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Archive for the category "Uncategorized"
The 'Saracen' Secrets of European – and American – Architecture
Cross-section of the Washington DC Capitol Dome, showing the Islamic double dome vaulting technique
England's greatest architect, Sir Christopher Wren, wrote that what we call "the Gothic style should more rightly be called the Saracen style." Americans, it seems, are especially fond of Gothic. Across the continent are spectacular Gothic Revival structures, many modelled on the medieval cathedrals of England and France, such as St. John the Divine and St. Patrick's in New York City, Washington National Cathedral, and the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Savannah, GA. On top of that, America boasts the world's biggest collection of neo-Gothic architecture in its universities, colleges, and schools. What accounts for that popularity?
America's leading neo-Gothic architect, Ralph Adams Cram, wrote in his book Gothic Quest about the power of architecture "to bend men and sway them." Like the fervent European Gothic Revival architects before him, such as Augustus Pugin, designer of the clock tower commonly known as Big Ben for the Houses of Parliament in London, Cram believed that Gothic was the "purest" form.
The neo-Gothic clock tower commonly known as "Big Ben," attached to London's Houses of Parliament, was designed by Augustus Pugin, sometimes called "God's Architect" because of his devout Catholic faith. (Dietmar Rabich, London (UK), Elizabeth Tower, -Big Ben- — 2010 — 1979, CC BY-SA 4.0)
While studying classical architecture in Rome, he had an epiphany during a Christmas Eve mass, thereafter becoming an Anglo-Catholic. Like his fellow neo-Gothic enthusiasts in Europe, and indeed like many Europeans today, for him Gothic architecture epitomized the Catholic faith. The commonly held view of Gothic's provenance was that it represented Europe's shared heritage. Although such Eurocentrism remains deeply rooted, serious scholarship has questioned just how "European" the Greek, Roman, and Byzantine civilizations that preceded the era of Gothic actually were, since all three empires were multicultural and multiethnic. Few of the later Roman emperors were ethnically Italian and even fewer Byzantine rulers were ethnically Greek.
The Islamic roots of Gothic architecture
The time has come to examine Gothic in the same way, since Cram never realized, along with Americans and Europeans in general, that key elements of Gothic architecture — the pointed arch, the trefoil arch, ribbed vaulting, and many other features — were born, not in Europe, but further east, often evolving from styles that were associated with a completely different religion.
Even Eurocentric architects cannot deny that the pointed arch had its origins in Islamic architecture. It appeared in the 7th century Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, built as the first Muslim shrine by the Umayyad caliph Abd al-Malik, and was then further developed under the Abbasids in Baghdad.
The Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem was built as a Muslim shrine in the late 7th century. Its design features were widely copied by the medieval Crusaders and brought back to Europe in the 12th century. (Andrew Shiva / Wikipedia / CC BY-SA 4.0)
It went on to become the defining feature of Islamic religious buildings. The trefoil arch, so enthusiastically adopted by Gothic architecture as a symbol of the Holy Trinity, first appeared as a carved decorative feature in Umayyad shrines and desert palaces. Byzantine church architecture, which the Umayyad caliphate inherited, had round Roman arches and single domes, like Constantinople's Hagia Sophia. There was not a pointed or trefoil arch in sight, let alone ribbed vaulting.
Trefoil arches above the mihrab in the Cordoba Mezquita, predating their use in Gothic cathedrals by over a hundred years. (Ingo Mehling, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)
From Syria and their capital Damascus, the Umayyads brought these elements to Spain in the 8th century, re-using them in their main mosque of Cordoba, still known today as the Mezquita, Spanish for "mosque," even though it was converted to a Catholic cathedral at the Reconquista. The 10th century ribbed vaulting of the Mezquita's main dome was analyzed in 2017 by Spanish architectural engineers and pronounced the most perfect example of geometry, never once needing structural repair in its thousand-year existence.
The perfect geometry of the ribbed vaulting in the Cordoba Mezquita, predating Gothic rib-vaulted ceilings by over a century. (Ruggero Poggianella – Flickr: Cordoba, la Mezquita CC BY-SA 2.0)
The masons' marks displayed on the rear wall show the names to be overwhelmingly Muslim, unsurprisingly, since their grasp of geometry and their stonemasonry was recognized as far superior to that of their European counterparts. It was no coincidence that Spanish Christian kings like Alfonso XI and Pedro the Cruel insisted on Mudéjar (Muslim) craftsmen for their building projects.
From Spain, these skills and styles passed into southern France where they were gradually incorporated into Benedictine abbeys and Cluniac shrines on the pilgrim route to Santiago de Compostela. The same styles also found their way into Europe from vibrant Islamic cities like Cairo, Damascus, and Aleppo, passing first via Italian trading ports like Amalfi, then via the Norman, Arab-influenced architecture of Sicily.
Amalfi cathedral, showing the pointed arches first copied from the Ibn Tulun Mosque in Cairo. The cathedral was financed by Amalfi merchants trading with Cairo. (Berthold Werner, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons)
The returning Crusaders, ironically, set up new kingdoms in the 12th century, mimicking the styles of their conquered enemies, whom they called the Saracens, meaning "people who steal." The Norman French brought the styles back to Normandy, where they synthesized them into what was originally just called "French work" in cathedrals like Notre-Dame and Chartres, before importing the style into England, under Norman rule at the time, in buildings like Canterbury Cathedral and Westminster Abbey.
Fan vaulting of the crossing inside Canterbury Cathedral. (Tobiasvonderhaar, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons)
Pointed arches, trefoil arches and ribbed vaulting in the Chapter House, Westminster Abbey. (ChrisVTG Photography, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)
Only centuries later was it misleadingly dubbed "Gothic" by an Italian art historian, the same person who coined the term "Renaissance." In Spain, it was called the "Gothic of the Catholic Kings." Eurocentrism at work again.
From Spain to North America
In North America, it is easy to forget that when the Spanish arrived in Mexico in 1492, they came from a world in which Christians and Muslims had shared rule for nearly 800 years. The Spanish colonizers did not build in the style of the native Americans whose lands they took, but imported the styles of their homeland, just as the Umayyads had recreated the Syrian styles of their homeland in Spain, modelling the Cordoba Mezquita on the Damascus Umayyad Mosque. The influence of "the Moors," as the Muslims were known, can be found in practically every style of Spain from the 8th century onwards, with its unmistakable tinge of Orientalism.
The Spanish missions in California and Arizona, founded by Catholic priests of the Franciscan order in the 18th and 19th centuries, also imported the styles of their homeland, and Moorish designs are evident in San Xavier del Bac and San Luis Rey de Francia.
Mission San Xavier del Bac, near Tucson, Arizona, with its Moorish-inspired exterior. (Keyany, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)
Taking inspiration from English Oxford and Cambridge colleges, "Collegiate Gothic," as it is known, began in 19th century America with church-like libraries at prestigious universities such as Harvard's Gore Hall.
Harvard's Gore Hall. (G.G. Smith, engraver, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)
The popularity of Collegiate Gothic endures into the 21st century, with prominent "new" buildings still seen as representing the pinnacle of sophistication, such as Yale's Benjamin Franklin College and Princeton's Whitman College. Much of Yale's campus can be considered "Gothic," including Yale Law School.
Yale's Sterling Law Building, home to the Yale Law School. (Shmitra, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons)
In Europe too there is still one famous neo-Gothic church under construction. Its Spanish architect, Antoni Gaudí, another devout Catholic, openly acknowledged the influence of Islamic architecture in his masterpiece, the Sagrada Família in Barcelona. It is a style we might call Hispano-Saracenic-Gothic, representing the ultimate fusion of nature, geometry, and religion. A multinational team is collaborating to complete it in time for the 2026 centenary of Gaudí's death, using materials from all over the world.
The still unfinished Hispano-Saracenic-Gothic cathedral of La Sagrada Família, Barcelona. (C messier, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)
On top of all the "Saracen," "Moorish" elements we have identified in so-called "Gothic" buildings, there is still one more surprising thing to take in: The Capitol building in Washington, DC owes a debt to Islamic architecture, through its double dome.
The United States Capitol, with its double dome, a "Saracen" technique where the interior and exterior have different profiles, leaving a hollow in between. (Sdkb, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)
This is the technique, first used in Seljuk tombs and later Ottoman mosques by the great court architect Sinan, where the exterior profile is taller, in order to make a bold silhouette on the skyline, than the interior dome, which is lower, with a hollow space in between. The clever device was copied across Europe, notably by Wren in his iconic dome of St. Paul's Cathedral in London where he openly admitted use of what he called "Saracen vaulting." That is why the cover my new book, Stealing from the Saracens: How Islamic Architecture Shaped Europe shows the interior dome of St. Paul's Cathedral.
Surely if there is a lesson in all of this, it is that no one "owns" architecture, just as no one "owns" science. Everything builds on everything else.
How wonderful it would be, in this current age of Islamophobia and nationalism, if we could acknowledge the ties that bind us, often in mysterious and unseen ways, rather than seeking to airbrush them out of our history. My hope is that an enhanced understanding of the shared elements of Christian and Islamic architecture might encourage us toward a broader inter-religious dialogue, even with those we may sometimes have seen as "the enemy."
A version of this article first appeared on the website of the Washington-based thinktank The Middle East Institute:
https://www.mei.edu/publications/stealing-saracens-how-islamic-architecture-shaped-europe
Posted in Uncategorized and tagged Islamic architecture, Stealing from the Saracens
Syria conflict – the biblical river at the heart of the Damascus water war
The Roman aqueduct system is still visible in the cliffs of the Wadi Barada gorge (2011, DD)
The flashpoint for Syria's war, six years old this March, took the form in recent weeks of an elemental struggle over water. Drinking water to some 5 million residents in the Syrian capital Damascus was cut on 23 December by the Damascus Water Authority, blaming diesel contamination of the supply by the rebels.
The historic water source of Ain al-Fijeh lies in a valley 18km northwest of the capital in Wadi Barada, where a cluster of 13 villages has been under rebel control since 2012. Local people joined the revolution early in protest against government neglect, corruption and land grabs made legal under new state land measures, where whole hillsides were requisitioned for sports clubs and luxury hotels.
The hillsides of Wadi Barada, with a Roman quarry in the bottom left (2011, DD)
On 22 December the Assad government, using barrel bombs dropped from helicopters and supported on the ground by Lebanese Shi'a militia fighters of Hezbollah, began a campaign to take control of the strategic valley and springs. The timing was significant, just days before the announcement of the countrywide ceasefire brokered by Russia and Turkey on 29 December.
The Barada Gorge was cut through the Anti-Lebanon Mountains geological eons ago by the Barada river, which still runs through the centre of Damascus. Today it is just a shadow of its former self, diminished for most of the year by drought and pollution to a dirty trickle by the time it reaches the city-centre. But in earlier times it was the source of the city's legendary fertility, and the reason for its location in an oasis of gardens and orchards known as the Ghouta. The river was and still is fed by the melt waters of Mount Hermon, Syria's highest peak. Mentioned no less than 15 times in the Bible, it retains its snow-capped summit till early June. The amount of snowfall in winter is a direct indication of how much water Damascus will have throughout the year.
The distant snows of Mt Hermon, seen from Damascus rooftops (2011, DD)
The Barada, the ancient Abana, was supplemented through seven further rivers whose course was diverted by means of elaborate channels as far back as Roman times. Guided by aqueducts into the centre of Damascus, the city was fed by a complex network of waterways and channels that allowed water to flow in and out of every house. Sophisticated Ottoman water distribution points throughout the city also allocated water in agreed quantities to the public bathhouses, mosque ablution areas and public drinking fountains. Even today most houses have a special drinking tap in their kitchen directly connected to the spring.
In high summer families would come to Wadi Barada on Fridays and holidays, often renting a riverside platform for the day. Rigged up as tent awnings open only onto the river side, they formed an idyllic private arbour where families could relax, enjoying the coolness of the fast-flowing river. Little iron ladders were fixed onto the platforms, so that children could climb down and swim.
A swimming platform and ladder used by picnicing families along the river (2011, DD)
In the 16th century it was along the banks of the Barada river on the outskirts of Damascus that the first coffee houses grew up. Pilgrims would be assembling, waiting for the annual Hajj or pilgrimage to Mecca to set off in one huge joint caravan, protection in numbers from raiding desert tribesmen. Many engravings from the 19th century show scenes of coffee houses on the banks of the brimming Barada.
Near the village of Souq Wadi Barada, huge gaping holes in the cliff above can be still be scrambled into. They are part of the original Roman water system, elaborate tunnels cut into the rock conducting the melt-waters into the aqueducts of Damascus.
Wadi Barada's ancient Roman aqueduct system, cut into the cliff, to guide water from Ain Fijeh to Damascus (2011, DD)
Sections of the old Roman road between Baalbek and Damascus, inscriptions in Greek, the official language, and in Latin, the language of the soldiers, can still be seen, describing how the road was rebuilt higher up to avoid destruction by flooding.
A Latin inscription above the Roman road in Wadi Barada connecting Damascus to Baalbek (2011, DD)
For Hezbollah too the battle is a geographical one. They regard this area as their backyard, connected to their Baalbek stronghold in Lebanon. They have been determined to take it, along with the Qalamoun Mountains a little further north, to ensure total control of this area which they see as vital to their and their sponsor Iran's strategic interests, part of their Shi'a Crescent linking Tehran to the Mediterranean.
