View allAll Photos Tagged Exploits
Animals exploited without the use of hormones or steroids still don't want to die for anyone's unnecessary pleasures. Go vegan!
July 20, 2016--New York City-- Governor Andrew M. Cuomo announced that the Task Force to Combat Worker Exploitation has directed 1,547 businesses to pay nearly $4 million in back wages and damages to more than 7,500 workers since its inception in July 2015. The Governor also announced several initiatives to improve worker health and safety, including a multi-agency investigation into the exploitation of dry cleaning workers and a coordinated effort to ban harmful chemicals, such as perchlorethylene (PERC), that are commonly used in the industry. Additionally, the state will launch a new $5 million grant program and RFP for non-profit organizations to expand services to help exploited workers. (Don Pollard/Office of the Governor)
The London School of Exploitation Under Occupation: London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) Students Stand Against Exploitation and Corporate Education: Vera Anstey Suite: Old Building, London School of Economics, London, March 20, 2015.
Statement from the Occupation:
Why we are occupying
We have have occupied the Vera Anstey Suite, the central meeting room of the university administration, to demand a change to the current university system.
LSE is the epitome of the neoliberal university. Universities are increasingly implementing the privatised, profit-driven, and bureaucratic ‘business model’ of higher education, which locks students into huge debts and turns the university into a degree-factory and students into consumers. LSE has become the model for the transformation of the other university systems in Britain and beyond. Massive indebtedness, market-driven benchmarks, and subordination to corporate interests have deeply perverted what we think university and education should be about.
We demand an education that is liberating – which does not have a price tag. We want a university run by students, lecturers and workers.
When a University becomes a business the whole of student life is transformed. When a university is more concerned with its image, its marketability and the ‘added value’ of its degrees, the student is no longer a student - they become a commodity and education becomes a service. Institutional sexism and racism, as well as conditions of work for staff and lecturers, becomes a distraction for an institution geared to profit.
We join the ongoing struggles in the UK, Europe and the world to reject this system that has changed not only our education but our entire society. From the occupations in Sheffield, Warwick, Birmingham and Oxford, to the ongoing collective takeover of the University of Amsterdam– students have made clear that the current system simply cannot continue.
We are not alone in this struggle.
Why Occupy?
In this occupation we aim to create an open, creative and liberated space, where all are free to participate in the building of a new directly democratic, non-hierarchical and universally accessible education: The Free University of London.
The space will be organized around the creation of workshops, discussions and meetings to share ideas freely. Knowledge is not a commodity but something precious and valuable in its own right. And we hope to prove, if only within a limited time and space, that education can be free.This liberated space should also be a space for an open discussion on the direction this university and our educational system as a whole is heading. We want to emphasise that this process is not only for students, and we encourage the participation of all LSE staff, non-academic and academic.
We base our struggle on principles of equality, direct democracy, solidarity, mutual care and support. These are our current demands which we invite all to openly discuss, debate and add to.
1 - Free and universally accessible education not geared to making profit
We demand that the management of LSE lobby the government to scrap tuition fees for both domestic and international students.
2 - Workers Rights
In solidarity with the LSE workers, we demand real job security, an end to zero-hour contracts, fair remuneration and a drastic reduction in the gap between the highest and lowest paid employees.
3 - Genuine University Democracy
We demand a student-staff council, directly elected by students and academic and non-academic staff, responsible for making all managerial decisions of the institution.
4 - Divestment
We demand that the school cuts its ties to exploitative and destructive organisations, such as those involved in wars, military occupations and the destruction of the planet. This includes but is not limited to immediate divestment from the fossil fuel industry and from all companies which make a profit from the Israeli state’s occupation of Palestine.
5 - Liberation
We demand that LSE changes its harassment policy, and to have zero tolerance to harassment.
We demand that LSE does not implement the Counter Terrorism Bill that criminalises dissent, particularly targeting Muslim students and staff.
We demand that the police are not allowed on campus.
We demand that LSE becomes a liberated space free of racism, sexism, ableism, homophobia, transphobia and religious discrimination.
We demand that the school immediately reinstates the old ethics code and makes it legally binding, in line with the recently passed SU motion.
We demand that the school ensures the security and equality of international students, particularly with regards to their precarious visa status, and fully include them in our project for a free university.
The London School of Exploitation Under Occupation: London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) Students Stand Against Exploitation and Corporate Education: Vera Anstey Suite: Old Building, London School of Economics, London, March 20, 2015.
Statement from the Occupation:
Why we are occupying
We have have occupied the Vera Anstey Suite, the central meeting room of the university administration, to demand a change to the current university system.
LSE is the epitome of the neoliberal university. Universities are increasingly implementing the privatised, profit-driven, and bureaucratic ‘business model’ of higher education, which locks students into huge debts and turns the university into a degree-factory and students into consumers. LSE has become the model for the transformation of the other university systems in Britain and beyond. Massive indebtedness, market-driven benchmarks, and subordination to corporate interests have deeply perverted what we think university and education should be about.
We demand an education that is liberating – which does not have a price tag. We want a university run by students, lecturers and workers.
When a University becomes a business the whole of student life is transformed. When a university is more concerned with its image, its marketability and the ‘added value’ of its degrees, the student is no longer a student - they become a commodity and education becomes a service. Institutional sexism and racism, as well as conditions of work for staff and lecturers, becomes a distraction for an institution geared to profit.
We join the ongoing struggles in the UK, Europe and the world to reject this system that has changed not only our education but our entire society. From the occupations in Sheffield, Warwick, Birmingham and Oxford, to the ongoing collective takeover of the University of Amsterdam– students have made clear that the current system simply cannot continue.
We are not alone in this struggle.
Why Occupy?
In this occupation we aim to create an open, creative and liberated space, where all are free to participate in the building of a new directly democratic, non-hierarchical and universally accessible education: The Free University of London.
The space will be organized around the creation of workshops, discussions and meetings to share ideas freely. Knowledge is not a commodity but something precious and valuable in its own right. And we hope to prove, if only within a limited time and space, that education can be free.This liberated space should also be a space for an open discussion on the direction this university and our educational system as a whole is heading. We want to emphasise that this process is not only for students, and we encourage the participation of all LSE staff, non-academic and academic.
We base our struggle on principles of equality, direct democracy, solidarity, mutual care and support. These are our current demands which we invite all to openly discuss, debate and add to.
1 - Free and universally accessible education not geared to making profit
We demand that the management of LSE lobby the government to scrap tuition fees for both domestic and international students.
2 - Workers Rights
In solidarity with the LSE workers, we demand real job security, an end to zero-hour contracts, fair remuneration and a drastic reduction in the gap between the highest and lowest paid employees.
3 - Genuine University Democracy
We demand a student-staff council, directly elected by students and academic and non-academic staff, responsible for making all managerial decisions of the institution.
4 - Divestment
We demand that the school cuts its ties to exploitative and destructive organisations, such as those involved in wars, military occupations and the destruction of the planet. This includes but is not limited to immediate divestment from the fossil fuel industry and from all companies which make a profit from the Israeli state’s occupation of Palestine.
5 - Liberation
We demand that LSE changes its harassment policy, and to have zero tolerance to harassment.
We demand that LSE does not implement the Counter Terrorism Bill that criminalises dissent, particularly targeting Muslim students and staff.
We demand that the police are not allowed on campus.
We demand that LSE becomes a liberated space free of racism, sexism, ableism, homophobia, transphobia and religious discrimination.
We demand that the school immediately reinstates the old ethics code and makes it legally binding, in line with the recently passed SU motion.
