Quaerentia

The first time visiting a place I’ve grown up in: Monet’s home at Giverny

quaesitor — Tue, 21 May 2013 05:51:42 +0000

Thanks to the generosity of some friends, Rachel & I were able to have a few days in their Paris flat last week (and were even able to cover most of our Eurostar tickets with Nectar points). All in all: a result. But the highlight for both of us was actually 80km north-west of Paris in the little Normandy village of Giverny. Neither of us had ever been before. But I felt was as if I’d been going there all my life. In fact, every nook and cranny felt so familiar it was as if it was a childhood home. For this was the home of Claude Monet, and the subject of decades of paintings.

It’s a tiny village – and it was teaming with coach-loads of tourists and schoolchildren. But for once, that didn’t really seem to matter. The place’s character and charm somehow remained intact. And the gardens were simply breathtaking. Monet didn’t just paint in oils. He painted in flowers. What was wonderful was the way in which the gardens are preserved not as a museum piece, but as the vital riot of colour, an ordered wildness, that the artist always loved. It was simply magical.

Here are a few of my snaps – which I’ve had a bit of fun with, trying to match them up with some of Monet’s paintings (sort of).

Click to view slideshow.

In case you’re really interested, you can see more…

Here is the full set around Giverny
And here is the full set of Paris snaps

In the small and refreshingly simple church in the village, we were very struck by this beautiful impressionistic window. And for good measure, here is a snap from the roof of the Pompidou centre at dusk.

Filed under: architecture, art & painting, beauty, culture, Europe, France, Monet, Paris, photos Tagged: claude monet, impressionism, monet paintings, normandy village

Q Conversations 4: Jazz Singer and Photographer Ruth Naomi Floyd

quaesitor — Wed, 08 May 2013 14:32:31 +0000

While I was in the States at the end of last month, I had an afternoon to kill in Philadelphia. So the completely obvious thing to do was record another Q conversation. This time I sat down to chat with Ruth Naomi Floyd, whom I’d met at the European Leadership Conference in Hungary a few years ago. It’s available on iTunes podcasts, or if you prefer a direct feed, here on Jellycast.

We had hoped to record our conversation in a coffee shop, only to find that just as we got round to actually recording something, it was closing. So we headed round the corner to an empty 10th Presbyterian Church and simply did it there. Ideal. Our conversation covered a lot of ground, from the African-American experience and cultural legacy (from the spirituals via the blues to Jazz) to civil rights, and her work with HIV/AIDS people in Philly and East Africa, without forgetting her photographic work in black and white portraiture.

In passing, we encountered Queen Victoria, Malcolm X, Gethsemane, white guys playing jazz (‘All I want to know is if they can swing!‘), the great note after the wrong note, justice peace and all that jazz. We even got on to church planting in the inner-city. It was a blast and an inspiration. Hope you’ll enjoy it too.

You can find out more about Ruth and her music on her official website. The albums from which I took excerpts for the podcast are:

Walk and not be faint (1999)
Fan into Flame (2002)
Root to the Fruit (2006)

But as far as I can tell, the only album for download is Heaven In A Nightclub, from which all the excerpts on the podcast are drawn. This is a live recording of a whole series of events that Ruth and Bill Edgar (from Westminster Seminary) have put on around the US and Europe, designed to give insight into the deeply theological roots of Jazz.

They’re accompanied here by Joe Solzano on sax, and the extraordinary John Patitucci on bass (listen out for his remarkable solo, Jesus on the Mainline). Bill Edgar gives a thoughtful, historically rich intro to many of the tracks, though not in a heavy or intrusive way. Once heard though, worth unchecking the talky bits to get the musical bits straight. I reviewed it on Amazon here.

There is not a lot of her photography online, but you can get the idea from the few she’s put on her photography page (screenshot below). As she describes in the podcast, she’s fascinated by the spectrum from black to white in her portraits, and they really do make you see the textures of grey in a new light. They are stunning.

