Exploit photos on Flickr

stop exploitation by en- ri, mutant and proud

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www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwTSPcNSi40

The Exploited 'Troops of Tomorrow' hand painted leather jacket by Rupert

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The Troops of Tomorrow album sleeve and Exploited logo painted in acrylic paint. The bottom panel was far from symmetrical so the logo was painted on to balance the whole of the jacket, not just that panel. See more at www.paintedleatherjackets.com

Buffalo Bulls in a Wallow: 1837 by Senex Magister

Catlin certainly enjoyed hunting with the Indians, and described his own exploits in bringing down buffalo with gusto and graphic detail. He observed, with equally minute attention, that the buffalo provided everything the Plains Indian needed: "There are, by a fair calculation, more than 300,000 Indians, who are now subsisted on the flesh of the buffaloes, and by those animals supplied with all the luxuries of life. The great variety of uses to which they convert the body and other parts of that animal, are almost incredible to the person who has not actually dwelt among these people, and closely studied their modes and customs. Every part of their flesh is converted into food, in one shape or another, and on it they entirely subsist. The robes of the animals are worn by the Indians instead of blankets-their skins when tanned, are used as coverings for their lodges, and for their beds; undressed, they are used for constructing canoes-for saddles, for bridles-lariats, lassos, and thongs. The horns are shaped into ladles and spoons-the brains are used for dressing the skins -their bones are used for saddle trees - for war clubs, and scrapers for graining the robes-and others are broken up for the marrow-fat which is contained in them. Their sinews are used for strings and backs to their bows-for thread to string their beads and sew their dresses. The feet of the animals are boiled, with their hoofs, for the glue they contain, for fastening their arrow points, and many other uses. The hair from the head and shoulders, which is long, is twisted and braided into halters, and the tail is used for a fly brush. In this wise do these people convert and use the various parts of this useful animal, and with all these luxuries of life about them, and their numerous games, they are happy (God bless them) in the ignorance of the disastrous fate that awaits them" (Letters and Notes, Letter No. 31).

Catlin came to believe that the buffalo would be wiped out, which raised another question in his mind: "When the buffaloes shall have disappeared in his country, which will be within eight or ten years, I would ask, who is to supply [the Indian] with the necessaries of life then? and I would ask, further, (and leave the question to be answered ten years hence), when the skin shall have been stripped from the back of the last animal, who is to resist the ravages of 300,000 starving savages; and in their trains, 1,500,000 wolves, whom direst necessity will have driven from their desolate and game-less plains, to seek for the means of subsistence along our exposed frontier? God has everywhere supplied man in a State of Nature, with the necessaries of life, and before we destroy the game of his country, or teach him new desires, he has no wants that are not satisfied" (Letters and Notes, Letter No. 31). The end was not exactly as Catlin predicted, but he was nearly correct about the fate of the buffalo. Modern experts estimate that the buffalo herds in the 1830's were between forty and sixty million head; it is almost inconceivable that within fifty years, that number would be reduced to less than five thousand.

Quoted From: Campfire Stories with George Catlin

natural gas drilling by Ari Evergreen

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These photos of natural gas drilling were taken in August, 2009 by Attorney Helen Slottje, for www.shaleshock.org

#EUoppsWales: Inquiry into EU funding opportunities 2014 - 2020 / #cyfUECYmru: Ymchwiliad i gyfleoedd cyllido yr UE 2014 - 2020 by Senedd Cymru / Welsh Parliament

Wales must exploit more EU funding opportunities – says National Assembly committee

Bilingual drama series Hinterland/Y Gwyll is an excellent example of how Wales can benefit from EU funding opportunities – according to the National Assembly’s Enterprise and Business Committee.

The Committee has conducted an inquiry examining a range of funding streams available to Wales for 2014-2020, building on the Committee’s previous work on Structural Funding and the EU’s new research programme Horizon 2020.

There is currently around €42billion (£33billion) available across the EU through initiatives such as Erasmus+, INTERREG, Creative Europe, and Connecting Europe. The Committee was keen to see how much priority is given to making the most of these opportunities in Wales by the Welsh Government and other organisations.

It concluded that Wales’s creative sector is leading the way in unlocking European funds, while there is also evidence that some parts of the Welsh higher and further education sectors are also performing well in accessing funding. Yet these are exceptions rather than the rule.

The Committee concluded that the over-emphasis on Structural Funds and Rural Development Programmes in Wales means that the significant opportunities provided by other funding programmes haven’t been properly realised.

The Committee heard that Scotland and Ireland have a much more joined-up strategic approach to applying for such funds and wants to see a coherent strategy for all EU policy and funding programmes, which can maximise engagement from Wales and create synergy with Welsh Government priorities and initiatives.

The Committee has also called for the establishment of an ‘EU funding champion’ to drive delivery and implementation of the Welsh Government’s new EU strategy.

Rhaid i Gymru fanteisio mwy ar gyfleoedd cyllid yr UE - yn ôl pwyllgor yn y Cynulliad Cenedlaethol

Mae'r gyfres ddrama ddwyieithog Y Gwyll/Hinterland yn enghraifft wych o'r modd y gall Cymru elwa ar gyfleoedd cyllid yr UE - yn ôl Pwyllgor Menter a Busnes y Cynulliad Cenedlaethol.

Mae'r Pwyllgor wedi cynnal ymchwiliad i'r ffrydiau ariannu sydd ar gael i Gymru ar gyfer 2014-20, a hynny ar sail ei waith blaenorol ar ariannu strwythurol a Horizon 2020, sef rhaglen ymchwil newydd yr UE .

Mae tua €42 biliwn (£33 biliwn) ar gael drwy'r UE drwy fentrau fel Erasmus+, INTERREG, Ewrop Greadigol, a Chyfleuster Cysylltu Ewrop, felly roedd y Pwyllgor yn awyddus i weld i ba raddau y mae gwneud y gorau o'r cyfleodd hyn yn flaenoriaeth i Lywodraeth Cymru a sefydliadau eraill.

