Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Esperanto in the Jewish Press

www.tabletmag.com/scroll/11167/how-to-say-‘peace’-in-esperanto/

This title, How to Say Peace in Esperanto, may somewhat contrast with, How to Say Billionaire in Esperanto?, which appeared later in the New York Times.

Another Jewish website, Cross-Currents, also had a recent article on Esperanto, by a recently ordained rabbi, Adlerstein.

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

US Ambassador for Hitler's Germany

http://eriklarsonbooks.com/the-books/in-the-garden-of-beasts/

I was surprised that there was an US ambassador in Germany under Hitler for a few years. A 24 year old daughter was having fun for a while. A book on the subject was recently published.

Monday, July 4, 2011

Palestinean Children on Israel

http://www.pmw.org.il/

This site has posted numerous videos which show children as young as five singing about or acting out the distruction of the state of Israel.

Tiu cxi retejo montras videojn pere de Youtube, kiujn montras infanojn tiom juna kiel 5, kantante kaj ludante pri la malapero de Israelo.

In this one a Mickey-mouse like character, Farfour, is killed by an Israeli (while the puppet is defending its land rights.

En tiu-cxi Miki-mus-simila karaktero, Farfour, estas mortigata de Israelano (dum la pupo protektas land-rajtojn de palestinanoj).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrieBhaGgHM

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Esperanto for the Irish Green Party

http://www.greenparty.ie/en/news/latest_news/green_party_pays_tribute_to_founding_member

While corresponding with Christopher Fettes and Dai/David I discovered that numerous founding members of the Irish Green Party were also leading advocates of Esperanto in Ireland.
One I never met but read about her several times: Maire Mullarney had a vibrant life according to various readings.

Friday, June 3, 2011

Portuguese Karaoke

Having lived in Brazil for a year and having listened to Bossa Nova for several more years, I was happy to find a site that specializes in Portuguese lyrics and music:

http://letras.terra.com.br/

Saturday, May 21, 2011

Perhaps Love is....

I appreciate the the song Perhaps Love of John Denver.

In minute 2:04 he says while his songs are universal he can be with a Japanese audience, half of whom do not understand English, but can sing all of his lyrics.

http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/john-denver-perhaps-love-1982/3506b8fd91cf0364d1f73506b8fd91cf0364d1f7-878231945672?cpkey=3506b8fd91cf0364d1f73506b8fd91cf0364d1f7-878231945672%7Cyoutube%20john%20denver%20perhaps%20love%7C%7C&q=youtube%20john%20denver%20perhaps%20love


John Denver also reminds me of the fact that huge numbers of German Americans changed there names during US wars against Germany. About lost German culture I wrote years ago at http://www.esperantofriends.blogspot.com/ He, of cause did it in the name of his singing career or that his name was "too long" according to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Denver . He was born ..... HENRY JOHN DEUTCHENDORF JR., about as German a name as you can get. Deutchendorf means German Village.

Friday, April 29, 2011

The Business of Lawyers and Law Schools

In the New York Times article "Is Law School a Losing Game" (David Segal), Sunday Business section, January 9, 2011 it points to significant lying on the part of law schools to convince potential students to pay 250,000 US Dollars (on loan) to get a law degree. The professors are well-paid. However in 2008 15,000 jobs as lawyers disappeared. The US News and Report magazine annual article recently indicating that 93 percent of lawschool student are employed 9 months after graduation does not include what percent of these grads are working in irrelevant work in hotels and restaurants. The numbers are not so clear but would shock most of us, if we only knew.

Considering that lawyers usually become our politicians in the United States, it's my opinion that we are preparing them for that word play and movie "Lawyer-Lyer". They will have to commit unimaginable competition, deception and lies to get a job, and pay back these loans, if the supply of lawyers and law schools is not reduced.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/09/business/09law.html?_r=1

Saturday, April 23, 2011

Ilanit, Israeli Singer

http://escforum.net/forum/showthread.php?8792-Israel-1977-Ilanit-Ahava-hi-shir-lish-nayim

Ilanit was a very popular Israeli singer. Her last album was Brazilian Dream, which I'd like to hear. Beside liking her as a singer, I was friendly with her uncle Nachum Drezner, a tailor in central Tel Aviv (Rehov Binyamin), who was a leading advocate of Esperanto is Israel. He unsuccessfully asked her to sing in Esperanto.

