tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-284130792024-03-24T06:46:43.455+13:00On the edge of consciousnessDamon Lynchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17905825610669137126noreply@blogger.comBlogger67125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28413079.post-78440819476786257332014-09-06T03:57:00.000+12:002014-09-06T04:07:55.713+12:00Nuclear weapons and the very strange story of the death of Fernando PereiraOn March 1, 1985 New Zealand Prime Minister David Lange appeared in the Oxford Union debate, arguing "<a href="http://publicaddress.net/great-new-zealand-argument/nuclear-weapons-are-morally-indefensible/">nuclear weapons are morally indefensible</a>".
This was a very big deal for us in New Zealand. It wasn't just the
fact that a lot of kiwis really did care about banning nuclear weapons
and French nuclear weapons testing in the Pacific, or the fact that our
country's pride was on the line. As the linked article indicates in its
introduction to the speech, "briefly, we seemed to matter", which refers
to the (deeply silly in my view) tendency to desperately want to be
noticed by the big and important countries on the world stage.
Fortunately from our point of view, Lange won the debate. It's tempting
to ask now, how could he ever lose, such was his immense wit and booming
voice? The transcript really cannot do justice to the way Lange <i>performed </i>his speech, deploying his considerable oratorical talents. Thus the <a href="http://publicaddress.net/great-new-zealand-argument/nuclear-weapons-are-morally-indefensible-1/">audio recording</a> is where the real action is to be had; the period from 10:00 to 12:15 contains two of the funniest moments. <br />
<br />
Five months after Lange's debate win, on July 10, 1985 in Auckland, New Zealand, the photographer <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fernando_Pereira" target="_blank">Fernando Pereira</a>
drowned while attempting to rescue his photography equipment from the
Greenpeace vessel the Rainbow Warrior. He died because of a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinking_of_the_Rainbow_Warrior" target="_blank">terrorist attack on the ship by French intelligence agents</a>. France was determined to stop Greenpeace led protests against its nuclear weapons testing at <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moruroa">Moruroa and Fangataufa</a> atolls, which France had been conducting for almost 20 years. It was the second bomb that killed Pereira. I very much like the <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4637897.stm" target="_blank">recollection of events</a> shared by French expatriate Henri Astier.<br />
<br />
One of the French agents apprehended by New Zealand police was <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alain_Mafart" target="_blank">Commander Alain Mafart</a>. He is now known as Alain Mafart-Renodier. In a strange twist to the story, he is clearly an <a href="http://www.biosphoto.com/News/?NewsID=2628&ThemeGalerie=1&Lettre=" target="_blank">excellent wildlife photographer</a>.<br />
<br />
In a rather unfortunate mistake, one of Mafart-Renodier's images has <a href="http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/en/media-center/reports/Greenpeace-USA-Statement-on-the-2015-Greenpeace-Calendar/" target="_blank">ended up</a> in Greenpeace USA's 2015 <a href="http://www.workman.com/products/9780761178453/" target="_blank">calendar</a>. Greenpeace USA state they will make a replacement calendar for next year, featuring some of Pereira's photos. <br />
<br />
I've always admired Greenpeace. I don't know Mr.
Mafart-Renodier. It would be nice to speak with him one day, to hear
this thoughts after all this time. He might be a nice guy -- I have no
idea. Probably he has already been paid by the company that put together
the calendar. I admit, yes, I'm curious as to what he decided to do
with the payment.Damon Lynchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17905825610669137126noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28413079.post-39396425714282859062014-05-04T22:41:00.000+12:002014-05-04T22:41:21.435+12:00Turning reality on its head - Orientalism strikes againThe film <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Physician_%282013_film%29/">The Physician</a> (2013) just goes to show that Germans are up there with the best in Hollywood when it comes to making films that portray Persian Muslims as evil, bloodthirsty and ignorant and a lone white man as a glorious, handsome hero. To top it off, the white dude shows Ibn Sina how medicine really ought to be practiced, which is like a camel teaching Leonardo da Vinci about art and science.<br />
<br />
And is it merely a coincidence that one of the film's principal wicked Muslims bears a resemblance to an iconic image of Osama Bin Laden?<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBBcpH8GO8w7ZibWlv9yAZDbmlM7D1tXANwj6HYGB5ZDe2-H4DLEZIFKTrL5M-gUOx03YlhxkrMjWpIJxoD_HYDW3VKQAlHos8m_11OnX_AA7QCP1AMyPav0i1iNBpoPh1sUBu7g/s1600/Bin+Laden+The+Physician.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBBcpH8GO8w7ZibWlv9yAZDbmlM7D1tXANwj6HYGB5ZDe2-H4DLEZIFKTrL5M-gUOx03YlhxkrMjWpIJxoD_HYDW3VKQAlHos8m_11OnX_AA7QCP1AMyPav0i1iNBpoPh1sUBu7g/s1600/Bin+Laden+The+Physician.jpg" height="188" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />Damon Lynchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17905825610669137126noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28413079.post-20477321522685408732013-09-04T16:55:00.003+12:002013-09-04T16:55:59.834+12:00Nonviolence beyond the symbolism of the pure leader<span style="font-family: inherit;">On August 27, the American media organization PBS aired on television an excellent documentary <a href="http://video.pbs.org/video/2365069476/">The March</a>, which details "</span>the compelling and dramatic story of the 1963 March on Washington,
where <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther_King">Dr. Martin Luther King</a> gave his stirring 'I Have a Dream' speech". The full documentary can be viewed for free on the PBS website (I hope that is true for those outside of North America too). <br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I was moved to see </span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jawaharlal_Nehru"><span class="st">Jawaharlal <i></i></span>Nehru</a> appear briefly in the documentary. He was
not mentioned by name in the narrative, but I felt he symbolically
represented so many things: the fact that mass nonviolence first
emerged not among the global core but among the periphery; that he
was bearing witness to these political struggles on behalf of
hundreds of millions of brown people who had been colonized for
centuries; that like <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_F._Kennedy">Pres. Kennedy</a>, he was born into immense wealth and
privilege, while the people who needed equal rights and freedom the
most were the very poor, the hungry, and the physically violated;
and that he, Pres. Kennedy, King and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayard_Rustin" target="_blank">Bayard Rustin</a> were
men whose lives public and private cannot be understood as somehow
separate from their sexual lives. I cannot help but think of an
Indian friend who proudly told me of Nehru's alleged affair with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwina_Mountbatten,_Countess_Mountbatten_of_Burma" target="_blank">Edwina
Mountbatten</a>. Perhaps in my friend's mind at that moment
Mountbatten, herself symbolic of the elite white woman's power, was
reduced into a mere object of the brown man's sexual conquest.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I
mention this because although all these men are symbols of various
kinds, and rightly so, they like Gandhi and so many other leaders
were complex, multidimensional people, as are we. Among the great
nonviolent leaders, we almost always see not preordained purity but
spiritual struggle, all-too-real failings and the attempt to harness
powerful human drives for good. We cannot understand their lives and
how they are understood by their admirers and detractors without
understanding this complexity and how they dealt with it. There is
the integrity and dignity of nonviolence that most of us aspire so
fervently for, and there is the reality of our lives, which are
typically colored by countless struggles personal and public. We
cannot conceptualize one without the other. While I often reflect on
how miraculous a life like that of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khan_Abdul_Ghaffar_Khan" target="_blank">Abdul
Ghaffar Khan</a> was, at this moment I am moved to reflect that it
is a miracle that nonviolence is more often practiced by
all-too-real people whose lives are our lives too, no matter their
station in life. </span>Damon Lynchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17905825610669137126noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28413079.post-34312285321132893402013-06-29T11:28:00.000+12:002013-06-29T11:29:23.540+12:00Parisian stormUnder brooding clouds one day in June 2007, a friend and I visited the Basilique du Sacré-Coeur de Montmartre in Paris, perched on a small hill overlooking numerous tourist shops, hawkers, musicians, hotdogs for homesick Americans, and couples kissing each other. It is a visually stunning church that is utterly different to the Notre Dame de Paris. Dignified and quiet, nuns and priests gather for wide-ranging reflection on God and the divine life. Such solemnity precludes practically everything one may want to do in a sacred space: talk, take a photograph, drink a drink, and eat a hamburger. This, at least, is what the signs at the entrance explicitly banned. There were two big African guys enforcing the regulations. They kicked out a couple of fat drunken pink-faced tourists in pastel shirts who made a mockery of the rules by taking a photo. Within moments of their small camera's flash lighting up the cavernous interior, the two enforcers descended on them and firmly escorted them to the exit.
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3geNqMMXC-rvTJCYc5G6Ntv6W56NkaJ8G_ZR-Ue77xOe4vAvOfBMZ7mv-BJN8UZ-81Sm2DitVoKSPysuJ8EWzpadX-jPbQoP_97MrQKVAsIqBNrJxc5hSEyf86vuoBlHxY0px0Q/s400/20070613-1952-240-iso400-f9.0-16mm-500-Edit.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3geNqMMXC-rvTJCYc5G6Ntv6W56NkaJ8G_ZR-Ue77xOe4vAvOfBMZ7mv-BJN8UZ-81Sm2DitVoKSPysuJ8EWzpadX-jPbQoP_97MrQKVAsIqBNrJxc5hSEyf86vuoBlHxY0px0Q/s400/20070613-1952-240-iso400-f9.0-16mm-500-Edit.jpg" /></a>
<br>
While we were outside the Sacré-Coeur, it began to rain. Along with many others, we took cover under the entrance way at the top of the steps of the great Church. It began to rain harder, so we all moved inside the entrance way a little more. Then the wind picked up. We moved inside a little more. Then both the rain and the wind intensified. We soon realised we were in a storm. Hiding behind even one of the immense stone pillars was useless in the face of such a deluge, and as the water descended upon us, screams of laughter and fear emanated from young American and Spanish girls as the wind enthusiastically whipped the heavy drops of rain into practically every nook and cranny of the entrance way. We tried to go inside the Church but the doors were sealed shut. People cried out for the doors to open, and they opened. We all piled in, wet, cold, and with smiles of relief and joy on our faces. Damon Lynchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17905825610669137126noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28413079.post-10789424897234045912013-06-25T07:14:00.002+12:002013-06-25T07:15:17.128+12:00Tajikistan slideshow refreshI have re-released my <a href="http://damonlynch.net/shows/tajikistan/">Tajikistan slideshow</a>. Much like my <a href="http://www.edgeofconsciousness.net/2013/06/iran-slideshow-refresh.html">Iran slideshow</a>, I redid the post-processing of the photos. The music company who publishes the accompanying song, <a href="http://www.blueflame.com/">Blue Flame Publishing / Global Flame Publishing</a>, were generous and let me use their song without payment, which I very much appreciate.
