FunFacts photos on Flickr

peaks.island • busy.beavers by Don Shall

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Peaks Island, Maine USA • Beavers' • Progress • Update: Spring enables a new walk into the woods. Yet another section conquered this winter past.

Here in the Peaks Island Land Preserve, the beavers are rapidly transforming this isolated ecosystem. Ponds are multiplying and expanding; water levels are up more than three feet in some areas, since my last visit. • Beavers: Nature's Landscape Architects.

☞ FunFacts: Beavers eat the bark and spit the chips. –•– "They are the largest rodents (gnawing animals) in the world except for the capybara of South America. Unlike most other kinds of mammals, beavers keep growing throughout their lives. Most beavers look larger than they really are because of their humped backs and thick fur. Thousands of years ago, some beavers of North America were about 7 1/2 feet (2.3 meters) long, including the tail--almost as long as the grizzly bears. No one knows why these huge beavers disappeared." – from WorldBook's excellent summary.

And get this: an average beaver can cut down as many as 200 trees a year !

Le Pont du Gard - A Technical and Artistic Masterpiece by pepandtim

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The Postcard

A postally unused postcard by E. Mond'Rel bearing an early photograph of the Pont du Gard. Note the extensive older-style graffiti which is more visible in a larger version of the image. Someone has written '1891' over the top of the doorway.

On the other side of the card the publisher has printed:

'Le Pont du Gard. Colossal et incomparable

fragment d'un aqueduc de 41 km construit l'an

19 av. J.-C., pour conduire à Nîmes les sources

de l'Eure, situées près d'Uzès. Détruit par les

Visigoths (412-418).

Formé de trois rangs d'arches d'inégales

dimensions, dont 6 au premier rang, 11 au

second et 35 au troisième au-dessus duquel

se trouve le canal (260m). Il a 48m de haut.

Le 'pont' ajouté en 1743 lui a enlevé d'un coté

sa grâce et sa légèreté.

Il faut donc le voir en amont pour concevoir

toute la hardiesse de ce génial chef-d'œuvre

de l'architecture Romaine'.

Le Pont du Gard

The original water conduit was in fact nearly 50 km (31 miles) long, and had a gradient of 34 centimetres per kilometre, descending only 17 metres vertically over its entire length.

The aqueduct delivered 20,000 cubic metres (5 million gallons) of water daily. That's 14 cubic metres a minute - enough to fill a 5 metre by 10 metre swimming pool every six minutes.

On the first level it carries a road, and at the top of the third level, a water conduit, which is 1.8 metres high and 1.2 metres wide. The conduit has a gradient of 0.4%.

The Pont and the aqueduct itself are an amazing achievement when you think that they were built two thousand years ago without the use of modern surveying and construction equipment.

How, for example, could they have known within centimetres the exact height of Nîmes in relation to the water source which was 50 undulating kilometres away?

Markings left by the original builders can be seen, indicating where the dressed stones were to be placed - e.g. "FRS II" stands for "Frons Sinistra II", or "Front Left 2".

The Engineering Masterpiece of the Nîmes Aqueduct and the Pont du Gard

The Pont du Gard is an ancient Roman aqueduct bridge built in the first century AD to carry water over 50 km (31 mi) to the Roman colony of Nemausus (Nîmes). It crosses the river Gardon near the town of Vers-Pont-du-Gard in southern France.

The Pont du Gard is the tallest of all Roman aqueduct bridges, as well as one of the best preserved. It was added to UNESCO's list of World Heritage sites in 1985 because of its exceptional preservation, historical importance, and architectural ingenuity.

Description of the Pont du Gard

The bridge has three tiers of arches made from Shelly limestone, and stands 48.8 m (160 ft) high. The aqueduct formerly carried an estimated 40,000 m3 (8,800,000 imp gal; 11,000,000 US gal) of water a day over 50 km (31 mi) to the fountains, baths and homes of the citizens of Nîmes.

The structure's precise construction allowed an average gradient of 1 cm (0.39 in) in 182.4 m (598 ft). It may have been in use as late as the 6th. century, with some parts used for significantly longer, but lack of maintenance after the 4th. century led to clogging by mineral deposits and debris that eventually stopped the flow of water.

After the Roman Empire collapsed and the aqueduct fell into disuse, the Pont du Gard remained largely intact with a secondary function as a toll bridge. For centuries the local lords and bishops were responsible for its upkeep, with a right to levy tolls on travellers using it to cross the river.

However over time, some of its stone blocks were looted, and serious damage was inflicted in the 17th. century.

The Pont du Gard attracted increasing attention starting in the 18th. century, and became an important tourist destination. A series of renovations between the 18th. and 21st. centuries culminated in 2000 with opening of a new visitor centre and removal of traffic and buildings from the bridge and area immediately around it.

Today it is one of France's most popular tourist attractions, and has attracted the attention of a succession of literary and artistic visitors.

