A Streetcar Named Desire

Professor Ugo Mattei, one of the founders of the “Commissione Du.Pre (Dubbio e Precauzione)” (“Doubt and Precaution Commission”), in an interview to Mariachiara Giacosa for la Repubblica of December 31, 2021, called the introduction of the super green pass on buses and trains “a further unconstitutional act: prohibiting access to essential services such as public transport to unvaccinated people means tarnishing the Article 3 of the Constitution and legality on the whole. Now it is time for the Resistance to rise up”. When asked what kind of resistance, Mattei responded, “For example, taking the bus refusing to show the pass, very similarly to what Rosa Parks did in Montgomery, Alabama”.

Rosa Parks with Martin Luther King Jr. in the background (ca. 1955). She is best known for the Montgomery bus boycott, which gained her worldwide recognition as an icon of African-American resistance to racial segregation. Courtesy of Ebony Magazine.

Sideways

You go on through a pedestrian underpass like a dot on an i, and suddenly it is an upside-down exclamation point.

The Future of Humanity

The Juridical Department of the cooperative Generazioni Future issued a harsh statement of condemnation against the “containment measures” adopted by Italian Government on December 29, 2021:

• Sulle misure “di contenimento dell’epidemia” adottate dal Governo il 29/12/21, Generazioni Future, December 30, 2021

Furthermore, it should be noted that not only moving out of choice, but also moving out of necessity, are forbidden. At the regulatory level, in fact, no clear or useful distinction is made in the press release No. 54 of December 29, 2021 — so far the only accessible document pending publication of the decree in the Gazzetta Ufficiale. In fact, even people who have no accessibility to alternative tools are deprived of access to basic services of public necessity, or public services in the broadest sense. Disabled people, for instance, do not drive cars — and at the moment a car is the only means allowed for unvaccinated people (who have been lucky enough not to fall ill) to get around. The same can be said for elderly citizens, but on closer inspection it applies to everyone, since no one is required to own a car nor any other means of transportation to be able to move around. The shameful state in which Italian Republic has fallen is confronted by the grave silence of the clerics, which is now to be considered as a form of conniving participation to the authoritarian drift blatantly taken by the country. [Read more].

Max Beckmann, Sinking of the Titanic, 1912. Courtesy of WikiArt.

Well, Edna, one is one of the greatest poets of all time, the other a fictional green lizard in the guise of an anonymous clerk. And who do you think it is who makes the world a better place?

Artwork © Garry Samuel Donzelli Gray (@GarryDonzelli)

The Count of Monte Cristo

Some Advice to Those Who Will Serve Time in Prison If instead of being hanged by the neck          you’re thrown inside          for not giving up hope in the world, your country, your people,          if you do ten or fifteen years          apart from the time you have left, you won’t say,              “Better I had swung from the end of a rope                                              like a flag” — You’ll put your foot down and live. It may not be a pleasure exactly, but it’s your solemn duty           to live one more day                         to spite the enemy. Part of you may live alone inside,             like a tone at the bottom of a well. But the other part          must be so caught up          in the flurry of the world          that you shiver there inside      when outside, at forty days’ distance, a leaf moves. To wait for letters inside, to sing sad songs, or to lie awake all night staring at the ceiling                   is sweet but dangerous. Look at your face from shave to shave, forget your age, watch out for lice              and for spring nights,     and always remember        to eat every last piece of bread — also, don’t forget to laugh heartily. And who knows, the woman you love may stop loving you. Don’t say it’s no big thing: it’s like the snapping of a green branch                              to the man inside. To think of roses and gardens inside is bad, to think of seas and mountains is good. Read and write without rest, and I also advise weaving and making mirrors.    I mean, it’s not that you can’t pass ten or fifteen years inside                        and more —        you can,        as long as the jewel        on the left side of your chest doesn’t lose its luster! Nâzım Hikmet, May 1949 English translation by Randy Blasing and Mutlu Konuk

Cornia River mouth, Quagliodromo Beach, Piombino, Italy. Photo: Stefano Marmino.

