Migration of Slavs and Other History Lessons

I paid scant attention to Trump's promises to build "The Wall" until I came across an article about the construction of a wall around Baghdad. Trump repeatedly made it known that his wall was inspired by Israel's, but it was the construction of the wall around Baghdad that made me pause. Visions of the Berlin Wall, the Great Wall of China and  walls around medieval cities came to mind and were followed by the images of less historic barriers, such as security fences around concentration camps, prison complexes and American gated communities. Most of them have been built for protection from attacks, but some fences serve only to keep the undesirable in or out. 

One of my first history lessons dealt with the Migration of Slavs  (Seoba Slavena)  from their oldest known homeland in Western Asia to Russia, and from there to Eastern Europe and beyond. The process that might have begun around 2000 B.C. was long and complicated - so complicated in fact that I never learned the lesson properly. The only thing that really stuck was the title "Seoba Slavena," often used in the Croatian slang to refer to any major, or messy, or inexplicable move.

What I do know is that the people populating Europe today have descended from various ancient tribes, whose origins remain a subject of contention, and ever-emerging new demographic theories. One I found interesting recently is the Ghengis Khan-legacy theory, which suggests that a significant percentage of men around the world, including Europe, are descendants of the 13th-century invader.

Ancient Slavs

Mongolian hordes swept through much of Eastern Europe in the 13th century, and as the invaders killed, raped and pillaged along the way, it is quite possible that they left their genetic mark on the local populations. Impregnable fortresses and hefty walls may have slowed them down, but did not stop them. They eventually retreated when a strong Mongolian leader died back home.

It would be wrong to deny the importance of walls in the defense of medieval cities, such as Dubrovnik. For centuries, the Adriatic port had repelled invaders with success. But eventually, the wall alone was not enough to protect Dubrovnik's independence, and the city-state had to pay dues first to the Venetians, then to the Ottomans to avoid war. And, of course, the wall did nothing to stop Napoleon. Today, Dubrovnik's great ramparts serve to attract tourists. The same goes for the Great Wall of China and historic walled cities around the world. 

The Berlin Wall, or what's left of it, also attracts tourists, but not with its beauty or grandeur. Only a few ugly grey concrete blocks remain to provoke horror, rather than admiration, and there is a lengthy section decorated by international artists. It is somewhat unique in that it was built by those living outside to prevent escape into the enclosure rather than the other way round. We know how that ended. I hope the Iraqi government has some long-term plans for the Baghdad wall.

When there's a will  (I almost said when there's a wall), there's a way.  People who want to breach a wall badly enough either to conquer or to escape, very often succeed, and if they don't, time eventually makes the wall irrelevant. History books are full of examples of successful sieges. They also are full of great migration stories.  Even the Bible has one.

Migration stories remind me of weather reports. When there is too much pressure at one end, the mass of air, or water, moves to relieve it and we can be hit by storms, floods, tsunamis and whatnot until the calm settles in. When huge populations start moving at once, they also create havoc and spark fear.  

We live in a world in which about 60 million people are displaced by conflict - more than at any other time in recorded history. One in every 122 humans is either a refugee, internally displaced, or seeking asylum. According to the UNHCR, if those people formed a country, it would be the world's 24th biggest. Many temporary refugee camps have turned into permanent tent cities, with the largest, Dadaab in Kenya, housing half a million people.

Dadaab, Kenya

Since the beginning of the millennium, numerous studies have discussed Europe's and Japan's aging and declining populations that have resulted from low child birth rates. These populations have not seen much conflict since World War Two, with the exception of Yugoslavia's bloody demise in the early 1990s.

Some of the world's poorest countries have very high birth rates and therefore large young populations. In sub-Saharan Africa, more than one third of the people are aged 10 to 24. In the Arab countries, young people are the fastest growing segment.  Some 60% of the population is under 25 years old, making this one of the most youthful regions in the world.  

The unemployment in this age group is as high as 50 % and in many regions even higher, while the prospects of improvement during the lifetime of these young people are minimal. According to researchers, overpopulation combined with poverty and weak governance produces disruptive demographic. Elizabeth Leahy of Population Action International said the restive element is composed of a society's younger generations.

"What we found is that countries in which at least 60 percent of the population was under the age of 30 were overwhelmingly the most likely to have experienced civil conflict. Eighty percent of all outbreaks of civil conflict between 1970 and 1999 occurred in those types of countries that had overwhelmingly young populations," said Leah.  

The pressure of discontent has been growing for years with very little attention paid to it. The Arab Spring was largely unexpected. When trickles of migrants heading for Europe turned into huge waves last year, many people were incredulous and shocked.  One friend asked me: why now?  I answered: why not earlier? Social media went viral with the prophecies of late Baba Vanga, a blind Bulgarian seeress who allegedly had predicted that Europe would be taken over by Muslims.  

Western European governments are dealing with the waves of migrants about the same way they would with victims of a natural disaster, which is to say they house them in temporary shelters and distribute food and clothing.  When floods become threatening, they seek to curb the flow.  Some, like the Hungarians, have put up a fence, which serves to divert the river away from their border,  but creates an overflow in other places.