The Route of the Nîmes Aqueduct

The location of Nemausus (Nîmes) was somewhat inconvenient when it came to providing a water supply. Plains lie to the city's south and east, where any sources of water would be at too low an altitude to be able to flow to the city.

The hills to the west made a water supply route too difficult from an engineering point of view. The only real alternative was to look to the north, and in particular to the area around Ucetia (Uzès), where there are natural springs.

The Nîmes aqueduct was built to channel water from the springs of the Fontaine d'Eure near Uzès to the castellum divisorum (repartition basin) in Nemausus. From there, it was distributed around the city.

The straight-line distance between the two is only about 20 km (12 mi), but the aqueduct takes a winding route measuring around 50 km (31 mi). This was necessary in order to circumvent the southernmost foothills of the Massif Central.

They are difficult to cross, as they are covered in dense vegetation and indented by deep valleys. It was impractical for the Romans to attempt to tunnel through the hills, as it would have required a tunnel of between 8 to 10 kilometres (5 to 6 mi), depending on the starting point. A roughly V-shaped course around the eastern end of the foothills was therefore the only practical way of transporting the water from the spring to the city.

The Fontaine d'Eure, at 76 m (249 ft) above sea level, is only 17 m (56 ft) higher than the repartition basin in Nîmes, but this provided a sufficient gradient to sustain a steady flow of water to the 50,000 inhabitants of the Roman city.

The aqueduct's average gradient is only 1 in 3,000. It varies widely along its course, but is as little as 1 in 20,000 in some sections. The Pont du Gard itself descends 2.5 cm (0.98 in) in 456 m (1,496 ft), a gradient of 1 in 18,241.

The average gradient between the start and end of the aqueduct is far shallower than was usual for Roman aqueducts – only about a tenth of the average gradient of some of the aqueducts in Rome.

The reason for the disparity in gradients along the aqueduct's route is that a uniform gradient would have meant that the Pont du Gard would have been infeasibly high, given the limitations of the technology of the time.

By varying the gradient along the route, the aqueduct's engineers were able to lower the height of the bridge by 6 metres (20 ft) to 48.77 metres (160.0 ft) above the river – still exceptionally high by Roman standards, but within acceptable limits.

This height limit governed the profile and gradients of the entire aqueduct, but it came at the price of creating a "sag" in the middle of the aqueduct. The gradient profile before the Pont du Gard is relatively steep, descending at 0.67 metres (2 ft 2 in) per kilometre, but thereafter it descends by only 6 metres (20 ft) over the remaining 25 kilometres (16 mi).

In one section, the winding route between the Pont du Gard and St. Bonnet required an extraordinary degree of accuracy from the Roman engineers, who had to allow for a fall of only 7 millimetres (0.28 in) per 100 metres (330 ft) of the conduit.

Water took nearly 27 hours to flow from the source to the city. The water arrived in the castellum divisorum at Nîmes – an open, shallow, circular basin 5.5 m in diameter by 1 m deep. It would have been surrounded by a balustrade within some sort of enclosure, probably under some kind of small but elaborate pavilion.

When it was excavated, traces of a tiled roof, Corinthian columns and a fresco decorated with fish and dolphins were discovered in a fragmentary condition.

The aqueduct water entered through an opening 1.2 metres (3 ft 11 in) wide, and ten large holes in the facing wall, each 40 centimetres (16 in) wide, directed the water into the city's main water pipes. Three large drains were also located in the floor, possibly to enable the nearby amphitheatre to be flooded rapidly to enable naumachia (mock naval battles) to be held.

The spring still exists, and is now the site of a small modern pumping station. Its water is pure but high in dissolved calcium carbonate leached out of the surrounding limestone.

This presented the Romans with significant problems in maintaining the aqueduct, as the carbonates precipitated out of the water during its journey through the conduit. This caused the flow of the aqueduct to become progressively reduced by deposits of calcareous sinter.

Another threat was posed by vegetation penetrating the stone lid of the channel. As well as obstructing the flow of the water, dangling roots and decomposition introduced algae and bacteria within the conduit.

It required constant maintenance by circitores, workers responsible for the aqueduct's upkeep, who crawled along the conduit scrubbing the walls clean and removing any vegetation.

Overground or Underground

Much of the Nîmes aqueduct was built underground, as was typical of Roman aqueducts. It was constructed by digging a trench in which a stone channel was built and enclosed by an arched roof of stone slabs. The roof was then covered with earth.

Some sections of the channel are tunnelled through solid rock. In all, 35 km (22 mi) of the aqueduct was constructed below ground.

The remainder had to be carried on the surface through conduits set on a wall or on arched bridges. Some substantial remains of the above-ground works can still be seen today, such as the Pont Rue that stretches for hundreds of metres around Vers and still stands up to 7.5 m (25 ft) high.

Other surviving parts of the aqueduct include the Pont de Bornègre, three arches carrying the water 17 m (56 ft) across a stream; the Pont de Sartanette, near the Pont du Gard, which covers 32 m (105 ft) across a small valley; and three sections of aqueduct tunnel near Sernhac, measuring up to 66 m (217 ft) long.

