30 April 2021

Graffiti Tunnel at Lower Marsh, Southbank, London







People come from all over the world to paint at Lower marsh, a quaint street in Lambeth where we are living for a couple of months. It takes hours and hours of work for a graffiti to come alive and they are gone a few hours late, usually the next day, perhaps in a week.

The tunnel is near Waterloo station, and it is officially sanctioned for graffiti. Every day dozens of street artists congregate and let their imagination loose through spray color cans. Hours of work go into each graffiti, only to be covered up the next day. Ephemeral art.

A young Slovakian (I know she is, I asked) lady sells fresh fruits just outside the gallery and only a few meters away from our apartment. Too bad she does not work on weekends when the graffiti painters are most active.

16 April 2021

Tampone e isolamento COVID-19 arrivando a Londra

Lifang ed io abbiamo bisogno di tornare a Londra, dove viviamo, dopo un'assenza di qualche mese. Il Regno Unito (anzi l'Inghilterra, visto che Scozia, Galles e Irlanda del Nord hanno ciascuno le sue regole) richiede un tampone eseguito nel paese di provenienza entro le 72 ore dal viaggio. Requisito abbastanza diffuso e comune tra tutti i paesi europei. Meno male: all'inizio il governo di sua maestà aveva deciso di percorrere la via dell'immunità di gregge, ben prima che arrivassero i vaccini, sarebbe stata un'ecatombe. Per fortuna gli hanno fatto cambiare idea. 

Dopo di che bisogna riempire un Passenger Locator Form, e così armati presentarsi al confine. Una meticolosa guardia lo controlla assieme a passaporto e carta di identità, tutto OK, ci ricorda che dovremo isolarci per dieci giorni e siamo a posto, ma prima di lasciarci passare chiede se abbiamo prenotato i test da fare una volta arrivati nel Regno Unito.

Infatti da qualche mese è necessario prenotare online 2 ulteriori test da fare a Londra, uno il secondo giorno dopo l'arrivo, ed uno l'ottavo giorno. Il decimo giorno, se entrambi i test sono negativi, si è liberi di uscire. Venendo dal Belgio, paese color "giallo" almeno non dobbiamo far quarantena in albergo a spese nostre, come invece tocca a quelli che vengono dai paesi "rossi". Fortunati quelli che arrivano dai paesi "verdi", come al semaforo, un test in arrivo e via liscio senza ulteriori complicazioni.

Il governo ha approvato una lunga serie di operatori sanitari per l'amministrazione dei test. Difficile raccapezzarsi, come si fa a scegliere? Cerco quello con il costo minore, ma se ne approfittano, sanno che lo devono fare tutti quelli che tornano dall'estero. E poi non tutti forniscono il servizio per posta, essenziale a meno di non esporsi al rischio uscendo da casa.

Alla fine scelgo: CONFIRM TESTING, che prenoto un paio di giorni prima del viaggio di rientro nel tunnel sotto la Manica. Ricevo un lungo messaggio, la procedura è complicata.

Marco, thank you for choosing Confirm Testing for your return to England Day 2 & Day 8 test kits. Here is more information about what happens next that we thought you'd find useful - please read below. What happens next?

As soon as you place an order for the Testing for International Arrivals home test kits, our automated system should send you the PDF that contains your booking confirmation number that you would need for the Passenger Locator Form (PLF). If you have not received this, please check your spam folder as some email servers tend to reject automated emails. In other cases, as happens sometimes, there could have been typos when you entered your email address so the system could not identify your the email address. If you have not received the PDF yet and have checked your spam, please email us at info@confirmtesting.com and we'll look into it straight away.

If you have made any errors when you entered the information on the form, not to worry, just email us with any amendments and we'll try to send you this as soon as possible

How are the kits dispatched?

Please note that the Day 2 and Day 8 kits will be sent separately. The Day 2 test is dispatched a day before the arrival date that you included on the information form when you placed the order. This is so that it arrives to your quarantine address on the day that you arrive in the country.

The Day 8 test is dispatched separately to the Day 2 test. This is because the Government has mandated that the kits be sent separately so that customers do not take the test before their Day 8. You are asked to only take the test on or after Day 8 of your quarantine. You will not be able to register your Day 8 barcode before your actual Day 8.

To help you calculate which is your Day 2 and which is your Day 8, always count your date of arrival into the UK as your Day 0 (Zero).
Registering your test kit:

It is VERY important that you register your test kit once you have received it. Without this, we will be unable to identify your sample at the lab and you will not receive your results.

