A Sikh is a follower of Sikhism, a monotheistic religion which originated during the 15th century in the Punjab region. The term "Sikh" has its origin in the Sanskrit words शिष्य (śiṣya; disciple, student) or शिक्ष (śikṣa; instruction). A Sikh is a disciple of a guru. According to Article I of the Sikh Rehat Maryada (the Sikh code of conduct), a Sikh is "any human being who faithfully believes in One Immortal Being; ten Gurus, from Guru Nanak to Guru Gobind Singh; Guru Granth Sahib; the teachings of the ten Gurus and the baptism bequeathed by the tenth Guru". "Sikh" properly refers to adherents of Sikhism as a religion, not an ethnic group. However, because Sikhs often share strong ethno-religious ties, many countries, such as the U.K., recognize Sikh as a designated ethnicity on their censuses. The American non-profit organization United Sikhs has fought to have Sikh included on the U.S. census as well, arguing that Sikhs "self-identify as an 'ethnic minority'" and believe "that they are more than just a religion".

 

Male Sikhs usually have "Singh" (Lion), and female Sikhs have "Kaur" (Princess) as their middle or last name. Sikhs who have undergone the khanḍe-kī-pahul (the Sikh initiation ceremony) may also be recognized by the five Ks: uncut hair (kesh); an iron or steel bracelet (kara); a kirpan (a sword tucked into a gatra strap); kachehra, a cotton undergarment, and kanga, a small wooden comb. Baptized male Sikhs must cover their hair with a turban, which is optional for baptized female Sikhs. The greater Punjab region is the historic homeland of the Sikhs, although significant communities exist around the world.

 

HISTORY

Sikh political history may be said to begin with the death of the fifth Sikh guru, Guru Arjan Dev, in 1606. Guru Nanak was a religious leader and social reformer in the 15th-century Punjab. Religious practices were formalized by Guru Gobind Singh on 30 March 1699. Singh baptized five people from a variety of social backgrounds, known as the Panj Piare (the five beloved ones) to form the Khalsa, or collective body of initiated Sikhs. Sikhism has generally had amicable relations with other religions, except for the period of Mughal rule in India (1556–1707). Several Sikh gurus were killed by the Mughals for opposing their persecution of minority religious communities including Sikhs. Sikhs subsequently militarized to oppose Mughal rule. The emergence of the Sikh Confederacy under Ranjit Singh was characterized by religious tolerance and pluralism, with Christians, Muslims and Hindus in positions of power. The confederacy is considered the zenith of political Sikhism, encompassing Kashmir, Ladakh and Peshawar. Hari Singh Nalwa, the commander-in-chief of the Sikh army in the North West Frontier, expanded the confederacy to the Khyber Pass. Its secular administration implemented military, economic and governmental reforms. The months leading up to the partition of India in 1947 were marked by conflict in the Punjab between Sikhs and Muslims. This caused the religious migration of Punjabi Sikhs and Hindus from West Punjab, mirroring a similar religious migration of Punjabi Muslims from East Punjab.

 

The 1960s saw growing animosity between Sikhs and Hindus in India, with the Sikhs demanding the creation of a Punjab state on a linguistic basis similar to other states in India. This was promised to Sikh leader Master Tara Singh by Jawaharlal Nehru, in return for Sikh political support during negotiations for Indian independence. Although the Sikhs obtained the Punjab, they lost Hindi-speaking areas to Himachal Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan. Chandigarh was made a union territory and the capital of Haryana and Punjab on 1 November 1966.

 

Tensions arose again during the late 1970s, fueled by Sikh claims of discrimination and marginalisation by the Hindu-dominated Indian National Congress party and tactics adopted by the Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

 

According to Katherine Frank, Indira Gandhi's assumption of emergency powers in 1975 resulted in the weakening of the "legitimate and impartial machinery of government", and her increasing "paranoia" about opposing political groups led her to institute a "despotic policy of playing castes, religions and political groups against each other for political advantage". Sikh leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale articulated Sikh demands for justice, and this triggered violence in the Punjab. The prime minister's 1984 defeat of Bhindranwale led to an attack on the Golden Temple in Operation Blue Star and to her assassination by her Sikh bodyguards. Gandhi's assassination resulted in an explosion of violence against Sikh communities and the killing of thousands of Sikhs throughout India. Khushwant Singh described the riots as a Sikh pogrom; he "felt like a refugee in my country. In fact, I felt like a Jew in Nazi Germany". Since 1984, relations between Sikhs and Hindus have moved toward a rapprochement aided by economic prosperity. However, a 2002 claim by the Hindu right-wing Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) that "Sikhs are Hindus" disturbed Sikh sensibilities. The Khalistan movement campaigns for justice for the victims of the violence, and for the political and economic needs of the Punjab.

 

In 1996, United Nations Commission on Human Rights Freedom of Religion or Belief Special Rapporteur Abdelfattah Amor (Tunisia, 1993–2004) visited India to report on religious discrimination. The following year Amor concluded, "In India it appears that the situation of the Sikhs in the religious field is satisfactory, but that difficulties are arising in the political (foreign interference, terrorism, etc.), economic (in particular with regard to sharing of water supplies) and even occupational fields. Information received from nongovernment (sic) sources indicates that discrimination does exist in certain sectors of the public administration; examples include the decline in the number of Sikhs in the police force and the military, and the absence of Sikhs in personal bodyguard units since the murder of Indira Gandhi".

 

Although Sikhs comprise 10 to 15 percent of all ranks of the Indian Army and 20 percent of its officers, they make up 1.87 percent of the Indian population.

 

During the 1999 Vaisakhi, Sikhs worldwide celebrated the 300th anniversary of the creation of the Khalsa. Canada Post honoured Sikh Canadians with a commemorative stamp in conjunction with the 300th anniversary of Vaisakhi. On April 9, 1999, Indian president K.R. Narayanan issued a stamp commemorating the 300th anniversary of the Khalsa.

 

DEFINITION

According to Guru Granth Sahib:

One who calls himself a Sikh of the Guru, the True Guru, shall rise in the early morning hours and meditate on the Lord's Name. Upon arising early in the morning, the Sikh is to bathe, and cleanse himself in the pool of nectar. Following the Instructions of the Guru, the Sikh is to chant the Name of the Lord, Har. All sins, misdeeds and negativity shall be erased. Then, at the rising of the sun, the Sikh is to sing Gurbani; whether sitting down or standing up, the Sikh is to meditate on the Lord's Name. One who meditates on my Lord, Har, with every breath and every morsel of food – that Gursikh becomes pleasing to the Guru's Mind. That person, unto whom my Lord and Master is kind and compassionate – upon that Gursikh, the Guru's Teachings are bestowed. Servant Nanak begs for the dust of the feet of that Gursikh, who himself chants the Naam, and inspires others to chant it.

 

Simran of the Lord's name is a recurring theme of Guru Granth Sahib, and Sukhmani Sahib were composed to allow a devotee to recite Nam throughout the day. Rising at Amrit Velā (before sunrise) is a common Sikh practice. Sikhism considers the spiritual and secular lives to be intertwined: "In the Sikh Weltanschauung ... the temporal world is part of the Infinite and partakes of its characteristics." According to Guru Nanak, living an "active, creative, and practical life" of "truthfulness, fidelity, self-control and purity" is superior to a purely contemplative life.

 

FIVE Ks

The five Ks (panj kakaar) are five articles of faith which all baptized Sikhs (Amritdhari Sikhs) are obliged to wear. The symbols represent the ideals of Sikhism: honesty, equality, fidelity, meditating on God and never bowing to tyranny. The five symbols are:

- Kesh: Uncut hair, usually tied and wrapped in a Dastar

- Kanga: A wooden comb, usually worn under a Dastar

- Katchera: Cotton undergarments, historically appropriate in battle due to increased mobility when compared to a dhoti. Worn by both sexes, the katchera is a symbol of chastity.

- Kara: An iron bracelet, a weapon and a symbol of eternity

- Kirpan: An iron dagger in different sizes. In the UK Sikhs can wear a small dagger, but in the Punjab they might wear a traditional curved sword from one to three feet in length.

 

MUSIC & INSTRUMENTS

The Sikhs have a number of musical instruments: the rebab, dilruba, taus, jori and sarinda. Playing the sarangi was encouraged in Guru Har Gobind. The rubab was first played by Bhai Mardana as he accompanied Guru Nanak on his journeys. The jori and sarinda were designed by Guru Arjan. The taus was made by Guru Hargobind, who supposedly heard a peacock singing and wanted to create an instrument mimicking its sounds (taus is the Persian word for peacock). The dilruba was made by Guru Gobind Singh at the request of his followers, who wanted a smaller instrument than the taus. After Japji Sahib, all of the shabda in the Guru Granth Sahib were composed as ragas. This type of singing is known as Gurmat Sangeet.

 

When they marched into battle, the Sikhs would play a Ranjit Nagara (victory drum) to boost morale. Nagaras (usually two to three feet in diameter, although some were up to five feet in diameter) are played with two sticks. The beat of the large drums, and the raising of the Nishan Sahib, meant that the singhs were on their way.

 

DISTRIBUTION

Numbering about 27 million worldwide, Sikhs make up 0.39 percent of the world population; approximately 83 percent live in India. About 76 percent of all Sikhs live in the north Indian State of Punjab, where they form a majority (about two-thirds) of the population. Substantial communities of Sikhs (more than 200,000) live in the Indian states or union territories of Haryana (more than 1.1 million), Rajasthan, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh Assam and Jammu and Kashmir.

 

Sikh migration from British India began in earnest during the second half of the 19th century, when the British completed their annexation of the Punjab. The British Raj recruited Sikhs for the Indian Civil Service (particularly the British Indian Army), which led to Sikh migration throughout India and the British Empire. During the Raj, semiskilled Sikh artisans were transported from the Punjab to British East Africa to help build railroads. Sikhs emigrated from India and Pakistan after World War II, most going to the United Kingdom but many to North America. Some Sikhs who had settled in eastern Africa were expelled by Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in 1972. Economics is a major factor in Sikh migration, and significant communities exist in the United Kingdom, Canada, the United States, Malaysia, East Africa, Australia and Thailand.

 

Although the rate of Sikh migration from the Punjab has remained high, traditional patterns of Sikh migration favouring English-speaking countries (particularly the United Kingdom) have changed during the past decade due to stricter immigration laws. Moliner (2006) wrote that as a consequence of Sikh migration to the UK "becom[ing] virtually impossible since the late 1970s", migration patterns evolved to continental Europe. Italy is a rapidly growing destination for Sikh migration, with Reggio Emilia and Vicenza having significant Sikh population clusters. Italian Sikhs are generally involved in agriculture, agricultural processing, the manufacture of machine tools and horticulture.

 

Primarily for socio-economic reasons, Indian Sikhs have the lowest adjusted growth rate of any major religious group in India, at 16.9 percent per decade (estimated from 1991 to 2001). Johnson and Barrett (2004) estimate that the global Sikh population increases annually by 392,633 (1.7 percent per year, based on 2004 figures); this percentage includes births, deaths and conversions.

 

REPRESENTATION

Sikhs have been represented in Indian politics by former Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh and the deputy chairman of the Indian Planning Commission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia. Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal is also a Sikh. Past Sikh politicians in India include former president Giani Zail Singh, Sardar Swaran Singh (India's first foreign minister), Speaker of Parliament Gurdial Singh Dhillon and former Chief Minister of Punjab Pratap Singh Kairon.

 

Politicians from the Sikh diaspora include the first Asian American member of the United States Congress, Dalip Singh Saund, British MPs Piara Khabra, Parmjit Dhanda and Paul Uppal, the first couple to sit together in a Commonwealth parliament (Gurmant Grewal and Nina Grewal, who requested a Canadian government apology for the Komagata Maru incident), former Canadian Shadow Social Development Minister Ruby Dhalla, Canadian Minister of State for Sport Baljit Singh Gosal and Legislative Assembly of Ontario members Vic Dhillon and Jagmeet Singh. Ujjal Dosanjh was the New Democratic Party Premier of British Columbia from July 2004 to February 2005, and was later a Liberal frontbench MP in Ottawa. In Malaysia, two Sikhs were elected MPs in the 2008 general elections: Karpal Singh (Bukit Gelugor) and his son, Gobind Singh Deo (Puchong). Two Sikhs were elected assemblymen: Jagdeep Singh Deo (Datuk Keramat) and Keshvinder Singh (Malim Nawar).

 

Sikhs comprise 10 to 15 percent of all ranks in the Indian Army and 20 percent of its officers, while making up 1.87 percent of the Indian population. The Sikh Regiment is one of the most-decorated regiments in the army, with 73 Battle Honours, 14 Victoria Crosses, 21 first-class Indian Orders of Merit (equivalent to the Victoria Cross), 15 Theatre Honours, five COAS Unit Citations, two Param Vir Chakras, 14 Maha Vir Chakras, five Kirti Chakras, 67 Vir Chakras and 1,596 other awards. The highest-ranking general in the history of the Indian Air Force is a Punjabi Sikh, Marshal of the Air Force Arjan Singh. Plans by the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence for a Sikh infantry regiment were scrapped in June 2007.

 

Historically, most Indians have been farmers and 66 percent of the Indian population are engaged in agriculture. Indian Sikhs are employed in agriculture to a lesser extent; India's 2001 census found 39 percent of the working population of the Punjab employed in this sector. The success of the 1960s Green Revolution, in which India went from "famine to plenty, from humiliation to dignity", was based in the Punjab (which became known as "the breadbasket of India"). The Punjab is the wealthiest Indian state per capita, with the average Punjabi income three times the national average. The Green Revolution centred on Indian farmers adopting more intensive and mechanised agricultural methods, aided by the electrification of the Punjab, cooperative credit, consolidation of small holdings and the existing, British Raj-developed canal system. According to Swedish political scientist Ishtiaq Ahmad, a factor in the success of the Indian green revolution was the "Sikh cultivator, often the Jat, whose courage, perseverance, spirit of enterprise and muscle prowess proved crucial". However, not all aspects of the green revolution were beneficial. Indian physicist Vandana Shiva wrote that the green revolution made the "negative and destructive impacts of science [i.e. the green revolution] on nature and society" invisible, and was a catalyst for Punjabi Sikh and Hindu tensions despite a growth in material wealth.

 

Punjabi Sikhs are engaged in a number of professions which include science, engineering and medicine. Notable examples are nuclear scientist Piara Singh Gill (who worked on the Manhattan Project), fibre-optics pioneer Narinder Singh Kapany and physicist, science writer and broadcaster Simon Singh.

 

In business, the UK-based clothing retailers New Look and the Thai-based Jaspal were founded by Sikhs. India's largest pharmaceutical company, Ranbaxy Laboratories, is headed by Sikhs. UK Sikhs have the highest percentage of home ownership (82 percent) of any religious community. UK Sikhs are the second-wealthiest (after the Jewish community) religious group in the UK, with a median total household wealth of £229,000. In Singapore Kartar Singh Thakral expanded his family's trading business, Thakral Holdings, into total assets of almost $1.4 billion and is Singapore's 25th-richest person. Sikh Bob Singh Dhillon is the first Indo-Canadian billionaire. The Sikh diaspora has been most successful in North America, especially in California’s fertile Central Valley. American Sikh farmers such as Harbhajan Singh Samra and Didar Singh Bains dominate California agriculture, with Samra specialising in okra and Bains in peaches.

 

Sikh intellectuals, sportsmen and artists include writer Khushwant Singh, England cricketer Monty Panesar, former 400m runner Milkha Singh, Indian wrestler and actor Dara Singh, former Indian hockey team captains Ajitpal Singh and Balbir Singh Sr., former Indian cricket captain Bishen Singh Bedi, Harbhajan Singh (India's most successful off spin cricket bowler), Bollywood actress Neetu Singh, Sunny Leone, actors Parminder Nagra, Neha Dhupia, Gul Panag, Mona Singh, Namrata Singh Gujral, Archie Panjabi and director Gurinder Chadha.

 

Sikhs have migrated worldwide, with a variety of occupations. The Sikh Gurus preached ethnic and social harmony, and Sikhs comprise a number of ethnic groups. Those with over 1,000 members include the Ahluwalia, Arain, Arora, Bhatra, Bairagi, Bania, Basith, Bawaria, Bazigar, Bhabra, Chamar, Chhimba, Darzi, Dhobi, Gujar, Jatt, Jhinwar, Kahar, Kalal, Kamboj, Khatri, Kumhar, Labana, Lohar, Mahtam, Mazhabi, Megh, Mirasi, Mochi, Nai, Rajput, Ramgarhia, Saini, Sarera, Sikligar, Sunar, Sudh, Tarkhan and Zargar.

 

An order of Punjabi Sikhs, the Nihang or the Akalis, was formed during Ranjit Singh's time. Under their leader, Akali Phula Singh, they won many battles for the Sikh Confederacy during the early 19th century.

 

IN THE INDIAN & BRITISH ARMIES

Sikhs supported the British during the Indian Rebellion of 1857. By the beginning of World War I, Sikhs in the British Indian Army totaled over 100,000 (20 percent of the force). Until 1945 fourteen Victoria Crosses were awarded to Sikhs, a per-capita regimental record. In 2002 the names of all Sikh VC and George Cross recipients were inscribed on the monument of the Memorial Gates on Constitution Hill, next to Buckingham Palace. Chanan Singh Dhillon was instrumental in campaigning for the memorial.

 

During World War I, Sikh battalions fought in Egypt, Palestine, Mesopotamia, Gallipoli and France. Six battalions of the Sikh Regiment were raised during World War II, serving in the Second Battle of El Alamein, the Burma and Italian campaigns and in Iraq and receiving 27 battle honours. Around the world, Sikhs are commemorated in Commonwealth cemeteries.

 

In the last two world wars 83,005 turban wearing Sikh soldiers were killed and 109,045 were wounded. They all died or were wounded for the freedom of Britain and the world, and during shell fire, with no other protection but the turban, the symbol of their faith.

—General Sir Frank Messervy

 

British people are highly indebted and obliged to Sikhs for a long time. I know that within this century we needed their help twice [in two world wars] and they did help us very well. As a result of their timely help, we are today able to live with honour, dignity, and independence. In the war, they fought and died for us, wearing the turbans.

—Sir Winston Churchill

 

IN THE WEST

During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Sikhs began to emigrate to East Africa, the Far East, Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom. In 1907 the Khalsa Diwan Society was established in Vancouver, and four years later the first gurdwara was established in London. In 1912 the first gurdwara in the United States was founded in Stockton, California.

 

Since Sikhs (like Middle Eastern men) wear turbans, some in Western countries have been mistaken for Muslim or Arabic men since the September 11 attacks and the Iraq War. Several days after the 9/11 attacks Sikh Balbir Singh Sodhi was murdered by Frank Roque, who thought Sodhi was connected with al-Qaeda. CNN suggested an increase in hate crimes against Sikh men in the United States and the UK after the 9/11 attacks.

 

Since Sikhism has never actively sought converts, the Sikhs have remained a relatively homogeneous ethnic group. The Kundalini Yoga-based activities of Harbhajan Singh Yogi in his 3HO (Happy, Healthy, Holy) organisation claim to have inspired a moderate growth in non-Indian adherents of Sikhism. In 1998 an estimated 7,800 3HO Sikhs, known colloquially as ‘gora’ (ਗੋਰਾ) or ‘white’ Sikhs, were mainly centred around Española, New Mexico and Los Angeles, California. Sikhs and the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund overturned a 1925 Oregon law banning the wearing of turbans by teachers and government officials.

 

In an attempt to foster Sikh leaders in the Western world, youth initiatives by a number of organisations have begun. The Sikh Youth Alliance of North America sponsors an annual Sikh Youth Symposium, a public-speaking and debate competition held in gurdwaras throughout the U.S. and Canada.

 

ART & CULTURE

Sikh art and culture are nearly synonymous with that of the Punjab, and Sikhs are easily recognised by their distinctive turban (Dastar). The Punjab has been called India’s melting pot, due to the confluence of invading cultures (Greek, Mughal and Persian) from the rivers from which the region gets its name. Sikh culture is therefore a synthesis of cultures. Sikhism has forged a unique architecture, which S. S. Bhatti described as "inspired by Guru Nanak’s creative mysticism" and "is a mute harbinger of holistic humanism based on pragmatic spirituality".

 

During the Mughal and Afghan persecution of the Sikhs during the 17th and 18th centuries, the latter were concerned with preserving their religion and gave little thought to art and culture. With the rise of Ranjit Singh and the Sikh Raj in Lahore and Delhi, there was a change in the landscape of art and culture in the Punjab; Hindus and Sikhs could build decorated shrines without the fear of destruction or looting.

 

The Sikh Confederacy was the catalyst for a uniquely Sikh form of expression, with Ranjit Singh commissioning forts, palaces, bungas (residential places) and colleges in a Sikh style. Sikh architecture is characterised by gilded fluted domes, cupolas, kiosks, stone lanterns, ornate balusters and square roofs. A pinnacle of Sikh style is Harmandir Sahib (also known as the Golden Temple) in Amritsar.

 

Sikh culture is influenced by militaristic motifs (with the Khanda the most obvious), and most Sikh artifacts - except for the relics of the Gurus - have a military theme. This theme is evident in the Sikh festivals of Hola Mohalla and Vaisakhi, which feature marching and displays of valor.

 

Although the art and culture of the Sikh diaspora have merged with that of other Indo-immigrant groups into categories like "British Asian", "Indo-Canadian" and "Desi-Culture", a minor cultural phenomenon which can be described as "political Sikh" has arisen. The art of diaspora Sikhs like Amarjeet Kaur Nandhra and Amrit and Rabindra Kaur Singh (the "Singh Twins") is influenced by their Sikhism and current affairs in the Punjab.

Bhangra and Giddha are two forms of Punjabi folk dancing which have been adapted and pioneered by Sikhs. Punjabi Sikhs have championed these forms of expression worldwide, resulting in Sikh culture becoming linked to Bhangra (although "Bhangra is not a Sikh institution but a Punjabi one").

 

PAINTING

Sikh painting is a direct offshoot of the Kangra school of painting. In 1810, Ranjeet Singh (1780–1839) occupied Kangra Fort and appointed Sardar Desa Singh Majithia his governor of the Punjab hills. In 1813 the Sikh army occupied Guler State, and Raja Bhup Singh became a vassal of the Sikhs. With the Sikh kingdom of Lahore becoming the paramount power, some of the Pahari painters from Guler migrated to Lahore for the patronage of Maharaja Ranjeet Singh and his Sardars.

 

The Sikh school adapted Kangra painting to Sikh needs and ideals. Its main subjects are the ten Sikh gurus and stories from Guru Nanak's Janamsakhis. The tenth Guru, Gobind Singh, left a deep impression on the followers of the new faith because of his courage and sacrifices. Hunting scenes and portraits are also common in Sikh painting.

 

WIKIPEDIA

A Sikh is a follower of Sikhism, a monotheistic religion which originated during the 15th century in the Punjab region. The term "Sikh" has its origin in the Sanskrit words शिष्य (śiṣya; disciple, student) or शिक्ष (śikṣa; instruction). A Sikh is a disciple of a guru. According to Article I of the Sikh Rehat Maryada (the Sikh code of conduct), a Sikh is "any human being who faithfully believes in One Immortal Being; ten Gurus, from Guru Nanak to Guru Gobind Singh; Guru Granth Sahib; the teachings of the ten Gurus and the baptism bequeathed by the tenth Guru". "Sikh" properly refers to adherents of Sikhism as a religion, not an ethnic group. However, because Sikhs often share strong ethno-religious ties, many countries, such as the U.K., recognize Sikh as a designated ethnicity on their censuses. The American non-profit organization United Sikhs has fought to have Sikh included on the U.S. census as well, arguing that Sikhs "self-identify as an 'ethnic minority'" and believe "that they are more than just a religion".

 

Male Sikhs usually have "Singh" (Lion), and female Sikhs have "Kaur" (Princess) as their middle or last name. Sikhs who have undergone the khanḍe-kī-pahul (the Sikh initiation ceremony) may also be recognized by the five Ks: uncut hair (kesh); an iron or steel bracelet (kara); a kirpan (a sword tucked into a gatra strap); kachehra, a cotton undergarment, and kanga, a small wooden comb. Baptized male Sikhs must cover their hair with a turban, which is optional for baptized female Sikhs. The greater Punjab region is the historic homeland of the Sikhs, although significant communities exist around the world.

 

HISTORY

Sikh political history may be said to begin with the death of the fifth Sikh guru, Guru Arjan Dev, in 1606. Guru Nanak was a religious leader and social reformer in the 15th-century Punjab. Religious practices were formalized by Guru Gobind Singh on 30 March 1699. Singh baptized five people from a variety of social backgrounds, known as the Panj Piare (the five beloved ones) to form the Khalsa, or collective body of initiated Sikhs. Sikhism has generally had amicable relations with other religions, except for the period of Mughal rule in India (1556–1707). Several Sikh gurus were killed by the Mughals for opposing their persecution of minority religious communities including Sikhs. Sikhs subsequently militarized to oppose Mughal rule. The emergence of the Sikh Confederacy under Ranjit Singh was characterized by religious tolerance and pluralism, with Christians, Muslims and Hindus in positions of power. The confederacy is considered the zenith of political Sikhism, encompassing Kashmir, Ladakh and Peshawar. Hari Singh Nalwa, the commander-in-chief of the Sikh army in the North West Frontier, expanded the confederacy to the Khyber Pass. Its secular administration implemented military, economic and governmental reforms. The months leading up to the partition of India in 1947 were marked by conflict in the Punjab between Sikhs and Muslims. This caused the religious migration of Punjabi Sikhs and Hindus from West Punjab, mirroring a similar religious migration of Punjabi Muslims from East Punjab.

 

The 1960s saw growing animosity between Sikhs and Hindus in India, with the Sikhs demanding the creation of a Punjab state on a linguistic basis similar to other states in India. This was promised to Sikh leader Master Tara Singh by Jawaharlal Nehru, in return for Sikh political support during negotiations for Indian independence. Although the Sikhs obtained the Punjab, they lost Hindi-speaking areas to Himachal Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan. Chandigarh was made a union territory and the capital of Haryana and Punjab on 1 November 1966.

 

Tensions arose again during the late 1970s, fueled by Sikh claims of discrimination and marginalisation by the Hindu-dominated Indian National Congress party and tactics adopted by the Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

 

According to Katherine Frank, Indira Gandhi's assumption of emergency powers in 1975 resulted in the weakening of the "legitimate and impartial machinery of government", and her increasing "paranoia" about opposing political groups led her to institute a "despotic policy of playing castes, religions and political groups against each other for political advantage". Sikh leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale articulated Sikh demands for justice, and this triggered violence in the Punjab. The prime minister's 1984 defeat of Bhindranwale led to an attack on the Golden Temple in Operation Blue Star and to her assassination by her Sikh bodyguards. Gandhi's assassination resulted in an explosion of violence against Sikh communities and the killing of thousands of Sikhs throughout India. Khushwant Singh described the riots as a Sikh pogrom; he "felt like a refugee in my country. In fact, I felt like a Jew in Nazi Germany". Since 1984, relations between Sikhs and Hindus have moved toward a rapprochement aided by economic prosperity. However, a 2002 claim by the Hindu right-wing Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) that "Sikhs are Hindus" disturbed Sikh sensibilities. The Khalistan movement campaigns for justice for the victims of the violence, and for the political and economic needs of the Punjab.

 

In 1996, United Nations Commission on Human Rights Freedom of Religion or Belief Special Rapporteur Abdelfattah Amor (Tunisia, 1993–2004) visited India to report on religious discrimination. The following year Amor concluded, "In India it appears that the situation of the Sikhs in the religious field is satisfactory, but that difficulties are arising in the political (foreign interference, terrorism, etc.), economic (in particular with regard to sharing of water supplies) and even occupational fields. Information received from nongovernment (sic) sources indicates that discrimination does exist in certain sectors of the public administration; examples include the decline in the number of Sikhs in the police force and the military, and the absence of Sikhs in personal bodyguard units since the murder of Indira Gandhi".

 

Although Sikhs comprise 10 to 15 percent of all ranks of the Indian Army and 20 percent of its officers, they make up 1.87 percent of the Indian population.

 

During the 1999 Vaisakhi, Sikhs worldwide celebrated the 300th anniversary of the creation of the Khalsa. Canada Post honoured Sikh Canadians with a commemorative stamp in conjunction with the 300th anniversary of Vaisakhi. On April 9, 1999, Indian president K.R. Narayanan issued a stamp commemorating the 300th anniversary of the Khalsa.

 

DEFINITION

According to Guru Granth Sahib:

One who calls himself a Sikh of the Guru, the True Guru, shall rise in the early morning hours and meditate on the Lord's Name. Upon arising early in the morning, the Sikh is to bathe, and cleanse himself in the pool of nectar. Following the Instructions of the Guru, the Sikh is to chant the Name of the Lord, Har. All sins, misdeeds and negativity shall be erased. Then, at the rising of the sun, the Sikh is to sing Gurbani; whether sitting down or standing up, the Sikh is to meditate on the Lord's Name. One who meditates on my Lord, Har, with every breath and every morsel of food – that Gursikh becomes pleasing to the Guru's Mind. That person, unto whom my Lord and Master is kind and compassionate – upon that Gursikh, the Guru's Teachings are bestowed. Servant Nanak begs for the dust of the feet of that Gursikh, who himself chants the Naam, and inspires others to chant it.

 

Simran of the Lord's name is a recurring theme of Guru Granth Sahib, and Sukhmani Sahib were composed to allow a devotee to recite Nam throughout the day. Rising at Amrit Velā (before sunrise) is a common Sikh practice. Sikhism considers the spiritual and secular lives to be intertwined: "In the Sikh Weltanschauung ... the temporal world is part of the Infinite and partakes of its characteristics." According to Guru Nanak, living an "active, creative, and practical life" of "truthfulness, fidelity, self-control and purity" is superior to a purely contemplative life.

 

FIVE Ks

The five Ks (panj kakaar) are five articles of faith which all baptized Sikhs (Amritdhari Sikhs) are obliged to wear. The symbols represent the ideals of Sikhism: honesty, equality, fidelity, meditating on God and never bowing to tyranny. The five symbols are:

- Kesh: Uncut hair, usually tied and wrapped in a Dastar

- Kanga: A wooden comb, usually worn under a Dastar

- Katchera: Cotton undergarments, historically appropriate in battle due to increased mobility when compared to a dhoti. Worn by both sexes, the katchera is a symbol of chastity.

- Kara: An iron bracelet, a weapon and a symbol of eternity

- Kirpan: An iron dagger in different sizes. In the UK Sikhs can wear a small dagger, but in the Punjab they might wear a traditional curved sword from one to three feet in length.

 

MUSIC & INSTRUMENTS

The Sikhs have a number of musical instruments: the rebab, dilruba, taus, jori and sarinda. Playing the sarangi was encouraged in Guru Har Gobind. The rubab was first played by Bhai Mardana as he accompanied Guru Nanak on his journeys. The jori and sarinda were designed by Guru Arjan. The taus was made by Guru Hargobind, who supposedly heard a peacock singing and wanted to create an instrument mimicking its sounds (taus is the Persian word for peacock). The dilruba was made by Guru Gobind Singh at the request of his followers, who wanted a smaller instrument than the taus. After Japji Sahib, all of the shabda in the Guru Granth Sahib were composed as ragas. This type of singing is known as Gurmat Sangeet.

 

When they marched into battle, the Sikhs would play a Ranjit Nagara (victory drum) to boost morale. Nagaras (usually two to three feet in diameter, although some were up to five feet in diameter) are played with two sticks. The beat of the large drums, and the raising of the Nishan Sahib, meant that the singhs were on their way.

 

DISTRIBUTION

Numbering about 27 million worldwide, Sikhs make up 0.39 percent of the world population; approximately 83 percent live in India. About 76 percent of all Sikhs live in the north Indian State of Punjab, where they form a majority (about two-thirds) of the population. Substantial communities of Sikhs (more than 200,000) live in the Indian states or union territories of Haryana (more than 1.1 million), Rajasthan, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh Assam and Jammu and Kashmir.

 

Sikh migration from British India began in earnest during the second half of the 19th century, when the British completed their annexation of the Punjab. The British Raj recruited Sikhs for the Indian Civil Service (particularly the British Indian Army), which led to Sikh migration throughout India and the British Empire. During the Raj, semiskilled Sikh artisans were transported from the Punjab to British East Africa to help build railroads. Sikhs emigrated from India and Pakistan after World War II, most going to the United Kingdom but many to North America. Some Sikhs who had settled in eastern Africa were expelled by Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in 1972. Economics is a major factor in Sikh migration, and significant communities exist in the United Kingdom, Canada, the United States, Malaysia, East Africa, Australia and Thailand.

 

Although the rate of Sikh migration from the Punjab has remained high, traditional patterns of Sikh migration favouring English-speaking countries (particularly the United Kingdom) have changed during the past decade due to stricter immigration laws. Moliner (2006) wrote that as a consequence of Sikh migration to the UK "becom[ing] virtually impossible since the late 1970s", migration patterns evolved to continental Europe. Italy is a rapidly growing destination for Sikh migration, with Reggio Emilia and Vicenza having significant Sikh population clusters. Italian Sikhs are generally involved in agriculture, agricultural processing, the manufacture of machine tools and horticulture.

 

Primarily for socio-economic reasons, Indian Sikhs have the lowest adjusted growth rate of any major religious group in India, at 16.9 percent per decade (estimated from 1991 to 2001). Johnson and Barrett (2004) estimate that the global Sikh population increases annually by 392,633 (1.7 percent per year, based on 2004 figures); this percentage includes births, deaths and conversions.

 

REPRESENTATION

Sikhs have been represented in Indian politics by former Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh and the deputy chairman of the Indian Planning Commission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia. Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal is also a Sikh. Past Sikh politicians in India include former president Giani Zail Singh, Sardar Swaran Singh (India's first foreign minister), Speaker of Parliament Gurdial Singh Dhillon and former Chief Minister of Punjab Pratap Singh Kairon.

 

Politicians from the Sikh diaspora include the first Asian American member of the United States Congress, Dalip Singh Saund, British MPs Piara Khabra, Parmjit Dhanda and Paul Uppal, the first couple to sit together in a Commonwealth parliament (Gurmant Grewal and Nina Grewal, who requested a Canadian government apology for the Komagata Maru incident), former Canadian Shadow Social Development Minister Ruby Dhalla, Canadian Minister of State for Sport Baljit Singh Gosal and Legislative Assembly of Ontario members Vic Dhillon and Jagmeet Singh. Ujjal Dosanjh was the New Democratic Party Premier of British Columbia from July 2004 to February 2005, and was later a Liberal frontbench MP in Ottawa. In Malaysia, two Sikhs were elected MPs in the 2008 general elections: Karpal Singh (Bukit Gelugor) and his son, Gobind Singh Deo (Puchong). Two Sikhs were elected assemblymen: Jagdeep Singh Deo (Datuk Keramat) and Keshvinder Singh (Malim Nawar).

 

Sikhs comprise 10 to 15 percent of all ranks in the Indian Army and 20 percent of its officers, while making up 1.87 percent of the Indian population. The Sikh Regiment is one of the most-decorated regiments in the army, with 73 Battle Honours, 14 Victoria Crosses, 21 first-class Indian Orders of Merit (equivalent to the Victoria Cross), 15 Theatre Honours, five COAS Unit Citations, two Param Vir Chakras, 14 Maha Vir Chakras, five Kirti Chakras, 67 Vir Chakras and 1,596 other awards. The highest-ranking general in the history of the Indian Air Force is a Punjabi Sikh, Marshal of the Air Force Arjan Singh. Plans by the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence for a Sikh infantry regiment were scrapped in June 2007.

 

Historically, most Indians have been farmers and 66 percent of the Indian population are engaged in agriculture. Indian Sikhs are employed in agriculture to a lesser extent; India's 2001 census found 39 percent of the working population of the Punjab employed in this sector. The success of the 1960s Green Revolution, in which India went from "famine to plenty, from humiliation to dignity", was based in the Punjab (which became known as "the breadbasket of India"). The Punjab is the wealthiest Indian state per capita, with the average Punjabi income three times the national average. The Green Revolution centred on Indian farmers adopting more intensive and mechanised agricultural methods, aided by the electrification of the Punjab, cooperative credit, consolidation of small holdings and the existing, British Raj-developed canal system. According to Swedish political scientist Ishtiaq Ahmad, a factor in the success of the Indian green revolution was the "Sikh cultivator, often the Jat, whose courage, perseverance, spirit of enterprise and muscle prowess proved crucial". However, not all aspects of the green revolution were beneficial. Indian physicist Vandana Shiva wrote that the green revolution made the "negative and destructive impacts of science [i.e. the green revolution] on nature and society" invisible, and was a catalyst for Punjabi Sikh and Hindu tensions despite a growth in material wealth.

 

Punjabi Sikhs are engaged in a number of professions which include science, engineering and medicine. Notable examples are nuclear scientist Piara Singh Gill (who worked on the Manhattan Project), fibre-optics pioneer Narinder Singh Kapany and physicist, science writer and broadcaster Simon Singh.

 

In business, the UK-based clothing retailers New Look and the Thai-based Jaspal were founded by Sikhs. India's largest pharmaceutical company, Ranbaxy Laboratories, is headed by Sikhs. UK Sikhs have the highest percentage of home ownership (82 percent) of any religious community. UK Sikhs are the second-wealthiest (after the Jewish community) religious group in the UK, with a median total household wealth of £229,000. In Singapore Kartar Singh Thakral expanded his family's trading business, Thakral Holdings, into total assets of almost $1.4 billion and is Singapore's 25th-richest person. Sikh Bob Singh Dhillon is the first Indo-Canadian billionaire. The Sikh diaspora has been most successful in North America, especially in California’s fertile Central Valley. American Sikh farmers such as Harbhajan Singh Samra and Didar Singh Bains dominate California agriculture, with Samra specialising in okra and Bains in peaches.

 

Sikh intellectuals, sportsmen and artists include writer Khushwant Singh, England cricketer Monty Panesar, former 400m runner Milkha Singh, Indian wrestler and actor Dara Singh, former Indian hockey team captains Ajitpal Singh and Balbir Singh Sr., former Indian cricket captain Bishen Singh Bedi, Harbhajan Singh (India's most successful off spin cricket bowler), Bollywood actress Neetu Singh, Sunny Leone, actors Parminder Nagra, Neha Dhupia, Gul Panag, Mona Singh, Namrata Singh Gujral, Archie Panjabi and director Gurinder Chadha.

 

Sikhs have migrated worldwide, with a variety of occupations. The Sikh Gurus preached ethnic and social harmony, and Sikhs comprise a number of ethnic groups. Those with over 1,000 members include the Ahluwalia, Arain, Arora, Bhatra, Bairagi, Bania, Basith, Bawaria, Bazigar, Bhabra, Chamar, Chhimba, Darzi, Dhobi, Gujar, Jatt, Jhinwar, Kahar, Kalal, Kamboj, Khatri, Kumhar, Labana, Lohar, Mahtam, Mazhabi, Megh, Mirasi, Mochi, Nai, Rajput, Ramgarhia, Saini, Sarera, Sikligar, Sunar, Sudh, Tarkhan and Zargar.

 

An order of Punjabi Sikhs, the Nihang or the Akalis, was formed during Ranjit Singh's time. Under their leader, Akali Phula Singh, they won many battles for the Sikh Confederacy during the early 19th century.

 

IN THE INDIAN & BRITISH ARMIES

Sikhs supported the British during the Indian Rebellion of 1857. By the beginning of World War I, Sikhs in the British Indian Army totaled over 100,000 (20 percent of the force). Until 1945 fourteen Victoria Crosses were awarded to Sikhs, a per-capita regimental record. In 2002 the names of all Sikh VC and George Cross recipients were inscribed on the monument of the Memorial Gates on Constitution Hill, next to Buckingham Palace. Chanan Singh Dhillon was instrumental in campaigning for the memorial.

 

During World War I, Sikh battalions fought in Egypt, Palestine, Mesopotamia, Gallipoli and France. Six battalions of the Sikh Regiment were raised during World War II, serving in the Second Battle of El Alamein, the Burma and Italian campaigns and in Iraq and receiving 27 battle honours. Around the world, Sikhs are commemorated in Commonwealth cemeteries.

 

In the last two world wars 83,005 turban wearing Sikh soldiers were killed and 109,045 were wounded. They all died or were wounded for the freedom of Britain and the world, and during shell fire, with no other protection but the turban, the symbol of their faith.

—General Sir Frank Messervy

 

British people are highly indebted and obliged to Sikhs for a long time. I know that within this century we needed their help twice [in two world wars] and they did help us very well. As a result of their timely help, we are today able to live with honour, dignity, and independence. In the war, they fought and died for us, wearing the turbans.

—Sir Winston Churchill

 

IN THE WEST

During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Sikhs began to emigrate to East Africa, the Far East, Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom. In 1907 the Khalsa Diwan Society was established in Vancouver, and four years later the first gurdwara was established in London. In 1912 the first gurdwara in the United States was founded in Stockton, California.

 

Since Sikhs (like Middle Eastern men) wear turbans, some in Western countries have been mistaken for Muslim or Arabic men since the September 11 attacks and the Iraq War. Several days after the 9/11 attacks Sikh Balbir Singh Sodhi was murdered by Frank Roque, who thought Sodhi was connected with al-Qaeda. CNN suggested an increase in hate crimes against Sikh men in the United States and the UK after the 9/11 attacks.

 

Since Sikhism has never actively sought converts, the Sikhs have remained a relatively homogeneous ethnic group. The Kundalini Yoga-based activities of Harbhajan Singh Yogi in his 3HO (Happy, Healthy, Holy) organisation claim to have inspired a moderate growth in non-Indian adherents of Sikhism. In 1998 an estimated 7,800 3HO Sikhs, known colloquially as ‘gora’ (ਗੋਰਾ) or ‘white’ Sikhs, were mainly centred around Española, New Mexico and Los Angeles, California. Sikhs and the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund overturned a 1925 Oregon law banning the wearing of turbans by teachers and government officials.

 

In an attempt to foster Sikh leaders in the Western world, youth initiatives by a number of organisations have begun. The Sikh Youth Alliance of North America sponsors an annual Sikh Youth Symposium, a public-speaking and debate competition held in gurdwaras throughout the U.S. and Canada.

 

ART & CULTURE

Sikh art and culture are nearly synonymous with that of the Punjab, and Sikhs are easily recognised by their distinctive turban (Dastar). The Punjab has been called India’s melting pot, due to the confluence of invading cultures (Greek, Mughal and Persian) from the rivers from which the region gets its name. Sikh culture is therefore a synthesis of cultures. Sikhism has forged a unique architecture, which S. S. Bhatti described as "inspired by Guru Nanak’s creative mysticism" and "is a mute harbinger of holistic humanism based on pragmatic spirituality".

 

During the Mughal and Afghan persecution of the Sikhs during the 17th and 18th centuries, the latter were concerned with preserving their religion and gave little thought to art and culture. With the rise of Ranjit Singh and the Sikh Raj in Lahore and Delhi, there was a change in the landscape of art and culture in the Punjab; Hindus and Sikhs could build decorated shrines without the fear of destruction or looting.

 

The Sikh Confederacy was the catalyst for a uniquely Sikh form of expression, with Ranjit Singh commissioning forts, palaces, bungas (residential places) and colleges in a Sikh style. Sikh architecture is characterised by gilded fluted domes, cupolas, kiosks, stone lanterns, ornate balusters and square roofs. A pinnacle of Sikh style is Harmandir Sahib (also known as the Golden Temple) in Amritsar.

 

Sikh culture is influenced by militaristic motifs (with the Khanda the most obvious), and most Sikh artifacts - except for the relics of the Gurus - have a military theme. This theme is evident in the Sikh festivals of Hola Mohalla and Vaisakhi, which feature marching and displays of valor.

 

Although the art and culture of the Sikh diaspora have merged with that of other Indo-immigrant groups into categories like "British Asian", "Indo-Canadian" and "Desi-Culture", a minor cultural phenomenon which can be described as "political Sikh" has arisen. The art of diaspora Sikhs like Amarjeet Kaur Nandhra and Amrit and Rabindra Kaur Singh (the "Singh Twins") is influenced by their Sikhism and current affairs in the Punjab.

