ricenroses

On Sal's tourism and investment: Reply to Sal Pres. Figueiredo

2014-01-06T16:25:00.001+01:00

COMMENT ON THE INTERVIEW OF SAL PRESIDENT JORGE FIGUEIREDO PUBLISHED IN EXPRESSO DAS ILHAS ( 30 Dezembro 2013)
by: Sheilah Ocampo Kälfors Freelance journalist and writer

Jorge Figueiredo, President of the Municipality of Sal island says in an interview by Infopress, published in Expresso das Ilhas ( 2013-12-30), that 2013 represented a "quase total" paralization of Sal's economy. He gives the following reasons:

- that the property development market suffered from the worldwide economic and financial crises. Since houses and apartments for sale faced a slump in the market, the revenue that represents 40% of the municipal growth which is generated from payments of property tax known as IUP or Impostto Unico sob Patrimonio decreased significantly.

"Without transactions in property, there is no collection of IUP and without IUP, the income of the municipality goes down. It is like wanting to make omelette without eggs", he states.

He says that tourism has had no positive effects in the island and has not created any new jobs. Unemployment in Sal is 17 percent.

In response to the above statement of the Sal Municipal President, I wish to make the following comments:

- the worldwide economic and financial crises have indeed affected many countries, especially in Europe. Thus, buying properties abroad by small and major investors decresed considerably. This has been experienced by Sal's depressed property market.

On the other hand, the Cape Verde government and specifically the Municipality of Sal can introduce some important incentives to help property development and sales, by improving infrastructures such as roads and lightings, esp. in the south part Sal where so-called "Oceanfront properties" are located. This area known as the dark side of Sal attracts criminals at night and threatens the peace and security of residents.

One major difficulty faced by those that have invested in properties here in Sal ( as well as other Cape Verde islands) is the visa requirements. In order to get a resident's visa, it is not enough that one is a property owner with a land title to prove ownership. One has to have a criminal record certificate, certificate of bank account, certificate of IUP payment, health certificate and so on. If one is late because there's no available doctor to issue a health certificate, one pays a fine of 100 euros. This visa problem is a disincentive.

- in the area of tourism, the Municipality has not improved the tourism infrastructures such as roads to Buracona and other touristic places. There are no sufficient air and water transportation to visit other islands. Without tourist attractions there will be no revenues except those that go to hotels. Tourist arrivals to Sal have increased significantly. For instance, from Scandinava alone, there are three planes arriving every week.

- in the area of entrepreneursip, there are no incentives to facilitate small and medium business . License application takes a very long waiting time. As for major investments such those in inter-island shipping - for example, the acquisition of passenger and cargo ships- the regulations and procedures are unclear.

Cape Verde has to introduce simplified rules that are easy to follow. Shipping is crucial to connect the islands socially, economically and politically. It is an urgent priority if Cape Verde has to survive as an independent and economically sustainable country#

Cape Verde-where love does not last long

2013-12-30T17:40:00.001+01:00

The first year we came to Sal island in Cape Verde was in 2010 - a second vacation choice after Malaysia, which is farther. We stayed in Belo Horizonte Hotel which is close to the Sta Maria beach. We were newly in love, so everything we saw in this island with a brown landscape of rocks, pebbles and few wild thorny bushes was exciting, an adventure of two people just re-starting a life together. Where else was a better beginning than a faraway island in West Africa. Africa, afterall was exotic and challenging for anyone whose interest in life went beyond sandy beaches, sunshine and blue sky.

Since we were starting life together, we sold our individual homes in Sweden and bought ourselves a nice spacious apartment with a view of the Stockholm harbour. In 2010, during a walk in Sta. Maria's small commercial center, we looked at some properties advertised on the glass wall of a British property company. The property that caught our fancy was a beach flat in a condominium by the sea, which was obviously one of the very best locations in town. By the time we returned to Stockholm, that beach property was off the market and in the hands of the lawyer we hired to do all the transactions.

It was the following year in 2011, when we embarked on an Atlantic sailing adventure from Las Palmas, Canary to Sal, Cape Verde. It took nine days and six hours to reach Sta. Maria in Nov. 21, 2011. Today our lifestyle straddles between two continents. From the months of November to April, we live in Sal island, and travel to other islands of Cape Verde where the sceneries vary from mountains to valleys and deep ridges along the coastlines.

Living in Cape Verde if you are retired from full-time active work is ideal because there is nothing to stress about except what fish is available in the fishing wharf, or whether fruits and vegetables are newly-arrived by cargo ships from their source. As long as you are stocked with books to read on those lazy hours, energized by a sun that always rises to explore places already explored, and have occasional encounters with new friends on short holidays, life is best equated with the degree of enthusiasm you can have for a book that lumbers slowly in search of a climax.

The hours of monotony and boredom are tolerable because as I said, energy is from within not outside. It is making things happen not waiting for things to happen. It is smiling first hoping to get a smile back. Since we have been coming to this island every year, the problem of visa has surfaced everytime. During the first three years, we did have an intermediary doing the visa round for us but it had become one problem and another, if not the instability of agency then the rising cost of agency itself. This year, we decided to do it ourselves because a Cape Verdean friend with position in the local government promised to help with the long process.

As it stands today, and I stress today because rules and regulations here are in constant motion, the requirements for a residential visa are: Property title, proof of tax payments, proof of economic sustainability (bank accounts), police criminal record and health certificate. In all these various offices, you pay a fee for the certification. It appears that we are now late with our visa which expires on Jan. 6th, just because no doctor is available until Jan 8th, to give us a health clearance. So we have to pay a fine of 100 euros each. And while those sittting behind these tables are taking life without stress, we- the minority population that tries to inject much needed financial resources into a deeply-starved economy are stressed beyond the limits of love and loving.#

US Pres.Obama visits Sweden

2013-09-04T13:25:00.000+02:00

Sweden's Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt states ahead of the visit of US President Barak Obama that the most important issues on the agenda are free trade, environmental technology and the global security situation, with special focus on Syria.

"There will be a whole deal on free trade, climate policy and the state of the world," Reinfeldt said. "The real controversial issues concern free trade."

It is reportedly unlikely that Reinfeldt will take up issues such as Guantanamo, drone attacks and NSA electronic surveillance, although the Swedish PM denies that any subject has been ruled out.

The Swedish PM is on record as saying that Sweden doesn't believe that a military solution is available for the Syrian conflict. Reinfeldt says however that he can understand the risks of not responding if chemical weapons can be proved to have been used in Syria.

Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt comments on the fine weather that has greeted Obama in Stockholm:

"Well, first ever bilateral visit by a US President to Sweden has started. Sun shining."

Stockholm is indeed showing its best side on Wednesday with blue skies, 20C temperatures and glittering water are on offer for anyone seeking to tackle the traffic and head in to town in the hope of a glimpse of the man who can.

Obama has landed (for the second time today) at Stockholm's Grand Hôtel for a little lunch and meeting with US ambassador to Sweden, Mark Brzezinski.

The Grand Hôtel, which lies directly opposite the Royal Palace on Blasieholmen in central Stockholm is owned by the Wallenberg dynasty through the family's investment firm Investor.

US President Barack Obama visits Stockholm Synagogue, Wednesday to honour the memory of Raoul Wallenberg, whose relatives asked for his help in establishing the fate of the deceased Swedish diplomat.

The US president does not ride alone. The US entourage extends to some 600 people including some hundred or so journalists who follow the President wherever he goes. Furthermore the vehicle he is now travelling in, nicknamed "The Beast", follows along wherever the President goes.

Sweden's Television questions whether the massive security operation is part of a show of power. The conclusion appears be that the party equates to what is needed for the world's most powerful leader to do go about his business.

After Obama's stop in Stockholm the party will continue to St.Petersburg for a G20 meet.

The brass band begins playing. Barack Obama is walking down the steps of Air Force One. He has just shaken hands with foreign minster Carl Bildt, Vice-PM Jan Björklund and Centre Party and Christian Democrat leaders Annie Lööf and Göran Hägglund respectively.

Earlier:

US President Barack Obama will arrive in Stockholm on Wednesday morning in a delicate position as a Nobel Peace Prize laureate likely to face pressure to explain his motives for plans to strike Syria.
Obama is set to land in Stockholm's Arlanda airport early on Wednesday morning for a busy two-day schedule including meets with Nordic prime ministers and the Swedish royal family.

He may reprise some of the arguments he made when he picked up his Nobel prize in Oslo in 2009, when he effectively made a case for when a US president may choose to wage war - to protect American security, for humanitarian reasons, or to prevent the spread of weapons of mass destruction.

Obama headed for Sweden and the G20 summit in Russia after making important political headway at home when top Republican leaders firmly backed his plan to punish Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for a chemical weapons attack.

The US president decided to seek congressional approval in a surprise development on Saturday, saying he is ready to launch "limited" action despite Russia's decision to prevent the UN Security Council framing a mandate for action.

Obama does not currently have any one-on-one meetings scheduled with Russian President Vladimir Putin, but the two leaders will run into each other at the inevitable photocalls of the G20 summit in St Petersburg on Friday.

Officials say however, that with press conferences in Sweden planned for Wednesday and in Russia on Friday, the president will be able to make forceful interventions in the debate back home.

When he arrives in Stockholm, Obama will hold talks with Sweden's Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, in the first-ever bilateral visit by an incumbent US president to the country.

They will discuss climate change, defense and security cooperation and trade and development, as well as key foreign policy challenges including Syria and Egypt, a senior US official said.

Obama will then celebrate the life of Raoul Wallenberg, the Swedish diplomat who rescued thousands of Jews from Nazi-occupied Hungary - on the first day of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year.

On Wednesday evening, Obama will attend a dinner hosted by Sweden for the President of Finland and the prime ministers of Denmark, Iceland and Norway. He is due to leave Sweden on Thursday afternoon. (Reports from THE LOCAL, Sept. 4, 2013)

Benigno Aquino Sr and Ferdinand E. Marcos - friends or foes

2013-08-19T10:35:00.000+02:00

( A Facebook friend forwarded this article to me, on the relationship between iethe Senator and former Pres. F. Marcos, as revealed in an interview of Roque Ablan, by Gemma Nemenzo. I feel that this article coincides with the anniversary of the assasination of Ninoy Aquino, on August 21st.)

Benigno Simeon "Ninoy" Aquino, Jr. was a Filipino Senator and was assassinated last August 21, 1983. Who ordered to kill him? Many accuse Former President Ferdinand Marcos. But...

