Jill Rees: Welcome Press

Although many people consider themselves to be Soka Educators, there’s no qualification or obvious signifier which identifies an individual pedagogue as a Soka Educator. “Soka” means value creation, and the basic humanistic principle of Soka Education is that human beings always and necessarily have the potential to create value, and that fulfilling our potential to create value in our own way is what makes us happy. The difference in the Soka educator is that we believe in the intrinsic capacity of each child to be themselves better than anyone, and we respect them for who they are in themselves.

The idea of value-creating education was first formed by the Japanese educator Tsunesaburo Makiguchi (1871-1944) as a response to the trend in education at the time to train the children to be war-machines for the fatherland. Makiguchi had already written a (later) influential book “The Geography of Human Life”, showing the need for critical thinking and creativity to enable the individual to fully contribute to a free society. He had been strongly influenced by the American educator John Dewey whom he had seen speak in Tokyo, but the expansion of thought in Japan was seriously arrested by the increasing militarism which came to engulf all society and led to the terrible experience of war in China, and then the World War which culminated in the disaster of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. By this time Makiguchi had died in prison, where he had been taken for refusing to compromise on his pacifist beliefs, by now strengthened by his practice of Nichiren Buddhism.

His beliefs were continued by Josei Toda, also a teacher who had worked for many years alongside with Mr Makiguchi, had become a Buddhist with him, considered him to be his master in faith, and had gone to prison for also standing up against Japanese militarization of religion. Josie Toda went on after the war to reform the lay Buddhist organisation Soka Gakkai, extending its reach beyond only educational philosophy into all walks of life, and helping many people struggling to recover their lives in the devastation of post-war Japan. It was the current President of Soka Gakkai International, Daisaku ikeda, who has established the Soka Universities and encouraged the activities of educators within the Soka Gakkai.

So Soka education is broadly based on the Buddhist belief in the intrinsic value of and respect for all life and for each individual, and the Soka teacher bases his pedagogy on his Buddhist practice, challenging issues which arise by referring back to our Buddhist faith. There is no strict code of practise for the Soka educator, as the style of teaching will depend on the situation faced within the educational environment. The main thing is the unique importance of each individual child, and the refusal to make use of the child’s individuality for an external purpose, such as grades or the needs of employers. Each child is valuable in his or her own right.

Of course the Soka environment is notably happy and relaxed and the children have confidence and highly developed questioning and communication skills. The reputation of the highest achievers in the Soka Universities is beginning to serve as a testimonial to the success of this educational practice. However Soka educators are to be found all around the world, in the Makiguchi Project in Action in Sao Paulo, Brazil*, as well as in Malaysian kindergartens, applying effective solutions to areas with grave social and economic problems.

I first came across Makiguchi when I was training to be a teacher, and studied him in more depth as part of post-graduate research on classroom behaviour. The Soka method has comparisons in the systemic theory of education which is also having dramatic effects in problem classroom areas, and which is gaining respect in many circles at this time. Gregory Bateson (1904 -1980), who started the whole systemic theory, drew on the Buddhist ideas prevalent in Hawaii when he lived there. (G. Bateson “Steps to an Ecology of Mind” New York Chandler 1972; Molnar and Linquist, “Changing Problem Behaviour in Schools” Jossey Bass 1989). By applying his basic principles in the classroom, I was able to solve the problems of motivation, self-esteem and disruptive behaviour exhibited by my classes and lead them to begin to enjoy learning and start to think more as “global citizens”. but the reason I originally liked Makiguchi came when I read that when the poor children arrived from the frosty streets in the morning, Makiguchi had lit the stove and prepared hot soup for his pupils to eat as they dried their socks on the stove. The Soka Educator is first and foremost a caring human being and a fine example to his students.

Since 2005, Soka Educators worldwide have expressed their views and shared their findings on the international forum confernces which you can find through the link below or contact Stephanie at tansey@usa.net at the website http://www.soka.ed.jp/kyoiku/k0004.html or see the latest newsletter below.

