Monday, November 17, 2008
Violence against journalists during protest against media censorship !!
BBC :
Police in Sudan have arrested more than 60 journalists during a protest against media censorship, witnesses say.
Riot police armed with canes and shields rounded up the journalists outside parliament and took them to a police station, witnesses say.
Those detained have subsequently been released, officials say.
Demonstrators said they had been protesting against a press crackdown under way despite guarantees of media freedom in a 2005 peace deal.
Those arrested included senior editorial staff and a number of women, witnesses said.
Murtada el-Ghali, editor in chief of the Ajras al-Hurriya newspaper, told AFP news agency that police had taken mobile phones and money from some of those arrested.
"We are in one room," he said.
"We are sitting on the floor. They took our names. I am the only editor in chief, but there are editing managers, high-ranking journalists and 27 girls among us."
There have been weeks of protests against media censorship in Sudan led by Ajras al-Hurriya and two other papers.
The 2005 peace agreement that brought an end to Sudan's north-south civil war is meant to uphold freedom of expression and the press.
But correspondents say laws guaranteeing media freedom have not been passed and the government keeps tight control over what newspapers publish.
Editors say that newspapers are now subject to nightly checks by the security forces who routinely remove articles they do not approve of.
The former southern rebels, the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), have condemned the arrests.
Police in Sudan have arrested more than 60 journalists during a protest against media censorship, witnesses say.
Riot police armed with canes and shields rounded up the journalists outside parliament and took them to a police station, witnesses say.
Those detained have subsequently been released, officials say.
Demonstrators said they had been protesting against a press crackdown under way despite guarantees of media freedom in a 2005 peace deal.
Those arrested included senior editorial staff and a number of women, witnesses said.
Murtada el-Ghali, editor in chief of the Ajras al-Hurriya newspaper, told AFP news agency that police had taken mobile phones and money from some of those arrested.
"We are in one room," he said.
"We are sitting on the floor. They took our names. I am the only editor in chief, but there are editing managers, high-ranking journalists and 27 girls among us."
There have been weeks of protests against media censorship in Sudan led by Ajras al-Hurriya and two other papers.
The 2005 peace agreement that brought an end to Sudan's north-south civil war is meant to uphold freedom of expression and the press.
But correspondents say laws guaranteeing media freedom have not been passed and the government keeps tight control over what newspapers publish.
Editors say that newspapers are now subject to nightly checks by the security forces who routinely remove articles they do not approve of.
The former southern rebels, the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), have condemned the arrests.
Saturday, November 15, 2008
RIP Miriam Makeba
Miriam Makeba (4 March 1932 - 10 November 2008) was a South African singer and civil rights activist. The Grammy Award winning afrobeat artist is often referred to as Mama Afrika.
Zenzile Miriam Makeba was born in Johannesburg in 1932. Her mother was a Swazi sangoma and her father, who died when she was six, was a Xhosa. As a child, she sang at the Kilmerton Training Institute in Pretoria, which she attended for eight years.
Makeba first toured with an amateur group. Her professional career began in the 1950s with the Manhattan Brothers, before she formed her own group, The Skylarks, singing a blend of jazz and traditional melodies of South Africa.
In 1959, she performed in the musical King Kong alongside Hugh Masekela, her future husband. Though she was a successful recording artist, she was only receiving a few dollars for each recording session and no provisional royalties, and was keen to go to the US. Her break came when she starred in the anti-apartheid documentary Come Back, Africa in 1959 by independent filmmaker Lionel Rogosin. She attended the premiere of the film at the Venice Film Festival.
Makeba then travelled to London where she met Harry Belafonte, who assisted her in gaining entry to and fame in the United States. She released many of her most famous hits there including "Pata Pata", "The Click Song" ("Qongqothwane" in Xhosa), and "Malaika". In 1966, Makeba received the Grammy Award for Best Folk Recording together with Harry Belafonte for An Evening With Belafonte/Makeba. The album dealt with the political plight of black South Africans under apartheid.
She discovered that her South African passport was revoked when she tried to return there in 1960 for her mother's funeral. In 1963, after testifying against apartheid before the United Nations, her South African citizenship and her right to return to the country were revoked. She has had nine passports, and was granted honorary citizenship of ten countries.
Her marriage to Trinidadian civil rights activist and Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee leader Stokely Carmichael in 1968 caused controversy in the United States, and her record deals and tours were cancelled. As a result of this, the couple moved to Guinea, where they became close with President Ahmed Sékou Touré and his wife. Makeba separated from Carmichael in 1973, and continued to perform primarily in Africa, South America and Europe. She was one of the African and Afro-American entertainers at the 1974 Rumble in the Jungle match between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman held in Zaïre. Makeba also served as a Guinean delegate to the United Nations, for which she won the Dag Hammarskjöld Peace Prize in 1986.
After the death of her only daughter Bongi Makeba in 1985, she moved to Brussels. In 1987, she appeared in Paul Simon's Graceland tour. Shortly thereafter she published her autobiography Makeba.
Nelson Mandela persuaded her to return to South Africa in 1990. In November 1991, she made a guest appearance in an episode of The Cosby Show, in the episode "Olivia Comes Out Of The Closet". In 1992 she starred in the film Sarafina!, about the 1976 Soweto youth uprisings, as the title character's mother, "Angelina." She also took part in the 2002 documentary Amandla!: A Revolution in Four-Part Harmony where she and others recalled the days of apartheid.
In January 2000, her album, Homeland, produced by Cedric Samson and Michael Levinsohn was nominated for a Grammy Award in the "Best World Music" category.
In 2001 she was awarded the Gold Otto Hahn Peace Medal by the United Nations Association of Germany (DGVN) in Berlin, "for outstanding services to peace and international understanding". In 2002, she shared the Polar Music Prize with Sofia Gubaidulina. In 2004, Makeba was voted 38th in the Top 100 Great South Africans. Makeba started a worldwide farewell tour in 2005, holding concerts in all of those countries that she had visited during her working life.