Ferdinand E. Marcos and Ninoy Aquino are more than friends. I'm going to share to you an article written by Nemenzo, Gemma from Filipinas (August 2008). The title of the article is "A Different Take: An Interview with Rep. Roquito Ablan." A lot of you may not know him, but during the Marcos Era, he was a "force" back then. Filipinos are made to believe that Ferdinand E. Marcos and Ninoy Aquino were really arch nemesis, rivals, and even foes. But from this interview, we can see a different view on what was really happening during those times. So here it is...

While writing a book about Upsilon Sigma Phi, the fraternity both Ferdinand Marcos and Ninoy Aquino belonged to, Filipinas managing editor, Gemma Nemenzo, did a one-on-one interview with Congressman Roquito Ablan of Ilocos Norte.

Ablan had the unique privilege of being close to both Ninoy, his batchmate in Upsilon (batch 1950), and Marcos, the undisputed lord of Ablan's province. With such proximity to the two political superstars of that era, the congressman had a ringside view of what was happening behind the scenes of the Marcos-Aquino saga.

Is he credible? People close to Marcos confirm that Roquito Ablan then had a direct line to the former president. Upsilonians also know that he and Ninoy Aquino remained close friends.

Here are excerpts from the interview:
I first met Ninoy at the University of the Philippines (UP) when we were neophytes in 1950. He was a professional absentee from classes. I was working with LUSTEVECO then so I had an open expense account so I would gas up Ninoy's car.

The two of us were the most hazed neophytes in our batch. Our initiation lasted one year and one semester. We joined Upsilon because it was "the only frat in UP"; to be an Upsilonian, you must be good.

Ninoy and FM (Ferdinand Marcos) were more than friends. When Ninoy was in detention, he and FM would speak with scrambler telephones. During FM's state visit to the U.S. in 1982, the two of them talked for an hour about good times.

FM was actually considering Ninoy as his successor. He admired Ninoy for his being a courageous fighter and his vigor. They were on the same wavelength.

In fact, Ninoy's "Iron Butterfly" speech against Imelda and the Folk Arts Theater was edited by FM. I know because I was the intermediary. From the very beginning, FM gave instructions to the military to be lenient with Ninoy.

I met up with Ninoy in New York on April 22, 1983, which was my birthday. He told me he needed a passport. secretary of Foreign Affairs Collantes had earlier issued a memo stating no renewal for Ninoy's passport. So I checked with FM on the phone and Joey Ampeso, a consular officer assigned in New Orleans and an Upsilonian, was asked to assist Ninoy, which he did.

During that New York meeting, Ninoy also told me that he went to see his doctor and his medical exam might require him to rest for six months because of some heart complication. In July that year, Ninoy was told by the State Department that FM was sick and that "if I don't go home, I will not be president."

In early August, FM and Ninoy talked about the latter returning to the Philippines and FM told him not to come home yet because he (FM) was weak and he couldn't protect Ninoy.

On August 17, there was an earthquake in Laoag, Ilocos Norte, so I had to be there as acting governor. I sent two planes to meet Ninoy in Taipei but the first plane, which carried a top officer, could not locate him because he was using a passport with a different name. FM's instructions were to bring Ninoy to Basa Air Base, load him in the presidential helicopter and bring him here to Manila, to protect him.

On August 20, I left Laoag at 10 in the evening so I could be in Manila in time to meet Ninoy at the airport. I didn't think much of it then, but my plane was grounded (by someone who knew the chain of command) and the second plane was prevented from taking off When I was driving to the international airport, my car was delayed because of a rally of another Upsilonian, Doy Laurel, in front of Baclaran Church. I arrived at the airport 12 minutes after Ninoy was shot. Someone met me and said "wala na si Ninoy (Ninoy is gone)." I cried like a baby when I found out what happened. If I arrived on time I could have escorted Ninoy from the aircraft and he would not have been shot, or I would have been shot along with him on the stairs.

Almedalen- where Swedish political parties struggle for legitimacy

2013-07-02T11:39:00.000+02:00

All the Swedish political parties, media, political observers and cause-oriented groups, ordinary citizens are all converged this week in Almedalen, Gotland for a week of party presentations, discussions, seminars, interviews and speeches by the party leaders.
Almedalsveckan has been arranged on Gotland for over forty years. It all started in 1968 when Olof Palme spoke from a truck at the gunpowder tower in Almedalen.

The early years of political speech has evolved to become the largest political meeting place. Through democracy and openness during the week anyone who wants to debate the social issues attend. (Almedalen website) It is basically the same issues tackled every electoral year. The only difference is which one is prioritised. There is education and schooling, which means calls for more places for a fast-growing children population that need day care services, so that their parents can go back to work after a year's maternity leave. Then there is also shortage of places in the nursing homes for the elderly for the increasing number of old people needing 24-hour care.

Unemployment is an urgent situation to be addressed, especially of the younger population that expresses their anger against the system through the use of violence and destruction of public properties.

The biggest problem that confronts all politicians and all electoral years is how to handle the unstoppable flow of refugees and asylum-seekers to Sweden, especially for those claiming reunification with families. This problem leads to the double-edged question of where to house them and what will they do for a living. Surely, they cannot depend on welfare benefits for the rest of their stay in Sweden.

The other day, the daily SvD published an article that pointed out the inequity of refugee-taking among the Swedish counties; that economically well-off counties take few while poorer counties have received more. The so-called "richer" counties are over-populated and do not have housing areas for refugees. Most of those living in these counties have work or incomes and can afford the high cost of living.

The minister of industry who heads the Center party-which used to be the farmers' party before, says that the countryside should be made more attractive, labour-market wise so that people, esp. refugees and immigrants can make a life there. However, based on existing realities, refugees and immigrants prefer to live in suburbs already populated by people from their own countries, or where their friends and relatives are living. Therefore there is Tensta, Rinkeby, Södertälje, Hässelby, plus other ghettos spread out in Stockholm's suburbs.

Sweden Democrats or Sverige Democrater is an extreme rightist party that gained its popularity by advocating lesser refugee and asylum-taking. It rationalises it by stating that there are many unemployed immigrants in Sweden, so why take on more and aggravate the employment crises. The other political parties cannot honestly admit that the refugee and asylum-taking burden is unequally- shared not just in Sweden but in Europe, even the Middle East where most of these Muslims are coming from. The Middle East with rich oil revenues don't give a damn about their own people in say, Syria?

Right now, we are all concerned with over-population in certain counties where work is hard to find. A workless situation is a bonfire waiting to ignite into flame. Work, housing, places for the young and the old, schooling, the environment's degradation, our commitment to humanity that should not be abused, and how much we have to pay in the form of taxes, so that everybody enjoys a quality of life that is above average, and where the burden of creating such a quality of life is equally-shared by all and do not rest alone in the hands of the working population. This is the highest form of solidarity in a society.#

What is Islam?

2013-07-01T08:45:00.001+02:00

I treat topics like Christianity, Protestantism and Islam from a scientific point of view. My belief in an Almighty power that could be akin to religion is purely private to me and as in all matters of private nature, I hold it close to my heart.

I have a good friend who just finished a political thriller that deals with the terrors of Islam. I have edited it and offered comments that I thought should make the book less subjective. It is a novel based on very contemporary events and has hair-raising effects on what promoters of Islam are prepared to do to gain dominance in countries with very secular traditions. The following was sent to me by another friend who watches how Europe is slowly changing its socio-political and cultural landscape.

A perspective by Dr. Peter Hammond. Dr. Hammonds doctorate is in
Theology. He was born in Capetown in 1960, grew up in Rhodesia and converted
to Christianity in 1977.
Adapted from Dr. Peter Hammond's book: Slavery, Terrorism and Islam: The
Historical Roots and Contemporary Threat:al

Islam is not a religion, nor is it a cult. In its fullest form, it is a
complete, total, 100% system of life.

Islam has religious, legal, political, economic, social, and military
components. The religious component is a beard for all of the other
components.

Islamization begins when there are sufficient Muslims in a country to
agitate for their religious privileges.

When politically correct, tolerant, and culturally diverse societies agree
to Muslim demands for their religious privileges, some of the other
components tend to creep in as well..

Here's how it works:

As long as the Muslim population remains around or under 2% in any given
country, they will be for the most part be regarded as a peace-loving
minority, and not as a threat to other citizens. This is the case in:
United States -- Muslim 0..6%
Australia -- Muslim 1.5%
Canada -- Muslim 1.9%
China -- Muslim 1.8%
Italy -- Muslim 1.5%
Norway -- Muslim 1.8%

At 2% to 5%, they begin to proselytize from other ethnic minorities and
disaffected groups, often with major recruiting from the jails and among
street gangs.
This is happening in:

Denmark -- Muslim 2%
Germany -- Muslim 3.7%
United Kingdom -- Muslim 2.7%
Spain -- Muslim 4%
Thailand -- Muslim 4.6%

From 5% on, they exercise an inordinate influence in proportion to their
percentage of the population.
For example, they will push for the introduction of halal (clean by Islamic
standards) food, thereby securing food preparation jobs for Muslims.
They will increase pressure on supermarket chains to feature halal on their
shelves -- along with threats for failure to comply.

This is occurring in:

France -- Muslim 8%
Philippines -- 5%
Sweden -- Muslim 5%
Switzerland -- Muslim 4.3%
The Netherlands -- Muslim 5.5%
Trinidad & Tobago -- Muslim 5.8%

At this point, they will work to get the ruling government to allow them to
rule themselves (within their ghettos) under Sharia, the Islamic Law. The
ultimate goal of Islamists is to establish Sharia law over the entire world.