I can dream though.

Karaj brazilaj amikoj, Mi logxis en Israelo 11 jarojn kaj 1 jaron en Brazilo. Kiu kantas hebree kaj portugale? Ilanit logxis kelkajn jarojn en Brazilo sed poste igxis inter la plej famaj kantistinoj de Israelo. Mi ne trovas sxian portugal-lingvan cxe reto sed k.d. ekzistas. Sxia onklo, Nahxum Drezner, estis Prezidanto de Esperanto Ligo de Israelo antau' pli ol 40 jaroj, sed ne sukcesis konvinki sxin kanti esperante. Jen la unua kanto kiun mi au'dis de sxi, jun-agxe (Dum kelkaj jaroj sxi kantis kun edzo, Ilan):

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYYo00JbCks

En Brazilo au' pri Brazilo:
Ilanit kantas portugale.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5b1M7gn9Wk 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XffP18UdhwM

On her uncle: Pri la onklo: 
1904-1993 Nachum Drezner:
http://www.geni.com/people/Nachum-Drezner/6000000025180427520
Kun scipovo de la jida:
http://www.jewishgen.org/Yizkor/Zawiercie/Zawiercie.html


Here was my favorite song of hers choreographed. Kvar Acharei Chatzot
Danco al muziko de Ilanit (famulino, nevino de iama prezidanto de Esperanto Ligo de Israelo): Jam Pasis Nokto-mez
http://letras.kboing.com.br/#!/ilanit/kvar-acharei-chatzot/


Words:
http://www.hebrewsongs.com/song-kvarachareichatzot.htm

http://shirimbivrit.blogspot.com/


Ekzistas traduko de almenau' unu el sxiaj kantoj: Lando Mia Lando:

Ilanit with "Eretz" in French tv, 1977
YOUTUBE.COM


Wednesday, April 13, 2011

The Holocaust and Esperanto

THE HOLOCAUST AND ESPERANTO

Charlie Chaplin predicted the Holocaust in The Great Dictator. In the film, signage in the Jewish Ghetto is in Esperanto:
http://www.youtube.com/all_comments?v=PW6fmy0zz_4

http://www.fondumozamenhof.org/index.html
http://donh.best.vwh.net/Esperanto/Literaturo/Recenzoj/dangxera_lingvo.html
http://gxirafo.blogspot.com/2007/03/esperanto-holocaust-museum-holokasto.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L._L._Zamenhof#Work_on_Yiddish_language_and_Jewish_issues
http://eo.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kategorio:Familio_Zamenhof
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8159082.stm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Bia%C5%82ystok
http://www.espero.bialystok.pl/pl/article,24,9,1.html
http://eo.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bialystok



On the 12th of April, 2011, in a New York festivity, the republication of the English translation of the Esperanto piece, Masquerade, of Tivadar Soros (father of George) was lanuched. This literary work deals with the successful survival of the Soros Family in Budapest during the systemic persecution and killing of Hungarian Jews by the hands of the Nazis in the final years of the Second World War.

This party, in the home of the financier, George Soros, son of Tivadar, brought together groups of outstanding intellectuals of the region; among others were the head editor of the New York Review of Books, representatives of the New York Times, several literary talents, and the known television commentarian, Bill Moyers. Specialists on Esperanto, Prof. Esther Schor and author Arika Okrent were present.

Tivadar Soros. Masquerade: The Incredible True Story of How George Soros’ Father Outsmarted the Gestapo. New York: Arcade Publishing. 2011. 275pĝ.
Tivadar Soros. Crusoes in Siberia and The Fairest Judgment. New York: Mondial. 2010. 31+93pĝ.

