via Instagram instagr.am/p/Sq-3ziylfV/ Respect

respect.

 

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For: Jax T. Ferragamo

The Cumberland University graduate was a devoted husband and father, a member of the Methodist Church, devout Bible reader and a gentleman who was respected by all. An attorney, he was an eloquent speaker who used his gift well as a politician. He ran for three political offices: state representative, governor and Congress winning the former and latter races.

Above all, he was resolute in his belief that the Union should not divide and dissolve into civil war. Yet, when the Southern states seceded, he cast his lot with Tennessee, and, eventually, the Confederacy, a decision that cost his life.

Robert Hopkins Hatton was born Nov. 2, 1826, in Youngstown or Steubenville, Ohio, to Robert Clopton Hatton, a Methodist Episcopal minister, and his wife Margaret. The couple had six children, two who died in infancy. Young Robert began school at six in Alleghany City, Pa., and the family moved to Nashville in 1835 when he was eight. In 1837 the Hattons relocated to a farm in the Beech Grove community of Sumner County. While his father preached in Gallatin and later clerked and taught school, the boy worked on the farm, enjoyed hunting foxes with his dogs and studying in school. In the fall of 1845, Cumberland University allowed an 18-year-old Hatton to enter the junior class. Two years later he graduated with his class of four in June 1847.

Helping relay the story of Hatton from this point will be Martin Frost, 61, a Lebanon resident who is semiretired from Kimbro Oil Company as an accountant and chief financial officer and who has been portraying General Hatton since 1998. “I first heard of Hatton the first year I was here in 1984 as we drove around the square. I asked who the General was on the top of the Confederate monument,” said Frost, a member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, the Robert H. Hatton Camp #723, which was named in memory and honor of Hatton.

Frost proceeded to study the General's life and then was asked to play Hatton at a Cedar Grove Cemetery candlelight tour. “I usually portray him three or four times a year at the fairgrounds or on the square for tourism visits, and different civic organizations have asked me to tell the story of Robert Hatton in uniform. It’s usually just here in the County because he’s not too widely known,” Frost said.

As for Hatton’s progress after graduation, Frost shares, “He entered Cumberland’s law school for one year and ran out of money, so he went to teach. He didn’t like that. He came back to Lebanon and obtained a license to practice law and studied and was able to pass the bar exam and worked as an attorney, and then Cumberland University gave him a law degree, probably because of the relationships he had with his professors.”

Hatton joined in the practice of law in 1850 in a partnership with Col. Jordan Stokes of Lebanon. In the spring of 1850 he was appointed by the board of managers of the Washington Monument in the District of Columbia as an agent to present its claims to the people of Tennessee. And on Dec. 16, 1852, he married Sophie K. Reilly, six months his junior, of Williamson County.

WLM - Robert HattonAbout this time, he dissolved his partnership with Stokes and formed a new one, the firm of Hatton and Green, attorneys- and counselors- at-law, with Nathan Green Jr.

In 1855 as a candidate for the Whig party, the Lebanon lawyer was elected as representative from Wilson County to the General Assembly of Tennessee. While he served in Nashville, his wife and children, Reilly, Manie and later, Emily, resided in Lebanon. Then he ran as the American and Whig party candidate for governor in 1857. By this time Lebanon townsfolk referred to him as “Our Bob”. “In this race against Isham Harris for governor, they were traveling together and stumping around the State. They were at odds in Fayetteville and had a fistfight on the platform. He whipped Harris, who was quite a bit older,” said Frost. “He won the fight but lost the election.”

In 1858 Hatton was elected Grand Master for the Order of Tennessee of the Grand Lodge of the Order of Odd Fellows, and in 1859, he ran and won the election to the U.S. Congress as Representative from the State’s Fifth District. “He did a lot of traveling while campaigning and as member of the Order of Odd Fellows,” said Frost. “I think he loved his wife a lot and enjoyed the children. He was very intelligent and must have been well liked. He seemed to succeed in everything he tried.”

Hatton traveled to the District of Columbia in November 1859, leaving his family at their home on the northeast corner of Lebanon’s West Main Street and Hatton Avenue, 327 W. Main, a site on Lebanon's Civil War Trail (today the location of the Shelter Insurance office).

A reporter for The New York Times provides a detailed description of the tall, 136-pound Hatton from Congress in mid-January 1860.

Robert Hatton, of Tennessee, then obtained the floor for a set speech, and at once commanded attention. He is rather tall, rather thin, with a large head and long face, made longer by a profusion of orange chinbeard, harmonizing well with pink cheeks, a large fair forehead, high and expansive; blue eyes, set wide apart on each side of a small irregular nose, high cheek bones, and a great quantity of thick brown hair, rather inclined to curl, but hardly having length sufficient to indulge its propensity. Decidedly, Mr. Hatton has more of the studied graces of an orator than any member yet seen upon the floor. His gestures are full, found, and appropriate—seldom violent—never grotesque, but always emphatic, and with an inclination to the florid order. His head shows imagination, and the perceptives largely developed—the qualities of causality and caution, however, not being visibly from this gallery—if at all existing. His voice is musical and full of the church-organ tone; and he speaks with the deliberativeness of a man determined to say nothing in support of which he is not willing to stand a pistol shot.

From his hotel in the nation’s capitol, Hatton wrote his wife frequently asking about the children and how much he missed family and home. His epistles often reported on sermons he heard while visiting a variety of church denominations. He kept Sophie up to- date on his Bible reading and commented frequently about the drinking of many of those serving in Congress. (Hatton wouldn’t touch a drop of wine or liquor while in D.C.)

Most fervent upon his heart and mind was the fact that a crack in the Union was unavoidable. Hatton wrote his wife Dec. 6, 1860: Now that I am here, my worst anticipations are more than realized. Disunion is inevitable. What will follow, God only knows. Have, today, listened to furious speeches from Wigfall, of Texas; Iverson, of Georgia; and Brown, of Mississippi. Go out of the Union, their States are determined to. So, with South Carolina, Louisiana, Florida and perhaps others. There is not wisdom or patriotism enough in the land to save it.

In his diary two days later, Hatton noted: What shall I write? That the government is upon the eve of disruption. It is. The indications today, are, that before the 4th day of March, five or six of the Southern States will secede. The probabilities are that all the other Southern States will follow, and very soon. The folly of mankind has never been greater than is now being exhibited by the politicians of the South, and the North. Disunion is ruin to both sections.

Hatton made an impassioned speech Feb. 8, 1861, to the U.S. House of Representatives, but war between the states was plunging nearer like a runaway steam locomotive without a brakeman. When the 36th Congress adjourned, Hatton returned to Lebanon, still speaking his piece on holding the country together. His most famous speech, according to Frost, was made April Fool’s Day 1861, as for 2½ hours he urged his fellow citizens to remain in the Union. That night, tempers flared. “A crowd of people, some seem to think they were students from Cumberland, came to his house after everyone had gone to bed and started yelling and beating on pots and pans,” said Frost. “It woke everybody up, and Hatton came out with a pistol and fired it a few times, and they dispersed. A little bit later on the square, he was burned in effigy.”

Whatever strong feelings Hatton held for the Union, attitudes would change upon the news from Fort Sumter, S.C., and the news of President Lincoln calling for 75,000 volunteers to “put down the rebellion”. Hatton volunteered his services to the State of Tennessee. In May he called for volunteers for the Provisional Army of Tennessee and was elected captain of a company of 100 or more men out of Lebanon. “Six companies, totaling about 600 men from Wilson County, left Lebanon on May 20, 1861, and were mustered in at Nashville, and then took the train to Camp Trousdale in Sumner County. They were half finished with basic training when Tennessee declared its independence and separation,” said Frost. “Six companies from Wilson County and four from Sumner, Smith and DeKalb counties formed the 7th Tennessee Infantry Regiment, and Capt. Hatton was elected colonel. He trained and armed them well, and about July 20, they loaded on a train and then went to Nashville to Chattanooga to Knoxville to Bristol and to Virginia.

“Hatton had made arrangements to meet his wife in Nashville just before he left, but she was unable to meet him. So when he left Lebanon, he never saw his family again other than the little boy who came over to training camp a few days.” Hatton and his men initially fought in some smaller battles of the war as he served with Gen. Robert E. Lee in the Cheat Mountain Campaign and then with Gen. Stonewall Jackson in the northern part of the Shenandoah Valley in fall and winter of 1861-62. He wrote numerous letters to his wife from Warm Springs, Va. In the spring Hatton’s troops were directed to the peninsula below Richmond, Va.

In his last correspondence, dated May 28, 1862, 6:30 p.m., from near Richmond, Hatton wrote: The struggle, will no doubt, be bloody; that we will triumph, and that gloriously, I am confident. Would that I might bind to my heart, before the battle, my wife and children. That pleasure may never again be granted to me. If so, farewell; and may the God of all mercy be to you and ours, a guardian and friend. “If we meet again, we’ll smile; If not, this parting has been well.” Affectionately your husband, R. Hatton.

On the evening of May 31, 1862, Hatton, who had been promoted to Brigadier General eight days previously, formed his line in the presence of Confederate President Jefferson Davis, General Lee and Gen. Joe Johnston at the Battle of Seven Pines, also known as the Battle of Fair Oaks. “He had been given command of the Tennessee brigade, and on the 31st the brigade was held in reserve,” said Frost. “But about 6 o’clock they were ordered to the front to make a charge. They did, and evidently did a fine job. Hatton was on his horse, and he was leading the charge. A charge was a walking movement to the front, an orderly advance to the front. Hatton, on his horse, he was a tremendous target.”

Last seen alive in the charge on Nine Mile Road, Hatton was waving his hat, and his voice cheered his men with his final words, “Forward, my brave boys! Forward!” When his favorite horse, Ball, was shot from beneath him, the young General got up, ran forward and in less then 30 steps later, he fell beneath the blast of a hostile gun. There is still an argument as to whether he was hit by rifle shot or cannon shot, but a missile to the head killed him instantly. The time was reported as sunset. Hatton was 35. (Of Hatton’s original 1,000 soldiers from Wilson, Smith, Sumner and DeKalb counties, only 47 survived when General Lee surrendered April 9, 1865, at Appomattox.) Hatton’s body was carried off the field of battle by two of his soldiers as the Tennessee Brigade fell back to the original line of the battle. His pistols were found by a Union soldier and returned to his family 30 years later.

WLM - Gen. Hattons widow Sophie who lived to 89“The body was placed on a train and shipped to Tennessee. Because the bridge across the Tennessee River at Chattanooga had been burned, they were not able to send the body back to Lebanon,” said Frost. “Someone made the decision to bury the body in Knoxville. It remained in Knoxville until spring of 1866, and in March the body was brought back.”

Nearly four years after his death, Hatton was buried on a rainy day, March 23, 1866. His mortal remains were taken from his house on West Main to the Methodist Church where every seat was filled. Thousands were reported to have attended the funeral of “the most popular man in Lebanon”. From the church, the mile-long procession to Cedar Grove Cemetery was fronted by Hatton’s slave, Jerry, who had accompanied him during the war. Jerry led a black mare that belonged to Hatton. The General was finally laid to rest in his hometown.

Nine years later, in 1875, Reilly, Hatton’s son, died at age 21½ on the eve before he was to graduate from Cumberland University. He was buried beside his father. As for Hatton’s other survivors, his widow Sophie lived a good, long life, serving 15 years as a missionary to Japan and for eight years as state librarian of Tennessee. She died in 1916 at the age of 89. Daughter Manie Campbell Hatton never wed and taught for 53 years in Middle Tennessee, 48 of those years at Howard School in Nashville. She died in 1938 at 82. Daughter Emily married missionary Willard Towson, and they carried the gospel to Japan for 22 years. She had two sons and a daughter. One son, Hatton D. Towson, served in World War I and was wounded in the Battle of Argonne in 1919 and died from his injuries later that year back home in Georgia.

General Hatton's closest living relative is Mary Em Towson Hobbs, of Decatur, Ga. Her father was Lambuth Reilly Towson, the son of Emily Hatton Towson, the General's youngest child. “There are five living descendants of four generations. I’m the oldest, 80 years old,” said Hobbs during a phone interview in January. “I’m the great-granddaughter, and my brother had two sons. One of them is 60 and one is 56, and one of them has a daughter and she has a nine-year-old son.”

WLM - Mary Em Townson Hobbs is Gen. Hattons closest living relativeAs for what she knows about her great-grandfather, pieces of family history were handed down from her parents and other family members, and she spent some time as a child with her great-aunt Manie, the General's daughter. She has also gleaned much from a half dozen or so trips to Lebanon, specifically from meeting with the local members of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, the Robert H. Hatton Camp, who have made her an honorary member. “Every time I come up there, I learn more from them than they learn from me, but it’s been thrilling,” she said.

During one visit in recent years, she and her nephew, Robert Hatton Towson, who lives in Goodlettsville, shared some of the family memorabilia with the group, such as Hatton's diaries. Asked for her conclusions about what she believes her greatgrandfather Hatton was like, and she answered, “I would say he had a personality to stand up for what he thought.”

Buried in Cedar Grove Cemetery, Hatton’s grave lies about 20 yards inside the entrance of Gate 2 on the north side of the road. A 16-foot-tall limestone obelisk, erected by the survivors of the 7th Tennessee, marks his grave, and nearby are interred his wife, his parents, his three children and a grandson.

Inscribed on the west face of the obelisk are the words:

General Robert Hatton

Born Nov. 2, 1826

Fell May 31, 1862

While leading the Tenn. Brigade in the Battle of Seven Pines, Va.

As for Lebanon’s most famous landmark, the monument topped by Hatton’s statue on the square?

“In the late 1800’s, the Confederate veterans began to feel compelled to erect monuments at cemeteries and town squares in memory of all their fallen comrades,” explained Frost. “It was happening all across the South. Here, they had already put one monument up in 1899 in Cedar Grove Cemetery. “I think the United Daughters of the Confederacy approached the City about putting up a statue in the center of square, and they were given ownership of the space to erect a Confederate monument. The veterans raised the money and designed the monument.”

Thus, on May 20, 1912, a monument unveiling occurred with great fanfare in Lebanon as the people of Wilson County honored their Confederate veterans. The area overflowed with people, horses and buggies, as the grandchildren of the veterans sang “Dixie” and a Tennessee National Guard detail fired a salute.

WLM- Limestone obelisk marks Hattons gravesite at Cedar Grove CemetryOn the western face of this limestone monument, GENL HATTON is etched below the officer’s feet. Beneath it reads: Erected in honor of the Confederate veterans of Wilson County and all other true Southern soldiers 1861-1865. The south face bears the words: As long as honor or courage is cherished the deeds of these heroes will live. Whether on the scaffold high or in the battles of van the fittest place for man to die is when he dies for man.” The east face reads: “To our mothers and daughters of the Confederacy from 1861 to the present;” and the north face informs: “Erected by the S.G. Shepard Camp No. 941 UCV with contributions from true friends of the Southern soldier.”

Curiously, some may notice, Hatton’s statue faces west. Noted Frost, “Most monuments of Confederate officers face either north or south—either facing the enemy or turning their back—but Hatton faces west and is standing, not mounted. The reason everyone understands is because when he left for Nashville, he was going west. That was the last time the townspeople saw him.

“Had he not been killed, had he survived during the war; no doubt he would have been a major general commanding a division,” opined Frost, who had two great-great-grandfathers serve in the Confederacy. Said Lebanon businessman Jack Cato, a true student of the Civil War whose greatgrandfather fought under Hatton, “He was a very bright young man, and he had served in the state legislature and had run for governor and been in Congress at the outbreak of the war. We just wonder what his legacy would have been had he lived.”

GENERAL ROBERT HOPKINS HATTON

 

Born: Nov. 2, 1826, in Youngstown or Steubenville, Ohio

Died: May 31, 1862, in the Battle of Seven Pines, aka the Battle of Fair Oaks

Buried: Cedar Grove Cemetery in Lebanon

Parents: Robert Clopton Hatton and Margaret Campbell Hatton

Wife: Sophia Keron Reilly

Children: Son Reilly, daughters Manie and Emily

Education: Graduate of Cumberland University

Career: Lawyer, politician-statesman, soldier

Military: Captain, Colonel of 7th Tennessee Infantry Regiment,

Brigadier General of Tennessee Brigade

Associations: Methodist Church, Grand Lodge of the Order of Odd Fellows

Other facts: Gifted orator, prodigious letter writer, tireless worker

Biography: Life of General Hatton by James Vaulx Drake, 1867. Reprints

of Hatton’s biography are available for $25 at the Lebanon City Hall.

NO EDIT

photographer: BRITA LIGHT

grant photos

 

Are We Witnessing the Start of a Global Revolution?

