Mandela and democracy

Professor Ntsebeza, from the best university - the University of Cape Town, gave a presentation on Mandela's position towards democracy. He described the two roots of Mandela's thoughts: liberal democracy and tribal democracy. The first one is the one the struggle was for: elections and direct representation. The second one relates to the way he grew up in his village: participative democracy, somewhat idealised according to Prof Ntsebeza. This tension is present in Mandela himself. The current developments in South Africa are also trying to find a balance or a way between the two. In many places, tribal authorities have not been dismantled. On another level, most decisions are taken according to liberal democracy. Interesting to hear all that coming from an academic.

Prof Ntsebeza is very much encouraged by the recent political events. There is the chance to have a robust discussion on politics and for serious multi-party democracy. This is why he is quite critical about Archbishop Desmond Tutu's stance that he would not vote in the next elections.

Paris Bercy

Since the snow decided to make an even earlier visit to my country this year compared to last year (this blog is quite useful in that sense; the first snow this year came on October 29), why not attend an indoor tennis tournament? It is nice and warm inside, there is no wind. Good idea then to go to Paris for the Bercy tournament, the last regular one of the year.

The hero of the tournament was Tsonga, the french coloured player, who went on the win the final. Was that a premonition for Obama's victory in the USA? Whatever the serious historians will say about this correlation, he played a flamboyant tennis. The partisan crowd was on its feet.

And what about the two best tennis players. At least, we got to see a bit of Nadal. He played a set before he was forced to abandon. Federer did not even show up and withdrew because of a back problem... I can only agree with a spectator who was waving a sign reading "we miss you Roger".

London

Welcome to London, on a sunny day. Yes it is indeed possible. And it is very nice to walk around, through the many gardens. Although this city is quite stressful and hectic. And the financial turmoil is being felt by many people. Indeed, there was a very long queue trying to get into the Bank of England, on its open door day. But, of course, there are bedrocks of stability such as Buckingham Palace. The guards are still doing their round.

Strange that on this sunny week-end, we decided to spend a couple of hours in the British Museum. Fantastic pieces, such as the Rosette stone, the sculptures of the Parthenon and the Lions of Assyria, and most of all a very well done special exhibition on the Roman Emperor Hadrien.Back outdoors, we queued to get onto the London Eye. Beautiful views over London, including Westminster and Big Ben.On the final day, we went to the outskirts of the city, where the new neighbourhood of East London and Greenwich. We clearly get the sense that the country was proud that the sun never set on its Empire. One foot to the East of the world and the other to the West. But since then, the centre of the world has moved...

Burgdorf

The first question of the day was "how to get to Burgdorf?" A colleague proposed to go by bike. Crazy idea? Actually a nice one. So we went off for a 25 km ride through hilly, rural and tidy Berne province. It took us 2 and 1/2 hours... and was quite tiring. It was the first time for me to ride for such a long time - a good experience. And of course, I could not help asking myself how do professional riders do to climb those steep mountains day after day. There is an obvious answer... On the way, we stopped to buy blueberries and a friendly cat came to say hello. It would have liked to stay on my shoulder for much longer, but we still had some way to go.

The next question is "what to say about Burgdorf?" Well, that is a really tough one! I could probably go on for hours or I could be ironic. To keep it short, i will quote our guide, who said "Burgdorf is the city of schools". I think it is a good summary.The last question sounds: "is there a criminal in the house?" We visited the crime studio where we would play the investigators. It was both interesting and fun. There were around 14 cases to solve, thanks to several clues. Sounds easier than it was. The owner had all the experience to set up these cases, as he is a retired policeman.

A year on!

Time for this blog to celebrate its first anniversary! I guess i should continue with it. What do you say? Feel free to make proposals to improve it some more. I must say I thought some of my friends would also start with a blog. Apparently, they prefer facebook...

What best way to celebrate with the most famous Geneva fireworks.

Some said that there were not as nice as last year. Still a great evening! And so many tourists. It certainly did not feel like there were world economic problems. Indeed the main guest was Russia and their tourists came in numbers. Surely another bumper year for the exclusive swiss watchmakers.

One of the highlight of the evening was the superb and colourful sunset on Mont Blanc. Is not that beautiful.

Moscow

One of the first thing that strikes in Moscow is that the city is booming. The airport is flashy, many buildings are being built, the traffic is nightmarish, historical sites are being restored, huge advertisment boards flourish and people wear the latest design clothes. Moscow is actually not in Europe, but in a new continent. Russians are proud of their past, their culture, their strenghts, their religion to the point that they feel they are the reference point. They do not need to be part of Europe.

We were of course in Moscow to visit the main highlights. The red square of course. On the first evening, we were stunned at the colours and the beauty of the St. Basile church. In the neighbourhood, there is the Lenine tomb and the big shopping center, Gum. Behind the high red walls, where Staline, Brejnez and co waved at the Russian troops, is the Kremlin. Some buildings are modern, like the one that used to host the meetings of the Communist party. But most are churches financed by tsars. They were competing to build the best one, with the biggest bell or the highest tower.

This mixture is present also on top of the towers, with communist (the red star) and tsarist (the double eagle) symbols. Further, the Douma, the Russian parliament, the Boltchoi theatre and a statue of Marx.

On the last day, we visited "Star City", the place where the Russians (and Europeans) astronauts train to fly into space. It was quite a mission, and an expansive one, to organise this visit. Indeed, the doors have opened to tourists only three years ago. I was then expecting to see very modern buildings and the latest technology gadgets. What a disappointment! The 7000 inhabitants live in exactly the same appartment blocks. Worse, the technology used seems so old. The centrifugal machine and the pool used to practice work on the spaceships looked so old. For a potential space traveller (who wants to give me a million??), this visit did not boost my confidence. Apparently, modern Russia is not investing much in this domain.

Transsiberian

From Moscow to Biysk in Altay, we took the Transsiberian train. We spent 3 days and 3 nights to cover the 3400 kilometers. We changed thrice of time zone, although in each station, they still display the Moscow time. We stopped in places like Sverdlovsk, Kazan, Tatarskaya, Karasuk... We went through mostly flat areas. There were some fields (potatoes, wheat) but mostly it was covered with birch and fir forests. Seldom did we come accross old style industries. However, on the tracks, we saw numerous Gazprom carriages. The Transsiberian is a major artery not only for people but also for goods.

At each stop, we could get out and buy small things on the platform. In most cases, it was older women selling local fruits and Chinese toys. This was a nice change from the "food" our agency had planned for us, and it was also a question of survival, as the restaurant on board ran out of food on the second day already.

The train itself was quite comfortable. We had a compartment for four people, large enough for my long legs. It is ideal to rest, relax, read, play cards, look at the landscape. And if we felt the need to stretch our legs, we can walk through the 18 carriages. It is quite a mission and there still are a few smoking places.

I must admit I was quite impressed that the train was almost always on time, even after three days. Ok, it was not very quick, but reliable - does that sound familiar? Another surprise was that on the second day, they switched from an electric powered locomotive to a coal powered one.