Thomas Ravenscroft: “There were three ravens sat on a tree” (Valéry Sauvage, renaissance guitar)

The Three Ravens is a beautiful English ballad published in 1611 by Thomas Ravenscroft, but probably much older. Here we can listen to an intabulation by Pascale Boquet, played by Valéry Sauvage. The instrument is a renaissance guitar made by Stephen Murphy.

This is the text as sung by the Hilliard Ensemble (The Singing Club, HMA 1951153, a very good performance), which I set to “modernized” orthography:

There were three rav’ns sat on a tree, down-a-down, hay down-a-down.
There were three rav’ns sat on a tree, with a down.
There were three rav’ns sat on a tree.
They were as black as they might be. With a down, derry, derry, derry, down, down.

The one of them said to his mate, down-a-down, hay down-a-down.
The one of them said to his mate, with a down.
The one of them said to his mate,
Where shall we our breakfast take? With a down, derry, derry, derry, down, down.

Down in yonder green field, down-a-down, hay down-a-down.
Down in yonder green field, with a down.
Down in yonder green field,
There lies a knight slain under his shield. With a down, derry, derry, derry, down, down.

His hounds they lie down at his feet, [simile]
So well they can their master keep.

His hawks they fly so eagerly,
There’s no fowl dare him come nie.

Down there comes a fallow doe,
As great with young as she might go.

She lift up his bloody hed,
And kissed his wounds that that were so red.

She got him up upon her back,
And carried him to earthen lake.

She buried him before the prime,
She was dead herself ere even-song time.

God send every gentleman,
Such hawks, such hounds, and such a leman.

Ken Robinson fala da creatividade e do sistema educativo

Un bo amigo envioume esta graciosa e á vez profunda charla de Ken Robinson, a través da páxina de Luis Pescetti. Está en inglés pero leva subtítulos en español.

Non sei o que opinarán o fillo de Ken Robinson e a ex-moza do mesmo sobre as alusións en forma de “chiste”, pero a min parécenme fóra de lugar nun contorno académico. Ademais, a captatio benevolentiae era xa longa abondo e quedaba redonda sen elas. Quizá houbo bos viños no xantar…

En calquera caso, ninguén é perfecto e a oratoria de Ken Robinson vai pouco a pouco enfrontándonos coas contradiccións do noso sistema educativo, deseñado para seleccionar e fabricar, no millor dos casos, profesores universitarios; e botar ó lixo (agora chámanlle “mercado de traballo”, disque) a aqueles con capacidades diferentes. Un sistema que fai violencia ós nenos, horas e horas sentados, calados e facendo tarefas repetitivas que so aproveitan un recuncho do cerebro. Un sistema que probablemente diagnosticaría con TDAH a moitos xenios das ciencias e das artes como a mencionada bailarina e coréografa Gillian Lynne.

Ollo: non estou a dicir que o TDAH non exista ou que a medicación que se dá a algúns nenos non sexa beneficiosa, pero, como escribín na anotación “Michael Phelps e as etiquetas”, hai grandes corporacións farmacéuticas lucrándose co sobrediagnóstico e coa sobreprescripción de fármacos psicoactivos a nenos. Os nenos precisan, en primeiro lugar, de tempo, de atención individualizada, na casa (onde os cambios sociais llela furtan tantas veces) e na escola (unha institución alienante chea de rixideces burocráticas, cega ás motivacións vitais, curta en medios materiais e humanos).

