9969 Haiku | jllopart

Fumo, entretanto
haciendo aros de humo,
y pierdo el tiempo.

j.ll.folch 6/11/24

Source: 9969 Haiku | jllopart

North Gaza like ‘dystopian horror film’ — Norwegian NGO head – DW – 11/16/2024

Egeland recounted his recent visit to Gaza, saying the situation has gotten “much worse” compared to his prevous trip in February.

“In Gaza City, we drove through endless areas of completely destroyed houses,” Egeland said, adding that some refugees from the north of the region were now living in “those piles of rubble.”

Egeland told Die Zeit that the deterioration of law and order has affected the delivery of any humanitarian aid that makes it into the territory.

Palestinians in Gaza tell of life amid bombings and famine

“If trucks manage to cross the Gaza Strip, they often don’t make it far and are attacked by looters on the roads that the Israeli authorities assign to us,” Egeland said.

At the Kerem Shalom border crossing near the town of Rafah in southern Gaza, the NRC chief saw it happen firsthand.

“Maybe 100 men were standing there with sticks, waiting to stop the trucks that were coming behind us, and to jump on them,” he added…

Source: North Gaza like ‘dystopian horror film’ — Norwegian NGO head – DW – 11/16/2024

A clearer picture is slowly emerging of the violence involving soccer fans in Amsterdam | CBC News

…a report released by the mayor’s office earlier this week, compiled with significant input from police investigators, indicates it was Israeli fans who initiated the first attacks, which then spiralled.

The 10-page document addressed to council members says the first serious incident occurred around midnight on Wednesday, the night before the soccer match. It says 50 Maccabi fans pulled down a Palestinian flag from a building in the city’s centre. Some of those fans moved on to Amsterdam’s red-light district and attacked a taxi. Other taxis were vandalized by other Israeli fans nearby.

The report indicates the taxi drivers then communicated with each other and mobilized as a group to confront about 400 Israelis, forcing police to keep the two groups apart….

…A large group of Israeli supporters set off fireworks in the city’s central Dam Square, and social media posts took on a “harsher” tone, with “antisemitic” terms appearing, the report says.

…One widely shared video taken at some point after sunset shows a large group of Maccabi fans entering an Amsterdam metro station and shouting racist slogans, including “Let the IDF [Israel Defence Forces] win” and “F–k the Arabs.” The city report does not specifically mention the video or when it was taken.

Jazie Veldhuyzen, an Amsterdam city councillor, said it’s clear in hindsight that Dutch officials and politicians deliberately overreacted to the soccer violence because it was useful to their respective political agendas.

“Basically everything that happened this week, including the riots, has been used by right-wing politicians — even our prime minister — to point the finger at migrants and blame them,” Veldhuyzen told CBC News in an interview.

Source: A clearer picture is slowly emerging of the violence involving soccer fans in Amsterdam | CBC News

Rising temperatures in Hudson River are ‘5-alarm fire’ for wildlife – Gothamist

The Hudson River Foundation’s “State of the Estuary” report states that temperatures in sections of the waterway stretching from New York Harbor to Troy have risen by as much as 2 degrees Fahrenheit in the last two decades — five times greater than the increase in ocean temperatures per decade.

The report found that rising temperatures are already substantially affecting wildlife. The horseshoe crab population, which the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission assessed as “good” in 2009, was recently downgraded to “poor.” Horseshoe crabs at the large spawning ground in Jamaica Bay (while not technically part of the Hudson estuary) had the lowest survival rates of all Atlantic coast populations, according to the report.

Shapley said Atlantic tomcod and rainbow smelt, which are both cold-water fish, no longer inhabit the estuary. The fish are sometimes found further north in the Hudson River.

“That’s a five-alarm fire,” said Shapley. “We’re not seeing recovery in many of our fish species, and they are at very low levels of abundance.”

Aquatic plant life also appears to have plateaued, according to the report. Over the last 30 years, the estuary has lost about half of its submerged aquatic vegetation. Eelgrass, a key species, is no longer found locally. Higher temperatures and water pollution, including sewage, are ongoing threats to aquatic vegetation.