Bhangra and Giddha are two forms of Punjabi folk dancing which have been adapted and pioneered by Sikhs. Punjabi Sikhs have championed these forms of expression worldwide, resulting in Sikh culture becoming linked to Bhangra (although "Bhangra is not a Sikh institution but a Punjabi one").

 

PAINTING

Sikh painting is a direct offshoot of the Kangra school of painting. In 1810, Ranjeet Singh (1780–1839) occupied Kangra Fort and appointed Sardar Desa Singh Majithia his governor of the Punjab hills. In 1813 the Sikh army occupied Guler State, and Raja Bhup Singh became a vassal of the Sikhs. With the Sikh kingdom of Lahore becoming the paramount power, some of the Pahari painters from Guler migrated to Lahore for the patronage of Maharaja Ranjeet Singh and his Sardars.

 

The Sikh school adapted Kangra painting to Sikh needs and ideals. Its main subjects are the ten Sikh gurus and stories from Guru Nanak's Janamsakhis. The tenth Guru, Gobind Singh, left a deep impression on the followers of the new faith because of his courage and sacrifices. Hunting scenes and portraits are also common in Sikh painting.

 

WIKIPEDIA

From the autumn 2016 trip to Vietnam:

 

If ever there were a good way to finish up a trip, this particular Sunday in October would be it. Before arriving in Hanoi, I honestly had exceptionally low expectations. A bit like Saigon, if you are to go online and try to look up a list of places to visit – basically a tourist’s stock photography checklist, as it may be – you don’t find much that’s appealing. Well…I didn’t, anyway, and as a result, I had pretty low expectations for Hanoi.

 

The charm and beauty of Hanoi, however, isn’t in any one particular place. It’s in the experience of the entire city. (I’d say the same for Saigon, but multiply that a few times for Hanoi.) On this day in the Old Quarter in particular, I kept finding myself thinking, “Oh, my God, I shouldn’t be this lucky as a photographer…” Today ended up being mostly about people, with a little food and historical locations mixed in.

 

As I mentioned in the last set of posting, today would start off a bit sad with Junebug leaving for China a day before I would. So, we were checked out of our room by 6:00 in the morning or so. The breakfast at the Art Trendy was wonderful. Buffet with a mix of made-to-order omelets mixed in. Strong work, Art Trendy, strong work…

 

When June left, I really had nothing to do since it was still six in the morning and I was temporarily homeless as I had to switch hotels. So…I sat around the lobby for about two hours (possibly slightly awkward for the poor girls working there, but oh, well; I had to sit somewhere).

 

Around 8:00, I finally dragged my old bones out of the hotel and walked the five to ten minutes down the street to the Aquarius, where I politely asked them to hold my non-camera bag until I come back around 1:00 in the afternoon to check in.

 

After that, I was finally off with my cameras to enjoy an early Sunday morning in the bustling Old Quarter. On the street where the hotel is situated are a number of restaurants where locals were jammed in to enjoy noodles, steamed buns, and the like. It was wonderful to be among that crowd (though someone tried to scold me ever so slightly for taking pictures of people eating).

 

Since this was right next to St. Joseph’s Cathedral – and it was Sunday morning – I found my way back into the church where we crashed the wedding the afternoon before and realized that I almost got locked into Sunday mass while walking around taking pictures. So…I stayed. I prayed. And my prayer was answered when I realized the side doors and even the back door were open. (Ok…I didn’t really think I was locked in a church, but it did feel like it a little bit.)

 

Upon exiting the church, a handful of frames under my belt, I walked along the lovely streets photographing shops and people. At Caphe, I piggybacked on someone else’s photo shoot – it looked like they were doing a promo for the place, or possibly just a personal shoot for five women, though I have a feeling it was the former. At any rate, I was quite pleased with that little set and am presenting quite a few of those here, even if they’re a little redundant.

 

My ultimate goal with this wandering was to find my way to the Hanoi Hilton. Now, I’m not taking about the hotel chain, of course, but rather the prison that U.S. prisoners of war sarcastically called the Hanoi Hilton during the Vietnam War. (This is the prison where Senator John McCain was interred while a POW, and there are one or two pictures to that effect here.)

 

This prison has a particularly interesting history (and morbid since…well…it’s a prison). It’s about a hundred years old and was founded by the French colonialists around the turn of the 20th century. During the first 50 years of its history, the French imprisoned Vietnamese insurgents and those who wanted independence. In the eyes of the French…renegades (hence the imprisonment). In the eyes of the Vietnamese – especially the current government – patriots and national heroes. If they were truly freedom fighters, then I would probably side with the current government on that one.

 

The French even had a guillotine installed here and overcrowding was a major problem. There were plenty of escape attempts, and more were successful than you may think, which is a little peculiar.

 

After the battle of Bien Dien Phu and the ejection of the French from the north (and before the U.S. got involved in the south), the prison changed hands and was under control of Ho Chi Minh. During the Vietnam War, it became one of the main prisons for U.S. POWs, as I alluded to above.

 

The propaganda claims that the Vietcong were absolutely humane and decent with U.S. prisoners, allowing them to observe their religious rites (Christmas celebrations, etc.), allowed prisoners to smoke and enjoy leisure (board games, basketball, etc.), and claimed they were well-fed.

 

This is certainly how it’s presented in the prison/museum currently. If you were to go online, though, and try to find a contrary report, you would find that this was all coerced and staged to make it appear as if things were on the up and up. (For anyone curious, per my Vietnamese friends, the general education in Vietnam today is how terrible the French and U.S. were for colonizing and torturing the country and keeping it from its independence.)

 

So, what’s the truth of what really happened? Who knows? Outside of firsthand accounts, it’s impossible to know for certain and even then, memory can be a tricky thing. I tend to like to say the truth is always somewhere between two opposing viewpoints, no matter what the topic may be.

 

From an impartial and purely photographic point of view, the prison, currently a museum/memorial, is an interesting place to spend an hour or two. Some of the exhibits seem a bit cheesy, but some are quite tasteful and well done. There’s also an informational video. You’ll have to see this with a bit of imagination (the prison, that is), as at least half of it has been leveled for high rise buildings. At least there’s some tangible piece of it left to visit, including the main gate (Maison Centrale).

 

After about two hours here at the Hanoi Hilton, I walked over towards the Opera House to get a few daytime shots but, really, to get lunch at El Gaucho. I was looking forward to a proper steak. The prices were astronomical (though justifiable based on what I ate), though I just opted for a steak salad. It was so good I contemplated going back for dinner, but had other plans.

 

With a happy stomach, I went back to finally check in at the Aquarius Hotel and got my workout huffing up six flights of stairs each time I went out. I relaxed here for a few hours until 4:00 when a dear friend of mine came to town to see me.

 

Ngan and I had an ice cream at Baskin Robbins right in front of St. Joe’s before heading over to the Temple of Literature. This is a temple dedicated to education and, bless my soul, it’s a place where university graduates come for graduation pictures.

 

On this particular day – a warm, sunny, late Sunday afternoon – it was packed with college students. And it was beautiful to see that many people happy, full of hopes and dreams, and dressed in either cap and gown or traditional Vietnamese clothes. In short…I had a field day shooting for an hour here.

 

Around 5:00, Ngan had to head back to school, and I went back to my hotel. I had one more meeting. Hoa, who traveled around Thailand & Cambodia with me in May, flew back to see me this evening. She picked me up at 6:00 on her scooter and rode me all around Hanoi by evening.

 

She started by taking me to Ho Chi Minh’s Mausoleum (which I consider a lot more photogenic in its setting than the Great Gangster’s Mausoleum on Tiananmen Square). This one, at least, was in a parklike setting. At evening, it’s well-lit and you can find people relaxing in the grass in front of it. During the day, you can visit and there are quite a few buildings behind the mausoleum that you can also see.

 

After a few minutes here, Hoa took me by West Lake – the largest lake in Hanoi, as I mentioned yesterday – and just drove me around for over an hour, it seemed. My impressions that Hanoi (even out of the Old Quarter) seemed to be a good place to live – though I’d be concerned about the air pollution – and people here seemed to be happy. Also…Vietnamese really love their coffee.

 

We finally returned to the Old Quarter for dinner at one of the famous restaurants she recommended and she treated me to a wonderful dinner. I can’t recall what we ate (the Vietnamese names of it, anyway), but it was nice.

 

After dinner, she drove me over towards the Opera House and then, finally, we stopped by Hoan Kiem Lake in the heart of the Quarter and walked around the lake. It was getting close to 10:00 by this time, and I wanted to get back to the hotel to get a few hours sleep before waking up for my early flight in the morning. Hoa came to the airport with me to see me off.

 

If ever there were a great way to finish a great trip, this was it. I absolutely loved Vietnam – honestly, a lot more than I imagined I would, even with every single person I know who’d ever come here saying what a fantastic country this is – and would gladly come back. This seems to be one of the kinds of countries that you would never get tired of or, if you did, it would sure take a long time. With that, I’ll bid goodbye to Vietnam for now with the hopes that I’ll someday return to this land of amazing food, landscapes, and people.

 

As always, thanks for dropping by and viewing these pictures. Please feel free to leave any questions or comments and I’ll answer as I have time.

Portrait of Rosa Praed: Queensland State Archives Image ID DR2819

 

Noted Queensland novelist Rosa Praed was born at Bromelton on the Logan River in 1851. The daughter of Thomas Murray-Prior and his wife Matilda, Praed spent much of her childhood on her father’s pastoral properties in the Logan and Burnett River districts and at Cleveland. Through her father’s subsequent political career she was familiar with a number of important personages, many of whom would be fictionalised in her works. In 1872 she married Arthur Campbell Praed and spent two years on her husband’s property on Curtis Island near Gladstone, a miserable experience which she incorporated into her autobiographical My Australian Girlhood (1902) and two novels. She accompanied her husband when he returned to England in 1876, and after the couple separated in 1897, she remained in England for the remainder of her life except for one brief visit to Australia in 1894-1895. Writing as Mrs Campbell Praed she produced 45 works over four decades, roughly half of which drew on her life in Australia and include many historical events in Queensland. Notwithstanding her obvious attempts at impartiality, Praed’s perspective was largely that of the elite society she knew so well.

 

Image courtesy of State Library of Queensland

Last October I was knocked from my cargobike in the centre of Newcastle by an aggressive, impatient motorist who, it has since transpired, had been previously convicted of drunk driving. Today I was in court as the main witness, and the main victim. But I didn't feel like a victim, I felt as though it was me in the dock. The crown prosecutor told me to expect aggressive questioning by the barrister for the defence but I hadn't expected it to be so aggressive and so anti-cyclist.

 

If such questioning, and the unfair conclusions in the summing up by the defence barrister, are common in other cases involving motorists and cyclists it's not surprising so many motorists walk free from court.

 

Rewind to October...

 

I was riding a heavy, unwieldy Xtracycle-equipped cargo bicycle and doing everything by the book (that book being Cyclecraft, of course), claiming my lane, looking to see what was behind me and taking my place in a queue of traffic, waiting at traffic lights in a right filter lane, with one car ahead of me (which was inching into the advanced stop line box) and one behind me, a white Fiat Punto.

 

The motorist behind me had, seconds before, honked his horn to get me out of his way and was shouting something out of his window, perhaps letting me know which of the two users sharing the road at that moment he felt had priority.

 

I ignored his bellicosity and inched forward when the car in front of me started moving when the light went green. The next thing I knew I was no longer on my bike, I had leg pain and I was facing the white car which had, clearly but surprisingly, deliberately bumped into the rear of my machine.

 

If you're going to get shunted by an impatient Boy Racer probably the best bike to be riding is one equipped with an Xtracycle attachment. I was shocked by the rear nudge, but not terribly injured. Somebody on a standard bike would have fared far worse.

 

I was thrown over the handlebars and I landed on the road. I was bruised and suffered a twisted hip, but there was no blood spilt. The driver got out and accused me of riding erratically and not getting out of his way. I had known he was behind me: I had heard his revving engine and had turned round to give him a shoulder shrug, kind of asking him what his problem was. I certainly wasn't expecting a punishment tap.

 

(The tap was so strong the car's airbag was activated, the motorist revealed in court today).

 

After the shunt I was in shock, but managed to take the pic above on my phone. The driver also took a pic and he called the police, at my insistence. Five minutes later a police officer arrived.

 

The young motorist told the attending police officer I had been riding erratically and then he was blinded by the sun at the traffic lights and had accidentally driven into the back of me. Today in court I was accused of deliberately putting myself in the way of the car in order to cause a confrontation. I was accused of being an aggressive cyclist, weaving in and out of traffic (on an Xtracycle!), going to the right of the defendant's car window and shouting that I wanted a fight. "You want road rage? I'll give you road rage," I was meant to have said. I was then accused of speeding past the Fiat Punto, slamming on my brakes and readying for the collision so I could jump clear at the last second. It was I who was in the wrong, spat the barrister.

 

I didn't take kindly to his accusations and I told him his accusations were untrue, fanciful and defied logic. I was greatly helped by the fact the defendant's barrister made repeated factual mistakes, including not remembering the accusations he had made just seconds earlier, calling my rear tyre "the car's bumper" and quizzing why my brake lights didn't come on. I took great pleasure in poking holes in his claim that I gave "inconsistent, inaccurate evidence" and said I was defending myself so robustly because he was accusing me of giving an inaccurate statement to the police.

 

When he asked what I thought the defendant's motive had been in giving me a shunt I explained it was very possibly use of a car as a weapon.

 

The barrister smirked, and audibly laughed at this. I registered his laugh but carried on. Later in the session I reminded the barrister he had laughed at the suggestion the car might have been used as a weapon. The barrister flatly denied he had done so. I asked for the legal secretary to go back to her notes. She did so, told the barrister what had been said, and had been seen by the three magistrates, and he sheepishly backed down. (These guys earn how much?)

 

The barrister in question was called to the bar in 1990 and is "exclusively defence based", working for clients accused of murder, rape and fraud. Privately he also advises clients on the Road Traffic Act, says his online biography. Yet his grasp of what cyclists are allowed to do on the road was shaky to the point of non-existence.

 

He wanted the magistrates to find his client not guilty because I had placed my bicycle in front of the Fiat Punto and behind the car in front "when Mr Reid should have placed himself in front of the car in front and not 'sandwiched' between two cars." Remember, the car in front was already ahead of the Advanced Stop Line. It was trapped in the box because a bus had taken longer than expected to turn right. According to the barrister I should not have taken my place in a queue of traffic but should have pushed in front of the car ahead and placed myself ahead of the white line at the lights, away from his client. By being in front of his client I was readying to entrap him, he claimed. Bizarre logic. (I said so, too).

 

The case was won, I think, because of an impartial witness who had seen everything that had happened from his car and came over to see if I was OK. In court this witness (a retired bus driver) described how the defendant, after the shunt, was shouting at me, effing and blinding.

 

The defendant also had a witness, a female passenger. She had the same story as the defendant, claiming I had been riding erratically, weaving in and out of traffic.

 

During cross examination it became plain there hadn't been much traffic on the road for me to weave in and out of. I had been riding in a 'no car lane' on Newcastle's John Dobson Street and then steered into the right hand lane to take a right hand turn. The witness for the prosecution confirmed that I was standing still just before the collision, had briefly looked over my shoulder to check what was behind, and had moved when the light turned green. The barrister claimed the glance over my shoulder was "an obvious look to see when to jump clear of the bicycle."

 

The barrister also tried to make much of the fact I was in the middle of the lane. Quoting from both from the Highway Code and Cyclecraft from Her Majesty's Stationery Office, I was able to steer him from the claim that I was deliberately trying to obstruct his client merely by being in front of him on a bicycle.

 

The court case lasted three and a half hours, with a break for lunch. The defence barrister had originally tried to free his client with a technicality over minor inconsistencies between the witness statements and evidence given in court (including mine, I had said I had landed on the ground whereas my witness statement said I landed on my feet; the retired bus driver said I had fallen to the ground). The magistrates left the court room to deliberate on the point of law but were soon back in to allow the case to proceed. The barrister then had to call his client, a tele-service operator for a North East accountancy software firm. Big mistake. With only the gentlest of questioning from the prosecuting barrister the motorist agreed he had shunted me, claimed the sun had blinded him, and when asked whether he'd now give cyclists more room in the future, he said, yes, he would. In which case, asked the prosecutor, why didn't you leave space for this cyclist who, it has been claimed, was riding erratically? Shouldn't you leave more space for such a cyclist, somebody who, it was claimed, had been weaving about and shouting aggressively? The driver agreed he should have left more space for such a erratic and aggressive cyclist.

 

If the defending barrister thought the case was now lost, he didn't show it. His summing-up painted me a scofflaw cyclist, deliberately trying to trick the defendant into smashing into my bicycle "setting a tripwire for [the defendent] for a later civil compensation case". The shunt was "an error anybody could make," said the defence barrister, playing the "there but for the Grace of God Go I" card. His final statement must have bemused the magistrates as much as it bemused me: road "accidents" happen all over the world, all the time, and are the fault of nobody. Just as a caterpillar and a butterfly are two very different things, yet also the same thing, so his client ought to be found not guilty. No, I have no idea what it means either. I suspect he rolls out this metaphor in many of his cases and sometimes it might work. In this particular case the insect imagery was lost on the magistrates and they found the defendant guilty.

 

In their verdict, the magistrates, sweetly, said my evidence had been "cogent and credible" and that my road positioning was not in any way at fault. The motorist was found guilty of driving without care and attention and will have to pay court costs of £600. The magistrates left the court to decide on the motorist's sentence. I didn't want to hang around but the police officer who had attended the scene said the motorist would likely get a fine of £600 and three to six points on his driving licence.

 

Outside court I heard his witness complaining she'd be "paying a fortune" in car park charges. He's pay her back, he said. I had no parking charges to pay. I had ridden to court on my cargo bike.

   

From the autumn 2016 trip to Vietnam:

 

If ever there were a good way to finish up a trip, this particular Sunday in October would be it. Before arriving in Hanoi, I honestly had exceptionally low expectations. A bit like Saigon, if you are to go online and try to look up a list of places to visit – basically a tourist’s stock photography checklist, as it may be – you don’t find much that’s appealing. Well…I didn’t, anyway, and as a result, I had pretty low expectations for Hanoi.

 

The charm and beauty of Hanoi, however, isn’t in any one particular place. It’s in the experience of the entire city. (I’d say the same for Saigon, but multiply that a few times for Hanoi.) On this day in the Old Quarter in particular, I kept finding myself thinking, “Oh, my God, I shouldn’t be this lucky as a photographer…” Today ended up being mostly about people, with a little food and historical locations mixed in.

 

As I mentioned in the last set of posting, today would start off a bit sad with Junebug leaving for China a day before I would. So, we were checked out of our room by 6:00 in the morning or so. The breakfast at the Art Trendy was wonderful. Buffet with a mix of made-to-order omelets mixed in. Strong work, Art Trendy, strong work…

 

When June left, I really had nothing to do since it was still six in the morning and I was temporarily homeless as I had to switch hotels. So…I sat around the lobby for about two hours (possibly slightly awkward for the poor girls working there, but oh, well; I had to sit somewhere).

 

Around 8:00, I finally dragged my old bones out of the hotel and walked the five to ten minutes down the street to the Aquarius, where I politely asked them to hold my non-camera bag until I come back around 1:00 in the afternoon to check in.

 

After that, I was finally off with my cameras to enjoy an early Sunday morning in the bustling Old Quarter. On the street where the hotel is situated are a number of restaurants where locals were jammed in to enjoy noodles, steamed buns, and the like. It was wonderful to be among that crowd (though someone tried to scold me ever so slightly for taking pictures of people eating).

 

Since this was right next to St. Joseph’s Cathedral – and it was Sunday morning – I found my way back into the church where we crashed the wedding the afternoon before and realized that I almost got locked into Sunday mass while walking around taking pictures. So…I stayed. I prayed. And my prayer was answered when I realized the side doors and even the back door were open. (Ok…I didn’t really think I was locked in a church, but it did feel like it a little bit.)

 

Upon exiting the church, a handful of frames under my belt, I walked along the lovely streets photographing shops and people. At Caphe, I piggybacked on someone else’s photo shoot – it looked like they were doing a promo for the place, or possibly just a personal shoot for five women, though I have a feeling it was the former. At any rate, I was quite pleased with that little set and am presenting quite a few of those here, even if they’re a little redundant.

 

My ultimate goal with this wandering was to find my way to the Hanoi Hilton. Now, I’m not taking about the hotel chain, of course, but rather the prison that U.S. prisoners of war sarcastically called the Hanoi Hilton during the Vietnam War. (This is the prison where Senator John McCain was interred while a POW, and there are one or two pictures to that effect here.)

 

This prison has a particularly interesting history (and morbid since…well…it’s a prison). It’s about a hundred years old and was founded by the French colonialists around the turn of the 20th century. During the first 50 years of its history, the French imprisoned Vietnamese insurgents and those who wanted independence. In the eyes of the French…renegades (hence the imprisonment). In the eyes of the Vietnamese – especially the current government – patriots and national heroes. If they were truly freedom fighters, then I would probably side with the current government on that one.

 

The French even had a guillotine installed here and overcrowding was a major problem. There were plenty of escape attempts, and more were successful than you may think, which is a little peculiar.

 

After the battle of Bien Dien Phu and the ejection of the French from the north (and before the U.S. got involved in the south), the prison changed hands and was under control of Ho Chi Minh. During the Vietnam War, it became one of the main prisons for U.S. POWs, as I alluded to above.

 

The propaganda claims that the Vietcong were absolutely humane and decent with U.S. prisoners, allowing them to observe their religious rites (Christmas celebrations, etc.), allowed prisoners to smoke and enjoy leisure (board games, basketball, etc.), and claimed they were well-fed.

 

This is certainly how it’s presented in the prison/museum currently. If you were to go online, though, and try to find a contrary report, you would find that this was all coerced and staged to make it appear as if things were on the up and up. (For anyone curious, per my Vietnamese friends, the general education in Vietnam today is how terrible the French and U.S. were for colonizing and torturing the country and keeping it from its independence.)

 

So, what’s the truth of what really happened? Who knows? Outside of firsthand accounts, it’s impossible to know for certain and even then, memory can be a tricky thing. I tend to like to say the truth is always somewhere between two opposing viewpoints, no matter what the topic may be.

 

From an impartial and purely photographic point of view, the prison, currently a museum/memorial, is an interesting place to spend an hour or two. Some of the exhibits seem a bit cheesy, but some are quite tasteful and well done. There’s also an informational video. You’ll have to see this with a bit of imagination (the prison, that is), as at least half of it has been leveled for high rise buildings. At least there’s some tangible piece of it left to visit, including the main gate (Maison Centrale).

 

After about two hours here at the Hanoi Hilton, I walked over towards the Opera House to get a few daytime shots but, really, to get lunch at El Gaucho. I was looking forward to a proper steak. The prices were astronomical (though justifiable based on what I ate), though I just opted for a steak salad. It was so good I contemplated going back for dinner, but had other plans.

 

With a happy stomach, I went back to finally check in at the Aquarius Hotel and got my workout huffing up six flights of stairs each time I went out. I relaxed here for a few hours until 4:00 when a dear friend of mine came to town to see me.

 

Ngan and I had an ice cream at Baskin Robbins right in front of St. Joe’s before heading over to the Temple of Literature. This is a temple dedicated to education and, bless my soul, it’s a place where university graduates come for graduation pictures.

 

On this particular day – a warm, sunny, late Sunday afternoon – it was packed with college students. And it was beautiful to see that many people happy, full of hopes and dreams, and dressed in either cap and gown or traditional Vietnamese clothes. In short…I had a field day shooting for an hour here.

 

Around 5:00, Ngan had to head back to school, and I went back to my hotel. I had one more meeting. Hoa, who traveled around Thailand & Cambodia with me in May, flew back to see me this evening. She picked me up at 6:00 on her scooter and rode me all around Hanoi by evening.

 

She started by taking me to Ho Chi Minh’s Mausoleum (which I consider a lot more photogenic in its setting than the Great Gangster’s Mausoleum on Tiananmen Square). This one, at least, was in a parklike setting. At evening, it’s well-lit and you can find people relaxing in the grass in front of it. During the day, you can visit and there are quite a few buildings behind the mausoleum that you can also see.

 

After a few minutes here, Hoa took me by West Lake – the largest lake in Hanoi, as I mentioned yesterday – and just drove me around for over an hour, it seemed. My impressions that Hanoi (even out of the Old Quarter) seemed to be a good place to live – though I’d be concerned about the air pollution – and people here seemed to be happy. Also…Vietnamese really love their coffee.

 

We finally returned to the Old Quarter for dinner at one of the famous restaurants she recommended and she treated me to a wonderful dinner. I can’t recall what we ate (the Vietnamese names of it, anyway), but it was nice.

 

After dinner, she drove me over towards the Opera House and then, finally, we stopped by Hoan Kiem Lake in the heart of the Quarter and walked around the lake. It was getting close to 10:00 by this time, and I wanted to get back to the hotel to get a few hours sleep before waking up for my early flight in the morning. Hoa came to the airport with me to see me off.

 

If ever there were a great way to finish a great trip, this was it. I absolutely loved Vietnam – honestly, a lot more than I imagined I would, even with every single person I know who’d ever come here saying what a fantastic country this is – and would gladly come back. This seems to be one of the kinds of countries that you would never get tired of or, if you did, it would sure take a long time. With that, I’ll bid goodbye to Vietnam for now with the hopes that I’ll someday return to this land of amazing food, landscapes, and people.

 

As always, thanks for dropping by and viewing these pictures. Please feel free to leave any questions or comments and I’ll answer as I have time.

Portrait d'Adam Smith

Adam Smith.

Dans le domaine socio-économique, la main invisible est une expression (forgée par Adam Smith) qui désigne la théorie selon laquelle l'ensemble des actions individuelles des acteurs économiques, guidées (par définition) uniquement par l'intérêt personnel de chacun, contribuent à la richesse et au bien commun.

  

Sommaire

1Passages où Smith emploie l'expression

2Les diverses interprétations de la main invisible

2.1La classification de Grampp

2.2Les « mains invisibles », oratorio ou variations sur un thème ?

2.3Un concept marginal dans l'œuvre d'Adam Smith ?

2.4Interprétation non leibnizienne de la « main invisible »

2.5Travaux des chercheurs français : « Shaking the Invisible Hand »[35]

3Enjeux économiques et politiques

3.1Main invisible et politique

3.2La « main invisible », concept repris par les néoclassiques

3.2.1Le concept

3.2.2Une reprise des idées de Smith ?

3.3Les « mains invisibles » contre le néoliberalisme

4Critiques

5Notes et références

6Sources

7Voir aussi

7.1Articles connexes

Passages où Smith emploie l'expression[modifier | modifier le code]

La main invisible est une expression employée à trois reprises dans l'œuvre d'Adam Smith :

 

dans History of Astronomy :

 

« Car il peut être observé que dans toutes les religions polythéistes, parmi les sauvages comme dans les âges les plus reculés de l'Antiquité, ce sont seulement les événements irréguliers de la nature qui sont attribués au pouvoir de leurs dieux. Les feux brûlent, les corps lourds descendent et les substances les plus légères volent par la nécessité de leur propre nature ; on n'envisage jamais de recourir à la « main invisible de Jupiter » dans ces circonstances. Mais le tonnerre et les éclairs, la tempête et le soleil, ces événements plus irréguliers sont attribués à sa colère. »

 

— Adam Smith « History of Astronomy », 1755~, in W.P.D Wightman and J.C Bryce (eds), Adam Smith Essays on Philosophical Subjets, Clarendon Press, 1981, p. 491

dans la Théorie des sentiments moraux2 :

 

« Le produit du sol fait vivre presque tous les hommes qu'il est susceptible de faire vivre. Les riches choisissent seulement dans cette quantité produite ce qui est le plus précieux et le plus agréable. Ils ne consomment guère plus que les pauvres et, en dépit de leur égoïsme et de leur rapacité naturelle, quoiqu'ils n'aspirent qu'à leur propre commodité, quoique l'unique fin qu'ils se proposent d'obtenir du labeur des milliers de bras qu'ils emploient soit la seule satisfaction de leurs vains et insatiables désirs, ils partagent tout de même avec les pauvres les produits des améliorations qu'ils réalisent. Ils sont conduits par une main invisible à accomplir presque la même distribution des nécessités de la vie que celle qui aurait eu lieu si la terre avait été divisée en portions égales entre tous ses habitants ; et ainsi, sans le vouloir, ils servent les intérêts de la société et donnent des moyens à la multiplication de l'espèce. »

 

— Adam Smith, 1999 [1759], Théorie des sentiments moraux, Léviathan, PUF, p.257

dans la Richesse des Nations :

 

« Mais le revenu annuel de toute société est toujours précisément égal à la valeur échangeable de tout le produit annuel de son industrie, ou plutôt c’est précisément la même chose que cette valeur échangeable. Par conséquent, puisque chaque individu tâche, le plus qu’il peut, 1° d’employer son capital à faire valoir l’industrie nationale, et 2° de diriger cette industrie de manière à lui faire produire la plus grande valeur possible, chaque individu travaille nécessairement à rendre aussi grand que possible le revenu annuel de la société. À la vérité, son intention, en général, n'est pas en cela de servir l'intérêt public, et il ne sait même pas jusqu'à quel point il peut être utile à la société. En préférant le succès de l'industrie nationale à celui de l'industrie étrangère, il ne pense qu'à se donner personnellement une plus grande sûreté ; et en dirigeant cette industrie de manière à ce que (sic) son produit ait le plus de valeur possible, il ne pense qu'à son propre gain ; en cela, comme dans beaucoup d'autres cas, il est conduit par une main invisible à remplir une fin qui n'entre nullement dans ses intentions ; et ce n'est pas toujours ce qu'il y a de plus mal pour la société, que cette fin n'entre pour rien dans ses intentions. Tout en ne cherchant que son intérêt personnel, il travaille souvent d'une manière bien plus efficace pour l'intérêt de la société, que s'il avait réellement pour but d'y travailler. Je n'ai jamais vu que ceux qui aspiraient, dans leurs entreprises de commerce, à travailler pour le bien général, aient fait beaucoup de bonnes choses. Il est vrai que cette belle passion n'est pas très commune parmi les marchands, et qu'il ne faudrait pas de longs discours pour les en guérir. »

 

— Adam Smith, Recherches sur la nature et les causes de la richesse des nations, Livre IV, ch. 2, 1776 ; d'après réédition, éd. Flammarion, 1991, tome II p. 42-43.

Dans le domaine socio-économique qui est celui de la deuxième et de la troisième occurrence, cette formule évoque l'idée que des actions guidées par notre seul intérêt peuvent contribuer à la richesse et au bien-être commun. Malgré sa place très modeste dans l’œuvre de Smith, cette expression est devenue très populaire, au point de faire l'objet de nombreux commentaires et de nombreuses interprétations, dont certaines portent sur le sens qu'elle avait pour Smith dans le contexte de son époque, et la plupart sur les usages qui en ont été faits postérieurement par d'autres auteurs.

 

Les diverses interprétations, au moins quatorze, seront examinées plus loin. Une des causes du foisonnement des interprétations tient au fait que Smith écrit au moment où la controverse autour du système de l'optimisme de Leibniz est très vive. Dès lors se pose la question de savoir si la « main invisible » est ou non la métaphore de quelque chose de proche de ce système. L'autre raison à la multiplicité des interprétations tient à leurs conséquences pratiques tant au niveau économique que politique, c'est ce que nous appellerons par la suite, les enjeux.

 

Les diverses interprétations de la main invisible[modifier | modifier le code]

La classification de Grampp[modifier | modifier le code]

Grampp3 a recensé neuf façons d'interpréter la main invisible4, interprétations proposées par des chercheurs :

 

La force qui fait de l'intérêt de l'un, l'intérêt des autres. C'est ce qu'Élie Halévy appelle l'« harmonisation naturelle des intérêts ». C'est aussi l'interprétation la plus répandue, nous y reviendrons plus loin. Elle a été notamment défendue par Cropsey5 et Sugden6.

Le mécanisme des prix. C'est une interprétation presque aussi commune que la précédente, nous l'étudierons plus en détail ultérieurement.

Une métaphore de l'idée de conséquences inattendues. Pour Grampp (2000, p. 446), c'est celle des néo-autrichiens. Vaughn (1987, p. 997) écrit : « La “main invisible” est une métaphore utilisée par Smith pour désigner le principe par lequel un ordre social bénéfique émerge des conséquences inattendues des actions individuelles des êtres humains7 ».

La concurrence. C'est ce qu'affirme Rosenberg8 mais pour Grampp9, rien dans l'œuvre de Smith ne viendrait étayer cette thèse. Bruno10 partage cette position et écrit qu'« on ne peut pas la comparer non plus à la concurrence pure et parfaite ».

L'avantage mutuel à l'échange. Cette interprétation est celle de Frank Knight11. Pour Grampp12, cette idée se trouve déjà chez Cicéron, auquel Smith aurait aussi pu reprendre une idée ou deux sur les bénéfices de la division du travail et du bien-être matériel.

Une plaisanterie ou une métaphore ironique. C'est l'interprétation d'Emma Georgina Rothschild (en) (2001). Ce point est développé plus loin.

Un processus évolutionniste. Cosmides et Tooby (1994) pensent que la « main invisible » est le processus par lequel les êtres humains acquièrent la connaissance, les savoir-faire et les habitudes qui les conduisent, quand ils achètent et vendent, à maximiser leur intérêt et celui de leur pays. Pour Grampp13, ces thèmes ne sont pas étrangers à Smith, mais ils n'ont rien à voir avec la « main invisible ».

Une force providentielle13. C'est l'interprétation de Jacob Viner14 de Spiegel (1979) et d'Evensky (1993).

La force qui restreint les exportations de capital et contribue à la sécurité d'un pays. Interprétation proposée par Persky (1989).

Un des mérites de l'article de Grampp (2000) est d'insister sur le fort pouvoir rhétorique15 et la grande capacité d'évocation de l'expression « main invisible », montre que parfois, nous l'interprétons davantage en fonction de l'idée que nous en avons que de ce que Smith a réellement écrit. Toutefois, la typologie de Grampp mélange des interprétations de niveaux différents, et c'est là aussi sa faiblesse. En effet, alors que certaines interprétations fixent un cadre général de pensée ou font de la « main invisible » une métaphore d'un tel cadre, d'autres sont bien plus techniques, tandis que d'autres encore visent surtout à minimiser la portée « réaliste » de la « main invisible » ou à dissocier les différentes occurrences de l'expression.

 

Aux interprétations inventoriées par Grampp sont venues s'ajouter celle émanant de Grampp lui-même, et celles, souvent récentes, d'économistes et de philosophes français.

 

Les « mains invisibles », oratorio ou variations sur un thème ?[modifier | modifier le code]

Grampp (2000) s'interroge sur le fait de savoir si les trois références à la « main invisible » (que l'on trouve respectivement dans l'History of Astronomy, la Théorie des Sentiments moraux et dans la Richesse des nations) forment un oratorio, c'est-à-dire si nous devons les interpréter comme se référant toutes à un même principe, ou si, au contraire, elles sont des variations sur un thème non joué16, c'est-à-dire si derrière les mêmes mots se cachent en réalité des principes différents. Il suit là une voie ouverte par Macfie (1971).

 

La « main invisible de Jupiter », et la « main invisible » modèle dix-huitième siècle. Macfie, dans l'article The Invisible Hand of Jupiter (1971), soutient que l'école écossaise du xviiie siècle aurait fait des interprétations de l'histoire proche de celle de Giambattista Vico, qui distinguait l'âge des dieux, l'âge des héros et l'âge des hommes. Aussi, pour Macfie17, la « main invisible de Jupiter » symboliserait l'intervention capricieuse et incompréhensible des dieux de l'Antiquité, liée à l'âge de la « superstition ». Au contraire, la « main invisible » serait, elle, plus en phase avec l'idée de Dieu ou de l'Être Suprême18 telle qu'elle se développe au xviiie siècle, et servirait à préserver l'Ordre naturel. De sorte qu'elle deviendrait, dans la Théorie des sentiments moraux (TSM) et la Richesse des Nations (RDN), l'instrument de « l'auteur de la nature qui gouverne et anime l'entière machine de l'Univers »19. Pour cet auteur, le passage de la TSM, beaucoup plus que celui des fins non-intentionnelles de la RDN, serait un excellent exemple de l'effort fait par Smith pour lier ensemble les arguments théologiques, juridiques et éthiques dans ce qui serait son interprétation du « grand système de la nature ».

Trois variations sur un thème non joué (Grampp 2000). Cet auteur va plus loin que Macfie. Il distingue trois mains invisibles différentes, et proclame qu'il continuera à penser ainsi jusqu'à ce qu'il ait été démontré, à partir de ce que Smith a réellement écrit, qu'il y a une relation entre elles20. Dans son article, il interprète la « main invisible de Jupiter » d'une façon proche de Macfie. Celle de la TSM lui pose visiblement des problèmes, pour au moins trois raisons : c'est une composante de l'ordre naturel, il trouve le livre « énigmatique » (puzzling), et surtout, ce livre ne dissocie pas l'économie de l'éthique. Il écrit à ce propos : « Le sujet de la Théorie des sentiments moraux porte sur la façon dont nous formons nos jugements éthiques, ce qui peut ou non intéresser les économistes »21. Il opte assez clairement pour la seconde solution et semble penser que les économistes ne sont pas intéressés par les jugements éthiques : « ce qui les intéresse, c'est la distribution des revenus, et c'est aussi un sujet du livre ». La main invisible de la RDN, la seule qui, selon lui, intéresse les économistes, guide l'intérêt personnel des industriels ou des marchands non dépourvus de bon sens qui, après avoir calculés le taux de retour des affaires réalisée sur le territoire national et en dehors, optent, une fois incluse une prime de risque, pour leur pays22. Il y a chez Grampp une volonté de réduire la place de la main invisible, démarche qui n'est pas sans évoquer les auteurs que nous allons maintenant aborder.

Un concept marginal dans l'œuvre d'Adam Smith ?[modifier | modifier le code]

Pour Élie Halévy, la main invisible occupait vraiment une place centrale dans l'œuvre de Smith. Cette assertion a été récemment contestée de façon radicale par Emma Georgina Rothschild (en), et, de façon plus feutrée, par Michaël Biziou. Pour comprendre cette opposition, il faut se rappeler qu'il existe une double lecture de Smith : l'une « conservatrice » avec Edmund Burke, l'autre « progressiste » avec Thomas Paine, Mary Wollstonecraft ou encore James Mackintosh23. Emma Rotschild rapproche Smith de Nicolas de Condorcet et elle se réclame d'un « libéralisme progressiste ». C'est peut-être cela qui l'amène à minimiser le rôle de la main invisible. Philippe Raynaud24, dans une recension de ce livre, doute qu'on puisse évacuer aussi facilement la « main invisible », laquelle participe d'une tension à l'intérieur du libéralisme entre conservatisme et progressisme et « permet de mettre au service d'une vision immanente de l'ordre social, des schèmes “providentialistes” traditionnellement utilisés pour défendre une vision hiérarchique et théologico-politique de l'autorité politique ».

 

La « main invisible » comme métaphore ironique. C'est la thèse d'Emma Rothschild25 : « Ma suggestion sera que l'attitude de Smith face à la « main invisible » est similaire et ironique, les trois fois. Il est amusé par les polythéistes qui croient à la main invisible de Jupiter dans l’History of Astronomy ; dans la Théorie des sentiments moraux et la Richesse de nations, il est amusé par les individus qui sont conduits par la main invisible (la main qu'ils ne peuvent pas voir, ou la main dans leur dos) »26.

La « main invisible » comme métaphore rhétorique du libéralisme de Smith. Pour Michaël Biziou27, « la métaphore de la main invisible, elle, a ceci de particulier qu'elle ne peut être interprétée que comme illustrant la causalité finale. La “main invisible” ne peut être que la main de l'artisan qui a créé la machine mécanicienne. C'est là toute sa valeur rhétorique, ce qui la rend si remarquable pour l'esprit du lecteur… Mais, il n'en reste pas moins que, du point de vue de l'explication scientifique des phénomènes humains, elle n'ajoute strictement rien à l'idée des conséquences inattendues se produisant selon le mécanisme aveugle de la causalité efficiente… Il faut en conclure que l'économie politique de Smith ne dépend pas, épistémologiquement parlant, de son théisme… Voilà pourquoi, en fin de compte, il est erroné d'accuser le libéralisme de Smith d'être une religion du marché reposant sur la foi dans le Dieu de la main invisible »28.

Interprétation non leibnizienne de la « main invisible »[modifier | modifier le code]

Les interprétations précédentes supposent le plus souvent, soit en l'acceptant soit en le rejetant, que la main invisible devait s'interpréter dans le cadre d'une harmonie naturelle des intérêts, et donc, dans le cadre du « système de l'optimisme » qui découle en grande partie de la théodicée de Leibniz, auteur dont Jon Elster (1975) a montré l'influence sur la formation du capitalisme. Dès lors, deux questions se posent : Smith est-il un tenant du système de l'optimisme, et sinon, une interprétation non leibnizienne de la main invisible est-elle possible ?

 

Smith n'utilise pas la notion de monade mais celle de « vice-gerents ». Pour Clavé29, « si l'on s'interroge sur ce qui différencie la monade du « vice-gerent », on voit que l'une est directement liée à Dieu ou à la Nature, dont il est une émanation et qui lui confère son autorité, alors que l'autre n'est qu'une essence, qui a une certaine autorité mais qui n'est pas directement lié à la divinité ». Sur le plan politique, le terme « vice-gerent » est employé au xviie siècle par les protestants anglais en lutte contre l'absolutisme royal, pour signifier que le roi ne tient pas directement le pouvoir de Dieu mais que, comme tous les hommes, il a en lui des semences du pouvoir souverain. Ce qui chagrine Smith dans les « vice-gerents », c'est qu'ils ont tendance à nous faire davantage apprécier la vertu que cela ne serait nécessaire, et qu'ils tendent trop à limiter les intérêts et les passions, moteurs de l'activité humaine. Clavé30 se demande si cela ne vient pas du fait que, chez Smith, il existe à côté de la droite raison une raison trompeuse.

 

Alors que la maximisation est un principe fondamental de l'architectonique du « système de l'optimisme », en particulier dans sa version malebranchienne, ce thème est peu présent chez Smith et, pour lui, le marché est plutôt un lieu destiné à amener les passions à la mesure31.

 

Dès lors, comment interpréter la main invisible ? Clavé32 remarque que selon Arendt, « à Rome, le mot utilisé pour indiquer un commandement divin était numen qui vient de nuere, “hocher la tête affirmativement” » et que « pour les romains, les auspices délivrés par les augures, à la différence des oracles grecs qui indiquaient le futur, révélaient seulement l'approbation ou la désapprobation des dieux ». Par ailleurs, en révélant leur accord, Arendt note que les dieux « “augmentent” et confirment les actions humaines, mais ne les commandent pas » (citation in Clavé, 2005, p. 62). Ainsi pour Clavé, la main invisible n'est pas un mécanisme qui harmoniserait automatiquement les intérêts. Elle montre simplement aux hommes que certaines actions, dont ils pourraient douter de l'intérêt, ont également des aspects positifs dont il convient de tenir compte. Cet auteur écrit33 que la « main invisible de Jupiter » se réduit à un simple hochement de tête sans qu'aucune justification ne soit fournie, tandis que la « main invisible » de la RDN et de la TSM possède une faculté d'accorder aux actes, ou de signaler, une plus-value ou un surplus de bienveillance qui les désigne à notre jugement. Elle peut être interprétée comme une norme, à partir de laquelle s'exerce la faculté de juger pour améliorer la situation des hommes. Cette interprétation semble d'autant plus en phase avec la pensée de Smith que Biziou34 souligne que, lorsque Smith utilise l'adjectif anglais « liberal », il l'emploie à la fois au sens de généreux et de liberality, terme qui décrit « une disposition d'esprit capable de former librement des jugements ».

 

Travaux des chercheurs français : « Shaking the Invisible Hand »35[modifier | modifier le code]

Pour Jean-Pierre Dupuy36 : « la tradition pensait que les intérêts pouvaient “contenir”, c'est-à-dire endiguer les passions, au sens qu'ils en sont infectés. Le virus de la contagion est en eux. Et si chez Smith l'économie contient la violence – c'est cela, la “main invisible” – c'est dans le double sens du verbe “contenir” ». Pour cet auteur37 : « la main invisible, principe d'“ordre à partir du désordre”, est en définitive la figure même de la transcendance à partir de l'immanence ».