<br>
<a href="http://www.damonlynch.net/shows/tajikistan/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://www.pbase.com/dflynch/image/129392452/medium.jpg" /></a>
<br>
<span style="font-size: 85%; font-style: italic;">Pamiri woman - Namadgut</span>Damon Lynchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17905825610669137126noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28413079.post-18813391131200179522013-06-08T08:44:00.001+12:002013-06-24T06:29:12.742+12:00Iran slideshow refreshIn 2007 I published a <a href="http://www.damonlynch.net/shows/iran/">slideshow of photos</a> of my first trip to Iran. The slideshow was accompanied by one of Alireza Eftekhari's lovely songs. Little did I know then that it would rack up more than 100,000 page views. I received a lot of <a href="http://www.edgeofconsciousness.net/2008/03/longing-for-home.html">feedback</a> from Iranians. It remains my most popular published work of any kind.<br />
<br />
My skills in post-processing photos have improved substantially in the six years since. The software and hardware tools I use have also improved. This year I decided to redo every single photo. It was a lot of work but I think it's worth it. The color and contrast are both improved, looking more realistic. While I was at it, I swapped out a couple of weak images for better ones. Here are some before and after shots to give you an idea (old versions first):<br />
<br />
<div>
<a href="http://www.pbase.com/dflynch/image/84688739" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://damonlynch.net/images/blog/iranredo1.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
<div>
<a href="http://www.pbase.com/dflynch/image/83026103" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://damonlynch.net/images/blog/iranredo2.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
<div>
<a href="http://www.pbase.com/dflynch/image/84688726" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://damonlynch.net/images/blog/iranredo3.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
<div>
<a href="http://www.pbase.com/dflynch/image/87677666" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://damonlynch.net/images/blog/iranredo4.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
<a href="http://www.damonlynch.net/shows/iran/">Let me know what you think</a>!Damon Lynchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17905825610669137126noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28413079.post-56925597679668341652012-06-04T19:57:00.006+12:002012-06-04T20:16:31.469+12:00Arrogant philosophy is foolish philosophyJustin E. H. Smith yesterday advanced a thoroughly interesting argument about what he calls <a href="http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/06/03/philosophys-western-bias/">philosophy’s western bias</a>. I agree with an alternative approach to the history of philosophy he briefly outlines, where Western and non-Western philosophies are "the regional inflections of a global phenomenon". <br /><br />Smith draws upon G. W. Leibniz to argue philosophical dominance piggy-backs commercial dominance. Let me make a related point: it's not difficult to find practical examples of the link between commercial innovation and philosophical thought. For instance the idea of time the Buddha proposed when developed the idea of "dependent arising" is absolutely fascinating, partly because it is so different from the concept of past, present and future we all take for granted. The Buddha's 2,500 year old idea about time and reality is very much relevant today because the developers of contemporary video compression codecs utilize techniques like <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_compression#Encoding_theory">interframe compression</a> that have far more in common with dependent arising than they do with discrete moments of time.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.pbase.com/dflynch/image/128611734"><img src="http://www.pbase.com/dflynch/image/128611734/medium.jpg" alt="Statue of the Buddha in Tajikistan" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;">Statue of the Buddha in Tajikistan</span><br /><br />Because Western philosophers care so little for South Asian philosophical concepts, unsurprisingly I had to learn about the Buddha's concept of dependent arising from a Sri Lankan philosopher, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Kalupahana">David Kalupahana</a>.<br /><br />When Western philosopher ignore or marginalize other philosophical traditions through the mechanisms Smith outlines, it is to our intellectual, cultural and yes commercial impoverishment.<br /><br />Arrogant philosophy is foolish philosophy.Damon Lynchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17905825610669137126noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28413079.post-5243584826190837252012-06-01T08:45:00.005+12:002012-06-01T09:20:17.261+12:00Rabbi Froman's daughter's weddingIn the second half of 2005 I was doing an internship in Jerusalem as part of my MA in Peace Studies from the <a href="http://kroc.nd.edu">Kroc Institute</a> at the University of Notre Dame. It was a fantastic experience and I highly recommend the Kroc program to prospective students. In November of that year I was most fortunate to be invited by <a href="http://www.facebook.com/eliyahu.mclean">Eliyahu McLean</a> to a wedding being held in an Israeli settlement deep in the West Bank in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. One of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menachem_Froman">Rabbi Froman's</a> ten children was being married — one of his daughters. <br /><br /><a href="http://www.pbase.com/dflynch/image/143656450"><img src="http://www.pbase.com/dflynch/image/143656450/medium.jpg" alt="The bride dances" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;">The bride dances</span><br /><br />The wedding turned out to be a magical evening, and not only because it was my first time to attend a Jewish wedding. It was an evening to never forget because the Palestinian religious peacemaker Hajj Ibrahim also came to the wedding — he was delayed and arrived late, but made a grand entrance. Luckily I was able to document some of the evening's events with my camera.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.pbase.com/dflynch/image/52400434"><img src="http://www.pbase.com/dflynch/image/52400434/medium.jpg" alt="Hajj Ibrahim dances with Rabbi Froman" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >Hajj Ibrahim dances with Rabbi Froman</span><br /><br />Earlier that year I'd started to learn the craft of photography. There was a lot to learn! Some aspects have taken me several years to master. I've also had access to better equipment and software than when I started. In the past several weeks I've reprocessed the photos I originally took, improving their look. The first thing to get right was the white balance, and then the color and noise control. The conditions were difficult photographically — like almost all wedding halls, it was dimly lit. I made the choice to make the photos bright and colorful, reflecting how the event felt emotionally.<br /><br />You can see the photos and the original writeup I penned at the time at a <a href="http://www.pbase.com/dflynch/tekoa">gallery on PBase</a>.Damon Lynchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17905825610669137126noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28413079.post-41979268496782204252012-01-11T15:07:00.011+13:002012-01-12T15:23:14.239+13:00Brief review of the film "A Separation"<span style="font-style:italic;">A Separation (Persian: Jodaeiye Nader az Simin), directed and written by Asghar Farhadi (2011).</span><br /><br />The acting is remarkable and the development of the story is top-notch. But this is not what made me fall for this film. More than any film I can recall, it prompted me to reflect on the ups and downs of life-changing relationships — mine and others. We all make mistakes, and in this film we are brought empathetically but forcefully into a tumultuous period of the characters' lives in which they can't help but make their fair share. In this sense the film is more true-to-life than any other I've seen. We see the characters' decisions and actions, and sometimes it's far from clear whether they derive from a motivation to do what they truly aspire to, or if they are just trying to survive under difficult circumstances. We cannot help but watch compassionately, especially because the film wisely and resolutely refuses to allow us to be swept along by stereotypes, sentimentality or rigid distinctions between good and bad. Instead we come to understand the characters even though we don't understand all that they do. Some of my friends say the film is sad or even depressing, but I disagree. I find it uplifting — I am encouraged by the character's struggle for dignity, and humbled by the double-edged nature of their pride. This is film-making and story-telling of the highest standard. <br /><br /><a href="http://www.pbase.com/dflynch/image/140846102"><img src="http://www.pbase.com/dflynch/image/140846102/medium.jpg" alt="Tehran street scene (this is not from the film)" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >Tehran street scene (this is not from the film)</span>Damon Lynchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17905825610669137126noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28413079.post-26337630659531948802011-11-07T20:11:00.002+13:002011-11-13T09:29:29.064+13:00Photographing in Iran<a href="http://www.pbase.com/dflynch/image/84687868"><img src="http://www.pbase.com/dflynch/image/84687868/medium.jpg" alt="Bakhtiari Couple, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Province" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >Bakhtiari Couple, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Province</span><br /><br />Somebody recently wrote to me asking for advice about photographing safely in Iran. They wondered if I needed a permit for some of my photographs, and whether my photographic gear was safe.<br /><br />Iran is a wonderful country in which to photograph. Iran has a thriving photographic community and art scene, with plenty of highly talented photographers producing outstanding work. It has the rural charms of neighboring countries like Pakistan and Tajikistan, and like them, it has a rich and storied history. However in comparison to its neighbors, Iran is arguably more diverse. Its urban centers are wealthier. It has many stunning architectural forms and details. Its poets are famous the world over. <br /><br /><a href="http://www.pbase.com/dflynch/image/102255615"><img src="http://www.pbase.com/dflynch/image/102255615/medium.jpg" alt="Woman walking, South Tehran" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >Woman walking, South Tehran</span><br /><br />Iran is famous for its beautiful women too. What's there not to like?<br /><br />Everywhere I've photographed in Iran, I've done so without a sense of inhibition. This has gotten me into conversations with government police and security officials a couple of times in Tehran, but never elsewhere.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.pbase.com/dflynch/image/83930577"><img src="http://www.pbase.com/dflynch/image/83930577/medium.jpg" alt="Couple on motorcycle, Tehran" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >Couple on motorcycle, Tehran. This was one of the photos that got me into trouble.</span><br /><br />The first time was in 2007, when plainclothes policeman in his mid-20s took exception to my street photography outside a popular cinema in central Tehran. He angrily confronted me in the street and while he didn't speak English, he made it clear he wanted me to accompany him and his colleague in their car. I had absolutely no intention of doing that. With the help of a young woman managing an Internet café, he questioned me for about one hour, letting me go only when he determined that I was a genuine tourist. He claimed I needed a permit to photograph anything other than well-known places in Tehran.<br /><br />A few weeks later, I spoke with a member of the official tourist police in Isfahan. He spoke fluent English, and in great contrast to the plainclothes policeman, he was a thoroughly nice guy. He said there was no need for a permit, arguing the plainclothes policeman was out of line.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.pbase.com/dflynch/image/98504869"><img src="http://www.pbase.com/dflynch/image/98504869/medium.jpg" alt="Friday Prayers, Tehran" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >Friday Prayers, Tehran</span><br /><br />The only other kind of photographic incident I've had in Iran was in 2008 when I went to photograph the Friday prayers in Tehran. Perhaps whether I was naïve or simply did the right thing, I had no hesitation in wanting to photograph the prayers. As far as I was concerned, I wasn't doing anything out of line. I wasn't a reporter, so I didn't need a journalist's permit. I was merely photographing a public event, like any other. My Iranian companion that day, however, didn't see it that way. She was deeply concerned that the authorities would stop me and possibly detain me, which worried her enormously. After having barely arrived, she was proven correct. Several senior security officials questioned me for some minutes, wanting to know who I was and why was there. After conferring with their higher-ups, they allowed me to photograph the prayers for a few minutes. <br /><br />In retrospect, I don't think either of these situations were particularly serious. I was probably not in danger of being arrested. Of course, if I had accidentally photographed something of a sensitive military or governmental nature, the situation could have been very different. But that is pretty much the same in many countries these days. <br /><br />One thing I did not attempt was to photograph police officers arresting or detaining young people for wearing too much makeup or having the wrong kind of hair. From the perspective of documentary-style street photography, these scenes were often compelling and would have made wonderful photographs. However the police officers made it clear that they were totally against such photography. I didn't want to try their patience.<br /><br />Unfortunately the Iranian justice system can be highly politicized. As is widely documented, innocent people can be detained for long periods while being denied their basic human rights. This fact alone can certainly make oneself cautious. Outside of Tehran, however, it seems to me there is little reason for any special caution. Iran remains a wonderful place in which to photograph.Damon Lynchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17905825610669137126noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28413079.post-43154567060731120002011-01-10T11:07:00.005+13:002011-11-07T20:18:43.422+13:00The death of Jawahar Abu-Rahmah of Bil’inNoam Sheizaf has written a <a href="http://972mag.com/idf-on-bilin-spins-half-truths-lies/">detailed account</a> of the death of Jawahar Abu-Rahmah at the village of Bil'in.