North Africa and the Global Political Awakening, Part 1

 

by Andrew Gavin Marshall

 

For the first time in human history almost all of humanity is politically activated, politically conscious and politically interactive... The resulting global political activism is generating a surge in the quest for personal dignity, cultural respect and economic opportunity in a world painfully scarred by memories of centuries-long alien colonial or imperial domination... The worldwide yearning for human dignity is the central challenge inherent in the phenomenon of global political awakening... That awakening is socially massive and politically radicalizing... The nearly universal access to radio, television and increasingly the Internet is creating a community of shared perceptions and envy that can be galvanized and channeled by demagogic political or religious passions. These energies transcend sovereign borders and pose a challenge both to existing states as well as to the existing global hierarchy, on top of which America still perches...

 

The youth of the Third World are particularly restless and resentful. The demographic revolution they embody is thus a political time-bomb, as well... Their potential revolutionary spearhead is likely to emerge from among the scores of millions of students concentrated in the often intellectually dubious "tertiary level" educational institutions of developing countries. Depending on the definition of the tertiary educational level, there are currently worldwide between 80 and 130 million "college" students. Typically originating from the socially insecure lower middle class and inflamed by a sense of social outrage, these millions of students are revolutionaries-in-waiting, already semi-mobilized in large congregations, connected by the Internet and pre-positioned for a replay on a larger scale of what transpired years earlier in Mexico City or in Tiananmen Square. Their physical energy and emotional frustration is just waiting to be triggered by a cause, or a faith, or a hatred...

 

[The] major world powers, new and old, also face a novel reality: while the lethality of their military might is greater than ever, their capacity to impose control over the politically awakened masses of the world is at a historic low. To put it bluntly: in earlier times, it was easier to control one million people than to physically kill one million people; today, it is infinitely easier to kill one million people than to control one million people.[1]

 

- Zbigniew Brzezinski

Former U.S. National Security Advisor

Co-Founder of the Trilateral Commission

Member, Board of Trustees, Center for Strategic and International Studies

  

An uprising in Tunisia led to the overthrow of the country’s 23-year long dictatorship of President Ben Ali. A new ‘transitional’ government was formed, but the protests continued demanding a totally new government without the relics of the previous tyranny. Protests in Algeria have continued for weeks, as rage mounts against rising food prices, corruption and state oppression. Protests in Jordan forced the King to call on the military to surround cities with tanks and set up checkpoints. Tens of thousands of protesters marched on Cairo demanding an end to the 30-year dictatorship of Hosni Mubarak. Thousands of activists, opposition leaders and students rallied in the capitol of Yemen against the corrupt dictatorship of President Saleh, in power since 1978. Saleh has been, with U.S. military assistance, attempting to crush a rebel movement in the north and a massive secessionist movement growing in the south, called the “Southern Movement.” Protests in Bolivia against rising food prices forced the populist government of Evo Morales to backtrack on plans to cut subsidies. Chile erupted in protests as demonstrators railed against rising fuel prices. Anti-government demonstrations broke out in Albania, resulting in the deaths of several protesters.

 

It seems as if the world is entering the beginnings of a new revolutionary era: the era of the ‘Global Political Awakening.’ While this ‘awakening’ is materializing in different regions, different nations and under different circumstances, it is being largely influenced by global conditions. The global domination by the major Western powers, principally the United States, over the past 65 years, and more broadly, centuries, is reaching a turning point. The people of the world are restless, resentful, and enraged. Change, it seems, is in the air. As the above quotes from Brzezinski indicate, this development on the world scene is the most radical and potentially dangerous threat to global power structures and empire. It is not a threat simply to the nations in which the protests arise or seek change, but perhaps to a greater degree, it is a threat to the imperial Western powers, international institutions, multinational corporations and banks that prop up, arm, support and profit from these oppressive regimes around the world. Thus, America and the West are faced with a monumental strategic challenge: what can be done to stem the Global Political Awakening? Zbigniew Brzezinski is one of the chief architects of American foreign policy, and arguably one of the intellectual pioneers of the system of globalization. Thus, his warnings about the 'Global Political Awakening' are directly in reference to its nature as a threat to the prevailing global hierarchy. As such, we must view the 'Awakening' as the greatest hope for humanity. Certainly, there will be mainy failures, problems, and regressions; but the 'Awakening' has begun, it is underway, and it cannot be so easily co-opted or controlled as many might assume.

 

The reflex action of the imperial powers is to further arm and support the oppressive regimes, as well as the potential to organize a destabilization through covert operations or open warfare (as is being done in Yemen). The alterantive is to undertake a strategy of "democratization" in which Western NGOs, aid agencies and civil society organizations establish strong contacts and relationships with the domestic civil society in these regions and nations. The objective of this strategy is to organize, fund and help direct the domestic civil society to produce a democratic system made in the image of the West, and thus maintain continuity in the international hierarchy. Essentially, the project of "democratization" implies creating the outward visible constructs of a democratic state (multi-party elections, active civil society, "independent" media, etc) and yet maintain continuity in subservience to the World Bank, IMF, multinational corporations and Western powers.

 

It appears that both of these strategies are being simultaneously imposed in the Arab world: enforcing and supporting state oppression and building ties with civil society organizations. The problem for the West, however, is that they have not had the ability to yet establish strong and dependent ties with civil society groups in much of the region, as ironically, the oppressive regimes they propped up were and are unsurprisingly resistant to such measures. In this sense, we must not cast aside these protests and uprisings as being instigated by the West, but rather that they emerged organically, and the West is subsequently attempting to co-opt and control the emerging movements.

 

Part 1 of this essay focuses on the emergence of these protest movements and uprisings, placing it in the context of the Global Political Awakening. Part 2 will examine the West's strategy of "democratic imperialism" as a method of co-opting the 'Awakening' and installing "friendly" governments.

 

The Tunisian Spark

 

A July 2009 diplomatic cable from America’s Embassy in Tunisia reported that, “many Tunisians are frustrated by the lack of political freedom and angered by First Family corruption, high unemployment and regional inequities. Extremism poses a continuing threat,” and that, “the risks to the regime’s long-term stability are increasing.”[2]

 

On Friday, 14 January 2011, the U.S.-supported 23-year long dictatorship of Tunisian president Ben Ali ended. For several weeks prior to this, the Tunisian people had risen in protest against rising food prices, stoked on by an immense and growing dissatisfaction with the political repression, and prodded by the WikiLeaks cables confirming the popular Tunisian perception of gross corruption on the part of the ruling family. The spark, it seems, was when a 26-year old unemployed youth set himself on fire in protest on December 17.

 

With the wave of protests sparked by the death of the 26-year old who set himself on fire on December 17, the government of Tunisia responded by cracking down on the protesters. Estimates vary, but roughly 100 people were killed in the clashes. Half of Tunisia’s 10 million people are under the age of 25, meaning that they have never known a life in Tunisia outside of living under this one dictator. Since Independence from the French empire in 1956, Tunisia has had only two leaders: Habib Bourguiba and Ben Ali.[3] The Tunisian people were rising up against a great many things: an oppressive dictatorship which has employed extensive information and internet censorship, rising food prices and inflation, a corrupt ruling family, lack of jobs for the educated youth, and a general sense and experience of exploitation, subjugation and disrespect for human dignity.

 

Following the ouster of Ben Ali, Prime Minister Mohamed Ghannouchi assumed presidential power and declared a “transitional government.” Yet, this just spurred more protests demanding his resignation and the resignation of the entire government. Significantly, the trade union movement had a large mobilizing role in the protests, with a lawyers union being particularly active during the initial protests Social media and the Internet did play a large part in mobilizing people within Tunisia for the uprising, but it was ultimately the result of direct protests and action which led to the resignation of Ben Ali. Thus, referring to Tunisia as a “Twitter Revolution” is disingenuous.

 

Twitter, WikiLeaks, Facebook, Youtube, forums and blogs did have a part to play. They reflect the ability “to collectively transform the Arab information environment and shatter the ability of authoritarian regimes to control the flow of information, images, ideas and opinions.”[5] [Editors Note: The US based foundation Freedom House was involved in promoting and training some Middle East North Africa Facebook and Twitter bloggers (See also Freedom House), M. C.].

 

We must also keep in mind that social media has not only become an important source of mobilization of activism and information at the grassroots level, but it has also become an effective means for governments and various power structures to seek to manipulate the flow of information. This was evident in the 2009 protests in Iran, where social media became an important avenue through which the Western nations were able to advance their strategy of supporting the so-called 'Green Revolution' in destabilizing the Iranian government. Thus, social media has presented a new form of power, neither black nor white, in which it can be used to either advance the process of the 'Awakening' or control its direction.

 

Whereas America was publicly denouncing Iran for blocking (or attempting to block) social media in the summer of 2009, during the first several weeks of Tunisian protests (which were largely being ignored by Western media), America and the West were silent about censorship.[6] Steven Cook, writing for the elite U.S. think tank, the Council on Foreign Relations, commented on the lack of attention being paid to the Tunisian protests in the early weeks of resistance prior to the resignation of Ben Ali. He explained that while many assume that the Arab “strongmen” regimes will simply maintain power as they always have, this could be mistaken. He stated that, “it may not be the last days of Ben Ali or Mubarak or any other Middle Eastern strongman, but there is clearly something going on in the region.” However, it was the end of Ben Ali, and indeed, “there is clearly something going on in the region.”[7]

 

France’s President Sarkozy has even had to admit that, “he had underestimated the anger of the Tunisian people and the protest movement that ousted President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali.” During the first few weeks of protests in Tunisia, several French government officials were publicly supporting the dictatorship, with the French Foreign Minister saying that France would lend its police “knowhow” to help Ben Ali in maintaining order.[8]

 

Days before the ouster of Ben Ali, Hillary Clinton gave an interview in which she explained how America was worried “about the unrest and the instability,” and that, “we are not taking sides, but we are saying we hope that there can be a peaceful resolution. And I hope that the Tunisian Government can bring that about.” Clinton further lamented, “One of my biggest concerns in this entire region are the many young people without economic opportunities in their home countries.”[9] Her concern, of course, does not spur from any humanitarian considerations, but rather from inherent imperial considerations: it is simply harder to control a region of the world erupting in activism, uprisings and revolution.

 

The Spark Lights a Flame

 

Tunisia has raised the bar for the people across the Arab world to demand justice, democracy, accountability, economic stability, and freedom. Just as Tunisia’s protests were in full-swing, Algeria was experiencing mass protests, rising up largely as a result of the increasing international food prices, but also in reaction to many of the concerns of the Tunisian protesters, such as democratic accountability, corruption and freedom. A former Algerian diplomat told Al-Jazeera in early January that, “It is a revolt, and probably a revolution, of an oppressed people who have, for 50 years, been waiting for housing, employment, and a proper and decent life in a very rich country.”[10]

 

In mid-January, similar protests erupted in Jordan, as thousands took to the streets to protest against rising food prices and unemployment, chanting anti-government slogans. Jordan’s King Abdullah II had “set up a special task force in his palace that included military and intelligence officials to try to prevent the unrest from escalating further,” which had tanks surrounding major cities, with barriers and checkpoints established.[11]

 

In Yemen, the poorest nation in the Arab world, engulfed in a U.S. sponsored war against its own people, ruled by a dictator who has been in power since 1978, thousands of people protested against the government, demanding the dictator Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down. In the capitol city of Sanaa, thousands of students, activists and opposition groups chanted slogans such as, “Get out get out, Ali. Join your friend Ben Ali.”[12] Yemen has been experiencing much turmoil in recent years, with a rebel movement in the North fighting against the government, formed in 2004; as well as a massive secessionist movement in the south, called the “Southern Movement,” fighting for liberation since 2007. As the Financial Times explained:

 

Many Yemen observers consider the anger and secessionist sentiment now erupting in the south to be a greater threat to the country’s stability than its better publicised struggle with al-Qaeda, and the deteriorating economy is making the tension worse.

 

Unemployment, particularly among the young, is soaring. Even the government statistics office in Aden puts it at nearly 40 per cent among men aged 20 to 24

On January 21, tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets in Albania, mobilized by the socialist opposition, ending with violent clashes between the police and protesters, leading to the deaths of three demonstrators. The protests have been sporadic in Albania since the widely contested 2009 elections, but took on new levels inspired by Tunisia.[14]

 

Israeli Vice Prime Minister Silvan Shalom stressed concern over the revolutionary sentiments within the Arab world, saying that, “I fear that we now stand before a new and very critical phase in the Arab world.” He fears Tunisia would “set a precedent that could be repeated in other countries, possibly affecting directly the stability of our system.”[15] Israel’s leadership fears democracy in the Arab world, as they have a security alliance with the major Arab nations, who, along with Israel itself, are American proxy states in the region. Israel maintains civil – if not quiet – relationships with the Arab monarchs and dictators. While the Arab states publicly criticize Israel, behind closed doors they are forced to quietly accept Israel’s militarism and war-mongering, lest they stand up against the superpower, America. Yet, public opinion in the Arab world is extremely anti-Israel, anti-American and pro-Iran.

 

In July of 2010, the results of a major international poll were released regarding public opinion in the Arab world, polling from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Jordan, Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates. Among some of the notable findings: while Obama was well received upon entering the Presidency, with 51% expressing optimism about U.S. policy in the region in the Spring of 2009, by Summer 2010, 16% were expressing optimism. In 2009, 29% of those polled said a nuclear-armed Iran would be positive for the region; in 2010, that spiked to 57%, reflecting a very different stance from that of their governments.[16]

 

While America, Israel and the leaders of the Arab nations claim that Iran is the greatest threat to peace and stability in the Middle East, the Arab people do not agree. In an open question asking which two countries pose the greatest threat to the region, 88% responded with Israel, 77% with America, and 10% with Iran.[17]

 

At the Arab economic summit shortly following the ousting of Ben Ali in Tunisia, who was for the first time absent from the meetings, the Tunisian uprising hung heavy in the air. Arab League leader Amr Moussa said in his opening remarks at the summit, “The Tunisian revolution is not far from us,” and that, “the Arab citizen entered an unprecedented state of anger and frustration,” noting that "the Arab soul is broken by poverty, unemployment and general recession.” The significance of this ‘threat’ to the Arab leaders cannot be understated. Out of roughly 352 million Arabs, 190 million are under the age of 24, with nearly three-quarters of them unemployed. Often, “the education these young people receive doesn't do them any good because there are no jobs in the fields they trained for.”[18]

 

There was even an article in the Israeli intellectual newspaper, Ha’aretz, which posited that, “Israel may be on the eve of revolution.” Explaining, the author wrote that:

 

Israeli civil society organizations have amassed considerable power over the years; not only the so-called leftist organizations, but ones dealing with issues like poverty, workers' rights and violence against women and children. All of them were created in order to fill the gaps left by the state, which for its part was all too happy to continue walking away from problems that someone else was there to take on. The neglect is so great that Israel's third sector - NGOs, charities and volunteer organizations - is among the biggest in the world. As such, it has quite a bit of power.[19]

 

Now the Israeli Knesset and cabinet want that power back; yet, posits the author, they “have chosen to ignore the reasons these groups became powerful,” namely:

 

The source of their power is the vacuum, the criminal policies of Israel's governments over the last 40 years. The source of their power is a government that is evading its duties to care for all of its citizens and to end the occupation, and a Knesset that supports the government instead of putting it in its place.[20]

 

The Israeli Knesset opened investigations into the funding of Israeli human rights organizations in a political maneuver against them. However, as one article in Ha’aretz by an Israeli professor explained, these groups actually – inadvertently – play a role in “entrenching the occupation.” As the author explained:

 

Even if the leftist groups' intention is to ensure upholding Palestinian rights, though, the unintentional result of their activity is preserving the occupation. Moderating and restraining the army's activity gives it a more human and legal facade. Reducing the pressure of international organizations, alongside moderating the Palestinian population's resistance potential, enable the army to continue to maintain this control model over a prolonged period of time.[21]

 

Thus, if the Israeli Knesset succeeds in getting rid of these powerful NGOs, they sow the seeds for the pressure valve in the occupied territories to be removed. The potential for massive internal protests within Israel from the left, as well as the possibility of another Intifada – uprising – in the occupied territories themselves would seem dramatically increased. Israel and the West have expressed how much distaste they hold for democracy in the region. When Gaza held a democratic election in 2006 and elected Hamas, which was viewed as the ‘wrong’ choice by Israel and America, Israel imposed a ruthless blockade of Gaza. Richard Falk, the former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Inquiry Commission for the Palestinian territories, wrote an article for Al Jazeera in which he explained that the blockade:

 

unlawfully restricted to subsistence levels, or below, the flow of food, medicine, and fuel. This blockade continues to this day, leaving the entire Gazan population locked within the world's largest open-air prison, and victimized by one of the cruelest forms of belligerent occupation in the history of warfare.[22]

 

The situation in the occupied territories is made increasingly tense with the recent leaking of the “Palestinian Papers,” which consist of two decades of secret Israeli-Palestinian accords, revealing the weak negotiating position of the Palestinian Authority. The documents consist largely of major concessions the Palestinian Authority was willing to make “on the issues of the right of return of Palestinian refugees, territorial concessions, and the recognition of Israel.” Among the leaks, Palestinian negotiators secretly agreed to concede nearly all of East Jerusalem to Israel. Further, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (favoured by Israel and America over Hamas), was personally informed by a senior Israeli official the night before Operation Cast Lead, the December 2008 and January 2009 Israeli assault on Gaza, resulting in the deaths of over 1,000 Palestinians: “Israeli and Palestinian officials reportedly discussed targeted assassinations of Hamas and Islamic Jihad activists in Gaza.”[23]

 

Hamas has subsequently called on Palestinian refugees to protest over the concessions regarding the ‘right of return’ for refugees, of which the negotiators conceded to allowing only 100,000 of 5 million to return to Israel.[24] A former U.S. Ambassador to Israel and Egypt lamented that, “The concern will be that this might cause further problems in moving forward.”[25] However, while being blamed for possibly preventing the “peace process” from moving forward, what the papers reveal is that the “peace process” itself is a joke. The Palestinian Authority’s power is derivative of the power Israel allows it to have, and was propped up as a method of dealing with an internal Palestinian elite, thus doing what all colonial powers have done. The papers, then, reveal how the so-called Palestinian ‘Authority’ does not truly speak or work for the interests of the Palestinian people. And while this certainly will divide the PA from Hamas, they were already deeply divided as it was. Certainly, this will pose problems for the “peace process,” but that’s assuming it is a ‘peaceful’ process in the first part.