She’s a brilliant musician. Though, having said all this, and despite thoroughly enjoyed my time chatting with her, I’m not sure even that is enough to justify spending this much on one of her albums!! The good thing, though, is that Amazon is not the only way to buy CDs. Best to do it through her website.

Filed under: 20th Century, 21st Century, Africa, art & painting, arts, beauty, christian experience, Christianity, church planting, culture, Easter, faith, Good Friday, gratitude, injustice, Jesus, Kenya, kingdom of God, music, persecution, photos, podcasts, racism, REAL life, slavery, USA Tagged: African-Americans, blues, creativity, Deep South, HIV/AIDS, jazz, spirituals

Wisdom from the Palaver Tree: Kofi Annan’s impossible job cajoling the world

quaesitor — Tue, 07 May 2013 08:57:44 +0000

I have just finished Kofi Annan’s fascinating memoir Interventions. Annan is clearly a man of great stature and influence, who strained every sinew to bring about peace and dialogue during his 10 years as UN Secretary-General but tragically often failed. For all kinds of reasons. But as one might expect (and indeed hope), he has great wisdom to share, even if he cannot claim a string of personal triumphs.

But before a few gems, here’s my brief Amazon review (which you may want to find ‘helpful’?!):

There’s no disputing Kofi Annan’s political stature or integrity of purpose. Nor can the challenges of his 10 years in one of the hardest jobs in politics be underestimated. I imagine that being UN Secretary-General is akin to being Archbishop of Canterbury – you are neither president nor pope, and so any effect you might have depends on the canny use of influence, impartiality and persuasion, rather than actual constitutional power. I can’t even begin to imagine how frustrating and difficult the job must be, let alone doing it for so long.

That said, if Annan is to be believed from this account, there were some encouraging achievements from his time (East Timor independence from Indonesia, Kenya election deadlock negotiations) despite the many debacles (eg Iraq War, Rwanda genocide while he was director of peace keeping). At times this book feels more like a case for the defence than anything else (but then perhaps all political memoirs are like that?). We certainly don’t really get to know him as a man – there are precious hints of his upbringing (his father sounds a fascinating and remarkable person in his own right), little chinks of light into his own family. For instance, it would be fascinating to hear more about his Swedish second wife, Nane, who it transpires is the niece of the renowned Raoul Wallenberg (who rescued scores of Jews from the Holocaust), p258. So the book’s subtitle seems a little misleading. “A life in war and peace” suggests something more autobiographical – instead what we get is more an account of “a career in war and peace”. For all that, this book offers a fascinating window into closed rooms and private discussions.

Uncommonly for diplomats, he is pretty candid about where he sees blame lying for things – he is not beyond criticising his predecessor Boutros Boutros-Ghali, and is robust (rightly) about the twists and turns leading up to the Iraq war. Most significantly, he felt he had a right to speak frankly to Africa’s leaders about their failings – and was perhaps the only African in recent history, apart from Mandela, to have the standing to do this and be listened to. The contrast he makes between Mandela and Mugabe is instructive – the former always understood that institutions are more important than the individuals that run them, unlike his Zimbabwean neighbour. However, is it too much to expect him to account for his own mistakes? I didn’t really discover any of note in this book. Well I suppose you wouldn’t expect that in a case for the defence, and that is perhaps where the flaw in this book lies.

Nevertheless, my respect for Annan increased on reading this book, as did my understanding of what the UN can be at its best. For much of the time, despite its controversies, profligacy and waste, and impotency, I feel sure the world is a safer place because of its existence.

The Experience of the Palaver Tree

The tradition of enforced negotiation is deeply ingrained in parts of Africa, despite the horrors of post-Independence Africa.