The process is very easy - please follow the instructions that are included with your test kit. They will guide you to where you can register the barcode and the time that you performed the swab test.

Your unique barcode is shown on the outside of the test kit box and on the front cover of the instructions booklet included in the kit.

You should keep the instructions or take a photo of your barcode to avoid any possible problems.

It is absolutely imperative that you register your kit or you will not be able to receive results and could potentially face fines if the government does not see recorded results for you. This will result in a delay in you leaving home quarantine and you will be asked to pay for replacement tests.

Arrivo a casa, auto in garage e via dritto nell'appartamento. La direttrice del condominio, con la quale sono in  contatto Whatsapp da qualche giorno per coordinare il nostro rientro nel rispetto delle regole, mi intima con tono perentorio di andare direttamente dal garage all'appartamento.


In realtà dovremmo passare dalla concierge perché i nostri "fob", gli apriporta magnetici per entrare nel condominio, sono scaduti e devono essere riattivati. Ma non ci è concesso neanche di entrare nella concierge, quindi dobbiamo provvedere telefonando al portiere e chiedere se per favore ci apre il cancello del garage e poi il portone per salire dal garage in appartamento. Un po’ complicato ma funziona tutto perfettamente.

Per fortuna a Londra è facilissimo avere la consegna della spesa a domicilio, i supermercati fanno a gara. Noi preferiamo Ocado, un supermercato che opera SOLO online, niente negozi, buoni prodotti e consegne precise ad un orario concordato. La concierge fa entrare i riders nel palazzo e loro ci lasciano la spesa davanti alla porta di casa.

Anche per la consegna pacchi tutto funziona bene, i nostri portieri gentilmente li ricevono e ce li portano davanti alla porta di casa. 

Un po’ assillanti quelli del National Health Service che ci assillano tutti i giorni telefonando e chiedendo sempre la stessa cosa: Nome, cognome, data di nascita, eventuali sintomi, se siamo a casa in questo momento, se siamo usciti da casa nel corso della giornata, se abbiamo avuto ospiti (non siamo autorizzati a farlo durante l'isolamento, of course). Questo per 10 giorni!

Amministrarsi il test da soli non è piacevole, bisogna infilarsi un bastoncino con un tampone di cotone nel naso e girarlo sei volte, poi infilarsi lo stesso bastoncino (che schifo!) in bocca e rigirarlo in fondo alla gola. Infilare tutto in una provetta di plastica e inviarlo per posta al laboratorio. La Royal Mail ha persino istituito nuovi turni di raccolta alle cassette della posta, persino la domenica, per portare le provette al laboratori. Il sistema tutto sommato funziona.

Finalmente il giorno n. 9 arriva per email la conferma, siamo entrambi negativi, domani si esce! Mi hanno già mandato un SMS invitandomi alla prima dose di vaccino, sarà Astra Zeneca, ci vado dopodomani, poi la seconda sarà forse a giugno. Speriamo bene.

Dopo di che siamo liberi, esco in strada a "riveder le stelle", una passeggiata lungo il fiume la sera a respirare aria fresca, ci voleva!

04 April 2021

Book review: The Shell Money of the Slave Trade (1986) by Jan Hogendorn and Marion Johnson, *****


Synopsys

This study examines the role of cowrie-shell money in West African trade, particularly the slave trade. The shells were carried from the Maldives to the Mediterranean by Arab traders for further transport across the Sahara, and to Europe by competing Portuguese, Dutch, English, and French traders for onward transport to the West African coast. In Africa, they served to purchase the slaves exported to the New World, as well as other less sinister exports. Over a large part of West Africa, they became the regular market currency but were severely devalued by the importation of thousands of tons of the cheaper Zanzibar cowries. Colonial governments disliked cowries because of the inflation and encouraged their replacement by low-value coins. They disappeared almost totally, to re-appear during the depression of the 1930s, and have been found occasionally in the markets of remote frontier districts, avoiding exchange and currency control problems.

Review 

 A most thoroughly researched book on a peculiar aspect of monetary economics in Africa and South Asia for several centuries. We learn how the Maldives played a central role in this system that could be considered an aspect of embryonic globalization ante-litteram. We learn how the shells were collected, with strenuous labor-intensive efforts, then stored underground until putrefaction had gotten rid of the mollusk, and finally shipped to Malé for export. Of course, the latter was a royal prerogative for centuries!