Trump said: "Walls work. Ask Israel!" In terms of our lifetime, and this year's election, he may be right.  But in a wider context of human history, Dubrovnik may be a better example.  

Dubrovnik

The migrants who make a new life in Europe will add a new coil to the continent's already complex demographic history.  Maybe 2000 years from now some other kid will remember his lesson about a great migration, but his will not have the same title as mine. 

Kurt Weill's Lost in the Stars at WNO

Kurt Weill's last work Lost in the Stars is set in South Africa, but in the new Washington National Opera's production it could be set in the United States or India any other country beset with racial and class divisions. Weill's opera - I would call it a musical - based on Alan Paton's 1948 novel Cry, the Beloved Country explores common humanity among divided people that emerges in the face of tragedy.

I read Paton's book as a teenager and I'd never seen or heard Lost in the Stars before Friday night, so I could watch the WNO performance with an open mind - almost. I lived in South Africa for four years in the early 1980s when apartheid was still firmly in place and that experience could not be entirely ignored.

Sean Panikkar as The Leader in WNO's Lost in the Stars

The first thing I noticed in the WNO performance was the scarcity of the distinctive South African accent except for the valiant efforts by Wynn Harmon, Paul Scanlan and Thomas Adrain Simpson to emulate it. All three were portraying white South Africans: farmer James Jarvis, his son Arthur and the judge. The black singers spoke in accents that could have been from anywhere on the continent or in the United States, but I would not immediately place it in South Africa.

The lack of insistence on the authentic accent works in favor of this production. The more I watched, the more I was reminded of Ferguson and Black-Lives-Matter movements in America, and less of the segregated South Africa I knew. The opera's distinctly American music idiom added to the sense that the story unfolding on the stage is taking place in the United States.

In the Maxwell Anderson's adaptation of Paton's novel black pastor Stephen Kumalo travels from his small village of Ndotsheni to Johannesburg to check on his sister Gertrude and his son Absalom. The former has become a prostitute and the latter a robber.  But when Absalom accidentally kills the son of white neighbor James Jarvis during a botched robbery, the reverend is faced with a dilemma: would he prefer his son alive and a sinner, or dead and righteous. 

Eric Owens owned the role of the rural minister whose family, or "tribe," fell apart after most of it moved to Johannesburg in search of a better life. Owens has distinguished himself in Wagner roles, but it is hard to imagine anyone else doing a better Kumalo than he did.  He shined in the title song Lost in the Stars.

Soprano Lauren Michelle was a charming Irina, the pregnant lover of Kumalo's son Absalom, whose inner strength overcomes her shyness and helps her deal with the ultimate loss. Michelle was a little stiff in her first major aria, but warmed up considerably by her next big number, Stay Well, in the second act.

Eric Owens and Caleb McLaughlin in WNO's Lost in Stars

Other outstanding performers were Caleb McLaughlin as Kumalo's grandson Alex and Cheryl Freeman as fun-loving city girl Linda. They lit up the stage with energy and charisma. One couldn't but wonder how high McLaughlin (sparkling in the Big Mole song) will reach when he grows up. He is already more confident on the stage than many adults. His talent was especially obvious in a joint scene with a peer portraying Jarvis's grandson Edward. Tenor Sean Panikkar was an attractive and striking Leader, although I could not quite understand what his role in the play was  (narrator?). But that's just me. There were also a lot of characters listed in the playbill that I could not identify on the stage. Aleksey Bogdanov as Burton (prosecutor?) was a commanding presence in the courtroom scene. Manu Kumasi's Absalom was earnest, but not quite convincing.

The challenge of Lost in the Stars is in its structure, which is part spoken play and part musical so it requires competent actors as well as singers. The singing in this production was magnificent, with moments of real brilliance and an excellent chorus throughout. But the acting abilities were uneven. Owens's included. Poignant as he was in the moments of tragedy, the acclaimed bass-baritone failed to produce the variety of expressions and nuances required to keep the spectator breathless throughout the performance. The scene in which he comes to plead with James Jarvis to intercede for his son was simply awkward.

Eric Owens and Wynn Harmon, grieving fathers in WNO''s Lost in Stars

In the end, the action of Lost in the Stars actually seems like it is taking place in South Africa. The shared tragedy brings the two grieving fathers together. Their connection, as well as the black and white children playing together in the final scenes, hint at a wider national reconciliation, which for me is more believable in the South African context than any other one.

When they dismantled the apartheid in the 1990s, South Africans established the Truth and Reconciliation Commission that invited victims of egregious human rights violations to give statements. Perpetrators of violence also could testify and request amnesty from both civil and criminal prosecution. Many culprits expressed sincere remorse and many were publicly forgiven by their victims. The process is widely regarded as a key step to a successful transition to democracy in South Africa. Lost in the Stars is a good reminder that we could benefit from it too. 

Who is Lee Hoiby?

Do you know who is Lee Hoiby? No? I didn't think so. Hoiby is an American composer of opera and song, who would be 90 years old this month (February 17) if he hadn't died in 2011. His most renowned work is Summer and Smoke, an opera based on Tenessee Williams's play. Hoiby's work has been described as romantic, lyric and conventional, suggesting a lack of courage and innovation on his part.