Her publicist notes that Makeba had suffered "severe arthritis" for some time.
On 9 November 2008, she became ill while taking part in a concert organized to support writer Roberto Saviano in his stand against the Camorra a mafia-like organisation local to the Region of Campania. The concert was being held in Castel Volturno, near Caserta, Italy.
A few days before 9 November 2008, an Italian journalist called Miriam Makeba in Amsterdam for an interview, however, Makeba replied that she was sorry because she was too exhausted and didn't have the strength to grant the interview. Days later she found the energy to talk about Roberto Saviano, her tremendous love for Nelson Mandela, and the new hope of Barack Obama.
The morning of 9 November 2008, Makeba agreed to sing for the sons and daughters of immigrants staying at a local charitable organization and shelter in Castelvolturno, Centro Fernandes, where she also posed for pictures and exchanged hugs with the crowds. She stayed at Centro Fernandes until 1pm. She retired to her hotel room until 9:30pm when she arrived backstage at the concert held to remember the Camorra's victims like Domenico Noviello killed on 16 May 2008 and six immigrants of African descent killed on 19 September 2008.
Perhaps angry about immigrant drug dealers cutting in on their turf in general, on September 18, 2008 members of the local Camorra shot and killed six immigrants of African descent who were working in a store selling ethnic products in Castelvolturno.
Violent riots erupted among immigrants and locals prompting Italy's Minister of the Interior to dispatch 400 law enforcement agents to help keep the peace in Castelvolturno as well as other affected areas in the province of Caserta.
Organizers and the construction crew working on Miriam Makeba's last concert in Castelvolturno were threatened by members of the Camorra to pay 2000 euros for the anti-Camorra concert to go on without incident;shaken organizers bravely refused to pay the Camorra and contacted Carabinieri police officers to ensure safety during the concert.
Makeba performed for around an hour and suffered a heart attack after singing her hit "Pata Pata", and was taken to the "Pineta Grande" hospital. Doctors were unable to revive her.
Makeba had requested an English version of Saviano's book, "Gomorra" from one of the concert's organizers, Corrado Gabriele. As the last notes of the grand finale, "Pata Pata," played, Gabriele and another organizer, Maria Nazionale, began climbing on the stage to present Miriam Makeba the requested book with an inscription of hope that all Africans would be able to feel happy and free in Italy. Makeba fell on the stage to the horror of the terrified and worried audience. Someone shouted words of encouragement like, "Come on, you can make it!"
When Miriam Makeba arrived at Pineta Grande Clinic she was surrounded by her entourage. She seemed to be feeling better as for the most part she regained her pulse, however, after drinking some cognac she suffered a second heart attack, that one being fatal. In his condolence message, former South African president Nelson Mandela said it was “fitting that her last moments were spent on a stage, enriching the hearts and lives of others - and again in support of a good cause.”
Zenzile Miriam Makeba was born in Johannesburg in 1932. Her mother was a Swazi sangoma and her father, who died when she was six, was a Xhosa. As a child, she sang at the Kilmerton Training Institute in Pretoria, which she attended for eight years.
Makeba first toured with an amateur group. Her professional career began in the 1950s with the Manhattan Brothers, before she formed her own group, The Skylarks, singing a blend of jazz and traditional melodies of South Africa.
In 1959, she performed in the musical King Kong alongside Hugh Masekela, her future husband. Though she was a successful recording artist, she was only receiving a few dollars for each recording session and no provisional royalties, and was keen to go to the US. Her break came when she starred in the anti-apartheid documentary Come Back, Africa in 1959 by independent filmmaker Lionel Rogosin. She attended the premiere of the film at the Venice Film Festival.
Makeba then travelled to London where she met Harry Belafonte, who assisted her in gaining entry to and fame in the United States. She released many of her most famous hits there including "Pata Pata", "The Click Song" ("Qongqothwane" in Xhosa), and "Malaika". In 1966, Makeba received the Grammy Award for Best Folk Recording together with Harry Belafonte for An Evening With Belafonte/Makeba. The album dealt with the political plight of black South Africans under apartheid.
She discovered that her South African passport was revoked when she tried to return there in 1960 for her mother's funeral. In 1963, after testifying against apartheid before the United Nations, her South African citizenship and her right to return to the country were revoked. She has had nine passports, and was granted honorary citizenship of ten countries.
Her marriage to Trinidadian civil rights activist and Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee leader Stokely Carmichael in 1968 caused controversy in the United States, and her record deals and tours were cancelled. As a result of this, the couple moved to Guinea, where they became close with President Ahmed Sékou Touré and his wife. Makeba separated from Carmichael in 1973, and continued to perform primarily in Africa, South America and Europe. She was one of the African and Afro-American entertainers at the 1974 Rumble in the Jungle match between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman held in Zaïre. Makeba also served as a Guinean delegate to the United Nations, for which she won the Dag Hammarskjöld Peace Prize in 1986.
After the death of her only daughter Bongi Makeba in 1985, she moved to Brussels. In 1987, she appeared in Paul Simon's Graceland tour. Shortly thereafter she published her autobiography Makeba.
Nelson Mandela persuaded her to return to South Africa in 1990. In November 1991, she made a guest appearance in an episode of The Cosby Show, in the episode "Olivia Comes Out Of The Closet". In 1992 she starred in the film Sarafina!, about the 1976 Soweto youth uprisings, as the title character's mother, "Angelina." She also took part in the 2002 documentary Amandla!: A Revolution in Four-Part Harmony where she and others recalled the days of apartheid.
In January 2000, her album, Homeland, produced by Cedric Samson and Michael Levinsohn was nominated for a Grammy Award in the "Best World Music" category.