The Syrian government claimed there were fighters from the Al-Qaeda-linked Jabhat Fatah al-Sham (formerly Jabhat al-Nusra) present in Wadi Barada, to justify its ongoing campaign, since that group was excluded from the countrywide ceasefire. Local residents have always insisted there were only ever Free Syrian Army moderates present in the valley.
After two attempts at local ceasefires failed and the key mediator was killed in a targeted assassination, the battle continued for a month, till the Syrian regime and its Hezbollah ally shelled the valley into submission. Under a deal, some fighters were permitted to leave for rebel-held Idlib province in the north. Others were permitted to stay if they agreed to join Assad's army. Russian media says the repairs to the Ain Fijeh water source are nearly complete and Damascus's drinking water will soon be restored after nearly eight weeks of shortages where the residents had to use wells or bottled water.
Syrian soldiers reclaiming the source of the spring at Ain Fijeh, Wadi Barada 29 January 2017 (Sputnik News)
Each side continues to blame the other.
Since both UN monitors and Russian officials were denied access to the area by Hezbollah checkpoints, the truth remains hidden – as so often in Syria – behind the fog of war, or in this case, beneath the waters of the Barada.
This article is an updated version of this BBC feature which first appeared on 8 January 2017 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-38532338
On 14 March 2017 the UN published a report confirming that the Ain al-Fijeh spring was deliberately bombed by the Syrian air force:
Other related articles:
https://www.bellingcat.com/news/mena/2017/01/04/wadi-barada-happened-damascuss-water/
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/01/syrian-army-captures-wadi-barada-170129131830656.html
https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201702071050429093-wadi-barada-damascus-water-supply/
Russian and Iranian tentacles dig deeper into Syria
Recent days have seen increasing evidence of both Russia and Iran, the key supporters of President Bashar al-Assad's Damascus-based regime, consolidating their military occupation of Syria. Their clear intention is to make it impossible for their interests to be displaced from those parts of the country that matter to them, namely Damascus and the two corridors that connect first west to Lebanon and Hezbollah and then northwest via Homs to the Tartous and Lattakia provinces on the Mediterranean.
Russia has its naval base at Tartous and its airbase at Hmeimim south of Lattakia, converted from the former Basil al-Assad airport, from which it flies all its sorties Aleppo and the rest of the country.
New infrastructure is being built around the airbase to accommodate Russian servicemen. Now it has been announced that Russian companies will be investing in Syria's electricity and tourism industries in Tartous and Lattakia provinces, by setting up electrical generators and supplying houses and factories direct according to their needs. Syrian contractors had sought to do the same in the past but were turned down. Russian-financed hotels and chalets are being built along the coast near Jableh and Lattakia and in the summer hill resorts of Slunfeh and Kasab, as well as Qardaha, Assad's home village, as part of the tourism drive which is seeking to draw visitors under the slogan "Syria Always Beautiful". Exact locations are decided based on recommendations from Assad's security services and the presidential palace. Bit by bit Syria is being sold off to Putin's Russian mafia friends, while Syrian investors are being frozen out.
Meanwhile in Damascus Iran is making sure its interests are secured, the latest announcement being a new "coordination office" ostensibly to bring together the Sunni and Shia ideologies, but financed by Iran and located in the dominantly Shi'a quarter of Al-Amin in the walled Old City. Under Bashar al-Assad's presidency an unprecedented 15 Iranian seminaries have been set up inside Syria, now with over 5,000 Shi'a students mainly from Iran, Iraq and Lebanon. The first public Shi'a rituals took place in Damascus in 2005 with the "Kerbala March" along the main Old City artery of Medhat Basha, the biblical Street Called Straight. The spread of Shi'ism in Syria however goes back to Bashar's father Hafez al-Assad when the first Shi'a seminary was set up in 1976 near the Sayyida Zainab shrine in Midan, south Damascus, still the most important Shi'a shrine in the country. Its founder, one Hassan Mehdi al-Shirazi who had fled Saddam Hussein's Iraq in 1975, made himself useful to Hafez al-Assad by issuing a fatwa that "every Shi'ite is an Alawite doctrinally and every Alawite is a Shi'ite in ideology."
With every week that passes, Syria is being sold off to the regime's supporters. Russia and Iran are digging their tentacles deeper and deeper into Syrian soil, even altering the local demographic in their favour by resettling their own people in areas evacuated under "starve or surrender" sieges, as in Homs and Darayya.
Cushioned by Russian and Iranian support, Assad sleeps well in his bed while the West, the UN and the international community express righteous "outrage" at the bombing of aid convoys but little else. They are powerless to change the dynamic on the ground, leaving ordinary Syrians in despair that their country can ever return to the single entity that it was pre-2011.
Relevant articles:
http://syrianobserver.com/EN/Features/31646/New_Stage_Submission_Lattakia_Electricity_Coastal_Tourism_Russian_Custody/
http://syrianobserver.com/EN/Features/31645/Damascus_Iranian_Operations_Room_Spread_Shiism/
Vladimir Putin resurrects the KGB
http://europe.newsweek.com/russia-plans-permanent-naval-base-syria-tartus-tension-airstrikes-508436?rm=eu
http://www.syria-report.com/news/economy/iran-visit-seeks-enhance-bilateral-business-ties
http://syrianobserver.com/EN/Features/31800/Ashoura_Damascus_Publications_Farsi_Children_Flogging_Selves_Streets/
Posted in Iran, Russia, Syria, Uncategorized and tagged Assad, Iran, Lattakia, Russia, Shia, Tartous
Aleppo, the endgame
Syria's civil war came late to Aleppo. It was July 2012. But after four years of bitter bloodshed between its regime-held west and rebel east, the beating heart of Syria's commercial and industrial capital has entered cardiac arrest. The Castello Road, last rebel artery north towards the Turkish border, has been choked off by President Assad's forces backed by Russian air support, Lebanese Hezbollah and Iranian government militia. Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah last month declared Syria's "real, strategic, greatest battle is in Aleppo and the surrounding area."
Aleppo is no stranger to sieges – there have been at least eight recorded across its turbulent history. But this one promises to last longer than all the others put together.
Many of the 400,000 unfortunates trapped inside expect to suffocate and slowly starve as extortionately-priced food, medicine and fuel supplies are systematically blocked. Some will die before then from the Syrian and Russian government barrel-bombing. Latterly supplemented by incendiary cluster munitions burning to 2,500 Centigrade, the bombers are steadily eradicating schools, hospitals and markets from above with impunity. Months of such punishment lie ahead for Aleppo, as the stage is prepared for the Syrian endgame, a game the rebels look doomed to lose, along with their entire anti-Assad revolution.
Aleppo's dramas have gone largely unnoticed by Europe and the West, preoccupied with their own dramas closer to home – the Nice attacks, the US shootings, the Turkish coup attempt, the Brexit fallout. Last week's OPCW report accused the Syrian government of failing to declare its stocks of sarin and other illegal warfare agents for the Russian-brokered 2013 chemical weapons deal: it raised barely a murmur in the western media.
Syria's moderate opposition groups have suffered years of broken promises of support from the international community. Myriad proclamations of "Assad must go" were followed by handwringing from the sidelines. But even the rebels were not prepared for the latest twist that took place in Moscow a few days ago when John Kerry agreed with Sergei Lavrov to coordinate US-Russian military strikes on ISIS and Syria's Al-Qaeda-affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra.
Nusra's aim has always been to set up Islamic emirates inside Syria, an ideology at odds with Syria's FSA-linked moderate opposition, yet the two have often found themselves allies of convenience in the fight against Assad. The dynamics of the battlefield are such that, were Nusra to withdraw their military support or be targeted, the FSA rebels would be left even more vulnerable to attack. North of Aleppo they are already battling on three fronts – against ISIS, the Kurds and the Syrian regime. In Aleppo itself there is no ISIS presence and very little Nusra either – yet civilians on the ground do not trust the bombs will stop simply because of the new US-Russian deal.
Destabilising factors
In Turkey the climate is also changing. Heavily destabilised by a series of ISIS and Kurdish PKK attacks, the subsequent collapse of its tourist industry, the absorption since 2011 of two million Syrian refugees and then by last week's coup attempt, even Turkey, once solidly pro-rebel, is talking of future 'normalising' of relations. Like Europe and the US, it has too many problems at home to worry about Syria.
But therein lies the biggest danger. The international community is forgetting that all these destabilising factors – the surge of refugees, the exporting of ISIS terrorism and Jabhat al-Nusra extremism – have been incubating undisturbed inside Syria for the last five years. The link between our inertia and their rise was denied, leaving Syrian civilians little option but to flee. Thousands more will follow once the new US-Russian deal 'legitimises' the bombing.
Aleppo is no stranger to refugees. Across the centuries it welcomed many, as has Syria. Some were Christians escaping persecution from fellow Christians in Europe. Aleppo has long been multi-cultural, a complex mix of Kurds, Iranians, Turkmens, Armenians and Circassians overlaid on an Arab base in which multi-denominational churches and mosques still share the space.
While the West obsesses about fighting ISIS and Nusra, this colourful tapestry of Aleppo's innately tolerant population is being shredded. Despair will inevitably drive some to copy the extremists. If we help stop the fighting, extremism will become impotent and disappear. But if we turn away and leave Aleppo's wounds to fester, the infection will spread back to us in an even more virulent form.
This article was published on the BBC website 22 July 2016 in the following format:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/a-doctors-plea-to-president-obama-please-act-to-save-civilians/2016/07/21/092e081a-4f42-11e6-aa14-e0c1087f7583_story.html
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jul/27/dozens-dead-in-syria-bomb-blast-qamishli
https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/news/2016/7/28/syrian-rebels-offered-amnesty-as-regime-tightens-aleppo-siege
Posted in Syria, Uncategorized and tagged Aleppo, Aleppo siege, ISIS, refugees, Russia, Syria, Turkey, US
Banias – case study of a Middle East boundary dispute
In the complex world of Middle Eastern boundary disputes, spare a thought for Banias, ancient City of Pan. Its location in the Golan Heights beside a water source on a strategic crossroads has condemned it to a history of tug and war for over 2000 years.
The settlement was based on the spring at the foot of Mt Hermon on whose summit, according to an Arab proverb, it is winter, on whose shoulders it is autumn, on whose flanks spring blossoms and at whose feet eternal summer reigns. The spring forms the Banias Stream, key tributary of the Jordan River, which then flows into the Sea of Galilee, Israel's largest reservoir.
First to settle here and worship the divinity of the springs were the Canaanites (Joshua XI, 16-17). Then in 198BC it was the scene of the Battle of Panium between the Macedonian armies of Ptolemaic Egypt and the Seleucid Greeks of Syria whose elephants won the day. To commemorate their victory they built a temple to Pan, goat-footed god of nature and wild things, creator of panic in the enemy. The local name became Paneas, the origin of modern Banias – Arabic has no 'p', so uses 'b' as the closest sound.
The Romans renamed it Caesarea Philippi (4BC – 43AD), after the son of Herod the Great, and the city was rich in biblical associations. Here it was that Jesus told Peter he would be the Rock of the Church and be given the keys of the kingdom of Heaven (Matthew XVI, 13-18).
Conflicts continued here between the pagan tradition and Christianity, then between Christians and Muslims. Under the Crusaders the site was known as Belinas and on the hills above, an hour's walk away, they built the imposing Subeiba Castle, today called Nimrod, which still dominates the pass leading up towards Damascus. A Christian sanctuary dedicated to St George was built above the grotto, whom the Muslims called Al-Khidr (the'green one') and later converted into a mosque. Today it is maintained by the local Syrian Druze of the Golan.
After World War I Banias found itself contested by both the British Mandate over Palestine and the French Mandate over Syria. Britain wanted to retain control of the whole Jordan water system, while France wanted total control of the route linking Damascus and the Golan to Tyre on the Lebanese coast. The case of Banias was among the compromises reached, where Britain agreed for the line to be drawn 750 metres south of the springs so that it fell to the French. The French Mandate came to an end in 1946 and Syria gained its independence as a state within the same borders.
When the state of Israel was created in 1948 without the agreement of its Arab neighbours, the stage was once again set for conflict. Israel insisted on control of the Jordan headwaters, but Syrian troops refused to withdraw from Banias. Israel began work in 1951 on a channel to drain the nearby Huleh swamps, bulldozing Arab villages that lay in the way, so Syria reinforced its military presence. A swimming area on the stream is still called the 'Syrian Officers' Pool.'
Throughout the 1950s and 60s Syrian and Israeli units attacked and counter-attacked, each determined to take control of the vital snowmelt from Mt Hermon. Israel announced a plan to divert the water from the Banias stream into its National Water Carrier, and Syria countered with a plan to build a canal from Banias to Yarmouk. When the heavy machinery moved in to start on the project, Israeli guns destroyed them.
In June 1967 the penultimate day of the Six Day War saw Israeli tanks storm into Banias in breach of a UN ceasefire accepted by Syria hours earlier. Israeli general Moshe Dayan had decided to act unilaterally and take the Golan. The Arab villagers fled to the Syrian Druze village of Majdal Shams higher up the mountain, where they waited. After seven weeks, abandoning hope of return, the villagers dispersed east into Syria.
Israeli bulldozers raised their homes to the ground a few months later, bringing to an end two millenia of life in Banias. Only the mosque, the church and the shrines were spared, along with the Ottoman house of the shaykh perched high atop its Roman foundations. Within days Israeli volunteers began building on the banks of the river, creating Kibbutz Snir, the first Israeli settlement on the Golan. In 1981 Israel annexed the Golan Heights in an illegal move unrecognised by any state but international law remained impotent. No foreign power dared intervene.