______________________________________________________________________________

Carl Rogers on Humanistic education article

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Note 1. **Some background (Thank you to Kwabena Siaka from Earth Charter Communities Education Forum) I
‘The MIA effort in Brazil is widely supported by the communities they are involved in. Not because of any directed attempt by the members to spread the word, so to speak, but by the participants and administrators of the schools in which they have or are working with. Schools contact them to ask for the MIA project to come to their schools. This process happens almost exclusively through word of mouth. The MIA program was also helped by a timely government initiative to help develop a more humanistic mode of teaching. It was felt by the new government that the traditional way of teaching was too narrow and that teachers should be reoriented to teach to the whole child. Therefore the government has initiated a requirement for teacher professional development of 2 hours a month, with pay. Furthermore, parents, who were excluded from the process, to a large extent before ( by the educational system) were not seen as a part of the solution. The relationship between teachers and parents could be characterized as quite hostile. This is not the case in MIA schools, today. Parents in the MIA program are welcomed and in fact, are given the same treatment, when possible, as the teachers. Parents involvement is seen as crucial to the long term impact and sustainability of the program. Family involvement (an important community factor) is a key element in Makiguchi’s paradigm.‘Classroom methods and process
The MIA approach is very subtle and very respectful. And at the same time very direct. During an art class session, for example, teachers are given an art project to work on individually. In one of the classes I visited, the project was to make a drawing, which they had to cut afterwards into a shape. Three to four assistance circulated around the class, encouraging and praising the participants (teachers) at various stages in the process. Parents were also welcomed to join the activity. Throughout the session (treatment) the lead moderator would quote something from the Buddhist perspective on life or teaching. There was no big lecture on teaching or anything of that sort. In fact, I was wondering when that would come. Instead, from time to time, the lead moderator would say something like this, “Every person is precious, each of us has a mission that only we can fulfill.” The content of these messages and the philosophical influences came from a variety of thinking such as Friere, Dewey, Jung, Ikeda, Toda, and Nichiren. The materials that the participants had at their disposal were kept to a minimum to encourage cooperation. The notion of interdependence was introduced in this way and a simple quote or comment was made to reinforce this point. No pressure or dictates were applied or given to the participants.‘Community involvement of non members
The interaction with the schools and the community is essentially a dialogical process. What I mean by this is that a process of negotiations (dialogue) begins as soon as a school contacts the program. The MIA have found that it is better to have a liaison situated within the school context. This key person helps facilitate the introduction of the program into the school “community”. Which includes the family as well. This person can advise the program on local concerns and customs. That is not to say that there is no resistance to the change. One of the common questions is “are you trying to covert us to Buddhism.” This question is dealt with head on by introducing the organization of SGI and its principles, goals and activities through a short 15 minute video followed by a question and answer session with the school community. This kind of dialogue continues throughout the project, which is conducted in four phases over a two year period, each phase lasts six months.’

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Note 2

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A waitress flicks cigarette ash off the table
thoughtlessly, as you and only you
are able, Vienna, to act
consistently without thought, clearing your streets
of vermin, and believe you are doing
what is right. She knocks my newspaper
to the floor.In the train, the waiter too,
put his fingers into your tea to amend
the recklessness with which you had arranged
your tea bag, and the obliviousness
with which these interferences arise
is terrifying.

A Jew, you defend
Clearing the streets of beggars and Roma,
oblivious too, because that’s what you do.
The shuffling wrapped lady with her borrowed baby
led off by three armed policemen and two nuns.
Immigrants selling the Big Issue, a Turkish boy
beaten up in the school yard with the teacher
looking on, and constantly the clarrion call
to clean up, clear up, lift the corners of the rug
and brush the dark secrets under.
I stood bewundert by the Stephansdom, and only I
could hear the sky split in terrifying thunder
as God is crucified over and over.

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Seeking To Build A Community of Life Through Humanistic Education - SEIN Newsletter Volume VI, Issue 1 Sustainable Education Solutions by Jill Rees

In 2003, I was working as Head of Department at a school, in a depressing run-down town in the UK, which had just failed its inspection and was now in special measures. This was great for me, as it meant I could set up the department as I saw fit. The teachers were all new, and it was my responsibility to train them. Also, the government had just brought in two new initiatives which were fantastic, the National Framework and the Key Stage 3 Strategy. I had been teaching for 3 years, and was beginning to feel I knew what I was doing.

I had been to six-monthly sessions with the UK Soka Education Division at our national centre, Taplow Court, and had read the online Soka Education Newsletter. As I understood it, Soka education meant respecting each individual and adopting as the primary aim of education the happiness of each child. Of course, happiness is a difficult thing to define, and is different for each person, but it certainly involves following Sensei’s guidance about doing your best and determining to have victory in everything you set out to achieve. To transmit this attitude to the children in this under-performing school, most of whom were without ambition and often with little self-esteem, seemed difficult. Some of the children came from very poor and sometimes violent and abusive backgrounds. Their academic ambitions were slight, and their belief that they could make a happy and successful life for themselves non-existent. Unemployment in the area meant that opportunities for them were slim.

My department became the key to the whole school. I encouraged my teachers to work as a team by explaining about itai doshin and chanting for 2 hours each morning before work. Among other community based activities, I established an annual trip to France, to which over 80% of the year sevens subscribed, and a French exchange in liaison with the local partner school. My department led the next Government Inspection, in which the teachers were judged ‘excellent’, which is quite rare. The students showed great enthusiasm for learning languages, which is almost unheard of in British schools.

