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"War,
conflict and the fall out of war and peace are subjects that
don't leave me alone. The recent projects in preparation fall
within these categories." |
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WAR
and SEX (A view from the Military Zone)
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The
fascination with female warriors is rooted in myth and reality.
The ancient Greeks have enshrined the theme of Amazon warriors
in the sculptures of the Appolo Temple in Arcadia that illustrated
the impact of the invasion which supposedly took place between
the ATHENIANS and the AMAZONS. Since antiquity, Western culture
had from time to time thrown up historical heroic representation
of female warriors winning glory in battle. |
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World
War II introduced a new phase in the evolution of the role of
women in the military establishment. England and other Allied
armies recruited women into its regular forces. Though they
formed an integral part of the war effort, they were excluded
from the battlefields. Killing and dying
in warfare used to be the duty and preserve of males only.
But in many war theatres, as partisans, women took part in combat,
participating in the business of killing and being killed. |
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The
sight of women in military gear, proudly parading, displaying
weapons or participating in a variety of military functions,
had become familiar. NATO and the USA military establishment
were proud of the success of the integration process, which
boasted the first woman general, the first combat pilot and
the presence of women on warships etc. |
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With
the passage of time, without much fanfare or fierce debates,
the battlefield stopped being an out- of - bounds zone for female
soldiers. The barrier was removed and a new precedent had crept
into our moral code. Women, the life givers
were given military licence to join men in becoming the life
takers. |
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The
new breed of Amazons and their adversaries dare ignore the
new moral order at their peril. We are now living in a world
where the ethos: "To kill or be killed " roams our globe questioning
the basic tenets not only of the Western civilisation. The
latest new phenomena of unisex suicide bombers, as part of
a new warfare strategy, whether used for religious, political
or nationalistic reasons, has raised the curtain on the first
act drama about the militarised death culture roaming of our
globe.
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THE
SONG OF THE ROMA TRIBES
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"A
land without Gypsies is a land without freedom" (A Roma
prayer from Albania)
"THE
SONG OF THE ROMA TRIBES" documents a life lived in transit,
one imbued with a rich and vivid cultural Roma heritage. It
deals with an aspect of European history mostly ignored. It
tells the story of ROMA-GYPSIES in a Europe no longer divided
by the Iron Curtain. A Europe, which having lost its Jews
as the historical target of hostility, has earmarked the Gypsies
as its target of racial hate.
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For
the nomadic Gypsies, Europe was and is a continent of intolerance
and barbarism, not of liberalism and open borders. Split into
diverse tribes, and speaking different dialects, they are united
by a history of persecution culminating in the atrocity of the
Final Solution. |
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Historically,
Europe's only nomads have encountered frequent expulsions, and
other atrocities. They had no civic rights and many were enslaved
up until the eighteenth century. |
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The
1995 Minority Rights Group Report on Roma-Gypsies stressed that
they are uniquely the most vilified and harassed minority in
Europe today. |
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The
position of the Roma-Gypsies, (approximate population 7-8
million) within a 'united' Europe, is a suitable gauge by
which to measure and forecast the social/political climate
of a United Europe. Can it accommodate the Roma/Gypsies presence
without plunging into the darkness of past barbarity?
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