Since 2003 Israel's confidence has increased and the Golan is now covered in scores of settlements, while dozens of hotels offering settler-made 'Chateau Golan' serve as weekend getaways for Israeli city elites. A ski resort has been built on Mt Hermon. Tourist websites refer to 'Israel's Golan Heights' and all local maps show it as part of Israel.
As for Banias, now emptied of residents, the site has been incorporated into one of Israel's many 'nature reserves' on the Golan. Four walking trails have been neatly laid out in loops around the ancient city, its springs and its waterfalls. The souvenir shop sells T-shirts emblazoned with 'Israeli Air Force' and 'Mossad'.
Explanatory signs give the Israeli version of history.
The free leaflet that accompanies the entry ticket explains Banias is now 'a perfect place to understand the pagan world of the Land of Israel and Phoenicia'. On the map, the basilica has become a synagogue, the Ottoman shaykh's house has become 'Corner Tower' and the Syrian Officers' Pool is simply 'Officers' Pool.'
History in Banias has been rewritten once more. But is this the final version or are there more chapters to come?
(This piece also appeared in Aeon digital magazine as below):
https://aeon.co/ideas/how-modern-disputes-have-reshaped-the-ancient-city-of-banias
Posted in Israel, Syria, Uncategorized and tagged Banias, Boundary disputes, British Mandate, French Mandate, Golan Heights, Israel, Six Day War, Syria
Schizophrenia in Damascus
Nothing in Damascus was as expected. Convinced there would be food shortages, I had vowed to eat very little during my stay. Yet while the besieged suburbs are starving, the central food markets are overflowing.
The fruit stalls of Sharia al-Amin boast bananas from Somalia, the Bzouriye spice markets are buoyant with top-quality saffron from Iran and walnuts from Afghanistan. Lebanese wine and beer are freely available. Prices are higher than before, but still largely affordable for most people.
Sandwiched between the heavily-armed checkpoints, street stands selling thick hot Aleppan sakhlab, a sweet white drink, are everywhere.
Cafes and pastry shops are bursting with sticky delicacies, the famous Bakdash ice-cream parlour is buzzing with people as ever.
To judge from the carpets of cigarette butts on the pavements, smoking rates, always high, are higher than ever. In the main thoroughfare of Souq al-Hamidiya all the usual clothes and flamboyant underwear outlets are still thronging with customers – not a single boarded shopfront – quite a contrast to the average British high street.
Sporadically, in the days as well as the nights, shelling is disturbingly loud, but strangely offstage.
President Bashar al-Assad's artillery is fired from Mount Qassioun, directly above the city, towards the eastern Ghouta region – the scene of last year's chemical attack, whose pockets of resistance are still a thorn in the side of the government. Villages there have suffered a food blockade for the last 18 months.
But by all accounts there is much less noise than there was a year ago.
Mount Qassioun, seen across the rooftops of Damascus
From that point of view, very gradually, life in central Damascus is getting better. Yet from other points of view, just as gradually, it is getting worse.
Beyond the 3.5 million who have fled the country as refugees, a further 7.5 million have been internally displaced – added together that accounts for half of Syria's entire population. Homes which are left empty, if they have not been flattened, are vulnerable to immediate seizure by others – usually the owners have no idea who has moved in and it is too dangerous to go back and find out.
Almost as often, but rarely reported, Syrian homes are taken by profiteers, exploiting the weak or the absent.
My own house in the Muslim quarter of the Old City of Damascus, bought and restored in 2005, fell victim a few months ago.
It had been lived in for more than two years, from the summer of 2012 to the summer of 2014, with my consent by displaced friends whose homes had been destroyed in the suburbs. Now they had been evicted by my ex-lawyer and the previous owner conniving together to take it for themselves and split it 50:50.
Determined to get it back I recently returned to Damascus to throw them out and after 15 roller-coaster days, I succeeded. Things can happen surprisingly fast in Syria. You go to meet the judge one day, and he comes to inspect the house the next – without payment.
A blacksmith made a new metal door to cover the smashed antique one.
Among the many moments of high drama were two break-ins, six changes of lock, the installation of two metal doors and the exposure of the bogus security reports which had led to my friends being evicted in the first place.
Bit parts were played by a fake general on a forged 25-year lease, and a Baathist single mother in the house with her newborn baby. It was with her that I felt most threatened by violence.
But in some ways life goes on almost as normal: dining with one friend in her 50s, whose car was lost in a random mortar attack, she explains how she now accompanies her 16-year-old nephew by taxi to play in the orchestra at the Opera House to make sure he is not picked up and enlisted into the army. At the checkpoints she clutches his cello between her legs so that the soldiers will not take it.
Checkpoints and road blocks, such as this one in Yusuf al-Azma Square, are a common sight
Another friend works for the national electricity grid: his job is to repair electric cables damaged in the clashes. Over lunch at his home with his family, he tells me how one of his team stepped on a mine and was blasted to pieces in front of him – the man next to him had his eyes blown out.
He himself was lucky, escaping only with shrapnel in his intestine. He spent two weeks in hospital, two weeks at home recuperating, then went straight back to work. His attitude is simple: anyone who damages Syrian infrastructure is hurting the Syrian people.
The alleys of the Old City are full of children playing football. Many go to the school round the corner from my house.
Such is the overcrowding – some say Damascus's population has risen from four to seven million because of internally displaced refugees – that their school-day is from 11:00 to 15:00, with one shift before them and another shift after them. They have 50 to 60 in their class but their enthusiasm to learn and to do their homework is undiminished.
The only other foreigners I saw on the streets were Iraqi Shia, men and women led round in groups to visit the shrines by a man wielding an orange lollipop sign.
When I met an old friend at the tourism ministry who still works at his office every day, he explained how this kind of religious tourism is now all they have left, some 200,000 pilgrims a year, after 8.2 million foreign visitors in 2010. He expresses no political views – he is just someone who has chosen to stay and do his job as best he can, like millions of others.
All over the country, even in ISIS-held Raqqa, I was reliably informed, government employees now draw their salaries direct from cash points on specific days, causing long queues outside the banks.
For the last two nights when I was finally able to sleep in my house in Old Damascus I experienced what everyone else has to suffer on a daily basis – scarcely four hours of electricity a day, no gas, no hot water, limited cold water.
It was tough, yet strangely invigorating, crossing the chilly courtyard to wash in a dribble of icy water, warmed by the knowledge I was surrounded by loyal neighbours who were looking out for me. Without them I could never have retaken my house: they protected me, helped me at every turn.
A crisis brings out the worst and the best in people. What I found in Damascus was that a genuine kindness, a shared humanity and an extraordinary sense of humour are well and truly alive. Decent Syrian citizens are together doing their best to fight against immorality and corruption. Morale, in spite of everything, is high. Laughter keeps them sane.
Not once did anyone mention sectarianism. "DA'ESH" (the Arabic acronym for ISIS used across the Middle East) was universally condemned as beyond the pale.
How much longer, as the war approaches its fifth year and the number of greedy opportunists in society increases, such neighbourhood camaraderie can survive is an unanswerable question. But after this fortnight in Damascus I am more optimistic than before.
Diana Darke, Middle East cultural expert and Arabic speaker, is the author of My House in Damascus: An Inside View of the Syrian Revolution, new 2015 edition now available as paperback and e-book from:
http://www.bookhaus.co.uk/shopexd.asp?id=11301
http://www.amazon.co.uk/My-House-Damascus-Inside-Revolution/dp/190832399X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1421401514&sr=8-1&keywords=9781908323996
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-30494989
Posted in Syria, Uncategorized and tagged DAESH, Damascus, My House in Damascus, Old City of Damascus, Raqqa
The paradox of Iran and its links with Syria
How fitting it is that Iranian President Hassan Rouhani should have used his Twitter account to announce last month's historic meeting with UK Prime Minister David Cameron: "1st meeting b/w UK & Iran heads of state in 35 years: 1 hour of constructive & pragmatic dialogue, new outlook #UNGA" the tweet boasted, attaching a photo to prove it, of the pair engaged in earnest dialogue. A week later the brief warming in relations was over, as Rouhani criticised Cameron for calling Iran 'part of the problem in the Middle East'; Tehran headlines again referred to Britain as 'the old fox.'
What is the Iranian leadership aiming for, in its apparent new accessibility, its seeming new willingness to talk and engage with western governments? How seriously should we take Iran's 'new outlook', as the UK joins the US-led air strikes against ISIS in Iraq (and possibly Syria in future), a fight in which Iran's help will, sooner or later, almost certainly be needed?
In Twitter-silent Iran, it was the silence of the ordinary Iranian people that struck me most. After the failed Green Revolution of 2009 in which around 100 protesters were killed and over 4,000 arrested, most Iranians learned to be silent – unlike the Syrians. Ordinary Iranians admire the courage of ordinary Syrians. "We gave up when we saw how the regime reacted, but they continued."
The gulf between the Iranian people and their regime is striking. Rouhani's smiling face and his carefully managed tweets project one image of Iran to the West, but conditions inside the country tell a very different story. Far from opening up, Iran is busily clamping down on its own people. Since Rouhani took office in August 2013 executions have been on the rise, more than 400 in the first half of 2014 alone according to the NGO Iran Human Rights (to give perspective, Saudi Arabia managed a mere 79 last year). Two gay men were publicly hanged in August for consensual sodomy; in recent weeks '91 lashes' were meted out to unveiled Iranians dancing in a YouTube video, and a British-Iranian woman was charged with 'propaganda against the Iranian regime' for attending a male volley-ball match. Iran's hard-line ruling elite back home is determined to suppress any kind of resistance, fearful that, were they to allow greater freedoms in Iranian society, a wave of dissent might rise up and engulf them. Rouhani recently declared his view that internet controls and tight restrictions on women's headscarves do not work – but will the anti-reformist clerics take any notice?
Iran is not a particularly religious country, given the power of the mullahs. The call to prayer is muted – it took three days till I heard the first one – and mosques are places more to sleep than pray.
Shrines on the other hand are crowded, thanks to a superstition that throwing a few notes or coins through the grille of a holy man's tomb will resolve life's problems. "We never did Islam the way the Arabs wanted us to," grinned a helpful bystander inside the segregated women's area, confirming what my Syrian friends in Damascus had always told me about the Iranian pilgrims who thronged the city in their all-black chadors. "They are pretending. Underneath they are just on holiday."
Painted high on random buildings within view of the main highways the faces of Ayatollah Khomeini and the current Supreme Leader Khamenei smile down on their subjugated flock like a pair of benevolent dictators.
Closer questioning reveals that maybe some 10-15% of the population is tied into supporting the regime for their own economic reasons. Iran is at heart a trading nation. Its entire history has been built on centuries of skilful bartering. Visit any Iranian city and the bazaar is the central nervous system, the driver of the economy. The bazaaris and the clergy were enabled by the 1979 Iranian Revolution to preserve the traditional positions of power threatened by the Shah and his corruption. They do not want to lose this power now through relaxing their grip and allowing Western influence and culture to take over. They rail against the evils of the Western model – drug abuse, family breakdown, immoral behaviour – yet the paradox is that these have all increased on their watch inside Iran anyway, thanks to unemployment, poverty and their own corruption.
Iran is said to have one of the highest rates of drug addiction in the world at 5% of the population, the divorce rate is soaring in the cities where most people now live and prostitution is so rife that even the regime itself mentions it as a problem. And the solution of the hardline clerics? More floggings.
Iran's demographic is suffering from a 'Japanese curve'. After 1979 Khomeini encouraged everyone to have many children, resulting in a baby boomer generation. But the middle classes of that generation, now in their mid-30s, are the ones most excluded from influence, struggling with unemployment and deprivation. The average birth rate has plummeted to one child per family, partly because of women's education, but also for affordability reasons. Worried that this is not enough to sustain the aging population, the regime is offering financial incentives for people to have more children, incentives which are not working: couples say it is still too expensive.
Most Iranians now live in cities, meaning that traditional barriers are breaking down as different groupings find themselves living side by side. Sunni-Shi'a intermarriage is becoming commoner, much to the horror of the mullahs. In schools the clergy controls the syllabus, with Islamic religious education forming a bigger element of the day's lessons than any other country in the world, leaving less time for other subjects. Iran's brightest and best are leaving the country.
For those who stay there are subtle ways of showing opposition and Iran has these in abundance. The BBC is banned, yet the BBC's Farsi channel is the most watched, while Iranian state TV offerings on religion and wildlife languish. Facebook is blocked yet 58% of Iranians circumvent the ban, gmail accounts were till recently banned yet 63% of Iranians use gmail as their preferred email address. Women, for the last ten years or so accounting for more university graduates than men, show passive resistance through pushing the boundaries on Islamic dress, so that in Shiraz, Iran's most liberal city, the mandatory headscarf is worn tantalisingly far back to reveal a full head of hair, with figure-hugging brightly coloured jackets leaving nothing to the imagination.
