is in the evening when no day light is left in the sky. Muslims can pray anywhere since God is everywhere. The Sun sets quickly since we are near the Equator. I do recall that for dinner we had some roasted meat with rice in a local market. It was not a bad meal, the bread was freshly made a flat round type of bread still hot from the oven. I slept well and then came morning, bread and sugared tea, there was some fruit you could peel and off we went to visit local Officials and the UN Offices. We then travelled by Jeep to Suakin about 45 Km South of Port Sudan and to the UN Out Post on our way to Kassala.

The UN Out post was in the middle of nowhere in a very flat area inland. All the buildings and furniture was from IKEA, it was very modern and very well organized. There was a razor wire fence all around and it was guarded by men in white tunics with great big white turbans in Sudanese fashion, they were armed with broad swords as sharp as razors. They were quite beautiful and the sheath was made of engraved leather.

I visited the local market in Suakin and asked for the finest sword they had. I was shown several models, the fellow showed me how fine a blade it was, the steel sings when you handle the sword in a certain way, it is a unique object and I bought one as a souvenir.  Despite the broad blade it is a light sword.

The UN Out post was staffed by an international crew of UN employees who were engineers and relief workers, accountants and economists and international aid staff, medical staff, nurses and staff who worked with refugees from Ethiopia. The music playing at the camp at night reflected this reality, Madonna’s Material Girl was a big hit then. In the Sudan with so much famine, disease, poverty, genocide and war it was very odd indeed, like my world of Diplomacy a very strange world, a twilight zone of sorts.

Civil Liberties

Tags

civil liberties, Cold war, Communism

I volunteer at the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa for a few hours a week. It is a very modern building with a theme worked into it by its architect Raymond Moriyama. It is a very interesting building, you can take an architectural tour to see this architectural gem and what it all means to veterans. It is quite beautiful.

He designed the building with the Veterans of the First World War in mind and their experience of living and fighting in trenches. The building surges from the Earth which is quite dramatic. Moriyama is of Japanese ancestry, he has designed many prominent buildings in Canada and elsewhere in the World.

I had time today to wander around and look at various exhibits, in Gallery 4 which is dedicated to a Violent Peace, the Cold War Years and the Atomic age there is an area dedicated to Civil Liberties of the late 1950’s and 1960’s. During the Cold War governments wanted to stop the Red Menace which was the Soviet Union and its Allies and to do so it was necessary to spy on its own citizens. So the fear of Communism back then and of a Nuclear Attack or of sleeper agents passing State Secrets to the Soviets was the big threat. Government agents were looking for specific individual but in the process they snagged quite a few ordinary citizens who were just going about their lives.

Today all this looks laughable to the visitors, it was 50 years ago, a lifetime really. But currently we have another threat to our Civil Liberties with terrorism from ISIS or ISIL. Currently Bill C-51 in the House of Commons is the latest from the Harper Government to curb Civic Liberties to provide illusive security. The powers of the police would be under this bill very far reaching. Many commentators have written about it and the consensus appears to be that Canadians should be concerned, freedom is one thing and security another, not one and the same.

Some 50 years ago people were concerned about protecting Civil Liberties, a few years before we had come out of the Second World War and the threat of Nazism and Fascism. People understood how important freedom was in a democratic society. People wanted questions answered on Civil Liberties and limits to government powers over its citizens, I remember the demonstrations of the time. Today it is a different kettle of fish, people seem apathetic. The bogey man is the Jihadist and extremist, it looks like it is safe to let the police do what they want and honest folks have nothing to worry about, we are told. Not so again according to Legal experts, in any society there is no such thing as someone who has nothing to hide. Anything can be used against individuals.

It looks like in the book 1984 we have been told who the enemy is and who to fear by the power that be and the rest will take care of itself. Sad state of affairs all around, ignorance and apathy seem to be the order of the day.  One threat disappeared in 1989 with the fall of Communism and now a new threat, we are told, has emerge but on a very different scale. During the Cold War we dealt with several States who had armies and geographic areas of interest, the rules were clear. Now we are dealing with a group in one region of the world who uses brutality to carry its message of domination in that region.

I wonder what it will take to wake people up in Canada about the importance of safekeeping Civil Liberties from too eager politicians out to maintain themselves in power at all cost and using incidents to justify their actions without providing answers and justifications for their policy choices.