Vietnam

A Change of Perspective

The countries I have travelled to recently have always had one big topic I focused on. Vietnam is not in the middle of a segregation conflict or at war but still I feel like there are many stories to tell. For me it is new to write about something less political and more cultural but I will definitely give it my best shot.

At the beginning I was overwhelmed by the chaos around me and even though it was already my second visit in Vietnam, I was again surprised how people manage to get by every day. The constant honking in the streets, the stop-and-go in the cab because a motorbike with a complete Vietnamese family on it tries to squeeze in between my cap and the autobus next to us, and of course the street sellers who sell everything from miniature turtles to lottery tickets not strictly on the side of the road but also right in the middle, drove me crazy. I pretty much asked myself the question how any society could possibly work efficiently if they do not even follow rules as simple as waiting in front of a red traffic light. Well I was proven to be wrong but I stayed resilient for a couple more days. If any cartoonist would have bothered to draw me at this point it probably would have turned out as a policeman in the middle of the intersection trying to regulate traffic while everyone just kept 

on doing what they did before.

I still remember when my perspective changed. I was riding into town on the back of my friend’s bike to go for some dinner when he mentioned how the honking has the sound of whales or dolphins communicating between each other or how the motorbikes move around obstacles like a shoal of fish. There was a certain harmony in this metaphor which made me reconsider my own position. Of course if I keep looking at the Vietnamese society from the point of view of a European I could never relax or enjoy anything there. The realization to let go of certain habits to truly arrive at your destination has helped me to become part of the Vietnamese life. I hate being a tourist in a country, the things you get shown are not real, overpriced and represent nothing about the culture you came to experience. Therefore I got rid of my ambition to teach the Vietnamese drivers about right of way and instead became part of the shoal myself.

I finally started to discover. There are so many bizarre aspects. The country is governed by a communist party since the war ended in 1975 and still the people simply worship Apple products. The French tried to colonize the country unsuccessfully until 1954 and pretty much represented social-Darwinism and still it is considered an ideal of beauty to have white skin. Throughout history it seems like the Vietnamese people always had to fight against foreign intervention to keep their own culture alive and now that they are self-dependent they elaborate on it but still have chosen to liberate their markets in the 90s for foreign investments. All those correlations mixed with their very own traditions and beliefs makes it even more difficult to describe their society sufficiently.

I think the Vietnamese people are very pragmatic not only in the way how they transport simply everything on their bikes but the way they accept foreign support or intervention if they benefit from it and it does not matter if it is the same country which tried to occupy them a couple decades before. This pragmatism helps to boost your economy and you can tell by the number of expats and growing investments, especially in the urban areas, that the strategy works out fine.

For the future I wonder how they will further develop. An average age of 28 years, a low illiterate rate and an entrepreneur friendly environment are promising prerequisites. I am curious if they will make use of it and if the relationship to foreigners in their country will begin to change as they start to be successful themselves.

If anything I can only say that I admire the way the people live and work there. As a European many situations are cruel as you see people sleep behind their streetfood shops or old ladies pushing huge trash bins through the streets at night but then again you cannot observe objectively from a European perspective. It is easy to label those conditions as inacceptable but considering the given circumstances in the country it is a rational consequence.

I really enjoyed my visit and I am sure to be back at some point, maybe not for the food, but as an escape from my German habits and to comprehend how life in another culture can work in completely different ways.

Very sorry there are not so many picture this time. I used an analogue camera so I still have to develope the pictures and digitalize them. I just use those few pictures from my first trip to make this article look a little bit more exciting! ;-)

Palestine

Forget History!



It is hard to decide on which aspect of my journey to Palestine I want to focus on. My original topic was based on the ongoing conflict and the political situation but that was before I experienced this country for myself. Now I simply cannot exclude anymore since everything I got to know is somehow a reaction to what has been happening in Palestine over the last decades.

