Sitting Civil

Last week, Dr. Maude and I experienced our first real anti-American \”episode,\” or what have you. When we walked into our usual haunt, a man we had never seen before approached us. He was jovial, and drunk. When the Dr. verbally acknowledged him, the man suddenly turned into Mr Hyde, and started yelling at us about being \”American, fuckin\’ American.\” \”Whaddya doin here, go back tah Ahmerica,\” etc.

As the man was really drunk, we weren\’t sure how to respond. The bartender was yelling at him to shut up, but didn\’t seem too bothered by the whole thing. No one else seemed to care. For the next ten minutes or so, though, the man persisted in circling behind us at the bar, and yelling obscenities about Americans. At one point Maude turned to me and whispered, \”Are we supposed to get mad or laugh it off?\” Good question. I\’m not about to defend something I\’m not proud of. Ignoring the man seemed like the way to go. It was drunken invective, completely impersonal. But had it been over any other issue — being female, being white, being poor, being weird looking, being gimpy — would I have stood down? No.

Maybe part of the problem back in the USA is that right now, USAians are not only going after everyone else in the world (and much of the world is standing down), but they are going after other USAians, too, and we are standing down. When is it personal? When does it matter? Which battles do you fight? And what is really a battle?

You know I\’ve never been very good at answering the questions, only at making lots of queries, and usually right when a definitive response is needed.

Today\’s Headlines

Bush dismisses \’absurd\’ Amnesty rights report (from the Australian Broadcasting Company)
He called me a bad name! Now I\’m going to get my soldiers on him!

Blair seeks US backing for G8 programme (from the Guardian Unlimited)
Brief mention of Live 8 in here — just as inconsequential and ego wanking as Band Aid was… just another way to make whitey feel better. Also, I find it interesting that Blair is going to Bush about this issue in particular; any idea what a trip like this costs? Probably enough to feed a few thousand Africans for a week.

Geldof urges a million to march in Edinburgh protest (from the Scotsman)
(Richard) \”Curtis added: \’If 50,000 people died in London on Monday, in Rome on Tuesday, in Berlin on Wednesday, in New York on Thursday and in Paris on Friday, the G8 leaders in Gleneagles would find the money and the solution to the problem as they walked from the front door to the reception desk.\’\” At least somebody is making some sense on this. So we have Madonna, U2, the Dalai Lama, Nelson Mandela, and The Pope making appearances in appeal for the poor… anybody bother asking to see if God was busy that day? Maybe he could lend a hand. Admittedly, however, if Geldof succeeds in getting people into the city (which the anti-G8 folks have been organizing for months) and making Edinburgh as or more relevant than Seattle, then good for him. It ought to be done. I\’ve been trying to get everyone to go to Edinburgh for years; now here\’s an even better reason. Ask Jamie if you can stay with him.

Monk Street Fight (from the Scotsman)
Some Thai Buddhist monks got into a street fight with some other monks. No shit. Apparently even Buddhists will raise a hand at \”yo\’ mama\” jokes.\”

What Matters in Kansas: The evolution of creationism (from Slate)
\”Liberals, editorialists, and biologists wonder aloud how people can refuse to see evolution when it\’s staring them in the face. Maybe they should ask themselves. It\’s the creationists in Kansas who are evolving. And it\’s the evolutionists who can\’t see it.\” Creationism — it\’s coming back, in the form of intelligent design. Will you be ready?

What\’s The Use (Women, Technology, Advancement, and that feeling of hopelessness) (from Burningbird)
I like Shelley\’s writing. It\’s not news, but I find it relevant. Deal.

LucasWorlds: Urban Planning and Design in the Star Wars Epic: What does the architecture of the Star Wars universe represent? Jack Skelley offers an analysis of the various archetypes on display in the latest Star Wars movie. (from Planetizen)
This is relevant to something the Dr and I were discussing a few weeks ago. I\’m sure the resident sci-fi, design, and urban planning geeks will enjoy this as well. It certainly makes me wet with pleasure.)

