Brooklyn in the late 1800s

So yeah, you’ve been to Brooklyn. Good for you. You got hyped up the first time you could tell your hip hop friends you saw where Jay-Z grew up. Or the first time you told your hipster friends you found your apartment in “East Williamsburg”…a.k.a. Bushwick. And the first time you told your baller friends that you shot hoops on Coney Island. But how many of you know anything of the origins of the place that’s pretty much synonymous with “cool” in popular culture today?

Welcome to Brookly—err—I mean, Breuckelen!

Yes, that’s right. The original Brooklyn was called exactly that, named after a small town in the Netherlands called Breukelen. Of course as with all of America, the land that the first Dutch settlers took over as their home was originally occupied by Indians—the Lenape tribe. But, as with most of this country’s history, we seem to choose to ignore them (I often wonder is it that we just don’t’ have any lasting records of their culture or we just don’t care to find and publicize them?).

Getting back to the Dutch colonization, Brooklyn’s first settlement was Gravesend (named after Gravenzande, Netherlands), which existed before there was even anything known as Brooklyn. The following year this was replaced by Brooklyn (which was in fact spelled “Breuckelen” back then), and within the next few decades, more of today’s neighborhoods started to be born—Flatbush, New Utrecht, Bushwick, and so on.

Downtown Brooklyn today

Brooklyn was actually an official town before the capital of the new colony across the river—New Amsterdam—which I’m sure you can deduce would become Manhattan. It wasn’t until the early 1800s that the urbanization of Brooklyn began, with the area that is today considered Downtown Brooklyn, immediately across the East River from Lower Manhattan. With reliable steam ferry service, Brooklyn Heights became a commuter town for Wall Street. Around the same time, the independent towns of Bushwick and Williamsburg were growing faster than they could handle, and thus they were soon incorporated into Brooklyn.

For most of that century, Brooklyn was an independently thriving seaport and manufacturing center, considered a twin city to Manhattan. They did not merge into what is today New York City until 1898.

Brooklyn Bridge today

Macau generated the same gambling revenue as Las Vegas in 2004 with just 4% of the number of slot machines and 40% of the gaming tables, and less than 10% of the number of hotel rooms.

This reflects the difference in risk-taking propensity between two of the largest market economies in the world. Whereas gambling is largely a form of entertainment in the West–look at how much the club scene is an integral part of the Las Vegas experience as compared with strictly gambling–in China it is seen as something much greater: a battle with destiny or one’s fate. It may take you a visit here and a walk through these casinos to fully understand this.

Given that this culture gave us the I Ching, feng shui, lucky numbers in fortune cookies and the like, it is obvious that luck is a primary building block to Chinese culture. I can’t recall how many times, for example, I have nearly tripped over a roast pig, a raw chicken, flowers, or burning incense outside of a shop grand opening while traversing Hong Kong–all offerings for luck.

So next time you are looking to get away, party and throw some money around for kicks, head to Vegas. But if you want to have a true battle against destiny, then Macau is the place for you. I’m just surprised China’s suicide rate isn’t a bit higher, since so many of these people obviously walk away thinking destiny is against them…

Casino in Macau’s Venetian

Macau’s Venitian

Macau’s evolving skyline

Everyone knows about Italy’s male chauvinist reputation. Whether it is justified or not, every girl who mentions a plan to visit Italy will hear the same advice from those around her: Be careful around the aggressive men.

Having spent enough time here, I know it is pretty much harmless–lots of hooting and hollering but very rarely physical action. So while you may not have to worry for your safety, you, attractive woman, will have to accept being looked at like a juicy, t-bone steak.

So goes the reputation, anyway–a reputation that Italy has been trying to shake off for some time now.

And re-electing Silvio Berlusconi as Prime Minister for a fourth time in this month’s election (24-25 February) will not be the way to do that. Could you imagine Berlusconi even having so much as a chance to be elected in a place like politically-correct America?

If I recall correctly, Bill Clinton was nearly impeached from office for having an affair with a legal adult, despite his excellent track record in doing his job.

Yet, Mr. Berlusconi has closed the gap with the current frontrunner, Pier Luigi Bersani, and still has a shot to win the election (see Reuters article on the latest news here).