We demand that the school ensures the security and equality of international students, particularly with regards to their precarious visa status, and fully include them in our project for a free university.
Dennis Trident II, Optare Olympus, 2008
Here is the interior of this bus, I like the modern Trident layout on the dash, and those seats are so comfy, pleasure to ride in, the engine in this bus sounds amazing.
This bus was originally purchased by Courtney Coaches of Bracknell (Now named Thames Valley Buses) in November 2008. This bus is unique, being an Optare Olympus body on a Trident chassis, which could have been the only type of this bus built new as a single-door bus for Courtney's. In 2019, this bus was purchased by Chester's Travel, where it was painted it to the well known black and yellow livery with a blue stripe at the bottom. This bus was then passed to Yelloway who repained the blue at the bottom to black, who then shortly after sold it to Herberts. I`m pretty sure Herberts repainted this bus as the black was applied by Yelloways was put on very badly, and is peeling off.
Please be aware that all images posted to this Flickr account are subject to Copyright ©. Copyright reserves all rights granted by copyright law, which means that copying, reposting, exploiting, and distributing my work are protected by the law unless explicit permission is given to do so. Find out more about copyright law here >> www.gov.uk/government/collections/intellectual-property-c...
Navire polytherme de la Cie Générale Maritime
Embarqué comme chef mécanicien du 17 mai au 15 juillet 1993 avant dernier embarquement.
--------------------------------------------
FORT FLEUR D'ÉPÉ - 1980-2006-
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 FLEUR D'ÉPÉE est le 2ème des deux PCRP.
1978 le 11 décembre : mise sur cale
1979 le11 aout : Lancement
1980 janvier : 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
-----------------------------------------
1996 - Passe à la CMA-CGM
1998/1999 Modernisation.
2003 - Devient le CGM HUDSON
2006 - MARSHALL ZHIVAGO
2006 en novembre. Démolition à Alang.
Tana Toraja Regency (Indonesian for Torajaland or Land of the Toraja, abbreviated Tator) is a regency (kabupaten) of South Sulawesi Province of Indonesia, and home to the Toraja ethnic group. The local government seat is in Makale, while the center of Toraja culture is in Rantepao. But now, Tana Toraja has been divided to two regencies that consist of Tana Toraja with its capital at Makale and North toraja with its capital at Rantepao.
The Tana Toraja boundary was determined by the Dutch East Indies government in 1909. In 1926, Tana Toraja was under the administration of Bugis state, Luwu. The regentschap (or regency) status was given on 8 October 1946, the last regency given by the Dutch. Since 1984, Tana Toraja has been named as the second tourist destination after Bali by the Ministry of Tourism, Indonesia. Since then, hundreds of thousands of foreign visitors have visited this regency. In addition, numerous Western anthropologists have come to Tana Toraja to study the indigenous culture and people of Toraja.
GEOGRAPHY
Tana Toraja is centrally placed in the island of Sulawesi, 300 km north of Makassar, the provincial capital of South Sulawesi. It lies between latitude of 2°-3° South and longitude 119°-120° East (center: 3°S 120°ECoordinates: 3°S 120°E). The total area (since the separation of the new regency of North Toraja) is 2,054.30 km², about 4.4% of the total area of South Sulawesi province. The topography of Tana Toraja is mountainous; its minimum elevation is 150 m, while the maximum is 3,083 above the sea level.
ADMINISTRATION
Tana Toraja Regency in 2010 comprised nineteen administrative Districts (Kecamatan), tabulated below with their 2010 Census population.
The Torajans 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").[1] Most of the population is Christian, and others are Muslim or have local animist beliefs known as aluk ("the way"). The Indonesian government has recognised this animistic belief as Aluk To Dolo ("Way of the Ancestors").
The word Toraja comes from the 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 colourful 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 development 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 colonisation and Christianisation, 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 recognised 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 recognised religions: Islam, Christianity (Protestantism and Catholicism), Hinduism, or Buddhism. The Torajan religious belief (aluk) was not legally recognised, 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 legalised 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 AFFILATION
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.
Architecture in the style of a tongkonan is still very common. Various administration buildings were built in this style in recent years, e.g. the Kecamatan building in Rantepao.
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 symbolise some virtue. For example, water plants and animals, such as crabs, tadpoles and water weeds, are commonly found to symbolise 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. Torajan wood carvings are composed of numerous square panels, each of which can represent various things, for example buffaloes as a wish of wealth for the family; a knot and a box, symbolizing the hope that all of the family's offspring will be happy and live in harmony; aquatic animals, indicating the need for fast and hard work, just like moving on the surface of water.
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's 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.
DANNCE 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.
COGENDER VIEWS
Among the Saʼadan (eastern Toraja) in the island of Sulawesi (Celebes), Indonesia, there are homosexual male toburake tambolang shamans; although among their neighbors the Mamasa (western Toraja) there are instead only heterosexual female toburake shamanesses.
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 characterised 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 commercialised. 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
Exploitant : Transdev TVO
Réseau : R'Bus (Argenteuil)
Ligne : 6
Lieu : Pont de Bezons (Bezons, F-95)
Lien TC Infos : tc-infos.fr/id/14525
WASHINGTON, DC: National Center for Missing & Exploited (NCMEC) 2022 Hope Gala, Oct. 20, 2022
The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children’s (NCMEC) Hope Gala held on Oct. 20, 2022 at the District Pier at The Wharf, Washington, D.C. The event is a celebration of the inspiring work being done globally to protect children. We recognized leaders in child safety, honor survivors, and remember the families and victims who are still seeking justice and safety. Claire Edkins /NCMEC
Sommet des Amériques de Québec - Québec 2001.
QUÉBEC — Un extraordinaire happening ! La grande marche pacifique de l’Alliance sociale continentale (ASC), qui a réuni hier 68 000 personnes selon ses organisateurs, c’est du jamais vu au Québec. On pourrait parler d’une sorte de Woodstock des peuples des Amériques tant l’atmosphère était à la fête ! Au moment où la tête du cortège atteignait le Centre de foires après avoir parcouru quatre kilomètres en 90 minutes, la queue du défilé commençait à peine à se mettre en route au bassin Louise.
Soixante-huit mille personnes, c’est sans compter les haies formées par les gens de chaque côté des rues, armés de caméras et d ’appareils photo. De la Gare du palais au Centre de foires, les Québécois étaient dehors pour saluer les manifestants. « On vient de vivre AU sommet des peuples ! » s’est exclamée Françoise David, la présidente de la Fédération des femmes du Québec.
«C’est un signe des temps ! A déclaré le président de la CSN, Marc Laviolette. Un signe que le néo-libéralisme, qui règne depuis 15 ans, a fini sa domination tranquille. La participation monstre à la manif démontre que la résistance s’intensifie pour plus de démocratie. Pour la primauté du social sur l’économique. »
« Notre service d’ordre a été impeccable, s’est félicitée la présidente de la Centrale des syndicats du Québec (CSQ), Monique Richard. Nous avons eu quelques moments chauds, mais les gens ont vite compris que nous étions une organisation serrée, bien déterminée à nous rendre au but.
MOMENTS CHAUDS
Un de ces moments chauds s’est produit à l’intersection du boulevard Jean-Lesage cinq minutes à peine après le début de la manifestation qui s’était mise en branle une demi-heure plus tôt que prévu, à 12 h 50 précises, à cause de la foule qui ne cessait de grossir.
Ce fut une collision. Un genre de face-à-face entre la chaîne de leaders syndicaux et communautaires qui ouvraient le cortège sur toute la largeur du boulevard Charest et une centaine d’anarchistes, cagoulés et de noir costumés, qui voulaient faire dévier la manifestation de sa destination pour la réorienter vers la clôture.