<br /><br />Poor Ms. Abu-Rahmah was killed by exposure to tear gas during a protest in which she was a bystander — and instead of the Israeli government and Israeli Defense Forces pausing to take a deep breath, and reassess why they protests are occurring, a deluge of <a href="http://politicalcorrection.org/fpmatters/201101070004">shameless lies</a> emerges.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.pbase.com/dflynch/image/131716941"><img src="http://www.pbase.com/dflynch/image/131716941/medium.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >Blind Palestinian villager during protest on September 2, 2005.</span><br /><br />I’ve been to Bil’in. <a href="http://damonlynch.net/shows/bilin/">This is an audio slideshow of a protest in Bil'in I made in 2005</a>. <br /><br />The events Mr. Sheizaf describes are very much disturbing — in a way that I cannot quite make rational sense out of. As Mr. Sheizaf suggests, to be killed or wounded in the places where everything is going on — in the middle of the action among the bullets, tear gas and rocks — is not at all surprising. Yet Ms. Abu-Rahmah was standing on a hill, away from central action, and the gas rushed towards her and ultimately killed her. Perhaps it is a kind of metaphor for the unintended consequences of deploying mass violence to repress problems. The gas, carried by the wind, is our foolishness and arrogance, our failure of the imagination, and our greed. We cannot control the wind, and no one in the history of humanity has been able to control all the flow-on effects of choosing violence over nonviolence, repression over dialogue, and arrogance over genuine collaboration between people with differences.Damon Lynchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17905825610669137126noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28413079.post-78182958715168498682010-08-13T21:01:00.003+12:002010-08-13T21:48:20.807+12:00Learning Farsi in Isfahan Part 2<a href="http://www.pbase.com/dflynch/image/115212087"><img src="http://www.pbase.com/dflynch/image/115212087/medium.jpg" alt="Girl with blue ball, Isfahan" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >Girl with blue ball, Isfahan</span><br /><br />After reading my <a href="http://www.edgeofconsciousness.net/2009/07/learning-farsi-in-isfahan.html">previous blog entry</a>, many people have contacted me requesting information about studying Persian at the University of Isfahan. A common problem is that when emailing the university, it can take a long time to get a response. It is hard to say if this is because of internal bureaucracy or technical difficulties with the university's email system (their IT systems are often unreliable). You can also try iinternationaloffice@yahoo.com (note the two i's at the beginning of the address).<br /><br />I had intended to study again at the University of Isfahan this summer. Unfortunately I was not issued a student visa. The university claimed I had not sent them an application, which was bizarre, because I certainly did. I was later informed by my academic advisor that when an visa application is declined, instead of saying so, it is considered polite by Iranian officials to say it was not received. The university encouraged me to apply for a tourist visa, but this was neither declined or issued. Instead, the application simply languished.<br /><br />I was surprised to have my visa application rejected. I had not had significant problems with being issued an Iranian visa in the past. Moreover, I have not engaged in any political activity related to the elections last year. An Englishman who also studied Persian last year was also not issued a visa.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.pbase.com/dflynch/image/116245364"><img src="http://www.pbase.com/dflynch/image/116245364/medium.jpg" alt="Ahmadinejad looks on, Isfahan" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >Ahmadinejad looks on, Isfahan</span><br /><br />In July I received an email from the university stating "I hereby inform you that the regulation of issuing visa is slightly changed from 4th of July 2010. According to the new rules those visitors who enter Iran with a tourist visa can not apply for short course Persian learning programs and their period of stay will not be extended. Therefore any applicant, who would like to learn Persian, should apply for a student visa (through the Office of International Scientific Cooperation).It is important to note that for this kind of visa, the applicant should apply at least three months prior to travel."<br /><br />Unfortunately the university has not been forthcoming in providing information as to why a visa was not issued to me earlier this year. The Iranian Embassy in New Zealand was similarly unhelpful. This leaves my research plans in Iran in tatters. I am writing this blog entry in Khujand, Tajikistan. I will likely do my anthropological PhD research in Tajikistan, with a different project to that I had planned in Isfahan. <br /><br />Many Americans study Persian and Tajik in Dushanbe, where they learn from Iranian teachers. Having not participated in their course, I cannot comment on the quality of the instruction as compared to Isfahan.Damon Lynchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17905825610669137126noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28413079.post-65331410129316102009-09-22T06:52:00.012+12:002009-09-23T16:55:55.651+12:00The American Jewish Committee and IranToday I received an e-mail from the <a href="http://www.ajc.org">American Jewish Committee (AJC)</a>. The AJC says it "has worked since 1906 to safeguard and strengthen Jews and Jewish life worldwide by promoting democratic and pluralistic societies that respect the dignity of all peoples". Their objective is laudable and sensible, and indeed has much to commend it. The AJC has chosen an objective that is both pragmatic and stirring. I support their stated idealism. Life is difficult, injustice is pervasive, and genuine peace so often seems elusive. As a minority population, the Jewish people have been acutely aware of this for thousands of years. Their history makes a compelling case for their goal—their idealism is firmly rooted in the knowledge that when the dignity of all peoples is respected, everyone benefits, especially minorities. Their idealism is grounded in realism.<br /><br />How strange it is, then, that their e-mail <a href="http://www.ajc.org/iran">contained a video</a> produced by them which could hardly do more to contradict their ideals. The video highlights alleged and actual Iranian government acts, encouraging viewers to take action to stop Iran acquiring nuclear weapons. These acts include the 1994 bombing of a Jewish Center in Argentina (an act for which no one has yet been proven guilty in a court of law, which the video does not mention), public hangings within Iran, and recent Iranian government action against protesters. The public hanging scene is extremely disturbing, showing the twitching legs of a man in the last moments of his life. The method the video uses to convey its message is intriguing. It combines the familiarity of everyday things—trucks, motorcycles, and cranes, as well as homely music—with sights that are meant to be perceived as grotesque and jarring. Here it draws upon <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncanny">Sigmund Freud's idea of the uncanny</a>. In this video, the Iranian government is familiar, yet monstrous. It is like us, but unlike us in the most awful ways imaginable. Given the frequency with which the uncanny occurs in cultures worldwide, Freud was onto something, which the producers of the video cleverly exploit.<br /><br />The AJC is hardly alone in producing a video of this character. Naturally, videos and e-mails are commonly produced by individuals, organizations and governments that highlight what they see as monstrous acts by the Israeli government. An abundance of imagery exists of large numbers of civilians being killed by not only Israeli military weapons, but everyday things like bulldozers. An Israeli soldier once told me a story about some of his colleagues who were convicted for playing football with a Palestinian boy's head. They had made a video of themselves doing it. Important, influential intellectuals within Israel, such as Yehezkel Dror, openly advocate the use of Israel's nuclear weapons in the case of a "sufficiently grave" threat.<br /><br />What I find so strange is that the AJC is so willing to give us simply more of the same. It thus gives the appearance of being nothing more than a partisan in the midst of a propaganda war that it is determined to win. How refreshing it would be if the AJC mustered the imagination to do something different. For example, the AJC could make a video that showed the effects of violence on ordinary people regardless of their nationality or religion, and then demonstrate how this is ultimately a threat to everybody's well-being. That would be keeping with their stated ideals. <br /><br /><a href="http://www.pbase.com/dflynch/image/66470758" title="Jewish men Muslim children by Damon Lynch"><img src="http://www.pbase.com/dflynch/image/66470758/medium.jpg" alt="Jewish men Muslim children" /></a><br /><br />Tragically, Israel and Iran have been both victims of mass violence, heavily marking the psyches of their peoples. But they have both been perpetrators of it too. It would be courageous if the AJC were to acknowledge the violence inflicted by the Israeli state, and the ongoing pain and injustice this has caused for its victims. It would be wise if they were to advocate for a truth commission to examine the many varieties of violence in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories—violence that strips away the dignity of everyone living there, regardless of religion, race, gender, age or nationality. The AJC could vigorously campaign for for a world free of nuclear weapons, including Israel's. That would certainly respect all people's dignity.<br /><br />Is the AJC ever likely to do any of this? I remain hopeful. Conflict between and among peoples is inevitable, and can even be healthy. But mass violence is neither inevitable or healthy. To work toward its own objective, the AJC needs to practice conflict transformation, not contribute to the world's already overflowing cesspool of manipulative propaganda.Damon Lynchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17905825610669137126noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28413079.post-74722703936303164792009-09-08T17:45:00.006+12:002013-06-24T06:29:29.201+12:00A riot of color<a href="http://www.damonlynch.net/shows/riotofcolor/"><img style="width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="http://www.damonlynch.net/images/iran-riot-of-color-show-title.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;">Click on the image to view the slideshow</span><br /><br />Politics plays with words, images and ideas, tossing about the known and the imagined as if they were one. Art does too.<br /><br />I have my own words and ideas about Iran, but here I want these images—snapshots in time of what I have seen in this vast and beautiful land—to convey the feeling I have in my heart.<br /><br />What do you think? Leave your comments below.Damon Lynchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17905825610669137126noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28413079.post-53612483968233705922009-07-11T21:39:00.007+12:002010-08-13T21:37:52.059+12:00Learning Farsi in IsfahanI am three weeks into a Farsi course at <a href="http://www.ui.ac.ir/isco/">International Scientific Cooperation Office</a> (ISCO) at the <a href="http://www.ui.ac.ir/">University of Isfahan</a>. There is very little information available on the Internet detailing student experiences of learning Farsi in Iran. I have therefore decided to share some impressions and personal experiences. <br /><br />Because the ISCO does not provide a handbook for new students, most of the information I've provided here you need to figure out by yourself or with your fellow students. My hope in writing this blog entry is that some people will find it helpful. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi18bYJvv2QS6FfV1v6dFU5OZ5G170kNM0eG7ES76KAt_ZCKrcs9OAfcqeUxkfwOFQ9Oaiq5sJxNUOgUhQih9jYSancuVtx02UmMF27Tc5g2JvmNpHyOlc3eC1yLhjuq9-NzQUwNQ/s1600-h/20090705-1134-5-iso500-f10.0-18mm-200.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi18bYJvv2QS6FfV1v6dFU5OZ5G170kNM0eG7ES76KAt_ZCKrcs9OAfcqeUxkfwOFQ9Oaiq5sJxNUOgUhQih9jYSancuVtx02UmMF27Tc5g2JvmNpHyOlc3eC1yLhjuq9-NzQUwNQ/s320/20090705-1134-5-iso500-f10.0-18mm-200.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5357155316741586498" /></a><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;">In the classroom</span><br /><br />As a warning to the reader, I must say at the outset that I am not especially good at learning a new language. I have little natural talent for it. I am almost always the slowest student in the class. I was not taught grammar in when I was a student in New Zealand. Furthermore, I did not undertake any formal study of Farsi before coming to the course. I had done a little self-study with the <a href="http://www.rosettastone.com/learn-farsi">Rosetta Stone Farsi language CDs</a>. <br /><br />Before arriving, the University applied for a three month student visa on my behalf. It took about five and half months for it to be issued. It took so long that I had to change my plans and shorten my course of Farsi study. Shorter length tourist visas, suitable for shorter periods of study, can take much less time to be issued.<br /><br />As of mid 2009, the classes are small. This provides many opporunities for individually tailored language instruction. Classes run from 8:30am till about 11:45am, with a small break in between. The teachers are all women. They are interesting, engaging and friendly teachers. They have without expception been patient, polite and a pleasure to learn with. They are all well educated. Almost of them speak adequate English, which is helpful for beginners like me, when explanations are needed. However those who are more advanced in their knowledge of Farsi will of course prefer their teachers teach in Farsi.