 

En partie à la suite de Jean-Pierre Dupuy, une part non négligeable de la recherche française sur Smith n'a pas directement porté sur la « main invisible », mais plutôt sur l'articulation de concepts smithiens facteurs d'harmonie sociale tels que la sympathie, le spectateur impartial ou la division du travail. La façon dont Alain Bruno (2001 p. 83) interprète la « main invisible » semble relativement représentative d'une partie de ces travaux. Alain Bruno10 écrit au sujet de « main invisible » : « C'est une abstraction sociale, comme l'est le spectateur impartial qui s'exprime et s'anime dans l'expérience et l'action concrète des individus. Cependant, là où le spectateur impartial est une norme sociale qui sert à mesurer les écarts des comportements individuels pour déclencher ou non de la sympathie, la main invisible est l'expression de la différenciation des pratiques individuelles et du “jeu social” qu'elles mettent en œuvre ». Mais n'est-ce pas là trop négliger la « transcendance à partir de l'immanence » dont parle Jean-Pierre Dupuy ?

 

Enjeux économiques et politiques[modifier | modifier le code]

Main invisible et politique[modifier | modifier le code]

Lorsque Smith commence à écrire son œuvre, la querelle entre les opposants et les tenants du « système de l'Optimisme » (dont les principaux concepteurs sont Malebranche et surtout Leibniz) bat son plein. Rappelons que D'Alembert38 dans l'Encyclopédie définit le système de l'optimisme comme « l'opinion des philosophes qui prétendent que ce monde-ci est le meilleur que Dieu pût créer, le meilleur des mondes possibles ». Faut-il, dès lors, interpréter la main invisible dans le cadre du « système de l'optimisme » ou dans une autre approche, plus en phase avec en France, la philosophie de D'Alembert, et en Angleterre avec celle de Newton et des penseurs des révolutions anglaises du xviie siècle et de certains des néo-platonistes de Cambridge, c'est-à-dire de ceux que Clavé (2005) appelle les tenants d'une « architectonique cicéro-platonicienne » ?

 

Si la « main invisible » est interprétée comme une métaphore de ce qu'Halévy nomme « l'harmonie naturelle des intérêts » et est considérée comme une « expression imagée employée par A. Smith pour désigner le processus naturel par lequel la recherche par chacun de son intérêt personnel concourt à l'intérêt général »39, alors le marché est autorégulateur et l'intervention du gouvernement en économie n'est pas souhaitable. Dans le champ politique au contraire, il y a souvent chez les auteurs favorables au laisser-faire économique, tel Edmund Burke, l'idée d'« une certaine magnificence de l'État » (Philippe Raynaud40) qu'on ne retrouve pas chez Smith. On pourrait dire qu'ici, il y a deux transcendances fortes, l'une dans le domaine économique, l'autre dans le domaine politique de sorte qu'il est important de bien délimiter leurs domaines respectifs. Ce sera le problème du libéralisme à la fin du xixe siècle.

Si la « main invisible » est interprétée dans un cadre non leibnizien, alors, tant en économie qu'en politique, on trouve seulement une tendance à l'harmonie liée à une transcendance non pas d'imposition mais d'appel à la faculté de juger des hommes. Dans ce cas, ni en politique ni en économie, il n'y a « laissez-faire ». Par contre, il y a appel à un gouvernement libéral de type non hobbésien proche des conceptions des penseurs de la Première Révolution anglaise, de la Glorieuse Révolution anglaise du xviie siècle et de Locke. Pour Delemotte (2002) et Clavé (2003), Smith serait à classer dans cette dernière catégorie.

Les auteurs sont en général d'accord pour considérer avec Jean-Pierre Dupuy37 que la « main invisible » est « la figure même de la transcendance à partir de l'immanence » la discussion portant davantage sur la forme et le degré. De sorte qu'il existe une tension à l'intérieur de la pensée de Smith et du libéralisme entre conservatisme et progressisme. Aussi, certains auteurs tendront-ils à minimiser son importance dans l'œuvre de Smith afin de mieux dissocier Smith de conservateurs comme Burke.

La « main invisible », concept repris par les néoclassiques[modifier | modifier le code]

L'école néoclassique reprend le terme de main invisible dans le modèle de concurrence pure et parfaite (et tous les modèles dont le cadre institutionnel est fait d'agents preneurs de prix et d'un centralisateur bénévole faiseur de prix).

 

Le concept[modifier | modifier le code]

Léon Walras et Vilfredo Pareto modifieront le concept, d'une tendance naturelle selon Smith, à un véritable mécanisme social.

La théorie de la main invisible affirme alors que si chaque consommateur peut choisir librement ses achats et si chaque producteur peut choisir librement les produits qu'il vendra et la façon de les produire, alors, le marché évoluera vers une situation mutuellement bénéfique pour tous les agents (ce que refutent aisément de simples exemples de théorie des jeux, par exemple le problème des marchands de glaces).

 

La justification empirique de cette théorie est que le penchant égoïste des individus va conduire chaque individu à se comporter d'une manière qui sera bénéfique pour la société. Les firmes choisiront les méthodes de production les plus efficaces afin de maximiser leur profit. Les prix de vente sont réduits sous l'effet de la concurrence sur les marchés. Les agents investiront dans les industries qui ne parviennent pas à satisfaire la demande et qui fournissent donc les retours sur investissement les plus élevés. Dans les secteurs en surproduction, les agents se retireront sous l'effet de profits nuls ou négatifs. Dans le domaine de l'éducation, les étudiants sont amenés à choisir les carrières qui manquent de travailleurs donc les plus rémunératrices.

 

Tous ces effets auront lieu automatiquement, sous l'effet d'une "main invisible". Cette théorie ne s'appliquera plus lorsque des actions des agents produisent des externalités41; l'intervention de l'État est alors nécessaire.

 

[réf. nécessaire]

Ce mécanisme joue également comme un phénomène d'égalisation. Par exemple, les habitants d'un pays pauvre sont prêts à travailler pour un faible salaire, ce qui incite les investisseurs à construire des centres de production dans ce pays. La demande de travail s'en trouve accrue, et les salaires (variable d'ajustement sur le marché du travail) augmentent, les habitants consomment davantage, ce qui pousse les producteurs locaux à embaucher davantage pour satisfaire cette demande. À l'aboutissement de ce processus, les salaires auront augmenté au point qu'il ne sera plus intéressant de délocaliser vers ce pays, qui aura alors atteint un niveau de vie comparable à celui des pays riches.

Le concept a été élargi dans la théorie des mécanismes d'incitation.

 

[réf. nécessaire]

Une reprise des idées de Smith ?[modifier | modifier le code]

Pour certains penseurs néoclassiques, ce modèle de mécanisme des prix serait une modélisation du concept de main invisible d'Adam Smith dans la Richesse des Nations.

 

Kenneth Arrow et F.H. Hahn (1971) écrivent «…La “main invisible” d'Adam Smith est une expression poétique de la plus fondamentale relation d'équilibre économique, l'égalisation des taux de revenu imposée par la tendance des facteurs de passer de bas à de forts taux de revenu »42.

Kenneth Arrow43 : « En fait, la vue classique avait beaucoup à dire sur le rôle de la connaissance, mais d'une façon très spécifique. Elle insistait sur le fait qu'un système complet de prix requérait des individus de connaître très peu l'économie hormis son domaine privé de production et de consommation. La plus profonde observation de Smith fut que le système fonctionnait dans le dos des participants ; la « main » directrice est « invisible ». Implicitement, l'acquisition de connaissances était tenue pour être coûteuse »44.

Le concept de vérité des prix va en ce sens : ne pas interférer avec le mécanisme normal des prix afin de ne pas induire des décisions d'apparence heureuse et qui seraient en fait nuisibles à la communauté, que celle-ci soit l'entreprise, le pays ou la planète.

Cependant, cette interprétation des idées d'Adam Smith est sujette à des questionnements.

 

Pour Jean Reibel45 main invisible et mécanisme des prix n'ont rien en commun. Il écrit : « Il ne s'agit nullement d'un mécanisme de prix permettant aux plans individuels de s'harmoniser de façon optimale. ... Au contraire, elle (la main invisible) ne représente pour Smith qu'une heureuse coïncidence rendant les plans microéconomiques des agents socialement bénéfiques ». De façon similaire, Grampp46 répond à ceux qui prétendent que la « main invisible » est le mécanisme des prix que chez Smith le marché et la « main invisible » sont deux choses distinctes.

Par ailleurs le fait que la « main invisible agisse dans le dos des hommes » a suscité des réserves chez les ordolibéraux, comme les interventions de Michaël Polanyi et d'Alexander Rüstow durant le colloque Walter Lippmann le montrent. Pour Rüstow l'antipathie dont souffre le libéralisme vient du fait qu'il a sécularisé au xviiie siècle « une croyance d'origine théologique remontant, par-delà le Portique, à Héraclite, en la raison divine du monde, invisible et inconnue, agissant derrière le dos des intéressés comme une loi naturelle, raisonnable et salutaire »47.

Plus simplement, le prix Nobel d'économie Joseph E Stiglitz invite à nouveau en 2003 à ne pas surestimer la portée de ce concept : « Si c'était une vérité absolue, la morale n'aurait plus aucun contenu. Nous n'aurions jamais à nous demander : qu'est-il juste de faire ? Il nous suffirait de nous poser la question : que voulons-nous faire, qu'est-ce qui nous ferait plaisir ? On pourrait dire que les entreprises ont été nourries avec ce double langage. »48

Les « mains invisibles » contre le néoliberalisme[modifier | modifier le code]

D'après Noam Chomsky49 nous sommes censés vénérer Adam Smith mais non le lire car, en réalité, il postulait déjà que la sympathie était la valeur humaine centrale, et qu'il fallait donc organiser la société de façon à satisfaire cet élan naturel des êtres humains pour la sympathie, le soutien mutuel (voir L'Entraide). En fait, son argument crucial supposé en faveur des marchés, conduirait à l'égalité parfaite. La célèbre expression de Smith sur la « main invisible » n'apparaît qu'une fois dans La Richesse des nations et dans le contexte d'un raisonnement contre ce que nous appelons aujourd'hui le néolibéralisme50. Smith dit que si les industriels et les investisseurs anglais importaient et investissaient outre-mer plutôt que chez eux, ce serait nuisible à l'Angleterre. Autrement dit, s'ils suivaient ce que nous nous appelons aujourd'hui « les principes d'Adam Smith », cela serait nuisible à l'Angleterre. Mais poursuit-il, il n'y a aucune raison de redouter ce scénario, car « à égalité de profit ou à peu près, tout marchand en gros préférera naturellement le commerce intérieur au commerce étranger de consommation ». C'est-à-dire que chaque capitaliste britannique préférera, individuellement, utiliser des biens produits sur le territoire national et investir dans son pays. Ainsi, comme s'il était « conduit par une main invisible à remplir une fin qui n'entre nullement dans ses intentions », il conjurera la menace de ce qu'on appelle aujourd'hui le néolibéralisme. L'économiste David Ricardo a avancé un argument tout à fait semblable. Selon cette interprétation, Smith et Ricardo avaient tous deux compris qu'aucune de leurs théories ne fonctionnerait s'il y avait une libre circulation et un libre investissement des capitaux51.

 

Critiques[modifier | modifier le code]

Le concept de main invisible, utilisé largement par les économistes libéraux pour justifier les politiques de « laisser faire », est aujourd'hui très critiqué par de nombreux économistes dont Robert Shiller, prix Nobel 2013, qui pointe la responsabilité de ce genre de politique dans la crise économique de 2007-2008, crise qui a nécessité l'intervention massive et coordonnée des États et des banques centrales pour en limiter les effets dévastateurs52.

 

Notes et références[modifier | modifier le code]

↑ « For it may be observed, that in all Polytheistic religions, among savages, as well as in the early ages of heathen antiquity, it is the irregular events of nature only that are ascribed to the agency and power of their gods. Fire burns, and water refreshes; heavy bodies descend, and lighter substances fly upwards, by the necessity of their own nature; nor was the invisible hand of Jupiter ever apprehended to be employed in those matters. But thunder and lighting, storms and sunshine, those more irregular events, were ascribed to his anger. »

↑ Jean Dellemotte, « La " main invisible " d'Adam Smith : pour en finir avec les idées reçues », L'Économie politique, vol. 44, no 4,‎ 2009 (lire en ligne [archive])

↑ William D. Grampp est professeur émérite à l'Université de Chicago

↑ Grampp, 2000 p. 450 : « (1) the force that makes the interest of one the interest of others, (2) the price mechanism, (3) a figure for the idea of unintended consequences, (4) competition, (5) the mutual advantage in exchange, (6) a joke, (7) an evolutionary process, (8) providence, and (9) the force that restrains the export of capital »

↑ Cropsey 1979, p. 173

↑ Sugden 1986, p. 2

↑ « ‘The invisible hand' was a metaphor used by Adam Smith to describe the principle by which a beneficient social order emerged as the unintended consequences of individual human actions »

↑ Rosenberg 1979, p. 24

↑ Grampp 2000, p. 447

↑ a et b Bruno 2001, p. 83

↑ Knight 1947, p. 377

↑ 2000, p. 447

↑ a et b Grampp 2000, p. 449

↑ Viner 1927, p. 207 et 1968, p. 324

↑ Smith avait des qualités d'orateur (Bruno 2001, 13). Il a donné des conférences sur la rhétorique et les belles lettres publiés à titre posthume sous le titre Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres Lettres

↑ Until then, the musical setting, if there is to be one, would be better be in a modest form than an oratorio, for example as variations on a theme which itself is not played – something in the manner of Elgar's Enigma variations on a theme, which itself is not played and which the composer said was familiar to everyone

↑ Macfie 1971, p. 596

↑ Il serait possible d'opposer à Macfie (voir Clavé, 2005, p. 28-32) qu'il existe deux façons de penser l'Être suprême (voir aussi article déisme) au xviiie siècle, dont l'une est proche de la pensée grecque de la divinité et l'autre de la pensée romaine

↑ Macfie, 1971, p. 598

↑ « If there is a relation among them, as has been claimed, it has not been demonstrated with evidence from what Smith actually wrote. Until it is demonstrated, the three invisible hands will continue to be, in the mind of at least one reader, three distinct ideas, each of them denoted by the same words »(Grampp 2000, p. 464)

↑ « The subject of the Theory of Moral Sentiments is how we make ethical judgments, and that may or may not be matter for economists. What is matter for the mis the distribution of income, and that also is a topic of the book » (Grampp 2000, p. 462)

↑ « The invisible hand of the Wealth of Nations guides the self-interest of no-nonsense merchants who after calculating the risk-adjusted rate of return to domestic and to foreign trade decide to conduct their business at home (Grampp 2000, p. 463) »

↑ Rothschild 2001, p. 53.

↑ Raynaud 2002, p. 126

↑ Rothschild 2001, p. 117

↑ My suggestion, instead, will be that Smiths's attitude to the invisible hand was similar, and ironical, on each of the three occasions. He is amused by the polytheists who believe in the invisible hand of Jupiter in the “History of Astronomy”; in the Theory of Moral Sentiment and the Wealth of Nations he is amused by the individuals who are led by the invisible hand (the hand they cannot see, or the hand behind their backs

↑ Biziou 2003, p. 271

↑ Dermange François, 2003, Le Dieu du Marché, Labor et Fides

↑ Clavé 2005, p. 46

↑ Clavé 2005, p. 47

↑ Clavé, 2005, p. 56-60

↑ Clavé 2005, p. 61

↑ Clavé 2005, p. 63

↑ Biziou 2003, p. 189

↑ Littéralement, « secouer ou serrer la main invisible», au sens d'« une poignée de main invisible ». Jean-Pierre Dupuy (1982, p. 253) précise que cela peut vouloir dire : « pour ébranler l'idéologie de la main invisible ».

↑ Dupuy 1982, p. 260

↑ a et b Dupuy 1982, p. 270

↑ D'alembert 1988, p. 517

↑ Bialès C.; Bialés M.; Leurion R., ; Rivaud J.-L, 1999, Dictionnaire d'économie, Foucher, p. 359

↑ Raynaud 2002, p. 124

↑ Joseph Stiglitz : "Whenever there are externalities—where the actions of an individual have impacts on others for which they do not pay or for which they are not compensated—markets will not work well."

↑ «…Adam Smith's “invisible hand” is a poetic expression of the most fundamental of economic balance relations, the equalization of rates of return, as enforced by the tendency of factors to move from low to high returns »

↑ Kenneth Arrow 1987, p. 71.

↑ Actually, the classical view had much to say about the role of knowledge, but in a very specific way. It emphasized how a complete price system would require individuals to know very little about the economy other than their own private domain of production and consumption. The profoundest observation of Smith was that the system works behind the backs of the participants; the directing “hand” is “invisible”. Implicitly, the acquisition of knowledge was taken to be costly. »

↑ dont Reibel, Jean, La question coloniale dans la Richesse des Nations, (Lire en ligne [archive]): "C'est dans cet esprit à la suite de Frank Hahn, que la main invisible serait aujourd'hui évoquée. C'est la thèse de l'identité naturelle des intérêts, ou si l'on veut, de l'harmonie spontanée des égoïsmes."

↑ Grampp 2000 p. 446

↑ Col. Lipp, 1939, p. 80.

↑ Joseph E. Stieglitz, Quand le capitalisme perd la tête, Livre de poche 30 388, p. 510.

↑ Noam Chomsky, "La doctrine des bonnes intentions", 10/18, coll. « Fait et Cause », p. 160.

↑ Adam Smith, An Inquiry intso the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations(1796), University of Chicago Press, 1996, livre IV, chap. 2 ;trad fr. de Germain Garnier revue par Adolphe Blanqui, Recherches sur la nature et les causes de la richesse des nations, Paris, Flammarion, coll. "Garnier-Flammarion", 1991, t. II, p. 39 sq.

↑ David Ricardo, The principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Dover, 2004, p. 83,84 ; trad. fr. de Cécile Soudan, Bernard Delmas, Thierry Demals, François-Régis Mahieu, Henri Philipson et Franck Vandevelde, des principes de l'économie politique et de l'impôt, Paris, Flammarion, coll. « Garnier-Flammarion », 1993, p. 155-156

↑ www.latribune.fr/opinions/tribunes/la-crise-prouve-l-eche... [archive]

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fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_invisible

Greater Manchester Police welcomed 116 new recruits to the force on Monday 2 March 2020.

 

The officers were officially sworn in at a formal ceremony attended by Chief Constable Ian Hopkins, Assistant Chief Constable Nick Bailey, senior officers and magistrate Joan Cooper.

 

The attestation ceremony, which gives officers their policing powers, was held at Stockport Town Hall.

 

The Deputy Mayor and Mayoress of Stockport, Councillor John Wright and Mrs Christine Wright, were also on hand to welcome the new recruits.

 

Family and friends watched the new officers make their oath to uphold their role with fairness, integrity, diligence and impartiality throughout their time in post.

 

New recruits have to complete a two year probation period which includes classroom based learning and a year of active patrol.

 

The new recruits are replacing those who have either retired or left the organisation and therefore helping GMP to maintain current officer numbers.

 

To find out more about Greater Manchester Police please visit our website. www.gmp.police.uk

 

You should call 101, the national non-emergency number, to report crime and other concerns that do not require an emergency response.

 

Always call 999 in an emergency, such as when a crime is in progress, violence is being used or threatened or where there is danger to life.

 

You can also call anonymously with information about crime to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. Crimestoppers is an independent charity who will not want your name, just your information. Your call will not be traced or recorded and you do not have to go to court or give a statement.

 

You can access many of our services online at www.gmp.police.uk.

 

The Peggy Guggenheim Collection

 

[Bibliography]

Peggy Guggenheim's career belongs in the history of 20th century art. Peggy used to say that it was her duty to protect the art of her own time, and she dedicated half of her life to this mission, as well as to the creation of the museum that still carries her name.

 

Peggy Guggenheim was born in New York on 26 August 1898, the daughter of Benjamin Guggenheim and Florette Seligman. Benjamin Guggenheim was one of seven brothers who, with their father, Meyer (of Swiss origin), created a family fortune in the late 19th century from the mining and smelting of metals, especially silver, copper and lead. The Seligmans were a leading banking family. Peggy grew up in New York. In April 1912 her father died heroically on the SS Titanic. (1)

 

In her early 20s, Peggy volunteered for work at a bookshop, the Sunwise Turn, in New York and thanks to this began making friends in intellectual and artistic circles, including the man who was to become her first husband in Paris in 1922, Laurence Vail. Vail was a writer and Dada collagist of great talent. He chronicled his tempestuous life with Peggy in a novel, Murder! Murder! of which Peggy wrote: "It was a sort of satire of our life together and, although it was extremely funny, I took offense at several things he said about me."

 

In 1921 Peggy Guggenheim traveled to Europe. Thanks to Laurence Vail (the father of her two children Sindbad and Pegeen, the painter), Peggy soon found herself at the heart of Parisian bohème and American ex-patriate society. Many of her acquaintances of the time, such as Constantin Brancusi, Djuna Barnes and Marcel Duchamp, were to become lifelong friends. Though she remained on good terms with Vail for the rest of his life, she left him in 1928 for an English intellectual, John Holms, who was the greatest love of her life. There is a lengthy description of John Holms, a war hero with writer's block, in chapter five of Edwin Muir's An Autobiography. Muir wrote: "Holms was the most remarkable man I ever met." Unfortunately, Holms died tragically young in 1934.

 

In 1937, encouraged by her friend Peggy Waldman, Peggy decided to open an art gallery in London. When she opened her Guggenheim Jeune gallery in January 1938, she was beginning, at 39 years old, a career which would significantly affect the course of post-war art. Her friend Samuel Beckett urged her to dedicate herself to contemporary art as it was âa living thing,â and Marcel Duchamp introduced her to the artists and taught her, as she put it, âthe difference between abstract and Surrealist art.â The first show presented works by Jean Cocteau, while the second was the first one-man show of Vasily Kandinsky in England.

 

In 1939, tired of her gallery, Peggy conceived âthe idea of opening a modern museum in London,â with her friend Herbert Read as its director (2). From the start the museum was to be formed on historical principles, and a list of all the artists that should be represented, drawn up by Read and later revised by Marcel Duchamp and Nellie van Doesburg, was to become the basis of her collection.

 

In 1939-40, apparently oblivious of the war, Peggy busily acquired works for the future museum, keeping to her resolve to âbuy a picture a day.â Some of the masterpieces of her collection, such as works by Francis Picabia, Georges Braque, Salvador DalÃ- and Piet Mondrian, were bought at that time. She astonished Fernand Léger by buying his Men in the City on the day that Hitler invaded Norway. She acquired Brancusiâs Bird in Space as the Germans approached Paris, and only then decided to flee the city.

 

In July 1941, Peggy fled Nazi-occupied France and returned to her native New York, together with Max Ernst, who was to become her second husband a few months later (they separated in 1943).

 

Peggy immediately began looking for a location for her modern art museum, while she continued to acquire works for her collection. In October 1942 she opened her museum/gallery Art of This Century. Designed by the Rumanian-Austrian architect Frederick Kiesler, the gallery was composed of extraordinarily innovative exhibition rooms and soon became the most stimulating venue for contemporary art in New York City. (3)

 

Of the opening night, she wrote: âI wore one of my Tanguy earrings and one made by Calder in order to show my impartiality between Surrealist and Abstract Art" (4). There Peggy exhibited her collection of Cubist, abstract and Surrealist art, which was already substantially that which we see today in Venice. Peggy produced a remarkable catalogue, edited by André Breton, with a cover design by Max Ernst. She held temporary exhibitions of leading European artists, and of several then unknown young Americans such as Robert Motherwell, William Baziotes, Mark Rothko, David Hare, Janet Sobel, Robert de Niro Sr, Clyfford Still, and Jackson Pollock, the âstarâ of the gallery, who was given his first show by Peggy late in 1943. From July 1943 Peggy supported Pollock with a monthly stipend and actively promoted and sold his paintings. She commissioned his largest painting, a Mural, which she later gave to the University of Iowa.

 

Pollock and the others pioneered American Abstract Expressionism. One of the principal sources of this was Surrealism, which the artists encountered at Art of This Century. More important, however, was the encouragement and support that Peggy, together with her friend and assistant Howard Putzel, gave to the members of this nascent New York avant-garde. Peggy and her collection thus played a vital intermediary role in the development of Americaâs first art movement of international importance.

 

In 1947 Peggy decided to return in Europe, where her collection was shown for the first time at the 1948 Venice Biennale, in the Greek pavilion (5). In this way the works of artists such as Arshile Gorky, Jackson Pollock, and Mark Rothko were exhibited for the first time in Europe. The presence of Cubist, abstract, and Surrealist art made the pavilion the most coherent survey of Modernism yet to have been presented in Italy.

 

Soon after Peggy bought Palazzo Venier dei Leoni, on the Grand Canal in Venice, where she came to live. In 1949 she held an exhibition of sculptures in the garden (6) curated by Giuseppe Marchiori, and from 1951 she opened her collection to the public.

 

In 1950 Peggy organized the first exhibition of Jackson Pollock in Italy, in the Ala Napoleonica of the Museo Correr in Venice. Her collection was in the meantime exhibited in Florence and Milan, and later in Amsterdam, Brussels, and Zurich. From 1951 Peggy opened her house and her collection to the public annually in the summer months. During her 30-year Venetian life, Peggy Guggenheim continued to collect works of art and to support artists, such as Edmondo Bacci and Tancredi Parmeggiani, whom she met in 1951. In 1962 Peggy Guggenheim was nominated Honorary Citizen of Venice.

 

In 1969 the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York invited Peggy Guggenheim to show her collection there. In 1976 she donated her palace and works of art to the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation. The Foundation had been created in 1937 by Peggy Guggenheimâs uncle Solomon, in order to operate his collection and museum which, since 1959, has been housed in Frank Lloyd Wrightâs famous spiral structure on 5th Avenue.

 

Peggy died aged 81 on 23 December 1979. Her ashes are placed in a corner of the garden of Palazzo Venier dei Leoni, next to the place where she customarily buried her beloved dogs. Since this time, the Guggenheim Foundation has converted and expanded Peggy Guggenheim's private house into one of the finest small museums of modern art in the world.

  

[Info]

 

Address

Peggy Guggenheim Collection

Palazzo Venier dei Leoni

Dorsoduro 701

I-30123 Venezia

 

Opening hours

Daily 10 am - 6 pm

Closed Tuesdays and December 25

 

General information

tel: +39.041.2405.411

fax: +39.041.520.6885

e-mail: info@guggenheim-venice.it

 

Visitor services

tel: +39.041.2405.440/419

fax: +39.041.520.9083

e-mail: visitorinfo@guggenheim-venice.it

 

Photography

Photography is permitted without flash. You may not use tripods or monopods.

 

Animals

Animals of all sizes are not allowed in the galleries and in the gardens.

For information and assistance please contact "Sporting Dog Club".

Call Tel. +39 347 6242550 (Marie) or +39 347 4161321 (Roberto)

or write to sportingdoginvenice@gmail.com

 

Venice Art for All

The Peggy Guggenheim Collection joins the Venice Art for All project and becomes accessible to all, including people with limited mobility.

Palazzo Venier dei Leoni was probably begun in the 1750s by architect Lorenzo Boschetti, whose only other known building in Venice is the church of San Barnaba.

 

It is an unfinished palace. A model exists in the Museo Correr, Venice (1). Its magnificent classical façade would have matched that of Palazzo Corner, opposite, with the triple arch of the ground floor (which is the explanation of the ivy-covered pillars visible today) extended through both the piani nobili above. We do not know precisely why this Venier palace was left unfinished. Money may have run out, or some say that the powerful Corner family living opposite blocked the completion of a building that would have been grander than their own. Another explanation may rest with the unhappy fate of the next door Gothic palace which was demolished in the early 19th century: structural damage to this was blamed in part on the deep foundations of Palazzo Venier dei Leoni.

 

Nor is it known how the palace came to be associated with "leoni," lions. Although it is said that a lion was once kept in the garden, the name is more likely to have arisen from the yawning lion's heads of Istrian stone which decorate the façade at water level (2). The Venier family, who claimed descent from the gens Aurelia of ancient Rome (the Emperor Valerian and Gallienus were from this family), were among the oldest Venetian noble families. Over the centuries they provided eighteen Procurators of St Markâs and three Doges. Antonio Venier (Doge, 1382-1400) had such a strong sense of justice that he allowed his own son to languish and die in prison for his crimes. Francesco Venier (Doge, 1553-56) was the subject of a superb portrait by Titian (Madrid, Fundaciòn Thyssen-Bornemisza). Sebastiano Venier was a commander of the Venetian fleet at the Battle of Lepanto (1571) and later became Doge (1577-78). A lively strutting statue of him, by Antonio dal Zotto (1907), can be seen today in the church of Ss. Giovanni e Paolo, Venice.

 

From 1910 to c. 1924 the house was owned by the flamboyant Marchesa Luisa Casati, hostess to the Ballets Russes, and the subject of numerous portraits by artists as various as Boldini, Troubetzkoy, Man Ray and Augustus John. In 1949, Peggy Guggenheim purchased Palazzo Venier from the heirs of Viscountes Castlerosse and made it her home for the following thirty years. Early in 1951, Peggy Guggenheim opened her home and collection to the public and continued to do so every year until her death in 1979. (3) (4)

 

In 1980, the Peggy Guggenheim Collection opened for the first time under the management of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, to which Peggy Guggenheim had given her palazzo and collection during her lifetime.

Palazzo Venier dei Leoni's long low façade, made of Istrian stone and set off against the trees in the garden behind that soften its lines, forms a welcome "caesura" in the stately march of Grand Canal palaces from the Accademia to the Salute.

  

[Permanent collection]

The core mission of the museum is to present the personal collection of Peggy Guggenheim. The collection holds major works of Cubism, Futurism, Metaphysical painting, European abstraction, avant-garde sculpture, Surrealism, and American Abstract Expressionism, by some of the greatest artists of the 20th century. These include Picasso (The Poet, On the Beach), Braque (The Clarinet), Duchamp (Sad Young Man on a Train), Léger, Brancusi (Maiastra, Bird in Space), Severini (Sea=Dancer), Picabia (Very Rare Picture on Earth), de Chirico (The Red Tower, The Nostalgia of the Poet), Mondrian (Composition No. 1 with Grey and Red 1938 / Composition with Red 1939), Kandinsky (Landscape with Red Spots, No. 2, White Cross), Miró (Seated Woman II), Giacometti Woman with Her Throat Cut, Woman Walking), Klee (Magic Garden), Ernst (The Kiss, Attirement of the Bride), Magritte (Empire of Light), DalÃ- (Birth of Liquid Desires), Pollock (The Moon Woman, Alchemy), Gorky (Untitled), Calder (Arc of Petals) and Marini (Angel of the City).

 

The museum also exhibits works of art given to the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation for its Venetian museum since Peggy Guggenheim's death, as well as long-term loans from private collections.

 

Hannelore B. and Rudolph B. Schulhof Collection

In October 2012 eighty works of Italian, European and American art of the decades after 1945 were added to the collections of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation in Venice. They were the bequest of Hannelore B. Schulhof, who collected the works with her late husband Rudolph B. Schulhof. They include paintings by Burri, Dubuffet, Fontana, Hofmann, Kelly, Kiefer, Noland, Rothko, and Twombly, as well as sculptures by Calder, Caro, Holzer, Judd and Hepworth. The Hannelore B. and Rudolph B. Schulhof Garden exhibits works from this collection.

 

Gianni Mattioli Collection

The museum exhibits twenty six masterpieces on long-term loan from the renowned Gianni Mattioli Collection, including famous images of Italian Futurism, such as Materia and Dynamism of a Cyclist by Boccioni, Interventionist Demonstration by Carrà , The Solidity of Fog by Russolo, works by Balla, Severini (Blue Dancer), Sironi, Soffici, Rosai, Depero. The collection includes important early paintings by Morandi and a rare portrait by Modigliani.

 

Patsy R. and Raymond D. Nasher Sculpture Garden

The Patsy R. and Raymond D. Nasher Sculpture Garden and other outdoor spaces at the Peggy Guggenheim Collection presents works from the permanent collections (by Arp, Duchamp-Villon, Ernst, Flanagan, Giacometti, Gilardi, Goldsworthy, Holzer, Marini, Minguzzi, Mirko, Merz, Moore, Ono, Paladino, Richier, Takis), as well as sculptures on temporary loan from foundations and private collections (by Calder, König , Marini, Nannucci, Smith).

Chief Constable Ian Hopkins.

 

Greater Manchester Police (GMP) has welcomed 101 new police officers to the ranks.

 

The new officers were sworn in at an attestation ceremony at Droylsden Academy on Wednesday evening.

 

Chief Constable Ian Hopkins, Assistant Chief Constable Debbie Ford, Deputy Police and Crime Commissioner Jim Battle, Magistrates Mike Phillips and Zahid Maqbool, the Mayor of Tameside Councillor Philip Fitzpatrick and Assistant Head Teacher at Droylsden Academy Dr Lee Schofield attended the legally binding event.

 

Friends and family were also invited to watch as each of the officers took the oath to uphold the officer of constable with fairness, integrity, diligence and impartiality. More than 200 friends and family members attended the event.

 

Chief Constable Ian Hopkins said: “The role of every officer is to help and serve the public, they are at the heart of the community and holding this event at a school helps to reflect this. The officers have been through a rigorous selection process and training programme, and I am proud to officially welcome them to the Force and look forward to seeing their hard work continue throughout Greater Manchester.

 

“I would like to thank Droylsden Academy for allowing us to hold our ceremony here. The evening was also an opportunity for pupils to witness the officers taking their oath, and for us to hear their musical talent.”

 

All of the new recruits have previously been employees with GMP, either as Police Community Support Officers (PCSO), Special Constables, or police staff, and will build upon their existing skills and knowledge involved with policing.

 

To find out more about Greater Manchester Police please visit our website. www.gmp.police.uk

 

You should call 101, the national non-emergency number, to report crime and other concerns that do not require an emergency response.

 

Always call 999 in an emergency, such as when a crime is in progress, violence is being used or threatened or where there is danger to life.

 

You can also call anonymously with information about crime to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. Crimestoppers is an independent charity who will not want your name, just your information. Your call will not be traced or recorded and you do not have to go to court or give a statement.

 

Greater Manchester Police welcomed 116 new recruits to the force on Monday 2 March 2020.

 

The officers were officially sworn in at a formal ceremony attended by Chief Constable Ian Hopkins, Assistant Chief Constable Nick Bailey, senior officers and magistrate Joan Cooper.

 

The attestation ceremony, which gives officers their policing powers, was held at Stockport Town Hall.

 

The Deputy Mayor and Mayoress of Stockport, Councillor John Wright and Mrs Christine Wright, were also on hand to welcome the new recruits.

 

Family and friends watched the new officers make their oath to uphold their role with fairness, integrity, diligence and impartiality throughout their time in post.

 

New recruits have to complete a two year probation period which includes classroom based learning and a year of active patrol.

 

The new recruits are replacing those who have either retired or left the organisation and therefore helping GMP to maintain current officer numbers.

 

To find out more about Greater Manchester Police please visit our website. www.gmp.police.uk

 

You should call 101, the national non-emergency number, to report crime and other concerns that do not require an emergency response.

 

Always call 999 in an emergency, such as when a crime is in progress, violence is being used or threatened or where there is danger to life.

 

You can also call anonymously with information about crime to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. Crimestoppers is an independent charity who will not want your name, just your information. Your call will not be traced or recorded and you do not have to go to court or give a statement.

 

You can access many of our services online at www.gmp.police.uk.

 

Plaster and paint, 20-1 BC

Surviving furnishings from Cremona's buildings indicate a luxurious standard of living. The recently excavated 'House of the Nymphaeum' belonged to a member of the local elite. Its courtyard was decorated with a fountain covered in mosaics. Remains of the upper floor, burned and collapsed during the attack, suggest a lavishly painted room. Vespasian rebuilt Cremona, but it never regained its former prosperity.

[British Museum]

 

Nero: the Man Behind the Myth

(May - Oct 2021)

 

Nero is known as one of Rome's most infamous rulers, notorious for his cruelty, debauchery and madness.

The last male descendant of the emperor Augustus, Nero succeeded to the throne in AD 54 aged just 16 and died a violent death at 30. His turbulent rule saw momentous events including the Great Fire of Rome, Boudicca's rebellion in Britain, the execution of his own mother and first wife, grand projects and extravagant excesses.

Drawing on the latest research, this major exhibition questions the traditional narrative of the ruthless tyrant and eccentric performer, revealing a different Nero, a populist leader at a time of great change in Roman society.

Through some 200 spectacular objects, from the imperial palace in Rome to the streets of Pompeii, follow the young emperor’s rise and fall and make up your own mind about Nero. Was he a young, inexperienced ruler trying his best in a divided society, or the merciless, matricidal megalomaniac history has painted him to be?

 

Nero was the 5th emperor of Rome and the last of Rome’s first dynasty, the Julio-Claudians, founded by Augustus (the adopted son of Julius Caesar). Nero is known as one of Rome’s most infamous rulers, notorious for his cruelty and debauchery. He ascended to power in AD 54 aged just 16 and died at 30. He ruled at a time of great social and political change, overseeing momentous events such as the Great Fire of Rome and Boudica’s rebellion in Britain. He allegedly killed his mother and two of his wives, only cared about his art and had very little interest in ruling the empire.

Most of what we know about Nero comes from the surviving works of three historians – Tacitus, Suetonius and Cassius Dio. All written decades after Nero’s death, their accounts have long shaped our understanding of this emperor’s rule. However, far from being impartial narrators presenting objective accounts of past events, these authors and their sources wrote with a very clear agenda in mind. Nero’s demise brought forward a period of chaos and civil war – one that ended only when a new dynasty seized power, the Flavians. Authors writing under the Flavians all had an interest in legitimising the new ruling family by portraying the last of the Julio-Claudians in the worst possible light, turning history into propaganda. These accounts became the ‘historical’ sources used by later historians, therefore perpetuating a fabricated image of Nero, which has survived all the way to the present.

Nero was born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus on 15 December AD 37.

He was the son of Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus and Agrippina the Younger. Both Gnaeus and Agrippina were the grandchildren of Augustus, making Nero Augustus’ great, great grandson with a strong claim to power.

Nero was only two years old when his mother was exiled and three when his father died. His inheritance was taken from him and he was sent to live with his aunt. However, Nero’s fate changed again when Claudius became emperor, restoring the boy’s property and recalling his mother Agrippina from exile.

In AD 49 the emperor Claudius married Agrippina, and adopted Nero the following year. It is at this point that Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus changed his name to Nero Claudius Caesar Drusus Germanicus. In Roman times it was normal to change your name when adopted, abandoning your family name in favour of your adoptive father’s. Nero was a common name among members of the Claudian family, especially in Claudius’ branch.

Nero and Agrippina offered Claudius a politically useful link back to Augustus, strengthening his position.

Claudius appeared to favour Nero over his natural son, Britannicus, marking Nero as the designated heir.

When Claudius died in AD 54, Nero became emperor just two months before turning 17.

As he was supported by both the army and the senate, his rise to power was smooth. His mother Agrippina exerted a significant influence, especially at the beginning of his rule.

The Roman historians Tacitus, Suetonius and Cassius Dio all claim that Nero, fed up with Agrippina’s interference, decided to kill her.

Given the lack of eyewitnesses, there is no way of knowing if or how this happened. However, this did not stop historians from fabricating dramatic stories of Agrippina’s murder, asserting that Nero tried (and failed) to kill her with a boat engineered to sink, before sending his men to do the job.

Agrippina allegedly told them to stab her in the womb that bore Nero, her last words clearly borrowed from stage plays.

It is entirely possible, as claimed by Nero himself, that Agrippina chose (or was more likely forced) to take her own life after her plot against her son was discovered.

Early in his rule, Nero had to contend with a rebellion in the newly conquered province of Britain.

In AD 60–61, Queen Boudica of the Iceni tribe led a revolt against the Romans, attacking and laying waste to important Roman settlements. The possible causes of the rebellion were numerous – the greed of the Romans exploiting the newly conquered territories, the recalling of loans made to local leaders, ongoing conflict in Wales and, above all, violence against the family of Prasutagus, Boudica’s husband and king of the Iceni.

Boudica and the rebels destroyed Colchester, London and St Albans before being heavily defeated by Roman troops. After the uprising, the governor of Britain Suetonius Paulinus introduced harsher laws against the Britons, until Nero replaced him with the more conciliatory governor Publius Petronius Turpilianus.

The marriage between Nero and Octavia, aged 15 and 13/14 at the time, was arranged by their parents in order to further legitimise Nero’s claim to the throne. Octavia was the daughter of the emperor Claudius from a previous marriage, so when Claudius married Agrippina and adopted her son Nero, Nero and Octavia became brother and sister. In order to arrange their marriage, Octavia had to be adopted into another family.

Their marriage was not a happy one. According to ancient writers, Nero had various affairs until his lover Poppaea Sabina convinced him to divorce his wife. Octavia was first exiled then executed in AD 62 on adultery charges. According to ancient writers, her banishment and death caused great unrest among the public, who sympathised with the dutiful Octavia.

No further motives were offered for Octavia’s death other than Nero’s passion for Poppaea, and we will probably never know what transpired at court. The fact that Octavia couldn’t produce an heir while Poppaea was pregnant with Nero’s daughter likely played an important role in deciding Octavia’s fate.

On 19 July AD 64, a fire started close to the Circus Maximus. The flames soon encompassed the entire city of Rome and the fire raged for nine days. Only four of the 14 districts of the capital were spared, while three were completely destroyed.

Rome had already been razed by flames – and would be again in its long history – but this event was so severe it came to be known as the Great Fire of Rome.

Later historians blamed Nero for the event, claiming that he set the capital ablaze in order to clear land for the construction of a vast new palace. According to Suetonius and Cassius Dio, Nero took in the view of the burning city from the imperial residence while playing the lyre and singing about the fall of Troy. This story, however, is fictional.

Tacitus, the only historian who was actually alive at the time of the Great Fire of Rome (although only 8 years old), wrote that Nero was not even in Rome when the fire started, but returned to the capital and led the relief efforts.

Tacitus, Suetonius and Cassius Dio all describe Nero as being blinded by passion for his wife Poppaea, yet they accuse him of killing her, allegedly by kicking her in an outburst of rage while she was pregnant.

Interestingly, pregnant women being kicked to death by enraged husbands is a recurring theme in ancient literature, used to explore the (self) destructive tendencies of autocrats. The Greek writer Herodotus tells the story of how the Persian king Cambyses kicked his pregnant wife in the stomach, causing her death. A similar episode is told of Periander, tyrant of Corinth. Nero is just one of many allegedly ‘mad’ tyrants for which this literary convention was used.

Poppaea probably died from complications connected with her pregnancy and not at Nero’s hands. She was given a lavish funeral and was deified.

Centred on greater Iran, the Parthian empire was a major political and cultural power and a long-standing enemy of Rome. The two powers had long been contending for control over the buffer state of Armenia and open conflict sparked again during Nero’s rule. The Parthian War started in AD 58 and, after initial victories and following set-backs, ended in AD 63 when a diplomatic solution was reached between Nero and the Parthian king Vologases I.

According to this settlement Tiridates, brother of the Parthian king, would rule over Armenia, but only after having travelled all the way to Rome to be crowned by Nero.

The journey lasted 9 months, Tiridates’ retinue included 3,000 Parthian horsemen and many Roman soldiers. The coronation ceremony took place in the summer of AD 66 and the day was celebrated with much pomp: all the people of Rome saw the new king of Armenia kneeling in front of Nero. This was the Golden Day of Nero’s rule

In AD 68, Vindex, the governor of Gaul (France), rebelled against Nero and declared his support for Galba, the governor of Spain. Vindex was defeated in battle by troops loyal to Nero, yet Galba started gaining more military support.

It was at this point that Nero lost the support of Rome’s people due to a grain shortage, caused by a rebellious commander who cut the crucial food supply from Egypt to the capital. Abandoned by the people and declared an enemy of the state by the senate, Nero tried to flee Rome and eventually committed suicide.

