November 29 marks the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People.This year, it arrives at the darkest moment in Palestinian history as Israel’s genocide in Gaza continues unabated.
For the international community, this day is a yearly reminder to mark the anniversary of the UN General Assembly mandates contained in resolutions 32/40 B of 2 December 1977, 34/65 D of 12 December 1979, and subsequent resolutions adopted under agenda item “Question of Palestine.”
On that day in 1947, the General Assembly adopted resolution 181 (II), which came to be known as the Partition Resolution.That resolution provided for the establishment in Palestine of a “Jewish State” and an “Arab State”. Of the two States to be created under this resolution, only one, Israel, has so far come into being.
As early as December 1948, the UN General Assembly also called for refugee return, property restitution and compensation.and has also said that the Nakba serves as a reminder that close to 6 million Palestinians remain refugees to this day, scattered throughout the region.
The International Day of Solidarity is an opportunity for the international community to focus its attention on the fact that the question of Palestine remains unresolved and that the Palestinian people have yet to attain their inalienable rights as defined by the General Assembly, namely, the right to self-determination without external interference, the right to national independence and sovereignty, and the right to return to their homes and property, from which they have been displaced.
In response to the call of the United Nations, various activities are undertaken annually by Governments and civil society in observance of the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. These activities include the issuance of special messages of solidarity with the Palestinian people.Resolution 181 and to recall its efforts to grant the Palestinians their sovereignty and independence from Israeli occupation.
The day reaffirms solidarity with the steadfast people of Palestine and helps keeping the Palestinian cause live and present in the international events and the global conscience,For the Palestinian people, however, this day is more likely a yearly reminder of one thing only: how the international community has failed and continues to fail them.
Whether it’s the ongoing system of apartheid, the ethnic cleansing and other acts of genocide, or Israel’s impunity and ongoing support from its European and global allies, the crisis of international law and accountability is currently not illustrated any clearer and more tragically than in the shameful mistreatment of the Palestinian people.
For over two decades, Gaza has suffered a suffocating siege, pushing Gaza into severe poverty. Lately and since October 7, 2023, the genocide inflicted by the Israeli Occupation, which has been recognized by the ICJ as such, has led to an alarming rise in the death toll in Gaza which demands immediate and urgent global action.
Tens of thousands of people have been killed and wounded.Most of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been forcibly displaced from their homes-but nowhere is safe in Gaza. Most of them have no home to return to, since they have been intentionally destroyed or damaged beyond repair. In addition to all universities, the majority of the schools and hospitals, as well as places of worship have been destroyed. Diseases and famine, due to severe deprivation of food and essential medication, are striking fear in the hearts of an exhausted population. All these collective punishment measures imposed on the Palestinian people, is causing civilians to live with overwhelmed pain, anguish and heartache.
This dire humanitarian and socio-economic situation in Palestine in general, and refugee camps in particular, place additional burdens on international community to meet basic needs and fulfil their commitments to supporting Palestine refugees.
A recent law passed by the Israeli Knesset seeks to ban the UNRWA’s operations within areas deemed under “Israeli sovereignty,” specifically in Jerusalem and other parts of the West Bank. The new legislation prohibits UNRWA from operating any offices, providing any services, or conducting any activities in the territory it occupies, effectively aiming to force the agency out of the region it has served for decades.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) “concluded that it is plausible that Israel’s actions in Gaza Strip could amount to genocide and issued provisional measures, in which it ordered Israel to take all measures to prevent any acts contrary to the 1948 Genocide Convention”.
Furthermore, on 19 July 2024, the ICJ reminded all states of their responsibilities. Its advisory opinion concluded that Israel’s continued occupation of the Occupied Palestinian Territory is unlawful and needs to end as soon as possible, including the cessation of any new settlement activities.
This reality in Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem, urges the international community, including not only States but also non-state actors such as businesses, to do everything they can to implement all these resolutions to end the Israeli apartheid and occupation of the Palestinian territory.
At at a time when the Palestinians have endured over 400 days of an ongoing genocidal war, which has led to more than 150,000 casualties, the majority of them being children, women and the elderly, killed and maimed by the Israeli occupying forces, who are deliberately and systematically targeting civilians, in a repetition of what happened in the Nakba of 1948 and tragedy of 1967, aimed at displacing our people and seizing their land and the resources.
Israel has reduced Gaza to a living hell, its murderous actions backed by material and diplomatic support from the most powerful governments in the world. Τhe massacre in Palestine, the brutal and unacceptable bombing of the hospitals, the killing of a child every 10 minutes, are crimes which are committed with the provocative tolerance and support that Israel receives from the USA, the UK the European Union and the rest of their allies.
The root cause of this situation is the occupation and illegal settlement of the occupied Palestinian territories by Israel and the continuous, daily crimes and the blockades of Gaza that have been committed against the Palestinian people for decades.
Although the circumstances of Palestinians have changed over the years, their core demands for liberation and return. and the need for resistance and solidarity to achieve this have not.The tenacity of Palestinians in struggling for their most basic of rights, and the continued solidarity of people across the world in response, offer a ray of hope that neither alarming rightward drift of Israeli politics nor the bleak geopolitical landscape can diminish.
The ongoing challenge for Palestinians, and those engaged in their struggle, this 29 November, is to translate this sentiment of hope into tangible structures capable of moving towards a different political reality. Today and everyday lets re-affirm our solidarity with all Palestinians in historic Palestine and their right to self-determination' with Palestinian political prisoners (women, men and children) in Apartheid Israel's jails, and with the millions of refugees struggling to make their legally guaranteed right of Return a reality.
The massacre of Gazans, as well as their steadfast resistance to occupation, has generated a global movement in solidarity with Palestine,with millions around the world organising to show they reject this mass murder and challenge the complicity of our governments and institutions in the Israeli war machine and the apartheid regime which powers it. Forcing governments to row back their unconditional support for Israel; the UK and others have suspended some arms sales to Israel.
But with the bombs still raining on Gaza and Israeli politicians making plans to annex more Palestinian land, far more is needed. An urgent international intervention is needed to stop this tragedy that is taking place before the eyes and ears of the world
In drawing attention to the struggle of the Palestinian people we cannot but remember the firm stand that the United Nations took against racism, against the evil of Apartheid and supported the liberation struggle of the people of South Africa.
At the time his people were liberated, the celebrated leader of the liberation struggle for South Africa Nelson Mandela made a profound statement, which resonates around the world to this day. He said: “For many years the United Nations stood firm against racism. Because of that a worldwide consensus was built against this unfair system. We know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians.”
Today on International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People wherever you are in the world you can activate your solidarity by joining and sharing existing campaigns that can put an end to Israel;s impunity. Apartheid is still a crime against humanity.
Even if you’ve already emailed your MP, now is a good time to follow up and hold them to account. If you live outside the UK you can use MAP’s email as a template to write to your representatives where you live.
If you post on social media use your platform, no matter its size, to raise awareness of what the Israeli military is doing to the Palestinians, it can be a powerful way to mobilise those around you and show the world you stand with the Palestinian people.
The international community must take serious and decisive action to stop the grave Israeli violations against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and the entire occupied Palestinian territory and work on lifting the injustice and suffering of the Palestinian people.
We must keep demanding from our governments that they take immediate action to end the Genocide in Gaza, protecting civilian lives and ensuring unrestricted humanitarian aid. End the Israeli Occupation of all Palestinian Territories and work towards a sustainable solution that offers the Palestinians the right to establish their own sovereign State with secured borders. Hold Israel accountable for violations of international law and human rights and institute justice. Justice with accountability through legal measures, such as those of the International Criminal Court and the ICJ. Stop military aid to Israel and institute economic measures to pressure Israel to retaliate
We must Implore the United Nations to enforce its own resolutions on Palestine, and governments to act on all the UN resolutions related to Palestine and enforce the full realisation of economic, political, social and cultural rights for Palestinians.