When Muslims approach 10% of the population, they tend to increase
lawlessness as a means of complaint about their conditions.
In Paris, we are already seeing car-burnings. Any non Muslim action offends
Islam, and results in uprisings and threats, such as in Amsterdam , with
opposition to Mohammed cartoons and films about Islam.
Such tensions are seen daily, particularly in Muslim sections, in:

Guyana -- Muslim 10%
India -- Muslim 13.4%
Israel -- Muslim 16%
Kenya -- Muslim 10%
Russia -- Muslim 15%

After reaching 20%, nations can expect hair-trigger rioting, jihad militia
formations, sporadic killings, and the burnings of Christian churches and
Jewish synagogues, such as in:

Ethiopia -- Muslim 32.8%

At 40%, nations experience widespread massacres, chronic terror attacks, and
ongoing militia warfare, such as in:

Bosnia -- Muslim 40%
Chad -- Muslim 53.1%
Lebanon -- Muslim 59.7%

From 60%, nations experience unfettered persecution of non-believers of all
other religions (including non-conforming Muslims), sporadic ethnic
cleansing (genocide), use of Sharia Law as a weapon, and Jizya, the tax
placed on infidels, such as in:

Albania -- Muslim 70%
Malaysia -- Muslim 60.4%
Qatar -- Muslim 77.5%
Sudan -- Muslim 70%

After 80%, expect daily intimidation and violent jihad, some State-run
ethnic cleansing, and even some genocide, as these nations drive out the
infidels, and move toward 100% Muslim, such as has been experienced and in
some ways is on-going in:

Bangladesh -- Muslim 83%
Egypt -- Muslim 90%
Gaza -- Muslim 98.7%
Indonesia -- Muslim 86.1%
Iran -- Muslim 98%
Iraq -- Muslim 97%
Jordan -- Muslim 92%
Morocco -- Muslim 98.7%
Pakistan -- Muslim 97%
Palestine -- Muslim 99%
Syria -- Muslim 90%
Tajikistan -- Muslim 90%
Turkey -- Muslim 99.8%
United Arab Emirates -- Muslim 96%

100% will usher in the peace of 'Dar-es-Salaam' -- the Islamic House of
Peace.. Here there's supposed to be peace, because everybody is a Muslim,
the Madrasses are the only schools, and the Koran is the only word, such as
in:

Afghanistan -- Muslim 100%
Saudi Arabia -- Muslim 100%
Somalia -- Muslim 100%
Yemen -- Muslim 100%

Unfortunately, peace is never achieved, as in these 100% states the most
radical Muslims intimidate and spew hatred, and satisfy their blood lust by
killing less radical Muslims, for a variety of reasons.

'Before I was nine I had learned the basic canon of Arab life. It was me
against my brother; me and my brother against our father; my family against
my cousins and the clan; the clan against the tribe; the tribe against the
world, and all of us against the infidel. -- Leon Uris, 'The Haj'

It is important to understand that in some countries, with well under 100%
Muslim populations, such as France, the minority Muslim populations live in
ghettos, within which they are 100% Muslim, and within which they live by
Sharia Law.
The national police do not even enter these ghettos. There are no national
courts, nor schools, nor non-Muslim religious facilities.. In such
situations, Muslims do not integrate into the community at large. The
children attend madrasses. They learn only the Koran. To even associate with
an infidel is a crime punishable with death.
Therefore, in some areas of certain nations, Muslim Imams and extremists
exercise more power than the national average would indicate.

Today's 1.5 billion Muslims make up 22% of the world's population. But their
birth rates dwarf the birth rates of Christians, Hindus, Buddhists, Jews,
and all other believers.
Muslims will exceed 50% of the world's population by the end of this
century.

Adapted from Dr. Peter Hammond's book: Slavery, Terrorism and Islam: The
Historical Roots and Contemporary Threat

G- 8 versus BRICS

2013-06-17T10:42:00.002+02:00

G-8 - a forum for the governments of eight of the world's wealthiest countries, excluding Brazil 6th, India 9th and China 2nd. is meeting in Irland today.The forum was established in 1975 summit hosted by France.

G8 today is facing criticism for its failure to resolve conflict in Syria, reduce globalization problems such as Third World Debt, global warming, the Aids epidemic, lack of transparency, tax inequality where certain global companies such as Amazon, Google and Apple do not pay tax in markets where they earn huge profits and trade liberalization between USA and EU.

Critics say the G8 has now become unrepresentative of the world's most powerful economies. In particular, China has surpassed every economy but the United States, while Brazil has surpassed Canada and Italy acc. to IMF. India is already larger than Brazil, and according to the IMF and the CIA Factbook, has surpassed Japan in terms of purchasing power parity. This has given rise to the idea of enlarging G8 to the G8+5, which includes these other economically powerful nations. (Source:Wikepedia)

The BRICs countries consisting of Brazil, Russia, India and China had a financial summit in South Africa last March and tackled major projects designed to challenge the existing financial systems. It has agreed to dump the Euro and create its own development bank.

The BRICS nations financial summit in South Africa from 26 to 28 March is officially called "BRICS and Africa: Partnership for Development, Integration and Industrialisation".

In this financial meet, the heads of the emerging economies – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) – agreed to cut their foreign currency reserves in euro, having sold €45 billion of the currency in 2012, according to data gathered by the International Monetary Fund.

After the cut, the euro represents just 24% of the BRICS foreign reserves, the lowest level since 2002 – the year when euro coins and banknotes first entered circulation – and down from a peak of 31% in 2009, according to reports in the financial press.

The move reportedly due to the developing world’s disillusionment with the status quo of world financial institutions. The World Bank and IMF continue to favor US and Europe over BRICS nations. And in 2010, the US failed to ratify a 2010 agreement which would allow more IMF funds to be allocated to developing nations.

Once a loose political affiliation, the BRICS bloc is now a serious economic contender in the world economy, representing 40% of the world’s population, and accounting for one fifth of global GDP.

The five countries hold foreign-currency reserves of $4.4 trillion (€3.4 trillion), and need an institution to safeguard this tremendous wealth. The reserve will also protect members from short-term liquidity volatility and balance-of-payment problems.

Is the G-8 coming together with BRICS for a better and more effective global management of the world's resources and fair distribution of wealth and profits. This is a question that defies any easy answer.

When leaders of the world's wealthiest countries meet to decide on the fate of the less wealthy, the poor and the deeply-marginalised countries whose state of poverty remains unchanged and whose freedom from wars and ethnic conflicts is the least priority, one wonders what these organizations really achieve other than securing its members' continued access to wealth and power.#

　

　

Stockholm archipelago - a tourist paradise

2013-06-03T15:19:00.000+02:00

I used to say with great pride that the Philippines has "7, 700 islands depending upon the tide". But the Swedish archipelago consists of 30,000 islands, rocks and skerries . Many of these islands are inhabited all-year-round or as summer residences. From the month of May, the tourist boat traffic to several of these islands and within Stockholm city's nearest waterways attractions gather momentum and reaches its peak in the month of June.

The boat trips offer varied destinations and time length, from regular passenger trips to "hop in, hop off", to special sightseeing ( 7 bridges under ) or a 1 and 1/2 hour trip with an English-speaking guide mainly for foreign tourists who want a bit more info on the historical landmarks and buildings along the way.

The state through the "landsting" operates a regular ferry service to several farther islands. These are bigger white boats moored infront of the Grand Hotel. They serve food. And then there are a few privately-owned shipping companies that have been serving the Swedish archipelago since many years back, which owns boats as old as 100 years. They say that it is part of the charm of the archipelago with these aged boats.

Many boat trips are chartered fór many celebratory reasons: corporate parties, weddings. birthdays, student parties, even funerals - spreading ashes in the lake. Weddings are done either in the boat, in the Stockholm city hall, in a church in an island or in one of the many castles near Stockholm.

Last June 1, my significant other (SO) who is a ship captain drove this 100-year old Gurli boat from Stockholm city to Västerås city, a trip that started at 4 in the morning and ended at 22.00 in the evening. It took six hours to negotiate the distance, counting some five bridges of which three had to be opened for the boat to pass through.

All these bridge openings and closings were very interesting for me, in particular the Hammarby-Slussen or lock. The boat waits inside as the lock opens and water fills the narrow passageway. Then it closes again.

Västerås city I know from few years back when I was actively chairing the Women Rights Forum or Kvinnorättsforum. I travelled to these places to meet Filipinos, get to know them and introduce the association. A very good friend of mine, Monica Dahlström Lannes lives here. She was a police commissioner who became an ardent advocate of children rights. In 1994-95, we worked together on my SIDA-funded project - a one-month training program for senior Philippine social workers involved in the rehabilitation of sexually-abused children.

Historically, Västerås which is one of the largest cities in Sweden is today a major industrial area with ABB and Atlas Copco among others. In 1947, global company HM started its first store here.
And in the 16th century or so, Sweden's powerful king Gustav Vasa decided to take away the powers and riches of the Catholic church and established Lutheranism as state religion.

The boat trip I got myself into - for a new sightseeing experience was chartered for a wedding party by some wealthy people who all came in fine formal gowns and tuxedos. The caterer was a Thai company that served Thai delicacies and fruits, as well as bubbles opened by a sable.

They were in the boat for two hours, afterwhich they were deposited in a big castle in Västerås. They were picked up by a tourist bus for the short ride, which was good for the ladies wearing three inches heeled shoes.

Today, the Stockholm archipelago is a tourist paradise where the locals and tourists can visit any of the 50,000 cottages in different islands and have boat trips in any of the 150,000 pleasure boats and ferries that are available for short days trips, as well as water transport to various places of interest in the city such as the Djurgården park, Vasa museum, the new ABBA museum, the palace on Skeppsholmen, Grönalund-Stockholm's Disneyland, the Fjäderholm islands - are just some landmarks in the sighteeeing tour.

Stockholm suburbs under seige

2013-05-23T11:53:00.000+02:00

Immigrant group spreads violence in Stockholm suburbs.
May 23, 2013. This is the fourth day of violence triggered by a group of immigrant youngsters in at least 15 Stockholm suburbs. There have been massive destruction to vehicles and properties set on fire, as well as injuries suffered by members of the police force and bystanders caught in the crossfire.

Sweden's Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt commented on the matter in a press conference at the Riksdag on Tuesday afternoon.

"We've had two nights with great unrest, damage, and an intimidating atmosphere in Husby and there is a risk it will continue," he said.

"We have groups of young men who think that that they can and should change society with violence. Let's be clear: This is not OK. We cannot be ruled by violence."

Wednesday night saw more burning cars, smashed windows, and stone throwing at police in at least 15 suburbs around Stockholm, as the fourth night of riots swept the Swedish capital.

The unrest began shortly after 10pm in Husby, northwestern Stockholm where the riots began on Sunday night. Youths gathered in the town square, some of them masked.

Hagsätra in southern Stockholm came under fire at roughly the same time. A police patrol was attacked, and one officer was taken to hospital with serious injuries to the head.

By 2am, Stockholm's fire service had attended 75-80 incidents across the city. Much of their work was delayed by youths throwing stones at them, meaning police were left to attend to the stone-throwers to allow the fire fighters access to the fires.

A restaurant went up in flames in Skogås, southern Stockholm. Police labelled the crime as aggravated arson.

In Rågsved, a police station was set on fire, with officers gathering young people in a police bus and escorting them away to other parts of the city.

Many believe the catalyst to the riots was the fatal police shooting of a machete-wielding 69-year-old man in the area last Monday.

　Police arrested eight people on Tuesday night as thirty cars were torched across southern and western Stockholm, in what was the third consecutive night of unrest in the Swedish capital.
Rioters lit fires in cars in western and southern Stockholm, and threw stones at police officers and fire fighters. Cars were torched in Rinkeby, Skarpnäck, Norsborg, Kista, Fittja, Bredäng, Flemingsberg, Edsberg, and Tensta.