Casglodd y Pwyllgor Menter a Busnes mai sector creadigol Cymru sy'n arwain y ffordd o ran rhyddhau cronfeydd Ewropeaidd, ond mae tystiolaeth hefyd bod rhannau o'r sector addysg uwch a’r sector addysg bellach yn perfformio'n dda o ran cael mynediad at gyllid. Mae'r enghreifftiau hyn yn eithriad i'r rheol, sut bynnag.

Daeth y Pwyllgor i'r casgliad bod pwysleisio'n ormodol ar Gronfeydd Strwythurol a Rhaglenni Datblygu Gwledig yng Nghymru yn golygu nad yw'r cyfleoedd sylweddol y mae rhaglenni ariannu eraill yn eu cynnig wedi cael eu gwireddu'n iawn.

Clywodd y Pwyllgor fod dulliau’r Alban ac Iwerddon ar gyfer gwneud cais am gyllid o'r fath yn llawer mwy strategol a chydlynol.

Felly, mae'r Pwyllgor am weld strategaeth gydlynol ar gyfer holl raglenni polisi a chyllid yr UE er mwyn gwneud y gorau o ymgysylltu o du Cymru ac i greu synergedd â blaenoriaethau a mentrau Llywodraeth Cymru.

Mae'r Pwyllgor hefyd wedi galw am i 'hyrwyddwr cyllid yr UE' gael ei sefydlu er mwyn gyrru strategaeth newydd Llywodraeth Cymru ar gyfer yr UE o ran ei chyflawni a’i gweithredu

2010 - FORT ROYAL Porte de carter MP ouverte par Pontfire by MIKOS-35

FORT ROYAL - 1979-2003

Cie Générale Maritimes C.G.M.

Navires conçus pour être exploités sur la ligne des Antilles en remplacement des anciens navires polythermes de la Compagnie Générale Transatlantique. Les commandes de ces navires ont été confirmées aux Chantiers de France Dunkerque. Le FORT ROYAL est le premier des deux PCRP.

1978 le 20 avril : mise sur cale

1978 le 2 décembre : Lancement

1979 du 5 au 9 juin : Essais en mer.

1979 le 15 juin : Navire recetté et pris en charge.

CARACTÉRISTIQUES :

Navire à long gaillard avant s'étendant au-dessus des cales 1 et 2. Ils possèdent une double coque qui s'étend de chaque bord, du peak avant et s'élevant du double fond au pont supérieur. La partie supérieure de chacune de ses doubles coques constitue une galerie technique.

Toutes les cales sont équipées de glissières à conteneurs. Le nombre total de conteneurs en cales est de 616 EVP (cales 1 à 6 contiennent chacune 2 travées pour conteneurs 20 pieds. Les cales 7 à 9 une travée pour conteneurs 40 pieds) Tous les conteneurs peuvent être réfrigérés à partir de gaines de réfrigération)

Longueur hors-tout : 210 m Overall lengh

Longueur entre perpendiculaires : 198 m Lengh between perpendiculars

Longueur pour la classification : 198,630 m Classification length

Largeur hors membres : 32,20 m Moulded width

Creux sur quille au pont supérieur : 18,800 m Moulded depth

Tirant d'eau au franc-bord d'été : 11,020 m Draft at summer waterline

Port en lourd correspondant : 20.508 tonnes Correponding deadwight capacity

Tirant d'eau d'exploitation : 9 m Operaying draft

Vitesse au tirant d'eau d'exploitation : 22,27 noeuds Speed at operating draft

Puissance correspondante : 30.600 cv Corresponding power

Vitesse maxi aux essais sur ballast à 36.000 cv 23,90 noeuds Max speed during tests on ballast at 36,000 h.p.

Rayon d'action : 9.500 milles Range

Jauge brute internationale : 32.184 tonneaux GRT

Jauge nette internationale : 16.238 tonneaux NRT

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

PROPULSION :

2 appareils propulsifs entièrement indépendants entrainant deux hélices monoblocs 4 pales Diamètre 6 m

2 moteurs semi-rapides de marque STEM PIELSTICK type 12 PC4 V 570 – 4 temps simple effet réversibles, suralimentés.

Puissance maximale continue par moteur : 18.000 cv

Puissance en service par moteur : 15.300 cv

Vitesse maximale de rotation des moteurs : 400 t/mn

Vitesse de rotation des lignes d'arbres : 122 t/mn

Moteur alimentés en F.O. lourd viscosité 3.500 s/Redwood

Transmission puissance du moteur à la ligne d'arbre par amortisseur de vibration (Damper), et par un G.F.L. destiné à diminuer les efforts en cas de délignage.

Réducteur épicycloïdal à trois satellites MPU70W avec butée incorporée.

Frein à air comprimé de type UNICUM 60 VC 1600

Afin de permettre la marche sur une ligne d'arbre à faible allure, une butée auxiliaire et un tourteau d'accouplement avec un frein manuel.

Production de vapeur par 2 chaudières de récupération 7 bars et 3,5 tonnes de production

1 chaudière de mouillage à 7 bars et 5 tonnes de production

6 diesels alternateurs de 1420 kW - Alternateurs 1.420 kW 440 volts 60 Hz triphasé

Marque AUT du Bureau Veritas

PRODUCTION FROID :

Descente et maintien en froid commandé à la COGER pour 138 conteneurs de 40 pieds et 616 de 20 pieds isolés thermiquement Produits congelés à -25°c – Produits réfrigérés -2° et + 8° Bananes à +12°c

126 gaines associées aux piles de conteneurs alimentent et reprennent l'air de chaque conteneur.

Ventilateurs assurant un taux de brassage de l'air de 80 en grande vitesse (bananes)

Dans un local dédié à la réfrigération des conteneurs:

5 groupes de refroidissement de saumure fonctionnant au fréon R22.