See my other reviews of books on the Maldives here in this blog.


 

02 April 2021

A conversation about China

- Hi I am from Indochina. I'd like to think what you think of China.

- Hi I'm from Europe, I'd be interested in your views too, wanna start? 

- China has traded with Indochina for thousands of years. Several times over those centuries, it was the world’s most powerful empire. Never once they sent troops to take our land. Admiral Zhenghe came to Malacca five times, in gigantic fleets, and a flagship eight times the size of Christopher Columbus’ flagship, Santa Maria. He could have seized Malacca easily, but he did not. 

- True he did not, but not because he was an especially nice guy, it was not his order from the emperor. He was to explore. Many Chinese emperors did not want much contact with the outside world. They wanted isolation.

- In 1511, the Portuguese came. In 1642, the Dutch came. In the 18th century, the British came. We were colonized by each, one after another. When China wanted spices from India, it traded with the Indians. When they wanted gems, they traded with the Persians. They didn’t take lands. 

- True they didn't invade India or Persia but they did at various times invade parts of Siberia (later lost to Russia), Korea, Vietnam, Turkish central Asia, and of course Tibet. The last two they are still holding on to. 

- The only time China expanded beyond its current borders was during the Yuan dynasty, when Genghis and his descendants Ogedei Khan, Guyuk Khan & Kublai Khan conquered China, Mid Asia and Eastern Europe. But Yuan Dynasty, although being based in China, was actually a part of the Mongol Empire. 

- I'm glad you brought up Mongolia. Here either you argue Mongolians are really Chinese, then "China" invaded central Asia and eastern Europe. Or you argue Mongolians are not Chinese, then China is now occupying half the country, which explains why the other half (the independent Republic of Mongolia, called in China "outer Mongolia") is always staunchly pro Russian, whether it's the Soviet Union or capitalist Russia. They want Russian protection against a potential Chinese threat. You can't have your Mongolian cake and eat it too! 

You also forget that The Chinese empire under the Mongols tried to conquer Japan, but failed because their fleet was destroyed by typhoons, the "kamikaze" or divine winds. That saved Japan, but China did try to invade, a couple of times actually.

And now China is slowly occupying the South China Sea on no internationally recognized legal basis. 

- Then came the "Century of Humiliation". Britain smuggled opium into China to dope the population, a strategy to turn the trade deficit around after the British could not find enough silver to pay the Qing Dynasty in their tea and porcelain trades. After the opium warehouses were burned down and ports were closed by the Chinese in ordered to curb opium, the British started the Opium War I, which China lost. Hong Kong was forced to be surrendered to the British in a peace talk (Nanjing Treaty in 1842). The British owned 90% of the opium market in China, during that time, Queen Victoria was the world’s biggest drug baron. The remaining 10% was owned by American merchants from Boston. Many of Boston’s institutions were built with profit from opium. 

- I agree with you on this point completely. The British conquest of Hong Kong and its opium trade was disgraceful and ought to be remembered as such. 

- Eighteen years after the Nanjing Treaty, in 1860, the West started getting really really greedy. The British expected the Qing government: 1. To open the borders of China to allow goods coming in and out freely, and tax-free. 2. To make opium legal in China.

Insane requests, the Qing government said no. The British and French, started Opium War II with China, which again, China lost. The Anglo-French military threatened to burn down the Imperial Palace, the Qing government was forced to pay with ports, free business zones, 300,000 kilograms of silver, and Kowloon was taken. Since then, China’s resources flowed out freely through these business zones and ports. In the subsequent amendment to the treaties, Chinese people were sold overseas to serve as labor. 

- Sadly this is true as well, shame on the French as well as on the British. 

- In 1900, China suffered attacks by the 8-National Alliance(Japan, Russia, Britain, France, USA, Germany, Italy, Austria-Hungary). Innocent Chinese civilians in Peking (Beijing now) were murdered, buildings were destroyed & women were raped. The Imperial Palace was raided, and treasures ended up in museums like the British Museum in London and the Louvre in Paris. 

- Again I agree and am ashamed my country was part of this shameful attack. 

- In the late 1930s China was occupied by the Japanese. Millions of Chinese died during the occupation. 300,000 Chinese died in Nanjing Massacre alone. 

- Japan's horrific occupation is well known and should be remembered as such. The Nanjing massacre too, though the numbers you mention are probably too high. One sad problem is that Mao and Chiang were too busy fighting each other instead of joining forces against Japan. 