There can be no peace with Occupation.Today and every day, let us stand in solidarity with the aspirations of the Palestinian people to achieve their inalienable rights and support them to build a future of peace, justice, security and dignity. The occupation will end and Palestinian rights will prevail, no matter how long it takes. From the rivers to the sea, Free Palestine!
Harry Everett Smith anthropologist, ethnomusicologist, abstract painter, experimental filmmaker, full-time eccentric, counter-cultural magus and collector as well as a radical nonconformist and one of the most original, influential artists of the mid-century American avant-garde.whose work defies categorization. was born on May 29, 1923, in Portland, Oregon, but spent most of his childhood in Whatcom County.
Smith’s father, Robert James, first brought the family to Bellingham, where he took a job at Pacific American Fisheries, a cannery founded by his own father shortly after the turn of the century. At the same time, Smith’s mother, Mary Louise, took a teaching position on the Lummi Indian reservation, where she would work from 1925 to 1932.
In the late 1930s, Robert Smith lost his job at Pacific American and the family relocated to Anacortes, where he became night watchman for another cannery. Eventually the Smiths would return to Bellingham in the 1940s, when Harry Smith was in high school.
Although the Smiths had characteristic Northwest jobs, they were far from the characteristic Northwest family. For a start they lived in seperate houses and both Robert and Mary were believers in the occult and self-proclaimed Pantheist Theosophists, and interested in the work of Madame Blavatsky.
Theosophists,were a nineteenth-century offshoot of Hindu and Buddhist teachings which held that the search for the Divine was an individual one. In that sense, Theosophists believed that all organized religion held some measure of truth, since each laid a pathway for the individual to become closer to God.
If the family’s spiritual beliefs didn’t set them apart from others, their living arrangements certainly did. Robert was frequently absent from home (sometimes due to work, sometimes to avoid family duties), and Mary was frequently in the company of other men. Harry Smith himself would remember many days in which he was plunked down at the local movie theater while Mary entertained her male friends. In fact, one of the men Mary may have seen (albeit before Harry was born) was the occultist/mystic Aleister Crowley who spent some time in the United States.
Although Mary may have been acquainted with Crowley, there is no evidence of any romantic relationship between the two. Nonetheless, later in life Harry Smith would sometimes claim that he was Crowley’s illegitimate son, one of many myths and exaggerations he was prone to tell.
Another was that Mary Louise was actually the Grand Duchess Anastasia who escaped the Russian Revolution in 1918 after being spirited through Siberia and sailing across the Bering Strait to Alaska.
Stemming in part from his mother’s work on the Lummi reservation, as a young man Harry Smith became interested in tribal languages and customs, in particular those of the Lummi, Swinomish, and Samish.
By age 15, in 1938, he was a frequent visitor amongst these tribes while working on a dictionary of local tribal dialects, it was remarkable that such a young boy could get access to these closed societies where white contact had been very limited.
He also recorded their songs and dances, the beginning of a lifelong fascination with capturing the language and art of others on audio, film, or canvas. Virtually all of Smith’s early Indian recordings are now lost, and the few surviving pieces were recorded with such crude equipment that they are now difficult to decipher.
Even before he was out of high school, Harry Smith had learned Kiowa sign language, spoke the Kwakiutl language, and was in regular correspondence with academics from the University of Washington’s newly founded anthropology department.
UW professor Melville Jacobs once noted that, at the mere age of 19, Harry Smith was “years ahead ofhis chronological age, in mental attainment” In 1943 his work was even featured in AmericanMagazine; the article, reprinted in Darrin Daniel’s Harry Smith: Fragments of a Northwest Life, shows a bespectacled young Harry recording a Lummi spirit dance on a portable phonograph-recording machine.
The residents allowed the earnest boy to study their customs and take down genealogies, snap photographs, make sketches and paintings, and record songs, stories, activities and sacred events on a 78-rpm disc-cutting machine.
In the case of the Lummi, this was the first time they had been recorded by anyone. To this day, his time with the Native American nations remains a miraculous phenomenon; Smith and his like-minded peer Bill Hohn were given access to ceremonies even professional anthropologists had never witnessed. By all accounts, this relationship with Northwest Coast indigenous cultures was a respectful, creative collaboration.
It was also during his teenage years that Harry Smith began collecting, first Pacific Northwest Indian artifacts (many of which he donated to the Burke Museum at the University of Washington), then early American folk records.
However, in spite of his careful observation and recognized work as an anthropologist with the Native American tribes in the Pacific Northwest, Smith was at the same time a notoriously unreliable source of information about his own life. The various myths he created and encouraged about his childhood and life before 1946 do little to render many of his claims to be credible.
Although Mary may have been acquainted with Aleister Crowley, there is no evidence of any romantic relationship between the two. Nonetheless, over the course of many years he claimed, variously: to be the mystic Aleister Crowley’s illegitimate son; that his mother was the “missing” Grand Duchess Anastasia who escaped the Russian Revolution in 1918 after being spirited through Siberia and sailing across the Bering Strait to Alaska that he smoked marijuana for the first time with Woodie Guthrie in the back of the Sun studios in Memphis, Tennessee, none of which were true, all just a few of the many myths and exaggerations he was prone to tell over the years
All his false biographical claims share a certain self-aggrandizing feature; when considered in this context,alongside his claim that he began making his first abstract films in 1939 when he was 16.
However what is indisputable is Smith’s obsessive appetite for objects that fascinated him, which over the years included the world's largest assortment of paper airplanes (later donated to the Smithsonian) paper airplanes, string art, Seminole Indian textiles, and Ukrainian Easter eggs, that would become a major part of his life..
Smith like his parents was also a Thelemite who had a lifelong interest in the occult and esoteric fields of knowledge, leading him to speak of his art in alchemical and cosmological terms.In the late Forties he began work with Charles Stansfeld Jones and Albert Handel. Smith also created a set of irregularly-shaped Tarot cards, one of which was adapted for the color Ordo Templi Orientis degree certificates, and used with several others for the paperback "HolyBooks of Thelema" which Harry designed.
He also studied the Enochian system in depth, compiling the only known concordance of the Enochian language with the aid of Khem Caigan, his assistant throughout much of the 70s and early 80s. Harry was a familiar figure in the New York Ordo Templi Orientis, or O.T.O., from the late 1970s and, although he was never a member of the O.T.O, however in 1986 he was consecrated a bishop in the Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica.
After graduating from high school, Harry Smith entered the University of Washington in 1943 to pursue his anthropology studies full-time. He had already done impressive work even before entering the University, but although his courses mirrored his personal interests at the time, he was eventually to abandon them.
In 1944 Smith took a short trip to California, where he was introduced to the Berkeley and San Francisco areas, and smoked marijuana for the first time. It was a visit that would change his life.
Convinced that he could not return to his studies, Smith dropped out of the University, did a brief stint on the Boeing assembly line at the tail end of World War II, and in 1947, moved to the Bay Area.
When Harry Smith returned to Washington in 1949 for his mother’s funeral, it would be his last known visit to the Pacific Northwest. Yet in later years he often spoke of his upbringing here and in his work frequently returned, in various ways, to the anthropological studies he began in Anacortes and Bellingham.
After settling near San Francisco, Smith took a job as an anthropologist’s assistant and began circulating amongst the area’s Bohemian set. Here he also began to flex his creative muscles, first by experimenting with film.
Smith was a slow worker, but eventually some of his films were presented at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in the late 1940s as part of its Art in Cinema programs.This led to contact with other experimental filmmakers, including Jordan Belson and later Kenneth Anger and Stan Brakhage.
As a filmmaker, Harry Smith pioneered extravagant techniques in abstract animation, creating visual effects that were often painted or manipulated by hand directly on the celluloid. His experimental body of work commonly contains themes of mysticism, surrealism, and dada.