So how, in the face of such contradictions, has the political clergy of the Islamic Republic managed to retain its power and control? The answer lies in its ever-increasing dependence on its various law enforcement forces, above all SEPAH and the Basij – another parallel with Syria. SEPAH is the Iranian Revolutionary Guard set up in 1979 to preserve the Islamic nature of the revolution and to pre-empt a military coup or foreign interference, while the Basij is the volunteer militia under its control, numbering up to one million. To cement the loyalty of SEPAH and the Basij, the clerical elite has permitted them to enrich themselves through mafia-style smuggling rackets operating across the Straits of Hormuz to the UAE – shades of Syria again where Assad's shabiha control the contraband routes through the ports of Lattakia and Tartous. A multi-billion dollar empire has grown up, transparent to ordinary Iranians who follow world affairs closely. Banned from Twitter, most use SMS, sending each other jokes by text message based on the news of the day. SEPAH and the Basij are particular targets, with messages like: 'How much do you think SEPAH will charge the mullahs for smuggled fridges? Reply: About five prostitutes a day for a month should do it,' and 'How many Basij fighters do you reckon are now in Syria? Reply: I don't know, but a lot more than in Iran,' and 'Who runs Syria these days? Reply: Iran of course!'
The highly experienced Iranian commander of the Quds Force (special operations division of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard), Major General Qassem Suleimani, has since early 2013 been masterminding the Assad regime's fight against its rebels, sending advisers into Syria, helping bolster depleted ammunition/weapons supplies and re-train Syrian government troops. With consummate skill, he created the 60,000-strong National Defence Force (NDF) in Syria, modelled on the Basij, ostensibly to protect local neighbourhoods, in practice to exploit them and run smuggling rackets.
President Bashar al-Assad with the caption: 'We pledge allegiance to you with blood forever.' Blood drips from the words 'with blood'.
Rouhani is an ace negotiator and will feign flexibility while holding tight to his position. He knows that time pressure is on his side: the West needs him now in its fight against ISIS and he has till 24 November to reach a nuclear deal. The conditions are perfect for extracting concessions from the West, and of one thing we may be sure: the Iranian governing elite will do nothing that rocks the status quo domestically, nothing that interferes with its ability to enrich itself. Embassies may open in London and Tehran, cooperation over ISIS in Iraq (though not in Syria) may be forthcoming when its own border region is threatened, but the Iranian regime, SEPAH and the Basij will remain umbilically connected, to each other and to the Syrian regime. Their collective survival is at stake and their loyalty to each other is not negotiable.
Looking back at Rouhani's Twitter account, I am struck by the fact that, set against his 257K followers, he is only following six people, one of which is his own Iranian language account. The others are Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, Ayatollah Rafsanjani, Ayatollah Khatami, his own Foreign Minister Javad Zarif and his own Vice President and Environment Minister the heavily headscarved Massoumeh Ebtekar – not exactly a broad range of opinion. All of which confirms that however much Rouhani smiles abroad, at home he is beholden to his hard-line masters.
Diana Darke, author of My House in Damascus: An Inside View of the Syrian Revolution (Haus, 2014),http://www.amazon.co.uk/My-House-Damascus-Inside-Revolution/dp/1908323647 has recently returned from an extensive tour of Iran arranged through Travel the Unknown www.traveltheunknown.com.
Shi'a prayer tablets made from the mud of Kerbala
Related media:
http://gatesofnineveh.wordpress.com/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/fooc/all (From Our Own Correspondent of 18 October 2014, starts at 17.25 mins)
Posted in Iran, Syria, Uncategorized and tagged Assad, Basij, BBC, Iran, Iranian Revolutionary Guard, IRG, Khomeini, Quds Force, Rouhani, SEPAH, Syria, Twitter, women | Leave a comment
Syrian Literary Festivals
This October My House in Damascus: An Inside View of the Syrian Revolution will be featured in three literary festivals: Cheltenham, Henley and Wimbledon. Full details below with booking via their websites.
First, on Saturday 4 October 2014 at Cheltenham:
http://www.cheltenhamfestivals.com/literature/whats-on/2014/present-tense-syria/
In association with Waterstones
Literature, 3-12 October 2014 Tickets On Sale To Members
FESTIVAL GUIDE
VISIT & BOOKING INFO
PRESENT TENSE: SYRIA
QUICKFIND L066
SAT 4 OCT 2014 9:00PM – 10:00PM
THE STUDIO, IMPERIAL SQUARE
£8 – MEMBERS 10% OFF
If you are a member then login to book your tickets, if you're not a member then find out how to become a member and get access to priority booking.
Public booking opens on Mon 01 Sep at 12:00pm
FEES & BOOKING INFO
Anthony Loyd, The Times war correspondent who was recently injured reporting from Syria, evaluates the Syrian crisis with Diana Darke, author of My House in Damascus, and questions what might happen next.
All Literature events
Cheltenham Festivals
Box Office 0844 880 8094
General Enquiriesboxoffice@cheltenhamfestivals.com
Second, on Sunday 5 October 2014 at the Henley Literary Festival:
http://henleyliteraryfestival.co.uk/diana-darke-and-ramita-navai/
Diana Darke and Ramita Navai
1pm Town Hall £7
Two journalists share their experiences of two of the world's most troubled cities. Diana's
My House in Damascus looks at Syria's history and politics, but also its society and secrets.
Written from the unique perspective of an Arabic-speaking British woman, she became
deeply embedded in all levels of Syrian society when she bought and restored a house in
Damascus. In September 2012, she offered her house as a sanctuary to Syrian friends and up
to 40 people continue to find refuge there today. She has lived and travelled in the Middle
East for over 30 years. In City of Lies Ramita, an Emmy-winning British-Iranian journalist and
former Times Tehran correspondent, takes us to Tehran, a city that is hidden from view and
rarely written about, where survival depends on an intricate network of lies and subterfuge.
This is a world of gangsters, socialites, dutiful housewives and volunteer militiamen –
ordinary people forced to lead extraordinary lives.
Third, Wimbledon Bookfest, on Saturday 11 October 2014:
http://www.wimbledonbookfest.org/Events/Events2014/MyHouseinDamascusDianaDarke.aspx
My House in Damascus
Sat 11th October 4.30pm
William Morris Tent
In her illustrated talk Diana Darke provides a human context to the revolution and explains how it lost its way and why Syria was always going to be different to other 'Arab-Spring' countries.
Woven into the story of buying and restoring an ancient courtyard house in the heart of Old Damascus are layer upon layer of Syrian history, philosophy, art and architecture. The richness and diversity of Syrian society are explored, while its natural creativity and humour are revealed through its characters.
Diana Darke is a fluent Arabic speaker and has specialised in the Middle East for over 30 years. She is is a contributor to the Guardian, the Financial Times and the BBC.
Posted in Syria, Uncategorized and tagged Cheltenham Literary Festival, Damascus, Henley Literary Festival, My House in Damascus, October 2014, Syria, Wimbledon Bookfest
Saving #Syria's Cultural Heritage – how to help
Bricking up the 13th century prayer niche of the Halawiye Madrasa, Aleppo
Little known and little recognised, groups of Syrians inside Syria are working together to try to save the destruction of their country's cultural identity. Confronted with the inertia of the international community, the occasional statement and handwringing from UNESCO and the Syrian government's own narrative presenting itself as the custodian of the country's rich treasures, these groups are taking matters into their own hands. A mix of academics, archaeologists, students and ordinary citizens with a deep love for their country, they have almost no funding and most are volunteers.
Protecting the tomb of the Prophet Zachariah, inside the Aleppo Great Mosque
A recent study (by Heritage for Peace see link below) has shown that 38 organisations are involved worldwide in efforts to highlight the damage to Syria's cultural heritage, including the big names like UNESCO, Blue Shield, the Global Heritage Fund, the World Monument Fund, ICCROM and ICOMOS. The overwhelming majority are talking shops, gathering data and posting it online. They are largely based outside Syria and function only through the official channel of the Syrian Directorate-General of Museums and Antiquities (DGAM) which in turn only functions in the regime-held areas of the country. Of these 38 organisations, 14 have been formed since 2011 specifically in response to the Syrian crisis, mainly from volunteer groups. Only six of the organisations are Syrian, working on the ground inside the country, and of these only three that we are aware of are taking pro-active, pre-emptive measures to protect ancient buildings. It is a chronic state of affairs, but such is their commitment to doing whatever they can that they are prepared sometimes even to risk their lives in order to protect and save their cultural identity.
Bricking up Zachariah's Tomb, Aleppo Great Mosque
Aleppo, once Syria's largest and richest city, is where such actions have been most prevalent. The Division of Antiquities of the Free Council of Aleppo was founded in 2013 and has sandbagged and walled up the precious sundial in the Aleppo Great Umayyad Mosque, and bricked up its shrine of the Prophet Zachariah. With the help of the Tawhid Brigade from the Free Syrian Army, they have dismantled its 12th century wooden mihrab for safe-keeping away from the front line.
The Syrian Association for Preserving Heritage and Ancient Landmarks was founded in Aleppo in 2013. Its members, many of them archaeology students from Aleppo University, at considerable risk to themselves, saved the stones from the fallen minaret of the Great Umayyad Mosque and have put them safely elsewhere awaiting reconstruction after the war. They also helped the Free Council of Aleppo with protecting the sundial and removing the mihrab.
Protecting the sundial in the courtyard of the Aleppo Great Mosque
The Association for the Protection of Syrian Archaeology (APSA) was founded in 2012 in Strasbourg by a group of Syrian archaeologists and journalists. Together with collaborators on the ground they have compiled an extensive website cataloguing the damage (www.apsa2011.com) and have also held short workshops in Turkey's Gaziantep to train Syrians in techniques of how to record damage and how to carry out simple protection measures.
Syrian aircraft dropping barrel bombs to dislodge refugees sheltering in the Byzantine Dead City of Shanshara, near Al-Bara, Idlib Province
An APSA team goes to document the damage at the Dead City of Shanshara, part of the UNESCO World Heritage site inscribed in June 2011, near Al-Bara and Kafaranbel, Idlib Province
All of this work goes unrewarded financially and unrecognised internationally. Syria's concentration and range of cultural heritage sites far exceed that of neighbouring Iraq. Yet while Iraq benefited from a UN resolution in 2003 after the US invasion banning trade in its antiquities, the Syrian case has been largely ignored, complicated by politics. Stepping up to the challenge, the Global Heritage Fund UK has recently agreed to help by acting as a channel for funds for anyone who would like to help support this work. The sums involved are small by the standards of international organisations. But international organisations like UNESCO cannot operate inside Syria without the permission of the Syrian government – a permission which has not been forthcoming.
APSA is looking to raise £32,000. So far they have raised £6,400. If each of the 624,000 people who clicked to view the recent BBC feature highlighting the problem (see below) had been able to contribute just £1, the target could have been met 20 times over.
Anyone who would like to do something tangible to help can contact cgiangrande@globalheritage fund.org, or use the donation form below. Even small amounts will make a huge difference. Handwringing and nostalgia, alas, do not.
Global Heritage Fund – 2014DonationFormV2
Click to access Towards-a-protection-of-the-Syrian-cultural-heritage.pdf
http://www.apsa2011.com/index.php/en/
Presentation given on 30 June by Diana Darke and Zahed Tajeddin to the Global Heritage Fund UK on saving Syria's Cultural Heritage
Posted in Iraq, Syria, Uncategorized and tagged Aleppo, Aleppo Great Mosque, APSA, Damascus, Free Syrian Army, Global Heritage Fund UK, Iraq, Syria, UNESCO, Zachariah's Tomb
Dreams of a better #Syria
Refreshment for passers-by, Souk Al-Hamadiye, Damascus [DD]
Review as published in The Times Literary Supplement June 20, 2014 by Gerald Butt
http://www.the-tls.co.uk/tls/public/article1423819.ece
"Diana Darke's My House in Damascus: An Inside View of the Syrian Revolution is written with the pace of a novel and the colour of the best travel writing. The book hangs on the author's purchase and refurbishment of a house with a courtyard in the Old City of Damascus in 2005 – and all the insights that the legal and bureaucratic battles gave her into Syrian society, echoing in this sense Lawrence Durrell's Bitter Lemons. But the book offers much more than a personal memoir: it is an eclectic but learned encyclopedia of Syrian history, of the Arabs and their language and traditions, of Islamic art and architecture, and more.
Darke, fluent in Arabic and an authority on Syria, befriends Syrians who, well before 2011, are surviving as best they can in an atmosphere of fear, of "plainclothes policemen, the dreaded mukhabarat, looking grim and brutal in their black leather jackets". A Syrian tells her: "You must understand. They can arrest me any time they want, throw me in prison. My family would never even know where I was or whether they would ever see me again."
In the face of such repression, one can understand why the revolution against Ba'athist rule erupted. But that does not make it easy to predict how it will end. Some of the most insightful passages of Darke's book describe the dilemma faced by the silent majority of Syrians whose views are least represented in the foreign media. They feel unable or unwilling to choose between the two extremes on offer: the regime or the rebels. This partly explains why, she writes, so many Syrians felt compelled to flee the country: "Had there been a moderate alternative in the middle, a carrot so obviously juicier and bigger than the others, all parties would surely have chosen it long ago." Instead, the distance between the two extremes is growing. The worsening violence and intimidation in Damascus eventually forced the author, too, to give up her beloved house and leave the country. Since September 2012 the building has served as a refuge for her displaced friends.
Darke muses finally on what must happen for Syria to emerge from the current nightmare. She imagines, for example, a second revolution to secure the middle ground. But for this to succeed, she says, everyone must forget that the first revolution began with peaceful protests, and they must forgive regime troops for gunning down unarmed protesters. "Maybe I am a hopeless dreamer", she concludes. Hopeless or not, she is right in her assessment that a solution to the Syria crisis still resides only in the realm of dreams."
Carefree child playing the courtyard of the Umayyad Mosque, June 2010 [DD]
Posted in Syria, Uncategorized and tagged Bitter Lemons, Lawrence Durrell, mukhabarat, My House in Damascus, Old City of Damascus, Syria, Syrian revolution | Leave a comment


