My Father’s Birthday

Today is my father’s 82nd birthday. It’s also my last full day here in Algeria. I’ll be leaving tomorrow in the afternoon. I’m having a very nice day with my dad. It’s been great talking about the history of Algeria. I’ve learned so much more than what I already knew. Today we talked about the history of black Algerians, particularly from my dad’s region in the West, I will be writing up a summary of it on here soon. Anyway, I must go back to hang out with him now. I’ll catch you all later. My next post will probably be from Nottingham. Stay safe everyone. Live long and prosper.

Day Five In Algeria

So today is my fifth day here. I’m still feeling very holesick but I’m trying to make the best of it. The best part is hanging out with my father. I’ve been listenning to his stories from the revolution. It’s great to get so much oral history straight from the source. I’ve been really enjoying those long conversations. I will probably write some of the stories up at some point on this blog. They’re really worth sharing. Some of the stories are heartbreaking, others are joyful. It’s just great to have such a source around. Anyway, I must go now. Stay safe everyone. Live long and prosper.

Day Four In Algeria

Day four involved a lot more bureaucracy and a lot more bad food. It’s not that the food is bad, it’s just that it isn’t vegan and it’s starting to take a toll on me. I’m feeling lethargic, bloated, and uncomfortable. I really can’t wait to go back home and eat right. I tried to remain vegan, but it’s simply impossible here. As my dad and I go out for all our meals, I can only order from what’s there. Because meat is a status symbol here, restaurants don’t offer options without some kind of meat, not to look high class. It’s really frustrating. It used to be the thing I looked forward to, all the meat I could eat, now it’s what I resent about coming here. Anyway, must go and eat some more bad food. Stay safe everyone. Live long and prosper.

Third Day in Algeria

So this is my third day in Algeria. I went with my father to my old school’s neighbourhood. It was funny to see my old school. I know it’s a cliche but it’s so much smaller than I remeber. I know I haven’t gotten that much taller but it’s still a shock. We then did some more burochratic stuff. I was able to get some work done, which is good, but I need a day or two of continuous work if I am to hit my deadline, not sure I’ll get those. Anyway, I must go for now. Stay safe everyone. Live long and prosper.

In Algeria

So I’m here in Algeria. I’ve been having problems connecting to the wireless here at home. I’m probably going to have to reset the router. I’m slightly apprehensive about that as I don’t want to fuck the internet up for my dad. I’m going to wait until tomorrow morning, that way we can get an IT guy from the internet company to come and fix it. I’m still going to have a looksy around. Maybe I can actually get it done without all that. Anyway, the flight was great, but I didn’t sleep last night, this happens to me before travelling. So now I’m here for a week and will hopefully be able to get some work done. Stay safe everyone. Live long and prosper.

Back Where It All Started

So I’m back at the hostel where this whole blog thing started a couple of years ago. I don’t remember if I was going to Algeria, or had just come here for a break. Anyway, today I’m here in London and getting ready to go to Algeria for about a week. I had a lovely time with my friend. We had some food and talked over a drink. It was a lot of fun. I’m now back at the hostel. I’m going to amend some parts of my previous blog and then get on twitter for a while before I go to sleep. I hope you’re all doing very well. Stay safe everyone. Live long and prosper.

Going to Algeria

So I’m leaving for Algeria in about a week. I’ve bought my tickets today. It’s going to be an 8 days trip. I usually go for about 2-3 days, because it’s easier. Going for a week is going to be slightly boring. I’m leaving in order to do some paperwork. It’s all really boring. The one thing I’m most bothered about is the fact that I’m going to have trouble staying vegan there. Vegetables are easy enough to buy, it’s just that my dad’s kitchen facilities aren’t exactly great. I don’t know if I’ll be able to cook that much. I might have to resign myself to the fact that I will have to consume animal products while I’m there. Although I’m still going to try to eat properly. Anyway, back to work now. Stay safe everyone. Live long and prosper.

