Fabzgy’s Life

Through a friend I got in touch with the topic of NoBorder Camps.

Since I still work in the Radio I did an interview with on of the activists more than a month ahead of the camp. By then I ve decided to show up at the camp to work on german media coverage.

Getting there was not as easy as I hoped. Since I ve just came back from Morocco I was not really able to organize a ride through any of the rideshare plattforms nor organize a host to store my equipment somewhere outside the camp. Fuck it - lets hitchhike I ve thought.

I ve first took a train to cross the border into France. A little bit north of Strasbourg I ve started to hitchhike. The first guy I ve asked went straight to Paris. That has never happened at any of my other attempts to hitchhike to Paris.
Anyway - I was not on the way to Paris so I left a few km before Reims. There I ve founf within 15 min a car going direction Lille. A few km before the junction of “Arras” I waited for quite a while until somebody took me to Dunkerque where they left me a t a shitty spot. I had to ask at least 80 cars vefore somebody took me at least at the highway exit of Calais.

The camp itself was a very nice experience which I m not going to describe further here. For any news check Indymedia UK.

The way back was even worse since the city was packed with cops. It s very hard to hitchhike if there are three dozens of riotcops right next to you…
A brave english guy finally picked me up and brought me on the A1 south of Lille. There I waited a long time and finally talked over a wicked woman who tried to give me a bible in french. With her I ve got to a gas station on the A26 direction south and from there I basicly hopped just from one car into the next one and got back on sunday night.

The last few weeks have been really important to recharge some energy.

In the end of May I ve hitchhiked from Stuttgart to the Berlin Beach Camp and met plenty of beautifull people there. Lots of them I knew from other gatherings, from Costa Rica or other occasions but I ve met as well new people. It s ever again an awesome experience to participate in the Berlin Beach Camp.

After the camp me and a group of ex-Costa Rica students stayed for one night at a friends place in the south of Berlin from where I hitchhiked with Rafa to Leipzig. The first time I visited a city in the former German Democratic Republic.

On Thursday I ve finally hitchhiked back to Freiburg because I had to catch the plane to Morocco.
There I ve spent 12 relaxing days with two friends from Freiburg. It s been quite a bit different to travel with other people. I can say that I pretty enjoyed not to take every decision by myself.

We read, ate, hiked and dreamed a lot in Morocco - the perfect time to relax and build up some motivation for University, activism, etc.

So now we are back - lets get things done!

Just came back from the faboulos Berlin Beach Camp and two days in Leipzig. After quite some time I hitchhiked again further distances. In summ it worked pretty good even from awefull spots llike in Leipzig.

In a few minutes I m going to catch a train to the airport and fly to Marrakech and relax in Morrocco for a few days. Just in case anyone misses me.

See ya.

Finally it s spring. It s unbelievable - the winter is over.

I m sitting in our garden, watching the colours of the fresh gras, the flowers, the blue sky…
I m listening to the music I brought over from Costa Rica - A time where the sun was shinging almost everyday. It fills my heart with joy.

My job at the radio station kept on beeing kind of time consuming but as I figured out recently not because it s my duty to spend a lot of time there. I m spending so much time  working for the radio station because I like it. I do enjoy thinking about a new topic I could make a radio show about. I m posting my works on Indymedia Linksunten and put some of them on public license on the website of the Free Radio Network.

In the next two weeks we are going to have a lot to do with the NATO Summit in Strasbourg.
I m looking forward for this event but I m seriously worried about my University work. I finished one paper and I m working on the next one right now. still some time to finish that one but in the next weeks I m not going to have timeto work on it and after the summit I need “vacation”!

The first semester back in Germany has ended last week. I ve decided this time not to leave for travelling during our lecture-free time but work on a free radio station. I m doing an internship there for aproximately three months.

I ve basicly spent the last three days there entirely with workshops and interviews. Yesterday for example we were rallying through the city to accompany a protest organised by the “round table”, an organisation who is fighting for the dignity of unemployed people. It s fascinating to dive right into a leftist project without a classical boss and a very strong political environment. I learn thousands of things I was always curious about.

The only problem appears so far that I hardly eat and do not have any time appart from beeing in the radio or running around in Freiburg. I m hardly at home since I m on “vacation”. I really hope that this is just the very hectic beginning and after a while we are all calming down a bit and I m going to be able to finish my papers for university.

On the 24th of February I m already starting the new semester in Basel and from the 20. of March untill the 5. of April we are going to have a hard time because of the preparations for the NATO summit in Strasbourg.

Lecture of the substitutional Embassador of Israel at the University of Freiburg

Topic: Israel before the elections - Perspectives and Challenges

Sounds like an interesting topic these days I thought.

