TURKEY: Terra Incognita No Longer ....

Ara Güler, Istanbul (1962)

Sometimes you can know a place without ever having been there.

I feel that way about Istanbul.

It came about because during a few months in 2010, when I was caring for my mother, I read all of the books of the Turkish author (and Nobel Prize in Literature winner) Orhan Pamuk.

I was looking through some papers yesterday, and found notes that I made while reading Pamuk's Istanbul: Memories and the City, which consists of a series of essays about the city. It reminded me of how those essays made the city come alive for me. I wrote notes on just about every essay, and circled the names of my favorites in red pen (often accompanied by three, four, or five stars!).

Here are some of my favorites, the chapters that have brought Istanbul alive in my imagination. (With accompanying photos by the great Turkish photographer, Ara Güler, lauded by Pamuk.)

Chapter 36 The Ship on the Golden Horn (Ferry Ride)

Ara Güler, [ferry]

This is one of several chapters that bring the water-focused existence of Istanbul people alive. (Others include Chapter 6 Exploring the Bosphorous; Chapter 22 On the Ships That Passed Through the Bosphorus, Famous Fires, Moving House, and Other Disasters; and Chapter 30 The Smoke Rising from Ships on the Bosphorus.)

This chapter in particular describes a turning point, where Pamuk becomes re-anchored (or re-moored) by walking the city, and by collecting stuff. It is this sensibility, I think, that defines him as a novelist and as an artist, and the discovery of this practice seems to have been for him the moment of his salvation.


Chapter 10 Hüzün

Ara Güler, Karakoy (1959)

Pamuk returns again and again in the book to the idea that collective melancholy (hüzün) is the characteristic of Istanbul experience. ("Ruins unaccompanied by pride.")

It reminded me of my study of other cultures, and the way specific types of feelings or attitudes can be characteristic of a particular people.

For instance, this made me think of the way a slightly different type of melancholy -- mono no aware -- is often said to be a quintessential Japanese sentiment. (And it made me think of a great Japanese novelist, Jun'ichirō Tanizaki, and his book on Japanese aesthetics, In Praise of Shadows, which deals with mono no aware.


Chapter 18 Reşat Ekrem Koçu's Collection of Facts and Curiosities: The Istanbul Encyclopedia

Pamuk delves into the impulse to create, and to consume, collections of facts, and of stories -- showing how it is sort of the natural hobby of anyone who is also capable of falling in love with a robust city.

There is a natural link to the work of a city's popular press, and the columnists who find employment filling its pages with stories.

Turkish edition of 
Istanbul: Memories and the City 
(showing Pamuk in his formative years)

It is through this chapter, in particular, that I felt him making the connection to the Istanbul described in his novel The Black Book.


 . . . and much more . . .

Other chapters I loved were more about Pamuk and his personal and artistic formation, rather than the city itself.  These included Chapter 8 My Mother, My Father, and Various Disappearances; Chapter 12 My Grandmother; Chapter 28 Painting Istanbul; and Chapter 35 First Love.


Postscript: Flying Over Istanbul

I traveled to Palestine in March, 2015, and our group flew on Turkish Airlines and transited Istanbul.

It was a thrill for me to see the harbor and the city all around us as our plane descended toward the airport. (As I had imagined, it was very reminiscent of Hong Kong!)

I've gotten close to the real thing! All that remains is to go the next step and leave the airport!

Istanbul from above
(More at skyscrapercity.com)

Related posts

I often refer to how important the films of Iran have been in helping me open my mind to the possibilities of a peaceful relationship with that country.  I have been fortunate to be able to go see some of the best films from Iran every year at the wonderful Siskel Film Center in downtown Chicago. The will be another Festival of Films From Iran showing there in February, 2014.

(See A Force for Peace: Getting to Know Iran Through Film)

Years later, during the time I was busily traveling to China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Malaysia, and many other places, I had occasion one day to flip open my (real) passport, and all the extension pages, filled with visa stamps, cascaded out. The memory of Expo 67 and my "globetrotting" came rushing back to me . . .