In this respect, my father was representative of a deeper cultural tradition of patience, negotiation, and reconciliation. For Ghanaians, the concept of the African palaver tree has always been a tangible part of our heritage, and a source of the relative peace and harmony among myriad tribes and religions. A place to meet and talk, to seek compromise and settle disputes, to bridge differences and foster unity – this was the meaning of the palaver tree. Of course, this tradition coexisted with centuries of warfare between the Ashanti and other tribes, when compromise was elusive and force deployed. More recently, in the first decades of the republic, a series of military coups that scarred the character of the country and set back its development demonstrated our capacity to fail our heritage.

Nonetheless, the act of talking under the figurative palaver tree has resonance even today, in twenty-first-century Ghana. If you have a problem and you can’t find a solution, you meet again tomorrow and you keep talking until you find a solution. You can disagree with behaviour or a particular position, but you do not resort to calling an opponent worthless. This notion extends to the relationship between traditional chiefs and their tribes, where there is accountability in the case of abuse or arrogance, including providing for the removal of chiefs who have lost the trust and respect of their people. (p21)

But he doesn’t pull his punches about African governance, citing the economic stats at independence of Malaysia and his home, Ghana.

Ghana won its independence from Britain in 1957, at which point its per capita income was $390. Malaysia, too, won its independence from Britain in the same year, a country with, at that time, apparently similar prospects for economic development to Ghana’s but with a lower per capita income of $270…

The contrasting impact of these different trajectories on the lives of all men, women, and children in these two countries is now very clear: today Malaysia has a per capita income approximately thirteen times higher than Ghana’s. Taking this example, colonialism is practically irrelevant to the debate. The nub of the problem is African leadership and African institutions. (p176)

The Challenge of Poverty

Fighting poverty is a key part of the Millennium Development Goals. But of course there are many who shrug in resignation at the intractability of poverty in the world. Here he cites a conversation with former Archbishop of Canterbury, from whom he sought spiritual counsel on this issue. Rowan Williams made a vital, biblical point. After putting the case from Deuteronomy 15:11 that there will always be poor in the land, Williams responded:

“To some extent this is based in thinking that the poor are victims of human sin: that there will always be poor people, because there will always be sinners,” he replied.

“We shouldn’t be complacent,” I responded, trying to find a way out of an excuse for inaction.

The archbishop stressed his agreement: “the idea of shared accountability and social responsibility is explained in the Old Testament, and can be applied to the issue of helping the poor. Deuteronomy 15:4: ‘There should be no poor person among you.’ This is why Deuteronomy 15:11 should be interpreted as instruction that the poor are part of society and should not be ignored, not that we cannot strive to end their plight.” I thanked him for this piece of armory that I had never imagined I would need. (p228)

Then there was this crucial point from economist Amartya Sen

Amartya Sen, the Nobel Prize-winning economist, provides examples from history demonstrating that it is not so much the abundance of resources that is the prime determinant of outcomes for the poor, but the values underpinning their use. During the Second World War, the resources available in Great Britain fell throughout the conflict, particularly in the net availability of food. But (excluding war-related deaths) nutritional health and life expectancy actually rose, and did so dramatically, across the population during the war years. Rather than a decline in care and the state of the vulnerable, the deprivations of war spurred new supportive and sharing social arrangements leading to a radical transformation int he food-distribution and health care systems, with dramatic results. The difference was driven by something very simple: a change in the attitudes to sharing.

This is a vital lesson to take to the years of economic downturn and the tightening of budgets. (p250)

It makes me wonder whether or not we wouldn’t be all better off if we went back to ration cards…

The Legacy of Iraq

Annan holds back his real fire for the final chapter, which is a discussion of the Iraq War. It is pretty scathing and scary.