A Fairy Tale

A Fairy Tale

by Mado Flynn

Pippi Trimpapippi (@pippi_trimpapippi) is a very special artist from Saint Petersburg, Russia. Her work moves the child inside me. She talks about an ancient warm world of tender feelings. With her poetic sensibility she gently makes an hard and cold place comfortable. She not simply builds a scenography but creates a dynamic of affective relationships among her little characters. She does move the imagination and you can only admire her precision and meticolous skill.
She dreams to publish a book about her mice.

Well, Edna, it’s not exaggerated to say that where one lives may be an important factor in one’s general health

Artwork © Melani🇩🇴 (@melsart.s)

Confessions of a Mask

Four masked men in hazmat suits, carrying placards showing their faces and names, charged for allegedly violating the country’s strict pandemic-related interdictions, were paraded Tuesday, December 28, 2021 through the streets of 靖西 (Jìngxī), 广西壮族自治区 (Guǎngxī Zhuàng Autonomous Region) in a “Cultural Revolution style” public shaming exercise. The images and video of the event drew harsh criticism online against the government’s heavy hand, including in state-owned media. Screenshot courtesy of BBC News.

Whispering

Sure, Edna, if things go on this way, soon there will be no more fish in the sea on the painting behind you

Photo © Tricia~Disney Lovin Princess 🎀 (@tricia_amillionblessings)

Spring in Winter

Up to 13 million people are under strict lockdown since nearly a week in 西安 (Xī’ān), 陕西省 (Shǎnxī province), China due to a resurgence of Delta-related COVID-19 cases. Although the country’s draconian “zero-COVID” rule has so far proved exorbitantly expensive and arguably ineffective, 北京 (Běijīng) insisted upon it as the only thing to do in order to save the 24th Winter Olympics, widely expected to be held next February. In such a helpless situation, only faith and hope can help overcome the barbed wire fences and the watchtowers. And thus, in these very days, most public personalities and influential voices whispered their prayers into the wind, including four-time Women’s World Chess Champion 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) (pictured above), who expressed her solidarity with the oppressed multitudes in 西安 (Xī’ān): “Winter is coming, but spring is not far away. We believe in 西安 (Xī’ān), we support 西安 (Xī’ān), we bless 西安 (Xī’ān): may 长安 (Cháng’ān) be eternal”. Screenshot of sohu.com.

From Athens to Rome

Transcript of the speech of Professor Giorgio Agamben on the occasion of the conference “Pandemic Policies” held November 10, 2021 in Turin, Italy, available online at the following URL: https://generazionifuture.org/giorgio-agamben-interventi/. “If democracy was born in Athens in the fifth century by means of a politicisation of citizenship, the end of Western democracies coincides with the absolute depoliticisation of citizens”. [Read more].

Open Sesame

And last but not least, before saying bye, sesame opened just in time for a fleeting but powerful glimpse of Mado Flynn’s latest collections.

An Afternoon in Winter

Half an hour with an old friend is worth a journey of about twenty-five kilometres by car two times in a year.

Into the Sky with Diamonds

Generally, if in doubt, a disclaimer should state that the sky is not always blue, the sun does not always shine and flowers are not always blooming.

Blind Fortune

A gold piggy bank does not necessarily mean that wealth can buy health, but it rather is a wish for good fortune.

Yeah, Edna, they raised the price of bus and train tickets to at least €15,00 every two days, so a flying broom may be useful should you go out of town

Artwork © ghost monkey (@ghostmonkey6)

Brooms Away

Another Christmas passed, and finally the broom stopped in front of a window shop full of roasted coffee, tea and infusions, pastries and candies, muffins and cookies, grapes and wines, as well as tableware and Befana stockings.

Well, Edna, if nothing else Befana cannot take back what Santa did not give to you

Artwork © Margie Hall (@margie2092)

Interstellar

Yes, Edna, it often happens that the most precious gift that life can give is not under a Christmas tree

Photo © Olga Tavolga (@olgatavolga7)

Tête-à-tête

No need to book. There’s plenty of seats outside where you can while away a winter afternoon counting the rain drops.

Gold Rush

And yet there are scribblers who have reported seeing long queues of ghosts lining up outside the boutiques and shops in Via de’ Martelli.