(See O Canada! (We'll always have "Expo" . . . . ))  

I could go on and on about City of Sadness: about everything from the sound of slippers scraping across the floor to the history of the 228 incident that the film illuminates . . . the funeral scene, and the wedding scene . . . . But more than anything, it's about Taiwan nature, Taiwan separateness, and Taiwan rebelliousness.

(See Taiwan Through "City of Sadness")

THE UGLY FACTS IN "RED OCTOBER": And You Thought the Nuclear Threat Was Hush-Hush

Nuclear-missile-equipped submarines: so many interesting facts.

Several months ago I wrote a post about a popular thriller -- Unmanned -- that surprised me with its perceptive revelations about drones, drone surveillance, drone warfare, and the general way in which our lives are becoming militarized in ways we seldom imagine.

That experience made me wonder about other works of popular fiction: Are there other books that are similarly revelatory about the threat posed to us by militarization and military technology?

And then I had an intriguing notion: what about the Tom Clancy novels, like The Hunt for Red October? Is it possible that the millions of people who have read Clancy's books, and seen the film adaptations, have been provided with the key facts they need to understand the risks posed by nuclear weapons?  Is the truth hiding in plain sight?

I know that people can get the facts about the nuclear threat by reading works of political science. For instance, in my sister's book, Thermonuclear Monarchy: Choosing Between Democracy and Doom, readers learn that the U.S. has 14 Ohio-class submarines, each armed with enough nuclear warheads to destroy a continent. (14 Ohio-class submarines, 7 continents, you do the math . . . . )

But what are all those people in airports reading paperbacks learning?

I was somewhat shocked that a quick review of The Hunt for Red October yielded quotes like these:

"The Red October carried twenty-six SS-N-20 Seahawk missiles, each with eight 500-kiloton multiple independently targetable re-entry vehicles -- MIRVs -- enough to destroy two hundred cities. . . . [M]issile submarines were by definition beyond any control from land." (p.12)

Tom Clancy, The Hunt for Red October

"Ryan lifted a pointer. 'In addition to being considerably larger than our own Ohio-class Trident submarines, Red October has a number of technical differences.  She carries twenty-six missiles instead of our twenty-four. . . .'" (p. 117)

"'The SS-N-20 has a range of six thousand miles. That means he could have hit any target in the Northern Hemisphere from the moment he left the dock.'" (p. 121)

Hmmmm . . . it seems like the facts are right there in the open. Do people think they are exaggerated?  Or are they too wrapped up in the man-to-man intrigue (watch out Jack! he's coming up behind you!) to be troubled by the real "clear and present danger"?

More than three million copies of The Hunt for Red October have been sold; worldwide ticket sales for the film adaptation of The Hunt for Red October have topped $200 million. So where are all of the alert readers who now know the facts and have become nuclear disarmament activists?

Page citations are to the 1993 Harper Collins paperback edition (2).


Related posts

There were so many places in this book where I thought, "Holy mackerel - he knows about that? It's as if he was part of the same anti-drone movement that I've been so deeply involved in for the past several years!"

(See 7 Ways the Ugly Facts About Drones Are Hidden in Plain Site in UNMANNED )

Elaine Scarry demonstrates that the power of one leader to obliterate millions of people with a nuclear weapon - a possibility that remains very real even in the wake of the Cold War - deeply violates our constitutional rights, undermines the social contract, and is fundamentally at odds with the deliberative principles of democracy.

(See Reviews of "Thermonuclear Monarchy: Choosing Between Democracy and Doom" by Elaine Scarry )











England might negotiate to obtain lease on the base, so it can stay open. (Some commentators call that unlikely.) England might decide to move the Tridents to a port in England. (But that would require them to create a depot to store the nuclear missiles - a dicey proposition in densely populated areas.)  England might find another country to allow them to base this dangerous cargo; some have suggested France. (Um - hello? France?)