"These are places that have not been affected by this before and this is sad to hear. It feels like people are taking the opportunity in other areas because of the attention given to Husby," Kjell Lindgren of the Stockholm police told the Aftonbladet newspaper.
fatal police shooting of a 69-year-old man in Husby last Monday.
"You have to see what happened from a wider point of view. It's not the first time something like this has happened, and it's not the last. This is the kind of reaction when there isn't equality between people, which is the case in Sweden," Rami al-Khamisi, a law student and founder of local youth organization Megafonen, told The Local.

Restless immigrant youth with little to do

Lebanon-born Marianne Farede, 26, said that high youth unemployment was part of the problem, she put more blame on parents rather than a lack of support programmes from the Swedish state.

"It's how they've been raised. Everything comes back to their parents," she explained. "It's not the state's fault. You have to take control of your life, you can't just go out and ruin things for everyone else. That's doesn't help anything."

She also thought the young people of Husby and surrounding districts seem to have failed to realize how good they have it.

"If I lived in my homeland, I wouldn't have it as good as I do now. That's something I really appreciate," Farede explained.

"There aren't enough who do appreciate what they have. They want even more. You don't have to feel like a Swede to adjust to Swedish society."

Shahnaz Darabi, who runs a flower shop on Husby's main square, also attributed the recent violence to a group of disgruntled youths with too much time on their hands.

"It's just a bunch of young people who have no jobs and nothing to do. They think it's fun," she said.

Darabi, a native of Iran who has lived in Sweden for 19 years, also cited a lack of involvement by parents as a contributing factor to the riots.

"Parents are ultimately responsible. They need to set boundaries. They need to have more of a check on their children's lives," she said.

"If parents try to discipline their children, the kids complain in school, and say their parents have done this or that, and then [social services] steps in and tries to take the children away. Parents are scared they'll have their children taken from them."

The transition to life in Sweden is hardest for those who come to Sweden as young children, she added.

"They don't know what they are supposed to do, how they are supposed to act. They were raised differently in their home countries, where things are tougher. Here things are more lax. Too lax," the mother of two explained.

Darabi believes that too many immigrant parents fail to integrate into Swedish society, thus making it harder for their children.

"Many sit at home and watch television from their home countries, don't learn the Swedish language, they are out of work and living on benefits and can't move forward. They are stuck," she said.

"It's the individual and parents who need to take responsibility. But many don't; they only think about money and how to get benefits this month and next month. That affects their children. There has to be a limit. The state has given them too much, frankly." ( Summary from THE LOCAL's news reports)

The Meaning of Dreams

2013-05-05T11:49:00.001+02:00

I have dreams almost every night. Some are so real that I could be watching a film. Mostly, they are combinations of scenes and places I have never been to, people that have nothing to do with my real world. I used to be more interested in the meaning of dreams and what I dream of. My dead sister Daisy was a believer in astrology.

A long time ago, my dreams were kind of prophetic. It was on three occasions when I dreamt of the Virgin Mary. I just lost my job in Dept. of Trade as Foreign Trade Officer after Alejando Melchor published a list of 5,000 "undesirable" government employees, those with records of political activism and a "wanted" kin in the underground. It was an awful situation for a single mother to wake up one morning, read in the papers that she has no more job. Then the Lady of the Immaculate Conception came to me ..as a dream. I woke up to the soft music from my stereo in the living room, went out of the bedroom and saw the front door open with so much light streaming in. She was there in the middle of a flowering garden and was floating closer to me, smiling, her hands outstreached. I stood, half paralyzed and then after some minutes the apparition gently receded behind some clouds. She came to bring you dramatic changes in your life, my astrology expert sister told me.

A few days later, I got a call from Johnny Gatbonton of Editorial Associates. He asked me if I was interested to do media representation work for a Hongkong company. I said yes and that's how the media door opened to me, first via advertising and much later, editorially.

The second time I had an apparition of the the Virgin, it was the Lady of Mt Carmel - floating in a field of tulips with the blue ocean in the background. I was then in a Batangas resort learning to dive. I had already began my new job as media representative for major foreign publications. With the supportive help of former bosses I had in the banking sector, I succeeded to put together Philippine supplements for Financial Times and later, for Int'l. Herald Tribune. At that time, Manila was being promoted as a financial centre.

The third apparition was of the Lady of Lourdes sorrounded by a sea of devotees. By this time, I had switched jobs as media representative for Financial Times and the Int'l. Herald Tribune to being a regular contributor to Far Eastern Economic Review. It was on one of my visits to London when I met FEER's business manager who asked me if I wanted to work for Review, instead of FT. Jokingly, I thought. But then Rodney Tasker materialised from one of these FOCAP happy hours. He had a book review to write and asked me if I would do it as he was leaving for Bangkok next day or so. I gave him the 1000-worded book review, was fully satisfied and disappeared from Manila's radar. He was also ASEAN correspondent which required him to travel regularly.

Then I got an urgent message from FEER's editor in Hongkong. It said that Tasker may not be able to return anytime soon. FEER and Tasker were sued for libel by then Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile. I don't know if it was seriously or jokingly said, but Derek Davies said they needed someone with "balls" to write political report on the Marcos regime. Leo Gonzaga was the business correspondent. These were days of dictatorship and press censorship.

Three dreams, three apparitions and life on a fast changing lane. It was never anything like one I've dreamt of. It was a dream and a reality all at once. Today, early Sunday morning, I woke up early due to an attack of severe coughing. Got out of bed, took some ginger tea, opened my Facebook and read through words of wisdom regularly coming from FB friends. You are always compelled to measure your own adequacy and inadequacies. I went back to bed and fell asleep deeply. And I dreamt I was having a stroll on a sunny day with my best friend. I wanted to take pictures of spring. I tried to fish out my camera from my handbag. It wasn't there. My HTC was also missing. There was another camera but it wasn't mine. Then I took the Saltsjöbanan train and there I met the face of Sweden's postal code lottery, Rikard Sjöberg who was joking with the driver. Rather undramatic and unprophetic! But maybe I'll get the lottery and start a women livelihood foundation in Cape Verde.#

Reconnections

2013-04-07T16:56:00.000+02:00

Life is all the experiences lived through from birth, distilled in different memory chambers. Many memories of growing up are just stored, oftentimes undisturbed in one's passage through life. Some return because they trigger unforgettable events that refuse to pass into oblivion. There is no life I believe is uninteresting, wherever it is or in whatever time and space it occupied. They are just untold, and therefore uncherished and forgotten. Mine is a chain of living events.

I wrote not too long ago, how amazing Facebook had become in making reconnections with the past, with people and events that crossed one's life. I could never imagine how one midnight, while reading Facebook updates, someone from the very distant past just came up to say " Good evening! " This is so and so. I wonder if you still remember the last time we met."

The name rang a bell and catapulted me to the early 60s. I said: "Of course, it was in Baguio city. Was it not the Editors' Guild or was it the National Council Presidents' conference." He said: " You have a good memory. It was the College Editor's Guild conference." He was Editor of U.P Collegian. I was Editor of "The Mentor", the publication of Albay Normal School ( now Bicol University ) as well as Council President. Later in the 60s, I moved to Manila and started a family and studied for another degree in Lyceum University. I also became Editor of "The Lycean".

Being a student leader in the 6os was a very interesting time. From the narrow confines of a small town and college, I suddenly found myself in the national arena where politics and student participation were intimately woven. I needed to learn very fast how I could become part of this challenging time and to find my place as an active participant. The 60s saw students, labour, farmers, urban poor in a united front to oppose certain policies of the Marcos government, for instance involvement in the Vietnam war. It was too much " isms " to understand all at once.

Such memories rushed back one midnight just because a distant friend made the reconnection. He has gone a long way in the world of academe. I've also gone a long way from government service to journalism, and from a small town at the foot of Mayon Volcano, to places I have never thought existed.

As I reminisced the 60s, my FB chat box opened. It was someone I have not actually met, but who accidentally inherited some books I left during my one month's political detention in Camp Vicente Lim. She knew my family and Albay High School, where I finished my secondary education. She said: " You were the very first to wear the mini skirt on campus. A feminist!" And I added: "...and to wear heeled shoes that drove my Home Economics teacher insane." I refused to be a vendor of meriendas cooked in the H.E. building.

I had a flood of memories of my high school year- how I won in the regional oratorical contest, played a strict Mother Superior in a school play, got only First Honourable Mention on my graduation because I lacked residency. I moved to Albay from Camarines Sur after my father died. The Junior and Senior Proms, my aunt as watchdog against aspiring suitors, the Albay town fiestas and the multi-layered petticoats so much so that buses refused to stop as I took so much space.

All these flashbacks and reconnections in one midnight , from one based in the USA and the other in Albay, Philippines. Does that sound believable? It is on Facebook and I am making no commercials. On another FB session, someone opened my chat box. The flashback was not too long ago. Maybe 30 years or something. He asked me if I still remember Tipanan in Manila Peninsula. And that I used dance there. I don't remember this one but I know that there was a Tipanan and I had been there to eat. It was a disco? Manila Pen was a favourite hangout of media people and politicians, as much as Inter-Continental Hotel had its famous Coffee shop breakfasts presided over by the Lords of Philippine column writing like Doroy Valencia.

As my list of FB friends increase, so does my reconnections with the past become a regularity. Even after I've closed the chat box, I lean back in my chair and continue the travel back in time. Two weeks, my boss in the Financial Times of London where I was Philippine rep in the late 60s to early 70s, just materialised from nowhere and reminded me that it is only 33 years ago since I met him for a special supplement project on RP.

I sometimes laugh alone at funny incidents I remember, or become sad over the loss of close friends like Nelly Sindayen. Many things in the past that enriched my years of growing up, of becoming an adult, of taking risks and challenges along the way, of struggling for survival as "enemy of the state", of loving and being loved. They are beyond replacement. No matter how far I have travelled, I want to go back to certain places and times I have been before, even for some moments.#

Nobility in poverty, humility in wealth

2013-03-26T12:47:00.001+01:00

I recently received an inspiring story from a dear friend about getting paid back from what one has done in kindness, without thoughts of self-gain or personal reward. As the story of Easter goes, life is a continuing cycle of paybacks - what you owe and are owed, that comes with giving to those in need and in distress. And there is also payback for failures and apathy toward others suffering and misfortune. Simply put, we reap what we plant.

The following is a story of nobility in poverty and humility in wealth.

