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(08/31/09 3:58am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>BERLIN – Nearly 20 years ago, in November 1989, the deconstruction of the infamous Berlin Wall began. Berlin today is quite different than it was then, and one look at the Wall will show you. Remnants of the Berlin Wall only exist in a few select spots throughout the city.The most popular surviving section of the Wall stands in Potsdamer Platz between the enormous Sony Center to the west and a gigantic Samsung advertisement spread across a building to the east. Some visitors simply come to take a picture with phony German troops in front of the Wall and drop a few Euros into their jar. Other visitors have gray hair and tell a grandson about how the Wall separated the family for 28 years. But all the visitors show that the legacy of the Wall is much larger than the few cement parts that still remain in the city.To Berliners, the Wall seems to be something that forcibly tore their people in two. To Americans, it seems more to symbolize the failure of Communism.In regard to Communism, Berliners choose to think about the fall of the Wall in a different way. Statues of proletariat workers still stand across from a red city hall. The famous German-Communist author Bertolt Brecht has a statue next to a theater where his plays are still performed. And an entire little park surrounds larger-than-life statues of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, the German writers of “The Communist Manifesto.” In addition to the statues, many streets are named after German Communists like Käthe Niederkircher, Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg. After the reunification of Germany in 1990, the people of Berlin eventually chose not to erase the marks of Communism. It seems that Berlin, in some small way, recognizes that it was the U.S.S.R. that fell and not necessarily the ideals of Communism. Perhaps the way Berlin deals with Communism is something of interest to contemporary America, which has recently seen an influx of Internet posters saying “Obamunism” and showing Lady Liberty holding the Communist sickle and hammer. Being in Berlin for 10 days has really made me want to reconsider the way that I view Communism. Perhaps the political ideology introduced by Marx and Engels is more than just an idea that failed. Something about Communism gave people hope all across the world, from Cuba to Russia to China. Still, the fall of the Berlin Wall almost 20 years ago marked the beginning of the end of a brutal regime. But the fall of the Berlin Wall did not mark the end of Communism – Brecht’s plays are still performed throughout the German-speaking world, Rage Against the Machine is playing Communist music again and Che Guevara’s picture continues to be popular on T-shirts. Maybe the most interesting thing I saw in Berlin was some fresh graffiti outside of the cheap hostel I was staying at. It said “Die Krise heißt Kapitalismus” – “The (economic) crisis is called Capitalism.”
(08/02/09 9:57pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Schaffhausen, Switzerland – Fireworks filled the Swiss sky Saturday in celebration of the Swiss National Holiday. Reminiscent of Fourth of July celebrations, the Swiss holiday brought out flags, fireworks and bratwursts for grilling. But Aug. 1 is more than just a day off for some 8 million Swiss citizens. The holiday stands as a symbol of togetherness for this diverse country divided by 4 national languages.Much like America, Switzerland has become quite a melting pot of different beliefs, ethnicities and tastes. Catholic and Protestant churches stand tall in the downtown area over believers and non-believers alike. New Turkish immigrants have set up stores selling kebab, gyros and falafel right alongside Italian, French, Mexican, Asian, American and traditional Swiss-German restaurants.But precisely what holds Swiss culture together cannot be reduced to its diversity. It began in 1291 when three states took an oath to band together and defend themselves against the powerful and imperialistic Austrian Empire. The Swiss confederacy was an underdog, but the conviction that they would rather die than be slaves to the Austrians helped them prevail.And on its often-dismissed National Holiday, Switzerland stood together as a proud people. When I asked a few people why they were proud to be Swiss, I received some interesting answers:“I support the political views, especially the neutrality that modern-day Switzerland has.”“I think Switzerland is a good place to live in, with public transportation and many public recreational spaces.”“Well, probably because I was born here.”“Why does an American even care?”This last response really struck me. Sure, I have taken a lot of punches while spending time in Switzerland about my home country, but this last one saddened me most of all. Here I stood, sincerely trying to understand another people and their culture, but my nationality hindered me from trying to get to know other people. I didn’t choose to be born an American. I didn’t choose to carry the weight of the wars in Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan or Iraq on my shoulders.In a heat I replied to this person, “I cannot help where I came from. It is not my fault that my country is careless. I am a man before I am an American!”I felt quite embarrassed at my sudden exclamation, and my face began to turn red. I cordially apologized and thanked this person for his time. I turned around and headed up the street looking at the Swiss flags on the sides of buildings. I thought about how America fought against the English, about the diversity of food and culture America has, and I thought about all of the American flags that were up in America one month earlier for July Fourth.
