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institutions of Resolution Disputes [iRD]
Even though the iRD mimics an institute, in reality it is not a classic, institutional organ. Instead, the iRD multiplexes the term institution, by revisiting its usage in the late 1970s. Back then, Joseph Goguen and Rod Burstall formulated the term institution as a ‘more compound framework’, that dealt with the growing complexities at stake when connecting different logical systems (such as databases and programming languages) within computer sciences. While these institutions were put in place to connect different logical systems, they were not logical themselves.
Inspired by the idea of hyper functional, yet illogical frameworks, the iRD is dedicated to researching the interests of anti-utopic, obfuscated, lost and unseen, or simply ‘too good to be implemented’ resolutions.
The institutions of Resolution Disputes [iRD] call attention to media resolutions.
While ‘the resolution’ generally simply refers to a determination of functional settings in the technological domain, the iRD stresses that a resolution is indeed an overall agreed upon settlement (solution). However, the iRD believes that a resolution also entails a space of compromise between different actors (objects, materialities, and protocols) in dispute over norms (frame rate, number of pixels etc.). Generally, settings either ossify as requirements and de facto standards, or are notated as norms by standardizing organizations such as the International Organization for Standardization. We call this progress*.
However, resolutions are non-neutral standard settings that involve political, economical, technological and cultural values and ideologies, embedded in the genealogies and ecologies of our media. In an uncompromising fashion, quality (fidelity) speed (governed by efficiency) volume (generally encapsulated in tiny-ness for hardware and big when it comes to data) and profit (economic or ownership) have been responsible for plotting this vector of progress. This dogmatic configuration of belief x action has made upgrade culture a great legitimizer of violence, putting many insufficient technological resolutions to rest. While a resolution can thus be understood as a manifold assemblage of common - but contestable - standards, it should also be considered in terms of other options; those that are unknown and unseen, obsolete and unsupported within a time and (technological) space.
Resolutions inform both machine vision and human ways of perception. They shape the material of everyday life in a pervasive fashion.
As the media landscape becomes more and more compound, or in other words, an heterogenous assemblage in which one technology never functions on its own, its complexities have moved beyond a fold of everyday settings. Technological standards have compiled into resolution clusters; media platforms that form resolutions like tablelands, flanked by steep cliffs and precipices looking out over obscure, incremental abysses that seem to harbor a mist of unsupported, obsolete norms.
The platforms of resolution now organize perspective. They are the legitimizers of both inclusion and exclusion of what can not be seen or what should be done, while ‘other’ possible resolutions become more and more obscure.
It is important to realize that the platforms of resolutions are not inherently Evil*. They can be impartial. We need to unpack these resolutions and note that they are conditioning our perception. A culture that adheres to only one or a few platforms of resolutions supports nepotism amongst standards. These clusters actively engage simpleness and mask the issues at stake, savoring stupidity, and are finally bound to escalate into glutinous tech-fascism.
The question is, have we become unable to define our own resolutions, or have we become oblivious to them?
Resolutions do not just function as an interface effect*, but as hyperopic lens, obfuscating any other possible alternative resolutions from the users screens and media literacy. When we speak about video, we always refer to a four cornered moving image. Why do we not consider video with more or less corners, timelines, or soundtracks? Fonts are monochrome; they do not come with their own textures, gradients or chrominance and luminance mapping. Text editors still follow the lay-out of paper; there is hardly any modularity within written word technologies. Even ghosts, the figments of our imagination, have been conditioned to communicate exclusively through analogue forms of noise (the uncanny per default), while aliens communicate through blocks and lines (the more ‘intelligent’ forms of noise).
The user is hiking the resolution platforms comfortably. He is shielded from the compromises that are at stake inside his resolutions. Unknowingly suffering from this type of technological hyperopia, he keeps staring at the screens that reflect mirage after mirage.
A resolution is the lens through which constituted materialities become signifiers in their own right. They resonate the tonality of the users hive mind and constantly transform our technologies into informed material vernaculars.
Technology is evolving faster than we, as a culture, can come to terms with. This is why determinations such as standards are dangerous; they preclude alternatives. The radical digital materialist believes in informed materiality*: while every string of data is ambiguously fluid and has the potential to be manipulated into anything, every piece of information functions within adhesive* encoding, contextualization and embedding. Different forms of ossification slither into every crevice of private life, while unresolved, ungoverned free space seems to be slipping away. This is both the power and the risk of standardization.
We are in need for a re-(Re-)Distribution of the Sensible*.
The iRD offers a liminal space for resolution studies. Resolution studies is not only about the effects of technological progress or about the aesthetization of the scales of resolution. Resolution studies is a studies on how resolution embeds the tonalities of culture, in more than just its technological facets.
Resolution studies researches the standards that could have been in place, but are not. As a form of vernacular resistance, based on the concept of providing ambiguous resolutions, the iRD employs the liminal resolution of the screen as a looking-glass. Here, hyperopia is fractured and gives space to myopia, and visa versa. This is how iRD exposes the colors hidden inside the grey mundane objects* of everyday life.
The iRD is not a Wunderkammer for dead media*, but a foggy bootleg trail for vernacular resistance.
Progress has fathered many dead technologies. A Wunderkammer, or curiosity cabinet of media resolutions would celebrate these dead objects by trapping them inside a glass bell, relieving them indefinitely of their action radius. While the iRD adheres to the settlements of governing media resolutions, it also welcomes ventures along the bootleg trails of the tactical undead*. These undead move beyond resolution, through the literacies of the governing techno-cultures, into liminal spaces. They follow the wild and uncanny desire paths that cut through sensitive forms and off-limit areas into speculative materialities, futures and critical turns*. They threaten the status quo of secure forms of media and provide the ambiguity that is so necessary for inspiration, action and curiosity.
The iRD believes that methods of creative problem creation* can bring authorship back to the layer of resolution setting.
Resolution theory moves against what seems like an unsolvable puzzle of flattening reality. The iRD function one way trail straight into the Sea of Fog and towards the abyss of techno-norms. The iRD can however also be a modular framework, that opens and expands standards through inspection and reflection. As any good theory of media, resolution theory is a theory on literacy. Literacy of the machines, the people, the people creating the machines and the people being created by the machines. Through challenging the platforms of resolution, it can help the wanderer to scale actively between these states of hyperopia and myopia. It can uncover crystal cities of fog as well as shine a light on the soon to be distributed futures. Here we can mine for the yet unscreened timonds.
Implementing Stakeholder Capitalism (Option 2)
Geneva - Switzerland, 25-29 January 2021. Copyright ©️ World Economic Forum/Pascal Bitz
Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman, World Economic Forum
Marc Benioff, Chair and Chief Executive Officer, Salesforce, USA; Member of Board of Trustees of the World Economic Forum Laurence D. Fink, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, BlackRock, USA; Member of Board of Trustees of the World Economic Forum Chrystia Freeland, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance of Canada; Member of Board of Trustees of the World Economic Forum Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director, International Monetary Fund (IMF), Washington DC; Member of Board of Trustees of the World Economic Forum
Brian T. Moynihan, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Bank of America, USA; Chair of the World Economic Forum International Business Council; International Business Council
Moderated by Gillian R. Tett, Editor-at-Large and Chair of the Editorial Board, Financial Times, United Kingdom
Some of the priorities listed by Mr Zapatero included implementing new instruments under the Lisbon Treaty to make "citizens feel closer to EU institutions", such as the new citizens' right of initiative to propose legislation, and the need to fight domestic violence in Europe with a new legal measures to protect women and victims of gender violence. On the Haiti earthquake tragedy, he said "we are going to show what we can do as Europeans (...) in those parts of the world which are suffering the most (...). We are going to deliver a strong response to their needs for international aid".
More to the session: www.europarl.europa.eu/news/public/focus_page/008-67013-0...
©European Parliament/Pietro Naj-Oleari .
Syringe implement and a container of test tubes © Edwin Remsberg, High res download available from www.remsberg.com
Implementing Stakeholder Capitalism (Option 2)
Geneva - Switzerland, 25-29 January 2021. Copyright ©️ World Economic Forum/Pascal Bitz
Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman, World Economic Forum
Marc Benioff, Chair and Chief Executive Officer, Salesforce, USA; Member of Board of Trustees of the World Economic Forum Laurence D. Fink, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, BlackRock, USA; Member of Board of Trustees of the World Economic Forum Chrystia Freeland, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance of Canada; Member of Board of Trustees of the World Economic Forum Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director, International Monetary Fund (IMF), Washington DC; Member of Board of Trustees of the World Economic Forum
Brian T. Moynihan, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Bank of America, USA; Chair of the World Economic Forum International Business Council; International Business Council
Moderated by Gillian R. Tett, Editor-at-Large and Chair of the Editorial Board, Financial Times, United Kingdom
Implementing Stakeholder Capitalism (Option 2)
Geneva - Switzerland, 25-29 January 2021. Copyright ©️ World Economic Forum/Pascal Bitz
Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman, World Economic Forum
Marc Benioff, Chair and Chief Executive Officer, Salesforce, USA; Member of Board of Trustees of the World Economic Forum Laurence D. Fink, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, BlackRock, USA; Member of Board of Trustees of the World Economic Forum Chrystia Freeland, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance of Canada; Member of Board of Trustees of the World Economic Forum Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director, International Monetary Fund (IMF), Washington DC; Member of Board of Trustees of the World Economic Forum
Brian T. Moynihan, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Bank of America, USA; Chair of the World Economic Forum International Business Council; International Business Council
Moderated by Gillian R. Tett, Editor-at-Large and Chair of the Editorial Board, Financial Times, United Kingdom
UNCEDED COAST SALISH TERRITORY: On Tuesday June 11 more than 300 low-income Downtown Eastside residents and their allies rallied at Hastings and Main against displacement by gentrification. For two hours this spirited group held all four lanes of Hastings Street as they marched, sang, drummed, chanted, and spoke out against the high end condos and shops flooding their majority low-income community, and demanded social housing now!
The framework of their march was a five-point social justice zone which they demanded City Hall implement as the planned future of the neighbourhood. Over 10 days in the lead-up to the action the group carried out a petition drive supporting those five points on the streets, in the parks, and door-to-door in the housing projects of the DTES. This petition gathered 3,000 signatures of support over these ten days, and mobilized the community for this action.
The rally ended with a delivery to the city's DTES planning office of the 5-point social justice zone plan and 3,000 name petition by a delegation of low-income residents who have been involved in the City's official planning process for over 2 years.
Read the 5-point social justice zone plan statement here: ccapvancouver.wordpress.com/2013/05/31/dtes-community-pla...
Stop the city’s Developer Plan for the Downtown Eastside
Block condos today to build social housing tomorrow
Downtown Eastside Community Plan for a SOCIAL JUSTICE ZONE to end the housing crisis and stop displacement
We acknowledge that the Downtown Eastside occupies the unceded territories of the Tsleil-Waututh, Musqueam and Squamish Coast Salish nations.
SJZ graphic for FBThe future of the Downtown Eastside (DTES) is being decided by rich real estate investors and developers who are profiting off changing the neighbourhood from a place where low-income people feel at home into yet another upscale area. While city planners fuel the engines of real estate corporations by approving boutique condo towers, 5,000 people are living in increasingly expensive SRO hotel rooms that are unhealthy, bug/rodent infested and lacking kitchens/private bathrooms. As these SRO hotels become unaffordable, more and more people are pushed out into the streets and shelters. This housing crisis forces Indigenous women, children and others vulnerable to violence to live in danger and isolation. Gentrification, as a displacement pressure, is making these crises worse and, we fear, soon irreversible.