The town of Sventoji is undoubtedly one of the most popular holiday towns in Lithuania, especially for families. The town boasts the beauty of wide white sand beaches and dunes, pine forests, and the Sventoji river. Despite its small population (2,000 people), the resort has an excellent tourist infrastructure. All shops, pharmacies, transportation, and other services are open for business seven days a week during the summer season.
The holiday town of Sventoji and its surrounding areas offer many additional opportunities for outdoor activities and attractions, like museums, monuments, parks, stables, swimming pools, country houses and baths, family entertainment centers, outdoor tennis courts, and other spots. The resort town of Palanga is located just 7.5 miles (12 km) from the Holiday resort, while the port of Klaipeda is 25 miles (40 km) away and offers exciting leisure opportunities.


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Zilker Botanical Garden 2220 Barton Springs Rd
Zilker Park: Austin's Crown Jewel/Zilker Botanical Garden
Written By Austin Parks and Recreation
We work to inspire Austin to learn, play, protect and connect by creating diverse programs and experiences in sustainable natural spaces and public places.
In 1962, space was allotted in Zilker Park for a garden. Since then, the Zilker Botanical Gardens has expanded to over 25 acres and eight separately themed spaces. Thirty-one local clubs help tend to the gardens, which aim to foster environmental education.
Located just south of Lady Bird Lake, Zilker Botanical Garden, "the jewel in the heart of Austin," blends theme gardens like rose, succulent, cactus, herb, and fragrance gardens with streams, waterfalls and Koi-filled ponds. You'll also find a butterfly garden and trail, green and children's gardens, and daylily beds here.
Although all are beautiful in their own right, there are a few spaces that really stand out. One is the Japanese Garden, built by fruit farmer Isamu Taniguchi when he was 70 years old. Despite being sent to an internment camp during World War II, Taniguchi loved the United States and designed the garden with an image of world peace in mind. There is a teahouse here that has on it the Japanese words Ten-Wa-Jin: Heaven, harmony, and man. You can take a walk on the Bridge to Walk Over the Moon, which is said to reveal universal beauty in the moonlight. There are also two ponds here that spell out the word Austin, though it is hard to make out except when flying overhead.
Lilies in the Japanese Pond at Austin Botanical Garden. Photo from rubengarciajrphotography via Flickr.
Another memorable feature is the Hartman Prehistoric Garden, where you can fine recreations of prehistoric creatures that once roamed the earth here. In 1992, hikers discovered 100 tracks made by prehistoric reptiles along with the bones of an ancient turtle. It turns out the prints were from the Ornithomimus dinosaur, which was birdlike in appearance and existed in the Cretaceous period (around 97 million years ago). The prints of the dinosaur were cast, then buried in an act of preservation. Today, the garden features statues of dinosaurs and plants that would have existed there when Ornithomimus did.
The Zilker Botanical Gardens features 8 themed gardens interconnected by streams and ponds. Photo from Heather Cowper via Flickr.
The falls make for a peaceful retreat. Photo from Heather Cowper via Flickr.
The cactus and succulent garden at Zilker Botanical Gardens. Photo from Tracy Keller via Flickr.
The butterfly garden at Zilker Botanical Gardens. Photo from Roy Niswanger via Flickr.
The Blacksmith Shop at Pioneer Village. Photo from Dan Morales via Flickr.
One of the cabins at Pioneer Village. Photo from Diann Bayes via Flickr.
The Bridge to Walk Over the Moon at the Japanese Garden. Photo from Robin Horn via Flickr.
One of the dinosaur statues at the Hartman Prehistoric Garden. Photo from Michael Fowler via Flickr.
The Pioneer Village is another unique feature of the Zilker Botanical Gardens. It educates people about farming, planting and composting during pioneer times. There are three historical buildings found here: The Swedish Blacksmith Shop, Swedish Log Cabin and the Esperanza Schoolhouse. The blacksmith shop has authentic tools, the cabin contains an antique hair curler, spinning wheel and kitchen items, and the schoolhouse features educational items from the 1800s.
The Zilker Botanical Gardens, with it's educationally themed spots, can make you feel like you've traveled around the world and back in time, all in the span of a single day.
Cover photo credit: F.D. Richards via Flickr.
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Van Meter twin-home. The large open floor plan. Large kitchen with pantry, eat-in bar, plenty of counter space. Living room with fireplace. Master bedroom with a private full bathroom. 1st floor laundry. The finished lower level has another large bedroom, Family Room and full bathroom. Located only 10 minutes from West Des Moines and Jordan Creek Mall, is a wonderful community with a highly sought after school system. Home is in great condition, has been well-maintained and is " move-in" ready. No association fees.