Smith’s early filmmaking style involved a painstaking, laborious process of primitive animation. His first film (today known as No. 1, A Strange Dream) took two years to complete and consisted of Smith drawing patterns of circles and rectangles directly onto the film stock, frame by frame, no camera, therefore, was required.
Silent, and running a little over two minutes, No. 1 told no formal story, offering instead a series of abstract colors and shapes. This was not necessarily a new form of filmmaking, similar types of abstract films had been done as far back as the 1920s), but it wasn’t a method particularly familiar to artists in the United States.
Smith’s made his next two films by batiking, a method in which he coated the filmstrip with multiple layers of dye and, using masking and scratching techniques, was able to depict his abstract shapes in more colorful and complex ways.
No. 2 -- A Message from the Sun also took two years to make (1946-1948), and was to be screened in synch with Dizzy Gillespie's recording “Guacha Guero.” No. 3- Interwoven (1947-1949) was much along the same lines.
Harry Smith would eventually graduate from hand-drawn animation to stop-action and collage in his films, but nonetheless these techniques kept him from being prolific. All of his films from the 1940s and 1950s were under 10 minutes in length, and frequently took several years to complete, particularly because he planned such complex visuals on little to no budget.
As a result, he had no choice but to plug away, little by little, to create his films, which he sometimes claimed were never really finished, they became what they were simply because he ran out of time, money, or interest.
The results, however, were groundbreaking. Harry Smith’s early films had much in common with the type of paintings he was beginning to make during this period, which used imagery, color, and collage and in the case of Smith’s later films, sound to create new sensory effects.
It was this characteristic of the artist’s work that brought Rani Signh, of the Harry Smith Archives, to call Smith a " 'proto-psychedelic ... who saw the world through a grand schema of alchemical connections that was this all-inclusive aesthetic -- the desire to show that everything connects -- that he felt best revealed the elemental structure of human existence” (quoted in “Harry Smith: Avant-Garde in the American Vernacular”).
On the West Coast, Harry Smith’s films got him noticed; on the East Coast it was his accomplishments in abstract painting. Smith, in fact, was always more interested in his painting than in his other artistic endeavors, his initial work in film was more of an effort to use the film stock as his canvas.
Although he had no formal training in art, Smith claimed to have known several artists during his boyhood who taught him some of their techniques. Smith applied similar artistic principles to both film and canvas.
He painted large freeform abstractions intended to visually represent notes, measures, beats and riffs of the beatnik era jazz music that inspired him. His painting Manteca (ca. 1950), for instance, was inspired by a Dizzy Gillespie song of the same name, with each brush stroke representing a specific note from the song.
Such was the “alchemical” characteristic of Smith’s work, painting a song, or creating screen images to enhance particular piece of music , that found him making unique connections between seemingly disparate concepts.
It was work like Manteca that helped Smith win a grant in the early 1950s through the help of Hilla Rebay, director of the Museum of Non-Objective Painting (later renamed the Guggenheim Museum). The award prompted Smith to move to New York in 1951 with the intention of meeting Marcel Duchamp and remained there for most of the rest of his life.
He worked for Lionel Ziprin’s companies Inkweed Studios and Qor Corporation, conducted research for inventor and philosopher Arthur Young, and throughout his life continued collecting mountains of books, records, and a variety of different kinds of anthropological items, all the while also continuing to produce art, films, and recordings. Amazingly, all of his activities were conducted while regularly living an unstable and usually heavily intoxicated life, scrounging or asking for money wherever he could, including from surprisingly wealthy patrons such as Peggy Guggenheim and established organizations such as the Anthology Film Archives (and its predecessor the Film-Makers’ Cooperative), all the while living in various hotels throughout the city.
Harry Smith is not well remembered today as a painter, perhaps only because of the casual approach he took to his work. As is the case with many artists and writers, critical acclaim never pays the bills, and he was constantly in need of money. As a result, he would often sell or trade his artwork (or portions of his collections) to stay afloat, and depending on his growing drug and alcohol intake, would sometimes destroy his creations in fits of rage.
“Well, most of my paintings are lost,” Smith once told an interviewer, “but I assume that life in the universe will continue to the point that anything can be recreated. It’s only an illusion anyhow. There isn’t anything here except some kind of weak magnetic field”
Ironically, it was one of Harry Smith’s fundraising efforts that inadvertently led to what may have been his most important contribution to the arts. Reportedly short on cash in early 1952, Smith went to visit Folkways Records president Moses Asch in order to sell some of his early American folk records from the 1920s and 1930s.
Smith had long been a collector of early jazz and folk music 78s, scouring shops in Seattle, San Francisco, and New York, and occasionally advertising in record magazines for particularly hard-to-find discs.
He was also known to swoop in on shops that were going out of business, almost all his available cash to buy up rare selections at rock bottom prices. Material drives during World War II, as well, found thousands of records being abandoned in piles, so Smith was able to bolster his collection for free with selections that had been discarded. At any given point, Harry Smith’s vintage record collection numbered in the thousands, perhaps more.
Moses Asch was indeed interested in the collection, but had a much better idea: Instead of selling his records, Asch persuaded Smith to assemble a compilation album providing an overview of the genre and period, with liner notes and background material to be researched and written by Smith himself. Smith contracted with Folkways in May 1952 and threw himself into the project, which was eventually released as the three volume (six record) set Anthology of American Folk Music (Folkways, 1952). Anthology concentrated on music made between 1927 and 1932, with 84 separate tracks by artists who had seemingly vanished from the American scene.
His inclusion of often highly unusual examples of Hillbilly Music, Bluegrass, African-American Blues, Ragtime, Gospel and Cajun music willfully disregarded the arbitrary boundaries of race and genres commonly imposed at the time. Harry’s song selection helped introduce the larger public to these (until then) forgotten artists, which included cuts from performers such as Buell Kazee, Blind Lemon Jefferson,the Carter Family,DockBoggs, and Mississippi John Hurt.
Interestingly, his method for selecting these tracks was unusual, it wasn’t always the best version of a song that Smith chose, but rather an early performance or a song in which he felt the singer brought something “extra” to the track that distinguished it from other versions.
Songs were selected to be ones that would be popular among musicologists, or possibly with people who would want to sing them or maybe improve the version, Smith would later remark.
Although never a big seller, this highly influential project’s importance cannot be overstated,it inspired a new generation of folk artists in the 1950s, including a rising young singer named Bob Dylan. Dylan, in fact, covered several tracks from Anthology on his 1961 self-titled debut album, and was still drawing on this material for albums released during the 1990s and this seminal collection was attributed by many to have brought about the folk music revival of the 60’s and even to have changed the entire direction of American popular, or vernacular music,while allowing the world to hear long-forgotten and buried blues, gospel, hillbilly and various folk musics.
Smith became an important figure in the Beat Generation scene in New York City, and his activities, such as his use of mind-altering substances and interest in esoteric spirituality, anticipated aspects of the Hippie movement. Smith’s position as an outsider to the art and experimental worlds in New York changed when he met the Beat poet Allen Ginsberg in 1960; it was through Ginsberg that Jonas Mekas became aware of Smith’s films and began to program and promotion them as part of the New American Cinema.
Although much of Harry Smith’s later career found him concentrating on visual artwork, the world of music and recording never seemed far away. In the mid-1960s, Smith helped record and produced the first album by the Fugs, and began to experiment with ambient and spoken-word recordings, such as capturing works of Beat poetry on tape. For example, he worked with his friend Allen Ginsberg on recordings of the poet’s work.
Smith brought more to Folkways than his famous anthology. In the ’60s, he returned to anthropology, traveling to Oklahoma to record the Peyote-inspired music of the Kiowa Indians. Their songs were anthologized in 1973 in a boxed set of three LPS with the unwieldy title The Kiowa Peyote Meeting: Songs and Narratives by Members of a Tribe That Was Fundamental in Popularizing the Native American Church.
