Jakobo.net

Over the weekend, we went out to the rural communities further to the south and east in Sierra Leone.

We started the ‘consultations’ in the communities and made very valuable experiences in terms of what the population sees as necessary for the country to really move on after the war. I don’t want to go too much into the details of the program, but let me just say that it was so, so interesting and heartwarming to experience people who have all been affected by the war; some miss their limbs; most miss some family members or friends, sit down and talk together about how to move on. No talk of revenge. No talk of prison or death penalty. But a lot of talk about traditional methods of healing and resolution. If only western countries could embrace such a thorough and holistic approach to justice..!

Besides from that, there was a lot of Sierra Leonean food: cassava leaves, rice, fish (pronounced Feesh), meat. Pretty much it. Still have to fully adapt to the Sierra Leonean cuisine, I must say. A lot of rice. A lot of chilly. I will probably have to frequent Burger King and Emir’s Falafel when I reach New York!
We stayed one night at a Catholic convent-thing. Time for self-indulgence. Very nice! Walked around the palm-groves with sentimental music on my beloved iPod and thought out life and its simple meaning.

In conclusion, I had a great weekend. Too many bumpy roads. That’s really the only downside of traveling in this country.

I will return with more soon. Hope, for one thing, to just be outside in the sun before too long. Perhaps even getting a little color… We’ll see.

Stay tuned and remember to read more about Fambul Tok

So, I’m sure there’s at least one person out there who would like to know a little about my life and living situation here in Freetown (thanks for caring, mom). So here goes:

-I live with relatives of my Bossman. Am sharing room with Albert, a great guy who works in a bank here in Freetown. The other inhabitants in the house are one mother, one daughter, one son, one additional boy, and one additional girl (the African way, they tell me. Very inclusive!)

-The mother (not quite unlike my ‘real’ one in Denmark) cooks me nice breakfast in the mornings and make sure I’m alright all the time. This morning it was plantains.

-Yesterday I had a conversation on religion with the family. Most people here are very religious, although in a manner rarely seen other places, I’d argue. The biggest denominations are Christianity and Islam. The beautiful thing is the degree of coexistence and lack of animosity between the groups. They go to church/Mosque with each other and know a lot about each others beliefs. The ex-president was muslim but had a christian wife, I’ve been told. I like it.
Anywho, I had a conversation with one of the girls in the house about religion. She asked what church I go to in my country. I tried, cunningly, to get put of the conversation without revealing my heathen upbringing, but it was inevitable. I had to tell her that I simply don’t really believe in anything that you have to go to church for… She was shocked. And concerned. he told me that it one of the biggest sins; not believing. We agreed that G-D is probably rather upset with me, and I asked if she could perhaps throw in a a word for me next time she talks with him. I keep my fingers crossed. I have furthermore promised a colleague at the office to read the ‘Rhapsody of realities’, so let’s see what kind of Jakob makes it back to NYC… Watch out American friends, you may have a proselytizer amongst you..!

-The office where I am is very nice- the people more so than the buildings, though. It’s a rather young and very nice team they have here, and I think I learn, especially about Sierra Leonean culture, a lot just by hanging out around them

-The other day I went with Albert to the cinema to see the Arsenal-Hotspurs game. Bendtner didn’t score, but we had a great time. A couple of hundred people were in this big, big hall to see the game, everyone cheering loudly. They’re almost as crazed as the Brits with football, British football in particular.

Ok, that’s all folks… Now I’m off to the provinces to start the Fambul Tok program with its first talks in the small communities. Very excited!

I was invited to come with my Bossman from the office, John Caulker, to talk about reconciliation on the university radio here in Freetown (found out it was broadcasted on several channels nationwide). We discussed (I mainly learned from what was said, to be honest) how reconciliation can come about in a variety of ways; how justice can/must play part in reaching genuine peace and many other interesting issues.

The trial against Charles Taylor, a really bad boy who allegedly screwed up most of West Africa in his personal pursuit of wealth and power (see post below for more on wealth stemming from diamonds). Reading this short article on the trial and some of the horrible things that took place, I struck me how incredible it is that Sierra Leone is such an open, warm and welcoming country in so many ways. The fact that the streets of Freetown, full of people who played big parts and did unmentionable things in the war, are safe and filled with a lot of happy faces, in my opinion is a huge tribute to mankind! Hooray for the good in man (and woman)