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.pbase.com/dflynch/image/102224336"><img src="http://www.pbase.com/dflynch/image/102224336/medium.jpg" alt="Sheikh Loft Allah Mosque, Isfahan" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >Sheikh Loft Allah Mosque, Isfahan</span><br /><br />The classrooms are located in a very beautiful part of the campus, beside a lovely garden. Nearby insects can sometimes be heard creating a enticing symphony of chirps, which can be a welcome respite from the feeling of being overwhelmed by the unfamiliar and strange sounds of a new language. <br /><br />In the beginners class, a text book called Let's Learn Farsi is used. It can be purchased from a bookshop near Siosipol Bridge (a teacher will tell you where to buy it from). Accompanying the text book is an audio CD, which is not for sale. However this is not a problem as the MP3 files from the CD can be copied from computers at the ISCO. The book is helpful. It contains helpful phrases which are immediately useful in places like shops and homes. It is professionally produced, and has some interesting music to accompany it. However in the accompanying audio, the dialogue can proceed at such a tremendously rapid rate that it is impossible for the beginner to keep up. This can be frustrating. The aim is laudable—ordinary Iranians are inclined to speak fairly rapidly, and the student needs to learn to listen to conversational Farsi sooner or later. However, in my opinion, it would be useful for the audio guide to include the option of dialogue spoken more slowly, in addition to the existing dialogue. Furthermore, new words can be introduced without an explanation of what they mean. Sometimes the meaning can be guessed, but it means that without a dictionary, the teacher's guidance is truly essential. <br /><br /><a href="http://www.pbase.com/dflynch/image/114679129"><img src="http://www.pbase.com/dflynch/image/114679129/medium.jpg" alt="Fruit and vegetable market, Isfahan" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >Fruit and vegetable market, Isfahan</span><br /><br />Fellow students may be fluent in Arabic (which makes it far easier for them), or may have English as a second or third language. One of my classmates is from Korea. It is very difficult for him to pronounce Farsi. He is much better at understanding Farsi than I am (he has been in Iran for more than a year), but I have an impossible time understanding what he is saying when he speaks Farsi.<br /><br />I have found it very helpful to continue using the Rosetta Stone Farsi language CDs outside of class. They are logical, and the accompanying audio is always extremely well spoken. I also appreciate the pedagogy they use, where written words and audio accompany images, without any translation into English. Although the text book uses a similar approach, personally I strongly prefer Rosetta Stone to the text book, because of its structure and pace (of course, there is nothing like being in a classroom to ask questions and have errors in pronunciation corrected). To use Rosetta Stone you'll need your own computer, obviously. <br /><br /><a href="http://www.pbase.com/dflynch/image/114568257"><img src="http://www.pbase.com/dflynch/image/114568257/medium.jpg" alt="Friday Mosque, Isfahan" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;">Friday Mosque, Isfahan</span><br /><br />I recommend bringing your laptop, if you have one. You can use it in the accommodation to connect to the Internet using a LAN connection in your room. Otherwise Internet access on campus is not easy. A Internet cafe not far from the Guest House is basic, and closes during summer, when most students are on their break.<br /><br />The University of Isfahan has a truly vast campus—easily the largest campus I have ever seen. Free buses are available to transport students and visitors to various points throughout the campus. The campus rests on a gently sloping hill, providing a splendid view of the city. Gardens, lawns and at least one orchard are scattered about the campus. Unlike any other University I've attended, fences dominate the campus . One gets the impression that the planners deliberately made it difficult to walk from one place to another using a direct route. Instead of handy gates or walkways between building and fences, one must circumnavigate them to get where one needs to go. That can occasionally add many minutes to one's walk. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYiGpBxjA5qkcYu_c3fFHbp1N2V02WfBoSHi7RZMO-ZN2cvtkAWO1_EeVlGbyJFBSRnmJER-7aBjrYgnWjaHZNy2CVdWssNTtsWcOU_Y66DGH1x_Q853OYwJb9P5egiTog2hNb_g/s1600-h/20090624-1857-256-iso400-f11.0-16mm-60.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYiGpBxjA5qkcYu_c3fFHbp1N2V02WfBoSHi7RZMO-ZN2cvtkAWO1_EeVlGbyJFBSRnmJER-7aBjrYgnWjaHZNy2CVdWssNTtsWcOU_Y66DGH1x_Q853OYwJb9P5egiTog2hNb_g/s320/20090624-1857-256-iso400-f11.0-16mm-60.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5357156518813387650" /></a><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >View from the Mehmansara</span><br /><br />The accommodation provided for most students in the course—those who do not already live here in Iran, or who do not have families with them—is in the University Guest House (Mehmansara). It is a bit like budget hotel. The rooms are spacious and functionally furnished. I have not needed to share my room, but that could change if the number of students were to increase. The quality of room you will receive may vary dramatically depending on exactly which room you get assigned. In the first room I stayed in, the telephone and Internet did not work at all. The shower hardly worked and the toilet was problematic. The balcony was very dirty. After a couple of weeks, when despite repeated requests to the Mehmansara staff it became clear they would not be fixed, I requested a room change from the ISCO. My new room is far superior. <br /><br />The quality of the Internet connection varies. Sometimes it works without issues. At other times, it does not work at all, or runs very slowly. Naturally, censorship of the Internet is in place, as required by the Government.<br /><br />There is no laundry facility in the Mehmansara, and it is unclear as to where the nearest laundromat is. The restaurant at the ground floor of the Mehmansara is vegetarian unfriendly. The only suitable vegetarian dish is a mediocre salad. There are a couple of stores a few minutes walk away, selling dry goods, as well as fruits and vegetables. However almost all the rooms in the Mehmansara are not designed for cooking in. If you're lucky, you might be one of the few people to be provided with a small heating element, but don't count on it. If you're going to stay here for three months, that could be a problem.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.pbase.com/dflynch/image/84690515"><img src="http://www.pbase.com/dflynch/image/84690515/medium.jpg" alt="Armenian Orthodox Church, Isfahan" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >Armenian Orthodox Church, Isfahan</span><br /><br />Not far from the Mehmansara is a handy bus stop, which is regularly served by buses that can take you straight into the center of town. If you are contemplating learning Farsi in Iran, and you've never been to Iran, it is helpful to know that Isfahan is a very beautiful and often charming city. Its architecture can be stunning. Some of my photos of Isfahan (also spelled Esfahan) can be found <a href="http://www.pbase.com/dflynch/iran">here</a> and <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/damonlynch/sets/72157605715069583/">here</a>.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Update, August 13 2010</span>: You can view a followup to this blog entry here: <a href="http://www.edgeofconsciousness.net/2010/08/learning-farsi-in-isfahan-part-2.html">http://www.edgeofconsciousness.net/2010/08/learning-farsi-in-isfahan-part-2.html</a>.Damon Lynchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17905825610669137126noreply@blogger.com25tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28413079.post-32384908498945302232009-04-12T18:57:00.009+12:002009-04-12T23:58:16.525+12:00Why I wrote Rapid Photo DownloaderI am the developer (author) of <a href="http://damonlynch.net/rapid">Rapid Photo Downloader</a>. This is a free software program written for professional and amateur photographers. It helps photographers by downloading photos from their memory cards onto their computer, renaming them in a format specified by them. It can also backup the images as they are downloaded. It includes features to help them do this as efficiently as possible. For example, it can download from more than one card reader at the same time, which is especially helpful when a photographer returns to their computer with hundreds if not thousands of images (which is more common than you might imagine, especially for people like wedding photographers).<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIv2zUWqXwdyRNPbKjRHW0iRt4JLOVP5jNqT0KaZxx1SVa6-0f0vCtuAdl4lyBbq1ycByh9hVjHR62bxA4rq4_menmSyNSLkCsTQxnJaQb8Vspvn0fMuUgE9phK-Wv9qV-IsKn7Q/s1600-h/notification.png"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 226px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIv2zUWqXwdyRNPbKjRHW0iRt4JLOVP5jNqT0KaZxx1SVa6-0f0vCtuAdl4lyBbq1ycByh9hVjHR62bxA4rq4_menmSyNSLkCsTQxnJaQb8Vspvn0fMuUgE9phK-Wv9qV-IsKn7Q/s320/notification.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5323771294010163170" /></a><br /><br />It has taken more than a thousand of hours of my time to do this. Why would I do such a thing, and charge nothing for it? I have several motivations. First, I see it as an act of service. Second, I see it as part of a contribution to a bigger movement, the free software movement, which was founded by Richard Stallman.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_dkBg4nSEgQDSjPyHC-rk8h-X3QhxG9YFl4CI8xr3zD__MnzbIMk0pef0B7lnn7eNnV74KVWxnnDeODBzJapuR9mmOklPScwPAoIHe6OW29vR5sbUv1ezjKvWq5xErH9CGPhG5g/s1600-h/prefs-rename.png"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 251px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_dkBg4nSEgQDSjPyHC-rk8h-X3QhxG9YFl4CI8xr3zD__MnzbIMk0pef0B7lnn7eNnV74KVWxnnDeODBzJapuR9mmOklPScwPAoIHe6OW29vR5sbUv1ezjKvWq5xErH9CGPhG5g/s320/prefs-rename.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5323770722969125058" /></a><br /><br />Let me first discuss the second motivation. Free software refers to not only the price, but especially to freedom. <a href="http://www.gnu.org/">In the words</a> of the Free Software Foundation:<br /><blockquote>Free software is a matter of the users' freedom to run, copy, distribute, study, change and improve the software.</blockquote><br />With free software you can be a good neighbor and share it freely with others. You are encouraged to do so! People can use it without having to pay money for it. <br /><br />I firmly believe that free software is a much closer fit with human rights and global solidarity than the combination of proprietary software and capitalism. Proprietary software—which by its very nature is not free—has led to a small number of people becoming incredibly wealthy, with significant control over what users can and cannot do with their software and their data. This goes against the central tenet of democracy, which is that people have the option to meaningfully participate in decisions that affect their lives. Free software is more democratic and respectful of the user.<br /><br />Currently proprietary software is the dominant form of software on most people's laptops and desktop computers, but free software like the Firefox web browser is becoming increasingly popular. Linux is the most popular free operating system. Millions of people use it on their desktops everyday, in government and industry, at home and in civil society organizations. It has already proved a marvelous success. But compared to Windows and Mac, not enough people use it. I wrote my program so that I can help free software, and Linux in particular, become more popular among photographers. Only a small percentage of serious photographers use Linux. Many more could be using it in future. My humble little program is a small but important tool that can help prompt photographers to see what free software has to offer photography, and to be part of a movement that encourages the development of better free software programs for everyone.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOXgkGPY_2syy-IzLphFWSAmthHZ1_YspDndQATHrrnlXZnfYNp_0sOrCA9DvkW2Z7k7UaOmj5v2Rcf2P0OPMtoXCksOSv8n9EOqFgKN7BVLHzmfkQw3yPKVKWBOd1OkQHTaJMRg/s1600-h/prefs-subfolder.png"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 251px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOXgkGPY_2syy-IzLphFWSAmthHZ1_YspDndQATHrrnlXZnfYNp_0sOrCA9DvkW2Z7k7UaOmj5v2Rcf2P0OPMtoXCksOSv8n9EOqFgKN7BVLHzmfkQw3yPKVKWBOd1OkQHTaJMRg/s320/prefs-subfolder.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5323771516341503330" /></a><br /><br />As I mentioned, I also wrote this program as as act of service. I see it as one way of giving back a little of what I have received from others. I would not have been able to create this program were it not for the hard work of many others—including especially my teachers, and those who wrote the software without which my own program could not be developed or run. I was fortunate to receive an excellent education in computer science—two years at Victoria University of Wellington, and one semester at the University of California at Berkeley. Many people do not have access to the quality of education I received, even when they have the talent and desire. With free software, not only can they run the program, but they can study it and improve it if they wish. <br /><br />The knowledge that we cannot be fully human without recognizing our dependence on others is reflected in the name of one of the most widely used distributions of Linux, Ubuntu, <a href="http://www.ubuntu.com/products/whatisubuntu">who says</a>:<br /><blockquote>Ubuntu is an African word meaning 'Humanity to others', or 'I am what I am because of who we all are'. The Ubuntu distribution brings the spirit of Ubuntu to the software world.</blockquote><br />I am very pleased to be able to make a meaningful contribution to the free software movement. For some time it has been one of those things I would like to achieve before I die.Damon Lynchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17905825610669137126noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28413079.post-88559617574027660632009-03-01T17:51:00.004+13:002009-05-05T16:28:12.596+12:00Student contributions to peacebuilding<p>The theme of the <a href="http://www.isfit.org/">International Student Festival</a> held on 20 February to 1 March 2009 in Trondheim, Norway was on how peace can be built and maintained. The festival emphasized student contributions to peacebuilding. The organizers published a <a href="http://www.isfit.org/downloads/vot.pdf">128 page book (PDF, 72MB)</a> with contributions from students and professionals, including three of my photos from Israel / Palestine.<br /></p><p>I am very pleased to be associated with this project. I have always believed that the more people who study peacebuilding systematically and seriously, the more likely peace is likely to be established. The world needs a will to peace—to believe that it is possible, and to know what it takes to achieve it.</p>Damon Lynchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17905825610669137126noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28413079.post-26735608432400501632009-01-23T18:53:00.006+13:002009-01-23T19:28:16.643+13:00The truth behind the Prayer of St. Francis of AssisiSt. Francis, probably the most loved of all Christian saints, was born as Francis Bernadone, in Assisi, Italy, in 1181 or 1182. A remarkable prayer has been commonly attributed to him, called simply the <span style="font-style:italic;">Prayer of St. Francis</span>. As one might expect, there are a few variations of it, and this is one:<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace.<br />Where there is hatred, let me sow love;<br />Where there is injury, pardon;<br />Where there is doubt, faith;<br />Where there is despair, hope;<br />Where there is darkness, light;<br />Where there is sadness, joy.