Author Archives: memoriesandsuch

In My Hands Today…

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Sparks: China’s Underground Historians and their Battle for the Future – Ian Johnson

China’s Underground Historians and their Battle for the Future describes how some of China’s best-known writers, filmmakers, and artists have overcome crackdowns and censorship to forge a nationwide movement that challenges the Communist Party on its most hallowed its control of history.

The past is a battleground in many countries, but in China it is crucial to political power. In traditional China, dynasties rewrote history to justify their rule by proving that their predecessors were unworthy of holding power. Marxism gave this a modern gloss, describing history as an unstoppable force heading toward Communism’s triumph. The Chinese Communist Party builds on these ideas to whitewash its misdeeds and glorify its rule. Indeed, one of Xi Jinping’s signature policies is the control of history, which he equates with the party’s survival.

But in recent years, a network of independent writers, artists, and filmmakers have begun challenging this state-led disremembering. Using digital technologies to bypass China’s legendary surveillance state, their samizdat journals, guerilla media posts, and underground films document a regular pattern of from famines and purges of years past to ethnic clashes and virus outbreaks of the present–powerful and inspiring accounts that have underpinned recent protests in China against Xi Jinping’s strongman rule.

Based on years of first-hand research in Xi Jinping’s China, Sparks challenges stereotypes of a China where the state has quashed all free thought, revealing instead a country engaged in one of humanity’s great struggles of memory against forgetting―a battle that will shape the China that emerges in the mid-21st century.

World Maritime Day

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International shipping transports more than 80 per cent of global trade to peoples and communities worldwide. Shipping is the most efficient and cost-effective method of international transportation for most goods; it provides a dependable, low-cost means of transporting goods globally, facilitating commerce and helping to create prosperity among nations and peoples. The world relies on a safe, secure and efficient international shipping industry, which is an essential component of any programme for future sustainable green economic growth in a sustainable manner.

The roots of World Maritime Day can be traced back to the establishment of the International Maritime Organization or IMO itself. The IMO, originally known as the Inter-Governmental Maritime Consultative Organization or IMCO, was established in Geneva in 1948. However, it wasn’t until 1958 that the organisation came into force. World Maritime Day was first celebrated on March 17, 1978, marking the date when the IMO Convention entered into force in 1958. The annual day was started to draw global attention to the vital role of international shipping in supporting and sustaining the global economy and the importance of maritime security, safety, and the marine environment.

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World Maritime Day serves several crucial purposes in today’s globalised world. It helps raise awareness about the importance of shipping safety, maritime security, and the marine environment among the general public, policymakers, and industry stakeholders. The day showcases the significant contributions of the maritime industry to the global economy. Over 80% of global trade by volume is carried by sea, making maritime transport essential for sustainable development and economic growth. World Maritime Day fosters international cooperation in maritime affairs, encouraging nations to work together to address common challenges and achieve shared goals. The day provides an opportunity to recognise and appreciate the 1.5 million seafarers who operate the global fleet, ensuring the smooth flow of international trade. Through various events and activities, World Maritime Day helps educate the public about maritime issues, careers, and the sector’s importance to everyday life.

Each year, the IMO selects a theme for World Maritime Day that reflects current priorities in the maritime sector. These themes have covered a range of issues, from safety and environmental protection to the human element of shipping.

Yesterday was World Maritime Day 2024. The theme for this year is “Navigating the Future: Safety First!”. This year’s theme reflects the IMO’s work to enhance maritime safety and security, in tandem with the protection of the marine environment, whilst ensuring its regulatory development process safely anticipates the fast pace of technological change and innovation. The theme provides the opportunity to focus on the full range of safety regulatory implications arising from new and adapted technologies and the introduction of alternative fuels including measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from ships, as IMO strives to ensure the safety and efficiency of shipping are maintained, and potentially improved so that the flow of seaborne international trade continues to be smooth and efficient.

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World Maritime Day is celebrated globally through many activities and events organised by governments, maritime organisations, educational institutions, and industry stakeholders. These celebrations engage the public, promote maritime careers, and foster discussions on key industry issues. World Maritime Day plays a significant role in shaping global maritime policy. The annual themes often align with or influence the IMO’s strategic directions and work programs.