Les palabres ont été courtes. Vite contenu par le service de sécurité musclé de la FTQ, le groupe s’est dispersé un tantinet déstabilisé. «Ça n'a pas brassé, a assuré Roger Valois, deuxième vice-président à la CSN. On les a invités à joindre la manif, mais par la fin. »
Le deuxième incident s’est produit au coin de la Couronne. Une bouffée de gaz lacrymogènes a saisi les manifestants à la gorge, à commencer par la tête du cortège, les Henri Massé (FTQ), Marc Laviolette (CSN), Françoise David (FFQ), Monique Richard (CSQ), Hector de la Cueva (ASC), Claudette Carbonneau (CSN), Roger Valois (CSN), Jean-Claude Parrot (CTC), Hassan Yussuf (Common Frontiers), Alexa McDonough (NPD). C’est là que tout le monde a su que « ça brassait en haut ».
«PEACE AND LOVE»
Mais en bas, on continuait de rééditer Woodstock. C’était la foule à perte de vue au Centre de foires. Les centaines de bannières des mouvements sociaux et syndicaux qui entrelaçaient leurs couleurs. Des milliers de gens debout dans le stationnement ou couchés dans l’herbe au soleil, certains torse nu. Rappelant le «peace and love» des années 70, une pancarte imitait à l’amour et disait non à la violence. « Ça me fait penser aux belles années du Front commun quand on est allé conduire les trois chefs syndicaux à Orsaimille. On était 10 000 dans le stationnement de la prison», a «réminiscé» Yvan Sinotte, de la direction de l’information à la CSN.
Plus dans l’esprit du Sommet des peuples contre la libéralisation du commerce, d’autres pancartes dénonçaient la ZLÉA comme la « Zone de libre exploitation américaine » et avertissaient que « le monde n’est pas à vendre ». « Les multinationales sont en train de faire du shopping à la grandeur de la planète pour exploiter davantage de monde à meilleur marché », s’indignait René Moreau, adjoint régional au directeur québécois des TCA, juste avant le départ.
Tout au long de la manifestation, les gens ont scandé SO-SO-SO et chanté « Le peuple uni demain sera réuni ». « La participation dépasse les attentes de tout le monde, a convenu Ghislain Picard, chef régional pour l’Assemblée des Premières Nations. Nous, les autochtones, avons été les premiers libre-échangistes et aujourd’hui ça veut se faire sur notre dos. »
« La manif de clôture a été à l’image de toute la semaine, s’est réjouie Claudette Carbonneau, 1ère vice-présidente à la CSN. On a obligé Chrétien à revoir son discours. On n’est pas 2000 excités ! Mais 68 000 citoyens et citoyennes représentatifs des inquiétudes légitimes de la population. Après les événements de vendredi, il fallait que le dernier mot appartienne aux peuples des trois Amériques. On a gagné notre pari. »
Comme l’a dit le président de la FTQ, Henri Massé, avant que la foule ne regagne les centaines d’autobus qui les attendaient pour le retour : «Jamais une clôture ne va empêcher la libre circulation des idées!»
Monique Giguère, journal Le Soleil, 22 avril 2001, page A-4
*******
«QUÉBEC — Pour une deuxième journée de suite, les manifestants ont volé la vedette aux chefs d’État et de gouvernement réunis au Sommet des Amériques.
De nombreux affrontements entre protestataires et policiers ont une fois de plus noyé la ville dans les gaz lacrymogènes, mais dans la basse ville, quelque 30 000 personnes, formant une manifestation presque sans précédent dans l’histoire de Québec, ont défilé tout à fait pacifiquement contre la ZLEA.
Les affrontements entre manifestants et policiers auront fait, en deux jours, plusieurs blessés: 34 policiers et 57 manifestants. Au total, quelque 170 arrestations ont été effectuées et le Centre des congrès a de nouveau dû être bouclé en après-midi parce que quelques manifestants avaient réussi à pénétrer dans le périmètre.
Dès le début de la journée, des milliers de manifestants convergeaient de partout pour se rassembler en deux endroits: sur les plaines d’Abraham et dans le Vieux-Port de Québec. La première marche, à laquelle participaient environ 5000 ou 6000 personnes, a rapidement été détournée par les activistes qui se sont rendus dans le secteur du Grand Théâtre, où ils ont une fois de plus tenté d’abattre la palissade, sans succès. Le jeu du chat et de la souris avec les policiers, qui répliquaient aux attaques à grand renfort de gaz lacrymogènes, a duré plusieurs heures. Les policiers ont finalement pris les grands moyens — balles de caoutchouc et canons à eau — pour évacuer le secteur.»
KATIA GAGNON, MARIE-CLAUDE LORTIE, MARTIN PELCHAT
et PAUL ROY, journal La Presse, 22 AVRIL 2001, page A-1.
. . . 2. 3. 2007 - this is the first day of a funeral ceremony in Bori for a High Class Woman. She died on 18. 1. 2007 at the age of 85 years. The ceremony will last for one week. Today we will see the showing of the water buffalos, pigs, cow, horse, deer and chicken. All these animals are offered to be the servants of the died woman in her new life after death in Puya. We will see buffalo fighting. Men bet for the winner of those fightings. Two buffalos fight each other - the one running away lost the fight!
If you wonder why the quality of the pictures is a little less: these are no photographs - it all are snapshots of my videos! So sorry for the less resolution, but I think, they are worth to be shown.
_____________________________________
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
Kelsey, D. M. Deeds of Daring by Both Blue and Gray: Thrilling Narratives of Personal Adventure, Exploits of Scouts and Spies, Forlorn Hopes, Heroic Bravery… Philadelphia: Scammell & Company, Publishers, 1891.
973.78 K29d0
Click "L" for larger version.
Phenix....DSC_0376...
For more photos like this one.click MY SITE subirbasak.orgfree.com.....
p.s."Copyright © – Subir Basak.
The reproduction, publication, modification, transmission or exploitation of any work contained herein for any use, personal or commercial, without my prior written permission is strictly prohibited. All rights reserved."
I think the shelves look pretty neat now the front room is painted. We have no idea what to use this room for, it's kind of a spare sitting room.
Having grown up with the Dewey Decimal Classification system I'm finding Nicola's "sort out books by colour" system a bit of a challenge.
Not that it did a lot of good, I guess. There's not a lot of cotton left but there's still lots of oppression
The London School of Exploitation Under Occupation: London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) Students Stand Against Exploitation and Corporate Education: Vera Anstey Suite: Old Building, London School of Economics, London, March 20, 2015.
Statement from the Occupation:
Why we are occupying
We have have occupied the Vera Anstey Suite, the central meeting room of the university administration, to demand a change to the current university system.
LSE is the epitome of the neoliberal university. Universities are increasingly implementing the privatised, profit-driven, and bureaucratic ‘business model’ of higher education, which locks students into huge debts and turns the university into a degree-factory and students into consumers. LSE has become the model for the transformation of the other university systems in Britain and beyond. Massive indebtedness, market-driven benchmarks, and subordination to corporate interests have deeply perverted what we think university and education should be about.
We demand an education that is liberating – which does not have a price tag. We want a university run by students, lecturers and workers.
When a University becomes a business the whole of student life is transformed. When a university is more concerned with its image, its marketability and the ‘added value’ of its degrees, the student is no longer a student - they become a commodity and education becomes a service. Institutional sexism and racism, as well as conditions of work for staff and lecturers, becomes a distraction for an institution geared to profit.