Smith had become acquainted with the Kiowa while serving as an advisor on the experimental film Chappaqua (1966), starring William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, which was shot in Anadarko, Oklahoma.
Smith was arrested on charges of public drunkenness in the middle of the shoot and eventually struck up a friendship with two Kiowa men who shared the same cell. While studying the culture of peyote, Smith freely partook of it. He also liked amphetamines, marijuana, cocaine, and alcohol. His favorite lunch: soup and a Black Russian. Doing his projects, he was often high or drunk. He was usually in terrible physical shape, eating junk, not taking care of himself at all.
He moved about like a vagrant, carrying what he could of his massive collections from place to place. No surprise, he spent some years at the Chelsea Hotel, befriending there Patti Smith and Robert Mapplethorpe. Then he skipped out into the night, owing management $7,000. :
John Szwed the Grammy Award-winning music scholar and celebrated biographer and author of the brilliant 2023 book, “Cosmic Scholar: The Life and Times of Harry Smith,” the first comprehensive biography of this Harry Smith said “One of the mysteries of Harry’s life is how he was able to live in New York for thirty-six years, never held a job, almost never paid rent.”
Although Smith was on many accounts a royal pain in the ass, cranky and obnoxious, he got by with the aid of his friends. Jonas Mekas regularly lent him money and gave him an office to store his things, and Mekas repeatedly wrote Village Voice articles proclaiming Smith’s filmic genius.
In 1962 Harry Smith took a huge leap forward with his 12th film, commonly known today as Heaven and Earth Magic.
The loosely structured film follows a woman who has visions after receiving an anesthetic from her dentist. As noted by film historian Jamie Sexton, the setup provides Smith with a unique opportunity to incorporate his particular visual style, with specific references to such diverse sources as medical texts, Jewish mysticism, and the London sewer system, not to mention a recurring oval motif.
Viewed by many as Smith’s greatest film achievement, Heaven and Earth Magic was shot in black and white but designed to be shown using a special projector equipped with colored filters and masking slides to alter the screen visuals.
Harry Smith followed up Heaven and Earth Magic by getting investor backing for a new film version of The Wizard of Oz, although much of the budget was squandered and only a handful of scenes were ever completed.
Beginning in 1970, however, he embarked on an ambitious epic called Mahoganny, loosely based on the Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht dark, political, and satirical opera The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahogonny. Described by Jamie Sexton as a picture in which “autobiographical film, animation, street symbols and images of nature are combined into a sensual, fluctuating flow,” the picture would occupy Smith’s creative endeavors for a full decade.
Mahagonny can best be described as abstract cinematic poetry that was made to be displayed with four separate 16 mm projectors onto a single screen or onto two billiard tables suspended over a boxing ring. Smith took years to dissect and study.
It was one of Smith’s most rarely screened films due to the complexity of its timing and sequencing. It took two very patient and skilled projectionists to carry out the complicated presentation. It was only screened six times in 1980 at the Anthology Film Archives. The time-consuming and heroic effort to restore the film was spearheaded by the Harry Smith Archives. It had to be painstakingly pieced together and synchronized following complex notes and ephemeral materials left behind by Smith.
Smith himself had high hopes for Mahogonny, as he boasted to an interviewer in 1972. "It's going to be so beautiful that no one can brush it aside," he stated. "It's going to be a miracle of motion pictures. It'll get people interested in motion pictures again and I'll have enough money to buy a studio and really make some spectacular things with, you know, enormous sets and beautiful actresses and handsome actors, gymnasts and things"
At nearly two and a half hours in length, Mahoganny has been viewed by many as a challenging film that did not live up to the earlier success of Heaven and Earth Magic, and although dividing the screen into separate images made for some interesting relationships, such moments seem few and far between. Its most noteworthy characteristic, in fact, may be that the picture shot largely in and around New York captures glimpses of the city throughout the 1970s.
All the actors in the film were friends of Harry’s that happened to be in the Chelsea Hotel. It is easy to identify Allen Ginsberg sitting in a chair, reading, while bathed in New York early-1970s sunlight, Mekas as a younger man, and a youthful and innocent-looking Patti Smith. These are epic cameos. The film also shows reoccurring faces who can perhaps be stand-ins for the characters in the Mahogonny opera:
Fatty the Bookkeeper, Trinity Moses, Leocadia Begbick, Bank AccountBilly, and Alaska Wolf Joe, or they represent numeric equations referencing The Large Glass.
Mahagonny can be watched while considering that Smith was perhaps constructing a precise mathematical and poetic analysis of The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny that he believed to be the most important piece of music and cultural criticism of the twentieth century.
By the time he completed Mahoganny in 1980, Harry Smith’s careless lifestyle began to catch up with him. This slight, dishevelled, cantankerous genius with poor eyesight and with a lifelong relationship with alcohol, marijuana, whose income had always been negligible, who typically made ends meet only through the generosity of friends, had also spent most of his life in a series of cheap New York hotels.
Money came and went, and often Smith would use what little he could come across on his various collections, or on drugs or alcohol, with scant concern for rent, food, or to his own health and well-being. .
"I don’t know how I’ve supported myself," Smith told interviewer Gary Kenton in 1983. "It’s one of the things that gives me a belief in some creative energy beyond that of human hands ..." Smith was in such a state by the late 1980s that Allen Ginsberg intervened, in part to help a friend, but also to stop the constant requests for money.
Ginsberg helped secure a place for Smith at the The Naropa Institute in Boulder, Colorado, founded by Tibetan meditation master and teacher Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche. There he was anointed Shaman-in-Residence and treated with respect. At the Naropa Institute, Smith taught classes on alchemy, Native American cosmologies, and the rationality of namelessness, and was supported by a grant provided to him by the Grateful Dead organization. But Smith, incurably self-destructive, abandoned Boulder for a return to New York supposedly for a dentist who could pull his rotten teeth. The dangerously rotten teeth remained.
Despite his painting, filmmaking, or anthropological studies, it was his early contribution to music with Anthology of American Folk Music, that secured his legacy. Harry Smith earned a Lifetime Achievement Grammy at the 1991 ceremonies, an honor he received shortly before his death.
Smith was uneasy before the large industry crowd that evening, but remarked in his speech, "I’m glad to say my dreams came true. I saw America changed by music"
Anthology was reissued in 1997, this time with additional tracks that had been cut from the original 1952 release, and again received strong critical praise almost 50 years after its debut.
Shortly after receiving his Grammy, time finally caught up with the incredible Harry Smith. On November 27, 1991, at the age of 68, Smith died of heart failure at the Chelsea Hotel in New York, which for years had been his familiar haunt.
Harry Smith was neglected during his life but, as more details about his work emerged since his death he is now recognised as one of the great visionary outsiders of American art. Although his films and paintings have remained largely inaccessible to the public (in contrast to Anthology, which remains in circulation thanks to reissues), this has begun to change in the years since his death.
Five years after Smith's death, his friend the poet Paola Igliori began conducting intimate interviews with the filmmakers, musicians, poets, and artists who knew him best. The result, American Magus Harry Smith, offers a look not only into Smith's life and artistic practice, but also into his era and the informal economy of influence that operated during that time. It provides invaluable insight into the mind of one of the twentieth century's most enigmatic polymaths.
The video. Includes clips from Smith's films, drawings, paintings, rare archive footage and interviews with Allen Ginsberg, Gregory Corso, Lionel Ziprin, Robert Frank, Jonas Mekas, John Cohen, James Wasserman, M. Henry Jones, Percy Heath, Grateful Dead, Patti Smith, DJ Spooky, Khem Caigan, Harvey Bialy and Rosebud Feliu-Pettet.
