July 26, 2006
God´s chosen people
I have been working on a feature film called "Tali-Ihantala 1944" about WW II for the last two months. The subject is the last months of the Finnish resistance against the Red Army in 1944. People on both sides died like flies in the summer heat, the largest artillery bombardments in scandinavian military history happened during these battles. In two weeks the Finnish artillery fired 120,000 rounds of shells. The Soviet casualties amounted to 22,000 men, Finnish at 8,800. This was over 60 years ago, already far in the past, but something that is worth to be told again, so that the memory might never fade. The memory of the terror and suffering of nations at war, ordinary people killing each other. A thing that nobody alive today should need to live through, but unfortunately is everyday life for millions around the world.
The great war ended over 60 years ago in Finland, but last night a Finnish UN-Observer was killed by God´s chosen people, the Israeli Army. He died together with a Canadian, an Austrian and a Chinese UN peacekeeper when their base in South-Lebanese Khiam was destroyed by an Israeli aerialbomb. Israeli officials claim that it was a mistake. I wonder if the half a dozen Red Cross ambulances and hunderds of civilians they have killed last weeks also were mistakes.
I used to have a bit of sympathy for the people of Isreal, but today they lost that last bit of support. Just because you took a really bad beating during the holocaust you do not get the right to act any way you want. You are not the only people in history who have suffered, but some of us have the ability to forgive and move on in hope of a better tomorrow. And anyway it seems that Israel has earned some of its bad situation by its own actions, just like USA. If you shit on your neighbours lawn, you can't expect to get any help when the shit hits yours. And at this point Israel is shitting on mine. I believe in peace and peacekeeping, but at this point I do not believe that Israel should get any help before they stop military actions against Lebanon. Even if Hitler failed to exterminate the Jews they might succeed in it themselves if they continue their current line of action.
Posted by niklas at 10:14 PM | Comments (0)
July 16, 2006
Happy times
I have been thinking about the quality of life. More exactly the quality of ones childhood. I myself have had a very protected and happy youth. With lots of time to play, grow and learn. But I have started to feel that this is a western illusion, and that most children of the world have a very short childhood, before play turns to labour and a fight for survival. But is there anything I can do to help the situation of children forced into sweatshops and begging on the streets. Maybe contributing to the work of UNICEF or other help organizations might do some good, but I still feel that I should be able to do something more concrete, not just stand by and watch.
Posted by niklas at 01:04 PM | Comments (0)
July 02, 2006
Will you eat me?
The Finnish Government has closed down the Avian Flu information hot-line, as interrest in the feared pandemic has subsided. What will be next? Aids, Ebola, Avian Flu and numerous other plagues have risen to the surface and sunken already, or have they?
Posted by niklas at 12:10 AM | Comments (0)