We join the ongoing struggles in the UK, Europe and the world to reject this system that has changed not only our education but our entire society. From the occupations in Sheffield, Warwick, Birmingham and Oxford, to the ongoing collective takeover of the University of Amsterdam– students have made clear that the current system simply cannot continue.
We are not alone in this struggle.
Why Occupy?
In this occupation we aim to create an open, creative and liberated space, where all are free to participate in the building of a new directly democratic, non-hierarchical and universally accessible education: The Free University of London.
The space will be organized around the creation of workshops, discussions and meetings to share ideas freely. Knowledge is not a commodity but something precious and valuable in its own right. And we hope to prove, if only within a limited time and space, that education can be free.This liberated space should also be a space for an open discussion on the direction this university and our educational system as a whole is heading. We want to emphasise that this process is not only for students, and we encourage the participation of all LSE staff, non-academic and academic.
We base our struggle on principles of equality, direct democracy, solidarity, mutual care and support. These are our current demands which we invite all to openly discuss, debate and add to.
1 - Free and universally accessible education not geared to making profit
We demand that the management of LSE lobby the government to scrap tuition fees for both domestic and international students.
2 - Workers Rights
In solidarity with the LSE workers, we demand real job security, an end to zero-hour contracts, fair remuneration and a drastic reduction in the gap between the highest and lowest paid employees.
3 - Genuine University Democracy
We demand a student-staff council, directly elected by students and academic and non-academic staff, responsible for making all managerial decisions of the institution.
4 - Divestment
We demand that the school cuts its ties to exploitative and destructive organisations, such as those involved in wars, military occupations and the destruction of the planet. This includes but is not limited to immediate divestment from the fossil fuel industry and from all companies which make a profit from the Israeli state’s occupation of Palestine.
5 - Liberation
We demand that LSE changes its harassment policy, and to have zero tolerance to harassment.
We demand that LSE does not implement the Counter Terrorism Bill that criminalises dissent, particularly targeting Muslim students and staff.
We demand that the police are not allowed on campus.
We demand that LSE becomes a liberated space free of racism, sexism, ableism, homophobia, transphobia and religious discrimination.
We demand that the school immediately reinstates the old ethics code and makes it legally binding, in line with the recently passed SU motion.
We demand that the school ensures the security and equality of international students, particularly with regards to their precarious visa status, and fully include them in our project for a free university.
Exploited for human use and on display for human amusement.
Animals have the right to not be treated as property! Go vegan!
THE GOAL OF MODERN ARCHITECTURE? TO BROADEN HORIZONS. Expand space. This was the categorical imperative underpinning the creation of Azimut 75. The end result? Unprecedented liveability, commonly the exclusive province of larger yachts.
The flybridge, for example, runs from midship to stern, covering the entire cockpit. The furnishings follow the flowing forms of the sofas, creating various areas in which to relax. The electrically operated bimini top is incorporated in a dynamic fibreglass structure, allowing you to play with the light to its best advantage and create more or less shade, whatever the use. Functionality, of course, is unparalleled, with the large table, bar and grill making a special contribution.
SUNBATHING? IT'S EVEN MORE COMFORTABLE TODAY WITH HEADRESTS AND AN ADJUSTABLE BIMINI TOP TO PROVIDE SHADE IN THE BOW AREA TOO. The flybridge helm station combines comfort with unparalleled functionality, featuring adjustable height seats and an intercom system to communicate with the bow area, cockpit and engine room for easier manoeuvring.
Created to adapt to any occasion throughout the day, the flybridge offers copious seating for afternoons spent in the sun, plus two convenient cocktail tables which join in the evening to become a spacious table seating ten. An aerial view of the flybridge with its two sun lounging areas: one next to the helm station and the other midships.
MULTI-PURPOSE SPACES FOR ECLECTIC SPIRITS.
THE OUTDOOR DINING AREA CONVERTS INTO A SPACIOUS LOUNGING PAD. Furniture which transforms to vary your cruise setting constantly. This is the approach adopted by the designers of Azimut 75 for the cockpit. From a sea terrace dining area, complete with table and comfortable sofas, it becomes a spacious sun pad designed to mirror the broad expanse of the horizon. Transformation and design for eclectic spirits who like to personalise their living spaces in constantly changing ways as the day passes.
OPEN SEA OR DRY LAND? ON AZIMUT 75 OPPOSITES UNITE.
It's called Azimut 75. But when you go aboard you'll find that “floating home” comes more naturally. Why? Just make yourselves comfortable in the living area. The finely understated interior design creates an extremely sophisticated environment that draws on the contemporary loft space for its inspiration. A close eye for detail and skilfully contrasting materials convey an especially modern aesthetic: cream coloured natural fabric and black leather for the sofas, wood and crystal for the dinette table and rectangular geometrical inlays for the other furniture. Which is why, when you look through the large windows, you'll be even more surprised to see the sea slip past outside.
The helm station occupies almost the entire width of the yacht, featuring a control panel incorporating touch screen technology. Skilful optimisation of the design also frees up space for a sofa and a large work table. The helm station is separated from the living area by rice paper panels to allow the light to filter freely through.
Your travelling companions on Azimut 75 won't only be your guests, but the sea and light you can always see through the large windows.
The wood and steel galley setting can be fitted with a fridge, a freezer, a dishwasher and a waste disposer. It shares a dual purpose unit with the dining area, providing a graceful and fully appointed bar on the living area side, plus a special cabinet to store various accessories on the kitchen side. Fitted sliding panels can be closed to separate the two areas or opened to exploit the full space.
Comfort and sophisticated design, but first and foremost light. Yes, the distinctive features of the owner's suite are the large windows the sunlight can flood through. They allow more light to pass than the portholes they replace, embellishing each and every corner of the suite. Thanks to these large windows you can enjoy a sea view from the lower deck too. Reclining com- fortably on the bed, for example, or sipping a cup of coffee sitting comfortably in the elegant living area on the starboard side, complete with armchairs and a table.
THE SUN. THE MAIN INTERIOR DESIGNER BEHIND
THE VIP SUITE. The comfort continues in the master bathroom, which is fitted with king size hydromassage shower. A close eye for detail combined with sophisticated materials: fine marble for the basin counter top, prestigious doussié wood for the shower grate and flooring. Masterful design optimisation also frees up space for dressing room in the owner's suite.
Twice the comfort in the twin bed cabin too, with the help of multiple under-bed drawers and a spacious wardrobe. All cabins have their own smart and fully appointed personal bathroom, featuring marble finishings and an impressive range of intelligent storage solutions.
. . . 2. 3. 2007 - this is the first day of a funeral ceremony in Bori for a High Class Woman. She died on 18. 1. 2007 at the age of 85 years. The ceremony will last for one week. Today we will see the showing of the water buffalos, pigs, cow, horse, deer and chicken. All these animals are offered to be the servants of the died woman in her new life after death in Puya. We will see buffalo fighting. Men bet for the winner of those fightings. Two buffalos fight each other - the one running away lost the fight!
If you wonder why the quality of the pictures is a little less: these are no photographs - it all are snapshots of my videos! So sorry for the less resolution, but I think, they are worth to be shown.
_____________________________________
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
Purist speech bubble!
This exploits the small connection point found on some hairpieces (think Friends and Belville, and Pirate/Castle figures with feathers), which is the right size for the weird ends of hot dogs. For whatever reasons, this seems to make a sturdier connection to a pirate hat than to Friends' hairpieces.
It was found that hot dogs have a peg this size (and apples a hole for it) back in this photo, which looks ridiculous but is actually real:
www.flickr.com/photos/mclegoboy/15401444331/in/788191@N24/
...if we were smart, we'd make a handy reference for whatever this size is called, all the things that have this "peg", and all the things that it'll fit into. For now, here's an application.
