Swimming can be dangerous

Clothing has been in the news around the globe recently. Sometimes the lack of it, sometimes too much of it. And not really from a purely, innocent fashion point of view. The politics of clothing. Values. Morals. So called values and morals, because that’s an open-ended debate. Like a Pandora’s box. Like opening a can of worms. Silk worms maybe in this case.

Respectfulness, tastes, ethics, social politics, emotions, reactions, human rights, religion, laicism. Put all that in a blender and you get a cocktail from hell. Inflammable. Corrosive and explosive.

And all these terms (ethics, politics, morals,...) need a big fat ‘so called’ in front of them too! Because most of the times these words are used and abused beyond their neutral meaning. Socio-political hijacking. The purity of a word lost by human touch. Lost beyond found. Pushed into a labyrinth where there is no return to the starting block.

And swimwear seems to be at the core of most of these stories that caught my eye, ear and mind.

The politics of swimming. Pool-politics. Swimwear has always been some kind of symbol of social evolution. Of ever changing ethics and fashion and expressive freedom within a society. And as there is no global unique society it then also, unavoidably, leads to cultural clashes. Diversity of minds.

In the end it is often as simple as how much flesh is there to be shown and to be seen. The politics of human flesh. The politics of human beauty and sexual appeal.

First stop. France. To be more precise, Emerainville on the eastern outskirts of Paris. A French women from Muslim faith wanted to enjoy the municipal pool in a so called burqini. That’s a new word I discovered. As swimwear fashion progresses so does swimwear language. It is a head-to-toe swimsuit for Muslim women. It was designed by a Lebanese Australian and allows Muslim women to swim without defying their religion.

But as the lady enjoyed some water splashing moments the life guard ordered her out of the pool and said the burqini was unhygienic.

Hygiene seems a handy political tool. I wonder what the life guard feels about those suits surfers wear. It’s also pretty full body cover. Besides the head and hair. When politics, religion and fashion are mixed it gets ugly fast and furious.
The burqini ban follows a heated discussion in France about an overall ban of the burka – the fully covered dress that conservative Muslim women wear. Or are forced to wear. That’s already where the trouble starts. Free will or politico-religious pressure? It’s a very difficult debate. A minefield.

French urban regeneration minister Fadela Amara said that a burka-ban would stop the spread of radical Islam in France. Amara herself is of Muslim faith – that needs to be pointed out. She labelled radical Islam a cancer. She added that she felt that the burka – which covers everything except the eyes of a woman (and sometimes even these eyes have a net with little see-through holes) – represents the oppression of women. Coming from a Muslim woman it needs to be respected. If it was some conservative, Caucasian male saying this, it would be less valuable. This is an opinion from within. But look at it wider, isn’t all radical religion a threat to society? From radical Muslims to radical Christians. The more radical the more oppressive and narrow minded.

France has the largest Muslim population in Western Europe and thus the burka debate is highly inflammable and controversial. Muslim-phobia and racism are hard to keep out of such a debate. Also it needs to be noted that France takes its laicism reasonably serious. And thus it’s the battle for the famous grey area between personal rights and choices on one side, and social rules on the other.

Unfortunately the burka debate comes with the heavy burden of Taliban-politics. It is clear for all to see in Afghanistan and Pakistan – amongst others – that the use and interpretation of conservative Islam faith leads to the degradation of females. Taking young girls out of schools. Forced marriages. No voting rights for females. No driving licences for women. And so on and on. Plenty of proof there that women are not equal to men in those societies. And thus totally unacceptable. Totally regrettable. Repeat: unacceptable!

So the French parliament is debating the total ban of the burka in France. President Sarkozy calls the burka a prison. His minister Amara calls it a political manipulation of religion. Slick Sarkozy of course likes to parade his young wife to the world. But that’s another issue.

Keep an eye on this debate in France. It will get over-heated for sure.

From France to Sudan is just a couple of hours flying time. As mentioned in an earlier blog-article, Sudan has shown its ugly face when its ‘morality police’ arrested a young woman for wearing trousers in public. They call that anti-Islamic. Despite the fact that the official garment for female soldiers and police officers in Sudan is trousers. Take that for absurdity. Double standards. The politics of religion. Another proof that religion and politics should never ever be mixed. Just totally unacceptable. The lady now faces a possible 40 whip lashes as punishment. Medieval brutality.