Bye Bye 2011

I thought I’ll write my post saying good bye to 2011 tonight, as I don’t know if I’ll be able to write more than a few words tomorrow. I thought that I would very creatively write a review of 2011. I know no one is blogging about that. I’m the only person in the world who’s ever thought of reviewing the year that’s just passed. Being serious for a second, I thought I’d write about my perspective on the year, with a mixture of personal and not so personal stories that made this year what it was for me. So, let’s start at the beginning.

The year started in a bad place for me. I had just gotten out of a long relationship and wasn’t feeling very good about myself. I had very little self esteem and was not able to get much work done. I felt slightly lost and was not sure what to do to get out of the hole I felt I was in. It was a difficult time and in many ways I’m still dealing with the aftermath of that. I am much happier today, not only because I’m able to be friends with my ex, which is brilliant, but also because I’ve moved on and I’m able to work again, which was another big problem this year.

That was another feature of the year. The clear lack of work. I kept trying and sometimes wrote some stuff, but it was never good enough. It wasn’t even slightly acceptable. However the more common occurrence was me spending most of the year sitting in front of my laptop trying to write but not being able to concentrate. This spell was broken at the end of November and the beginning of December. I was able to write a work in progress which went down very well. That gave me a great boost in confidence in the work department. But the year wasn’t all bad.

To remain within the personal for a bit this year also involved me discovering comic books and Dungeons and Dragons. Well if you’re a regular reader of this blog you’ll know all about Dungeons and Dragons. I’ve met some great people through it and I’m enjoying the great adventure that Andy our Dungeon Master has thought of for us. I’ve also met some new friends who are really brilliant through Remi’s poetry reading. I hope that I’ll get to see more of them  in the coming year. Nothing like meeting some great activist, feminist, pro-Palestine, vegan, anti-capitalists. I can’t wait to hang out with them soon. That also speaks to the other great thing that happened in my world this year. I became a vegan. I have to say that I still feel like this was the best things I’ve ever done. But I’ve written a whole post about that, you can read it if you want to know more.

Another highlight of the year was the wedding of two of my friends. I am not a fan of marriage but if there ever were two people who can make the institution work it’s those two. It was a wonderful wedding, with lots of emotion and many laughs. I met some very interesting people and enjoyed their company. Hopefully I’ll get to see more of them this year. Congratulations again to Mike and Becky. It was a beautiful wedding and I wish them all the happiness in the world. That was definitely a great day.

But how can we talk about 2011 and not talk about the great upheaval that shook the entire world starting in a village in Tunisia in 2010 when a fruit seller set himself on fire out of desperation and in so doing started a movement in the arab world that we are still living through. First it was Tunisia, then Egypt, Libya, Yemen, Bahrain, and Syria. We’ve also seen protests in Kuwait, Saudi, Algeria, Morocco, and Jordan. Dictators fell others are still clinging to power, either through the help of Western imperial powers and their Arab lackeys, or through brute military force. We’ve seen what the West’s intervention in Libya has done, and so even though I fully support the Syrian revolution, I’m not happy to see it repeated in Syria.

The revolutions also moved to Europe, North America, South America, and parts of Asia. The occupy movement made a difference, apart from Occupy Wall Street’s refusal to show solidarity with Palestinians because of some zionist pressure. I point this out because it is important. There can’t be no justice without solidarity between all oppressed people. Occupy Wall Street’s refusal to show solidarity is a stain on their record and needs to be rectified. The rest of the movements showed a lot more solidarity, including occupy Boston, LA, Oakland, Chicago, and others. We also saw how much the US’s political system is sold to corporations. The incredible brutality with which the police responded to those protests, which was reminiscent of some of the worst dictatorships in the world, showed that at the end of the day Corporations mattered more to the US political system than the people.

There was also the riots of the summer in the UK. I saw many people who call themselves leftists, when faced with the actual raw reality of class warfare and the real anger caused by police brutality and economic pain, turned to fascist language about the rioters. I was shocked, but not surprised, to see how many arm chair activists are happy to abandon all of their supposed beliefs when the poor stand up, however clumsily, and are ready to adopt rightwing narratives. The riots showed that a large section of the British society are disenfranchised and feel completely disconnected from their communities. What we saw, in my opinion, is the result of Thatcherism and Reganomics combined with the clear police brutality felt by the youths of deprived areas in Britain.