His name was Fleming, and he was a poor Scottish farmer. One day, while trying to make a living for his family, he heard a cry for help coming from a nearby bog. He dropped his toolsand ran to the bog.

There, mired to his waist in black muck, was a terrified boy, screaming and struggling to free himself. Farmer Fleming saved the lad from what could have been a slow and terrifying death

The next day, a fancy carriage pulled up to the Scotsman's sparse surroundings. An elegantly dressed nobleman stepped out and introduced himself as the father of the boy Farmer Fleming had saved.

'I want to repay you,' said the nobleman. 'You saved my son's life.'

'No, I can't accept payment for what I did,' the Scottish farmer replied waving off the offer. At that moment, the farmer's own son came to the door of the family hovel.

'Is that your son?' the nobleman asked.
'Yes,' the farmer replied proudly.

'I'll make you a deal. Let me provide him with the level of education my own son will enjoy If the lad is anything like his father, he'll no doubt grow to be a man we both will be proud of.' And that he did.

Farmer Fleming's son attended the very best schools and in time, graduated from St. Mary's Hospital Medical School in London, and went on to become known throughout the world as the noted Sir Alexander Fleming, the discoverer of Penicillin.

Years afterward, the same nobleman's son who was saved from the bog was stricken with pneumonia.

What saved his life this time? Penicillin.

The name of the nobleman? Lord Randolph Churchill .. His son's name?

Sir Winston Churchill.

Someone once said: What goes around comes around.

Work like you don't need the money.

Love like you've never been hurt.

Dance like nobody's watching.

Sing like nobody's listening.

Live like it's Heaven on Earth. #

Blending...becoming

2013-03-07T16:33:00.001+01:00

I come from exotic Philippines, land of seven thousand, seven hundred islands lying in close proximity to Indonesia and Malaysia in the Pacific ocean. That was many moons ago. Today, I am in Cape Verde - home of some half a million Creoles scattered in ten islands. It is situated on an archipelago in the northern Atlantic Ocean, off the west coast of Africa. It is the land of Amilcar Cabral, the freedom fighter and of Evora Cesaria, the barefoot diva who lives on with her famous music, the "mornas".

I am in the process of "blending...and becoming", what I would describe the metamorphosis of being outside and coming inside a new community. I blended in many communities before and almost became a part of. The local language helps the way to "becoming" because unless you try to learn the local tongue, you will always be an outsider. Yet, understanding the nuances of a foreign tongue takes time.

In Cape Verde, they speak Creole - a dialect they developed under Portuguese tutelage in order not to be understood by the conquerors. They understand Portuguese and Spanish and few speak English as well as Italian. I learned Portuguese during five years of diplomatic residence in Mozambique - former colony of Portugal until the fall of the Salazar govenment and the Frelimo freedom fighters took over the government.

After three years of straddling between two continents, that is to say, half-year living in Sal island or rather three winter seasons of five months from November to May since 2010, I visited four Cape Verdean islands, all distinctly different from each other. Praia, Santiago is the seat of government - an old capital that linked East and West, North and South via the slave trade. Walking around the city on a plateau and then visiting Cidade Velha - where Christianity and slavery co-existed, transported me to the bygone days of abductions, auctions and transport of slaves to America and Europe.

Mindelo, capital of Sao Vicente is the maritime centre - home to sailors and ships needing anchor for rest and supply. Mindelo has problems with a growing criminality - house break-ins and street holdups. It seems that many menfolk who can work don't like work. It is a daily sport to spot and follow foreigners and beg for money.

Then we came to San Antao, Cape Verde's second biggest island that is famous for its "rebeiras" that become raging rivers during the rainy months from August to September. Hence the thriving agriculture on man-made terraces by the mountain sides. San Antao boasts of an almost 100 percent Creole population.

If Sal island is looking like a lunar landscape of volcanic rocks, sorrounded by the ocean- where the Sahara sand-carrying wind blows hard from the East, and where waves come as high as 4 to 5 meters high, San Antao offers a lush tropical vegetation of terraced agriculture and deep "rebeiras". The contrasts of landscapes between islands offer a myriad of environments to experience.

Sta. Maria, the town centre of Sal has become a miniature melting pot of many cultures - both transients and residents. Senegalese curio vendors accoust you with " Hello, how are you today? Come and visit my shop! No stress." Some go after certain women and asks : " What's your name? Are you married?" It seems that these West African men have learned a new livelihood as sex partners for lonely single women on holiday, much like the "ladies of the night" solicit sexual favours from tourists as well as local men.

In these different places of the same people and history, one cannot say that "blending...and becoming" is easy and that there is reciprocity of friendship and purpose. I have the feeling that friendship varies from person to person and that there is that guarded distance between the insider and the outsider. The outsider, like we who have our second home in this island are not really accepted as being part of "them". We are "those" that the local population - at least here in Sta. Maria, can dole out small monies for beer and food. We are "those" who have enough food, water and money for things to buy. There are two separate prices here: the Cape Verdean price and the tourist's price. This is particulartly true with for instance the WiFi vouchers of Cabocom. It is also true when you want to buy a small boat. Yes, two prices in most areas of transaction.

"Blending" is a delightful social experience, yet the "blending" that has offered interesting friendships have not been with the locals. Instead, we found friends and kinship with Europeans those who like us have second homes here in Cape Verde.#

Swedish asylum policy faces tougher times

2012-10-27T15:05:00.001+02:00

The Swedish asylum policy faces greater problems today. The war is Syria and Afghanistan,
as well as troubles in Somalia and Eritrea have caused an exodus of refugees to Europe, least of all Sweden. They have to have housing, food, employment and a just processing of their refugee and asylum applications.

The situation has put strong demands upon the Swedish Migration Authority and the country's various county. Most of those coming here from the Middle East and Africa have one basic reason. Their lives in their home countries are in danger. 60 to 70 percent of them are granted asylum permits.

While at the same time, a huge number of asylum seekers to Sweden are coming from western Balkan, namely Serbia, Bosnia & Hercegovina and Albania. From these countries which no longer have travel bans to EU, came during the first eight months this year more asylum seekers than from Syria, which is in a civil war.

The reasons are quite clear. Many of the asylum seekers are gypsies reportedly exposed to prejudices and difficult discrimination in their countries. Even non-gypsies from the Balkan apply for asylum to escape poverty and unemployment. But their applications are rejected, as usual since many of them have no refugee reasons and only 1 percent are allowed to stay. These are refugees arranged by syndicates which continue to arrange asylum trips with promises of guaranteed residence permit and social benefits.

Sweden, along with five other EU member states with many asylum applicants, wrote to the EU Commission to restore a temporary visa restriction from countries west of the Balkan. This would make it difficult for organised asylum and refugee syndicates, as well as private individuals to flee from miseries at home.

It would appear cynical to impose a travel ban on say the gypsies who want to come to Sweden, but the asylum taking situation has become tedious. As an alternative to travel ban, EU countries with heavy influx of asylum seekers should give more funds to the Migration authority because the present reception system can no longer handle both the refugee exodus from war zones as well as from western Balkan. Those fleeing from war zones like Syria and Afghanistan should have priority.

One big problem in the refugee and asylum taking is the unequal burden of European solidarity. Some countries like Greece and Italy are reportedly treating asylum seekers in inhumane ways, and therefore they move to friendlier EU countries. But it would be unfair for Northern Europe alone to shoulder the whole continent's refugee and asylum burden. Sweden and EU cannot receive everybody who are treated badly in their home countries. However, Sweden can impose stricter demands that all people be treated humanely. (Translated and edited from DN editorial, 26 October 2012. )

Congratulations EU - despite all

2012-10-13T11:06:00.000+02:00

It is easy to criticise the decision to award the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize to the European Union.

The timing however is bad. EU is undergoing just now a paralysing crisis where North
stands against South, where top leaders' democratic ideals are in question and poor EU members are protesting in the streets.

At the same time, the Union has bigger problems. Several members - Rumania, Bulgaria, Hungary - have shown little respect for EU's ground principles of democracy and human rights.
Political populism, up to pure Nazism wins terrain in many member-countries. Refugee politics is criticised for creating a walled Europe.

A new survey of Europe's barometer shows less surprisingly that sympathies for the Union has collapsed in the most crises-affected areas. In 2001, some 55 percent of voters in Portugal, Irland, Italy, Greece and Spain gave their confidence to EU. Today the figure is 25 percent. To think that a peace prize would change this is naive.

However, outside Oslo's peace prize committee's ill timing, there is good reason to applaud the decision. EU is a peace project - and unquestionably successful as such. It is more significant to give the peace prize to a united Europe than say, to PLO leader Yassir Arafat and warmonger Henry Kissinger.

For EU's history is Europe's peace. The one who saw earliest the need for reconciliation was Winston Churchill. Already in 1946, a year after the end of the war, he said in a speech in Zurich: "The first step in the re-creation of a European family must be a partnership between France and Germany." And so it happened, four years later when France laid to rest its suspicion against Germany and allowed in West Germany, in a cooperation involving coal and steel production.

Earlier, the German postwar economy wavered in a vacuum between the Marshall plans and the victors' benevolence. Today, EU's predecessor coal and steel union, integrated the country with its neighbours. France' fear of being out-competed in the steel area was eliminated, thanks to both countries' joint management.

In this way, the European Union's best moments continued to function. Enemies in the past have atoned and began to cooperate. Economies were woven together and boundary restrictions were abolished which set the conditions for improved welfare. Western Europe, one of the world's most war-ravaged region is now a model for peace and solidarity. Suffice to say, despite all of EU's shortcomings, it is worth a prize.

But the timing to say the least, is questionable. It would have been reasonable to give the union the peace prize in 2004, when it expanded membership to Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union's former satellite countries- Estonia, Lithuania, Poland, Czech and Hungary became members. In this moment, EU showed its best side as an example, a united force and umbrella for welfare through a market economy cooperation.

Maybe the Nobel peace prize has a double reminder of what the union was and could become again, a reminder for young Europeans who have not experienced the ravages of war and the Cold War and merely sees EU as a failed political project.# (My own translation and editing from Dagens Nyheter's editorial, Oct. 13, 2012)

The night of the military

2012-09-17T17:18:00.000+02:00

Sept. 21, 1972 was like no other nights. It was the night of the military. There was something unwelcomed in the air, something that instinctively I knew was going to happen eversince I returned to Manila from Europe. I was a member of the Philippine delegation consisting of foreign service officers to the prestigious EROPA Public Administration/Foreign Service Course to Tehran, Iran and West Germany in 1971. When I came home to Manila after a two-month study tour of some European capitals, the writ of habeas corpus was suspended and I learned that many friends went underground. Student leaders, university professors, labour leaders and student activists became the target of an intensive surveillance.