Berliner Hot Luft (from The Wall Street Journal)
Berliner Hot Luft

By KONSTANTIN RICHTER
May 30, 2005

BERLIN – Klaus Wowereit likes to say that \”Berlin is poor but sexy.\” The mayor\’s pitch makes sense. Berlin has high unemployment, huge debts and a real-estate market that\’s been floundering for years. Affordable housing attracts artists, students and other bohemian types. Spacious lofts designed for advertising agencies and consulting firms have been converted into photo studios and practice rooms for bands. Novels are being churned out, canvasses stretched and primed. Word has spread: Long-forgotten friends from places that are neither poor nor sexy show up to visit for a few days. Some stay for weeks and months. But when I recently moved back to this hometown of mine, I found that — for all the hype — something is missing.

Is it the soccer team? (Hertha Berlin has trailed Munich for years.) Or the lack of a first-class daily? (The newspaper of record comes from Frankfurt.) Riding the near-empty subways in the mornings, I even miss the rush hour. (Only the U3-line is packed — with Free University students heading for their 10 o\’clock lectures.) Thanks to the dire economy here, countless businesses — from big manufacturers to small-time retailers — have gone bust. Now every other storefront, or so, has been turned into a shared office space where stylishly dressed freelance writers and architects stare blandly at computer screens and wait for phones to ring. Berlin may be hip, Mr. Wowereit, but it isn\’t happening.

Of course, the city has always been a bit of a backwater. There\’s no real port here, no major stock exchange, no skyline to speak of. Maybe that\’s why the Nazis planned to build the Great Hall, 250 meters high and seven times as broad as St. Peter\’s. Instead, Berlin got the Funkturm, a clone of the Eiffel Tower but half the size.

Rome and Paris ran the world for centuries; Berlin\’s golden age lasted a couple of years. During the 1920s, people as diverse as Nabokov, Schonberg, Einstein and Wilder lived, worked and partied here. Historians are still trying to figure out why so many interesting characters came and thrived. Coincidence, some say. Others credit the Berliner Luft, or Berlin air, which allegedly clears minds and cures hangovers.

Most likely, though, economic growth laid the foundation. After World War I, Germany survived a few years of hyperinflation to re-emerge with a remarkable boom — and Berlin was in the midst of it. Factories operated at full capacity; so did bars and brothels. Even the great Berlin novel was written then: Alfred Doblin\’s \”Berlin Alexanderplatz\” profiles a dynamic and ruthlessly capitalist city.

While some Berlin fans would like to revive the Weimar Republic, others — left-wingers, liberals and my parents among them — miss the West Berlin of the 1970s and \’80s. By then, most companies had left. Instead of Siemens, Allianz and AEG, the walled city hosted activists, draft dodgers and David Bowie. Economically dead and politically charged, Berlin attracted people bored by West Germany. The mood was alternately rebellious and apocalyptic, the dress code black, and the best-known band came to be known as \”Einsturzende Neubauten,\” or \”Collapsing New Buildings.\” But in the end, West Berlin didn\’t collapse — the wall did. Thousands of East and West Germans hugged on the streets, celebrating the reunification of a divided city. World leaders flocked to Berlin like package tourists; city planners and investors soon followed, and parliamentarians, too, voted to move. Such was the promise of the new Berlin (not to be confused with New Berlin, Wisconsin, which had already been around for a while) that intellectuals felt the need for a warning. Might not the capital of a reunified Germany eventually become so powerful as to rekindle the fascist dream of a world empire? They need not have worried. When the excitement finally faded, people realized that not all that much had happened.