[US & UK] way of defending the authority of the United Nations and the Security Council was to ignore its authority when its judgment didn’t suit them. And in an extraordinary line of reasoning for a parliamentarian, Tony Blair decided to argue that since they couldn’t receive enough support of their actions in the Council, the Council – and not they – had rendered itself illegitimate. (p364)

By behaving the way it did, the United States invited the perception among many in the world – including many long-time allies – that it was becoming a greater threat to global security than anything Saddam could muster. This was a self-inflicted wound of historic proportions – and one that did immense, and possibly lasting, damage to US standing in the world. (p366)

Evidence of this is the sheer relief the world felt when Obama got in in 2008, hence his rather absurd Nobel Peace Prize (which has a cruel irony now that it is clear he has used more drones than anyone else and Guantanamo is still open for business). One can only hope that in this crazy and dark world there are others like Annan who work for peace, however flawed, compromised and frustrating the process might be. For human lives are at stake (in case anyone hadn’t noticed).

The horror came very close to home. Sergio Vieira de Mello was a close friend of Annan’s and personally commissioned to run the UN work in post-invasion Iraq. But he was killed with over 20 others when the UN compound was bombed. This was a tribute to him and his chief of staff, Nadia Younes.

Epitaph to Sergio & Nadia

Sergio and Nadia lived lives of sacrifice and substance. Their deaths both shame and mock the armchair warriors, the television talk-show mudwrestlers, the pontificators, the manipulators and the simplifiers. Their deaths are a reminder that imperium, no matter how benign its intent, is never altruistic and calls forth its own responses. And their lives are a reminder that it is just possible to do some small good in this rank, sorry, blood-drenched world. Steven Erlanger, journalist and friend of Sergio and Nadia, New York Times, August 24, 2003

Annan has no illusions (how can you in that job). But he does still have ideals. And that is remarkable.

The UN is not – and has never been – a pacifist organisation. But on the question of war and peace, if it does not stand up for the principles of its Charter, it not only places itself outside the law but also loses its legitimacy around the world. (p366)

Filed under: 21st Century, Africa, books & book reviews, corruption, culture, current affairs, injustice, leadership, Nelson Mandela, politics, power, Prime Minister, South Africa, UK, US presidency, USA, Zimbabwe Tagged: election deadlock, middle-east, politics, raoul wallenberg, rwanda genocide

Je Recuse! Privilege’s curse & why you should stop reading this blog (probably)

quaesitor — Sun, 05 May 2013 09:53:20 +0000

I’ve got a problem. But it’s not the sort of problem that you’re going to have much sympathy for. In fact, it’s not the sort of problem that you’re allowed to have much sympathy for. Because my problem is that i’m far too privileged – for my own good or for anyone else’s good. Which is why, in this day and age, anything I say or claim will be subject to greater suspicion than what practically anyone else on the planet will say or claim. If you don’t believe me, check this succinct quote out from Gene Veith:

The deconstructionists develop a ‘hermeneutic of suspicion’. They approach a text not to find out what it objectively means, but to unmask what is hiding. These texts are “privileged” because they codify and justify the racism, sexism, homophobia, imperialism, economic oppression, sexual repression (take your pick) that is the hidden superstructure of the culture. (Guide to Contemporary Culture, Crossway 1994, p54)

OK, so far so good. And don’t get me wrong. There is a deep validity to this hermeneutic of suspicion – not least because as the ancient prophet once said, “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” We all have agendas and schemes which we keep hidden from view. Scepticism is one necessary protection against being deceived or exploited. Fine.

But here’s my problem. You shouldn’t really take me seriously at all, or at least, you should be wary of any authority I claim to have. Let me show you why.