Let’s recall a couple of Silvio’s greatest examples of chauvinist buffonery:

• In the run-up to the 2008 Italian general election, Berlusconi said that female politicians from the right were “more beautiful” and that “the left has no taste, even when it comes to women.” It should be noted that he won the election.
• Around the same time, he criticized the composition of Spain’s Council of Ministers as being too “pink” because it was composed of an equal number of men and women.
• He compounded those comments by saying that Spain’s composition would be impossible in Italy, given the “prevalence of men” in Italian politics.
• And finally, let’s not forget the fact that he paid a 17-year-old girl an alleged $65,000 in 2010 so that she “would not have to become a prostitute.” Berlusconi was 73 years old at the time. And it should also be noted that he had sex with the girl. (Does this somehow not fall into the category of “prostitution” in Italy?)

Old Silvio and the 17-year-old girl he paid (for sex) “so she would not have to become a prostitute” (photo credit: telegraph.co.uk)

It will be interesting to see if he is elected yet again, in which case, the movement for gender equality in Italy will be set back a decade or two yet again.

There has been quite a debate in recent years over Ghana’s long history of importing second-hand goods from Europe, and more prominently, the United States. Last Fall, the nation’s government implemented a total ban on the importation of second-hand refrigerators and air conditioners due to their negative environmental impacts, which caused a stir in leaving more than 15,000 people jobless.

Many a business has been made in Ghana from breaking down and redistributing products like these—sound cards from trashed computers and alternators and other parts from abandoned cars are among the most immediately useful and sellable. The problem is that the non-useful parts of these machines are then burned in giant bonfires, from which lead, arsenic and mercury have steadily seeped into neighborhood water supplies.

This debate is likely not to end anytime soon, but it has a particularly interesting angle in the apparel sector. (For the record, Ghana’s government banned the resale of “unhygienic” items like underwear, handkerchiefs and mattresses in 2011). There are plenty of tailors in the country who are upset that boatloads of useless-in-America shirts (“John Edwards 2008” campaign shirts were in particular abundance) make it difficult for them to compete from a pricing standpoint. Even the clothes that are higher-end, which have long been passed from first-world countries to here—can spark debate.

See, there is a common myth in Ghana that no citizen of a developed country would wear the clothes of an obruni wawu (“dead white man”), and so the clothes sent here all came from obrunis. This is not true, of course (perhaps Ghanaians should listen to American rapper Macklemore’s hit song introducing second-hand thrift shopping as something cool in pop culture), and good quality clothes here can be scored as a result: stylish t-shirts for two or three cedi (USD$1-$1.50), designer jeans for about 10 cedi (USD$5), and so on.

There is no doubt that second-hand goods from developed countries will continue to be part of Ghana’s economy, the question is just exactly how much.

I was at the airport, waiting for boarding. I sat beside a young woman from the Philippines who was working as a house maid for an Emirati family in Dubai. She was on her way home—for good—because she refused her boss’ request to drive the family around Dubai. She did not have a license to do so, and did not feel safe doing so, but her boss didn’t care. He insisted, telling her not to worry about her (lack of) a license.

Knowing that she would be in serious trouble if caught driving without a license, the woman declined, to be greeted the following day with news that she was being taken back to the placement agency. Without anyone hearing her side of the story, she was sent directly to the airport, with a police escort, and her working visa was canceled. She was not paid her salary for the last month, not given any cash for things like food during her journey home, and wasn’t even given her luggage. Her boss also confiscated her cell phone, so as to wipe the record of any contacts the woman had in the Middle East. She was literally thrown out of Dubai with only the clothes on her back, all for refusing to drive without a license.

Copenhagen’s own Little Mermaid

It is hard to believe that of all Denmark is known for and renowned for around the world, one of its most famous associations is with a bronze statue just over one meter tall. Yet The Little Mermaid statue, based on the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale, has become synonymous with Copenhagen in the 100 years since it was first constructed in 1913.

The statue rests on a rock a few meters into Copenhagen’s harbour, just off the picturesque Langelinie Promenade. First unveiled on August 23, 1913, there it has remained with the exception of a six-month period in 2010, when the Copenhagen City Council decided (quizzically) to move the statue to Danish Pavilion at Expo 2010 in Shanghai. It was originally commissioned by Carl Jacobsen (son of the founder of Carlsberg), who was fascinated by a ballet about The Little Mermaid in Copenhagen’s Royal Theatre.  Edvard Eriksen was the sculptor, with Prima ballerina Ellen Price modeling for hi. But when she would not agree to model nude, his wife Eline stepped in.

The statue has become a mecca of sorts for political activists and vandals, prompting the city to consider moving it further into the harbour. We have compiled a list of the most memorable happenings involving The Little Mermaid over the past half-century:

• April 24, 1964:  The Mermaid’s head is sawn off and stolen by politically-oriented activists of the Situationist movement. It was never recovered, and a  new head was produced.

