Interviews from the first day of Occupy London

On the 15th October I went in early afternoon to see the gathering of protesters who had tried to occupy the London Stock Exchange. The city of London had obtained a court injunction overnight which meant that the square of the exchange (Paternoster Square – which is private property) had been sealed off by police in the early morning. Hence the ‘occupiers’ settled on the steps of St Paul’s. These were the scenes as I arrived, and I interviewed a Dutch tourist and a Spanish protester. In the 2nd part the woman I interviewed was very well informed and managed to convey succinctly many of the issues at the root of the discontents. Listen carefully…

London March 26th 2011 – a short film

Last Saturday 26th I joined in the protest march through central London, against the government cuts. I aimed to interview make my first film. With the last few marches and the media spotlight generated by the ‘kettling’ and the Tomlinson debacle, and the economy tanking, this was a chance to witness first hand what promised to be a significant event.

Nomads – No patria

Nomadic life, nomadic culture – a song and documentary in today’s post.
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The best percussionist you’ve never heard

Today I want to introduce you to one of the best Brazilian percussionist, Papete. When I mention him to my Brazilian friends they go “papete who?”

Here’s the track “Agua de Coco” from the album Berimbau e percussão:

As you’d expect, that album features one of the most virtuoso performance of a Berimbau I’ve ever heard. Don’t know what this instrument is? Well, here is (more…)

Google’s dominance: good or evil?

Recently a friend of mine sent me this link:

and here was my quick response:

The irony is that we are looking at this video from youtube, on gmail, with google buzz. Why? because (more…)

UK libel laws are suppressing free speech – as usual

British libel laws are once again being used to ruin the lives of decent, honest people. Has nothing been learned from the McLibel trials? Now Simon Singh, the well known science writer, is resigning from his job at the Guardian, after spending two years fighting a libel case. I urge you to read his goodbye column. It makes for a sobering read. Libel tourism is such a threat that major newspapers are seriously considering to stop publishing in the UK. In fact, the National Enquirer has already done so. (more…)

South America trip 2003/4: Travel log from March 2004 to August 2005.

This is a longish email I sent back in summer of 2005, at the end of my 10 months trip backpacking round South America. My friend Dmitry has been bugging me for a while to dust off my travel logs, so here it is. I will try to update this post with some pics very soon ;)

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Hello!
Yes, I am still in South America, more precisely I got back into Brazil three weeks ago. I am now chilling out in Recife, before heading to São Paulo, and then back home in London beginning of August. I have finally finished putting down to pen my last three months of travels. Before you jump into my email though, let me say just say THANKS to all of you I met, you made my trip SO special, I hope to keep in touch :)

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For those of you with long memories my last such mail was sent after leaving Brazil at end of March. On the 20th I took no less than three flights, the first one being from Manaus to (more…)