Was writing a post on life in Freetown yesterday, but apparently the internet cut off…
So, here’s just a little something to wonder about:
Estimates of the diamond trade’s influx on the civil war in Sierra Leone vary. However, it is certain that the gems have caused deadly problems most of the places they’ve been found. At the same time, other places in the world, other people make quite good money on buying and selling these stones. See this article from today’s Haaretz. It brings up the good ol’ socialist in me. Is it really fair that so many people here in Freetown (who, btw, are way, way better off financially than people in the provinces of Sierra Leone) live in utter poverty, while other people have gold tiles in their swimming pool? Even if we for a moment forget that these two groups of people’s lives are directly linked, I find it highly perverse that someone feels the need to have gold tiles in their pool…

Hmm, that was just today’s outburst from West Africa. think now it’s time to explore this place a little more. Am going out to the provinces with the weekend for the Fambul Tok project I’m here to work on: Fambul Tok

Pics will hopefully come at some point.

Allllrighty folks,

Im off to Sierra Leone tomorrow morning. Am so excited!

I will definitely blog about it when I get back to NYC.

In the meantime, check out this link to see more about the work I will be doing and the organization Im going with.

All terrorists are Muslims. The guy in the picture actually said that. He was overwhelmingly re-elected to the Danish parliment last week (although he’ll actually be representing us in the EU parliment. Click to enlarge picture-it’s beautiful!)

Oooookidoki,

Since last post (I realize that’s a while back) the following has happened:

-Denmark got four more years with a conservative government. I feel like all the things I brag about to my friends concerning the free spirit, tolerance and coolness of Denmark slowly vanishes as the breath of Pia Kjærsgaard (see picture above- thanks Davie) spills out over the country and indulges everyone and everything in dark, stark intolerance and narrowmindedness… Forhelvedepikkelort!

-A few good friends have told me that they’re FATHERS in spe!! (that is, their girlfriends are pregnant). Wild!! I will let it be up to you to spill the news, but I will send you a huge TILLYKKE and I can’t wait to come home next summer and play uncle!

-I’ve gone to a few concerts (the Roots disapointed me for the first time), but am still dreading talking to Andreas and telling him that I haven’t followed his recommendations for cool indie music…

-My friend Jesper came by on an unexpected visit. We spent a long night going over all aspects of life and how to deal with them, eventually reaching a conclusion on how to live life. Kom snart igen, musen!

-Oliver, my dear friend, just spent the weekend here. Soooo nice to take a weekend away from the SIPA library and actually see the city I’ve been living in for a while now. Beers with Jonas and long talks about the stuff that really matter… Also went on my first shopping spree: Katrine I thought of you as I bought my first ever Marc Jacobs item: a hat. (Sahil reminds me to think, then, of Peter Singer and how he wants us to donate all the money we don’t spend on necessities to the ‘global south’… Ugh)

-I’ve been to a variety of fun parties and have generally been having a really fun time when SIPA hasn’t violated me too blatantly and robbed me of any ability to think about stuff not pertaining to world affairs!

-The midterms I mentioned in last post are over and the finals are now approaching dangerously fast! It’ll be ok… Man, I deserve that vacation!

-I’ve been trying to cope with several changing aspects of life. If I was a corny man with tendencies to sentimental clichées, I would say that one really grows from being ‘on his own’ in so many ways in a big city far from the idylic family farm that I was so long destined to take over…

-My friend Jonas published a new paper on UN reform. Check it out here.

Hmm, many more things happened, but I wont bore you more and also have to get going with international law and the responsibility to protect. I know a few of you are interested in this issue as well, so please do give me your insights!

Thanksgiving is on Thursday. Think I will volunteer at a big shelter here. I’m just that kind of person!

That’s it for now. Shoot me an email (as we said on the Hill) if you want expansions on any of the abovementioned.

Take it EZ,
Jakob

Soon I will post on life in NYC again- on my first cultural experiences here; on being hip in Williamsburg; on drinking too much whiskey with SIPA friends; on how happy I’ve been with the great discussion pertaining to the last post; on how midterms surely but surely are sucking all life out of my pathetic shell of a body… But first I’ll have to actually dedicate myself to mentioned midterms. So any readers will have to stick out the anticipation a little longer.

Until then, here’s anteresting video. It will definately be more interesting for the Danes above, say 20, who saw the Jørgen Clevin shows after ‘børnefjernsyn’, but I think any- and everyone will get the message. I think it’s quite clever:

My cousin Niels keeps writing me emails asking “Jakob, tell me just one good thing about the US”. He just saw ‘Sicko’. And read about Bollinger. And also, he has socialist-tendencies, I think, so it figures…

None the less, I think it is an interesting question. And one that many Europeans ask themselves more or less seriously (I just mentioned this post to my (American) land lady and she said “Yeah, I keep wondering what the good things are. I can tell you good things about NYC, but the US… Hmm…”)

Therefore this post. Let me know what you think. Why do you love US? Or why don’t you? Everyone’s viewpoints are welcome!

