El Negro: A Stuffed African exhibited in European Museums

The story of El Negro begins with Jules Verreaux, a French dealer in "naturalia", who in 1831 explored the African interior. With the help of metal wire acting as a spine, wooden boards as shoulder blades, and stuffed with newspapers, Verreaux prepared and preserved the body of the warrior. Then he shipped him to Paris, along with a batch of stuffed animals in crates. In 1831 the African's body appeared in a showroom at No 3, Rue Saint Fiacre.

In a review, the newspaper Le Constitutionnel praised the fearlessness of Jules Verreaux, who must have faced dangers "amid natives who are as wild as they are black". This article set the tone, and the "individual of the Bechuana people" attracted more attention than the giraffes, hyenas or ostriches. "He is small in posture, black-skinned, and his head is covered in woolly frizzy hair," the newspaper said.

More than half a century later, El Negro popped up in Spain. In the world exhibition in Barcelona in 1888, the Spanish vet Francisco Darder presented him in a catalogue as "El Betchuanas", complete with a drawing in which he is seen wearing raffia finery and holding a spear and a shield. Only recently was recognized that he is a real human being and was returned to his homeland. 

The Hungarian Houses in Jerusalem

Batey Ungarin is small neighborhood in Jerusalem, peopled by religious Jews that settled here a century ago. Mostly, they live from donations of rich American Jews. The apartments are very small. When I arrived in Israel went to visit my uncle Moishi Abelesz and was surprised by the modesty of his place. He let me see old pictures of the family in pre-WWII Hungary, my grandparents and uncles. Very friendly. But I was then inflated with myself, having made a lot of money in Nigeria. I felt uneasy with Jewish poverty. I should have asked for a room then and there, and a schidduch. But I did not and the past cannot be changed.  

The Black Prophet Frantz Fanon

Fidel Castro and Che Guevara sailed from Mexico on the Gramma to liberate Cuba while I was in high school. Fanon, a Caribbean Black intellectual, was the prophet of decolonization. His books were sold on the streets and discussed in leftist youth circles. As a practicing psychiatrist Fanon explained the need for violence and chaos in the de-colonization process, that only violence can destroy the colonized's mental pain and recreate a new, free man. He fought in Algeria against the French. which was one of the last anticolonial, anti-European rebellions.

His ideas made a lasting impression but he is never mentioned today. In our days promoting violence is taboo and would be censured everywhere. Yet his idea that for a humiliated, colonized subject the only way to psychologically liberate himself is through violence, makes some sense. By fighting he becomes a man and recovers his self respect. It may seem incredible today, when teaching in an university in the occupied territories am totally considered a colonizer, that in those times, the sixties, I had been a Galut Jewish youth, a refugee (a real one) living in a hostile society, I saw myself belonging to an oppressed minority and Fanon's books spoke to me. When somebody wrote on the college's wall "Haga patria, mate a un judio" (Be a patriot, kill a Jew) - well, I felt that Fanon was right. That was then, today I am a free man. 

Singapore Sides with America

America is in a non-violent war with China, a situation that is forcing every country to take parts. Israel rejected the offer of a Chinese company for its water infrastructure project, and it will also in the coming urban train project. Australia has confirmed its American alliance. Now Singapore has rejected Chinese offer in its 5G telecommunication infrastructure, buying European technology. For all the disorder in America, its alliances are holding. 

Hauma - The Arian Elixir

The old Arian heroes all drugged themselves with soma, which is equivalent to the Persian hauma. What is this thing? It is the ephedra plant pressed and the liquid drank. Old Zoroastrians of the city of Yazd (Iran) consumed ephedra, which was locally known as hum or homa and which they exported to fellow Indian Zoroastrians.  Yazd is a remote desert city on the Iranian plateau with a large Jewish-Yazdi community, which moved to Israel. Former president of Israel Moshe Katsav is a Yazdi Jew. 

Many species belonging to the genus Ephedra have traditionally been used for a variety of medicinal purposes. It has been used in traditional Chinese medicine for more than 2,000 years. Native Americans and Mormon pioneers drank a tea brewed from other Ephedra species, called "Mormon tea" and "Indian tea".

What does ephedra?  It contains ephedrine and pseudoephedrine, which are stimulants.These compounds stimulate the brain, increase heart rate, constrict blood vessels (increasing blood pressure), and expand bronchial tubes (making breathing easier). It is effective to lose weight, but the side effects are bad - it certainly causes dizziness and insomnia. In my times in Argentina, it was sold over the counter for astma, and we students used to improve exam results. 

Andrew Skitt Gilmour: The CIA re-thinks the Middle East

The CIA has published a book by A.Skitt Gilmour about the re-organization of the Middle East based on its ancient history. Basically, he explores the ways of creating workable political frameworks instead the fragmented chaos of today. The interesting parts are the analysis of religion - something foreign to the secular West today - and analysis of the Greek experience. How, for example, several rural villages succeeded in unite into the State of Athens, or how  thousands of Greek pirates encamped on Troy's beach succeeded in solving their differences. The Athenians, like today’s Arabs, also faced the daunting task of forging a social compact on more than just dominant family groups.

"The Athenian solution—conceived and executed by the Athenian archon (ruler) Cleisthenes in the late sixth century BCE—was equivalent to an ambitious redistricting program that created ten new tribes, each of which drew members from the city of Athens, coastal areas, and the rural interior. Politics was no longer tied to dominant local families from one geographic region. Instead,  newly diverse tribes had to forge a common set of interests when each new tribe’s constituent members were drawn from different regions. The unifying political idea of Athenian citizenship emerged from the creation of inclusive political institutions that transcended narrow allegiances."

The Weekly Section: The Spies

This week we read about the twelve meraglim (spies) sent out by Moshe to learn about the Promised Land and plan the military conquest. Ten of them returned with frightening reports: the land was densely peopled by ferocious giants linked by strongly armed military alliances, there was no way we could defeat them and take over the land. But two of the spies reported that it was a land of milk and honey and God is with us and shall certainly overcome.

After forty years of wandering in the desert and training for the invasion, there was no turning back. Moses punished the cowardly saboteurs and gave the order to Bibi Netaniyahu: Be strong and brave! Go! Go! Go!