I am a man. And we all know what men have done to women since the dawn of time.
I am white. And we all know what whites have done to pretty much everyone else in the last 500 years or so.
I am Privately Educated. And we all know how toffs treat the plebs.
I went to both Oxford and (sort of) Cambridge. And we all know how many doors those places open.
I was born with a silver (well, more like brass) spoon in my mouth. And we all know how the wealthy exploit the poor. Oh and by the way, even if you didn’t have all the privileges of my background, if you live in the UK or US, you are almost certainly in the top 3% of the globe’s wealthy.
I am British. And we all know what the British empire did. And of course, Britons (like me) are constantly looking to recapture some of our old prestige and influence.
I have always had a job when I needed on. And we all know how hard it is for those without work to get it, especially if unemployed for a long period.
I am married with kids. And we all know how marginalised that inevitably makes the childless, singles, gay, widowed, divorced etc feel.
I have floated my vote for all 3 main parties in my time (i.e. never UKIP), but I grew up with Tories being default (not least because various grandfathers and uncles were all Tory MPs); and we all know how the right always despises and exploits the poor.
I am a Christian. And we all know how the absurd credulity of Christians has always led to oppression, persecution and war. To make matters worse, I am what you might call an ‘evangelical’ – which means that I’m essentially a fundamentalist obscurantist who always ignores reality in favour of a self-serving ideology of power in the guise of the gift of grace.
I was for a time a “missionary” in Africa. Yikes. And we all know the cultural and political vandalism all missionaries have left wherever they have gone. And we especially all know how paternalistic and racist whites in Africa always are.
I am able-bodied. And we all know how invariably they callously ignore the plight of those less physically able.

And finally

I (like to think I) have all my mental faculties - oh, wait, hang on… I’ve battled with depression for the last 8 years or so. So that’s ok.

I’ve at last got something to give me some sort of affliction to be proud of. But I’m sure you’ll agree, this is nothing like enough to hold counteract the torrent of privilege.

Now please don’t misunderstand. I’m not claiming your sympathies for a poor little rich boy. Nor am I pouring scorn on those who have been forced to climb the mountains of life that I’ve not had to. I’m simply saying that applying the hermeneutic of suspicion to its logical conclusion means I have no longer have anything legitimate to contribute… to anything. It’s not enough even to acknowledge my privileges. My submissions are de facto ruled inadmissible.

So there we have it. I have no alternative.

Je Recuse. Adieu.

Filed under: arts, christian experience, Christianity, culture, current affairs, depression, faith, family, insecurity, political correctness, postmodernism, psychology, REAL life, tolerance, UK, wealth, worldviews

Q marks the spot – Treasure Map 56 (May 2013)

quaesitor — Wed, 01 May 2013 07:00:01 +0000

A brief plug before this outing. Someone asked how I keep track of various internet things. My secret is the wonder that is Pocket. People send me stuff or I see stuff on my RSS reader (NetNewsWire if you’re interested), and then I click pocket in the browser – and can then check them out off-line on my phone on trains and tubes etc. Simple really – so there you are.

Sacred Treasure

This is a wakeup call – a global rich list tied to an appeal to donate to the world’s poorest. Very simple, very effective.
A more interesting conversation now that “Richard Dawkins has lost…”
A brief but pastorally important response to suicide amongst believers.

Chris Green has lots of wisdom about using commentaries – v helpful
Is gay marriage a fast track to polygamy? Dangerous question?! But the Economist is the one asking it!
Jim Packer touches on an ESSENTIAL virtue – the willingness to embrace our weakness.

Topical Treasure

The language is more than fruity here – but it’s a very interesting article: where are all the right-wing stand ups?
Revisiting the horror: returning to Buchenwald on the anniversary of its liberation (HT 22 Words)
Of all the reflections on Thatcher (eulogising or demonising), Russell Brand gives one of the most thoughtful.
50 years since The Spy Who Came in From the Cold came out, John Le Carré asks how much has actually changed.

Quirky Treasure

When the White House was gutted (this time not by British arson – ho ho)
Fantastic – Modern Art Cakes from San Francisco. I particularly like the Mondrian Cake (right)
Bringing people back from the dead.
10 extreme airports that flirt with disaster
What cities would be like if there were no light pollution or power cuts
The Simpsons as great art…!

Filed under: 20th Century, 21st Century, advertising, Americas, art & painting, arts, beauty, bible, christian experience, church, culture, faith, God, internet, maps, photos, poetry, REAL life, religion, Second World War, social media, space, worldviews