For two years, low-income Downtown Eastside residents have been working on a Local Area Planning Process (LAPP) that the city promised would “improve the lives of those who currently live in the area, particularly low-income people and those who are most vulnerable,” as stated in LAPP’s Terms of Reference. That’s why we got involved. However, after 2 years of consultations, there’s no evidence that the city plans to stop gentrification, which is displacing low-income residents.
Therefore low-income residents have created a set of specific policies for a SOCIAL JUSTICE ZONE that would bring our vision of our neighbourhood to life:
1. NO CONDOS BEFORE LOW-INCOME PEOPLE’S HOMES Use zoning laws to keep all condos and real estate speculators out of the DTES Oppenheimer District until the SROs are replaced and the homeless are housed in social housing. In the Hastings Corridor and Thornton Park, use zoning laws to make 2/3 of all new developments social housing for people on welfare/pension and also the working-poor. Protect DTES spaces for social housing and advocate for senior government housing programs.
2. REVERSE THE LOSS OF HOMES & SHOPS FOR LOW-INCOME RESIDENTS Create and use bylaws to freeze rents and stop renovictions in SRO hotels while improving conditions and making landlords pay for violations. Create a social impact assessment process directed by low-income residents to approve or deny new business applications.
3. ENSURE JOBS FOR LOW-INCOME RESIDENTS Create job training programs for anyone who wants them. Adopt hiring policies for low-income residents with barriers, including languages, for jobs in city-owned, city-supported and city-operated services. Order police to exempt survival work, such as binning, street vending and sex work, from ticketing, harassment and arrest.
4. PROTECT RESIDENTS’ SAFETY Create a resident-directed DTES police and security ombuds office to receive complaints and direct investigations. Provide free public transit passes to all low-income Vancouver residents. Expand, don’t cut, funding to support residents and programs organizing for the safety of women, trans and other people vulnerable to violence.
5. END DISCRIMINATION SO EVERYONE CAN ACCESS THE SERVICES THEY NEED
Adopt policies for language, cultural and mobility accessibility in all services, including hiring plans for Indigenous residents, people with disabilities, seniors, queer and trans people and women, as well as Chinese and Spanish speaking workers. Create anti-colonial planning and service organizations. Make the DTES a sanctuary zone where all have equal access to health, housing and social services regardless of citizenship status.
This is a call to the City of Vancouver to adopt the policies proposed by low-income DTES residents as the truthful outcome of the Local Area Planning Process. Our DTES community plan turns away developers and protects the DTES as a SOCIAL JUSTICE ZONE where low-income communities can continue to work to build a healthy, safe and just community themselves.
Several Kentucky school districts have started working with the University of Kentucky College of Education in a unique partnership to innovate and improve schools. The districts are participating in the college’s Next Generation Leadership (NxGL) Academy, an output of its Kentucky P20 Innovation Lab.
The academy takes school leaders who know the system needs to change and helps them work through implementation of innovative ideas. It launched last year with a pilot co-hort of school leaders. This year’s co-hort includes representatives from the following counties or districts: Barren, Paris Independent, Carroll, Clark, Graves, Hardin, Henry, Shacklette Elementary (Jefferson Co.), Knox, Mason, Trigg, Warren, Woodford, and Eminence Independent.
David Gilliam, principal of Madison Southern High School and member of the pilot co-hort, said of the academy, “This program gives us the core information about what’s happening in education. It allows us to connect with some of the top experts around the world. But, probably the most beneficial part of it is for the team from our district to just sit down with these issues on the table – the charge of reinventing school – and be able to work through ideas and challenge each other. It is very beneficial.”
While participants will meet several times throughout the coming year, much of the work also takes place during online meetings between the school districts and university faculty. Through the process, several schools have met College of Education faculty members with whom they have partnered to provide training and programs within their local districts.
Council of Chief State School Officers Executive Director Gene Wilhoit and Kentucky Education Commissioner Terry Holliday addressed participants during the first day of the academy. Both emphasized the state and federal resources available to help schools as they transition to new models of learning. In fact, a recently passed bill in Kentucky will soon be able to help schools get past regulations that may stand in the way of trying out innovative ideas for improving schools, Holliday said.
From how student learning is assessed to the way teachers are trained, Wilhoit outlined a number of ways education must change so future generations of Kentuckians can find jobs to support their families and live fulfilled lives.
“I think the promise of this is unbelievable,” Wilhoit said. “I’ve seen it happen in many schools in isolated ways, but the problem is we’re not doing it across the board.”
Districts that have completed the Next Generation Leadership Academy have the opportunity to work with the UK College of Education to develop Innovation Zones (iZones) within their schools. The iZones provide places to test innovative ideas and scale up what works.
The NxGL Academy’s focus is around the Council of Chief State School Officer’s six critical attributes of Next Generation Learning:
•Personalized Learning calls for a data-driven framework to set goals, assess progress, and ensure students receive the academic and developmental supports they need to succeed.
•Comprehensive Systems of Learning Supports address the social, emotional, physical and cognitive development along a continuum of services to ensure the success of all students
•World-Class Knowledge and Skills requires achievement goals to sufficiently encompass the content knowledge and skills required for success in a globally-oriented world.
•Performance-based learning puts the student at the center of the learning process by enabling the demonstration of mastery of high, clear, and commonly-shared expectations.
•Anytime, anywhere learning provides innovative practices that promote learning beyond the traditional classroom and may include virtual or out-of-school settings leveraging technology as a tool for learning.
•Student voice/agency is the deep engagement of students in directing and owning their individual learning and shaping the nature of the education experience.
About the Kentucky P20 Innovation Lab:
•P20 relies upon the world-class research and expertise of the UK College of Education’s faculty, students and staff.
•P20 builds a bridge between school districts and the UK College of Education to enable an easy exchange of information between schools and higher education.
•P20 faculty and staff design and offer a Next Generation Leadership Academy for school leaders to build capacity to design new systems for learning.
•P20 helps create iZones within school districts. iZones allow college faculty and school personnel to work together to redesign and rethink current policies, practices and programs to support 21st Century learners.
Why is P20 needed?
•Many increasingly recognize one primary challenge: schooling and instruction are mass-produced, expecting students of various abilities, support systems and interests to progress through the same educational program at the same pace without sufficient regard to their individual learning needs.
• Information, once collected in reference books and distilled by teachers, is now everywhere, which changes the roles of teachers and schools. Even the most specialized topics and guidance are only a few keystrokes away.
• In Kentucky, only 83.91% of students complete high school and only 32% of Kentuckians ages 25-34 have a college degree.
•Routine jobs are increasingly disappearing to low wage countries or automated systems.
•To succeed in the global economy today’s students must be prepared to problem solve, work collaboratively, and to be creative and self-motivated. They will be required to produce evidence of competencies for required work.
How do we do school differently?
•• P20 roots out what doesn’t work and replaces it with ways of learning that will prepare all students for college and careers.
•P20 gives students a voice in designing the future of their education. When high school students were recently interviewed about how to do school differently, they were so stuck inside the model they have been part of for 15 or so years, they couldn’t think differently. We are finding ways to get from students what they really want from school – not just a version of what they think school is supposed to be.
•P20 builds upon existing and emerging infrastructures in Kentucky that will make this work sustainable over time.
Early Success Stories:
One of the first P20 iZone schools, Eminence Independent, is implementing some of the following changes:
•Partnership with Bellarmine College to offer college-level courses to qualified students with no cost to students;
•Redesigned Master Schedule (Core classes three days per week. Benchmark ready students take classes two days a week on Bellarmine’s campus);
•Wi-Fi on school bus transporting students to Bellarmine College in Louisville;
•One-to-one technology devices (Mac-Book Pro) for all high school students;
•Students trained to give feedback on educational experiences using Twitter;
•Student and Teacher Voice Teams for input in district decisions;
•Standards-Based Report Cards; and
•Working with sister school in England on using results from student aspirations surveys to better engage students in learning.
Persistent URL: digital.lib.muohio.edu/u?/tradecards,3411
Subject (TGM): Men; Agricultural machinery & implements; Agricultural laborers; Farmers; Plows;
Implementing Stakeholder Capitalism (Option 2)
Geneva - Switzerland, 25-29 January 2021. Copyright ©️ World Economic Forum/Pascal Bitz
Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman, World Economic Forum
Marc Benioff, Chair and Chief Executive Officer, Salesforce, USA; Member of Board of Trustees of the World Economic Forum Laurence D. Fink, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, BlackRock, USA; Member of Board of Trustees of the World Economic Forum Chrystia Freeland, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance of Canada; Member of Board of Trustees of the World Economic Forum Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director, International Monetary Fund (IMF), Washington DC; Member of Board of Trustees of the World Economic Forum
Brian T. Moynihan, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Bank of America, USA; Chair of the World Economic Forum International Business Council; International Business Council
Moderated by Gillian R. Tett, Editor-at-Large and Chair of the Editorial Board, Financial Times, United Kingdom
Paranapiacaba: Origem: Wikipédia, a enciclopédia livre.
Por concessão, um grupo inglês explorou o sistema ferroviário na Serra do Mar. E o primeiro sistema implementado foi o sistema funicular: com cabos e máquinas fixas. A primeira linha, com onze quilômetros de extensão, foi inaugurada em 1867 pelo grupo São Paulo Railway. Ela começou a ser construída em 1862 e teve como um dos maiores acionistas e idealizadores o lendário Barão de Mauá. Em 1859, ele chamou o engenheiro ferroviário britânico James Brunlees, que veio ao Brasil e deu viabilidade ao projeto. A execução de tal projeto foi de responsabilidade de outro engenheiro inglês, Daniel Makinson Fox. Um ponto curioso é que pela instabilidade do terreno, a construção da estrada de ferro foi quase artesanal. Não se utilizou explosivos por medo de desmoronamento. As rochas foram cortadas com talhadeiras e pequenas ferramentas manuais. Paredões de até 3 metros e 20 centímetros de altura foram construídos ao logo do traçado da estrada de ferro. A segunda linha começou a funcionar em 1900. Além de dar mais força ao sistema, os cabos e as máquinas fixas economizam energia para a operação dos trens. No entanto, vários acidentes eram registrados, principalmente pelo rompimento dos cabos. Havia uma espécie de freio, a tenaz, que agarrava os cabos para evitar a saída dos trens dos trilhos. Nem sempre o sistema, no entanto, funcionava de maneira satisfatória. Em 1956, um grande acidente foi evitado pelo maquinista na época, Romão Justo Filho, nascido em Paranapiacaba no mês de março de 1911, filho de maquinista também. Se a composição descarrilasse, cerca de 150 pessoas poderiam perder a vida. Através da utilização correta do sistema da tenaz, Romão foi “agarrando” aos poucos o cabo até que o trem parasse.