Late in 2003, I was offered the opportunity to take a Master’s degree as part of my school professional development, which would mean I didn’t have to pay! For the second part of this degree, I studied the systemic theory of education, which struck me as being essentially Buddhist. The principle of the systemic theory is that everything is interconnected, so if you change one part the whole changes, like a fisherman’s net. I felt I could attempt to establish Soka Education in my department by using some of the systemic ideas. I started using the systemic method with my classes, with good results.

When you teach systemically, your actions as a teacher are based on the idea that the class is a system, and other often unknown areas of the students’ lives are also affecting them; for example their home life, their other lessons, the ethos of the school, and their social experiences. If a child is under-performing, is demotivated, is misbehaving or is unhappy in the lesson, it is not seen as a fault in the child. Instead, a change within the holistic system is required. The child continues to be completely respected for themselves as they are, and the cause of problems seen as being systemic rather than the fault of the student. The teacher is always able to change, however, as is their own behaviour, and this will affect the whole class and each individual child. The teacher needs to work out the cause of the problem, and find a suitable solution. This isn’t always possible, as the teacher is lacking information, or hasn’t been able to perceive the true nature of the problem. However, any change in the teacher’s behaviour will then change the student’s behaviour. Either the problem will be solved, or it will change so that the teacher can get a better idea of what is going on. The teacher takes full responsibility for the problem and sets about changing the situation using the principles of Buddhist practice. By increasing one’s life-state, understanding and robustness to deal with the difficulties we face in teaching, the teacher can affect humanistic solutions.

I realized that these are Buddhist ideas, of cause and effect, of ichinen sanzen, and the interconnectivity of all phenomena. So, by creating systemic changes in the classroom, I was able to engage everyone and felt that each student was acting how they wanted to and taking control of their own way of learning. At first, however, I didn’t understand how this really worked. What was happening that enabled children with quite serious problems to become happy and to find confidence in their ability such that their assessment results improved so much? I felt this was beyond the scope of the systemic method I was using, that they had missed something.

The Soka Educators International Network (SEIN) forum is about humanistic and caring education. As I participated in such discussions with educators throughout the world, and chanted to find the deeper causes in what I was doing, I began to realize that something else was going on. By accepting each child as an essential part of the ’system’ - the class, as they are, and changing myself or the circumstances they were in rather than trying to change the child, I was actually deeply respecting and caring for each child’s life. I took full responsibility for their happiness and their learning in my class, and was willing immediately to do whatever I could to enable them to be more themselves. I had been able to discover in myself my fundamental respect for my students.

In trials in other schools, which I was studying as part of my degree, teachers and school managers had begun to apply systems theory, but had usually given up at a certain point. The view of the academics was that they hadn’t been able to take on board the philosophy behind systems theory, which is very profound and all-encompassing. However, I felt that it went further. The underlying principle of systems theory is Buddhism. The developers of systems theory had found truths which they were unable to access more profoundly because the Buddhist principles which understood the importance of enabling each individual to live an amazing life and develop his or her full potential were misunderstood. Before I went to work, I would chant to enable each child to be happy as if they were members of my district. The students were encouraged to think of themselves as the foundation of the society of the future. I would take time to explain that they would be the people who decide what the world will be like. They came to think of themselves as more connected to life outside school, and to think more positively about what they will do in the future. If they had difficult circumstances at home, I would encourage them to realize that they will one day be able to set up their own home, which could be a good one full of love. I began to introduce some of Sensei’s guidance for young people into my assemblies, and was amazed at how the naughtiest boys listened so carefully to guidance to work hard, do their homework and change society for the better. (They didn’t actually do their homework, thank goodness, or I might have died of shock!)

Many of the students changed their attitudes in other classes too, and teachers reported to me that such-and-such a child had stopped messing about and started working. The results were really miraculous. However there were other consequences. The children became used to speaking out, to being listened to, and to their questions being answered. Some teachers found this very challenging. At this point, the Soka teacher may face obstacles. These obstacles are proof that we are humanizing our part of education. They are the ‘persecutions of the votary’ which try to prevent humanism and enlightenment from spreading and which therefore impede Kosen Rufu.

As Nichiren wrote in The Opening of the Eyes: “But if I utter so much as a word concerning it, then parents, brothers, and teachers will surely censure me, and the ruler of the nation will take steps against me. On the other hand, I am fully aware that but if I do not speak out, I will be lacking in compassion, p.64….

