Searching beyond hotel sterility

I would like to post something that incapsulates something meaningful from Macedonia. I want to describe a feeling I've got of this place, the people and the history. But I don't yet. And I might not have before my short days here are done. One of the things about running AIESEC conferences in exotic locals is often all you learn about a place is another brand of hotel sterility. So in an attempt to seek something deeper in this place, in the little time I have around providing an incredible experience to 160 bright young minds, I will post what I'm learning of Macedonia here and then even if I fail than perhaps you will piece together the puzzle.

International Crisis Group: Macedonia: Not out of the Woods Yet
- In depth anaylsis of conflict and conflict resolution.
"In an example of successful international intervention, Macedonia was spared yet another Balkan war in 2001. However, the Ohrid Agreement, brokered by US and EU mediators, does not itself guarantee stability. Macedonia faces several continuing challenges, including government foot-dragging on implementation of Ohrid, and endemic – and fully multiethnic – corruption that continues to undermine the institutions on which the Agreement must rest. Macedonia also faces external challenges due to the uncertain status of Kosovo, and from the refusal of neighboring states to recognise fully the Macedonian identity."
The International Crisis Group is an independent, non-profit, multinational organisation, with over 100 staff members on five continents, working through field-based analysis and high-level advocacy to prevent and resolve deadly conflict.

Crime and Society: F.Y.R.O Macedonia
- Overview of political, economic and conflict history since 1991. Focus on crime and abuse of power.
"The rate for all index offenses combined was 917.57 for FYRO Macedonia, compared with 1873.21 for Japan and 4160.51 for USA"
A Comparative Criminology Tour of the World, Dr. Robert Winslow, San Diego State University

Wicked Wanderings

Once more having the best job in the world pays off. Tomorrow I'm jumping on a plane to Skopje, Macedonia, where I will spend 12 days running a conference for the AIESECers from the national teams across Europe. After this I will head to Egypt for 8 days of justice holiday with Tom and Brodie- as mentioned earlier. I fly back into the Netherlands on the 5th of April and fly out to Helsinki the same day. After four days of strategic planning in a cottage somewhere in Finland I will head to the last few days of the Swedish national conference and Swedish transition planning, before getting back to Rotterdam on the 13th of April or so. If I get waylaid by Egyptian spice traders or Scandinavian design students it might be considerably longer.

So stay tuned for stories of adventures that will hopefully involve myrrh, an archduke, several Micronesian islands and a very large hollow wooden horse. If I'm not blogging so regularly for the next little while it's because myrrh is in short supply.

Space is the Place

Imagine a circus tent. Now imagine it is made of metal but totally
hollow. Imagine it is incredibly massively huge. Imagine you are in this
tent, surrounded by thousands of people, some of the finest beats Europe
has to offer and a vibe chilled to the point of freezing. It is somewhere
between 12 and 5 AM, you are in Amsterdam, and you are me.

I journeyed to "Space is the Place :Super Natural Funky Musique".
Self described as a gig so funky "the forms of relaxation will ask a lot of
your mind to cope with". It was a huge stage featuring Etienne de Crecy,
Roy Ayers and others committed to pumping out house, acid jazz and
heating up to forms to funky dance. There was Brazilian juice bars, high
tea and even a area filled only with bean bags.

It was a big culture shock for me as it was the first time I heard Dutch
DJs who actually finished playing the tracks they we spinning, the music
genre stayed for more than two songs and people wore colors other than
bright green, orange and red. Oh the delights of Amsterdam. Or was it
finally leaving the surreal bubble of "AI-Netherlands"; which is located
in Rotterdam in name alone.

Nonetheless, it was a huge night, and when I wasn't staring up at the
massive ceiling of this venue that used to be a giant container for
natural gas , I was chilling with Monika and my bro Eddie who came
through from London on a sabbatical away from the soul eating city of
London. It was huge reminder that I need to get out, need to experience
the incredible scene that this place has to offer, get underground and find
out where art is being expressed and tap into the the pulse that beats in
the youth culture across this continent.

Inside of giant metal tent thing

Space is the Place, originally uploaded by artyj.

Genocide 2044

Here's a provocative thought. In 1944 the world was afflicted by the Holocaust. In 1994 it was the Rwanda genocides. Suppose that the world has not learned and that in 2044 humanity will be again corrupted and abused on such a mass scale. Would you do anything different in the next 39 years with this knowledge? Would it change your life at all?