Why not? First of all, Bonn\’s bureaucrats didn\’t really feel like moving to the big city. Berlin got a pretty glass dome over the parliament building, funky new embassies and all kinds of federal subsidies. But entire ministries and departments remained on the Rhine. That\’s why it sometimes seems like Germany has two capitals: Bonn does the paperwork and Berlin throws the parties. It\’s a division of labor that suits some people just fine. \”In no other G8-capital is it as easy to get yourself invited by the head of state as in Berlin,\” writes journalist Alexander von Schonburg in his bestseller \”The Art of Stylish Poverty.\” \”Just send a polite letter, inventing the name of a medium-sized company that, of course, wishes to build economic ties to the country in question. And make sure it\’s not the queen or Putin who\’s coming — the president of Uzbekistan will do.\” Worse still, big business never returned to Berlin. Opera companies here outnumber DAX-30 headquarters by three-to-one. Bertelsmann, Bayer and the rest have all set up representative offices. (TUI even opened a fancy little cocktail bar.) But they mostly work, make money and pay taxes elsewhere. The malaise is most apparent on rebuilt Potsdamer Platz. Star architects such as Helmut Jahn aimed for a New York City look and created a Potemkin Village effect. Huge \”to let\” signs adorn ambitious high-rises. There\’s something surreal about Potsdamer Platz, which is why talk-show host Harald Schmidt says it looks \”like the Ceausescus made one final investment before they were executed.\” Elsewhere, too, Berlin is a buyer\’s market. Prime real estate is available for the strangest of enterprises. Take the Palast der Republik, a showpiece of socialist architecture that once housed the East German parliament. Lawmakers have long decided that the building should be demolished. But demolition has been postponed repeatedly because financing is uncertain. In the meantime, the Palast has hosted countless techno parties, choir recitals and skating events. Last time I looked, ingenious event managers had flooded the entire ground floor with 300,000 liters of water and invited tourists to go on guided rubber-boat tours.

It all sounds fun, doesn\’t it? But here\’s the problem: The lack of an economic backbone is palpable wherever you go — and that\’s not just in working-class Wedding but in funky Friedrichshain as well. Though some of the world\’s most talented painters and sculptors live here, their most important market is in New York City. Berlin allegedly has 10,000 journalists looking for jobs, but they\’re much more likely to succeed in Hamburg. When Renzo Piano, Philip Johnson and Sir Norman Foster redesigned Berlin in the 1990s, scores of enthusiastic youngsters came here to study architecture. Now that the stars are gone, Berlin\’s graduates can count themselves lucky if they get to renovate a high-school gymnasium in Bavaria.

There\’s something both likable and miserable about a city that cannot support all the talent it attracts. Germany, a stagnating economy, has raised a lost generation of young professionals — and nowhere are they as lost as right here in the capital. Essayist Wolf-Jobst Siedler compares the prevalent mood to Beckett\’s \”Waiting for Godot\”: Everyone seems to be waiting for something, but no one knows for what. The bars of Prenzlauer Berg and Mitte, of Kreuzberg and Charlottenburg, are packed with interesting people. But if you listen closely to their chatter, you\’ll realize that the music is playing somewhere else.

— Mr. Richter, an editor at the publishing house Murmann Verlag, lives in Berlin and commutes to Hamburg.
ATTN: : this is relevant to our recent discussions about Richard Florida; cities and the creative class. \”When A City Cannot Support Its Talent: Berlin, Germany\’s capital, is faced with such severe economic stagnation that it can no longer support its bohemian residents.\”

Jane Jacobs: Super villain (from the Canadian National Post) I want to see this so much! \”Jane Jacobs stars as an evil, time-travelling super villain in an off-Broadway play called \’Boozy\’, which offers a warped look at the life of Robert Moses.\” The image to the left is from the article. Jane Jacobs as a villain — such a laughable concept, that already it must be good. I hope this is still being performed somewhere when I\’m in NY in August.

