hugo chavez

den vestlege anti-propagandaen mot venezuelas president hugo chavez har stått sterkt i media.
chavez har blitt framstilt som ein maktsjuk skurk som truar demokratiet og usa sitt hegemoni (fy-fy!).

beate thoresen frå PRIO har skreve ein verkeleg god kronikk i dagbladet som gir eit meir nyansert bilete av chavez si rolle - en annen dans er forfriskande realistisk og verkeleg verdt å lese!

kronikken finn du her!

streets of toledo...

...a moment from my spanish adventure.
a peaceful christmas to all of you, my loved ones! ♥

bliss

suddenly, one of those days appeared out of nowhere.
now its gone - and it left me quite fascinated.
you know, one of those days that you fear.
one of those days I thought would be destructive, painful and long.
one of those days where the crisp autumn air surprises me by caressing my face as I walk into the morning.
one of those days where all small things seems to be in place.
one of those days where everyones eyes are so clear, and their skin so spotless.
one of those days where even the voice of the woman on the tram makes you feel so soft inside.
I feel all cottony, like I am floating through the day,
whilst everything around me is chaotic.
the day that was expected to be my enemy
all of a sudden became bliss...
if only it could have lasted.

privilege III

å reise har blitt en illusorisk flukt fra middelklasselivets uutholdelige kjedsomhet... (ballard)
************************************************
travelling has become an illusionary escape from the unbearable boredom of middle class life...

can there be a relation between this quote and my crazy excitement for studying african civil wars, ethnicity, migration, conflict and peace...? ;)

its such a treat - my studies are fantastic! I really enjoy all the readings and some of the guest lecturers have been just grand! I feel so lucky! we have access to the PRIO library (its like a candy shop, sorry I sound like a nerd, but its true!), we read at the nobel institute and the national library, and I have never felt more inspired! my class mates are all fantastic people and I am so sad this semester is over, even tho the last 3 weeks of exams and essays have been way too hectic! however, last night we had a final julebord/tapas evening/out of control-party to celebrate ourselves and it was the perfect crazy-madness ending to these months!

but why must everything end when it starts to get really nice...? to all my friends in my class, and in the anu-class; you are all fabulous people and I wish we had more time together! luckily the ten of us from my class will go to south africa in january and spend another 1 1/2 year together, fighting about collier, new-barbarism theory, norways "charity-role" in the world, and most importantly, nicole will educate us on marxist theory and nice "radical shit" from the south! yahoo!

respect, my friends!

♥ peace and love

confusion

i am sitting here writing my final exam this semester.
the relationships between youth and conflict are supposed to be discussed and analysed.
actually, i have been thinking that the knowledge i have acquired these few months
makes me feel a whole lot wiser.
i have read and discussed political economy and conflict dynamics in africa' quite extensively'. (blahblah)

and just now, as i am drinking my yogi tea,
the little note on the end of the string of the tea bag reads:

'wisdom becomes knowledge when it becomes your personal experience'

i am confused.

1. i thought knowledge came first, then wisdom
2. well, that means i have to become african, live in a repressive neo-patrimonial state with a complex and crazy history, with no educational opportunities, no employment, no means of expressing myself politically, and i have to be between the age of 15 and 24.

shame.
knowledge? wisdom? live it? personal experience?
i am a white girl living in the ignorant north, i am way past 24 and i can educate myself to death. i will always get a job. i can go scream in the prime ministers face and vote for who ever i want. i think i am as far away as possible from the yogi tea wisdom (knowledge?).
i give up.

please give me a holiday and a bottle of dry cava.

escape II

the world has gone mental

i got an email yesterday.
it was feedback on my two latest essays.
i was quite excited.
and the email said my essays are very good.
but... it also said,
that my main problem is that i know too much!
the word 'problem' and 'know too much' should never appear in the same sentence?
(or, you might hear it if you live on sicily, you have been too nosy and you have a gun against your head..)
so, i am 'too knowledgeable', and that is an impediment for me writing better essays!

then i got an email today.
it said that 'the world is eating more than it is producing'.
first i laughed. loud. and then i got lots of funny pictures in my head.
then i started thinking...
not that i am scared of not getting food (ok, i am).
but the fact that people are actually sitting with their statistics,
making such conclusions.
which in turn will make fat, rich people freak out!

finally i did the mistake of listening (yup, listening) to the news on the tv this afternoon.
there, a lawyer managed to use the expression "ethnic nigerian tea".
'my client was not aware that there was marijuana in his "ethnic nigerian tea"', he stated.
can anyone explain the meaning of "ethnic nigerian tea" to me?

is there something fundamentally wrong with the world these days?
or am i the one going mental...?