I have considered which course to take in the light of the teachings of the Lotus and Nirvana sutras. If I remain silent, I may escape persecutions in this lifetime, but in my next life I will most certainly fall into the hell of incessant suffering. If I speak out, I am fully aware that I will have to contend with the three obstacles and four devils. But of these two courses, surely the latter is the one to choose.” Page 239 The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin.

The stark choice facing Soka educators today is whether to continue resolutely with faith, until the victory of humanistic schools is achieved, or to give up on Sensei’s vision in the educational aspect of Kosen Rufu. Time and time again I have heard Soka educators tell me how they found obstructions in their attempts to introduce humanism in their school, and how they fought to overcome them. Victory is our continued struggle - the actualization of Kosen Rufu in education may lie in the eventual actions of our students in the future, but for them, we must carry on. Every time we deal in a humanistic way with a child is a victory for kosen rufu and a cause for a more humanistic education in the future.

Before I left my last school, the children in my class decided that when they were adults, they would work in their children’s schools to recreate what they had experienced with me. Some of these will be leaders of education, and it is certain that schools will change when our students in turn make this sort of vow.

In systemic theory, it is advised that the whole school adopt the method. Authority over a class is based on soft power and may be mistaken for loss of control by traditional teachers. The child too may take time to change. Sometimes, children have lost confidence in teachers’ desire to genuinely have their interests to heart. It may be that a child doesn’t change in the way you hope, but you have to accept the decision the child makes as he or she becomes more self-aware. The children are beginning to create value, and where value is not the school’s aim, the value created may be to change certain aspects of the school. If the whole school was systemic, these ideas would be listened to, and a co-operative environment established. Because the class and the school is part of the wider community, I began to understand that a truly systemic education would involve more than just the school itself. Systemic education is often called sustainable education, and can be an essential part of our attempt to make life on earth more sustainable.

As I was beginning to have these thoughts, the SEIN Forum returned, this time discussing the Earth Charter. At the same time, my Head Quarters put on the Earth Charter Exhibition and I took an active part in this. This enlarging of my understanding of the role I might play in the world led me to feel I had a global mission, just as Sensei says! I am in the process of designing a programme for teacher training which I hope will be used throughout both the developing world, where the method can help set up in new schools, and in the first world where changes are also needed for the new world of the future. Systemic, or sustainable education, is a way to implement Soka education principles and methods within current educational institutions. It can be an instruction manual for how to actualize the happiness of each child.

Buddhism in society through the medium of education, which is the one of the key remits of SGI. Sustainable education will be used as a humanistic method of education which creates collaborative learning for the modern world, and just as soft power has taken over from hard power practices, systems theory will become increasingly accepted in the mainstream. This type of method also can serve well in places where Soka schools are not yet an option, and can be introduced immediately by Buddhist educators wherever they may work. It has academic credence and is secular, although based on Buddhist principles. For the individual teacher, using the systemic method in the classroom transforms the attitude of the students and makes teaching a joy once more.

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  In the train on the way to Vienna the waiter reached into my tea and hooked the tea bag over the mug handle. ‘It’s meant to be like this’, he said. Of course it’s outrageous, but he was only trying to help. And in the cafe, the waitress flicked ash off the table, pushing my newspaper to the floor. Everything has to be right, even if a human being is in the way. I had difficulty imagining anyone in Africa putting their fingers into your drink.It probably isn’t generally known, but Africans coming to Europe notice straight away that Europeans, with the exception of Italians, don’t wash their nether regions after using the toilet. The more you have to shake European hands the more you think about this. Many Europeans, especially the men, also don’t bother to wash their hands either. This makes the idea of the waiter putting his fingers in my tea even more disturbing.

It was with great delight and some relief that I’d found a bottle filled with water near a toilet bowl in the internet cafe in Bregenz. Aha, I thought, there are Africans nearby with clean bottoms. It turns out the cafe was manned by a group of enthusiastic Turkish boys and they had made it very friendly and homely. The money was someone else’s, but all the migrant workers in the town seemed to congregate here in the evening, emailing home and googling pictures of their home regions.

‘It’s hard living here,’ the young man told me. ‘The people have a strange attitude and don’t want to talk to you’.

It has always amused me that when there is xenophobia in a northern country about immigrants, the natives are completely unaware that the immigrant communities are also observing them and drawing conclusions. There is an assumption that the west is the best, so there is no need to consider the opinions of foreigners.  This is the underlying arrogance we sometimes think of as imperialism. But of course the advantage of being a non-native is that you see a society, albeit superficially at first, from the outside, and can draw some fairly objective observations. Surely these observations can be useful and interesting to the home nation?