I got a note from Satur C. Ocampo - then Assistant Business Editor at the Manila Times, that he went into hiding and that our two children Jose Sarni, aged 8 and Maria Sonora, aged 7 were left in 51 Tirona St, BF Homes in the care of my sister Daisy. Our house was newly-built in the prime Banco Filipino-developed housing subdivision. We lived before this in Avocado Street, United Paranaque.

On that fateful night of Sept. 21, 1972 - I stayed awake, stared into the darkness and listened to any noise from anything moving. It was dead still until I heard the alarm from Metrocom jeeps coming to a stop infront of 51 Tirona Street. I saw from the glass window some uniformed men coming out of the two military jeeps. And the knocking on the door followed. I opened the door and in came three men. The leader introduced himself as the captain. They were polite.
He asked: "Does Satur Ocampo live here?"
I replied: " No, he doesn't".
Next question: "Do you know where he is?"
I replied: " No, I don't".
He continued: "We are going to search this place".
I asked: "What are you looking for? He is not hiding anywhere here."
He said: " Subversive materials!"
The team of three - several were waiting outside, went through all the rooms, opened all the cabinets, went through all the books and things everywhere. The children who were sleeping then woke up and cowered in the dark, unable to ask anything. My sister was paralyzed from fear in her room. After some hours of turning the place up and down, the military men left. They didn't find any books that mentioned anything about Communism, Marxism, Leninism, Mao Tse Tung and all those political thinkers we were studying in my Political Economy Graduate course at Lyceum University.

As I was saying, when I returned to Manila I felt an eerie atmosphere, the feeling of a tempest wrapped in heavy rain clouds. With the lifting of the writ of habeas corpus, the dissappearing act of known activists, it was not too difficult to guess that the military would sooner or later make a general appearance. Our house has been a favourite meeting place of top leaders of the anti-Marcos opposition. In the house were dozens of copies of the newly-published book of Amado Guerrero. I took half to a friend's place and buried them in the backyard, and did the same with the other half in my own backyard. All my textbooks in my political economy class, as well as the books of Mao Tse Tung, my brother hid in the ceiling of the house. So, by the time the raiding military came on the night of Sept. 21, 1972, only some harmless books remained on the shelves.

When the television came to life the next day, it was the face of Francisco F.Tatad that greeted us - boyish bespectacled Kit was reading the proclamation of martial law in the country. He became the spokesperson of Ferdinand Marcos, the man who seized power unconstitutionally through the military and crushed all opposition to his dictatorship.

On the night of Sept. 21, 1972 we learned that no less than 5,000 top opposition leaders and politicians were arrested and thrown to jail. No, I was spared that night. The arrest came six months later, at midday of March 31st, 1973. Three Metrocom jeeps arrived and out came several men headed by a certain Capt. Napoleon Cruz. They showed me an ASSO document where my name was written along with Dr. Sotero Laurel and Mrs Laurel, President of Lyceum University. They said they were taking me to a military camp in Laguna. In that camp which was three hours from Manila, I was the 13th female detainee held in the clubhouse. I was not listed as a detainee which was dangerous because I could have been salvaged without any records of having been arrested and detained. But I had a guardian angel who saw to it that my name was included officially as a detainee. I was there for a month.

The interrogation periods took place at midnight in what they termed "sugar and vinegar". It was plenty of questions asked each time, all coming from what they called the "blue book", a record of intelligence reports by paid spies roaming the universities and press club. My main interrogator was Jose Feria, then a Colonel but before this, a humble and friendly member of my editorial staff at The Lyceum. He was infact my bodyguard because he was built like one. So, when he kept on asking me about the Kabataang Makabayan, I told him that he should answer it himself because he overstayed both in Lyceum and in the KM movement. ( Feria died some years later in an encounter in Mindanao with the New People's Army, NPA. Capt Napoleon Cruz who led the arresting team that fateful morning in 51 Tirona Street, died in a car collision.)

When I was released after a month's detention, I knew I would never be at peace and that 51 Tirona will always be under surveillance. I packed my children and placed them to my mother's care in Camalig, Albay. The martial law regime was going to last a long time and my life, as well as that of their father- who was eventually captured and heavily tortured to near death, had changed beyond forever. If that detention was not enough, I woke up one day and read on Manila Times that I was among subversives working in the government. Some 5,000 people lost jobs that day.
The Marcos regime got rid of me and I got rid of the regime and begun a new journey into the challenging world of media. I became a journalist!
( This is just a summary of a much longer story waiting to be told properly.)

Re-visiting the "motherless generation"

2012-03-21T13:58:00.004+01:00

Sometime ago, I read an article entitled "A motherless generation" - based on an emotional narrative of a Filipina working as au pair in Spain. Her lamentations about missing her children who were growing up in the care of her relatives, portray the painful agony of thousand other mothers from countries like the Philippines, who are forced to work abroad in order to support children and parents. Marriages break up and the effect of broken homes further aggravate the social cost of overseas labour. The winner is the country's economy that benefits from the billions in foreign remittances of overseas workers.

This is the tragedy of a globalised labour market that forces people - a majority of whom are mothers and wives, to leave their families behind because of economic reasons. Many women work as domestics, au pairs as well as other service-related jobs. Each one has a story to tell, about the experiences in battling discrimination, unfair labour condition, sexual exploitation, loneliness and loss of self-dignity. And the children have their own sad tales of growing up without parental love and affection. No matter how loving grandparents and relatives maybe, there is no substitute for mother's love. It is the bedrock of one's childhood without which adulthood would be devoid of love itself. What could a child who grew up without a mother's nurturing love possibly share with her own family and children. As the cliche goes, you cannot give that which you never had.

Growing up without close maternal love and affection that plague the "motherless generation" is aggravated by an uncertain sense of moral and ethical values in the children's understanding of their relationship with the outside world. In worst cases, apathy replaces sympathy for one's own family and the humanity at large. And because they are deprived of the nearness of parental love, it becomes difficult for them to develop feelings of affection and empathy for others. They are emotionally handicapped to share the most important function of the heart, to give and reciprocate love and to be compassionate and forgiving to those who err against them.
I am not generalising that all children belonging to the present-day "motherless generation" suffer from deprivation of the finer qualities of the heart. There are lucky exceptions, who by sheer strength and determination overcome the overwhelming difficulty of growing up without mothers. It maybe genetics, intelligence and a nourishing alternative home environment that have cushioned the negative effects of absentee mothering.

However, before the present day "motherless generation", it was the era of a "fatherless generation". In the 60s and 70s, the Philippines underwent a social and political upheaval after the imposition of martial law followed by a prolonged era of authoritarianism. It was characterised by armed conflicts between the government's military forces and the rise of people power movements fighting for democratic changes. The Marcos dictatorship used the military to suppress all forms of dissent through oppression and suppression of all freedoms. It was the reign of state terrorism. Thousands of people - students, workers, farmers, professionals, journalists joined the underground movement and became the forefront of the people's revolution for democratic change. Many were arrested and detained for many years, often in solitary confinement.

The children of political activists became orphans, losing fathers and mothers to the struggle. They became "children of the revolution" - growing up in someone else care in some safer sanctuary beyond the brutal reach of vengeful military men and civilian defense forces roaming the cities and countrysides. These were dangerous days of "search, arrest and detention" of anyone suspected of involvment in subversive activities. Subversion meant affiliation with the illegal communist movement. It was a clear black and white definition of who was subversive - those against the dictatorship and those who were in favour. "If you're not with us, then you must be against us."

How many "children of the revolution" were deeply traumatised by the temporary, in some cases the permanent loss of parents. Have these children been compensated for their sufferings in early life, honoured for their phenomenal ability to grow up without hatred and regrets for the way they were born into parents with political commitments greater than family. How did the children understand that it was for the greater good, for a future in a democratically-governed society that they grew up without parents.

In my own private sphere, my children were martial law victims just as much as their parents. They had prolonged stay in the province in my mother's care when the military intelligence placed my BF Home residence under surveillance, for how long I cannot begin to guess. A year after martial law was declared, I was arrested and detained for more than a month. I was released due to the appeal and representation made by a close friend whose uncle was a former Minister of Foreign Affairs.

My children were not affected by any "motherless generation" syndrome. I was around, so was my sister who devoted her life to taking care of the children. She never married. I was always on the go, a single parent and breadearner. I did not sense any trauma affecting my children who in an amazing way, grew up with tremendous capacity for love and compassion.

Today's children of the "motherless generation" are inheriting their mother's work and hence treading the same uncertain path in some foreign countries where they have little or no rights at all. They are also paying the same social cost in the form of broken homes, loss of children's custody and worst- the weakening of Christian family values that had been at the core of Filipino nationhood. And while the economy depends on the overseas workers' remittances to pay for the crude oil imports, the "motherless generation" remains hostage to a future without mothers. #

A town and city in me

2012-02-21T15:33:00.003+01:00

There has been a long gap between my last blog in August 9, 2011 and today, when I felt an impluse to write about living a dual life, about having two universes to traverse and make life complete. For me, it is having the town and city at the same time. I wish to elaborate on this because this is not a new phenomenon for me. I just realised that since I was young, I was living in two universes, commuting whenever life demanded a change of tempo, climate, belongingness and home.

As a child, I grew up in a small town at the foot of Mayon Volcano. It is a picturesque small town where everyone knew everyone, or where half the population was related by blood in the Filipino's expanded family system. I loved the small town and what it gave us in terms of childhood experience - the games we creatively made because technology was still underdeveloped, the town events that were mostly church-related but for which we looked forward to because it was the thing to be a part of. Most of all, the town fiestas which depending upon one's state of economy were huge feasts or simple ones but still awaited with much excitement, especially the town's formal dance at the plaza where the local society's who's who delightfully patronized in their latest fashionable gowns. As children, we watched outside the fence and felt awed at being part of the social landscape.

That was the town part. Then came the city part that arrived with the need for higher education in universities mostly in Manila. Even then, Manila was already a big metropolis with so much attraction, bright lights, department stores, huge parks that contrasted with the simplicity and smallness of a town. The city meant challenge in school, and later in one's chosen career. When I worked as a journalist for a foreign news magazine, I suddenly found myself submerged in my work. The challenges were so great especially at the time when the country's political situation was not at all friendly to the media.

I had my getaway from all the stress and madness of journalism. I disappeared into the smallness of my hometown and into the loving care of my mother. My children were all small and living partly with my mother during the martial law days. So much was my need for a small town not just to recover lost energies but to seek protection from the relentless harassments of both the military and the dictatorial leadership. I coped with the city's challenges by returning again and again to the simplicity of a small town. It had grown some poisonous snakes during the military's dominance in the countryside but still, the feeling of safety was always there.