(See YES! to Scotland; No Place for Trident )

"It's not enough to remember this just once a year; it's not enough that we make a single book -- Hiroshima -- required reading, and never go beyond that. There should be a whole canon that people study progressively, year by year, to grasp and retain the horror of this."

(See FIRE AND BLAST: A Curriculum that Confronts Nuclear Danger?)

What Will Dominate Election 2016? (ANSWER: ISIS and #BlackLivesMatter)

Peace and justice activists should be asking themselves the question: what's going to be taking up all the oxygen over the next 18 months?

Well, the short answer is that, of course, it will be the 2016 presidential election that will provide the main form of entertainment and distraction to the U.S. populace between now an the end of next year. An enormous amount of political fluff will fill our lives -- pushing aside, I suppose, vast amounts of sports fluff and shopping fluff and celebrity fluff and -- well, you get the point.

Many issues that I (and others) think are vital -- nuclear disarmament, anyone? -- will be lucky to see the light of day in the dark interlude that lies ahead of us.

At the same time, I think it is important to recognize that several issues that are vital to us will force their way into the election year discourse. We should anticipate their prominence, and plan to leverage that to make progress on them.

It seems clear to me that the #BlackLivesMatter discourse will remain prominent in the coming year. Candidates may very stand or fall based on how they engage with it.

It also seems clear that the flavor of international affairs that will impact the election is "ISIS and how to deal with it." This is especially important for people who hope to make progress with antiwar activism.

And then there's one issue that seems to have evaporated: surveillance.


#BlackLivesMatter

I have been involved in the campaign to get a democratically-elected civilian police accountability council (CPAC) in Chicago. (See "Does a Civilian Police Accountability Council (CPAC) need to be part of a 'new plan of Chicago'?" )

#BlackLivesMatter protest in Chicago
(December, 2014 - Photo courtesy FJJ)

Last May I worked with others from around the country to convene the National Forum on Police Crimes here in Chicago. (This year's Community Forum on Police Accountability takes place on Saturday, June 13, at the Teamster Office Building, 300 S. Ashland in Chicago.)

It is heartening to see a movement -- the #BlackLivesMatter movement -- taking hold nationally.  It is sickening to see that what gives it life is murder after murder of (mostly young, mostly male) people of color at the hands of "law enforcement" officers.

One thing is for sure: no one who seriously aspires to be the U.S. president will fail to have something very, very, very impressive to contribute to this discourse. Any candidate who thinks he or she can wait until the next crisis and then improvise is a fool.

How about the #BlackLivesMatter movement? Are we preparing for the moment of truth during the election 2016 cycle? Or are we just going to "wing it" when the moment arrives?

(See "If elected . . . ." (The Election 2016 and #BlackLivesMatter Nexus) )


ISIS

Maps of ISIS-controlled territory sell newspapers.

The general public couldn't be less interested in the massive problem of US militarism and imperialism. But the exploits of ISIS -- beheadings! ancient cities conquered! -- rouse it momentarily from its slumber.

"What to do about ISIS" is what passes for foreign affairs discourse in the US today. You can be sure that one or more candidates will try to steal a march on the opposition by having something very convincing to say about ISIS. (And the opposition will have no choice but to respond.)

And so again I ask: how about the antiwar movement? Are we preparing for the moment of truth during the election 2016 cycle? Or are we just going to "wing it" when the moment arrives?

(See "The way to respond to ISIS is not through violence." )


Wild card: Surveillance

I am writing this post in the aftermath of the Senate vote to curtail NSA surveillance -- legislation that The New York Times said "signaled a cultural turning point for the nation, almost 14 years after the Sept. 11 attacks heralded the construction of a powerful national security apparatus." (See "U.S. Surveillance in Place Since 9/11 Is Sharply Limited")

Does this mean the surveillance issue has gone away?

Or perhaps we're just getting started?


Related posts

We can't imagine that anti-racism work is just about specific police officers or even specific departments. Entire institutions of racist law enforcement need to be brought to heel in real time. It's a task worthy of a society-wide, national, federal effort. And it's top priority. No leader can ignore this reality . . . .