 

Is Egypt on the Edge of Revolution?

 

Unrest is even spreading to Egypt, personal playground of U.S.-supported and armed dictator, Hosni Mubarak, in power since 1981. Egypt is the main U.S. ally in North Africa, and has for centuries been one of the most important imperial jewels first for the Ottomans, then the British, and later for the Americans. With a population of 80 million, 60% of which are under the age of 30, who make up 90% of Egypt’s unemployed, the conditions are ripe for a repeat in Egypt of what happened in Tunisia.[26]

 

On January 25, 2011, Egypt experienced its “day of wrath,” in which tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets to protest against rising food prices, corruption, and the oppression of living under a 30-year dictatorship. The demonstrations were organized through the use of social media such as Twitter and Facebook. When the protests emerged, the government closed access to these social media sites, just as the Tunisian government did in the early days of the protests that led to the collapse of the dictatorship. As one commentator wrote in the Guardian:

 

Egypt is not Tunisia. It’s much bigger. Eighty million people, compared with 10 million. Geographically, politically, strategically, it's in a different league – the Arab world's natural leader and its most populous nation. But many of the grievances on the street are the same. Tunis and Cairo differ only in size. If Egypt explodes, the explosion will be much bigger, too.[27]

 

In Egypt, “an ad hoc coalition of students, unemployed youths, industrial workers, intellectuals, football fans and women, connected by social media such as Twitter and Facebook, instigated a series of fast-moving, rapidly shifting demos across half a dozen or more Egyptian cities.” The police responded with violence, and three protesters were killed. With tens of thousands of protesters taking to the streets, Egypt saw the largest protests in decades, if not under the entire 30-year reign of President Mubarak. Is Egypt on the verge of revolution? It seems too soon to tell. Egypt, it must be remembered, is the second major recipient of U.S. military assistance in the world (following Israel), and thus, its police state and military apparatus are far more advanced and secure than Tunisia’s. Clearly, however, something is stirring. As Hilary Clinton said on the night of the protests, “Our assessment is that the Egyptian government is stable and is looking for ways to respond to the legitimate needs and interests of the Egyptian people.”[28] In other words: “We continue to support tyranny and dictatorship over democracy and liberation.” So what else is new?

According to some estimates, as many as 50,000 protesters turned out in Cairo, Alexandria, Suez and other Egyptian cities.[29] The protests were met with the usual brutality: beating protesters, firing tear gas and using water cannons to attempt to disperse the protesters. As images and videos started emerging out of Egypt, “television footage showed demonstrators chasing police down side streets. One protester climbed into a fire engine and drove it away.”[30] Late on the night of the protests, rumours and unconfirmed reports were spreading that the first lady of Egypt, Suzanne Mubarak, may have fled Egypt to London, following on the heels of rumours that Mubarak’s son, and presumed successor, had also fled to London.[31]

 

Are We Headed for a Global Revolution?

 

During the first phase of the global economic crisis in December of 2008, the IMF warned governments of the prospect of “violent unrest on the streets.” The head of the IMF warned that, “violent protests could break out in countries worldwide if the financial system was not restructured to benefit everyone rather than a small elite.”[32]

 

In January of 2009, Obama’s then-Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair, told the Senate Intelligence Committee that the greatest threat to the National Security of the U.S. was not terrorism, but the global economic crisis:

 

I’d like to begin with the global economic crisis, because it already looms as the most serious one in decades, if not in centuries ... Economic crises increase the risk of regime-threatening instability if they are prolonged for a one- or two-year period... And instability can loosen the fragile hold that many developing countries have on law and order, which can spill out in dangerous ways into the international community.[33]

 

In 2007, a British Defence Ministry report was released assessing global trends in the world over the next 30 years. In assessing “Global Inequality”, the report stated that over the next 30 years:

 

[T]he gap between rich and poor will probably increase and absolute poverty will remain a global challenge... Disparities in wealth and advantage will therefore become more obvious, with their associated grievances and resentments, even among the growing numbers of people who are likely to be materially more prosperous than their parents and grandparents. Absolute poverty and comparative disadvantage will fuel perceptions of injustice among those whose expectations are not met, increasing tension and instability, both within and between societies and resulting in expressions of violence such as disorder, criminality, terrorism and insurgency. They may also lead to the resurgence of not only anti-capitalist ideologies, possibly linked to religious, anarchist or nihilist movements, but also to populism and the revival of Marxism.[34]

 

Further, the report warned of the dangers to the established powers of a revolution emerging from the disgruntled middle classes:

 

The middle classes could become a revolutionary class, taking the role envisaged for the proletariat by Marx. The globalization of labour markets and reducing levels of national welfare provision and employment could reduce peoples’ attachment to particular states. The growing gap between themselves and a small number of highly visible super-rich individuals might fuel disillusion with meritocracy, while the growing urban under-classes are likely to pose an increasing threat to social order and stability, as the burden of acquired debt and the failure of pension provision begins to bite. Faced by these twin challenges, the world’s middle-classes might unite, using access to knowledge, resources and skills to shape transnational processes in their own class interest.[35]

 

We have now reached the point where the global economic crisis has continued beyond the two-year mark. The social repercussions are starting to be felt – globally – as a result of the crisis and the coordinated responses to it. Since the global economic crisis hit the ‘Third World’ the hardest, the social and political ramifications will be felt there first. In the context of the current record-breaking hikes in the cost of food, food riots will spread around the world as they did in 2007 and 2008, just prior to the outbreak of the economic crisis. This time, however, things are much worse economically, much more desperate socially, and much more oppressive politically.

 

This rising discontent will spread from the developing world to the comfort of our own homes in the West. Once the harsh realization sets in that the economy is not in ‘recovery,’ but rather in a Depression, and once our governments in the West continue on their path of closing down the democratic façade and continue dismantling rights and freedoms, increasing surveillance and ‘control,’ while pushing increasingly militaristic and war-mongering foreign policies around the world (mostly in an effort to quell or crush the global awakening being experienced around the world), we in the West will come to realize that ‘We are all Tunisians.’

 

In 1967, Martin Luther King, Jr., said in his famous speech “Beyond Vietnam”:

 

I am convinced that if we are to get on the right side of the world revolution, we as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values. We must rapidly begin the shift from a "thing-oriented" society to a "person-oriented" society. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered.[36]

 

This was Part 1 of "North Africa and the Global Political Awakening," focusing on the emergence of the protest movements primarily in North Africa and the Arab world, but placing it in the context of a wider 'Global Awakening.'

Part 2 will focus on the West's reaction to the 'Awakening' in this region; namely, the two-pronged strategy of supporting oppressive regimes while promoting "democratization" in a grand new project of "democratic imperialism."

   

Diver letting an Olive Sea Snake (Aipysurus laevis) go by.

Snake Pit dive site on the Great Barrier Reef.

Wetlands are seen along the James River near the mouth of Johnson Creek, bottom, in Chesterfield County, Va., on Aug. 24, 2018. (Photo by Will Parson/Chesapeake Bay Program)

 

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[8 photos in this series] This building in Keysville, Virginia, probably the last vestige of Bluestone-Harmony Academy, is no more. It was demolished a couple of years ago. Supposedly this structure dating from about 1920 was a dormitory on the grounds of what began in 1898 as Bluestone-Harmony Academic and Industrial School for black students. At a time when education for African-Americans was scarce to non-existent, a group of black Baptist churches (the Bluestone Association) established a boarding school that attracted students from across the state. The state chartered the school in 1899 and the school prospered after World War I. Located on a 100-acre tract, cultivation of the land helped to defray financial costs along with student tuition and support from the Bluestone Association. The school closed in 1950. The property was eligible for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places but that was not to be. This move to provide education for black students predated the efforts of Julius Rosenwald to assist in establishing schools for African-Americans throughout the South.

 

These photos date from 2011, over 60 years since the closing of the school. The building shown is a 3-story, wood clad structure with windows and most doors blocked. The main façade is the west but is replicated on the east; the shorter north and south façades also are also duplicates in positioning of windows and doors. The roof appears to be metal and reasonably flat. The foundation is brick piers which provided support for the structure.

 

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

  

Ganesha, also spelled Ganesh, and also known as Ganapati and Vinayaka, is a widely worshipped deity in the Hindu pantheon. His image is found throughout India and Nepal. Hindu sects worship him regardless of affiliations. Devotion to Ganesha is widely diffused and extends to Jains, Buddhists, and beyond India.

 

Although he is known by many attributes, Ganesha's elephant head makes him easy to identify. Ganesha is widely revered as the remover of obstacles, the patron of arts and sciences and the deva of intellect and wisdom. As the god of beginnings, he is honoured at the start of rituals and ceremonies. Ganesha is also invoked as patron of letters and learning during writing sessions. Several texts relate mythological anecdotes associated with his birth and exploits and explain his distinct iconography.

 

Ganesha emerged as a distinct deity in the 4th and 5th centuries CE, during the Gupta Period, although he inherited traits from Vedic and pre-Vedic precursors. He was formally included among the five primary deities of Smartism (a Hindu denomination) in the 9th century. A sect of devotees called the Ganapatya arose, who identified Ganesha as the supreme deity. The principal scriptures dedicated to Ganesha are the Ganesha Purana, the Mudgala Purana, and the Ganapati Atharvashirsa.

 

ETYMOLOGY AND OTHER NAMES

Ganesha has been ascribed many other titles and epithets, including Ganapati and Vighneshvara. The Hindu title of respect Shri is often added before his name. One popular way Ganesha is worshipped is by chanting a Ganesha Sahasranama, a litany of "a thousand names of Ganesha". Each name in the sahasranama conveys a different meaning and symbolises a different aspect of Ganesha. At least two different versions of the Ganesha Sahasranama exist; one version is drawn from the Ganesha Purana, a Hindu scripture venerating Ganesha.

 

The name Ganesha is a Sanskrit compound, joining the words gana, meaning a group, multitude, or categorical system and isha, meaning lord or master. The word gaņa when associated with Ganesha is often taken to refer to the gaņas, a troop of semi-divine beings that form part of the retinue of Shiva. The term more generally means a category, class, community, association, or corporation. Some commentators interpret the name "Lord of the Gaņas" to mean "Lord of Hosts" or "Lord of created categories", such as the elements. Ganapati, a synonym for Ganesha, is a compound composed of gaṇa, meaning "group", and pati, meaning "ruler" or "lord". The Amarakosha, an early Sanskrit lexicon, lists eight synonyms of Ganesha : Vinayaka, Vighnarāja (equivalent to Vighnesha), Dvaimātura (one who has two mothers), Gaṇādhipa (equivalent to Ganapati and Ganesha), Ekadanta (one who has one tusk), Heramba, Lambodara (one who has a pot belly, or, literally, one who has a hanging belly), and Gajanana; having the face of an elephant).

 

Vinayaka is a common name for Ganesha that appears in the Purāṇas and in Buddhist Tantras. This name is reflected in the naming of the eight famous Ganesha temples in Maharashtra known as the Ashtavinayak (aṣṭavināyaka). The names Vighnesha and Vighneshvara (Lord of Obstacles) refers to his primary function in Hindu theology as the master and remover of obstacles (vighna).

 

A prominent name for Ganesha in the Tamil language is Pillai. A. K. Narain differentiates these terms by saying that pillai means a "child" while pillaiyar means a "noble child". He adds that the words pallu, pella, and pell in the Dravidian family of languages signify "tooth or tusk", also "elephant tooth or tusk". Anita Raina Thapan notes that the root word pille in the name Pillaiyar might have originally meant "the young of the elephant", because the Pali word pillaka means "a young elephant".

 

In the Burmese language, Ganesha is known as Maha Peinne, derived from Pali Mahā Wināyaka. The widespread name of Ganesha in Thailand is Phra Phikhanet or Phra Phikhanesuan, both of which are derived from Vara Vighnesha and Vara Vighneshvara respectively, whereas the name Khanet (from Ganesha) is rather rare.

 

In Sri Lanka, in the North-Central and North Western areas with predominantly Buddhist population, Ganesha is known as Aiyanayaka Deviyo, while in other Singhala Buddhist areas he is known as Gana deviyo.

 

ICONOGRAPHY

Ganesha is a popular figure in Indian art. Unlike those of some deities, representations of Ganesha show wide variations and distinct patterns changing over time. He may be portrayed standing, dancing, heroically taking action against demons, playing with his family as a boy, sitting down or on an elevated seat, or engaging in a range of contemporary situations.

 

Ganesha images were prevalent in many parts of India by the 6th century. The 13th century statue pictured is typical of Ganesha statuary from 900–1200, after Ganesha had been well-established as an independent deity with his own sect. This example features some of Ganesha's common iconographic elements. A virtually identical statue has been dated between 973–1200 by Paul Martin-Dubost, and another similar statue is dated c. 12th century by Pratapaditya Pal. Ganesha has the head of an elephant and a big belly. This statue has four arms, which is common in depictions of Ganesha. He holds his own broken tusk in his lower-right hand and holds a delicacy, which he samples with his trunk, in his lower-left hand. The motif of Ganesha turning his trunk sharply to his left to taste a sweet in his lower-left hand is a particularly archaic feature. A more primitive statue in one of the Ellora Caves with this general form has been dated to the 7th century. Details of the other hands are difficult to make out on the statue shown. In the standard configuration, Ganesha typically holds an axe or a goad in one upper arm and a pasha (noose) in the other upper arm.

 

The influence of this old constellation of iconographic elements can still be seen in contemporary representations of Ganesha. In one modern form, the only variation from these old elements is that the lower-right hand does not hold the broken tusk but is turned towards the viewer in a gesture of protection or fearlessness (abhaya mudra). The same combination of four arms and attributes occurs in statues of Ganesha dancing, which is a very popular theme.

 

COMMON ATTRIBUTES

Ganesha has been represented with the head of an elephant since the early stages of his appearance in Indian art. Puranic myths provide many explanations for how he got his elephant head. One of his popular forms, Heramba-Ganapati, has five elephant heads, and other less-common variations in the number of heads are known. While some texts say that Ganesha was born with an elephant head, he acquires the head later in most stories. The most recurrent motif in these stories is that Ganesha was created by Parvati using clay to protect her and Shiva beheaded him when Ganesha came between Shiva and Parvati. Shiva then replaced Ganesha's original head with that of an elephant. Details of the battle and where the replacement head came from vary from source to source. Another story says that Ganesha was created directly by Shiva's laughter. Because Shiva considered Ganesha too alluring, he gave him the head of an elephant and a protruding belly.