Puissance moteur 750kW 1800 t/mn – 1.750.000 fg/h

5 condenseurs refroidis à l'eau de mer.

5 évaporateurs de saumure.

5 pompes de saumure de chacune 400 m3/heure

5 pompes eau de mer de chacune 272 m3/h

126 régulateurs de température d'air de soufflage avec précision à+ ou – 0,1°c (précision pour transport des bananes)

ITINÉRAIRE:

Le Havre – Montoir- Le Verdon – Fort de France – Le Havre Rotation complète Le Havre – Le Havre 27 à 30 jours

Heuliez Bus GX 337 ELEC n°7005 / 103477 by Floriandu95

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Exploitant : Transdev TVO

Réseau : R'Bus (Argenteuil)

Ligne : 1

Lieu : Mont Olivet (Sartrouville, F-78)

Lien TC Infos : tc-infos.fr/vehicule/34911

ROMA ARCHEOLOGIA e RESTAURO ARCHITETTURA 2020: A. La Regina, The grandest archaeological project since Mussolini’s time, The Art Newspaper (11/1998) & Via dei Fori, dalla pedonalizzazione al sogno: «Smantelliamo quella strada». Reporter Nuovo (11/04/2017) by Martin Conde

ROMA ARCHEOLOGIA e RESTAURO ARCHITETTURA 2020: Adriano La Regina, "The grandest archaeological project since Mussolini’s time has required a special, bureaucracy-defeating agreement.' The Art Newspaper # 86 (November 1998); "In 1993 Rome’s town council began preparing for the Millennium. The debate has been over how much to alter Mussolini’s propagandistic exploitation of imperial remains." The Art Newspaper. # 71 (June 1997) & Via dei Fori Imperiali, dalla pedonalizzazione al sogno: «Smantelliamo quella strada». Reporter Nuovo (Apr 11, 2017). wp.me/pbMWvy-if

1). ROME - The grandest archaeological project since Mussolini’s time has required a special, bureaucracy-defeating agreement

Where archaeology becomes power. The Art Newspaper 86 (November 1998).

It is a mark of the persuasiveness of the deputy prime minister in the last Italian government, Walter Veltroni, who also doubled as the nation’s minister of culture, that the grandest archaeological project to be undertaken in Italy in the last fifty years is passing virtually without sniping in mainstream newspapers and is being hailed by the specialist press with a range of superlatives unseen since Mussolini effectively enforced censorship of the nation’s newspapers.

The most politically sensitive archaeological area in Italy, the excavated ancient fora, which occupy a vast sector of central Rome, is now being overhauled.

In antiquity the fora served as the political and administrative centres of Republican and then imperial power. With the fall of empire, the fora were abandoned and largely built over until Mussolini undertook a vast programme of excavation in 1932.

First, he relegated hundreds of inhabitants to the outskirts of the city; then he personally supervised the demolition of all the residential buildings and churches that stood in the way.

An army of archaeologists was mobilised to resurrect the vestiges of Rome’s greatness. Working day and night they uncovered more of ancient Rome than the world of post-antiquity had ever seen. But in 1932 two-thirds of the newly excavated remains were submerged in cement by Mussolini’s Via dell’Impero which connects Piazza Venezia, the centre of Fascist administration where Mussolini had his offices, with the Colosseum. The Via dell’Impero was used to stage spectacular processions of Fascist soldiers against the backdrop of Roman ruins, labouring the continuity between the military might of ancient and modern Rome.

No other archaeological project has been so hotly contested in Italy in the last twenty years as the question of what to do with the ancient fora. Archaeologists have persistently called for the demolition of Mussolini’s road, renamed the Via dei Fori Imperiali after World War II. It slashes diagonally through the right-angle arrangement of the fora, making the excavated remains at its fringes difficult to interpret. But the road carries much of central Rome’s traffic which makes its demolition virtually impossible.

Proposals floated in the Eighties to excavate the vast unexplored areas on the fringes of the Via dei Fori Imperiali were rejected or endorsed by politicians according to their allegiances. Francesco Rutelli, Mayor of Rome for the last five years, has been an enthusiastic supporter of excavations, but until last year his plans have been scuppered by political opponents.

Excavations are now underway to connect the ancient remains on either side of Mussolini’s road, as part of Italy’s plans for the Jubilee in the year 2000 (The Art Newspaper, No.81, May 1998, pp.34-36). The road itself was built on a sequence of arches which support its weight. If all goes according to plan, by the year 2000 these underlying arches will be excavated and will remain exposed, turning the Via dei Fori Imperiali into an elevated structure resembling an ancient aqueduct. Visitors will then be able to walk through the arches underneath the road as they visit the vast archaeological park that is to be created.

Extensive excavations are underway at Caesar’s Forum where an extra third is to be excavated by 2000. The visible area around the Temple of Peace will increase sevenfold, while an extra 50% of Trajan’s Markets will come to light.

By autumn 1999, an archaeological pathway will lead visitors to the recently uncovered monuments and sites. The main entrances to this pathway will be created at Trajan’s Markets and at the Clivius Argentarium, the Roman road which ran between the Capitol and the Quirinal Hills.

The remains of the Basilica Ulpia, where the Romans administered justice, are to have their own museum built around them. The cellars of medieval buildings and ancient water pipes, unearthed during recent excavations, will be used as underground pedestrian routes between Trajan’s Forum and Caesar’s Forum. The latter is to be re-connected to Nerva’s Forum through the cellars of medieval buildings and a stretch of the Cloaca Massima, the Republican drainage system which served a great portion of the city.

The planned network of pedestrian routes may change as work proceeds. It will probably be on several levels, some at street level, others underground. Via Alessandrina, all that remains of the sixteenth-century centre dismantled during the Fascist period, will eventually be demolished. An international competition may be launched for the reorganisation of some areas.