I met the soft-spoken composer and his librettist Mark Shulgasser in the summer of 2000 when they came to Washington to present excerpts from Hoiby's new opera Romeo and Juliet. Shakespeare's immortal love story has inspired some of the world's greatest composers: Berlioz, Gounod, Prokofiev, to name a few. But Hoiby thought the theme is inexhaustible, that there are always new layers to be uncovered if you continue to dig, and he set out to create a new operatic adaptation of Shakespeare's work.  He told me the language of the story had always been his favorite and suited his artistic temperament.

Lee Hoiby

"Basically, it gives my lyrical impulse the most room to spread its wings," said Hoiby.

Shulgasser, Hoiby's longtime partner and collaborator, said he stayed as close as possible to the original text, but had to make cuts.

"In Romeo and Juliet, I've eliminated the character of Paris entirely. I have changed the character of the friar somewhat. I have conflated Mercutio and Benvolio into one chanracter and I would say that's about it, really," he said. The opera was completed in 2004, but has never been staged.

Romeo and Juliet was not Hoiby's first work based on Shakespeare.  In the 1980s he composed The Tempest, which premiered in Des Moines and had several revivals.  But after  British composer Thomas Adès presented his version of The Tempest in 2004 to a great acclaim, Hoiby's was all but pushed into oblivion.

It survives in a recording by Purchase College School of the Art.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1P50fgp6dUg

Hoiby's most recognized work is the 1971 opera Summer and Smoke. As it happened, it was staged by Colorado's Central City Opera in the summer of 2002 when I was there on assignment. The charming Victorian theater was built by miners during the Colorado Gold Rush to show performances ranging from opera to circus to boxing matches. (Just shows how sophisticated those miners were). It was a perfect venue for an American opera and the tiny theater was filled to the last seat.  I can't say that Summer and Smoke left a profound impression, but I liked it well enough and had an enjoyable evening.  I am glad I saw it because even his most recognized opera is rarely performed.

Perhaps he should have chosen less popular themes for his compositions. But most of Hoiby's work is based on well known classical authors such as Turgenev, Tennessee Williams and of course Shakespeare - the authors he liked to read.

"I've always been a reader. I grew to love words very early in my life, I mean from my early teens. And so words meant a lot to me and that's what led me to writing for the voice," he said.

Hoiby had better luck with arts songs and choral music. Set to poems by Rilke, Donne, Walt Whitman and other great poets, his songs caught attention by operatic stars such as Federica von Stade and Leontyne Price.

The Serpentine, set to Theodore Roethke's poem, is one of the most successful.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZplR2ikcVI

The mid-20-th century intellectual prejudice against tonality, lyricism and, God forbid, sentimentality worked against the neo-Romantic composer's widespread recognition.  His music idols were Schubert, Strauss, Mahler and Barber and his music reflects that.  He acknowledged that he did not care for modernist, atonal, dissonant and alienating sound and he remained true to his style despite critics.  

By the late 20 century the attitudes have changed and some of Hoiby's operas have seen revivals, primarily in music schools.  The Manhattan School of Music Opera Theater revived one of his earliest operas A Month in the Country  in 2004 and following a positive response, it revived Summer and Smoke in 2010.  Both were recorded and published by Albany Records.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvTPrDft-X0

So maybe there is yet hope for Hoiby's Romeo and Juliet.

Winter Blues Dispelled Or Justice in Fashion

When winter gets really dreary and dull, usually between mid-January and the end of February, and especially when the outdoor movements are limited to narrow tunnels between dirty mounds of snow and melting ice, nothing cheers me up as the anticipation of spring: getting out of heavy boots, thick coats and hair-flattening hats. The long wait for that first warm day can be tedious, even as it provides ample time to get ready for stepping out in the latest sartorial fineries. This year, I find the spring fashion especially lovely. Gone are the skimpy cheap-looking mini affairs and in come the classy elongated silhouettes, with hems below the knees - clothes that make a woman look good as opposed to women making the clothes look good, as has been the case for quite a while.

Dries van Note

Dries van Noten

As usual, there is going to be struggle with arranging photos because the Blogger is soooooo inflexible.  In any case, left and right is my favorite Belgian designer Dries van Noten.  His style is immediately recognizable for its combinations of rich colors, playful patterns and luxurious fabrics, this year hinting at Morocco.  Van Noten's fabric designs extend to   his models' arms and legs in the form of Moroccan henna tattoos.  I will never own any of it and would have nowhere to wear it, but it is pure pleasure just to look at the photos.

 

Then there is the more conservative Chanel with its trademark black-toed sandals (above left) and  more sculpted outfits by the Swedish brand Acne, (above right)  known for simple geometrical lines, and the name which is bound to put off many an adolescent. Of course, there is H & M with its still affordable upscale line (below left), not to be sniffed at, as well as the always minimalist Zara (below right).

