261 views • Nov 19, 2023 • #TheManilaTimes #WeatherUpdateToday #WeatherForecast
Visitors of germanexpatinthephilippines/Besucher dieser Webseite.Ich liebe meine Flaggensammlung!
Sunday, November 19, 2023
Today's Weather, 4 A.M. | Nov. 19, 2023
Frankfurter Buchmesse 2023: Why books matter in a time of war & the ongoing assault on truth
Photo by Avee Navarro Tan
ARTMAGEDDON - Igan D’Bayan - The Philippine Star
November 19, 2023
Opening night: The Frankfurt Book Fair or Frankfurter Buchmesse is the largest international trade fair for the book publishing industry, the most important marketplace for book rights, and a venue for cultural exchange among different countries. Writers such as Salman Rushdie, Margaret Atwood, Neil Gaiman, and Paulo Coelho have graced this event.
FRANKFURT, Germany — In one of the strangest plot twists in the most bonkers of timelines we could ever imagine, books are being banned or censored (burned, even) in parts of America, while in Germany, they have just wrapped up the world’s largest trade fair for books: the 75th Frankfurter Buchmesse (FBM). A fair that recognizes the mystifying appeal of a stack of papers glued or sewn together bustling with words exploring histories, creating multiverses, sharing a sea of stories. Oh, how many of us have found comfort in a book — getting lost in Macondo or Yoknapatawpha County, stressing over that rascal Raskolnikov, knowing why Gregor Samsa could not report to work that morning or who exactly “wept at the romance of the streets with their pushcarts full of onions and bad music.” Books were our amulets against school bullies, abusive relatives, and teachers who did not have the capacity to understand us. Books — just like songs by The Animals — offered a way out. We chilled to books before Netflix or Disney shoved Riverdale and The Marvels down our throats. Now, people are glued to their iPhones watching other people lip-sync, do stupid pranks, or stuff food into their gaping maws. Histories are being erased wholesale. Journalists are getting tagged as enemies of the people. George Orwell and Margaret Atwood books get bandied about on Twitter without actually being read. (Don Jr. rails at stuff being “Orwellian” many times, trumped out of his gourd.) It’s like we are in the fifth and final act and still there are more clowns coming out of the clown car. (By the way there was a proposal to ban Anne Frank’s Diary of a Young Girl because — according to a parent — it is “a real downer.”)
At the Frankfurt book fair, on the other hand, German kids and teens lined up to have their favorite authors sign their books. Some dressed up as anime or comic book characters and cavorted on the fairgrounds. (What Filipinos usually do in toy conventions) After the publishers, booksellers, literary agents, and other players from the global publishing industry had their exclusive digs for the first three days at the bookstalls (to negotiate international publishing rights and license fees, to shop for that potential bestseller, etc.), the public swooped in during the weekend. It was glorious to behold. Nothing nerdish or esoteric about reading books in this part of the world. It is rather essential, integral.
But the recent Frankfurter Buchmesse itself was not immune from any controversy. “There is a black cloud above all of us in the world, a dark shadow cast by war,” said the host during opening night of the book fair. “What is the power of books in these difficult times?”
A number of Arab publishing associations pulled out of the fair in protest over its decision to postpone the 2023 LiBeraturpreis award ceremony honoring Berlin-based Palestinian author Adania Shibli. There was an uproar during the speech of Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Zizek as he condemned the decision as scandalous. Zizek also made remarks about the Israeli and Palestinian conflict that irked a number of people in the audience. He was repeatedly interrupted by Uwe Becker, the Anti-Semitism commissioner of the German state of Hesse, who stormed out of the hall, stormed back in, and shouted at Zizek in mid-speech. That, dear readers, escalated quickly.
Thankfully, civility prevailed. It is important to make sure that everyone can be heard, according to Juergen Boos, president and CEO of the Frankfurter Buchmesse GmbH. “I’m glad that somebody interrupted the speech. It (should be allowed). I’m also glad that we listened to the speech to the very end — even though we didn’t like it, or maybe even condemn it.” The way Boos eased the tension down a notch was masterful.
During a crescendo of shelling, the march of fascism, and onslaught of unsettling events, do books still matter? Well, more so than ever.
Claudia Roth, Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media, explained, “I’m convinced that, especially in times like these, reading opens our eyes. It creates understanding across all borders and it teaches us empathy. It is right now that we need the freedom to think of the diversity of books and perspectives — and this is what the Frankfurt Book Fair represents. Reading allows you to experience things you never experienced yourself. It enables you to have new insights and perspectives. With every chapter, with every new page, we can overcome opposites, which sometimes seem irreconcilable in our everyday life. Reading proves every day that despite our differences we can understand each other. That our society is by no means doomed to drift apart.”