In 2001 she was awarded the Gold Otto Hahn Peace Medal by the United Nations Association of Germany (DGVN) in Berlin, "for outstanding services to peace and international understanding". In 2002, she shared the Polar Music Prize with Sofia Gubaidulina. In 2004, Makeba was voted 38th in the Top 100 Great South Africans. Makeba started a worldwide farewell tour in 2005, holding concerts in all of those countries that she had visited during her working life.
Her publicist notes that Makeba had suffered "severe arthritis" for some time.
On 9 November 2008, she became ill while taking part in a concert organized to support writer Roberto Saviano in his stand against the Camorra a mafia-like organisation local to the Region of Campania. The concert was being held in Castel Volturno, near Caserta, Italy.
A few days before 9 November 2008, an Italian journalist called Miriam Makeba in Amsterdam for an interview, however, Makeba replied that she was sorry because she was too exhausted and didn't have the strength to grant the interview. Days later she found the energy to talk about Roberto Saviano, her tremendous love for Nelson Mandela, and the new hope of Barack Obama.
The morning of 9 November 2008, Makeba agreed to sing for the sons and daughters of immigrants staying at a local charitable organization and shelter in Castelvolturno, Centro Fernandes, where she also posed for pictures and exchanged hugs with the crowds. She stayed at Centro Fernandes until 1pm. She retired to her hotel room until 9:30pm when she arrived backstage at the concert held to remember the Camorra's victims like Domenico Noviello killed on 16 May 2008 and six immigrants of African descent killed on 19 September 2008.
Perhaps angry about immigrant drug dealers cutting in on their turf in general, on September 18, 2008 members of the local Camorra shot and killed six immigrants of African descent who were working in a store selling ethnic products in Castelvolturno.
Violent riots erupted among immigrants and locals prompting Italy's Minister of the Interior to dispatch 400 law enforcement agents to help keep the peace in Castelvolturno as well as other affected areas in the province of Caserta.
Organizers and the construction crew working on Miriam Makeba's last concert in Castelvolturno were threatened by members of the Camorra to pay 2000 euros for the anti-Camorra concert to go on without incident;shaken organizers bravely refused to pay the Camorra and contacted Carabinieri police officers to ensure safety during the concert.
Makeba performed for around an hour and suffered a heart attack after singing her hit "Pata Pata", and was taken to the "Pineta Grande" hospital. Doctors were unable to revive her.
Makeba had requested an English version of Saviano's book, "Gomorra" from one of the concert's organizers, Corrado Gabriele. As the last notes of the grand finale, "Pata Pata," played, Gabriele and another organizer, Maria Nazionale, began climbing on the stage to present Miriam Makeba the requested book with an inscription of hope that all Africans would be able to feel happy and free in Italy. Makeba fell on the stage to the horror of the terrified and worried audience. Someone shouted words of encouragement like, "Come on, you can make it!"
When Miriam Makeba arrived at Pineta Grande Clinic she was surrounded by her entourage. She seemed to be feeling better as for the most part she regained her pulse, however, after drinking some cognac she suffered a second heart attack, that one being fatal. In his condolence message, former South African president Nelson Mandela said it was “fitting that her last moments were spent on a stage, enriching the hearts and lives of others - and again in support of a good cause.”
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Monday, October 27, 2008
Monday, October 20, 2008
Friday, October 17, 2008
Media (3)
This cartoon is one of my participation in The International Digital Media Contest - Iran 2008 .
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Media (2)
This cartoon is one of my participation in The International Digital Media Contest - Iran 2008 .
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Pictures from Kurdufan by Abshanabb
This pics toke from Kuddfan State . I born in this beautil state .. it is so wonderdul place and the peole are such kind . The pics toke by Babeker Ahmad Babeker or much known as ( Abshanabb ) .
Kurdufan covers an area of some 376,145 km² (146,932 miles²), with an estimated population in 2000 of 3.6 million (3 million in 1983). It is largely an undulating plain, with the Nuba Mountains in the southeast quarter. During the rainy season from June to September, the area is fertile, but in the dry season, it is virtually desert. The region’s chief town is El Obeid (Al-Ubayyid).
Kurdufan covers an area of some 376,145 km² (146,932 miles²), with an estimated population in 2000 of 3.6 million (3 million in 1983). It is largely an undulating plain, with the Nuba Mountains in the southeast quarter. During the rainy season from June to September, the area is fertile, but in the dry season, it is virtually desert. The region’s chief town is El Obeid (Al-Ubayyid).
Traditionally the area is known for production of gum Arabic. Other crops include groundnuts, cotton, and millet. The main tribal groups are the Arab tribes, such as Dar Hamid, Kawahla, Hamar, Bedairiah, Joamaah, Rekabeiah, beside the Nuba, meanhile Shilluk, and Dinka are ethnic minorties. Large grazing areas used and inhabited since hundred of years by Arabic-speaking, semi-nomadic Baggara and camel-raising Kababish in Northern Kordofan.
The Kordofanian languages are spoken by a small minority in southern Kordofan and are unique to the region, as are the Kadu languages but Arabic is the main and widely spoken language in Greater Kordofan Region.
According to what Ignaz Pallme writes in his book Kordofan , published in 1843, in 1779 the King of Sennaar , sent the Sheikh Nacib, with two thousand cavalry, to take possession of the country which remained for about five years, under the government of Sennaar. In this period several Arab people, and native people from Sennaar and Dongola, immigrated into the country; moreover, agriculture and commerce began to flourish.