To prepare for the two million annual visitors expected, information points are to be built along the pedestrian paths as part of a larger multimedia information system.

This vast urban excavation project, which entails the almost total reconstitution of the ancient city in a modern setting, would never have been possible if the bureaucratic obstruction that turns many a public project in Italy into a Herculean task had not been bypassed. The situation in this case might be aggravated by the shared jurisdiction over the area between the government and the city of Rome. An agreement is now being drawn up between the leaders of the various bodies responsible for the project: the Soprintendente, Adriano la Regina; his colleague from the City of Rome, Eugenio La Rocca, and Mario Serio from the ministry of culture. The agreement is designed to simplify the decision-making process and to guarantee sustained funding for the project. The first phase of the project is expected to cost L19 billion (£6.8 million; $11.5 million).

Fonte / source:

--- The Art Newspaper 86 (November 1998).

www.theartnewspaper.com/archive/the-archaeology-of-power

2). ROME - In 1993 Rome’s town council began preparing for the Millennium. The debate has been over how much to alter Mussolini’s propagandistic exploitation of imperial remains. The Art Newspaper 71 (June 1998).

ROME - Almost 2,000 years ago, the first Roman emperor, Augustus, proclaimed his power through an impressive building programme designed to transform his capital from “brick into marble”.

In the 1930s, Mussolini grasped the propaganda potential of Rome’s imperial architecture in a huge archaeological programme that had less to do with the recovery and preservation of antiquity than with fostering an apparent continuity between the imperial city and Fascist Rome.

Now, the mayor of Rome, Francesco Rutelli, and his Partito Democratico della Sinistra (Democratic Party of the Left) council, have endorsed a major scheme in the run-up to the Millennium that will go a long way towards erasing Mussolini’s mark on the city.

In a project that has been described by its supervisor, Professor Eugenio La Rocca, as “every archaeologist’s dream”, the imperial fora of Augustus, Vespasian, Nerva and Trajan, built in antiquity to serve as the political and commercial heart of the city, are to be excavated as far as is possible without disrupting the modern city. Ongoing excavations on the Forum of Nerva have already yielded rich finds from every era of the city’s history.

At the turn of the century, the archaeologist Corrado Ricci focused on the visible parts of Trajan’s Markets, the Forum of Augustus and a small area of the Forum of Nerva, all of them partially visible in the courtyards and cellars of a sixteenth-century residential area. At that time archaeological excavation was not contemplated because the area was densely populated.

Enter Mussolini and his team of archaeologists in 1931. In his eagerness to excavate the fora, three churches, eleven streets, and a hill of Renaissance villas and gardens, were demolished.

Having excavated the imperial fora, Mussolini covered two-thirds of the remains under a thirty-metre wide coat of asphalt to create the Via dell’Impero (today known as the Via dei Fori Imperiali). The street connects the Colosseum—the monument that popular imagination most associates with imperial Rome—to Piazza Venezia, the administrative and ritual heart of Fascist Italy, where Mussolini had his headquarters. On this road, against the backdrop of imperial ruins, isolated from their surroundings and framed by empty space, spectacular processions of Fascist soldiers laboured the connection between Italy’s imperial heritage and its Fascist rulers.

Excavation of the fora has been debated for the last fifteen years, with political ideologies often dictating archaeological proposals. Some advocated the total demolition of Mussolini’s Via dei Fori Imperiali, but in Dr La Rocca’s opinion this would have brought Rome’s traffic to a standstill and it was preferred instead to excavate the empty space framing the monuments to either side of Mussolini’s great road. Archaeological walkways will lead the public through the ruins and new museums will display discovered material.

The work is part of the mayor’s “Capital Rome” project launched in 1993 in run up to the Millennium. L19 billion (£6.9 million; $10.9 million) of the L30 billion (£10.8 million; $17.4 million) to be spent on the project were released in February.

The Ara Pacis: out goes Facism, in comes Richard Meier

If the necessary funds are made available, Millennium preparations will include new housing for the Ara Pacis Augustae. Richard Meier, the American architect whose work includes the Museum of Contemporary Art in Barcelona and who is also working on the new Getty complex, was asked to submit designs for a new structure to enclose the monument. The Ara Pacis—the altar of piece—is a marble altar dedicated in 9 BC by Augustus, to celebrate the peace following his victory at Actium in 31 BC. The walls are decorated in high relief with scenes illustrating the founding of Rome and the rise of the Julio-Claudian dynasty. In 1938 a new technique that permitted freezing the soil of the marshy site was employed to recover all possible fragments and the monument was reassembled. It was enclosed in a larger structure made of concrete and glass on the outer walls of which Mussolini chose to inscribe the Res Gestae . The Res Gestae—an autobiographical account of Augustus’s achievements as emperor, including detailed description of his building projects—was translated, exported and inscribed on temple walls throughout the Roman empire. For Mussolini it became the sacred precedent of Italian imperialism and justification for his dreams of a new Italian Empire. Pending the allocation of funds, the Fascist building is to be replaced by a new structure large enough to house a small museum.

Fonte / source:

--- The Art Newspaper 71 (June 1998).

www.theartnewspaper.com/archive/the-archaeology-of-power

3). ROMA - Via dei Fori Imperiali, dalla pedonalizzazione al sogno: «Smantelliamo quella strada».

Reporter Nuovo / You-tube (Apr 11, 2017).