Would you look on the 2044 genocides with same powerlessness we feel for the past? Or would you be able to see what your choices and contribution was in the world, and feel it was sufficient for you own sense of justness? Everyone has their own calling, their own sense of community and contribution, and I do not suggest that ending genocide is everyone's purpose. Merely I suggest that we take into account the true condition of humanity and make a choice that we will honestly stand by. I believe this results in empowering our sense of choice and their consequences in the world and helps us to come to terms with our abilities and limitations.

In 2044 I may cry again but it will not be for shock and wondering why. It will not be because I walked ignorant and powerless for so long whilst an unknowable force of evil swelled in a corner of humanity. It will not be because I failed to choose how best to contribute to my community. It will not be because I failed to understand the darkness that exists in our hearts and the limitations of our current world system. The tears that fall will be for the individuals who will face the most terrible slaughter and for our collective humanity that refuses to learn this cruelest lesson.

Copy, write II

It was coming along nicely with some engaging humanism and then bang... it turned into a hectic rant on plagiarism and blogging. Way too intense for this fragile journey of discovery. So let me talk about other people's stuff for a while.

On the topic of copyright if you haven't already, make sure you check out "Question" by the Kleptones. It's a mashup including Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody", the Big Lebowski and Fight Club in one incredible track that has been described as "a plunderphonic call to arms against bad copyright law". As Queens piano gently marks the exit to the track, we hear a final voice over.

"What do you get with freedom? Excesses? Exploitation? Of course. And what does one say to that? A small price to pay. If you dont like it, dont listen to it, dont read it, dont watch it. Without free commmunication, you don't have a free society. Democracy is based on it."

You know the system is in decline when giant media conglomerates are appealing to the ethics and individual responsibility of their consumers. I wonder if they will include it in their key competencies? Sony: Electronics, Music, Morality. Nonetheless for millions of people around the world, for right or wrong, music is functionally free.

For me the future of music will be determined by the following question. What system will deliver more music to the consumer and allow more people to make a decent living doing what they love, playing music? I believe this future will not leave a lot of room for parts of the industry which are not concerned with these two elements. And rightly so.

Music is the product and producer of passion. In a decline of the mainstream commerical industry I think we will see a rise of an industry driven by individual interest. The majority of artists would earn through live performances, and the superstars will earn supersalaries through commercial endorsement. Individuals will record it, they will share it and they will draw other people to it. And best of all they will do this in a way that engages more people to produce more music for everyone. Fluffy, different, maybe impossible- but it would be incredibly cool.

Copy, write

Wikipedia rocks. It will be hugely influential in removing the information limitation for learning and communication. It already fuels many a blog, although seldom acknowledged for it. How much are we expressing ourselves and how much are we using our boundless talents to cut and paste? But I'll let wiki argue this one for me.

"A weblog, web log or simply a blog, is a web application which contains periodic posts on a common webpage. These posts are often but not necessarily in reverse chronological order. Such a website would typically be accessible to any Internet user. The term "blog" came into common use as a way of avoiding confusion with the term server log."

"Wikipedia is a Web-based free content encyclopedia that is openly edited and freely readable. Entries on traditional encyclopedic topics exist alongside those on almanac, gazetteer and current events topics. Its goal is to create "a world in which every single person on the planet is given free access to the sum of all human knowledge."^[1] "Wikipedia is one of the most popular reference sites on the Web, receiving around 80 million hits per day.[2]"

"Plagiarism refers to the use of another's ideas, information, language, or writing, when done without proper acknowledgment of the original source. The widespread use of the Internet has increased the incidence of plagiarism. Students are able to use search engines to locate information on a wide range of topics. Once located, this information can be cut-and-pasted into their own documents with minimal effort."

Dehumanising Humanity

All of us, with even the slightest interest in history and humanity,
have wondered at the tragedy and horror of the Holocaust of World War
II. We wonder how such cruelty could be inflicted at the hands of Man.
We wonder how people could stand by and let it happen. We wonder how
so many could have guarded their ignorance and not sought to discover
how and why these millions died.

All except the oldest in our societies can view these dark events as
"history". A world removed from us by generations. I would like to
imagine that if I was alive I would have sought to understand, to add
meaning to the incomprehensible events and do what I could to ensure
that this ultimate price at least bought the ultimate lesson to
safeguard the future of humanity.