(See "If elected . . . ." (The Election 2016 and #BlackLivesMatter Nexus) )









A campaign exists to bring about a democratically-elected Civilian Police Accountability Council (CPAC) in Chicago. The campaign would involve the people in electing the watchers of the police, and put the ultimate control of (and responsibility for) the police in the hands of the citizens of Chicago.

(See Does a Civilian Police Accountability Council (CPAC) need to be part of a "new plan of Chicago"? )

Anyone who has had to write a speech knows that the hardest part is to land on the main idea. Once you've got that right, the rest practically writes itself.

(See "The way to respond to ISIS is not through violence." )





It's way too easy to launch U.S. missiles. (Maybe if it were a little more costly, challenging, or painful to carry out these attacks, they would at least require someone to give an explanation that makes sense first.)

(See AMERICANS: Happy As Long As They're Blowing Something Up )

Up until very recently, surveillance remained a key election issue.

(See The Surveillance Issue: The Fulcrum of the 2014 Election?)

TIME FOR A NUCLEAR BAN? On the 70th Anniversary of Hiroshima/Nagasaki

Remember
Summer 2015: 70th Anniversary of the Atomic Bombings
(Please retweet this message and follow @scarry on Twitter.)

Hiroshima: August 6 commemoration

Let's dedicate June, July, and August this year to recognizing the 70th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (August 6 and 9, 2015) . . . 

 . . . AND let's do something about it: make a nuclear ban a reality.

Here's a list of events commemorating the 70th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki August 6 and 9, 2015.

 (If you know of an event that's not on the list, please add it as a comment to this blog below.)

If there's no event happening in your city -- why not organize one?

Detail of world map showing countries supporting nuclear ban.
(See live ICAN map for global view and latest updates.)

And here's the information on making a nuclear ban a reality.

As I write this, ONE HUNDRED AND SEVEN COUNTRIES have endorsed the pledge to "fill the legal gap for the prohibition and elimination of nuclear weapons."

Let's make the summer of 2015 the time when EVERY country gets on the map!


TAKE ACTION

Participate in events commemorating

the 70th anniversary of the atomic

bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

August 6 and 9, 2015

Write about the urgency of nuclear

disarmament in your blog or on Facebook

Add your voice every week on

#NoNukesTuesday

Don't show up empty-handed on August6.
Ban nuclear weapons on the 70th anniversary of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
tweet.goodbyenuk.es

1945    Hiroshima    Nagasaki    2015

Under the shattered structures amidst the excruciating flames.
Parent left child, child left parent,
husband left wife, wife left husband.

Nowhere to escape to.
Figures fleeing in all directions.
This was the Atomic Bomb.

In the midst of this, how eerie--
Mothers' loving arms shielding their babies from death, dying themselves.
There were oh! so many.

From “Mother and Child”, 11th of The Hiroshima Panels by Maruki Iri and Toshi
http://www.aya.or.jp/~marukimsn/gen/gen11e.html

Related posts

"It's not enough to remember this just once a year; it's not enough that we make a single book -- Hiroshima -- required reading, and never go beyond that. There should be a whole canon that people study progressively, year by year, to grasp and retain the horror of this."

(See FIRE AND BLAST: A Curriculum that Confronts Nuclear Danger?)












At the Peace and Planet nuclear disarmament events in New York in April, I heard Prof. Zia Mian challenge the audience to confront the fact that the promises that we have gotten to date from the US to eliminate nuclear weapons aren't being honored. We think we've made progress, but the truth is that we've FAILED.

(See NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT: Time to get ANGRY about US FAILURE! )

In light of the upcoming review of the NPT (Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons) and the fact that organizations throughout the country and worldwide are organizing to press the U.S. to substantially reduce its stores of nuclear weapons, it seems like a good time to use social media to get EVERYONE on board!

(See 5 Ways YOU Can Make a Difference on #NoNukesTuesday )







The US Council of Mayors just met in San Francisco in June and adopted a strong position for the abolition of nuclear weapons.

