KSB präsentiert Ihnen heute zum letzten Mal einen Gastbeitrag von Milton Milaras. Acht Wochen lang berichtete der Johannesburger von seinen Erlebnissen in Bern. Zurück in seiner Heimat, hat er für Ausgabe Nummer acht von «From Joburg to Bern» einen Städtevergleich gewagt.

Having been back in Jo´burg less than five days now, I´m still landing. And yet the differences to Bern are immediate and marked.

There are gladly many many more trees here, but sadly Joeies is also the world´s largest city not located next to a body of water. There hasn´t been an inch of snow here in the last five years; nor more importantly, much rain this summer either, leaving the city dry and haggard with water shortages and restrictions.

Poverty is ubiquitous, blatant and devastating. As per the definition of surviving on less than $5/day, almost 54% of South Africa´s 55 million population are considered poor. In comparison, Switzerland´s poverty line, set at approximately $82/day, accounts for 7.7% of an 8 million population. Crime is another oft drawn comparison, and cannot be avoided; but don´t let statistics fool you into thinking Jozi is not wildly warm, friendly, beautiful and dynamic.

Experiencing these two cities, both of which I have called home, is like watching two very different movies. And to be honest, I am torn; and the jury remains out, as to if I could prefer one over the other. So I shall simply sojourn between the two as opportunity provides.

But for now I´ll sign off from this lovely little Bernese Blog till we catch each other on the flip side. Thanks for reading as I drift along in my own observations.

Milton Milaras lebte ein paar Monate lang in Bern und kennt die Hauptstadt fast so gut wie seine Heimat Johannesburg. Er ist Autor, Geograph und Tänzer.

KSB präsentiert Ihnen  jeden Mittwoch einen Gastbeitrag von Milton Milaras. In Ausgabe Nummer sieben von «From Joburg to Bern» sinniert unser Autor über das Tanzangebot in der Hauptstadt.

Wir wagen den Versuch und drucken Milaras’ Beiträge nur auf Englisch.

Image credit & copyright: M. Milaras

There is something to be said for the dance community the world over. They know what it is to roll with life. To glide with following-surrender when life indiscriminately calls the shots; and to step boldly, seductively forward when an opportunity smiles.

And thus, in arriving in a foreign place, I orbit towards those who know the rest of rhythm; be it of floating into the pull of the Aare River in summer, or the daily rising-falling gravity of one’s own heart.

Dancers know to find the still wide space in the forever waves of movement. This trust and investigation of movement begins with a commitment to the dance floor community, be it Butoh, Contact Improv, Movement Medicine or Five Rhythms (all of which I´ve found thriving and welcoming in Bern).

Each dance practice is vastly different in flavour, but all are ice-cream so to speak: rich, sometimes challenging, but ever good.

It is in dancing with these other vulnerable human beings, that my rollercoaster time here in Bern has been gentled, lulled, rocked: peacefully and playfully.

My gratitude to you, who are all the dance. Panta Rhei.

Milton Milaras ist vor ein paar Monaten in Bern gestrandet und kennt die Hauptstadt mittlerweile fast so gut wie seine Heimat Johannesburg. Er ist Autor, Geograph und Tänzer.

KSB präsentiert Ihnen  jeden Mittwoch einen Gastbeitrag von Milton Milaras. In Ausgabe Nummer sechs von «From Joburg to Bern» berichtet unser Autor vom Papierkram-Krieg und seinem Verhältnis zu Reisepässen (von denen er selbst drei hat).

Wir wagen den Versuch und drucken Milaras’ Beiträge nur auf Englisch.

Word. Picture taken at Hafestraße Hamburg. Foto: zvg

Bureaucracy. That paper-headed devil to whom we pay penance for our subjugation of freedom and abdication of moral responsibility. Over the last week I’ve chased administrative paper trails like the Scooby gang on crack. Only to scratch at the surface of some document producing über-machine which demands to be fed with its own forms – presumably upon which you transcribe and validate your life and deeds, that you may be taxed for them (as though they weren’t taxing enough).