Finally a Tree-lichen Beauty!
A combined catch result for this week chaps, as I haven't had much time to update thy blog.
Being officially married now means that my mothing exploits will apparently subdue over the years to come (but not too soon I must add!)
I trapped on the 6th, 8th and 9th this week with pretty mixed results but with a downward trend starting to happen as we go into the beginning of the end....or is it?
There was me going through the trap each time expecting to not be that thrilled with late Summer catches (Yes in the moth world it is nearing Autumn already) then to stumble upon rare and interesting moths in each of the three session.
6th was the Cydia amplana night, on the 8th star of the show was Acrolepiopsis assectella, both completely new moths for me. The on the 9th after EVERYBODY else has had one, finally I managed a Tree-lichen Beauty....it's never too late is it!
Also a Footman needs checking for Hoary.
All in all a good end to the week trapping.
Catch Report - 06-08-09/08/14 - Back Garden Stevenage - 1x 125w MV Robinson Trap
Macro Moths
1x Tree-lichen Beauty [NFG]
1x Small Waved Umber [NFG]
2x Lesser Swallow Prominent [NFY]
6x Square-spot Rustic [NFY]
1x Vapourer Moth [NFY]
3x Angle Shades
3x Black Arches
3x Brimstone Moth
1x Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing
1x Cloaked Minor
1x Common Carpet
22x Common Rustic
3x Dark Arches
1x Dot Moth
2x Double-striped Pug
2x Dun-bar
3x Dusky Thorn
2x Flame Shoulder
8x Flounced Rustic
1x Green Carpet
5x Large Yellow Underwing
1x Least Carpet
42x Lesser Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing
1x Lesser Yellow Underwing
1x Maiden's Blush
2x Maple Pug
2x Marbled Beauty
1x Nut-tree Tussock
1x Oak Hook-tip
4x Orange Swift
2x Pale Mottled Willow
1x Poplar Hawk-moth
1x Red Twin-spot Carpet
11x Riband Wave
1x Scarce Footman
4x September Thorn
3x Setaceous Hebrew Character
6x Shuttle-shaped Dart
1x Silver-Y
1x Small Emerald
1x Small Rivulet
4x Spectacle
2x Square-spotted Clay
1x Straw Dot
5x Straw Underwing
1x Uncertain
1x Vine's Rustic
10x Willow Beauty
2x Yellow Shell
Micro Moths
1x Acrolepiopsis assectella [NEW!]
1x Cydia amplana [NEW!]
1x Ypsolopha sequella [NFG]
1x Dichrorampha acuminatana [NFG]
1x Pyrausta purpuralis [NFG]
1x Mompha divisella [NFG]
6x Agriphila geniculea [NFY]
2x Ypsolopha parenthesella [NFY]
4x Evergestis forficalis
1x Hypsopygia costalis
4x Amblyptilia acanthadactyla
3x Eurrhypara hortulata
1x Mompha subbistrigella
1x Monopis laevigella
2x Endotricha flammealis
15x Blastobasis adustella
2x Emmelina monodactyla
2x Eudonia mercurella
1x Ypsolopha dentella
2x Trachycera advenella
1x Trachycera suavella
3x Carcina quercana
7x Epiphyas postvittana
1x Paronix sp
1x Celypha lacunana
1x Apotomis betuletana
3x Argyrotaenia ljungiana
5x Agriphila straminella
2x Phycita roborella
6x Agriphila tristella
2x Spilonota ocellana
1x Caloptilia betulicola
2x Argyresthia goedartella
1x Argyresthia pruniella
5x Plutella xylostella
2x Batia unitella
1x Hofmannophila pseudospretella
Children across Greater Manchester have watched a compelling play warning them about criminal exploitation from county lines organised crime groups.
Greater Manchester’s Programme Challenger – a joint partnership to tackle serious and organised crime together – funded Rochdale-based theatre company Breaking Barriers to deliver the series ‘Crossing the Line’ to children in year six at 50 primary schools.
Over a month the play was rolled out to schools in Bury, Salford, Stockport, Tameside and Trafford for children to learn how to spot the signs of exploitation to prevent and protect them from criminal gangs seeking to recruit them as drug mules.
The production explores grooming through a monologue from an 18-year-old man and his younger brother aged 15. He talks about the criminal gang members trying to give him gifts in return for running their drug errands.
‘Crossing the Line’ also incorporated discussions with the children to teach them about healthy choices and relationships, learning to say no, how to handle pressure from older people as well as educate children on where to go for help and advice if they have concerns.
One of the pupils who watched the play said: “The play has helped me see how criminal gangs can manipulate you by trying to make you feel special and part of their family, then force you to do things for them.
“It has taught me to never join a gang as it could harm your future and instead to stay in school, get a good education and job.
“If someone finds themselves in this situation, they should speak to anyone they can trust, such as their mum or dad, a teacher, the police or even Childline.”
A county line is the advertisement of class A drugs via a mobile phone, known as a ‘graft line’, the drugs are then moved by dealers from one area to another as well as to other places across the country.
The organised crime groups will often exploit children to transport the drugs and money profited from its supply.
Detective Chief Inspector Claire McGuire, from Programme Challenger’s Organised Crime Coordination Unit, said: “Young and vulnerable children are sadly targeted and groomed by county lines criminal networks to be recruited to travel across the country to deliver drugs and money.
“They can find themselves in situations that often seem impossible to get out of which can have a detrimental impact on their life and their future.
It’s therefore imperative we intervene as soon as possible, inform children early on to prevent this from happening and protect them from the harm caused by organised criminality.
“Breaking Barriers work is a creative way to grab a child’s attention, it educates and engages with them on the signs to look out for and where to turn to for help and advice. The feedback we have had from them, and the teachers has been brilliant.”
Deputy Mayor for Policing, Crime, Criminal Justice and Fire, Bev Hughes, said: “We must educate children early on the signs of criminal exploitation and this work is vital in doing that.
It’s great to see such a creative play being used to deliver an important message and schools have been a wonderful support with this.
Lots of young people across Greater Manchester are now more aware of the signs of criminal exploitation and know help and support is available to them.”
Parvez Qadir, Director of Breaking Barriers, said: “Crossing the Line tackles difficult themes around grooming and exploitation used by criminal gangs to control young people to travel their drugs for them. Using the power of creativity,
I wrote the piece to tour in schools to educate, inform and offer safe pathways for young people out of child criminal exploitation.
“The facilitated workshop is a safe place for difficult questions for young people, teachers and parents to discuss those
themes.
I hope “Crossing the Line” can educate young people to make safe and healthier choices.”
The London School of Exploitation Under Occupation: London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) Students Stand Against Exploitation and Corporate Education: Vera Anstey Suite: Old Building, London School of Economics, London, March 20, 2015.
Statement from the Occupation:
Why we are occupying
We have have occupied the Vera Anstey Suite, the central meeting room of the university administration, to demand a change to the current university system.
LSE is the epitome of the neoliberal university. Universities are increasingly implementing the privatised, profit-driven, and bureaucratic ‘business model’ of higher education, which locks students into huge debts and turns the university into a degree-factory and students into consumers. LSE has become the model for the transformation of the other university systems in Britain and beyond. Massive indebtedness, market-driven benchmarks, and subordination to corporate interests have deeply perverted what we think university and education should be about.
We demand an education that is liberating – which does not have a price tag. We want a university run by students, lecturers and workers.
