Karadzik arrest: a step towards justice

A man who wrote poetry and was a specialist in psychiatry. A man who is indicted for being the mastermind of inhumane and brutal detention camps, ethnic cleansing, the siege of Sarajevo and the horror of Srebrenica. Justice must be made.

Although I’m very happy for this event I feel disappointed, in a sense that once again this is a result of Serbian interests to join EU, not a truly recognition to his victims. Furthermore, another architect, Ratko Mladic continues on his run and without his arrest justice can’t be achieved.

Mercè Rodoreda al Passa Porta

Ahir la jove llibreria brusel·lenca Passa Porta va acollir una vetllada literària catalana. La protagonista va ser Mercè Rodoreda, l’escriptora catalana més traduïda i estrella d’enguany en commemorar-ne el centenari del seu naixement. Primer, les persones que l’han traduït al flamenc van debatre sobre la persona i l’obra. Després, una actriu flamenca va realitzar una breu i brillant interpretació de la Plaça del Diamant. Tot seguit, el pianista Jordi Camell va fer vibrar a la quarantena d’espectadors amb peces d’Albéniz, Mompou, Gerhard i Granados. I, per acabar, tocava omplir l’estómac.

L’acte comptava amb el suport de l’Institut Ramon Llull i va ser el tret de sortida de tot un reguitzell de col·laboracions entre les dues comunitats en el marc de l’acord entre el Govern de Flandes i el català que es signarà avui. Aquest acord serà transversal, involucrant a tots els departaments, i segons una de les buròcrates presents a la vetllada “no és simbòlic, serà fructífer”. Entre les autoritats presents cal destacar en Carod, en Bargalló i l’Anna Terrón.

Només resta l’incògnita de quant va costar l’esdeveniment; ja sé que no es fa mai, però considero que seria més transparent si en el tríptic informatiu se’n informés.. potser després les copes de xampany i la degustació de productes catalans no entraria tan bé.

On hi ha una piscina per refrescar-se?

Una de les qüestions més interessants del moment és qui governa la globalització. Més enllà de les discussions sobre els conductors dels pilars, em refereixo a qui té el control sobre els productes que cada vegada més persones utilitzem. Per exemple, la Wikipèdia. Darrera la llibertat de publicació i edició d'articles per part de qualsevol usuari, hi ha algú que pren decisions. La Fundació Wikimedia és qui dirigeix aquesta exitosa enciclopèdia lliure. Avui Lina María Aguirre en parla a La Vanguardia.

I, per continuar amb les il·limitades possibilitats que obren les noves tecnologies, avui La Vanguardia també es fa ressò de la moda del dipping, el qual consisteix en buscar piscines privades a través del Google Earth i organitzar-se a través del Facebook per celebrar-hi festes.

Aquests espavilats anglesos han demostrat que si bé hi segueix havent algú cada vegada més abstracte darrera els instruments, també hi ha qui té la suficient perícia per pervertir-los..


tot és qüestió de trobar-li una utilitat..

Qui va nourrir le monde?

Who will feed the World? With this ambitious “high-level” conference held in the European Parliament the French have started the Presidence of the EU. However, ambitious is not the right word to describe the French hypocrisy involved in an event to let everybody see French’s vision of agriculture’s future. I was really amazed about the format of the Conference, it was a show! There was a moderator, who seemed a football match commentator ensuring the Conference was driven according to French interests. They tried to manipulate the public with a combination of speeches an emotional (and sometimes illogical) clips.

Regrets: Pascal Lamy, President of the OMC, was a complete disappointment. He didn’t say anything relevant. Hans-Gert Pöttering, President of the EU Parliament, has never been enrolled in a course on public speeches… he was all the time reading his speech!

Pleasures: I liked the intervention of Louis Michel, Comissioner for development and humanitarian aid.. a clever man! Fischer, Comissioner for agriculture and rural development, was ok, but didn’t impressed me. Borrell.. I had bad prejudices about him, but he was one of the few who spoke clearly, attacking the roots. Also, Okonjo-Iwela, an executive of the WB, was fabulous.

Last Thrusday (03/07/2008) in the European Parliament much was said about the food crisis. What I would retain is that

(1) “PAC is not part of the problem, but of the solution”. The French ensured that everybody kept in mind that not only the PAC should be maintained but also that agriculture is a priority area.

(2) regional trade areas like the European one should be promoted in developing countries,

(3) food market needs more regulation to avoid speculation and guarantee a human need. The key point is that food production is not about efficiency, surpluses are needed.

(4) Investment in developing countries should be revised. We have always associated economic development as the explosion of manufacture sector, but this has revealed to be a falsehood… and investment on agriculture has fallen from 16% to 4%. For instance, Africa has a great agricultural potential but lacks the capital to exploit it (fridges and infrastructures are needed).

But the most motivating question is why bilateral agreements ACP-Europe haven’t succeed (Cottonu agreements abolished trade barriers to African, Caribbean and Pacific countries). Tim, a lobbyist I met in the Conference, says that although formal tariffs have disappeared, the sanitary conditions required to enter have become the new obstruction. Another answer could be farm models. In Africa farms are very small and not collectively organized. But this is again a partial answer, because if they knew they’ll profit, collective action will emerge.

It was worth to spend the day there, the lunch offered by the Comission was great.. :)

Further info: http://www.parlonsagriculture.com/