www.esperanto-un.org Www.EsperantoFriends.blogspot.com www.esperanto-nyc.org

NY OFFICE 777 UN PLAZA-CHURCH CENTER
212 687 7041

Post monato (morgau' dum redaktado) estos programo por instruistoj pri la Holokau'sto (Historio ktp) cxe UNO (detaloj plej malsupre). Mi volas akiri au' produkti artikolon unu (au du) pagxan pri "The Holocaust and the Esperanto Movement"/Holokau'sto kaj la Esperanto Movado" au' "The Holocaust and Jewish Esperanto Speakers"(Holokaus'to kaj Esperanto Parolantoj) por disdoni tie. Mi kolektis kelkajn utilajn ligilojn. Mankas al mi la ligilo de la nova Zamenhof-muzeo en Bjalistoko (mi sercxis plurajn minutojn). Dum UK-Bialistoko oni informis min ke antau' Dua Mond-milito cxirkau' 300 esperantistoj renkontigxis cxirkau' la urbo, sed post la Holokau'sto nur 3 estis post-vivantaj au' troveblaj. Oni konkludas ke la granda pliparto de la tieaj esperantistoj estis judoj. Mi bonvenigas iom pli da detaloj pri tiu. Cxu jam ekzistas tia artikolo au' iu simila cxe la reto?

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

A Comparison: Western and Arab Women

I wish to compare women's rights in western countries (Christian majority countries) and the Arab world (Muslim majority countries). One of the burning issues which make me think that neither have it all that good is when I read about spousal murder in both regions. It tells me something is essentially wrong in both regions. In the Arab-Muslim world I have read about "honor killings". It is beyond the comprehension of nearly every human being I have ever met, yet I know this is predominantly acceptable in numerous muslim lands. The wikipedia article touches this tradition in numerous countries, noting that "honor killings" doesn't exist in large regions of India but is strong in the Punjab http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punjab_(India)#Religion Since this is a dominantly Sikh region, I should investigate the power of women in Sikh society. A decade ago I watched a popular t.v. show, 60 Minutes, and on a segment on honor killing in progressive Jordan. I witnessed that a family that had a daughter killed for some accusation, true or false, had a son imprisoned for 6 months and than released to a joyous festive village celebration upon his return. Few murderers of family members in the west would be released without a decade or more in prison and no festivities would be arranged upon their release. A Norwegian judge was willing to reduce punishment for an "honor killing", apparently committed by immigrants from 17 years to 15 years imprisonment, since Norwegians can never understand this behavior and as acknowledgement of cultural differences. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honor_killing Having read this link, I conclude that reportage of honor killings (ex. Pakistan 10,000 per year) may be 4 times higher than reported, due to the secrecy maintained by the family and community of the perpetrator of these murders. Even when these communities immigrate to the west they often go unreported or turned into accidents and suicides. Arab women are under-represented in parliaments in Arab states, although they are gaining more equal representation as Arab states liberalise their political systems. In 2005, the International Parliamentary Union said that 6.5 per cent of MPs in the Arab world were women, compared with 3.5 per cent in 2000. In Tunisia, nearly 23 per cent of members of parliament were women. However, the Arab country with the largest parliament, Egypt, had only around four per cent female representation in parliament.[45] Twenty three is quite nearly the percentage of women in parliaments in Christian Marjority Countries world-wide: http://www.ipu.org/wmn-e/world.htm The 23 percent of women in parliament in Tunisia is noteworthy, since Tunisia is the first Muslim country to have a popular uprising (2011), which ended almost entirely peacefully. I am concerned about the end of the uprisings in Libya and Yemen where I suspect vast civil war is about to break out....put deaths into the thousands. I have noted publicly at the United Nations (March 11, 2011, UNESCO Peace Program) that the media has rarely shown any women in those two countries, I was given the floor following a talk by the former Norwegian Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik gave a public call for an increase in the number of female parliamentarians. A female Tunisian dignitary, Sabiha Al-Khemir followed that it didn't really matter if a leader was man or woman. I reacted at the mic: "The former prime minister of Norway has spoken in modesty--all the scandinavian countries have enacted rules obligating major parties to elect 40 to 60 percent of their leader to be women. It is these women who have led to laws that respect the family: maternity and paternity leave of up to 18 months in Sweden, sick leave to take care of sick children. The scandinavian countries prevented the Holcaust to occur in Denmark and Sweden, as well. The courageous women of Scandinavia are responsible for this". For a complete list of women in parliament in 188 countries see: http://www.ipu.org/wmn-e/classif.htm From Gun Violence in America Wikipedia. Gun-related homicide rates in the United States are two to four times higher than they are in countries that are economically and politically similar to it. Higher rates are found in developing countries and those with political instability.[21][25][26] Prevalence of homicide and violent crime is greatest in urban areas of the United States. In metropolitan areas, the homicide rate in 2005 was 6.1 per 100,000 compared with 3.5 in non-metropolitan counties.[27] In U.S. cities with populations greater than 250,000, the mean homicide rate was 12.1 per 100,000.[28] According to FBI statistics, the highest per capita rates of gun-related homicides in 2005 were in D.C. (35.4/100,000), Puerto Rico (19.6/100,000), Louisiana (9.9/100,000), & Maryland (9.9/100,000) .[29] The Bureau of Justice statistics from 2004 do not include D.C or Puerto Rico. see "Gun violence in the United States by state". Wikipedia. 2004. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_violence_in_the_United_States_by_state. The above article does not include spousal murder and it should. A similar article about Canada mentions: Spousal murder rates have fallen significantly as well. For females in a relationship the rate of homicide fell from 1.65 per 100,000 in 1974 to 0.71 per 100,000 in 2004 while for males in a relationship the rate dropped from 0.44 per 100,000 in 1974 to 0.14 per 100,000 in 2004.[27] Spousal homicides committed with firearms dropped by 77% for women between 1974 and 2000 and by 80% for men during the same time period.[28] In the U.S. increased awareness, reporting and publication of domestic violence incidents, as well as police campaigns to crack down on domestic violence, have been the primary factors on the reduction of domestic violence homicides.[29] Theses miniscule numbers indicate that Canada has minimal violence against women, compared to the United States. Since I consider violence against women a combination of 2 main factors: 1. Gun Control Laws 2. Percentage of Women in the Parliament, Canada http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_the_39th_Canadian_Parliament , with 21.1 percent women in la legislative body is not all that different than the US with 17.1% http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_the_United_States_House_of_Representatives, it follows that lax Gun Control Laws is the dominant reason that murder rates are over 4 fold in the USA over Canada, with strict Gun Control Laws. Two (christian-majority) countries with less than democratic records have better than average participation of women in 2007: Cuba and Belarus, two countries I recently visited. http://www.rferl.org/content/article/1075134.html It also notes that one muslim-majority country, Iran has 4 percent women in its parliament. It is worth additional analysis of Iran, where the religious authorities are most visible. I've read that 60 of Iranian college students are women and they must be ready to explode to gain further power. http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/in-the-name-love/200806/why-some-men-murder-their-beloved-wives .