Os cabos do locobreque levavam desenvolvimento e riqueza para a região do ABC Paulista e de Santos. Tanto é que a companhia inglesa criou em 1896 uma vila essencialmente de ferroviários, com construções de madeira no estilo inglês. Em 1907, a Vila foi chamada de Paranapiacapa, mas até 1945 a estação continuou a ser chamada de Alto da Serra. A Vila possuía todos os recursos da época para os maquinistas, fiscais e “foguistas” – responsáveis pela alimentação da fornalha da máquina fixa e da máquina dos trens. Além de um mercado, de um posto de saúde, de um vagão-ambulância e até um vagão funerário, onde o velório era feito dentro da composição entre Santos e Paranapiacaba, os funcionários possuíam um centro de recreação, o União Lira Serrano, e um Campo de Futebol. No União Lira Serrano eram exibidos filmes, shows musicais e realizados bailes temáticos. A concessão da linha da Serra do Mar não foi apenas glórias e desenvolvimento. Fatos até hoje não explicados satisfatoriamente marcaram a história dos trilhos por onde circularam os Locobreques. Exemplos são os incêndios da Estação da Luz, dois dias antes da primeira etapa da concessão dos ingleses terminar, em 1946, e na velha estação de Paranapiacaba, em 1981. Antes mesmo do incêndio, a estação já havia sido desativada em 1977 e substituída pelo prédio atual. O relógio estilo inglês foi poupado no incêndio e deslocado para uma torre mais alta que a anterior. Nos dois incêndios, tanto na Estação da Luz quanto em Paranapiacaba, a suspeita principal é de motivação criminosa. Milhões de reais foram gastos para a reconstrução da Estação da Luz, que passou por décadas ainda sentido os efeitos do incêndio. Tanto é que ela teve de ser restaurada. A obra de restauração completa foi entregue somente em 2004, data dos 450 anos da cidade de São Paulo. A Estação da Luz teve três etapas fundamentais: Ela foi inaugurada em 1867, num pequeno prédio na região central da capital paulista. A demanda de passageiros foi aumentando aos poucos, e cerca de 15 anos depois o pequeno prédio foi demolido e um outro maior foi construído. A cidade crescia muito rapidamente e a estação teve de aumentar ainda mais. Em 1890 começaram as obras da estação na configuração atual. Em 1900, o segundo prédio antigo foi demolido e em 1901, a nova estação foi inaugurada. Obras constantes de modificações e ampliações foram realizadas ao longo das décadas na Estação da Luz, já que além da demanda de passageiros ser maior, o número de linhas férreas urbanas também cresceu. Antes mesmo do Locobreque, na Serra do Mar, uma primitiva máquina de madeira, também tracionada por cabos fazia o transporte entre os cinco patamares. Era a Serrabreque. Durante a operação da Serrabreque, Barão de Mauá era um dos administradores. Posteriormente, na vila de Paranapiacaba, os ingleses, no alto de uma subida, construíram uma mansão, que servia de centro de controle operacional. Apelidada pelos ferroviários de "Castelinho", a posição do local proporcionava uma privilegiada visão do sistema e de toda a estrutura da vila de Paranapiacaba. O sistema ferroviário da Serra do Mar era composto por diversos túneis, que eram alvos de lendas e histórias assombradas disseminadas pelos próprios ferroviários. Algumas dessas lendas tiveram origem no fato de muitos operários terem morrido na construção desses túneis.
Pátio ferroviário, estações e relógio:
A São Paulo Railway inaugurou sua linha férrea em 16 de fevereiro de 1867. Servia como transporte de passageiros e meio de localizada na então freguesia de São Bernardo. No ano de 1898, foi erguida uma nova estação com madeira, ferro e telhas francesas trazidos da Inglaterra. Esta estação tinha, como característica principal, o grande relógio fabricado pela Johnny Walker Benson, de Londres, que se destacava no meio da neblina muito comum naquela região. Com o aumento do volume e peso da carga transportada, foi iniciada em 1896 a duplicação da linha férrea, paralela à primeira, a fim de atender à crescente demanda. Essa nova linha, também denominada de Serra Nova, era formada por 5 planos inclinados e 5 patamares, criando um novo sistema funicular. Os assim chamados novos planos inclinados atravessavam 11 túneis em plena rocha, enfrentando o desnível de 796 metros que se iniciava no sopé da serra, em Piaçagüera, no município de Cubatão. O traçado da ferrovia foi retificado e suavizado e ampliaram-se os edifícios operacionais. A inauguração deu-se em 28 de dezembro de 1901. A primeira estação foi desativada e reutilizada, posteriormente, como cooperativa dos planos inclinados. A 15 de julho de 1945, a "Estação do Alto da Serra" passa a se denominar "Estação de Paranapiacaba". A 13 de outubro de 1946, a São Paulo Railway foi encampada pela União, criando-se a "Estrada de Ferro Santos-Jundiaí". Somente em 1950 a rede passa a unir-se à Rede Ferroviária Federal. Em 1974, é inaugurada o sistema de cremalheira aderência. No ano de 1977, a segunda estação foi desativada, dando lugar à atual estação. O relógio foi transferido do alto da estação anterior para a base de tijolo de barro atual. A 14 de janeiro de 1981, ocorreu um incêndio na antiga estação, destruindo-a completamente. O sistema funicular foi desativado em 1982. Em 2010, o Correio fez lançamento de selo postal ostentando o patrimônio ferroviário de Paranapiacaba.
Museu do funicular:
Trata-se da exibição das máquinas fixas do quinto patamar da segunda linha e a do quarto patamar da primeira linha, que transportavam o trem por meio do sistema funicular.
No museu, há, também, a exposição de diversos objetos de uso ferroviário, fotos e fichas funcionais de muitos ex-funcionários da ferrovia.
O locobreque:
O "locobreque" tinha a função de frear a composição na descida da serra e simultaneamente empurrava outra composição que subia. O cabo entre as duas máquinas passava por uma grande roda volante, chamada de "máquina-fixa" que ficava em cada um dos cinco patamares. Do nome inglês original, loco-brake, a máquina funcionava pela queima de carvão ou madeira numa fornalha, abastecida pelo foguista, que trabalhava ao lado do maquinista. As máquinas "locobreque" foram construídas em 1901 por Robert Stephenson & Co. Ltd. O sistema funicular proporcionava maior economia de energia gasta pelo "locobreque" e possibilitava o desempenho do trem nos aclives e declives. Havia uma inclinação de 8 graus entre cada um dos cinco patamares. Quando subia a Serra do Mar, o "locobreque" empurrava os vagões, que ficavam na frente da máquina. Quando descia, ele segurava os vagões, que ficavam atrás da máquina. Como o trem não tinha marcha-ré, havia um sistema chamado popularmente de "viradouro", através do qual os funcionários invertiam o sentido da locomotiva, girando a máquina em torno de si mesma. Antes do "locobreque" havia uma primitiva máquina de madeira, também tracionada por cabos, que fazia o transporte entre os cinco patamares. Era o "serrabreque". Durante a operação do "serrabreque", o Barão de Mauá ainda era um dos financistas da companhia. Até a metade do século XX, o transporte ferroviário era sinônimo de luxo. E um dos marcos foi o trem Cometa, que fazia a linha Santos – São Paulo. O trem possuía serviço de bordo e poltronas leito, como as de ônibus. Além dele, também havia os trens Estrela, Planeta e Litorina (Semi-luxo).
Museu do castelo:
Essa residência, também denominada de "Castelinho", situa-se entre a Vila Velha e a Vila Martin Smith. Localizada no alto de uma colina, com uma excelente vista privilegiada para toda a vila ferroviária, foi construída por volta de 1897 para ser a residência do engenheiro-chefe, que gerenciava o tráfego de trens na subida e descida da Serra do Mar, o pátio de manobras, as oficinas e os funcionários residentes na vila. Sua imponência simbolizava a liderança e a hierarquia que os ingleses impuseram a toda a vila; ela é avistada de qualquer ponto de Paranapiacaba. Dizia-se que de suas janelas voltadas para todos os lados de Paranapiacaba, o engenheiro-chefe fiscalizava a vida de seus subordinados, não hesitando em demitir qualquer solteiro que estivesse nas imediações das casas dos funcionários casados. No decorrer de mais de um século de uso, foram feitas várias reformas e tentativas de recuperação de seu aspecto original; as maiores reformulações foram realizadas nas décadas de 1950 e 1960. Foi restaurado pela prefeitura de Santo André em parceria com a World Monuments Fund.
Casas dos engenheiros:
Característica da arquitetura hierarquizada de Paranapiacaba, as casas habitadas pelos engenheiros e suas famílias eram de alto padrão. Grandes e avarandadas, foram construídas em madeira nos tempos da São Paulo Railway, com plantas baixas individualizadas; depois, em alvenaria nos tempos da Rede Ferroviária Federal, com mesmo padrão de plantas. Muitas sofreram reformas em vários momentos, principalmente com a chegada da RFFSA. Uma das caracteríticas que chama a atenção é a cobertura do imóvel, pois somente com estudos elaborados pelos conselhos de reconhecimento, concluiu-se que o material das telhas não era ardósia, e sim fibrocimento, introduzidos provavelmente a partir da década de 50 entre alguma das reformas que sofreram.
Casas de solteiros:
Características da arquitetura hierarquizada de Paranapiacaba, as casas de solteiros eram conhecidas como barracos. Foram construídas em madeira, exceto duas em alvenaria. Essa tipologia foi criada pela São Paulo Railway, e a Rede Ferroviária Federal deu continuidade, construindo-as em alvenaria. A planta dessas casas possui
dormitórios, sanitários e cozinha para pequenas refeições, serviam para alojar o grande fluxo de homens solteiros, que preenchiam as vagas de ferroviários. Havia poucos sanitários e chuveiros, já que os trabalhadores se revezavam em turnos.
Today was a great day at the Fab Lab. The students were asking me what I games I liked to play, and I said chess. I've been wanting to make a chess set with the laser cutter anyway.
We designed up a simple chess set that would fit 8 sets on the 24" x 12" laser cutter and cut them out. We pulled together a group to peel of the backings and to make boards.
Our first inclination was to use the chess piece negatives as a board stencil. The idea was to tape them off and spray paint, but we ran out of spray paint and so used markers. In practice we decided to go checker board.
The lessons went into darkness, and the students were using LED lights to keep playing.
A good day.
May 26, 2024: Second day of the three-day I Madonnari Italian Street Painting Festival at the Santa Barbara Mission. Street artists take over the Mission Plaza, creating about 100 displays of pastel-on-pavement masterpieces. The festival is produced by the Children's Creative Project, which supports art programs at about 80 schools in Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo Counties.
The Dude Saloon was a popular saloon in Birmingham from 1871 until 1907 when the City of Birmingham implemented local prohibition. Like other saloons during this time, the Dude sold tokens that could be exchanged for food, drink, and presumably, "lodging".
The Dude Saloon and Restaurant was located in the Webb Building on the southwest corner of 20th Street and 2nd Avenue North from 1871 to 1907 and operated by Joe J. Hochstadter. The well-furnished bar was located on the ground floor with rooms for boarding guests upstairs. In 1887 the Dude Saloon advertised "regular meals" for 25 cents.
The Webb Building exterior has been changed and "modernized" over the years, but it still stands today in north Birmingham. It was one of the first commercial 3-story buildings in Birmingham. The building was built by J. B. Webb of Elyton, who is said to have claimed a $100 prize from the Elyton Land Company for his investment in the new city. (source: Bhamwiki.com)
Emma Morrell(age 4) holds up a poster of Greenfield-Central assistant coach Scott Miller while Abbi Miller(age 4) holds up a picture of team volunteer Jayde Jackson during the championship game of the 2016 Laker Farm Implement Sevices Inc. Women’s Basketball Tournament at Greenfield-Central on December 23,2016.
The sharing meeting is an effort to share the activities to Promote Breast Milk Substitute Ordinance and Code implementation for scaling up Exclusive Breast Feeding and Nutrition. The half day long “Sharing Meeting on BMS Code Implementation” held in BRAC Centre on Monday, May 20, 2013 and organized jointly by BRAC Advocacy for Social Change and BRAC Health Nutrition Population Programme (HNPP).