However, the Pont du Gard is by far the best-preserved section of the entire aqueduct.

Description of the Bridge

Built on three levels, the Pont is 49 m (161 ft) high above the river at low water and 274 m (899 ft) long.

Its width varies from 9 m (30 ft) at the bottom to 3 m (9.8 ft) at the top. The three levels of arches are recessed, with the main piers in line one above another. The span of the arches varies slightly, as each was constructed independently to provide flexibility to protect against subsidence.

The lowest level of the Pont du Gard adjoins a road bridge that was added in the 18th. century. The water conduit or specus, which is about 1.8 m (6 ft) high and 1.2 m (4 ft) wide, is carried at the top of the third level.

The upper levels of the bridge are slightly curved in the upstream direction. It was long believed that the engineers had designed it this way deliberately to strengthen the bridge's structure against the flow of water, like a dam wall.

However, a survey carried out in 1989 showed that the bend is caused by the stone expanding and contracting by about 5 mm (0.20 in) a day under the heat of the sun. Over the centuries, this process has produced the current deformation.

The Pont du Gard was constructed largely without the use of mortar or clamps. It contains an estimated 50,400 tons of limestone with a volume of some 21,000 cibic metres (740,000 cu ft); some of the individual blocks weigh up to 6 tons.

Most of the stone was extracted from the local quarry of Estel located approximately 700 metres (2,300 ft) downstream, on the banks of the Gardon River.

The coarse-grained soft reddish shelly limestone, known locally as "Pierre de Vers", lends itself very well to dimension stone production. The blocks were precisely cut to fit perfectly together by friction and gravity, eliminating the need for mortar.

The builders also left inscriptions on the stonework conveying various messages and instructions. Many blocks were numbered and inscribed with the required locations, such as fronte dextra or fronte sinistra (front right or front left), to guide the builders.

The method of construction is fairly well understood by historians. The patron of the aqueduct – a rich individual or the city of Nîmes itself – would have hired a large team of contractors and skilled labourers.

A surveyor or mensor planned the route using a groma for sighting, chorobates for levelling, and a set of measuring poles five or ten Roman feet long.

His figures and perhaps diagrams were recorded on wax tablets, later to be written up on scrolls. The builders may have used templates to guide them with tasks that required a high degree of precision, such as carving the standardised blocks from which the water conduit was constructed.

The builders would have made extensive use of cranes and block and tackle pulleys in order to lift the stones into place. For the largest blocks, a massive human-powered treadmill would have been used; such machines were still being used in the quarries of Provence until as late as the start of the 20th. century.

A complex scaffold was erected to support the bridge as it was being built. Large blocks were left protruding from the bridge to support the frames and scaffolds used during construction. These blocks are still visible.

The aqueduct as a whole would have been a very expensive undertaking; Émile Espérandieu estimated the cost to be over 30 million sesterces, equivalent to 50 years' pay for 500 new recruits in a Roman legion.

Design of the Pont du Gard

Although the exterior of the Pont du Gard is rough and relatively unfinished, the builders took great care to ensure that the interior of the water conduit was as smooth as possible, so that the flow of water would not be obstructed.

The walls of the conduit were constructed from dressed masonry, and the floor from concrete. Both were covered with a stucco incorporating minute shards of pottery and tile.

It was painted with olive oil and covered with maltha, a mixture of slaked lime, pork grease and the viscous juice of unripe figs. This produced a surface that was both smooth and durable.

Although the Pont du Gard is renowned for its appearance, its design is not optimal as the technique of stacking arches on top of each other is clumsy and inefficient (and expensive) in the amount of materials it requires.

Later aqueducts had a more sophisticated design, making greater use of concrete to reduce their volume and cost of construction.

The Aqueduct bridge of Segovia and the Pont de les Ferreres are of roughly similar length but use far fewer arches. Roman architects were eventually able to do away with "stacking" altogether.

The Acueducto de los Milagros in Mérida, Spain and the Chabet Ilelouine aqueduct bridge, near Cherchell, Algeria utilise tall, slender piers, constructed from top to bottom with concrete-faced masonry and brick.

History of the Aqueduct

The construction of the aqueduct has long been credited to the Roman emperor Augustus' son-in-law Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, around the year 19 BC. At the time, he was serving as aedile, the senior magistrate responsible for managing the water supply of Rome and its colonies.

Newer excavations however suggest that the construction may have taken place between 40 and 60 AD. Tunnels dating from the time of Augustus had to be bypassed by the builders of the Nîmes aqueduct, and coins discovered in the outflow in Nîmes are no older than the reign of the emperor Claudius (41–54 AD).

On this basis, a team led by Guilhem Fabre has argued that the aqueduct must have been completed around the middle of the 1st century AD. It is believed to have taken about fifteen years to build, employing between 800 and 1,000 workers.