Following his death, Nero’s memory was condemned (a practice called damnatio memoriae) and the images of the emperor were destroyed, removed or reworked. However, Nero was still given an expensive funeral and for a long time people decorated his tomb with flowers, some even believing he was still alive.

After Nero’s death, civil war ensued. At the end of the so-called ‘Year of the Four Emperors’ (AD 69), Vespasian became emperor and started a new dynasty: the Flavians.

[Francesca Bologna, curator, for British Museum]

 

Taken in the British Museum

By Jon Doh

"Contemplation of Justice" Statue on the Supreme Court Plaza by James Earle Fraser. In this sculpture, a seated female figure reflects on a small figure of Justice that she holds in her right hand. The figure of Justice is blindfolded and cradles a set of scales in her arms.

 

The portrayal of a female figure representing Justice dates back to depicitions of Themis and Justicia in ancient mythology. Themis, known for her clear-sightedness, was the Greek Goddess of Justice and Law. In Roman mythology, Justicia (Justice) was one of the four Virtues along with Prudence, Fortitude, and Temperence.

 

Over time "Justice" became associated with scales to represent impartiality and a sword to symbolize power. During the 16th century 'Justice" was often portrayed with a blindfold. The origins of the blindfold is unclear, but it seems to have been added to indicate the tolerance of, or ignorance to, abuse of the law by the judicial system. Today, the blindfold is generally accepted as a symbol of impartiality, but may be used to signify these other traits in political cartoons.

The day before midsummer, the queen bee used to fly the enormous distance to a far-off ocean. She plunged to its depths in search of the rare sea flower: Neptune’s Clover. No other bee in all history could accomplish such a feat. For two thousand years, this same queen had gathered the rejuvenating and curative pollen from Neptune’s Clover.

 

As the days rolled on, the queen still had not returned. The colony was besides itself in worry and set forth to find her. They all latched their feet onto the hive, which was as large as a hill, and flapped their wings for lift off. When finally, they arrived to what they believed to be the area of Neptune’s Clover, their exhausted wings failed. The queen bee was nowhere to be seen. The hive, heavy with honey, and all its pilots fell into the sea. The two-thousand-year-old colony perished on a beautiful, calm afternoon, beneath the impartial waves.

 

Nowadays, bees might construct their hives in the nooks and crannies of human architecture. Unbeknownst to the people, their floating civilization is built right over the site of the sunken hive. Perhaps the bees of this century instinctively feel its presence, and so we find them in profusion adding their honeycombs to the present architecture.

 

Sunken Honey is the Arts & Entertainment Region

 

Sponsored by Misfit Dance

 

Sunken Honey by Lilia Artis and Haveit Neox

"In 1863 Mr. Brush enlisted in the First New York Artillery, and served as a member of this body until it was discharged, at the close of the civil war." — John B. Foster

 

""He went through the Civil War so quietly that the fact was unknown to some of his most intimate friends. He was mustered out with honor and entered the business world in Indianapolis. " — Rev. Dr. Brown

 

"John Tomlinson Brush (June 15, 1845 – November 26, 1912) was an American sports executive who is primarily remembered as the owner of the New York Giants Major League Baseball franchise from 1890 until his death. He also owned the Indianapolis Hoosiers in the late 1880s, and the Cincinnati Reds from 1891 to 1902. Under his leadership, the Giants were revived as a franchise after a decline during the 1890s. Brush was also a leader in the formation of the rules that govern the modern World Series. He was one of 11 executives honored by the Baseball Hall of Fame on a Roll of Honor in 1946." — Wikipedia

 

JOHN TOMLINSON BRUSH

 

BY JOHN B. FOSTER.

 

From SPALDING'S OFFICIAL BASEBALL GUIDE 1913, EDITED BY JOHN B. FOSTER

 

John Tomlinson Brush was born in Clintonville, N.Y., on June 15, 1845. He died November 26, 1912, near St. Charles, Mo., on his way to California from New York, for his health. Left an orphan at the age of four years, he went to live at the home of his grandfather, in Hopkinton, where he remained until he was seventeen years old. At this age he left school and went to Boston, where he obtained a position in a clothing establishment, a business with which he was identified up to his death. He worked as a clerk in several cities in the East, and finally went to Indianapolis in 1875 to open a clothing store. The store still occupies the same building, and Mr. Brush continued at the head of the business until his death. It was in the early '80s that he first became interested in Base Ball in Indianapolis, and he made himself both wealthy and famous as a promoter.

 

In 1863 Mr. Brush enlisted in the First New York Artillery, and served as a member of this body until it was discharged, at the close of the civil war. He was a charter member of George H. Thomas Post, G.A.R.; a thirty-third degree Scottish Rite Mason, and was also prominently identified with several social and commercial organizations of Indianapolis, notably the Columbia Club, Commercial Club, Board of Trade, and the Mannerchor Society. In New York Mr. Brush took up membership in the Lambs' Club and the Larchmont Club. For several years he made his headquarters at the Lambs' Club.

 

Mr. Brush is survived by his widow, Mrs. Elsie Lombard Brush, and two daughters, Miss Natalie Brush and Mrs. Harry N. Hempstead. His first wife, Mrs. Agnes Ewart Brush, died in 1888.

 

Mr. Brush's career in Base Ball, a sport to which he was devotedly attached, and for which he had the highest ideals and aims, began with the Indianapolis club of the National League.

 

"In 1863 Mr. Brush enlisted in the First New York Artillery, and served as a member of this body until it was discharged, at the close of the civil war. "

 

It has been somewhat inaccurately stated that he entered Base Ball by chance. This was not, strictly speaking, the case. Prior to his first immediate association with the national game he was an ardent admirer of the sport, although not connected with it in any capacity as owner. He was what might be called, with accurate description, a Base Ball "fan" in the earlier stages of development.

 

An opportunity presented itself by which it was possible to procure for the city of Indianapolis a franchise in the National League. Mr. Brush was quick to perceive the advantages which this might have in an advertising way for the city with which he had cast his lot and subscribed to the stock.

 

Like many such adventures in the early history of the sport there came a time when the cares and the duties of the club had to be assumed by a single individual and it was then that he became actively identified as a managing owner, as the duty of caring for the club fell upon his shoulders.

 

From that date, until the date of his death, he was actively interested in every detail relating to Base Ball which might pertain to the advancement of the sport, and his principal effort in his future participation in the game was to see that it advanced on the lines of the strictest integrity and in such a manner that its foundation should be laid in the rock of permanent success.

 

Naturally this was bound to bring him into conflict with some who looked upon Base Ball as an idle pastime, in which only the present moment was to be consulted.

 

The earliest environment of Base Ball was not wholly of a substantial nature. It was a game, intrinsically good of itself, in which the hazards had always been against the weak. There was not that consideration of equity which would have been for its best interests, but this was not entirely the fault of the separate members of the Base Ball body, but the result of conditions, in which those whose thought was only for the moment, overshadowed the best interests of the pastime.

 

There was an inequity in regulations governing the sport by which the clubs in the smaller cities were forced, against the will of their owners, to be the weaker organizations, and possibly this was less due to a desire upon the more fortunate and larger clubs to maintain such a state of affairs, than to the fact that the organization generally had expanded upon lines with little regard to the future.

 

The first general complaint arose from the players who composed the membership of the smaller clubs. They demurred at the fact that they were asked to perform equally as well as the players of the clubs in the larger cities at smaller salaries. Not that they did not try to do their best, for this they stoutly attempted under all conditions. It was the effect of a discrimination which was the result of the imperfect regulations that existed relative to the management of the game.

 

This attitude of the players resulted at length in the formation of a body known as the Brotherhood. To offset not the Brotherhood, but the cause which led to its formation, Mr. Brush devised the famous classification plan. Imperfectly understood in what it intended to do for the players, it was seized upon as a reason for the revolt of the players and the organization of the Brotherhood League.

 

At heart it was the idea of Mr. Brush so to equalize salaries that the players of all clubs should be reimbursed in an equitable manner. As always had been the case, and probably always is likely to be, the players who received the larger salaries were in no mood to share with their weaker brothers any excess margin of pay which they thought that they had justly earned, and it was not a difficult matter for them to obtain the consent of players who might really have benefited by the plan to co-operate with them on the basis of comradeship.

 

The motives of Mr. Brush were thoroughly misconstrued by some, and, if grasped by others, they were disregarded, because they conflicted with their immediate temporary prosperity.

 

The dead Base Ball organizer had looked further ahead than his time. His plan was born under the best of intentions, but it unfortunately devolved upon the theory that players would be willing to share alike for their common good. Later in life, through another and unquestionably even better method, he succeeded in bringing forth a plan which attained the very end for which he sought in the '80s, but in the second resort, by a far more efficacious method.

 

The Brotherhood League came into existence and rivaled the National League. The players of the National League and the American Association deserted to join the Brotherhood League, upon a platform that promised Utopia in Base Ball. Unquestionably it was the idea of the general Brotherhood organization that the National League would abandon the fight and succumb, but the National League owners were built of sterner stuff.

 

They fought back resolutely and hard and while for a time they were combated by a fickle opinion, based upon sentiment, it developed within two months that the public had learned thoroughly the reasons for the organization of the new league and declined to lend it that support which had been predicted and expected.

 

Meanwhile, Base Ball had received a setback greater than any which had befallen the sport in an organized sense from a professional standpoint.

 

The Brotherhood League was a pronounced and emphatic failure. This is not the verdict of personal opinion, but a record which is indelibly impressed upon Base Ball history.

 

It was the theory of the Brotherhood League that it, in part, should be governed by representative players, but the players would not be governed by players. Discipline relaxed, teams did pretty much as they pleased, and the public remained away from the games. It may be added with truth that the National League games were not much better patronized, but that was due to the prevalent apathy in Base Ball affairs throughout the United States.

 

When the Brotherhood League was formed and withdrew so many players from the National League the latter organization undertook to strengthen itself where it could and when Brooklyn and Cincinnati applied for membership in the circuit both were admitted.

 

The New York National League club had lost many of its players and, upon the substitution of Cincinnati for Indianapolis in the National League circuit, procured from Mr. Brush many players of note, among them Rusie, Glasscock, Buckley, Bassett and Denny.

 

Relative to the withdrawal of Indianapolis from the circuit it may be said that Mr. Brush flatly refused to give up his club, asserting stoutly that he was perfectly able to continue the fight, but when he felt that the exigencies of the occasion demanded that Cincinnati become a member, he agreed to give up the franchise, providing that he be permitted to retain his membership in the National League, and transfer such of his players as New York desired to the latter city. It has been alleged that he demanded an exorbitant price from New York for the transfer of the players.

 

This is untrue. He asked the price of his franchise, the value of his players, and the worth of giving up a Base Ball year in a city in which there was to be no conflicting club and, as he had expressed full confidence in his ability to make a winning fight for the National League, it was agreed that his rights to be considered could not be overlooked. To retain his National League membership he accepted stock in the New York club.

 

Toward the close of the Base Ball season the Brotherhood League dealt what it believed to be a death blow to the National League by the purchase of the Cincinnati franchise. It proved to be a boomerang, for before the first day of January, 1891, the Brotherhood League had passed out of existence. The backers of the organization, tired of the general conduct of the sport, were only too willing to come to an acceptable agreement and retire.

 

A.G. Spalding, John T. Brush, Frank De Hass Robison, Charles H. Byrne and A.H. Soden were prominent members of the National League to bringing this result about. Of these, Mr. Spalding and Mr. Soden survive, but have retired from active participation in Base Ball affairs.

 

It was through this settlement, resulting upon the Base Ball war, that Mr. Brush's activities were turned toward Cincinnati. The National League had a franchise in that city, but no one to operate it. Mr. Brush agreed to take up the franchise and attempt to operate and rebuild that club. That, however, is a detail which relates purely to the continuance of a major league circuit.

 

The next most noticeable achievement in Mr. Brush's Base Ball career and, to the mind of more than one, the greatest successful undertaking in the history of the game, was a complete revolution in the distribution of financial returns. By his success in effecting this Mr. Brush brought about the very purpose which he had sought to attain by his classification plan.

 

But the method was better, for the instruments of this readjustment of conditions were the owners and not the players. Briefly, it was the following:

 

There was still war in Base Ball between the American Association and the National League. Recognizing that the best method to bring about a cessation of this war was to effect an amalgamation of the conflicting forces Mr. Brush sought, with the assistance of others, to weld both leagues into one. He was aided in this task, though indirectly, because A.G. Spalding was actively out of Base Ball, by that gentleman, Frank De Hass Robison, Christopher Von der Abe, and Francis C. Richter, editor of "Sporting Life" of Philadelphia. The writer also essayed in the task in an advisory capacity.

 

The amalgamation was brought about, though not without some opposition; indeed, much opposition. It was conceded at that time that a twelve-club league, which was the object sought, was cumbersome and unwieldy, but there was no other plan of possible accomplishment which suggested itself.

 

But the principal consideration and the result accomplished in this consolidation of leagues was that all gate receipts should be divided, share and share alike, so far as general admissions were concerned.

 

That was the greatest and most far-reaching achievement in the history of Base Ball. Prior to that time the principle of a fixed guarantee for each game played had given each home club a stupendous bulk of the sums paid by the public toward the maintenance of the sport. The inevitable outcome of such an arrangement was that the clubs in the larger cities completely overshadowed the clubs in the smaller cities.

 

The teams in the cities of less population were expected to try to place rival organizations on the field that would equal in playing strength those of New York, Boston and Chicago, but they were unable to do so unless their owners were willing to go on year after year with large deficits staring them in the face.

 

When Mr. Brush and his associates succeeded in placing Base Ball upon a plane of absolute fairness, so far as the proper distribution of the returns of the sport could be made between clubs, Base Ball began to prosper, and, for the first time in all its history, the owners of so-called smaller clubs felt that they could go forward and try to rival their bigger fellows with equally strong combinations.

 

More than that, and which to the ball player is most important of all, it "jumped" the salaries of the players in the smaller clubs until they were on equal terms with their fellow players in the larger clubs, so that Mr. Brush helped to accomplish by this plan the very aim which he had at heart when he proposed the classification plan—a just, impartial and equal reimbursement to every player in the game, so far as the finances of each club would permit—and without that bane to all players, a salary limit.

 

Thus, while it is always probable that some players may receive more than others, based upon their preponderance of skill, it is now a fact that two-thirds of the major league ball players of the present day owe their handsome salaries to the system which John T. Brush so earnestly urged and for which he fought against odds which would have daunted a man with less fixity of purpose.

 

Having brought forth this new condition in Base Ball, which was so just that its results almost immediately began to make themselves manifest, the owner of the Cincinnati club devoted his time and his energies to the endeavor to place a championship club in Cincinnati. He never was successful in that purpose, although his ill fortune was no greater than that of his predecessors.

 

The time came that Mr. Brush learned that the New York Base Ball Club could be purchased. He obtained the stock necessary to make him owner of the New York organization from Mr. Andrew Freedman, but before he did so another Base Ball war had begun between the National League and the American League, a disagreement starting from the simplest of causes, but which, like many another such disagreement, resulted in the most damaging of conditions to the prosperity of the pastime.

 

As had been the case in the prior war brought about by the organization of the Brotherhood League, Mr. Brush fought staunchly for his rights. Prominent National League players were taken by the American League clubs, and this brought retaliation.

 

At length the National League opened negotiations to obtain certain American League players and succeeded in doing so. Among these were the manager of the Baltimore club, John J. McGraw, who felt that he was acting perfectly within his rights in joining the New York National League club. Directly upon his acceptance of the management of the New York club Mr. Brush became its owner and the era of prosperity was inaugurated in New York, which was soon enjoyed by every club throughout the United States.

 

In its first year under the new management the team was not in condition to make a good fight, but the next year it was ready and since then has won four National League championships and one World's Championship.

 

In the spring of 1911, at the very dawn of the National League season, the grand stand of the New York National League club burned to the ground. A man less determined would have been overcome by such a blow. Nothing daunted and while the flames were not yet quenched, Mr. Brush sent for engineers to devise plans for the magnificent stadium which bears his name and which, on the Polo Grounds in New York, is one of the greatest and the most massive monument to professional Base Ball in the world.

 

In connection with this wonderful new edifice of steel and stone, which is one of the wonders of the new world, it is appropriate to add that two world's series have been played on the field of the Polo Grounds since it has been erected.

 

The rules for these world's series were formulated and adopted upon the suggestion and by the advice of Mr. Brush and since a regular world's series season has been a feature of Base Ball the national game has progressed with even greater strides than was the case in the past.

 

At a meeting of the National League the following resolutions were adopted:

 

Whereas, The death of Mr. John T. Brush, president of the New York National League Base Ball Club, comes as a sad blow to organized professional Base Ball and particularly to us, his associates in the National League.

 

As the dean of organized professional Base Ball, his wise counsel, his unerring judgment, his fighting qualities and withal his eminent fairness and integrity in all matters pertaining to the welfare of the national game will be surely missed.

 

He was a citizen of sterling worth, of high moral standards and of correct business principles, and his death is not only a grievous loss to us, but to the community at large as well. Be it, therefore,

 

Resolved, That the members of the National League of Professional Base Ball Clubs, in session to-day, express their profound grief at the loss of their friend, associate and counsellor and extend to the members of his bereaved family their sincere sympathy in the great loss which they have sustained by his death. Be it further

 

Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be spread on the records of the league.

 

In connection with the death of Mr. Brush, Ben Johnson, president of the American League, said: "Mr. Brush was a power in Base Ball. He will be missed as much in the American League as in the National League."

 

More than three hundred friends, relatives, business acquaintances, lodge brothers and Base Ball associates attended the funeral of Mr. Brush, on Friday, November 29, at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Indianapolis. Fifty or more of Mr. Brush's Base Ball associates and acquaintances, principally from the East, were present.

 

The service was conducted by the Rev. Lewis Brown, rector of St. Paul's, and was followed by a Scottish Rite ceremony in charge of William Geake, Sr., of Fort Wayne, acting thrice potent master, and official head of the thirty-third degree in Indiana. The Scottish Rite delegation numbered more than 150. There were also in attendance fifty Knights Templars of Rapier Commandery, under the leadership of Eminent Commander E.J. Scoonover.

 

The Grand Army of the Republic, the Indianapolis Commercial Club and a number of local and out-of-town clubs and social organizations of which Mr. Brush was a member also were represented.

 

The Episcopal service was given impressively. The Rev. Dr. Brown, in reviewing the life of Mr. Brush, spoke of him as one of the remarkable men of America, who, in his youth, gave no promise of being in later life a national figure. In the course of his remarks Dr. Brown said:

 

"The death of John Tomlinson Brush removes from our midst one of the most remarkable men of our generation. His life was that of a typical American. He began in the most unpretentious manner and died a figure of national importance.

 

"He went through the Civil War so quietly that the fact was unknown to some of his most intimate friends. He was mustered out with honor and entered the business world in Indianapolis. His labors here put him at the forefront for sagacity, squareness, honorable treatment and generosity.

 

"His love of sport made him a patron of the national game. In a perfectly natural way, he went from manager of the local team to proprietor of the New York Giants. He was a Bismarck in plan and a Napoleon in execution. His aim was pre-eminence and he won place by the consent of all. The recent spectacular outpouring of people and colossal financial exhibit in the struggle for the pennant between New York and Boston were but the legitimate outcome of his marvelous skill.

 

"He was an early member of the Masonic fraternity. He took his Blue Lodge degree in his native town and to demonstrate his attachment he never removed his membership. Where he had been raised to the sublime degree of a master there he wished to keep his affiliation always.

 

"He became a Knight Templar in Rapier Commandery and was one of its past eminent commanders. He was a member of the Scottish Rite bodies in the Valley of Indianapolis in the early days and performed his work with a ritual perfection unsurpassed. He received the thirty-third and last degree as a merited honor for proficiency and zeal.

 

"The conspicuous feature of his life was its indomitable purpose."

 

[article, public domain]

 

NEW FACES IN THE OLD LEAGUE

 

BY JOHN B. FOSTER.

 

Not for some time has there been such a turning over of the leaves of history in the National League as during 1912-13, and because of this there are many new faces peering out of the album. There have also been changes in the minor circuits and one prominent change in the American League.

 

The death of John T. Brush removed from Base Ball a dean of the National League. Wise in the lore of the game, a man more of the future than of the present, as he always foresaw that which some of his contemporaries were less alert in perceiving, it meant no easy task to be his successor.

 

Prior to the death of Mr. Brush there was a great deal of curious and some idle speculation as to his ultimate successor in case of decease, or, in the event of his retirement because of bodily weariness. One or two went so far as to say that upon his death Andrew Freedman would return to prominence in Base Ball, because he was the real owner of the New York club. Once and for all the writer would like to put the personal stamp of absolute denial on the repeated statements made by certain individuals in New York and Chicago that Andrew Freedman retained the control of the New York club after John T. Brush was reported to have purchased it.

 

Mr. Freedman retained nothing of the kind. Not that Mr. Brush objected to him as a partner, but when Mr. Brush purchased the stock he purchased the control outright, although he did request Mr. Freedman to hold a few shares and not give up his personal interest in Base Ball, for Mr. Freedman had a great liking for the game in spite of his stormy career. The assertions that Mr. Freedman was the real owner and Mr. Brush the nominal owner were made with malicious intent, of which the writer has proof, and through a desire, if possible, to combat the popularity and the success of the Giants.

 

This digression has been made to call attention to the fact that while rumor was plentiful as to the future control of the Giants Mr. Brush was carefully "grooming" a young man—his son-in-law, Mr. H. Hempstead—to take his place.

 

To a few it was known that Mr. Hempstead was acquiring such experience and information as would be necessary to assume the control of an undertaking which has grown so big as the organization of the Giants in New York. The business details of the club have quadrupled and the cares and anxieties of the man at the head have increased in proportion.

 

The Giants, as successful as they have been under the control of John T. Brush and John J. McGraw, the men who have been the executive heads in both the business and the playing departments of the game, are as susceptible to reverses as if they were the lowliest club in the organization. It is only by constant and severe application that the club's affairs may be kept at the best pitch.

 

From SPALDING'S OFFICIAL BASEBALL GUIDE 1913, EDITED BY JOHN B. FOSTER

[article excerpt, public domain]

 

Photo, George Grantham Bain Collection (Library of Congress), public domain.

Phra Phrom is colloquially know outside of Thailand as the Four-Faced Buddha. Phra Phrom, the god of creation also known as Lord Brahma who is full of kindness, mercy, sympathy and impartiality. These four virtues are represented by his four faces, each radiating a serene grace.

 

Greater Manchester Police welcomed 116 new recruits to the force on Monday 2 March 2020.

 

The officers were officially sworn in at a formal ceremony attended by Chief Constable Ian Hopkins, Assistant Chief Constable Nick Bailey, senior officers and magistrate Joan Cooper.

 

The attestation ceremony, which gives officers their policing powers, was held at Stockport Town Hall.

 

The Deputy Mayor and Mayoress of Stockport, Councillor John Wright and Mrs Christine Wright, were also on hand to welcome the new recruits.

 

Family and friends watched the new officers make their oath to uphold their role with fairness, integrity, diligence and impartiality throughout their time in post.

 

New recruits have to complete a two year probation period which includes classroom based learning and a year of active patrol.

 

The new recruits are replacing those who have either retired or left the organisation and therefore helping GMP to maintain current officer numbers.

 

To find out more about Greater Manchester Police please visit our website. www.gmp.police.uk

 

You should call 101, the national non-emergency number, to report crime and other concerns that do not require an emergency response.

 

Always call 999 in an emergency, such as when a crime is in progress, violence is being used or threatened or where there is danger to life.

 

You can also call anonymously with information about crime to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. Crimestoppers is an independent charity who will not want your name, just your information. Your call will not be traced or recorded and you do not have to go to court or give a statement.

 

You can access many of our services online at www.gmp.police.uk.

 

From the autumn 2016 trip to Vietnam:

 

If ever there were a good way to finish up a trip, this particular Sunday in October would be it. Before arriving in Hanoi, I honestly had exceptionally low expectations. A bit like Saigon, if you are to go online and try to look up a list of places to visit – basically a tourist’s stock photography checklist, as it may be – you don’t find much that’s appealing. Well…I didn’t, anyway, and as a result, I had pretty low expectations for Hanoi.

 

The charm and beauty of Hanoi, however, isn’t in any one particular place. It’s in the experience of the entire city. (I’d say the same for Saigon, but multiply that a few times for Hanoi.) On this day in the Old Quarter in particular, I kept finding myself thinking, “Oh, my God, I shouldn’t be this lucky as a photographer…” Today ended up being mostly about people, with a little food and historical locations mixed in.

 

As I mentioned in the last set of posting, today would start off a bit sad with Junebug leaving for China a day before I would. So, we were checked out of our room by 6:00 in the morning or so. The breakfast at the Art Trendy was wonderful. Buffet with a mix of made-to-order omelets mixed in. Strong work, Art Trendy, strong work…

 

When June left, I really had nothing to do since it was still six in the morning and I was temporarily homeless as I had to switch hotels. So…I sat around the lobby for about two hours (possibly slightly awkward for the poor girls working there, but oh, well; I had to sit somewhere).

 

Around 8:00, I finally dragged my old bones out of the hotel and walked the five to ten minutes down the street to the Aquarius, where I politely asked them to hold my non-camera bag until I come back around 1:00 in the afternoon to check in.

 

After that, I was finally off with my cameras to enjoy an early Sunday morning in the bustling Old Quarter. On the street where the hotel is situated are a number of restaurants where locals were jammed in to enjoy noodles, steamed buns, and the like. It was wonderful to be among that crowd (though someone tried to scold me ever so slightly for taking pictures of people eating).

 

Since this was right next to St. Joseph’s Cathedral – and it was Sunday morning – I found my way back into the church where we crashed the wedding the afternoon before and realized that I almost got locked into Sunday mass while walking around taking pictures. So…I stayed. I prayed. And my prayer was answered when I realized the side doors and even the back door were open. (Ok…I didn’t really think I was locked in a church, but it did feel like it a little bit.)

 

Upon exiting the church, a handful of frames under my belt, I walked along the lovely streets photographing shops and people. At Caphe, I piggybacked on someone else’s photo shoot – it looked like they were doing a promo for the place, or possibly just a personal shoot for five women, though I have a feeling it was the former. At any rate, I was quite pleased with that little set and am presenting quite a few of those here, even if they’re a little redundant.

 

My ultimate goal with this wandering was to find my way to the Hanoi Hilton. Now, I’m not taking about the hotel chain, of course, but rather the prison that U.S. prisoners of war sarcastically called the Hanoi Hilton during the Vietnam War. (This is the prison where Senator John McCain was interred while a POW, and there are one or two pictures to that effect here.)

 

This prison has a particularly interesting history (and morbid since…well…it’s a prison). It’s about a hundred years old and was founded by the French colonialists around the turn of the 20th century. During the first 50 years of its history, the French imprisoned Vietnamese insurgents and those who wanted independence. In the eyes of the French…renegades (hence the imprisonment). In the eyes of the Vietnamese – especially the current government – patriots and national heroes. If they were truly freedom fighters, then I would probably side with the current government on that one.

 

The French even had a guillotine installed here and overcrowding was a major problem. There were plenty of escape attempts, and more were successful than you may think, which is a little peculiar.

 

After the battle of Bien Dien Phu and the ejection of the French from the north (and before the U.S. got involved in the south), the prison changed hands and was under control of Ho Chi Minh. During the Vietnam War, it became one of the main prisons for U.S. POWs, as I alluded to above.

 

The propaganda claims that the Vietcong were absolutely humane and decent with U.S. prisoners, allowing them to observe their religious rites (Christmas celebrations, etc.), allowed prisoners to smoke and enjoy leisure (board games, basketball, etc.), and claimed they were well-fed.

 

This is certainly how it’s presented in the prison/museum currently. If you were to go online, though, and try to find a contrary report, you would find that this was all coerced and staged to make it appear as if things were on the up and up. (For anyone curious, per my Vietnamese friends, the general education in Vietnam today is how terrible the French and U.S. were for colonizing and torturing the country and keeping it from its independence.)

 

So, what’s the truth of what really happened? Who knows? Outside of firsthand accounts, it’s impossible to know for certain and even then, memory can be a tricky thing. I tend to like to say the truth is always somewhere between two opposing viewpoints, no matter what the topic may be.

 

From an impartial and purely photographic point of view, the prison, currently a museum/memorial, is an interesting place to spend an hour or two. Some of the exhibits seem a bit cheesy, but some are quite tasteful and well done. There’s also an informational video. You’ll have to see this with a bit of imagination (the prison, that is), as at least half of it has been leveled for high rise buildings. At least there’s some tangible piece of it left to visit, including the main gate (Maison Centrale).

 

After about two hours here at the Hanoi Hilton, I walked over towards the Opera House to get a few daytime shots but, really, to get lunch at El Gaucho. I was looking forward to a proper steak. The prices were astronomical (though justifiable based on what I ate), though I just opted for a steak salad. It was so good I contemplated going back for dinner, but had other plans.

 

With a happy stomach, I went back to finally check in at the Aquarius Hotel and got my workout huffing up six flights of stairs each time I went out. I relaxed here for a few hours until 4:00 when a dear friend of mine came to town to see me.

 

Ngan and I had an ice cream at Baskin Robbins right in front of St. Joe’s before heading over to the Temple of Literature. This is a temple dedicated to education and, bless my soul, it’s a place where university graduates come for graduation pictures.

 

On this particular day – a warm, sunny, late Sunday afternoon – it was packed with college students. And it was beautiful to see that many people happy, full of hopes and dreams, and dressed in either cap and gown or traditional Vietnamese clothes. In short…I had a field day shooting for an hour here.

 

Around 5:00, Ngan had to head back to school, and I went back to my hotel. I had one more meeting. Hoa, who traveled around Thailand & Cambodia with me in May, flew back to see me this evening. She picked me up at 6:00 on her scooter and rode me all around Hanoi by evening.

 

She started by taking me to Ho Chi Minh’s Mausoleum (which I consider a lot more photogenic in its setting than the Great Gangster’s Mausoleum on Tiananmen Square). This one, at least, was in a parklike setting. At evening, it’s well-lit and you can find people relaxing in the grass in front of it. During the day, you can visit and there are quite a few buildings behind the mausoleum that you can also see.

 

After a few minutes here, Hoa took me by West Lake – the largest lake in Hanoi, as I mentioned yesterday – and just drove me around for over an hour, it seemed. My impressions that Hanoi (even out of the Old Quarter) seemed to be a good place to live – though I’d be concerned about the air pollution – and people here seemed to be happy. Also…Vietnamese really love their coffee.

 

We finally returned to the Old Quarter for dinner at one of the famous restaurants she recommended and she treated me to a wonderful dinner. I can’t recall what we ate (the Vietnamese names of it, anyway), but it was nice.

 

After dinner, she drove me over towards the Opera House and then, finally, we stopped by Hoan Kiem Lake in the heart of the Quarter and walked around the lake. It was getting close to 10:00 by this time, and I wanted to get back to the hotel to get a few hours sleep before waking up for my early flight in the morning. Hoa came to the airport with me to see me off.

 

If ever there were a great way to finish a great trip, this was it. I absolutely loved Vietnam – honestly, a lot more than I imagined I would, even with every single person I know who’d ever come here saying what a fantastic country this is – and would gladly come back. This seems to be one of the kinds of countries that you would never get tired of or, if you did, it would sure take a long time. With that, I’ll bid goodbye to Vietnam for now with the hopes that I’ll someday return to this land of amazing food, landscapes, and people.

 

As always, thanks for dropping by and viewing these pictures. Please feel free to leave any questions or comments and I’ll answer as I have time.

Plaster and paint, 20-1 BC

Surviving furnishings from Cremona's buildings indicate a luxurious standard of living. The recently excavated 'House of the Nymphaeum' belonged to a member of the local elite. Its courtyard was decorated with a fountain covered in mosaics. Remains of the upper floor, burned and collapsed during the attack, suggest a lavishly painted room. Vespasian rebuilt Cremona, but it never regained its former prosperity.

[British Museum]

 

Nero: the Man Behind the Myth

(May - Oct 2021)

 

Nero is known as one of Rome's most infamous rulers, notorious for his cruelty, debauchery and madness.

The last male descendant of the emperor Augustus, Nero succeeded to the throne in AD 54 aged just 16 and died a violent death at 30. His turbulent rule saw momentous events including the Great Fire of Rome, Boudicca's rebellion in Britain, the execution of his own mother and first wife, grand projects and extravagant excesses.

Drawing on the latest research, this major exhibition questions the traditional narrative of the ruthless tyrant and eccentric performer, revealing a different Nero, a populist leader at a time of great change in Roman society.

Through some 200 spectacular objects, from the imperial palace in Rome to the streets of Pompeii, follow the young emperor’s rise and fall and make up your own mind about Nero. Was he a young, inexperienced ruler trying his best in a divided society, or the merciless, matricidal megalomaniac history has painted him to be?

 

Nero was the 5th emperor of Rome and the last of Rome’s first dynasty, the Julio-Claudians, founded by Augustus (the adopted son of Julius Caesar). Nero is known as one of Rome’s most infamous rulers, notorious for his cruelty and debauchery. He ascended to power in AD 54 aged just 16 and died at 30. He ruled at a time of great social and political change, overseeing momentous events such as the Great Fire of Rome and Boudica’s rebellion in Britain. He allegedly killed his mother and two of his wives, only cared about his art and had very little interest in ruling the empire.

Most of what we know about Nero comes from the surviving works of three historians – Tacitus, Suetonius and Cassius Dio. All written decades after Nero’s death, their accounts have long shaped our understanding of this emperor’s rule. However, far from being impartial narrators presenting objective accounts of past events, these authors and their sources wrote with a very clear agenda in mind. Nero’s demise brought forward a period of chaos and civil war – one that ended only when a new dynasty seized power, the Flavians. Authors writing under the Flavians all had an interest in legitimising the new ruling family by portraying the last of the Julio-Claudians in the worst possible light, turning history into propaganda. These accounts became the ‘historical’ sources used by later historians, therefore perpetuating a fabricated image of Nero, which has survived all the way to the present.

Nero was born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus on 15 December AD 37.

He was the son of Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus and Agrippina the Younger. Both Gnaeus and Agrippina were the grandchildren of Augustus, making Nero Augustus’ great, great grandson with a strong claim to power.

Nero was only two years old when his mother was exiled and three when his father died. His inheritance was taken from him and he was sent to live with his aunt. However, Nero’s fate changed again when Claudius became emperor, restoring the boy’s property and recalling his mother Agrippina from exile.

In AD 49 the emperor Claudius married Agrippina, and adopted Nero the following year. It is at this point that Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus changed his name to Nero Claudius Caesar Drusus Germanicus. In Roman times it was normal to change your name when adopted, abandoning your family name in favour of your adoptive father’s. Nero was a common name among members of the Claudian family, especially in Claudius’ branch.

Nero and Agrippina offered Claudius a politically useful link back to Augustus, strengthening his position.

Claudius appeared to favour Nero over his natural son, Britannicus, marking Nero as the designated heir.

When Claudius died in AD 54, Nero became emperor just two months before turning 17.

As he was supported by both the army and the senate, his rise to power was smooth. His mother Agrippina exerted a significant influence, especially at the beginning of his rule.

The Roman historians Tacitus, Suetonius and Cassius Dio all claim that Nero, fed up with Agrippina’s interference, decided to kill her.

Given the lack of eyewitnesses, there is no way of knowing if or how this happened. However, this did not stop historians from fabricating dramatic stories of Agrippina’s murder, asserting that Nero tried (and failed) to kill her with a boat engineered to sink, before sending his men to do the job.

Agrippina allegedly told them to stab her in the womb that bore Nero, her last words clearly borrowed from stage plays.

It is entirely possible, as claimed by Nero himself, that Agrippina chose (or was more likely forced) to take her own life after her plot against her son was discovered.

Early in his rule, Nero had to contend with a rebellion in the newly conquered province of Britain.

In AD 60–61, Queen Boudica of the Iceni tribe led a revolt against the Romans, attacking and laying waste to important Roman settlements. The possible causes of the rebellion were numerous – the greed of the Romans exploiting the newly conquered territories, the recalling of loans made to local leaders, ongoing conflict in Wales and, above all, violence against the family of Prasutagus, Boudica’s husband and king of the Iceni.

Boudica and the rebels destroyed Colchester, London and St Albans before being heavily defeated by Roman troops. After the uprising, the governor of Britain Suetonius Paulinus introduced harsher laws against the Britons, until Nero replaced him with the more conciliatory governor Publius Petronius Turpilianus.

The marriage between Nero and Octavia, aged 15 and 13/14 at the time, was arranged by their parents in order to further legitimise Nero’s claim to the throne. Octavia was the daughter of the emperor Claudius from a previous marriage, so when Claudius married Agrippina and adopted her son Nero, Nero and Octavia became brother and sister. In order to arrange their marriage, Octavia had to be adopted into another family.

Their marriage was not a happy one. According to ancient writers, Nero had various affairs until his lover Poppaea Sabina convinced him to divorce his wife. Octavia was first exiled then executed in AD 62 on adultery charges. According to ancient writers, her banishment and death caused great unrest among the public, who sympathised with the dutiful Octavia.

No further motives were offered for Octavia’s death other than Nero’s passion for Poppaea, and we will probably never know what transpired at court. The fact that Octavia couldn’t produce an heir while Poppaea was pregnant with Nero’s daughter likely played an important role in deciding Octavia’s fate.

On 19 July AD 64, a fire started close to the Circus Maximus. The flames soon encompassed the entire city of Rome and the fire raged for nine days. Only four of the 14 districts of the capital were spared, while three were completely destroyed.

Rome had already been razed by flames – and would be again in its long history – but this event was so severe it came to be known as the Great Fire of Rome.

Later historians blamed Nero for the event, claiming that he set the capital ablaze in order to clear land for the construction of a vast new palace. According to Suetonius and Cassius Dio, Nero took in the view of the burning city from the imperial residence while playing the lyre and singing about the fall of Troy. This story, however, is fictional.

Tacitus, the only historian who was actually alive at the time of the Great Fire of Rome (although only 8 years old), wrote that Nero was not even in Rome when the fire started, but returned to the capital and led the relief efforts.

Tacitus, Suetonius and Cassius Dio all describe Nero as being blinded by passion for his wife Poppaea, yet they accuse him of killing her, allegedly by kicking her in an outburst of rage while she was pregnant.

Interestingly, pregnant women being kicked to death by enraged husbands is a recurring theme in ancient literature, used to explore the (self) destructive tendencies of autocrats. The Greek writer Herodotus tells the story of how the Persian king Cambyses kicked his pregnant wife in the stomach, causing her death. A similar episode is told of Periander, tyrant of Corinth. Nero is just one of many allegedly ‘mad’ tyrants for which this literary convention was used.

Poppaea probably died from complications connected with her pregnancy and not at Nero’s hands. She was given a lavish funeral and was deified.

Centred on greater Iran, the Parthian empire was a major political and cultural power and a long-standing enemy of Rome. The two powers had long been contending for control over the buffer state of Armenia and open conflict sparked again during Nero’s rule. The Parthian War started in AD 58 and, after initial victories and following set-backs, ended in AD 63 when a diplomatic solution was reached between Nero and the Parthian king Vologases I.

According to this settlement Tiridates, brother of the Parthian king, would rule over Armenia, but only after having travelled all the way to Rome to be crowned by Nero.

The journey lasted 9 months, Tiridates’ retinue included 3,000 Parthian horsemen and many Roman soldiers. The coronation ceremony took place in the summer of AD 66 and the day was celebrated with much pomp: all the people of Rome saw the new king of Armenia kneeling in front of Nero. This was the Golden Day of Nero’s rule

In AD 68, Vindex, the governor of Gaul (France), rebelled against Nero and declared his support for Galba, the governor of Spain. Vindex was defeated in battle by troops loyal to Nero, yet Galba started gaining more military support.

It was at this point that Nero lost the support of Rome’s people due to a grain shortage, caused by a rebellious commander who cut the crucial food supply from Egypt to the capital. Abandoned by the people and declared an enemy of the state by the senate, Nero tried to flee Rome and eventually committed suicide.

Following his death, Nero’s memory was condemned (a practice called damnatio memoriae) and the images of the emperor were destroyed, removed or reworked. However, Nero was still given an expensive funeral and for a long time people decorated his tomb with flowers, some even believing he was still alive.

After Nero’s death, civil war ensued. At the end of the so-called ‘Year of the Four Emperors’ (AD 69), Vespasian became emperor and started a new dynasty: the Flavians.

[Francesca Bologna, curator, for British Museum]

 

Taken in the British Museum

Complexe Guy-Favreau, Montréal

 

"Dans le cadre de son travail minutieux alliant réalité et fiction, Rebecca Marino tente allègrement de concrétiser un intérêt personnel dans certains lieux et objets. Cet intérêt naît souvent d’une fascination constante de la perspective cosmique et des qualités astronomiques ou scientifiques de la vie quotidienne. En reconnaissant ce qui est souvent négligé ou ignoré et en y prenant part, l’artiste espère en restituer la valeur.

The Best Available Evidence s’inspire d’abord d’un document portant sur la preuve de l’existence et la légitimité des objets volants non identifiés (OVNI), que l’artiste a découvert. En s’appuyant sur le sujet précité, l’œuvre a été créée comme un moyen allègre de jouer avec l’idée de preuve ainsi que pour remettre en question les seuils de croyance personnels. Qu’est-ce qui indique la fiabilité? La vérité? Ces normes sont dictées par la lutte acharnée du désir et du cynisme. En manipulant les failles des différents médiums et surtout le contexte, de nouvelles incidences surgissent et des liens sont établis entre la banalité et la splendeur.

« Dans bon nombre de ces cas, nous ne sommes pas des observateurs impartiaux. L’émotion joue un rôle dans le résultat – peut-être tout simplement parce que le système de croyances limites, s’il est vrai, fait du monde un endroit plus intéressant; mais peut-être aussi parce qu’il y a là quelque chose qui touche plus profondément à la psyché humaine. » – Carl Sagan, Broca’s Brain: Reflections on the Romance of Science"

 

Commissaire : Art Souterrain

 

www.artsouterrain.com/activite/the-best-available-evidence/

A Sikh is a follower of Sikhism, a monotheistic religion which originated during the 15th century in the Punjab region. The term "Sikh" has its origin in the Sanskrit words शिष्य (śiṣya; disciple, student) or शिक्ष (śikṣa; instruction). A Sikh is a disciple of a guru. According to Article I of the Sikh Rehat Maryada (the Sikh code of conduct), a Sikh is "any human being who faithfully believes in One Immortal Being; ten Gurus, from Guru Nanak to Guru Gobind Singh; Guru Granth Sahib; the teachings of the ten Gurus and the baptism bequeathed by the tenth Guru". "Sikh" properly refers to adherents of Sikhism as a religion, not an ethnic group. However, because Sikhs often share strong ethno-religious ties, many countries, such as the U.K., recognize Sikh as a designated ethnicity on their censuses. The American non-profit organization United Sikhs has fought to have Sikh included on the U.S. census as well, arguing that Sikhs "self-identify as an 'ethnic minority'" and believe "that they are more than just a religion".

 

Male Sikhs usually have "Singh" (Lion), and female Sikhs have "Kaur" (Princess) as their middle or last name. Sikhs who have undergone the khanḍe-kī-pahul (the Sikh initiation ceremony) may also be recognized by the five Ks: uncut hair (kesh); an iron or steel bracelet (kara); a kirpan (a sword tucked into a gatra strap); kachehra, a cotton undergarment, and kanga, a small wooden comb. Baptized male Sikhs must cover their hair with a turban, which is optional for baptized female Sikhs. The greater Punjab region is the historic homeland of the Sikhs, although significant communities exist around the world.