Toy Park

Christmas Eve in Piazza dell’Indipendenza (Independence Square) in downtown Florence.

Yeah, Edna, nothing is more counterproductive than boasting for the success of a marketing campaign based on a blackmail scheme

Artwork © AG Golda Coppel (@aggolda)

A Christmas Wish

Mermaid Out of Water

《星光邦》 (Star Topic) ☓ 吴敏霞 (Wú Mǐnxiá), Issue 40, September 2021: Cut a Pool of Waves to Make Armor. The Queen of Diving appears on the cover twice — as in a double exposure — springing like a goddess, barely armed, from her own 陰陽 (yīn/yáng) polarity. Photos: 李時一 (Lǐ Shíyī)/《星光邦》 (Star Topic).

The Importance of Not Being Arcovazzi

Libertà va cercando, ch’è sì cara, come sa chi per lei vita rifiuta. He goes seeking freedom, which is so dear, as he knows who for it renounces life. Dante, Purgatorio, canto I, vv. 70–72 English translation by Arthur John Butler

Achraf Baznani, Dictatorship, 2016. Courtesy of WikiArt.

To be a teacher

Hey, Edna, the world needs a hero! Is there anyone who does wrong and can admit it?

Artwork © Pasacalles Valeria Nemi (@pasacalles.valeria.nemi)

Second Time Around

• Leonard Barden, Carlsen’s doubts over title defence leave chess facing uncertain future, The Guardian, December 17, 2021

A plausible scenario is that Fabiano Caruana wins the Candidates. The American, 29, was No 2 in the ratings behind Carlsen for a long time, and has been the most consistent Candidate since 2014, finishing successively second, first and fourth. If he wins in 2022 and Carlsen then declines to play him again, it seems between quite likely and very probable that the US chess Maecenas Rex Sinquefield will step in with a sizeable increase in the prize fund. Sinquefield could even consider doubling it, as Jim Slater famously did in 1972 to save the Bobby Fischer v Boris Spassky match in Reykjavík, and offering his and Caruana’s home city of St Louis as the match venue. [Read more].

Ethics of Big Data

• Alberto Giubilini and Helen Kennedy, Head to Head: the ethics of vaccine passports and COVID passes, The Conversation, December 23, 2021

[Helen Kennedy:] I always refuse to make predictions, but the future is where the concern lies, isn’t it? It’s the concern of privacy advocates and of organisations like Big Brother Watch that vaccine passports may lead us to a checkpoint society or a more surveillance-based state. And even if there was a policy that guaranteed it isn’t going to happen, that could change in the future. Policies change, circumstances change. What’s interesting is that maybe a year and a half ago, the language of crisis could be mobilised to justify measures that people might not find acceptable in normal times. But a year and a half later, it is still mobilised as a justification for things. The philosopher Giorgio Agamben talks about the state of exception. His argument is that if you always describe things as a state of exception, you can try to get away with murder all of the time. [Read more].

Achraf Baznani, Into the Abyss, 2014. Courtesy of WikiArt.

First at Last

Fabiano Caruana – Richárd Rapport

7th Gashimov Memorial; Blitz stage; Armageddon game; time control: 5 minutes for White, 4 minutes for Black, with a 3 second increment after the 60th move; Baku, December 23, 2021

Queen’s Pawn Game A46

1. d4 e6 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Bf4 c5 4. e3 Be7 5. Nbd2 cxd4 6. exd4 0-0 7. c3 b6 8. Bd3 Ba6 9. Bxa6 Nxa6 10. 0-0 Nc7 11. a4 a6 12. c4!? Hopefully more enterprising than 12. Re1 Ncd5 13. Bg3 b5 14. Ne5 Qc8 15. Qe2 d6 16. Nd3 Qb7 with equality, Firouzja – Baklan, 1st Official Online French Blitz Championship Qualifier, europe-echecs.com, May 16, 2020 (time control: 3 minutes plus 2 seconds per move). 12. ... d5 13. b3 dxc4 14. bxc4 b5 15. axb5 axb5 16. Rxa8 Nxa8 17. c5. 17. cxb5 Nd5 18. Bg3 Qa5 19. Qb3 Bb4 hardly offers any chances for an advantage. 17. ... Nd5 18. Bg3 Nac7 19. Qb3 Qa8 20. Rb1 Rc8 21. Ne4 b4 22. h4 h6 23. Ne5 Nb5

