Festa della Donna

Today is International Women's Day - a day to celebrate the achievements of women across all fields and progress in the fight for equality achievements without regard to divisions, whether national, ethnic, linguistic, cultural, economic or political. It is an occasion for looking back on past struggles and accomplishments, and more importantly, for looking ahead to the untapped potential and opportunities that await future generations of women.

Although International Woman's Day started as a political event in the early 1900s, the holiday blended in the culture of many countries, including the culture of Italy. Over the years, International Woman's Day (Festa della Donna) lost its political tangent, and became simply an occasion for men to express their love to the women around them in a way somewhat similar to Mother's Day and St Valentine's Day.

International Women’s Day has its roots in two events that took place outside of Italy. On March 8, 1857 a strike by garment workers in New York, led to the formation of the first women's union in the United States. Sixty years later Russian women led a strike calling for "bread and peace" during the twin horrors of World War I and the Russian Revolution. In 1945 the Union of Italian Women declared that this special date, March 8, should be set aside to celebrate womanhood across the country.





Italians are fond of this celebration, even if some criticize it as being an excuse used by men to make up for a year long of neglect toward their partners. It is also criticized for being more and more of a commercial and marketing initiative, with its civil and political meaning pushed every year further in the background. Feminist movements also criticize how some women celebrate this holiday, by having wild women-only nights, sometimes even going to male stripper shows and so on.

While it is true that men should show their love and care every day of the year, Italians appreciate having a special day reserved for their women. Women in Italy don’t need a special day to go out and celebrate in a women-only night, but they live this particular night with enthusiasm.

What does happen in Italy on the 8th of March, then? The symbol of the day is the yellow mimosa and expression of female solidarity. The origin of the custom is lost, but it is said to have started in Rome after World War II. Men began giving the mimosa to their partners, friends, co-workers and family give to their significant others, colleagues, mothers and sisters blossoming branches of this tree. Scent of mimosas fills the air and remember to every one not only the meaning of this day, but also that spring is nearing. Everybody tries his best to be extra gentle and caring with all women.

While men show all their love for women, society as a whole remembers the importance of women, their important contribute to the betterment of our society and their sacrifices, celebrates their achievements. Cultural demonstrations and political rallies remember to all of us all fights women had to endure for their rights and what is till left to do in order to have every member of society, male or female, treated in perfect equal way.

BUONA FESTA DELLA DONNA!

Silent Sunday ...sweet

The Promise

Just when I thought that Channel 4 had completely abandoned the high ideals of its founders in favour of lucrative trash like Big Brother and the various cookery programmes, this comes along. A deeply moving, beautifully acted drama that tries with some success to explore the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in all its complexity. This complexity is echoed in the narrative structure of the drama which on one side follows the experiences of Len, an army sergeant in the British Forces in Palestine after the Second World War, and secondly follows his granddaughter Erin as she tries to make sense of present day Israel and Palestine during a summer visit. As always the seeds of the present lie in the past as Len witnesses the bloody birth of the state of Israel.

Just as 18-year-old Londoner Erin sets off to spend summer in Israel with her best friend Eliza, she finds an old diary belonging to her seriously ill grandfather, Len. Intrigued by the life of this old man she barely knows, she takes the diary with her, and is stunned to learn of his part in the post-WWII British peace-keeping force in what was then Palestine.

Left to her own devices when Eliza begins National Service in the Israeli army, Erin witnesses the complexities of life, for both Jews and Arabs, in this troubled land. And as Len's story comes to life from the pages of the diary, Erin discovers the disturbing truths about his time in Palestine and the atrocities he witnessed in the 1940s.

Retracing Len's steps in modern-day Israel, Erin sets out on a heart-breaking journey in an effort to understand and fulfill a promise made by her grandfather over 60 years ago.

Ultimately "The Promise" is strident in its dissatisfaction with contemporary Israeli policy towards Palestinians which it portrays as implicitly racist. However it strives for completeness and honesty showing the slaughter from Palestinian suicide bombing, along with the naked prejudice and extremism of the Jewish settlers in the occupied territories, something that is given official sanction by the protection of the Israeli armed forces. Difficult to watch at times, it does not aim to lecture on history but to narrate a story.

I have no doubt the people on both sides of the argument will complain that the series is biased, but I think that if you have both sides crying "bias" than it's probably a fair depiction. This is that rarest of TV dramas, it treats the viewer as an adult and shows that for complicated situations there are no easy solutions.

The Promise is available on dvd and blu-ray from today and/or you can still watch it online on Channel 4 - 4oD.

(The photos are from the Channel 4 website)

Silent Sunday ...Stormtroopers

May the Force be with you!

Silent Sunday ...with Phoebe

Started Early, Took My Dog

Another fabulous read by Kate Atkinson, my favourite contemporary English writer, featuring the main character Jackson Brodie again, who has been the thread running through the previous three 'crime' type novels by this writer. If you haven't read Kate Atkinson's other Jackson Brody novels yet (Case Histories, One Good Turn, When Will There Be Good News) read those first because it would be a shame for you not to understand the whole story (although it's not absolutely necessary in order to enjoy this one).

Jackson Brodie is a former soldier and veteran of three failed relationships, now a part-time private eye and on the hunt, in his own singular way, to try and discover a woman's origins, and how she came to grow up with a family in New Zealand instead of England. Cue an intricate plot that weaves past with present in the lives of some of the characters. The events surrounding the three main characters, Jackson himself, Tracy Waterhouse, a former policewoman who is now the head of security in a Leeds shopping centre, and Tilly, an aging actress, are gradually and cleverly brought together as the novel heads towards the revelation at the end. I loved that this novel has lots of Yorkshire settings which added to the interest for me, as I live in this area.

A rather complicated book to follow at times, with leaps backwards and forwards in time, and between a large number of character viewpoints and opinions, but this depth/spread of insights on the events does definitely add to the effectiveness and intrigue in the novel. A great book from a witty writer at the top of her game, with great characters.

The more I read of Atkinson's work and in particular this series, the more of a genius I think she is. Not only do you have a mystery or two in the book to work out, you have this overall mystery of just how on earth everything interlinks and with `Started Early, Took The Dog' she draws out the process by introducing each character and bringing their circumstances and personalities to the fore. No one dimensional characters here, not even if they are merely in the book for a page or two. All the main characters are marvellous, readable and real. In doing so she also gets to voice her thoughts on both issues from the past (in this case the serial killings in the seventies which gripped the nation and left many women in fear) and in the present (the state of society, prostitution, child welfare, the recession, dementia) through their back stories which makes it even a fuller read.

Silent Sunday ...and art

Bigger Trees Near Warter, DAVID HOCKNEY

York City Gallery