 

Ganesha's earliest name was Ekadanta (One Tusked), referring to his single whole tusk, the other being broken. Some of the earliest images of Ganesha show him holding his broken tusk. The importance of this distinctive feature is reflected in the Mudgala Purana, which states that the name of Ganesha's second incarnation is Ekadanta. Ganesha's protruding belly appears as a distinctive attribute in his earliest statuary, which dates to the Gupta period (4th to 6th centuries). This feature is so important that, according to the Mudgala Purana, two different incarnations of Ganesha use names based on it: Lambodara (Pot Belly, or, literally, Hanging Belly) and Mahodara (Great Belly). Both names are Sanskrit compounds describing his belly. The Brahmanda Purana says that Ganesha has the name Lambodara because all the universes (i.e., cosmic eggs) of the past, present, and future are present in him. The number of Ganesha's arms varies; his best-known forms have between two and sixteen arms. Many depictions of Ganesha feature four arms, which is mentioned in Puranic sources and codified as a standard form in some iconographic texts. His earliest images had two arms. Forms with 14 and 20 arms appeared in Central India during the 9th and the 10th centuries. The serpent is a common feature in Ganesha iconography and appears in many forms. According to the Ganesha Purana, Ganesha wrapped the serpent Vasuki around his neck. Other depictions of snakes include use as a sacred thread wrapped around the stomach as a belt, held in a hand, coiled at the ankles, or as a throne. Upon Ganesha's forehead may be a third eye or the Shaivite sectarian mark , which consists of three horizontal lines. The Ganesha Purana prescribes a tilaka mark as well as a crescent moon on the forehead. A distinct form of Ganesha called Bhalachandra includes that iconographic element. Ganesha is often described as red in color. Specific colors are associated with certain forms. Many examples of color associations with specific meditation forms are prescribed in the Sritattvanidhi, a treatise on Hindu iconography. For example, white is associated with his representations as Heramba-Ganapati and Rina-Mochana-Ganapati (Ganapati Who Releases from Bondage). Ekadanta-Ganapati is visualized as blue during meditation in that form.

 

VAHANAS

The earliest Ganesha images are without a vahana (mount/vehicle). Of the eight incarnations of Ganesha described in the Mudgala Purana, Ganesha uses a mouse (shrew) in five of them, a lion in his incarnation as Vakratunda, a peacock in his incarnation as Vikata, and Shesha, the divine serpent, in his incarnation as Vighnaraja. Mohotkata uses a lion, Mayūreśvara uses a peacock, Dhumraketu uses a horse, and Gajanana uses a mouse, in the four incarnations of Ganesha listed in the Ganesha Purana. Jain depictions of Ganesha show his vahana variously as a mouse, elephant, tortoise, ram, or peacock.

 

Ganesha is often shown riding on or attended by a mouse, shrew or rat. Martin-Dubost says that the rat began to appear as the principal vehicle in sculptures of Ganesha in central and western India during the 7th century; the rat was always placed close to his feet. The mouse as a mount first appears in written sources in the Matsya Purana and later in the Brahmananda Purana and Ganesha Purana, where Ganesha uses it as his vehicle in his last incarnation. The Ganapati Atharvashirsa includes a meditation verse on Ganesha that describes the mouse appearing on his flag. The names Mūṣakavāhana (mouse-mount) and Ākhuketana (rat-banner) appear in the Ganesha Sahasranama.

 

The mouse is interpreted in several ways. According to Grimes, "Many, if not most of those who interpret Gaṇapati's mouse, do so negatively; it symbolizes tamoguṇa as well as desire". Along these lines, Michael Wilcockson says it symbolizes those who wish to overcome desires and be less selfish. Krishan notes that the rat is destructive and a menace to crops. The Sanskrit word mūṣaka (mouse) is derived from the root mūṣ (stealing, robbing). It was essential to subdue the rat as a destructive pest, a type of vighna (impediment) that needed to be overcome. According to this theory, showing Ganesha as master of the rat demonstrates his function as Vigneshvara (Lord of Obstacles) and gives evidence of his possible role as a folk grāma-devatā (village deity) who later rose to greater prominence. Martin-Dubost notes a view that the rat is a symbol suggesting that Ganesha, like the rat, penetrates even the most secret places.

 

ASSOCIATIONS

 

OBSTACLES

Ganesha is Vighneshvara or Vighnaraja or Vighnaharta (Marathi), the Lord of Obstacles, both of a material and spiritual order. He is popularly worshipped as a remover of obstacles, though traditionally he also places obstacles in the path of those who need to be checked. Paul Courtright says that "his task in the divine scheme of things, his dharma, is to place and remove obstacles. It is his particular territory, the reason for his creation."

 

Krishan notes that some of Ganesha's names reflect shadings of multiple roles that have evolved over time. Dhavalikar ascribes the quick ascension of Ganesha in the Hindu pantheon, and the emergence of the Ganapatyas, to this shift in emphasis from vighnakartā (obstacle-creator) to vighnahartā (obstacle-averter). However, both functions continue to be vital to his character.

 

BUDDHI (KNOWLEDGE)

Ganesha is considered to be the Lord of letters and learning. In Sanskrit, the word buddhi is a feminine noun that is variously translated as intelligence, wisdom, or intellect. The concept of buddhi is closely associated with the personality of Ganesha, especially in the Puranic period, when many stories stress his cleverness and love of intelligence. One of Ganesha's names in the Ganesha Purana and the Ganesha Sahasranama is Buddhipriya. This name also appears in a list of 21 names at the end of the Ganesha Sahasranama that Ganesha says are especially important. The word priya can mean "fond of", and in a marital context it can mean "lover" or "husband", so the name may mean either "Fond of Intelligence" or "Buddhi's Husband".

 

AUM

Ganesha is identified with the Hindu mantra Aum, also spelled Om. The term oṃkārasvarūpa (Aum is his form), when identified with Ganesha, refers to the notion that he personifies the primal sound. The Ganapati Atharvashirsa attests to this association. Chinmayananda translates the relevant passage as follows:

 

(O Lord Ganapati!) You are (the Trinity) Brahma, Vishnu, and Mahesa. You are Indra. You are fire [Agni] and air [Vāyu]. You are the sun [Sūrya] and the moon [Chandrama]. You are Brahman. You are (the three worlds) Bhuloka [earth], Antariksha-loka [space], and Swargaloka [heaven]. You are Om. (That is to say, You are all this).

 

Some devotees see similarities between the shape of Ganesha's body in iconography and the shape of Aum in the Devanāgarī and Tamil scripts.

 

FIRST CHAKRA

According to Kundalini yoga, Ganesha resides in the first chakra, called Muladhara (mūlādhāra). Mula means "original, main"; adhara means "base, foundation". The muladhara chakra is the principle on which the manifestation or outward expansion of primordial Divine Force rests. This association is also attested to in the Ganapati Atharvashirsa. Courtright translates this passage as follows: "[O Ganesha,] You continually dwell in the sacral plexus at the base of the spine [mūlādhāra cakra]." Thus, Ganesha has a permanent abode in every being at the Muladhara. Ganesha holds, supports and guides all other chakras, thereby "governing the forces that propel the wheel of life".

 

FAMILY AND CONSORTS

Though Ganesha is popularly held to be the son of Shiva and Parvati, the Puranic myths give different versions about his birth. In some he was created by Parvati, in another he was created by Shiva and Parvati, in another he appeared mysteriously and was discovered by Shiva and Parvati or he was born from the elephant headed goddess Malini after she drank Parvati's bath water that had been thrown in the river.

 

The family includes his brother the war god Kartikeya, who is also called Subramanya, Skanda, Murugan and other names. Regional differences dictate the order of their births. In northern India, Skanda is generally said to be the elder, while in the south, Ganesha is considered the first born. In northern India, Skanda was an important martial deity from about 500 BCE to about 600 CE, when worship of him declined significantly in northern India. As Skanda fell, Ganesha rose. Several stories tell of sibling rivalry between the brothers and may reflect sectarian tensions.

 

Ganesha's marital status, the subject of considerable scholarly review, varies widely in mythological stories. One pattern of myths identifies Ganesha as an unmarried brahmacari. This view is common in southern India and parts of northern India. Another pattern associates him with the concepts of Buddhi (intellect), Siddhi (spiritual power), and Riddhi (prosperity); these qualities are sometimes personified as goddesses, said to be Ganesha's wives. He also may be shown with a single consort or a nameless servant (Sanskrit: daşi). Another pattern connects Ganesha with the goddess of culture and the arts, Sarasvati or Śarda (particularly in Maharashtra). He is also associated with the goddess of luck and prosperity, Lakshmi. Another pattern, mainly prevalent in the Bengal region, links Ganesha with the banana tree, Kala Bo.

 

The Shiva Purana says that Ganesha had begotten two sons: Kşema (prosperity) and Lābha (profit). In northern Indian variants of this story, the sons are often said to be Śubha (auspiciouness) and Lābha. The 1975 Hindi film Jai Santoshi Maa shows Ganesha married to Riddhi and Siddhi and having a daughter named Santoshi Ma, the goddess of satisfaction. This story has no Puranic basis, but Anita Raina Thapan and Lawrence Cohen cite Santoshi Ma's cult as evidence of Ganesha's continuing evolution as a popular deity.

 

WOSHIP AND FESTIVALS

Ganesha is worshipped on many religious and secular occasions; especially at the beginning of ventures such as buying a vehicle or starting a business. K.N. Somayaji says, "there can hardly be a [Hindu] home [in India] which does not house an idol of Ganapati. [..] Ganapati, being the most popular deity in India, is worshipped by almost all castes and in all parts of the country". Devotees believe that if Ganesha is propitiated, he grants success, prosperity and protection against adversity.

 

Ganesha is a non-sectarian deity, and Hindus of all denominations invoke him at the beginning of prayers, important undertakings, and religious ceremonies. Dancers and musicians, particularly in southern India, begin performances of arts such as the Bharatnatyam dance with a prayer to Ganesha. Mantras such as Om Shri Gaṇeshāya Namah (Om, salutation to the Illustrious Ganesha) are often used. One of the most famous mantras associated with Ganesha is Om Gaṃ Ganapataye Namah (Om, Gaṃ, Salutation to the Lord of Hosts).

 

Devotees offer Ganesha sweets such as modaka and small sweet balls (laddus). He is often shown carrying a bowl of sweets, called a modakapātra. Because of his identification with the color red, he is often worshipped with red sandalwood paste (raktacandana) or red flowers. Dūrvā grass (Cynodon dactylon) and other materials are also used in his worship.

 

Festivals associated with Ganesh are Ganesh Chaturthi or Vināyaka chaturthī in the śuklapakṣa (the fourth day of the waxing moon) in the month of bhādrapada (August/September) and the Gaṇeśa jayanti (Gaṇeśa's birthday) celebrated on the cathurthī of the śuklapakṣa (fourth day of the waxing moon) in the month of māgha (January/February)."

 

GANESH CHATURTI

An annual festival honours Ganesha for ten days, starting on Ganesha Chaturthi, which typically falls in late August or early September. The festival begins with people bringing in clay idols of Ganesha, symbolising Ganesha's visit. The festival culminates on the day of Ananta Chaturdashi, when idols (murtis) of Ganesha are immersed in the most convenient body of water. Some families have a tradition of immersion on the 2nd, 3rd, 5th, or 7th day. In 1893, Lokmanya Tilak transformed this annual Ganesha festival from private family celebrations into a grand public event. He did so "to bridge the gap between the Brahmins and the non-Brahmins and find an appropriate context in which to build a new grassroots unity between them" in his nationalistic strivings against the British in Maharashtra. Because of Ganesha's wide appeal as "the god for Everyman", Tilak chose him as a rallying point for Indian protest against British rule. Tilak was the first to install large public images of Ganesha in pavilions, and he established the practice of submerging all the public images on the tenth day. Today, Hindus across India celebrate the Ganapati festival with great fervour, though it is most popular in the state of Maharashtra. The festival also assumes huge proportions in Mumbai, Pune, and in the surrounding belt of Ashtavinayaka temples.

 

TEMPLES

In Hindu temples, Ganesha is depicted in various ways: as an acolyte or subordinate deity (pãrśva-devatã); as a deity related to the principal deity (parivāra-devatã); or as the principal deity of the temple (pradhāna), treated similarly as the highest gods of the Hindu pantheon. As the god of transitions, he is placed at the doorway of many Hindu temples to keep out the unworthy, which is analogous to his role as Parvati’s doorkeeper. In addition, several shrines are dedicated to Ganesha himself, of which the Ashtavinayak (lit. "eight Ganesha (shrines)") in Maharashtra are particularly well known. Located within a 100-kilometer radius of the city of Pune, each of these eight shrines celebrates a particular form of Ganapati, complete with its own lore and legend. The eight shrines are: Morgaon, Siddhatek, Pali, Mahad, Theur, Lenyadri, Ozar and Ranjangaon.

 

There are many other important Ganesha temples at the following locations: Wai in Maharashtra; Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh; Jodhpur, Nagaur and Raipur (Pali) in Rajasthan; Baidyanath in Bihar; Baroda, Dholaka, and Valsad in Gujarat and Dhundiraj Temple in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh. Prominent Ganesha temples in southern India include the following: Kanipakam in Chittoor; the Jambukeśvara Temple at Tiruchirapalli; at Rameshvaram and Suchindram in Tamil Nadu; at Malliyur, Kottarakara, Pazhavangadi, Kasargod in Kerala, Hampi, and Idagunji in Karnataka; and Bhadrachalam in Andhra Pradesh.

 

T. A. Gopinatha notes, "Every village however small has its own image of Vighneśvara (Vigneshvara) with or without a temple to house it in. At entrances of villages and forts, below pīpaḹa (Sacred fig) trees [...], in a niche [...] in temples of Viṣṇu (Vishnu) as well as Śiva (Shiva) and also in separate shrines specially constructed in Śiva temples [...]; the figure of Vighneśvara is invariably seen." Ganesha temples have also been built outside of India, including southeast Asia, Nepal (including the four Vinayaka shrines in the Kathmandu valley), and in several western countries.

 

RISE TO PROMINENCE

 

FIRST APEARANCE

Ganesha appeared in his classic form as a clearly recognizable deity with well-defined iconographic attributes in the early 4th to 5th centuries. Shanti Lal Nagar says that the earliest known iconic image of Ganesha is in the niche of the Shiva temple at Bhumra, which has been dated to the Gupta period. His independent cult appeared by about the 10th century. Narain summarizes the controversy between devotees and academics regarding the development of Ganesha as follows:

 

What is inscrutable is the somewhat dramatic appearance of Gaņeśa on the historical scene. His antecedents are not clear. His wide acceptance and popularity, which transcend sectarian and territorial limits, are indeed amazing. On the one hand there is the pious belief of the orthodox devotees in Gaņeśa's Vedic origins and in the Purāṇic explanations contained in the confusing, but nonetheless interesting, mythology. On the other hand there are doubts about the existence of the idea and the icon of this deity" before the fourth to fifth century A.D. ... [I]n my opinion, indeed there is no convincing evidence of the existence of this divinity prior to the fifth century.

 

POSSIBLE INFLUENCES

Courtright reviews various speculative theories about the early history of Ganesha, including supposed tribal traditions and animal cults, and dismisses all of them in this way:

 

In the post 600 BC period there is evidence of people and places named after the animal. The motif appears on coins and sculptures.

 

Thapan's book on the development of Ganesha devotes a chapter to speculations about the role elephants had in early India but concludes that, "although by the second century CE the elephant-headed yakṣa form exists it cannot be presumed to represent Gaṇapati-Vināyaka. There is no evidence of a deity by this name having an elephant or elephant-headed form at this early stage. Gaṇapati-Vināyaka had yet to make his debut."

 

One theory of the origin of Ganesha is that he gradually came to prominence in connection with the four Vinayakas (Vināyakas). In Hindu mythology, the Vināyakas were a group of four troublesome demons who created obstacles and difficulties but who were easily propitiated. The name Vināyaka is a common name for Ganesha both in the Purāṇas and in Buddhist Tantras. Krishan is one of the academics who accepts this view, stating flatly of Ganesha, "He is a non-vedic god. His origin is to be traced to the four Vināyakas, evil spirits, of the Mānavagŗhyasūtra (7th–4th century BCE) who cause various types of evil and suffering". Depictions of elephant-headed human figures, which some identify with Ganesha, appear in Indian art and coinage as early as the 2nd century. According to Ellawala, the elephant-headed Ganesha as lord of the Ganas was known to the people of Sri Lanka in the early pre-Christian era.

 

A metal plate depiction of Ganesha had been discovered in 1993, in Iran, it dated back to 1,200 BCE. Another one was discovered much before, in Lorestan Province of Iran.

 

First Ganesha's terracotta images are from 1st century CE found in Ter, Pal, Verrapuram and Chandraketugarh. These figures are small, with elephant head, two arms, and chubby physique. The earliest Ganesha icons in stone were carved in Mathura during Kushan times (2nd-3rd centuries CE).