But back to swimwear. Where the burqini for some shows too little flesh, the opposite is now an issue in the United Kingdom. And here it’s not about female attraction, but male’s shape and sizes.

The famous Speedo is under attack. These famous, little swimming shorts for men are just too little for some.

The English Alton Towers Resort has banned the Speedo. Get that! Too much tight trunks in the waterpark and thus no more. Some felt disturbed it seems. The manager of the resort said that Alton Towers is a family resort and “we don’t want kids asking questions”.

Indeed that’s what the manager said! I think these kids he is worried about are likely seeing more flesh on daily TV than men in tight swimwear. What’s next? Measurements of swimwear, for men and women, when you make a reservation in a resort? Beach police to check how much breast is there sticking out of the skimpy bathing suit, or how tight the men’s trunks are? Call it the Talibanisation of Alton Towers. Human behaviour remains a mystery. France bans the burka, England bans the Speedo. Maybe it says something about both cultures and how they look at life and humans in it. Can’t wait for Italian Prime Minister and loverboy-deluxe, Silvio Berlusconi, to step into the debate. Guaranteed 5-star newspaper headlines. He will probably demand nudity for all women under 25 years old.

Anyway. Still sticking to swimwear but of a life saving-kind. I forgot where it happened exactly, but animal lovers have made a swimsuit for a penguin that lost all his/her feathers and thus was seriously at risk. Normally the new feathers push out the old ones, but in this case the penguin got naked. Humans to the rescue. The penguin seems to like it and is back in full swing – awaiting the return of his/her natural swimsuit.

From skimpy or more fully-bodied swimwear to Afghanistan is an easy move when burkas are the topic.

Afghanistan is holding elections this week. Much awaited polls. But polls overshadowed by Taliban violence and bombings and assassinations. Democracy under attack. Blood polls. You might mark the ballot paper with your X, get your thumb marked with ink as a proof that you have voted (and thus stopping voting twice), but a return to your village might be your last breath as the Taliban butchers are trying to stop the Afghan people from expressing their political rights. More on these elections guaranteed in the coming days. I’m holding my breath (in small time lapses of course).

Swimwear, human flesh, religious pressure, and the return of a symbol of the former east Germany. All in a day’s brainwave.

Remember that near the end of 1989 the so called Berlin Wall fell. Taken down by people power. The iron curtain that divided Western Europe from its Eastern, communist opponent was gone. In a blitz moment of uprising by angry, fed up East Europeans stupidity of history was destroyed. It was a wonderful moment and a victory for the human spirit. A victory for freedom against oppression. Not the kind of freedom politically abused by former US President Ronald Reagan, and copied by George Bush Junior, but honest, straight forward freedom of the common man in their daily lives. It was a magical moment. The winds of change had blown and cleared the air.

Anyway. The paranoia of the East German dictatorship still needs to be further explored and historically outlined for generations to come. Interesting study of madness. The North Koreans are still sticking to this politico madness.
Anyway. East Germany had built its own, ugly car called the Trabant. Unknown to most of the world, till this little car came driving through the gaps in the broken iron curtain back in 1989. Well a German consortium is busy building a new version of the Trabant. And the new Trabant will, apparently, be slick and green. Electric engine. Solar panels on the roof. The prototype is expected to be unveiled at the well-known Frankfurt Motor Show next month. Am sure it will get plenty of attention. If it will get plenty of buyers is another question. Human behaviour will decide.

Throw out. “And to be yourself is all that you can do”. A line from the track “Be yourself” from Audioslave’s second album “Out of exile” from back in 2005. Was singing along with it while driving through town yesterday. Chris Cornell’s voice remains unique. Cornell’s climb to fame started when he was fronting Soundgarden. Just over 10 years ago he switched to a solo career, but in 2002 Audioslave’s self titled, debut album hit the world and hit the world hard. Cornell and former Rage Against The Machine guitar magician Tom Morello joined hands and formed Audioslave. Big. Amazing. Powerfull. A milestone in rock history. Audioslave had two more studio albums before the Cornell-Morello tandem sadly broke. Audioslave is no more but remains inspirational. Meanwhile Cornell has picked up his solo career again. Audioslave can be listened to anytime, anywhere, any mood. It’s perfect soul fuel!

C-Ya

collateral – 2nd half of August 2009