When a University becomes a business the whole of student life is transformed. When a university is more concerned with its image, its marketability and the ‘added value’ of its degrees, the student is no longer a student - they become a commodity and education becomes a service. Institutional sexism and racism, as well as conditions of work for staff and lecturers, becomes a distraction for an institution geared to profit.
We join the ongoing struggles in the UK, Europe and the world to reject this system that has changed not only our education but our entire society. From the occupations in Sheffield, Warwick, Birmingham and Oxford, to the ongoing collective takeover of the University of Amsterdam– students have made clear that the current system simply cannot continue.
We are not alone in this struggle.
Why Occupy?
In this occupation we aim to create an open, creative and liberated space, where all are free to participate in the building of a new directly democratic, non-hierarchical and universally accessible education: The Free University of London.
The space will be organized around the creation of workshops, discussions and meetings to share ideas freely. Knowledge is not a commodity but something precious and valuable in its own right. And we hope to prove, if only within a limited time and space, that education can be free.This liberated space should also be a space for an open discussion on the direction this university and our educational system as a whole is heading. We want to emphasise that this process is not only for students, and we encourage the participation of all LSE staff, non-academic and academic.
We base our struggle on principles of equality, direct democracy, solidarity, mutual care and support. These are our current demands which we invite all to openly discuss, debate and add to.
1 - Free and universally accessible education not geared to making profit
We demand that the management of LSE lobby the government to scrap tuition fees for both domestic and international students.
2 - Workers Rights
In solidarity with the LSE workers, we demand real job security, an end to zero-hour contracts, fair remuneration and a drastic reduction in the gap between the highest and lowest paid employees.
3 - Genuine University Democracy
We demand a student-staff council, directly elected by students and academic and non-academic staff, responsible for making all managerial decisions of the institution.
4 - Divestment
We demand that the school cuts its ties to exploitative and destructive organisations, such as those involved in wars, military occupations and the destruction of the planet. This includes but is not limited to immediate divestment from the fossil fuel industry and from all companies which make a profit from the Israeli state’s occupation of Palestine.
5 - Liberation
We demand that LSE changes its harassment policy, and to have zero tolerance to harassment.
We demand that LSE does not implement the Counter Terrorism Bill that criminalises dissent, particularly targeting Muslim students and staff.
We demand that the police are not allowed on campus.
We demand that LSE becomes a liberated space free of racism, sexism, ableism, homophobia, transphobia and religious discrimination.
We demand that the school immediately reinstates the old ethics code and makes it legally binding, in line with the recently passed SU motion.
We demand that the school ensures the security and equality of international students, particularly with regards to their precarious visa status, and fully include them in our project for a free university.
The London School of Exploitation Under Occupation: London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) Students Stand Against Exploitation and Corporate Education: Vera Anstey Suite: Old Building, London School of Economics, London, March 20, 2015.
Statement from the Occupation:
Why we are occupying
We have have occupied the Vera Anstey Suite, the central meeting room of the university administration, to demand a change to the current university system.
LSE is the epitome of the neoliberal university. Universities are increasingly implementing the privatised, profit-driven, and bureaucratic ‘business model’ of higher education, which locks students into huge debts and turns the university into a degree-factory and students into consumers. LSE has become the model for the transformation of the other university systems in Britain and beyond. Massive indebtedness, market-driven benchmarks, and subordination to corporate interests have deeply perverted what we think university and education should be about.
We demand an education that is liberating – which does not have a price tag. We want a university run by students, lecturers and workers.
When a University becomes a business the whole of student life is transformed. When a university is more concerned with its image, its marketability and the ‘added value’ of its degrees, the student is no longer a student - they become a commodity and education becomes a service. Institutional sexism and racism, as well as conditions of work for staff and lecturers, becomes a distraction for an institution geared to profit.
We join the ongoing struggles in the UK, Europe and the world to reject this system that has changed not only our education but our entire society. From the occupations in Sheffield, Warwick, Birmingham and Oxford, to the ongoing collective takeover of the University of Amsterdam– students have made clear that the current system simply cannot continue.
We are not alone in this struggle.
Why Occupy?
In this occupation we aim to create an open, creative and liberated space, where all are free to participate in the building of a new directly democratic, non-hierarchical and universally accessible education: The Free University of London.
The space will be organized around the creation of workshops, discussions and meetings to share ideas freely. Knowledge is not a commodity but something precious and valuable in its own right. And we hope to prove, if only within a limited time and space, that education can be free.This liberated space should also be a space for an open discussion on the direction this university and our educational system as a whole is heading. We want to emphasise that this process is not only for students, and we encourage the participation of all LSE staff, non-academic and academic.
We base our struggle on principles of equality, direct democracy, solidarity, mutual care and support. These are our current demands which we invite all to openly discuss, debate and add to.
1 - Free and universally accessible education not geared to making profit
We demand that the management of LSE lobby the government to scrap tuition fees for both domestic and international students.
2 - Workers Rights
In solidarity with the LSE workers, we demand real job security, an end to zero-hour contracts, fair remuneration and a drastic reduction in the gap between the highest and lowest paid employees.
3 - Genuine University Democracy
We demand a student-staff council, directly elected by students and academic and non-academic staff, responsible for making all managerial decisions of the institution.
4 - Divestment
We demand that the school cuts its ties to exploitative and destructive organisations, such as those involved in wars, military occupations and the destruction of the planet. This includes but is not limited to immediate divestment from the fossil fuel industry and from all companies which make a profit from the Israeli state’s occupation of Palestine.
5 - Liberation
We demand that LSE changes its harassment policy, and to have zero tolerance to harassment.
We demand that LSE does not implement the Counter Terrorism Bill that criminalises dissent, particularly targeting Muslim students and staff.
We demand that the police are not allowed on campus.
We demand that LSE becomes a liberated space free of racism, sexism, ableism, homophobia, transphobia and religious discrimination.
We demand that the school immediately reinstates the old ethics code and makes it legally binding, in line with the recently passed SU motion.
We demand that the school ensures the security and equality of international students, particularly with regards to their precarious visa status, and fully include them in our project for a free university.
Pour assurer les dispositions de la convention du 15 janvier 1881 qui a créée la ligne d'Australie et qui prévoie un départ de Marseille toutes les 4 semaines avec des paquebots assurant une traversée avec une vitesse de 15 nœuds aux essais et une vitesse d'exploitation de 13 nœuds, la Compagnie des Services Contractuels des Messageries Maritimes fera construire 7 paquebots aux chantiers navals de La Ciotat entre 1881 et 1884.
Les coques auront les mêmes dimensions que celle du SAGHALIEN construit en 1880 sur les plans de Vésigné pour la ligne de Chine. Par contre la machine aura une puissance de 500 cv de plus. Ces paquebots seront gréés en 3 mâts barque, puis par la suite transformés en 3 mâts goélette en perdant leurs vergues et leurs guis avant la 1ère guerre mondiale de 1914 à laquelle seul le SALAZIE ne participera pas car perdu par échouage à Madagascar en 1912.
SALAZIE sera lancé le 8 avril 1883 sous le contrôle de l'ingénieur Risbec. Il porte le nom d'une région de l'île de La Réunion
--------------
Caractéristiques :
Paquebot poste à hélice avec 2 cheminées. Avant droit et long gaillard, roof arrière entre les 2èmes et 3èmes mâts. Gréé en 3 mâts barque à l'origine.
Longueur : 130,75 mHT – 126,15 mPP
Largeur : 12,6 m
Jauge brute : 4256 tjb
Port en lourd : 2450 tonnes
Déplacement : 6900 tonnes avec 6.75 m de TE
-------------------------
Propulsion et installations :
Une machine compound à 3 cylindres HPØ 1,10m - MP Ø 1.53m- HP Ø 1.53m - Course 1.10m
8 chaudières cylindriques à 6 kg/cm²
Chauffe au charbon
Puissance : 3400 CV
Vitesse : 15,6 nœuds aux essais.