She stressed the importance of holding an event such as the Frankfurter Buchmesse. “(Fostering a) diverse publishing landscape in our country is invaluable to our democracy. And this is why the thousands of books presented here every year are good news. Good news for our country, for our society.”
FBM, by tradition, stands for the joy of reading and the fun of stories, but it’s always been very political as well. Boos, who has been the Frankfurter Buchmesse president since 2005, shared how the book fair is completely unique in the world. “And I’m so lucky to be in the middle of it and be involved with it and, to some extent, also to shape it. And it’s a great challenge, sometimes — also it’s shocking, but it’s also very rewarding.”
What the world needs now is a festival of thinkers and readers rather than a congregation of trolls and truthers.
Roth described the book fair as “a marketplace of words.” She asked, “What would be at stake when you no longer trust the word?”
Karin Schmidt-Friderichs, chairwoman of the German Publishers & Booksellers Association, said, “Reading forces us to stop and think.” And with a bang of the hammer, she declared the 75th Frankfurt Book Fair open. It is important to note that the German Book Trade awarded this year’s Peace Prize to Salman Rushdie, joining a list that includes Atwood, Susan Sontag, Amos Oz and Vaclav Havel, among others.
“This is a strong and clear signal against fanaticism,” said Roth, “and for the power of the book, for the power of the free word — and this is exactly what stands for the Frankfurt Book Fair.”
Rushdie mused over the power of books: “When a reader falls in love with a book, it leaves its essence inside him like radioactive fallout in an arable field. And after that there are certain crops that will no longer grow in him, while other stranger, more fantastic growths may occasionally be produced.”
The book fair then is a field of phenomenal fruits.
Quake victims to get P20 million aid from House
Sheila Crisostomo - The Philippine Star
Image from the Facebook page of Sarangani Gov. Rogelio Pacquiao shows a damaged room at the municipal offices of Glan. A magnitude 6.8 quake jolted Sarangani, Davao Occidental the other day, affecting Glan and GenSan.
MANILA, Philippines — The House of Representatives has donated some P20 million in aid and 5,000 food packs to the victims of the 6.8 magnitude earthquake that hit Southern Mindanao last Friday.
Speaker Martin Romualdez and Tingog party-list spearheaded the move in line with the directive of President Marcos for concerned authorities to promptly address the needs of affected families and individuals.
P10 million worth of medical assistance for indigent patients from the Department of Health and another P10 million for individuals in crisis under the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) will be released to the lone districts of Sarangani and South Cotabato, according to House Deputy Secretary General Sofonias Gabonada.
Construction materials will also be sent to the affected residents for the repair and rebuilding of their homes damaged by the earthquake.
Gabonada added that an initial 5,000 relief goods are to be equally divided between the two districts by the Tingog partylist teams.
Romualdez’s office is also closely working with the Department of Public Works and Highways and district lawmakers to facilitate the immediate release of quick response funds (QRF) to rehabilitate the affected public structures like bridges and school buildings.
DSWD assistance
Meanwhile, some P1.47 billion worth of food and non-food items have been allocated by the DSWD for the victims of the earthquake.
According to DSWD Secretary Rex Gatchallian, the agency has enough stockpiles of these supplies “as well as standby funds that could be readily used to augment the resources of the local government units (LGUs)” affected by the quake.
Some P14.2 million QRFs are also ready to be utilized from the DSWD field offices in Northern Mindanao, Davao and Soccsksargen, where the tremors were felt, according to DSWD spokesperson Assistant Secretary Rommel Lopez.
Lopez said the DSWD’s Central Office has P29.16 million in QRFs, which the department can also use to assist victims.
The DSWD also has 140,000 family food packs and non-food items on standby in the affected regions, Lopez said.
Aside from the provision of resource augmentation, the field offices of DSWD are also assisting the affected LGUs in helping injured individuals and in assessing damage.
Gatchalian added that in Soccsksargen, DSWD regional director Loreto Cabaya had already handed over P10,000 in financial aid to each of the families of those killed in the earthquake.
“All our field offices in the earthquake-hit areas are in constant communication with the LGUs and are ready to provide food, non-food and cash assistance for their affected constituents,” Gatchalian said.
The Philippine Red Cross (PRC) has also mobilized its emergency medical services teams in the affected areas.
PRC chairman Richard Gordon said their volunteers have given first aid to people injured in the earthquake.
Citing reports from the PRC’s Davao del Sur chapter, Gordon said the earthquakes caused power outages in Digos City as well as the collapse of ceilings of malls in Koronadal and General Santos cities, and a high school in Sarangani. — Emmanuel Tupas
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)