And girls, if you are not enthralled yet, here's more of the lovely........oops!  Sorry, guys this is for you - from Damir Doma of Milan:

I am pleased to note that the designers follow lifestyle trends as well as setting them.  Since walking is becoming an important part of daily fitness regime, many leading names in fashion now offer comfortable shoes.  Would you believe that the comfy pair below left is by Chanel?   Unfortunately there are still the ubiquitous platforms (below right), which is fine for the women who want to add inches to their stature, but prohibitive for me.  Something tells me I'll have another year of long searches for suitable shoes.

Some designers go to the extreme in their effort to adhere to life's realities.  As the rich-poor gap widens around the world, it is no longer kosher to display one's wealth.  Clochard-style items from the latest collection of New York's Thom Browne look like costumes for a movie about Oliver Twist. The clothes that only the wealthiest can afford look much like something most homeless would reject. There is justice in fashion.

    

Internet and Philosophy

The Internet is truly miraculous. The other day I ran into an essay by Croatian philosopher Mario Kopić whom I met years ago in Dubrovnik. It immediately brought to mind our last meeting, at a wine bar in Dubrovnik's Old Port that served the loveliest mellow red wine from a small barrel on top of the counter. Over the years, I lost Mario's e-mail so when his essay reminded me of that meeting, I attempted to find him on Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites that have helped me find other friends - alas to no avail.

Mario does not seem to write a blog, does not post his philosophical essays online and does not tweet. As he said in a rare interview to a Dubrovnik magazine, he clearly "lives apart." What little of his work can be found online is posted by others. It's not hard to guess why. Few of his essays - profound contemplations on cultural and existential themes - can be skimmed through quickly and superficially as we do most of our online reading. One that I found, titled Church and Nihilism would probably resonate with any online reader if they could understand it. It's not an easy read even for a Croatian native speaker and it's nearly impossible to translate. I will try my best to convey what it says.

The basis of the Christian ethos is love, which is also in the core of the Christian belief, says Kopić. This essence of Christianity has been obscured by the Church's efforts to achieve and maintain power and domination.  Mind you, this is a simplified, unauthorized interpretation of the original text. The author is much more sophisticated and nuanced. 

While he talks about Christianity in general, it seems clear to me that Kopić refers mostly to the Catholic and the Eastern-Orthodox Church. He says the Church has deviated from the Christian ethos of love for the divine to hatred of everything it perceives as contrary to its preaching. The Church also has taken away from man the right to act according to his own conscience. That right, Kopić asserts citing the Bible, was God-given to mankind through Adam, making the original sin, the birth of Christ and the Resurrection possible. By denying individuals their freedom of conscience, the Church assumes the role of lawmaker and law-enforcer, not unlike the state. In fact, the philosopher notes, the Church has, whenever possible, used the state to help impose its will on the people. By placing the church law above love, it has changed man's status from that of an autonomous God's creation to that of a church member. In this and many other ways, the Church annihilates man's God-given autonomy as much as the secular state does.

Furthermore, instead of promoting the sanctity of life except by banning abortion, Kopić notes, the Church even today tolerates death penalty and blesses armed forces, in some cases even war criminals. 

Kopić further states that no law or religion should replace individual conscience, but stipulates that conscience is not possible without awareness, i.e. understanding of one's own self and the rest of the world.  Human dignity, he argues in an elaborate fashion, results from a person's ability to contain his/her own desires out of love or deference for others. The ability to control oneself cannot be enforced by Agents or Supervisors appointed by the Church or the State, says Kopić and concludes that without love, neither God nor people have much of a future. 

The essay is about Christianity, but its basic ideas can apply to any religion. And Kopić is not the only one to promote them. Years ago, I asked a renowned Muslim scholar, Khaled Abou El Fadl, Professor of Law at the University of California, how God judges a person who has been instructed by his imam to go and kill in the name of religion. Here is what he replied: “The Quran is very explicit about the individual accountability of each person, fully and completely, for their own actions and that they will not be allowed to say in the final day that ‘this person told me’ or ‘that person convinced me.’ That message of individual responsibility and individual accountability is critical [to Islam].” 

Fadl also said a Muslim has to make efforts to understand the Quran and he has to go out of his way to befriend non-Muslims. "God created different people because only through the understanding of human race in all its diversity can people gain true understanding of the Creator," he said.

Interviewed for the same story, late Rabbi Harold Schulweis of Valley Beth Shalom in Encino, California said that Judaism, Islam and Christianity can be compared to different languages teaching the same basic things. The role of religious teachers is to facilitate communication among groups that use these different languages.

“All of us believe that God created the individual in his own image, regardless of race or gender or religion. We are invested with an inviolability - with a divine potentiality. We all come from Adam. And Adam, we must remember, was not a Jew. He was not a Christian. He was not a Muslim.”

Rabbi Schulweis said all men and women, regardless of their religion, are  created by God.  So "to love God, but to hate his creation, is not only a contradiction, it is the uttermost blasphemy.” 

Jewish or Muslim?