 

VEDIC AND EPIC LITERATURE

The title "Leader of the group" (Sanskrit: gaṇapati) occurs twice in the Rig Veda, but in neither case does it refer to the modern Ganesha. The term appears in RV 2.23.1 as a title for Brahmanaspati, according to commentators. While this verse doubtless refers to Brahmanaspati, it was later adopted for worship of Ganesha and is still used today. In rejecting any claim that this passage is evidence of Ganesha in the Rig Veda, Ludo Rocher says that it "clearly refers to Bṛhaspati—who is the deity of the hymn—and Bṛhaspati only". Equally clearly, the second passage (RV 10.112.9) refers to Indra, who is given the epithet 'gaṇapati', translated "Lord of the companies (of the Maruts)." However, Rocher notes that the more recent Ganapatya literature often quotes the Rigvedic verses to give Vedic respectability to Ganesha .

 

Two verses in texts belonging to Black Yajurveda, Maitrāyaṇīya Saṃhitā (2.9.1) and Taittirīya Āraṇyaka (10.1), appeal to a deity as "the tusked one" (Dantiḥ), "elephant-faced" (Hastimukha), and "with a curved trunk" (Vakratuņḍa). These names are suggestive of Ganesha, and the 14th century commentator Sayana explicitly establishes this identification. The description of Dantin, possessing a twisted trunk (vakratuṇḍa) and holding a corn-sheaf, a sugar cane, and a club, is so characteristic of the Puranic Ganapati that Heras says "we cannot resist to accept his full identification with this Vedic Dantin". However, Krishan considers these hymns to be post-Vedic additions. Thapan reports that these passages are "generally considered to have been interpolated". Dhavalikar says, "the references to the elephant-headed deity in the Maitrāyaṇī Saṃhitā have been proven to be very late interpolations, and thus are not very helpful for determining the early formation of the deity".

 

Ganesha does not appear in Indian epic literature that is dated to the Vedic period. A late interpolation to the epic poem Mahabharata says that the sage Vyasa (Vyāsa) asked Ganesha to serve as his scribe to transcribe the poem as he dictated it to him. Ganesha agreed but only on condition that Vyasa recite the poem uninterrupted, that is, without pausing. The sage agreed, but found that to get any rest he needed to recite very complex passages so Ganesha would have to ask for clarifications. The story is not accepted as part of the original text by the editors of the critical edition of the Mahabharata, in which the twenty-line story is relegated to a footnote in an appendix. The story of Ganesha acting as the scribe occurs in 37 of the 59 manuscripts consulted during preparation of the critical edition. Ganesha's association with mental agility and learning is one reason he is shown as scribe for Vyāsa's dictation of the Mahabharata in this interpolation. Richard L. Brown dates the story to the 8th century, and Moriz Winternitz concludes that it was known as early as c. 900, but it was not added to the Mahabharata some 150 years later. Winternitz also notes that a distinctive feature in South Indian manuscripts of the Mahabharata is their omission of this Ganesha legend. The term vināyaka is found in some recensions of the Śāntiparva and Anuśāsanaparva that are regarded as interpolations. A reference to Vighnakartṛīṇām ("Creator of Obstacles") in Vanaparva is also believed to be an interpolation and does not appear in the critical edition.

 

PURANIC PERIOD

Stories about Ganesha often occur in the Puranic corpus. Brown notes while the Puranas "defy precise chronological ordering", the more detailed narratives of Ganesha's life are in the late texts, c. 600–1300. Yuvraj Krishan says that the Puranic myths about the birth of Ganesha and how he acquired an elephant's head are in the later Puranas, which were composed from c. 600 onwards. He elaborates on the matter to say that references to Ganesha in the earlier Puranas, such as the Vayu and Brahmanda Puranas, are later interpolations made during the 7th to 10th centuries.

 

In his survey of Ganesha's rise to prominence in Sanskrit literature, Ludo Rocher notes that:

 

Above all, one cannot help being struck by the fact that the numerous stories surrounding Gaṇeśa concentrate on an unexpectedly limited number of incidents. These incidents are mainly three: his birth and parenthood, his elephant head, and his single tusk. Other incidents are touched on in the texts, but to a far lesser extent.

 

Ganesha's rise to prominence was codified in the 9th century, when he was formally included as one of the five primary deities of Smartism. The 9th-century philosopher Adi Shankara popularized the "worship of the five forms" (Panchayatana puja) system among orthodox Brahmins of the Smarta tradition. This worship practice invokes the five deities Ganesha, Vishnu, Shiva, Devi, and Surya. Adi Shankara instituted the tradition primarily to unite the principal deities of these five major sects on an equal status. This formalized the role of Ganesha as a complementary deity.

 

SCRIPTURES

Once Ganesha was accepted as one of the five principal deities of Brahmanism, some Brahmins (brāhmaṇas) chose to worship Ganesha as their principal deity. They developed the Ganapatya tradition, as seen in the Ganesha Purana and the Mudgala Purana.

 

The date of composition for the Ganesha Purana and the Mudgala Purana - and their dating relative to one another - has sparked academic debate. Both works were developed over time and contain age-layered strata. Anita Thapan reviews comments about dating and provides her own judgement. "It seems likely that the core of the Ganesha Purana appeared around the twelfth and thirteenth centuries", she says, "but was later interpolated." Lawrence W. Preston considers the most reasonable date for the Ganesha Purana to be between 1100 and 1400, which coincides with the apparent age of the sacred sites mentioned by the text.

 

R.C. Hazra suggests that the Mudgala Purana is older than the Ganesha Purana, which he dates between 1100 and 1400. However, Phyllis Granoff finds problems with this relative dating and concludes that the Mudgala Purana was the last of the philosophical texts concerned with Ganesha. She bases her reasoning on the fact that, among other internal evidence, the Mudgala Purana specifically mentions the Ganesha Purana as one of the four Puranas (the Brahma, the Brahmanda, the Ganesha, and the Mudgala Puranas) which deal at length with Ganesha. While the kernel of the text must be old, it was interpolated until the 17th and 18th centuries as the worship of Ganapati became more important in certain regions. Another highly regarded scripture, the Ganapati Atharvashirsa, was probably composed during the 16th or 17th centuries.

 

BEYOND INDIA AND HINDUISM

Commercial and cultural contacts extended India's influence in western and southeast Asia. Ganesha is one of a number of Hindu deities who reached foreign lands as a result.

 

Ganesha was particularly worshipped by traders and merchants, who went out of India for commercial ventures. From approximately the 10th century onwards, new networks of exchange developed including the formation of trade guilds and a resurgence of money circulation. During this time, Ganesha became the principal deity associated with traders. The earliest inscription invoking Ganesha before any other deity is associated with the merchant community.

 

Hindus migrated to Maritime Southeast Asia and took their culture, including Ganesha, with them. Statues of Ganesha are found throughout the region, often beside Shiva sanctuaries. The forms of Ganesha found in Hindu art of Java, Bali, and Borneo show specific regional influences. The spread of Hindu culture to southeast Asia established Ganesha in modified forms in Burma, Cambodia, and Thailand. In Indochina, Hinduism and Buddhism were practiced side by side, and mutual influences can be seen in the iconography of Ganesha in the region. In Thailand, Cambodia, and among the Hindu classes of the Chams in Vietnam, Ganesha was mainly thought of as a remover of obstacles. Today in Buddhist Thailand, Ganesha is regarded as a remover of obstacles, the god of success.

 

Before the arrival of Islam, Afghanistan had close cultural ties with India, and the adoration of both Hindu and Buddhist deities was practiced. Examples of sculptures from the 5th to the 7th centuries have survived, suggesting that the worship of Ganesha was then in vogue in the region.

 

Ganesha appears in Mahayana Buddhism, not only in the form of the Buddhist god Vināyaka, but also as a Hindu demon form with the same name. His image appears in Buddhist sculptures during the late Gupta period. As the Buddhist god Vināyaka, he is often shown dancing. This form, called Nṛtta Ganapati, was popular in northern India, later adopted in Nepal, and then in Tibet. In Nepal, the Hindu form of Ganesha, known as Heramba, is popular; he has five heads and rides a lion. Tibetan representations of Ganesha show ambivalent views of him. A Tibetan rendering of Ganapati is tshogs bdag. In one Tibetan form, he is shown being trodden under foot by Mahākāla, (Shiva) a popular Tibetan deity. Other depictions show him as the Destroyer of Obstacles, and sometimes dancing. Ganesha appears in China and Japan in forms that show distinct regional character. In northern China, the earliest known stone statue of Ganesha carries an inscription dated to 531. In Japan, where Ganesha is known as Kangiten, the Ganesha cult was first mentioned in 806.

 

The canonical literature of Jainism does not mention the worship of Ganesha. However, Ganesha is worshipped by most Jains, for whom he appears to have taken over certain functions of Kubera. Jain connections with the trading community support the idea that Jainism took up Ganesha worship as a result of commercial connections. The earliest known Jain Ganesha statue dates to about the 9th century. A 15th-century Jain text lists procedures for the installation of Ganapati images. Images of Ganesha appear in the Jain temples of Rajasthan and Gujarat.

 

WIKIPEDIA

Loch Fyne; (Scottish Gaelic: Loch Fìne, pronounced [l̪ˠɔx fiːnə]), meaning Loch of the Vine or Wine, is a sea loch off the Firth of Clyde and forms part of the coast of the Cowal peninsula. Located on the west coast of Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It extends 65 kilometres (40 mi) inland from the Sound of Bute, making it the longest of the sea lochs. It is connected to the Sound of Jura by the Crinan Canal. Although there is no evidence that grapes have grown there, the title is probably honorific, indicating that the river, "Abhainn Fìne", was a well-respected river. [wikipedia]

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There were some more signs like this on another window. They seemed to be about preserving historic Zanesville. While I agree with their sentiment they could have put more care into making the signs.

Budapest (Acerca de este sonido /ˈbudɒpɛʃt/ (?·i)) es la capital y ciudad más poblada de Hungría,3 así como su principal centro industrial, comercial y de transportes.4 La ciudad posee 1,74 millones de habitantes (2011),5 una disminución significativa respecto de los casi 2,1 millones con que contaba a mediados de los años 1980,6 que representan un quinto de la población total de Hungría. Es la ciudad más poblada de Europa central-oriental y la séptima de la Unión Europea. La ciudad ocupa una superficie de 525 km²7 y su área metropolitana cuenta con una población de 2,38 millones de habitantes. Budapest se convirtió en una única ciudad cuando ocupó las dos orillas del río Danubio, unificando las ciudades de Buda y Óbuda, en la orilla oeste, con Pest, en la orilla este, el 17 de noviembre de 1873.7 8

 

La historia de Budapest comenzó con Aquincum, originalmente un asentamiento celta9 10 que se convirtió en la capital romana de Panonia Inferior.9 Los húngaros llegaron al territorio en el siglo IX.11 Su primer asentamiento fue saqueado por los mongoles en 1241-42.12 La ciudad restablecida se convirtió en uno de los centros de la cultura del Renacimiento humanista en el siglo XV.13 14 Después de la batalla de Mohács y tras casi 150 años de dominio otomano,15 el desarrollo de la región entró en una nueva era de prosperidad en los siglos XVIII y XIX, y Budapest se convirtió en una ciudad global después de la unificación de 1873.16 También se convirtió en la segunda capital de Austria-Hungría, una gran potencia que se disolvió en 1918. Budapest fue el punto focal de la revolución húngara de 1848, la República Soviética Húngara de 1919, la Operación Panzerfaust en 1944, la batalla de Budapest de 1945 y la Revolución de 1956.

 

Considerada como una de las ciudades más bellas de Europa,3 17 18 Budapest cuenta con varios sitios que son Patrimonio de la Humanidad, entre los que se incluyen, a orillas del Danubio, el barrio del Castillo de Buda, la avenida Andrássy, la Plaza de los Héroes y el Metropolitano del Milenio, el segundo más antiguo del mundo.17 19 Otros puntos destacados incluyen un total de 80 manantiales geotérmicos,20 el mayor sistema de cuevas de aguas termales del mundo,21 la segunda sinagoga más grande y el tercer edificio del Parlamento más grande del mundo. La ciudad atrae a alrededor de 4,3 millones de turistas al año, convirtiéndola en la 25.ª ciudad más popular del mundo, según Euromonitor.22

 

Budapest es, también, un importante centro financiero de Europa Central. La ciudad se situó tercera (de un total de 65 ciudades) en el Índice de Mercados Emergentes elaborado por Mastercard,23 y clasificada como la ciudad mejor habitable de Europa Central y Europa del Este por índice de calidad de vida según Economist Intelligence Unit.24 25 También se clasificó como el "séptimo lugar idílico de Europa para vivir" por la revista Forbes,26 y como la novena ciudad más bella del mundo por UCityGuides.27 Es, también, la mejor ciudad de Europa Central y del Este en el índice Innovation Cities' Top 100.28 29

 

Toponimia[editar]

El nombre de «Budapest» es la composición de los nombres de las ciudades «Buda» y «Pest», ya que se unieron (junto con Óbuda) para convertirse en una sola ciudad en 1873.30 Una de las primeras apariciones del nombre combinado «Buda-Pest» fue en 1831 en el libro Világ («Mundo»), escrito por el conde István Széchenyi.

 

El origen de las palabras «Buda» y «Pest» es incierto. Según las crónicas de la Edad Media el nombre de «Buda» viene del nombre de su fundador, Bleda (Buda), el hermano del huno Atila. La teoría de que «Buda» fue el nombre de una persona es apoyada también por los estudiosos modernos.31 Una explicación alternativa sugiere que deriva de la palabra eslava «вода, voda» («agua»), una traducción del nombre en latín Aquincum, que era el principal asentamiento romano en la región.32

 

También existen varias teorías sobre el origen del nombre «Pest». Una de las teorías sostiene que proviene de la época romana,33 ya que había una fortaleza, «Contra-Aquincum», que en esta región que se conoce como «Pession» (Πέσσιον, III.7. § 2) por Ptolomeo.34 Según otra teoría, toma su origen de la palabra eslava «пещера, peshtera» («cueva») o de la palabra «печь, pesht» («horno») en referencia a una cueva local.35 En la antigua lengua húngara había un significado similar para la palabra «horno/cueva» y el nombre antiguo original alemán de esta región fue «Ofen». Más tarde, «Ofen», en alemán, se refiere a la parte de Buda.

 

Historia[editar]

 

La corona de San Esteban, la espada, el cetro y el orbe de Hungría.

El primer asentamiento en el territorio de Budapest fue construido por los celtas9 antes del año 1 a. C. y fue ocupado más tarde por los romanos. El asentamiento romano, Aquincum, se convirtió en la principal ciudad de la Baja Panonia en el 106 a. C.9 Los romanos construyeron carreteras, anfiteatros, baños y casas con calefacción por suelo en este campamento militar fortificado.36

 

El tratado de paz de 829 añadió Panonia a Bulgaria debido a la victoria del ejército búlgaro de Omurtag sobre el Sacro Imperio Romano de Ludovico Pío. Budapest surgió de dos fronteras búlgaras, las fortalezas militares de Buda y Pest, situada en las dos orillas del Danubio.37 Los húngaros, liderados por Árpád, se establecieron en el territorio a finales del siglo IX,11 38 y un siglo más tarde se fundó oficialmente el Reino de Hungría.11 Las investigaciones sitúan la residencia de la Casa de Árpad en un lugar cercano de lo que se convertiría en Budapest.39 La invasión tártara en el siglo XIII rápidamente demostró que la defensa es difícil en una llanura.7 11 El rey Béla IV de Hungría ordenó la construcción de muros de hormigón armado en torno a las ciudades11 y estableció su propio palacio real en la cima de los cerros protectores de Buda.12 En 1361 se convirtió en la capital de Hungría.12

  

El Castillo de Buda en la Edad Media.

El papel cultural de Buda fue particularmente importante durante el reinado del rey Matías Corvino.7 El Renacimiento italiano tuvo una gran influencia en la ciudad.7 Su biblioteca, la Bibliotheca Corvinniana, fue la colección de crónicas históricas y obras filosóficas y científicas más grande de Europa en el siglo XV, y la segunda en tamaño sólo superada por la Biblioteca Vaticana.7 Después de la fundación de la primera universidad húngara de Pécs en 1367,40 la segunda se estableció en Óbuda en 1395.40 El primer libro impreso en húngaro fue en Buda en 1473.41 Buda tenía unos 5000 habitantes hacia 1500,42 aunque estudios modernos apuntan a que la suma de Buda y Pest tenía entre 15 000 y 25 000 habitantes.43

 

Los otomanos saquearon Buda en 1526, la sitiaron en 1529 y, finalmente, la ocuparon en 1541. La ocupación turca duró más de 140 años.7 Los turcos construyeron muchas instalaciones de baños en la ciudad.11 Bajo el gobierno otomano, muchos cristianos se convirtieron al islam. En 1547 el número de cristianos se redujo a alrededor de mil, y en 1647 había descendido a sólo unos setenta.42 La parte no ocupada occidental del país se convirtió en parte del imperio de los Habsburgo como Hungría real.