<br /></span> <br /><span style="font-style:italic;">O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek<br />To be consoled as to console,<br />To be understood as to understand,<br />To be loved as to love;<br />For it is in giving that we receive;<br />It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;<br />It is in dying to self that we are born to eternal life.</span><br /><br />This version was taught to me by my meditation teacher, <a href="http://easwaran.org/">Eknath Easwaran</a>. Sri Easwaran had a deep love for St. Francis. I suspect it was Sri Easwaran who added the words "to self" in the last line—no doubt to emphasize the idea that eternal life means mystical union with the divine, as opposed to the idea of spending eternity in heaven.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/23/world/europe/23italy.html?partner=permalink&exprod=permalink">The NY Times today reported</a> that this prayer is not believed to have come directly from St. Francis, a fact widely understood within certain circles of the Catholic Church. In fact, no one knows for sure who exactly wrote it. It was very likely inspired by St. Francis's life, and some of his phrases might be reflected in it, but he didn't write it.<br /><br />When I first heard this news from Fr. Michael McGarry, when staying at <a href="http://www.tantur.org/">Tantur</a> in 2006, I was initially somewhat shocked. On Sri Easwaran's recommendations, it was my first meditation passage. I imagined that St. Francis himself had composed it based on his own experiences living the best life he possibly could. <br /><br />In time, I concluded it didn't matter who wrote it. It remains one of the most stunningly inspiring religious passages we have available to us in the modern world. It's direct and to the point, from the first line to the last. It's an especially powerful passage to turn to when struggling to be good among difficult people who in their ignorance are behaving badly. And it is faithful to St. Francis's life. The real truth behind this prayer is that it speaks of the truth of humanity's highest ideals.<br /><br />Shortly before my mother died, she and I watched the marvelous film on St. Francis's life, "Brother Sun, Sister Moon". She was moved by it. I read out the prayer at her funeral. I very much hope it will be a part of my life till the day I die.Damon Lynchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17905825610669137126noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28413079.post-87705498258436060672009-01-23T01:08:00.004+13:002009-01-23T01:12:58.906+13:00Two pieces of good news from the U.S.<div style="float: right; margin-left: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/damonlynch/2185969844/" title="photo sharing"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2309/2185969844_a283b67468_m.jpg" alt="" style="border: solid 2px #000000;" /></a><br /><span style="font-size: 0.9em; margin-top: 0px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/damonlynch/2185969844/">Close Guantánamo Amnesty International Protest</a></span></div>Great news! President Obama seems to be making good on his promise to close the Guantánamo Bay prison complex. This is a victory for human rights campaigners—and ultimately a victory for those who seek to make the world a safer place in which to live.<br /><br />Equally important, to my mind, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/22/business/22pepsi.html?partner=permalink&exprod=permalink">is an observation from PepsiCo manager Bryan Lembke</a>: "If you don’t measure it, you can’t improve it". He was referring to PepsiCo's initiative to measure the carbon footprint generated by the production of their orange juice. He is absolutely correct. I applaud the people responsible for undertaking this initiative within the company for their work in this area, and I hope it is the one of a series many meaningful steps to improve the sustainability of their industry. <br /><br />If Mr. Lembke's simple observation was applied more widely, fantastic changes for the better could be made. I have long believed that measuring economic performance by primarily relying on GDP (or GNP) is foolish and dangerous. Wonderful alternatives to exist that can be used to help societies more wisely measure socioeconomic wellbeing. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gross_domestic_product#Alternatives_to_GDP">Many are outlined here</a>.Damon Lynchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17905825610669137126noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28413079.post-21444324343304016872009-01-09T07:56:00.004+13:002009-01-14T22:31:28.961+13:00New websitesToday I launched two new websites. The first is the beginnings of my personal website:<br /><br /><a href=" http://www.damonlynch.net/">http://www.damonlynch.net/</a><br /><br />The second site relates to a free and open source software project I have been working on for some time:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.damonlynch.net/rapid">http://www.damonlynch.net/rapid</a><br /><br />They're both currently rather modest, but I hope that changes in time! For instance, I plan to put links to my academic research on my personal site.Damon Lynchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17905825610669137126noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28413079.post-37949842520818282622008-12-09T16:25:00.004+13:002008-12-09T16:46:59.698+13:00Defeated, dethroned, and now, defacedMohammad Reza Pahlavi was Iran's monarch from 1941 to1979. He ruled the country for 37 years, and was unceremoniously removed from power in 1979 by Ayatollah Khomeini and his many millions of followers. He died in 1980. Today his wife, Farah Pahlavi, divides her time between the West and Egypt. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK9pZrCm2-wVB1SGbRe_TSjSu3EYN9MJdmMosUkG1L_FVZTMHWMhgdvIsFXiUglYH5tCEximL6p5tXiYEwspJ1XkFEdRR0CXWHeuT6_WA5le_Ts0LFBV9ifP4XBaLmgo7IDubm6w/s1600-h/20081208-1645-3156-iso1600-f4.0-16mm-15+copy.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK9pZrCm2-wVB1SGbRe_TSjSu3EYN9MJdmMosUkG1L_FVZTMHWMhgdvIsFXiUglYH5tCEximL6p5tXiYEwspJ1XkFEdRR0CXWHeuT6_WA5le_Ts0LFBV9ifP4XBaLmgo7IDubm6w/s320/20081208-1645-3156-iso1600-f4.0-16mm-15+copy.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5277626719536262418" /></a><br /><br />A lavish photo book extolling the glories of Iran's present and past, called Persia: Bridge of Turquoise, was produced during the king's reign. The photography was by Roloff Beny, and it included an essay by the renowned Iranian scholar Seyyed Hossein Nasr. The forward was written by Farah Pahlavi.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn9-Fsvthpg-fKhiu9zspEPntc6oysojvvQbanKwucLqWudDc7ZlA_gg4rsMLi5usZYXcd8jXNJO535qnONGIl4pzxB1fTxp9LSbC1Wqcf7eA6wLXmr0mmRAF-wlpvUA09Xy0AcA/s1600-h/20081208-1649-3163-iso3200-f4.0-35mm-40+copy.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 191px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn9-Fsvthpg-fKhiu9zspEPntc6oysojvvQbanKwucLqWudDc7ZlA_gg4rsMLi5usZYXcd8jXNJO535qnONGIl4pzxB1fTxp9LSbC1Wqcf7eA6wLXmr0mmRAF-wlpvUA09Xy0AcA/s320/20081208-1649-3163-iso3200-f4.0-35mm-40+copy.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5277626923591474338" /></a><br /><br />The book contains a few images of the king and his wife, both of whom look eminently regal in appearance. When I was browsing through a copy of this book a few days ago in the Morrison Library at UC Berkeley, I was momentarily stunned and slightly bemused to find an X a previous reader had drawn using a red ball point pen on one of the pictures. It was scribbled directly on the face of the former king. Someone had literally defaced the king.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxD4fJBhgjyujcoZd7RCGvIVDz0UN4laZNfMOrfZjm2VXTXaSHracbXbkFJpi_6luAr3aUdPrFwjlShD73m0YnFLXK0nJW_OQSZM3VQuaPr1E44pOx90H2X_9AE8_DIDCukntAFA/s1600-h/20081208-1649-3164-iso3200-f4.0-35mm-25+copy.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 260px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxD4fJBhgjyujcoZd7RCGvIVDz0UN4laZNfMOrfZjm2VXTXaSHracbXbkFJpi_6luAr3aUdPrFwjlShD73m0YnFLXK0nJW_OQSZM3VQuaPr1E44pOx90H2X_9AE8_DIDCukntAFA/s320/20081208-1649-3164-iso3200-f4.0-35mm-25+copy.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5277627054156659490" /></a><br /><br />The vandalism of a library book is a librarian's nightmare, of course. Damage done to any book is often permanent, and can be disastrous when the book is impossible to replace. UC Berkeley's library is one of the finest in the United States. It provides an outstanding environment for scholarly research. One simply doesn't expect to find random acts of permanent political protest within the pages of its library books, even at a campus with a progressive reputation like Berkeley. In such an august environment, is such an act by a reader a stirring rebellion in favor of humanity's dignity and justice, or merely the uncouth work of a hasty barbarian?<br /><br />What was the vandal thinking? Was it spontaneous? Maybe seeing a few images of regal splendor was more than the vandal could handle, and the defenseless book was the object of their frustration. I imagined a face, angry at first, eyes ablaze, a red pen held aloft ready to strike, but then softening to reflect a warm, satisfied glow. Or perhaps it was a measured act, plotted after a night of determined reflection. My mind formed the image of a student tossing and turning in bed, unable to sleep, with angry thoughts coursing through his tender mind. Perhaps his uncle had been tortured and killed by the king's intelligence services, and he was taking revenge. Perhaps he hated the outlandish wealth of the king, while the ordinary people suffered.<br /><br />I became fascinated with the defaced image. It represented something for me, but what was it exactly? There are many oppressive forces that bear down on us. We may feel like we have little control over our destiny. We might well be aware that many of our leaders are selfish and perhaps even overtly corrupt, like the former king of Iran was, but we probably feel we have little power to change the situation. Defacing an image might be one way for someone to feel like they're doing something productive.<br /><br />The king was a handsome man. His wife was undoubtedly beautiful. Iranians often place a premium on looks. They can afford to. They're an attractive and refined people. An Iranian American was recently telling me of his displeasure at what he considers the rampant materialism and all around shallowness found within much of his community in southern California. Yet the red X disregarded all of that decadent aesthetic pleasure. It said “I don't care how handsome and beautiful you are, you're still a dastardly scoundrel.”<br /><br />Perhaps the fact that I am a photographer myself makes me sensitive to these issues. I'm often intrigued when there is a collision between ideals and ideology, or beauty and ugliness. Images I've published on the Internet are often used for political or artistic purposes by individuals and organizations. Sometimes people ask me for permission, and they occasionally even pay me for the privilege. At other times they use an image without bothering to contact me. Sometimes they respect the dignity of the people in the images, sometimes not. <br /><br />All in all, the vandal got me thinking. I don't like how they did it, but I have to admit they left their mark on more than just the book.Damon Lynchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17905825610669137126noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28413079.post-66856741994194546392008-12-04T17:58:00.005+13:002008-12-04T20:49:41.892+13:00"Making a go of things" vs. "bouncing around"The extent to which a few years of difference in age can influence perceptions of what people really ought to be doing in life is remarkable. Things which are seen as wise in one period of life can be seen as irresponsible if done a little later. The change over from one period to the next can be rapid. Having a changeable vs. stable career is like this. Doing a mix of jobs and being living an itinerant life in one's twenties and early thirties is often perceived positively by other young people and their elders. It indicates a willingness to experiment and to be open to new experiences. For the young adult, it promises adventure and self-discovery. However there comes a point where doing the same things while being more advanced in years has a cost. Not only do the advantages of a stable life seem more compelling for the individual themselves, but other people's perceptions can quickly change. No longer is the person making a go of things. Instead, they are merely bouncing around from one thing to the next. They are not making the most of the experience they have accumulated in life. Instead, they are frittering away their life without a clear sense of direction and purpose. What they need is a plan that leads them to a path of robust stability.<br /><br />When I graduated from my undergraduate studies as a fresh faced 21 year old youth, I could have continued straight on into a program of graduate study, culminating in a Ph.D. This would have set me up for a long career in the academic world. Life as an academic is a viable and very attractive option for me. I enjoy academic life immensely, and while there are gazillions of things in this life for which I truly have no talent for, the kinds of skills I have do find useful expression in a university. The fields of study I am most passionate about relate to people and their culture, particularly as they relate to religion, peace and conflict. As a young adult, I did not believe I had the necessary experience to make the most effective use of all that graduate studies can offer. Instead, I wanted more experience with life outside the university. I chose to work with civil society organizations (also known as non government organizations), eventually securing work in the Philippines in the fields of biodiversity conservation, sustainable development policy advocacy, and later agrarian reform. I later spent time in other countries, working, meeting people and experiencing cultures very different to the one in which I was raised. During this time, I have not had a single job that I've worked at for more than two and half years. What I have had is the experience of working with a huge variety of people in a bunch of different contexts. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipOEzigqhJnBL4zokQIYrqCuvFoLi6zxbG9mmm88Q9Z2QwEtL5FieX-Eo4ILtI2sennskKlkV8sylCbCkcY7vjAEcWLRpNId8YDLV4A0iQYZOaJmoZX4uqDYrY-fyRmrvFCsb7ew/s1600-h/by+river-small.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 236px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipOEzigqhJnBL4zokQIYrqCuvFoLi6zxbG9mmm88Q9Z2QwEtL5FieX-Eo4ILtI2sennskKlkV8sylCbCkcY7vjAEcWLRpNId8YDLV4A0iQYZOaJmoZX4uqDYrY-fyRmrvFCsb7ew/s320/by+river-small.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5275797937416945842" /></a><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >Philippines, 1999</span><br /><br />In the last few years, I have begun to get comments from concerned friends that I ought to focus my energies on a clearer path in life than what I've been leading. I still get the odd comment from people who do have stable careers that they deeply admire the variety in my life, and that they wish they had the same experience for themselves. But the former is slowly becoming more common than the latter.