Somewhere between 8.30 and 9.00 yesterday morning I watched one of those big
boats bringing people on a cruise for a stop in Vigo. As they went past the
Islas Cíes I thought to myself that that was not a bad way to start the day.
The islands look especially lovely in the early morning or the early evening
light. Maybe it's time we took a boat trip there ourselves. Of course, the
people on the cruise don't get to visit the islands. I suppose they might just
have time to get a boat out there from Vigo
harbour, take a quick look at the beach and then catch the next boat back
before having to board their huge floating hotel once more. And then off they
would have to go to their next destination. Not my idea of the ideal holiday
but it wouldn't do for us all to have the same tastes. Differentiation in all
things!
Here's a wrong kind of differentiation. A Guardian investigation has discovered a growing trend in the capital's upmarket apartment blocks – which are required to include affordable homes in order to win planning permission – for the poorer residents to be forced to use alternative access, a phenomenon being dubbed "poor doors". Even bicycle storage spaces, rubbish disposal facilities and postal deliveries are being separated. Apparently this also happens in the USA and the mayor of New York is trying to make it illegal. This kind if thing is where differentiation turns into discrimination.
And then there's Islamic State (Isis), the al-Qaida offshoot that seized large swathes of northern Iraq last month. It has warned women in the city of Mosul to wear full-face veils or risk severe punishment. The justification? "This is not a restriction on her freedom but to prevent her from falling into humiliation and vulgarity or to be a theatre for the eyes of those who are looking."
They claim that it's not just to protect the women either, but the whole of society. "Anyone who is not committed to this duty and is motivated by glamour will be subject to accountability and severe punishment to protect society from harm and to maintain the necessities of religion and protect it from debauchery," Isis said.
Isis has provided guidelines on how women should dress in Mosul, one of Iraq's biggest cities. Their hands and feet must be covered, shapeless clothes that don't hug the body must be worn and perfume is prohibited. Women have also been told to never walk unaccompanied by a male guardian. Exactly why do hands need to be covered? It beggars belief!
But then, Isis has even ordered shopkeepers to cover their store mannequins with full-face veils. It's all just too extreme. (Are men really tempted by store mannequins?) In case you might think it's only the women who are being controlled, the report told us that a man was recently whipped in public for sexually harassing a woman. Of course, if you had an equal society and made women equal citizens, then there would be no need to whip the men. And somehow I suspect that fewer men are whipped than women are punished for wearing the wrong clothes.
Goodness knows what they would make of the state of undress at the average swimming pool. This morning down at the pool there was another of those young women with tattoos all over her back. This time it was an intricate design of swirls and patterns. (Again, I wonder why she had it done and what she will think of it when she's in her sixties and her flesh is perhaps less taut and toned than it is now.) One of her companions was trying to photograph her tattoos. Unfortunately he wanted to take the photo while she was in the pool and she was having some difficulty remaining still, floating face down while he took the photo. One has to suffer for art or at least that's what I have heard. It was, of course, the young lady who was going to suffer for the photographer's art. There you go!
On Sunday, the cruise people would have had no view of the ría at all. Sea mist rolled in early in the morning and stayed over the water all day. We had a fine sunny day in the area around our flats, a little higher and further inland but it was just as if a bank of thin cloud had been unrolled over the water. It moved around but did not shift until well after the sun went down. the promontory of a Guía looked for all the world as though it were wrapped in cotton wool. Very strange.
And then, after dark it went and we were treated to a late night firework display beyond the Rande bridge, presumably at Redondela. I had already retired to bed with a book but, lured by the noise, managed to catch the last bit of the display.
Here's a wrong kind of differentiation. A Guardian investigation has discovered a growing trend in the capital's upmarket apartment blocks – which are required to include affordable homes in order to win planning permission – for the poorer residents to be forced to use alternative access, a phenomenon being dubbed "poor doors". Even bicycle storage spaces, rubbish disposal facilities and postal deliveries are being separated. Apparently this also happens in the USA and the mayor of New York is trying to make it illegal. This kind if thing is where differentiation turns into discrimination.
And then there's Islamic State (Isis), the al-Qaida offshoot that seized large swathes of northern Iraq last month. It has warned women in the city of Mosul to wear full-face veils or risk severe punishment. The justification? "This is not a restriction on her freedom but to prevent her from falling into humiliation and vulgarity or to be a theatre for the eyes of those who are looking."
They claim that it's not just to protect the women either, but the whole of society. "Anyone who is not committed to this duty and is motivated by glamour will be subject to accountability and severe punishment to protect society from harm and to maintain the necessities of religion and protect it from debauchery," Isis said.
Isis has provided guidelines on how women should dress in Mosul, one of Iraq's biggest cities. Their hands and feet must be covered, shapeless clothes that don't hug the body must be worn and perfume is prohibited. Women have also been told to never walk unaccompanied by a male guardian. Exactly why do hands need to be covered? It beggars belief!
But then, Isis has even ordered shopkeepers to cover their store mannequins with full-face veils. It's all just too extreme. (Are men really tempted by store mannequins?) In case you might think it's only the women who are being controlled, the report told us that a man was recently whipped in public for sexually harassing a woman. Of course, if you had an equal society and made women equal citizens, then there would be no need to whip the men. And somehow I suspect that fewer men are whipped than women are punished for wearing the wrong clothes.
Goodness knows what they would make of the state of undress at the average swimming pool. This morning down at the pool there was another of those young women with tattoos all over her back. This time it was an intricate design of swirls and patterns. (Again, I wonder why she had it done and what she will think of it when she's in her sixties and her flesh is perhaps less taut and toned than it is now.) One of her companions was trying to photograph her tattoos. Unfortunately he wanted to take the photo while she was in the pool and she was having some difficulty remaining still, floating face down while he took the photo. One has to suffer for art or at least that's what I have heard. It was, of course, the young lady who was going to suffer for the photographer's art. There you go!
On Sunday, the cruise people would have had no view of the ría at all. Sea mist rolled in early in the morning and stayed over the water all day. We had a fine sunny day in the area around our flats, a little higher and further inland but it was just as if a bank of thin cloud had been unrolled over the water. It moved around but did not shift until well after the sun went down. the promontory of a Guía looked for all the world as though it were wrapped in cotton wool. Very strange.
And then, after dark it went and we were treated to a late night firework display beyond the Rande bridge, presumably at Redondela. I had already retired to bed with a book but, lured by the noise, managed to catch the last bit of the display.
Amazing stuff!
No comments:
Post a Comment