Now the Sultan of Darfour directed its attention towards Kordofan, and entered on a campaign, in which the region was driven out of Sennaar for ever. Kordofan was now governed in the name of the Sultan of Darfour, up to the year 1821. During these years the country was also prosperous: the inhabitants lived in peace, and were not troubled with taxes; the merchants were exempt from all duties, and the tribute paid was a voluntary present to the Sultan of Darfour. Bara, the second commercial town of importance in the country, was built by the Dongolavi. The Commerce extended in all directions: caravans brought products from Abyssinia and from Egypt into the two towns of Lobeid and Bara, whence the greater part was again transported into other countries of Africa.
This state of prosperity ended in 1821 when Mehemet Ali, Ottoman Viceroy of Egypt sent his son-in-law, Defturdar, with about 4,500 soldiers and eight pieces of artillery, to subject Kordofan to his power. The monopoly enjoyed by the Egyptian governors in Kordofan totally impeded trade in general and any free entrepreneurial activity.
The Kordofanian languages are spoken by a small minority in southern Kordofan and are unique to the region, as are the Kadu languages but Arabic is the main and widely spoken language in Greater Kordofan Region.
According to what Ignaz Pallme writes in his book Kordofan , published in 1843, in 1779 the King of Sennaar , sent the Sheikh Nacib, with two thousand cavalry, to take possession of the country which remained for about five years, under the government of Sennaar. In this period several Arab people, and native people from Sennaar and Dongola, immigrated into the country; moreover, agriculture and commerce began to flourish.
Now the Sultan of Darfour directed its attention towards Kordofan, and entered on a campaign, in which the region was driven out of Sennaar for ever. Kordofan was now governed in the name of the Sultan of Darfour, up to the year 1821. During these years the country was also prosperous: the inhabitants lived in peace, and were not troubled with taxes; the merchants were exempt from all duties, and the tribute paid was a voluntary present to the Sultan of Darfour. Bara, the second commercial town of importance in the country, was built by the Dongolavi. The Commerce extended in all directions: caravans brought products from Abyssinia and from Egypt into the two towns of Lobeid and Bara, whence the greater part was again transported into other countries of Africa.
This state of prosperity ended in 1821 when Mehemet Ali, Ottoman Viceroy of Egypt sent his son-in-law, Defturdar, with about 4,500 soldiers and eight pieces of artillery, to subject Kordofan to his power. The monopoly enjoyed by the Egyptian governors in Kordofan totally impeded trade in general and any free entrepreneurial activity.
The Mohamd Ahmad Al-Mahdi captured El Obeid in 1883. The Egyptian government dispatched a force from Cairo under the British General William Hicks, which was ambushed and annihilated at Sheikan to the south of El Obeid. Following British reoccupation in 1898, Kurdufan was added to the number of provinces of the Sudan.
Monday, October 13, 2008
Petre Ţuţea
Petre Ţuţea (October 6, 1902 - December 3, 1991) was a Romanian philosopher, journalist and economist.
Ţuţea was born in the village of Boteni, Muscel region (now in Argeş County). His father, Petre Bădescu, was a Romanian Orthodox priest and his mother, Ana Ţuţea, was of peasant stock. Ţuţea graduated from the University in Cluj where he also obtained a PhD in Administrative Law.He moved to Bucharest and in 1932, he founded, together with Petre Pandrea , a leftist newspaper, "Stânga" ("The Left"), that was quickly and forcefully closed by the government. In 1935 Ţuţea and four other writers published a nationalist program of economic and social development, "Manifestul revoluţiei naţionale" ("Manifesto for a National Revolution").
Around the same time he met the influential philosopher Nae Ionescu and wrote for his famous newspaper "Cuvântul" along with Mircea Eliade, Emil Cioran, Radu Gyr, Mircea Vulcănescu, Mihail Sebastian and other known writers.
Ţuţea became a sympathizer of the Iron Guard, a right-wing, ultra-nationalist organization. Between 1936 and 1939, he was a director in the Ministry of Trade and Industry, in charge of the Office of Economics Publications and Propaganda, then a Director of the research office in the Ministry of Foreign Trade. After the National Legionary State was proclaimed in 1940, he was a member of the Romanian economic delegation to Moscow.
After Romania joined the war, Ţuţea worked as a director in the Ministry of War Economy and after August 23, 1944 became Director of studies in the Ministry of National Economy.
Ţuţea was arrested by the Communist regime in 1949 without a trial, and was sent to re-education at Ocnele Mari. He was released in 1953 and, unable to find work, he lived with friends. Arrested again in 1956, he was tried and sentenced for "Conspiracy against the State" (a standard accusation thrown at intellectuals of all stripes) to 18 years of hard labor, of which he served 8 years in various prisons, ending up in the infamous prison of Aiud.
After the release of all political prisoners in 1964, Petre Ţuţea became known as a socratic type of philosopher. He also started to write books and essays, created an original dramatic form, "Theater as Seminar" and produced a philosophical manifesto, "The Philosophy of Nuances" (1969). Due to censorship very little of his work could be published and virtually nothing appeared after 1972. Under permanent observation, Ţuţea had many of his manuscripts confiscated by the Romanian secret police, the Securitat . In the late 1980s he started working on a massive unfinished project in five volumes, "Man, a Christian Treatise of Anthropology".
After the 1989 Romanian Revolution, Ţuţea was embraced by Romanian intellectuals, receiving frequent requests from journalists and TV crews for interviews while living for one year with a student in theology, Radu Preda. During the last year of his life, Ţuţea was interned in a Christian hospice, "Christiana", where he passed away of old age, without seeing any of his books published.
His most popular book (sold in more than 70,000 copies) is 322 de vorbe memorabile, a collection of aphorisms. Editura HumanitasBucharest, 1997
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Wild and free was Che Guevara !
Che Guevara (Peggy Seeger)
------------------------------------------------
The hunt is over, the hounds are weary
The hunter's home and laid him down
Wild and free was Che Guevara
Till torn and spent, they brought him to the ground.