(See US Mayors "Get It': The Nuclear Threat Must Be Stopped )

In Whose Machine Will YOU Be a Cog?

Rowing

When I was a college freshman, I rowed on the crew team for a brief time.

Before long, I realized that I couldn't memorize thousands of Chinese characters and plumb the depths of the writing of Flannery O'Connor and also exhaust myself every day out on the Charles, and the rowing went away. But before that happened, I developed a memory in my body of being in a boat with seven others rowers, doing everything I could to keep my oar moving in unison with theirs and also pulling for dear life against the water that felt thick and immovable as concrete.

Rowers in a shell move forward and backward with the movement of the boat on sliding seats; they wield long oars that have to move in unison in order to avoid colliding with each other. You don't just pull with your arms; it's a coordinated thrust of your entire body. The shell doesn't just move forward; if surges up out onto the surface of the water with every stroke, gliding at top speed.

It's exhilarating -- but also terrifying. Years later, I was reading a book about rowers -- Red Rose Crew: A True Story Of Women, Winning, And The Water by Daniel J. Boyne -- and I read a sentence that helped me understand that experience of being in a speeding crew shell, pulling for dear life on that oar, and knowing you just had ... to keep ... going ....

Once the boat went to full pressure, there was really no other option.

When everybody rows, you row too.

It makes me think of the inside of an internal combustion engine, and the way the components are moving out of each other's way just in time.

There's a joy to being part of a beautiful machine. But it comes with a price.

Watch this video to feel this sensation:

I thought of this again this past weekend when I went to see a film about drone pilots: Good Kill.

Among the many ways in which Good Kill succeeds is the way it makes it clear that drone pilots are cogs in a tightly controlled machine, and they have no room to exercise judgement or make ethical decisions.

Ethan Hawke portrays a former fighter pilot who has become part of the "chair force," operating a drone out of a cubicle in Nevada. Every move he makes is observed by his co-pilot, plus two analysts looking over his shoulder, plus (in the instances depicted in the film) his commanding officer standing behind his chair, as well as an unseen team of CIA operatives connected electronically from Langley, VA, plus who-knows-how-many other participants in the kill chain.

Good Kill: the order has been given

Without giving anything away, I can tell you that there are a series of events in the film that show the Ethan Hawke character struggling with just what a tightly controlled cog in the machine he is -- and looking for any little bit of wiggle room to be his own person.

Being a cog in a certain kind of machine is very appealing -- working with others, being super efficient, achieving synergy, having impact: teamwork. It's what attracts so many young people to consider the military.  These are many of the same people who find exhilaration in sports like rowing.

Films like Good Kill are essential for helping young people see what the military machine is really like. Sure: be a cog in the machine. But in whose machine do you really want to be a cog?


Related posts

The U.S. military is desperately trying to beef up the ranks of its drone pilots - to meet a "near insatiable demand for drones." There's only one way that's going to happen, and that's if we let our young people think that it's okay to sign up. The world of military service is more abstracted and foreign than ever. If ever there was a time that young people needed guidance from others about what military service might mean for them, that time is now.

(See Mothers Don't Let Your Children Grow Up to Be Drone Pilots)

A person may not feel that s/he is another Daniel Ellsberg ... or Paul Revere ... or Otto and Elise Hampel ... or Ai Weiwei ... or Bradley [Chelsea] Manning. But these are heroes we can aspire to emulate.

(See I am (I will become) Bradley Manning )

Consider the moment in the film All Quiet On the Western Front when the young soldier returns to visit his old high school. The soldier visits the class of the teacher who had goaded him and many of his classmates to enlist in the first place. Encouraged by his teacher to tell about the "glories" of being a soldier, he delivers a damning verdict . . . .

(See Back to School (All Quiet On the Western Front))

GOOD KILL: Struggling to Bring the Truth of Drone Killing Out of the Shadows

Ethan Hawke in Good Kill

I saw the movie Good Kill last night.  I have five observations (below) but the most important thing I have to say is: anyone who cares about stopping drone killing should take a friend and go see this movie, and then do it again, and again. Here's why . . . .