Then there was Palestine. This year so much in the struggle for justice in Palestine. I can’t cover all of it, however, I’ll write about a few events that marked me. First there were the protests on Nakba. For the first time, Palestinian refugees from neighbouring countries walked to the borders of Palestine demanding their internationally recognised right of return. Israel responded the only way it knows how, with brutality and without any regards for civilian life or international law. They fired across international borders killing and injuring dozens. This year the BDS movement kept growing and becoming more and more mainstream. There was also much unnecessary death and destruction. Palestinian human life is still too cheap in the eyes of israelis and the world.

However, I am feeling optimistic. I believe that public opinion is changing. The world thanks to the incredible work of many activists who work very hard to bring the truth about the Apartheid state of israel and the brutal racist policies of the zionist state to the world. I trust that when people see and understand the deep injustice in Palestine they can’t but find themselves in the anti-zionist camp. What we also saw was that israeli propaganda and intimidation tactics aren’t working as well as they used to. As many have said, the truth is that the facts are anti-zionist. On this note, I hope you all had a very good year. It certainly was an interesting one. Stay safe everyone. Live long and prosper.

First Bit and Now With More Bits

I completely forgot about this. I’m really swamped with things to do. I will try to complete this post later tonight when I get back, but for now I’m just letting you all know I made it safely from Algeria. I’ll elaborate about my day yesterday later. Anyway, talk soon. Love you bye.

Right, I said I might complete this post tonight and here I am. I would like to apologise for the short post earlier, a lot happened today, well that’s not exactly true I ran out of time because of sleep issues, but I’ll tell you all about it tomorrow. Anyway, I found myself strapped for time and I needed to lock today’s post, so I did just that. Now to tell you about my trip back from Algeria. It’s always a little bit of an adventure. Of course by adventure I mean sitting in a series of different seats while moving, whether on the ground or in the sky.

So I woke up relatively early on Monday and showered and got ready. My dad was worried about not finding a taxi so we left quite early. We found a taxi straight away, and got to the airport as the check in desks for my flight were opening. I had checked in online, so I went through the fast track desk. Online check in is one of the best things made possible y technology. I think that when the time comes for the machines to become sentient and rebel against us, online check in will side with us, along with the watch again option for tv programs and kettles (I believe that kettles are our friends and that they will not turn on us).

Anyway, I had coffee with my dad before going through passport control and security. It all went very smoothly, as it usually does on the Algerian side. I sat down at the cafe in the terminal and read a bit. The time passed pretty quickly and as I was finishing writing yesterday’s post, the plane started boarding. So I finished the post off, got my stuff in my bag and got on the plane. The flight was very enjoyable. I spent it re-watching episodes from the first series of BattleStar Galactica. BA is a very nice airline, and the cabin crew are always lovely. This makes it easier to be on their side when they are taking industrial action against the management. That being said, I usually find it easier to be on the worker’s side, I am a lefty after all.

When we landed, I made my way to passport control to find the longest queue I’ve ever seen there. I guess three or four plane must have landed around the same time and they were all populated with non-UK and non-EU citizens. I got used to always getting in the line labelled ‘other’, but on Monday there were a lot of others. However, the line kept moving relatively quickly, I barely stood still. It took me about half an hour to get to a desk though. The lady that was checking my passport was in a very foul mood and even though I was all smiles, she didn’t even pretend to be polite. She didn’t even say hello or good bye, but at least she didn’t send me in the special room where the man with the rubber glove lives. So I can’t really complain about her.