And it is in this definition of self by papers and numbers and different coloured little pass books (aka passports) to which I vehemently object. Not to the necessity of funding common services for the common good. But to the ringfencing, command and control of people as numbers and catagories by a piece of paper as determined by utterly fictitious lines demarcating the piece of soil on this earth upon which they first happened to wetly plop onto. Kein Mensch ist illegal!

#nonations #noborders

Milton Milaras ist vor ein paar Monaten in Bern gestrandet und kennt die Hauptstadt mittlerweile fast so gut wie seine Heimat Johannesburg. Er ist Autor, Geograph und Tänzer.

KSB präsentiert Ihnen  jeden Mittwoch einen Gastbeitrag von Milton Milaras. In Ausgabe Nummer fünf von «From Joburg to Bern» berichtet unser Autor von seinem kulinarisch-politischen Wochenende hier in der Hauptstadt.

Wir wagen den Versuch und drucken Milaras’ Beiträge nur auf Englisch.

Sweet Vegan Delish at 10 Jahre Denk:Mal Festival. Pic by M. M.

A Bernese weekend full of food, alternate realities and sharing! Saturday, Bio4Jede held an organic market along with permaculture talks, hearty meals and live music; while on Sunday, Denk:Mal – Die Autonome Schule Bern, celebrated their tenth anniversary with a Festmahl of epic proportions! For my own purpose of emphasis, I would like to juxtapose these gatherings with the recent happenings in Paris, namely the acts of violence by ISIL and the COP21 climate change talks.

In light of these dramatic events which sway and polarise and anger millions, I believe we need a thousand thousand micro-events each and every weekend which bring us together by way of sharing time, care and food. The ripples of such kind, considered events are multiplied at the individual and community levels, and reach wider, and with gladder hearts, than all the fear which global media feeds our small tight angry divisions.

So look about: find food, friends, community and an alternative paradigm which sustainably supports human wellbeing, and mash them together as often and as wildly as you can till we change the world from the ground up.

#radicalselfreliance #radicalparticipation

Milton Milaras ist vor ein paar Monaten in Bern gestrandet und kennt die Hauptstadt mittlerweile fast so gut wie seine Heimat Johannesburg. Er is Autor, Geograph und Tänzer und unterrichtet heute ab 17.30 Uhr das letzte Mal «Creative Writing» an der autonomen Schule Denk:Mal in der Lorraine. 

KSB präsentiert Ihnen  jeden Mittwoch einen Gastbeitrag von Milton Milaras. In Ausgabe Nummer vier von «From Joburg to Bern» erzählt unser Autor von seinem Ausflug nach Zürich. Dabei entdeckt er Gemeinsamkeiten mit seiner Heimatstadt Johannesburg und kommt am Ende gerne nach Bern zurück.

Wir wagen den Versuch und drucken Milaras’ Beiträge nur auf Englisch.

Pic taken by M. Milaras on a walk through Lorraine-Quartier. «Apochalüpt» is written on it. KSB reported.

This weekend I visited Zürich. That Swiss metropolis. That bastion of banking, bustle and business. People trot intently pell-mell from one terribly important appointment to the next. Heaps of boutiques, nestled between multi-national corporations, present covetous trinkets in over-engineered window displays at awe-inspiring prices. Not to mention that for an extra franc, a large tea comprises a single additional finger’s width of hot water in the same glass as a small tea.

The pace of Zürich bites at your heels while it eats you from the inside: a blind headlong rush into economic and social survival. Time is as thin as high mountain air, never quite enough to not be gulping greedily for more, blood pumping all the while. I recognise this easily, as Johannesburg is very similar; cut from the same cloth so to speak. Another London, Sydney, Athens, New York. The self-important successes of capitalism.

Each respectively with its own ‘slow-witted’ village-cousin: Cape Town, Manchester, Melbourne, Thessaloniki, Portland, Bern. And despite the metropolis’ superiority and condescension for this very fact, these slow cities openly share their simple secret with those who come to live there: you do not die if you slow down, meander a bit, let plans fall by the wayside and delight in the unexpected.