Adriano La Regina, ex soprintendente ai beni culturali di Roma, rilancia l'idea di rimuovere la strada voluta da Mussolini e creare il parco archeologico più grande al mondo. L'ex sindaco Marino: «Siano gli archeologi a valutare il progetto»

Fonte / source:

--- Reporter Nuovo / You-tube (Apr 11, 2017).

www.youtube.com/watch?v=0k5h6CRiGwg

Additional photographs in:

--- "Roma e le automobili (1975)," In questa serie di fotografie troviamo alcune istantanee che ci mostrano la presenza di automobili nelle principali piazze e vie, ma anche luoghi iconici e meravigliosi della capitale. ROMA IERI OGGI (05/2020).

www.romaierioggi.it/roma-e-le-automobili-1975/

Mercedes-Benz Citaro Facelift €5 n°6331 / 99665 by Floriandu95

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Exploitant : Transdev TVO

Réseau : R'Bus (Argenteuil)

Ligne : 18

Lieu : Gare d'Argenteuil (Argenteuil, F-95)

Lien TC Infos : tc-infos.fr/id/20675

Exploits by Terry Hunt

Speciesism: Cow's Milk is For Baby Cows by Mel Mel (VeganButterfly)

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Dairy farm ad at Planet Organic.

I think "Mother Nature" intended for animals to drink the breastmilk of their own species....while they're babies only!

There is nothing "natural" about forcing animals into pregnancy, taking away their children (and killing them for veal), and stealing their breastmilk. We are not cows, and we are not babies.

Indonesia - Sulawesi - Randau Batu - Toraja Funeral Ceremony - 36 by Manfred Sommer

The Toraja are an ethnic group indigenous to a mountainous region of South Sulawesi, Indonesia. Their population is approximately 1,100,000, of whom 450,000 live in the regency of Tana Toraja ("Land of Toraja"). Most of the population is Christian, and others are Muslim or have local animist beliefs known as aluk ("the way"). The Indonesian government has recognized this animist belief as Aluk To Dolo ("Way of the Ancestors").

The word toraja comes from the Bugis Buginese language term to riaja, meaning "people of the uplands". The Dutch colonial government named the people Toraja in 1909. Torajans are renowned for their elaborate funeral rites, burial sites carved into rocky cliffs, massive peaked-roof traditional houses known as tongkonan, and colorful wood carvings. Toraja funeral rites are important social events, usually attended by hundreds of people and lasting for several days.

Before the 20th century, Torajans lived in autonomous villages, where they practised animism and were relatively untouched by the outside world. In the early 1900s, Dutch missionaries first worked to convert Torajan highlanders to Christianity. When the Tana Toraja regency was further opened to the outside world in the 1970s, it became an icon of tourism in Indonesia: it was exploited by tourism developers and studied by anthropologists. By the 1990s, when tourism peaked, Toraja society had changed significantly, from an agrarian model - in which social life and customs were outgrowths of the Aluk To Dolo - to a largely Christian society. Today, tourism and remittances from migrant Torajans have made for major changes in the Toraja highland, giving the Toraja a celebrity status within Indonesia and enhancing Toraja ethnic group pride.

ETHNIC IDENTITY

The Torajan people had little notion of themselves as a distinct ethnic group before the 20th century. Before Dutch colonization and Christianization, Torajans, who lived in highland areas, identified with their villages and did not share a broad sense of identity. Although complexes of rituals created linkages between highland villages, there were variations in dialects, differences in social hierarchies, and an array of ritual practices in the Sulawesi highland region. "Toraja" (from the coastal languages' to, meaning people; and riaja, uplands) was first used as a lowlander expression for highlanders. As a result, "Toraja" initially had more currency with outsiders - such as the Bugis and Makassarese, who constitute a majority of the lowland of Sulawesi - than with insiders. The Dutch missionaries' presence in the highlands gave rise to the Toraja ethnic consciousness in the Sa'dan Toraja region, and this shared identity grew with the rise of tourism in the Tana Toraja Regency. Since then, South Sulawesi has four main ethnic groups - the Bugis (the majority, including shipbuilders and seafarers), the Makassarese (lowland traders and seafarers), the Mandarese (traders and fishermen), and the Toraja (highland rice cultivators).

HISTORY

From the 17th century, the Dutch established trade and political control on Sulawesi through the Dutch East Indies Company. Over two centuries, they ignored the mountainous area in the central Sulawesi, where Torajans lived, because access was difficult and it had little productive agricultural land. In the late 19th century, the Dutch became increasingly concerned about the spread of Islam in the south of Sulawesi, especially among the Makassarese and Bugis peoples. The Dutch saw the animist highlanders as potential Christians. In the 1920s, the Reformed Missionary Alliance of the Dutch Reformed Church began missionary work aided by the Dutch colonial government. In addition to introducing Christianity, the Dutch abolished slavery and imposed local taxes. A line was drawn around the Sa'dan area and called Tana Toraja ("the land of Toraja"). Tana Toraja was first a subdivision of the Luwu kingdom that had claimed the area. In 1946, the Dutch granted Tana Toraja a regentschap, and it was recognized in 1957 as one of the regencies of Indonesia.

Early Dutch missionaries faced strong opposition among Torajans, especially among the elite, because the abolition of their profitable slave trade had angered them. Some Torajans were forcibly relocated to the lowlands by the Dutch, where they could be more easily controlled. Taxes were kept high, undermining the wealth of the elites. Ultimately, the Dutch influence did not subdue Torajan culture, and only a few Torajans were converted. In 1950, only 10% of the population had converted to Christianity.

In the 1930s, Muslim lowlanders attacked the Torajans, resulting in widespread Christian conversion among those who sought to align themselves with the Dutch for political protection and to form a movement against the Bugis and Makassarese Muslims. Between 1951 and 1965 (following Indonesian independence), southern Sulawesi faced a turbulent period as the Darul Islam separatist movement fought for an Islamic state in Sulawesi. The 15 years of guerrilla warfare led to massive conversions to

CHRISTIANITY

Alignment with the Indonesian government, however, did not guarantee safety for the Torajans. In 1965, a presidential decree required every Indonesian citizen to belong to one of five officially recognized religions: Islam, Christianity (Protestantism and Catholicism), Hinduism, or Buddhism. The Torajan religious belief (aluk) was not legally recognized, and the Torajans raised their voices against the law. To make aluk accord with the law, it had to be accepted as part of one of the official religions. In 1969, Aluk To Dolo ("the way of ancestors") was legalized as a sect of Agama Hindu Dharma, the official name of Hinduism in Indonesia.