The stars are lost in the fields of darkness
Hunters' moon stalks the empty night
Like a palmer, walks Che Guevara
Bearing songs to sow the world with light
The way is dark and beset with danger
The road may end in a prison cell
A guiding hand is Che Guevara
To lead us past the place at which he fell.
Brave men show the way and brave men follow
The Earth bless heroes when a hero dies
A hero's hero is Che Guevara
Meeting death with morning in his eyes.
In jungle earth, the hunters laid him
No stone to mark the lonely grave
Then farewell, comrade Che Guevara
We will clear the trail that you have blazed
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Victor Brauner
Victor Brauner (June 15, 1903 - March 12, 1966) was a Romanian Jewish painter, the brother of Harry Brauner .
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Boris Yefimovich Yefimov ( 1899 - 2008 )
Yefimov 'survived not because of Stalin's generosity of soul, but because his talents as a cartoonist'
Boris Yefimovich Yefimov (Russian: Борис Ефимович Ефимов) (September 28, 1899 or 1900– October 1, 2008) was a Soviet and Russian political cartoonist and propaganda artist best known for his political caricatures of Adolf Hitler and other Nazis produced before and during the Second World War, and was the chief artist of the newspaper Izvestia. During his 70 year career he produced more than 70,000 drawings.
He was born in Kiev as Boris Fridlyand (Friedland), the second son of a Jewish shoemaker. Shortly after his birth, his family moved to Białystok, where he grew up alongside his older brother Mikhail (who became the famous journalist Mikhail Koltsov, killed by Stalin in 1940). During the First World War, his family fled the advancing German armies and returned to Kiev, where he pursued legal studies. He began to express his emotions through caricatures of politicians, the first of which were published in 1919 and circulated in the Kievian Red Army.
From 1920 to 1921, Yefimov designed posters and brochures for the communist organisation Agitprop, finally moving to Moscow after his brother, who worked as an editor for Pravda, offered him a job drawing political cartoons. His artistic talent, directed mainly against the "capitalist west", gained him prominence, and his work started appearing in such titles as Izvestia, Krokodil and Ogonyok, a magazine founded by his brother Mikhail Koltsov (1898–1940). The year 1924 saw the publication of his first book, Political Cartoons (Russian: Политические карикатуры, Politicheskiye Karikatury), which included a foreword by Leon Trotsky, a risky move considering Stalin's antipathy. It therefore met with initial disapproval from the publisher, Yuri Steklov, who would later pay with his life for not having Trotsky's words removed. As the 1920s waned, Yefimov managed to avoid Stalin's wrath by portraying Trotsky as a traitor and fascist, despite their friendship.
Following the war, he traveled to the Nuremberg Trials with the task of caricaturizing the Nazi defendants. He was then ordered to poke fun at the Western powers in what was transforming into the Cold War. He went on to become the chief editor at Agitprop, and cooperated with Pravda until the 1980s. He published an autobiography, Moi Vek, for his centennial, and resided in Moscow.
He received USSR State Prizes in 1950 and 1951 and was named People's Painter of the USSR in 1967.
In a 2005 interview with Russian TV, Yefimov recalled his experiences in Petrograd during the Russian Revolution, admitting that he had changed his real name in order to dissimulate his Jewish origins.
On September 28, 2007, his 108th birthday, he was appointed to a post of the chief artist of the Izvestia newspaper. In 2008, Yefimov was still working, primarily writing memoirs and drawing friendly cartoons. Also, he was active in public life: he acted at whatever possible memorials and anniversary meetings, soirees and actions there were.
He died in Moscow on 1 October 2008 only three days after his 109th birthday. He was believed to be the oldest living Jew in the world at the time of his death.
Following the war, he traveled to the Nuremberg Trials with the task of caricaturizing the Nazi defendants. He was then ordered to poke fun at the Western powers in what was transforming into the Cold War. He went on to become the chief editor at Agitprop, and cooperated with Pravda until the 1980s. He published an autobiography, Moi Vek, for his centennial, and resided in Moscow.
He received USSR State Prizes in 1950 and 1951 and was named People's Painter of the USSR in 1967.
In a 2005 interview with Russian TV, Yefimov recalled his experiences in Petrograd during the Russian Revolution, admitting that he had changed his real name in order to dissimulate his Jewish origins.
On September 28, 2007, his 108th birthday, he was appointed to a post of the chief artist of the Izvestia newspaper. In 2008, Yefimov was still working, primarily writing memoirs and drawing friendly cartoons. Also, he was active in public life: he acted at whatever possible memorials and anniversary meetings, soirees and actions there were.
He died in Moscow on 1 October 2008 only three days after his 109th birthday. He was believed to be the oldest living Jew in the world at the time of his death.
Sunday, October 5, 2008
George Bacovia
George Bacovia (the pen name of George Vasiliu; September 17 [O.S. September 4] 1881–May 22 , 1957) was a Romanian symbolist poet. While he initially belonged to the Symbolist movement, his poetry came to be seen as a precursor of Romanian Modernism and eventually established him in critical esteem alongside Tudor Arghezi, Lucian Blaga and Ion Barbu as one of the most important interwar Romanian poets.
Bacovia was born George Andone Vasiliu in Bacău as the son of a merchant, Dimitrie Vasiliu, and his wife Zoe "Zoiţa" Vasiliu (née Langa). At only six years of age he began his study of German.Between 1889 and 1990 he started his schooling at an academy in Bacău, before registering in 1891 at the "Domnească" Primary School in the same city. In June 1893, he finished his primary schooling and afterward began studies at the Gimnaziul Ferdinand, also in Bacău. One night in the autumn, an oversight by the sexton led to his being locked overnight in the tower of the Precista church, an experience which would later inspire his first major poem, 1899's Amurg violet (Purple Twilight). He exhibited a talent for drawing and developed into an excellent violinist in the school orchestra, which he directed. He also distinguished himself in gymnastics.