Milton Milaras ist vor ein paar Monaten in Bern gestrandet und kennt die Hauptstadt mittlerweile fast so gut wie seine Heimat Johannesburg. Er is Autor, Geograph und Tänzer und unterrichtet immer mittwochs (also heute) ab 17.30 Uhr «Creative Writing» an der autonomen Schule Denk:Mal in der Lorraine. 

KSB präsentiert Ihnen  jeden Mittwoch einen Gastbeitrag von Milton Milaras. In Ausgabe Nummer drei von «From Joburg to Bern» macht sich unser Autor Gedanken zum Luxus, nachts angstfrei durch die Strassen wandeln zu können.

Wir wagen den Versuch und drucken Milaras’ Beiträge vorerst nur auf Englisch.

I have a request to make of you. Please take pause to appreciate what it means to be able to walk at night. Really think about the societal implications of this single artless act. The ease with which you can stumble laughingly home at 4 am, or the crisp pleasure of taking a midnight walk to clear your sleepless head.

Walking at night has long been a personal symbol of safety and freedom which I thirstily consume in the ‘first world’. South Africa does not easily know this gift. Between the insurmountable sprawling divided geographies of its cities, and the paralysing vulnerability lurking in the violent threat of the dark – few, by choice, walk at night. Do not take this privilege for granted. Rather, be consciously, vehemently and gently grateful for it. And whisper your thanks to the night: that all peoples may know its peace too, someday soon. Min temek labwaab assama.

Milton Milaras ist vor ein paar Monaten in Bern gestrandet und kennt die Hauptstadt mittlerweile fast so gut wie seine Heimat Johannesburg. Er is Autor, Geograph und Tänzer und unterrichtet immer mittwochs ab 17.30 Uhr «Creative Writing» an der autonomen Schule Denk:Mal in der Lorraine. 

KSB präsentiert Ihnen  jeden Mittwoch einen Gastbeitrag von Milton Milaras. Für diese Ausgabe von «From Joburg to Bern» hat unser Autor einen Abstecher in die Berge gemacht.

Wir wagen den Versuch und drucken Milaras’ Beiträge vorerst nur auf Englisch. 

View from the Niederhorn. Photo: M. Milaras

Let me tell you how wildly beautiful South Africa is. It has: soft white beaches that go on for days till Mozambique, with St Lucia, a rich, lush estuary, just inland, alive with hippos, giraffes, zebra and crocodiles; barren deserts which stretch wider than the blue blue horizon, and hide all curiosity of wonders: from rock roses and Augrabies Falls to The Owl House and Afrika Burn.
Diesen Beitrag weiterlesen »

Ab heute präsentiert Ihnen KSB  jeden Mittwoch einen Gastbeitrag von Milton Milaras. Er ist vor ein paar Monaten in Bern gestrandet und kennt die Hauptstadt mittlerweile fast so gut wie seine Heimat Johannesburg. In «From Joburg to Bern» präsentiert er seine Sicht auf das, was hier so läuft.

Wir wagen den Versuch und drucken Milaras’ Beiträge vorerst nur auf Englisch. 

One of the things which Bern does with ease, is that it keeps surprising, repeatedly, in little ways. There’s always another little (or big) hole-in-the-wall café/bar/club which a small cluster of chance events and conversations leads you to finding. Friday’s instance of this for me was Heitere Fahne. I’ve since gathered that most have heard of it, but not a few have not been – really unacceptable in my opinion. What a joint!

Previously a ‘village community hall’ now converted into a hip yet familiar (and sprawling) café/bar/club, it oozes the cool party vibe. The night started with some (boring) lotto (aka bingo, aka retirees pastime), but was soon followed by Pierre Omer’s Swing Revue. I categorically don’t like swing. But what these guys did with it was edgy, wildly creative and compelled you to dance. To add yet further novelty to the eclectic evening was a trippy voyeuristic ‘underwater’ installation by Noemi Reisle, which included local Butoh dancer Zoë Binetti. As ever, I knew more people than expected, made the acquaintance of yet even more cool people, and perhaps eased again little further into becoming a Berner.

Milton Milaras ist Autor, Geograph und Tänzer. Er unterrichtet immer mittwochs ab 17.30 Uhr «Creative Writing» an der autonomen Schule Denk:Mal in der Lorraine.