• July 22, 1984:  The statue’s right arm is sawn off, and returned two days later by two men.

• August 5, 1990:  Another attempt is made to saw off the head, unsuccessfully. An 18cm cut is left in the neck.

• January 6, 1998:  The statue is again decapitated, with the head being returned anonymously to a local television station and re-attached on February 4^th.

• September 10, 2003:  The statue is knocked off its base with explosives, and is later recovered in the harbour with holes in the Mermaid’s knee and wrist.

• December 16, 2004:  The Mermaid is dressed in a burqa as a statement against Turkey joining the European Union.

• March 8, 2006:  A dildo is attached to the Mermaid’s hand, green paint is dumped all over it, and the words “March 8” are written on her. March 8^th is International Women’s Day.

• May 20, 2007:  She is again draped in a Muslim dress and head scarf.

Which do you think is most creative?

On a recent visit to the Sarawak Museum, I was sadly amused to see an entire portion of the museum sponsored by Shell Oil Company, with an entire exhibit dedicated to showing  how Shell’s oil-related activities are an integral part of Sarawak’s history. I found it ironic, given that if Shell had its druthers, there would be no Sarawak–simply a massive Shell-owned oil field.

With a government that seems intent upon cashing in on its oil-related potential (Petronas is a government-owned oil company that ranks among the largest companies in the world), I’m interested in learning more about the people’s movement to oppose the exploitation of Malaysia’s natural beauty by big industry. I found this New York Times article from last year, and wanted to share it.

(from the New York Times; 19 June 2012; By Liz Gooch)

KUALA LUMPUR — When a planned 24-hour environmental protest gets under way this Saturday on the outskirts of the coastal Malaysian town of Kuantan, the roll call will include speakers from across the country.

While the catalyst for the rally is the construction of a rare earth refinery nearby — the target of a sustained campaign by local residents and environmental groups — the crowd is also expected to hear from people from other parts of Malaysia who are concerned about projects near their homes that they fear could be damaging the environment.

Among them will be residents of a fishing village near an oil and gas plant in the southern state of Johor; people from Perak State who are worried about the potential effects of an iron ore refinery on a mangrove forest; and villagers from Pahang State who are concerned about possible pollution from a gold mine, according to Wong Tack, chairman of the group behind the protest, Himpunan Hijau, which means “Green Assembly” in Malay.

Himpunan Hijau is hoping to draw attention to these projects by taking advantage of the momentum of the campaign against the rare earth refinery being built by the Australian mining company Lynas, which has prompted thousands to join protests and invigorated the country’s environmental movement.

Malaysia, a nation rich in biodiversity, has often attracted the wrath of environmental groups concerned about issues like illegal logging and the loss of habitat for the endangered orangutan.

While some local groups have been active for decades, many of the fiercest campaigns have come from foreign organizations, and analysts say few projects or industries have galvanized homegrown environmentalists the way the Lynas refinery near Kuantan appears to have done.

“The kind of protests, the kind of activism that we see for the Lynas plant is something unprecedented,” said Khoo Kay Peng, a management consultant and policy analyst.

Others say the rising level of awareness in Malaysia may mean that companies engaged in industries or activities deemed potentially hazardous to the environment are likely to face greater oversight. “Foreign businesses involved in projects that could damage the environment — such as mining, logging or exploration — are liable to encounter scrutiny from local environmental groups and government sources,” said Maria Patrikainen, a Southeast Asia analyst at the consulting institution IHS. She added that the government was likely to become increasingly sensitive to the concerns of environmental groups, particularly before elections that are widely expected to be held later this year.

The campaign against the rare earth plant began in earnest in March 2011, when some Kuantan residents established a group, Save Malaysia Stop Lynas, to voice their concerns that the plant could produce harmful radiation, a claim vigorously denied by Lynas.

Environmental organizations swiftly rallied around the residents’ group, helping to organize protests, send petitions to the government and issue statements in support, said Tan Bun Teet, chairman of Save Malaysia Stop Lynas.

Himpunan Hijau provides an example of how this movement has grown. The group was formed last September, initially to help organize the campaign against the rare earth refinery, but it is now also helping residents in other states lobby against projects they consider a threat to the environment. Among them are people on the island of Penang who are concerned about housing developments encroaching on coastal areas and hillsides.

“We garner the people’s power,” said Mr. Wong, the chairman, describing the group as a “grass-roots people’s movement.”

Rare earth metals are found in nature with radioactive contaminants that must be separated and disposed of during refining.