¿Quen son os culpables? Todos temos parte de culpa, pero a responsabilidade medra segundo subimos na escada do poder, político e económico, e hoxe o capital é “transnacional” ou mesmo está en limbos xurídicos e paraísos fiscais. A maioría dos profesores que coñezo fan un traballo individual moi bo, en ocasións excelente, pero a organización é desastrosa. Eu compároo cun equipo de basket que vai xogar sen exercitarse antes. ¿Quen defende a quen? ¿Quen se pega co center do equipo contrario? ¿Xogaremos todos de forward en ataque? Logo non haberá quen suba e reparta a pelota, faga os “bloqueos” ou colla os rebotes…

P. S. Todos coñecemos exemplos de que o éxito escolar e o éxito na vida, mesmo na vida intelectual, non van necesariamente unidos. Hai miles, pero aquí xa comentei o caso dos escritores Daniel Pennac e Roald Dahl, casos perdidos para os seus profesores…

BBC News: in 1944, black soldiers were replaced by white ones for Paris liberation

Paris liberation made ‘whites only’ (BBC News, 6 – IV – 2009)

By Mike Thomson
Presenter, Document, BBC Radio 4

Papers unearthed by the BBC reveal that British and American commanders ensured that the liberation of Paris on 25 August 1944 was seen as a “whites only” victory.

Many who fought Nazi Germany during World War II did so to defeat the vicious racism that left millions of Jews dead.

Yet the BBC’s Document programme has seen evidence that black colonial soldiers – who made up around two-thirds of Free French forces – were deliberately removed from the unit that led the Allied advance into the French capital.

By the time France fell in June 1940, 17,000 of its black, mainly West African colonial troops, known as the Tirailleurs Senegalais, lay dead.

Many of them were simply shot where they stood soon after surrendering to German troops who often regarded them as sub-human savages.

Their chance for revenge came in August 1944 as Allied troops prepared to retake Paris. But despite their overwhelming numbers, they were not to get it.

‘More desirable’

The leader of the Free French forces, Charles de Gaulle, made it clear that he wanted his Frenchmen to lead the liberation of Paris.

Allied High Command agreed, but only on one condition: De Gaulle’s division must not contain any black soldiers.

In January 1944 Eisenhower’s Chief of Staff, Major General Walter Bedell Smith, was to write in a memo stamped, “confidential”: “It is more desirable that the division mentioned above consist of white personnel.

“This would indicate the Second Armoured Division, which with only one fourth native personnel, is the only French division operationally available that could be made one hundred percent white.”

At the time America segregated its own troops along racial lines and did not allow black GIs to fight alongside their white comrades until the late stages of the war.

Morocco division

Given the fact that Britain did not segregate its forces and had a large and valued Indian army, one might have expected London to object to such a racist policy.

Yet this does not appear to have been the case.

A document written by the British General, Frederick Morgan, to Allied Supreme Command stated: “It is unfortunate that the only French formation that is 100% white is an armoured division in Morocco.

“Every other French division is only about 40% white. I have told Colonel de Chevene that his chances of getting what he wants will be vastly improved if he can produce a white infantry division.”

Finding an all-white division that was available proved to be impossible due to the enormous contribution made to the French Army by West African conscripts.

So, Allied Command insisted that all black soldiers be taken out and replaced by white ones from other units.

When it became clear that there were not enough white soldiers to fill the gaps, soldiers from parts of North Africa and the Middle East were used instead.

Pensions cut

In the end, nearly everyone was happy. De Gaulle got his wish to have a French division lead the liberation of Paris, even though the shortage of white troops meant that many of his men were actually Spanish.

The British and Americans got their “Whites Only” Liberation even though many of the troops involved were North African or Syrian.

For France’s West African Tirailleurs Senegalais, however, there was little to celebrate.

Despite forming 65% of Free French Forces and dying in large numbers for France, they were to have no heroes’ welcome in Paris.

After the liberation of the French capital many were simply stripped of their uniforms and sent home. To make matters even worse, in 1959 their pensions were frozen.

Former French colonial soldier, Issa Cisse from Senegal, who is now 87 years-old, looks back on it all with sadness and evident resentment.

“We, the Senegalese, were commanded by the white French chiefs,” he said.

“We were colonised by the French. We were forced to go to war. Forced to follow the orders that said, do this, do that, and we did. France has not been grateful. Not at all.”