American Magus Harry Smith, Directed by Paola Igliori
Smith’s impact on American culture continues, and the total works of this talented and incredible artist are starting to undergo a major critical reevaluation, in part due to the efforts of Rani Singh, curator of the Harry Smith Archives alongside numerous books, including “Sounding forHarry Smith: Early Pacific Northwest Influences” by Bret Lunsford and the fine biography mentioned earlier by John Szwed, Cosmic Scholar: The Life and Times of Harry Smith thatpatches together, for the first time, the life of one of the twentieth century’s most overlooked cultural figures. It stands as a fine testemant to this outsider and visionary American Magus and icon.
Last year this also saw the first fully dedicated retrospective exhibition dedicated to his work, “Fragments of a Faith Forgotten: The Art of Harry Smith,” that was on display at the Whitney Museum of American Art from 4 October 2023 through to 28 January 2022,This despite the curators were hampered by the fact that much of Harry’s work was lost over the years, for a variety of reasons.
The most famous example was a time in 1964 when a landlord threw all his possessions away during an eviction for lack of paying rent. In response, Harry spent several weeks going every day to the Fresh Kills Landfill in Staten Island to try to find and salvage his items, but to no avail.
This episode has been identified as the moment when Smith’s mental health deteriorated badly and his subsequent drinking and other drug use became overtly and troublesomely problematic. This led to a habitually unstable state during which he was prone to destroying even more new works, film equipment, or other items such as books in fits of uncontrollable rage.
Though he rejected and resisted social norms, he is now finally becoming publicly remembered, and revered, He is celebrated as a neurodiverse polymathic genius whose knowledge was vast, who pursued his interests passionately, while keenly attuned to changing technology, Smith embraced innovation and used whatever was new and of the moment, whose impact on art, music and film resound from studies of place to beat improvisation.
Throughout his life, from his time recording the customs of Native American tribes in the Pacific Northwest and Florida to his life in Greenwich Village in its heyday, Smith was consumed by an unceasing desire to create a unified theory of culture drawn from his lifelong interest in abstract art, ancient traditions, metaphysics, spiritualism, folk art, and world music he sought to find universal patterns.
Compiling a folk music anthology, collecting string figures from around the world, and conducting ethnographic research were some of the ways he attempted to identify common connections across people and cultures which make Smith's work feel increasingly prescient as collecting and sharing come into view as creative acts that are necessary for drawing meaning from the glut of images and juxtaposition of cultures we encounter every day. .
Despite being an insufferable and destructive eccentric who was unable to survive in regular society, or keep himself healthy or sober, he produced an exceedingly eclectic and powerful body of work, over the span of five decades: films, paintings, poetry, sound recordings, photographs, and collections of items, some of which are currently on display at Harvard’s Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts.
Even with much of his output disappearing, Smith’s impact on the world is nonetheless profound and continues to inspire reconsideration and interpretation.
Harry Smith: American Magus. Paola Igliori (Editor). Semiotext(e). (2022)
Harry Smith’s Anthology of American Folk Music: America Changed Through Music. Ross Hair and Thomas Ruys Smith (Editors). Routledge. (2017). Including Kurt Gegenhuber, “Smith’s Amnesia Theater: ‘Moonshiner’s Dance’ in Minnesota.”
Harry Smith: The Avant-Garde in the American Vernacular. Andrew Perchuk and Rani Singh (Editors). Getty Research Institute. (2010)
Harry Smith: Cosmographies, The Naropa Lectures. Raymond Foye (Editor). Naropa Institute. (2023)
Harry Smith: Think of the Self Speaking: Selected Interviews. Rani Singh (Editor), Allen Ginsberg (Introduction). Cityful Pr. (1998)
Sounding forHarry Smith: Early Pacific Northwest Influences. Bret Lunsford
John Szwed. Cosmic Scholar: The Life and Times of Harry Smith, the Filmmaker, Folklorist, and Mystic Who Transformed American Art. Farrar, Straus, and Giroux. (2023)
Hi there /Shwmae, today is World Hello Day a global,event dedicated to promoting peace and unity through simple greetings. Saying 'hello' is more than just a word,it's an open door to connection, understanding, and respect across different cultures and languages.
Participants are encouraged to verbally greet at least ten people or more. Its intention is aimed at resolving conflicts through communication rather than the use of force.
The theme for this year, "Greeting for Peace," underlines the role of communication in fostering harmony. Participants are encouraged to verbally greet at least ten people or more. Its intention is aimed at resolving conflicts through communication rather than the use of force, in a small yet impactful step towards global unity.
We can go further by saying hello to someone we've had a disagreement with. Try to understand each other’s mistakes and make peace. Many people think apologizing makes them look weak, but it actually shows courage and earns respect. It might feel hard at first, but if the person is important to you, it’s worth making the first move. This simple act of kindness can make you and others happy,
World Hello Day was first created in 1973 in order to show people, especially the people of the Middle East that conflicts can and should be resolved through communication, and not violence. The idea is that clear, honest communication breeds peace.
In the 1970s, the conflict between Egypt and Israel was quite severe, and many people began to fear yet another huge war would end up coming of it. World Hello Day was in fact created as a direct response to the Yom Kippur War that had just finished in October of 1973, during which thousands of both soldiers and innocent civilians were killed.
The Yom Kippur War began on October 6, 1973. Six years prior, in 1967, Israel quadrupled its size during the Six-Day War, by gaining the Sinai Peninsula and Gaza Strip from Egypt, East Jerusalem and the West Bank from Jordan, and the Golan Heights from Syria. Anwar El-Sadat became Egypt’s president in 1970, and it was his hope that peace with Israel could be achieved and that with it would come stability in his country and a return of the Sinai Peninsula. But it seemed unlikely Israel would cede the Sinai, so El-Sadat devised a plan to attack Israel to make his bargaining position more favorable. He first opened up communication with Washington, D.C., an Israeli ally, as he knew they would be needed for prospective peace talks, and he also formed an alliance with Syria.
As Egypt launched their attack, with Syria’s backing and also with help from Iraq and Jordan, many Israeli soldiers were observing Yom Kippur, so posts were left unguarded. The Arab countries made initial gains and it took a few days for Israel to get mobilized. They were able to push back the Arabs, but it didn’t come without heavy losses of men and equipment. A ceasefire was secured through the United Nations on October 25.
Israel’s victory came at a great cost, with many casualties. The following April, Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir stepped down. Egypt had lost the war, but Sadat gained leverage in the Middle East and the opportunity to seek peace. Two disengagement agreements were signed between Egypt and Israel in 1974, which gave Egypt back part of the Sinai Peninsula. In 1979, Menachem Begin, Israel’s Prime Minister, signed a peace agreement with El-Sadat.
The peace discussion at the end of the war was the first time that Arab and Israeli officials met for direct public discussion in 25 years. The first peace agreement between Israel and one of its Arab neighbors, it stipulated the rest of the Sinai Peninsula be returned, and in 1982 it was.
Sadly there is no peace in the middle east today, the land of Palestine is filled with chaos and fear, and the violence rages on without cease. Over the past year, the Israeli indiscriminate bombardments on Gaza have killed more than 42,000 Palestinians, including at least 16 thousand children, while thousands are critically injured, creating lifelong disabilities in direct and indiscriminate attacks as part of Israel's genocide against Palestinians.
At least 25,973 children have been orphaned, forced to endure unimaginable suffering, while countless others remain missing, buried beneath the rubble of destroyed neighborhoods. These figures underscore the horrific reality of Israel's ongoing war against the Palestinian people, indiscriminately targeting all sectors of society, especially children, in blatant disregard for international Laws and United Nations resolutions.
Bombs and bullets tear through the night, and civilians still cower in their homes, bereft of peace. The loss of life and suffering is great, and the scars of war run deep as rhe conflict rages on without end,and hope seems so hard to find.