(1) You can object to the frame of this movie -- US-centric, macho, militaristic -- but that's in fact where the public is starting from.

 . . . you have to go where the conversation is!

(2) "Good kill." Wait for the scene when the protagonist describe an attack on a home containing the "target" as well as the target's wife and children. And then the attack, hours later, on the funeral . . . .

 . . . because, after all, they're just dots, right?

(3)  "It never ends." It's worth it to get people to this movie just for the one-minute long exchange about the rationale for the "war on terror."

 . . . what happens when preemptive violence is automated?

(4) "Lawful orders."  The movie is all about being a cog in a machine where all you do is follow someone else's orders, and your thinking is not welcomed. Any kid thinking about enlisting in order to break out of the world they're "stuck" in should see this movie. (See In Whose Machine Will YOU Be a Cog?)

 . . . counter-recruitment starts at home

(5) You can object to the fact that the movie focuses on how hard it is on the soldiers. But if we expect soldiers to resist, don't we need to invest the time and energy to empathize with them, too?

. . . the care we owe our veterans

I don't know if everyone in the movement to stop drone killing will agree with me about these observations. Drop a comment below -- pro or con -- and let the drone debate proceed!


TAKE ACTION

Take a friend 

and go see Good Kill.

Then do it again. 

And again.

Food for thought: what kind of movies are seen by LARGE numbers of people . . . ? http://www.boxofficemojo.com/weekend/chart/


Related posts

Grounded raises tough questions. I was hoping that the play would challenge the idea that killing people with drones is good. It's a reflection of the seriousness of this work that that is just one of the issues it raises; others include our society's willingness to destroy the people who we employ to "serve" ("serve our country," serve us in general), our culture's worship of violence / use of force, and the consequences of pervasive surveillance.

(See "Everything Is Witnessed": Searching for "the Guilty" in GROUNDED )


In Chicago on Good Friday, 2013 (March 29), a cast consisting of long-time Chicago antiwar activists was joined by a NY playwright (and defendant in actions against US drone bases), Jack Gilroy, for one of the events kicking off a month-long campaign of anti-drones events across the country: a performance of Gilroy's play, The Predator.

(See "The Predator" in Chicago - Good Friday, 2013 - "A Passion Play for the Drones Era")

Eventually, in large part due to Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel, Uncle Tom's Cabin, the United States was converted from a country in which a small number of people thought slavery needed to be ended into a country determined to act to end slavery. This literary work took the movement wide, and it took it deep.

Why is a novel an important tool for creative resistance?


(See Creative Resistance 101: Uncle Tom's Cabin )

MEMORIAL DAY 2015: Can We Write Our Own Story?

In past years, I've reminded people that Memorial Day is a day, most of all, to renew our commitment to NOT waging war.

In 2012, in particular, I was thinking about this in the wake of the NATO Summit in Chicago: "THIS Memorial Day, Honor the Fallen: STOP Drone Killing!"

Instead of waiting for Memorial Day to come, and silently lamenting the useless loss of life and the fact that the world isn't turning toward peace, shouldn't we be publicly putting forward the headline we want to see on Memorial Day?

Here's mine:

The Memorial Day 2015 we want:
Obama, Putin in Direct Talks to End Nukes; "A Share Obligation to Prevent Disaster"
OBAMA: "We've heard the rest of the world loud and clear. It's time for us to disarm."
PUTIN: "We've heard the rest of the world loud and clear. It's time for us to disarm."

What headline would YOU like to see on Memorial Day 2015? (Add comments below!)


More . . . 

Key 2015 Events for Nuclear Disarmament Movement Organizers

5 Ways YOU Can Make a Difference on #NoNukesTuesday

360 Degree Feedback in New York (2014 NPT Prepcom and How the World Views the United States)

Reviews of "Thermonuclear Monarchy: Choosing Between Democracy and Doom" by Elaine Scarry

Obama Nobel Peace Prize - REVOKED!