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

United Federation of Teachers President Mulgrew.

Michael Mulgrew, New York City's United Federation of Teachers' President, sounds like a socialist to me and that's good. In his recent editiorial article "An Economy for All" he makes the following points:
1. 8 million Americans have recently lost there jobs.
2. One in eight Americans must seek out free food from food pantries.
3. New York State has the biggest income disparity.
a) The majority of households make under 30,000 dollars a year and 10 percent of New Yorker's are in deep poverty.
b) One percent of New Yorkers average 3.7 million dollars a year or $10,137 dollars a day.

On point 3.a I note that few apartments in New York rent for under 12,000 dollars a years and most cost over 20,000 dollars a year. A salary of 30,000 dollars would not allow for any savings or vacations.

From another article he points to his distrust of New Yorks billionaire mayor, Michael Bloomberg. One title read "Bloomberg to City: Drop Dead".

Flexible Work Hours: The Netherlands

According to the New York Times (Dec. 30, 2010) a four day work week is quite normal for both men and woman in Holland/The Netherlands. Fathers with young children often take a Daddy Day/"Pappa Dag". One quarter of Dutch men worked reduced workloads when they have young children. This compares with only 10 percent in both the rest of the European Union and the in the United States.

Ninety five percent of Microsoft employees in Holland work one day from home.
Seventy-five percent of women work part-time in Holland, compared with 41 percent in other European Union countries and 23 percent in the United States.

The article says the Dutch are quite happy with their system.

Of the 81 doctors at Amsterdam's Jewish Hospital 31 are women. Two-thirds of the women work part-time.