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What's the Difference?: Psoriatic Arthritis and Rheumatoid Arthritis
Edmond Harrisonon June 26, 2017 August 8, 2018 Leave a Comment on What's the Difference?: Psoriatic Arthritis and Rheumatoid Arthritis
Here's what you need to know to tell these two forms of arthritis apart.
Skin Lesions Versus None
Location of Joint Pain
The Presence of Back Pain
Changes in Nails
Ways to Treat the Conditions
Both psoriatic arthritis and rheumatoid arthritis are autoimmune diseases in which the immune system attacks the joints, causing inflammation and pain. Indeed, it is easy to confuse the two conditions because of similar symptoms
Both psoriatic arthritis and rheumatoid arthritis are autoimmune diseases in which the immune system attacks the joints, causing inflammation and pain. Indeed, it is easy to confuse the two conditions because of similar symptoms. Psoriatic arthritis and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) are just two of the more than 100 forms of arthritis, according to the Arthritis Foundation.
"People equate joint pain to inflammatory arthritis, but there are many causes of joint pain not due to arthritis," says Jeffrey Sparks, MD, a rheumatologist at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. "You need a trained rheumatologist to make sure diagnosis and treatment are correct," Dr. Sparks says.
Here are the main differences between the two
People with psoriatic arthritis often have skin lesions that appear on the body. Psoriatic arthritis patients usually have a history of psoriasis, a skin condition that causes itchy, dry red patches and thick, silvery scales on the skin. "It can sometimes be painful and embarrassing," Sparks says.
A study published in January 2015 in Rheumatology found that skin lesions precede arthritis in more than 80 percent of psoriatic arthritis patients, and can sometimes occur more than a decade before arthritis.
RA, on the other hand, is a condition that affects only the joints.
Although both psoriatic arthritis and rheumatoid arthritis affect the whole body, psoriatic arthritis is asymmetrical and tends to affect different joints on different sides of the body. Rheumatoid arthritis is symmetrical, with joint pain occurring on both sides of the body. So if a person with RA experiences pain in the right hand, symptoms will occur in the left hand, too.
Related: Rheumatoid Arthritis vs. Osteoarthritis Joint Pain
The two conditions also differ in where joint pain occurs in the body. "RA usually affects small joints," says Elaine Husni, MD, MPH, vice chair of the department of rheumatic and immunological diseases at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio. "In psoriatic arthritis, not only do you have joint swelling, but enthesitis [pain where the tendon inserts into the bone] and dactylitis [inflammation of an entire digit, known as sausage digit]. Those two are very unique to psoriatic arthritis."
Dr. Husni also says that unlike RA, psoriatic arthritis manifests itself with back pain. Symptoms of psoriatic arthritis also include stiffness, primarily in the neck and upper and lower back.
A study published in RMD Open Rheumatic & Musculoskeletal Diseases in April 2015 looked at the differences between psoriatic arthritis and RA and found that because the sacroiliac joints (which connect the sacrum with the pelvis) and the lumbosacral spine (where the lumbar spine meets the sacrum) are affected by psoriatic arthritis, the condition is included in the spectrum of spondyloarthropathies — joint diseases of the vertebral column.
"Nails can be helpful in distinguishing between the two conditions as well," Sparks says. Psoriatic arthritis can also affect the fingernails and toenails and can result in pits on the nail or separation of the nail from the nail bed. Sparks adds that this is thought to occur as a result of inflammation where the nail bed originates.
The same April 2015 study mentioned above reports that "First-line disease modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs), such as methotrexate (MTX) and leflunomide [Arava]are effective in the management of both RA and psoriatic arthritis." Beyond that, however, treatment and management of the conditions are different.
"Methotrexate [Trexall] is the first drug used in either condition," Sparks says. "[Afterward,] management does change depending on which you have."
Along with medication, the Mayo Clinic states that treatment for RA may include physical therapy to help you learn exercises to keep joints flexible, or surgery to repair joints and tendons.
Related: Rheumatoid Arthritis Can Be an Invisible Illness
READ 8 Things Your Dentist Can Tell About Your Health By Looking in Your Mouth
Husni says that the best treatment for psoriatic arthritis will encompass both skin and joint disease. "In addition, a subset of psoriatic arthritis patients require additional treatment for nail and scalp involvement and for dactylitis and enthesitis involvement."
But before you start on any treatment regimen, Husni says, "have an initial evaluation by a rheumatologist. They understand the landscape better."
CategoriesHealthTagsWhat's the Difference?: Psoriatic Arthritis and Rheumatoid Arthritis
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Q: Calculate residue of $\frac{z+1}{(z^2+4)^2}$ at $2i$ I know the formula that says the residue is equal to $\frac{g(z_0)}{h'(z_o)}$ if $h$ has a simple zero at $z_o$.  However, this is not the case, so I have to use the formula for a pole of order $n$:
$\frac{1}{(n-1)!}(\frac{d}{dz})^{n-1}[f(z)(z-z_0)^n]$
If I am correct, then this is a pole of order 4.  But to do $\frac{1}{3!}(\frac{d}{dz})^3[\frac{z+1}{(z^2+4)^2}(z-2i)^4]$ seems like a lot of work and I don't think I am right.  What am I doing wrong?
The answer should be $\frac{-i}{32}$, but I keep coming up with $\frac{2i+1}{-32}$ somehow.  Any help would be appreciated.  Thanks!