Unfortunately when someone is racist, sexist and any other -ist, they are unable to understand that the person with the objective, outsider’s viewpoint is worth listening to. Racism, as well as sexism, is precisely a failure to see the other person as fully human. The human attributes of reason and opinion aren’t attributed to the object of racism, and so their thoughts and opinions are ignored.

In Vienna, a taxi driver backed into a crowd of people waiting for a crossing light to change outside the Opera House. One lady in high heels had to jump back and nearly was run over as the taxi failed to stop. What upset her husband, however, was the taxi driver’s complete oblivion to the concept of regret. As the husband went round to remonstrate with the driver, a Nigerian who was driving the cab in front also got out of his cab in support.

‘What do you think you are doing?’ he said. In this country, the system is what counts, and if human beings get in the way, they are swept aside, like the ashes on the table.

What is so noticeable about all of Africa, Nigeria included, is the humanity of the people. If you are without all of the correct papers, or you have found yourself in a bit of a situation, it is negotiable. It is understood that things happen, and human beings are not always exactly prepared for everything.

‘In Africa, everything is possible,’ says my friend. You can talk your way round things. Sometimes this devalues the veracity of what an African might be actually saying, but what is not devalued is the human capacity for judgement.

In Europe now, judgement has become obsolete. Car GPS devices tell you which turning to take, and if you decide to take a better route, the emotionless voice is unable to cope with the change.  I found myself with a speeding ticket having been photographed driving at less than 60mph on an empty motorway on New Year’s Day, when they had already moved the speed signs in preparation for the next day! The camera doesn’t lie, nor does it negotiate. If you cross the road in Austria when the pedestrian light is not on green, you are fined 50 Euros, even if there are no cars and the road is clear. Nigerians who have come to Europe will I am sure have many tales of trying to change the minds of various authority figures during their travels. I say this because I have often seen Nigerians as I travel, arguing with the police or at airports. When I last travelled to Nigeria, the plane was held up because a Nigerian chap had left his packet at an airport shop, and we had to wait till he went back for it. Why should a plane be held up for one person? Because he is a human being, and this kind of behaviour is what makes us human: flexibility, judgement, not having to follow rules to the letter when circumstances differ.

So at Vienna’s primary tourist sight, the Stefansdom Cathedral, I failed to notice for a moment that two armed police were in the process of arresting a lone Roma woman with her small child. It was systematic, and cold, and it was cruel, and she should have just been asked to move on. As they took her papers and I took photographs my Jewish friend said,

‘But it’s normal that they’re cleaning the streets of people who are messing it up.’ And once, I thought they cleaned your people up, because to them they had become nothing but a mess, like the ash on the table, not human at all.

©   Jill Rees

997 words

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Hi

FYI:  Just spotted this article on the BBC. It relates to a woman MP, Habiba Garba (Hajiya Habiba in local article), being badly beaten up by a man MP, Labaran Abdu Madari (Labaran Abdu Maderi in local article) , in the north of Nigeria. There is a row because she had pictures taken of her abdomen which were published in a government owned newspaper called The Triumph, see here for the original pre-photograph report.

This is a problem apparently because the pictures will naturally show the nudity of her abdomen and armpit, and it being a muslim part of the country, the editor may get sacked.

I can’t tell what is going to happen to the assaulter(s).. The official statement is that due process of law will happen. The general story gleaned from the two reports is that she was beaten up by some of his thugs and when she complained about it at the police station, he rushed into the cop-shop and whacked her himself in front of all the witnesses.

She seems quite lucky to be alive. The Triumph reporting is much more animated and factual, and details all the assaults and witnesses etc as well as the story that other people were also assaulted at the same time.

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Welcome to this collection of poetry from 2007/2008.

I found myself walking round Victoria Station one day in London, battered by the dusty winds pushing through the tall-building banked streets, blowing newspaper round, stepping round the road works. Clearly this was a part of London that the reforms of Labour and my beloved Red Ken had missed so far. I wondered why, and who owned it.

In my youth Victoria Station was the place I always ended up at when I was leaving some doomed lover, drinking in the Royal Shakespeare and wishing I was a writer. That was before I realised that all you have to do is say ‘I am a writer’ and you are! I spent the most miserable, heart-broken hours here, and the most excited and optimistic, waiting for the night train to Paris, heading for new adventures, new lovers.

I started writing about windy streets while I was waiting for my coach. Then I got sent to Vienna, where I spent the next 7 weeks. I had never been there before, and was full of mixed feelings about the Lost Inhabitants, and the first thing to hit me was the hypocritical Imperialism of the buildings and the scowling faces. Seven weeks and many poems later, I left a city and a country I had fallen madly in love with, memories of the Falco movie, and several new close friends.