However, in my lifetime such events have again befallen us in Bosnia and
Rwanda. Although I was only 13 they occured in my waking life, not some
conceptual "history". At the time my understanding was limited to news
headings; Tutsi and Huti, Bosnian Muslim and Serbian Croats, Srebrenica
and Nyarubuye. The names didn't illustrate the reality, rather they
formed barriers which contained these far away places and afflictions of
people I would never know. In early 2002 I visited Bosnia and Croatia to
try and develop an understanding of the histories and the people to try
an build the collection of facts into story I could feel.

The Rwanda genocides amplified my frustration. The decimation of a
people kept away from our collective focus largely because of the
concept we have built as "Africa". This perspective that seems to
underlie the western view; "Who can comprehend the savagery, the
foreigness, the senseless violence and disease of Africa?" And in Rwanda
we saw Africans killing Africans and thus further denied the
responsibility of our colonial history and our globalized present.

I could not piece together a story of Rwanda that I could understand.
Nor did a year spent wrestling with Apartheid in SA help me understand
this very different Africa. The single worst atrocity of our time; one
that tore the heart of humanity from a country and a people, machete
blow by machete blow, and claimed a million lives faster than the Nazi's
systematic slaughter of the Jews.

James Nachtwey, USA, Magnum Photos for Time. http://www.worldpressphoto.com

If we don't understand it, how can we prevent it reoccuring? If we don't
find meaning in how humans can dehumanize, if we only condem the
madness, than we are passing the cruelist of legacies to our children.
It is in this spirit that Philip Gourevitch travelled to Rwanda to build
a comprehensible story the world could understand. His book "We Wish to
Inform You That Tomorrow We Will be Killed With Our Families: Stories
from Rwanda"solved my Rwanda problem. It demystifies the cruelty and
the chaos by explaining the what, the how and the why of the genocides.
His insights portray a picture of the darker side of humanity; the crimes
of leadership, the cruel choices of individuals and the indifference of the
international community. He portrays a picture that is savage and
horrific, but a story that is human and all too possible.

Tomorrow night I shall see the film "Hotel Rwanda" and post any further
thoughts on this piece of history that has unfolded in our lifetimes.

Mount Sinai Meditations

mount sinai, originally uploaded by artyj.

So it is settled booked and paid for. Brodie will be joining Tom and me in Egypt for our 8 day sabbatical. As I mentioned earlier adventures will be had and jade returned, but our gracious host has organised new wondrous events to engage the spirit. We will be chilling by the sea in Basata (the best place ever) and climbing Mt Sinai. The selfsame Mt Sinai where Moses was said in the Bible to have received the Ten Commandments from God. Now it is disputed by some whether Mt Sinai, or Gebel Musa as it is called in Arabic, is actually the one from the bible, but its close enough and far enough away from Australia to count. The real question is, I ask to you the reader, what should Tom, Arthur and Brodie be discussing whilst reflecting on the summit of Mt Sinai as the sun sets across the Red Sea? The unity of all religions? The nature of the cosmic story? Pool alignment? Post comments and we promise to discuss the most insightful and engaging question atop this historical mount. Can't promise tablets but we'll try to come up with something fundamental.

Man Rain

Its been raining. Not any rain, this is injustice rain. The kind of rain that drives away wonderfully fluffy snow leaving only puddles of icy slush. Injustice rain- the rain that does no good. It doesn't fill dams, or wash streets clean. It slicks roads and causes mass collisions between bicycles, cattle and road trains. I can handle and even enjoy heavy thunderstorms, the kind of rain that fights you... Man Rain.

Rotterdam has a slight case of injustice rain, but Dublin was terminal. Umbrellas were listed on the stock exchange and rain was food group. I would like to bring the rain from South Africa to fight the rain in Dublin. SA rain was tough, fighting style rain that busted into a summer afternoon like drunken british tourists on a quiet Amsterdam cafe. SA rain would stand accused on the side of the courtroom while Dublin rain would raise its bruised finger to point wearily at its brutal attacker. It would be a one sided rain defeat.

But enough talk, hopefully Rotterdam has got the message and no-one needs to get wet.

More diversity, less mucus

A month long weekendless drought finally broke on friday night as I kicked back in my flat with Albert and Brodie and began a 48 hour chillout and philosophy session. We were still recovering from a recent conference in romania- which lead us to conclude saturday night with the motto "More Diversity, Less Mucus"- truly a banner we can all rally around. Emerging monday morning unshaven, with a far lower heart rate, and profound thoughts dripping from the very walls the weekend seems only a haze of wide ranging discussions and beer.