I just had classes until 1 pm but since I m not living very close to the UNiversity I decided to wait for five hours in order to hear the lecture.

When I ve got to the University, 15 minutes before the lecture was supposed to start, a crowed of ~ 60 police officers was guarding the building.
Inside the building, which was just accessable from one instead of four entrances, there was a sign saying: “For Security reasons you are not allowed to bring your jacket or bag in the auditorium”

Okay - whatever. So I m giving my stuff to the cloakroom and then try to pass the security check. A security check handled by a private security company inside the main Universtiy building. Strange but - hey whatever just play your role in the anti-terror theater.

Then the question: “Do you have a ticket?” the security guy asks.

A ticket? I m a student of this University. This is a lecture offered within the Colloquium Politiquum, which is supposed to be public anyway. There has never been a ticket for lectures as far as I know.

The guy says that all the 250 places are occupied and I can t enter without a ticket. Right next to me, two students try to access their spanisch seminar which was supposed to be held in this building. They are not allowed to enter either.
Why I may I ask did the University held this lecture in the Aula of the KGI which apparently is just capable to fit 250 people in? We have a Auditorium Maximum where at least three times as many people fit in. It s just 150 meters away from the room they choose. And please don t tell me that they did not expect as many people. Just the fact that they organized all these security and a cloakroom proves that they did expect a lot of people.

I m asking myself as well how many tickets where free available and how many were given beforehand to University Professors, Press, etc.

Right before the lecture starts a guy comes along and hands out more tickets. Apparently they ve found some new seats. He does not give me a ticket because he says that I still have my jacket on. Well - I just got it back from the cloakroom because your damn buddy did not let me in without a ticket and told me that there were no more tickets.

All in all I m very unhappy about all the police and security inside the university. I m not happy about the way the lecture gets promoted everywhere in the university without announcing that the entire building will be closed during the lecture. Without stating that there is a need to get a ticket first.

Stop the violence in Gaza!

Brake down the wall!

The cars drive on the right side again. People drink half a liter of beer instead of a pint and I weight again 70 Kg and not 11 Stones. So to mqke it clear. I m back in continental Europe.

London was a verz particular experience in a lot of ways. Luckily I ve had my guides with me so I did not continue to pay 4 £ for one Tube ride but bought an Oyster Card and paid half the price. Obviously I ve forgott to give it back in the end but I ve saved easily the 3 £ I ve paid as deposit.

Another remarkable thing is the fact that in England most museums are free but on the other hand popular churches and cementarys are not. When we tried for example to visit Karl Marxs grave we were obliged to pay 5 £ and go with a tour. Fortunatelly the cementary was closed when we ve got there so we didn t have to ask ourself if we would pay for visiting the grave of the author of the communist manifesto.

Despite these wicked habbits I had a great time with my buddies in London.
We spend a lot of time walking around in the (cold) city and visited variouse museums, markets, pubs and parks.

Yesterday I left the student residence at 9.30 am and it took me until 7.30 pm to arrive at my friends place n Lille. I ve could have done this trip in 4 hours by train but I wanted to see the english coast with its white cliffs.
In the end I ve got to admitt that I would not do that again. It was freezing the whole day and I did not go outside. I found if rather anoying to be on a floating Shopping Mall with Bars, Casino, Shop, etc.

No I m back in France, staying with my ex-flatmate from Costa Rica Edouard.

After spending a traditional Christmas with my family this year (not like last year)
I continued to London today.

I m going to stay with Arnika even though she still did not showed up here at her student residence. A friend of her let me in when I arrived in Camden Town and now I m sitting in the reading room - waiting for my host to show up.

The traveling went was really easy and passed by super fast probably because I kept reading. Arriving at the airport I almost jumped into a car going to Canterbury because the people invited me to join them. In the last moment I realized that Canterbury is not at all on the way to London.

So i decided to hitchhike from the Stansted Airport to London. I ve had to ignore some ridiculous sign which seemed to forbid walking “behind this point”. Anyway / arriving at the roundabout I didn t waited even 5 minutes until somebody picked me up. I told him where I wanted to go and he agreed bringing me to a tube station.

Unfortunately that was total rubbish. This guy picked me up because he hitchhiked by himself when he was young (at least thats what he told me). The problem was that he wasn t going to London. Since I ve got no clue about Greater London structure he left me at a roundabout next to the M25 East of London.

There was no town (forget about a Tube Station) near by so I was totally trapped on this damn roundabout next to the M25. Fortunately after about 10 minutes a TAXI pulled over offering me a ride into town. This guy saved my trip.