 

En 1686, dos años después del infructuoso asedio de Buda, una renovada campaña comenzó a entrar en la capital húngara. Esta vez, el ejército de la Liga Santa era dos veces más grande, con más de 74.000 hombres. Entre ellos había ingleses, alemanes, holandeses, croatas, húngaros, españoles, checos, italianos, franceses, daneses y suecos, junto con otros europeos como voluntarios, artilleros, y oficiales. Las fuerzas cristianas reconquistaron Buda y, en los años siguientes, todas las tierras húngaras anteriores, a excepción de las zonas cercanas a Timişoara (Temesvár), fueron arrebatadas a los turcos. En el Tratado de Karlowitz de 1699 estos cambios territoriales fueron reconocidos oficialmente, y en 1718 todo el Reino de Hungría fue liberado del poder otomano. La ciudad fue destruida durante la batalla.7 Hungría se incorporó entonces al Imperio Habsburgo.7

  

La Ópera Nacional de Hungría, construida en el período de Austria-Hungría.

 

La orilla del Danubio en Budapest en una imagen de 1873.

1867 fue el año de la reconciliación que trajo consigo el nacimiento de Austria-Hungría. El siglo XIX fue dominado por la lucha por la independencia de Hungría y la modernización.7 La insurrección nacional contra los Habsburgo comenzó en la capital húngara en 1848 y fue derrotado poco más de un año después. Esto hizo de Budapest la capital gemela de una monarquía dual. Fue este compromiso que abrió la segunda fase de gran desarrollo en la historia de Budapest, que duró hasta la Primera Guerra Mundial. En 1849, el Puente de las Cadenas que une Buda con Pest, abrió sus puertas el primer puente permanente sobre el Danubio44 y en 1873 fueron Buda y Pest oficialmente fusionadas con la tercera parte, Óbuda (antiguo Buda), creando así la nueva metrópoli de Budapest. La dinámica Pest se convirtió en centro político, administrativo, económico, comercial y cultural del país. La población de origen étnico húngaro superó a la alemana en la segunda mitad del siglo XIX debido a la migración masiva desde la superpoblada y rural el Transdanubia y la Gran Llanura Húngara. Entre 1851 y 1910 la proporción de húngaros se incrementó de 35,6% a 85,9%, el húngaro se convirtió en la lengua dominante y el alemán fue desplazado. La proporción de judíos llegó a su punto máximo en 1900 con el 23,6%.45 46 47 Debido a la prosperidad y la gran comunidad judía presente en la ciudad a principios del siglo XX, Budapest fue conocida también como la "Meca judía".48

 

En 1918, Austria-Hungría perdió la guerra y se desplomó; por lo que Hungría se declaró una república independiente. En 1920 el Tratado de Trianon finalizó la partición del país; como resultado, Hungría perdió dos tercios de su territorio y alrededor de dos tercios de sus habitantes en virtud del tratado, incluyendo 3,3 millones de los 10 millones de húngaros étnicos.49 50

  

El Puente de las Cadenas de Budapest, volado por las fuerzas nazis.

En 1944, hacia el final de la Segunda Guerra Mundial, Budapest fue parcialmente destruida por los ataques aéreos británico y americano. Desde el 24 de diciembre de 1944 al 13 de febrero de 1945, la ciudad fue sitiada durante la Batalla de Budapest. La capital sufrió grandes daños causados por el ataque de las fuerzas soviéticas y rumanas y las tropas defensoras alemanas y húngaras. Todos los puentes fueron destruidos por los alemanes. Más de 38.000 civiles perdieron la vida durante el conflicto.

 

Entre el 20% y el 40% de los 250.000 habitantes judíos de Budapest murieron a causa del genocidio perpetrado por los nazis y el Partido de la Cruz Flechada durante 1944 y principios de 1945.51 El diplomático sueco Raoul Wallenberg logró salvar la vida de decenas de miles de judíos en Budapest, dándoles pasaportes suecos y tomándolos bajo su protección consular.52

 

En 1949, Hungría fue declarada como República Popular comunista. El nuevo gobierno comunista consideró edificios como el Castillo de Buda símbolos del régimen anterior y, durante la década de 1950, el palacio fue destruido y los interiores fueron destruidos.

  

El centro de Budapest en 1979.

En 1956, las manifestaciones pacíficas en Budapest condujeron al estallido de la Revolución Húngara. La dirección se derrumbó después de las manifestaciones de las masas que se iniciaron el 23 de octubre, pero los tanques soviéticos entraron en Budapest para aplastar la revuelta. La lucha continuó hasta principios de noviembre, dejando más de 3.000 muertos.

 

Desde la década de 1960 a finales de 1980 Hungría era referida, en ocasiones y de forma satírica, la "barraca feliz" en el Bloque del Este,53 y gran parte de los daños de guerra de la ciudad fueron finalmente reparados. Los trabajos en el Puente de Erzsébet, el último en ser reconstruido, fue terminado en 1964. A principios de 1970, se inauguró la línea M2 del metro de Budapest en su sentido este-oeste, seguida de la línea M3 en 1982. En 1987, el Castillo de Buda y las orillas del Danubio fueron incluidos en la lista de Patrimonio de la Humanidad por la Unesco. La Avenida Andrássy (incluyendo el tren subterráneo del Milenio, Hősök tere y Városliget) se añadió a la lista de la Unesco en 2002. En la década de 1980 la población de la ciudad alcanzó los 2,1 millones de habitantes. En los últimos tiempos se ha producido una disminución significativa en la población, debido principalmente, a un movimiento demográfico masivo al condado de Pest.

 

En las últimas décadas del siglo XX los cambios políticos de 1989-90 produjeron importantes cambios en la sociedad civil y en las calles de Budapest. Los monumentos comunistas fueron retirados de los lugares públicos y llevados a Memento Park. En los primeros veinte años de la nueva democracia, el gobierno de la ciudad fue presidido por Gábor Demszky.

 

Geografía[editar]

El área de 525 km² de Budapest se encuentra en el centro de Hungría rodeado de asentamientos de la aglomeración en el condado de Pest. La capital se extiende a 25 y 29 kilómetros al norte-sur y este-oeste, respectivamente. El río Danubio entra en la ciudad por el norte, y más tarde lo rodea dos islas, Óbuda y la isla de Margarita.7 La tercera isla, Csepel, es la más grande de las islas del Danubio de Budapest, sin embargo, sólo la punta más al norte se encuentra dentro de los límites de la ciudad. El río que separa las dos partes de la ciudad está a sólo 230 metros de ancho en su punto más estrecho en Budapest. Pest se encuentra en la planicie de la Gran Llanura, mientras que el terreno en Buda es muy accidentado.7 El terreno de Pest se levanta con una ligera pendiente hacia el este, por lo que las partes más orientales de la ciudad están a la misma altura que las pequeñas colinas de Buda, en particular la colina Gellért y Monte del Castillo. Las colinas de Buda son principalmente de piedra caliza y dolomita, el agua creó espeleotemas, que se pueden encontrar los más famosos en las la cuevas Pálvölgyi y Szemlőhegyi. Los cerros se formaron en la era del Triásico. El punto más alto de las colinas y de Budapest es la colina János, a 527 metros sobre el nivel del mar. El punto más bajo es la línea del Danubio, que es de 96 metros sobre el nivel del mar. Los bosques de las colinas de Buda están protegidos medioambientalmente.

 

Distritos[editar]

Artículo principal: Distritos de Budapest

Originalmente había 10 distritos de Budapest después de la unificación de las tres ciudades en 1873. El 1 de enero de 1950 Budapest se unió con varios pueblos vecinos y el número de sus distritos se elevó a 22, formando el Gran Budapest. En ese tiempo hubo cambios, tanto en el orden de los distritos como en sus tamaños. Ahora hay 23 distritos, seis en Buda, 16 en Pest y uno en la isla de Csepel, en el Danubio. Cada distrito puede asociarse con una o varias partes de la ciudad con nombres de ciudades anteriores de Budapest. El mismo centro de la ciudad, en un sentido más amplio, comprende los distritos V, VI, VII, VIII, IX y XIII en el lado de Pest, y el I, II, XI y XII en el lado de Buda de la ciudad.54

  

Los 23 distritos de Budapest

  

Palacio Gresham

Distrito IV[editar]

El distrito IV está ubicado al norte de Budapest, sobre la orilla oeste del Río Danubio. Antes de 1950, fecha en que se anexaron varias zonas a Budapest, se trataba de la localidad de Újpest. El nombre significa "Nuevo Pest", porque se formó al borde de la Ciudad de Pest en 1840. Újpest fue una Aldea o Villa por seis décadas antes de 1907, cuando se transformó en pueblo. Como decíamos, en 1950 el pueblo se unificó con Budapest, para formar el Gran Budapest, y constituirse en el IV Distrito.

 

Distrito XXI[editar]

Ubicación[editar]

El distrito XXI está ubicado al norte de la isla de Csepel, por el este fluye el Danubio y en la otra margen se encuentran los distritos IX, XX y XXIII, por el oeste la frontera del distrito la marca de forma natural el contorno de la isla con la ribera del Danubio que en su margen opuesta presenta los distritos XI y XXII, por el sur el límite demarcado por la capital, es decir los límites propios del poblado de Szigetszentmiklós.

 

Barrios de mayor relevancia[editar]

Barrio de la calle Ady Endre

Csillágtelep

Barrio de Királymajori

Barrio de Vízmű

Barrio de la calle Árpád

Historia[editar]

En la segunda mitad del siglo XX ocurrió la industrialización más importante del distrito, lo que lo convirtió en una base de la industria pesada. En esta zona se asentaron los trabajadores, quienes contribuyeron a la formación de zonas urbanísticas, parques y barrios. El distrito se convirtió así en bastión de la clase obrera húngara.

 

Fue independiente hasta el 1 de enero de 1950, cuando junto con otras zonas fue anexionado como parte integral de Budapest capital.

 

Economía[editar]

El distrito XXI es considerado como uno de los distritos industriales clásicos de Budapest (por su industria metalúrgica, acerera y de papel)

 

En la primera mitad del siglo XX la economía del distrito esta unida al nombre de Manfréd Weiss, quien con su empresa metalúrgica tenía la gama más amplia de productos que para la época existía en toda la región de Europa central y oriental

 

Después de la II Guerra Mundial la fábrica pasó a funcionar a manos del estado. A mediados de los años 50 hasta en el Tíbet eran comercializados los productos de la fábrica. A finales de los 80 debido a la baja demanda de productos y lo elevado de los costos de mantenimiento, la fábrica fue paralizándose paulatinamente.

 

En la actualidad el conjunto funciona como zona industrial, albergando cientos de otras empresas, oficinas, y pequeñas fábricas.

 

Riquezas naturales[editar]

Solamente una zona protectora alberga el Distrito, en la loma de Tamariska en la zona de Királyerdő que desde 1999 fue declarada por la ciudad capital como patrimonio natural, ya que en sus bancos arenosos se encuentran innumerables especies vegetales autóctonas y exclusivas de la zona.

 

Clima[editar]

 

Invierno en la plaza Vörösmarty.

La ciudad tiene un clima húmedo continental, un clima de transición entre el clima templado, cubierto de nieve de Transdanubia, el clima variable continental de la gran llanura plana y abierta del este y el clima casi sub-mediterráneo del sur.55

 

La primavera se caracteriza por la abundancia de sol y lluvias aisladas. La temperatura comienza a subir notablemente en abril, por lo general alcanzan máximas de 25 °C al final del mes, aunque hay cortos períodos de frío con bajas temperaturas en la zona con 0-5 °C y las heladas pueden aparecer incluso a mediados de mayo.

 

En los veranos, los prolongados períodos de calor, con temperaturas entre 32-35 °C, se intercambian con breves períodos húmedos con frentes fríos provenientes del oeste, con temperaturas de entre 18-25 °C. La humedad es alta, de vez en cuando, en verano principalmente secundaria por la influencia del Mediterráneo. Sin embargo, en general, el calor es seco y las temperaturas nocturnas son muy agradables, especialmente en los suburbios residenciales. En el centro de Pest, sin embargo, no es raro que las temperaturas sean superiores a 25 °C en medianoche. Las tormentas, algunas de ellas violentas con rachas fuertes y lluvias torrenciales, también son frecuentes. La temperatura más alta registrada fue de 40,7 °C el 20 de julio de 2007.56

 

Las temperaturas altas pueden mantenerse por encima de 20 °C hasta el final de octubre. Las noches más frías y las heladas llegan por primera vez, por lo general, en la segunda semana de octubre. Los cortos períodos fríos varían con el veranillo de San Miguel, que puede durar semanas enteras. En noviembre sobreviene la abundante lluvia, a veces nieve, y una caída drástica de las temperaturas (a 10 °C durante todo el otoño del mes).

 

Los inviernos son variables e impredecibles. Los vientos del oeste traen aire templado oceánico, con temperaturas de entre 5-10 °C, casi sin congelar y dispersa la lluvia o nieve. Las borrascas que se desplazan desde el mar Mediterráneo pueden traer tormentas de nieve con 20-40 cm de caída en un solo día, seguido por aire frío de Rusia. Las borrascas del Atlántico sur y el viento puede traer un clima inusualmente cálido, con temperaturas alcanzando los 15 °C incluso en enero. El anticiclón de Siberia trae cada dos años un período muy soleado pero frío con una duración de una semana o dos con puntos bajos en el rango climático de -15 a -20 °C. Los anticiclones con los centros superiores de Europa occidental producen niebla fría sin cambios en la temperatura entre el día y la noche y se quedan alrededor o un poco por debajo de 0 °C. La niebla puede durar semanas. Las borrascas mediterráneas que se mueven por encima de la capa de niebla puede llevar uno o dos días de lluvia helada.57 58 59

 

[ocultar]Gnome-weather-few-clouds.svg Parámetros climáticos promedio de Budapest WPTC Meteo task force.svg

MesEne.Feb.Mar.Abr.May.Jun.Jul.Ago.Sep.Oct.Nov.Dic.Anual

Temp. máx. abs. (°C)18.119.725.430.234.039.540.739.435.230.822.619.340.7

Temp. máx. media (°C)2.95.510.616.421.924.626.726.621.615.47.74.015.3

Temp. media (°C)-0.42.36.112.016.619.721.521.216.911.85.41.811.2

Temp. mín. media (°C)-1.70.03.57.612.115.116.816.512.87.852.9-0.07.8

Temp. mín. abs. (°C)-25.6-23.4-15.1-4.6-1.63.05.95.0-3.1-9.5-16.4-20.8-25.6

Precipitación total (mm)372930426263454940395343532

Días de precipitaciones (≥ 1 mm)76668876557778

Horas de sol558413718223024827425519715667481933

Fuente: www.met.hu60

Economía[editar]

Budapest se convirtió en una ciudad global debido a la industrialización. En 1910, el 45,2% de la población total trabajaban en fábricas. La capital húngara fue una de las más grandes ciudades industriales de Europa con 600.000 trabajadores de fábricas en la década de 1960. Entre 1920 y 1970, más de la mitad del total de la producción industrial de Hungría se hacía en Budapest. La Metalurgia (FÉG), la industria textil y la industria del automóvil (Ikarus) fueron los principales sectores que recibieron los cambios estructurales.61

 

Ahora casi todas las ramas de la industria se encuentra en Budapest. Los principales productos son los aparatos de comunicación de ingeniería e informática, máquinas eléctricas, lámparas incandescentes (General Electric). La industria farmacéutica también es importante, muy conocida Egis y las compañías Gedeon Richter y Chinoin son húngaras, mientras que Teva también tiene una división aquí.

 

La industria está más bien en las afueras, pues el centro es el lugar para el servicio principal de empresas financieras nacionales e internacionales, como Telekom Hungría, General Electric, Vodafone, Telenor, Erste Bank, CIB Bank, K&H Bank&Insurance, UniCredit, Budapest Bank, Generali Providencia Insurance, ING, Aegon Insurance, Allianz. Las bases regionales de Volvo Co., Saab, Ford, GE, IBM, TATA Consultancy Services Limited están Budapest. El grupo MOL de Petróleo y Gas húngaros, que con sus subsidiarias, es un líder integrado de petróleo y gas en Europa Central y del Este. El OTP Bank, que es el banco más grande de Hungría, con sucursales en otros ocho países, tienen su sede en la capital.