In addition to individual country celebrations, the IMO organises an annual World Maritime Day Parallel Event. This event is hosted by a different IMO Member State each year, providing an opportunity for the host country to showcase its maritime capabilities and culture. The Parallel Event typically includes high-level conferences and panel discussions, technical workshops on maritime issues, cultural exhibitions and performances, site visits to local maritime facilities, and networking opportunities for industry professionals. This year’s parallel event will be hosted by Spain in Barcelona from 20 – 22 October.

The maritime industry plays a crucial role in achieving many of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). World Maritime Day themes often reflect this connection, highlighting how the maritime sector can contribute to sustainable development.

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World Maritime Day stands as a testament to the enduring importance of the maritime sector in our globalised world. From its origins as a day to mark the IMO’s establishment to its current role as a global platform for addressing critical maritime issues, this annual observance continues to evolve and adapt to the changing needs of the industry and the world at large. The day serves as a reminder of the vital role that shipping plays in our daily lives and the global economy. It highlights the dedication and skill of the millions of maritime professionals who keep our oceans safe and our trade flowing. The day also underscores the collective responsibility we all share in ensuring that maritime activities are conducted safely, securely, and with minimal impact on the marine environment.

In My Hands Today…

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Border: A Journey to the Edge of Europe – Kapka Kassabova

In this extraordinary work of narrative reportage, Kapka Kassabova returns to Bulgaria, from where she emigrated as a girl twenty-five years previously, to explore the border it shares with Turkey and Greece. When she was a child, the border zone was rumored to be an easier crossing point into the West than the Berlin Wall, and it swarmed with soldiers and spies. On holidays in the “Red Riviera” on the Black Sea, she remembers playing on the beach only miles from a bristling electrified fence whose barbs pointed inward toward the enemy: the citizens of the totalitarian regime.

Kassabova discovers a place that has been shaped by successive forces of history: the Soviet and Ottoman empires, and, older still, myth and legend. Her exquisite portraits of fire walkers, smugglers, treasure hunters, botanists, and border guards populate the book. There are also the ragged men and women who have walked across Turkey from Syria and Iraq. But there seem to be nonhuman forces at work here too: This densely forested landscape is rich with curative springs and Thracian tombs, and the tug of the ancient world, of circular time and animism, is never far off.

Border is a scintillating, immersive travel narrative that is also a shadow history of the Cold War, a sideways look at the migration crisis troubling Europe, and a deep, witchy descent into interior and exterior geographies.

In My Hands Today…

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The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu and Their Race to Save the World’s Most Precious Manuscripts – Joshua Hammer

To save precious centuries-old Arabic texts from Al Qaeda, a band of librarians in Timbuktu pulls off a brazen heist worthy of Ocean’s Eleven.

In the 1980s, a young adventurer and collector for a government library, Abdel Kader Haidara, journeyed across the Sahara Desert and along the Niger River, tracking down and salvaging tens of thousands of ancient Islamic and secular manuscripts that had fallen into obscurity. The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu tells the incredible story of how Haidara, a mild-mannered archivist and historian from the legendary city of Timbuktu, later became one of the world’s greatest and most brazen smugglers.

In 2012, thousands of Al Qaeda militants from northwest Africa seized control of most of Mali, including Timbuktu. They imposed Sharia law, chopped off the hands of accused thieves, stoned to death unmarried couples, and threatened to destroy the great manuscripts. As the militants tightened their control over Timbuktu, Haidara organized a dangerous operation to sneak all 350,000 volumes out of the city to the safety of southern Mali.

Over the past twenty years, journalist Joshua Hammer visited Timbuktu numerous times and is uniquely qualified to tell the story of Haidara’s heroic and ultimately successful effort to outwit Al Qaeda and preserve Mali’s—and the world’s—literary patrimony. Hammer explores the city’s manuscript heritage and offers never-before-reported details about the militants’ march into northwest Africa. But above all, The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu is an inspiring account of the victory of art and literature over extremism.
Genres
Nonfiction
History
Africa
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