In 1899, he received the national first prize in the contest "Tinerimii române" for "artistic drawings of nature." His poem Şi toate - written a year earlier under the name of "V. George" - was published in the magazine Literatorul on 30 March, launching his literary career.
In 1900, Bacovia matriculated at the Military Academy in Iaşi, but dropped out during his second semester, unable to bear military discipline. In 1901 he began studies at the Liceul Ferdinand in Bacău, from which he graduated in 1903. He wrote the poem Liceu (High School) in response to a Ministry of Education questionnaire sent to graduates in the course of Spiru Haret's educational reforms. He matriculated at the Faculty of Law in Bucharest and soon became a fixture in the city's literary life; an early reading of his poem Plumb (Lead) at Alexandru Macedonski's salon produced a powerful impression.
He continued reading his poems at Macedonski's salon, and in 1904 his Nervi de toamnă (Autumn nerves) obtained the same success. Helped by his growing reputation, he gained a position at the review Arta de la Iaşi and was able to stop his law studies. After two years in Bucharest with his brother Eugen, he returned to Bacău before matriculating at the University of Iaşi's Faculty of Law; despite his previous studies in Bucharest, he started as a first-year student. Until 1909 he remained in Iaşi, assisting I.M. Rascu with his review Versuri, later Versuri şi proză. Between 1909 and 1910 he came to Iaşi for examinations but lived in Bacău; on obtaining his law degree in 1911, he qualified for the bar in Bacău, but despite paying dues for ten years, never practiced law. Instead, he spent his time working with Caion on the Românul literar, with other figures on Flacăra, working as a copyist at the Prefecture, and helping at the Prefectural accounting office. In 1913-1914, his health deteriorated and he was eventually forced to relinquish his post.
In 1914, Bacovia was interned at the sanitorium of Dr. Mărgăritescu in Bucharest, from where he published poems in the literary supplement of the newspaper Seara and sent Plumb out for publication. In 1915, after leaving Bucharest, he became co-editor of the review Orizonturi noi and continued to publish poetry, prose, and book reviews under a multitude of pseudonyms. He rekindled his friendship with Alexandru Macedonski.
In 1916, he became a secretary at the Directory of Secondary and Superior Education in the Ministry of Instruction, and was in Bucharest when Plumb first appeared in July. In October, however, the vagaries of war forced him to flee the threatened Bucharest to Iaşi with the archives of his department.
He returned to Bucharest in 1917, resuming his post as a functionary. In 1920, he became a Chief of Office, Third Class, in the Ministry of Labor; in 1921 he was promoted to Chief of Office, First Class in the same ministry. However, he immediately fell ill with a lung condition and was forced to resign before returning, a year later, to Bacău.
In 1924, the second edition of Plumb was published in Râmnicu Sărat. Meanwhile, Bacovia found work as a teacher of drawing and calligraphy at the Boys' Commercial School in Bacău. By 1925, however, he had become the primary director of the review Ateneu cultural, and published his book of poetry Scântei galbene (Yellow sparks) at his own expense. In the same year Bucăţi de noapte (Night fragments) appeared in an edition edited by the poet Agatha Grigorescu. In 1926 he returned to the Boys' Commercial School and continued to teach drawing and calligraphy.
House of George and Agatha Bacovia in Bucharest, today a museum
In 1928, Bacovia married Agatha Grigorescu, editor of Bucăţi de noapte, and settled in Bucharest, where his wife was a teacher. In 1929, he republished Plumb and Scântei galbene in a single edition, entitled Poezii and produced by Editura Ancora; soon after, the dormant review Orizonturi noi resumed publication under his direction. He gained a post as an inspector at the Ministry of Popular Education, but after the publication of his collection Cu voi (With you), he returned with his wife to Bacău, where he spent three years unemployed. In 1931, Agatha gave birth to Bacovia's only son, Gabriel; in 1932, the Romanian Society of Writers approved a monthly pension of 1000 lei.
The family returned to Bucharest permanently in 1933, never to move away again. In 1934, Bacovia published an anthology of his poems entitled Poezii; in 1940, his pension increased to 2000 lei per month. He then founded the House of Pensions for Writers, from which he subsequently drew a 10.000-lei monthly pension. In 1944 his Opere (Works) appeared, a collection including all of his previously published works.
In 1945, Bacovia was named librarian of the Ministry of Mines and Oil. He continued to write, and in 1946 published the volume Stanţe burgheze (Bourgeois positions), which led to his hiring by the Ministry of the Arts. In 1956 he published his final volume of Poezii before dying on the afternoon of 22 May 1957 in his Bucharest residence.
Literary critics initially classified Bacovia as a Symbolist, but later criticism has argued that he transcended his milieu to form a part of modern Romanian poetry. Even if his first volume of poetry, Plumb (1916), was heavily marked by the influence of the Symbolists, his subsequent volumes, such as Scântei galbene, show his discovery of a more modern poetic concept, closer to the prose-poem than to the classic verse forms of the 19th century. Interwar critics saw in Bacovia either a Neosymbolist (George Călinescu) or a minor poet with insufficient material (E. Lovinescu). Just after the Second World War, however, Bacovia's poetry began to be linked to newer currents of thought, being linked with and compared to the theatre of the absurd (M. Petroveanu), poetic modernism, surrealism, automatic writing, imagism, expressionism, and even philosophic movements like existentialism (Ion Caraion). Bacovia thus succeeded in becoming recognized as one of the most important Romanian poets, an author who executed a vast canonical leap from minor poet to enduring classic of Romanian literature.
Ion Luca Caragiale
Ion Luca Caragiale (February 1, 1852–July 9, 1912)was a Romanian playwright and short story writer. He was born in Haimanale, Wallachia. The name of the locality, which is now situated in Dâmboviţa County, Romania, has been changed to I. L. Caragiale.