A: The order of the pole is only 2.

A: The denominator factors to $(z-2i)^2 (z+2i)^2$ so the order of the pole at $2i$ is $2$, not $4$.

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Solar Panel Cost Guide in Westborough, MA (Jan 2023)
Westborough Solar Installation Cost: $9,220
25-Year Savings: $15,270
Payback Period: 9.4 Years
See cost of a solar system near you:
HOME > SOLAR PANEL COSTS > MASSACHUSETTS > WESTBOROUGH
Average Cost of Solar Panels in Westborough
Here's how much it might cost to go solar in Westborough.
While the national average of solar panels is $2.66 per watt, solar panels in Westborough typically cost about $3. Using this figure, a typical 4.5 would cost about $9,220 before the 30% federal solar tax credit is applied.
The true cost of your system can be higher or lower than the average in Westborough based on several factors, such as the type of solar panels you choose and the solar contractor you hire. Even with the high upfront cost, the average Westborough homeowner can save about $21,000 on their electricity bills over 20 years, which is one of the benefits of solar.
You can click the button below to get connected with a top solar installer in Westborough that can help you get a more accurate cost estimate for your home.
Solar savings over time in Westborough
$-8,240
$-404
Top Solar Installers in Westborough
Do-it-yourself solar panel installation is a way to cut costs, but it's an undertaking that can be a headache. Hiring a solar company can make converting to solar power much easier. A solar installer can also help save you money over the lifespan of your system by providing warranties, repairs and system component replacements.
If you're on the hunt for a solar company in Westborough, we've compiled a list of our top suggestions here:
Best Regional Coverage
Momentum Solar
Representatives are experts on local policies
Concierge service ensures steady communication
Slightly limited service offerings
See all of the solar companies in Westborough
Factors that Affect Solar Panel Costs in Westborough
While the average cost of a solar system in Westborough is $9,220, your final cost may be higher or lower than that. There are several factors that can have a significant impact on the cost of a solar panel installation. Below are some of the more crucial things to consider.
The cost of solar panel systems varies by thousands of dollars due to a few different factors. One of the main factors is the system size, which is measured in kilowatts (kW). Solar power systems with better efficiency or power production need better technology and/or more equipment, both of which can increase costs. For each additional kilowatt you need, your cost can go up by about $2,940. The solar equipment you choose can bring your price up or down by thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars. If you choose the most efficient solar panel brands, you'll end up paying more upfront than if you opted for the most affordable panels. However, higher efficiency could save you more in the long run on your electric bills. Additionally, extra products, like solar batteries, can bring your total well above the Westborough average.
Solar Financing Terms
Solar panels can save you money on energy bills over many years, but they can also be a significant investment. That's why many Westborough homeowners choose to finance their solar panel systems to offset upfront costs. Though solar loans make going solar more accessible for Westborough homeowners, they can also add to the total you pay for your system, depending on your interest rate and how long you take to pay off the loan. If you put down a larger down payment, though, you can avoid paying as much in interest.
Solar Panel Installation Company
A final consideration when trying to figure out the cost of solar for your home or business in Westborough is the company you choose to install your solar panel system. As with choosing a company to install new cabinets, for example, there's no shortage of solar installers that provide a range of services at different costs. Companies that only sell high-efficiency and high-priced products — like Maxeon solar panels from SunPower or Tesla Powerwall batteries — so choosing those installers will generally come with an above-average cost. It's best to do some research and choose a company that has the products, warranties and services you're looking for and also is within your budget.
Solar Panel Cost Data by System Size
System size
Cost per system watt
Solar system cost
25-Year savings
Payback period
$3.06 $12,842 $19,973 9.8 years
How to Save on Solar Panels
There are a lot of solar installers to choose from, all of which offer different warranties, solar panel brands and price points. To help you find the right company for you, here are some tips to keep in mind:
Solar Panel Brands: Different companies offer different brands and models of panels. If you want a specific brand, make sure the solar installer you're considering has it.
Warranty: If you care about the durability of your solar panel system, making sure your company offers a 25-year, all-inclusive warranty can help put you at ease.
Contract: When reading over your solar installer's contract, ask questions about any terms you're not sure of and make sure you understand what happens in scenarios like a system component breaking or if the company goes out of business.
Installation Process: Homeowners should make sure they know how exactly the installation process will go, as well as important factors like the project completion timeline.
EcoWatch's Westborough, MA Solar Cost FAQs
What is the average cost of installing solar panels in Westborough?
The average cost of solar panels in Westborough is about $14,700 for a 5-kW system and $29,400 for a 10-kW system before the ITC, but the real cost will depend on stuff like the kind of solar panels you want, what size system you need and how much energy you consume.
Should I lease or buy solar panels in Westborough?
Leasing solar panels can be an option if you can't afford to pay upfront or get a solar loan, but since you don't own the system, you can't take advantage of many solar incentives. Also your home value won't increase, so you'll have less savings over time. If you can afford to buy a solar system upfront, then buying is the better option if you want the most financial benefits from going solar.
Can solar panels eliminate my electricity bills?
It is possible to erase your electricity bills with solar panels, but for most homeowners throughout Westborough, that will require at least a 10-kW system. Not all homes will have roofs that can accommodate that size system, so you'll want to contact a local solar installer to see how many panels can fit on your roof.
How often do you have to replace solar panels?
Even though the average lifespan of solar panels is 25 to 30 years, that doesn't mean they stop working completely at that time. What this means is the amount of energy they produce will have decreased significantly after that point. You can decide to replace them after having them for that long or you can keep using them at a lower efficiency.
Our goal is to reach as many people as we can with sensible solutions like solar energy. Our team of full-time local researchers collects solar price and installation data for every city in America then compiles it to create these digestible city guides. If you want to read our solar expert's opinion on the top solar companies featured here, follow this link.
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Margaret Cavendish, vojvodinja Newcastle-upon-Tyne, rojena Margaret Lucas, angleška plemkinja, literatka, znanstvenica in filozofinja, * 1623, Colchester, Essex, Anglija, †15. december 1673, Welbeck, Nottinghamshire, Anglija.