Over-Armed, Over The Top And Over Here (from the Daily Record) This summer! At a British Isle near you! The Americans! Their President and their military! See their might! Fear their guns! Tremble at the way they invade your soil just like their Nazi predeccesors… only this time, it\’s on the UK tax payer\’s bill, and the UK gov\’t is inviting them in! OVER-ARMED, OVER THE TOP AND OVER HERE May 31 2005 EXCLUSIVE: HUGE YANK FORCE SET TO MARCH ON PRESTWICK FOR G8 SUMMITO MARCH ON PRESTWICK FOR G8 SUMMIT 2000 Marines to invade By Steven Ventura AN ARMY of US Marines will march into Scotland for the G8 summit, armed to the teeth with assault rifles, machine guns and grenade launchers. Ministers are to let TWO THOUSAND Marines pour on to Scottish soil from an aircraft carrier off the Ayrshire coast. The Yanks will form a 30-mile ring of steel around Prestwick Airport, patrolling high ground to protect George Bush\’s jet from terrorist missile attacks. Around 3000 police have been earmarked to guard the airport\’s 14-mile perimeter as the leaders of the world\’s eight wealthiest nations arrive for the summit at Gleneagles in July. But Bush\’s aides do not believe our cops are up to dealing with terrorists. They wanted the right to bring in their own forces to forman outer cordon. A high-ranking security source said last night: \’The Americans wanted a secure ring around the airport to protect the president\’s plane against a possible missile attack from the ground\’ They didn\’t think armed police here were the best force to take on terrorists well-trained in handling small arms and rocket launchers. \’The Marines will be there until Bush leaves the airport for Gleneagles and will return in force for his departure. \’A small contingent will stay in the area during the summit, monitoring any movement.\’ The Marines will march into the Ayrshire countryside with a terrifying array of firepower. Their standard-issue rifle, the M16, can fire 800 high-velocity rounds per minute. Individual Marines also carry hand-held grenade launchers which can blow up targets at a range of 350 metres. The deployment will be the biggest ever in peacetime by the US military in Britain. Military expert Rod Craig, a former Royal Navy commander, said: \’US authorities are always happier with their own people everywhere they go. \’Bush will have his own secret service agents, armoured cars and helicopter in Scotland. \’The Marines have guarded American presidents abroad in the past, after getting permission from the host nation, so this won\’t be a first.\’ Commander Craig said the Marines were some of America\’s best soldiers. However, he insisted that our own forces would have had more than enough expertise to keep Prestwick safe from any possible attack. He said: \’The British Marines are the best in the world. \’Our forces also have many years of experience in places like Northern Ireland, checking suspect vehicles and sweeping for roadside bombs. \’But that\’s not to say the Americans wouldn\’t do a good job.\’ Terrorism expert Professor David Capitanchik insisted Tony Blair was right to let the Marines march in. He said: \’Given the current terror threat, it would be unreasonable for Britain – the Americans\’ main coalition partner – to refuse their request. \’US Marines are already active in London, guarding the US embassy. \’ Legal expert Dr Steven Haines, of London University, believes Britain and America will have agreed in detail on what the Marines can and cannot do while in Scotland. He said: \’The Americans would likely have similar rules of engagement to British soldiers in Northern Ireland. \’There, soldiers can open fire if they believe someone is going to kill them or someone else. \’It\’s likely the Scots police will be at the top of the hierarchy and the American military will be there supporting them. The police ultimately have the final say on what the military does. \’If an American opens fire,the police will investigate.\’ Prestwick was chosen as the main airport for the G8 leaders because anti-capitalism protesters planning to target the summit will find it harder to get to than Glasgow or Edinburgh. Bush will arrive in the presidential jet, Air Force One. The plane and its back-up, Air Force Two, will remain at Prestwick throughout the summit, which runs from July 6 to 8. The president will fly on from Prestwick to the Gleneagles Hotel in his official helicopter, Marine One. The aircraft has already arrived in Scotland and is being assembled. Security for the summit is costing taxpayers an estimated £50million. The people of Ayrshire and Perthshire are bracing themselves for massive disruption when Bush, Blair and the leaders of Russia, France, Italy, Germany, Canada and Japan arrive. All air, road and rail travel around Prestwick will be banned for 30-minute periods when each world leader flies in. The unprecedented curfew will be a nightmare for locals and holidaymakers at the height of the summer season. Traffic experts fear there could be 30-mile tailbacks on the M77 as the knock-on effect is felt as far away as Glasgow and Dumfriesshire. A large exclusion zone will also be set up around Gleneagles. All police leave nationwide has been cancelled and cops have been given special training to deal with any violent protests. Asked to confirm the Marine invasion of Ayrshire, the Ministry of Defence referred all questions to Downing Street. A spokeswoman there refused to comment, citing security reasons