He let me out right next to an old castle which turned out to be the London Tower (I m very good at ignoring or not recognizing important monuments. There I ve wandered around for a couple of hours and went to Camden Town to search my new temporary home.

I don t think I m going to write anything else this year so - HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I ve run into a Flyer thursday evening on the way to the university. Pablo Pena - Music from Latin America (Self Made)

Sounds interesting. The wild partys are over anyway. I m not in Costa Rica anymore. I’ve calmed down a bit. Drinking and dancing all night long are not my favorite activities anymore. So well - I’ve called the Furioso Bar on friday afternoon to confirm the concert. They say it s going to start at 9 pm - I arrived at 9.40 pm because of my train connection. But as expected I didn’t missed anything.

Pablo, an Argentinian, starts at 10 pm alone. He says that some of his friends are going to show up later to join in a bit.
After two songs Claudia, a women from Chile, joins him with maracas and a drum. The next Song Martin accompanies them with his violin. They play a few songs and then open the stage for some people from Morocco and Colombia. These guys play until midnight with more then ten different instruments. Every song someone else plays with them.

0.18 am my last train leaves. I’ve had to decide if I rather go and sleep in my own bed or stay and cycle 20 km home in the middle of the night and the middle of the winter. I could have rang the bell of some friends and stay there but somehow I dismissed this idea pretty fast.

Finally I was unable to leave this place. Pablo just came on “stage” again and invites a friend from Portugal, Domingo, to play with him.
Domingo is an awesome guitar player and since a few songs a black guy grabbed the Darbuka and plays an awesome rhythm to whatever the others play.

I m happy that I’ve stayed. The time is passing by. I’ve ordered my third beer and more and more people start to clap their hands, sing and dance.
It s a perfect moment. A moment which is impossible to reproduce.

Domingo, the guitar genius is inviting me to stay at his place. I m considering it for a few minutes but finally decide at 2.45 am that it s time for me to go.

I cycle the 20 km home. It s absolutely dark and cold. Fortunately I’ve got a good bicycle with lights and good breaks. The way home leads me through some forests and it s actually quite scary to ride a bicycle in the middle of the night through a foggy forest but now I m sitting here - still energized and happy.

Good night!

After more then a year one of the most downloaded Movies on the Internet found the way on my computer. The Zeitgeist Movie!

It s a documentary that is free for download on the web and it s even possible to stream it. It is translated or subtitled into more then 20 languages.

I really loved it because it does summarize a lot of stuff I concluded for me already. I think it s absolutely worth to watch both documentaries because the second part explains a lot about the background of the monetary system and gives some advices about measures people can take to make a change.

I can not say that everything is true they say. How could I know? But I’ve got to say that there explanations do make a lot more sense to me then the mainstream explanations. I think these movies are a valuable commitment to a healthy discourse a society needs. The measures suggested at the end of the Zeigeist: ADDENDUM Movie are more common sense for me then something revolutionary new.

When I talk to people about this movie most of them are very doubtful. They can’t believe that what they say is true. But why? Because they say that it does not make sense what the movie states? No - most of them say that it s not true because it would question all or a lot they believed in so far in their life. It is way easier just to keep on going like you always did. I did not talk to a lot of people about the movie but I think you can get a kind of feeling for th perception of the movie in the society if you read the Wikipedia article for it.

Zeitgeist, the Movie is a 2007 documentary film exposé on contemporary religion, government, and global economics. Focal points of the film are the Jesus myth, the attacks of 9/11, and the US Federal Reserve Bank. A number of conspiracy theories are presented…

A conspiracy theoriy? What does that exactly mean? Lets ask Wikipedia again:

A conspiracy theory is a hypothesis that alleges a coordinated group is, or was, secretly working to commit illegal or wrongful actions, including attempting to hide the existence of the group and its activities. In notable cases the hypothesis contradicts what was, or is, represented as the mainstream explanation for historical or current events. The phrase “conspiracy theory” is also sometimes used dismissively in an attempt to portray hypothetical speculation as being untrue or outlandish.

Illegal? Not necessarily. Lots of the actions the movie explains are not violating any laws. Laws are in place to protect lots of this crimes done to humanity.

sometimes used dismissively? Obviously, whoever is in power does not want to endanger his status. So he has to denigrate any other way of explanation.

Hypothesis (that) contradicts mainstream explanation? That makes sense.

There is no unquestionable truth. The only thing I know is that the official (mainstream) version is not true at all. If the financial crisis did show us anything then that our financial system is sick and we should rather think about an alternative instead of throwing more money in a system that is made to fail!

So watch it make up your own mind!