After that the journey was quite straight forward, I took the tube to the train station. It was rush hour, so the carriage very quickly filled up. Because I got on at the first station, I had a seat. However, at some point there was a pregnant lady and no one stood for her. I gave her my seat and had to negotiate the crowds on the tube with my bags. I think some people are proper arseholes. If you see a pregnant woman you give up your seat, that’s basic manners. But anyway, that’s neither here nor there. Once I got to the train station, I had to wait until the off peak time, and got on the train home.

The journey was more or less uneventful, I got online and enjoyed the on board wifi. It was nice to be able to connect to facebook and twitter again. I was able to do some online housekeeping that I was unable to do in Algeria. I believe that I mentioned the fact that I was unable to get on facebook or twitter because of very dense traffic. I also uploaded my blog post that I wrote earlier and was disappointed to note that not a single one of you left a comment under my wordpress spam post to tell me if I should turn it into a regular feature, like a weekly or bi-weekly post. Come on people, get your fingers out and let me know.

I got home around 21:30. I was exhausted and thought I would sleep. However, I ended up staying up until 7:00. I had many things to do on Tuesday, and because of my stupid insomnia I knew I was going to have trouble doing them. But that’s tomorrow’s story. Anyway, that’s it from me. I’ll see you all tomorrow for more of this kind of rubbish. Love you bye.

Leaving Algeria

I’m writing this blog post from the Algerian international airport. I’m not going to post it until I get on the train back to Nottingham from London though, if I make it in one piece. So you are reading my thoughts from earlier, way earlier, today. I have been here for a while because my dad was afraid we wouldn’t find a taxi closer to the time of the flight. Anyway, I’m here and a little bit bored so I thought I might as well write this now and get it out of the way. This way I might be able to do some work on the train. I haven’t really been able to do much work in Algeria.

So I thought I would tell you about my time here in Algeria and what it was like for me. I arrived in the early afternoon and was pleased to see that my father looked a bit healthier. He’s lost a bit of weight and seemed to have a little bit more life in him. Last time I left him he looked a lot more ill. I don’t want to be too morbid, but I always wonder if this is the last time I’m going to see him. He’s been ill for a while and has been living alone in a decrepit apartment for a while now. It’s always a bittersweet thing when I see him.

My days were very similar and monotonous in Algeria. I spent them between rereading Douglas Adam’s The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and getting online, checking the news. From day two onwards getting onto twitter and facebook became near impossible. At first, I thought the government might be blocking them, seeing that social media played an important role in the Tunisian revolution. Although it would be wrong to credit twitter, facebook, youtube, and other new communication media with being responsible, they have clearly played a role in disseminating information that was largely ignored by mainstream media. The reason for that near blackout is quite simple, the West liked Ben Ali, and although he was a ruthless dictator who curtailed all private and public freedoms, he kept Tunisia stable and was a strong ally to them.

Anyway, I quickly realised that the sites weren’t blocked though and the reason for my difficulty in signing in was probably due to the very high traffic on them. People were clearly using them en masse and that put a strain on the still young Internet in the country. It was quite frustrating though and I found myself not having anything to do and not knowing what to do with myself for long periods of time. It was very boring.

I did go out on a daily basis with my dad though. I needed to get some money to pay my fees. So we needed to go to the bank, withdraw the money, and then go and change it into Euros. This meant that for a few hours a day, I was able to be occupied and feel like I have been useful. We also bought a few things for him, which again was a nice reprieve from the flat. But other than that not much happened. I was trying to get as much information about Tunisia, and my stay was very much beating to the rhythm of the Tunisian revolution.

Towards the end though I started really missing my own life. I just wanted to go home and back to my life and routine. I have a lot of work to do, but also I just really like my life in England. There are ups and downs there, but on the whole I think I have a good life there. I’m a bit depressed sometimes, but I would be a lot more depressed if I lived in Algeria or Lebanon. However, I did feel a little bit guilty for wanting to leave, because as I said this might well be the last time I see my dad. It’s sad and I feel a little guilty for not using the little time I have left with him to enjoy his company as much as possible. Anyway, I think it is enough with my self-loathing and morbid thoughts. My flight is going to start boarding soon, so I will leave you now and go get on my plane and additionally the web master.