Objectives of the Meeting:
•Find out scopes of work on BMS Code implementation by Key persons / organization focal, experienced on Child Nutrition / BMS Code implementation.
•Find out action points and reach in common ground of opinion to work jointly.
•Make a plan of action to form a BMS Code Promotion (BCP) Committee to develop a guideline for BMS Code implementation.
Participation:
There were invitee from different fields / areas such as, Government, Civil society, international organizations, NGOs and Media. The representatives attended from organizations were IPHN, CME, BBF, WFP, Alive & Thrive, CAB, GK, BRAC Dairy and Food Products, HNPP – BRAC, Print and On-line Media etc. All of them are agreed to work for BMS Code implementation and has given the consent to provide help, support in next steps under the Plan of Action of this project. So, a draft Plan of Action will be shared with the stakeholders mentioned above.
Recommendations:
1.The demand of breastfeeding practice should come from mass people. Therefore, mass mobilization is crucial for that.
2.BMS Ordinance, 1984 is now in a process of reformulation. However, this should take into account feedback from civil society.
3.The project should include health service provider and mid-wives from local level to implement BMS ordinance nationwide.
4.Marketing agencies are powerful agent. Therefore we need to ensure strong rule of law for those agency who are violating BMS ordinance.
Antique Farm Implement,
Penn Farm Agricultural Heritage Center.
Cedar Hill State Park. Cedar Hill, Texas.
Dallas County. 24 December 2018.
Olympus E-P5. Panasonic Lumix G Vario 45-200mm f/4-5.6 II.
(56mm) f/8 @ 1/125 sec. ISO 1000.
Implementing the 2020 sulphur limit
The 0.50% limit on sulphur in fuel oil on board ships (outside designated emission control areas) will come into effect on 1 January 2020. Ensuring consistent implementation of the 0.50% requirement is a key item on the agenda of IMO’s Sub-committee on Pollution Prevention and Response (PPR) which meets this week (5-9 February) at IMO headquarters, London. The meeting will also continue to look at how to measure black carbon emissions from shipping.
Other matters on the agenda include the development of further guidance to support the implementation of the Ballast Water Management Convention, including ballast water sampling and analysis. Revised guidelines for the use of dispersants for combating oil pollution at sea, which take into account experience from the Deepwater Horizon incident are expected to be finalised.
The ongoing revision of the product lists in international code for carriage of chemicals in bulk will continue, as well as specific consideration of requirements to address the discharge of high-viscosity solidifying and persistent floating products (such as certain vegetable oils).
The meeting will also consider including new controls on the biocide cybutryne in the convention for the Control of Harmful Anti-fouling Systems on Ships (AFS Convention).
The meeting was opened by IMO Secretary-General Kitack Lim and is being chaired by Mr Sveinung Oftedal (Norway).
#beauty implements #Malmaison #josephine #france #napoleon #muslin #eavig
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1956dominic: Superb!!
This is a gorgeous set of kitchen implements in a jug, all by Rosti, Denmark. They are in melamine. I have searched for these for some time, preferring them to the tacky modern stainless steel ones. The avocado color was very popular in the UK in the late 60's!
Speakers at the 27th Annual Regulatory Information Conference host a technical discussion on implementation of lessons learned from the Fukushima Dai-ichi accident. Speakers left to right include: William M. Dean, NRC Director; Ramzi Jammal, Executive Vice-President and Chief Regulatory Operations Officer Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission; Philippe Jamet, Commissioner, Autorite de Surete Nucleaire, France; Bo Tang, Deputy Director General, Ministry of Environmental Protection, People's Republic of China; Toyoshi Fuketa, Commissioner, Nuclear Regulatory Authority, Japan; and Michael Johnson, NRC Deputy Executive Director.
Visit the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's website at www.nrc.gov/.
For those who wish to leave a comment or feedback please send via email to opa.resource@nrc.gov.
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Photo taken at the NRC's 27th annual Regulatory Information Conference held in Rockville, Md. (March 11, 2015).
Antique Farm Implement.
Penn Farm Agricultural Heritage Center.
Cedar Hill State Park. Cedar Hill, Texas.
Dallas County. September 10, 2020.
Nikon D750. AF-S Nikkor 70-200mm f/4 G ED VR.
(70mm) f/5.6 @ 1/200 sec. ISO 1400.
COMMITMENT TO SAFE SCHOOL
Multi-Stakeholder Segment, Working session - Accelerating implementation
Organizer(s): WCDRR
Saturday 14 March 17:00 - 18:30
Venue: Sendai International Centre Room N°: Main Hall
19 Abr 2021 . Secretaría General . Gobierno de Jalisco firma convenio para implementar acciones en materia de prevención de delitos electorales.
Essay:
Earth's Transformation and the Random Implementation of Alien Technology
The Earth, once a vibrant planet teeming with diverse ecosystems, has undergone a drastic transformation. A severe environmental catastrophe has devastated the planet, leading to the evaporation of life-giving water into the vast expanse of space. The once-blue planet is now dominated by barren deserts, stretching across continents where oceans and forests once thrived. Humanity, on the brink of extinction, has been thrust into a desperate struggle for survival.
The catalyst for this environmental apocalypse was a combination of factors: uncontrolled industrial activity, rampant deforestation, and unchecked pollution. These human activities pushed Earth's climate system past a critical threshold, triggering a cascade of irreversible changes. The polar ice caps melted at unprecedented rates, causing sea levels to rise and then rapidly fall as water vapor escaped the atmosphere. Rainforests, which acted as the planet's lungs, were decimated, and the delicate balance of ecosystems collapsed. The result was a planet unrecognizable from its former self—a desolate wasteland where life struggled to find a foothold.
In this dire scenario, hope arrived in the form of alien technology—an unexpected boon that became humanity's lifeline. The origins of this technology remain shrouded in mystery. Some speculate it was discovered accidentally during deep-space explorations, while others believe it was gifted by a benevolent extraterrestrial civilization. Regardless of its origins, this advanced technology became the cornerstone of Earth's new survival strategy.
The alien technology enabled the creation of isolated oases in the vast desert expanses. These oases, shielded by energy fields and sustained by advanced atmospheric processors, mimic the lost ecosystems of old Earth. They generate and recycle water, maintain breathable air, and support agriculture, allowing small human communities to thrive. The technology also includes sophisticated climate control mechanisms that protect these fertile areas from the harsh desert environment.
The implementation of alien technology was a stroke of luck, a fortuitous discovery in humanity's darkest hour. Scientists and engineers, initially skeptical, soon realized the potential of these alien devices. Through trial and error, they managed to integrate this technology into the remnants of human civilization. This integration was not without its challenges—there were numerous failures and setbacks, but the resilience of the human spirit prevailed.
Life in these technologically sustained oases is a stark contrast to the desolation that surrounds them. Within the protective domes, greenery flourishes, and small bodies of water reflect the sky. Communities have adapted to this new way of living, embracing a lifestyle that is a blend of ancient survival techniques and futuristic technology. Education systems focus on maintaining and understanding the alien technology, ensuring that future generations can continue to benefit from it.
The concept of 'Planet B' has taken on a new meaning. Instead of seeking a new home among the stars, humanity has been forced to redefine its existence on Earth—'Planet B' is Earth reborn, a new chapter after 'Planet A' vanished beneath the waves of environmental disaster. The Earth of today is a testament to human ingenuity and the unforeseen assistance of alien technology. It is a world where the line between science fiction and reality has blurred, and where survival hinges on the harmonious integration of alien and human advancements.
In conclusion, the transformation of Earth and the serendipitous implementation of alien technology have given rise to a new way of life. This new existence is fragile and fraught with challenges, but it is also a beacon of hope. The 'Cradle of the Desert' represents the resilience of life and the enduring quest for survival in the face of insurmountable odds.
Poem:
In deserts wide where oceans slept,
Beneath a sky where sorrow wept,
Alien whispers, silent, deep,
Brought life anew from restless sleep.
Once blue and green, now dust and bone,
Our planet’s heart, a hollow tone,
Yet through the sands, technology,
Revived the hope for you and me.
In domes of light, we plant our dreams,
Where water flows in gentle streams,
Alien hands unseen, yet kind,
Breathe life back to a world confined.
From barren waste to fertile land,
A future forged by chance and hand,
Cradle of the Desert, bright,
Guides us through this endless night.
Haikus:
Alien whispers,
Oases bloom in deserts,
Hope in arid lands.
Earth’s rebirth at hand,
Technology’s gentle touch,
Life in barren sands.
These are some pictures I took earlier in 2022 around Berlin, with a Reto Camera and my first time using a Kodak TRI-X400 film. It’s a tremendous black-and-white film, and I want to try it again on another camera.
Porto Alegre, 11/07/2015 - Fisl16 - Implementando Redes Definidas por Software sobre Computação em Nuvem, com Davis Victor Feitosa de Oliveira - Foto: Cristiano Sant'Anna
This was shot on a farm near Sirhind, Punjab, India.
The cart is known as a gadda in Punjabi (Punjab's official language).
Gym equipment used as a torture device by the Khmer Rouge during their occupation of Cambodia. Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum
UNCEDED COAST SALISH TERRITORY: On Tuesday June 11 more than 300 low-income Downtown Eastside residents and their allies rallied at Hastings and Main against displacement by gentrification. For two hours this spirited group held all four lanes of Hastings Street as they marched, sang, drummed, chanted, and spoke out against the high end condos and shops flooding their majority low-income community, and demanded social housing now!
The framework of their march was a five-point social justice zone which they demanded City Hall implement as the planned future of the neighbourhood. Over 10 days in the lead-up to the action the group carried out a petition drive supporting those five points on the streets, in the parks, and door-to-door in the housing projects of the DTES. This petition gathered 3,000 signatures of support over these ten days, and mobilized the community for this action.
The rally ended with a delivery to the city's DTES planning office of the 5-point social justice zone plan and 3,000 name petition by a delegation of low-income residents who have been involved in the City's official planning process for over 2 years.
Read the 5-point social justice zone plan statement here: ccapvancouver.wordpress.com/2013/05/31/dtes-community-pla...
Stop the city’s Developer Plan for the Downtown Eastside
Block condos today to build social housing tomorrow
Downtown Eastside Community Plan for a SOCIAL JUSTICE ZONE to end the housing crisis and stop displacement
We acknowledge that the Downtown Eastside occupies the unceded territories of the Tsleil-Waututh, Musqueam and Squamish Coast Salish nations.
SJZ graphic for FBThe future of the Downtown Eastside (DTES) is being decided by rich real estate investors and developers who are profiting off changing the neighbourhood from a place where low-income people feel at home into yet another upscale area. While city planners fuel the engines of real estate corporations by approving boutique condo towers, 5,000 people are living in increasingly expensive SRO hotel rooms that are unhealthy, bug/rodent infested and lacking kitchens/private bathrooms. As these SRO hotels become unaffordable, more and more people are pushed out into the streets and shelters. This housing crisis forces Indigenous women, children and others vulnerable to violence to live in danger and isolation. Gentrification, as a displacement pressure, is making these crises worse and, we fear, soon irreversible.
For two years, low-income Downtown Eastside residents have been working on a Local Area Planning Process (LAPP) that the city promised would “improve the lives of those who currently live in the area, particularly low-income people and those who are most vulnerable,” as stated in LAPP’s Terms of Reference. That’s why we got involved. However, after 2 years of consultations, there’s no evidence that the city plans to stop gentrification, which is displacing low-income residents.