Later trips to Istanbul and other cities led to a collection of experiences and emoticons inspired by these cultural hotbeds, which comprise this collection.

Whether this work be good or bad I am unable to judge. Nevertheless, I dedicate it to those friends, to the memory of those who are no longer with us, whether in the Zentralfriedhof or in the gas chambers, to the Buddhist centre in Linzerstrasse, to the ever-hopeful Turkish and Kurdish people, to my family who put up with my poetic wonderings, and to my master in life, Daisaku Ikeda, without whom there would be no poetry.

I hope you find some poems among them that you like.

Jill Rees

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Vienna is the town of Haydn, Mozart, Schubert, the Strauss’s, Beethoven, Freud, Klimt and Schiele; Schoenberg’s pupils Weber and Berg; Jung visited Freud here, Kafka came here to write, Lenin wrote pamphlets among the nascent Socialists at the turn of the last century.

Vienna was the hub of two great Empires, the Ottoman Empire which left the Austrians at war against the Turks for many centuries, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire which became the heart of European culture, and was only destroyed by the First World War. Most of Vienna’s celebrities are of Jewish origin, and were permitted to integrate in Vienna provided they converted to the dominant religion here, which is Catholicism. Between the Wars, Vienna became the catalyst for wonderful new discoveries and beginnings which lead our civilisation today. Schoenberg developed atonal music; Freud founded an entire science: psychiatry; artists like Kokoshka introduced Expressionist painting; the logician Wittgenstein changed our understanding of the world. Most of the city’s doctors and professionals were Jewish, the vibrant intellectual life of Vienna drawing wealthy professionals in from the provinces.

In a tourist industry that is so vocal about Mozart, Mahler is strangely overlooked. The young composer was offered a place in the famous conservatoire, providing he convert to Catholicism, as Jews were not permitted to study at the time. Without hesitation, he converted, saying his religion is that of ‘composer’. His horrified family never forgave him, and ironically, Vienna seems to have held his Jewish roots against him to this day, favouring the effervescent Salzburger, Mozart.

According to his pupil Schoenberg, Gustav Mahler was a saint. Schoenberg himself was under no illusions about the intentions of the Nazis, and encouraged his Austrian pupils to flee, having lost his Czech student Pavl Haas to Auschwitz. He was the only Jewish composer to perform in the Third Reich, in the Opera House in Munich. He was so famous the awe-inspired organisers failed to realise he was Jewish. It is said Hitler was furious when he found out, but by then Schoenberg had fled to the US, where he spent the rest of his days, tutoring American talent such as the modern twelve-tone composer John Cage.

As you walk through the city streets, your collar hunched up round your scarf-clad neck against the frosty air, the Viennese scowl and push past you with an impatient ‘Entschuldigung’. Cars scream across the crossings where pedestrians can be arrested for ‘jaywalking’ if they try to cross the road when the pedestrian light is still red! It is a strange mixture of a perfectly organised society where everyone feels the social duty to each other and there is no crime, and a deep-seated feeling of anger, of a society barely maintaining its cool. You can easily imagine the days when the new Austrian Nazis following the Anschluss, when the German army walked into Austria to the sound of cheering crowds, began to round up the Jews of Vienna and ship them out to concentration camps. The richest few may have managed to escape, if they could bring themselves to believe the rumours about the Nazi programme to annihilate every last one of them. The frail, elderly, cancer-ridden Sigmund Freud, after a lifetime as one of Vienna’s most eminent celebrities, was taken by friends to London, where he soon died a natural death, leaving his three sisters to be slaughtered in the camps. Within a few months, Vienna was emptied of its Jews. It’s somewhat gratifying now to realise the people here still have trouble finding a good doctor, and often cross the border to Hungary for a consultation.

Incredibly the Jewish population is returning, as it did once before when all the city’s Jews were driven out in 1420 to acquire their wealth.  They at least seem to believe it couldn’t happen again. There is a famous song, ‘Vienna Calling’, by Austria’s greatest rock star Falco, and indeed people are coming here. Austria has long-standing, largely unfriendly, relations with Turkey, and there is a substantial Turkish immigrant population working here. People have come from Greece, Vietnam and Korea too, and there are many ethnic foods on show in the Naschmarkt, where large Mediterranean women block your way through the fruit stalls saying,

‘Would you like to sample my olives?’  There are Croatians, weary and traumatised from the war in their country, Italians, because business is business, and the new arrivals from the most recent EU entrants, Romania and Bulgaria. The Roma people are the least welcome, their culture being noticeably different to the Austrians’, the gypsy-dressed women with their unkempt children, begging and offering lucky heather. I met one African, a young man from Cote d’Ivoire selling the ‘Bunte Zeitung‘newspaper for the homeless. Arriving with few skills, he has been unable to find work. There is, I am told, a notorious Nigerian, but I have not yet managed to find him!