<br /><br />The truth is, I also long for some stability. I've not had a proper home for myself in more than four years. Living out of a suitcase does mean adventure and experience, but it has lots of downsides too. I anticipate that my notably itinerant lifestyle of the past few years will come to an end next year, when I hope to start a Ph.D program in anthropology. After my Ph.D, I plan to pursue an academic career in which I can bring my life experiences into the classroom and my research. Some focus will do me good, and allow me to make a more in-depth contribution than I otherwise would. That's the theory, at least. Now is the time for it's application.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.pbase.com/dflynch/image/106673909"><img src="http://www.pbase.com/dflynch/image/106673909/medium.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >California, 2008</span>Damon Lynchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17905825610669137126noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28413079.post-29866490004916749672008-12-01T07:24:00.003+13:002009-01-15T22:49:13.200+13:00It's my birthday<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/damonlynch/3071429786/" title="It's my birthday by damonlynch, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3198/3071429786_cf693ce79d_m.jpg" width="240" height="160" alt="It's my birthday" /></a><br /><br />I was born in Wellington hospital in New Zealand at 3 o'clock in the morning on December 1. My mother is no longer alive and in losing her it feels like I lost my connection to the source of life. But as this photo shows, I am standing on the land. I am by the sea, which is where life emerged from many millions of years ago. Mother Earth is our mother.<br /><br />Who is the mother of our planet? A million suns are ablaze with light, and the sea of blue is spread in the sky, says Kabir. We stand and look to the stars, our world turning, their ancient light reaching into our depths.<br /><br />Rains pour down without water, and the rivers are streams of light, Kabir adds. In the very depths of our consciousness, we find the source of life. We open our eyes, and we see it everywhere.Damon Lynchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17905825610669137126noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28413079.post-75527425905191790152008-10-22T08:11:00.012+13:002009-01-15T22:49:42.981+13:00A southern weddingBefore last Saturday, the previous three weddings I'd attended were in Pakistan and India. You know the setup. Weddings that go on for days. Dancing that goes on late into the night. Gold jewelery and glittering precious stones practically lighting up the room. Women wearing more makeup than a corpse. Hordes of cousins and aunts and uncles and family friends and children dressed up in little suits. The bride and groom sitting patiently on a stage having their photo taken with never ending waves of relatives.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGcG15myVh5wcrYKToKUrjPGTfh9IFQy_al1eNAFfDJzmbZc093t4OgB-X__D9uTQEf7X8aDB-pO2cRgEmD5tl62n14yMf_qytxKijS59OZlpJzAO2ZutT60hVeDU1eyJCoLFMnQ/s1600-h/20080413-1714-3752-iso500-f2.8-200mm-1000.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGcG15myVh5wcrYKToKUrjPGTfh9IFQy_al1eNAFfDJzmbZc093t4OgB-X__D9uTQEf7X8aDB-pO2cRgEmD5tl62n14yMf_qytxKijS59OZlpJzAO2ZutT60hVeDU1eyJCoLFMnQ/s320/20080413-1714-3752-iso500-f2.8-200mm-1000.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5259688651607353394" /></a><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >A tiny fraction of the diamond and gold jewelery worn at an Indian wedding earlier this year</span><br /><br />I'd never been to a wedding in the Southern U.S. before. When I found out that my peace studies classmates Jonathan and Diana were having a part of their wedding celebration in Atlanta, Georgia, I welcomed the chance to attend. Since Jonathan is from Atlanta, and Diana is from England, their marriage is a mixed marriage -- one of those where people think a little differently from each other beyond what color to paint the bedroom. The weddings in South Asia had been among identical couples -- the same religion, ethnicity, nationality, and socioeconomic class. Only the gender was different. Di and Jonathan are both Christians, and their education is naturally as close to the same as you're ever going to find, but here Di was marrying someone in whose church people speak in tongues. That's just not done in England.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8SReF9VwSbxXzp5d8OTgTPE4Av3a6SrS-gFuv6CE0EiFDh5f1K_zGntXMuHsQXNFMV87mxsCFaD5HducKNz2_ws2Hm9AUj-DkivH9oOF18bTxqNjngNLHkjxErLDXIFBZ4c2NaA/s1600-h/20081018-2046-2156-iso1000-f2.8-200mm-200.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8SReF9VwSbxXzp5d8OTgTPE4Av3a6SrS-gFuv6CE0EiFDh5f1K_zGntXMuHsQXNFMV87mxsCFaD5HducKNz2_ws2Hm9AUj-DkivH9oOF18bTxqNjngNLHkjxErLDXIFBZ4c2NaA/s320/20081018-2046-2156-iso1000-f2.8-200mm-200.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5259688889656407522" /></a><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >Di and Jonathan exchanging vows in Jonathan's church</span><br /><br />The service was held in Jonathan's church. Near the church entry, scenes from their wedding proper in Oxford played on a couple of monitors. The back wall was dominated by a large sign that said "SEEING THE UNSEEN" and an American flag. People sang songs about Jesus their savior. The atmosphere was relaxed, caring and inclusive. Anyone who wanted to could participate during the prayers for the couple. Jesus's name was proclaimed loudly and regularly. The very high esteem felt by Jonathan's community for him marked every prayer. None of this was surprising. What was surprising -- shocking almost -- was when one of Di's family friends, a tall silver bearded Englishman in his fifties, spoke of Jesus and the couple so enthusiastically that he ended up shouting loudly into the microphone. He out evangelized the evangelicals on their own patch. I never thought I'd live to see that.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbrd11g0q0o9g9lD9IXX9wo7Q5ll1G9Wq2V2r_PjJypnHNCmAnpT3djlZizQD9FHA4nFdJVGBxZ3kGIlm2TodGfXwN9-jG2E8Llto7T1i-2FQS8RWSOHHUx2WFTNt5T0cxFcsn6w/s1600-h/20081018-2110-2175-iso1600-f8.0-33mm-200.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbrd11g0q0o9g9lD9IXX9wo7Q5ll1G9Wq2V2r_PjJypnHNCmAnpT3djlZizQD9FHA4nFdJVGBxZ3kGIlm2TodGfXwN9-jG2E8Llto7T1i-2FQS8RWSOHHUx2WFTNt5T0cxFcsn6w/s320/20081018-2110-2175-iso1600-f8.0-33mm-200.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5259689490102961538" /></a><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >A light hearted moment during prayers</span><br /><br />Another peace studies classmate of ours, Elizabeth, had already married her sweetheart, Dylan. Dylan is from rural Kentucky. Elizabeth is Mexican, and proud of her indigenous heritage. They both attended the wedding. Dylan was wearing a sweater from the University of Notre Dame. On it the coat of arms of Sorin College was proudly displayed. A local asked him if he was one of the English guests.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisoSPXLe_GayVlhLHAD-fv9QqELogkOjk0ZeWU1Cuo-mJ35h5RJpDarqmlgK65NENR1z2rqCAcXY9H9F4kCz2pdgWlZtY2S7ezYYEuEJNXMEkSHr-Oy_3iTro4TMd99rXigogheA/s1600-h/20081018-2022-2133-iso1600-f2.0-135mm-60.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisoSPXLe_GayVlhLHAD-fv9QqELogkOjk0ZeWU1Cuo-mJ35h5RJpDarqmlgK65NENR1z2rqCAcXY9H9F4kCz2pdgWlZtY2S7ezYYEuEJNXMEkSHr-Oy_3iTro4TMd99rXigogheA/s320/20081018-2022-2133-iso1600-f2.0-135mm-60.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5259690152295187442" /></a><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >Elizabeth and Dylan. Their marriage was in Mexico City. Elizabeth is Mexican and Dylan is from Kentucky.</span><br /><br />Dylan and I had a chat about mules. Mules are what happens when a male donkey and a female horse have a good time together. They're prized for having the best characteristics of both animals. The Wikipedia entry for a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mule">mule</a> observes it "possesses the sobriety, patience, endurance and sure-footedness of the donkey, and the vigour, strength and courage of the horse." They make wonderful working animals. I confess that I might be one of the few people on Earth ever to have contemplated the mule as a metaphor for the benefits of mixed marriages. But it's true. I did for a while.<br /><br />There's only one problem with mules: unlike a horse, who mostly kicks backwards and occasionally forwards, a mule can kick in all directions. Another characteristic of mules is that they're almost always sterile. That's not so much a problem for the farmer -- they can always breed some more. But it can be problem for the mule. They can feel the desire to get laid but lack the reproductive equipment needed to act on it. Dylan told me a story from rural Kentucky some forty years ago. A female horse was in a field beside a male mule. The horse was in heat. The owner of the mule didn't stand a chance. This mule did more than just kick. By the time his body was found, the mule had taken out his rampant sexual frustration by using his powerful jaws to almost sever both of the unfortunate farmer's arms from his body.<br /><br />I know what tragedy is. That's when you get a kick in the guts, get up after a while, only to get another one before you've had a chance to fully recover, and so on. Repeat until death. But I've never seen anything try to chew a person's arms off. That's a new one.<br /><br />So much for the mule as a metaphor for countless the blessings of mixed marriages. Still, there must be a metaphor in there somewhere, right? After all, there is the "elephant in the room". Everyone knows that. Perhaps there could also be "the frisky mule in the field". Hmm. That probably won't work either.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNl9HzBVRsXrINprTQjelAEDVmW-65ZDGjlQPUyKOq-lyWeObdbapTHA4Fe7_BJEObTF5XrB5lIzDLjQgH2EB5nw0Vvr-S1Ws2Vdfw3zpHhfd_dFSol-xzGjNkr4qXFanFDw8TuA/s1600-h/20081018-2039-2151-iso1000-f2.8-200mm-200.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNl9HzBVRsXrINprTQjelAEDVmW-65ZDGjlQPUyKOq-lyWeObdbapTHA4Fe7_BJEObTF5XrB5lIzDLjQgH2EB5nw0Vvr-S1Ws2Vdfw3zpHhfd_dFSol-xzGjNkr4qXFanFDw8TuA/s320/20081018-2039-2151-iso1000-f2.8-200mm-200.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5259690397107433698" /></a><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >Performing a religious song in front of an American flag</span><br /><br />It often seems to me like a good mixed marriage is a miracle of sorts. The miracle is not that they work. Cultural differences pose no insurmountable barrier when the love is true. The miracle is that they work in spite of the skeptics and naysayers who sometimes make it their eternal mission to sow the seeds of doubt and division. In these two peace studies marriages, even if such thinking did exist somewhere, it wouldn't have stood a chance, given the loving support the couples received.Damon Lynchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17905825610669137126noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28413079.post-14169201026297668512008-10-12T19:40:00.002+13:002008-10-12T20:28:23.203+13:00Interview with Rabbi David Rosen<a href="http://rabbidavidrosen.net/">Rabbi David Rosen</a> is one of the world's leading figures in inter-religious relations.<br /><br />This interview was conducted in his office in Jerusalem on January 8, 2006. Nothing has been left out.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.pbase.com/dflynch/image/104410002"><img src="http://www.pbase.com/dflynch/image/104410002/medium.jpg" alt="Rabbi David Rosen giving a speech at an Arab university on January 4, 2006" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >Rabbi David Rosen giving a speech at an Arab university on January 4, 2006</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;"><span style="font-weight:bold;">Damon Lynch: </span>Very briefly, I am interested in something called the spiritual imagination. I see my interest in this as being related to character, conduct and consciousness in people, and how they connect their inner life—their spiritual life—to the action they take in the world. I am particularly interested in how they see the use of love, power and knowledge. My feeling is that a lot of religious people talk about love without incorporating necessarily the component of power. There is the Quaker phrase, “speak the truth to power.” I think we can have power as well, and use it responsibly. I am very interested in developing a counterpart to C. Wright Mills’ sociological imagination, but with a more inner dimension. And I am interested in how people understand the development of their inner selves, their inner life, with the action that they take, particularly peacebuilding. So I wanted to know what kind of ideas you might have in this area.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-weight:bold;">Rabbi David Rosen: </span>Well I do not know I have any particular significant ideas. What you say sounds extremely right—that these individuals do have what you call a spiritual imagination and are integrated in their approach towards both the more moral and ethical-spiritual dimensions. Then their ability to be able to contribute to reconciliation and mutual respect is all the more powerful. I agree with you that the ideal would be where these elements are of both one’s relationship to the institutional structures that determine people’s life—political structures, the structures of authority—should be the goal of those who are animated and motivated by the moral, emotional and spiritual aspects of their own conviction. But the reality, certainly in this part of the world, is that that tends to happen too rarely, that those who are related to the structures of the power are anyway here very much subject to political authority. Also the vast majority here, because we are in a context of conflict living in degrees of greater or lesser fear and suspicion, which therefore limit the full expression of their spiritual imagination. Those who are more spiritually developed tend therefore not to be part of the institutional structures and tend to be more involved in grassroots activities, and there tends to be a dislocation between the two. And therefore, if I may be so immodest, those few of us who do seek that kind of integration have a responsibility to try to be able to egg on those in institutional positions in order to be more responsive to the challenges. I think we need to be modest as to what extent we can actually open up their minds and hearts.<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;"><span style="font-weight:bold;">Lynch: </span>It strikes me that most people when it comes down to it would rather be a blessing instead of a curse on the rest of life.