Once I passed the Israeli checkpoint and entered Ramallah I immediately forgot about wars, political interests, water shortage and even settlements. As I learned later, Palestinians call Rammalah "The Bubble" for the exact same reason.
People are busy living their lives. When you promenade the streets you smell a mixture of freshly cut herbs, fruits, waterpipe smoke and of course Falafel. You can observe shopowners bargaining over prices, kids playing in the streets. Just like in every other larger city in the middle-eastern area. Everything seemed to work somehow and I did not feel any tensions, in fact I was benumbed to a state of total relaxation; sitting on rooftops and watching the sun go down while having a smoke. Life was really good and not just to me; it felt like even the people living there were enjyoing the city as much as I was.

As it turned out this "Bubble" was also a point of retreat where Palestinians could live their lives without being observed by Israeli soldiers or harrazed by settlers. When venturing outside of the city I learned quickly that Ramallah was not representative for the West Bank.
Ugly grey watchtowers with cameras and barb wires were the most common sight, quiet often accompanied by an even uglier grey wall which encloses new apartment buildings in the middle of the desert and made them appear like an oasis. A safe haven for those who are allowed to enter.

As if it was not enough to refuse the Palestinian people their own state, the Israeli government shows them every day what a great life they have on their side of the wall, on land that once belonged to Palestinian families. While the Israeli government keeps on building new settlements, new roads for the settlers, water supply lines and every other commodity you could think of; the Palestinians have to rely on the good mood of Israeli military if they may use the roads as well to get to work, or to visit family.
Every day they are subject to random checks, random road closings and arbitrariness at its finest. Just after a day those circumstances made me so upset; I simply could not understand how this can become daily life for anyone. All of those emotions got even toped when I visited Hebron. In this particular city Israeli settlers and Palestinians live almost door-to-door. They are only seperated by fences and walls. Over the years the Israeli settler policy started to close parts of the old city to the Palestinians and so it happens that one remaining school for Palestinians is located right in the middle of that area and every day the school children have to make their way there; trough angry settlers and military checkpoints. To top that, they sometimes cannot even pass the regular checkpoint because it is closed for whatever reason the soldiers prefere. Then they have to climb over a wall using an old ladder to get into the settlement and to get to school, every day.

Way to School in Hebron

Way to School in Hebron

Way to School in Hebron

If you walk into the old town of Hebron you will see cages over the narrow streets, filled with garbage and all sorts of trash which Israeli settlers throw out their windows on the streets where the remaining Palestinian shops are located.

Old Market Hebron

Cages to protect shops from settlers

Seeing all of this myself I can honestly comprehend how people reach a point of frustration where they start picking up stones to throw them at soldiers or their armored vehicles. Needless to say that the effect is rather minimal, if even existent. Retaliation however is severe. Sound bombs, tear gas and rubber bullets of the Israeli army definitely leave their marks. I experienced a similar situation in Bil'in where maybe 20 people started demonstrating against the continuing extension of the settlements when suddenly dozens of tear gas cartridges where in the air. No one had thrown any rocks, simply chanting for their cause.All of that just seems so unproportional to me and despite the dominance of its military, the Israeli people are as far from peace as Palestinians.

This conflict has seen many victims, and there is wrongdoing on both sides but to always look back in history and to point fingers at the other party will not bring along a solution. Neither will the extinction of one enemy lead to sustainable peace. Forgetting about the history and simply observing the situation as it is right now, every rational person would realize that peace will not find its way back to those countries if Israel does not change its military campaign in the West Bank and Gaza radically. They have taken everything from the Palestinians, their right to self-determination, autonomy and freedom. I cannot believe anyone who proclaims that Israel is interested in peace if I see how they make life as hard as they possibly can for Palestinians. How can you blame children of throwing rocks if they have lived their whole life in refugee camps because both their parents are dead or imprisoned. How can you possibly remain calm when you see settlers applaud from their balconies while the army on the other side of the wall tear gases a handful of protestors who want their land back?

Lone Protestor in front of Settlement

Tear Gas from Israeli Military

Yes, there have been cruel suicide bombings in Israel and innocent people died but what do you expect to happen if you surround a country with walls, close every border and then wait what happens. Israel can go on blaming external radical forces for the never lasting peace or maybe reconsider its own position. I remember how Israelis reacted the last time they felt suppressed by England as an occupation force.

