Tuesday 13 January 2015

Solidarity - Hope - and "By Invitation Only"


By Invitation Only

 January 2015

Coty of Coty Farquhar Styling in Australia 

is the author of this month's topic:



BARTERING

How could/would I survive, what are my "skills"....

I could tell you about sewing, growing vegetables, 
having hens, milking cows and goats etc...,
cooking, housekeeping.....painting walls, restoring furniture....
trading with my old linen and hemp....
and if necessary I could even survive without electricity - just about.

But - having still in mind the recent incidents -
in this moment I would like to exchange my pens and pencils 
against all the kalachnikovs and weapons in the world
to turn them into ploughshares by our blacksmith.



Or.....
breeding "Peace Pigeons"....


....and sending them off to the world.


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Sorry for being rather short and serious this time.
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Please visit Marsha's blog to
read and see everyone's idea about "Bartering"
certainly more interesting than my one.


By Invitation Only
here
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SOLIDARITY

 At least 1.5 million people have marched in the centre of Paris last Sunday.
 They marched “for the Republic”, “against hatred” and  “for history”.

 Charlie Hebdo Demonstration, Paris

The Old and the Young, 
The White, The Brown and The Black; 
The Left and the Right.

There were old men in berets; 
young black people in baseball hats; 
Jewish people in yarmulkes; 
Muslims in headscarves.
They marched to say “I am Charlie” 
but also “I am Jewish” 
and 
“I am a flic

 42-year-old Ahmed Merabet

who was he?
 Merabet worked at a police station in Paris' 11th Arrondissement,
near the location of Charlie Hebdo's offices.
Merabet was himself Muslim

Merabet, then, died at the hands of one of his own.
He gave his life to protect Charlie Hebdo's right to ridicule his religion

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Another two million marched in more than 60 similar demonstrations 
in towns and cities across the country. 

 Charlie Hebdo Demonstration, Paris

In the centre of the square, the statue of Marianne,
the woman who symbolises the French Republic,
was festooned with banners and French, Tunisian, Algerian and Moroccan flags.

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HOPE

Who would have thought 
that the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu
would walk through Paris four places away from 
Mahmoud Abbas, the President of the Palestinian Authority?

Charlie Hebdo Demonstration, Paris

there is certainly HOPE!

Forty-four world leaders linked arms and walked down the Boulevard Voltaire,
 pausing for a minute’s silence 
and then again when the names of the 17 victims were broadcast over a loudspeaker. 
The victims were listed alphabetically, 
anarchist cartoonists, 
Jewish supermarket shoppers 
and police officers all mixed up together.

 Charlie Hebdo Demonstration, Paris

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Let me take this opportunity to remember also the Journalists 
 who have been killed/murdered worldwide 
only during the last three years:

74 Journalists Killed in 2012

70 Journalists Killed in 2013

61 Journalists Killed in 2014






Embedded image permalink
"Passing the pencil"
by Iranian cartoonist Mana Neyestani

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"Je suis Ahmed"
'Charlie' ridiculed my faith and culture
and I died defending his right to do so


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"I do not agree with what you have to say, 
but I'll defend to the death your right to say it."

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“Je pense, donc je suis Charlie”. 

“I think, therefore I am Charlie.”

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Die Hoffnung stirbt zuletzt - Hope dies last

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Thursday 8 January 2015

JE SUIS CHARLIE




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Artists around the world are paying tribute to the victims 
of Wednesday's attack on French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. 
The attack in Paris killed 12 people, 
among them four cartoonists.



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Paris, 7th January 2015

by JM:o

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by Ruben L. Oppenheimer

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An old New Yorker cartoon is recirculating of a blank page that the cartoonist captioned: 


"Please enjoy this culturally, ethically, religiously 
and politically correct cartoon responsibly. Thank you."
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 What Do We Have Left, 
if The Sound Of Silence is The Only One 
We Are Allowed To Make ?



 International New York Times

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"No Freedom without Freedom of Press"

by Tomi Ungerer


 "If those who carried out this horrendous act of cowardice 
truly believe it will prevent the free expression of ideas, 
they are sadly mistaken
(Jim Brennan)



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Thursday 1 January 2015

Happy New Year 2015!



Another year starts and with it, new hopes and aspirations 
– a faint desire that sprouts in every human heart 
that speaks of happiness, prosperity and goodness to come.



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The year gone-by might have shown grim state of affairs around the world
 with one tragedy after another, millions of refugees, 
tragedy and human failures never ceasing to seize the headlines.

But the excitement of a new year brings about an anticipation of a better future. 
This is one real moment that will touch the fabrics of human emotions 
that entails not only hope, but a reason to keep smiling and living life as it is.

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 "Let our New Year's resolution be this: 
we will be there for one another as fellow members of humanity, 
in the finest sense of the word."
--Goran Persson, former Prime Minister of Sweden

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And now I welcome the new year
with
Johann Strauss's Polka "Im Krapfenwaldl"




May 2015 greet you with days as fragrant as roses, 

 


as colorful as rainbow,

 


as bright as sunshine and as happy and cheerful as a lark.






 And may this year will give you the opportunity to realise your dreams, 
rediscover your strengths, muster your willpower 
and rejoice the simple pleasures that life would bring your way.

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HAPPY  NEW  YEAR  2015!
BONNE  ANNEE
FROHES  NEUES  JAHR !