<br /></span><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Rosen: </span>Well it is absolutely true, but nevertheless it is like the famous—this is an over exaggeration—it is like the Mel Brooks takeoff of Hitler where he says “all I want is peace, I want a little piece of Poland, and a little piece of this.” So everybody here wants peace and everyone here wants to be a blessing, but they always wanted peace on their own terms. Generally speaking, because of their own insularity, and because of their fears, they see the responsibility with the Other and see themselves as virtuous and self-righteous.<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;"><span style="font-weight:bold;">Lynch: </span>I have noticed that when I have asked people how they connect their inner life to their outer actions, people struggle to articulate this. Maybe I am asking the wrong questions.<br /></span><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Rosen: </span>No, I think it is very true because most people do not think of their inner life. I suppose it depends where. I think in the Western world, that is not so true. In the Western world we have had to look more critically at what our what our religious and spiritual convictions and therefore can talk of them in terms of our inner life. But I would say that is relatively new. Well, it has always been of course the language of the mystics. But, in terms of institutional authority, maybe there are two things. Maybe in a way, power and authority tend to stifle the degree to which people devote themselves more to their own inner life. If you look through history, I suppose, generally speaking, those of the more mystical orientation have been those who have eschewed power and authority. And those who have been in authority, therefore have been by almost definition rather one-dimensional types. In our part of the world to the large degree that is still the case. Then there is another factor, and that is to be able to answer your question properly requires a degree of self-critique. It requires a capacity of introspection, which tends to come with a capacity of self-critique. That requires a degree of confidence and I would say that the vast majority of people here do not have that self-confidence to be able to look critically at themselves or at their tradition. So there are a number of different factors that need to be there to facilitate that integration. Of course there have always been remarkable individuals who have risen above such limitations, but they have been exceptions and therefore almost by definition not impacted enormously upon the overall context. So I think if you going to say to what extent does your prayer and your meditation and of course you religious study impact upon your life, all leaders would say “of course it impacts upon my life, it directs my life.” But nevertheless, they have not really looked at themselves within a more self-critical perspective to enquire more profoundly as to what relationships are between the inner and the external. The difficulty that people have comes to some extent from the circumstances in which they live, and of course it could come from the fact that maybe they do not have a significantly developed inner spiritual life!<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;"><span style="font-weight:bold;">Lynch: </span>One example I am intrigued by is the example of Abdul Ghaffar Khan in the North West Frontier Province of what is today Pakistan. With his Servants of God, they took on British imperialism with nonviolence. His people were, to put it bluntly, a smashed, divided, very weak people. One of the arguments he put to his people was that “if we Pukhtuns fight the British violence with nonviolence and we are patient, we will show the whole world who are the civilized people here”, obviously putting the challenge to the British to critique their own concepts of civilization. He used a number of religious and nonreligious arguments to convince his followers to stick steadfastly to nonviolence. But I very much like one in particular: the idea of taking the culture’s strengths and using them to overcome its weaknesses. A particular strength of the Pukhtuns was their honor. Khan used it to get his followers to overcome a serious weakness, which was the idea that they were brutes, uncivilized and uncouth (which had some truth to it as well). Sheikh Aziz Bukhari mentioned to me yesterday this idea that if you are standing at a checkpoint and the soldiers are not being nice, he does not want to give them the satisfaction of seeing him respond with anger—sometimes they provoke people to do that. He said he instead smiles. I see that as a similar kind of a concept, but in a smaller way, of taking a bad situation and turning it into a good one. I am beginning to think that this seems to be a core idea of being able to imagine something very different from what it is now—of taking what you have now, and transforming it into something good.<br /></span><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Rosen: </span>I would say two things. First of all, what you are describing with regards to the Pukhtun ways of course was Gandhi’s own approach towards the British as well. A number of scholars have observed that he was very lucky that he was preaching this idea of nonviolence, a culture of nonviolent resistance, to the British. Had he been advocating that let’s say to Nazi Germany, then that would have been the end of India, and it would have been wiped out entirely. In order to be able to have preached that kind of approach, you have to have an antagonist on the other side who can be responsive to it. Otherwise, as a principal I think it is a fallacy with regards to those who cannot appreciate the value of what you are standing for. Therefore I think we have to be very cautious about generalisations in that regard. With regards to Sheikh Abdul Aziz I think it is very important in any situation, if we are able to, to be compassionate. I remember reading a story of somebody during the period of the Holocaust. He was a rabbi, and he was being beaten by the Nazis. He was being tortured, and he was feeling a great deal of pain. He was filled with an initial sense of great hatred towards the people who were torturing him. He said, “I had to remind myself that these are also creatures created in the image of God. Once I remembered that, I could bear all the torture that they had to throw at me.” So obviously the power of both affirming the dignity of the Other and compassion towards the Other is an enormous resource and reservoir that enables us to withstand enormous adversity. However in certain situations, smiling at somebody can actually do the reverse. I remember another Hasidic story of a rabbi who had a shrewish wife and he was very henpecked. She used to say all sorts of nasty things to him, even in the presence of his Hasidim, his followers. He never answered them back. He always kept his quiet, because he was a very saintly man. On one occasion he replied to her sharply and she was quiet and went back to wherever she had come from. The people said to him “Well rabbi, you have never ever replied to your wife. Why did you do that like this? ” He said “because I could see that being quiet and not responding to her was causing more anguish than if I responded.”<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;"><span style="font-weight:bold;">Lynch: </span>I remember Sri Ramakrishna used to say to his followers that some people should be saluted from a distance. I very much like that image. As an aside, what you make of the arguments of some that the challenge of the German women to get the Jewish husbands back outside the Reichstag in Berlin—I forget which year it was, 1941, 42, 43—paralysed Hitler’s so-called iron will? What do you make of this account that the German women undertook nonviolent direct action? [Editor’s note: <a href="http://www.aforcemorepowerful.org/book/excerpts/denmark.php">read a detailed account of the event here</a>. The location was Rosenstrasse, not the Reichstag]<br /></span><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Rosen: </span>I do not know. I do not know the story, but I would be very surprised. I cannot see any reason why Hitler would have behaved like that.<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;"><span style="font-weight:bold;">Lynch: </span>I wish I had memorised it better, but in short, the German women with their Jewish husband’s, perhaps numbering in the hundreds, were taken and imprisoned. Some were already on the way to the gas chambers. The German women for two or three days conducted nonviolent resistance, right outside the headquarters of something important like the SS, a very symbolic place anyway. Hitler knew what was going on. He could not just shoot them.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-weight:bold;">Rosen: </span>Why? <br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;"><span style="font-weight:bold;">Lynch: </span>Perhaps because they were German.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Rosen: </span>He shot plenty of other Germans. He did not have any problem with homosexuals. In fact, I would say the vast majority of those who continued to be married were publicly humiliated. If anybody was caught walking with a Jewish partner they were generally publicly humiliated in the streets. It is very difficult to believe that Hitler felt a little more compassion than his SS guards who were behaving like that the streets.<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;"><span style="font-weight:bold;">Lynch: </span>Well apparently in this case not only did the men come back—not only were they saved that day—but they were not picked off one by one as the war progressed, as we might have assumed. Apparently they lived.<br /></span><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Rosen: </span>This is totally inconsistent with almost everything else that happened under Nazi Germany—there must be some other factor at play.<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;"><span style="font-weight:bold;">Lynch: </span>I share your concern about the smile and be happy approach all the time. I think it has its time in its place. Sometimes, a word said sharply can be very useful.<br /></span><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Rosen: </span>I think actually what is much more effective is the model that Marshall Rosenberg has developed, which basically comes out of Carl Rogers, and that is the language of empathy—being able to understand somebody’s needs and wants and their feelings at any given moment. Therefore, if you are able to say to somebody something along the lines of “I realise that this is really tough for you and it is really dangerous and there are some really nasty people around who want to do harm, and you had to protect it, etc”. You show compassion to them. Then you say, “I would like you also to understand how I am feeling in this regard” than express your own particular feelings, values and needs. As long as you have shown compassion from the beginning, you are likely to get a lot through. But you have got to be able to connect to the person’s feelings and needs.<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;"><span style="font-weight:bold;">Lynch: </span>In your own tradition, what are some ways that you teach others to develop empathy for those who they truly believe are inferior to themselves? <br /></span><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Rosen: </span>In my own tradition, from my point of view, the most important principle is to teach them that there is nobody who is inferior to them, because everybody is created in the divine image, and therefore everybody is of inestimable worth, and every life in all their dignity is therefore of inalienable value. That is not taught well enough. The problem is that when you get to the situation of conflict there is a need to demonise. Therefore you look to sources that therefore can reinforce the dehumanisation of the other. But in my opinion they all fundamentally contradict the most central principle that everybody is created in the divine image. Of course we all have problems with our texts because in every text, whether it is the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament, or the Koran, we find areas of where clearly there violent things that are endorsed in one way or another under certain circumstances. Therefore if you are dealing with a person of a more liberal orientation, you can look at them and you can say what are the more central principles for the more contextual issues, and therefore what we have to be guided for. But when you are dealing with people who are basically fundamentalists—this word fundamentalist of course, <a href="http://kroc.nd.edu/faculty_staff/faculty/appleby.shtml">Scott Appleby</a> in particular would understand is a rather dangerous word because it can have so many different meanings. But if we said let us use the term to say we are dealing with people who are uncritical with regards to their text in their tradition, then it is very much easier for them to be able to draw on more problematic texts as much as to be able to draw on the more positive texts. I would therefore obviously seek to reinforce as much as possible additional texts. The most famous rabbinic text is a discussion between <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akiba_ben_Joseph">Rabbi Akiba</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simeon_ben_Azzai">Ben Azzai</a> on what the most important principle is in the Bible. I would say to them “look, there is no way it says the most important principle is a question of protection of property or protection of land. The most important principle that they discuss is that Akiba says ‘love your neighbour as yourself.’ And Ben Azzai says the more important principle is that every human being is created in the divine image, so you do not say because I was despised so let my neighbour be despised, because I was cursed, so let my neighbour be cursed. In other words his concern is that Akiba will make ‘love your neighbour as yourself’ to mean ‘love your neighbour as you yourself were loved or not loved’, and therefore his emphasis is that it does not matter how you have been treated, you have to be able to always remember that you have to treat an individual as a child of God and a person created in the divine image. And then comes the punchline of Rabbi Tanchuma who says that if you do so (in other words if you say because I was cursed so let my neighbour be cursed, or because I was despised so let my neighbour be despised) know who it is who you despise, because in the image of God he made man.” In other words, any act of disrespect to another human being is an act of disrespect to God. So if you could communicate that effectively to people that in fact behaving badly towards other people is behaving badly towards God, then even in your more uncritical—or using the term unscientifically, fundamentalist elements—you may succeed better in getting it across. However I get back to what I said before. All these arguments utilising Jewish sources are only going to be feasible if people do not feel threatened and if they do not feel fearful. Therefore to overcome their sense of threat and fear, you have to be able to give them empathy. To give them empathy means that you need to be able to show them that you are connecting to their needs and their feelings.