SOCIETY

There are three main types of affiliation in Toraja society: family, class and religion.

FAMILY AFFILIATION

Family is the primary social and political grouping in Torajan society. Each village is one extended family, the seat of which is the tongkonan, a traditional Torajan house. Each tongkonan has a name, which becomes the name of the village. The familial dons maintain village unity. Marriage between distant cousins (fourth cousins and beyond) is a common practice that strengthens kinship. Toraja society prohibits marriage between close cousins (up to and including the third cousin) - except for nobles, to prevent the dispersal of property. Kinship is actively reciprocal, meaning that the extended family helps each other farm, share buffalo rituals, and pay off debts.

Each person belongs to both the mother's and the father's families, the only bilateral family line in Indonesia. Children, therefore, inherit household affiliation from both mother and father, including land and even family debts. Children's names are given on the basis of kinship, and are usually chosen after dead relatives. Names of aunts, uncles and cousins are commonly referred to in the names of mothers, fathers and siblings.

Before the start of the formal administration of Toraja villages by the Tana Toraja Regency, each Toraja village was autonomous. In a more complex situation, in which one Toraja family could not handle their problems alone, several villages formed a group; sometimes, villages would unite against other villages. Relationship between families was expressed through blood, marriage, and shared ancestral houses (tongkonan), practically signed by the exchange of water buffalo and pigs on ritual occasions. Such exchanges not only built political and cultural ties between families but defined each person's place in a social hierarchy: who poured palm wine, who wrapped a corpse and prepared offerings, where each person could or could not sit, what dishes should be used or avoided, and even what piece of meat constituted one's share.

CLASS AFFILIATION

In early Toraja society, family relationships were tied closely to social class. There were three strata: nobles, commoners, and slaves (slavery was abolished in 1909 by the Dutch East Indies government). Class was inherited through the mother. It was taboo, therefore, to marry "down" with a woman of lower class. On the other hand, marrying a woman of higher class could improve the status of the next generation. The nobility's condescending attitude toward the commoners is still maintained today for reasons of family prestige.

Nobles, who were believed to be direct descendants of the descended person from heaven, lived in tongkonans, while commoners lived in less lavish houses (bamboo shacks called banua). Slaves lived in small huts, which had to be built around their owner's tongkonan. Commoners might marry anyone, but nobles preferred to marry in-family to maintain their status. Sometimes nobles married Bugis or Makassarese nobles. Commoners and slaves were prohibited from having death feasts. Despite close kinship and status inheritance, there was some social mobility, as marriage or change in wealth could affect an individuals status. Wealth was counted by the ownership of water buffaloes.

Slaves in Toraja society were family property. Sometimes Torajans decided to become slaves when they incurred a debt, pledging to work as payment. Slaves could be taken during wars, and slave trading was common. Slaves could buy their freedom, but their children still inherited slave status. Slaves were prohibited from wearing bronze or gold, carving their houses, eating from the same dishes as their owners, or having sex with free women - a crime punishable by death.

RELIGIOUS AFFILIATION

Toraja's indigenous belief system is polytheistic animism, called aluk, or "the way" (sometimes translated as "the law"). In the Toraja myth, the ancestors of Torajan people came down from heaven using stairs, which were then used by the Torajans as a communication medium with Puang Matua, the Creator. The cosmos, according to aluk, is divided into the upper world (heaven), the world of man (earth), and the underworld. At first, heaven and earth were married, then there was a darkness, a separation, and finally the light. Animals live in the underworld, which is represented by rectangular space enclosed by pillars, the earth is for mankind, and the heaven world is located above, covered with a saddle-shaped roof. Other Toraja gods include Pong Banggai di Rante (god of Earth), Indo' Ongon-Ongon (a goddess who can cause earthquakes), Pong Lalondong (god of death), and Indo' Belo Tumbang (goddess of medicine); there are many more.

The earthly authority, whose words and actions should be cleaved to both in life (agriculture) and death (funerals), is called to minaa (an aluk priest). Aluk is not just a belief system; it is a combination of law, religion, and habit. Aluk governs social life, agricultural practices, and ancestral rituals. The details of aluk may vary from one village to another. One common law is the requirement that death and life rituals be separated. Torajans believe that performing death rituals might ruin their corpses if combined with life rituals. The two rituals are equally important. During the time of the Dutch missionaries, Christian Torajans were prohibited from attending or performing life rituals, but were allowed to perform death rituals. Consequently, Toraja's death rituals are still practised today, while life rituals have diminished.

CULTURE

TONGKONAN

Tongkonan are the traditional Torajan ancestral houses. They stand high on wooden piles, topped with a layered split-bamboo roof shaped in a sweeping curved arc, and they are incised with red, black, and yellow detailed wood carvings on the exterior walls. The word "tongkonan" comes from the Torajan tongkon ("to sit").

Tongkonan are the center of Torajan social life. The rituals associated with the tongkonan are important expressions of Torajan spiritual life, and therefore all family members are impelled to participate, because symbolically the tongkonan represents links to their ancestors and to living and future kin. According to Torajan myth, the first tongkonan was built in heaven on four poles, with a roof made of Indian cloth. When the first Torajan ancestor descended to earth, he imitated the house and held a large ceremony.

The construction of a tongkonan is laborious work and is usually done with the help of the extended family. There are three types of tongkonan. The tongkonan layuk is the house of the highest authority, used as the "center of government". The tongkonan pekamberan belongs to the family members who have some authority in local traditions. Ordinary family members reside in the tongkonan batu. The exclusivity to the nobility of the tongkonan is diminishing as many Torajan commoners find lucrative employment in other parts of Indonesia. As they send back money to their families, they enable the construction of larger tongkonan.