Therefore low-income residents have created a set of specific policies for a SOCIAL JUSTICE ZONE that would bring our vision of our neighbourhood to life:
1. NO CONDOS BEFORE LOW-INCOME PEOPLE’S HOMES Use zoning laws to keep all condos and real estate speculators out of the DTES Oppenheimer District until the SROs are replaced and the homeless are housed in social housing. In the Hastings Corridor and Thornton Park, use zoning laws to make 2/3 of all new developments social housing for people on welfare/pension and also the working-poor. Protect DTES spaces for social housing and advocate for senior government housing programs.
2. REVERSE THE LOSS OF HOMES & SHOPS FOR LOW-INCOME RESIDENTS Create and use bylaws to freeze rents and stop renovictions in SRO hotels while improving conditions and making landlords pay for violations. Create a social impact assessment process directed by low-income residents to approve or deny new business applications.
3. ENSURE JOBS FOR LOW-INCOME RESIDENTS Create job training programs for anyone who wants them. Adopt hiring policies for low-income residents with barriers, including languages, for jobs in city-owned, city-supported and city-operated services. Order police to exempt survival work, such as binning, street vending and sex work, from ticketing, harassment and arrest.
4. PROTECT RESIDENTS’ SAFETY Create a resident-directed DTES police and security ombuds office to receive complaints and direct investigations. Provide free public transit passes to all low-income Vancouver residents. Expand, don’t cut, funding to support residents and programs organizing for the safety of women, trans and other people vulnerable to violence.
5. END DISCRIMINATION SO EVERYONE CAN ACCESS THE SERVICES THEY NEED
Adopt policies for language, cultural and mobility accessibility in all services, including hiring plans for Indigenous residents, people with disabilities, seniors, queer and trans people and women, as well as Chinese and Spanish speaking workers. Create anti-colonial planning and service organizations. Make the DTES a sanctuary zone where all have equal access to health, housing and social services regardless of citizenship status.
This is a call to the City of Vancouver to adopt the policies proposed by low-income DTES residents as the truthful outcome of the Local Area Planning Process. Our DTES community plan turns away developers and protects the DTES as a SOCIAL JUSTICE ZONE where low-income communities can continue to work to build a healthy, safe and just community themselves.
16 December 2013. El Fasher: (Left to right) The Deputy Prime Minister of Qatar, Ahmed bin Abdullah Al Mahmoud, and the UNAMID Joint Special Representative and the AU-UN Joint Chief Mediator, Mohamed Ibn Chambas, address to the media at the press conference after attending the seventh meeting of the Implementation Follow–up Commission (IFC), established by the Doha Document for Peace in Darfur (DDPD), that took place at UNAMID Headquarters in El Fasher, North Darfur.
Photo by Albert González Farran, UNAMID
Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken attends the the Ministerial Meeting of the Summit Implementation in Lima, Peru, on October 6, 2022. [State Department photo by Ron Przysucha/ Public Domain]
Rainy day shots of implements for a macro challenge. Old tyre pressure gauge - took me a while to realise what it was :)
Two Saudi Arabian education ministries describe the successful implementation of some of their projects related to the WSIS outcomes: the Ministry of Education (MOE); and the Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE).
Day 4
16 May 2013
ITU/ Claudio Montesano Casillas
The Famagusta Walled City Association (MASDER) is an initiative that aims to turn the Famagusta Walled City into an attractive and appealing spot for visitors, through various efforts and programs that will make such efforts sustainable.
MASDER is an initiative created to contribute to the cultural, tourism-related, socio-economic and social development of the Walled City.
MASDER believes that numerous historical artifacts found in the Walled City of Famagusta belonging to various civilizations are the most important assets of both Famagusta and the Turkish Cypriot Community, and aims at protecting and promoting such assets.
MASDER aims at turning the Walled City of Famagusta into a preferred destination for tourists as well as for local visitors by drawing their attention to the historical places in the Walled City.
MASDER, as a legal entity, shall not have any affiliation with any political party or undertake any political activity.
In order to fulfill its objectives, MASDER will plan cultural and art related, traditional, folkloric activities and implement them.
MASDER will work in collaboration with organizations and associations/institutions having similar aims in order to organize such activities.
MASDER will regularly organize events to this end and conduct lobbying activities to increase awareness on the Walled City of Famagusta vis-à-vis the public bodies and institutions regarding other aims.
MASDER will provide support for different projects that will directly or indirectly contribute to the Famagusta Walled City.
MASDER will develop projects for the activities that will take place in the Walled City and find funding for them.
MASDER is firmly attached to the environmental assets and will play an effective role in the introduction of measures to protect the environment as well as raise awareness in this regard. MASDER undertakes or has access to a wealth of scientific and historical research related to the basic principles mentioned above or implement them in order to improve Famagusta and achieve the basic aims stated above.
Another mission of MASDER is to develop projects in order to protect the historical assets of the Walled City, to draw the attention of the competent authorities, as well as international donors, to the Walled City.
MASDER has received technical assistance and support from the Economic Development and Growth for Enterprises (EDGE) project, which is implemented by Deloitte Consulting LLP and funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Like all U.S. funded programs in Cyprus, EDGE’s activities are aimed at facilitating reunification, including through the responsible management of natural and cultural resources.
Famagusta is a city on the east coast of the de facto state Northern Cyprus. It is located east of Nicosia and possesses the deepest harbour of the island. During the Middle Ages (especially under the maritime republics of Genoa and Venice), Famagusta was the island's most important port city and a gateway to trade with the ports of the Levant, from where the Silk Road merchants carried their goods to Western Europe. The old walled city and parts of the modern city are de facto part of Northern Cyprus as the capital of the Gazimağusa District.
The city was known as Arsinoe or Arsinoë (Greek: Ἀρσινόη, Arsinóē) in antiquity, after Ptolemy II of Egypt's sister and wife Arsinoe II.
By the 3rd century, the city appears as Ammochostos (Greek: Ἀμμόχωστος or Αμμόχωστος, Ammókhōstos, "Hidden in Sand") in the Stadiasmus Maris Magni.[5] This name is still used in modern Greek with the pronunciation [aˈmːoxostos], while it developed into Latin Fama Augusta, French Famagouste, Italian Famagosta, and English Famagusta during the medieval period. Its informal modern Turkish name Mağusa (Turkish pronunciation: [maˈusa]) came from the same source. Since 1974, it has formally been known to Turkey and Northern Cyprus as Gazimağusa ([ɡaːzimaˈusa]), from the addition of the title gazi, meaning "veteran" or "one who has faught in a holy war".
In the early medieval period, the city was also known as New Justiniana (Greek: Νέα Ἰουστινιανία, Néa Ioustinianía) in appreciation for the patronage of the Byzantine emperor Justinian, whose wife Theodora was born there.
The old town of Famagusta has also been nicknamed "the City of 365 Churches" from the legend that, at its peak, it boasted a church for every day of the year.
The city was founded around 274 BC, after the serious damage to Salamis by an earthquake, by Ptolemy II Philadelphus and named "Arsinoe" after his sister.[6] Arsinoe was described as a "fishing town" by Strabo in his Geographica in the first century BC. In essence, Famagusta was the successor of the most famous and most important ancient city of Cyprus, Salamis. According to Greek mythology, Salamis was founded after the end of the Trojan War by Teucros, the son of Telamon and brother of Aedes, from the Greek island of Salamis.
The city experienced great prosperity much later, during the time of the Byzantine emperor Justinian. To honor the city, from which his wife Theodora came, Justinian enriched it with many buildings, while the inhabitants named it New Justiniania to express their gratitude. In AD 647, when the neighboring cities were destroyed by Arab raiding, the inhabitants of these cities moved to Famagusta, as a result of which the city's population increased significantly and the city experienced another boom.
Later, when Jerusalem was occupied by the Arabs, the Christian population fled to Famagusta, as a result of which the city became an important Christian center, but also one of the most important commercial centers in the eastern Mediterranean.
The turning point for Famagusta was 1192 with the onset of Lusignan rule. It was during this period that Famagusta developed as a fully-fledged town. It increased in importance to the Eastern Mediterranean due to its natural harbour and the walls that protected its inner town. Its population began to increase. This development accelerated in the 13th century as the town became a centre of commerce for both the East and West. An influx of Christian refugees fleeing the downfall of Acre (1291) in Palestine transformed it from a tiny village into one of the richest cities in Christendom.
In 1372 the port was seized by Genoa and in 1489 by Venice. This commercial activity turned Famagusta into a place where merchants and ship owners led lives of luxury. By the mid-14th century, Famagusta was said to have the richest citizens in the world. The belief that people's wealth could be measured by the churches they built inspired these merchants to have churches built in varying styles. These churches, which still exist, were the reason Famagusta came to be known as "the district of churches". The development of the town focused on the social lives of the wealthy people and was centred upon the Lusignan palace, the cathedral, the Square and the harbour.
In 1570–1571, Famagusta was the last stronghold in Venetian Cyprus to hold out against the Turks under Mustafa Pasha. It resisted a siege of thirteen months and a terrible bombardment, until at last the garrison surrendered. The Ottoman forces had lost 50,000 men, including Mustafa Pasha's son. Although the surrender terms had stipulated that the Venetian forces be allowed to return home, the Venetian commander, Marco Antonio Bragadin, was flayed alive, his lieutenant Tiepolo was hanged, and many other Christians were killed.
With the advent of the Ottoman rule, Latins lost their privileged status in Famagusta and were expelled from the city. Greek Cypriots natives were at first allowed to own and buy property in the city, but were banished from the walled city in 1573–74 and had to settle outside in the area that later developed into Varosha. Turkish families from Anatolia were resettled in the walled city but could not fill the buildings that previously hosted a population of 10,000. This caused a drastic decrease in the population of Famagusta. Merchants from Famagusta, who mostly consisted of Latins that had been expelled, resettled in Larnaca and as Larnaca flourished, Famagusta lost its importance as a trade centre. Over time, Varosha developed into a prosperous agricultural town thanks to its location away from the marshes, whilst the walled city remained dilapidated.
In the walled city, some buildings were repurposed to serve the interests of the Muslim population: the Cathedral of St. Nicholas was converted to a mosque (now known as Lala Mustafa Pasha Mosque), a bazaar was developed, public baths, fountains and a theological school were built to accommodate the inhabitants' needs. Dead end streets, an Ottoman urban characteristic, was imported to the city and a communal spirit developed in which a small number of two-storey houses inhabited by the small upper class co-existed with the widespread one-storey houses.
With the British takeover, Famagusta regained its significance as a port and an economic centre and its development was specifically targeted in British plans. As soon as the British took over the island, a Famagusta Development Act was passed that aimed at the reconstruction and redevelopment of the city's streets and dilapidated buildings as well as better hygiene. The port was developed and expanded between 1903 and 1906 and Cyprus Government Railway, with its terminus in Famagusta, started construction in 1904. Whilst Larnaca continued to be used as the main port of the island for some time, after Famagusta's use as a military base in World War I trade significantly shifted to Famagusta. The city outside the walls grew at an accelerated rate, with development being centred around Varosha. Varosha became the administrative centre as the British moved their headquarters and residences there and tourism grew significantly in the last years of the British rule. Pottery and production of citrus and potatoes also significantly grew in the city outside the walls, whilst agriculture within the walled city declined to non-existence.
New residential areas were built to accommodate the increasing population towards the end of the British rule,[11] and by 1960, Famagusta was a modern port city extending far beyond Varosha and the walled city.