 

HISTORY

Sikh political history may be said to begin with the death of the fifth Sikh guru, Guru Arjan Dev, in 1606. Guru Nanak was a religious leader and social reformer in the 15th-century Punjab. Religious practices were formalized by Guru Gobind Singh on 30 March 1699. Singh baptized five people from a variety of social backgrounds, known as the Panj Piare (the five beloved ones) to form the Khalsa, or collective body of initiated Sikhs. Sikhism has generally had amicable relations with other religions, except for the period of Mughal rule in India (1556–1707). Several Sikh gurus were killed by the Mughals for opposing their persecution of minority religious communities including Sikhs. Sikhs subsequently militarized to oppose Mughal rule. The emergence of the Sikh Confederacy under Ranjit Singh was characterized by religious tolerance and pluralism, with Christians, Muslims and Hindus in positions of power. The confederacy is considered the zenith of political Sikhism, encompassing Kashmir, Ladakh and Peshawar. Hari Singh Nalwa, the commander-in-chief of the Sikh army in the North West Frontier, expanded the confederacy to the Khyber Pass. Its secular administration implemented military, economic and governmental reforms. The months leading up to the partition of India in 1947 were marked by conflict in the Punjab between Sikhs and Muslims. This caused the religious migration of Punjabi Sikhs and Hindus from West Punjab, mirroring a similar religious migration of Punjabi Muslims from East Punjab.

 

The 1960s saw growing animosity between Sikhs and Hindus in India, with the Sikhs demanding the creation of a Punjab state on a linguistic basis similar to other states in India. This was promised to Sikh leader Master Tara Singh by Jawaharlal Nehru, in return for Sikh political support during negotiations for Indian independence. Although the Sikhs obtained the Punjab, they lost Hindi-speaking areas to Himachal Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan. Chandigarh was made a union territory and the capital of Haryana and Punjab on 1 November 1966.

 

Tensions arose again during the late 1970s, fueled by Sikh claims of discrimination and marginalisation by the Hindu-dominated Indian National Congress party and tactics adopted by the Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

 

According to Katherine Frank, Indira Gandhi's assumption of emergency powers in 1975 resulted in the weakening of the "legitimate and impartial machinery of government", and her increasing "paranoia" about opposing political groups led her to institute a "despotic policy of playing castes, religions and political groups against each other for political advantage". Sikh leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale articulated Sikh demands for justice, and this triggered violence in the Punjab. The prime minister's 1984 defeat of Bhindranwale led to an attack on the Golden Temple in Operation Blue Star and to her assassination by her Sikh bodyguards. Gandhi's assassination resulted in an explosion of violence against Sikh communities and the killing of thousands of Sikhs throughout India. Khushwant Singh described the riots as a Sikh pogrom; he "felt like a refugee in my country. In fact, I felt like a Jew in Nazi Germany". Since 1984, relations between Sikhs and Hindus have moved toward a rapprochement aided by economic prosperity. However, a 2002 claim by the Hindu right-wing Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) that "Sikhs are Hindus" disturbed Sikh sensibilities. The Khalistan movement campaigns for justice for the victims of the violence, and for the political and economic needs of the Punjab.

 

In 1996, United Nations Commission on Human Rights Freedom of Religion or Belief Special Rapporteur Abdelfattah Amor (Tunisia, 1993–2004) visited India to report on religious discrimination. The following year Amor concluded, "In India it appears that the situation of the Sikhs in the religious field is satisfactory, but that difficulties are arising in the political (foreign interference, terrorism, etc.), economic (in particular with regard to sharing of water supplies) and even occupational fields. Information received from nongovernment (sic) sources indicates that discrimination does exist in certain sectors of the public administration; examples include the decline in the number of Sikhs in the police force and the military, and the absence of Sikhs in personal bodyguard units since the murder of Indira Gandhi".

 

Although Sikhs comprise 10 to 15 percent of all ranks of the Indian Army and 20 percent of its officers, they make up 1.87 percent of the Indian population.

 

During the 1999 Vaisakhi, Sikhs worldwide celebrated the 300th anniversary of the creation of the Khalsa. Canada Post honoured Sikh Canadians with a commemorative stamp in conjunction with the 300th anniversary of Vaisakhi. On April 9, 1999, Indian president K.R. Narayanan issued a stamp commemorating the 300th anniversary of the Khalsa.

 

DEFINITION

According to Guru Granth Sahib:

One who calls himself a Sikh of the Guru, the True Guru, shall rise in the early morning hours and meditate on the Lord's Name. Upon arising early in the morning, the Sikh is to bathe, and cleanse himself in the pool of nectar. Following the Instructions of the Guru, the Sikh is to chant the Name of the Lord, Har. All sins, misdeeds and negativity shall be erased. Then, at the rising of the sun, the Sikh is to sing Gurbani; whether sitting down or standing up, the Sikh is to meditate on the Lord's Name. One who meditates on my Lord, Har, with every breath and every morsel of food – that Gursikh becomes pleasing to the Guru's Mind. That person, unto whom my Lord and Master is kind and compassionate – upon that Gursikh, the Guru's Teachings are bestowed. Servant Nanak begs for the dust of the feet of that Gursikh, who himself chants the Naam, and inspires others to chant it.

 

Simran of the Lord's name is a recurring theme of Guru Granth Sahib, and Sukhmani Sahib were composed to allow a devotee to recite Nam throughout the day. Rising at Amrit Velā (before sunrise) is a common Sikh practice. Sikhism considers the spiritual and secular lives to be intertwined: "In the Sikh Weltanschauung ... the temporal world is part of the Infinite and partakes of its characteristics." According to Guru Nanak, living an "active, creative, and practical life" of "truthfulness, fidelity, self-control and purity" is superior to a purely contemplative life.

 

FIVE Ks

The five Ks (panj kakaar) are five articles of faith which all baptized Sikhs (Amritdhari Sikhs) are obliged to wear. The symbols represent the ideals of Sikhism: honesty, equality, fidelity, meditating on God and never bowing to tyranny. The five symbols are:

- Kesh: Uncut hair, usually tied and wrapped in a Dastar

- Kanga: A wooden comb, usually worn under a Dastar

- Katchera: Cotton undergarments, historically appropriate in battle due to increased mobility when compared to a dhoti. Worn by both sexes, the katchera is a symbol of chastity.

- Kara: An iron bracelet, a weapon and a symbol of eternity

- Kirpan: An iron dagger in different sizes. In the UK Sikhs can wear a small dagger, but in the Punjab they might wear a traditional curved sword from one to three feet in length.

 

MUSIC & INSTRUMENTS

The Sikhs have a number of musical instruments: the rebab, dilruba, taus, jori and sarinda. Playing the sarangi was encouraged in Guru Har Gobind. The rubab was first played by Bhai Mardana as he accompanied Guru Nanak on his journeys. The jori and sarinda were designed by Guru Arjan. The taus was made by Guru Hargobind, who supposedly heard a peacock singing and wanted to create an instrument mimicking its sounds (taus is the Persian word for peacock). The dilruba was made by Guru Gobind Singh at the request of his followers, who wanted a smaller instrument than the taus. After Japji Sahib, all of the shabda in the Guru Granth Sahib were composed as ragas. This type of singing is known as Gurmat Sangeet.

 

When they marched into battle, the Sikhs would play a Ranjit Nagara (victory drum) to boost morale. Nagaras (usually two to three feet in diameter, although some were up to five feet in diameter) are played with two sticks. The beat of the large drums, and the raising of the Nishan Sahib, meant that the singhs were on their way.

 

DISTRIBUTION

Numbering about 27 million worldwide, Sikhs make up 0.39 percent of the world population; approximately 83 percent live in India. About 76 percent of all Sikhs live in the north Indian State of Punjab, where they form a majority (about two-thirds) of the population. Substantial communities of Sikhs (more than 200,000) live in the Indian states or union territories of Haryana (more than 1.1 million), Rajasthan, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh Assam and Jammu and Kashmir.

 

Sikh migration from British India began in earnest during the second half of the 19th century, when the British completed their annexation of the Punjab. The British Raj recruited Sikhs for the Indian Civil Service (particularly the British Indian Army), which led to Sikh migration throughout India and the British Empire. During the Raj, semiskilled Sikh artisans were transported from the Punjab to British East Africa to help build railroads. Sikhs emigrated from India and Pakistan after World War II, most going to the United Kingdom but many to North America. Some Sikhs who had settled in eastern Africa were expelled by Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in 1972. Economics is a major factor in Sikh migration, and significant communities exist in the United Kingdom, Canada, the United States, Malaysia, East Africa, Australia and Thailand.

 

Although the rate of Sikh migration from the Punjab has remained high, traditional patterns of Sikh migration favouring English-speaking countries (particularly the United Kingdom) have changed during the past decade due to stricter immigration laws. Moliner (2006) wrote that as a consequence of Sikh migration to the UK "becom[ing] virtually impossible since the late 1970s", migration patterns evolved to continental Europe. Italy is a rapidly growing destination for Sikh migration, with Reggio Emilia and Vicenza having significant Sikh population clusters. Italian Sikhs are generally involved in agriculture, agricultural processing, the manufacture of machine tools and horticulture.

 

Primarily for socio-economic reasons, Indian Sikhs have the lowest adjusted growth rate of any major religious group in India, at 16.9 percent per decade (estimated from 1991 to 2001). Johnson and Barrett (2004) estimate that the global Sikh population increases annually by 392,633 (1.7 percent per year, based on 2004 figures); this percentage includes births, deaths and conversions.

 

REPRESENTATION

Sikhs have been represented in Indian politics by former Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh and the deputy chairman of the Indian Planning Commission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia. Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal is also a Sikh. Past Sikh politicians in India include former president Giani Zail Singh, Sardar Swaran Singh (India's first foreign minister), Speaker of Parliament Gurdial Singh Dhillon and former Chief Minister of Punjab Pratap Singh Kairon.

 

Politicians from the Sikh diaspora include the first Asian American member of the United States Congress, Dalip Singh Saund, British MPs Piara Khabra, Parmjit Dhanda and Paul Uppal, the first couple to sit together in a Commonwealth parliament (Gurmant Grewal and Nina Grewal, who requested a Canadian government apology for the Komagata Maru incident), former Canadian Shadow Social Development Minister Ruby Dhalla, Canadian Minister of State for Sport Baljit Singh Gosal and Legislative Assembly of Ontario members Vic Dhillon and Jagmeet Singh. Ujjal Dosanjh was the New Democratic Party Premier of British Columbia from July 2004 to February 2005, and was later a Liberal frontbench MP in Ottawa. In Malaysia, two Sikhs were elected MPs in the 2008 general elections: Karpal Singh (Bukit Gelugor) and his son, Gobind Singh Deo (Puchong). Two Sikhs were elected assemblymen: Jagdeep Singh Deo (Datuk Keramat) and Keshvinder Singh (Malim Nawar).

 

Sikhs comprise 10 to 15 percent of all ranks in the Indian Army and 20 percent of its officers, while making up 1.87 percent of the Indian population. The Sikh Regiment is one of the most-decorated regiments in the army, with 73 Battle Honours, 14 Victoria Crosses, 21 first-class Indian Orders of Merit (equivalent to the Victoria Cross), 15 Theatre Honours, five COAS Unit Citations, two Param Vir Chakras, 14 Maha Vir Chakras, five Kirti Chakras, 67 Vir Chakras and 1,596 other awards. The highest-ranking general in the history of the Indian Air Force is a Punjabi Sikh, Marshal of the Air Force Arjan Singh. Plans by the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence for a Sikh infantry regiment were scrapped in June 2007.

 

Historically, most Indians have been farmers and 66 percent of the Indian population are engaged in agriculture. Indian Sikhs are employed in agriculture to a lesser extent; India's 2001 census found 39 percent of the working population of the Punjab employed in this sector. The success of the 1960s Green Revolution, in which India went from "famine to plenty, from humiliation to dignity", was based in the Punjab (which became known as "the breadbasket of India"). The Punjab is the wealthiest Indian state per capita, with the average Punjabi income three times the national average. The Green Revolution centred on Indian farmers adopting more intensive and mechanised agricultural methods, aided by the electrification of the Punjab, cooperative credit, consolidation of small holdings and the existing, British Raj-developed canal system. According to Swedish political scientist Ishtiaq Ahmad, a factor in the success of the Indian green revolution was the "Sikh cultivator, often the Jat, whose courage, perseverance, spirit of enterprise and muscle prowess proved crucial". However, not all aspects of the green revolution were beneficial. Indian physicist Vandana Shiva wrote that the green revolution made the "negative and destructive impacts of science [i.e. the green revolution] on nature and society" invisible, and was a catalyst for Punjabi Sikh and Hindu tensions despite a growth in material wealth.

 

Punjabi Sikhs are engaged in a number of professions which include science, engineering and medicine. Notable examples are nuclear scientist Piara Singh Gill (who worked on the Manhattan Project), fibre-optics pioneer Narinder Singh Kapany and physicist, science writer and broadcaster Simon Singh.

 

In business, the UK-based clothing retailers New Look and the Thai-based Jaspal were founded by Sikhs. India's largest pharmaceutical company, Ranbaxy Laboratories, is headed by Sikhs. UK Sikhs have the highest percentage of home ownership (82 percent) of any religious community. UK Sikhs are the second-wealthiest (after the Jewish community) religious group in the UK, with a median total household wealth of £229,000. In Singapore Kartar Singh Thakral expanded his family's trading business, Thakral Holdings, into total assets of almost $1.4 billion and is Singapore's 25th-richest person. Sikh Bob Singh Dhillon is the first Indo-Canadian billionaire. The Sikh diaspora has been most successful in North America, especially in California’s fertile Central Valley. American Sikh farmers such as Harbhajan Singh Samra and Didar Singh Bains dominate California agriculture, with Samra specialising in okra and Bains in peaches.

 

Sikh intellectuals, sportsmen and artists include writer Khushwant Singh, England cricketer Monty Panesar, former 400m runner Milkha Singh, Indian wrestler and actor Dara Singh, former Indian hockey team captains Ajitpal Singh and Balbir Singh Sr., former Indian cricket captain Bishen Singh Bedi, Harbhajan Singh (India's most successful off spin cricket bowler), Bollywood actress Neetu Singh, Sunny Leone, actors Parminder Nagra, Neha Dhupia, Gul Panag, Mona Singh, Namrata Singh Gujral, Archie Panjabi and director Gurinder Chadha.

 

Sikhs have migrated worldwide, with a variety of occupations. The Sikh Gurus preached ethnic and social harmony, and Sikhs comprise a number of ethnic groups. Those with over 1,000 members include the Ahluwalia, Arain, Arora, Bhatra, Bairagi, Bania, Basith, Bawaria, Bazigar, Bhabra, Chamar, Chhimba, Darzi, Dhobi, Gujar, Jatt, Jhinwar, Kahar, Kalal, Kamboj, Khatri, Kumhar, Labana, Lohar, Mahtam, Mazhabi, Megh, Mirasi, Mochi, Nai, Rajput, Ramgarhia, Saini, Sarera, Sikligar, Sunar, Sudh, Tarkhan and Zargar.

 

An order of Punjabi Sikhs, the Nihang or the Akalis, was formed during Ranjit Singh's time. Under their leader, Akali Phula Singh, they won many battles for the Sikh Confederacy during the early 19th century.

 

IN THE INDIAN & BRITISH ARMIES

Sikhs supported the British during the Indian Rebellion of 1857. By the beginning of World War I, Sikhs in the British Indian Army totaled over 100,000 (20 percent of the force). Until 1945 fourteen Victoria Crosses were awarded to Sikhs, a per-capita regimental record. In 2002 the names of all Sikh VC and George Cross recipients were inscribed on the monument of the Memorial Gates on Constitution Hill, next to Buckingham Palace. Chanan Singh Dhillon was instrumental in campaigning for the memorial.

 

During World War I, Sikh battalions fought in Egypt, Palestine, Mesopotamia, Gallipoli and France. Six battalions of the Sikh Regiment were raised during World War II, serving in the Second Battle of El Alamein, the Burma and Italian campaigns and in Iraq and receiving 27 battle honours. Around the world, Sikhs are commemorated in Commonwealth cemeteries.

 

In the last two world wars 83,005 turban wearing Sikh soldiers were killed and 109,045 were wounded. They all died or were wounded for the freedom of Britain and the world, and during shell fire, with no other protection but the turban, the symbol of their faith.

—General Sir Frank Messervy

 

British people are highly indebted and obliged to Sikhs for a long time. I know that within this century we needed their help twice [in two world wars] and they did help us very well. As a result of their timely help, we are today able to live with honour, dignity, and independence. In the war, they fought and died for us, wearing the turbans.

—Sir Winston Churchill

 

IN THE WEST

During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Sikhs began to emigrate to East Africa, the Far East, Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom. In 1907 the Khalsa Diwan Society was established in Vancouver, and four years later the first gurdwara was established in London. In 1912 the first gurdwara in the United States was founded in Stockton, California.

 

Since Sikhs (like Middle Eastern men) wear turbans, some in Western countries have been mistaken for Muslim or Arabic men since the September 11 attacks and the Iraq War. Several days after the 9/11 attacks Sikh Balbir Singh Sodhi was murdered by Frank Roque, who thought Sodhi was connected with al-Qaeda. CNN suggested an increase in hate crimes against Sikh men in the United States and the UK after the 9/11 attacks.

 

Since Sikhism has never actively sought converts, the Sikhs have remained a relatively homogeneous ethnic group. The Kundalini Yoga-based activities of Harbhajan Singh Yogi in his 3HO (Happy, Healthy, Holy) organisation claim to have inspired a moderate growth in non-Indian adherents of Sikhism. In 1998 an estimated 7,800 3HO Sikhs, known colloquially as ‘gora’ (ਗੋਰਾ) or ‘white’ Sikhs, were mainly centred around Española, New Mexico and Los Angeles, California. Sikhs and the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund overturned a 1925 Oregon law banning the wearing of turbans by teachers and government officials.

 

In an attempt to foster Sikh leaders in the Western world, youth initiatives by a number of organisations have begun. The Sikh Youth Alliance of North America sponsors an annual Sikh Youth Symposium, a public-speaking and debate competition held in gurdwaras throughout the U.S. and Canada.

 

ART & CULTURE

Sikh art and culture are nearly synonymous with that of the Punjab, and Sikhs are easily recognised by their distinctive turban (Dastar). The Punjab has been called India’s melting pot, due to the confluence of invading cultures (Greek, Mughal and Persian) from the rivers from which the region gets its name. Sikh culture is therefore a synthesis of cultures. Sikhism has forged a unique architecture, which S. S. Bhatti described as "inspired by Guru Nanak’s creative mysticism" and "is a mute harbinger of holistic humanism based on pragmatic spirituality".

 

During the Mughal and Afghan persecution of the Sikhs during the 17th and 18th centuries, the latter were concerned with preserving their religion and gave little thought to art and culture. With the rise of Ranjit Singh and the Sikh Raj in Lahore and Delhi, there was a change in the landscape of art and culture in the Punjab; Hindus and Sikhs could build decorated shrines without the fear of destruction or looting.

 

The Sikh Confederacy was the catalyst for a uniquely Sikh form of expression, with Ranjit Singh commissioning forts, palaces, bungas (residential places) and colleges in a Sikh style. Sikh architecture is characterised by gilded fluted domes, cupolas, kiosks, stone lanterns, ornate balusters and square roofs. A pinnacle of Sikh style is Harmandir Sahib (also known as the Golden Temple) in Amritsar.

 

Sikh culture is influenced by militaristic motifs (with the Khanda the most obvious), and most Sikh artifacts - except for the relics of the Gurus - have a military theme. This theme is evident in the Sikh festivals of Hola Mohalla and Vaisakhi, which feature marching and displays of valor.

 

Although the art and culture of the Sikh diaspora have merged with that of other Indo-immigrant groups into categories like "British Asian", "Indo-Canadian" and "Desi-Culture", a minor cultural phenomenon which can be described as "political Sikh" has arisen. The art of diaspora Sikhs like Amarjeet Kaur Nandhra and Amrit and Rabindra Kaur Singh (the "Singh Twins") is influenced by their Sikhism and current affairs in the Punjab.

Bhangra and Giddha are two forms of Punjabi folk dancing which have been adapted and pioneered by Sikhs. Punjabi Sikhs have championed these forms of expression worldwide, resulting in Sikh culture becoming linked to Bhangra (although "Bhangra is not a Sikh institution but a Punjabi one").

 

PAINTING

Sikh painting is a direct offshoot of the Kangra school of painting. In 1810, Ranjeet Singh (1780–1839) occupied Kangra Fort and appointed Sardar Desa Singh Majithia his governor of the Punjab hills. In 1813 the Sikh army occupied Guler State, and Raja Bhup Singh became a vassal of the Sikhs. With the Sikh kingdom of Lahore becoming the paramount power, some of the Pahari painters from Guler migrated to Lahore for the patronage of Maharaja Ranjeet Singh and his Sardars.

 

The Sikh school adapted Kangra painting to Sikh needs and ideals. Its main subjects are the ten Sikh gurus and stories from Guru Nanak's Janamsakhis. The tenth Guru, Gobind Singh, left a deep impression on the followers of the new faith because of his courage and sacrifices. Hunting scenes and portraits are also common in Sikh painting.

 

WIKIPEDIA

17th century chapel

 

It is placed on the wild coast, and is a jewel of our religious heritage. Thanks to the action of the association, it can be often open and very many visitors, hikers (the chapel is located on the edge of the GR 34), and tourists can thus gather there for a few moments.

The chapel is open every day from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., from Palm Sunday to All Saints' Day and during the Christmas holidays. Outside these periods, the chapel is open every Sunday.

 

This small chapel isolated on the moor a few steps from a superb coast attracts many visitors.

 

But it is not alone: ​​a Gallic stele stands not far from the entrance and a fountain, visible along the coastal path, attest to the antiquity of a cult at this location. Moreover, the water from the spring is always supposed to cure rheumatism and eye diseases. This heptagonal Iron Age stele was reused as a cross stand.

 

Note that it bears an inscription engraved on one of the sides:

 

TP ST GONVEL 1757.

 

The spring water is captured by a fountain just before flowing into the sea. It is likely that it was Christianized by the presence of a cross long before the chapel was built.

This chapel, built in 1785, was able to replace an older one. She was traditionally the goal of a Pardon of the Sea.

 

The interior is very sober

 

Two polychrome statues dominate the altar. On the left, Saint Samson wears the episcopal mitre.

Of all the many monks who came from the British Isles in the 6th century to evangelize Brittany, Saint Samson is one of the few who are well attested by history since he signed the acts of the Council of Paris around 555.1

Originally from Wales, and pupil of Saint Ildut who gave his name to Lanildut, he would have landed in Plougasnou, in the north of Finistère, where the foundation of the monastery of Lanmeur is attributed to him. He had been ordained a bishop, without a bishopric, before coming to the continent. Appointed Bishop of Dol by King Childebert 1st, he died there around the year 565. His influence throughout Brittany was such that many localities or Breton religious buildings bear his name. It is not impossible that he came to see his friend Ildut in the Pays d'Iroise.

 

Two other statues catch the eye in this chapel

 

On the left wall, Saint Isidore, the modest Spanish plowman, represents a model of a peasant who is both hardworking and very pious.

To the right of the altar, Saint Yves is dressed as a magistrate. His gaze directed towards the litigants shows them his listening while with his raised hands, he indicates to them his impartiality 2 during his judgments.

We will also take a look at the modern stained glass windows dating from 1993. On the left, Saint Anne, the mother of the Virgin, with her daughter. On the right, Saint Samson, whose bishop's crozier can be seen, heals a patient.

Ultimately, a small, modest chapel full of charm, located in an environment that is both wild and grandiose, which gives it all the qualities of a real postcard subject.

 

Sources: www.chapelleslandunvez.fr/

From the autumn 2016 trip to Vietnam:

 

If ever there were a good way to finish up a trip, this particular Sunday in October would be it. Before arriving in Hanoi, I honestly had exceptionally low expectations. A bit like Saigon, if you are to go online and try to look up a list of places to visit – basically a tourist’s stock photography checklist, as it may be – you don’t find much that’s appealing. Well…I didn’t, anyway, and as a result, I had pretty low expectations for Hanoi.

 

The charm and beauty of Hanoi, however, isn’t in any one particular place. It’s in the experience of the entire city. (I’d say the same for Saigon, but multiply that a few times for Hanoi.) On this day in the Old Quarter in particular, I kept finding myself thinking, “Oh, my God, I shouldn’t be this lucky as a photographer…” Today ended up being mostly about people, with a little food and historical locations mixed in.

 

As I mentioned in the last set of posting, today would start off a bit sad with Junebug leaving for China a day before I would. So, we were checked out of our room by 6:00 in the morning or so. The breakfast at the Art Trendy was wonderful. Buffet with a mix of made-to-order omelets mixed in. Strong work, Art Trendy, strong work…

 

When June left, I really had nothing to do since it was still six in the morning and I was temporarily homeless as I had to switch hotels. So…I sat around the lobby for about two hours (possibly slightly awkward for the poor girls working there, but oh, well; I had to sit somewhere).

 

Around 8:00, I finally dragged my old bones out of the hotel and walked the five to ten minutes down the street to the Aquarius, where I politely asked them to hold my non-camera bag until I come back around 1:00 in the afternoon to check in.

 

After that, I was finally off with my cameras to enjoy an early Sunday morning in the bustling Old Quarter. On the street where the hotel is situated are a number of restaurants where locals were jammed in to enjoy noodles, steamed buns, and the like. It was wonderful to be among that crowd (though someone tried to scold me ever so slightly for taking pictures of people eating).

 

Since this was right next to St. Joseph’s Cathedral – and it was Sunday morning – I found my way back into the church where we crashed the wedding the afternoon before and realized that I almost got locked into Sunday mass while walking around taking pictures. So…I stayed. I prayed. And my prayer was answered when I realized the side doors and even the back door were open. (Ok…I didn’t really think I was locked in a church, but it did feel like it a little bit.)

 

Upon exiting the church, a handful of frames under my belt, I walked along the lovely streets photographing shops and people. At Caphe, I piggybacked on someone else’s photo shoot – it looked like they were doing a promo for the place, or possibly just a personal shoot for five women, though I have a feeling it was the former. At any rate, I was quite pleased with that little set and am presenting quite a few of those here, even if they’re a little redundant.

 

My ultimate goal with this wandering was to find my way to the Hanoi Hilton. Now, I’m not taking about the hotel chain, of course, but rather the prison that U.S. prisoners of war sarcastically called the Hanoi Hilton during the Vietnam War. (This is the prison where Senator John McCain was interred while a POW, and there are one or two pictures to that effect here.)

 

This prison has a particularly interesting history (and morbid since…well…it’s a prison). It’s about a hundred years old and was founded by the French colonialists around the turn of the 20th century. During the first 50 years of its history, the French imprisoned Vietnamese insurgents and those who wanted independence. In the eyes of the French…renegades (hence the imprisonment). In the eyes of the Vietnamese – especially the current government – patriots and national heroes. If they were truly freedom fighters, then I would probably side with the current government on that one.

 

The French even had a guillotine installed here and overcrowding was a major problem. There were plenty of escape attempts, and more were successful than you may think, which is a little peculiar.

 

After the battle of Bien Dien Phu and the ejection of the French from the north (and before the U.S. got involved in the south), the prison changed hands and was under control of Ho Chi Minh. During the Vietnam War, it became one of the main prisons for U.S. POWs, as I alluded to above.

 

The propaganda claims that the Vietcong were absolutely humane and decent with U.S. prisoners, allowing them to observe their religious rites (Christmas celebrations, etc.), allowed prisoners to smoke and enjoy leisure (board games, basketball, etc.), and claimed they were well-fed.

 

This is certainly how it’s presented in the prison/museum currently. If you were to go online, though, and try to find a contrary report, you would find that this was all coerced and staged to make it appear as if things were on the up and up. (For anyone curious, per my Vietnamese friends, the general education in Vietnam today is how terrible the French and U.S. were for colonizing and torturing the country and keeping it from its independence.)

 

So, what’s the truth of what really happened? Who knows? Outside of firsthand accounts, it’s impossible to know for certain and even then, memory can be a tricky thing. I tend to like to say the truth is always somewhere between two opposing viewpoints, no matter what the topic may be.

 

From an impartial and purely photographic point of view, the prison, currently a museum/memorial, is an interesting place to spend an hour or two. Some of the exhibits seem a bit cheesy, but some are quite tasteful and well done. There’s also an informational video. You’ll have to see this with a bit of imagination (the prison, that is), as at least half of it has been leveled for high rise buildings. At least there’s some tangible piece of it left to visit, including the main gate (Maison Centrale).

 

After about two hours here at the Hanoi Hilton, I walked over towards the Opera House to get a few daytime shots but, really, to get lunch at El Gaucho. I was looking forward to a proper steak. The prices were astronomical (though justifiable based on what I ate), though I just opted for a steak salad. It was so good I contemplated going back for dinner, but had other plans.

 

With a happy stomach, I went back to finally check in at the Aquarius Hotel and got my workout huffing up six flights of stairs each time I went out. I relaxed here for a few hours until 4:00 when a dear friend of mine came to town to see me.

 

Ngan and I had an ice cream at Baskin Robbins right in front of St. Joe’s before heading over to the Temple of Literature. This is a temple dedicated to education and, bless my soul, it’s a place where university graduates come for graduation pictures.

 

On this particular day – a warm, sunny, late Sunday afternoon – it was packed with college students. And it was beautiful to see that many people happy, full of hopes and dreams, and dressed in either cap and gown or traditional Vietnamese clothes. In short…I had a field day shooting for an hour here.

 

Around 5:00, Ngan had to head back to school, and I went back to my hotel. I had one more meeting. Hoa, who traveled around Thailand & Cambodia with me in May, flew back to see me this evening. She picked me up at 6:00 on her scooter and rode me all around Hanoi by evening.

 

She started by taking me to Ho Chi Minh’s Mausoleum (which I consider a lot more photogenic in its setting than the Great Gangster’s Mausoleum on Tiananmen Square). This one, at least, was in a parklike setting. At evening, it’s well-lit and you can find people relaxing in the grass in front of it. During the day, you can visit and there are quite a few buildings behind the mausoleum that you can also see.

 

After a few minutes here, Hoa took me by West Lake – the largest lake in Hanoi, as I mentioned yesterday – and just drove me around for over an hour, it seemed. My impressions that Hanoi (even out of the Old Quarter) seemed to be a good place to live – though I’d be concerned about the air pollution – and people here seemed to be happy. Also…Vietnamese really love their coffee.

 

We finally returned to the Old Quarter for dinner at one of the famous restaurants she recommended and she treated me to a wonderful dinner. I can’t recall what we ate (the Vietnamese names of it, anyway), but it was nice.

 

After dinner, she drove me over towards the Opera House and then, finally, we stopped by Hoan Kiem Lake in the heart of the Quarter and walked around the lake. It was getting close to 10:00 by this time, and I wanted to get back to the hotel to get a few hours sleep before waking up for my early flight in the morning. Hoa came to the airport with me to see me off.

 

If ever there were a great way to finish a great trip, this was it. I absolutely loved Vietnam – honestly, a lot more than I imagined I would, even with every single person I know who’d ever come here saying what a fantastic country this is – and would gladly come back. This seems to be one of the kinds of countries that you would never get tired of or, if you did, it would sure take a long time. With that, I’ll bid goodbye to Vietnam for now with the hopes that I’ll someday return to this land of amazing food, landscapes, and people.

 

As always, thanks for dropping by and viewing these pictures. Please feel free to leave any questions or comments and I’ll answer as I have time.

KASHMIR IN CRISIS, CIVILIANS HOSTAGE TO SECURITY FORCES

 

A Dharna to register protest against killings of Innocent Civilians in

Kashmir at Jantar Mantar was organised by ANHAD. The dharna was two

hour long where representatives from various civil society groups

gathered to demonstrate their solidarity with the people of Kashmir.

Following people expressed their views in protest: Shabnam Hashmi

(ANHAD), Harsh Kapoor (South Asia Citizens Web), Navaid Hamid

(Member,NIC), Prof. Kamal Mitra Chenoy (JNU), Prof. Anuradha Chenoy

(JNU), Tanveer Hussain Khan (ANHAD), Indu Prakash (IGSSS), Madhu

Chandra (North Eastern Helpline), Divya (YWCA), Sanjay Kumar (AAA),

Amitabh Pandey (Free Lancer), Ravi Himadri (The other Media), Prof.

Rizwan Kaisar (Jamia Millia Islamia), Swami Agnivesh, Mansi Sharma

(ANHAD), Seema Duhan (ANHAD). The following statement was released to

the Media.

 

It is a matter of grave concern and anguish that no sensitive measures

have been taken by the Central Government in response to the ongoing

deaths, injuries and killings in cold-blood of civilians in Srinagar

and Anantnag districts of Jammu and Kashmir, including young girls and

boys, most of them innocent, peaceful protestors, or even just

bystanders. And consequently both North and South regions of the

valley are on flame. To make matters worse, the Army, along with

para-military forces, have been issued orders to shoot at sight to

uphold the almost relentless curfew -- basically to block protests

against the continuing spiral of non-stop and indiscriminate killings

of innocent civilians. The presence of army and security forces

dominates the Valley and reinforces the deep-rooted angst of people.

The reality is that democracy is under severe strain and is almost

absent in many parts in this state, despite an elected government

backed by the Centre holding the reigns of power at Srinagar.

 

ANHAD and many other concerned civil society groups in India want the

governments in the state and Centre to come out clean -- urgently and

immediately -- and explain if this is indeed a democratic and

constitutional method of handling a manifold and multiplying crisis in

a highly sensitive region. Obviously, the establishment thinks that

branding it as mere law and order problem and repression and killings

would 'calm down' the situation as sensitive and grim as that of Jammu

and Kashmir. This will be like choking tens of thousands of people

into the silence of absolute suffering and blind rage. Will this

violence ever stop, and will we ever find the root causes for a

political solution based on consensus, understanding, mutual harmony

and human rights?

 

Tuesday began with protests against one death which led to the second

death and then suddenly, Srinagar was back under curfew. The cycle of

violence has spun out of control all over again. Last week witnessed a

similar series of killings taking its toll in Anantnag district where

people were killed in clashes with security forces since they were not

allowed to protest against the killings of civilians. This has become

a tragic and vicious circle of hopelessness.

 

Instead of issuing any statement of sympathy or concern or wisdom, our

highest offices of governance in the country, are only pushing for an

escalation in the number of deployment of security forces. This

clearly indicates the callous attitude of the governments in Delhi and

Srinagar. Such acts of brutality are in complete violation of the law

of the land and constitutional rights of the people that have resulted

in mass outrage and alienation of large sections of the civilian

population in Kashmir.

 

These are unarmed, non-violent citizens, who are being treated with

such blatant and indiscriminate use of military force -- why? Is there

no other way to negotiate with civil unrest? And what is the root

cause of this civil unrest if not the brutalities executed by the

police and para military forces? And what about cases of atrocities

committed on people who are not even protesting?

 

There is no excuse for such cruelty. Despite repeated assurances by

the central and state governments of zero tolerance towards human

rights violations, the fact remains that little has been done to

punish those responsible for such heinous and gross violations. This

organised insensitivity and vacillation to act firmly against such

elements is bound to put a question mark on the credibility of the

State and its track record in terms of human and democratic rights of

the people, as enshrined in the Indian Constitution. Mere rhetoric and

institution of official enquiries is not enough to restore the

shattered and shaken confidence of the people. It is imperative that

the central and state authorities take firm and visible action against

those responsible for unleashing this brutish violence on innocent

people. Any delay will only compound the alienation and anger of the

people -- resulting in irrefutable damage to the peace process in the

Valley and elsewhere in the state.

 

ANHAD expresses serious concern over the absolute antipathy and lack

of political initiative displayed by the UPA-led central government in

response to the situation in the valley. They should learn some

lessons from history. People cannot be won over or suppressed at gun

point. Certainly, the people of Jammu and Kashmir deserve a more

rational, humane, visionary and sensitive response from the Indian

State.

 

We demand from the Central and the State governments to:

 

Take immediate action to prevent further loss of life and property

Put an end to the violence perpetrated by the security forces with

immediate effect.

Immediately appoint an independent and impartial time bound Commission

of Enquiry to look into the killings of peaceful civilians & human

rights violations

Initiate an inquiry into instances of attacks on ambulance services

Ensure security of the journalists both of local and national media

Ensure freedom of expression and press

Immediately start a political dialogue with various stake holders

 

Endorsed By:

 

1. Aashima Subberwal- Delhi University

 

2. Abeer Gupta - filmmaker

 

3. Adnan Nabi – Kashmir

 

4. Alana Hunt – Artist

 

5. Ali Asghar – Social Activist, Hyderabad

 

6. Amit Sengupta, Journalist, Delhi

 

7. Amrita Nandy – SANGAT

 

8. Anil Choudhury- Peace

 

9. Aniruddha Dutta, Jadavpur University , Kolkata

 

10. Anjali Thomas – Student DU

 

11. Anjum Rajabali, Cinema Script writer

 

12. Ankita Dash – Student DU

 

13. Appu Esthose Suresh - The Sunday Guardian, Delhi

 

14. Aqsa Anjum – Delhi

 

15. Arindam Jit Singh – Team Nishan

 

16. Arun Kumar Tiwari – Anhad

 

17. Aslam Khan – Student, Jamia Milia Islamia

 

18. Astha Rajan – Anhad

 

19. Atique Farooqui – Lucknow

 

20. Avinash Kumar-Oxfam India

 

21. Biju Mathew – Professor of Business, Rider University, NJ, USA

 

22. Bindia Thapar - Architect/Illustrator, New Delhi.

 

23. Bobby Kunhu – Researcher and Writer

 

24. Colin Gonsalves-Human Rights Law Network

 

25. David Devadas - Senior Journalist

 

26. Dev Desai – Gujarat

 

27. Dhananjay Tripathi – South Asians for Human Rights

 

28. Dunu Roy – Hazards Centre

 

29. Fahad Shah, journalist, Srinagar

 

30. Faizen Haider Naqvi - Businessman, Delhi

 

31. Gauri Dasan Nair – Senior Journalist, kerala

 

32. Gowher Nabi Gora – J and K

 

33. Harsh Dobhal- Human Rights Law Network

 

34. Harsh Kapoor – South Asia Citizens Web

 

35. Inder Salim – Activist

 

36. Indu Prakash Singh- IGSSS

 

37. John Dayal- General Secretary, All India Christian Council

 

38. Kallol Bhowmik - Spl Correspondent Ajir Dainik Batori and Eastern Chronicle

 

39. Kalpana Tikku –

 

40. Kashif-ul-Hoda - Editor, TwoCircles.net

 

41. Madhu Chandra - All India Christian Council & North East Support

Centre & Helpline

 

42. Madhura Chakrvoraty – Student Jadhavpur University, West Bengal

 

43. Maia Barkaia – JNU student

 

44. Manas Arora – Student, IP College of Engineering

 

45. Manisha Sethi – Jamia Teachers Solidarity Association

 

46. Manisha Trivedi – Anhad Gujarat

 

47. Manjit Singh Roperia – Student Hissar

 

48. Mansi Sharma-Anhad

 

49. Moggallan Bharti – JNU student

 

50. Mohan Kumawat- Anhad

 

51. Mohd. Ali - Delhi Correspondent of news website TwoCircles.net

 

52. Mudassir Kawa, Activist, Srinagar

 

53. Mukul Manglik – Historian Delhi University

 

54. Murli Natarajan, South Asia Solidarity Initiative, USA

 

55. Mushtaq Koka, Activist, Srinagar

 

56. Naazim Mohammed – Social Activist, Bangalore

 

57. Nadim Nikhat - Centre for Social Justice, Ahmedabad, Gujarat

 

58. Navaid Hamid -Social Activist

 

59. Neha Dhole, Aman Trust, New Delhi

 

60. Praful Bidwai- Columnist and Writer

 

61. Prasad Chako- NCDHR

 

62. Pratap Singh Negi, Anhad

 

63. Prativa Thomas – Amnesty International, UK

 

64. Prem Dangwal – Anhad Mumbai

 

65. Prof Anuradha Chenoy, JNU, Delhi

 

66. Prof Kamal Mitra Chenoy, JNU, Delhi

 

67. Prof. KN Panikkar, Historian

 

68. Raj Gopalan – Trivandrum, Kerala

 

69. Ram Puniyani – Ekta, Mumbai

 

70. Rashid Ali – Freelance Journalist

 

71. Rima Aranha

 

72. Rohit Sinha – Student DU

 

73. Rupal Oza, South Asia Solidarity Initiative

 

74. Sabir Hussain – Jammu and Kashmir

 

75. Sachin Pandya – Anhad Gujarat

 

76. Sania Hashmi – Anhad

 

77. Sanjay Sharma – Anhad

 

78. Sanjeev Mahajan, CA, USA

 

79. Saqib Sana - Mumbai

 

80. Seema Duhan-Anhad

 

81. Shabir Hussain – Srinagar, J &K

 

82. Shabnam Hashmi- social activist, Anhad

 

83. Shahnawaz Malik – Lucknow

 

84. Shaweta Anand, Journalist and Researcher

 

85. Sheeba Aslam Fehmi – Researcher JNU

 

86. Shesh Narain Singh-Senior Journalist

 

87. Shoaib Khan – Srinagar, J&K

 

88. Shrish Chandra – Lucknow University

 

89. Shweta Tripathi – Programme Officer, SHRUTI

 

90. Sohaib Niazi – Student, Jamia Milia Islamia

 

91. Sohail Hashmi-Social Activist

 

92. Sonam Gupta - Anhad

 

93. Sonia Jabbar- Independent Filmmaker

 

94. Tanveer Hussain Khan -Anhad Kashmir Coordinator

 

95. Thulasi Kakkat – Photographer, Kerela

 

96. Uma Chakravarty- Academician

 

97. Vijayan- Delhi Forum

 

98. Vrinda Grover- Human Rights Lawyer, Supreme Court

 

99. Waqar Kazi – Anhad Mumbai

 

100. Wasim Khan, NJ, USA

 

101. Yasmeen Qureshi, Human Rights Activist, CA, USA

 

102. Zafar Abbas – journalist, Delhi

 

103. Zafar Agha, journalist, Delhi

 

104. Manasi Pingle – Student, DU

 

--

Thanks & Regards

Sonam Gupta.

 

--

Thanks & Regards

Sonam Gupta.

 

--

Thanks & Regards

Sonam Gupta.

 

--

Thanks & Regards

Sonam Gupta.

The good gray guardians of art

Patrol the halls on spongy shoes,

Impartially protective, though

Perhaps suspicious of Toulouse.

 

Here dozes one against the wall,

Disposed upon a funeral chair.

A Degas dancer pirouettes

Upon the parting of his hair.

 

See how she spins! The grace is there,

But strain as well is plain to see.

Degas loved the two together:

Beauty joined to energy.

 

Edgar Degas purchased once

A fine El Greco, which he kept

Against the wall beside his bed

To hang his pants on while he slept.

From the autumn 2016 trip to Vietnam:

 

If ever there were a good way to finish up a trip, this particular Sunday in October would be it. Before arriving in Hanoi, I honestly had exceptionally low expectations. A bit like Saigon, if you are to go online and try to look up a list of places to visit – basically a tourist’s stock photography checklist, as it may be – you don’t find much that’s appealing. Well…I didn’t, anyway, and as a result, I had pretty low expectations for Hanoi.

 

The charm and beauty of Hanoi, however, isn’t in any one particular place. It’s in the experience of the entire city. (I’d say the same for Saigon, but multiply that a few times for Hanoi.) On this day in the Old Quarter in particular, I kept finding myself thinking, “Oh, my God, I shouldn’t be this lucky as a photographer…” Today ended up being mostly about people, with a little food and historical locations mixed in.

 

As I mentioned in the last set of posting, today would start off a bit sad with Junebug leaving for China a day before I would. So, we were checked out of our room by 6:00 in the morning or so. The breakfast at the Art Trendy was wonderful. Buffet with a mix of made-to-order omelets mixed in. Strong work, Art Trendy, strong work…

 

When June left, I really had nothing to do since it was still six in the morning and I was temporarily homeless as I had to switch hotels. So…I sat around the lobby for about two hours (possibly slightly awkward for the poor girls working there, but oh, well; I had to sit somewhere).

 

Around 8:00, I finally dragged my old bones out of the hotel and walked the five to ten minutes down the street to the Aquarius, where I politely asked them to hold my non-camera bag until I come back around 1:00 in the afternoon to check in.

 

After that, I was finally off with my cameras to enjoy an early Sunday morning in the bustling Old Quarter. On the street where the hotel is situated are a number of restaurants where locals were jammed in to enjoy noodles, steamed buns, and the like. It was wonderful to be among that crowd (though someone tried to scold me ever so slightly for taking pictures of people eating).

