SINSYRIASLY YOURS...

Most recent feature article of my piece "SiNSYRIASLY YOURS..."

I'll never forget seeing my first set of Domino pieces laid out on the floor of my home when I was little and watching the stacked pieces knock against each other to fall in sequence. I don't ever recall learning the rules of the game but came to learn it by observing political events.

The Viet Nam War began while I was in grammar school and the term Domino Theory crept into common usage in the vernacular. The nightly news fed us a steady stream of our images on our black and white TV of exhausted soldiers and helicopters and damaged lives. On the home front I saw the war affect us at home as my father worried about my brother getting drafted to fight in a war that he knew well from the horrors of after having survived World War 2 which included the Siege of Warsaw when the Nazis invaded.

I lived on the cusps of the new American Reality of peace and stability and the emigre life of wartime refugees. Fortunately for me the war in Viet Nam ending before I reached drafting age and the memories could subside as well as any interest in politics. At that time the current of war shifted out of Southeast Asia to where it burned more brightly in the Middle East and what became news fodder was the conflict in Israel and Egypt and Palestine. Time Magazine was filled weekly with accounts of terrorist bus bombers and a rather pervasive guerrilla warfare which we really associated with Viet Nam although its precedent was well set with the O.S.S. and the early C.I.A.

Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria represented what we now know as a 20+ year war and conflict we have yet to see the truly terminated. From watching images of black rubber lifeboats and people of all ages wading ashore and leaving behind large hills of orange life preservers to newly pitched refugee camps. There are  now contained millions of the dispossessed within the confines of the camps.

Here are the numbers:

SYRIA.  6.848.865

AFGHANISTAN 2,840,672

SUDAN 2,372,656

MYANMAR 1,209,086

UKRAINE 8,046.560

For comparison purposes, this from BBC 

European Refugee Movements After World War 2

By Bernard Wasserstein

By 1959 some 900,000 European refugees had been absorbed by west European countries. In addition, 461,000 had been accepted by the USA, and a further 523,000 by other countries. But many 'hard-core' refugees still remained in camps. At that point the United Nations launched an ambitious effort to resolve the refugee problem once and for all.

World Refugee Year, in 1959-1960, was designed as a 'clear the camps' drive. It achieved some significant results - at any rate in Europe. By the end of 1960, for the first time since before World War Two, all the refugee camps of Europe were closed.

But the global refugee problem was far from solved. In Africa and Asia millions of fugitives from persecution, hunger, and natural disasters continued to scramble for secure homes. Europe, hitherto mainly an exporter of refugees, henceforth became a net importer. Today the United Nations estimates that over 17 million asylum seekers, refugees and stateless people are seeking homes worldwide.

At this time I won't delve into the key players in the creation of this world picture.

Thin Blue Line

Have been doing lots of work on this lately and viewpoints are beginning to shift or maybe not. Previously I spent time on the control element and now am seeing a tangent of this which is not talking about it as a result of embarassment and fear and how much that traps a person. I guess giving up your ability to communicate is a loss of control as well. Entrapment can be physical, threat of loss of environment, children, belongings and status.

Thin BLue Line-Domestic Violence

Have been working on a new piece called Thin Blue Line-Black Eyed Madonna. Initial interviews have been done and after speaking to counselors at The Network for Sexual Violence it seemed that the crux of the problem centers around "control". I don't know that I am in agreement with this yet as I look at line drawings of children that they use to indicate where someone touched them inappropriately or worse.
Control has now taken on a new meaning with sinister overtones. One doesn't think of control as a bad thing when operating a car or plane or a nuclear reactor or when walking your child across the street but in a relationship look out it is a veritable minefield.
Control in a relationship has driven many off the brink more often than any other element. This bad control then starts one down the slippery slope into the cauldron of blame and regret. I think this is the direction my studies are beginning to take me.