The British period saw a significant demographic shift in the city. In 1881, Christians constituted 60% of the city's population while Muslims were at 40%. By 1960, the Turkish Cypriot population had dropped to 17.5% of the overall population, while the Greek Cypriot population had risen to 70%. The city was also the site for one of the British internment camps for nearly 50,000 Jewish survivors of the Holocaust trying to emigrate to Palestine.
From independence in 1960 to the Turkish invasion of Cyprus of 1974, Famagusta developed toward the south west of Varosha as a well-known entertainment and tourist centre. The contribution of Famagusta to the country's economic activity by 1974 far exceeded its proportional dimensions within the country. Whilst its population was only about 7% of the total of the country, Famagusta by 1974 accounted for over 10% of the total industrial employment and production of Cyprus, concentrating mainly on light industry compatible with its activity as a tourist resort and turning out high-quality products ranging from food, beverages and tobacco to clothing, footwear, plastics, light machinery and transport equipment. It contributed 19.3% of the business units and employed 21.3% of the total number of persons engaged in commerce on the island. It acted as the main tourist destination of Cyprus, hosting 31.5% of the hotels and 45% of Cyprus' total bed capacity. Varosha acted as the main touristic and business quarters.
In this period, the urbanisation of Famagusta slowed down and the development of the rural areas accelerated. Therefore, economic growth was shared between the city of Famagusta and the district, which had a balanced agricultural economy, with citrus, potatoes, tobacco and wheat as main products. Famagusta maintained good communications with this hinterland. The city's port remained the island's main seaport and in 1961, it was expanded to double its capacity in order to accommodate the growing volume of exports and imports. The port handled 42.7% of Cypriot exports, 48.6% of imports and 49% of passenger traffic.
There has not been an official census since 1960 but the population of the town in 1974 was estimated to be around 39,000 not counting about 12,000–15,000 persons commuting daily from the surrounding villages and suburbs to work in Famagusta. The number of people staying in the city would swell to about 90,000–100,000 during the peak summer tourist period, with the influx of tourists from numerous European countries, mainly Britain, France, Germany and the Scandinavian countries. The majority of the city population were Greek Cypriots (26,500), with 8,500 Turkish Cypriots and 4,000 people from other ethnic groups.
During the second phase of the Turkish invasion of Cyprus on 14 August 1974 the Mesaoria plain was overrun by Turkish tanks and Famagusta was bombed by Turkish aircraft. It took two days for the Turkish Army to occupy the city, prior to which Famagusta's entire Greek Cypriot population had fled into surrounding fields. As a result of Turkish airstrikes dozens of civilians died, including tourists.
Unlike other parts of the Turkish-controlled areas of Cyprus, the Varosha suburb of Famagusta was fenced off by the Turkish army immediately after being captured and remained fenced off until October 2020, when the TRNC reopened some streets to visitors. Some Greek Cypriots who had fled Varosha have been allowed to view the town and journalists have been allowed in.
UN Security Council resolution 550 (1984) considers any attempts to settle any part of Famagusta by people other than its inhabitants as inadmissible and calls for the transfer of this area to the administration of the UN. The UN's Security Council resolution 789 (1992) also urges that with a view to the implementation of resolution 550 (1984), the area at present under the control of the United Nations Peace-keeping Force in Cyprus be extended to include Varosha.
Famagusta's historic city centre is surrounded by the fortifications of Famagusta, which have a roughly rectangular shape, built mainly by the Venetians in the 15th and 16th centuries, though some sections of the walls have been dated earlier times, as far as 1211.
Some important landmarks and visitor attractions in the old city are:
The Lala Mustafa Pasha Mosque
The Othello Castle
Palazzo del Provveditore - the Venetian palace of the governor, built on the site of the former Lusignan royal palace
St. Francis' Church
Sinan Pasha Mosque
Church of St. George of the Greeks
Church of St. George of the Latins
Twin Churches
Nestorian Church (of St George the Exiler)
Namık Kemal Dungeon
Agios Ioannis Church
Venetian House
Akkule Masjid
Mustafa Pasha Mosque
Ganchvor monastery
In an October 2010 report titled Saving Our Vanishing Heritage, Global Heritage Fund listed Famagusta, a "maritime ancient city of crusader kings", among the 12 sites most "On the Verge" of irreparable loss and destruction, citing insufficient management and development pressures.
Famagusta is an important commercial hub of Northern Cyprus. The main economic activities in the city are tourism, education, construction and industrial production. It has a 115-acre free port, which is the most important seaport of Northern Cyprus for travel and commerce. The port is an important source of income and employment for the city, though its volume of trade is restricted by the embargo against Northern Cyprus. Its historical sites, including the walled city, Salamis, the Othello Castle and the St Barnabas Church, as well as the sandy beaches surrounding it make it a tourist attraction; efforts are also underway to make the city more attractive for international congresses. The Eastern Mediterranean University is also an important employer and supplies significant income and activity, as well as opportunities for the construction sector. The university also raises a qualified workforce that stimulates the city's industry and makes communications industry viable. The city has two industrial zones: the Large Industrial Zone and the Little Industrial Zone. The city is also home to a fishing port, but inadequate infrastructure of the port restricts the growth of this sector. The industry in the city has traditionally been concentrated on processing agricultural products.
Historically, the port was the primary source of income and employment for the city, especially right after 1974. However, it gradually lost some of its importance to the economy as the share of its employees in the population of Famagusta diminished due to various reasons. However, it still is the primary port for commerce in Northern Cyprus, with more than half of ships that came to Northern Cyprus in 2013 coming to Famagusta. It is the second most popular seaport for passengers, after Kyrenia, with around 20,000 passengers using the port in 2013.
The mayor-in-exile of Famagusta is Simos Ioannou. Süleyman Uluçay heads the Turkish Cypriot municipal administration of Famagusta, which remains legal as a communal-based body under the constitutional system of the Republic of Cyprus.
Since 1974, Greek Cypriots submitted a number of proposals within the context of bicommunal discussions for the return of Varosha to UN administration, allowing the return of its previous inhabitants, requesting also the opening of Famagusta harbour for use by both communities. Varosha would have been returned to Greek Cypriot control as part of the 2004 Annan Plan but the plan had been rejected by a majority(3/4) of Greek Cypriot voters.
The walled city of Famagusta contains many unique buildings. Famagusta has a walled city popular with tourists.
Every year, the International Famagusta Art and Culture Festival is organized in Famagusta. Concerts, dance shows and theater plays take place during the festival.
A growth in tourism and the city's university have fueled the development of Famagusta's vibrant nightlife. Nightlife in the city is especially active on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday nights and in the hotter months of the year, starting from April. Larger hotels in the city have casinos that cater to their customers. Salamis Road is an area of Famagusta with a heavy concentration of bars frequented by students and locals.
Famagusta's Othello Castle is the setting for Shakespeare's play Othello. The city was also the setting for Victoria Hislop's 2015 novel The Sunrise, and Michael Paraskos's 2016 novel In Search of Sixpence. The city is the birthplace of the eponymous hero of the Renaissance proto-novel Fortunatus.
Famagusta was home to many Greek Cypriot sport teams that left the city because of the Turkish invasion and still bear their original names. Most notable football clubs originally from the city are Anorthosis Famagusta FC and Nea Salamis Famagusta FC, both of the Cypriot First Division, which are now based in Larnaca. Usually Anorthosis Famagusta fans are politically right wing where Nea Salamis fans are left wing.
Famagusta is represented by Mağusa Türk Gücü in the Turkish Cypriot First Division. Dr. Fazıl Küçük Stadium is the largest football stadium in Famagusta. Many Turkish Cypriot sport teams that left Southern Cyprus because of the Cypriot intercommunal violence are based in Famagusta.
Famagusta is represented by DAÜ Sports Club and Magem Sports Club in North Cyprus First Volleyball Division. Gazimağusa Türk Maarif Koleji represents Famagusta in the North Cyprus High School Volleyball League.
Famagusta has a modern volleyball stadium called the Mağusa Arena.
The Eastern Mediterranean University was founded in the city in 1979. The Istanbul Technical University founded a campus in the city in 2010.
The Cyprus College of Art was founded in Famagusta by the Cypriot artist Stass Paraskos in 1969, before moving to Paphos in 1972 after protests from local hoteliers that the presence of art students in the city was putting off holidaymakers.
Famagusta has three general hospitals. Gazimağusa Devlet Hastahanesi, a state hospital, is the biggest hospital in city. Gazimağusa Tıp Merkezi and Gazimağusa Yaşam Hastahanesi are private hospitals.
Personalities
Saint Barnabas, born and died in Salamis, Famagusta
Chris Achilleos, illustrator of the book versions on the BBC children's series Doctor Who
Beran Bertuğ, former Governor of Famagusta, first Cypriot woman to hold this position
Marios Constantinou, former international Cypriot football midfielder and current manager.
Eleftheria Eleftheriou, Cypriot singer.
Derviş Eroğlu, former President of Northern Cyprus
Alexis Galanos, 7th President of the House of Representatives and Famagusta mayor-in-exile (2006-2019) (Republic of Cyprus)
Xanthos Hadjisoteriou, Cypriot painter
Oz Karahan, political activist, President of the Union of Cypriots
Oktay Kayalp, former Turkish Cypriot Famagusta mayor (Northern Cyprus)
Harry Luke British diplomat
Angelos Misos, former international footballer
Costas Montis was an influential and prolific Greek Cypriot poet, novelist, and playwright born in Famagusta.
Hal Ozsan, actor (Dawson's Creek, Kyle XY)
Dimitris Papadakis, a Greek Cypriot politician, who served as a Member of the European Parliament.
Ṣubḥ-i-Azal, Persian religious leader, lived and died in exile in Famagusta
Touker Suleyman (born Türker Süleyman), British Turkish Cypriot fashion retail entrepreneur, investor and reality television personality.
Alexia Vassiliou, singer, left here as a refugee when the town was invaded.
George Vasiliou, former President of Cyprus
Vamik Volkan, Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry
Derviş Zaim, film director
Famagusta is twinned with:
İzmir, Turkey (since 1974)
Corfu, Greece (since 1994)
Patras, Greece (since 1994)
Antalya, Turkey (since 1997)
Salamina (city), Greece (since 1998)
Struga, North Macedonia
Athens, Greece (since 2005)
Mersin, Turkey
Northern Cyprus, officially the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), is a de facto state that comprises the northeastern portion of the island of Cyprus. It is recognised only by Turkey, and its territory is considered by all other states to be part of the Republic of Cyprus.
Northern Cyprus extends from the tip of the Karpass Peninsula in the northeast to Morphou Bay, Cape Kormakitis and its westernmost point, the Kokkina exclave in the west. Its southernmost point is the village of Louroujina. A buffer zone under the control of the United Nations stretches between Northern Cyprus and the rest of the island and divides Nicosia, the island's largest city and capital of both sides.
A coup d'état in 1974, performed as part of an attempt to annex the island to Greece, prompted the Turkish invasion of Cyprus. This resulted in the eviction of much of the north's Greek Cypriot population, the flight of Turkish Cypriots from the south, and the partitioning of the island, leading to a unilateral declaration of independence by the north in 1983. Due to its lack of recognition, Northern Cyprus is heavily dependent on Turkey for economic, political and military support.
Attempts to reach a solution to the Cyprus dispute have been unsuccessful. The Turkish Army maintains a large force in Northern Cyprus with the support and approval of the TRNC government, while the Republic of Cyprus, the European Union as a whole, and the international community regard it as an occupation force. This military presence has been denounced in several United Nations Security Council resolutions.