- Mao brought China together again from the shambles. There were peace and unity for some time. But Mao’s later reign saw sufferings and deaths from famine and power struggles. 

- Be serious: yes Mao won the civil war, but then he brought unprecedented misery to China. More innocent people died at his hand than did in Nazi camps and Soviet gulags combined. Mao destroyed the economy, the cultural revolution destroyed more of the country's cultural heritage than all foreign invasions. Luckily Chiang, for all his crimes and corruption, took Some 7000 crates of artifacts to Taiwan, now preserved in a museum in Taipei. 

- Then came Deng Xiaoping and his famous “black-cat and white-cat” story. His preference for pragmatism over ideology has transformed China. This thinking allowed China to evolve all the time to adapt to the actual needs in the country, instead of rigidly bound to ideologies. It also signified the death of Communism in actual practice in China. The current Socialism + Meritocracy + Market Economy model fits the Chinese like gloves, and it propels the rise of China.

- There is no socialism in China except for one-party rule. Education is not free nor is housing or health care. As for meritocracy, yes there are many opportunities for capable people to emerge, but still, China is very corrupted, ask any Chinese in private (they won't say it in public or post it online). 

- Singapore has a similar model and has been arguably more successful than Hong Kong because Hong Kong is the gateway to China, was riding on the economic boom in China, while Singapore had no one to gain from.

- To compare Hong Kong and Singapore is difficult, too many differences. Both have been successful, but Singapore has been free for half a century, Hong Kong was never free: not under the British, not under China. 

A comparison of China and Singapore is even more of a far-fetched proposition. There is minimal corruption in Singapore and much more meritocracy. Hong Kong was successful because of its market economy and free trade, both of which are now in question. 

- In just 30 years, the CCP has moved 800 million people out of poverty. The rate of growth is unprecedented in human history. They have built the biggest mobile network, by far the biggest high-speed rail network in the world, and they have become a behemoth in infrastructure.

- Indeed, when China jettisoned socialism in all but name and embraced capitalism the economy predictably took off. 

- They made a fishing village called Shenzhen into the world’s second-largest technological center after the Silicon Valley. They are growing into a technological powerhouse. It has the most elaborate e-commerce and cashless payment system in the world. They have launched exploration to Mars. 

- Indeed huge progress in all of this, though Shenzhen was more than a fishing village, and I am not sure about the second-in-the-world, still, it is now an amazing XXI century city. 

- The Chinese are living a good life and China has become one of the safest countries in the world. The level of patriotism in the country has reached an unprecedented height.

- Sadly not all Chinese have a good life, far from it, much the countryside is still poor, inequalities are huge and many workers have no holidays, no pension plan, no insurance, in other words: no rights. 

- For all of the achievements, the West has nothing good to say about it. China suffers from intense anti-China propaganda from the West. Western Media used the keyword “Communist” to instill fear and hatred towards China. Everything China does is negatively reported. 

- Obviously, there are different views about China in the west, this is the nature of democracies. Many, like me, admire China's achievements and think we can all learn from them, but that does not hide its faults and shortcomings. 

- Westerners claimed China used slave labor in making iPhones. The truth was, Apple was the most profitable company in the world, it took most of the profit, leaving some to Foxconn (a Taiwanese company) and little for the workers. 

- Indeed it is not difficult to find many western companies which profited from China's labor laws, which give little protection to workers. That western companies make money in China does not make these laws good. I believe things are changing, as Chinese workers claim more rights, the way their colleagues in the west did decades ago.

They claimed China was inhuman with the one-child policy. At the same time, they accused China of polluting the earth with its huge population. The fact is the Chinese consume just 30% of energy per capita compared to the US. 

- The one-child policy was Deng Xiaoping's overreacting response to Mao's push to have as many children as possible. Both policies were wrong. Now China has a demographic time bomb waiting to go off as not enough young people will be there to support an aging population.

- Western countries claim China underwent ethnic cleansing in Xinjiang. The fact is China has a policy that prioritizes ethnic minorities. For a long time, the ethnic minorities were allowed to have two children and the majority Han only allowed one. The minorities are allowed a lower score for university intakes. 

- True indeed that minorities have enjoyed some privileges for a long time, but again that does not mean they are not repressing the Xingjian culture. Some in the West claim it is genocide, which it is not, but it is still a massive form of human rights violation.