 

Since this was right next to St. Joseph’s Cathedral – and it was Sunday morning – I found my way back into the church where we crashed the wedding the afternoon before and realized that I almost got locked into Sunday mass while walking around taking pictures. So…I stayed. I prayed. And my prayer was answered when I realized the side doors and even the back door were open. (Ok…I didn’t really think I was locked in a church, but it did feel like it a little bit.)

 

Upon exiting the church, a handful of frames under my belt, I walked along the lovely streets photographing shops and people. At Caphe, I piggybacked on someone else’s photo shoot – it looked like they were doing a promo for the place, or possibly just a personal shoot for five women, though I have a feeling it was the former. At any rate, I was quite pleased with that little set and am presenting quite a few of those here, even if they’re a little redundant.

 

My ultimate goal with this wandering was to find my way to the Hanoi Hilton. Now, I’m not taking about the hotel chain, of course, but rather the prison that U.S. prisoners of war sarcastically called the Hanoi Hilton during the Vietnam War. (This is the prison where Senator John McCain was interred while a POW, and there are one or two pictures to that effect here.)

 

This prison has a particularly interesting history (and morbid since…well…it’s a prison). It’s about a hundred years old and was founded by the French colonialists around the turn of the 20th century. During the first 50 years of its history, the French imprisoned Vietnamese insurgents and those who wanted independence. In the eyes of the French…renegades (hence the imprisonment). In the eyes of the Vietnamese – especially the current government – patriots and national heroes. If they were truly freedom fighters, then I would probably side with the current government on that one.

 

The French even had a guillotine installed here and overcrowding was a major problem. There were plenty of escape attempts, and more were successful than you may think, which is a little peculiar.

 

After the battle of Bien Dien Phu and the ejection of the French from the north (and before the U.S. got involved in the south), the prison changed hands and was under control of Ho Chi Minh. During the Vietnam War, it became one of the main prisons for U.S. POWs, as I alluded to above.

 

The propaganda claims that the Vietcong were absolutely humane and decent with U.S. prisoners, allowing them to observe their religious rites (Christmas celebrations, etc.), allowed prisoners to smoke and enjoy leisure (board games, basketball, etc.), and claimed they were well-fed.

 

This is certainly how it’s presented in the prison/museum currently. If you were to go online, though, and try to find a contrary report, you would find that this was all coerced and staged to make it appear as if things were on the up and up. (For anyone curious, per my Vietnamese friends, the general education in Vietnam today is how terrible the French and U.S. were for colonizing and torturing the country and keeping it from its independence.)

 

So, what’s the truth of what really happened? Who knows? Outside of firsthand accounts, it’s impossible to know for certain and even then, memory can be a tricky thing. I tend to like to say the truth is always somewhere between two opposing viewpoints, no matter what the topic may be.

 

From an impartial and purely photographic point of view, the prison, currently a museum/memorial, is an interesting place to spend an hour or two. Some of the exhibits seem a bit cheesy, but some are quite tasteful and well done. There’s also an informational video. You’ll have to see this with a bit of imagination (the prison, that is), as at least half of it has been leveled for high rise buildings. At least there’s some tangible piece of it left to visit, including the main gate (Maison Centrale).

 

After about two hours here at the Hanoi Hilton, I walked over towards the Opera House to get a few daytime shots but, really, to get lunch at El Gaucho. I was looking forward to a proper steak. The prices were astronomical (though justifiable based on what I ate), though I just opted for a steak salad. It was so good I contemplated going back for dinner, but had other plans.

 

With a happy stomach, I went back to finally check in at the Aquarius Hotel and got my workout huffing up six flights of stairs each time I went out. I relaxed here for a few hours until 4:00 when a dear friend of mine came to town to see me.

 

Ngan and I had an ice cream at Baskin Robbins right in front of St. Joe’s before heading over to the Temple of Literature. This is a temple dedicated to education and, bless my soul, it’s a place where university graduates come for graduation pictures.

 

On this particular day – a warm, sunny, late Sunday afternoon – it was packed with college students. And it was beautiful to see that many people happy, full of hopes and dreams, and dressed in either cap and gown or traditional Vietnamese clothes. In short…I had a field day shooting for an hour here.

 

Around 5:00, Ngan had to head back to school, and I went back to my hotel. I had one more meeting. Hoa, who traveled around Thailand & Cambodia with me in May, flew back to see me this evening. She picked me up at 6:00 on her scooter and rode me all around Hanoi by evening.

 

She started by taking me to Ho Chi Minh’s Mausoleum (which I consider a lot more photogenic in its setting than the Great Gangster’s Mausoleum on Tiananmen Square). This one, at least, was in a parklike setting. At evening, it’s well-lit and you can find people relaxing in the grass in front of it. During the day, you can visit and there are quite a few buildings behind the mausoleum that you can also see.

 

After a few minutes here, Hoa took me by West Lake – the largest lake in Hanoi, as I mentioned yesterday – and just drove me around for over an hour, it seemed. My impressions that Hanoi (even out of the Old Quarter) seemed to be a good place to live – though I’d be concerned about the air pollution – and people here seemed to be happy. Also…Vietnamese really love their coffee.

 

We finally returned to the Old Quarter for dinner at one of the famous restaurants she recommended and she treated me to a wonderful dinner. I can’t recall what we ate (the Vietnamese names of it, anyway), but it was nice.

 

After dinner, she drove me over towards the Opera House and then, finally, we stopped by Hoan Kiem Lake in the heart of the Quarter and walked around the lake. It was getting close to 10:00 by this time, and I wanted to get back to the hotel to get a few hours sleep before waking up for my early flight in the morning. Hoa came to the airport with me to see me off.

 

If ever there were a great way to finish a great trip, this was it. I absolutely loved Vietnam – honestly, a lot more than I imagined I would, even with every single person I know who’d ever come here saying what a fantastic country this is – and would gladly come back. This seems to be one of the kinds of countries that you would never get tired of or, if you did, it would sure take a long time. With that, I’ll bid goodbye to Vietnam for now with the hopes that I’ll someday return to this land of amazing food, landscapes, and people.

 

As always, thanks for dropping by and viewing these pictures. Please feel free to leave any questions or comments and I’ll answer as I have time.

... in a 30 km/hr zone, rockland avenue, victoria bc ... vic city has implemented a transportation plan to make the city friendlier to all modes of transport at the expense of cars ... a part of the plan is lowering speed limits on city residential streets ... my experience as an impartial observer is that most people in cars ignore the speed limits ... this 'your speed' on rockland is, it is true, on the downside of a slope - hence the high speeds - but it is very close to a stop sign and drivers are, for the most park, braking when they are picked up by the watchful eye of the speed monitor.

Plaster and paint, 20-1 BC

 

Surviving furnishings from Cremona’s buildings indicate a luxurious standard of living. The recently excavated ‘House of the Nymphaeum’ belonged to a member of the local elite. Its courtyard was decorated with a fountain covered in mosaics. Remains of the upper foor, burned and collapsed during the attack, suggest a lavishly painted room. Vespasian rebuilt Cremona, but it never regained its former prosperity.

[British Museum]

  

Nero: the Man Behind the Myth

(May - Oct 2021)

 

Nero is known as one of Rome's most infamous rulers, notorious for his cruelty, debauchery and madness.

The last male descendant of the emperor Augustus, Nero succeeded to the throne in AD 54 aged just 16 and died a violent death at 30. His turbulent rule saw momentous events including the Great Fire of Rome, Boudicca's rebellion in Britain, the execution of his own mother and first wife, grand projects and extravagant excesses.

Drawing on the latest research, this major exhibition questions the traditional narrative of the ruthless tyrant and eccentric performer, revealing a different Nero, a populist leader at a time of great change in Roman society.

Through some 200 spectacular objects, from the imperial palace in Rome to the streets of Pompeii, follow the young emperor’s rise and fall and make up your own mind about Nero. Was he a young, inexperienced ruler trying his best in a divided society, or the merciless, matricidal megalomaniac history has painted him to be?

 

Nero was the 5th emperor of Rome and the last of Rome’s first dynasty, the Julio-Claudians, founded by Augustus (the adopted son of Julius Caesar). Nero is known as one of Rome’s most infamous rulers, notorious for his cruelty and debauchery. He ascended to power in AD 54 aged just 16 and died at 30. He ruled at a time of great social and political change, overseeing momentous events such as the Great Fire of Rome and Boudica’s rebellion in Britain. He allegedly killed his mother and two of his wives, only cared about his art and had very little interest in ruling the empire.

Most of what we know about Nero comes from the surviving works of three historians – Tacitus, Suetonius and Cassius Dio. All written decades after Nero’s death, their accounts have long shaped our understanding of this emperor’s rule. However, far from being impartial narrators presenting objective accounts of past events, these authors and their sources wrote with a very clear agenda in mind. Nero’s demise brought forward a period of chaos and civil war – one that ended only when a new dynasty seized power, the Flavians. Authors writing under the Flavians all had an interest in legitimising the new ruling family by portraying the last of the Julio-Claudians in the worst possible light, turning history into propaganda. These accounts became the ‘historical’ sources used by later historians, therefore perpetuating a fabricated image of Nero, which has survived all the way to the present.

Nero was born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus on 15 December AD 37.

He was the son of Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus and Agrippina the Younger. Both Gnaeus and Agrippina were the grandchildren of Augustus, making Nero Augustus’ great, great grandson with a strong claim to power.

Nero was only two years old when his mother was exiled and three when his father died. His inheritance was taken from him and he was sent to live with his aunt. However, Nero’s fate changed again when Claudius became emperor, restoring the boy’s property and recalling his mother Agrippina from exile.

In AD 49 the emperor Claudius married Agrippina, and adopted Nero the following year. It is at this point that Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus changed his name to Nero Claudius Caesar Drusus Germanicus. In Roman times it was normal to change your name when adopted, abandoning your family name in favour of your adoptive father’s. Nero was a common name among members of the Claudian family, especially in Claudius’ branch.

Nero and Agrippina offered Claudius a politically useful link back to Augustus, strengthening his position.

Claudius appeared to favour Nero over his natural son, Britannicus, marking Nero as the designated heir.

When Claudius died in AD 54, Nero became emperor just two months before turning 17.

As he was supported by both the army and the senate, his rise to power was smooth. His mother Agrippina exerted a significant influence, especially at the beginning of his rule.

The Roman historians Tacitus, Suetonius and Cassius Dio all claim that Nero, fed up with Agrippina’s interference, decided to kill her.

Given the lack of eyewitnesses, there is no way of knowing if or how this happened. However, this did not stop historians from fabricating dramatic stories of Agrippina’s murder, asserting that Nero tried (and failed) to kill her with a boat engineered to sink, before sending his men to do the job.

Agrippina allegedly told them to stab her in the womb that bore Nero, her last words clearly borrowed from stage plays.

It is entirely possible, as claimed by Nero himself, that Agrippina chose (or was more likely forced) to take her own life after her plot against her son was discovered.

Early in his rule, Nero had to contend with a rebellion in the newly conquered province of Britain.

In AD 60–61, Queen Boudica of the Iceni tribe led a revolt against the Romans, attacking and laying waste to important Roman settlements. The possible causes of the rebellion were numerous – the greed of the Romans exploiting the newly conquered territories, the recalling of loans made to local leaders, ongoing conflict in Wales and, above all, violence against the family of Prasutagus, Boudica’s husband and king of the Iceni.

Boudica and the rebels destroyed Colchester, London and St Albans before being heavily defeated by Roman troops. After the uprising, the governor of Britain Suetonius Paulinus introduced harsher laws against the Britons, until Nero replaced him with the more conciliatory governor Publius Petronius Turpilianus.

The marriage between Nero and Octavia, aged 15 and 13/14 at the time, was arranged by their parents in order to further legitimise Nero’s claim to the throne. Octavia was the daughter of the emperor Claudius from a previous marriage, so when Claudius married Agrippina and adopted her son Nero, Nero and Octavia became brother and sister. In order to arrange their marriage, Octavia had to be adopted into another family.

Their marriage was not a happy one. According to ancient writers, Nero had various affairs until his lover Poppaea Sabina convinced him to divorce his wife. Octavia was first exiled then executed in AD 62 on adultery charges. According to ancient writers, her banishment and death caused great unrest among the public, who sympathised with the dutiful Octavia.

No further motives were offered for Octavia’s death other than Nero’s passion for Poppaea, and we will probably never know what transpired at court. The fact that Octavia couldn’t produce an heir while Poppaea was pregnant with Nero’s daughter likely played an important role in deciding Octavia’s fate.

On 19 July AD 64, a fire started close to the Circus Maximus. The flames soon encompassed the entire city of Rome and the fire raged for nine days. Only four of the 14 districts of the capital were spared, while three were completely destroyed.

Rome had already been razed by flames – and would be again in its long history – but this event was so severe it came to be known as the Great Fire of Rome.

Later historians blamed Nero for the event, claiming that he set the capital ablaze in order to clear land for the construction of a vast new palace. According to Suetonius and Cassius Dio, Nero took in the view of the burning city from the imperial residence while playing the lyre and singing about the fall of Troy. This story, however, is fictional.

Tacitus, the only historian who was actually alive at the time of the Great Fire of Rome (although only 8 years old), wrote that Nero was not even in Rome when the fire started, but returned to the capital and led the relief efforts.

Tacitus, Suetonius and Cassius Dio all describe Nero as being blinded by passion for his wife Poppaea, yet they accuse him of killing her, allegedly by kicking her in an outburst of rage while she was pregnant.

Interestingly, pregnant women being kicked to death by enraged husbands is a recurring theme in ancient literature, used to explore the (self) destructive tendencies of autocrats. The Greek writer Herodotus tells the story of how the Persian king Cambyses kicked his pregnant wife in the stomach, causing her death. A similar episode is told of Periander, tyrant of Corinth. Nero is just one of many allegedly ‘mad’ tyrants for which this literary convention was used.

Poppaea probably died from complications connected with her pregnancy and not at Nero’s hands. She was given a lavish funeral and was deified.

Centred on greater Iran, the Parthian empire was a major political and cultural power and a long-standing enemy of Rome. The two powers had long been contending for control over the buffer state of Armenia and open conflict sparked again during Nero’s rule. The Parthian War started in AD 58 and, after initial victories and following set-backs, ended in AD 63 when a diplomatic solution was reached between Nero and the Parthian king Vologases I.

According to this settlement Tiridates, brother of the Parthian king, would rule over Armenia, but only after having travelled all the way to Rome to be crowned by Nero.

The journey lasted 9 months, Tiridates’ retinue included 3,000 Parthian horsemen and many Roman soldiers. The coronation ceremony took place in the summer of AD 66 and the day was celebrated with much pomp: all the people of Rome saw the new king of Armenia kneeling in front of Nero. This was the Golden Day of Nero’s rule

In AD 68, Vindex, the governor of Gaul (France), rebelled against Nero and declared his support for Galba, the governor of Spain. Vindex was defeated in battle by troops loyal to Nero, yet Galba started gaining more military support.

It was at this point that Nero lost the support of Rome’s people due to a grain shortage, caused by a rebellious commander who cut the crucial food supply from Egypt to the capital. Abandoned by the people and declared an enemy of the state by the senate, Nero tried to flee Rome and eventually committed suicide.

Following his death, Nero’s memory was condemned (a practice called damnatio memoriae) and the images of the emperor were destroyed, removed or reworked. However, Nero was still given an expensive funeral and for a long time people decorated his tomb with flowers, some even believing he was still alive.

After Nero’s death, civil war ensued. At the end of the so-called ‘Year of the Four Emperors’ (AD 69), Vespasian became emperor and started a new dynasty: the Flavians.

[Francesca Bologna, curator, for British Museum]

 

Taken in the British Museum

KASHMIR IN CRISIS, CIVILIANS HOSTAGE TO SECURITY FORCES

 

A Dharna to register protest against killings of Innocent Civilians in

Kashmir at Jantar Mantar was organised by ANHAD. The dharna was two

hour long where representatives from various civil society groups

gathered to demonstrate their solidarity with the people of Kashmir.

Following people expressed their views in protest: Shabnam Hashmi

(ANHAD), Harsh Kapoor (South Asia Citizens Web), Navaid Hamid

(Member,NIC), Prof. Kamal Mitra Chenoy (JNU), Prof. Anuradha Chenoy

(JNU), Tanveer Hussain Khan (ANHAD), Indu Prakash (IGSSS), Madhu

Chandra (North Eastern Helpline), Divya (YWCA), Sanjay Kumar (AAA),

Amitabh Pandey (Free Lancer), Ravi Himadri (The other Media), Prof.

Rizwan Kaisar (Jamia Millia Islamia), Swami Agnivesh, Mansi Sharma

(ANHAD), Seema Duhan (ANHAD). The following statement was released to

the Media.

 

It is a matter of grave concern and anguish that no sensitive measures

have been taken by the Central Government in response to the ongoing

deaths, injuries and killings in cold-blood of civilians in Srinagar

and Anantnag districts of Jammu and Kashmir, including young girls and

boys, most of them innocent, peaceful protestors, or even just

bystanders. And consequently both North and South regions of the

valley are on flame. To make matters worse, the Army, along with

para-military forces, have been issued orders to shoot at sight to

uphold the almost relentless curfew -- basically to block protests

against the continuing spiral of non-stop and indiscriminate killings

of innocent civilians. The presence of army and security forces

dominates the Valley and reinforces the deep-rooted angst of people.

The reality is that democracy is under severe strain and is almost

absent in many parts in this state, despite an elected government

backed by the Centre holding the reigns of power at Srinagar.

 

ANHAD and many other concerned civil society groups in India want the

governments in the state and Centre to come out clean -- urgently and

immediately -- and explain if this is indeed a democratic and

constitutional method of handling a manifold and multiplying crisis in

a highly sensitive region. Obviously, the establishment thinks that

branding it as mere law and order problem and repression and killings

would 'calm down' the situation as sensitive and grim as that of Jammu

and Kashmir. This will be like choking tens of thousands of people

into the silence of absolute suffering and blind rage. Will this

violence ever stop, and will we ever find the root causes for a

political solution based on consensus, understanding, mutual harmony

and human rights?

 

Tuesday began with protests against one death which led to the second

death and then suddenly, Srinagar was back under curfew. The cycle of

violence has spun out of control all over again. Last week witnessed a

similar series of killings taking its toll in Anantnag district where

people were killed in clashes with security forces since they were not

allowed to protest against the killings of civilians. This has become

a tragic and vicious circle of hopelessness.

 

Instead of issuing any statement of sympathy or concern or wisdom, our

highest offices of governance in the country, are only pushing for an

escalation in the number of deployment of security forces. This

clearly indicates the callous attitude of the governments in Delhi and

Srinagar. Such acts of brutality are in complete violation of the law

of the land and constitutional rights of the people that have resulted

in mass outrage and alienation of large sections of the civilian

population in Kashmir.

 

These are unarmed, non-violent citizens, who are being treated with

such blatant and indiscriminate use of military force -- why? Is there

no other way to negotiate with civil unrest? And what is the root

cause of this civil unrest if not the brutalities executed by the

police and para military forces? And what about cases of atrocities

committed on people who are not even protesting?

 

There is no excuse for such cruelty. Despite repeated assurances by

the central and state governments of zero tolerance towards human

rights violations, the fact remains that little has been done to

punish those responsible for such heinous and gross violations. This

organised insensitivity and vacillation to act firmly against such

elements is bound to put a question mark on the credibility of the

State and its track record in terms of human and democratic rights of

the people, as enshrined in the Indian Constitution. Mere rhetoric and

institution of official enquiries is not enough to restore the

shattered and shaken confidence of the people. It is imperative that

the central and state authorities take firm and visible action against

those responsible for unleashing this brutish violence on innocent

people. Any delay will only compound the alienation and anger of the

people -- resulting in irrefutable damage to the peace process in the

Valley and elsewhere in the state.

 

ANHAD expresses serious concern over the absolute antipathy and lack

of political initiative displayed by the UPA-led central government in

response to the situation in the valley. They should learn some

lessons from history. People cannot be won over or suppressed at gun

point. Certainly, the people of Jammu and Kashmir deserve a more

rational, humane, visionary and sensitive response from the Indian

State.

 

We demand from the Central and the State governments to:

 

Take immediate action to prevent further loss of life and property

Put an end to the violence perpetrated by the security forces with

immediate effect.

Immediately appoint an independent and impartial time bound Commission

of Enquiry to look into the killings of peaceful civilians & human

rights violations

Initiate an inquiry into instances of attacks on ambulance services

Ensure security of the journalists both of local and national media

Ensure freedom of expression and press

Immediately start a political dialogue with various stake holders

 

Endorsed By:

 

1. Aashima Subberwal- Delhi University

 

2. Abeer Gupta - filmmaker

 

3. Adnan Nabi – Kashmir

 

4. Alana Hunt – Artist

 

5. Ali Asghar – Social Activist, Hyderabad

 

6. Amit Sengupta, Journalist, Delhi

 

7. Amrita Nandy – SANGAT

 

8. Anil Choudhury- Peace

 

9. Aniruddha Dutta, Jadavpur University , Kolkata

 

10. Anjali Thomas – Student DU

 

11. Anjum Rajabali, Cinema Script writer

 

12. Ankita Dash – Student DU

 

13. Appu Esthose Suresh - The Sunday Guardian, Delhi

 

14. Aqsa Anjum – Delhi

 

15. Arindam Jit Singh – Team Nishan

 

16. Arun Kumar Tiwari – Anhad

 

17. Aslam Khan – Student, Jamia Milia Islamia

 

18. Astha Rajan – Anhad

 

19. Atique Farooqui – Lucknow

 

20. Avinash Kumar-Oxfam India

 

21. Biju Mathew – Professor of Business, Rider University, NJ, USA

 

22. Bindia Thapar - Architect/Illustrator, New Delhi.

 

23. Bobby Kunhu – Researcher and Writer

 

24. Colin Gonsalves-Human Rights Law Network

 

25. David Devadas - Senior Journalist

 

26. Dev Desai – Gujarat

 

27. Dhananjay Tripathi – South Asians for Human Rights

 

28. Dunu Roy – Hazards Centre

 

29. Fahad Shah, journalist, Srinagar

 

30. Faizen Haider Naqvi - Businessman, Delhi

 

31. Gauri Dasan Nair – Senior Journalist, kerala

 

32. Gowher Nabi Gora – J and K

 

33. Harsh Dobhal- Human Rights Law Network

 

34. Harsh Kapoor – South Asia Citizens Web

 

35. Inder Salim – Activist

 

36. Indu Prakash Singh- IGSSS

 

37. John Dayal- General Secretary, All India Christian Council

 

38. Kallol Bhowmik - Spl Correspondent Ajir Dainik Batori and Eastern Chronicle

 

39. Kalpana Tikku –

 

40. Kashif-ul-Hoda - Editor, TwoCircles.net

 

41. Madhu Chandra - All India Christian Council & North East Support

Centre & Helpline

 

42. Madhura Chakrvoraty – Student Jadhavpur University, West Bengal

 

43. Maia Barkaia – JNU student

 

44. Manas Arora – Student, IP College of Engineering

 

45. Manisha Sethi – Jamia Teachers Solidarity Association

 

46. Manisha Trivedi – Anhad Gujarat

 

47. Manjit Singh Roperia – Student Hissar

 

48. Mansi Sharma-Anhad

 

49. Moggallan Bharti – JNU student

 

50. Mohan Kumawat- Anhad

 

51. Mohd. Ali - Delhi Correspondent of news website TwoCircles.net

 

52. Mudassir Kawa, Activist, Srinagar

 

53. Mukul Manglik – Historian Delhi University

 

54. Murli Natarajan, South Asia Solidarity Initiative, USA

 

55. Mushtaq Koka, Activist, Srinagar

 

56. Naazim Mohammed – Social Activist, Bangalore

 

57. Nadim Nikhat - Centre for Social Justice, Ahmedabad, Gujarat

 

58. Navaid Hamid -Social Activist

 

59. Neha Dhole, Aman Trust, New Delhi

 

60. Praful Bidwai- Columnist and Writer

 

61. Prasad Chako- NCDHR

 

62. Pratap Singh Negi, Anhad

 

63. Prativa Thomas – Amnesty International, UK

 

64. Prem Dangwal – Anhad Mumbai

 

65. Prof Anuradha Chenoy, JNU, Delhi

 

66. Prof Kamal Mitra Chenoy, JNU, Delhi

 

67. Prof. KN Panikkar, Historian

 

68. Raj Gopalan – Trivandrum, Kerala

 

69. Ram Puniyani – Ekta, Mumbai

 

70. Rashid Ali – Freelance Journalist

 

71. Rima Aranha

 

72. Rohit Sinha – Student DU

 

73. Rupal Oza, South Asia Solidarity Initiative

 

74. Sabir Hussain – Jammu and Kashmir

 

75. Sachin Pandya – Anhad Gujarat

 

76. Sania Hashmi – Anhad

 

77. Sanjay Sharma – Anhad

 

78. Sanjeev Mahajan, CA, USA

 

79. Saqib Sana - Mumbai

 

80. Seema Duhan-Anhad

 

81. Shabir Hussain – Srinagar, J &K

 

82. Shabnam Hashmi- social activist, Anhad

 

83. Shahnawaz Malik – Lucknow

 

84. Shaweta Anand, Journalist and Researcher

 

85. Sheeba Aslam Fehmi – Researcher JNU

 

86. Shesh Narain Singh-Senior Journalist

 

87. Shoaib Khan – Srinagar, J&K

 

88. Shrish Chandra – Lucknow University

 

89. Shweta Tripathi – Programme Officer, SHRUTI

 

90. Sohaib Niazi – Student, Jamia Milia Islamia

 

91. Sohail Hashmi-Social Activist

 

92. Sonam Gupta - Anhad

 

93. Sonia Jabbar- Independent Filmmaker

 

94. Tanveer Hussain Khan -Anhad Kashmir Coordinator

 

95. Thulasi Kakkat – Photographer, Kerela

 

96. Uma Chakravarty- Academician

 

97. Vijayan- Delhi Forum

 

98. Vrinda Grover- Human Rights Lawyer, Supreme Court

 

99. Waqar Kazi – Anhad Mumbai

 

100. Wasim Khan, NJ, USA

 

101. Yasmeen Qureshi, Human Rights Activist, CA, USA

 

102. Zafar Abbas – journalist, Delhi

 

103. Zafar Agha, journalist, Delhi

 

104. Manasi Pingle – Student, DU

 

--

Thanks & Regards

Sonam Gupta.

 

--

Thanks & Regards

Sonam Gupta.

 

--

Thanks & Regards

Sonam Gupta.

 

--

Thanks & Regards

Sonam Gupta.

Marble, AD 1-100

The young boy's job was to light the way at night with his lantern. He had fallen asleep, dutifully waiting for his master. The reality was starkly different. In AD 61, a distinguished senator was murdered by one of his household staff. Despite protests by the people, Nero backed the senate's decision to upholad an existing law. It stipulated that all enslaved members of the owner's household should be executed - a ruthless collective punishment intended as a deterrent.

[British Museum]

 

Nero: the Man Behind the Myth

(May - Oct 2021)

 

Nero is known as one of Rome's most infamous rulers, notorious for his cruelty, debauchery and madness.

The last male descendant of the emperor Augustus, Nero succeeded to the throne in AD 54 aged just 16 and died a violent death at 30. His turbulent rule saw momentous events including the Great Fire of Rome, Boudicca's rebellion in Britain, the execution of his own mother and first wife, grand projects and extravagant excesses.

Drawing on the latest research, this major exhibition questions the traditional narrative of the ruthless tyrant and eccentric performer, revealing a different Nero, a populist leader at a time of great change in Roman society.

Through some 200 spectacular objects, from the imperial palace in Rome to the streets of Pompeii, follow the young emperor’s rise and fall and make up your own mind about Nero. Was he a young, inexperienced ruler trying his best in a divided society, or the merciless, matricidal megalomaniac history has painted him to be?

 

Nero was the 5th emperor of Rome and the last of Rome’s first dynasty, the Julio-Claudians, founded by Augustus (the adopted son of Julius Caesar). Nero is known as one of Rome’s most infamous rulers, notorious for his cruelty and debauchery. He ascended to power in AD 54 aged just 16 and died at 30. He ruled at a time of great social and political change, overseeing momentous events such as the Great Fire of Rome and Boudica’s rebellion in Britain. He allegedly killed his mother and two of his wives, only cared about his art and had very little interest in ruling the empire.

Most of what we know about Nero comes from the surviving works of three historians – Tacitus, Suetonius and Cassius Dio. All written decades after Nero’s death, their accounts have long shaped our understanding of this emperor’s rule. However, far from being impartial narrators presenting objective accounts of past events, these authors and their sources wrote with a very clear agenda in mind. Nero’s demise brought forward a period of chaos and civil war – one that ended only when a new dynasty seized power, the Flavians. Authors writing under the Flavians all had an interest in legitimising the new ruling family by portraying the last of the Julio-Claudians in the worst possible light, turning history into propaganda. These accounts became the ‘historical’ sources used by later historians, therefore perpetuating a fabricated image of Nero, which has survived all the way to the present.

Nero was born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus on 15 December AD 37.

He was the son of Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus and Agrippina the Younger. Both Gnaeus and Agrippina were the grandchildren of Augustus, making Nero Augustus’ great, great grandson with a strong claim to power.

Nero was only two years old when his mother was exiled and three when his father died. His inheritance was taken from him and he was sent to live with his aunt. However, Nero’s fate changed again when Claudius became emperor, restoring the boy’s property and recalling his mother Agrippina from exile.

In AD 49 the emperor Claudius married Agrippina, and adopted Nero the following year. It is at this point that Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus changed his name to Nero Claudius Caesar Drusus Germanicus. In Roman times it was normal to change your name when adopted, abandoning your family name in favour of your adoptive father’s. Nero was a common name among members of the Claudian family, especially in Claudius’ branch.

Nero and Agrippina offered Claudius a politically useful link back to Augustus, strengthening his position.

Claudius appeared to favour Nero over his natural son, Britannicus, marking Nero as the designated heir.

When Claudius died in AD 54, Nero became emperor just two months before turning 17.

As he was supported by both the army and the senate, his rise to power was smooth. His mother Agrippina exerted a significant influence, especially at the beginning of his rule.

The Roman historians Tacitus, Suetonius and Cassius Dio all claim that Nero, fed up with Agrippina’s interference, decided to kill her.

Given the lack of eyewitnesses, there is no way of knowing if or how this happened. However, this did not stop historians from fabricating dramatic stories of Agrippina’s murder, asserting that Nero tried (and failed) to kill her with a boat engineered to sink, before sending his men to do the job.

Agrippina allegedly told them to stab her in the womb that bore Nero, her last words clearly borrowed from stage plays.

It is entirely possible, as claimed by Nero himself, that Agrippina chose (or was more likely forced) to take her own life after her plot against her son was discovered.

Early in his rule, Nero had to contend with a rebellion in the newly conquered province of Britain.

In AD 60–61, Queen Boudica of the Iceni tribe led a revolt against the Romans, attacking and laying waste to important Roman settlements. The possible causes of the rebellion were numerous – the greed of the Romans exploiting the newly conquered territories, the recalling of loans made to local leaders, ongoing conflict in Wales and, above all, violence against the family of Prasutagus, Boudica’s husband and king of the Iceni.

Boudica and the rebels destroyed Colchester, London and St Albans before being heavily defeated by Roman troops. After the uprising, the governor of Britain Suetonius Paulinus introduced harsher laws against the Britons, until Nero replaced him with the more conciliatory governor Publius Petronius Turpilianus.

The marriage between Nero and Octavia, aged 15 and 13/14 at the time, was arranged by their parents in order to further legitimise Nero’s claim to the throne. Octavia was the daughter of the emperor Claudius from a previous marriage, so when Claudius married Agrippina and adopted her son Nero, Nero and Octavia became brother and sister. In order to arrange their marriage, Octavia had to be adopted into another family.

Their marriage was not a happy one. According to ancient writers, Nero had various affairs until his lover Poppaea Sabina convinced him to divorce his wife. Octavia was first exiled then executed in AD 62 on adultery charges. According to ancient writers, her banishment and death caused great unrest among the public, who sympathised with the dutiful Octavia.

No further motives were offered for Octavia’s death other than Nero’s passion for Poppaea, and we will probably never know what transpired at court. The fact that Octavia couldn’t produce an heir while Poppaea was pregnant with Nero’s daughter likely played an important role in deciding Octavia’s fate.

On 19 July AD 64, a fire started close to the Circus Maximus. The flames soon encompassed the entire city of Rome and the fire raged for nine days. Only four of the 14 districts of the capital were spared, while three were completely destroyed.

Rome had already been razed by flames – and would be again in its long history – but this event was so severe it came to be known as the Great Fire of Rome.

Later historians blamed Nero for the event, claiming that he set the capital ablaze in order to clear land for the construction of a vast new palace. According to Suetonius and Cassius Dio, Nero took in the view of the burning city from the imperial residence while playing the lyre and singing about the fall of Troy. This story, however, is fictional.

Tacitus, the only historian who was actually alive at the time of the Great Fire of Rome (although only 8 years old), wrote that Nero was not even in Rome when the fire started, but returned to the capital and led the relief efforts.

Tacitus, Suetonius and Cassius Dio all describe Nero as being blinded by passion for his wife Poppaea, yet they accuse him of killing her, allegedly by kicking her in an outburst of rage while she was pregnant.

Interestingly, pregnant women being kicked to death by enraged husbands is a recurring theme in ancient literature, used to explore the (self) destructive tendencies of autocrats. The Greek writer Herodotus tells the story of how the Persian king Cambyses kicked his pregnant wife in the stomach, causing her death. A similar episode is told of Periander, tyrant of Corinth. Nero is just one of many allegedly ‘mad’ tyrants for which this literary convention was used.

Poppaea probably died from complications connected with her pregnancy and not at Nero’s hands. She was given a lavish funeral and was deified.

Centred on greater Iran, the Parthian empire was a major political and cultural power and a long-standing enemy of Rome. The two powers had long been contending for control over the buffer state of Armenia and open conflict sparked again during Nero’s rule. The Parthian War started in AD 58 and, after initial victories and following set-backs, ended in AD 63 when a diplomatic solution was reached between Nero and the Parthian king Vologases I.

According to this settlement Tiridates, brother of the Parthian king, would rule over Armenia, but only after having travelled all the way to Rome to be crowned by Nero.

The journey lasted 9 months, Tiridates’ retinue included 3,000 Parthian horsemen and many Roman soldiers. The coronation ceremony took place in the summer of AD 66 and the day was celebrated with much pomp: all the people of Rome saw the new king of Armenia kneeling in front of Nero. This was the Golden Day of Nero’s rule

In AD 68, Vindex, the governor of Gaul (France), rebelled against Nero and declared his support for Galba, the governor of Spain. Vindex was defeated in battle by troops loyal to Nero, yet Galba started gaining more military support.

It was at this point that Nero lost the support of Rome’s people due to a grain shortage, caused by a rebellious commander who cut the crucial food supply from Egypt to the capital. Abandoned by the people and declared an enemy of the state by the senate, Nero tried to flee Rome and eventually committed suicide.

Following his death, Nero’s memory was condemned (a practice called damnatio memoriae) and the images of the emperor were destroyed, removed or reworked. However, Nero was still given an expensive funeral and for a long time people decorated his tomb with flowers, some even believing he was still alive.

After Nero’s death, civil war ensued. At the end of the so-called ‘Year of the Four Emperors’ (AD 69), Vespasian became emperor and started a new dynasty: the Flavians.

[Francesca Bologna, curator, for British Museum]

 

Taken in the British Museum

The day before midsummer, the queen bee used to fly the enormous distance to a far-off ocean. She plunged to its depths in search of the rare sea flower: Neptune’s Clover. No other bee in all history could accomplish such a feat. For two thousand years, this same queen had gathered the rejuvenating and curative pollen from Neptune’s Clover.

 

As the days rolled on, the queen still had not returned. The colony was besides itself in worry and set forth to find her. They all latched their feet onto the hive, which was as large as a hill, and flapped their wings for lift off. When finally, they arrived to what they believed to be the area of Neptune’s Clover, their exhausted wings failed. The queen bee was nowhere to be seen. The hive, heavy with honey, and all its pilots fell into the sea. The two-thousand-year-old colony perished on a beautiful, calm afternoon, beneath the impartial waves.

 

Nowadays, bees might construct their hives in the nooks and crannies of human architecture. Unbeknownst to the people, their floating civilization is built right over the site of the sunken hive. Perhaps the bees of this century instinctively feel its presence, and so we find them in profusion adding their honeycombs to the present architecture.

 

Sunken Honey is the Arts & Entertainment Region

 

Sponsored by Misfit Dance

 

Sunken Honey by Lilia Artis and Haveit Neox

We've been trying to find out if and when Haringey Council gave planning permission for both the Styx Bar's change of use, and this illuminated sign. No success by 16 May 2016.

 

I hope that all the rules were followed and the necessary legal steps taken.

When particular projects are especially favoured by a locaI Council, it's a good opportunity for that Council to model best practice.

 

In my opinion, Haringey Council sometimes appears to play favourites with certain businesses. To me this seems unwise.

 

I suggest there needs to be a clear division between regulatory functions like Planning and control of advertising signage; and so-called "regeneration". Any guidance, advice, and enforcement action should be balanced, rest on accurate factual information, and operate impartially; and at 'arm's length'. It should operate and being seen to operate, fairly and reasonably. There should be no favoured businesses or residents.

 

This should apply especially when the Council itself is involved a landlord/landowner and where relationships appear to exist between Haringey Council staff, politicians and business interests.

Hopefully under a new Chief Executive (February 2017) there is an opportunity for such arm's rules and relationships to be clarified and publicly affirmed.

Greater Manchester Police (GMP) has welcomed 100 new police officers to the ranks.

 

The new officers were sworn in at an attestation ceremony at Droylsden Academy on Monday 22 January 2018.

 

Chief Constable Ian Hopkins, Deputy Chief Constable Ian Pilling and the Mayor of Tameside, Councillor Joyce Bowerman attended the legally binding event.

 

Friends and family were also invited to watch as each of the officers took the oath to uphold the officer of constable with fairness, integrity, diligence and impartiality. More than 200 friends and family members attended the event.

 

To find out more about Greater Manchester Police please visit our website. www.gmp.police.uk

 

You should call 101, the national non-emergency number, to report crime and other concerns that do not require an emergency response.

 

Always call 999 in an emergency, such as when a crime is in progress, violence is being used or threatened or where there is danger to life.

 

You can also call anonymously with information about crime to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. Crimestoppers is an independent charity who will not want your name, just your information. Your call will not be traced or recorded and you do not have to go to court or give a statement.

 

I took this series of photos on the 10th of December 2008, which marked the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights*.

 

Amnesty International's annual Report on the State of the World's Human Rights**.

www.amnesty.org

  

UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS*

 

Preamble:

 

Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world,

 

Whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people,

 

Whereas it is essential, if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that human rights should be protected by the rule of law,

 

Whereas it is essential to promote the development of friendly relations between nations,

 

Whereas the peoples of the United Nations have in the Charter reaffirmed their faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person and in the equal rights of men and women and have determined to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom,

 

Whereas Member States have pledged themselves to achieve, in cooperation with the United Nations, the promotion of universal respect for and observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms,

 

Whereas a common understanding of these rights and freedoms is of the greatest importance for the full realization of this pledge,

 

Now, therefore,

 

The General Assembly,

 

Proclaims this Universal Declaration of Human Rights as a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations, to the end that every individual and every organ of society, keeping this Declaration constantly in mind, shall strive by teaching and education to promote respect for these rights and freedoms and by progressive measures, national and international, to secure their universal and effective recognition and observance, both among the peoples of Member States themselves and among the peoples of territories under their jurisdiction.

 

Article 1.

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

 

Article 2.

Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.

 

Article 3.

Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.

 

Article 4.

No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.

 

Article 5.

No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

 

Article 6.

Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law.

 

Article 7.

All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination.

 

Article 8.

Everyone has the right to an effective remedy by the competent national tribunals for acts violating the fundamental rights granted him by the constitution or by law.

 

Article 9.

No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.

 

Article 10.

Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him.

 

Article 11.

(1) Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defence.

 

(2) No one shall be held guilty of any penal offence on account of any act or omission which did not constitute a penal offence, under national or international law, at the time when it was committed. Nor shall a heavier penalty be imposed than the one that was applicable at the time the penal offence was committed.

 

Article 12.

No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.

 

Article 13.

(1) Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state.

 

(2) Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.

 

Article 14.

(1) Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.

 

(2) This right may not be invoked in the case of prosecutions genuinely arising from non-political crimes or from acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.

 

Article 15.

(1) Everyone has the right to a nationality.

 

(2) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality.

 

Article 16.

(1) Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family. They are entitled to equal rights as to marriage, during marriage and at its dissolution.

 

(2) Marriage shall be entered into only with the free and full consent of the intending spouses.

 

(3) The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State.

 

Article 17.

(1) Everyone has the right to own property alone as well as in association with others.

 

(2) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property.

 

Article 18.

Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.

 

Article 19.

Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.

 

Article 20.

(1) Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association.

 

(2) No one may be compelled to belong to an association.

 

Article 21.

(1) Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly or through freely chosen representatives.

 

(2) Everyone has the right of equal access to public service in his country.

 

(3) The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures.

 

Article 22.

Everyone, as a member of society, has the right to social security and is entitled to realization, through national effort and international co-operation and in accordance with the organization and resources of each State, of the economic, social and cultural rights indispensable for his dignity and the free development of his personality.

 

Article 23.

(1) Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.

 

(2) Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work.

 

(3) Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection.

 

(4) Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.

 

Article 24.

Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay.

 

Article 25.

(1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.

 

(2) Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection.

 

Article 26.

(1) Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.

 

(2) Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace.

 

(3) Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.

 

Article 27.

(1) Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits.

 

(2) Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author.

 

Article 28.

Everyone is entitled to a social and international order in which the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration can be fully realized.

 

Article 29.

(1) Everyone has duties to the community in which alone the free and full development of his personality is possible.

 

(2) In the exercise of his rights and freedoms, everyone shall be subject only to such limitations as are determined by law solely for the purpose of securing due recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of others and of meeting the just requirements of morality, public order and the general welfare in a democratic society.

 

(3) These rights and freedoms may in no case be exercised contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.

 

Article 30.

Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying for any State, group or person any right to engage in any activity or to perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms set forth herein.

 

*Adopted and proclaimed by United Nations General Assembly resolution 217 A (III) of 10 December 1948.

  

Link to full translation of the UDHR in 335 languages: www.unhchr.ch/udhr/navigate/alpha.htm#E

 

Link to a PDF version of the UDHR in English:

www.unhchr.ch/udhr/lang/eng.pdf

  

**Link to Amnesty International's page on 6Oth anniversary of the UDHR:

www.amnesty.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights-ann...

 

**Link to consult & download the Amnesty International Report 2008 - The State of the World's Human Rights:

www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/POL10/001/2008/en

"Ice Storm" (1971)

By Andrew Wyeth (American, 1917-2009)

drybrush, watercolor and gouache on paper; 73 x 57.8 cm; 28 ¾ x 22 ¾ in.

© Sold through Christie's, New York. May 21, 2015 for $989,000

Sitter: Johnny Lynch, Andrew Wyeth's neighbor

www.christies.com/

www.facebook.com/Christies

 

© Andrew Wyeth

andrewwyeth.com/index.html

 

Lot Notes:

"Throughout his career, Andrew Wyeth remained loyal to the people in his immediate surroundings, rarely ever traveling beyond the environs of mid-coast Maine and Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania.

 

This devotion to location and subject allowed Wyeth to completely immerse himself in his art, lending sincerity to his painting style without being sentimental. Yet, even while depicting personal friends and places, Wyeth remains the impartial spectator, creating narratives that are deeply charged with his own emotion but also open to the viewer's interpretation."

Read more:

bit.ly/1L4j3jJ

An Afghan undergoing therapy after loosing a leg in an ISAF bombardment.

 

ICRC orthopaedic center, Kabul, Afghanistan, June 2012.

 

Perhaps this is not the kind of photographs one expects to see when he or she searches for photos from Afghanistan. We look for the kind of war we’ve been told about, the so-called “European War” where one side is ultimately good and the other – utterly evil. The kind of war shown in Western movies.

 

Polish Canal Plus just starts our (in the meaning of Poland) first ever, longer tv material about Afghanistan. It is called Mission Afganistan, it’s a TV series (non-documentary) and.. it shows Polish soldiers and their daily problems of life and war in the country.