            ‘The main problem is the immigrants,’ the schoolchildren told me, ‘Especially the Turks, who run round in gangs and beat us up’. I turned to the Turkish lad, who was smiling pityingly at the young racists.

            Is this true?’ I asked.

            ‘No,’ he gently replied, ‘Our parents wouldn’t let us’.

            I haven’t got anywhere to go, but the cold makes you walk faster. On the narrow pavements I seem to be continually overtaking old people with swollen feet, limping painfully home. Waiting yet again for the pedestrian signal to change to green, even though there is no visible traffic around, I wonder why there are so many foot problems. Perhaps it’s the diet. Apart from the Naschmarkt, with its peppers and papaya, the staple diet is Schweinfleisch, literally pig-meat. Austrians eat ham for breakfast and later a Vienerschnitzel, pork in breadcrumbs. Supper may be ham soup, more ham, or sausages. Potatoes go with everything and, although it has to be said the bread is delicious, not enough of it is eaten. The lack of vegetables and fruit in the diet must lead to deficiencies, and my theory is that their circulation is affected, especially with the cold winters.

Like Muslims, Jews don’t eat pork, and have kosher, or Halal, meat. This in itself must pose problems, as locals seem very offended when you say you don’t eat pork. You can’t rely on soup either, as the stock is made of the left-over meat. After half a day, or even less, you are heartily sick of Schnitzel. Luckily the Naschmarkt will come to the rescue, with its relief of kebabs, rice and noodles.

            ‘What is the best thing about Vienna?’ the children asked me.

            ‘The best thing about Vienna,’ I said, ‘Is your immigrants.’

            In the Kafka cafe, vegetarians are looked after with lentil soup and tofu burgers to go with the various teas and the posters about cultural and literary events. Kafka himself used to come here to write, and today you can come and sit with his ghost. The grand Opera House is filled with the memory of Mozart singing in glory to a forgotten empire, Klimt’s lovers still stand in their eternal embrace. Vienna is the city of ghosts, and even the newcomers have the whiff of nostalgia about them, as if they have been drawn here by the call of the ancients. And I am the same, sniffing round galleries looking for my Breughel paintings, largely indifferent to the living. So reality shifts, those who are really here and now feel like ghosts, and those long dead who hold the dynamic of the once-great city in their presence. And I almost wish I hadn’t come here, because now Vienna will always be calling, calling from my subconscious perhaps, that great ghost of Freud.

1280 words

© Jill Rees

13 February 2008

Tags: Art, Article, Austria, Creative Writing, Europe, Family, Friend, home, Host, jill, jill, Literary, News, Newspaper, Nigeria, racism, Sea, Theory, Vienna, War, Work

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I have come to Austria via canterbury the last place God made. Everyone there seems very rude almost without exception, and the landlady of the guest house was absolutely pertrifying. it was very quiet as no one dared to move and tiptoed around. Met a great musician called Catherine Morgan who is young but I am sure we will hear more of her and she has her own web page.

The flight was ok and the landing in gale force winds interesting, with the cabin crew sounding anxious. The trains were all being refurbished so it was a mess and a group of children were running up and down the carriages which made me feel right at home. At Vienna Sudbahnhof I ate a delicious pizza, and remembered there are loads of Turks in Austria so good kebabs. Had a delicious strong cafe in cafes where you can still smoke! We finally got on the right train to Neusidl am See and noisy voices in English turned out to be my friend Amanda!!! We are working together for the first week, teaching Englihs for English in Action. They are a well organised company and the course is really good, interesting, culminating in a project and a show on the Friday. I’m really enjoying it. I have eaten school dinners but they are very nice. One day Austrians will find out about vegetables. Everyone is very polite but there is such a good lifestyle here. Next week I’m in Vienna and look forward to visiting art museums and such.

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It’s been a bad week for Barack Obama and the Nigerian football team alike. On Saturday Nigeria lost to Ivory Coast and only hope remains for the Mali match. Barack Obama lost out to Hilary in Nevada, having largely expected to win. In a hotly contested run to be the candidate for the Presidency, Hillary’s husband the former President has had strong words to say to ward off Mr Obama. Barack has taken umbrage at these aggressive tactics as Mr Clinton tries to defend his wife, and says he sometimes doesn’t know which Clinton he is fighting!It’s not so much that Barack’s father is Kenyan or that he is a black man in a country where black achievement has always been discouraged or unrecognised, as that Barack seems to have a greater grasp of the state of international affairs than the others. Nevertheless, just as Premiership teams throughout Europe and the UK are bemoaning the loss of 40 of their best players to the African national sides, so liberal voters in the US are divided about whether to support the woman or the black candidate. Like London buses, you wait for ages for a chance to vote for progressive politics, then two come along at once.

