Reading through a descriptive atlas can be a dispiriting experience.
Pointing out the exact location of Cape Cod and Provincetown to a frankly sceptical Toni started one of those delightfully aimless rambles which are a characteristic of my approach to reference books. That quintessentially Old Money Eastern part of the States having been located Toni’s interest flagged but my compulsive page turning highlighted (to me) fascinating elements in the maps: unexplained ‘white bits’ on a map showing part of southern Russia; names from British colonial history popping up in the ‘wrong’ countries; inexplicable and frankly unbelievable ‘correct’ spellings of familiar places; cities of many millions of people which I have never heard of; massive rivers emerging from nowhere and going to another nowhere; an unfamiliar Europe because the book was published ten years ago.
But the most telling aspect of this atlas was in the opening pages when, for each continent, its constituent countries were listed in alphabetical order with a very short description with a colour representation of the flag and some factual information. The description of the United Kingdom was a fairly neutral and factual listing of the home countries and the islands and an assertion of the industrial base of the country. A rather boring ‘assessment’ of the place.
A very different story emerges if you read through the listing of countries under the heading of the continent of Africa. ‘Story’ is an appropriate word because all the elements of high literature are present in microcosm in the descriptions. Deprivation, misery, murder, corruption, political chicanery, colonial exploitation, dictatorship, war, exasperation and despair characterised the lot. A neutral description would have been an expression of unexampled success! Where the land was harsh and unyielding there was human misery; where the ground was fertile and rich there was political repression; where there were abundant natural resources vested interests squandered them – in all respects Africa seems a failed continent.
It is easy to sustain this vision.
Given the recent crisis in Chad with Spanish television giving vivid depictions of the plight of the air crew of the controversial flight it was easy to select shots which included dust, dirt and broken windows to emphasise the poverty of the nation holding these frightened Europeans.
A particularly telling detail was the locating shot of the International Airport with its almost artfully picturesque lopsided letter in the welcoming sign on the airport terminal. Air travel demands a high degree of technological competence with each receiving airport needing to command a sophisticated array of highly specialised equipment; if they can’t even get the sign on the terminal right, we think, how the hell are they getting the plane into land?
Like so much on television (all on television?) you have to read the sub text; with any western dealings with Africa it is essential. Anything which breaks our stereotype of abject failure for that continent seems to be hard for us to take. Africa has been dismissed as the black hole of charity where, in the popular conception, only a tiny faction of the aid given actually gets to those who need the help.
I await with interest the stories of those who were detained in Chad. I am sure that Spain does not like to be beholding to France, especially a France governed by a budding autocrat like Sarkozy who storms into a past colonial possession, shakes a few hands, extricates the whites and leaves.
Spain is at present involved in a diplomatic ‘crisis’ with the President of Venezuela who, at a meeting of Hispanophone nations indulged in a slanging match with the President of Spain and, shockingly, the king. This incident is the latest in the series of publicity generating escapades of President Chávez who seems to be more and more convinced of the truth of his unpleasant cult of the personality which characterises his rule in Venezuela. What at one time seemed a refreshing change from the ruling elites who had dominated politics when Chávez as a native American Indian took over the presidency now looks more like oil funded ignorant boorishness.
To compare the last president of Spain with Hitler is ridiculous in terms of fact and a grotesque insult to the millions who died and suffered as a result of the perverted ideology of the National Socialists.
What I find more interesting in this debacle is the position of the king. I cannot believe that the powers that be in Madrid thought that a gathering of the various ruffians who make up the power cliques in South America would be anything other than a highly political meeting with highly honed personalities on display. In the meeting the president was sitting next to the king that raises the question of who is the head of state. It is also, surely, not the king’s position to reply to abuse, even public abuse from a president. This opens some difficult political questions for Spain.
It is unthinkable that the Prime Minister and the Queen would have been in such close proximity in what was clearly a political meeting; and equally unthinkable that the Queen would have replied to the ill considered ranting of a rapidly developing megalomaniac. After all she acquiesced in the gratuitous posturing that went with the state visit of that bastard Ceausescu as he rode in an open carriage with the Queen down The Mall. And, if my memory serves me right wasn’t he made a Knight of the Garter as well?
Meetings of the Commonwealth are equally difficult, especially when spectacularly failing to deal with another megalomaniac like Mugabe, but I’m sure that the Queen would be protected from the gratuitous insults of an oil rich bully who sees himself as the jolly leader of the world’s oppressed.