 

Budapest es el centro de los servicios, asesoría financiera, transacciones de divisas, servicios comerciales y bienes. Los servicios de comercio y logística están bien desarrollados. El turismo y la hostelería también merecen mención, ya que en la capital existen miles de establecimientos de restaurantes, bares, cafés y lugares de fiesta.

 

Lugares de interés[editar]

Budapest, con las riberas del Danubio, el barrio del castillo de Buda y la avenida Andrássy

UNESCO logo.svg Welterbe.svg

Nombre descrito en la Lista del Patrimonio de la Humanidad

BudapestDSCN3838.JPG

Vista del Puente de las cadenas desde el Castillo de Buda.

PaísFlag of Hungary.svg Hungría

TipoCultural

Criteriosii, iv

N.° identificación400bis

RegiónEuropa y América del Norte

Año de inscripción1987 (XI sesión)

Año de extensión2000

[editar datos en Wikidata]

El Parlamento de estilo neogótico contiene, entre otras cosas, las joyas de la corona húngara. La Basílica de San Esteban, donde se exhibe la Mano Derecha del Santo fundador de Hungría, el rey San Esteban. La cocina húngara y la cultura café pueden degustarse, por ejemplo, en el Café Gerbeaud, y los restaurantes Százéves, Biarritz, Fortuna, Alabárdos, Arany Szarvas, Kárpátia y el famoso Mátyás Pince. Hay restos romanos en el Museo Aquincum y mobiliario histórico en el Museo Nagytétény, que son sólo dos de los 223 museos de Budapest.

  

Vista del Parlamento de noche desde el río Danubio

La colina del castillo, los muros de contención del río Danubio y el conjunto de Andrássy út han sido oficialmente reconocidos por la UNESCO como Patrimonio de la Humanidad.

 

La colina del castillo y el distrito del castillo albergan tres iglesias, seis museos y una serie de interesantes edificios, calles y plazas. El antiguo Palacio Real es uno de los símbolos de Hungría y ha sido escenario de batallas y guerras desde el siglo XIII. Hoy en día alberga dos museos impresionantes y la Biblioteca Nacional Széchenyi. El cercano Palacio Sándor alberga las oficinas y la residencia oficial del Presidente de Hungría. La Iglesia de San Matías, de siete siglos de antigüedad, es una de las joyas de Budapest. A su lado está una estatua ecuestre del primer rey de Hungría, el rey San Esteban, y tras ésta el Bastión de los Pescadores, desde donde se abre una vista panorámica de toda la ciudad. Las estatuas del Turul, el pájaro guardián mítico de Hungría, se pueden encontrar tanto en el Barrio del Castillo y el Distrito XII.

  

Plaza de los Héroes.

En Pest, sin duda el espectáculo más importante es Andrássy út, mientras que las calles Kodály Körönd y Oktogon están llenas de tiendas y grandes pisos construidos muy juntos. Desde allí hasta la Plaza de los Héroes las casas se separan por completo y son más amplias. En el marco del conjunto se encuentra el ferrocarril metropolitano más antiguo de Europa continental, la mayoría de cuyas estaciones conservan su aspecto original. La Plaza de los Héroes está dominada por el Monumento del Milenio, con la Tumba del Soldado Desconocido en el frente. A los lados se encuentran el Museo de Bellas Artes y la Kunsthalle de Budapest, y detrás se abre el Parque de la Ciudad, con el castillo de Vajdahunyad. Una de las joyas de Andrássy út es la Ópera Nacional de Hungría. Memento Park, un parque temático con estatuas notables de la era comunista, está situado a las afueras del centro de la ciudad y es accesible por transporte público.

 

En la ciudad reside la sinagoga más grande de Europa (la Sinagoga de la Calle Dohány)62 y la segunda más grande del mundo. La sinagoga se encuentra en el barrio judío ocupando varias cuadras en el centro de Budapest bordeado por Király utca, Wesselényi utca, el Grand Boulevard y la carretera Bajcsy Zsilinszky. La ciudad también se enorgullece de tener el mayor baño de aguas medicinales de Europa (Baños Széchenyi) y el tercer edificio del Parlamento más grande del mundo. La tercera iglesia más grande de Europa (la Basílica de Esztergom) y el segundo mayor castillo barroco del mundo (Gödöllő) se encuentran en las proximidades.

 

En el paisaje urbano de Budapest puede distinguirse la Estatua de la Libertad, que tiene 14 metros de altura y descanasa sobre un pedestal de 26 metros en la Colina Gellért.63 La estatua fue construida en bronce durante la ocupación soviética de Hungría.

  

Iglesia de San Matías

  

Basílica de San Esteban

  

Castillo de Vajdahunyad

  

Mercado Central de Budapest

  

Sinagoga de la Calle Dohány

  

Vista del Castillo de Buda de noche desde el río Danubio.

Cultura[editar]

 

Ópera Nacional de Hungría.

 

Museo de Bellas Artes.

La tradición de la danza de la cuenca de los Cárpatos es el área única de la cultura de la danza europea, que es también una especie de transición entre los Balcanes y las regiones de Europa Occidental. En Budapest existen varios conjuntos de auténtica danza folclórica húngara, algunos de ellos profesionales. Budapest es una de las pocas ciudades del mundo donde hay una escuela secundaria para el aprendizaje de la danza folclórica.

 

En Budapest, actualmente hay 837 monumentos diferentes, que representan la mayor parte del estilo artístico europeo. Son prominentes los clásicos y únicos edificios de estilo Art Nouveau húngaros.

 

Los 223 museos y galerías de la ciudad presentan no sólo exposiciones y arte húngaro, sino también arte y ciencia de la cultura universal y europea. Entre los más importantes que se encuentran en la ciudad destacan el Museo Nacional de Hungría, la Galería Nacional Húngara, el Museo de Bellas Artes, el Museo Histórico de Budapest, el Parque Memento y el Museo de Artes Aplicadas.

 

En Budapest hay cuarenta teatros, siete salas de conciertos y un teatro de la ópera. También se celebran a menudo en edificios históricos festivales al aire libre, conciertos y conferencias que enriquecen la oferta cultural del verano. Las instituciones más prestigiosas de teatro son la Opereta y Teatro Musical de Budapest, el Teatro József Attila, el Teatro Katona József, el Teatro Madách, la Ópera Nacional de Hungría, el Teatro Nacional, el Vigadó, el Teatro Radnóti Miklós y el Teatro de la Comedia.

 

Muchas bibliotecas tienen colecciones únicas en Budapest, como la Biblioteca Nacional Széchenyi, que mantiene las reliquias históricas de la época antes de la impresión de los libros. La Biblioteca metropolitana Ervin Szabó juega un papel importante en la educación general de la población de la capital. Otras bibliotecas importantes son la Biblioteca de la Academia de Ciencias de Hungría, la Biblioteca de la Universidad Eötvös Loránd, la Biblioteca del Parlamento y de la Biblioteca Nacional de Literatura Extranjera.

 

Entre los eventos culturales de Hungría, el mayor festival al aire libre es el Festival de Sziget, que es muy popular en toda Europa. Otros que también son importantes y se celebran en la ciudad son el Festival de la Primavera de Budapest, el Festival de Otoño de Budapest, la Fiesta del Vino de Budapest y el Festival de Budapest de Pálinka.

 

Los turistas que visitan Budapest disponen de mapas gratuitos e información acerca de los diversos "puntos de interés" por la empresa municipal BTDM en sus puntos de información.64 Está disponible para los visitantes las tarjeta de 24 y 72 horas de Budapest. Para el transporte, la validez de la tarjeta es gratuita y hay descuentos en varios museos, restaurantes y otros lugares de interés.65 La ciudad también es conocida por sus bares en antiguas ruinas.66

 

Baños termales[editar]

En 1934, Budapest recibió el título de «Ciudad de Balnearios» por ser la capital que dispone de más pozos de aguas medicinales y termales del mundo;[cita requerida] es conocida por algunos como «La capital mundial de las aguas medicinales».

 

Su red es única: el rendimiento de las aguas termales, con temperaturas de 21 a 78 grados centígrados, que brotan de 118 fuentes naturales y de pozos artificiales, supera los 70 millones de litros diarios. En Budapest se encuentran conocidos baños termales públicos: Balneario Gellért (Gellért fürdő), Balneario Széchenyi (Széchenyi fürdő) el balneario europeo más grande, Balneario Lukács (Lukács fürdő), Balneario Rudas (Rudas fürdő), Balneario Király (Király fürdő) y Balneario Rác (Rác fürdő).

  

Baños termales Széchenyi.

Las aguas medicinales sirven para tratar enfermedades de los órganos locomotrices, de la circulación sanguínea y de la ginecología.

 

En los alrededores de estos baños termales existen pozos y salas para beber agua medicinal con alto contenido de distintos tipos minerales. La más conocida de estas salas de ingesta sirve de entrada al baño termal Lukács, que fue inaugurado en 1937, orientándose sus aguas medicinales a la curación de problemas digestivos. El edificio del baño termal fue construido en 1894. Sus efectos benéficos medicinales pronto fueron conocidos en el resto de Europa, convirtiéndose en uno de los lugares más notables de esta saludable especialidad.

 

También son famosos los baños termales de la época turca que funcionan hoy en día, como por ejemplo el Király, construido a finales de los años 1500, y el baño Rác. El baño Rudas —con su sala octogonal de columnas y cúpula— es el baño turco más antiguo y mejor ornamentado.

 

Islas[editar]

En el Danubio se pueden encontrar siete islas: Astillero, Isla Margarita, Isla de Csepel, Palotai-Sziget (actualmente una península), Népsziget, Haros-Sziget, y Sziget Molnár.

 

Entre las islas notables se incluyen:

 

La Isla Margarita de 2,5 km (1,6 millas) de largo y 0,965 kilómetros cuadrados (238 acres) de superficie. Se compone principalmente de un parque y es una popular zona de recreo para los turistas y lugareños por igual. La isla se encuentra entre el Puente Margarita (sur) y el puente Árpád (norte). En la isla se pueden encontrar discotecas, piscinas, un parque acuático, pistas para correr, de ciclismo, de atletismo y gimnasios. Durante el día la isla está ocupada por la gente que hace deporte o simplemente descansa. En el verano (por lo general los fines de semana) los más jóvenes van a la isla por la noche de fiesta en sus terrazas, o para divertirse con una botella de alcohol en un banco o en el césped (esta forma de entretenimiento se denomina a veces como banco-fiesta).

 

La isla de Csepel (pronunciación en húngaro:] tʃɛpɛlsiɡɛt [) es la isla mayor del río Danubio en Hungría. Tiene 48 km (30 millas) de largo, su ancho es de 6.8 km (3,75-5 millas) y su área abarca 257 km2 (99 millas cuadradas), aunque sólo el extremo norte se encuentra dentro de los límites de la ciudad.

 

Hajógyári-Sziget ([hɒjo ː ː ɟa siɡɛt ri], o Sziget Óbudai-) es una isla artificial, ubicada en el tercer distrito. Esta isla alberga numerosas actividades tales como: wake boarding, motos de agua durante el día, y clubes de baile durante la noche. Esta es la isla donde tiene lugar el famoso Festival de Sziget, recibiendo cientos de actuaciones por año y alrededor de 400.000 visitantes en su última edición. Se están llevando a cabo muchos proyectos de construcción para hacer de esta isla uno de los centros de ocio más importantes de Europa, el plan es construir edificios de apartamentos, hoteles, casinos y un puerto deportivo.

 

Luppa-Sziget es la isla más pequeña de Budapest, situada en la región norte.

“Tell me again how you think God will judge others for who they love, and not judge you for hating someone you’ve never met?”

 

"Race" is a highly respected, veteran graffiti writer and long standing member of the "SDM" and "ADN" Crews from Melbourne.

 

"Race" is well-remembered within the local scene for painting highly risky, deeply technical pieces in Melbourne’s underground City Loop subway tunnels during the early 2000s.

 

Finally, "Race" is recognized for solid, traditional letterform structures, vibrant fill-ins, and maintaining a high presence on both trackside walls and street-level productions.

 

For more information, or to follow this artist refrences refer to -

 

INSTAGRAM: www.instagram.com/craefish/

INSTAGRAM: www.instagram.com/thesdmcrew/

 

sdmcrew.com/

 

#Rase #Race #AllDopeNetwork #ADN #SizeDoesMatter #ShuttingDownMelbourne #SleepDeprivedManiacs #SoDamnMad #SDM

Respect for smiling underwater

Etna Regional Park (59 000 ha) is the protected area that surrounds the highest active volcano in Europe. It was the first Sicilian protected area, established in 1987. The park is divided into four zones: zone A has maximum protection and allows nature to play its course with minimal human intervention; zone B is a general reserve and is made up of small agricultural plots and wonderful examples of rural architecture; zone C and D cover 14000 hectares and here some tourist facilities are allowed but the preservation of the landscape and nature should always be respected.Etna Regional Park is located in eastern Sicily. At the heart of the ecosystem of the park is Mount Etna, with its lithological boundary of 250 km, height of approximately 3350 m and an area of about 1260 km². The beauty of the park is not only the grandeur of eruptions and lava flows. Around the great volcano, lies a unique landscape, rich in sounds, scents and colors. The territory of the Etna Park stretches from the summit of the volcano until the upper belt of Etna villages. 20 municipalities and a population of over 250 000 inhabitants are found within the park territory.With its forests, trails, unique landscapes, typical products and its historic municipalities Etna Regional Park is an attractive place to visit all year round.

The vegetation of the park is extremely rich and varied. In the lowest regions there are vineyards, orchards, nut trees and woods of oak and chestnut trees. Gathering height you can find woods of oak, turkey oak and larch pines and higher still (above 2000 m) there are beech and birch trees.Characteristic plant species of the Etna landscape are: the symbolic Etna broom, one of the main plants that colonizes the lava; pulviniformi Holy Thorn (Astragalus), which offer shelter to other plants of the Etna mountain, such as groundsel, chickweed, and the Sicilian soap. The porcupine, fox, wild cat, marten, rabbit and hare live on the mountain along with smaller mammels. There are also many birds including the hawk, buzzards, kestrels, peregrine falcon and golden eagle and various types of owl.

 

La bellezza del Parco dell'Etna non sta soltanto nella grandiosità delle eruzioni e nelle colate di lava incandescente. Attorno al grande vulcano si estende un ambiente unico e impareggiabile, ricco di suoni, profumi e colori. Un comprensorio dal paesaggio incantevole, protetto da un parco naturale che chiunque si trovi in Sicilia non può mancare di visitare. Il territorio del Parco dell'Etna, che si estende dalla vetta del vulcano sino alla cintura superiore dei paesi etnei, è stato diviso in quattro zone a diverso grado di protezione: zone A, B, C e D.