There is now near universal agreement among scholars that most world religions, especially the monotheistic ones, share common ethics, although the rites and traditions differ.  A Muslim might be surprised to learn that Christianity's New Testament requires women's subservience and invisibility, not unlike the strictest Islamic law. In his First Letter to the Corinthians, St. Paul said that women must be veiled, and you can still see Catholic women in many countries covering their hair when they enter a church. It is believed that St. Paul also wrote  (Corinthians I, 14:33-35 ) "the women should keep silence in the churches, for they are not permitted to speak, but should be subordinate, as even the law says. If there is anything they desire to know, let them ask their husbands at home." Ultra-Orthodox Jews also require that women cover their hair and submit to the husband's rule. (On that topic I highly recommend the Israeli movie Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem).

It is the outward demonstrations of diversity rather than true religious differences that provoke tensions between religious groups. Catholic theologian James Wiseman, professor at The Catholic University of America, said there is something in the human nature that compels us to differentiate between "us" and "them". But he said religions do evolve with time and so in the 1960s, the Vatican affirmed for the first time the sanctity of non-Christian religions. “The Church has a high regard for the manner of life and conduct, the precepts and doctrines which, although different in many ways from her own teaching, nevertheless often reflect a ray of that truth which enlightens all people,” said Wiseman.

The Internet could make inter-religious communication easier than ever. It even has translation engines to lower down, if not diminish, language barriers. But when did you last see a civilized intellectual discussion on any topic on the Internet? Most online exchanges, religious or secular, are controlled by "Agents" and "Supervisors," including anonymous commentators who revile in the crudest language anyone who disagrees with them, powerful groups that control the thinking of their members, purveyors of hatred and authors of clever and catchy phrases that promise to stick. Philosophers like Kopić reserve their thoughts for readers who would make more effort.

China's Vulnerable Muslim Minority

Islamist terrorism is surging in many places worldwide, despite bombing raids and efforts to influence moderate Muslim communities. In its latest tactics extremist group Islamic State is using foreign recruits to stage attacks wherever they are instead of joining the fight in Syria.  The recruits are increasingly disgruntled young men from Muslim minorities, such as Russia's Chechens and China's Uighurs.  Several Uighurs have been arrested in Indonesia on terrorism charges in the past year,  one just a day before Christmas. Extremists may not be the only ones exploiting Muslim discontent, according to reports claiming that Turkey is transporting Uighurs  from Southeast Asia to Syria to fight  against the Assad regime. I paid close attention to China's Uighurs during the 2009 riot in Xinjiang and am posting here my report from that time for those interested in the origins of Uighur discontent.

Washington,  2 July 2009

In the 6th century, Uighur-Turkic prince Aprin Chor Tigin wrote the following verse:

I desperately long for my woman.

With her lovely eyebrows, she is the fairest of all. 

I yearn to be with her again.

Immersed in deepest thought, I miss her.

I burn with the desire to kiss her.

Prince Tigin lived and loved in Central Asia, a region where more than eight million Uighurs still make their home. In his time Uighurs shared their kingdom with other Turkic peoples of Central Asia and Southern Siberia. But they were far more advanced than most because they lived along the Silk Road, which served as a major route of commercial, cultural and religious exchange throughout history.

At the turn of the 20th century, scientific and archaeological expeditions to East Turkistan led to the discovery of numerous Uighur cave temples, monastery ruins, wall paintings, miniatures, statues, valuable manuscripts, documents and books.

German explorer Albert von Lecoq said the medieval "Uighur language and script contributed to the enrichment of civilizations of the other peoples in Central Asia. Compared to the Europeans of that time, the Uighurs were far more advanced. Documents discovered in Eastern Turkistan prove that a Uighur farmer could write down a contract, using legal terminology. How many European farmers could have done that at that period?"

When the Uighurs embraced Islam in the 10th century, they started to build mosques, religious schools and libraries. Remnants of the medieval Islamic architecture can still be found in cities such as Kashgar, Urumqi, Turpan and Gaochang.

In recent years, Uighurs have become better known as China's separatists, often labeled as terrorists. Even before this year’s riots in Xinjiang, the Chinese government had blamed various Uighur groups for 200 violent attacks in the past decade, including more than 160 deaths. Bejing says Uighur separatists are part of a network of international Islamic terrorism with funding from the Middle East, training in Pakistan and getting combat experience in Chechnya and Afghanistan. In the wake of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the US, the United Nations added many separatist groups to its lists of terrorist organizations. Among them was the East Turkistan Islamic Movement, or ETIM. The US also has labeled this mostly Uighur group as terrorist.

But Xinjiang separatists say China is using the international anti-terrorist campaign to justify its long-standing repression of non-Chinese minorities. Washington-based Uighur-American attorney and activist Nury Turkel said the Chinese government has consistently enforced cultural assimilation of Turkic people with the majority Han Chinese culture. “They are using all the possible tactics, such as banning the Uighur language, banning the Uighur names -- they come up with a Chinese version of the Uighur names -- encouraging the Chinese people to marry the local people,” he said. But he said the Uighurs have never been religious extremists and that most of them do not practice Islam.

Uighur boys in Kashgar, Xinjiang

Several human rights groups have condemned China's crackdown on Uighurs. In a recent statement, Amnesty International said the ethnic identity of Uighurs in western China is being systematically eroded. Earlier reports have said the crackdown on suspected terrorists includes restrictions on religious freedom, closure of mosques and mandatory "political education" of academics, key personnel in the media and arts, and Islamic clergy.