AI report: Guantánamo detainees still waiting for judicial review

Amnistía Internacional publicou onte un informe dunhas oitenta páxinas sobre os presos de Guantánamo. Algúns aínda non pasaron por un tribunal, outros seguen encarcerados despois de que os tribunais decretasen a súa liberación. Particularmente graves son os casos daqueles presos que poderían ser entregados a países onde están expostos a violacións dos Direitos Humanos como a tortura, a detención ilegal e mesmo a pena de morte. O informe leva por título “USA: Detainees continue to bear costs of delay and lack of remedy”. Copio un extracto da súa introducción:

The US administration is committed to closing the Guantánamo detention facility by 22 January 2010 under an executive order signed by President Barack Obama on 22 January 2009. However, the future remains uncertain for the detainees still held there as the executive review of their cases and of US detention policy ordered by the President gets underway. This uncertainty will continue to cause distress, as a military review of detention conditions ordered by President Obama has acknowledged. “Not knowing when they might depart Guantánamo has almost certainly increased tension and anxiety within the detainee population”, the review concluded in February 2009. It is now nearly six years since the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) first revealed its concern about the negative psychological impact the indefinite detentions were having on large numbers of the individuals held at Guantánamo. The impact on families of the detainees has likewise been serious.

While the Guantánamo detentions receive yet more executive review, which to date has remained largely non-transparent under the new administration as under its predecessor, the detainees are entitled to judicial review. Yet 10 months after the US Supreme Court ruled, in Boumediene v. Bush on 12 June 2008, that the detainees were entitled to a “prompt” habeas corpus hearing to challenge the lawfulness of their detention, only a handful of them have received a hearing on the merits of their challenges. Moreover, indefinite detention has continued even in cases where judges have ordered the immediate release of detainees after such hearings. Having so far resisted the release into the USA of detainees who cannot be returned to their own countries, including detainees whose detention has been ruled unlawful by the US courts, the new administration’s default position to date appears to have been to expect other governments to accept such detainees, with whatever delays negotiations to this end may entail. In the case of 17 Uighur detainees who would face possible torture and execution if returned to China, the diplomatic negotiations have been unsuccessful for years and they were still in Guantánamo in early April 2009, six months after a judge ruled their detention unlawful and ordered their immediate release into the USA.

At the time of the presidential inauguration on 20 January 2009, there were some 245 men still held at Guantánamo, about 200 of whom had habeas corpus petitions pending in District Court. Between inauguration and early April 2009, one detainee was released from Guantánamo, and the rest remained in indefinite detention there. Amnesty International considers it unacceptable that any Guantánamo detainee continues to be held without charge or trial, and calls for each detainee to be either charged with a recognisable criminal offence for trial under fair procedures in existing federal courts or released immediately. [...]

Firefox keeps growing in spite of IE8 improvements

A porcentaxe de usuarios de internet que navegan con Mozilla Firefox medrou ata un 22% en todo o mundo. Microsoft Internet Explorer non frea o seu descenso a pesar das milloras que introduciu na recentemente publicada versión 8. Estas son as cifras de marzo para os cinco navegadores máis usados, tomadas de Browser Market Share by Net Applications:

• Microsoft Internet Explorer: 66,82%
• Mozilla Firefox: 22,05%
• Apple Safari: 8,23%
• Google Chrome: 1,23%
• Opera: 0,70%

Pero se miramos estatísticas por países, vemos que hai algúns onde Firefox supera a IE e mesmo pasa do 50%. Estes datos son tamén do mes de marzo e tomeinos do Blog of Metrics de Mozilla, en concreto da anotación “People in the Philippines Love Firefox”:

• Indonesia: 62,6%
• Macedonia: 58,1%
• Bosnia and Herzegovina: 53,6%
• Poland: 53,4%
• Slovenia: 53,3%
• Slovakia: 50,9%
• Philippines: 50,6%
• Latvia: 48,9%
• Ghana: 48,9%
• Finland: 48,2%
• Hungary: 47,6%

P. S. (8 – VIII – 2009). Aínda que eu manteño aquí as cifras que se publicaron no seu día, a nova metodoloxía de Net Applications fixo cambiar estas cifras retroactivamente. Ver: “Net Applications stats retroactively changed: now weighted by country”.