Why am I rationalising between a divided life just because I find myself in the same situation today? I want to say that living in two spaces has always been in us. I didn't realise it right away. I thought it was because winter in Western Europe has become harder. This is not really the main reason. Living in a sophisticated city like Stockholm has many demands so much so that time is never enough to complete a day's lifetime. I can appreciate the Swedes love for duality in their lifestyle - of being in the city as well as in the country on weekends. Life goes a full circle. It is having both the simplicity and calm of a town and the challenges of greater living in the city.

In a small island town like Sta. Maria in Sal, life is so much simpler and uncompromising. A mini carnival is already a big event because everyone becomes a part of it. Things that one needs for daily living are not always available but it is the little discoveries that colour a day, like the joy of finding fresh ingredients for cooking, the bountiful food from the sea, the friendliness of the local population.

If I could not live in a town and city and appreciate all there is to being part of both spaces, then I am totally missing the essence of a complete life, of enjoying the variations in environments and of sharing friendships and affection with those around me. It is not wrong to admit that even while I glide in the marble floors of grand places in the city, I can also wade in the mud of a town or village.#

From Ystad, Skåne to Bornholm, Denmark

2011-08-09T17:53:00.012+02:00

The Swedish summer is blessed with many beautiful things in nature that defies words to describe what the eyes can behold everywhere - from neatly landscaped gardens and parks everywhere, to friendly green forests with their treasures of berries and wild mushrooms, to the Swedish archipelago - big and small, near and far - to hundreds of blossoms on the wayside- wild and nurtured, in an array of colours and forms. It is a word-defying experience to be so close to so much beauty.

The trip to Ystad

We ( G. and I ) left by car for Ystad last July 19th, intending to spend some free days in the summerhouse in Bjäresjö - 10 minutes from Ystad. The trip - which included a 30-minute coffee stopover- took 6 hours and 30 minutes. The summerhouse is empty during most parts of the year, hence the grasses all-around were waist-high.

Some tiles on the roof had fallen due to a storm sometime ago and the water meter was out of order because it had frozen during winter. At the basement where this is located, the rats and frogs have also found their winter refuge. After a day of intensive work, life assumed some degree of normality. But Skåne where there are more sunny days than other parts of Sweden, the rain came everyday as though heaven has been crying over abandonement of the place.

This was no way to spend a short holiday. So we contacted our Danish pal in Cape Verde Claus Mogensen and took in his long-standing invitation to visit Bornholm and his 150-year old windmill. There is a daily ferry from Ystad to Bornholm - a Catamaran capable of carrying some 120 passengers. It takes one hour and a half to negotiate the distance. Bornholm -true to everything the brochures and travellers say, is a beautiful island, a summerplace for many Danes and Swedes as well as other Europeans who have discovered the quality of life the island offers its visitors.

Claus had rented a small car that took us around the island. He has even arranged for us to meet his relatives living in Bornholm and farming herbs and vegetables for domestic consumption. The windmill - shown in the picture above is magnificent, truly a landmark that Denmark should help preserve through some form of maintenance subsidy. It would function well as a cafe with books and souvenirs to sell to visitors. But sadly, that is not the case. Do we want to buy a piece of the mill, asked Claus. A very tempting proposition indeed but since we are in the process of simplifying our lifestyle, owning a windmill is not going to be simple.

The one-day tour of Bornholm was a memorable experience. The weather cooperated and gave us enough sun to brighten even our moods. The Bornholm food specialities consist mainly of smoked fish - salmon, herrings, mackerel and eel. The ingredients used vary from herbs to different onions, to the secret of smoking fish used by the restaurants, to the cooks who make each dish and their presentation. Most of all, the food tastes better in the company one has. Afterall, the sum of it all requires that each part of the composition harmonises with one another and that is to say - the people in the company, the food on the table, the drinks that fuel the joyous laughter and all the beauty one can absorb just by looking outside and beyond.

This is just one summer tale among many others. Next will be the trip to Finhamn, located in the middle part of Stockholm's beautiful archipelago.#

Roses have thorns

2011-06-21T14:01:00.006+02:00

June must be Cupid's favorite month where falling in love and getting married are the most important celebrations. Falling in love and staying in love is life's most ambitious challenge. But falling in love is not the end in itself as we all know. Like roses, it has thorns that can cause deep cuts when handled wrongly.

What has impelled me to dwell on the subject of love? It is Jonathan Franzen's essay "Liking is for Cowards. Go for What Hurts". On first impression I thought that he was admonishing the revolutionary triumph of technology over one's requirement for joy and satisfaction in life, especially a life that is settled enough and therefore needs no further adventures in actual human interactions.

It is true that the latest technological gadgets have made life extremely confortable for users who can communicate with friends in different parts of the globe within seconds. One finds it easier to tell millions of Facebook users the most intimate things in one's life without fear of arguments. Indeed, even when friends go out together to enjoy moments of real human interaction in the name of friendship, there is always the danger lurking in one's handbag or pocket that an IPod or Htc is buzzing for attention. There is no moment of complete solitude even if one so desires that is not broken by the urgency of an IPod or Htc.

Is it truly a no choice situation between life with love but without the jealous technology that never sleeps, that is always there at one's service and forever attentive to one's wishes, a life of comfort with a servant doing one's bid without complaints as opposed to being in love with a person, interacting with that person and going through the process of living endangered at times by bickering, anger and disappointment. How many times can we fall in love, get hurt, curse love, and then love again? And how many small trivial things in a day can fire up and conflagrate into a forest fire? So we retreat and find peace and solace in the company of a laptap.

When we are at pain, we curse everything in the universe except ourselves for our inability to handle the thorns of the beautiful roses. Love like roses needs watering - all that TLC or tender loving care in so many hundred little things we do everyday. Do we give each other comforting words at the end of a difficult work day, hug each other and laugh over a glass of wine while watching some silly relationship reality show. When routines of loving are sometimes forgotten , is the heart forgiving enough to listen to reason? Or do we sulk and prolong the agony of silence.

Living and loving have many traps and we are often sidetracked. It happens sometimes that love is sacrificed for something more exciting and alluring. It is when love itself is exchanged with another love that could be another person, object or adventure. Then comes pain and disappointment and often the promise never to respond to Cupid's beguiling call again. Better be alone with all the sexy technology gadgets that don't cheat on you.

As Franzen admonished in his essay, stop feeling sorry for yourself and stop despairing over the environmental destruction of the planet. Go out and get a life, find love in a person or another living creature. Chances are you could get hurt, but hell you are having a real life. You've outwitted the thorns of the roses and can now enjoy beauty unencumbered by indifference and apathy.#

Summing up half-a year's life

2011-04-14T14:30:00.008+02:00

Someone has written beautifully how life should be counted in terms of moments that take one's breath away, so here's how I count those moments of breathtaking wonders that left me lost in two worlds of changing scenes and landscapes. We left Stockholm with the last wild mushrooms picked and the rest covered by autumn leaves.

For three weeks, from October 26th, we lived in a boat in Las Palmas marina. We had dinner cooked in the boat, drinks in the cockpit with new-found friends, ambulance sirens singing all day long, and restful loving nights.

On Nov. 12th, we left the tranquility of a safe harbour for the most daring sailing adventure we embarked - crossing the north Atlantic from Las Palmas to Cape Verde. Y/S Sheilah was prepared for this big trip with more than sufficient food and drinks - all shopped in Lidl. We left Las Palmas with all the daring our spirits could muster for what was going to be an unforgetable experience of a lifetime. The sailing took nine days and six hours. It was a life and death situation as huge swells threatened to swallow us.

We came to Sta. Maria in Sal Island and begun our new life as islanders. We learned to live by the Cape Verdean's life motto: "No stress!" It means many things - both good and bad. We had a wonderful Christmas celebration with Cholo, Felicity, Steven and later with new friends in swinging CaboBar.

We embraced the lifestyle that the island offered to all - a 24-hour of sunshine and turquoise blue ocean within seconds of walking, and the perpetual lapping sound of the waves lashing at the near white sandy beach. We found interesting works to do, projects to tie-up two different worlds. We looked at inter-island shipping and West Africa cargo services; at owning a bar and restaurant, a travel agency that will concentrate on organised health and medical tourism between Cape Verde and the Nordic countries. With the troubles in the Middle East, many Nordic tourists found way to Cape Verde. We have a local business registered in Cape Verde.

We made a trip to some islands and marvelled at the beauty of nature as well as the sprawling resort hotels just waiting to embrace lovingly the battered souls from lives of hurried living. The best moments we continue to enjoy are the sundown drinks in our balcony, looking at the sun as it slides slowly to the other half of the world, the infinite ocean in its solft blue grey colours and the dots of small fishing boats anchored in Sta. Maria pier.

Our island life has been made richer by new friends we found and whose company we shared in great joy and laughters - over uncredible foods and ceaseless flow of spirited bubbles. We met and have been entertained in the private homes of Cape Verdeans proud of their food culture, their love for music and a life unhindered by demands for economic development. Even progress has to wait for its time when the people are ready to embrace change.

Now and then the drummer boys turn up in the beach for a few hours of drumming and we put on Cesaria Evora's evocative music. "What are we toasting today?" we ask each other. " Why, to life of course... and these moments of bliss and love and all the little challenges that keep the mind alive." (Picture taken at the CaboBar in Dec. 2010, just before the arrival of 2011)

An African Dilemma

2011-03-26T13:14:00.009+01:00

Africa is a continent to experience and understand. It has the potentials and resources for growth and development, as well a heritage of many cultures that had enriched its own. Many went through struggles for national independence against foreign colonisers, and today pride themselves in their achievement of freedom and democracy.

But why are most African countries perpetually dependent upon foreign aid? Bilateral and multilateral assistances, not to forget private philantrophies have prioritised African countries's agenda to eradicate not poverty but diseases like HIV and malaria. How far have all these helps gone to make life better for the average African?

The last four months of living in Cape Verde has been an experience unlike the five years I spent earlier in Mozambique. The difference is that, I interacted much more with the locals - rather than confine myself to a particular community that had little to do with the local population. Sta. Maria is a small town that serves as the capital of Sal island. It has a population of about 20,000, of which the majority live in Espargo, the commercial capital. It is therefore extremely easy to get to know everyone - the restaurant and bar owners and their clientele, the inhabitants of the pier who live by the fishes they catch and sell, the fruit and vegetable sellers and, the businessmen and entrepreneurs looking for investors and property buyers.