But some analysts warn that even though the Uighurs' connection to international terrorism may be minimal, it has to be watched. Graham Fuller, former vice chairman of the National Intelligence Council and one of the authors of a new study on China's Uighur Autonomous Region, said examples of Russia, Sri Lanka, Serbia and other countries with large ethnic minorities show that frustrated independence movements may resort to terrorist acts.

He said religion plays an increasing role in supporting these movements. "There is militant Judaism, even militant Buddhism in Sri Lanka. So we are witnessing the phenomenon of religion coming in and bolstering, if you will, ethnic minority. So political Islam is involved here. How much will political Islam become a dominant force in the Uighur struggle? Today it has been a lesser force, but I would bet that if the rest of the Muslim world is any indicator, Islam will be growing in its role in China, supporting and cheering this nationalist struggle," said Fuller.

China has made efforts to develop Xinjiang, fueling funds into industrialization, education and employment, but Uighurs say the Han Chinese have benefited the most from it. Frederick Starr, founder and chairman of the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute in Washington, said China’s economic success will not necessarily improve the Uighurs' lot. He said some political change is essential to avoid violence. According to Starr, China is more likely to avoid conflict by allowing greater local initiative, communal self-government at various levels, and some expression of oppositional sentiment by Turkic and Uighur and Muslim people within the system.

The northwestern province is predominantly agricultural and pastoral, but it is also rich in mineral resources and energy. The oil fields in the far north are among the largest in China. The region has extensive deposits of coal, silver, copper and lead. It is clear that people who have called this land home for thousands of years must have more say in how these resources are to be used. 

US: Nation of Powerful and Weak

Just as I produced my TV package on homelessness in the United States, I came across an article in The Washington Post about a homeless Harvard Law School graduate, arrested for sleeping outside an office building in downtown D.C.  In one of my earlier blogs I mentioned two of my friends with Harvard degrees who have difficulty finding stable employment. Are these people exceptions or part of a phenomenon that is called America?

Skid Row is a 50-block section of downtown Los Angeles, known as the "homeless capital of the United States." Several thousand people live there under tents or tarps, some temporarily, others chronically. The shanty town has been around for more than one century, and it has grown over the years. The city has tried different solutions - most recently it pledged $100 million to help Skid Row denizens - but no one believes this will make a difference.

"From what I see, it can't be solved," said a longtime Skid Row resident Walter Sanders. "Not unless they drop an atom bomb on this place and blow everybody up. That would solve it."

 Homeless woman in Los Angeles

Homelessness in Los Angeles has spread far beyond Skid Row. The number of people living in the streets has risen 12 percent in the past two years. And now some parts of the city are struggling to manage big homeless populations they've never seen before. LA is by no means the only U.S. city with this problem. New York, Philadelphia, Washington D.C. and many others are not far behind. In fact, New York seems to have a higher rate of homelessness per total population. So many people sleep in the streets and parks that pedestrians don't even notice them any more. The image sparks in my mind the memory of elementary school lessons in which we were told that "in America, a person can be dying on the sidewalk and no one would stop to help." I can't remember if I believed the "communist propaganda" at that tender age, but it clearly left an impression. 

Reverend Andy Bales, an executive at LA's Union Rescue Mission, called homelessness "the worst man-made disaster in the United States." He told Sky News in a recent interview that people living in the street are increasingly victims of chaos and violence. And he said money is only part of the solution. "Most of all we need a change of heart about these precious people who are dying on our streets," he said.

In response to my recent TV report (see below) on U.S. homelessness, a viewer commented:

"For all the good that Franklin D. Roosevelt did in his 11 years as President, he made one fundamental mistake; he signed into the law Social Security. It was the front door to more welfare legislation that quickly turned Americans from being self sufficient and community conscious to dependent on Government and self entitled. Instead of a community looking out for each other and lending a helping hand to those in need, now people look to the government with an outstretched hand looking for a handout. And people will lie and distort truths to get government assistance, just to avoid having to work."

This is a belief shared by many Americans - that those who want to work can get a job and afford a home. So if you don't have a home, it means you don't want to work. There are currently more than 500,000 homeless people in the United States, about 65,000 fewer than in 2008, during the height of the global financial crisis.  Since then, more than 30 states reported a decline in homelessness.  But other 17 reported an increase in the past few years, in some cases significant. American cities including Portland, Denver, Seattle, and the entire state of Hawaii, are among those worst hit by the problem and have asked for emergency funds to cope with it.  

The economy has recovered in recent years, the unemployment rates have declined, and since President Obama took office, the economy reportedly has added 8.7 million jobs. So why are half a million Americans living in shelters and shanty towns? Could it be that they all prefer to live without regular meals, showers, clean clothes and something meaningful to do?

Postell at his Harvard graduation

That does not seem to be the case with Alfred Postell who recently appeared at D.C. District Court to answer charges of sleeping outside a downtown office. It turned out that Postell studied law at Harvard alongside with Supreme Court Justice John Roberts, former Wisconsin senator Russ Feingold and Judge Thomas Motley, who presided over Postell's hearing at the D.C. court in June. Postell was described as a motivated and disciplined student who had a well-paid job after graduating. Until he was struck by schizophrenia and everything went downhill from there.