I suppose that we have to be grateful that he didn’t insult in song!
Pointing out the exact location of Cape Cod and Provincetown to a frankly sceptical Toni started one of those delightfully aimless rambles which are a characteristic of my approach to reference books. That quintessentially Old Money Eastern part of the States having been located Toni’s interest flagged but my compulsive page turning highlighted (to me) fascinating elements in the maps: unexplained ‘white bits’ on a map showing part of southern Russia; names from British colonial history popping up in the ‘wrong’ countries; inexplicable and frankly unbelievable ‘correct’ spellings of familiar places; cities of many millions of people which I have never heard of; massive rivers emerging from nowhere and going to another nowhere; an unfamiliar Europe because the book was published ten years ago.
But the most telling aspect of this atlas was in the opening pages when, for each continent, its constituent countries were listed in alphabetical order with a very short description with a colour representation of the flag and some factual information. The description of the United Kingdom was a fairly neutral and factual listing of the home countries and the islands and an assertion of the industrial base of the country. A rather boring ‘assessment’ of the place.
A very different story emerges if you read through the listing of countries under the heading of the continent of Africa. ‘Story’ is an appropriate word because all the elements of high literature are present in microcosm in the descriptions. Deprivation, misery, murder, corruption, political chicanery, colonial exploitation, dictatorship, war, exasperation and despair characterised the lot. A neutral description would have been an expression of unexampled success! Where the land was harsh and unyielding there was human misery; where the ground was fertile and rich there was political repression; where there were abundant natural resources vested interests squandered them – in all respects Africa seems a failed continent.
It is easy to sustain this vision.
Given the recent crisis in Chad with Spanish television giving vivid depictions of the plight of the air crew of the controversial flight it was easy to select shots which included dust, dirt and broken windows to emphasise the poverty of the nation holding these frightened Europeans.
A particularly telling detail was the locating shot of the International Airport with its almost artfully picturesque lopsided letter in the welcoming sign on the airport terminal. Air travel demands a high degree of technological competence with each receiving airport needing to command a sophisticated array of highly specialised equipment; if they can’t even get the sign on the terminal right, we think, how the hell are they getting the plane into land?
Like so much on television (all on television?) you have to read the sub text; with any western dealings with Africa it is essential. Anything which breaks our stereotype of abject failure for that continent seems to be hard for us to take. Africa has been dismissed as the black hole of charity where, in the popular conception, only a tiny faction of the aid given actually gets to those who need the help.
I await with interest the stories of those who were detained in Chad. I am sure that Spain does not like to be beholding to France, especially a France governed by a budding autocrat like Sarkozy who storms into a past colonial possession, shakes a few hands, extricates the whites and leaves.
Spain is at present involved in a diplomatic ‘crisis’ with the President of Venezuela who, at a meeting of Hispanophone nations indulged in a slanging match with the President of Spain and, shockingly, the king. This incident is the latest in the series of publicity generating escapades of President Chávez who seems to be more and more convinced of the truth of his unpleasant cult of the personality which characterises his rule in Venezuela. What at one time seemed a refreshing change from the ruling elites who had dominated politics when Chávez as a native American Indian took over the presidency now looks more like oil funded ignorant boorishness.
To compare the last president of Spain with Hitler is ridiculous in terms of fact and a grotesque insult to the millions who died and suffered as a result of the perverted ideology of the National Socialists.
What I find more interesting in this debacle is the position of the king. I cannot believe that the powers that be in Madrid thought that a gathering of the various ruffians who make up the power cliques in South America would be anything other than a highly political meeting with highly honed personalities on display. In the meeting the president was sitting next to the king that raises the question of who is the head of state. It is also, surely, not the king’s position to reply to abuse, even public abuse from a president. This opens some difficult political questions for Spain.
It is unthinkable that the Prime Minister and the Queen would have been in such close proximity in what was clearly a political meeting; and equally unthinkable that the Queen would have replied to the ill considered ranting of a rapidly developing megalomaniac. After all she acquiesced in the gratuitous posturing that went with the state visit of that bastard Ceausescu as he rode in an open carriage with the Queen down The Mall. And, if my memory serves me right wasn’t he made a Knight of the Garter as well?
Meetings of the Commonwealth are equally difficult, especially when spectacularly failing to deal with another megalomaniac like Mugabe, but I’m sure that the Queen would be protected from the gratuitous insults of an oil rich bully who sees himself as the jolly leader of the world’s oppressed.
I suppose that we have to be grateful that he didn’t insult in song!
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