From the 4th. century onwards, the aqueduct's maintenance was neglected as successive waves of invaders disrupted the region.

It became clogged with debris, encrustations and plant roots, greatly reducing the flow of the water. The resulting deposits in the conduit, consisting of layers of dirt and organic material, are up to 50 cm (20 in) thick on each wall.

An analysis of the deposits originally suggested that the aqueduct had continued to supply water to Nîmes until as late as the 9th. century, but more recent investigations suggest that it had gone out of use by about the sixth century, though parts of it may have continued to be used for significantly longer.

Although some of the aqueduct's stones were plundered for use elsewhere, the Pont du Gard remained largely intact. Its survival was due to its use as a toll bridge across the valley. In the 13th. century the French king granted the seigneurs of Uzès the right to levy tolls on those using the bridge.

The right later passed to the Bishops of Uzès. In return, they were responsible for maintaining the bridge in good repair.

However, it suffered serious damage during the 1620's when Henri, Duke of Rohan made use of the bridge to transport his artillery during the wars between the French royalists and the Huguenots, whom he led.

In order to make space for his artillery to cross the bridge, the duke had one side of the second row of arches cut away to a depth of about one-third of their original thickness. This left a gap on the lowest deck wide enough to accommodate carts and cannons, but severely weakened the bridge in the process.

In 1703 the local authorities renovated the Pont du Gard to repair cracks, fill in ruts and replace the stones lost in the previous century.

A new bridge was built by the engineer Henri Pitot in 1743–47 next to the arches of the lower level, so that road traffic could cross on a purpose-built bridge. The novelist Alexandre Dumas was strongly critical of the construction of the new bridge, commenting that:

"It was reserved for the eighteenth century to

dishonour a monument which the barbarians

of the fifth had not dared to destroy."

The Pont du Gard continued to deteriorate, and by the time Prosper Mérimée saw it in 1835 it was at serious risk of collapse from erosion and the loss of stonework.

Napoleon III, who had a great admiration for all things Roman, visited the Pont du Gard in 1850 and took a close interest in it. He approved plans by the architect Charles Laisné to repair the bridge in a project which was carried out between 1855 and 1858, with funding provided by the Ministry of State.

The work involved substantial renovations that included replacing the eroded stone, infilling some of the piers with concrete to aid stability and improving drainage by separating the bridge from the aqueduct.

Stairs were also installed at one end, and the conduit walls were repaired, allowing visitors to walk along the conduit itself in reasonable safety.

There have been a number of subsequent projects to consolidate the piers and arches of the Pont du Gard.

The Pond du Gard has survived three serious floods over the last century. In 1958 the whole of the lower tier was submerged by a giant flood that washed away other bridges, and in 1998 another major flood affected the area.

A further flood struck in 2002, badly damaging nearby installations.

The Pont du Gard was added to UNESCO's list of World Heritage Sites in 1985 on the criteria of:

"Human creative genius, testimony

to cultural tradition, and significance

to human history".

The description on the list states:

"The hydraulic engineers and architects

who conceived this bridge created a

technical as well as artistic masterpiece."

Tourism

The Pont du Gard has been a tourist attraction for centuries. The outstanding quality of the bridge's masonry led to it becoming an obligatory stop for French journeyman masons on their traditional tour around the country, many of whom have left their names on the stonework.

From the 18th. century onwards, particularly after the construction of the new road bridge, it became a famous staging-post for travellers on the Grand Tour, and became increasingly renowned as an object of historical importance and French national pride.

The bridge has had a long association with French monarchs seeking to associate themselves with a symbol of Roman imperial power. King Charles IX of France visited in 1564 during his Grand Tour of France, and was greeted with a grand entertainment laid on by the Duc d'Uzès.

Twelve young girls dressed as nymphs came out of a cave by the riverside near the aqueduct and presented the king with pastry and preserved fruits.

A century later, Louis XIV and his court visited the Pont du Gard during a visit to Nîmes in January 1660 shortly after the signature of the Treaty of the Pyrenees.

In 1786 his great-great-great-grandson Louis XVI commissioned the artist Hubert Robert to produce a set of paintings of Roman ruins of southern France to hang in the king's new dining room at the Palace of Fontainebleau.

These including a picture depicting the Pont du Gard in an idealised landscape. The commission was intended to reassert the ties between the French monarchy and the imperial past.

Napoleon III, in the mid-19th century, consciously identified with Augustus and accorded great respect to Roman antiquities; his patronage of the bridge's restoration in the 1850's was essential to its survival.

By the 1990's the Pont du Gard had become a hugely popular tourist attraction but was congested with traffic – vehicles were still allowed to drive over the 1743 road bridge – and was cluttered with illegally built structures and tourist shops lining the river banks.

As the architect Jean-Paul Viguier put it, the "appetite for gain" had transformed the Pont du Gard into "a fairground attraction".

In 1996 the General Council of the Gard département began a major four-year project to improve the area. The entire area around the bridge was pedestrianised, and a new visitor centre was built on the north bank.