Cape Verde offers many business opportunities to foreigners, especially in tourism and property development. According to sources, around 1.8 billion Euro has been approved in 2007 for the develoment of tourism infrastructure - such as resort hotels, condominiums and villas. The crises of 2008 put a temporary stop to all these developments but it has picked up again recently. There are many business possibilities for any creative investor - big and small. For instance, there is a marina and golf project that is waiting for foreign investment. There are first class resort hotels awaiting tourists, more restaurants to make competition in this branch more enjoyable.

Inter-island shipping and port facilities are acutely in need of capital infusion especially from the private sector. Goods take time to move from island to island and from Cape Verde to neighbouring West African countries. However, starting a shipping business is not as easy and it goes the same with starting a local company. To start a business requires a 25% Cape Verdean partnership. To bring in a cargo ship from another country means paying an import fee of around 30% of the value of the ship. These are not the major hurdles to make.

The worst problem has been in communication. It is not easy to get a connection with the CV Telecom - not even with all the business reasons one argues in order to get a telephone/IT line. It is waiting time of 50 days, if not more. Then it is the matter of getting a residence visa which in most cases, is no big deal if one is already a property owner with a registered local business. The Cape Verdean police in Espargo - which deals with visas interpret the visa rules and regulations as it wishes. It seems normal for anyone sitting in some government entity to interpret the law according to one's own sense of humour.

The most problematic aspect of doing business in this area is the lack of communication - people who are supposed to call, or communicate with you simply ignores the phone and email systems, so that doing business is wasting time in perpetual waiting. They say " No stress" but there is nothing more stressing than waiting for the other party to communicate in order to continue the process of doing a business. No matter how acute the shipping and port improvement is, the people responsible for expediting this development don't seem to be in a hurry.

For anyone who wants to give something back to Cape Verde - for the days of sun and "strees free" living, doing business that assures employment and progress is not a very self-satisfying engagement. #

The Power of Nature Unleashed

2011-03-13T12:57:00.002+01:00

It was not too long ago when the world woke up to see mammoth waves pouring out of the sea and taking everything in its path -the tsunami that hit hardest Thailand. The sea had unleashed all the power kept in its bosom -or was it anger nourished through years of mindless neglect. Before then, we knew little of tsunami and its indescribable force of destruction.

The catastrophe has left vivid images of tragedy - the loss of human lives, of whole families vanishing in the torrent of waves as it swallowed everything along its path. The tsunami in Thailand and neighboring countries affected more than a few countries. Many Europeans vacationing in Thailand lost familymembers. The grief and mourning over this tragedy transcended national borders.
This time, it is the Japanese people mourning over the loss of many lives that up to now cannot be ascertained in number. Once again, it is the image of incredible force as the sea spilled out its content towards the land with such might and force that nothing could stand in its way, not ships, trains, huge buildings and infrastructure. Everything in its way have suddenly become small and irrelevant.

In the last few years, we have witnessed dramatic, albeit drastic changes in climate. We have seen how Europe - especially the northern part have suffered extreme cold winters, and in the south where winters are milder, the snow has become a regular visitor. Yet in other parts of the globe such as Africa it has been drought and rainless months. The climate variations are extreme and there is no telling how much climactic changes we will be witnessing.

Not too long ago in Coppenhagen, the problem of reduction of carbon dioxide emission was on the agenda and leaders of the world's most powerful nations should have marshalled an agreement to solve this urgent problem. But as expected, it was a choice between reduced economic development vs. reduced carbon dioxide emission. In the light of many countries still smarting from the impact of the 2008 financial crises, many sacrificed the environment for economic progress.
Hard choices to make but the planet Earth has reached its point of exhaustion, its capacity to hold things in balance is becoming harder each day. We are simply powerless to prevent more tsunamis from coming. #

Cape Verde food delights

2011-03-05T13:00:00.003+01:00

The best thing about living in a new country is the attraction over local food culture -the special cuisine that has been handed down from generations of happy native food lovers, from grandmothers to mothers to daughters. Food, like music lies in the heart of every local culture.

The Cape Verdean food culture consists mainly of fish and seafoods which are in abundance. One only has to go to the local pier and choose from the daily catch what to buy and bring back to one's kitchen. But there are days when the catch is meager and that is when the Sahara wind is strong.

Aside from fish and seafoods, the traditional Cape Verdean food consists of beans- different kinds of beans and corn- boiled until tender, sauteed in onions and mixed with different kinds of meats such as chicken, pork and beef. This is the catchupa rica. Without meat, it is catchupa pobre which is eaten as breakfast with eggs and sausage, or eggs and bacon. There is also stewed beef with potatoes, carrots and other available vegetables.

Most restaurants' dish of the day is grilled fish that is served with rice, pomme frittes and salad. However, the more expensive seafoods consist of shrimps, octopus, squids and lobster. I have not seen any fresh catches of the latter delicacies but they are available in restaurants and the prices vary in every place.

I buy my fresh tuna, grupper and mackerels in the pier from my favourite fisherwomen where I get preferential price - meaning the price used for locals as against tourists. Lately, we have grown fond of grilled squids and octopus. Long time ago, the sight of an octopus made me squirm. But no longer. They are delicious in any dish - grilled, stewed and fried or breaded. When we were in San Antao Island - a truly beautiful resort hotel, we were amazed at the cook's culinary ability with local dishes. His stewed octopus was wonderful and I tried to copy it with coriander when we got back home.

The tuna catches are immediately delivered to restaurants. Unless it is marinatred well in herbs, it does not have enough taste. Usually it is grilled or fried. In my kitchen I tried to cook it with curry and coconut milk and on another occasion with tomato marinade. I tried to make kinilaw - the Filipino raw fish in ginger, vinegar, chili, salt and pepper plus other secret ingredients, but it lacked something I could not define. Then I tried the Swedish style of marinade called gravad which is common with salmon. We had Swedish friends coming who brought fresh dill. The results was quite good along with homemade sauce of honey, mustard and oil.

Since coming to Sta. Maria, I've searched the Chinese shops for local ingredients for Asian cooking but they are not available. I did find fresh coriander but no noodles, soja, fish sauce, sesame oil and Thai sweet sour chili. And no spring roll wrappers! Lucky enough, we have a Danish friend who brought some of these ingredients so that I was able to cook some Asian dishes for dinner. Think how serious I have been to start an Asian restaurant. But it should not be a problem to import.

I can only say that food trips are the most interesting adventures one can have anywhere and the more exotic the places are, the more exciting the local food culture is. For the food lovers, learning and improving on new cuisine is always great fun.#

Snakes in paradise

2011-02-20T15:03:00.004+01:00

Today is Sunday and I have just been to church. I say the same prayers, acts of contrition and thanksgiving for a good life of relative peace, comfort and harmony. The piece of paradise we discovered a year ago is undeniably one of God's best creation. The history of Cape Verde has not been an easy one. It was a port for slavery which accounted for over a century of misery and human tragedy.

Despite the painful memories of those slave trade years and the extremely hostile weather that battered the islands with fearsome force that wiped out any vegetation, thus causing famine with the regularity of the seasonal changes, the Cape Verdeans are a sturdy, friendly people who don't blame anyone for their their historical pains.

And we saw, we were conquered by its beauty and decided to live a dual residence in Stockholm and in Sta. Maria, Sal Island. The condominium where we bought our flat - with best oceanview in the whole town of rising condominium complexes, is called Porto Antigo 11 ( there is 1 and 111 ) and the developer are Italians.

Porto Antigo is the most expensive of all the condominium areas and has a well-cared garden and swimming pool. Majority of the condominium owners are British and Italians, and then comes other Europeans such as Belgians, Portuguese and Germans. The Italians have a big presence in Cape Verde and are behind some major property development projects.

We have the misfortune of having an Italian administrator who cannot manage and has allowed debts of some owners to pile up until the condominium finances could no longer pay for the water and electricity. Because he has allowed the situation to get so bad without proper communication with the owners, and because his handling of the finances lacks transparency- he just decided to shut down or allowed Electra- the state-owned water and electricity company - to shut down the water/electricity supply to whole complex (Porto Antigo 2). That was last Feb. 10 and until this writing, the residents still have no water.

There is much to say about the lack of competence and efficiency in condominium management here in Sta. Maria, Sal Island. Porto Antigo is an example of what seems an endemic disease with Southern Europeans who are a majority among investors in property development in Cape Verde. There is lack of transparency in finances - where our money paid in monthly fees actually goes. There is no yearly accounting of income and expenditures that is made available to homeowners. And apparently homeowners in debt don't get collection letters with warning of interest rate added to their existing debts. Some homeowners rent out their flats without bothering to pay their fees.

This morning, the coordinator of the homeowners, Mr Van Baarlem - a Dutch living in Amsterdam who also owns an apartment in Porto Antigo 2, discovered that someone vandalised his door. The keyhole was filled with glue and he could not open it and so the police came to inspect. He and his wife have just arrived from Amsterdam but due to the water shortage were forced to hire another flat in Sta. Maria.

We who are coming from Sweden are a minority here and we find it too impossible to believe that someone could close down water supply for everybody - even those who are fully paid with their monthly fees. Water is essential to life and health. For ten days, residents have been fetching water from the swimming pool to clean toilets. This Italian manager has no idea of the tremendous health hazard he has exposed the whole island due to bad hygiene. I cannot forget that the bird flu epidemic in Hongkong started from unhygienic toilets.

While Cape Verde needs foreign investment to develop its full potential especially in tourism, it suffers from a lack of sound management politically and economically. Its business rules are not simplified and Europeans making a fortune in this island impose their own laws with impunity . It is hard to believe how this Italian administrator - who belongs to the family trying to promote property sales and occupancy in Porto Antigo could mindlessly kill the good chances of Sal Island to prosper in tourism residence though reckless ignorance of the effects of an act, so criminal and disgusting - not to mention uncivilised. For is it not uncivilised to deny water to people especially those who pay their dues on time.

I feel sorry for the Cape Verdeans here in Sta. Maria who are friendly and want more tourists to come so that they can sell things, have jobs in the hotels and transport, sell fishes they catch everyday, have people eating in the restaurants and bars. But if there were Mussolinis running condominium complexes here, then Europeans who want sunny and peaceful days could easily move to other places where things are managed better.

Why I am writing this topic in my blog is simple. I see our situation here in Sta Maria, Sal Island as a microcosm of the economic dilemma of certain Southern European countries. That many take for granted the importance and integrity of financial transparency. When the financial crisis took place in 2008, we know exactly which European economies went nearly bankrupt were it not for the acute assistance extended by international and European financial institutions.#