- There are 39,000 mosques in China, and 2100 in the US. China has about 3 times more mosques per Muslim than the US. 

- I don't know where you got that number. The point is that in China all religions must submit to the central government, which is why the Vatican still does not recognize Beijing. China argues that its minorities are Chinese and is working to sinify them. 

- When terrorist attacks happened in Xinjiang, China had two choices: 1. Re-educate the Uighur extremists before they turned terrorists. 2. Let them be, after they launch attacks and killed innocent people, bomb their homes. China chose 1 to solve problem from the root and not to do killing. How the US solve terrorism? Fire missiles from battleships, drop bombs from the sky. 

- I agree the American response to Islamic fundamentalism has long been flawed and has failed. But China is trying to erase Turkic culture, not just Islamic extremism. 

- During the pandemic, when China took extreme measures to lock down the people, they were accused of being inhuman. When China recovered swiftly because of the extreme measures, they were accused of lying about the actual numbers. When China’s cases became so low that they could provide medical support to other countries, they were accused of politically motivated. 

- China initially denied there was a virus and repressed whistle-blowing doctors who flagged the problem back in late 2019. Time was lost and the problem got worse before they started doing something about it. 

- Western Media always have reasons to bash China. 

-I agree with you, it is always easier to blame others for one own mistakes. 

- Just like any country, there are irresponsible individuals from China who do bad and dirty things, but the China government overall has done very well. But I hear this comment over and over by people from the West: I like Chinese people, but the CCP is evil. What they really want is the Chinese to change the government, because the current one is too good. 

Fortunately, China is not a multi-party democratic country, otherwise, the opposition party in China will be supported by notorious NGOs (Non-Government Organization) of the USA, like the NED (National Endowment for Democracy), to topple the ruling party. The US and the British couldn’t crack Mainland China, so they work in Hong Kong. Of all the ex-British colonial countries, only the Hong Kongers were offered BNOs by the British. 

 Indeed it is hypocritical of the British to offer BNO just to Hong Kong, but any county is free to offer its citizenship to whoever they want. 

Because the UK would like the Hong Kongers to think they are British citizens, not Chinese. A divide-and-conquer strategy, which they often used in Color Revolutions around the world. 

They resort to low dirty tricks like detaining Huawei’s CFO & banning Huawei. They raised a silly trade war which benefits no one. Trade deficit always exist between a developing and a developed country. USA is like a luxury car seller who asks a farmer: why am I always buying your vegetables and you haven’t bought any of my cars? 

-I agree China is beating the old capitalist world at its own game though there are serious issues with intellectual property theft, cheating on licences, fakes etc. On the other hand I sympathize with China when it is requesting technology transfer from investors. Too many times in the past western multinationals made money in the developing world by localizing only cheap labor-intensive activities there while keeping all the high-tech for themselves.

When the Chinese were making socks for the world 30 years ago, the world let it be. But when the Chinese started to make high technology products, like Huawei and DJI, it caused red-alert. Because when Western and Japanese products are equal to Chinese in technologies, they could never match the Chinese in prices. First-world countries want China to continue in making socks. Instead of stepping up themselves, they want to pull China down. 

The recent movement by the US against China has a very important background. When Libya, Iran, and China decided to ditch the US dollar in oil trades, Gaddafi was killed by the US, Iran was being sanctioned by the US, and now it’s China’s turn. The US has been printing money out of nothing. The only reason why the US Dollar is still widely accepted is that it’s the only currency with which oil is allowed to be traded with. Without the petrol-dollar status, the US dollars will sink, and America will fall. China will soon use a gold-backed crypto-currency, the alarm in the White House go off like mad.

- China is playing this game as I understand it it is the largest holder of USD bonds in the world. Gold-backed cryptocurrency is a joke. But they could make the Renminbi convertible, it would be a strong currency, but the government in Beijing would lose control which is likely not acceptable.  Also, China is developing electronic money, not cryptocurrency, just e-Renminbi, this is a good model for others.

China’s achievement has been by hard work. Not by raiding other countries. 

- I would agree with you and admire post-Mao China a lot because of this.

I have deep sympathy for China for all the suffering, but now I feel happy for them. China is not rising, they are going back to where they belong. Good luck China.

- Yes China was a world leader several times in the past and it looks poised to become one again soon. Indeed good luck to China, it's going to need it. And the world needs a strong stable China integrated into the world economy.