The redevelopment has ensured that the area around the Pont du Gard is now much quieter due to the removal of vehicular traffic, and the new museum provides a much improved historical context for visitors.

The Pont du Gard is today one of France's top five tourist attractions, with 1.4 million visitors reported in 2001.

Literary Visitors to the Pont du Gard

Since it became a tourist destination, many novelists and writers have visited the Pont du Gard and written of the experience. Jean-Jacques Rousseau was overwhelmed when he first visited it in 1738:

"I had been told to go and see the Pont du Gard;

I did not fail to do so. It was the first work of the

Romans that I had seen. I expected to see a

monument worthy of the hands which had

constructed it.

This time the object surpassed my expectation, for

the only time in my life. Only the Romans could

have produced such an effect. The sight of this

simple and noble work struck me all the more since

it is in the middle of a wilderness where silence and

solitude render the object more striking and the

admiration more lively; for this so-called bridge was

only an aqueduct. One asks oneself what force has

transported these enormous stones so far from any

quarry, and what brought together the arms of so

many thousands of men in a place where none of

them live. I wandered about the three storeys of this

superb edifice although my respect for it almost kept

me from daring to trample it underfoot. The echo of

my footsteps under these immense vaults made me

imagine that I heard the strong voices of those who

had built them. I felt myself lost like an insect in that

immensity. While making myself small, I felt an

indefinable something that raised up my soul, and I

said to myself with a sigh, 'Why was I not born a

Roman!'"

The mid-19th-century writer Joseph Méry wrote in his 1853 book Les Nuits italiennes, Contes Nocturnes that on seeing the Pont du Gard:

"One is struck dumb with astonishment; you are

walking in a desert where nothing reminds you

of man; cultivation has disappeared; there are

ravines, heaths, blocks of rock, clusters of rushes,

oaks, massed together, a stream which flows by

a melancholy strand, wild mountains, a silence

like that of Thebaid, and in the midst of this

landscape springs up the most magnificent

object that civilization has created for the glory

of the fine arts."

The novelist Henry James, visiting in 1884, was similarly impressed; he described the Pont du Gard as:

"Unspeakably imposing, and nothing

could well be more Roman."

He commented:

"The hugeness, the solidity, the unexpectedness,

the monumental rectitude of the whole thing leave

you nothing to say – at the time – and make you

stand gazing.

You simply feel that it is noble and perfect, that it

has the quality of greatness ... When the vague

twilight began to gather, the lonely valley seemed

to fill itself with the shadow of the Roman name,

as if the mighty empire were still as erect as the

supports of the aqueduct; and it was open to a

solitary tourist, sitting there sentimental, to

believe that no people has ever been, or will ever

be, as great as that, measured, as we measure

the greatness of an individual, by the push they

gave to what they undertook.

The Pont du Gard is one of the three or four

deepest impressions they have left; it speaks of

them in a manner with which they might have

been satisfied."

Hilaire Belloc wrote in 1928 that:

"When one sees the thing all that is said of it

comes true. Its isolation, its dignity, its weight,

are all three awful. It looks as though it had

been built long before all record by beings

greater than ourselves, and were intended

to stand long after the dissolution of our petty

race.

One can repose in it. I confess to a great

reluctance to praise what has been praised

too much; but so it is.

A man, suffering from the unrest of our time,

might do worse than camp out for three days,

fishing and bathing under the shadow of the

Pont du Gard."

Iceland #GoFabbie by Sa Sha

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Iceland has no Army and is also recognised as the World’s Most Peaceful Country.

#gofabbie #gaming #fabology #fabfacts #interestingfacts #quiz #livegamesapp #funfacts #knowledge #trivia #amazingfacts #skills #education #didyouknow #schooloffabology #iceland #noarmy #peace #world #country

by StephenZacharias

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The Hudson's Bay Company , the world's oldest corporation, has donated a collection of over 10, 000 precious, ethnological artifacts to The Manitoba Museum and its Company Archives, strectching over 330 years, to the Archives of Manitoba.

Information from Factoids a destination Winnipeg publication.

Back to the 80s by Pascal Schnell

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Ein Modell das ich schon vor einer Weile für einen Kumpel gemacht habe, ich aber erst jetzt hochladen konnte, da es eine Überraschung für ihn war. Aber nun ist er hier, der GrimmSkull Plasmabattlesuit. Ich habe mal etwas experimentiert und versucht den Stil von beispielsweise Farcry Blooddragon oder den Artworks zu Retrowave Musik zu treffen. Ich denke ich habe es doch ganz ok getroffen, auch ohne den exesiven Einsatz von Neonlichtern.

Da das Modell nicht für eine Armee vorgesehen war, dachte ich mir ich könnte ja noch eine meiner UNZÄHLIGEN Drohnen hinzusetzen, damit auch sichergestellt ist das immer die Richtige Musik (www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRa6w7y0ruY&list=PLZwmMnvOfKt...)läuft, während Orks gebrizelt werden.