24. Qf3!? The immediate 24. Qd3 was probably the correct move, but after that Caruana could hardly hope for anything resembling an advantage, which would mean the end of his amazing comeback as in Armageddon draws count as wins for Black. And so he rightly risks his balance to stress his opponent’s responsibility for the game. 24. ... Rf8?! The gamble worked out! Actually, this move does not compromise the result, but shows that Rapport is very focused on playing for a draw, which can encourage Caruana to play for the win. With 24. ... f5 Black would have put to the test his opponent’s talent for calculation. 25. Qd3 Nbc3 26. Nxc3 bxc3

27. Nd7 Rd8? For quite obvious reasons this Rook would have stood better on c8. 28. Nb6 Qa5? Yet this is the losing move. After the comparatively better 28. ... Nxb6 29. cxb6 Qc6 30. Bc7 Rf8 (30. ... Rc8? 31. Qf3!+−) 31. Rc1 Bb4 32. Qc2 Ba5 33. Qb3 somehow the game goes on despite White’s obvious advantage. 29. Nxd5 Rxd5 30. c6 Bd6 31. Bxd6 Rxd6 32. Rb8+ Rd8 33. Rxd8+ Qxd8 34. Qxc3 Qc7 35. Qc5 f6 36. d5 exd5 37. Qxd5+ Kf8 38. Qe6 Qd8 39. g3 Qc7 40. h5 Qd8 41. Kg2 Qc7 42. Kf3 Qd8 43. g4 Qc7 44. Ke4 Qd8

45. Qd7! Qb8 (45. ... Qxd7 46. cxd7 Ke7 47. Kf5+−) 46. c7 Qa8+. The prelude to the end, but also after 46. ... Qb1+ 47. Kf3 Qh1+ 48. Ke2 Qe4+ 49. Kd2 Qb4+ 50. Kd3 Qb1+ 51. Kc4 Qe4+ 52. Kc5 Qc2+ 53. Kb4 White’s King eventually escapes from checks. 47. Kf4 Qa4+. A way as another to resign. 48. Qxa4 1 : 0.

And finally, after a wonderful comeback in the Blitz stage, Fabiano Caruana triumphed in the 7th Gashimov Memorial! Photo: Vugar Gashimov Chess Memorial.

Sure, Edna, you will soon be the tallest girl in town, and the only one for whom King Kong would come down from the skyscraper

Artwork © FenixParkart

In Between and Beyond

State of exception and state of emergency

Giorgio Agamben, Quodlibet, July 30, 2020

In a recent article published in an aligned newspaper, a jurist whom I once held in some esteem, tries to justify, with arguments that aspire to be legal, the state of exception declared by the governmen for the umpteenth time. Taking up implicitly the Schmittian distinction between commissary dictatorship — which aims to preserve or restore the constitution — and sovereign dictatorship — which aims, instead, at establishing a new order — said jurist distinguishes between emergency and exception (or, to put it more precisely, between state of emergency and state of exception). Such an argument does not, indeed, have any basis in law since no constitution can contemplate its own legitimate subversion. Hence, in his work Political Theology, which features the famous definition of the sovereign as “he who decides on the exception”, Schmitt simply speaks of the Ausnahmezustand — the “state of exception” — which, in German doctrine and beyond, imposed itself as the technical term for defining the no man’s land between juridical order and political fact, and between law and its suspension. [Read more].