To be sure, very few homeless Americans have college degrees, but many of them have at least once in heir lifetime been gainfully employed, married or settled in some other way.  I knew one of them, a member of the VOA Serbian Service addicted to books and alcohol, who was persuaded to resign after his alcoholism became uncontrollable following his mother's death. 

Postell homeless in Washington D.C.

More than 50-thousand people lacking permanent shelter are war veterans, who believed serving in the military would make it easier for them to find a job afterwards. A quarter of all the homeless are children, some of them without parents.

Advocates say most people become homeless as a result of a tragic event in their life: loss of job or bread-winning spouse; onset of a mental disease, drug addiction or alcoholism; post-traumatic stress disorder, especially in the case of war veterans; and other tragedies some people find hard to cope with. But many Americans have lost homes, or are on the verge of losing them, due to the increasingly high cost of housing against shrinking income, especially in cities like Los Angeles and New York.

Does elite education provide protection from failure? Does it guarantee success? Neither, it would seem. My two friends holding Harvard degrees in architecture and archeology respectively, have held only temporary jobs throughout their lives and Postell has been jailed for sleeping in a public space. Thousands of others, neither especially talented nor endowed are making millions: reality show stars, buffoons, peddlers of cheap goods, "celebrities". The old truth that anyone willing to work hard can make it in this country is beginning to shake. It looks more as if to make it in America you have to be clever enough to recognize opportunity, determined to pursue it, prepared to push rivals out of the way, ready to overcome obstacles, and be completely insensitive to insult, shame, rejection and setbacks. Weakness, disease, sensitivity, modesty and vulnerability are poor assets in Jungle America where fitness is essential for success if not survival.

Still, the majority of middle class Americans are doing well, or at least better than people in many other countries. And those fleeing poverty  and violence at home for the "pursuit of happiness" in America usually are better off than before. Statistics do not show any number of immigrants among the U.S. homeless.

Americans contribute more money to charitable organizations, and their free time to help the poor than any other people in the world.  Over the years I have known a number of friends to forgo holiday parties and family reunions to help serve food to the poor.  It is not clear what "change of heart" Reverend Bale is talking about. If he means that we need a complete overhaul of our goals as a society, I would agree. The culture promoting wealth, beauty and power as its core values instead of truth, knowledge, duty, honor, love and loyalty, and the society that places the rights of an individual over the rights of a community, are creating a nation of strong individuals and weak masses. Homelessness is just one symptom that no money and volunteer work will solve.

http://www.voanews.com/media/video/united-states-homelessness/3121080.html

Washington: Choral Capital of the World

End-of-the-year holiday season is paradise time for choral music lovers in Washington D.C. There is hardly a concert hall, church or school that does not offer a Christmas concert, musical, oratorio or some other choral performance. It’s hard to decide whether to attend a Messiah sing-along, or a concert of favorite carols, and even harder to decide which group to chose - the Washington Chorus, Washington Bach Consort, Washington Men’s Camerata,  Heritage Signature Chorale, Zemer Chai, Gay Men’s Chorus, Capitol Hill Chorale, or......

From the endless list of local choirs, my longtime favorite choice was the Choral Arts Society of Washington under the leadership of Norman Scribner.  For close to half a century, he was the heart and soul of that massive chorus that gave about 8 concerts a year, regularly marking Martin Luther King's Day, Easter and Christmas. Despite the regularity, and many of the same popular numbers, Scribner managed to offer a completely new performance for each of those occasions year after year, after year. 

My favorite were Christmas concerts, which always included a sing-along of carols, but the focal point was always a selection of holiday pieces from a foreign country.  Scribner organized these concerts in collaboration with embassies - and there is no shortage of those in the U.S. capital.  He told me in an interview that the diplomats usually organized a fund-raising party to help cover the expense of the visiting artists.

One of the most memorable for me was the concert featuring Spanish music, which I covered for a VOA radio feature all those many years ago.  It included a Spanish guitar player and castanete artists Carmen de Vicente.  She produced pure magic on castanetes and I can hardly remember anything else but her performance from that evening.  Later she told  me that her instrument is much more versatile than people think and that she can play Bach and Mozart on castanetes.  Unfortunately, no recording that I am aware of was made that evening and so with time the event turned into one of these indelible ethereal memories, all the more precious because they cannot be reincarnated.  But here is another example of de Vicente's artistry:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAeeljMlf1I

The Choral Art Society's other memorable concert was the 2011 Holiday Treasures from Russia made in collaboration with the Russian Embassy.  No fund-raising was necessary as the Russian government wanted to impress the Washington public and paid for a grand performance. In addition to the soloists, the Washington Choral Art Society was joined by 80 members of the Ural Philharmonic Orchestra led by Dmitry Liss.  They performed the Dance of the Tumblers  from the ballet Snegurochka and the walz from the opera Eugene Onegin.  Soprano Iirna Shiskova sang Bach and Gerchaninov's lullaby as well as Schubert's Ave Maria. On the last evening , the Ural orchestra also played the complete Scherezade, an additional 45 minutes to the program. Russian contributions might have outranked those of France, Germany, Belgium, Finland, Singapore and Alaska, but for me, no soloist in Scribner's Christmas concerts ever outranked Carmen de Vicente.  