Funfact: In der Base habe ich alte, abgenutzte Wendeplatten von Drehwerkzeugen eingesetzt, was auch der Grund ist warum die Figur auch einen passablen Briefbeschwerer abgeben würde.

peaks.island • busy.beavers – chewing-to-length by Don Shall

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Peaks Island, Maine USA • Beavers' • Progress • Update: Spring enables a new walk into the woods. Yet another section conquered this winter past.

Here in the Peaks Island Land Preserve, the beavers are rapidly transforming this isolated ecosystem. Ponds are multiplying and expanding; water levels are up more than three feet in some areas, since my last visit. • Beavers: Nature's Landscape Architects.

☞ FunFacts: Beavers eat the bark and spit the chips. –•– "They are the largest rodents (gnawing animals) in the world except for the capybara of South America. Unlike most other kinds of mammals, beavers keep growing throughout their lives. Most beavers look larger than they really are because of their humped backs and thick fur. Thousands of years ago, some beavers of North America were about 7 1/2 feet (2.3 meters) long, including the tail--almost as long as the grizzly bears. No one knows why these huge beavers disappeared." – from WorldBook's excellent summary.

And get this: an average beaver can cut down as many as 200 trees a year !

„Manifest für den Frieden“ – „Aufstand für den Frieden“ in Berlin by Steffi Reichert

Friedenstauben, "Ostfrontwünsche", Gräuelbanner und "Endsieglosungen" auf Plakaten; der Ruf nach Frieden mit Russland und einem Waffenstillstand im Ukraine-Krieg

Trotz Schneeregen und bitterer Kälte waren am heutigen Samstag viele Tausend Menschen dem Aufruf von Sahra Wagenknecht und Alice Schwarzer zu einer Kundgebung in Berlin gefolgt. Das namentlich gut passende Tief Yigit machte dem Wochenende in vielerlei Hinsicht alle Ehre.

Die Polizei bezifferte die Teilnehmerzahl auf rund 13.000 Menschen. Mehrere unabhängige Journalisten vor Ort schätzen die Zahl der Teilnehmer ebenfalls in dieser Höhe ein und eine spätere Prüfung auf MapChecking bestätigte letztendlich diese Anzahl. Es gibt somit also nicht nur eine Quellenlage – nämlich die der Polizei (was viele kritisierten), sondern wie immer: mehrere und auch unabhängige.

Die Berliner Zeitung interessiert sich allerdings nicht für diese Faktenlage, sie rühmt sich bis heute mit einer Teilnehmerzahl von fast 50.000 Menschen - ganz so, wie es u.a. Sahra Wagenknecht und ihre Gefolgschaft rund um das aufstehen-Bündnis bereits auf der Kundgebung schon verkündet hatte und seitdem in dieser Form von Fake-News durch die sozialen Netzwerke geistert.

Funfact: Der Verleger der Berliner Zeitung: Holger Friedrich mit seiner unrühmlichen DDR-Vergangenheit gehörte zu Wagenknechts Erstunterzeichnern des "Manifest". Die Daten wurden in der Tagesszeitung nicht korrigiert. Eigentlich ein Fall für den Presserat.

Zu der Kundgebung hatten aber nicht nur Wagenknecht und Schwarzer aufgerufen, bei der im Vorfeld Wagenknecht darauf hinwies, das zwar rechtsextreme Flaggen und Symbole nicht geduldet seien, aber sie sagte auch: „Auf unserer Kundgebung ist jeder willkommen, der ehrlichen Herzens für Frieden und für Verhandlungen demonstrieren möchte.“ Schwarzer sagte im Vorfeld: „Selbstverständlich werden wir gegen jede Art von rechtsextremer Propaganda auf dem Platz angehen“ (...).

Wagenknechts Ehemann und ebenfalls Erstunterzeichner Oskar Lafontaine antwortete auf die Abgrenzung nach rechts auf einem Kanal aus dem Querdenken-Spektrum (Milena Preradovic) in einem Interview: „Da gibt es keine Gesinnungsprüfung, da wird auch niemand gefragt: ‚Welches Parteibuch hast du?‘ oder ,Wen hast du gewählt?'“

Auf Anordnung der Versammlungsbehörde gab es auf der Kundgebung Auflagen. Darüber informierte die Polizei via Twitter:

"Für die Versammlung am Brandenburger Tor hat unsere Versammlungsbehörde Beschränkungen erlassen. Insbesondere ist das Tragen von militärischen Uniformen, Abzeichen, St-Georgs-Bändern, den Buchstaben Z & V und anderen kriegsverherrlichenden Symboliken untersagt."

Ordnungsgemäß wurde dies zu Beginn der Kundgebung verlesen, daraufhin brach das Publikum in höhnendes Gelächter aus, die Auflage wurde ausgepfiffen, es erfolgten Buh- und Pfui-Rufe sowie Russija-Verlautbarungen.