Cavendisheva je pisala prozo, dramske igre, eseje in pesmi. Njena dela so obravnavala tematiko spola, moči, manir, znanosti in filozofije. Njeno filozofsko stališče se ni skladalo z načeli Thomasa Hobbesa, Renéja Descartesa, Roberta Boyla in drugih velikih filozofov 17. stoletja. Cavendisheva je ena izmed redkih žensk, ki so v  17.stoletju svoja dela objavljala pod svojim imenom in ne psevdonimom. Med drugim je izdajala obširna dela iz področja filozofije narave in zgodnje moderne znanosti. Zavračala je sholastični aristotelizem in mehanični materializem 17. stoletja in namesto takrat ustaljenih načel, zagovarjala vitalističen model. Kot svojevrstna in prodorna avtorica je bila velikokrat izzvana in tarča ostrih kritik. Med drugim je veljala za zaščitnico živali in eno izmed najzgodnejših nasprotnic poskusov na živalih.

Življenje
Rodila se je v meščanski družini premožnima zakoncema Thomasu in Elizabeth Lucas, leta 1623, kot najmlajša hči.  Do leta 1642 je bila šolana doma, kasneje se je preselila k sestri v Oxford. Odločilno leto v njenem življenju je bilo leto 1644, ko je kot spremljevalka odpotovala z angleško (in katoliško) kraljico Henrijeto Marijo v izgon v Francijo, kjer sta živeli na dvoru kralja Ludvika XIV. V Franciji je spoznala svojega  bodočega moža Williama Cavendisha, vojvodo Newcastle-upon-Tyne, s katerim se je poročila konec leta 1645, ko je bil še markiz. Umrla je 15. decembra, 1673 v opatiji Welbeck, ki jo je od očeta podedoval njen soprog.

Pisateljstvo, pesništvo in filozofija

Glavna teza njenega razmišljanja je, da je vse v vesolju, vključno s človeškimi bitji in njihovimi umi, snov (materija). Cavendisheva se strinja s prepričanjem njene sodobnice in prav tako filozofinje Anne Conway, da nič ne odgovarja na tradicionalno pojmovanje snovi, vendar za razliko od nje trdi, da nas snov obdaja. Cavendisheva in Conway se v večini prepričanj strinjata, a Cavendishova za razliko od njega označuje tradicionalno pojmovanje materije kot neustrezno in trdi, da so stvari, ki smo jih jezikom  označil kot materialne oz. materijo, nekaj več kot pomen, ki smo jim ga pripisali. Za razliko od mnogih njenih nasprotnikov tako ni razočarana, da so misli zgolj materija. Za njo je to vir upanja. Na primer, če cenimo, da je um utelešen, bomo lahko prišli do boljših in bolj sistematičnih zdravljenj duševnih bolezni. Kot dokaz za njen pogled Cavendishva izpostavi očitna dejstva, kot to, da sta energija in razpoloženje osebe pod vplivom prehrane ter, da starost in poškodbe na možganih lahko oslabijo nekatere naše kognitivne funkcije. Zanjo je ključnega pomena v tem, da izpopolnitev osebe ni stvar bežanja od telesa, ampak razumevanjedinamike telesa in poudarjanje pomembnosti sprejemanja samega sebe kot telo.

Politična filozofija
Pri interpretaciji njenih del, ki se ukvarjajo s politiko se pojavlja veliko težav, saj to temo vsebujejo njena literarna dela, ne pa njene filozofske razprave. Njena razmišljanja lahko preberemo v noveli Description of a New World, Called the Blazing World in v tematsko zelo podobni Orations of Divers Sorts, kjer se Cavendishova dotakne nasprotujočih si perspektiv iz področja družbe in politike: vlog spolov, vrlin, vojn in med drugim tudi popolnih oblik vladanja. Chavendisheva se s Hobbesom večinoma ne strinja v številnih problematikah naravne filozofije. Kar pa se tiče političnih vprašanj, so si nujna stališča podobna. Tako kot Hobbes, Cavendisheva meni, da so ljudje v glavnem motivirani z vidika lastnega interesa. Dodaja, da je ljubezen do sebe "najmočnejši predlog uma". Prav tako kot Hobbes, Cavendisheva misli, da je življenje zunaj civilne družbe tako nevarno in kaotično, da nam ne dovoli izpolnjevati zasebnih interesov na stabilen in dosleden način. Zunaj civilne družbe si ne moremo zagotoviti hrane ali zavetišča, brez grožnje, da bosta vzeta; nimamo in ne moremo ustvariti in vzdrževati infrastrukture, ki omogoča poslovanje; ne moremo narediti načrtov; in večina naše energije se porabi za varnost. Delo Orations ponuja več perspektiv o socialnih in političnih vprašanjih, vendar je poudarek na socialni stabilnost stalnica. Prav tako se tudi strinja s Hobbesom, da je civilna družba najbolj stabilna in varna, ko ji vlada en sam posameznik z absolutno močjo in suverenostjo. Če suverenost pomeni imeti absolutno oblast, obstaja tveganje, seveda, da bi lahko uporabili to moč modro in na način, ki ni optimalen za spodbujanje miru in stabilnosti. Cavendisheva je zaskrbljena o vseh alternativah. Na primer, meni, da demokracija ni trajnostna rešitev. Če sta varnost in red civilne družbe v rokah večine, ali pa v rokah osebe, ki je bil izbran z večino, je previsoko tveganje, da se bo družba vrnila v kaos. Isto tudi meni, da moč ne bi smela biti v rokah manjše, ampak  nadarjene, inteligentne in prefinjene skupine (meritokracija): meni, da je verjetnost, da bo taka oblast postala razdeljena in neučinkovita. To tezo utemeljuje s citatom  Člani take oblasti bi bili lahko v stalnem konfliktu, kot posledica odkritih nesoglasji ali kot rezultat njihovih ambicij - da bi imeli čim več moči zase. Cavendisheva ugotavlja, da je najboljša možnost za varnost in stabilnost to, da je vsa moč v rokah enega samega posameznika.

Najbolj znana dela
Za eno njenih najbolj obširnih in znanih del velja avtobiografski memoar A True Relation of my Birth, Breeding, and Life, ki ga je izdala leta 1665. V njem je izčrpno opisala svoje življenje ter se dotaknila političnih prepričanj in norm, ki se med spoloma razlikujejo. Cavendisheva je opisala svoj značaj kot melanholičen, melanhonijo pa označila kot gonilo, ki jo je gnalo v svet. Med bližnjimi je veljala za ekscentrično, kar je pogosto rada pokazala s svojimi oblačili in diktiranjem mode.

Poems and Fancies je zbirka poezij, pisem in proze, ki jih je Margaret posvetila različnim temam, kot so smrt, bitke, onstranstvo, ljubezen, čast, slava, mir, vojna itd. To delo vklučuje tudi  The Animal Parliament, prozo, ki je v večini sestavljena iz govorov in pisem.

Margaret Cavendish je izdala dve dramski zbirki: Igre (1662) in Igre, ki niso bile nikoli prej natisnjene (1668).

Kot zagovornica stoičnega nauka in nasprotnica aristotelizma je svoja filozofska prepričanja in stališča zajela v delu Observations upon Experimental Philosophy, ki ga je izdala v šestih knjigah. Med drugim je kritično naslovila problematiko izobraževanja žensk in se zavzemala za enake pravice žensk in moških do izobraževanja ter spodbujala avtorje filozofskih in drugih književnih del, naj se poslužujejo bolj preprostega jezika, ki bi bil razumljiv širši publiki.

Kljub temu, da dela Cavendisheve niso bila zelo resno vzeta v 17. stoletju, so danes še kako relavantna. O Bogu je trdila, da je popolnoma transcendenten, medtem ko so bili sodobniki popolnoma prepričani v njihovih trditvah, ki so zadevale njegovo naravo. Znala je tudi predvideti sodoben poudarek na proučevanju možganov in telesa v zvezi z duševnim zdravjem. Poleg tega je prispevala k trenutni razpravi o tem, ali je naša nezmožnost, da bi razumeli, kako stvar (materija) misli, pomembna za vprašanje, ali dejansko misli.

Sklici

Viri
 Marshall, Eugene, "Margaret Cavendish", Inetrnet Encyclopedia of Philosophy (2002)
 Cunning, David, "Margaret Lucas Cavendish", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer 2012 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.)

Angleški pisatelji
Angleški filozofi
Angleški pesniki
Angleški dramatiki
Angleški znanstveniki
Filozofinje

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