(07/22/09 10:07pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>BASEL, Switzerland – For the past two months, the Kunstmuseum in Basel has been host to an extraordinary exhibit thanks to its troubled artist and its troubled sponsor. Vincent van Gogh’s landscape artwork forms the bulk of “Between Earth and Heaven: The Landscapes,” an exhibition presented by the Union Bank of Switzerland, also known as UBS.From April 26 to September 27, the van Gogh exhibit showcases 70 landscape paintings from the late 19th century master. As a student of history with a particular interest in modern Western culture, experiencing this showcase was incredible. Although the exhibit lacked some of van Gogh’s most well-known pieces such as “The Starry Night,” “The Potato Eaters” and “Skull of a Skeleton with Burning Cigarette,” it did a fantastic job of chronicling van Gogh’s landscape artwork. “Between Earth and Heaven” includes dozens of landscape paintings that were collected from throughout the world: Honolulu, New York, London, Amsterdam, Paris, Jerusalem and unnamed private collectors. This is what really makes the exhibit extraordinary. For these five months, the Basel Kunstmuseum is having the single greatest collection of van Gogh’s landscape artwork ever assembled under one roof.Walking through the museum, the spectator gets an intimate look into the mind of van Gogh. From the beginnings of when he decided to become a painter, to his encounters with the vibrant and avant-garde culture of Paris, to his time in a mental institution, the artist’s sensitivities and experimentations are colorfully revealed here in Basel. Throughout his entire life, van Gogh’s landscape artwork always seemed to reach for a simple ideal. Man should be like a child who appreciates and is fascinated by the Earth that sustains him. Musing on the profundity of van Gogh’s artwork is an experience I am sure to remember for years. But the chance might never have come along without the help of UBS. The exhibit’s foremost sponsor has recently come into trouble with the U.S. government for refusing to reveal the names of some 52,000 American account holders suspected of tax evasion. They refused to reveal because of Swiss privacy laws. Currently, the Swiss government and the American government are working on a negotiation that hopes to satisfy both countries. The USA-UBS ordeal could lead to the United States banning UBS from banking in the United States. This would be catastrophic for the company that not only handles some Swiss Social Security money, but also employs thousands of U.S. workers. A UBS collapse would also prevent the bank from sending big money to big programs such as The Locarno International Film Festival, The Montreux Jazz Festival, the ice hockey Spengler Cup and The Players Golf Championship, to name a few.The Swiss Federal Council member Micheline Calmy-Rey and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton hope to meet near the end of July. Although their discussions will not likely touch on the artistic importance of the van Gogh exhibition in Basel, surely its sponsor, UBS, will be on the table alongside papers, pens and interests.