Palestine currently, a place of terror, shattered and broken. Amidst the chaos and despair, we search for a light, a glimmer of hope. So we keep demanding and calling for a ceasefire, though the scars of war may run deep,we don't simply give up, we try and build a better tomorrow, where peace reigns and hope abounds.
Who knows perhaps World Hello Day can play a part in this process while never forgetting the lessons of war, we can create dialogues of peace while striving for a brighter future, these ideals certainly resonate with this day.
World Hello Day was created by brothers Brian McCormack, a Ph.D. Graduate of Arizona State University, and Michael McCormack, a graduate of Harvard. To spread awareness, the McCormack brothers sent 1,360 letters in multiple languages to world leaders, urging them to resolve disputes through dialogue. Since its inception, the day has been celebrated in 180 countries, as citizens of each of these countries take advantage of this time to express their concerns for world peace.
Thirty-one winners of the Nobel Peace Prize have stated that World Hello Day carries substantial value as an instrument for preserving peace.
World Hello Day took on a fresh significance as the world was still recovering from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Physical distancing and isolation highlighted the value of human connection. As people began to emerge from lockdowns, many found renewed appreciation for the simple act of greeting—a reminder that connections, no matter how small, are vital to our emotional well-being.
In an era marked by polarization, social media disputes, and global conflicts, World Hello Day underscores the importance of fostering a spirit of cooperation and understanding. It serves as a reminder that while we may not always share the same viewpoints, we can find common ground through dialogue.
Incorporating regular greetings and warm exchanges into our daily lives can yield tangible benefits. Studies show that greeting others positively impacts mood, enhances social interactions, and fosters a sense of belonging. Through World Hello Day’s initiatives, individuals learn that their greetings and words can have far-reaching effects, potentially influencing others to spread kindness and warmth.
The connection between social interaction and mental health is well-established. Loneliness and social isolation are significant risk factors for depression, anxiety, and other mental health conditions.
World Hello Day serves as a reminder of the importance of human connection and its positive impact on our mental well-being. By encouraging us to reach out to others, World Hello Day helps to combat feelings of loneliness and isolation. The simple act of greeting someone can initiate a conversation, which can lead to deeper connections and a sense of belonging. This can be particularly beneficial for individuals struggling with social anxiety or those who find it difficult to initiate social interactions.
Here are some beautiful ways people greet each other around the globe and let's reflect on how these gestures connect us.
Saying Hello Around the World
Wales: In Wales there are a number of different forms of Welsh for Hello depending on location and formality. Here are some examples. Helô/Hylô - Hello and can be used as formal and informal greetings. Sut mae (North Wales) or Shwmae (South/West Wales) - Literally meaning "how is it", they are used in everyday life as a standard greeting alongside the more informal "Helô" when you meet someone. Haia - very informal greeting that can be heard all over Wales. It is identical to the English hiya. Ti'n iawn? - very similar to the English "Alright". Helô/Hylô, sut mae - Hello, how are you.
Japan: In Japan, a polite bow is the customary way to greet someone, expressing respect and humility. The depth of the bow can indicate the level of respect or formality of the greeting. France: The French often greet close friends or family with 'la bise,' a light kiss on each cheek. This warm and intimate gesture embodies a sense of familiarity and affection.
Kenya (Maasai Tribe): Among the Maasai people of Kenya, a friendly greeting often involves a raised hand or even a light touch on the shoulder, accompanied by the word 'supa.' It is a way to acknowledge each other's presence and build community spirit.
Palestinian: In Palestinian culture, greetings often start with 'Marhaba' (مرحبا), which means hello, or 'Ahlan wa sahlan' (أهلا وسهلا), meaning 'welcome.' These expressions convey hospitality and warmth, reflecting a cultural emphasis on welcoming others with an open heart.
Thailand: The Thai greeting, known as the 'wai,' involves placing the palms together in a prayer-like gesture and bowing slightly. It's a versatile greeting used to express respect, gratitude, or apology.
United States: In the U.S., a casual wave or handshake is common. The diversity in greetings reflects the melting pot of cultures that define the nation.
Arabic: In Arabic-speaking countries, 'مرحبا' (Marhaba) is a common way to say hello. Another popular greeting is 'السلام عليكم' (As-salamu alaykum), which means 'peace be upon you.' This greeting is often used across the Muslim world and reflects a deep cultural emphasis on peace and mutual respect.
Fijian: In Fiji, 'Bula' is the most common greeting, which goes beyond a simple hello. 'Bula' conveys a wish for good health and happiness, often delivered with a cheerful tone and a smile. This greeting reflects the warmth and friendliness of Fijian culture and is a key part of the country's hospitality and communal spirit.
Jewish: In Jewish culture, the greeting 'Shalom' (שלום) is used, which means 'peace.' It is used both to say hello and goodbye, reflecting a wish for peace and well-being. This greeting carries a deep cultural and spiritual significance, embodying a universal aspiration for harmony.
Hindi: In India, 'नमस्ते' (Namaste) or 'नमस्कार' (Namaskar) is a traditional greeting used across many regions. This greeting is often accompanied by a slight bow and hands pressed together in front of the chest, similar to a prayer gesture. It conveys respect and reverence, signifying 'I bow to you,' and is used in both formal and informal settings.
These unique greetings demonstrate that, while the words or gestures may differ, the intent is universal, to acknowledge, welcome, and show respect to another person. Let's celebrate these differences and embrace this day as an opportunity to strengthen our bonds, embrace diversity, and foster a culture of respect, kindness and inclusion , one hello at a time, and reflect on how these simple acts can contribute to a more connected and harmonious community.
We can go further by saying hello to someone we've had a disagreement with. Try to understand each other’s mistakes and make peace. Many people think apologizing makes them look weak, but it actually shows courage and earns respect. It might feel hard at first, but if the person is important to you, it’s worth making the first move. This simple act of kindness can make you and others happy, just as the two brothers imagined when they created this day.
World Hello Day is more than just a day for greetings; it is a celebration of communication and connection in our rapidly changing world. Its roots, grounded in the quest for peace and understanding, remind us that we have the power to bridge divides with a simple “hello.”
As we navigate through the complexities of modern life, fostering empathy and openness becomes increasingly essential. World Hello Day serves as a powerful reminder that a small gesture,such as reaching out with a friendly greeting, can lead to meaningful interactions, promote solidarity, and inspire collective action for a more compassionate global community. Let us embrace this day as an opportunity to strengthen our bonds, celebrate diversity, and commit to a culture of respect, empathy and kindness, one hello at a time.
So, take a moment today to say 'hello' to someone in a way that celebrates our shared values. Whether it’s with a wave, a bow, a handshake, or a smile, remember that every greeting is a step toward unity. As wars rage around the world. may we all continue to work to heal the divisions in our society, and to create a more just, peaceful and equitable world. Wishing you a joyful World Hello Day. Heddwch/Peace.
During Thursday's match between Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv, the Israeli supporters refused to hold a minute of silence for Valencia flood victims. They even started illegal fireworks.
This came after Spain cancelled arms deal with Israeli company worth billions. Earlier the same fans were filmed chanting racist, genocidal slogans and tearing down pro Palestinian flags of Dutch buildings. Football hooligans then get into fights with locals But if you google ‘Amsterdam’ you’ll see a bunch of headlines about Israelis being targeted in unprovoked attacks and Israel and it's supporters claiming this is akin to Europe’s darkest hour or pogrom for Jews. Both minimising the Holocaust and insulting our intelligence.
Israel’s most senior leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, have openly courted far-right football supporters in Israel and have received their violent support in return. The well-documented racism and violence exhibited by Maccabi Tel Aviv fans in Amsterdam mirrors the thuggery of the Israeli government in Gaza and Lebanon.
To rid European football of the type of genocidal chanting we saw from Maccabi Tel Aviv fans, Uefa should remind the Israel Football Association of its obligations under article 7(7) of its statutes to stamp out racist behaviour, and impose appropriate sanctions if the IFA does not take action.