<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;"><span style="font-weight:bold;">Lynch: </span>In a moment, I want to come back to this disconnect between the power structures and the religious life. I share your caution about being arrogant about this kind of thing, but let us suppose for a moment the more highly developed spirituality of some people. But as an aside, in Hinduism of course one of the ancient discoveries was that the Atman is the same as Brahman, or the inner infinite Self is the Godhead. Is this compatible with the idea that we are all created in the image of God? <br /></span><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Rosen: </span>I would say yes obviously, and it would be more within the mystical tradition that would see us meaning “all created in the image of God” as all part of God and that we die we are as it were returned to the Godhead. Therefore it is all part of the mystical idea especially developed by the Hasidic movement, that God is in everywhere and everything. This was not always the perception, in which often the sacred was divorced from the non-sacred. There is within the mystical tradition a view that there is sanctity in everything everywhere. And that idea I would certainly identify with, even though I would not buy into all necessarily the cosmology that comes with certain parts of Jewish mystical tradition, specifically within Kabbalah. That is part of the reason also why I am a vegetarian, because I believe that in different degrees there is sanctity in everything. One can never be absolutely reverential of all sanctity to every single degree—one has to find a balance somewhere. But the more one is conscious of the divine in everything, the more one is able to both ennoble oneself and one’s society. Again, there is a danger of course, especially with regard to vegetarians—there are plenty of people who care more about animals than they do about human beings. It has always got to be done with a certain telos, a certain teleology in mind. Those who accuse people of speciesism are actually being immoral. If you put all sentient beings on the same level then you are going to be at some stage inadequately sensitive to the needs of human beings. This is not a new idea. This is in the writing of one of the great Jewish philosophers, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Albo">Joseph Albo</a>, a mediaeval philosopher. Therefore for me ethical vegetarianism actually is in its most potent and valuable when it takes place with an understanding of a hierarchy of life in which human life is more sacred than animal life. In my opinion that is where vegetarianism is its most ethical. Where it is seen that all sentient life is of the same order, then it is dangerous, because then you can lose the necessary sensitivity towards human life.<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;"><span style="font-weight:bold;">Lynch: </span>Yes I think I agree. I am also a vegetarian. Coming back to this disconnect between the power structures and the spiritual life of people, you must have given some thought about how to make that disconnect a little less disconnected, and to build some bridges between these two worlds.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Rosen: </span>It is not a matter of just thought—it is a matter of what I do in my life. It is really what I do. In order to do that, I have to be able to speak many languages. Even as I am speaking English or Hebrew in the course of the day, I have to speak many languages because I have to connect to people where they are at. Very central to my work is a belief in the power of the human encounter. I agree with you that most people want to be a blessing. From this point of view, this is a big difference between Judaism and Christianity, of not seeing the human being as essentially flawed. From a Jewish perspective, if anything, we are born with original virtue. It is only social factors that can corrupt us and lead us astray, or these fears that I spoke about before. The more that we can therefore bring people to overcome those fears and those suspicions and overcome those stereotypes and prejudicial preconceived perceptions, the more we can enable their inner spiritual life to be expressed in the way they relate to others and in the issues and initiatives that they able to contribute to and come to. I see myself very much as a mediator in that. Certain things for example, like bringing the Chief Rabbinate of Israel out of its cocoon, have been facilitated by external factors, not least of all the visit of Pope John Paul II to Israel in the year 2000, which developed the opening for the Committee of the Chief Rabbinate for Dialogue with the Vatican. For those involved it is significant, and even for those not involved it begins to lead them to start questioning as to whether their narrow perceptions are fair. We had another moment at a discussion on interfaith relations at - a conference of Orthodox Jewish leadership that has just concluded. Most Orthodox rabbis unfortunately, and I say this as an Orthodox rabbi, tend to be rather insular. This once again reflects their fear and lack of comfort with the world outside. On discussion of interfaith, of course I was very passionate about its importance. One of the reservations expressed by one of the rabbis, is the fear that this would therefore lead to intermarriage and undermine the integrity and therefore the continuity of Jewish identity and of the Jewish peoplehood. I give that as an example of the kinds of fears that one has to be able to contend with. You need to be able to argue with them constructively, both by giving them empathy for what their fears are, of being able to suggest to them that there is actually more to gain than to lose, and to be able to introduce them to the opportunity. You cannot always do it. In many cases it is not possible. One just has to keep on trying as much as one can.<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;"><span style="font-weight:bold;">Lynch: </span>The initiative that you are involved with, with rabbis and imams, this world council, is this involving rabbis who represent a broad spectrum of rabbinic thought in Israel? <br /></span><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Rosen: </span>In Israel, yes. There are all kinds of internecine problems, similar to the problems that you will not be able to get major Sunnis if you have Shi’ites there, or if you have Sufis there, and certainly not if you have Baha’is there. Unfortunately most of my Orthodox colleagues, unfortunately—while they are certainly open to meeting Muslims and to a lesser degree meeting Christians—the ones they fear most are other kinds of rabbis from the liberal strands of Judaism. Basically in their eyes they see those as heresies. They see them as more threatening heresies because they threaten to undermine their own power base. One of the things we have to decide with regards to the imams and rabbis is who are our target groups. If your group encompasses the total spectrum, then you will not get the spectrum, because by having the presence of one you cannot have the presence of the other. Our need was to get to the most intensely rooted—and in a way you might even say insular elements, within both communities. In Brussels at the first conference the spectrum of Israeli Jewish orthodoxy was amazing. We had an amazing spectrum of rabbinic representation. Many of those had never met a member of another religion ever before, let alone a religious leader. It was a very important opening for them. I would say it was the same in many senses for Muslims as well. In order to be able to get that spectrum of Orthodoxy it meant we had to have only a sprinkling of non-Orthodox rabbis, and then almost under wraps in order to get the more fervently Orthodox elements to participate.<br /><br />If you are involved in trying to take spiritual values which are animated by one’s own personal inner spirituality and moral convictions—and to bring these to an area where people, because of their fears, misunderstandings and insecurities are less able to give full expression to this inner life—then you have to work out all kinds of stratagems and tactics that are seeking certain creative options, but are always making certain sacrifices at the same time. Inevitably this involves some form of moral sacrifice in the process. Just not to invite people who represent other communities is in a way a moral sacrifice.<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;"><span style="font-weight:bold;">Lynch: </span>That is where the importance of having a trusting relationship becomes paramount, does it not? <br /></span><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Rosen: </span>Yes it is very important but it is important that that trusting relationship—and this is very germane to your central thesis—comes from your own inner spirituality in relation to the Other because intellectually and strategically, because in a way you are being dishonest. When I meet with colleagues from the most fervent Orthodox segments of society, and yet I know I want to bring some of my Liberal colleagues to be able to be there, I have to some extent to deceive them. Now I will try to do it in a way that is as tolerable for them as possible, and obviously be conscious not to put them in an embarrassing position. While I am to some extent deceiving them on a strategic level, what I must never do is deceive them in terms of the inner spiritual content. In other words the sincerity of what I am doing and what I am saying must come across to the other individual. As long as the other individual feels I am sincere, he or she might discover that things were not exactly as they had fully planned—or there might have been things that were even a little uncomfortable—but within certain bounds they will be able to tolerate that if they feel that the motive is totally sincere. But it is a delicate balance.<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;"><span style="font-weight:bold;">Lynch: </span>I am trying to put myself in their shoes, imagining what it would be like. It is difficult, because I was not raised in that strand of thought. I am trying to imagine what it would be like from their perspective to be with people they have never met before, and to be an authentic, Orthodox Jew and to meet with an imam.<br /></span><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Rosen: </span>That is much easier for them than to meet with a reform rabbi, especially with an imam. As far as Orthodoxy is concerned, Islam is pure monotheism. Christians are a little more of a problem, because there their perception of Trinity and incarnation poses certain questions. They have to be able to hopefully get into position where they can understand that maybe the way Christians understand these concepts is not exactly the way they think Christians understand them. Of course that is one of the most important guidelines of interreligious dialogue—to be able to understand the way the other understands herself or himself, and not the way you have necessarily conceived of the Other’s beliefs. But for their perception, a Jew has to observe a Jewish way of life the way they understand it. Therefore a Jew who seeks to understand a Jewish way of life in a different way, or even propound it in a different way, is far more problematic than a Muslim leader, who is a pure monotheist. You also have to remember that from a Jewish perspective, however this has developed, there is not a universal imperialism—you do not have to be Jewish in order to be loved by God. God loves you as a good Muslim, and I would say also as a good Christian, and I would say also as a good Hindu. From their perspective, certainly God loves you as a good Muslim because their perspective is that Islam is pure monotheism. Their dialogue with the Muslim is actually theologically the easiest thing for them to do. The problem for them is because of the political reality, in the conviction—which unfortunately is on both sides, both the Muslims and Jews—that the other side is out to get them, or to do them in, or to get rid of them, or to undermine them, or to deny their dignity or their attachments or one thing or another. The relationship has been vitiated in the last hundred years by politics—intensely so—but of the theological relationships, it is the easiest one for them.<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;"><span style="font-weight:bold;">Lynch: </span>To have a <a href="http://www.jerusalempeacemakers.org/froman/index.html">Rabbi Fruman</a> show up at a Hamas rally in Gaza, having met monthly with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahmed_Yassin">Sheikh Yassin</a> in prison I understand. . .</span> <br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Rosen: </span>These things get exaggerated. He met with him I think only twice.<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;"><span style="font-weight:bold;">Lynch: </span>Is this something that you attach some significance to? </span><br /><br />Rosen: Actually Rabbi Fruman invited me to go along to meet him when Yassin was released, thanks to Netanyahu. Of course it was Netanyahu who brought Yassin back to Gaza, because of his botched attempt to try to assassinate Mashal, and therefore this was the price he had to pay to King Hussein. When Yassin came back to Gaza, Rabbi Fruman called me up and said “would you like to go with me? ” I said “there is a limit.” I am willing to reach out to anybody who is willing to be able to at least seek to live with me in some form of peaceful accommodation, and even if that person says there are these conditions, 1, 2, 3—but somebody who is openly advocating murdering me, my children, and my family at the same time, it seems to me to be a rather rash thing to do. It seems to me that there you are behaving irresponsibly with regards to your own community because you are undermining their well-being. Now, Hamas is not the way many Israelis think, a totally monolithic structure. There are different elements within it, like within the Islamic Brotherhood, or like the stupidities you hear in America with regards to Wahhabism and Salafism as if it is all somehow totally inimical to the very existence of anybody else, and totally destructive. I personally think that is totally counter-productive. There are within all those communities the possibilities of finding individuals who are open to dialogue, and who could become interlocutors. Looking to the possibility of finding elements within Hamas with whom you could dialogue I think is a wise thing to do. It depends who does it and how it is done, because you do have other factors to take into consideration, of the ways in which it can be exploited and misrepresented and can do more harm. In principle, I am not against it, but I think it requires a very very cautious and careful approach.Damon Lynchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17905825610669137126noreply@blogger.com0