(06/29/09 2:42am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>DUBENDORF, Switzerland – This Friday, a team of European engineers revealed their finished, full-sized prototype of the Solar Impulse. With a wingspan of more than 200 feet and a weight of approximately 3,500 pounds, the Solar Impulse is one of the first plausible aircrafts to be entirely powered by solar energy. After beginning the project in 2003, the team of 70 engineers was finally able to unveil the product of its labor in an old Swiss military base in Dubendorf, a small village just outside of Zurich, Switzerland. According to the project’s Web site, solarimpulse.com, some 800 guests, ranging from journalists to the project’s sponsors to well-known supporters, made the trip to Dubendorf for the presentation of the prototype.This very important breakthrough with solar technology was led by one very famous Swiss man: Bertrand Piccard. A very charismatic, optimistic, and pioneering individual, Piccard has become quite the national hero for the Swiss people. And with his powerful declarations, one can see why. “The Solar Impulse project is not only an airplane, it’s also a message,” he said at the presentation of the Solar Impulse plane. “We can have a good quality of life in this world, we can solve the financial crisis, we can fight poverty, and we can protect the environment, only by inventing the future with enough pioneering spirit.”It is this pioneering spirit that an American student finds when walking around in Switzerland and talking with its people. In general, the Swiss people are not waiting around until new breakthroughs happen; rather, they are actively working toward solutions. The people in many cases choose to give up trivial conveniences for the greater good.One example of this spirit can be seen in recycling. Every house in Switzerland recycles, not because it is easy or convenient, but because they feel that it is something that needs to be done. Recycling is not a fashion statement – nobody wears green recycling T-shirts. Instead, recycling is simply a necessity. Everybody sorts trash, everybody has a compost bin, everybody takes cardboard and glass to be recycled. The law is set up in such a way that people have to pay per bag of nonrecyclable things they throw away, and the state pays for some of the recycling expenses. So at least in Switzerland, it is also more economical for individuals and families to recycle.Compared to my small hometown in Indiana and the IU campus, the Swiss people recycle with fervor. Most trash is recyclable, and after having lived in a Swiss house for a month now, recycling has just become a natural habit and part of living here. I no longer think about recycling, I no longer notice that I recycle, but I simply do it because that is what is done. And this is good.Overall, in their avid recycling and in their support of Piccard and the Solar Impulse project, the Swiss people are really investing in the future. Switzerland has decided that when green energy begins to flourish, they want to be ready for it and they want to be a global leader in it. As a result, all of Switzerland will be watching when Bertrand Piccard takes off in the Solar Impulse for the first time this fall.
(06/14/09 10:20pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>SCHAFFHAUSEN, Switzerland – Americans surely notice they are living, working and playing in a globalizing world.From German cars to Chinese-made shirts and South American fruits, America’s economy is undoubtedly globalized. But in the relatively small city of Schaffhausen (population of about 30,000), globalization shows its inevitability in a different and much more intense way: language. Yes, Schaffhausen’s economy is very globalized, much like any given American city’s economy. But unlike America, Schaffhausen’s “altstadt,” or old town, is a place where foreign text is seen on the walls, on the posters and in the cafes that line the cobblestone streets of this city on the Rhine River. For Schaffhausen, the English language has become an unavoidable part of contemporary Swiss life and culture. In a local shopping mall, the clothing stores contain racks of chic clothes alongside artificially vintage T-shirts bearing logos and sayings, the majority of which are in English. While viewing shirts that say, “Long Beach, CA – Surfing in the Sun,” or portray Animal from “The Muppet Show” above the caption “I am an Animal!” the Swiss shopper hears the sound of driving drum and bass beats beneath sharp English rhymes.But the English language has not just infiltrated Swiss consumerism. Walking past the Kantonal high school, I ran into a street sign that had been vandalized with the English phrase “Angry, Young, and Poor.” At the train station, graffiti commented, “This Generation Sucks,” and another piece of graffiti replied in English, “Consider that you’re part of it.” Also, many Swiss musical groups will cover songs in English and even use English when they write their own songs. What is so interesting is that these Swiss citizens choose to use English and not their native language as the vehicle for their social commentaries and for their art. When asked about the use of English in music, Selina Girod of the Basel, Switzerland-based band Reding Street said, “We write English lyrics because they can be understood and sold in almost the entire world. ... Most Swiss bands do it that way.” So in a sense, the English language provides a liberating way for artists to communicate to each other without translations.But overall, the extent to which the English language has infiltrated and still infiltrates other cultures such as that of Schaffhausen is quite shocking to an American in Europe. In Switzerland, an English-speaking person is perfectly capable of functioning without knowing any German because so many people know and speak a sufficient amount of English. While it is convenient for the American tourist, this type of universal language and culture does cater to the profound apathy and laziness of Americans towards other cultures. As the world continues to adapt to America, Americans today do not need to experience other cultures, and they do not need to learn other languages. As a result, Americans do not need for foreign culture to be anything more than an expendable amusement. If you want to travel to Switzerland, you might find the streets smaller and the prices more expensive, but if you are interested in different fashion, music or culture, then you really have to work hard to get away from the America that you just left. Perhaps America was at one point in time a great melting pot, but in Schaffhausen, America seems more like a weed that has spread all over and become all too difficult to remove.