It is said that, after 9/11, Americans were surprised to discover that people in the wider world did not all hold the US in the high affection they hitherto believed. This level of isolationism is really mind-bogglingly hard to grasp for other countries, who have been struggling with levelling the image of the ‘democratic land of Freedom’ with its record of attacks on a succession of under-developed countries since Vietnam. Embargoes on Cuba and pre-war Iraq, seemingly aimed at causing suffering to the citizens by blocking supplies of food and medical supplies, as well as the refusal to acknowledge democratically elected governments such as the Palestinian government, the record in South America and the blemished elections of 2000, all seem to point to a retrogressive and inward looking nation.

The power behind the Presidency seems to be global businesses and oil companies, chemical producers and weapons manufacturers. The USA is seen as the major obstacle to dealing with climate change, as it continues to refuse to ratify the Kyoto protocol, presumably because no President has the power to oppose the oil companies.

With each strategic invasion or interference with a foreign government, the unspoken fear of American intervention systematically increases its influence in developing nations, as we have seen over matters such as introducing GM crops in Mali.

‘GM crops would re-colonise us,’ says Sereba Kone, president of the cotton growers in Bohi. Some Africa coalition members admit that theirs is a “David and Goliath” struggle, which they are not likely to win. (BBC 2007)

At the same time as allegedly investing to help increase productivity for cotton growers in Mali, the US government is paying large subsidies to its own cotton farmers, effectively squeezing Mali out of the global market and leaving it with a surplus. For most people in the world, this appears yet again as simply a means to take control of a developing nation. The intimation from conflicts such as Iraq is that any nation who objects too strongly to US policy or tries to stand alone will also come into the line of fire. This was perhaps behind Tony Blair’s reluctant decision to enter into the war in Iraq. As long as the UK was alongside the US, they could keep an eye on the US troops and restrain them from their worst excesses. There is a saying from the front lines of World War II:

‘When England fires, Germany ducks; when Germany fires, England ducks; when America fires, everyone ducks!’

Apart from the risk of friendly fire, the British Army are experts at citizen support in conflict areas, having practised for several decades in Northern Ireland. British troops are specially trained in negotiating skills and armed policing in urban areas, where the aim is to win the ‘hearts and minds’ of the local population. In Iraq, as in Ireland, these attempts to gain the public’s confidence has failed, and the reason is easy to understand: an invading army is unlikely to be welcome for long, however pleasant the lads appear to be.

Now, it appears, the US is at risk of losing the self-styled ‘war on terror’. George is on his way out, leaving the war unfinished; Tony has already gone. Newspapers in the US* are saying that Britain presents a greater security threat to the United States than either Iran or Iraq, displaying a singular lack of gratitude. To help our ‘special’ allies, Britain has defied popular opinion and numerous anti war protests, ruined its reputation abroad, and effectively seen the downfall of the previously universally popular Blair government. At the same time, a new report shows that NATO is now considering the ‘nuclear option’ to combat terrorism. It seems incredible that, with the effects of radioactive pollution from Chernobyl still in the environment, anyone could believe that a nuclear explosion can somehow be contained.

Putting these two developments together, it appears even the UK should be wary. Whether careless words or a deliberate threat to destabilise the European Union, which is again considering a constitution which will increase its military influence, this recent polemic puts the UK with Iran and others in feeling nervous of the world’s repetitive paranoia about terrorism being organised on a national scale. As people constantly tell my American friends,

‘We like you, but we don’t agree with your president.’

Well soon he’ll be gone. Will the new incumbent fulfil our hopes and dreams? Hilary, with her record of the alleged ‘Whitewater’ land purchasing scam, still seems to be a member of the political classes. Her only record with major league politics is the failed 1994 health care proposal, which she is still inclined to follow through. Barack in contrast seems like an untainted, highly intelligent, educated, aware and relatively normal proposition. Our hopes, from the UK and Nigeria alike, are that the US under the new administration researches more deeply the causes and protagonists behind modern terrorism, calms the fears it has been relentlessly creating throughout the world, and establishes sound dialogic relationships on the international scene.

We would like to see international agreements and treaties over climate change and sustainable development to be ratified, the USA to join the rest of the world in taking global and holistic responsibility for all of our future, and a deeper trust of United Nations organisations. Our problems are now global, and require global and not national solutions. When Barack Obama says it is a time for hope, he isn’t speaking only to America. He already has an international voice.

* from US newspaper the New Republic

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