 

The Afghan nation, yet again, is treated as a speechless entity, a crowd disallowed to say something, to voice their opinions, perspectives and needs. Poland was treated just the same way till 1989 and it amazes me that we needed only two decades to treat others just the same way. I am sincerely sorry and I am ashamed for this.

 

After six years of military engagement of Poland in Afghanistan, we are going to see… brave Polish soldiers at war. They are given enough voice. The whole Afghan nation is treated marginally. Not even as a background in the movie, because it was filmed - in Poland.

 

Over last few years I have tried to document and show what I saw as a daily life in Afghanistan. It’s beautiful inhabitants, their happiness and sorrow. I made many mistakes on the way but I always tried my best.

 

I’m bringing pictures of an orthopaedic center in Kabul to show what Mission Afghanistan really should be about.

 

International Committee of Red Cross assists and puts back on artificial legs and arms those that were deprived of their limbs by a bullet to spine from a U.S., British, Polish, Taliban, Mujaheddin or Soviet rifle, that lost their limbs in IED explosions, in bombardments, in war, while going to a wedding, taking a flock of sheep to grazing land or at home, while sleeping, praying, eating.

 

ICRC helps through a lens of neutrality, impartiality and with a focus on respecting human dignity. Since two decades they assisted hundreds of thousands of Afghan amputees, people that were made physically impaired just because someone decided to wage a war in their neighbourhood.

 

These are my heroes, who fight with troubles and problems on daily basis. These are the heroes of Afghanistan, not international soldiers. They commit acts of bravery.

 

Heroism is not about bravery, it is just about something else.

 

I had a chance to watch ICRC at work in their largest orthopaedic center in Kabul. Of 200 workers in it, including in hospital, workshop, management etc., almost each and every one is an amputee.

 

ICRC managed to create a unique place for those that work there and those receiving assistance. A place one of a kind many call their second home.

Nawaz Sharif steps down as PM after SC's disqualification verdict, Dawn.com | Haseeb Bhatti Updated July 28, 2017

 

The Supreme Court on Friday disqualified Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif from holding public office in a landmark decision on the Panama Papers case.

 

Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan, who had headed the apex court's implementation bench following its April 20 order on the Panama Papers case, announced that the larger bench had unanimously deemed PM Sharif unfit for holding office and would also order an accountability court to open references against him and his family, and other respondents.

 

Shortly after the order, the PM House issued a notification saying that Nawaz Sharif, despite having "strong reservations" on the SC’s verdict, has stepped down from his post as the premier.

 

Reacting to the court's order, a PML-N spokesperson said that the party will utilise all legal and constitutional means to contest the verdict.

 

The judgement, announced shortly after 12pm, brings Sharif's third term in power to an unceremonious end, roughly one year before the scheduled general elections which would have seen him become the first Pakistani prime minister to complete a full five-year term. It is unclear at the moment who will be appointed to take over the post till the next general elections, which are scheduled for 2018.

Govt in limbo

 

The federal cabinet was dissolved after Nawaz Sharif relinquished his responsibilities as the prime minister of Pakistan.

 

As the head of the ruling PML-N, he will still be able to nominate his successor.

 

Sharif's chosen candidate will be put to a vote in the National Assembly — a rubber stamp affair as the PML-N holds a strong majority in the house.

 

His daughter, Maryam Nawaz, has frequently been touted as his political heir, but she does not currently hold elected office so cannot be a candidate this time around.

 

'Disqualified for being dishonest'

 

"The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) shall issue a notification disqualifying Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif from being a member of the Parliament with immediate effect, after which he shall cease to be the Prime Minister of Pakistan,” Justice Khan told the packed courtroom Friday afternoon.

 

The judges ruled that Nawaz had been dishonest to the parliament and the courts in not disclosing his employment in the Dubai-based Capital FZE company in his 2013 nomination papers, and thus, could not be deemed fit for his office.

 

"It is hereby declared that having failed to disclose his un-withdrawn receivables constituting assets from Capital FZE Jebel Ali, UAE in his nomination papers filed for the General Elections held in 2013 in terms of Section 12(2)(f) of the Representation of the People Act, 1976 (ROPA), and having furnished a false declaration under solemn affirmation respondent No. 1 Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif is not honest in terms of Section 99(f) of ROPA and Article 62(1)(f) of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, 1973 and therefore he is disqualified to be a Member of the Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament)."

 

Read the Supreme Court's complete order in Panama Papers case

 

References in accountability courts

 

Justice Khan said that the bench had recommended that all material collected by the joint investigation team (JIT) tasked with probing the Sharif family's financial dealings be sent to an accountability court within six weeks.

 

The bench said that on the basis of this information, cases would be opened against Finance Minister Ishaq Dar; MNA Captain Muhammad Safdar; Maryam, Hassan and Hussain Nawaz; as well as the premier.

 

A judgement on these references should be announced within six months, he said. One judge will oversee the implementation of this order.

 

The references to be filed by NAB before the accountability court include:

 

References against Nawaz Sharif, Maryam Nawaz Sharif, Hussain Nawaz Sharif, Hassan Nawaz Sharif, and Capt Muhammad Safdar relating to the Avenfield properties in London, United Kingdom.

 

Reference against Nawaz Sharif, and Hussain and Hassan Nawaz regarding Azizia Steel Company and Hill Metal Establishment, along with other companies mentioned in paragraph 9 of the detailed judgement.

 

Reference against Ishaq Dar for possessing assets and funds beyond his known means of income.

 

Supplementary reference(s) if and when any other asset, which is not prima facie reasonably accounted for, is discovered.

 

A reference against him will also be opened for possessing assets and funds beyond his known sources of income.

Court appreciates JIT's efforts

 

The judges "commended and appreciated" the hard work and efforts made by members of the JIT in preparing and filing a comprehensive and detailed report.

 

"Their tenure of service shall be safeguarded and protected and no adverse action of any nature including transfer and posting shall be taken against them without informing the monitoring Judge of this Court nominated by the Honourable Chief Justice of Pakistan," reads the court order.

 

The lead up

 

The original five-member bench of the Supreme Court which heard the Panama Papers case — comprising Justices Asif Saeed Khosa, Ejaz Afzal Khan, Gulzar Ahmed, Sheikh Azmat Saeed, Ijazul Ahsan — announced the much-awaited verdict in Courtroom No. 1 shortly after 12pm.

 

According to media reports, the courtroom was filled to capacity as prominent politicians, lawyers and journalists crowded the room to hear the judges decide Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's fate.

 

The twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi were on high alert in anticipation of the SC verdict while the Red Zone was partially sealed.

 

Paramilitary soldiers and policemen cordon off the main entrance of the Supreme Court building.— AFP

 

Rangers and Frontier Constabulary personnel were deployed at the Supreme Court and the Red Zone to assist the police.

April 20 order and JIT investigation

 

The April 20 judgement issued by the larger bench in the Panama Papers case had been split 3-2 among the five judges, with two dissenting notes from Justice Asif Saeed Khosa and Justice Gulzar Ahmed. Justice Ejaz Afzal authored the majority opinion in the 540-page judgement.

 

The two judges who ruled against PM Nawaz Sharif had said he should be disqualified as he could not be considered 'honest' and 'truthful' (ameen and sadiq), whereas the other three were in favour of forming a joint investigation team (JIT) to definitively answer the question of whether the allegations against the prime minister were true or not.

 

The court had further said that: "upon receipt of the reports, periodic or final of the JIT, as the case may be, the matter of disqualification of respondent No. 1 [Nawaz Sharif] shall be considered. If found necessary for passing an appropriate order in this behalf, [Nawaz Sharif or any other person may be summoned and examined."

 

A special bench of the Supreme Court was subsequently constituted to examine the case under Section 184/3 of the Constitution. The bench comprised the three judges who had prevailed.

 

The Supreme Court had on May 6 formed the JIT, putting a senior officer of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) in charge.

 

After considering the background and antecedents of the officer, FIA’s Additional Director General Wajid Zia, a grade 21 officer, was appointed head of the probe team.

Amer Aziz of the State Bank of Pakistan, Executive Director of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan Bilal Rasool, National Accountability Bureau Director Irfan Naeem Mangi, Brig Muha-mmad Nauman Saeed of Inter-Services Intelligence and Brig Kamran Khurshid of the Military Intelligence were appointed as the remaining members of the team.

 

The six-member JIT's damning report, submitted after a 60-day investigation that sought answers to 13 questions raised by the Supreme Court's larger bench, had maintained that Prime Minister’s family owned assets beyond its known sources of income. It declared that both Hussain and Hassan Nawaz were used as proxies to build family assets.

Consequently, the six-man JIT concluded that it was compelled to refer to sections 9(a)(v) and 14(c) of the National Accountability Ordinance (NAO) 1999, which deal with corruption and corrupt practices, though such charges are yet to be proven in an accountability court.

 

The JIT report also highlighted Articles 122, 117, 129 and other sections of the Qanoon-i-Shahadat Order 1984 (Law of Evidence), which places the burden of disproving the allegations on the person facing accusations.

 

The JIT pointed out failure on the part of the Sharifs to produce the required information that would confirm their “known sources of income”, saying that prima facie, it amounted to saying that they were not able to reconcile their assets with their means of income.

 

The prime minister's daughter, Maryam Nawaz, had on the same evening issued a strongly-worded statement on behalf of the PML-N, saying:

 

"JIT report REJECTED. Every contradiction will not only be contested but decimated in SC. NOT a penny of public exchequer involved: PMLN."

 

Her tweet followed a press conference conducted by four senior PML-N leaders, who had taken turns to criticise the JIT report as 'serving Imran Khan's agenda'.

 

The Sharif family's legal team's strategy in subsequent hearings had focused on discrediting the report, the evidence collected and the means used to do so, and raising questions about the impartiality and capability of the six men who had comprised the JIT.

 

Mighty. Morphin. Power. Rangers.

 

The OG as introduced by Saban into the English speaking work, and international phenomenon, this adaptation of the Super Sentai Zyuranger became a household name back in 1993, and has been in the hearts of fans since. Me? Well, I enjoyed the show for what it is.. a fun way to kill half an hour, but as always, it was about the toys for me. In recent years, the MMPR franchise has been revisited, first with Bandai of America creating the Legacy product line and milking the MMPR brand, then with the 2017 motion picture that didn't quite make the money Saban wanted it to (I have a theory about this and how it didn't matter, but that's for another discussion). The biggest news would be how Hasbro, now the holders of the Power Ranger toy license, would revisit MMPR and other past Power Rangers characters through something they called the Lightning Collection, a series of collectors grade figures. Personally, I was impartial to this - while others were excited to add these to their collection, I never really got into it when Bandai did it with their Legacy figures and as such, I wouldn't really be pursuing these releases, with the exception of buying one or two to do a bit of comparison and contrast, as well as satisfy my own curiosity regarding a conspiracy theory.

 

In case it wasn't obvious by now, I tend to buy female figures because not only do they generally look better, but it's harder to hidd things on their comparatively smaller bodies. I bought exactly one figure from the Bandai Legacy line - Ninja Storm Blue (or in my case, Hurricane Blue) and while I never really reviewed it, it can summarize it as follows - it was alright. Nothing earth shattering, and definitely not worth the $25 CAD MSRP to me. Well, in Wave 2 of the Hasbro Lightning series, we see the release of the first female Ranger of the line, Kimberly Hart, the original Pink Ranger and Mistress of the Pterodactyl Zord. For the record, Kat was always my MMPR Pink of choice... I always found Kimberly kind of boring.

 

Finding her was a bit of a pain, though not as bad as others have had it.. definitely much easier than finding Springer, that's for sure. Just a few phone calls and a 10 minute drive from home.

 

Normally I'd wait to open this up, as I have been stocking up on some other goodies lately, but questions needed answering dammit, so Kimberly here jumped the queue and was opened next.. about an hour after purchase, in fact. So, without further ado, here is my overview and thoughts on the Power Rangers Lightning Collection Mighty Morphin Pink Ranger.

 

Each Lightning figure comes with the figure itself, an unmorphed (helmetless) head sculpt, a combination of posing and weapon holding hands, the trademark weapons of the character, and some sort of energy effect. In the case of Kimberly, she comes with her bow and arrow, her Blade Blaster side arm, as well as an energy arrow. MSRP is about $20 USD, or roughly what a Marvel Legends figure costs in your area.

 

As the picture shows, Kimberly is roughly the same size as Captain Marvel who is my benchmark female Marvel Legends figure. These figures are of course a smidgen bigger than your typical female S.H. Figuarts figure (i.e. Black Widow), but smaller than the Bandai Legacy female body. While Kimberly isn't as busty as the Blue Ranger, she's certainly less NFL Quarterback in terms of build. Now we got that out of the way, let us focus the comparison on the two players that really matter - Kimberly, and Captain Marvel. Now, the cynic in me pretty much assumed that Hasbro wouldn't reinvent the wheel when it didn't have to, both for better and worse. After all, they developed a body for their Legends line, and it would make sense to reuse it for this line, considering that the price point is the same. So, was I right?

 

Let's start things off with a discussion of aesthetics, articulation, and build quality. Now, no action figure, even the almighty Figuarts release, ever actually replicated the proportions of the suit actors perfectly, so it's not a surprise that things haven't changed here, though I'd like them to resemble human proportions a little better. For whatever reason, her chest area uses plastics that are harder than the rest of her body, and are a tint or two darker than the other pinks on her body. It doesn't show up on my photos, which are powered by flash, but in the crappy room lights I have here, it's clear as day. But in general, unless you're blind, it's pretty clear that this is the MMPR Pink Ranger.

 

I mentioned before that Kimberly has a different height and body shape than your standard Figuarts and Bandai Legacy body. Having said that, however, I think you should be able to see that Kimberly and Captain Marvel share the same general overall silhouette - in fact, if you look really close, you can see the retooling of common parts (upper arms and thighs, for example). I submit to you that the female Lightning body is at its core, an upcycled Legends body, which somehow manages to improve things, and make them worse at the same time. The Lightning female takes the Legends articulation (pivoting and rotating ankles, double jointed knees, thigh swivel, rotating hips, mid torso ball joint, rotating/pivoting shoulders, rotating/pivoting elbows, wrist rotate/pivot (depending on hand) and ball jointed head with a pivoting neck) and adds to it with boots that rotate and shoulders that allow for chest collapse, improving range of motion and posing options. The knee joints are new, most likely needing a redesign due to the the new lower foot/boot combo used. Design of the lower body basically prevents limits the motion of the lower legs to.. I'm going say about 110 degrees or so. No high kicking for this girl...

 

So, overall, I've talked about some nice improvements to the status quo - what am I babbling about with regards to better AND worse then?

 

Well, you see, this is why I looped in build quality into this first point of discussion. Now whatever material Captain Marvel is made of, it's pretty durable and tough, being hard without being brittle. Kimberly, on the other hand, is predominately made up of what they make Transformers of these days, which feels to me like the plastics used in the 3D printing system. This material is softer than the stuff the good Captain is made from. Not an issue on its own, because if this were the end of the story the most I could talk about is how you can't really get any good detailing in the plastics and that it feels like of rough.

 

You notice how Kimberly seems to be bow legged? Well, unlike the lovely DC Icons Wonder Woman I just looked at, THESE joints are made of that same soft plastic that basically was warped due to the restraints of the packaging. Not sure if this is a material issue, or perhaps they didn't wait long enough for the plastic to settle, but the end result is Kimberly is destined to walk like a freakin' cowboy for the rest of her days. Her elbows are made of the same soft plastic, but due to the way she was packaged I guess there was no warping.

 

Another gripe I have is that the ratcheting joints used for shoulders of the Legends figures remain, which normally isn't a problem as you're able to easily apply the necessary force to move it. Now, with her collapsing shoulders, the whole joint has a tendency to move, rather than just the part you want to rotate, making raising and lowering the arms a potential exercise in annoyance.

 

So there you go.. better.. AND worse.. all at the same time.

 

Paint apps are pretty standard affair for anything that Hasbro does on their own (Transformers are shared with Takara as a unified product, so there are higher standards there to be met), namely that paint isn't applied on places that it isn't deemed necessary, and the quality of the apps themselves range from alright to oversprayed with not the greatest masking work. The larger paint apps generally made it through in one piece, though clearly not so much the minute details. Sculpting detailing on the suit, helmet, and weapons are alright. Nothing overly bad about it, and generally the work is quite competent, and includes some more detailing on the helmet that I didn't expect to see, as well as the gloves. I do enjoy the pink energy effect, though I'd enjoy it more if the figure could hold the bloody thing better. The bow fits alright and I'll be honest, I didn't bother with the Blade Blaster, but it seems to me the hand pictured holding the arrow is actually moulded to hold this weapon specifically.

 

We're not QUITE done yet, as I've saved best for last. Let's talk about that unhelmeted sculpt. It looks like the artist who made that Paul Rudd sculpt I can't stand decided to give Kimberly Hart a try with equally disastrous results. I think they got the hairline right, and possibly her earrings. Other than that... YIKES. Definitely keeping the helmeted on this figure.

 

So in conclusion, my overall feeling is a resounding "meh". It's pretty much what I expected, and not exactly the new standard to beat, but it is a step in the right direction. Knowing Hasbro, I don't exactly see them making changes that I complained about here, so I really have no need to revisit this line, but perhaps there is hope that the Legends line can be provided with improvements seen here, most notable being the ability to collapse the shoulders towards the chest. But that's me, and as admitted before, Domestic figures really aren't my thing. For everyone else out there, you really need to be aware of the issues with the knee joints - it's been almost 10 hours since I've opened mine and it's not her legs have straightened out, and the legs can be bent so easily it's not funny.

 

A decent looking figure with some good strengths balanced by some awful design choices.

Mighty. Morphin. Power. Rangers.

 

The OG as introduced by Saban into the English speaking work, and international phenomenon, this adaptation of the Super Sentai Zyuranger became a household name back in 1993, and has been in the hearts of fans since. Me? Well, I enjoyed the show for what it is.. a fun way to kill half an hour, but as always, it was about the toys for me. In recent years, the MMPR franchise has been revisited, first with Bandai of America creating the Legacy product line and milking the MMPR brand, then with the 2017 motion picture that didn't quite make the money Saban wanted it to (I have a theory about this and how it didn't matter, but that's for another discussion). The biggest news would be how Hasbro, now the holders of the Power Ranger toy license, would revisit MMPR and other past Power Rangers characters through something they called the Lightning Collection, a series of collectors grade figures. Personally, I was impartial to this - while others were excited to add these to their collection, I never really got into it when Bandai did it with their Legacy figures and as such, I wouldn't really be pursuing these releases, with the exception of buying one or two to do a bit of comparison and contrast, as well as satisfy my own curiosity regarding a conspiracy theory.

 

In case it wasn't obvious by now, I tend to buy female figures because not only do they generally look better, but it's harder to hidd things on their comparatively smaller bodies. I bought exactly one figure from the Bandai Legacy line - Ninja Storm Blue (or in my case, Hurricane Blue) and while I never really reviewed it, it can summarize it as follows - it was alright. Nothing earth shattering, and definitely not worth the $25 CAD MSRP to me. Well, in Wave 2 of the Hasbro Lightning series, we see the release of the first female Ranger of the line, Kimberly Hart, the original Pink Ranger and Mistress of the Pterodactyl Zord. For the record, Kat was always my MMPR Pink of choice... I always found Kimberly kind of boring.

 

Finding her was a bit of a pain, though not as bad as others have had it.. definitely much easier than finding Springer, that's for sure. Just a few phone calls and a 10 minute drive from home.

 

Normally I'd wait to open this up, as I have been stocking up on some other goodies lately, but questions needed answering dammit, so Kimberly here jumped the queue and was opened next.. about an hour after purchase, in fact. So, without further ado, here is my overview and thoughts on the Power Rangers Lightning Collection Mighty Morphin Pink Ranger.

 

Each Lightning figure comes with the figure itself, an unmorphed (helmetless) head sculpt, a combination of posing and weapon holding hands, the trademark weapons of the character, and some sort of energy effect. In the case of Kimberly, she comes with her bow and arrow, her Blade Blaster side arm, as well as an energy arrow. MSRP is about $20 USD, or roughly what a Marvel Legends figure costs in your area.

 

As the picture shows, Kimberly is roughly the same size as Captain Marvel who is my benchmark female Marvel Legends figure. These figures are of course a smidgen bigger than your typical female S.H. Figuarts figure (i.e. Black Widow), but smaller than the Bandai Legacy female body. While Kimberly isn't as busty as the Blue Ranger, she's certainly less NFL Quarterback in terms of build. Now we got that out of the way, let us focus the comparison on the two players that really matter - Kimberly, and Captain Marvel. Now, the cynic in me pretty much assumed that Hasbro wouldn't reinvent the wheel when it didn't have to, both for better and worse. After all, they developed a body for their Legends line, and it would make sense to reuse it for this line, considering that the price point is the same. So, was I right?

 

Let's start things off with a discussion of aesthetics, articulation, and build quality. Now, no action figure, even the almighty Figuarts release, ever actually replicated the proportions of the suit actors perfectly, so it's not a surprise that things haven't changed here, though I'd like them to resemble human proportions a little better. For whatever reason, her chest area uses plastics that are harder than the rest of her body, and are a tint or two darker than the other pinks on her body. It doesn't show up on my photos, which are powered by flash, but in the crappy room lights I have here, it's clear as day. But in general, unless you're blind, it's pretty clear that this is the MMPR Pink Ranger.

 

I mentioned before that Kimberly has a different height and body shape than your standard Figuarts and Bandai Legacy body. Having said that, however, I think you should be able to see that Kimberly and Captain Marvel share the same general overall silhouette - in fact, if you look really close, you can see the retooling of common parts (upper arms and thighs, for example). I submit to you that the female Lightning body is at its core, an upcycled Legends body, which somehow manages to improve things, and make them worse at the same time. The Lightning female takes the Legends articulation (pivoting and rotating ankles, double jointed knees, thigh swivel, rotating hips, mid torso ball joint, rotating/pivoting shoulders, rotating/pivoting elbows, wrist rotate/pivot (depending on hand) and ball jointed head with a pivoting neck) and adds to it with boots that rotate and shoulders that allow for chest collapse, improving range of motion and posing options. The knee joints are new, most likely needing a redesign due to the the new lower foot/boot combo used. Design of the lower body basically prevents limits the motion of the lower legs to.. I'm going say about 110 degrees or so. No high kicking for this girl...

 

So, overall, I've talked about some nice improvements to the status quo - what am I babbling about with regards to better AND worse then?

 

Well, you see, this is why I looped in build quality into this first point of discussion. Now whatever material Captain Marvel is made of, it's pretty durable and tough, being hard without being brittle. Kimberly, on the other hand, is predominately made up of what they make Transformers of these days, which feels to me like the plastics used in the 3D printing system. This material is softer than the stuff the good Captain is made from. Not an issue on its own, because if this were the end of the story the most I could talk about is how you can't really get any good detailing in the plastics and that it feels like of rough.

 

You notice how Kimberly seems to be bow legged? Well, unlike the lovely DC Icons Wonder Woman I just looked at, THESE joints are made of that same soft plastic that basically was warped due to the restraints of the packaging. Not sure if this is a material issue, or perhaps they didn't wait long enough for the plastic to settle, but the end result is Kimberly is destined to walk like a freakin' cowboy for the rest of her days. Her elbows are made of the same soft plastic, but due to the way she was packaged I guess there was no warping.

 

Another gripe I have is that the ratcheting joints used for shoulders of the Legends figures remain, which normally isn't a problem as you're able to easily apply the necessary force to move it. Now, with her collapsing shoulders, the whole joint has a tendency to move, rather than just the part you want to rotate, making raising and lowering the arms a potential exercise in annoyance.

 

So there you go.. better.. AND worse.. all at the same time.

 

Paint apps are pretty standard affair for anything that Hasbro does on their own (Transformers are shared with Takara as a unified product, so there are higher standards there to be met), namely that paint isn't applied on places that it isn't deemed necessary, and the quality of the apps themselves range from alright to oversprayed with not the greatest masking work. The larger paint apps generally made it through in one piece, though clearly not so much the minute details. Sculpting detailing on the suit, helmet, and weapons are alright. Nothing overly bad about it, and generally the work is quite competent, and includes some more detailing on the helmet that I didn't expect to see, as well as the gloves. I do enjoy the pink energy effect, though I'd enjoy it more if the figure could hold the bloody thing better. The bow fits alright and I'll be honest, I didn't bother with the Blade Blaster, but it seems to me the hand pictured holding the arrow is actually moulded to hold this weapon specifically.

 

We're not QUITE done yet, as I've saved best for last. Let's talk about that unhelmeted sculpt. It looks like the artist who made that Paul Rudd sculpt I can't stand decided to give Kimberly Hart a try with equally disastrous results. I think they got the hairline right, and possibly her earrings. Other than that... YIKES. Definitely keeping the helmeted on this figure.

 

So in conclusion, my overall feeling is a resounding "meh". It's pretty much what I expected, and not exactly the new standard to beat, but it is a step in the right direction. Knowing Hasbro, I don't exactly see them making changes that I complained about here, so I really have no need to revisit this line, but perhaps there is hope that the Legends line can be provided with improvements seen here, most notable being the ability to collapse the shoulders towards the chest. But that's me, and as admitted before, Domestic figures really aren't my thing. For everyone else out there, you really need to be aware of the issues with the knee joints - it's been almost 10 hours since I've opened mine and it's not her legs have straightened out, and the legs can be bent so easily it's not funny.

 

A decent looking figure with some good strengths balanced by some awful design choices.

Mighty. Morphin. Power. Rangers.

 

The OG as introduced by Saban into the English speaking work, and international phenomenon, this adaptation of the Super Sentai Zyuranger became a household name back in 1993, and has been in the hearts of fans since. Me? Well, I enjoyed the show for what it is.. a fun way to kill half an hour, but as always, it was about the toys for me. In recent years, the MMPR franchise has been revisited, first with Bandai of America creating the Legacy product line and milking the MMPR brand, then with the 2017 motion picture that didn't quite make the money Saban wanted it to (I have a theory about this and how it didn't matter, but that's for another discussion). The biggest news would be how Hasbro, now the holders of the Power Ranger toy license, would revisit MMPR and other past Power Rangers characters through something they called the Lightning Collection, a series of collectors grade figures. Personally, I was impartial to this - while others were excited to add these to their collection, I never really got into it when Bandai did it with their Legacy figures and as such, I wouldn't really be pursuing these releases, with the exception of buying one or two to do a bit of comparison and contrast, as well as satisfy my own curiosity regarding a conspiracy theory.

 

In case it wasn't obvious by now, I tend to buy female figures because not only do they generally look better, but it's harder to hidd things on their comparatively smaller bodies. I bought exactly one figure from the Bandai Legacy line - Ninja Storm Blue (or in my case, Hurricane Blue) and while I never really reviewed it, it can summarize it as follows - it was alright. Nothing earth shattering, and definitely not worth the $25 CAD MSRP to me. Well, in Wave 2 of the Hasbro Lightning series, we see the release of the first female Ranger of the line, Kimberly Hart, the original Pink Ranger and Mistress of the Pterodactyl Zord. For the record, Kat was always my MMPR Pink of choice... I always found Kimberly kind of boring.

 

Finding her was a bit of a pain, though not as bad as others have had it.. definitely much easier than finding Springer, that's for sure. Just a few phone calls and a 10 minute drive from home.

 

Normally I'd wait to open this up, as I have been stocking up on some other goodies lately, but questions needed answering dammit, so Kimberly here jumped the queue and was opened next.. about an hour after purchase, in fact. So, without further ado, here is my overview and thoughts on the Power Rangers Lightning Collection Mighty Morphin Pink Ranger.

 

Each Lightning figure comes with the figure itself, an unmorphed (helmetless) head sculpt, a combination of posing and weapon holding hands, the trademark weapons of the character, and some sort of energy effect. In the case of Kimberly, she comes with her bow and arrow, her Blade Blaster side arm, as well as an energy arrow. MSRP is about $20 USD, or roughly what a Marvel Legends figure costs in your area.

 

As the picture shows, Kimberly is roughly the same size as Captain Marvel who is my benchmark female Marvel Legends figure. These figures are of course a smidgen bigger than your typical female S.H. Figuarts figure (i.e. Black Widow), but smaller than the Bandai Legacy female body. While Kimberly isn't as busty as the Blue Ranger, she's certainly less NFL Quarterback in terms of build. Now we got that out of the way, let us focus the comparison on the two players that really matter - Kimberly, and Captain Marvel. Now, the cynic in me pretty much assumed that Hasbro wouldn't reinvent the wheel when it didn't have to, both for better and worse. After all, they developed a body for their Legends line, and it would make sense to reuse it for this line, considering that the price point is the same. So, was I right?

 

Let's start things off with a discussion of aesthetics, articulation, and build quality. Now, no action figure, even the almighty Figuarts release, ever actually replicated the proportions of the suit actors perfectly, so it's not a surprise that things haven't changed here, though I'd like them to resemble human proportions a little better. For whatever reason, her chest area uses plastics that are harder than the rest of her body, and are a tint or two darker than the other pinks on her body. It doesn't show up on my photos, which are powered by flash, but in the crappy room lights I have here, it's clear as day. But in general, unless you're blind, it's pretty clear that this is the MMPR Pink Ranger.

 

I mentioned before that Kimberly has a different height and body shape than your standard Figuarts and Bandai Legacy body. Having said that, however, I think you should be able to see that Kimberly and Captain Marvel share the same general overall silhouette - in fact, if you look really close, you can see the retooling of common parts (upper arms and thighs, for example). I submit to you that the female Lightning body is at its core, an upcycled Legends body, which somehow manages to improve things, and make them worse at the same time. The Lightning female takes the Legends articulation (pivoting and rotating ankles, double jointed knees, thigh swivel, rotating hips, mid torso ball joint, rotating/pivoting shoulders, rotating/pivoting elbows, wrist rotate/pivot (depending on hand) and ball jointed head with a pivoting neck) and adds to it with boots that rotate and shoulders that allow for chest collapse, improving range of motion and posing options. The knee joints are new, most likely needing a redesign due to the the new lower foot/boot combo used. Design of the lower body basically prevents limits the motion of the lower legs to.. I'm going say about 110 degrees or so. No high kicking for this girl...

 

So, overall, I've talked about some nice improvements to the status quo - what am I babbling about with regards to better AND worse then?

 

Well, you see, this is why I looped in build quality into this first point of discussion. Now whatever material Captain Marvel is made of, it's pretty durable and tough, being hard without being brittle. Kimberly, on the other hand, is predominately made up of what they make Transformers of these days, which feels to me like the plastics used in the 3D printing system. This material is softer than the stuff the good Captain is made from. Not an issue on its own, because if this were the end of the story the most I could talk about is how you can't really get any good detailing in the plastics and that it feels like of rough.

 

You notice how Kimberly seems to be bow legged? Well, unlike the lovely DC Icons Wonder Woman I just looked at, THESE joints are made of that same soft plastic that basically was warped due to the restraints of the packaging. Not sure if this is a material issue, or perhaps they didn't wait long enough for the plastic to settle, but the end result is Kimberly is destined to walk like a freakin' cowboy for the rest of her days. Her elbows are made of the same soft plastic, but due to the way she was packaged I guess there was no warping.

 

Another gripe I have is that the ratcheting joints used for shoulders of the Legends figures remain, which normally isn't a problem as you're able to easily apply the necessary force to move it. Now, with her collapsing shoulders, the whole joint has a tendency to move, rather than just the part you want to rotate, making raising and lowering the arms a potential exercise in annoyance.

 

So there you go.. better.. AND worse.. all at the same time.

 

Paint apps are pretty standard affair for anything that Hasbro does on their own (Transformers are shared with Takara as a unified product, so there are higher standards there to be met), namely that paint isn't applied on places that it isn't deemed necessary, and the quality of the apps themselves range from alright to oversprayed with not the greatest masking work. The larger paint apps generally made it through in one piece, though clearly not so much the minute details. Sculpting detailing on the suit, helmet, and weapons are alright. Nothing overly bad about it, and generally the work is quite competent, and includes some more detailing on the helmet that I didn't expect to see, as well as the gloves. I do enjoy the pink energy effect, though I'd enjoy it more if the figure could hold the bloody thing better. The bow fits alright and I'll be honest, I didn't bother with the Blade Blaster, but it seems to me the hand pictured holding the arrow is actually moulded to hold this weapon specifically.

 

We're not QUITE done yet, as I've saved best for last. Let's talk about that unhelmeted sculpt. It looks like the artist who made that Paul Rudd sculpt I can't stand decided to give Kimberly Hart a try with equally disastrous results. I think they got the hairline right, and possibly her earrings. Other than that... YIKES. Definitely keeping the helmeted on this figure.

 

So in conclusion, my overall feeling is a resounding "meh". It's pretty much what I expected, and not exactly the new standard to beat, but it is a step in the right direction. Knowing Hasbro, I don't exactly see them making changes that I complained about here, so I really have no need to revisit this line, but perhaps there is hope that the Legends line can be provided with improvements seen here, most notable being the ability to collapse the shoulders towards the chest. But that's me, and as admitted before, Domestic figures really aren't my thing. For everyone else out there, you really need to be aware of the issues with the knee joints - it's been almost 10 hours since I've opened mine and it's not her legs have straightened out, and the legs can be bent so easily it's not funny.

 

A decent looking figure with some good strengths balanced by some awful design choices.

Mighty. Morphin. Power. Rangers.

 

The OG as introduced by Saban into the English speaking work, and international phenomenon, this adaptation of the Super Sentai Zyuranger became a household name back in 1993, and has been in the hearts of fans since. Me? Well, I enjoyed the show for what it is.. a fun way to kill half an hour, but as always, it was about the toys for me. In recent years, the MMPR franchise has been revisited, first with Bandai of America creating the Legacy product line and milking the MMPR brand, then with the 2017 motion picture that didn't quite make the money Saban wanted it to (I have a theory about this and how it didn't matter, but that's for another discussion). The biggest news would be how Hasbro, now the holders of the Power Ranger toy license, would revisit MMPR and other past Power Rangers characters through something they called the Lightning Collection, a series of collectors grade figures. Personally, I was impartial to this - while others were excited to add these to their collection, I never really got into it when Bandai did it with their Legacy figures and as such, I wouldn't really be pursuing these releases, with the exception of buying one or two to do a bit of comparison and contrast, as well as satisfy my own curiosity regarding a conspiracy theory.

 

In case it wasn't obvious by now, I tend to buy female figures because not only do they generally look better, but it's harder to hidd things on their comparatively smaller bodies. I bought exactly one figure from the Bandai Legacy line - Ninja Storm Blue (or in my case, Hurricane Blue) and while I never really reviewed it, it can summarize it as follows - it was alright. Nothing earth shattering, and definitely not worth the $25 CAD MSRP to me. Well, in Wave 2 of the Hasbro Lightning series, we see the release of the first female Ranger of the line, Kimberly Hart, the original Pink Ranger and Mistress of the Pterodactyl Zord. For the record, Kat was always my MMPR Pink of choice... I always found Kimberly kind of boring.

 

Finding her was a bit of a pain, though not as bad as others have had it.. definitely much easier than finding Springer, that's for sure. Just a few phone calls and a 10 minute drive from home.

 

Normally I'd wait to open this up, as I have been stocking up on some other goodies lately, but questions needed answering dammit, so Kimberly here jumped the queue and was opened next.. about an hour after purchase, in fact. So, without further ado, here is my overview and thoughts on the Power Rangers Lightning Collection Mighty Morphin Pink Ranger.

 

Each Lightning figure comes with the figure itself, an unmorphed (helmetless) head sculpt, a combination of posing and weapon holding hands, the trademark weapons of the character, and some sort of energy effect. In the case of Kimberly, she comes with her bow and arrow, her Blade Blaster side arm, as well as an energy arrow. MSRP is about $20 USD, or roughly what a Marvel Legends figure costs in your area.

 

As the picture shows, Kimberly is roughly the same size as Captain Marvel who is my benchmark female Marvel Legends figure. These figures are of course a smidgen bigger than your typical female S.H. Figuarts figure (i.e. Black Widow), but smaller than the Bandai Legacy female body. While Kimberly isn't as busty as the Blue Ranger, she's certainly less NFL Quarterback in terms of build. Now we got that out of the way, let us focus the comparison on the two players that really matter - Kimberly, and Captain Marvel. Now, the cynic in me pretty much assumed that Hasbro wouldn't reinvent the wheel when it didn't have to, both for better and worse. After all, they developed a body for their Legends line, and it would make sense to reuse it for this line, considering that the price point is the same. So, was I right?

 

Let's start things off with a discussion of aesthetics, articulation, and build quality. Now, no action figure, even the almighty Figuarts release, ever actually replicated the proportions of the suit actors perfectly, so it's not a surprise that things haven't changed here, though I'd like them to resemble human proportions a little better. For whatever reason, her chest area uses plastics that are harder than the rest of her body, and are a tint or two darker than the other pinks on her body. It doesn't show up on my photos, which are powered by flash, but in the crappy room lights I have here, it's clear as day. But in general, unless you're blind, it's pretty clear that this is the MMPR Pink Ranger.

 

I mentioned before that Kimberly has a different height and body shape than your standard Figuarts and Bandai Legacy body. Having said that, however, I think you should be able to see that Kimberly and Captain Marvel share the same general overall silhouette - in fact, if you look really close, you can see the retooling of common parts (upper arms and thighs, for example). I submit to you that the female Lightning body is at its core, an upcycled Legends body, which somehow manages to improve things, and make them worse at the same time. The Lightning female takes the Legends articulation (pivoting and rotating ankles, double jointed knees, thigh swivel, rotating hips, mid torso ball joint, rotating/pivoting shoulders, rotating/pivoting elbows, wrist rotate/pivot (depending on hand) and ball jointed head with a pivoting neck) and adds to it with boots that rotate and shoulders that allow for chest collapse, improving range of motion and posing options. The knee joints are new, most likely needing a redesign due to the the new lower foot/boot combo used. Design of the lower body basically prevents limits the motion of the lower legs to.. I'm going say about 110 degrees or so. No high kicking for this girl...

 

So, overall, I've talked about some nice improvements to the status quo - what am I babbling about with regards to better AND worse then?

 

Well, you see, this is why I looped in build quality into this first point of discussion. Now whatever material Captain Marvel is made of, it's pretty durable and tough, being hard without being brittle. Kimberly, on the other hand, is predominately made up of what they make Transformers of these days, which feels to me like the plastics used in the 3D printing system. This material is softer than the stuff the good Captain is made from. Not an issue on its own, because if this were the end of the story the most I could talk about is how you can't really get any good detailing in the plastics and that it feels like of rough.

 

You notice how Kimberly seems to be bow legged? Well, unlike the lovely DC Icons Wonder Woman I just looked at, THESE joints are made of that same soft plastic that basically was warped due to the restraints of the packaging. Not sure if this is a material issue, or perhaps they didn't wait long enough for the plastic to settle, but the end result is Kimberly is destined to walk like a freakin' cowboy for the rest of her days. Her elbows are made of the same soft plastic, but due to the way she was packaged I guess there was no warping.

 

Another gripe I have is that the ratcheting joints used for shoulders of the Legends figures remain, which normally isn't a problem as you're able to easily apply the necessary force to move it. Now, with her collapsing shoulders, the whole joint has a tendency to move, rather than just the part you want to rotate, making raising and lowering the arms a potential exercise in annoyance.

 

So there you go.. better.. AND worse.. all at the same time.

 

Paint apps are pretty standard affair for anything that Hasbro does on their own (Transformers are shared with Takara as a unified product, so there are higher standards there to be met), namely that paint isn't applied on places that it isn't deemed necessary, and the quality of the apps themselves range from alright to oversprayed with not the greatest masking work. The larger paint apps generally made it through in one piece, though clearly not so much the minute details. Sculpting detailing on the suit, helmet, and weapons are alright. Nothing overly bad about it, and generally the work is quite competent, and includes some more detailing on the helmet that I didn't expect to see, as well as the gloves. I do enjoy the pink energy effect, though I'd enjoy it more if the figure could hold the bloody thing better. The bow fits alright and I'll be honest, I didn't bother with the Blade Blaster, but it seems to me the hand pictured holding the arrow is actually moulded to hold this weapon specifically.

 

We're not QUITE done yet, as I've saved best for last. Let's talk about that unhelmeted sculpt. It looks like the artist who made that Paul Rudd sculpt I can't stand decided to give Kimberly Hart a try with equally disastrous results. I think they got the hairline right, and possibly her earrings. Other than that... YIKES. Definitely keeping the helmeted on this figure.

 

So in conclusion, my overall feeling is a resounding "meh". It's pretty much what I expected, and not exactly the new standard to beat, but it is a step in the right direction. Knowing Hasbro, I don't exactly see them making changes that I complained about here, so I really have no need to revisit this line, but perhaps there is hope that the Legends line can be provided with improvements seen here, most notable being the ability to collapse the shoulders towards the chest. But that's me, and as admitted before, Domestic figures really aren't my thing. For everyone else out there, you really need to be aware of the issues with the knee joints - it's been almost 10 hours since I've opened mine and it's not her legs have straightened out, and the legs can be bent so easily it's not funny.

 

A decent looking figure with some good strengths balanced by some awful design choices.

Ellis - Elite Model Management

I rejoice with the brilliant ones and I am genuinely sorry for the poor browns"

- W. Churchill

 

"Non posso fingere di essere imparziale riguardo ai colori: gioisco con quelli brillanti, e sono sinceramente dispiaciuto per i poveri marroni"

 

A glimpse of my mother's colorful garden.

Photo: © POLITICO

A Sikh is a follower of Sikhism, a monotheistic religion which originated during the 15th century in the Punjab region. The term "Sikh" has its origin in the Sanskrit words शिष्य (śiṣya; disciple, student) or शिक्ष (śikṣa; instruction). A Sikh is a disciple of a guru. According to Article I of the Sikh Rehat Maryada (the Sikh code of conduct), a Sikh is "any human being who faithfully believes in One Immortal Being; ten Gurus, from Guru Nanak to Guru Gobind Singh; Guru Granth Sahib; the teachings of the ten Gurus and the baptism bequeathed by the tenth Guru". "Sikh" properly refers to adherents of Sikhism as a religion, not an ethnic group. However, because Sikhs often share strong ethno-religious ties, many countries, such as the U.K., recognize Sikh as a designated ethnicity on their censuses. The American non-profit organization United Sikhs has fought to have Sikh included on the U.S. census as well, arguing that Sikhs "self-identify as an 'ethnic minority'" and believe "that they are more than just a religion".

 

Male Sikhs usually have "Singh" (Lion), and female Sikhs have "Kaur" (Princess) as their middle or last name. Sikhs who have undergone the khanḍe-kī-pahul (the Sikh initiation ceremony) may also be recognized by the five Ks: uncut hair (kesh); an iron or steel bracelet (kara); a kirpan (a sword tucked into a gatra strap); kachehra, a cotton undergarment, and kanga, a small wooden comb. Baptized male Sikhs must cover their hair with a turban, which is optional for baptized female Sikhs. The greater Punjab region is the historic homeland of the Sikhs, although significant communities exist around the world.

 

HISTORY

Sikh political history may be said to begin with the death of the fifth Sikh guru, Guru Arjan Dev, in 1606. Guru Nanak was a religious leader and social reformer in the 15th-century Punjab. Religious practices were formalized by Guru Gobind Singh on 30 March 1699. Singh baptized five people from a variety of social backgrounds, known as the Panj Piare (the five beloved ones) to form the Khalsa, or collective body of initiated Sikhs. Sikhism has generally had amicable relations with other religions, except for the period of Mughal rule in India (1556–1707). Several Sikh gurus were killed by the Mughals for opposing their persecution of minority religious communities including Sikhs. Sikhs subsequently militarized to oppose Mughal rule. The emergence of the Sikh Confederacy under Ranjit Singh was characterized by religious tolerance and pluralism, with Christians, Muslims and Hindus in positions of power. The confederacy is considered the zenith of political Sikhism, encompassing Kashmir, Ladakh and Peshawar. Hari Singh Nalwa, the commander-in-chief of the Sikh army in the North West Frontier, expanded the confederacy to the Khyber Pass. Its secular administration implemented military, economic and governmental reforms. The months leading up to the partition of India in 1947 were marked by conflict in the Punjab between Sikhs and Muslims. This caused the religious migration of Punjabi Sikhs and Hindus from West Punjab, mirroring a similar religious migration of Punjabi Muslims from East Punjab.