At about the same time as the Holiday Treasures concert, Russian tycoon Vladimir Potanin donated $5 million to the Kennedy Center to draw Washington's attention to the Russian art beyond The Nutcracker and the nesting dolls. 

So the art benefited from politicking.  Regardless, Maestro Scribner was proud of his internationally flavored concerts.  The sing-along selections  always included Silent Night because the song is known internationally and he wanted at least one strophe sung in the language of the country that was featured in the program.  Russia, of course sent an expert to transliterate its Cyrillic text into the Latin alphabet and help the audience with pronunciation. "It had not always gone that smoothly, Scribner told me.  At the Czech-themed concert several years before, Ambassador Petr Kolar undertook the role of the linguist.  "He entertained the audience with a pretended stage fright, saying he had never taught Czech to such a large classroom.  Then he took the microphone to sing Silent Night in Czech and could not find the right pitch," Scribner recalled.

"After his performance he turned to me and asked if I had any objections to his singing. The audience burst into laughter and clapping and so the worst number of the evening had the most applause.  The Washington Post wrote that with Kolar in the program we did not need Santa Clause, fake snow or Rockettes."

That conversation, my second one with Scribner, took place four years ago.  The maestro retired the following year and died unexpectedly in March of this year.  I attended only one concert conducted by his successor Scott Tucker and - a solid rendition of Bach's Mass in B.  But I realized that for me the Choral Arts Society had become a different group - still good, still strong, but like the same body with a different soul.

In 1963, the National Symphony Orchestra asked Scribner to assemble a choir to sing Handel's Messiah - for Christmas of course. "Usually they would invite three or four big church choirs to sing. I suggested to audition each singer individually because church choirs can have good and bad singers and we needed the best," Scribner told me in the interview. "Of some 500 people that auditioned, we chose 120. That Messiah was so successful that we decided to keep the group together and perform regularly," he said.

Norman Scribner

The chorus founded 50 years ago by Scribner, grew from 120 to 180-190 members. "Each year some people leave and new ones come, infusing fresh blood into he group,"  he said. Under Scribner, the all-volunteer Society came to give its regular concerts in the United States and in addition performed overseas. It sang in venues such as St. Paul's Cathedral in London and Notre Dame in Paris, often with the world's top orchestras.  The 1993 concert in Moscow's Red Square attracted 100.000 people, including President Boris Yeltsin. In 2011 alone, the group sang in Austria, France and Japan. It was directed by celebrity conductors such as Valery Gergiev, Lorin Maazel, Leonard Slatkin, Antal Dorati, Leonard Bernsten and Christoph Eschenbach. It commissioned new works such as Seven songs for Planet Earth by Finland's Olli Kortekangas. Its recordings include Prokofiev's Alexander Nevsky, Rachmaninov's Vespers and Mahler's 8th Symphony, and a Grammy award for its 1996 recording of John Corigliano's Of Rage and Remembrance.

The maestro told me all this was possible thanks to the professional-caliber volunteer singers who spend hours of their free time rehearsing, traveling and performing.  He said Washington has a huge pool of excellent singers, many of them well educated single people who come to work in the nation's capital and want to do something meaningful in their spare time.  

"There have been weddings and divorces among members of our chorale," said Scribner.  "But most importantly, " he said, "a lot of these people that come here simply like to sing and have good musical education."  And so there are many choral groups. Some perform regularly, others meet from time to time.  Some are connected to a school or an institution, others are formed spontaneously by people of similar interests. Then there are military chorales.

"Washington has more choral groups than any other American city and probably more than any city in the world.  In the musical circles we call it the choral capital of the United States," said Scribner.

Choral Arts Society in Moscow's Red Square

Is there a lot of rivalry? "Not at all," said Scribner. "Each choir has its own unique sound and each sings a different repertoire. We all get along well and we often sing together." Hmmm... pity our politicians don't sing!

Despite the acclaim, Scribner was always accessible, always a gentleman. When he talked about a particularly successful concert, like the one in Moscow, his eyes would lit with excitement and even a little wonder, as if he could not quite believe his chorale was so successful. He never put on airs, never acted like a celebrity.  I imagine that his neighbors could freely come knocking on his door to borrow a cup of sugar.

The institution he established in 1965 is still flourishing.  It still commissions new works.  It still celebrates MLK. It still travels and it still hosts foreign artists.  This year the Society toured five cities in China.  Its Christmas concert featured guests from Singapore.  But I did not attend.  I know if I did that in my mind I would be seeing the maestro walking on the stage with a happy smile and my attention would drift to the concerts of years gone by - to Carmen de Vicente, and to the Silent Night in Russian. I would be missing the warm and fuzzy feeling specific to Scribner and it would not be fair to the chorus and its current leader.

Besides, it's time to hear other unique choral sounds this city has to offer during the holiday season.