When I saw the celebrations after the ceasfire deal was closed it really made me wonder why the people were celebrating this as a victory. Some minor improvements to their situation but then again it was enough to make Palestinians all over the West Bank so happy that they celebrated long into the night. No one was screaming for revenge at that moment. Israel could give so much to the Palestinians if they wanted and they would immediately reduce the threat for themselves as well. Radicals need military suppression and injustice to fill their ranks.

After my visit I have become a strong supporter of the Palestinian cause and that does not mean I wish to destroy the state of Israel but simply to help the people in Palestine to gain back their freedom and give them the opportunity for a life in peace on their own terms. I hope article and the pictures will help to grow awareness of the situation.

Also I can only recommend everyone to go to the West Bank themselves and meet the people living there. I have travelled quiet a lot recently and I have encountered many different people but the Palestinians outdo them all. Everywhere I went people invited me for tea or coffee, welcomed me in their country or city and even invited me to their familys to have dinner with them.

For all the pictures simply follow the link below:
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As always any feedback/comment/question is welcome.

Kids celebrate ceasefire

Family Gathering

Hebron Checkpoint

Hebron Checkpoint

Hebron Checkpoint

Let's Talk

Last week I had the opportunity to participate in a student initiative called "Let's Talk". Their aim is to emphasize the importance of the English language in today's world, especially in schools which are in more rural areas. So I decided to join them during one of their visits and give a little presentation about Germany and answer some questions they had prepared for me.

Overall I must say I was amazed by the kids curiosity, and I have to admit that I expected differently from 14 year old teenagers.I know that this topic might not completely align with my earlier posts and the severity of the content but I think this visit is worth mentioning and reminding people how many of the problems we have today could be solved by an upcoming generation of international, well-educated and well-travelled young people. Just the fact one can talk the same language might have disolved the one or other misunderstanding which lead to a conflict with fatal casulties. After my experience in Ukraine I can only approve that.

This has only been one visit for me but I like to see the bigger picture in this and I am truely glad that there are so many young motivated students out here to take up responsibility for this idea. Also I feel like complementing the Polish government, from what I have seen in the last months, they are building and renovating schools for all ages and types of education everywhere in the country. They are definitely doing the right thing and the first results are already visible throughout the country. High-tech companies like Google, Philips or Volvo have their eastern Europe headquarters situated in Poland and benefit from a qualified and young labour force market. Also you can observe the increasing percentage of people in Poland who speak English and again it is the young people who make the difference. This has led to an exchange of thoughts, ideas and knowledge,
All this in a country that has been part of the Soviet Union and just developed this skill over the last 25 years. ( Of course now in the times of shifting territorial claims and an approaching Putin in the east you might have to reconsider switching the efforts back to Russian so the transition from Poland to the Soviet Unin 2.0 goes rather smoothly ;-) )

which for me build the basis of every free and democratic state as Poland strives to be.

Well, after all I just really wanted to share this experience because I think the "Let's Talk"  projects really do make a difference to avoid conflict and give populism and unilateral ideology no space to develope as it does right now in so many parts of this world. I know it is quiet an extensive picture I am drawing from this but maybe we forget some times how important small efforts are to generate big change. So thank you Lidia, Aneta, Agnieszka and Klaudia for inviting me and I hope "Let's Talk" keeps up the good work.

 

 

Turkey

 

 Erdogan’s Economy and the new Biedermeier-Generation

 Despite riots and protests which started in May 2013, triggered by the Gezi-Park protests, and the resulting escalation in violence with many fatale victims; Erdogan’s Justice and Development Part (AKP) has won a little bit less than 50% of the total votes on this Sunday’s local elections in Turkey. A frustrating result not only for the supporters of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) which is to be categorized as a democratic socialist party and could only unify about 26% of the total votes on them, but also for western nations who had the hope for a political change in Turkey.