1 hélice
2 cheminées
1885/1886 – Installation d'un salon de musique
1886/1887 – Installation à La Ciotat d'un éclairage électrique par lampes à incandescences
1895 Modification de la propulsion. Machine à triple expansion
Puissance portée à 4000 cv
Vitesse passant à 16 nœuds aux essais
------------------------
Personnel :
État-major : 11 officiers
Équipage : 185 Maitres, matelots et ADSG
-------------------
Passagers
90 en premières classes
44 en secondes classes
75 en troisièmes classes
-------------------
LIGNES :
1883 le 23 novembre Premier départ de Marseille pour l'Extrême-Orient, il inaugure la nouvelle ligne Suez – Mahé des Seychelles – La Réunion – Maurice – Australie – Nouvelle Calédonie. Il effectuera un second voyage sur la même ligne.
1983 le 27 septembre première traversée de nuit du canal de Suez avec un projecteur
1882-1890, assure la ligne Marseille-Nouméa par la Réunion et Sydney.
-----------------------
Événements remarquables :
1886, il gagne de vitesse le HOHENSTAUFEN de la Norddeutscher Lloyd entre Adélaïde et Melbourne.
1889 (d'aucuns donnent la date de 1888) Il gagne de vitesse le VALETTA de la P&O entre Suez et Aden.
1891, il passe sur la ligne de Chine et subit des transformations (reçoit une machine à triple expansion, plus puissante).
1896 le 3 mai, s'échoue pendant 24 heures devant Djibouti.
1904 Il assure après cette date les lignes d’Égypte, d'Extrême Orient ou de Madagascar, selon les besoins.
1912 le 23 novembre: Il quitte Diégo-Suarez pour Tamatave. A 100 milles au sud il est pris dans un cyclone exceptionnel. Après 24h de lutte il se retrouve désemparé par des amarres balayées du pont et qui vont se prendre dans l'hélice. Dans la soirée du 24 novembre, il finit par s'échouer sur l'ilot de ''Nosy Akoumby'' au nord de ''Vohémar'' (Madagascar). Les passagers doivent camper pendant 3 jours sur l'îlot avant d'être rapatriés par l'EUGENE GROSOS de la Compagnie Havraise Péninsulaire. L'épave est irrécupérable et sera vendue sur place.
NB: Sur le site de Monsieur Philippe Ramona '' -http://www.messageries-maritimes.org/salazie.htm'' - Vous pouvez lire ''un voyage de Colombo à Nagasaki à bord du SALAZIE en 1901'', et ''un voyage de Marseille à Shangai à bord du SALAZIE en 1902''
Exploitant : Transdev Boucle des Lys
Réseau : IDF Mobilités – Saint Germain Boucles de Seine
Ligne : Express 1
Lieu : Gare de Versailles – Chantiers (Versailles, F-78)
Lien TC Infos : tc-infos.fr/vehicule/26869
It's cheap to buy in the market on Saturdays. For a couple of euros, I can buy a pound of steak, and for another couple of euros, another pound of cheese. Eggs price today is 1,90 euros the dozen.
Some people are willing to pay more if the pig whose muscles are sold at the butchers, or the cow who milked her calf or the hen who lay the eggs are reared in better conditions. As for me, I don't believe there is an acceptable price for exploitation. It will always be very expensive for them.
I could fill my cart with products derived from non-human exploitation for a few euros. On saturdays, animal exploitation is on offer.
Kids grabbing and holding chicks. The chicks cried out in distress when grabbed. One teenage girl pretended to throw a chick.
This was taken at a 4H display.
Animals have the right to not be used as property. Please reject speciesism and go vegan!
Cité des crêtes de Pinchonvalles, ancienne fosse 7 de liévin et l'exploitation de son terril. Terril de Pinchonvalles, Avion, France, mai 2009.
Nikon D80, 18.0-200.0 mm f/3.5-5.6 | 105 mm eq. 157 mm, 1/200s à f/11, 100 ISO.
Le terril n°76, situé à Avion, est le terril de la fosse n°7-7 bis des mines de Liévin. Il a été édifié à partir de 1923. De forme conique, il est en cours d'exploitation. Il n'en reste que la base.
Fiche du terril n°76 et sa fiche nature sur www.chainedesterrils.eu
Depuis le 30 juin 2012, le bassin minier du Nord-Pas-de-Calais est le 38e « bien » français inscrit au patrimoine mondial par l’Unesco, dans la catégorie « paysage culturel évolutif et vivant ».
This is the only photo I took today, and one which is more complex than it first appears. Seems Topman gets most of their T-shirts made in Mauritius, and H&M in Bangladesh. I wonder how little people are paid to make these :(
The London School of Exploitation Under Occupation: London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) Students Stand Against Exploitation and Corporate Education: Vera Anstey Suite: Old Building, London School of Economics, London, March 20, 2015.
Statement from the Occupation:
Why we are occupying
We have have occupied the Vera Anstey Suite, the central meeting room of the university administration, to demand a change to the current university system.
LSE is the epitome of the neoliberal university. Universities are increasingly implementing the privatised, profit-driven, and bureaucratic ‘business model’ of higher education, which locks students into huge debts and turns the university into a degree-factory and students into consumers. LSE has become the model for the transformation of the other university systems in Britain and beyond. Massive indebtedness, market-driven benchmarks, and subordination to corporate interests have deeply perverted what we think university and education should be about.
We demand an education that is liberating – which does not have a price tag. We want a university run by students, lecturers and workers.
When a University becomes a business the whole of student life is transformed. When a university is more concerned with its image, its marketability and the ‘added value’ of its degrees, the student is no longer a student - they become a commodity and education becomes a service. Institutional sexism and racism, as well as conditions of work for staff and lecturers, becomes a distraction for an institution geared to profit.
We join the ongoing struggles in the UK, Europe and the world to reject this system that has changed not only our education but our entire society. From the occupations in Sheffield, Warwick, Birmingham and Oxford, to the ongoing collective takeover of the University of Amsterdam– students have made clear that the current system simply cannot continue.
We are not alone in this struggle.
Why Occupy?
In this occupation we aim to create an open, creative and liberated space, where all are free to participate in the building of a new directly democratic, non-hierarchical and universally accessible education: The Free University of London.
The space will be organized around the creation of workshops, discussions and meetings to share ideas freely. Knowledge is not a commodity but something precious and valuable in its own right. And we hope to prove, if only within a limited time and space, that education can be free.This liberated space should also be a space for an open discussion on the direction this university and our educational system as a whole is heading. We want to emphasise that this process is not only for students, and we encourage the participation of all LSE staff, non-academic and academic.
We base our struggle on principles of equality, direct democracy, solidarity, mutual care and support. These are our current demands which we invite all to openly discuss, debate and add to.
1 - Free and universally accessible education not geared to making profit
We demand that the management of LSE lobby the government to scrap tuition fees for both domestic and international students.
2 - Workers Rights
In solidarity with the LSE workers, we demand real job security, an end to zero-hour contracts, fair remuneration and a drastic reduction in the gap between the highest and lowest paid employees.
3 - Genuine University Democracy
We demand a student-staff council, directly elected by students and academic and non-academic staff, responsible for making all managerial decisions of the institution.
4 - Divestment
We demand that the school cuts its ties to exploitative and destructive organisations, such as those involved in wars, military occupations and the destruction of the planet. This includes but is not limited to immediate divestment from the fossil fuel industry and from all companies which make a profit from the Israeli state’s occupation of Palestine.