 

Mount Etna (Aetna in Latin, also known as Muncibeddu in Sicilian and Mongibello in Italian, a combination of Latin mons and Arabic gibel, both meaning mountain) is an active stratovolcano on the east coast of Sicily, close to Messina and Catania. Its Arabic name was Jebel Utlamat (the Mountain of Fire).Volcanic activity at Etna began about half a million years ago, with eruptions occurring beneath the sea off the coastline of Sicily. 300,000 years ago, volcanism began occurring to the southwest of the present-day summit, before activity moved towards the present centre 170,000 years ago. Eruptions at this time built up the first major volcanic edifice, forming a strato-volcano in alternating explosive and effusive eruptions. The growth of the mountain was occasionally interrupted by major eruptions leading to the collapse of the summit to form calderas.From about 35,000 to 15,000 years ago, Etna experienced some highly explosive eruptions, generating large pyroclastic flows which left extensive ignimbrite deposits. Ash from these eruptions has been found as far away as Rome, 800 km to the north.Sicily's greatest natural attraction is also its highest mountain: Mount Etna, at 10,924 feet, is the most active volcano in Europe and the oldest recorded active volcano in the world.Mount Etna is an active volcano on the east coast of Sicily, close to Messina and Catania. It is the largest active volcano in Europe, currently standing about 3329.6 m (10,924 feet)high, though it should be noted that this varies with summit eruptions; the mountain is 21.6 m (71 ft) lower now than it was in 1865. It is the highest mountain in Italy south of the Alps. Etna covers an area of 1,190 km² (460 square miles) with a basal circumference of 140 km.The fertile volcanic soils support extensive agriculture, with vineyards and orchards spread across the lower slopes of the mountain and the broad Plain of Catania to the south. Due to its history of recent activity and nearby population, Mount Etna has been designated a Decade Volcano by the United Nations.Etna lava stone is a material with unique characteristics: durable, indestructible, resistant to changes in the temperature (it’s a heat conductor), it offers infinite possibilities of uses: flooring, urban furniture, interior design.After the glazing process the product doesn’t get stained, resists to acids and doesn’t require particular maintenance: that’s why lava stone is the ideal material even to make kitchens and bathrooms countertops. The natural stone tends to grey, with the glazing process we can obtain any desired colour. Shapes, sizes and decorations can be customized . The lava stone it is formed by the solidification of cooled magma on the surface of the Etna volcano, in Sicily

 

L'Etna è un vulcano attivo che si trova sulla costa orientale della Sicilia (Italia), tra Catania e Messina. È il vulcano attivo più alto del continente europeo e uno dei maggiori al mondo. La sua altezza varia nel tempo a causa delle sue eruzioni, ma si aggira attualmente sui 3329.6 m (10,924 feet) s.l.m. Il suo diametro è di circa 45 chilometri.Un tempo era noto anche come Mongibello.In genere le eruzioni dell'Etna pur fortemente distruttive delle cose, non lo sono per le persone se si eccettuano i casi fortuiti o di palese imprudenza come quello dell'improvvisa esplosione di massi del 1979 che uccise nove turisti e ne ferì una decina di altri avventuratisi fino al cratere appena spento. L'Etna è un tipico strato-vulcano che iniziò la sua attività, tra 500 e 700 mila anni fa. La sua lava di tipo basaltico è povera in silice, è molto calda, densa e fluida. Per queste ragioni le eruzioni sono tranquille ed il percorso delle lave prevedibile. La velocità di scorrimento è superiore a quella delle lave acide, più ricche in silice e più viscose e leggere.La lavorazione della pietra lavica, derivante dall’industria estrattiva delle vicine cave dell'Etna, per scopi ornamentali o per materiali da costruzione, diede da vivere a molte famiglie siciliane.I "pirriaturi", anticamente, estraevano lungo i costoni dell'Etna solo strati superficiali di lava perché più porosi e più facilmente lavorabili con arnesi quali la subbia, lo scalpello, la mazzola e il martello. Sul materiale estratto interveniva lo spaccapietre che ricavava lastre di pietra, infine lo scalpellino rifiniva il materiale. Uno degli usi prevalenti cui era destinata la pietra lavica era la pavimentazione delle strade urbane

 

www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAT2XppUwxg

 

Respect our copyright. Don't steal our pictures, just ask to use them.

 

past & future editions : Defqon.1 pictures

 

join our community : Facebook CyberFactory

 

our rave & festival selection : CyberFactory party agenda

nvocation

Francisco Gonzalez, Board Member

 

Presentation of the Colors

Admiral William F. Halsey, Jr. Leadership Academy JROTC

 

Pledge of Allegiance

Daniel Ortega 7th Grade Student

Ronald Reagan Academy School No. 30

 

Star Spangled Banner by Francis Scott Key

Maria Gonzalez – Elizabeth Public Schools Student at ECLC

 

Pledge of Ethics

Talissa Molina 8th Grade Student

Ronald Reagan Academy School No. 30

 

Core Beliefs – Video

 

PERFORMANCES

 

"Respect" by Otis Redding

Ronald Reagan Academy School No. 30 Jazz Band

 

“America the Beautiful”

Ronald Reagan Academy School No. 30 Concert Band

 

“You Raise Me Up” by Rolf Loveland

Thomas Jefferson Arts Academy Choir

 

Board of Education Honors Jerome Dunn Assistant Superintendent for Family and Community who is retiring in July.

 

Student Excellence

 

Maria Gonzalez - Elizabeth Public Schools Student at ECLC

Received Governor’s Award in Arts Education

 

Steven Arias - 12th grade student at John E. Dwyer Technology Academy

Recipient of the Rebecca S. McDonald Award

  

37th Annual Scholar-Athlete Awards (Union County Interscholastic Athletic Conference)

 

Esther Jean Louis - Varsity Cross Country, Indoor Track, Outdoor Track; Team Captain

 

Harry Malhi - Varsity Soccer, Team Captain

  

New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association

 

Fabrice Juin – N.J.S.I.A.A. Twenty-First Annual Scholar/Athlete Award

 

Music in the Parks Music Festival - Ronald Reagan Academy School No. 30

 

Concert Band - Superior Rating

 

5th Grade

Sebastian Rodriguez

Franco Rondan

Andrew Valencia

 

6th Grade

Brandon Aguirre

Diane Diaz

Jael Espinoza

Camila Osorio

Maciel Perez

Britney Suero

Juventina Zelaya

 

7th Grade

Jason Calero

Gabriel Deolindo

Diego Garcia

Angel Gonzalez

Samuel Hodges III

Christopher Lutz

Jose Magana

Joahn Martinez

Ariel Reyes

Yonah Sosa

 

8th Grade

Johann Adzakro

Darren Cooper

Charlene Crespo

Kimberly Espinosa

Christynah Estivene

Alejandra Hincapie

Andrea Ibarra

Jennifer Largo

Ivan Lopez

Leon Mera

Talissa Molina

Sydney Perdomo

Leonardo Plaza

Stephanie Reyes

Mario Uribe

 

Jazz Band - Superior Rating

 

5th Grade

Alliss Alas

Sebastian Rodriguez

Franco Rondan

Andrew Valencia

 

6th Grade

Brandon Aguirre

 

7th Grade

Diego Garcia

Samuel Hodges III

Christopher Lutz

Jose Magana

Joahn Martinez

Daniel Ortega

Ariel Reyes

Yonah Sosa

 

8th Grade

Kimberly Espinosa

Alejandra Hincapie

Ivan Lopez

Leon Mera

Talissa Molina

Sydney Perdomo

Leonardo Plaza

Stephanie Reyes

 

Music in the Parks Music Festival - Ronald Reagan Academy School No. 30

 

Ariel Reyes, 7th grade student - Best Overall Jazz Soloist - Alto Saxophone

Select Choir - Good Rating

 

Rotary Scholarship Recipients

 

Erika Alfano Elizabeth High School

Braulyn Amaro Cruz John E. Dwyer Technology Academy

Hermione Brice Elizabeth High School

Wilmin Ceballos-ColladoAdmiral William F. Halsey, Jr. Leadership Academy

Florencia Curbelo Elizabeth High School

Luisa Goytia Elizabeth High School

Ashley Gregory Elizabeth High School

Mehak Kumar Thomas A. Edison Career and Technical Academy

Harry Malhi Elizabeth High School

Ahmed Nagy Elizabeth High School

Jessenia Palacio Elizabeth High School

Paola Patti Elizabeth High School

Wilmin Ceballos-ColladoAdmiral William F. Halsey, Jr. Leadership Academy

Lucita-Fernandez-ArgudoAdmiral William F. Halsey, Jr. Leadership Academy

Rosemary Ferreira Alexander Hamilton Preparatory Academy

Fabrice Juin Alexander Hamilton Preparatory Academy

Miriam Katu Binti John E. Dwyer Technology Academy

Alaex Kazanecki Alexander Hamilton Preparatory Academy

Gina Schipani Alexander Hamilton Preparatory Academy

Chrysthel Jean Louis Thomas Jefferson Arts Academy

Linda Yarfi Alexander Hamilton Preparatory Academy

 

Stars of Excellence

 

Union County Teacher Recognition Program

 

Marianne English George Washington School No. 1

Stephanie Gaeta Winfield Scott School No. 2

Marilyn Buda Nicholas S. LaCorte–Peterstown School No. 3

Liliana Riehl Joseph Battin School No. 4

Annette Klimerman Mabel G. Holmes School No. 5

Lourdes Cordero Toussaint Louverture-Marquis de Lafayette School No. 6

Joseph Collins Terence C. Reilly School No. 7

Steven Criscuolo iPrep Academy School No. 8

Jennifer DeFillippis Elmora School No. 12

Vivian Martinez Benjamin Franklin School No. 13

Loretta Davis-ChambersAbraham Lincoln School No. 14

Janine Manno Christopher Columbus School No. 15

Monica Luzardo Madison-Monroe School No. 16

Anthony Leone Robert Morris School No. 18

Bridget Turano Woodrow Wilson School No. 1

 

Sandra Sades John Marshall School No. 20

Sofia Verma Victor Mravlag School No. 21

Gloria Salermo William F. Halloran School No. 22 @ 31

Lorri-Anne Cummings Nicholas Murray Butler School No. 23

Janet Corrigan Charles J. Hudson School No. 25

Thomas Siebenhuhner Dr. Orlando Edreira Academy School No. 26

Jacqueline Gaston Dr. Antonia Pantoja School No. 27

Denise Renda Juan Pablo Duarte-Jose Julian Marti School No. 28

Diana Rivera Dr. Albert Einstein Academy School No. 29

Elizabeth Howard Ronald Reagan Academy School No. 30

Evangelia Zavolas Francis C. Smith Early Childhood Center School No. 50

Nicole Moscoso Donald Steward Early Childhood Center School No. 51

Kerry Sullivan Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Early Childhood Center School No. 52

Edmee Valentin John E. Dwyer Technology Academy

Betty Santangelo Admiral William F. Halsey, Jr. Leadership Academy

John J. Byrne Alexander Hamilton Preparatory Academy

Mary Rivera Thomas Jefferson Arts Academy

Todd Lecher Thomas A. Edison Career and Technical Academy

Panchali Roy Elizabeth High School

 

Jeff Roszkowski- Saving a team members life by performing the Heimlich Maneuver.

He was there, so that we can be here.

I see my street photography improving, 80% Simply came from gaining confidence, respect is the other 20.

Downtown Miami

Lumix G7, panasonic 25mm 1.7

But I have the utmost respect for those of you who do. The ability to shoot something that is already beautiful and really make it stand out I find inspiring.

I've tried a number of times to shoot flowers and I am always disappointed. They tend to look plain and like nothing special (see below), so when I do shoot them I try to be really different. So, after trying a number of different angles isolating this against a blue sky I went and shot this almost straight into the sun filtering through the trees and really like the outcome.

 

I have no idea what this is so if anyone knows please let me know.

Don't use this image on websites, blogs or other media without my explicit permission. Please respect "My Copyright ©2014" - All rights reserved.

The Ride of Respect is an annual mass ride by motorcyclists to pay tribute both to UK tri-service personnel and to the fallen and their families.

 

Over the past 4 years' rides, it have raised around a half million pounds for military charities

Respect indigenous rights

sous peine de PV (procès-verbal).

respect the crops or you will be fined. With a bit of time P.V will not be readable and you will not know anymore what you risk.

le respect des anciens chez les Papous

Ride of Respect over Abingdon Bridge

Sensō-ji temple - Tokyo

Halsey Academy’s Week of Respect Video

Victoria 🇨🇦

“When you are content to be simply yourself and don't compare or compete,

everybody will respect you.”

~Lao Tzu

 

“Do everything. Love as much as you can. it may hurt but it helps us grow.

Give all you have...you may be poor but you will be content.

Always forgive....your heart can not afford not to.

Teach what you know and learn what you don't.

Stay open to all”

~Anon

 

“Be content with what you are, and wish not change; nor dread your last day, nor long for it”

~Marcus Aurelius

   

Kayakers cross Douthat Lake, which feeds into Wilson Creek and the Jackson River, a tributary of the James River in Bath County, Va., on May 12, 2018. The upper James River was the healthiest region in the Chesapeake Bay watershed in 2019, according to the latest report card by the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science. (Photo by Will Parson/Chesapeake Bay Program)

 

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Respect: who do you give it to and why?

 

Respect: where do you get it?

 

Respect: how can I show my respect for ....?

 

Has another earned your esteem? How? How often?

 

What is correct in behavior or character?

You know how? Where is that rule book? Did you study that book?

 

Any government agency you hold in high or special regard for getting it right almost always still? Why? For how long?

 

What politician do you regard in a state of high or special regard? Why?

_______________

below from www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/a/albert_camus.html

are a few quotes from Albert Camus, French Philosopher

Date of Birth: November 7, 1913

Date of Death: January 4, 1960

 

Men must live and create. Live to the point of tears.

 

Methods of thought which claim to give the lead to our world in the name of revolution have become, in reality, ideologies of consent and not of rebellion.

 

Nobody realizes that some people expend tremendous energy merely to be normal.

 

Note, besides, that it is no more immoral to directly rob citizens than to slip indirect taxes into the price of goods that they cannot do without.

 

Nothing is more despicable than respect based on fear.

 

One leader, one people, signifies one master and millions of slaves.

 

EXPLORE # 169 on Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Photo taken in London. UK

A.k.a. the "Bokina". Minty, with 1:1 extender. Actually turns out to be greater than 1:1 magnification with respect to APS-C sensor size

1. "Drive slow kids at play"

2. Line

3. Pattern

4. Basic edit

5. Shallow

6. West

Respect those who served our country+

course work

.

035321022011

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Doing such act might cause you A Block from Me

Only Appreciation. Critics . comments Faves, Notes , Blog it And Own Comments are welcome and NO Round Up Comments plz !!

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The Edit of this Photo Demands Your View In BLACK with Large size for better out put, Plz Press L for Black

  

This is the cover photo of my set National Language Movement 2011

 

This Photo was taken on 21th Fab at 01:30 pm , From Jatio Shaheed Minar , Dhaka, BANGLADESH, This Photo was Taken while my Special Photowalk with The flickr Group Frame BANGLADESH

 

Description :The Bengali Language Movement: and in Bangali Trnslation to ভাষা আন্দোলন

  

The Bengali Language Movement: Can read In Bangoli here]ভাষা আন্দোলন, also known as the Language Movement (Bengali: ভাষা আন্দোলন; Bhasha Andolon), was a political effort in Bangladesh (then known as East Pakistan), advocating the recognition of the Bengali language as an official language ofPakistan. Such recognition would allow Bengali to be used in government affairs.When the state of Pakistan was formed in 1947, its two regions, East Pakistan (also called East Bengal) and West Pakistan, were split along cultural, geographical, and linguistic lines. In 1948, the Government of Pakistan ordained Urdu as the sole national language, sparking extensive protests among the Bengali-speaking majority of East Pakistan. Facing rising sectarian tensions and mass discontent with the new law, the government outlawed public meetings and rallies. The students of the University of Dhaka and other political activists defied the law and organised a protest on 21 February 1952. The movement reached its climax when police killed student demonstrators on that day. The deaths provoked widespread civil unrest led by the Awami Muslim League, later renamed the Awami League. After years of conflict, the central government relented and granted official status to the Bengali language in 1956. In 2000,UNESCO declared 21 February International Mother Language Day for the whole world to celebrate[1], in tribute to the Language Movement and the ethno-linguistic rights of people around the world.The Language Movement catalysed the assertion of Bengali national identity in Pakistan, and became a forerunner to Bengali nationalist movements, including the 6-point movement and subsequently the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971. In Bangladesh, 21 February is observed as Language Movement Day, a national holiday. The Shaheed Minar monument was constructed near Dhaka Medical College in memory of the movement and its victims

 

Background

 

The present nations of Pakistan and Bangladesh were part of undivided India during the British colonial rule. From the mid-19th century, the Urdu language had been promoted as thelingua franca of Indian Muslims by political and religious leaders such as Sir Khwaja Salimullah, Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, Nawab Viqar-ul-Mulk and Maulvi Abdul Haq.[2][3] Urdu is an Indo-Aryan language of the Indo-Iranian branch, belonging to the Indo-European family of languages. It developed under Persian, Arabic and Turkic influence on apabhramshas (last linguistic stage of the medieval Indian Aryan language Pali-Prakrit)[4] in South Asia during the Delhi Sultanate and Mughal Empire.[5] With its Perso-Arabic script, the language was considered a vital element of the Islamic culture for Indian Muslims; Hindi and the Devanagari script were seen as fundamentals of Hindu culture.[2]While the use of Urdu grew common with Muslims in northern India, the Muslims of Bengal (a province in the eastern part of British Indian sub-continent) primarily used the Bengali language. Bengali is an Eastern Indo-Aryan language that arose from the eastern Middle Indic languages around 1000 CE[6] and developed considerably during the Bengal Renaissance. As early as the late 19th century, social activists such as the Muslim feminist Roquia Sakhawat Hussain were choosing to write in Bengali to reach out to the people and develop it as a modern literary language. Supporters of Bengali opposed Urdu even before the partition of India, when delegates from Bengal rejected the idea of making Urdu the lingua franca of Muslim India in the 1937 Lucknow session of the Muslim League. The Muslim League was a British Indian political party that became the driving force behind the creation of Pakistan as a Muslim state separate from British India.[7]

 

The Other Set related to this set are available here at : International Mother Language Day

 

All other Photos of this set are available at : National Language Movement Dat 2011

 

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