Waiting for the first results in a local bar

The result was not expected to be this decisive and tensions before the election where extremely high. Even though it stayed calm, one could feel that there was a high uncertainty concerning the reactions of the people when the results were going to be published. Especially obvious was this on Taksim (One of the biggest city centers in Istanbul, close to Gezi-Park) where anti-riot police, equipped with water-cannons and stun-guns, were positioned during the whole day of the election until late at night. Also Erdogan imposed a liquor ban for the whole day, preventing people from gathering in bars; discussing the results and their consequences in public.

Riot Police in the side streets of Taksim

A kid got lost between the fences

As a non-Turkish person I was fairly surprised that the AKP party finished so strongly after all the scandals, rumors of corruption and even war threats towards neighboring countries by members of the same party. Thanks to a friend of mine who I met in Ukraine two weeks ago and who is in fact Turkish, it became more comprehensible to me why still so many people support the government of Erdogan and his total control over basically everything in their lives. 

Before the AKP came to power, the country was not developing well economically and the society was deeply divided by the Turkish-Kurdish conflict. All these factors leading to a high dissatisfaction with the former ruling power at this time, the CHP. (Today’s strongest opposition party and only real alternative to AKP besides the Nationalist Party and Kudish Party)

When Erdogan came into office in 2003, things changed and economical success followed quickly. Under the rule of the conservative-Islamic party, prosperity came to the big cities like Ankara, Izmir and especially Istanbul.  At this point I would like to quickly explain the change of Turkey by reference to Istanbul. The city of neighborhoods changed drastically during Erdogan’s legislature periods and quickly became a melting pot between western and oriental cultures with many business districts and rapidly increasing per capita incomes. As a consequence the city was rebuilt quarter by quarter and steadily pushed people out to the suburbs who could not afford to live at their old homes anymore. Skyscrapers, boutiques, trendy western coffee shops and new apartment complexes became the new face of the city. All for the sake of further and steady economical growth. Erdogan’s ambition seemed to have no limitation but when he wanted to flatten the Gezi-Park, close to the city center, to build yet another shopping mall people came to realize that there have to be limits and space for personal development in Istanbul, and whole of Turkey.
This unleashed a public discussion which went much further than new construction grounds for shopping malls and skyscrapers but went to the very core of the political system and its almighty prime minister. Neither the courts, the police nor the media could escape Erdogan’s influence. Control became the tool which he used for the development of Turkey. 

Crossing the Bosporus

Personal space and economical success, in this picture they fit next to each other

It is normal that with growing wealth, members of the society become more aware of other problems than just the daily struggle for food or shelter and when the AKP denied sharing its power with the people the uprising really started.

Keeping this in mind it would sound reasonable to suggest that change will come and this time in form of the local elections; but it did not. Taking a closer look at the count and allocation of votes, one could tell how the big cities changed due to the given arguments. Still most of the 74 million people living in Turkey who live in the countryside, who have not benefited so much of the economy yet and only have limited access to information (Most of them have to rely on state media which is very biased) voted for AKP. For them the dream of a better life has not come true yet at this point and also the lack of education makes them more easily to polarize.

This separation of the society leads to high frustration amongst the minorities who want liberalization and gives them little hope that anything will change, also with the upcoming presidential elections in August. This is the reason why I chose the term of a “Biedermeier”-Generation. The term was used after the Napoleon era when German people hoped for a democratic change with more freedoms but were suppressed by the ruling class for many decades. Unable to change the system they were living in; they retreated from the political aspects of life and took the things the way they were. A time of recession and resignation.
I deeply hope that Turkey will overcome this obstacle and moves forward to an open and tolerant society with a pluralistic foundation where objective media delivers the arguments for political decisions.




If you have any criticism, questions or comments you would like to share; feel free to do so.

*I want to add here that the count of the votes was already questioned when the Turkish TV stations started to publish the first results. It seems like the count was much closer than presented and in Ankara there is already a pending lawsuit on the outcome, since it was decided by a couple thousand votes in favor of AKP and the opposition believes the numbers were fixed.
In general the distrust towards the election was quiet high.


