UN LIVRE UTILE 56

Le lundi 14 février 2005.

“Entretien avec Stép. T., collègue de classe, Hiver 2005.”
Stép. me recommande “Le Comte de Monte Cristo” de Alexandre Dumas.
Nous sommes en train de terminer une conversation sur la nature de la vie. Je reviendrai.
Lo

UN LIVRE UTILE 55

February 8th 2005

“…purposiveness may be viewed in a somewhat different light by asking whether it is not merely an intellectual construct that man imputes to himself by reason of his vain addiction to the free-will doctrine as he searches for characteristics which distinguish him from physical matter and the lower animals.”

“Obviously, we are using the terms ends, goals, and purposes in two rather distinct ways; one refers to those which are consciously uniseized(?) and more or less rationnaly pursued, and the other to those which the actor has little knowledge but toward which he is nevertheless propelled.”

David Singer p.85

The level of analysis problem in the international system. 1961

Lo

UN LIVRE UTILE 54

February 4th 2005

I’m writing down the post-script of the «After 9/11 » documentary which I recently acquired. Having been a privileged member of the World Premier of this Ford Foundation funded documentary on the after effects of 9/11 last fall 2003, I have since been somewhat of a secret fan of this documentary. I wish to take a minute and write down the transcript of the postscript of the movie as I feel it provides the key to keeping my eyes open and my mind awake which is my opinion, the greatest threat of all nations and peoples living on this continent.

« I only wish that I could weep. »
Walid Ra’ad +Atlas Group 2001
http://www.medienkunstnetz.de/works/i-only-wish/

It was clear to me from the get go that it was feodal(?) to attempt an assault from the outside. These irrational and often repression old yawns would not give up their power to logical reasoning or conceptual language but had to be confronted on their own turf. One had to redream the old dream, the story behind the story was in the story. If God was made in thinking story tellers image, than god could only be unmade by telling a better story. One couldn’t analyse red writing hard away, one could only crawl in bed with grany and the wolfes and hope for the best. As Nietzche said: “We can destroy only as creators.”
Perhaps it should have been more esthetically plaising had I began by the introduction. The advantage of knowing what came at the end, I think is telling of what the author is truly trying to get answers. Here is the introduction of the documentary.

“From the early age it seemed to me that we were born into the dreams of others. Dreams owned and systematized and transmitted by language and specifically by stories. And so conditioned were we to accept this mythic environment we fail even to be aware of it. This mob memory environed us and became a projection of ourselves just as it had helped to shape those selves and mostly it seemed to me to our disadvantage. Our tribal dreamtime in short was something of a nightmare. Conjured up and perpetuated by stoned, dreamers, charlatans and madmen. Or rather we were all somewhat mad, driving so by our desperate mortal condition. And this bizarre residue of dead centuries was the public manifestation of our common pathology.”

The first person to speak also stands out in a somewhat defined perspective.

“The footage of the two planes crushing on September the 11th 2001 into the two tours of the World Trade Center has been broadcast over and over again. We cannot forget it. Those who staged it certainly don’t want you to forget it; and neither those President Bush, no the other Western governments, remind will you that everything our governments are doing on this so called war on terrorism or alternatively against evil is the response to the event of Sept. 11th. Killing civilians in Afghanistan, violating the human rights of those detained, curbing our civil liberties, it’s all justified because of the events of September 11th. Remember, you saw it, thousands dead; we owe it to their memories, they say, to fight back, to make sure this does not happen again. It would certainly seem to be illogical to regard the events of Sept. 11th as cause but uncaused. And it seems to me that the US administration wants us to see the war against terrorism as an effect of Sept. 11th rather than a longer perspective of inequality, military intervention and imperialism imposition. The problem then is that the supposed respect to the dead stands in the way of debate and this is why I am asking you to forget September 11th. It certainly seems to me to be a better idea than forgetting ourselves in the names of the memories of the dead.”

Lo

UN LIVRE UTILE 53

Le lundi 24 janvier 2005

Nous sommes à trois jours de la Conférence. L’organisation va bien, tout semble vouloir prendre un ordre naturel. Je commence à être un peu anxieux de la présentation que je devrai faire en tant que président de Student World Asssembly McGill. Je suis de plus en plus inquiet des dessous de cette organisation. J’ai parfois l’impression de me jeter dans le vide, ne sachant pas ce qui m’attend au sol. Par contre, si j’avais refusé, je crois que j’aurais eu des remords pendant longtemps, ne sachant trop quelle opportunité j’aurais manqué. J’aurai peut-être des remarques intéressantes à faire lors de mon retour ou encore du souper réception que j’ai organisé au restaurant ‘ Le ?’. Je le saurai bientôt.
Lo

SPEAKER PREVIEW: Professor urges nuclear disarmament

Global politics requires concern for humanity

Charlton R. Dwight

Issue date: 1/25/05 Section:

Dr. Mohammad-Reza Fakhari, an International Relations professor at LaGuardia Community College of the City University of New York, will discuss the issue of nuclear disarmament and proliferation at a Student World Assembly-McGill panel on Thursday.