WOOD CARVINGS

To express social and religious concepts, Torajans carve wood, calling it Pa'ssura (or "the writing"). Wood carvings are therefore Toraja's cultural manifestation.

Each carving receives a special name, and common motifs are animals and plants that symbolize some virtue. For example, water plants and animals, such as crabs, tadpoles and water weeds, are commonly found to symbolize fertility. In some areas noble elders claim these symbols refer to strength of noble family, but not everyone agrees. The overall meaning of groups of carved motifs on houses remains debated and tourism has further complicated these debates because some feel a uniform explanation must be presented to tourists. The image to the left shows an example of Torajan wood carving, consisting of 15 square panels. The center bottom panel represents buffalo or wealth, a wish for many buffaloes for the family. The center panel represents a knot and a box, a hope that all of the family's offspring will be happy and live in harmony, like goods kept safe in a box. The top left and top right squares represent an aquatic animal, indicating the need for fast and hard work, just like moving on the surface of water. It also represents the need for a certain skill to produce good results.

Regularity and order are common features in Toraja wood carving (see table below), as well as abstracts and geometrical designs. Nature is frequently used as the basis of Toraja's ornaments, because nature is full of abstractions and geometries with regularities and ordering. Toraja's ornaments have been studied in ethnomathematics to reveal their mathematical structure, but Torajans base this art only on approximations. To create an ornament, bamboo sticks are used as a geometrical tool.

FUNERAL RITES

In Toraja society, the funeral ritual is the most elaborate and expensive event. The richer and more powerful the individual, the more expensive is the funeral. In the aluk religion, only nobles have the right to have an extensive death feast. The death feast of a nobleman is usually attended by thousands and lasts for several days. A ceremonial site, called rante, is usually prepared in a large, grassy field where shelters for audiences, rice barns, and other ceremonial funeral structures are specially made by the deceased family. Flute music, funeral chants, songs and poems, and crying and wailing are traditional Toraja expressions of grief with the exceptions of funerals for young children, and poor, low-status adults.

The ceremony is often held weeks, months, or years after the death so that the deceased's family can raise the significant funds needed to cover funeral expenses. Torajans traditionally believe that death is not a sudden, abrupt event, but a gradual process toward Puya (the land of souls, or afterlife). During the waiting period, the body of the deceased is wrapped in several layers of cloth and kept under the tongkonan. The soul of the deceased is thought to linger around the village until the funeral ceremony is completed, after which it begins its journey to Puya.

Another component of the ritual is the slaughter of water buffalo. The more powerful the person who died, the more buffalo are slaughtered at the death feast. Buffalo carcasses, including their heads, are usually lined up on a field waiting for their owner, who is in the "sleeping stage". Torajans believe that the deceased will need the buffalo to make the journey and that they will be quicker to arrive at Puya if they have many buffalo. Slaughtering tens of water buffalo and hundreds of pigs using a machete is the climax of the elaborate death feast, with dancing and music and young boys who catch spurting blood in long bamboo tubes. Some of the slaughtered animals are given by guests as "gifts", which are carefully noted because they will be considered debts of the deceased's family. However, a cockfight, known as bulangan londong, is an integral part of the ceremony. As with the sacrifice of the buffalo and the pigs, the cockfight is considered sacred because it involves the spilling of blood on the earth. In particular, the tradition requires the sacrifice of at least three chickens. However, it is common for at least 25 pairs of chickens to be set against each other in the context of the ceremony.

There are three methods of burial: the coffin may be laid in a cave or in a carved stone grave, or hung on a cliff. It contains any possessions that the deceased will need in the afterlife. The wealthy are often buried in a stone grave carved out of a rocky cliff. The grave is usually expensive and takes a few months to complete. In some areas, a stone cave may be found that is large enough to accommodate a whole family. A wood-carved effigy, called Tau tau, is usually placed in the cave looking out over the land. The coffin of a baby or child may be hung from ropes on a cliff face or from a tree. This hanging grave usually lasts for years, until the ropes rot and the coffin falls to the ground.

In the ritual called Ma'Nene, that takes place each year in August, the bodies of the deceased are exhumed to be washed, groomed and dressed in new clothes. The mummies are then walked around the village.

DANCE AND MUSIC

Torajans perform dances on several occasions, most often during their elaborate funeral ceremonies. They dance to express their grief, and to honour and even cheer the deceased person because he is going to have a long journey in the afterlife. First, a group of men form a circle and sing a monotonous chant throughout the night to honour the deceased (a ritual called Ma'badong). This is considered by many Torajans to be the most important component of the funeral ceremony. On the second funeral day, the Ma'randing warrior dance is performed to praise the courage of the deceased during life. Several men perform the dance with a sword, a large shield made from buffalo skin, a helmet with a buffalo horn, and other ornamentation. The Ma'randing dance precedes a procession in which the deceased is carried from a rice barn to the rante, the site of the funeral ceremony. During the funeral, elder women perform the Ma'katia dance while singing a poetic song and wearing a long feathered costume. The Ma'akatia dance is performed to remind the audience of the generosity and loyalty of the deceased person. After the bloody ceremony of buffalo and pig slaughter, a group of boys and girls clap their hands while performing a cheerful dance called Ma'dondan.

As in other agricultural societies, Torajans dance and sing during harvest time. The Ma'bugi dance celebrates the thanksgiving event, and the Ma'gandangi dance is performed while Torajans are pounding rice. There are several war dances, such as the Manimbong dance performed by men, followed by the Ma'dandan dance performed by women. The aluk religion governs when and how Torajans dance. A dance called Ma'bua can be performed only once every 12 years. Ma'bua is a major Toraja ceremony in which priests wear a buffalo head and dance around a sacred tree.