Some more Impressions from Istanbul:

Tradition and Progress

Some men fishing from a bridge close to Galatasaray

Fountain in fron of the Blue Mosque

Front view of the Blue Mosque

Jewlery displayed at the Old Bazar

A man and his lanterns in the Old Bazar

Maiden's Tower, an old Lighthouse from the 18th Century

The Galata Tower

UKRAINE

In the end nobody cares for the people

When the demonstrations started on Maidan in Kiew in the middle of November 2013 I pretty much thought "another country affected by the possibility to organise and spread information quickly through social media and which wants to change their corrupt leader...". So the Maidan kept popping up in the news and at some point became a focus of global media when anti-riot units of the police, especially the Berkut, reacted to the protestants with an escalation of violence. The following weeks Kiew was taken and a new government was established by the parties which represented Maidan.
I thought the revolution was over and Ukraine could start to work on their problems in economy, society and cultural diversity which are severe (Ukraine is actually worse of today than after the collapse of the Soviet Union). This is the moment when Putin reacted and I do not want to repeat everything that happened but basically started claiming areas in the east of Ukraine. My first intuition was that he cannot succeed against the people and after Maidan they will rise against this occupation. Well they did rise, but in favour of Russia to take even more territory than Crimea. Much to my surprise I must admit.

I was so baffled, even after I heard about Ethnic-Russians populating the east of Ukraine, that they would rather live under the governance of the Kreml than a pro-western governemnt in Kiew. So I decided to fly to Kiew and make my way from there towards east into the province Donbas at the Russian border.

When I landed in Kiew I did not know what to expect, the riots were over and still there was tension in the city. I took the bus to the city and it did not take a long time when I saw improvised checkpoints with tires and lose bricks at the roads entering the city; all of them organised by "civilians" and most of them showing the Ukrainian and European flag. I thought of it as a positive sign and felt happy to see people so eager to join the EU but also it left an odd feeling of uncertainty and in a way represented that things are still far from normal.

Once one entered the city it did not feel much different from any other metropolis, crowded public transportation, busy streets really nothing special but when I got off at my stop in the city center where my hostel was situated and steped out of the building I was stunned. People were acually getting upset with me for standing right in the doorway of the train station and just trying to comprehend the image which presented itself in front of me.
A sea of piles of lose bricks taken from the pavements and used as blockades, Ukrainian flags and all sorts of others waving in the wind, men in military uniforms in front of tents wearing helmets and some kind of often selfproduced weapons and in the middle of this just normal people passing through on their way to work or just taking a walk. It looked like war but the atmosphere was very peaceful. I dropped off my bags and immediately went back to Maidan just to walk between the tents and get a feeling for what moves the people here. I was truely amazed by how many normal civilians passed trough there as well, despite the fact that Maidan is the city center and one has to pass through it at some point but it was more than that. People came to see what happened here, they talked to the fighters, brought food or clothing, laid down flowers for the victims, were chanting songs together or were listening to the priest during his service. The Maidan has become a symbol for change and more, a cultural centrum for a new society.

Maidan

Listening to a Speach on Maidan

It was curious to see how still so many lived in their tents on Maidan and kept the feeling of revolution alive but when I was wandering a little bit further outside of the city center I saw more of the Ukraine culture besides Maidan. When I was walking through a park and saw people walking their dogs or sitting next to the river talking, everything went very quiet. Here the mood had changed, not as optmistic as I experienced in the center. One felt the difficulties that have yet to be solved in this country. Wild dogs living in abandoned cafes that were built for the time when the European Championship in soccer was hosted by Ukraine and Poland, old men sitting in shaky plastic chairs and young couples walking along the river. To be honest all of this felt more real than Maidan but it was also way more depressing. This is when I realized that sustainable change has to happen in this country and I understood Maidan's popularity a little bit more.

Abandoned Cafe a little bit further outside from Kiew Centrum

Beach at the River with view on thePeople's Friendship Arch

After two days in the west I left for a 12 hours train ride to the east heading to the province capital Donetsk, a city with about 1,1 million citizens and 100 km from the Russian border. I heard about pro-Russia movements and conflicts between Ukrainian supporters and them. In fact the night before I arrived a young man was stabbed, therefore tensions were high and I was nervous since I have also heard how western journalist and media representatives were treated in Simferopol.