SWA is a non-governmental and non-partisan organization-comprising 261 colleges and universities around the world and representing 103 nationalities-designed to give students a voice on issues of global significance.

Fakhari, the principal advisor to SWA, is currently researching globalization and its consequences.

He said he is eager to come to McGill to educate students about the need for nuclear disarmament and the dangers of nuclear proliferation.

"Having nuclear weapons is against the policy of globalization, where everyone is a stakeholder," he said. "It is not beneficial for our global society to have nuclear weapons."

Fakhari emphasized the immediate importance of nuclear disarmament, adding that US Vice-President Dick Cheney has recently identified Iran as the country's next possible military target because of Iran's reported development of nuclear weapons.

"If you have an invasion of Iran it could really create chaos in the Middle East," Fakhari said. "This is urgent."

The professor's doctoral dissertation dealt with the rise of former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in the USSR and his key role in ending the Cold War.

According to Fakhari, what global politics requires today is a mindset like Gorbachev's-one concerned with human interest. Such a mindset helped end the Cold War between the USSR and the US.

"Gorbachev wanted all nuclear weapons to be disarmed by 2000," he said. "He thought that they would destroy humankind."

Fakhari said he encourages students to learn about and voice their opinions on important global issues such as nuclear disarmament.

"Students are future leaders," he said. "We should start educating them that nuclear weapons can destroy the world."



The panel discussion will take place on Thursday at 5:40pm in Otto Maass 112.

http://www.mcgill.ca/reporter/37/10/swa/
http://www.studentworldassembly.org/annual_conventions.htm

UN LIVRE UTILE 52

Samedi le 24 janvier2005

« Ô temps, suspends ton vol ! et vous, heures propices,
Suspendez votre cours !
Laissez-nous savourer les rapides délices
Des plus beaux de nos jours ! »

Le Lac, Lamartine, 1880

« Il voit, quand les peuples végètent !
Ses rêves toujours pleins d’amour,
Sont faits des ombres que lui jettent
Les choses qui seront un jour.
On le raille. Qu’importe ? Il pense.
Plus d’une âme inscrit en silence
Ce que la foule n’entend pas.
Il plaint ses contempteurs frivoles ;
Et maint faux sage à ses paroles
Rit tout haut et songe tout bas !

…Loin de vous, saintes théories,
Codes promis à l’avenir,
Ce rhéteur aux lèvres flétries,
Sans espoir et sans souvenir,
Qui jadis suivait votre étoile,
Mais qui depuis, jetant le voile
Où s’abrite l’illusion
A laissé violé son âme
Par tout ce qu’ont de plus infâme
L’avarice et l’ambition ! »

Fonction du poète, Victor Hugo, 1835

Lo

UN LIVRE UTILE 51

20/01/2005

Il est trois heures du matin le jeudi vingt janvier 2005. Je ne peux pas dormir. À chaque fois que je fume, je souffre d’insomnie la nuit venue. J’ignore pourquoi c’est comme çà, mais à chaque fois, c’est comme çà. Incapable de trouver la concentration pour lire, je tente d’écrire quelques lignes, question de faire passer le temps qui pourtant semble m’échapper de plus en plus. Comme prévu, la session s’annonce difficile. Toujours très intéressante et au coeur de ce que je crois être mes intérêts. Je délire. Sans doute aurais-je un plaisir fou à relire ce non-sens lorsque j’aurai quarante années, une épouse et des enfants et que je lirai ces lignes avec nostalgie en repensant à ces temps passés, ce temps perdu, peut-être trop vite passé, peut-être trop vite oublié.

Yumiko pleure beaucoup depuis un certain temps. Pourtant, notre relation atteint des sommets. Je l’aime énormément, sans doute plus que toutes les autres auparavant. Elle, j’en ai bien l’impression m’aime beaucoup aussi. Je sens que je pourrais être difficilement trahi, j’ai presque peur en elle, chose qui ne m’est arrivée que très peu auparavant et que pour de très courts moments. Il me semble qu’encore hier, mes yeux embrassaient son image pour la première fois. Ma gêne, ma timidité que j’étalais devant elle, ces sentiments de n’avoir jamais rencontré une âme pareille auparavant. Ce sentiment de temps, de la beauté infinie, d’une douceur fracassante.

