Let’s take three “facts” and put them together, forcing a bit the hand, if you want. First. At the convention of the American democratic onstage there are Hillary and Bill Clinton’s daughter, Chelsea. It was already understood from the previous days that the media strategy experts of the candidate point on her character and emphasise the aspects of private life. So her husband Bill talked about the first meeting, the overcame obstacles (a not insignificant trinkets), the happiness of growing old. And then her daughter, who tells how the mother never forgot a goodnight kiss and how now the good… read more →
When in 1976 Helmut Newton published his first portrait White Women, there were in many to launch anathemas against the artist and who he would then awarded the prestigious Kodak Award. Because Newton had chosen to subject the female nude and, while putting at the service of the most prestigious fashion houses in the world his art, it was the naked body to dominate the lens, the image, the viewer. In that portrait it appeared – among others – a model on all fours on a bed, dressed in a leather saddle by Hermès, the look through the lens. In… read more →
There is no doubt that a part of the West is Islamophobic. At the same time part of the Islamic world against the Western world nourishes the same phobia is not only beyond doubt, but at the same time a short investigated phenomenon. The distinctions are always due. Always us to say that Muslims worlds are many and varied (and as the more religious and wise say that there are many Muslims, but only one Islam), we are many to debate long on female identity represented from wearing the veil or slavery imposed on those who are forced to wear… read more →
It is love 3.0, which does not deal with Internet, social networks and dating in unknown sites. This is in the ability of those who are now more than adult, who live with a long way behind and feel fatigue: a job, a mother to look after, a day marked by the rhythms imposed by the city and by the choices they made in past years. Yet. And it is that one of a woman like many others who, in the midst of so much “doing”, realises that desire and love were only sleeping and they did not understand the… read more →
Be husband and wife in Pakistan. I confess I did not understand well yet what the deeper meaning and what in fact it is in everyday life. After more than two years of living in the country, I enjoyed both in big cities than in rural areas have seen numerous engagements, weddings, family relationships and conflicts. I could say anything different from what I see in my home or in Europe, but no: not taking anything away from our relational crisis (we are talking only of women and men because gay and lesbian couples certainly do not see in and… read more →
Other that sexist propaganda in our regional elections. The women candidates of which I speak have decided not to show their face during the campaign: in place of those husbands, fathers, brothers, who have called on voters to support wives, daughters, sisters. Yet they are candidates and ran a big risk. This is not a joke, this is the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, beauty, alias KP, the most “mangy” province of Pakistan, politically won in 2013 by the former cricketer Imran Khan, who with his party PTI (Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf) is creating problems the central government. A liberal man, or at least he… read more →
A curfew imposed can not be only formally: the cities close for safety reasons (Kabul, for example), you come back at home at 23 and can succeed only after 6 in the morning. No, the city can be closed a bit ‘at a time, in a semi-formal way, taking measures that force those who live in non-circulation living. A few days throughout Pakistan (in a city with 22 million inhabitants as Karachi, as well as in a small district of Balochistan) shops must close at 8 pm, restaurants and other cafè officially at 11. Reason: the shortage of electric… read more →
To M, who will not sleep this night Islamabad, the Spa of a large hotel, the best known of the city. We go there in many, Pakistanis and expatriates (already own those “ex-patria”, which change the country every time they change jobs or destination and never know how they feel). It has a very nice outdoor pool and although it is still cold here, you swim in heated water; and then there are gym, sauna and turkish bath, everything as expected. In these non-places there is no control over the mode of behavior: I mean been secular, Christian or Muslim,… read more →
Civilization is the corpse lying on the world’s pavet. All civilizations are under fire: so Mohsin Hamid, Pakistani writer known for “The reluctant fundamentalist” has opened his speech at Lahore Literary Festival 2015, which saw 75.00 visitors in three days, from 20th to 22th of February. The number is not a joke, in an armored city, which reacted in this way to suicide attack that took place in the days before and the many others who almost daily hurt Pakistan. The other truth is just as dramatic: the rights and wrongs of the dead do not talk, in fact, the… read more →
Monday evening while cooking, I am listening SkyTg24: the main news is about the suicide of a Moroccan woman in Rome, she first killed her children as they slept. Her husband was wounded by the same wife, he went to the hospital (leaving the kids at home alone with her?), saying that he had been assaulted in the street, and then admitting he was lying “to protect his wife.” A third daughter is still serious suffering after a long surgery. The investigation has just begun; we will understand later as it is consumed this family drama. While listening, the… read more →