informage

Tim Bray gives his view of the peace movement's worst nightmare, countering a pro-war blogger's assertion that this is Iraqi children happily greeting US soldiers.

Well said Mr Bray.

You know I said it was lucky that no digital record remains of Tim, Saj and my failed web experiment 'Carnival'. I lied!

Protests continue.

Even blogs I read for geek reasons suggest that Bush has far less support than our media portrays.

Think dialectics, think synthesis, think positive.

Tim links to Salam Pax's blog Where is Raed ?, a small but potent taste of life as an Iraqi.

Not a blog, but Suzanne Godlberg's article Suddenly, the war is very real is a very human angle.

I must work hard myself to stay aware of the human tragedy that is this war. Bush et al aren't merely wrong, they are doing evil things with horrific consequences for people just like me.

And to remind me that some Americans are still cool (beyond being reminded daily by my wife-to-be) This Modern World is a blog by Tom Tomorrow, author of the razor-sharp eponymous cartoons.

Found this here:

"Two fish cutters from New York report that a carp about to be made into gefilte fish uttered dire warnings for the fate of humankind. "

I hate to say it, but I can see where the fish is coming from...

No great revelation, but this is Boutrous Boutros Ghali saying it.

Instead of devoting their energy to securing food, jobs and land, social movements around the world are being forced to spend their time fighting the low-level war against their own criminalisation.

The great irony is that these movements are actually waging the real war on terrorism - not with law and order but by providing alternatives to the fundamentalist tendencies that exist wherever there is true desperation.

I never paid that much attention to Naomi Klein or 'No Logo', writing her off as part of the fashionably vacuous anti-globalisation movement. This makes me think I may have been rather hasty - good writing and perfectly timed.

I was just reminded of perhaps my first web-project, called - topically enough - 'Carnival'. Tim, Ken, Saj and I decided to create a web forum for creativity in 1996 or so. Fortunately no digital record remains of my sad early effort at web design - although I still maintain that the many animated GIFs and dodgy backgrounds were very fashionable at the time. Anyhow Tim just found his story Grammar of Cities, the only thing that deserves to remain from the whole sorry experiment. It was the first time I had read a piece of Tim's fiction, and I like to think that right then I realised he was destined for greatness. I certainly remember I thought it was pretty cool anyway - the last paragraph particularly.

The astonishing range and ferocity of US insults and arbitrary protests against the French is by now common knowledge.

So my question is: when is America going to send back the Statue of Liberty?

Last night was my big Carnaval extravaganza experience. I'd already been through the other traditional Carnaval activities: a samba school Saturday night warm-up; traditional 'bloco' parades by night and by day; and the venerable carioca tradition of leaving the city for a beautiful weekend retreat over carnaval weekend itself (last friday - tuesday). One of the blocos was in the wonderfully characterful neighbourhood of Santa Teresa (pictured above). This was a friendly low-key affair. Well, as low-key as Rio's carnaval celebrations get. It was still pretty busy with the occassional random act of passion. Santa Teresa was a surprise, an authentic Rio worlds apart from the ostentatious and overdeveloped beach areas of Ipanema and Copacabana. The cost is that Santa Teresa is also regarded as one of the least safe areas for us gringos.

Rio gets so hectic with visitors over carnaval weekend that it is common for locals to leave, and we were lucky enough to be offered a wealthy friend's waterside house in a gated community in Angra dos Reis for a few days whilst the family skiied in Italy. We got a ride there in a small yacht from another friend and spent a few days living in the lap of luxury with our own personal cook in a scenic setting. I could write a whole long piece on the contradictions of this experience, and the contrast between this almost sterile luxury and the raw scratchy beauty of our previous trip to Ilha Grande, but this isn't it.

The peak of carnaval took place whilst we were in Angra, and so all we saw of the competitive parades of the various samba schools was on television. I would have been disappointed to have left without any direct experience of the grand spectacle that is carnaval in the Rio sambadrome, and so last night we went late to see part of the champions' parades. It lived up to its spectacular reputation, and watching a continuum of surreal and ornate costumes and unfeasibly pert bodies is surprisingly entrancing. Each parade has a theme, and the Rio Grande school's parade that we watched was all about Brazil beaneath the earth. Floats ranged in theme from the steam trains and ore carriers of Brazil's mining history to a representation of the spirit of nature.

Now I'm helping Shannon package up her apartment for tomorrow's journey back to Cape Town so hopefully later we'll be able to say 'Pad Packed: Beyond the Sambadrome'. Ouch.