Das Coop-Cafe hatte (wie sonst auch, da unerwünscht) entsprechend ihre diversen pro Regime-Bekundungen am Ende der Kundgebung auf der Straße des 17. Juni verteilt, diese standen zusammen mit der DKP am Sowjetischen Ehrenmal am Tiergarten.

Das Bündnis "Heizung, Brot und Frieden" war wie erwartet ebenso vertreten sowie auch das "Unentdecktes Land" aus der stasinahen Vereinigung "Ostdeutsches Kuratorium von Verbänden"; kurz OKV.

Auf mehreren Transparenten war der Auszug des Zitats aus der Sportpalastrede von Joseph Goebbels zu lesen: "Wollt ihr den totalen Krieg" - neben daneben wehenden Parteiflaggen der DIE LINKE. Auf einem anderen Schild wurde gefordert, bis zum „Endsieg“ zu frieren. Die USA und die Ukraine wurden mit Nazi-Deutschland gleichgesetzt und ein Banner mit der Überschrift: "Frieden schaffen ohne Waffen" bildete deutsche Politiker mit amputierten Gliedmaßen in Rollstühlen ab. Auf einer Panzer-Attrappe aus Holz wurden Bundeskanzler Olaf Scholz und Außenministerin Annalena Baerbock unter anderem mit Adolf Hitler verglichen.

Unter den Teilnehmenden waren wie erwartet viele Russland-Freunde, Impfgegner, die Freie Linke und Regierungsgegner - ausgedrückt über Plakate, Fahnen, Regenschirme oder Buttons. Weiter: Rechtsextreme, Reichsbürger, QAnon-Gläubige, die rechtsextremen Freien Sachsen (teils mit abgeschnittenem Logo), das rechtsextreme Compact und Verschwörungsideologen sowie die Partei "Die Basis". Hauptfeindbild blieb in logischer Konsequenz dieser Leute Annalena Baerbock (resp. Die Grünen), aber auch Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann von der FDP.

Der rechte Russland-Fanboy Billy Six lief mir an der Tribüne über den Weg, ebenfalls der verurteilte Holocaustleugner und rechtsextreme Videoblogger Nicolai Nehrling ("Volkslehrer"), der zuletzt wegen Corona-Soforthilfebetrugs angeklagt war. Der ebenfalls verurteilte Holocaustleugner Reza Begi war ebenso vertreten wie auch Matthäus Westfal (Aktivist Mann) oder wie schon erwähnt: das rechtsextreme Compact-Magazin mit Jürgen Elsässer. Von der AfD wurden gesichtet: Lars Günther, Gunnar Lindemann, Jörg Urban und Hans-Thomas Tillschneider. Weiter: Martin Müller-Mertens von AUF1 und auch Wjatscheslaw Seewald, der einst Russia Today mit einer Petition nach Deutschland gebracht hatte. Von den Querdenker-Nicht-Größen ganz zu schweigen.

Auf der Ostseite des Brandenburger Tores gab es Gegenprotest von der Antiverschwurbelte Aktion und den Omas gegen rechts Berlin. Schräg gegenüber dem Holocaustmahnmal hatte sich Geradedenken mit der ukrainischen Diaspora rund um For The Right To Resist (Linke Ukraine-Solidarität Berlin) positioniert. Es gab immer wieder verbale Übergriffe auf die Aktivisten (aber auch auf ukrainische und pro-ukrainische Teilnehmer) und immer wieder wurden sie als Nazis und Faschisten beschimpft. Eine Teilnehmende von Omas gegen rechts wurde von einem Wagenknecht-Teilnehmer angegangen. Nicht nur, das sie eben nicht friedensbewegt sind, haben sie auch absolut keinen Anstand und Respekt vor der älteren Generation.

In einem Video des Journalisten Boris Klinge auf Facebook äußerte sich ein "friedensbewegter" Wagenknecht-Befürworter, das, "wenn es nach ihm ginge, Putin schon 2014 hätte bombardieren und Krieg (nicht "Spezialoperation") anfangen müssen".

Am Rande der Kundgebung gab es eine Auseinandersetzung zwischen Mitgliedern der DIE LINKE rund um Christine Buchholz, die sich lautstark gegen die Teilnahme des rechtsextremen Compact-Herausgebers Jürgen Elsässer wehrten. Dabei gab es von dort Rufe: "Keine Nazis fotografieren", als ich mich den Compact-Leuten näherte. Ob man diese durch nicht fotografieren damit und von der Veranstaltung unsichtbar machen wollte, ließ sich leider nicht mehr in Erfahrung bringen.

Um von der Bühne aus fotografieren und filmen zu können, benötigte es eine Akkreditierung. Darauf hatte ich bei dieser Veranstaltung aus guten Gründen verzichtet.

An Ende der Kundgebung kamen alle Beteiligten noch einmal auf die Bühne und es wurde zum Abschluss zu "Imagine" von John Lennon geschunkelt.