I could put out some teasers:

(universal) health care.
culture of entrepreneurship.
Tolerance.
Soccer (it’s called football, aight?)
Bush… Clinton, Bush, Reagan, Carter, etc
Minimum wage
Nature
Concepts of ‘race’
Foreign Policy

There are many more. Don’t be shy- let’s know what you think!
Just post your thoughts under ‘comments’.

Yeeha

I remember promising Andreas and Katrine that I would expand on my life here instead of solely commenting on politics.

If you tuned in for Ahmadinejad, scroll down a tat.

Here goes a short summary of la vida nueva yorkereña- more to come. Some day.

-Neighborhood is still cool. Men playing domino on the streets every evening/night when I walk home from the subway on Broadway. And women hanging out on the side streets. Sometimes commenting me in Spanish.
-People are very cool at SIPA. I have met some really great peeps to hang out with (you know who you are. No you’re not one of them, Sahil)
-I still miss Denmark and you- yes, you who are in Denmark. But I don’t really have time for you to visit, so let’s just call it a friendship. Great knowing you.
-My knee is hurting, so I missed out on the beautiful game last weekend. Scheize!!
-I’ve bought vitamin- and fish oil pills (happy Mom?) and take them with taaasty orange juice every night along with 30 push-ups (simultaneous with Sahil) Are you keeping up, Sid? Feel free to take ten
-I feel like I’m reading, sleeping, eating, reading, readin, reading and reading. And yet I’m always behind. I suddenly the remember the internal guilt connected with being a student.

Ok, I think that’s enough of my banalities. The more personal stuff will be in email format.

So, he came. Ahmadinejad. I’m sure most of you have seen it on the news (and some of you were at Columbia with me).

There’s so much to say:

-Was it appropriate to invite the leader of a country that consistently violates human rights, and thereby giving him a platform to speak?

I believe it was. If living up to human rights was the merrit to judge leaders on, Bush wouldn’t get to travel much (no futher comparison intended). I believe that dialogue is the only way forward if we want to proceed in international relations (and most other aspects of life, really). it’s easy to talk to the ones we agree with- I found it important to be confronted with Ahmadinejad’s oftentimes distorted view on reality (as an example, he is the man behind the question in the title above). And equally important: to challenge him with our views. I actually think both happened.

Is he the second Hitler?

There were many, many demonstrators outside Columbia. Some were cool, some were fun, some were less fun, and some were quite frankly ridiculous. There were a big group of people who had posters with pictures merging Ahmadinejad and Hitler, shanting how the first is the resurrection of the latter. I think comparisons like that are not only silly; they’re stupid and potentially dangerous. I should have liked to see what had happened had I used Hitler to make a point about a leader I don’t like. I’m quite sure the same group of people would have haunted me down the street and accused me of many terrible things.

So, what did he say?

You can see most or all of the spech and questions here.

The points I would highlight are:

-There are no homosexuals in Iran (maybe true: according to human rights groups, homosexuals have been reported to be hung in Iran) At the same time, he explained why death penalty is a good thing.

-Iran is welcoming not only talks with the US, but also a Columbia University delegation to Iranian universities. (I know I’ll apply for a seat)

-He didn’t deny the holocaust, but he did question it. And rethorically asked why the Palestinians should pay the prize for a (potential) crime, they had no stakes in.

-He didn’t confirm or reject the idea of ‘wiping Israel off the map’. He said he believes the issue (whatever that is exactly) should be dealt with by democratic elections with participation by all groups in israel: Jews, Muslims and Christians alike.

-He talked, quite convincingly so, about the number and rights of jews in Iran and thereby tried to shake off the image as antisemite.

All in all a very interesting event, I thought. Some of you have probably heard of President Bollingers introduction - even my cousin Niels in Denmark did. I personally found it extensively rude and not very constructive. On the other hand: how should he have introduced Mugabe? Putin? (Bush?) Mostly, I found it weird to invite someone to speak and then treate him in such a condescending manner. I was looking forward to Ahmadinejad being confronted with hardcore criticism, but this was a weird, almost infantile way of doing it. See Bollinger’s intro here

Ok, I think that’s all for now. I think I will attach a letter Bollinger sent out to all Columbia students. Look for a page to the right. It (tries to) explain(s) why Ahmadinejad was invited in the first place.

Comments are very welcome. I know we have discussed this a lot at SIPA (most seem to agree on the basic points, though). Maybe the discussion can continue here.

Hakuna Matata