The Israeli offensive on Gaza has claimed the lives of of more than 40,000 Palestinian civilians – 16,500 of whom are children and 100,000 injured, not counting the hundreds of thousands still unaccounted for, that has created a humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
90% of Palestinians are internally displaced and living in inhumane conditions with “no electricity, no food, no water, no fuel.” No functional hospitals. No mosques. No churches. No libraries. No schools. No universities. No bakeries. At this rate, the brutal Israeli regime will soon destroy every aspect of life in Gaza, including its sports.
Remember Israeł has killed 523 athletes in Gaza. Among them, 341 footballers — of whom 91 were children. 64 sports complex have been destroyed — 19 in the occupied West Bank.
Israel is a legally recognised apartheid state, under investigation by the international court of justice (ICJ) and the international criminal court (ICC) for Genøcide and war crimes and is in direct contravention of UN resolutions and international law.
Both the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem and the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement (modelled on the anti-apartheid movement) have called for boycotting Israeli sport. Certainly the International Court of Justice verdict was clear in its expectation of the international community “not to render aid or assistance in maintaining the situation created by Israel’s illegal presence” in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
For decades, Palestinians have asked the international community to recognise their daily realities as reincarnated apartheid. In much the same way black South Africans were forcibly removed from lands reclassified and reserved as “Whites Only” areas, and their settlements were bulldozed, Palestinians have watched the illegal and violent annexation of areas for which they now require permits from Israel to re-enter.
And much like the apartheid Bantustans, most Palestinians living in the West Bank have been banished to the desolate and overcrowded Area A, where they are permitted a limited form of self-determination, while Israel has either partial or full control of the remaining 82 percent of the territory.
With a few notable exceptions, our governments and elected representatives continue to toe the official line of Israel – even increasing diplomatic, financial and military support to it despite countless violations of international laws, international humanitarian laws, and UN resolutions.
In the past, FIFA has banned other countries from competing under similar circumstances. South Africa was banned in 1961 due to growing calls from the anti-apartheid movement to boycott South Africa. FIFA and UEFA banned Yugoslavia from playing in the 1992 European cup and the 1994 World Cup following U.N. sanctions amid the Serb-dominated government’s aggression in the Balkans. Most recently, in February of 2022, FIFA and UEFA banned all Russian clubs and national teams “untilfurther notice” because of its war against Ukraine.
However UEFA won't ban Israel despite the ICJ likely genocide ruling. Now even after the trouble caused by Israeli football hooligans in Athens and Amsterdam, and after saying they will show racism the red card and promote fair play, they are complicit in allowing their teams to compete.
While hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are under brutal attack by the IDF, Israel is allowed to continue to compete in football competitions. Israeli players are not neutral - joining the Israeli army is mandatory in order to become a football player in the national team, and Israeli players have proudly posted comments on social media such as “Why haven’t 200 tonnes of bombs already been dropped on Gaza?” and “We’ll erase Gaza permanently.”
The chance to compete on the international stage is a privilege that should be reserved for states that do not commit genocide.There should be no place in sport for those who have served as IDF who are perpetrators of illegal occupation, ethnic cleansing, apartheid, genocide and crimes against humanity. If FIFA/UEFA had any integrity, they would agree with the already 12 nations calling on them both to ban Israel from being allowed to compete in world soccer competitions.
On Saturday in Iran, a 30 year old female French Literature student was harassed by members of the Basij security forces over her “improper”use of the hijab. She didn’t back down and turned her body into a protest, according to witnesses, members of the Basij tore off her headscarf, an incident that led Daryaei to stage a protest by stripping down to her underwear outside Tehran’s Islamic Azad University. drawing a crowd of students and onlookers. as she marched through the campus.
Her protest speaks to the frustration felt by many Iranian women who oppose the dress codes mandating headscarves and loose clothing, a requirement strictly enforced by Iran’s morality police. stripping to her underwear outside Tehran’s Islamic Azad University.and marching through campus defying a regime that constantly controls women’s bodies. Her act is a powerful reminder of Iranian women’s fight for freedom.
The name of this iconic woman student of defiance has been identified by some media outlets as Ahoo Daryaei,(meaning Deer of the Sea) herdramatic act of protest against Iran’s strict dress code by stripping down in public has raised fears for her safety and amplified international calls for reform. Following her protest, Daryaei was forcibly taken away by men in plain clothes and hasn’t been seen since.
Various media reports indicate that she was initially taken to a local police station, where authorities claim she showed signs of mental distress. Amir Mahjob, a university spokesperson, publicly stated that Daryaei has a “mental disorder,” a claim often used by Iranian authorities to justify detentions in such cases.
Later reports suggest she may have been transferred to a mental health facility, but other sources claim she is in custody at an undisclosed location. Her family and supporters worry about her safety amid concerns that detainees in similar cases have faced torture or harsh treatment while in custody.
In 2022, widespread demonstrations erupted across Iran after the death of Mahsa Amini, a young Kurdish woman who died a victim of police brutality for not wearing a hijab, women protested and circulated the rallying cry, “Woman, Life, Freedom.” These protests led to a brutal government crackdown, resulting in the deaths of 551 protesters and thousands of arrests.
While conditions for women have not improved since the protests, it has not stopped some brave women from continuing to defy the regime and taking a stand,often removing their headscarves in public, and activists continue to push for reforms. The government, however, has remained steadfast, deploying aggressive measures to suppress dissent.
International human rights organizations have responded swiftly to Daryaei’s detention. Amnesty International which has documented allegations of abuse against women in Iranian prisons over recent years,has issued statements demanding her immediate release, emphasizing that Daryaei should be protected from torture and other mistreatment while ensuring access to her family and legal counselemphasized the need for independent investigations into allegations of abuse during her arrest.
Meanwhile, UN Special Rapporteur Mai Sato expressed intent to monitor Daryaei’s case closely, and prominent Iranian activists have voiced their support, hailed her bravery and called her protest an urgent call against oppression.
As she remains in custody with her whereabouts unknown, this incident highlights the tensions surrounding Iran’s enforcement of conservative dress codes, sparking global criticism of the country’s treatment of women. It’s not about applauding a woman stripping off to her underwear. It’s applauding a woman standing up for her choice to wear whatever she wants.
I want everyone to understand that its possible to advocate for women's liberation while not amplifying orientalist ideas co-opted by white people to fuel their saviour complexes.
Images of Ahoo Daryaei, arms crossed, head held high, wearing only a purple bra and striped underwear, circulate widely on Iranian social media alongside videos of her brave act.and she has become a new symbol of the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement.
The images of her boldly standing alone despite the immense danger she was in have been compared to other historical photos of rebellion and bravery. She has been compared to “Tank Man,” the unidentified man who stood alone in front of a column of tanks after the Tiananmen Square massacre, and to the lone man who refused to salute Adolf Hitler in a crowd of supporters. Powerful art renditions of Daryaei’s protest have already flooded X, depicting Daryaei holding a flag, standing in front of a tank, or taking the baton from her predecessors.
Social media has also been flooded with expressions of solidarity, with prominent figures, including actress Katayoun Riahi, urging the public not to let let individuals like Daryaei stand alone in their fight against oppression.Activist Hossein Ronaghi praised Daryaei's bravery, framing her protest as a heartfelt protest against the injustices faced by women in Iran.
Hossein Ronaghi a prominent activist who was jailed during the protests, in a post on X hailed the "bravery" of the student and described her action as a "cry from the bottom of the heart against the oppression that has taken the life out of people, especially women.".
Ahoo DaryaeiI embodies resistance against the moral police, representing the demands of many Iranian women.We must be worthy of her courage. All democracies, all international bodies, must stand up and protect Ahoo Daryaei, now! For her, for Mahsa Amini, for all the Women around the world, wherever they may be, who are fighting killer states, for their freedom. The move from fear to courage is the freedom of every human being.