Born on February the 1st 1852, in Haimanale village, which today wears his name, being the first child of Luca Caragiale(1812-1870) and Echaterine Caragiale. His father was the brother of Costache and Iorgu Caragiale, which was born in Constantinopol, as son of Ştefan, who was a chief, employed by Ion George Caragea, at the end of 1812 in his suite. Tempted by theatre, Luca married the actress and singer Caloropulos in 1839. With time they lost contact, but never divorced. He founded a family with Echaterine from Braşov, the daughter of a Greek merchant named Luca Chiriac Caraboas.
Ion Luca Caragiale did his studies between 1859 and 1860 with the help of the priest named Marinache, from Saint George Church in Ploieşti, and until the year 1864 had his studies of the second and fourth grade at Kingship School from Ploieşti. He went to grammar school at Saints Peter and Pavel highschool, and in 1868 he finished the fifth highschool grade at Bucharest.
The classic big future graduated the grammar school "Saints Peter and Pavel from Ploieşti, which he named it in his native city, Grand Hôtel "Victoria Română"(Large Hotel "Romanian Victory"). The only institutioneer which the author of Momentelor remembered with respect was Bazil Drăgoşescu, the one which in the memorialistic shorter short story named După 50 de ani(After 50 Years) had accepted in its class the waivode of the Unification.
The teen Iancu started writing a lot of poems, and made his first debut at the magazine named Familia(The Family) where he was a copier in Iorgu Caragiale's team. in 1871, Caragiale was named a copier at the National Theatre from Bucharest, after Mihail Pascaly's proposal. Between 1873 and 1875 he collaborated with prose and poems in Ghimpele magazine where he had primers like Car şi Policar(Şarla cu ciobanii, andantistic fable. He was borned as the satiric author, but through his "sacrifice" as the lyric poet, which it will survive, ocasionallym as the fable, "verse de société" and parodist author.
In 1889, at January 7-8 marries with Alexandrina Burelly, the daughter of artist Gaetano Burelly. From this marriage he had two daughters: Ioana and Agatha, they died young from a pertussis or diphtheria. In July 3 , 1893 his son, Luca Ion was born.
In 1889, the year of death of the Romanian poet Mihai Eminescu ,Caragiale published the article În Nirvana(In Nirvana). In 1890 he was a history teacher at the Private High School Saint George for first to eighth grade students, and in 1892 he announced his intention of expatriatiation to Sibiu or Braşov . In 1903, in February 14 he tried to move to Cluj , but in November he moved his domicile in Berlin. In 1905 at March 14 he settled for good in Berlin.
Ion Luca Caragiale did his studies between 1859 and 1860 with the help of the priest named Marinache, from Saint George Church in Ploieşti, and until the year 1864 had his studies of the second and fourth grade at Kingship School from Ploieşti. He went to grammar school at Saints Peter and Pavel highschool, and in 1868 he finished the fifth highschool grade at Bucharest.
The classic big future graduated the grammar school "Saints Peter and Pavel from Ploieşti, which he named it in his native city, Grand Hôtel "Victoria Română"(Large Hotel "Romanian Victory"). The only institutioneer which the author of Momentelor remembered with respect was Bazil Drăgoşescu, the one which in the memorialistic shorter short story named După 50 de ani(After 50 Years) had accepted in its class the waivode of the Unification.
The teen Iancu started writing a lot of poems, and made his first debut at the magazine named Familia(The Family) where he was a copier in Iorgu Caragiale's team. in 1871, Caragiale was named a copier at the National Theatre from Bucharest, after Mihail Pascaly's proposal. Between 1873 and 1875 he collaborated with prose and poems in Ghimpele magazine where he had primers like Car şi Policar(Şarla cu ciobanii, andantistic fable. He was borned as the satiric author, but through his "sacrifice" as the lyric poet, which it will survive, ocasionallym as the fable, "verse de société" and parodist author.
In 1889, at January 7-8 marries with Alexandrina Burelly, the daughter of artist Gaetano Burelly. From this marriage he had two daughters: Ioana and Agatha, they died young from a pertussis or diphtheria. In July 3 , 1893 his son, Luca Ion was born.
In 1889, the year of death of the Romanian poet Mihai Eminescu ,Caragiale published the article În Nirvana(In Nirvana). In 1890 he was a history teacher at the Private High School Saint George for first to eighth grade students, and in 1892 he announced his intention of expatriatiation to Sibiu or Braşov . In 1903, in February 14 he tried to move to Cluj , but in November he moved his domicile in Berlin. In 1905 at March 14 he settled for good in Berlin.
Alexandru Dimitrie Xenopol
Alexandru Dimitrie Xenopol (March 23, 1847 – February 27, 1920) was a Romanian scholar, economist, philosopher, historian, professor, sociologist, and author. Among his many major accomplishments, he is credited with being the Romanian historian credited with authoring the first major synthesis of the history of the Romanian people.Born in Iaşi, where he graduated high school, he went on to Vienna in 1870 to study law and then to Berlin, where he studied philosophy. In 1868, he made his debut in Convorbiri Literare with a series of studies on Romanian traditions and on Romanian institutions.
Evening Star
This one of a great Poetry by Eminescu , the best-known and most influential Romanian poet .
This peom called Evening Star .
I hope you enjoy it .
----------------------------------------------------
There was, as in the fairy tales,
As ne'er in the time's raid,
There was, of famous royal blood
A most beautiful maid.
She was her parents' only child,
Bright like the sun at noon,
Like the Virgin midst the saints
And among stars the moon.
From the deep shadow of the vaults
Her step now she directs
Toward a window; at its nookBright
Evening-star expects.
She looks as in the distant seas
He rises, darts his rays
And leads the blackish, loaded ships
On the wet, moving, ways.