In the coming months I plan to write out my incomplete philosophy and will post a few musings here for mass digestion. It's taken a couple of years but I think Im finally at the point where I can write on the "individual and collective journey of humanity" without falling on the floor and heaving in violent laughter. I think the key is to take yourself seriously enough to create, while maintaining the perspective to see humour or at least irony in your own creations.

Capturing History

This is for drake who claims my blog is a spiritless void lacking even a single picture.

I took this photo outside the "House of Terror Museum" in Budapest- an incredible education on the regimes of terror that tore through Hungary last century. Part of history that too often has no voice.

To see photos that truly capture the essence of history unfolding around
us check the World Press Photo of the Year.

Hunter's Wave

Writing the previous post reminded me of a singular piece by one of the greatest modern livers of life, a man who captured the essence of the living/commenting whole, until he recently and abruptly ceased doing so, Hunter S Thompson.

"Strange memories on this nervous night in Las Vegas. Five years later? Six? It seems like a lifetime, or at least a main era - -the kind of peak that never comes again. San Francisco in the middle sixties was a very special time and place to be a part of. Maybe it meant something. Maybe not, in the long run, but no explanation, no mix of words or music or memories can touch that sense of knowing that you were there and alive in that corner of time and the world. Whatever it meant. There was madness in any direction, at any hour. If not across the Bay, then up the Golden Gate or down 101 to Los Altos or La Honda. You could strike sparks anywhere. There was a fantastic universal sense that whatever we were doing was right, that we were winning. And that, I think, was the handle - -that sense of inevitable victory over the forces of Old and Evil. Not in any mean or military sense; we didn't need that. Our energy would simply prevail. There was no point in fighting - -on our side or theirs. We had all the momentum; we were riding the crest of a high and beautiful wave. So now, less than five years later, you can go up on a steep hill in Las Vegas and look West, and with the right kind of eyes you can almost see the high-water mark - -the place where the wave finally broke and rolled back."
- Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

Reaffirming the East

Australian world history education misses a lot of the world; Latin America, the middle east and Central and Eastern Europe. The view of CEE that is educated on seems to be governed by a few absolute and contradictory opinions.
Between 1949-1989 in the countries "behind the Iron Curtain",
1- Nothing happened.
2- Everything that happened was bad.
3- Everything was the same; across countries and years.

At the end of high school (1998) I was left with an impression that central and eastern Europe was largely covered in shades of grey, tight 80's jeans and generally devoid of humor. Luckily enough I visited Bosnia, Croatia and Slovakia in early 2002 and everything changed. I was opened to learning and experiencing volumes of history, culture, people and perspectives. I have recently returned from a few weeks in Romania and would like to reaffirm one thing.
- Central and Eastern Europe kicks ass.

I will swap London for Budapest any day, the French Mediterranean for the Dalmatian coast, and partying in Bucharest over Rotterdam in any season. Yah yah, there's the whole "cost effectiveness thing"- but that misses the whole point. Adventures can be had. There are less hard and fast rules, more is possible, and the people are part of it. There is a wave breaking east in our lifetimes and the countries, societies and people will never be the same. Much of the change will be positive in increasing quality of life and opportunities available, but I fear that much of the uniqueness will evaporate without ceremony.

Much has gone already I'm sure, but something remains and we can either experience it now, or wait until 2015 for the package deals and themed restaurants. Ride the wave and tell your kids about it... They wont believe you.

Why Blog?

Why blog? I've been a blogosceptic for some time now. I fear that blogs will inevitably become self-obsessed and become long descriptions of the parts of us that we wish gained more attention. Or that it will be a depository for the endless minutia of my life and thoughts. Or maybe in an attempt to please some concept of the reader it will become hollow and lifeless. Perhaps this is true. But three things drew me on regardless. One, I dont have the time to write long, edited newsletters to my friends as I once did. Two, surely the blog medium has some art in it as is evidenced often in this nomadlife community. Three, writing is better than not writing and the good will come with the bad- accept it or forever be one the verge of expression.

If "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" was a blog it would surely be the best blog in the world. The novel combines a mans roadtrip across the Rockies, a journey through 2,000 years of Western philosophy, and a man wrestling with becoming his true self. I think this is the key to blogging, to combine the journey, with the message and the personal tale. N.B. If I start blogging about Quality and how to adjust the petrol intake on your bike then Im stealing and must be stopped. Down Phaedrus.

My apology to Jeff Buckley.