The first hours I spent walking the city looking for signs of the conflict and could not find any except the large number of riot policemen guarding public buildings and I also recognized one mature difference to the west, everyone was talking Russian on the streets. Then I observed more and more people wearing orange and black striped ribbons (Similar to the ones used in Kiew in blue and yellow) on my way to the Lenin square where I suspected the pro-Russians. When I finally arrived at Lenin square it took me by surprise to see a large manifestation with speaches, press tents and lots of chanting people. All in favour of Russia. I moved within the crowed to take some pictures but could already tell that the people's mindset was not overly friendly towards English speaking people so I decided to best say nothing anymore and just observe. It was a strange feeling though getting off a train in the same country and experience a world that could not have been more contradictory to Maidan in Kiew.

Lenin Sqaure

In the course of the day I got to know Aleks a young pro-Russian demonstrator who talked English and was willing to give me some information about the reasons and fears of the people taking part in the demonstration. We ended up having pizza and talked politics for a long time. I slowly started to understand that this is not simply a well organised Kreml event but that there are actual people who want to join Russia rather than stay in Ukraine, and not only a few.

Rally to the courthouse to request release of Guberov (Pro Russian Leader)

Riot police tries to protect public buildings

 Some of his arguments were strongly biased against western media and pretty much represented what Russia is publishing over the statemedia the last couple weeks but some things were new and helped me to comprehend. One of these arguments was the reason why they call the new government and Maidan movement fascists. He explained that many of the people who fought against Berkut and the police in Kiew are neo-nationalists who strongly relate to the Nazi supporters during the second World War. Thinking back at the time I have spent at Maidan I had to admit that a vast majority of the people still camping there looked rather pro-military and had insignias which strongly reminded me of neo-nationalists in other countries. I felt like I might have been tricked by the scenerie of flowers and chanting on Maidan, but then again I thought that of the  50.000 poeple who participated at some point in the protests in Kiew not all of them could represent this particular mind-set he was describing. Nevertheless I did understand why the people here are afraid that those radical powers will be/are part of the temporary government in Kiew and that they fear for their safety. He also claims after the many stages of escalation he cannot imagine to live in Ukraine any more and that the only way for Donbas (Eastern province of Ukraine) is seperation or independence if all governments want to avoid a civil war. Beside ideological reasons Aleks also explained that he is afraid that the already weak economy of his country would not benfit from Europe but instead goods and products would be substituted by European imports and that this could also create an indirect problem for Russia as most of Ukraine's exports are delivered there, reducing Ukraine to nothing more but a transit zone.

Pro-Russian Demonstrator in Donetsk

My impression after the time I spent on both sides is undecided. I am in favour of the revolution in general and believe in the honest motivation that stands behind Maidan, to fight corruption and connect to Europe more closely because we have seen in the past how soviet "left-overs" can benefit from closer economic relations with the Union, for example Poland.
On the other side the feeling to be disciminated against and oppressed by a "fascist" government in Kiew and losing their big brother Russia is not very realistic from my point of view but more comprehendable when observing from the position of someone who grew up in Donetsk. Russia has always been a part of their cultur, business and society. They have more faith in what Russian media tells them about the west, for them it feels pretentious that the west starts to care about them now after two decades of poverty and economic downturn in their country.
In my opinion it is very obvious that Russia is more concerned about their influence and position in the world than the people in Crimea or Donbas but they know how to play the emotions of the people living there. To us it sounds like superficial propaganda but given the historical background of ethnic-Russians it seems very plausible for them.
I am afraid that the only way the west could have prevented this from happening has already passed and the process of reunification of the Ukrainians will take years, if it will ever happen again. At this point I would guess that the Country will seperate since the west does not want to commit to yet another civil war, especially one so close to their own homes threatening their wealth. So it will probably will come down to the question: "How much do we benefit from Ukraine?" I am afraid this war of morals and international laws concerning autonomy and sovereignty will go just as far as it is profitable with eyes on the future returns of this "investment". Unfortunately it will be the people of Ukraine who have to bear the consequences of this conflict. A crisis fought on their backs but not about them.


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