Lunar Blitz

Viswanathan Anand – Fabiano Caruana

7th Gashimov Memorial; Blitz stage; time control: 5 minutes plus 3 seconds per move; Baku, December 22, 2021

Spanish Game C76

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 d6 5. 0-0 Bd7 6. c3 g6 7. d4 Bg7 8. Re1 Nf6 9. h3 0-0 10. Bc2 Re8 11. d5. White closes the centre and prepares to build up a positional attack on the Queenside. It’s interesting to note that, after closing the centre, four-time Women’s World Chess Champion 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) turned her attention to the Kingside, nevertheless gaining the upper hand (even if Caruana eventually won the game): 11. Nbd2 b6 12. Nf1 h6 13. Ng3 Qe7 14. Be3 Qf8 15. Qd2 Rad8 16. Rad1 Na7 17. Qc1 c5 18. d5 Nh7 19. Nh2 f5 20. exf5 gxf5 21. f4?! (⌓ 21. Qb1!±) 21. ... e4 22. Nh5 Bh8 23. Nf1 Qf7 24. Nfg3 Nc8 25. Rd2 Ne7 26. Qd1 Ng6 27. Nf1 Nf6 28. Nxf6+ Bxf6 29. Qh5 Qg7 30. Ng3? (30. Kh2 Kh8) 30. ... Nh4! 31. Kh2 Kh8 32. Qe2 Rg8 33. Nh5 Qg6? (33. ... Qf7! 34. Nxf6 Qxf6 transposes to the game) 34. Nxf6? (⌓ 34. Bd1! Nf3+ 35. gxf3 Qxh5 36. fxe4 Qh4 37. Qf2=) 34. ... Qxf6 (34. ... Qg3+! 35. Kh1 Nxg2!−+) 35. Qf1 Rg7 36. c4 Rdg8 37. Ree2 Rg3 38. Bd1 Be8 39. Qe1 Qg7 40. Bg1 Rxh3+! 41. Kxh3 (41. gxh3 Qxg1+! 42. Qxg1 Nf3+ 43. Kh1 Rxg1#) 41. ... Qg4+ 42. Kh2 Nf3+! 0 : 1 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) – Caruana, 2nd Speed Chess Championship, chess.com, August 24, 2017, match game 16 (time control: 3 minutes plus 2 seconds per move). 11. ... Ne7 12. c4 h6 13. Nc3 Nh7 14. b4TN f5 15. c5 f4 16. Nd2 Rf8 17. Ba4 Bc8 18. cxd6 cxd6 19. b5 g5 20. bxa6 Rxa6

21. Bb5 Ra8. The engines suggest the brilliant Exchange sacrifice 21. ... Ng6! as the disappearance of White’s light-squared Bishop would give Black’s Kingside attack even more strength. 22. Be2 Ng6 23. Rb1 Nh4 24. a4 Nf6 25. Ba3 Rf7

26. Nc4. A typically entertaining double-edged game with many complex possibilities and no absolute certainties. An exemplary line: 26. Nb5 Bf8 27. Nxd6!? (27. Nc4 g4! 28. Nbxd6 Rg7 gives Black a promising initiative) 27. ... Bxd6 28. Bxd6 Qxd6 29. Nc4 Qd8 30. Nxe5 Rg7 31. d6 g4∞ with unclear chances for both colours. 26. ... Bf8 (Δ ... g5-g4) 27. Nb6. If 27. Nb5 then 29. ... g4! 28. Nbxd6 Rg7↑ as in the line given above.

27. ... Rg7? A careless move which could prove costly. 27. ... g4! first is the correct move order as 28. Nxa8 (or 28. g3 Rg7!→) 28. ... gxh3→ leaves Black with a probably irresistible attack. 28. Nxa8? Too greedy. 28. g4! was so obviously the only move to prevent immediate catastrophe that Anand should have played it without even thinking a millisecond. 28. ... g4!−+ 29. hxg4 Nxg4 30. Bf3 Qg5. 30. ... Nh2! at once was possible (31. Kxh2 Nxg2!−+). 31. Nb6. Or 31. Kf1 Nxf3 32. gxf3 Nxf2! 33. Qc2 Qg2+ 34. Ke2 Rg3! 35. Kd2 Qxf3 with too many threats to meet. 31. ... Nh2! 32. Kxh2 Nxg2! 0 : 1. If 33. Nxc8 then 33. ... Qh4+ 34. Kg1 Ne3+ followed by mate in three.