Merciless efficiency

Asked in an interview about the courage or cowardice of Dutch citizens in the Nazi-occupied Netherlands when it came the time to protect and hide their fellow Jewish citizens, renowned Dutch author Geert Mak told, among some examples showing the former and the latter, the following story:

Sometimes we have a paradoxical relation with the concept of efficiency. We always think it is good that, for example, public servants are efficient but…

When the Gestapo entered the city of Amsterdam, they ordered its local civil servants to draw a map that showed the prevalence of Jewish families in each neighbourhood, so it was easier for the German army to organize their deportation to Germany. Dutch people are know to be hard and efficient workers, and that applies to Dutch officials as well. The Amsterdam city bureaucrats were very diligent and systematic and finished the task in ten days! The Nazis were able then to start and complete the deportation of many Jewish families fast and easily. Let us say they had ordered to draw similar maps to the officials of other occupied or allied countries, for instance, Mussolini’s Italy. The Italians have a different social attitude towards efficiency than the Dutch, and this applies to their public servants in particular, right? Of course, under the Nazi pressure, they would have had to draw such map, but it would have probably taken them ten years to complete the task, and that, in turn, would have made possible to save the lives of many Jewish people!

I have been tempted to link this story to Arendt’s Eichmann in Jerusalem, or to say something about the morality of following orders without questioning them, or the ethical condition of ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances, but then I realized Mak’s account does not need any comments…

P. S.: Last Tuesday January 27th, the International Holocaust Rememberance Day, marks the 64th Anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitz…

Read more:

Interview with Geert Mak at CBC Radio here.

Facts on the Nazi occupation of The Netherlands at the Anne Frank House Website.

Photo: ‘Yellow stars’ © Anne Frank Stichting

European paternalism

These may be unimportant news… or perhaps not. Adducing a certain research on the dangers of listening to loud music in mp3 devices, the European Commission wants to limit the decibels such electronic gadgets may reach, effectively banning the manufacturing and distribution of the more powerful ones in the European markets.

Nice the most top political institution in Europe pays attention to our health in such trivial matters. However, should it not devote its energy to the issues it has a explicit mandate over? Why governmental bodies find it so difficult to differentiate between making information relevant to our private daily lives available and ruling on private matters? Why they often cross the boundaries of their legitimate and beneficial informative functions -no objections to the Commission diffusing the aforementioned study- to become paternalistic organizations that feel entitled to control private decisions that affect only the individuals making them, not to speak of broadly distort markets?

Since all answers given to these questions throughout history have to do with the accumulation and use of power, this fact highlights the importance of states observing neutrality over different conceptions of what may be regarded as a personal good life, and of limiting governmental authority, in particular when it comes to the undisputable core of our private realm.

Photo: ‘Bossanova ‘84: Orwell’s world’, 2008 © Manuel Todde

Deep Mediterranean connexion

Palm trees scattered among the orange tree fields, white houses with brown roofs, such a strong sunlight that you need sunglasses at all times, the dark blue and still sea, food as a serious issue and crucial element of social life, people that are nowhere to be seen until they start crowding the streets at sunset, and the feeling lingering in the air that reminds you no happiness is complete unless you share it with your neighbours.

Actually, if you pay attention, not much more evidence is needed to realize you are in the Mediterranean…

Tracklist:

01 Gabriel Black · Bar groove (Ivan I & Jason Howell dub)
02 Matthew Bandy · Harlem groove (main mix)
03 Jet Set inc. · Too shy (Physics phusion mix)
04 Hakan Turkures · Mr. Runaway (Emre boothy dub)
05 Evolve · The way back (Random Soul mix)
06 Physics · It’s all good to me (Matty’s soulflower dub)
07 Ryralio DJs · Nothing special (Johnny Fiasco tonic mix)
08 Sendos Fuera · Belivi in us
09 Girandon · Higher (Astraglide’s gliding mix)
10 Onur Ozman · Decimatus (Astraglide mix)

Download
[60:24, 83 Mb]

Photo: Veles i vents, Valencia, 2009 © JK

Pure house Winter session

Just a sultry house mix as a contrast to the short, dark and chilly days of the Northern hemisphere. Let´s help melting the snows of this strange Winter…

Tracklist:

01 Soul Minority · Mozambique
02 Soul Minority · A soul thing
03 Afro Mistyk · Natural (Kaskade’s roots mix)
04 Unus Emre · 1999
05 Diem · It´s my turn (Kirby mix)
06 Replika · Wanna feel it (Unus Emre mix)
07 Andy Cato · Cosmic force (Soul Minority mix)
08 Tracy Cooper · Do you think (Lucas Keizer mix)
09 Diem · Drifter (Dave Miller bump this mix)
10 Matthew Bandy · Derty werk (Asad’s reverb re rub)

Download
[57:08, 78,5 Mb]

Photo: Red pearl, 2006 © gavface