A traditional musical instrument of the Toraja is a bamboo flute called a Pa'suling (suling is an Indonesian word for flute). This six-holed flute (not unique to the Toraja) is played at many dances, such as the thanksgiving dance Ma'bondensan, where the flute accompanies a group of shirtless, dancing men with long fingernails. The Toraja have indigenous musical instruments, such as the Pa'pelle (made from palm leaves) and the Pa'karombi (the Torajan version of a jaw harp). The Pa'pelle is played during harvest time and at house inauguration ceremonies.

LANGUAGE

The ethnic Toraja language is dominant in Tana Toraja with the main language as the Sa'dan Toraja. Although the national Indonesian language is the official language and is spoken in the community, all elementary schools in Tana Toraja teach Toraja language.Language varieties of Toraja, including Kalumpang, Mamasa, Tae' , Talondo' , Toala' , and Toraja-Sa'dan, belong to the Malayo-Polynesian language from the Austronesian family. At the outset, the isolated geographical nature of Tana Toraja formed many dialects between the Toraja languages themselves. After the formal administration of Tana Toraja, some Toraja dialects have been influenced by other languages through the transmigration program, introduced since the colonialism period, and it has been a major factor in the linguistic variety of Toraja languages. A prominent attribute of Toraja language is the notion of grief. The importance of death ceremony in Toraja culture has characterized their languages to express intricate degrees of grief and mourning. The Toraja language contains many terms referring to sadness, longing, depression, and mental pain. Giving a clear expression of the psychological and physical effect of loss is a catharsis and sometimes lessens the pain of grief itself.

ECONOMY

Prior to Suharto's "New Order" administration, the Torajan economy was based on agriculture, with cultivated wet rice in terraced fields on mountain slopes, and supplemental cassava and maize crops. Much time and energy were devoted to raising water buffalo, pigs, and chickens, primarily for ceremonial sacrifices and consumption. Coffee was the first significant cash crop produced in Toraja, and was introduced in the mid 19th century, changing the local economy towards commodity production for external markets and gaining an excellent reputation for quality in the international market .

With the commencement of the New Order in 1965, Indonesia's economy developed and opened to foreign investment. In Toraja, a coffee plantation and factory was established by Key Coffee of Japan, and Torajan coffee regained a reputation for quality within the growing international specialty coffee sector Multinational oil and mining companies opened new operations in Indonesia during the 1970s and 1980s. Torajans, particularly younger ones, relocated to work for the foreign companies - to Kalimantan for timber and oil, to Papua for mining, to the cities of Sulawesi and Java, and many went to Malaysia. The out-migration of Torajans was steady until 1985. and has continued since, with remittances sent back by emigre Torajans performing an important role within the contemporary economy.

Tourism commenced in Toraja in the 1970s, and accelerated in the 1980s and 1990s. Between 1984 and 1997, a significant number of Torajans obtained their incomes from tourism, working in and owning hotels, as tour guides, drivers, or selling souvenirs. With the rise of political and economic instability in Indonesia in the late 1990s - including religious conflicts elsewhere on Sulawesi - tourism in Tana Toraja has declined dramatically. Toraja continues to be a well known origin for Indonesian coffee, grown by both smallholders and plantation estates, although migration, remittances and off-farm income is considered far more important to most households, even those in rural areas.

TOURISM AND CULTURAL CHANGE

Before the 1970s, Toraja was almost unknown to Western tourism. In 1971, about 50 Europeans visited Tana Toraja. In 1972, at least 400 visitors attended the funeral ritual of Puang of Sangalla, the highest-ranking nobleman in Tana Toraja and the so-called "last pure-blooded Toraja noble." The event was documented by National Geographic and broadcast in several European countries. In 1976, about 12,000 tourists visited the regency and in 1981, Torajan sculpture was exhibited in major North American museums. "The land of the heavenly kings of Tana Toraja", as written in the exhibition brochure, embraced the outside world.

In 1984, the Indonesian Ministry of Tourism declared Tana Toraja Regency the prima donna of South Sulawesi. Tana Toraja was heralded as "the second stop after Bali". Tourism was increasing dramatically: by 1985, a total number of 150,000 foreigners had visited the Regency (in addition to 80,000 domestic tourists), and the annual number of foreign visitors was recorded at 40,000 in 1989. Souvenir stands appeared in Rantepao, the cultural center of Toraja, roads were sealed at the most-visited tourist sites, new hotels and tourist-oriented restaurants were opened, and an airstrip was opened in the Regency in 1981.

Tourism developers have marketed Tana Toraja as an exotic adventure - an area rich in culture and off the beaten track. Western tourists expected to see stone-age villages and pagan funerals. Toraja is for tourists who have gone as far as Bali and are willing to see more of the wild, "untouched" islands. However, they were more likely to see a Torajan wearing a hat and denim, living in a Christian society. Tourists felt that the tongkonan and other Torajan rituals had been preconceived to make profits, and complained that the destination was too commercialized. This has resulted in several clashes between Torajans and tourism developers, whom Torajans see as outsiders.

A clash between local Torajan leaders and the South Sulawesi provincial government (as a tourist developer) broke out in 1985. The government designated 18 Toraja villages and burial sites as traditional tourist attractions. Consequently, zoning restrictions were applied to these areas, such that Torajans themselves were barred from changing their tongkonans and burial sites. The plan was opposed by some Torajan leaders, as they felt that their rituals and traditions were being determined by outsiders. As a result, in 1987, the Torajan village of Kété Kesú and several other designated tourist attractions closed their doors to tourists. This closure lasted only a few days, as the villagers found it too difficult to survive without the income from selling souvenirs.

Tourism has also transformed Toraja society. Originally, there was a ritual which allowed commoners to marry nobles (puang) and thereby gain nobility for their children. However, the image of Torajan society created for the tourists, often by "lower-ranking" guides, has eroded its traditional strict hierarchy. High status is not as esteemed in Tana Toraja as it once was. Many low-ranking men can declare themselves and their children nobles by gaining enough wealth through work outside the region and then marrying a noble woman.

WIKIPEDIA

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