Lynas says that the waste produced in this process will be well within levels considered safe and that the plant has been subject to “a thorough and lengthy regulatory review” to ensure that it meets the highest international safety standards.

On Tuesday, a parliamentary committee appeared to agree with the company, releasing a report concluding that a license should be issued to Lynas because it had fulfilled legal provisions and standards more stringent than international standards and that it had provided the necessary systems to ensure public health, safety and environmental protection.

The panel’s report made 31 recommendations, among them that Lynas and the Atomic Energy Licensing Board continuously monitor radiation levels, which it noted would be “low and safe.”

Lynas said the findings of the parliamentary panel were “yet another affirmation of the science” behind its plant and its safety features, according to a report by The Associated Press.

“We look forward to the issuance of the temporary operating license so we can demonstrate that safety to the Malaysian community,” the company said in a statement to the news agency.

The parliamentary report followed a government decision Friday to reject an appeal by activists against awarding a temporary operating license to Lynas. Maximus Ongkili, the minister of science, technology and innovation, ruled that there was “no strong justification nor scientific or technical basis” to set aside the decision to grant Lynas the license, according to a statement released by the ministry.

Save Malaysia Stop Lynas said it would appeal the minister’s decision.

In a separate development that could complicate the debate in Malaysia, the Chinese government scheduled a news conference in Beijing on Wednesday to unveil its new plan for the country’s rare earth industry, including an extensive cleanup of environmental damage already done.

The new Lynas plant, estimated to cost 2.5 billion ringgit, or nearly $800 million, is expected to weaken China’s dominance of the production of rare earths, which are used in a range of high-technology products including smartphones, electric cars and military equipment.

Lynas has started defamation proceedings against Save Malaysia Stop Lynas, and said in a statement released after a demonstration in April that while it respected the right of people to engage in peaceful protest, it did not accept that such a right extended to “a serious campaign of misinformation which creates unnecessary anxiety and fear in the community.”

Analysts say that the issue has become highly politicized, with the opposition, which refused to take part in the parliamentary panel, playing a leading role in the campaign against the plant. Environmentalists also point out that part of the reason why the Lynas plant has provoked such a divisive response is that Malaysians’ experience of rare earth projects has been shaped by another refinery near Bukit Merah, owned by Mitsubishi Chemical.

Local residents there have blamed the plant, which the company closed in 1992, for birth defects and a number of leukemia cases.

The Malaysian government already requires companies to submit environmental impact assessments before projects are approved.

Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin emphasized recently that the government had introduced laws and policies to conserve the environment and maintain biodiversity.

“We have also required states in the country which have jurisdiction over land and flora and fauna to undertake housing and industrial development without harming the environment,” he was quoted as saying by Bernama, the national news agency.

Environmental groups say, however, that environmental damage is still occurring, with deforestation one of their chief concerns, particularly in the state of Sarawak on the island of Borneo.

A study released last year by Wetlands International, a nongovernment organization based in the Netherlands, found that between 2005 and 2010, almost 10 percent of forests and 33 percent of peat swamp forests in Sarawak had been cleared, mainly for palm oil plantations.

Whether the energy surrounding the Lynas campaign can give lasting momentum to environmental groups remains to be seen. “I think the biggest lesson is to make environmental issues relevant to people,” said Mohamed Shah Redza Hussein, executive director of the Malaysian Nature Society.

Raymond Alfred, head of conservation and research at the Borneo Conservation Trust, would like to see conservation issues receive the type of attention that has been lavished on the Lynas plant. He said about 60 percent of the trust’s funding came from Japan and that it was challenging to raise money locally.

A stronger environmental movement is the dream of people like Yasmin Ras-yid, the director of EcoKnights, a nongovernment organization she established seven years ago to help educate the public about the environment.

She said Malaysia’s environmental movement had traditionally been weaker than those in other Asian countries, like India and Indonesia, but that awareness was now at “an all-time high.”

While environmental protests like those against logging typically attract the “few usual suspects,” according to Ms. Rasyid, the turnout for the anti-Lynas demonstrations has included participants from a much wider spectrum of society.

“There’s dynamism right now,” she said.

Norway has one of the strongest senses of nationalistic pride that you’ll find anywhere in the world. It is a wealthy, educated society that typically enjoys a high quality of life (so long as you can stand sub-zero temperatures and only a few hours of daylight for months on end). On one hand, it is progressing, given that there are now 650,000 first- and second-generation immigrants living here—a figure that has more than doubled in just over a decade. On the other hand, as the 2011 Anders Breivik manifesto so clearly illustrates, this has been a source of widespread discomfort among Norwegians, half of which oppose the country allowing more immigrants in (it should be noted that Breivik, who committed the largest act of terrorism in Norway since World War 2, is Norwegian).