Nach Beendigung der Kundgebung versammelten sich gut 1.000 Menschen am Potsdamer Platz, um den Tag mit einer Demonstration durch Berlin-Mitte und Kreuzberg mit lauten Trommelklängen aus dem Querdenker-Spektrum ausklingen zu lassen. Diese Demonstration wurde letztendlich auf Berlin-Mitte verkürzt, wie dies die Polizei auf Twitter verkündete. Dort dominierten Compact-Flaggen samt Rechte- und Querdenker-Milieu; Jürgen Elsässer war dort allerdings nicht vertreten.

Ann-Katrin Müller vom Hauptstadtbüro DER SPIEGEL bilanzierte den Tag mit folgenden Worten:

Es waren zu sehr großen Teilen die Menschen auf der Straße, die ich schon die letzten Jahre bei Querdenker-Demos und Co gesehen habe: Verschwörungsideologen bis hin zu Q-Anon-Fans, Rechtsextreme, Reichsbürger, Regierungshasser und rechtsoffene Altkommunisten und Friedensbewegte. (...) Von der AfD waren hochrangige Funktionäre da, etwa der sächsische Landeschef Jörg Urban und der Landesvize Hans-Thomas Tillschneider aus Sachsen-Anhalt. Einziger Unterschied zu sonst: Buntere Fahnen und es gab weniger organisierte Neonazi-Kader, zumindest weniger sichtbare. Ansonsten alles wie immer: Russische Fahnen, Lieder und Plakate, dazu lautstarke Häme und Hetze gegenüber der Regierung und Medien.

Vizekanzler Robert Habeck (Grüne) kritisierte die Demonstration als eine „Irreführung der Bevölkerung“. „Jeder, der bei Sinnen und Verstand ist, wünscht sich Frieden“, sagte der Bundeswirtschaftsminister in einem ARD-"Brennpunkt". Wagenknecht und die ihr folgenden Leute wollten aber etwas als Frieden verkaufen, das ein „imperialistischer Diktator“ Europa aufzwinge. Wenn sich das durchsetze, wäre das eine Einladung an den russischen Präsidenten Wladimir Putin, die nächsten Länder zu überfallen.

hinzugezogene Quellen:

www.stern.de/politik/deutschland/-manifest-fuer-frieden--...

aufstand-fuer-frieden.de/manifest-fuer-frieden/ und archive.fo/sQ7yp

www.berliner-zeitung.de/mensch-metropole/berlin-kundgebun... und archive.fo/pL4D7

www.mapchecking.com/#bAAAAQGYQUkIi_1VBAACIQaMQUkJK_1VBcBB... und archive.fo/4Fmpk

www.focus.de/politik/analyse-von-hubertus-knabe-die-akte-...

www.tagesspiegel.de/politik/kundgebung-von-wagenknecht-un...

www.tagesspiegel.de/politik/demo-aufstand-fur-den-frieden...

twitter.com/bodoramelow/status/1627338657542578176?lang=de

taz.de/Wagenknecht-und-Schwarzer/!5912913/

querdenken-761.de/oesterreich-klage-gegen-pcr-test-von-dr...

www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/10-000-werden-am-brand...

twitter.com/Hoellenaufsicht/status/1629472621107593216

twitter.com/glr_berlin/status/1629481619684835328

www.berlin.de/aufarbeitung/veroeffentlichungen/schriftenr... (Punkt 5, Seite 93)

twitter.com/O_Sundermeyer/status/1629455230654873602

twitter.com/DemocratiaBLN/status/1629478774847750146

twitter.com/O_Sundermeyer/status/1629455230654873602

www.facebook.com/bo.kreuzberg/videos/901857774366978/

twitter.com/Belltower_News/status/1629523843315380226

twitter.com/querdenkenwatch/status/1629604178027741184

twitter.com/JFDA_eV/status/1629473455102935040

twitter.com/glr_berlin/status/1629481619684835328

twitter.com/PaulGaebler/status/1629478687459401729

twitter.com/daniluiz_foto/status/1629506152814747656

twitter.com/Jus_Koenig/status/1629485142795247616

twitter.com/Kei_Nie_/status/1629544402610798593

twitter.com/SchwarzePalmen/status/1629598572550160385

twitter.com/MarcTrevor4/status/1629506472760492032

twitter.com/AutonomeB/status/1629515300008804352

twitter.com/glr_berlin/status/1629468731700043776

twitter.com/glr_berlin/status/1629481619684835328

twitter.com/glr_berlin/status/1629467133317902339

twitter.com/akm0803/status/1629532510479679490 und twitter.com/akm0803/status/1629540528424353793

twitter.com/imaginistas/status/1629597915546021889

taz.de/Paul-Schaefer-zu-Friedensbewegung/!5915768/

www.zdf.de/nachrichten/politik/demonstration-ukraine-berl...

www.focus.de/politik/deutschland/manifest-fuer-frieden-de...

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Stand: Februar/März 2023