Northern Cyprus is a semi-presidential, democratic republic with a cultural heritage incorporating various influences and an economy that is dominated by the services sector. The economy has seen growth through the 2000s and 2010s, with the GNP per capita more than tripling in the 2000s, but is held back by an international embargo due to the official closure of the ports in Northern Cyprus by the Republic of Cyprus. The official language is Turkish, with a distinct local dialect being spoken. The vast majority of the population consists of Sunni Muslims, while religious attitudes are mostly moderate and secular. Northern Cyprus is an observer state of ECO and OIC under the name "Turkish Cypriot State", PACE under the name "Turkish Cypriot Community", and Organization of Turkic States with its own name.
Several distinct periods of Cypriot intercommunal violence involving the two main ethnic communities, Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, marked mid-20th century Cyprus. These included the Cyprus Emergency of 1955–59 during British rule, the post-independence Cyprus crisis of 1963–64, and the Cyprus crisis of 1967. Hostilities culminated in the 1974 de facto division of the island along the Green Line following the Turkish invasion of Cyprus. The region has been relatively peaceful since then, but the Cyprus dispute has continued, with various attempts to solve it diplomatically having been generally unsuccessful.
Cyprus, an island lying in the eastern Mediterranean, hosted a population of Greeks and Turks (four-fifths and one-fifth, respectively), who lived under British rule in the late nineteenth-century and the first half of the twentieth-century. Christian Orthodox Church of Cyprus played a prominent political role among the Greek Cypriot community, a privilege that it acquired during the Ottoman Empire with the employment of the millet system, which gave the archbishop an unofficial ethnarch status.
The repeated rejections by the British of Greek Cypriot demands for enosis, union with Greece, led to armed resistance, organised by the National Organization of Cypriot Struggle, or EOKA. EOKA, led by the Greek-Cypriot commander George Grivas, systematically targeted British colonial authorities. One of the effects of EOKA's campaign was to alter the Turkish position from demanding full reincorporation into Turkey to a demand for taksim (partition). EOKA's mission and activities caused a "Cretan syndrome" (see Turkish Resistance Organisation) within the Turkish Cypriot community, as its members feared that they would be forced to leave the island in such a case as had been the case with Cretan Turks. As such, they preferred the continuation of British colonial rule and then taksim, the division of the island. Due to the Turkish Cypriots' support for the British, EOKA's leader, Georgios Grivas, declared them to be enemies. The fact that the Turks were a minority was, according to Nihat Erim, to be addressed by the transfer of thousands of Turks from mainland Turkey so that Greek Cypriots would cease to be the majority. When Erim visited Cyprus as the Turkish representative, he was advised by Field Marshal Sir John Harding, the then Governor of Cyprus, that Turkey should send educated Turks to settle in Cyprus.
Turkey actively promoted the idea that on the island of Cyprus two distinctive communities existed, and sidestepped its former claim that "the people of Cyprus were all Turkish subjects". In doing so, Turkey's aim to have self-determination of two to-be equal communities in effect led to de jure partition of the island.[citation needed] This could be justified to the international community against the will of the majority Greek population of the island. Dr. Fazil Küçük in 1954 had already proposed Cyprus be divided in two at the 35° parallel.
Lindley Dan, from Notre Dame University, spotted the roots of intercommunal violence to different visions among the two communities of Cyprus (enosis for Greek Cypriots, taksim for Turkish Cypriots). Also, Lindlay wrote that "the merging of church, schools/education, and politics in divisive and nationalistic ways" had played a crucial role in creation of havoc in Cyprus' history. Attalides Michael also pointed to the opposing nationalisms as the cause of the Cyprus problem.
By the mid-1950's, the "Cyprus is Turkish" party, movement, and slogan gained force in both Cyprus and Turkey. In a 1954 editorial, Turkish Cypriot leader Dr. Fazil Kuchuk expressed the sentiment that the Turkish youth had grown up with the idea that "as soon as Great Britain leaves the island, it will be taken over by the Turks", and that "Turkey cannot tolerate otherwise". This perspective contributed to the willingness of Turkish Cypriots to align themselves with the British, who started recruiting Turkish Cypriots into the police force that patrolled Cyprus to fight EOKA, a Greek Cypriot nationalist organisation that sought to rid the island of British rule.
EOKA targeted colonial authorities, including police, but Georgios Grivas, the leader of EOKA, did not initially wish to open up a new front by fighting Turkish Cypriots and reassured them that EOKA would not harm their people. In 1956, some Turkish Cypriot policemen were killed by EOKA members and this provoked some intercommunal violence in the spring and summer, but these attacks on policemen were not motivated by the fact that they were Turkish Cypriots.
However, in January 1957, Grivas changed his policy as his forces in the mountains became increasingly pressured by the British Crown forces. In order to divert the attention of the Crown forces, EOKA members started to target Turkish Cypriot policemen intentionally in the towns, so that Turkish Cypriots would riot against the Greek Cypriots and the security forces would have to be diverted to the towns to restore order. The killing of a Turkish Cypriot policeman on 19 January, when a power station was bombed, and the injury of three others, provoked three days of intercommunal violence in Nicosia. The two communities targeted each other in reprisals, at least one Greek Cypriot was killed and the British Army was deployed in the streets. Greek Cypriot stores were burned and their neighbourhoods attacked. Following the events, the Greek Cypriot leadership spread the propaganda that the riots had merely been an act of Turkish Cypriot aggression. Such events created chaos and drove the communities apart both in Cyprus and in Turkey.
On 22 October 1957 Sir Hugh Mackintosh Foot replaced Sir John Harding as the British Governor of Cyprus. Foot suggested five to seven years of self-government before any final decision. His plan rejected both enosis and taksim. The Turkish Cypriot response to this plan was a series of anti-British demonstrations in Nicosia on 27 and 28 January 1958 rejecting the proposed plan because the plan did not include partition. The British then withdrew the plan.
In 1957, Black Gang, a Turkish Cypriot pro-taksim paramilitary organisation, was formed to patrol a Turkish Cypriot enclave, the Tahtakale district of Nicosia, against activities of EOKA. The organisation later attempted to grow into a national scale, but failed to gain public support.
By 1958, signs of dissatisfaction with the British increased on both sides, with a group of Turkish Cypriots forming Volkan (later renamed to the Turkish Resistance Organisation) paramilitary group to promote partition and the annexation of Cyprus to Turkey as dictated by the Menderes plan. Volkan initially consisted of roughly 100 members, with the stated aim of raising awareness in Turkey of the Cyprus issue and courting military training and support for Turkish Cypriot fighters from the Turkish government.
In June 1958, the British Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan, was expected to propose a plan to resolve the Cyprus issue. In light of the new development, the Turks rioted in Nicosia to promote the idea that Greek and Turkish Cypriots could not live together and therefore any plan that did not include partition would not be viable. This violence was soon followed by bombing, Greek Cypriot deaths and looting of Greek Cypriot-owned shops and houses. Greek and Turkish Cypriots started to flee mixed population villages where they were a minority in search of safety. This was effectively the beginning of the segregation of the two communities. On 7 June 1958, a bomb exploded at the entrance of the Turkish Embassy in Cyprus. Following the bombing, Turkish Cypriots looted Greek Cypriot properties. On 26 June 1984, the Turkish Cypriot leader, Rauf Denktaş, admitted on British channel ITV that the bomb was placed by the Turks themselves in order to create tension. On 9 January 1995, Rauf Denktaş repeated his claim to the famous Turkish newspaper Milliyet in Turkey.
The crisis reached a climax on 12 June 1958, when eight Greeks, out of an armed group of thirty five arrested by soldiers of the Royal Horse Guards on suspicion of preparing an attack on the Turkish quarter of Skylloura, were killed in a suspected attack by Turkish Cypriot locals, near the village of Geunyeli, having been ordered to walk back to their village of Kondemenos.
After the EOKA campaign had begun, the British government successfully began to turn the Cyprus issue from a British colonial problem into a Greek-Turkish issue. British diplomacy exerted backstage influence on the Adnan Menderes government, with the aim of making Turkey active in Cyprus. For the British, the attempt had a twofold objective. The EOKA campaign would be silenced as quickly as possible, and Turkish Cypriots would not side with Greek Cypriots against the British colonial claims over the island, which would thus remain under the British. The Turkish Cypriot leadership visited Menderes to discuss the Cyprus issue. When asked how the Turkish Cypriots should respond to the Greek Cypriot claim of enosis, Menderes replied: "You should go to the British foreign minister and request the status quo be prolonged, Cyprus to remain as a British colony". When the Turkish Cypriots visited the British Foreign Secretary and requested for Cyprus to remain a colony, he replied: "You should not be asking for colonialism at this day and age, you should be asking for Cyprus be returned to Turkey, its former owner".
As Turkish Cypriots began to look to Turkey for protection, Greek Cypriots soon understood that enosis was extremely unlikely. The Greek Cypriot leader, Archbishop Makarios III, now set independence for the island as his objective.
Britain resolved to solve the dispute by creating an independent Cyprus. In 1959, all involved parties signed the Zurich Agreements: Britain, Turkey, Greece, and the Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders, Makarios and Dr. Fazil Kucuk, respectively. The new constitution drew heavily on the ethnic composition of the island. The President would be a Greek Cypriot, and the Vice-President a Turkish Cypriot with an equal veto. The contribution to the public service would be set at a ratio of 70:30, and the Supreme Court would consist of an equal number of judges from both communities as well as an independent judge who was not Greek, Turkish or British. The Zurich Agreements were supplemented by a number of treaties. The Treaty of Guarantee stated that secession or union with any state was forbidden, and that Greece, Turkey and Britain would be given guarantor status to intervene if that was violated. The Treaty of Alliance allowed for two small Greek and Turkish military contingents to be stationed on the island, and the Treaty of Establishment gave Britain sovereignty over two bases in Akrotiri and Dhekelia.
On 15 August 1960, the Colony of Cyprus became fully independent as the Republic of Cyprus. The new republic remained within the Commonwealth of Nations.
The new constitution brought dissatisfaction to Greek Cypriots, who felt it to be highly unjust for them for historical, demographic and contributional reasons. Although 80% of the island's population were Greek Cypriots and these indigenous people had lived on the island for thousands of years and paid 94% of taxes, the new constitution was giving the 17% of the population that was Turkish Cypriots, who paid 6% of taxes, around 30% of government jobs and 40% of national security jobs.
Within three years tensions between the two communities in administrative affairs began to show. In particular disputes over separate municipalities and taxation created a deadlock in government. A constitutional court ruled in 1963 Makarios had failed to uphold article 173 of the constitution which called for the establishment of separate municipalities for Turkish Cypriots. Makarios subsequently declared his intention to ignore the judgement, resulting in the West German judge resigning from his position. Makarios proposed thirteen amendments to the constitution, which would have had the effect of resolving most of the issues in the Greek Cypriot favour. Under the proposals, the President and Vice-President would lose their veto, the separate municipalities as sought after by the Turkish Cypriots would be abandoned, the need for separate majorities by both communities in passing legislation would be discarded and the civil service contribution would be set at actual population ratios (82:18) instead of the slightly higher figure for Turkish Cypriots.