The harm caused by rising temperatures documented in the report contrasts with improvements in the Hudson River estuary’s water quality. The amount of debris removed from the water has been cut in half, from 12 million pounds of debris in 2003 to 6 million pounds in 2023. Nutrients in the water, like phosphorus, nitrogen and dissolved organic carbon, are trending in the right direction, according to the report…

 

Source: Rising temperatures in Hudson River are ‘5-alarm fire’ for wildlife – Gothamist

Revealed: ‘Grassroots’ campaigns opposed to assisted dying financed by conservative Christian pressure groups | Assisted dying | The Guardian

Campaigns against assisted dying that claim to be led by healthcare workers and disabled people are being secretly coordinated and paid for by conservative Christian pressure groups, an Observer investigation has found.

The “grassroots” campaigns have been central to the debate on legalising assisted dying in England and Wales before a landmark vote by MPs this month.

The groups have held protests, given evidence to parliamentary inquiries, appeared in media interviews and orchestrated leaflet campaigns targeting MPs.

But while they are styled to look like separate movements set up by members of the public, they in fact have concealed ties to religious lobbyists.

…analysis of financial records shows Our Duty of Care has close ties to religious lobby groups.

It shares an office address and spokesperson with the Christian Medical Fellowship, an evangelical organisation with an anti-abortion stance, and receives funding from the religious lobby group Care (Christian Action, Research and Education), which is known for its opposition to abortion, sex education, gay marriage and broader LGBTQ+ rights.

…Amy McKay, an associate professor of political science at Exeter University, said the “grassroots” campaigns appeared to be a clear example of astroturfing – the practice of disguising an orchestrated campaign as a spontaneous outpouring of public opinion. “They’re giving this false impression that they are someone they’re not,” she said. She said using doctors to front a campaign motivated by religious interests was a “common tactic” that gave it added legitimacy.

The effect was one of “manufacturing” the impression that more people were opposed to reform than is the case in reality, she said. “It makes it seem like the issue is much more closely divided than I think it really is.”

Source: Revealed: ‘Grassroots’ campaigns opposed to assisted dying financed by conservative Christian pressure groups | Assisted dying | The Guardian

Gaz pe foc – ore de drum

Baku, 2023

Peninsula Apșeron care intră în mare la nord de Baku e cunoscută din Antichitate pentru sedimentele negre, grase, vâscoase, care izvorăsc atât din pământul arid, formând băltoace la tot locul, cât și din mare, unde vezi plutind, ici-colo, o peliculă uleioasă.

Pe această mica suprafață unde, în trecut, accesul străinilor era interzis, marea și uscatul formează o simbioză specială, nemaiîntâlnită, prin intesectarea simultană, plenară, intensă, a energiilor celor patru elemente din care suntem alcătuiți și noi după modelul cosmosului, apa, pământul, aerul resimțit aici prin nepotolitul, mângâietorul vânt caspic, și focul.

Ne aflăm în punctul central al cultului lui Zarathustra, să le aducem omagiu zeităților păgâne care știau mai multe ca noi.

După înțeleptul persan, focul era începutul și sfârșitul oricărei creații. Focul zămislitor arde zi și noapte în nenumărate temple din peninsulă, torțe vizibile pe întuneric din toate direcțiile, de pe mare ca și din uscat,

alimentate de zăcămintele de gaz natural, și atrag curiozitatea tuturor călătorilor, după ce primii aventurieri le duseseră vestea…

Source: Gaz pe foc – ore de drum

Exploring Mexican identity and the human soul through Marlene Pasini’s poetry · Global Voices

RAIN

Nothing is silent…

Here in this city

summer arrives

and a musical rain

soaks its asphalt streets

In the moment and it’s fleeting time

in the uncertainty of the beyond

where life flutters

like a black butterfly

in the hollow of insomnia

where memories coil

in muted shadow

I descend slowly

into a lengthy dream.

LLUVIA

Nada es silencio…

Aquí en esta ciudad

llega el verano

y una música de lluvia

empapa sus calles de asfalto

En el instante y su tiempo fugitivo

en la incertidumbre del más allá

donde la vida aletea

como negra mariposa

en el hueco del insomnio

donde los recuerdos se ovillan

en sombra enmudecida

desciendo despacio

en un largo sueño.

Source: Exploring Mexican identity and the human soul through Marlene Pasini’s poetry · Global Voices