To look at him every
soul her instincts spur;
And as he looks at her for weeks
He falls in love with her.
And as on her elbows she leans
Her temple and her whim
She feels in her heart and soul that
She falls in love with him.
And ev'ry night his stormy flames
More stormily
in the shadow of the castle
She shows to his bright view.
And to her room with her slow
bears his steps and aims
Weaving out of his sparkles cold
A toil of shaking flames.
And when she throws upon her bed
Her tired limbs and reposes,
He glides his light along her hands
And her sweet eyelash closes.
And from the mirror on her
beam has spread and burns,
On her big eyes that beat though closed
And on her face that turns.
Her smiles view him; the mirror
trembling in the nook
For he is plunging in her dream
So that their souls may hook.
She speaks with him in sleep and
her heart's swelled veins drum :-
" O sweet Lord of my fairy nights,
Why thou not? Come!
Descend to me, mild
Evening-starThou canst glide on a beam,
Enter my dwelling and my
over my life gleam!"
She looks as in the distant seas
He rises, darts his rays
And leads the blackish, loaded ships
On the wet, moving, ways.
To look at him every night
Her soul her instincts spur;
And as he looks at her for weeks
He falls in love with her.
And as on her elbows she leans
Her temple and her
She feels in her heart and soul that
She falls in love with him.
And ev'ry night his stormy flames
More stormily renew
When in the shadow of the castle
She shows to his bright view.
--------------------------------------------------------
To fow all "Evening Star" .. please go to this link in The Voice Of Romania :
http://www.romanianvoice.com/poezii/poezii_tr/eveningstar.php
This peom called Evening Star .
I hope you enjoy it .
----------------------------------------------------
There was, as in the fairy tales,
As ne'er in the time's raid,
There was, of famous royal blood
A most beautiful maid.
She was her parents' only child,
Bright like the sun at noon,
Like the Virgin midst the saints
And among stars the moon.
From the deep shadow of the vaults
Her step now she directs
Toward a window; at its nookBright
Evening-star expects.
She looks as in the distant seas
He rises, darts his rays
And leads the blackish, loaded ships
On the wet, moving, ways.
To look at him every
soul her instincts spur;
And as he looks at her for weeks
He falls in love with her.
And as on her elbows she leans
Her temple and her whim
She feels in her heart and soul that
She falls in love with him.
And ev'ry night his stormy flames
More stormily
in the shadow of the castle
She shows to his bright view.
And to her room with her slow
bears his steps and aims
Weaving out of his sparkles cold
A toil of shaking flames.
And when she throws upon her bed
Her tired limbs and reposes,
He glides his light along her hands
And her sweet eyelash closes.
And from the mirror on her
beam has spread and burns,
On her big eyes that beat though closed
And on her face that turns.
Her smiles view him; the mirror
trembling in the nook
For he is plunging in her dream
So that their souls may hook.
She speaks with him in sleep and
her heart's swelled veins drum :-
" O sweet Lord of my fairy nights,
Why thou not? Come!
Descend to me, mild
Evening-starThou canst glide on a beam,
Enter my dwelling and my
over my life gleam!"
She looks as in the distant seas
He rises, darts his rays
And leads the blackish, loaded ships
On the wet, moving, ways.
To look at him every night
Her soul her instincts spur;
And as he looks at her for weeks
He falls in love with her.
And as on her elbows she leans
Her temple and her
She feels in her heart and soul that
She falls in love with him.
And ev'ry night his stormy flames
More stormily renew
When in the shadow of the castle
She shows to his bright view.
--------------------------------------------------------
To fow all "Evening Star" .. please go to this link in The Voice Of Romania :
http://www.romanianvoice.com/poezii/poezii_tr/eveningstar.php
Mihai Eminescu
Mihai Eminescu was a late Romantic poet, the best-known and most influential Romanian poet celebrated in both Romania and Moldova. Famous poems include Luceafărul (Morning Star), Odă în metru antic (Ode in an antique meter), and the 5 Scrisori (Epistles). Eminescu was active in the Junimea literary society, and served as editor of Timpul, the official newspaper of the Conservative Party.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Constantin Stere
Constantin G. Stere or Constantin Sterea (Russian: Константин Егорович Стере, Konstantin Yegorovich Stere or Константин Георгиевич Стере, Konstantin Georgiyevich Stere; Moldovan Cyrillic: Константин Стере; also known under his pen name Şărcăleanu; June 1, 1865 – June 26, 1936) was a Romanian jurist, writer, politician, ideologue of the Poporanist trend, and, in March 1906, co-founder of the Viaţa Românească literary magazine (together with Garabet Ibrăileanu and Paul Bujor — the latter was afterwards replaced by the physician Ioan Cantacuzino).[1]Constantin Stere became was professor of Administrative and Constitutional law at the University of Iaşi, serving as its rector between 1913 and 1916. He is also remembered for his partly-autobiographical novel În preajma revoluţiei (literal translation: "On the Eve of the Revolution" — in reference to the Russian Revolution of 1917).George Topîrceanu
George Topîrceanu (March 20, 1886–May 7, 1937) was a Romanian poet, short story writer, and humourist.His debut came in 1905, the year he published his first verses in Sunday papers and minor magazines; in 1909, he managed to have poems featured in major periodicals, such as Sămănătorul. He worked in handcopying, and in 1909 made his mark by having his satirical Răspunsul micilor funcţionari ("A Reply from the Minor Civil Servants") in Viaţa Românească. In 1911 he moved to Iaşi, on Garabet Ibrăileanu's invitation, and became chief editor at Viaţa Românească. He later wrote his well-received articles - Cum am devenit moldovean ("How I Became a Moldavia Native") and Cum am devenit ieşean ("How I Became a Iaşi Native") which trace his meanderings within Romania.