The intention behind the amendments has long been called into question. The Akritas plan, written in the height of the constitutional dispute by the Greek Cypriot interior minister Polycarpos Georkadjis, called for the removal of undesirable elements of the constitution so as to allow power-sharing to work. The plan envisaged a swift retaliatory attack on Turkish Cypriot strongholds should Turkish Cypriots resort to violence to resist the measures, stating "In the event of a planned or staged Turkish attack, it is imperative to overcome it by force in the shortest possible time, because if we succeed in gaining command of the situation (in one or two days), no outside, intervention would be either justified or possible." Whether Makarios's proposals were part of the Akritas plan is unclear, however it remains that sentiment towards enosis had not completely disappeared with independence. Makarios described independence as "a step on the road to enosis".[31] Preparations for conflict were not entirely absent from Turkish Cypriots either, with right wing elements still believing taksim (partition) the best safeguard against enosis.
Greek Cypriots however believe the amendments were a necessity stemming from a perceived attempt by Turkish Cypriots to frustrate the working of government. Turkish Cypriots saw it as a means to reduce their status within the state from one of co-founder to that of minority, seeing it as a first step towards enosis. The security situation deteriorated rapidly.
Main articles: Bloody Christmas (1963) and Battle of Tillyria
An armed conflict was triggered after December 21, 1963, a period remembered by Turkish Cypriots as Bloody Christmas, when a Greek Cypriot policemen that had been called to help deal with a taxi driver refusing officers already on the scene access to check the identification documents of his customers, took out his gun upon arrival and shot and killed the taxi driver and his partner. Eric Solsten summarised the events as follows: "a Greek Cypriot police patrol, ostensibly checking identification documents, stopped a Turkish Cypriot couple on the edge of the Turkish quarter. A hostile crowd gathered, shots were fired, and two Turkish Cypriots were killed."
In the morning after the shooting, crowds gathered in protest in Northern Nicosia, likely encouraged by the TMT, without incident. On the evening of the 22nd, gunfire broke out, communication lines to the Turkish neighbourhoods were cut, and the Greek Cypriot police occupied the nearby airport. On the 23rd, a ceasefire was negotiated, but did not hold. Fighting, including automatic weapons fire, between Greek and Turkish Cypriots and militias increased in Nicosia and Larnaca. A force of Greek Cypriot irregulars led by Nikos Sampson entered the Nicosia suburb of Omorphita and engaged in heavy firing on armed, as well as by some accounts unarmed, Turkish Cypriots. The Omorphita clash has been described by Turkish Cypriots as a massacre, while this view has generally not been acknowledged by Greek Cypriots.
Further ceasefires were arranged between the two sides, but also failed. By Christmas Eve, the 24th, Britain, Greece, and Turkey had joined talks, with all sides calling for a truce. On Christmas day, Turkish fighter jets overflew Nicosia in a show of support. Finally it was agreed to allow a force of 2,700 British soldiers to help enforce a ceasefire. In the next days, a "buffer zone" was created in Nicosia, and a British officer marked a line on a map with green ink, separating the two sides of the city, which was the beginning of the "Green Line". Fighting continued across the island for the next several weeks.
In total 364 Turkish Cypriots and 174 Greek Cypriots were killed during the violence. 25,000 Turkish Cypriots from 103-109 villages fled and were displaced into enclaves and thousands of Turkish Cypriot houses were ransacked or completely destroyed.
Contemporary newspapers also reported on the forceful exodus of the Turkish Cypriots from their homes. According to The Times in 1964, threats, shootings and attempts of arson were committed against the Turkish Cypriots to force them out of their homes. The Daily Express wrote that "25,000 Turks have already been forced to leave their homes". The Guardian reported a massacre of Turks at Limassol on 16 February 1964.
Turkey had by now readied its fleet and its fighter jets appeared over Nicosia. Turkey was dissuaded from direct involvement by the creation of a United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) in 1964. Despite the negotiated ceasefire in Nicosia, attacks on the Turkish Cypriot persisted, particularly in Limassol. Concerned about the possibility of a Turkish invasion, Makarios undertook the creation of a Greek Cypriot conscript-based army called the "National Guard". A general from Greece took charge of the army, whilst a further 20,000 well-equipped officers and men were smuggled from Greece into Cyprus. Turkey threatened to intervene once more, but was prevented by a strongly worded letter from the American President Lyndon B. Johnson, anxious to avoid a conflict between NATO allies Greece and Turkey at the height of the Cold War.
Turkish Cypriots had by now established an important bridgehead at Kokkina, provided with arms, volunteers and materials from Turkey and abroad. Seeing this incursion of foreign weapons and troops as a major threat, the Cypriot government invited George Grivas to return from Greece as commander of the Greek troops on the island and launch a major attack on the bridgehead. Turkey retaliated by dispatching its fighter jets to bomb Greek positions, causing Makarios to threaten an attack on every Turkish Cypriot village on the island if the bombings did not cease. The conflict had now drawn in Greece and Turkey, with both countries amassing troops on their Thracian borders. Efforts at mediation by Dean Acheson, a former U.S. Secretary of State, and UN-appointed mediator Galo Plaza had failed, all the while the division of the two communities becoming more apparent. Greek Cypriot forces were estimated at some 30,000, including the National Guard and the large contingent from Greece. Defending the Turkish Cypriot enclaves was a force of approximately 5,000 irregulars, led by a Turkish colonel, but lacking the equipment and organisation of the Greek forces.
The Secretary-General of the United Nations in 1964, U Thant, reported the damage during the conflicts:
UNFICYP carried out a detailed survey of all damage to properties throughout the island during the disturbances; it shows that in 109 villages, most of them Turkish-Cypriot or mixed villages, 527 houses have been destroyed while 2,000 others have suffered damage from looting.
The situation worsened in 1967, when a military junta overthrew the democratically elected government of Greece, and began applying pressure on Makarios to achieve enosis. Makarios, not wishing to become part of a military dictatorship or trigger a Turkish invasion, began to distance himself from the goal of enosis. This caused tensions with the junta in Greece as well as George Grivas in Cyprus. Grivas's control over the National Guard and Greek contingent was seen as a threat to Makarios's position, who now feared a possible coup.[citation needed] The National Guard and Cyprus Police began patrolling the Turkish Cypriot enclaves of Ayios Theodoros and Kophinou, and on November 15 engaged in heavy fighting with the Turkish Cypriots.
By the time of his withdrawal 26 Turkish Cypriots had been killed. Turkey replied with an ultimatum demanding that Grivas be removed from the island, that the troops smuggled from Greece in excess of the limits of the Treaty of Alliance be removed, and that the economic blockades on the Turkish Cypriot enclaves be lifted. Grivas was recalled by the Athens Junta and the 12,000 Greek troops were withdrawn. Makarios now attempted to consolidate his position by reducing the number of National Guard troops, and by creating a paramilitary force loyal to Cypriot independence. In 1968, acknowledging that enosis was now all but impossible, Makarios stated, "A solution by necessity must be sought within the limits of what is feasible which does not always coincide with the limits of what is desirable."
After 1967 tensions between the Greek and Turkish Cypriots subsided. Instead, the main source of tension on the island came from factions within the Greek Cypriot community. Although Makarios had effectively abandoned enosis in favour of an 'attainable solution', many others continued to believe that the only legitimate political aspiration for Greek Cypriots was union with Greece.
On his arrival, Grivas began by establishing a nationalist paramilitary group known as the National Organization of Cypriot Fighters (Ethniki Organosis Kyprion Agoniston B or EOKA-B), drawing comparisons with the EOKA struggle for enosis under the British colonial administration of the 1950s.
The military junta in Athens saw Makarios as an obstacle. Makarios's failure to disband the National Guard, whose officer class was dominated by mainland Greeks, had meant the junta had practical control over the Cypriot military establishment, leaving Makarios isolated and a vulnerable target.
During the first Turkish invasion, Turkish troops invaded Cyprus territory on 20 July 1974, invoking its rights under the Treaty of Guarantee. This expansion of Turkish-occupied zone violated International Law as well as the Charter of the United Nations. Turkish troops managed to capture 3% of the island which was accompanied by the burning of the Turkish Cypriot quarter, as well as the raping and killing of women and children. A temporary cease-fire followed which was mitigated by the UN Security Council. Subsequently, the Greek military Junta collapsed on July 23, 1974, and peace talks commenced in which a democratic government was installed. The Resolution 353 was broken after Turkey attacked a second time and managed to get a hold of 37% of Cyprus territory. The Island of Cyprus was appointed a Buffer Zone by the United Nations, which divided the island into two zones through the 'Green Line' and put an end to the Turkish invasion. Although Turkey announced that the occupied areas of Cyprus to be called the Federated Turkish State in 1975, it is not legitimised on a worldwide political scale. The United Nations called for the international recognition of independence for the Republic of Cyprus in the Security Council Resolution 367.
In the years after the Turkish invasion of northern Cyprus one can observe a history of failed talks between the two parties. The 1983 declaration of the independent Turkish Republic of Cyprus resulted in a rise of inter-communal tensions and made it increasingly hard to find mutual understanding. With Cyprus' interest of a possible EU membership and a new UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in 1997 new hopes arose for a fresh start. International involvement from sides of the US and UK, wanting a solution to the Cyprus dispute prior to the EU accession led to political pressures for new talks. The believe that an accession without a solution would threaten Greek-Turkish relations and acknowledge the partition of the island would direct the coming negotiations.
Over the course of two years a concrete plan, the Annan plan was formulated. In 2004 the fifth version agreed upon from both sides and with the endorsement of Turkey, US, UK and EU then was presented to the public and was given a referendum in both Cypriot communities to assure the legitimisation of the resolution. The Turkish Cypriots voted with 65% for the plan, however the Greek Cypriots voted with a 76% majority against. The Annan plan contained multiple important topics. Firstly it established a confederation of two separate states called the United Cyprus Republic. Both communities would have autonomous states combined under one unified government. The members of parliament would be chosen according to the percentage in population numbers to ensure a just involvement from both communities. The paper proposed a demilitarisation of the island over the next years. Furthermore it agreed upon a number of 45000 Turkish settlers that could remain on the island. These settlers became a very important issue concerning peace talks. Originally the Turkish government encouraged Turks to settle in Cyprus providing transfer and property, to establish a counterpart to the Greek Cypriot population due to their 1 to 5 minority. With the economic situation many Turkish-Cypriot decided to leave the island, however their departure is made up by incoming Turkish settlers leaving the population ratio between Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots stable. However all these points where criticised and as seen in the vote rejected mainly by the Greek Cypriots. These name the dissolution of the „Republic of Cyprus", economic consequences of a reunion and the remaining Turkish settlers as reason. Many claim that the plan was indeed drawing more from Turkish-Cypriot demands then Greek-Cypriot interests. Taking in consideration that the US wanted to keep Turkey as a strategic partner in future Middle Eastern conflicts.
A week after the failed referendum the Republic of Cyprus joined the EU. In multiple instances the EU tried to promote trade with Northern Cyprus but without internationally recognised ports this spiked a grand debate. Both side endure their intention of negotiations, however without the prospect of any new compromises or agreements the UN is unwilling to start the process again. Since 2004 negotiations took place in numbers but without any results, both sides are strongly holding on to their position without an agreeable solution in sight that would suit both parties.
On my mother's desk. I like this shot, although the close-up filter makes this a little soft (unless that's just my focussing).
Shot with a Bronica SQ-Ai, Zenzanon PS 80mm, B&W close-up filter, on Kodak Portra 160.
UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka speaks at South Africa's event "Zooming into the challenges and Impediments in achieving the implementation of MDGs on Education for girls and their training on science and technology." The event - the theme of which focused on the "future young women want" - featured participation from two "Techno-Girls," Nwabisa Maphumulo and Khanyisile Mokele.
Photo: UN Women/Ryan Brown