Look Jeff*, let me start directly, Im sorry. I was wrong. Years ago when friends told me about you, I scoffed. I mocked. I described your tender ballads as "injustice music". Little did I know you had created the Best Song in the World. Yes for those of you who haven't heard "Hallelujah" by Jeff Buckley, acquire it now, listen to it repeatedly, and make your life better. Some say Jeff drowned in the Mississippi after downing a bottle of jack daniels, but I believe he was last seen walking into an empty studio where he recorded Hallelujah and disappeared, leaving the track behind for us. If he didn't go to heaven at least he gave us a small peace of it to echo sweetly for eternity.

* Jeffrey Scott Buckley (November 17, 1966 - May 29, 1997) was an American singer and guitarist whose unique voice, spanning four octaves, launched him to semi-celebrity.

Raising Global Pyramid Awareness

For too long people have ignored the unusual elliptical pyramid at Uxmal, Mexico. Similarly the pyramidal Moche Temple of the Sun in Peru has been overlooked. To this end I will be heading to Cairo Egypt to raise gloabl pyramid awareness. I have high expectations of them being simultaneously; giant, sandy, triangle themed and altogether massively like the tomb of some Ancient Egyptian Pharoah.

On March 27 I shall be heading Egypt side to visit my brother of the spirit, one Tom Gara. Adventures shall be had, discussions will be as wide ranging and free flowing as the dishes that will be consumed. If possible we will return a few jade monuments to warring tribes, thus bringing peace to the land.

Closing speech and a new dawn

This is the last speech I gave in IPM during the PAI election... I was speaking as much for myself and my journey as I was for AIESEC.

"There is a story being told in the world around us. It tells us to fear the foreign and the unknown. It says that only few can survive, and to survive we must fight. It says that some are better than the whole and that we must divide and isolate. It threatens that we are endangered an alone.

In AIESEC I have found another story. I have found a story that speaks to what is common in us. I have found a story that says we can work better together, than alone, that we are more similar than different, that we have a community and future in Humanity.

I believe the future of the world will be shaped by one of these stories - it is up to us to determine which.

The discovery of humanity has been my AIESEC journey. I have found it the hearts and minds of our members, though we seldom see it. I have found it in the vision and the strategy of our organisation though we seldom hear it. I have found it the actions and determination of our leaders, though we seldom speak it.

I say this spirit, our Vision, shall lead our organisation. It shall guide our strategy, will inspire our member base, will bring together diverse perspectives, people and organisations around a common aim.

To this end, I offer you all that I have.
I offer you my mind, which seeks to learn, seeks to teach, seeks to find a better way forward. I offer you my vision, an engaged, relevant and sucessful AIESEC- a true force for global change. And I offer you my heart, which beats with the pulse of humanity, as do each of yours.

AIESEC, be this the dawn, or the sunset, I thank you for helping me discovery what lies within each of us."

3 hours after closing this speech, I found out that it was to be a sunset. Like all the wonderful things in life, my AIESEC experience felt like it would be forever, until I found out it was nearly over. I have 5 months ahead of me to experience the best job in the world to the fullest. I will travel across the world, learn and teach from some of the brightest young minds, and give what I can. On July 31st 2005 AIESEC and I will move in different directions- but we have changed each other deeply in the last 6 years and neither will ever be the same again.

Larry on AIESEC

"I have spent more time with AIESEC International than any other. AIESEC is a great organization, formed after WWII to promote international understanding. It is entirely student run. That statement requires some reflection. This organization of about thirty thousand students in 87 different countries has survived for more than fifty years without any professional, adult, management. Each year the local chapters on university campuses elect a leadership team, then a national leadership team is elected, and there is a once a year international conference at which they elect a new global President and leadership team. So, every year, a new group of young men and woman, in their early twenties, move to Rotterdam and provide coordination and leadership to this global organization. For the past five years I have been their “change management” consultant as they have redefined “The AIESEC Experience” as a life-long learning process and designed all the necessary processes, structures, systems, etc.

Every organization is unique and presents its own challenges. Needless to say, AIESEC was challenging, unique, and a lot of fun to work with. I won’t bore you with all of my other adventures, but they include serving on the board of small university in Switzerland, born of great ideas and dedication, but lacking any viable business model. I was drawn into a half time job (no pay!) in Switzerland, working to rescue this poor child. But, I am afraid the finances were beyond repair." Larry Miller

It begins

Codex: Latin for "book"
Reperio: "to get again, find, ascertain, discover, invent"

Codex Reperio: A place where I will log and share the discoveries, inventions and findings that I chance upon in this singular experience.