The impact of her actions mean her life is in grave danger, though many are hoping the worldwide attention will discourage Iran authorities from harming her.Ahoo Daryaei's courage represents every woman’s right to freedom and dignity. We must tell her story. Stand with her and join the call on world leaders, that Iran must release Ahoo before it's too late!
Add your name now to pressure the Iranian regime and encourage the G20 governments and the UN to speak up. Sign and share now!
Between 1957 and 1987, Soviet allies, such as Romania (above), Albania, Poland and North Korea, issued Laika postage stamps.
On this day in 1957, Laika, the Soviet dog, became the first living being to orbit Earth. Her journey was a monumental step in space exploration, but also a stark reminder of the ethical complexities of scientific advancement.
The decision to send a dog into orbit was largely down to Nikita Krushchev (First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union) who wanted to repeat the success of Sputnik 1 on a larger scale and show the world the true power of the USSR. He settled on achieving this by planning an orbital flight - with a dog.
Sputnik 2 was also planned to coincide with the 40th anniversary of the October Revolution so to satisfy Krushchev’s grand demands, Soviet recruiters set about collecting stray female dogs from the streets of Russia. If they could successfully send dogs to space, what else could they achieve, and what power potential could this unlock?
Once they had gathered a small group of stray dogs, they began to test for obedience, reactions to changes in air pressure, and loud noises - surely enough to terrify anyone. Footage of such tests can be viewed in the 2020 documentary Space Dogs, though watch at your own discretion.
After narrowing it down to just two potential choices, doctors performed gruesome surgery on both dogs, embedding medical devices into their bodies to monitor heart impulses, breathing rates, physical movement, and blood pressure.
Following extreme experiments and surgery,ten days before the launch, Soviet space-life scientist Vladimir Yazdovsky selected Laika to be the primary flight dog. Kudryavka (Curly) a half Husky, half Terrier was chosen because of her docile and submissive nature. She later became known as Laika (derived from the Russian verb ‘bark’) after barking repeatedly on the radio when introduced to the public.
The mission's primary goal was to study the biological effects of space travel and pave the way for future human expeditions into space. However, the mission was a one-way journey. Equipped with life support systems, Sputnik 2 was not designed for return. For Laika, it was a death sentence.
Before the launch, Yazdovsky took Laika home to play with his children. In a book chronicling the story of Soviet space medicine, he wrote, "Laika was quiet and charming ... I wanted to do something nice for her: She had so little time left to live."
To adapt Laika to the small cabin of Sputnik 2, she was kept in a cage that began to get continuously smaller over a period of twenty days. Such cruel confinement caused her to stop urinating and defecating and for her overall condition to rapidly decline.
Though Soviet scientists promoted the mission as daring and exciting, Three days before the scheduled liftoff, Laika entered her constricted travel space and was chained into the spacecraft to limit any movement. She was also fitted with an invasive bag to collect waste.
A technician who prepared the capsule for the mongrel dog said: “After placing Laika in the container and before closing the hatch, we kissed her nose and wished her bon voyage, knowing that she would not survive the flight.” A heartbreaking goodbye to a sweet-natured and trusting dog.
It’s reported that before lift-off, a female physician broke protocol by feeding Laika one final meal. A heartbreaking goodbye to a sweet-natured and trusting dog. On November 3 at 5:30 a.m., the ship lifted off with G-forces reaching five times normal gravity levels. The noises and pressures of flight terrified Laika: Her heartbeat rocketed to triple the normal rate, and her breath rate quadrupled. The National Air and Space Museum holds declassified printouts showing Laika’s respiration during the flight. She reached orbit alive, circling the Earth in about 103 minutes. Unfortunately, loss of the heat shield made the temperature in the capsule rise unexpectedly, taking its toll on Laika. She died from overheating, alone, isolated and frightened, and became a tragic symbol of humanity’s pursuit of progress at any cost.
During and after the flight, the Soviet Union kept up the fiction that Laika survived for several days. . Soviet broadcasts claimed that Laika was alive until November 12. The New York Times even reported that she might be saved; however, Soviet communiqués made it clear after nine days that Laika had died.
While concerns about animal rights had not reached early 21st century levels,the controversial hidden fact that the mongrel dog was sent to space on a one-way ticket brought about a world outcry. A pack of dog lovers attached protest signs to their pets and marched outside the United Nations in New York.
Britain showed to be the most outraged and before the announcer had even finished reading the news bulletin of the event, the switchboards were overwhelmed with angry callers.
The RSPCA too was inundated with phone calls, and as a result, ended up giving callers the number for the Soviet Embassy. The Soviet Embassy in London had to swiftly change their celebration mode into damage control, with First Secretary Yuri Modin commenting: “The Russians love dogs. This has been done not for the sake of cruelty but for the benefit of humanity.”
However, the British were not consoled. Lady Munnings, wife of the Royal Academy’s former President, Sir Alfred Munnings, demanded: “Instead of dogs, why not use child murderers, who just get life sentences and have a jolly good time in prison?”
And novelist Denise Robins wrote a touching elegy. “Little dog lost to the rest of the world,” it began. “Up in your satellite basket curled . . .” A German daily newspaper even reported: ““For a few days, the world is again united. “For a few days, black and white, democrats and communists, republicans and royalists in all countries, islands and continents have one feeling, one language, one direction . . . our feeling of compassion for this little living being twirling helplessly over our heads.”
Though Sputnik 2 completed over 2,500 orbits before reentering the atmosphere and disintegrating, Laika’s legacy endures. Her story serves as a stark reminder of the ethical implications of scientific advancement. It is a tale of human hubris and the exploitation of innocent creatures.
The story of Laika lives on today in websites, YouTube videos, poems and children’s books, at least one of which provides a happy ending for the doomed dog. Laika’s cultural impact has been spread across the years since her death. The 1985 Swedish film, My Life as a Dog, portrayed a young man’s fears that Laika had starved.
Several folk and rock singers around the globe have dedicated songs to her. An English indie-pop group took her name, and a Finnish band called itself Laika and the Cosmonauts. Novelists Victor Pelevin of Russia, Haruki Murakami of Japan, and Jeannette Winterson of Great Britain have featured Laika in books, as has British graphic novelist Nick Abadzis.
In 2008, more than half a century after her fatal flight, a statue of Laika was unveiled in Moscow. The statue is an abstract piece, depicting a rocket and hand morphed into one, cradling Laika and pointing upwards towards the stars - if only she had been shown so much care and consideration in reality.
While some may argue that Laika's sacrifice was necessary for progress, in reality the value of the information attained by her journey is questionable at best. Soviet researcher Oleg Gazenko recounted his involvement with the Sputnik 2 mission, saying:
“Work with animals is a source of suffering to all of us. We treat them like babies who cannot speak. The more time passes, the more I’m sorry about it. We shouldn’t have done it … We did not learn enough from this mission to justify the death of the dog.”
Laika's story serves to remind us of just one example of an animal’s life being sacrificed for human knowledge, the issue sadly remains prevalent in our society today.
Laika’s death set a precedent for using live animals to understand how space impacts their biological processes. Numerous other countries sent a variety of animals into space as well, including mice, rabbits, guinea pigs, and tortoises. The real question at the end of it all is, has the world learned anything from these acts of cruelty, when we look at the tens of thousands of dogs who are harmed—and who go unwillingly to their deaths—in pursuit of scientific “knowledge” that is at best flawed and at worst harmful to advancing human science.
Most dogs used in research today are used in pharmaceutical testing, even though upwards of 95% of drugs tested on animals fail when they move to human clinical trials. Whatever it is we “learn” from harming animals has little or no useful application for humans. Let's remember Laika, and the 115 million other animals who have died needlessly in experiments per year, and let this remind us to fight animal cruelty and treat non-human creatures with the respect they deserve. .
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