Bon, je crois que je ferais mieux d’étudier pour mon cours de littérature française.

Lo

UN LIVRE UTILE 50

Le lundi 10 janvier 2005

“Tout cherche à vivre, y compris la contagion.”
Leonard de Vinci dans Pilgrim de Timothy Findlay
P.395

“Tatiara sentait ses cheveux se déployer autour de ses épaules et s’échouer sur ses seins dont les mamelons s’élevaient vers leurs caresses.” p.55

Une nouvelle session commence. Les courtes vacances de Noël déjà terminées, la tempête s’élève doucement à l’horizon. Déjà, les indices se multiplient. Tout laisse présager le pire. Les cours, la température, les torontois,… tout enfin sauf Yumiko, qui me semble de plus en plus radieuse.

Elle et moi, travaillons depuis un peu plus d’un mois sur les échanges à l’étranger. Nous désirons passer l’an prochain en France. Moi à Paris, elle à Toulouse, peut-être Aix-en-Provence. Certes les obstacles sont nombreux; la motivation personnelle domine en tête de liste. D’ici un mois, le processus sera terminé et nous attendrons les résultats. Durant cette période, nous nous demanderons qui réussira? Qui sera accepté et qui ne le sera pas? Jamais j’aurais cru possible de me retrouver dans une position où je laisserais tomber mes objectifs personnels pour une copine. Je me trouve maintenant dans une position où, si je l'étais et qu’elle ne l’était pas, je devrai reconsidérer mes projets pour l’IEP de Paris en 2005-2006.

Dans le contexte d’étranges retrouvailles avec un ami de longue date, O.B., ma décision se retrouve bombardé d’influences extérieures. O. qui, après plus de 5 ans de vie commune, avec LM, son ancienne copine, s’est retrouvé seul, sans ami, sans avenir, sans copine. Après qu’il eût pratiquement tout abandonné pour elle, il semble présentement (?) le dur retour à la réalité. Certes, il ne s’agit pas ici de s’inspirer de l’histoire d’O., seulement de se remémorer la trajectoire que l’on laisse, que l’on suit, que l’on abandonne , qu’on modifie en fonction de ceux qu’on aime. Comment doit-on balancer les deux éléments les plus chers à notre vie? L'amour et la passion du travail. Je trouverai un compromis, en équilibre, comme je l’ai toujours fait.
Lo

UN LIVRE UTILE 49

19/12/04

What is required is to identify achievable goals, determine the nature of the effort needed to achieve them and commit to transparent comptemtation(?).

UN Arab Development Report 2004
P.141

Lo

UN LIVRE UTILE 48

12 décembre 2004

« Il se peut que l’amitié se nourrisse d’observation et de conversation, mais l’amour naît et se nourrit d’interprétation silencieuse. »


« Devenir amoureux, c’est individualiser quelqu’un par les signes qu’il porte ou qu’il émet. C’est devenir sensible à ses signes, en faire l’apprentissage. »

UN LIVRE UTILE 47

10 décembre 2004

“But it cannot conduce the long term health of the American economy to be falling behind insane of the vital battles in advanced technology; to have its present enormous budgetary and visible trade deficits being concerned by the inflate of volatile foreign-held investments, which may just as simply marc out of the dollars inless interest rates remains high; and to learn that the damage being done to the American export industries by the consequent over evaluation of the dollar may be difficult (or impossible) to repair even if the ceremony(?) returned to a more realistic land in the future.
All this is not to deny the very real strenghts which the United States posses, both economics and military terms; but it is less strong, relatively, than thirty years ago and at the same time its overseas commitments have increase alarmlisly. In such a situation, perhaps a little less attention out to be given to, say, B-1 bombers; and instead, a little none notice should paid to the way the leadership of precious world powers grappled with foreign and defense policy problems when they, too, were loosing their relation economic primary and realizing the need to arrange have confelly(?) the complex and intuitive links between military strategy, armaments production and the nations industrial and financial hose. In this repeat, the Pentagon might do well to heed an earlier export on military affairs who enuny(?) years ago warned: Nothing is none dependant or economic preconditions than precisely the army and the navy.”
P.39-40 International Security 9 (1) Summer, 1984
Paul Kennedy, The First World War and the interhand(?) Power System

For a pines of any written in the first half of the BO’s, I thought this conclusion of his rather foreshadowing as what has happened over the past 20 years and what is likely to happen in the next 20. Trough he warns that these lastiracly(?) based predictions ‘of an uncertain exercise to study history or guide to present-day policy. “(p.37) it certainly appears as one of the most convincing forecast I have come accessors over the course of the past semester. It actually coincides with policy analyst that have written on the sitgeaf(?) today.

Lo