 

The 1960s saw growing animosity between Sikhs and Hindus in India, with the Sikhs demanding the creation of a Punjab state on a linguistic basis similar to other states in India. This was promised to Sikh leader Master Tara Singh by Jawaharlal Nehru, in return for Sikh political support during negotiations for Indian independence. Although the Sikhs obtained the Punjab, they lost Hindi-speaking areas to Himachal Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan. Chandigarh was made a union territory and the capital of Haryana and Punjab on 1 November 1966.

 

Tensions arose again during the late 1970s, fueled by Sikh claims of discrimination and marginalisation by the Hindu-dominated Indian National Congress party and tactics adopted by the Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

 

According to Katherine Frank, Indira Gandhi's assumption of emergency powers in 1975 resulted in the weakening of the "legitimate and impartial machinery of government", and her increasing "paranoia" about opposing political groups led her to institute a "despotic policy of playing castes, religions and political groups against each other for political advantage". Sikh leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale articulated Sikh demands for justice, and this triggered violence in the Punjab. The prime minister's 1984 defeat of Bhindranwale led to an attack on the Golden Temple in Operation Blue Star and to her assassination by her Sikh bodyguards. Gandhi's assassination resulted in an explosion of violence against Sikh communities and the killing of thousands of Sikhs throughout India. Khushwant Singh described the riots as a Sikh pogrom; he "felt like a refugee in my country. In fact, I felt like a Jew in Nazi Germany". Since 1984, relations between Sikhs and Hindus have moved toward a rapprochement aided by economic prosperity. However, a 2002 claim by the Hindu right-wing Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) that "Sikhs are Hindus" disturbed Sikh sensibilities. The Khalistan movement campaigns for justice for the victims of the violence, and for the political and economic needs of the Punjab.

 

In 1996, United Nations Commission on Human Rights Freedom of Religion or Belief Special Rapporteur Abdelfattah Amor (Tunisia, 1993–2004) visited India to report on religious discrimination. The following year Amor concluded, "In India it appears that the situation of the Sikhs in the religious field is satisfactory, but that difficulties are arising in the political (foreign interference, terrorism, etc.), economic (in particular with regard to sharing of water supplies) and even occupational fields. Information received from nongovernment (sic) sources indicates that discrimination does exist in certain sectors of the public administration; examples include the decline in the number of Sikhs in the police force and the military, and the absence of Sikhs in personal bodyguard units since the murder of Indira Gandhi".

 

Although Sikhs comprise 10 to 15 percent of all ranks of the Indian Army and 20 percent of its officers, they make up 1.87 percent of the Indian population.

 

During the 1999 Vaisakhi, Sikhs worldwide celebrated the 300th anniversary of the creation of the Khalsa. Canada Post honoured Sikh Canadians with a commemorative stamp in conjunction with the 300th anniversary of Vaisakhi. On April 9, 1999, Indian president K.R. Narayanan issued a stamp commemorating the 300th anniversary of the Khalsa.

 

DEFINITION

According to Guru Granth Sahib:

One who calls himself a Sikh of the Guru, the True Guru, shall rise in the early morning hours and meditate on the Lord's Name. Upon arising early in the morning, the Sikh is to bathe, and cleanse himself in the pool of nectar. Following the Instructions of the Guru, the Sikh is to chant the Name of the Lord, Har. All sins, misdeeds and negativity shall be erased. Then, at the rising of the sun, the Sikh is to sing Gurbani; whether sitting down or standing up, the Sikh is to meditate on the Lord's Name. One who meditates on my Lord, Har, with every breath and every morsel of food – that Gursikh becomes pleasing to the Guru's Mind. That person, unto whom my Lord and Master is kind and compassionate – upon that Gursikh, the Guru's Teachings are bestowed. Servant Nanak begs for the dust of the feet of that Gursikh, who himself chants the Naam, and inspires others to chant it.

 

Simran of the Lord's name is a recurring theme of Guru Granth Sahib, and Sukhmani Sahib were composed to allow a devotee to recite Nam throughout the day. Rising at Amrit Velā (before sunrise) is a common Sikh practice. Sikhism considers the spiritual and secular lives to be intertwined: "In the Sikh Weltanschauung ... the temporal world is part of the Infinite and partakes of its characteristics." According to Guru Nanak, living an "active, creative, and practical life" of "truthfulness, fidelity, self-control and purity" is superior to a purely contemplative life.

 

FIVE Ks

The five Ks (panj kakaar) are five articles of faith which all baptized Sikhs (Amritdhari Sikhs) are obliged to wear. The symbols represent the ideals of Sikhism: honesty, equality, fidelity, meditating on God and never bowing to tyranny. The five symbols are:

- Kesh: Uncut hair, usually tied and wrapped in a Dastar

- Kanga: A wooden comb, usually worn under a Dastar

- Katchera: Cotton undergarments, historically appropriate in battle due to increased mobility when compared to a dhoti. Worn by both sexes, the katchera is a symbol of chastity.

- Kara: An iron bracelet, a weapon and a symbol of eternity

- Kirpan: An iron dagger in different sizes. In the UK Sikhs can wear a small dagger, but in the Punjab they might wear a traditional curved sword from one to three feet in length.

 

MUSIC & INSTRUMENTS

The Sikhs have a number of musical instruments: the rebab, dilruba, taus, jori and sarinda. Playing the sarangi was encouraged in Guru Har Gobind. The rubab was first played by Bhai Mardana as he accompanied Guru Nanak on his journeys. The jori and sarinda were designed by Guru Arjan. The taus was made by Guru Hargobind, who supposedly heard a peacock singing and wanted to create an instrument mimicking its sounds (taus is the Persian word for peacock). The dilruba was made by Guru Gobind Singh at the request of his followers, who wanted a smaller instrument than the taus. After Japji Sahib, all of the shabda in the Guru Granth Sahib were composed as ragas. This type of singing is known as Gurmat Sangeet.

 

When they marched into battle, the Sikhs would play a Ranjit Nagara (victory drum) to boost morale. Nagaras (usually two to three feet in diameter, although some were up to five feet in diameter) are played with two sticks. The beat of the large drums, and the raising of the Nishan Sahib, meant that the singhs were on their way.

 

DISTRIBUTION

Numbering about 27 million worldwide, Sikhs make up 0.39 percent of the world population; approximately 83 percent live in India. About 76 percent of all Sikhs live in the north Indian State of Punjab, where they form a majority (about two-thirds) of the population. Substantial communities of Sikhs (more than 200,000) live in the Indian states or union territories of Haryana (more than 1.1 million), Rajasthan, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh Assam and Jammu and Kashmir.

 

Sikh migration from British India began in earnest during the second half of the 19th century, when the British completed their annexation of the Punjab. The British Raj recruited Sikhs for the Indian Civil Service (particularly the British Indian Army), which led to Sikh migration throughout India and the British Empire. During the Raj, semiskilled Sikh artisans were transported from the Punjab to British East Africa to help build railroads. Sikhs emigrated from India and Pakistan after World War II, most going to the United Kingdom but many to North America. Some Sikhs who had settled in eastern Africa were expelled by Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in 1972. Economics is a major factor in Sikh migration, and significant communities exist in the United Kingdom, Canada, the United States, Malaysia, East Africa, Australia and Thailand.

 

Although the rate of Sikh migration from the Punjab has remained high, traditional patterns of Sikh migration favouring English-speaking countries (particularly the United Kingdom) have changed during the past decade due to stricter immigration laws. Moliner (2006) wrote that as a consequence of Sikh migration to the UK "becom[ing] virtually impossible since the late 1970s", migration patterns evolved to continental Europe. Italy is a rapidly growing destination for Sikh migration, with Reggio Emilia and Vicenza having significant Sikh population clusters. Italian Sikhs are generally involved in agriculture, agricultural processing, the manufacture of machine tools and horticulture.

 

Primarily for socio-economic reasons, Indian Sikhs have the lowest adjusted growth rate of any major religious group in India, at 16.9 percent per decade (estimated from 1991 to 2001). Johnson and Barrett (2004) estimate that the global Sikh population increases annually by 392,633 (1.7 percent per year, based on 2004 figures); this percentage includes births, deaths and conversions.

 

REPRESENTATION

Sikhs have been represented in Indian politics by former Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh and the deputy chairman of the Indian Planning Commission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia. Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal is also a Sikh. Past Sikh politicians in India include former president Giani Zail Singh, Sardar Swaran Singh (India's first foreign minister), Speaker of Parliament Gurdial Singh Dhillon and former Chief Minister of Punjab Pratap Singh Kairon.

 

Politicians from the Sikh diaspora include the first Asian American member of the United States Congress, Dalip Singh Saund, British MPs Piara Khabra, Parmjit Dhanda and Paul Uppal, the first couple to sit together in a Commonwealth parliament (Gurmant Grewal and Nina Grewal, who requested a Canadian government apology for the Komagata Maru incident), former Canadian Shadow Social Development Minister Ruby Dhalla, Canadian Minister of State for Sport Baljit Singh Gosal and Legislative Assembly of Ontario members Vic Dhillon and Jagmeet Singh. Ujjal Dosanjh was the New Democratic Party Premier of British Columbia from July 2004 to February 2005, and was later a Liberal frontbench MP in Ottawa. In Malaysia, two Sikhs were elected MPs in the 2008 general elections: Karpal Singh (Bukit Gelugor) and his son, Gobind Singh Deo (Puchong). Two Sikhs were elected assemblymen: Jagdeep Singh Deo (Datuk Keramat) and Keshvinder Singh (Malim Nawar).

 

Sikhs comprise 10 to 15 percent of all ranks in the Indian Army and 20 percent of its officers, while making up 1.87 percent of the Indian population. The Sikh Regiment is one of the most-decorated regiments in the army, with 73 Battle Honours, 14 Victoria Crosses, 21 first-class Indian Orders of Merit (equivalent to the Victoria Cross), 15 Theatre Honours, five COAS Unit Citations, two Param Vir Chakras, 14 Maha Vir Chakras, five Kirti Chakras, 67 Vir Chakras and 1,596 other awards. The highest-ranking general in the history of the Indian Air Force is a Punjabi Sikh, Marshal of the Air Force Arjan Singh. Plans by the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence for a Sikh infantry regiment were scrapped in June 2007.

 

Historically, most Indians have been farmers and 66 percent of the Indian population are engaged in agriculture. Indian Sikhs are employed in agriculture to a lesser extent; India's 2001 census found 39 percent of the working population of the Punjab employed in this sector. The success of the 1960s Green Revolution, in which India went from "famine to plenty, from humiliation to dignity", was based in the Punjab (which became known as "the breadbasket of India"). The Punjab is the wealthiest Indian state per capita, with the average Punjabi income three times the national average. The Green Revolution centred on Indian farmers adopting more intensive and mechanised agricultural methods, aided by the electrification of the Punjab, cooperative credit, consolidation of small holdings and the existing, British Raj-developed canal system. According to Swedish political scientist Ishtiaq Ahmad, a factor in the success of the Indian green revolution was the "Sikh cultivator, often the Jat, whose courage, perseverance, spirit of enterprise and muscle prowess proved crucial". However, not all aspects of the green revolution were beneficial. Indian physicist Vandana Shiva wrote that the green revolution made the "negative and destructive impacts of science [i.e. the green revolution] on nature and society" invisible, and was a catalyst for Punjabi Sikh and Hindu tensions despite a growth in material wealth.

 

Punjabi Sikhs are engaged in a number of professions which include science, engineering and medicine. Notable examples are nuclear scientist Piara Singh Gill (who worked on the Manhattan Project), fibre-optics pioneer Narinder Singh Kapany and physicist, science writer and broadcaster Simon Singh.

 

In business, the UK-based clothing retailers New Look and the Thai-based Jaspal were founded by Sikhs. India's largest pharmaceutical company, Ranbaxy Laboratories, is headed by Sikhs. UK Sikhs have the highest percentage of home ownership (82 percent) of any religious community. UK Sikhs are the second-wealthiest (after the Jewish community) religious group in the UK, with a median total household wealth of £229,000. In Singapore Kartar Singh Thakral expanded his family's trading business, Thakral Holdings, into total assets of almost $1.4 billion and is Singapore's 25th-richest person. Sikh Bob Singh Dhillon is the first Indo-Canadian billionaire. The Sikh diaspora has been most successful in North America, especially in California’s fertile Central Valley. American Sikh farmers such as Harbhajan Singh Samra and Didar Singh Bains dominate California agriculture, with Samra specialising in okra and Bains in peaches.

 

Sikh intellectuals, sportsmen and artists include writer Khushwant Singh, England cricketer Monty Panesar, former 400m runner Milkha Singh, Indian wrestler and actor Dara Singh, former Indian hockey team captains Ajitpal Singh and Balbir Singh Sr., former Indian cricket captain Bishen Singh Bedi, Harbhajan Singh (India's most successful off spin cricket bowler), Bollywood actress Neetu Singh, Sunny Leone, actors Parminder Nagra, Neha Dhupia, Gul Panag, Mona Singh, Namrata Singh Gujral, Archie Panjabi and director Gurinder Chadha.

 

Sikhs have migrated worldwide, with a variety of occupations. The Sikh Gurus preached ethnic and social harmony, and Sikhs comprise a number of ethnic groups. Those with over 1,000 members include the Ahluwalia, Arain, Arora, Bhatra, Bairagi, Bania, Basith, Bawaria, Bazigar, Bhabra, Chamar, Chhimba, Darzi, Dhobi, Gujar, Jatt, Jhinwar, Kahar, Kalal, Kamboj, Khatri, Kumhar, Labana, Lohar, Mahtam, Mazhabi, Megh, Mirasi, Mochi, Nai, Rajput, Ramgarhia, Saini, Sarera, Sikligar, Sunar, Sudh, Tarkhan and Zargar.

 

An order of Punjabi Sikhs, the Nihang or the Akalis, was formed during Ranjit Singh's time. Under their leader, Akali Phula Singh, they won many battles for the Sikh Confederacy during the early 19th century.

 

IN THE INDIAN & BRITISH ARMIES

Sikhs supported the British during the Indian Rebellion of 1857. By the beginning of World War I, Sikhs in the British Indian Army totaled over 100,000 (20 percent of the force). Until 1945 fourteen Victoria Crosses were awarded to Sikhs, a per-capita regimental record. In 2002 the names of all Sikh VC and George Cross recipients were inscribed on the monument of the Memorial Gates on Constitution Hill, next to Buckingham Palace. Chanan Singh Dhillon was instrumental in campaigning for the memorial.

 

During World War I, Sikh battalions fought in Egypt, Palestine, Mesopotamia, Gallipoli and France. Six battalions of the Sikh Regiment were raised during World War II, serving in the Second Battle of El Alamein, the Burma and Italian campaigns and in Iraq and receiving 27 battle honours. Around the world, Sikhs are commemorated in Commonwealth cemeteries.

 

In the last two world wars 83,005 turban wearing Sikh soldiers were killed and 109,045 were wounded. They all died or were wounded for the freedom of Britain and the world, and during shell fire, with no other protection but the turban, the symbol of their faith.

—General Sir Frank Messervy

 

British people are highly indebted and obliged to Sikhs for a long time. I know that within this century we needed their help twice [in two world wars] and they did help us very well. As a result of their timely help, we are today able to live with honour, dignity, and independence. In the war, they fought and died for us, wearing the turbans.

—Sir Winston Churchill

 

IN THE WEST

During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Sikhs began to emigrate to East Africa, the Far East, Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom. In 1907 the Khalsa Diwan Society was established in Vancouver, and four years later the first gurdwara was established in London. In 1912 the first gurdwara in the United States was founded in Stockton, California.

 

Since Sikhs (like Middle Eastern men) wear turbans, some in Western countries have been mistaken for Muslim or Arabic men since the September 11 attacks and the Iraq War. Several days after the 9/11 attacks Sikh Balbir Singh Sodhi was murdered by Frank Roque, who thought Sodhi was connected with al-Qaeda. CNN suggested an increase in hate crimes against Sikh men in the United States and the UK after the 9/11 attacks.

 

Since Sikhism has never actively sought converts, the Sikhs have remained a relatively homogeneous ethnic group. The Kundalini Yoga-based activities of Harbhajan Singh Yogi in his 3HO (Happy, Healthy, Holy) organisation claim to have inspired a moderate growth in non-Indian adherents of Sikhism. In 1998 an estimated 7,800 3HO Sikhs, known colloquially as ‘gora’ (ਗੋਰਾ) or ‘white’ Sikhs, were mainly centred around Española, New Mexico and Los Angeles, California. Sikhs and the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund overturned a 1925 Oregon law banning the wearing of turbans by teachers and government officials.

 

In an attempt to foster Sikh leaders in the Western world, youth initiatives by a number of organisations have begun. The Sikh Youth Alliance of North America sponsors an annual Sikh Youth Symposium, a public-speaking and debate competition held in gurdwaras throughout the U.S. and Canada.

 

ART & CULTURE

Sikh art and culture are nearly synonymous with that of the Punjab, and Sikhs are easily recognised by their distinctive turban (Dastar). The Punjab has been called India’s melting pot, due to the confluence of invading cultures (Greek, Mughal and Persian) from the rivers from which the region gets its name. Sikh culture is therefore a synthesis of cultures. Sikhism has forged a unique architecture, which S. S. Bhatti described as "inspired by Guru Nanak’s creative mysticism" and "is a mute harbinger of holistic humanism based on pragmatic spirituality".

 

During the Mughal and Afghan persecution of the Sikhs during the 17th and 18th centuries, the latter were concerned with preserving their religion and gave little thought to art and culture. With the rise of Ranjit Singh and the Sikh Raj in Lahore and Delhi, there was a change in the landscape of art and culture in the Punjab; Hindus and Sikhs could build decorated shrines without the fear of destruction or looting.

 

The Sikh Confederacy was the catalyst for a uniquely Sikh form of expression, with Ranjit Singh commissioning forts, palaces, bungas (residential places) and colleges in a Sikh style. Sikh architecture is characterised by gilded fluted domes, cupolas, kiosks, stone lanterns, ornate balusters and square roofs. A pinnacle of Sikh style is Harmandir Sahib (also known as the Golden Temple) in Amritsar.

 

Sikh culture is influenced by militaristic motifs (with the Khanda the most obvious), and most Sikh artifacts - except for the relics of the Gurus - have a military theme. This theme is evident in the Sikh festivals of Hola Mohalla and Vaisakhi, which feature marching and displays of valor.

 

Although the art and culture of the Sikh diaspora have merged with that of other Indo-immigrant groups into categories like "British Asian", "Indo-Canadian" and "Desi-Culture", a minor cultural phenomenon which can be described as "political Sikh" has arisen. The art of diaspora Sikhs like Amarjeet Kaur Nandhra and Amrit and Rabindra Kaur Singh (the "Singh Twins") is influenced by their Sikhism and current affairs in the Punjab.

Bhangra and Giddha are two forms of Punjabi folk dancing which have been adapted and pioneered by Sikhs. Punjabi Sikhs have championed these forms of expression worldwide, resulting in Sikh culture becoming linked to Bhangra (although "Bhangra is not a Sikh institution but a Punjabi one").

 

PAINTING

Sikh painting is a direct offshoot of the Kangra school of painting. In 1810, Ranjeet Singh (1780–1839) occupied Kangra Fort and appointed Sardar Desa Singh Majithia his governor of the Punjab hills. In 1813 the Sikh army occupied Guler State, and Raja Bhup Singh became a vassal of the Sikhs. With the Sikh kingdom of Lahore becoming the paramount power, some of the Pahari painters from Guler migrated to Lahore for the patronage of Maharaja Ranjeet Singh and his Sardars.

 

The Sikh school adapted Kangra painting to Sikh needs and ideals. Its main subjects are the ten Sikh gurus and stories from Guru Nanak's Janamsakhis. The tenth Guru, Gobind Singh, left a deep impression on the followers of the new faith because of his courage and sacrifices. Hunting scenes and portraits are also common in Sikh painting.

 

WIKIPEDIA

A Sikh is a follower of Sikhism, a monotheistic religion which originated during the 15th century in the Punjab region. The term "Sikh" has its origin in the Sanskrit words शिष्य (śiṣya; disciple, student) or शिक्ष (śikṣa; instruction). A Sikh is a disciple of a guru. According to Article I of the Sikh Rehat Maryada (the Sikh code of conduct), a Sikh is "any human being who faithfully believes in One Immortal Being; ten Gurus, from Guru Nanak to Guru Gobind Singh; Guru Granth Sahib; the teachings of the ten Gurus and the baptism bequeathed by the tenth Guru". "Sikh" properly refers to adherents of Sikhism as a religion, not an ethnic group. However, because Sikhs often share strong ethno-religious ties, many countries, such as the U.K., recognize Sikh as a designated ethnicity on their censuses. The American non-profit organization United Sikhs has fought to have Sikh included on the U.S. census as well, arguing that Sikhs "self-identify as an 'ethnic minority'" and believe "that they are more than just a religion".

 

Male Sikhs usually have "Singh" (Lion), and female Sikhs have "Kaur" (Princess) as their middle or last name. Sikhs who have undergone the khanḍe-kī-pahul (the Sikh initiation ceremony) may also be recognized by the five Ks: uncut hair (kesh); an iron or steel bracelet (kara); a kirpan (a sword tucked into a gatra strap); kachehra, a cotton undergarment, and kanga, a small wooden comb. Baptized male Sikhs must cover their hair with a turban, which is optional for baptized female Sikhs. The greater Punjab region is the historic homeland of the Sikhs, although significant communities exist around the world.

 

HISTORY

Sikh political history may be said to begin with the death of the fifth Sikh guru, Guru Arjan Dev, in 1606. Guru Nanak was a religious leader and social reformer in the 15th-century Punjab. Religious practices were formalized by Guru Gobind Singh on 30 March 1699. Singh baptized five people from a variety of social backgrounds, known as the Panj Piare (the five beloved ones) to form the Khalsa, or collective body of initiated Sikhs. Sikhism has generally had amicable relations with other religions, except for the period of Mughal rule in India (1556–1707). Several Sikh gurus were killed by the Mughals for opposing their persecution of minority religious communities including Sikhs. Sikhs subsequently militarized to oppose Mughal rule. The emergence of the Sikh Confederacy under Ranjit Singh was characterized by religious tolerance and pluralism, with Christians, Muslims and Hindus in positions of power. The confederacy is considered the zenith of political Sikhism, encompassing Kashmir, Ladakh and Peshawar. Hari Singh Nalwa, the commander-in-chief of the Sikh army in the North West Frontier, expanded the confederacy to the Khyber Pass. Its secular administration implemented military, economic and governmental reforms. The months leading up to the partition of India in 1947 were marked by conflict in the Punjab between Sikhs and Muslims. This caused the religious migration of Punjabi Sikhs and Hindus from West Punjab, mirroring a similar religious migration of Punjabi Muslims from East Punjab.

 

The 1960s saw growing animosity between Sikhs and Hindus in India, with the Sikhs demanding the creation of a Punjab state on a linguistic basis similar to other states in India. This was promised to Sikh leader Master Tara Singh by Jawaharlal Nehru, in return for Sikh political support during negotiations for Indian independence. Although the Sikhs obtained the Punjab, they lost Hindi-speaking areas to Himachal Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan. Chandigarh was made a union territory and the capital of Haryana and Punjab on 1 November 1966.

 

Tensions arose again during the late 1970s, fueled by Sikh claims of discrimination and marginalisation by the Hindu-dominated Indian National Congress party and tactics adopted by the Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

 

According to Katherine Frank, Indira Gandhi's assumption of emergency powers in 1975 resulted in the weakening of the "legitimate and impartial machinery of government", and her increasing "paranoia" about opposing political groups led her to institute a "despotic policy of playing castes, religions and political groups against each other for political advantage". Sikh leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale articulated Sikh demands for justice, and this triggered violence in the Punjab. The prime minister's 1984 defeat of Bhindranwale led to an attack on the Golden Temple in Operation Blue Star and to her assassination by her Sikh bodyguards. Gandhi's assassination resulted in an explosion of violence against Sikh communities and the killing of thousands of Sikhs throughout India. Khushwant Singh described the riots as a Sikh pogrom; he "felt like a refugee in my country. In fact, I felt like a Jew in Nazi Germany". Since 1984, relations between Sikhs and Hindus have moved toward a rapprochement aided by economic prosperity. However, a 2002 claim by the Hindu right-wing Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) that "Sikhs are Hindus" disturbed Sikh sensibilities. The Khalistan movement campaigns for justice for the victims of the violence, and for the political and economic needs of the Punjab.

 

In 1996, United Nations Commission on Human Rights Freedom of Religion or Belief Special Rapporteur Abdelfattah Amor (Tunisia, 1993–2004) visited India to report on religious discrimination. The following year Amor concluded, "In India it appears that the situation of the Sikhs in the religious field is satisfactory, but that difficulties are arising in the political (foreign interference, terrorism, etc.), economic (in particular with regard to sharing of water supplies) and even occupational fields. Information received from nongovernment (sic) sources indicates that discrimination does exist in certain sectors of the public administration; examples include the decline in the number of Sikhs in the police force and the military, and the absence of Sikhs in personal bodyguard units since the murder of Indira Gandhi".

 

Although Sikhs comprise 10 to 15 percent of all ranks of the Indian Army and 20 percent of its officers, they make up 1.87 percent of the Indian population.

 

During the 1999 Vaisakhi, Sikhs worldwide celebrated the 300th anniversary of the creation of the Khalsa. Canada Post honoured Sikh Canadians with a commemorative stamp in conjunction with the 300th anniversary of Vaisakhi. On April 9, 1999, Indian president K.R. Narayanan issued a stamp commemorating the 300th anniversary of the Khalsa.

 

DEFINITION

According to Guru Granth Sahib:

One who calls himself a Sikh of the Guru, the True Guru, shall rise in the early morning hours and meditate on the Lord's Name. Upon arising early in the morning, the Sikh is to bathe, and cleanse himself in the pool of nectar. Following the Instructions of the Guru, the Sikh is to chant the Name of the Lord, Har. All sins, misdeeds and negativity shall be erased. Then, at the rising of the sun, the Sikh is to sing Gurbani; whether sitting down or standing up, the Sikh is to meditate on the Lord's Name. One who meditates on my Lord, Har, with every breath and every morsel of food – that Gursikh becomes pleasing to the Guru's Mind. That person, unto whom my Lord and Master is kind and compassionate – upon that Gursikh, the Guru's Teachings are bestowed. Servant Nanak begs for the dust of the feet of that Gursikh, who himself chants the Naam, and inspires others to chant it.

 

Simran of the Lord's name is a recurring theme of Guru Granth Sahib, and Sukhmani Sahib were composed to allow a devotee to recite Nam throughout the day. Rising at Amrit Velā (before sunrise) is a common Sikh practice. Sikhism considers the spiritual and secular lives to be intertwined: "In the Sikh Weltanschauung ... the temporal world is part of the Infinite and partakes of its characteristics." According to Guru Nanak, living an "active, creative, and practical life" of "truthfulness, fidelity, self-control and purity" is superior to a purely contemplative life.

 

FIVE Ks

The five Ks (panj kakaar) are five articles of faith which all baptized Sikhs (Amritdhari Sikhs) are obliged to wear. The symbols represent the ideals of Sikhism: honesty, equality, fidelity, meditating on God and never bowing to tyranny. The five symbols are:

- Kesh: Uncut hair, usually tied and wrapped in a Dastar

- Kanga: A wooden comb, usually worn under a Dastar

- Katchera: Cotton undergarments, historically appropriate in battle due to increased mobility when compared to a dhoti. Worn by both sexes, the katchera is a symbol of chastity.

- Kara: An iron bracelet, a weapon and a symbol of eternity

- Kirpan: An iron dagger in different sizes. In the UK Sikhs can wear a small dagger, but in the Punjab they might wear a traditional curved sword from one to three feet in length.

 

MUSIC & INSTRUMENTS

The Sikhs have a number of musical instruments: the rebab, dilruba, taus, jori and sarinda. Playing the sarangi was encouraged in Guru Har Gobind. The rubab was first played by Bhai Mardana as he accompanied Guru Nanak on his journeys. The jori and sarinda were designed by Guru Arjan. The taus was made by Guru Hargobind, who supposedly heard a peacock singing and wanted to create an instrument mimicking its sounds (taus is the Persian word for peacock). The dilruba was made by Guru Gobind Singh at the request of his followers, who wanted a smaller instrument than the taus. After Japji Sahib, all of the shabda in the Guru Granth Sahib were composed as ragas. This type of singing is known as Gurmat Sangeet.

 

When they marched into battle, the Sikhs would play a Ranjit Nagara (victory drum) to boost morale. Nagaras (usually two to three feet in diameter, although some were up to five feet in diameter) are played with two sticks. The beat of the large drums, and the raising of the Nishan Sahib, meant that the singhs were on their way.

 

DISTRIBUTION

Numbering about 27 million worldwide, Sikhs make up 0.39 percent of the world population; approximately 83 percent live in India. About 76 percent of all Sikhs live in the north Indian State of Punjab, where they form a majority (about two-thirds) of the population. Substantial communities of Sikhs (more than 200,000) live in the Indian states or union territories of Haryana (more than 1.1 million), Rajasthan, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh Assam and Jammu and Kashmir.

 

Sikh migration from British India began in earnest during the second half of the 19th century, when the British completed their annexation of the Punjab. The British Raj recruited Sikhs for the Indian Civil Service (particularly the British Indian Army), which led to Sikh migration throughout India and the British Empire. During the Raj, semiskilled Sikh artisans were transported from the Punjab to British East Africa to help build railroads. Sikhs emigrated from India and Pakistan after World War II, most going to the United Kingdom but many to North America. Some Sikhs who had settled in eastern Africa were expelled by Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in 1972. Economics is a major factor in Sikh migration, and significant communities exist in the United Kingdom, Canada, the United States, Malaysia, East Africa, Australia and Thailand.

 

Although the rate of Sikh migration from the Punjab has remained high, traditional patterns of Sikh migration favouring English-speaking countries (particularly the United Kingdom) have changed during the past decade due to stricter immigration laws. Moliner (2006) wrote that as a consequence of Sikh migration to the UK "becom[ing] virtually impossible since the late 1970s", migration patterns evolved to continental Europe. Italy is a rapidly growing destination for Sikh migration, with Reggio Emilia and Vicenza having significant Sikh population clusters. Italian Sikhs are generally involved in agriculture, agricultural processing, the manufacture of machine tools and horticulture.

 

Primarily for socio-economic reasons, Indian Sikhs have the lowest adjusted growth rate of any major religious group in India, at 16.9 percent per decade (estimated from 1991 to 2001). Johnson and Barrett (2004) estimate that the global Sikh population increases annually by 392,633 (1.7 percent per year, based on 2004 figures); this percentage includes births, deaths and conversions.

 

REPRESENTATION

Sikhs have been represented in Indian politics by former Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh and the deputy chairman of the Indian Planning Commission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia. Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal is also a Sikh. Past Sikh politicians in India include former president Giani Zail Singh, Sardar Swaran Singh (India's first foreign minister), Speaker of Parliament Gurdial Singh Dhillon and former Chief Minister of Punjab Pratap Singh Kairon.

 

Politicians from the Sikh diaspora include the first Asian American member of the United States Congress, Dalip Singh Saund, British MPs Piara Khabra, Parmjit Dhanda and Paul Uppal, the first couple to sit together in a Commonwealth parliament (Gurmant Grewal and Nina Grewal, who requested a Canadian government apology for the Komagata Maru incident), former Canadian Shadow Social Development Minister Ruby Dhalla, Canadian Minister of State for Sport Baljit Singh Gosal and Legislative Assembly of Ontario members Vic Dhillon and Jagmeet Singh. Ujjal Dosanjh was the New Democratic Party Premier of British Columbia from July 2004 to February 2005, and was later a Liberal frontbench MP in Ottawa. In Malaysia, two Sikhs were elected MPs in the 2008 general elections: Karpal Singh (Bukit Gelugor) and his son, Gobind Singh Deo (Puchong). Two Sikhs were elected assemblymen: Jagdeep Singh Deo (Datuk Keramat) and Keshvinder Singh (Malim Nawar).

 

Sikhs comprise 10 to 15 percent of all ranks in the Indian Army and 20 percent of its officers, while making up 1.87 percent of the Indian population. The Sikh Regiment is one of the most-decorated regiments in the army, with 73 Battle Honours, 14 Victoria Crosses, 21 first-class Indian Orders of Merit (equivalent to the Victoria Cross), 15 Theatre Honours, five COAS Unit Citations, two Param Vir Chakras, 14 Maha Vir Chakras, five Kirti Chakras, 67 Vir Chakras and 1,596 other awards. The highest-ranking general in the history of the Indian Air Force is a Punjabi Sikh, Marshal of the Air Force Arjan Singh. Plans by the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence for a Sikh infantry regiment were scrapped in June 2007.

 

Historically, most Indians have been farmers and 66 percent of the Indian population are engaged in agriculture. Indian Sikhs are employed in agriculture to a lesser extent; India's 2001 census found 39 percent of the working population of the Punjab employed in this sector. The success of the 1960s Green Revolution, in which India went from "famine to plenty, from humiliation to dignity", was based in the Punjab (which became known as "the breadbasket of India"). The Punjab is the wealthiest Indian state per capita, with the average Punjabi income three times the national average. The Green Revolution centred on Indian farmers adopting more intensive and mechanised agricultural methods, aided by the electrification of the Punjab, cooperative credit, consolidation of small holdings and the existing, British Raj-developed canal system. According to Swedish political scientist Ishtiaq Ahmad, a factor in the success of the Indian green revolution was the "Sikh cultivator, often the Jat, whose courage, perseverance, spirit of enterprise and muscle prowess proved crucial". However, not all aspects of the green revolution were beneficial. Indian physicist Vandana Shiva wrote that the green revolution made the "negative and destructive impacts of science [i.e. the green revolution] on nature and society" invisible, and was a catalyst for Punjabi Sikh and Hindu tensions despite a growth in material wealth.

 

Punjabi Sikhs are engaged in a number of professions which include science, engineering and medicine. Notable examples are nuclear scientist Piara Singh Gill (who worked on the Manhattan Project), fibre-optics pioneer Narinder Singh Kapany and physicist, science writer and broadcaster Simon Singh.

 

In business, the UK-based clothing retailers New Look and the Thai-based Jaspal were founded by Sikhs. India's largest pharmaceutical company, Ranbaxy Laboratories, is headed by Sikhs. UK Sikhs have the highest percentage of home ownership (82 percent) of any religious community. UK Sikhs are the second-wealthiest (after the Jewish community) religious group in the UK, with a median total household wealth of £229,000. In Singapore Kartar Singh Thakral expanded his family's trading business, Thakral Holdings, into total assets of almost $1.4 billion and is Singapore's 25th-richest person. Sikh Bob Singh Dhillon is the first Indo-Canadian billionaire. The Sikh diaspora has been most successful in North America, especially in California’s fertile Central Valley. American Sikh farmers such as Harbhajan Singh Samra and Didar Singh Bains dominate California agriculture, with Samra specialising in okra and Bains in peaches.

 

Sikh intellectuals, sportsmen and artists include writer Khushwant Singh, England cricketer Monty Panesar, former 400m runner Milkha Singh, Indian wrestler and actor Dara Singh, former Indian hockey team captains Ajitpal Singh and Balbir Singh Sr., former Indian cricket captain Bishen Singh Bedi, Harbhajan Singh (India's most successful off spin cricket bowler), Bollywood actress Neetu Singh, Sunny Leone, actors Parminder Nagra, Neha Dhupia, Gul Panag, Mona Singh, Namrata Singh Gujral, Archie Panjabi and director Gurinder Chadha.

 

Sikhs have migrated worldwide, with a variety of occupations. The Sikh Gurus preached ethnic and social harmony, and Sikhs comprise a number of ethnic groups. Those with over 1,000 members include the Ahluwalia, Arain, Arora, Bhatra, Bairagi, Bania, Basith, Bawaria, Bazigar, Bhabra, Chamar, Chhimba, Darzi, Dhobi, Gujar, Jatt, Jhinwar, Kahar, Kalal, Kamboj, Khatri, Kumhar, Labana, Lohar, Mahtam, Mazhabi, Megh, Mirasi, Mochi, Nai, Rajput, Ramgarhia, Saini, Sarera, Sikligar, Sunar, Sudh, Tarkhan and Zargar.

 

An order of Punjabi Sikhs, the Nihang or the Akalis, was formed during Ranjit Singh's time. Under their leader, Akali Phula Singh, they won many battles for the Sikh Confederacy during the early 19th century.

 

IN THE INDIAN & BRITISH ARMIES

Sikhs supported the British during the Indian Rebellion of 1857. By the beginning of World War I, Sikhs in the British Indian Army totaled over 100,000 (20 percent of the force). Until 1945 fourteen Victoria Crosses were awarded to Sikhs, a per-capita regimental record. In 2002 the names of all Sikh VC and George Cross recipients were inscribed on the monument of the Memorial Gates on Constitution Hill, next to Buckingham Palace. Chanan Singh Dhillon was instrumental in campaigning for the memorial.

 

During World War I, Sikh battalions fought in Egypt, Palestine, Mesopotamia, Gallipoli and France. Six battalions of the Sikh Regiment were raised during World War II, serving in the Second Battle of El Alamein, the Burma and Italian campaigns and in Iraq and receiving 27 battle honours. Around the world, Sikhs are commemorated in Commonwealth cemeteries.

 

In the last two world wars 83,005 turban wearing Sikh soldiers were killed and 109,045 were wounded. They all died or were wounded for the freedom of Britain and the world, and during shell fire, with no other protection but the turban, the symbol of their faith.

—General Sir Frank Messervy

 

British people are highly indebted and obliged to Sikhs for a long time. I know that within this century we needed their help twice [in two world wars] and they did help us very well. As a result of their timely help, we are today able to live with honour, dignity, and independence. In the war, they fought and died for us, wearing the turbans.

—Sir Winston Churchill

 

IN THE WEST

During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Sikhs began to emigrate to East Africa, the Far East, Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom. In 1907 the Khalsa Diwan Society was established in Vancouver, and four years later the first gurdwara was established in London. In 1912 the first gurdwara in the United States was founded in Stockton, California.

 

Since Sikhs (like Middle Eastern men) wear turbans, some in Western countries have been mistaken for Muslim or Arabic men since the September 11 attacks and the Iraq War. Several days after the 9/11 attacks Sikh Balbir Singh Sodhi was murdered by Frank Roque, who thought Sodhi was connected with al-Qaeda. CNN suggested an increase in hate crimes against Sikh men in the United States and the UK after the 9/11 attacks.

 

Since Sikhism has never actively sought converts, the Sikhs have remained a relatively homogeneous ethnic group. The Kundalini Yoga-based activities of Harbhajan Singh Yogi in his 3HO (Happy, Healthy, Holy) organisation claim to have inspired a moderate growth in non-Indian adherents of Sikhism. In 1998 an estimated 7,800 3HO Sikhs, known colloquially as ‘gora’ (ਗੋਰਾ) or ‘white’ Sikhs, were mainly centred around Española, New Mexico and Los Angeles, California. Sikhs and the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund overturned a 1925 Oregon law banning the wearing of turbans by teachers and government officials.

 

In an attempt to foster Sikh leaders in the Western world, youth initiatives by a number of organisations have begun. The Sikh Youth Alliance of North America sponsors an annual Sikh Youth Symposium, a public-speaking and debate competition held in gurdwaras throughout the U.S. and Canada.

 

ART & CULTURE

Sikh art and culture are nearly synonymous with that of the Punjab, and Sikhs are easily recognised by their distinctive turban (Dastar). The Punjab has been called India’s melting pot, due to the confluence of invading cultures (Greek, Mughal and Persian) from the rivers from which the region gets its name. Sikh culture is therefore a synthesis of cultures. Sikhism has forged a unique architecture, which S. S. Bhatti described as "inspired by Guru Nanak’s creative mysticism" and "is a mute harbinger of holistic humanism based on pragmatic spirituality".

 

During the Mughal and Afghan persecution of the Sikhs during the 17th and 18th centuries, the latter were concerned with preserving their religion and gave little thought to art and culture. With the rise of Ranjit Singh and the Sikh Raj in Lahore and Delhi, there was a change in the landscape of art and culture in the Punjab; Hindus and Sikhs could build decorated shrines without the fear of destruction or looting.

 

The Sikh Confederacy was the catalyst for a uniquely Sikh form of expression, with Ranjit Singh commissioning forts, palaces, bungas (residential places) and colleges in a Sikh style. Sikh architecture is characterised by gilded fluted domes, cupolas, kiosks, stone lanterns, ornate balusters and square roofs. A pinnacle of Sikh style is Harmandir Sahib (also known as the Golden Temple) in Amritsar.

 

Sikh culture is influenced by militaristic motifs (with the Khanda the most obvious), and most Sikh artifacts - except for the relics of the Gurus - have a military theme. This theme is evident in the Sikh festivals of Hola Mohalla and Vaisakhi, which feature marching and displays of valor.

 

Although the art and culture of the Sikh diaspora have merged with that of other Indo-immigrant groups into categories like "British Asian", "Indo-Canadian" and "Desi-Culture", a minor cultural phenomenon which can be described as "political Sikh" has arisen. The art of diaspora Sikhs like Amarjeet Kaur Nandhra and Amrit and Rabindra Kaur Singh (the "Singh Twins") is influenced by their Sikhism and current affairs in the Punjab.

Bhangra and Giddha are two forms of Punjabi folk dancing which have been adapted and pioneered by Sikhs. Punjabi Sikhs have championed these forms of expression worldwide, resulting in Sikh culture becoming linked to Bhangra (although "Bhangra is not a Sikh institution but a Punjabi one").

 

PAINTING

Sikh painting is a direct offshoot of the Kangra school of painting. In 1810, Ranjeet Singh (1780–1839) occupied Kangra Fort and appointed Sardar Desa Singh Majithia his governor of the Punjab hills. In 1813 the Sikh army occupied Guler State, and Raja Bhup Singh became a vassal of the Sikhs. With the Sikh kingdom of Lahore becoming the paramount power, some of the Pahari painters from Guler migrated to Lahore for the patronage of Maharaja Ranjeet Singh and his Sardars.

 

The Sikh school adapted Kangra painting to Sikh needs and ideals. Its main subjects are the ten Sikh gurus and stories from Guru Nanak's Janamsakhis. The tenth Guru, Gobind Singh, left a deep impression on the followers of the new faith because of his courage and sacrifices. Hunting scenes and portraits are also common in Sikh painting.

 

WIKIPEDIA

Ismoili Somoni Statue

 

Abū Ibrāhīm Ismā'īl ibn Aḥmad (Persian: ابو ابراهیم اسماعیل بن احمد سامانی‎; May 849 – November 907), better simply known as Isma'il ibn Ahmad (اسماعیل بن احمد), and also known as Ismail Samani (اسماعیل سامانی), was the Samanid emir of Transoxiana (892–907) and Khorasan (900–907). His reign saw the emergence of the Samanids as a powerful force. He was the son of Ahmad ibn Asad and a descendant of Saman Khuda, the eponymous ancestor of the Samanid dynasty who renounced Zoroastrianism and embraced Islam.

 

Isma'il is known in history as a competent general and a strong ruler; many stories about him are written in Arabic and Persian sources.

 

According to a Bukharian historian writing in 943 stated that Ismail: "Was indeed worthy and right for padishahship. He was intelligent, just, compassionate person, one possessing reason and prescience...he conducted affairs with justice and good ethics. Whoever tyrannize people he would punish...In affairs of state he was always impartial."

 

The celebrated scholar Nizam al-Mulk, in his famous work, Siyasatnama, stated that Ismail: "Was extremely just, and his good qualities were many. He had pure faith in God (to Him be power and glory) and he was generous to the poor – to name only one of his notable virtues.

 

With the end of Soviet Union dominion in Central Asia, Ismail's legacy was rediscovered and rehabilitated. The Somoni currency of Tajikistan is named after Ismail. Also, the highest mountain in Tajikistan (and in the former Soviet Union) is named after Ismail. The mountain was formerly known as "Stalin Peak" and "Communism Peak" but was subsequently changed to the Ismoil Somoni Peak. (Wikipedia)