5 - Liberation
We demand that LSE changes its harassment policy, and to have zero tolerance to harassment.
We demand that LSE does not implement the Counter Terrorism Bill that criminalises dissent, particularly targeting Muslim students and staff.
We demand that the police are not allowed on campus.
We demand that LSE becomes a liberated space free of racism, sexism, ableism, homophobia, transphobia and religious discrimination.
We demand that the school immediately reinstates the old ethics code and makes it legally binding, in line with the recently passed SU motion.
We demand that the school ensures the security and equality of international students, particularly with regards to their precarious visa status, and fully include them in our project for a free university.
The London School of Exploitation Under Occupation: London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) Students Stand Against Exploitation and Corporate Education: Vera Anstey Suite: Old Building, London School of Economics, London, March 20, 2015.
Statement from the Occupation:
Why we are occupying
We have have occupied the Vera Anstey Suite, the central meeting room of the university administration, to demand a change to the current university system.
LSE is the epitome of the neoliberal university. Universities are increasingly implementing the privatised, profit-driven, and bureaucratic ‘business model’ of higher education, which locks students into huge debts and turns the university into a degree-factory and students into consumers. LSE has become the model for the transformation of the other university systems in Britain and beyond. Massive indebtedness, market-driven benchmarks, and subordination to corporate interests have deeply perverted what we think university and education should be about.
We demand an education that is liberating – which does not have a price tag. We want a university run by students, lecturers and workers.
When a University becomes a business the whole of student life is transformed. When a university is more concerned with its image, its marketability and the ‘added value’ of its degrees, the student is no longer a student - they become a commodity and education becomes a service. Institutional sexism and racism, as well as conditions of work for staff and lecturers, becomes a distraction for an institution geared to profit.
We join the ongoing struggles in the UK, Europe and the world to reject this system that has changed not only our education but our entire society. From the occupations in Sheffield, Warwick, Birmingham and Oxford, to the ongoing collective takeover of the University of Amsterdam– students have made clear that the current system simply cannot continue.
We are not alone in this struggle.
Why Occupy?
In this occupation we aim to create an open, creative and liberated space, where all are free to participate in the building of a new directly democratic, non-hierarchical and universally accessible education: The Free University of London.
The space will be organized around the creation of workshops, discussions and meetings to share ideas freely. Knowledge is not a commodity but something precious and valuable in its own right. And we hope to prove, if only within a limited time and space, that education can be free.This liberated space should also be a space for an open discussion on the direction this university and our educational system as a whole is heading. We want to emphasise that this process is not only for students, and we encourage the participation of all LSE staff, non-academic and academic.
We base our struggle on principles of equality, direct democracy, solidarity, mutual care and support. These are our current demands which we invite all to openly discuss, debate and add to.
1 - Free and universally accessible education not geared to making profit
We demand that the management of LSE lobby the government to scrap tuition fees for both domestic and international students.
2 - Workers Rights
In solidarity with the LSE workers, we demand real job security, an end to zero-hour contracts, fair remuneration and a drastic reduction in the gap between the highest and lowest paid employees.
3 - Genuine University Democracy
We demand a student-staff council, directly elected by students and academic and non-academic staff, responsible for making all managerial decisions of the institution.
4 - Divestment
We demand that the school cuts its ties to exploitative and destructive organisations, such as those involved in wars, military occupations and the destruction of the planet. This includes but is not limited to immediate divestment from the fossil fuel industry and from all companies which make a profit from the Israeli state’s occupation of Palestine.
5 - Liberation
We demand that LSE changes its harassment policy, and to have zero tolerance to harassment.
We demand that LSE does not implement the Counter Terrorism Bill that criminalises dissent, particularly targeting Muslim students and staff.
We demand that the police are not allowed on campus.
We demand that LSE becomes a liberated space free of racism, sexism, ableism, homophobia, transphobia and religious discrimination.
We demand that the school immediately reinstates the old ethics code and makes it legally binding, in line with the recently passed SU motion.
We demand that the school ensures the security and equality of international students, particularly with regards to their precarious visa status, and fully include them in our project for a free university.
"Super Elastic"
Artists:
Julia Latane, Rebecca Neiderlander, Tim Nolan, Carrie Ungerman
Curated by
Tim Nolan
Phantom Galleries, L.A. presents its inaugural exhibit at the Pacifica Building in Long Beach, curated by artist Timothy Nolan. In response to the first appearance of the TED Conference in Long Beach this February, Super Elastic brings together large works from four Los Angeles-based artists whose work addresses our expanding visual landscape, propelled by advances in science and technology. From the subatomic to the super galactic, imagery coming from electron microscopes and the Hubble telescope is now an integral part of the culture. Quantum mechanics, relativity, the Big Bang, chaos theory, multi-dimensional math, etc., have all irrevocably shifted the consciousness of our society, even if many have little or no knowledge on the subjects. Scientists and mathematicians are busily trying to solve the puzzles of the universe, and these four artists exploit these puzzles for all they're worth.
Julia Latane's Blue Superstrings, inspired by the mind boggling concepts of string theory, springs from the wall and undulates to and fro. Rebecca Niederlander's mobiles are clearly of the natural world, but their spindly rotating flourishes could go micro or macro, referring to plant structures or meteor showers. Likewise, in wall drawings made with Mylar tape, Carrie Ungerman builds tension that evokes mighty asteroids colliding, or the tenderness of cell division. Nolan's repeated triangle floor work plays with the geometry of crystal formations while conjuring a fourth dimension with its double-mirrored surfaces. Although each artist is very literate in the history of pattern-based abstraction, conceptually and aesthetically, they are inspired by and draw liberally from an infinite pool of scientific inquiry.
Dates:
January 28 - March 10, 2009
Location:
170 North Promenade, Long Beach, 90802
Artist Contact:
www.carrieungerman.com/carrie_ungerman/home.html
Partners
"The Long Beach Redevelopment Agency is proud to partner with Phantom Galleries LA, not only to revive empty storefronts along our major corridors, but also to showcase the arts and build a sense of community and culture in our Downtown," said Craig Beck, Executive Director of the Long Beach Redevelopment Agency. LongBeachRDA.org
Special Thank you to Hillcrest Development Partners, Pacifica HOA, Wokcano Restaurants, Charles Dunn Companyand The Downtown Long Beach Associates
About Phantom Galleries LA
Phantom Galleries LA is a Los Angeles County based organization that transforms properties in transition into 24/7 public art galleries. Each installation is a unique relationship between the participating Artist, Curator, and Property Owner. Exhibits are curated by local Arts Organizations, Galleries, Independent Curators, and Artists. www.PhantomGalleriesLA.com
U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill, the top Democrat on the Senate Aging Committee, used a hearing today to examine the financial exploitation of seniors and the difficulty of prosecuting family members who exploit and defraud their elderly family members.
U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill, the top Democrat on the Senate Aging Committee, used a hearing today to examine the financial exploitation of seniors and the difficulty of prosecuting family members who exploit and defraud their elderly family members.
Exploitant : Transdev Marne et Morin
Réseau : Pays de Meaux
Ligne : 03
Lieu : Gare de Meaux (Meaux, F-77)
Liens TC Infos :
94560 : tc-infos.fr/id/51908
Exploitant : Keolis Argenteuil Boucles de Seine
Réseau : IDF Mobilités – Argenteuil – Boucles de Seine
Lieu : Gare de Houilles – Carrières-sur-Seine (Houilles, F-78)
Lien TC Infos : tc-infos.fr/vehicule/35146