Norway already requires inbound immigrants to learn the local language, going so far as to investing significant resources into their language training and administering formal testing which the immigrant has to pass to stay. (Some would argue this is an unnecessary example of pride, given that nearly every Norwegian speaks English as well and that Norwegian isn’t spoken hardly anywhere outside these borders—so why pay for and require an immigrant who already speaks English to learn Norwegian?). While I personally don’t think this makes sense, I can see why it would be supported. However, I think it is to an extreme when a migrant worker can lose her job for speaking in her native tongue amongst friends during work breaks, as happened to a Polish cleaner at a hospital in 2012.

Later this year, Norway will have a national parliamentary election as it does every four years. One of the three parties on the ballot—the conservative Høyre—have made some interesting statements in regards to immigration issues, which have made me think more about the issue lately. The one that caught my attention was a comment by Bent Høie, a prominent figure in the party (and one who is, ironically, openly gay), who believes that Norway should have separate jails for foreign criminals.

While his argument isn’t as racist as it may seem initially, I am skeptical of the wider message such a belief sends out to people here. Indeed Norway’s prisons are among the more comfortable prison arrangements in the world and focus on rehabilitation and re-adaptation into society, so Høie’s argument questions why Norway’s resources should be spent on people who will be deported upon completion of their term anyway. But does that mean they should be segregated? The opposition Labour Party feels this is an irresponsible view, and it will be interesting to see how these issues of nationalism play a part in this year’s elections.

In perfect timing in light of our recent post on McDonald’s first foray into France over 30 years ago, the company this month announced the introduction of a new addition to their menu in France: The McBaguette. The sandwich features a shorter version of the traditional french baguette with ham, cheese and potato topped with lettuce and mayonnaise. If you’re feeling a bit more risque, you can go for the chicken & pepper or spicy beef alternatives.

Ironically, the McBaguette represents McDonald’s push to capitalize on France’s economic slump and 13-year-high unemployment rate. With times being tight, the proud French may be much more likely to eschew their cafe culture and embrace the cheapest meal they can find. Perhaps a 4.50-Euro McBaguette?

The newest addition to McDonald’s France lineup

When drug gangs have more firepower than police and aren’t afraid to use it, poverty is such that two-thirds of its citizens live on less than $1.25 a day, only a quarter of children complete middle school and even those individuals who aren’t gang-affiliated tend to rely on violent crime for survival rather than choosing another path, what is a country to do?

I wish I knew. So does Honduras.

In a country that even on its best days is seemingly half-controlled by gangs (they formally control the highways and airports in several Honduran states, and charge for ‘free’ public parking in cities), there doesn’t seem to be many answers. Politicians are mostly corrupt, and who can blame them? In their view, they face a choice in many cases to give into gang wishes and be compensated for it, or face assured assassination. So they do what most people would do and look out for number one.

The civilians who do not choose the gang life still have access to assault weapons, and who can blame them for resorting to use them? In their view, they are subject to the AK-47 backed will of the gangs anyway, so why not use the same tactics to get what they can?

It is now believed that drug trafficking accounts for 13 percent of Honduras’ gross domestic product, with three-quarters of U.S.-bound cocaine passing through the country.

The result of all of this, of course, is distinction as the most violent country in the world. Honduras suffers 91 homicides per 100,000 people, and last year, the U.S. Peace Corps even made the decision to leave after one of its members was shot while riding a bus.

As a result, a huge ordeal has been made of the United States Soccer team’s appearance here later today, in San Pedro Sula (currently the most violent city in the world with 159 murders per 100,000 people), to play Honduras in a 2014 World Cup qualifying match. While teams on the road typically have a chance to eat out and shop in their down time, the U.S. squad will have no such luxuries. Their extent of having visited San Pedro Sula will be what they can see from the window of their armored bus between the team’s hotel and the stadium, and the hysteria of the match itself, for which Honduras has declared a national holiday so citizens can watch.

It is depressing that it must come to such security measures though, and I’m hopeful that something in this country can change for the better. Many people compare it to Colombia of the 1980s, which was virtually controlled by drug cartels who provided better answers for peoples’ poverty than the government was able to. Colombia was able to dig itself out of that hole, and today is far from perfect, but light years ahead of where it was three decades ago.

There is hope for Honduras, but right now it is difficult to see it.

Every business in San Pedro Sula has armed guards watching

Armed guards have been added to city buses