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Dispatches From the Culture Wars – International Edition

Yoga Joes; Refugee rescue; Top of the (anti-arschloch) pops; Barenboim’s blues; Asians in Hollywood

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Classic Green Army Figures Practicing Yoga Instead Of Holding Guns

By Dan Abramson
September 5, 2015
art-sheep

If something is a total opposite to war, that is the practice of yoga. Concentrating or relaxing your muscles and mind in order to release tension, is something a soldier would never have the luxury to do under the dangerous circumstances of war.
Inventor Dan Abramson thought of a amazingly creative and beautiful way to connect the two, by creating “Yoga Joes”, a series of simple green plastic army men that have some killer… yoga moves.

 
Volunteers Defy Hostile Leaders to Welcome Refugees to Europe

By Dan McLaughlin
September 5, 2015
Aljazeera

With hundreds of volunteers and more than 22,000 Facebook followers, Migration Aid offers food, water, medical help and information to refugees who each day cross Hungary by the thousands, even as Prime Minister Viktor Orban and his populist right-wing government wash their hands of them.
All along the Balkan route to Western Europe — through Turkey, Greece, Macedonia, Serbia and Hungary — volunteers are stepping in to help refugees, defying their leaders’ indifference or hostility to the new arrivals.


A 22-year-old Anti-Nazi Song Tops German Charts Again — To Welcome Refugees

By Rick Noack
September 4, 2015
Washington Post

More than 20 years ago, some Germans rallied against refugees who had primarily fled the Yugoslav wars, and asylum reception centers went up in flames. There are certain, shocking parallels between the tensions back then and the anti-refugee protests that are taking place in some parts of the country today.
But there's another surprising similarity: An anti-Nazi song that topped the German charts in the 1990s is back on top. "Cry for Love" is being recirculated as a statement of support for the refugees and against right-wing extremists.

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Iran and Israel United in Dislike of Daniel Barenboim After Tehran Does Not Allow Him In

By Justin Huggler
August 31, 2015
Telegraph (London)

Iran and Israel rarely agree about anything, but it appears they are united in their dislike of Daniel Barenboim.
The conductor was planning to take a Berlin orchestra to perform in Iran later this year, to the fury of Israel, which demanded Angela Merkel intervene to stop the concert.
But it is Iran which has prevented it from taking place, after a government official said Mr Barenboim would not be allowed into the country – because he holds Israeli nationality.


Asian Actors In Hollywood: Increased Roles Mark Industry Sea Change

By Anita Busch
September 4, 2015
Deadline

Asian-American actors and those representing them are experiencing a sea change in the number of roles available to them. The revolution is happening in a segment of the acting population that has been widely underserved for years, they say. Perhaps it is the concerted effort on the part of the networks and film studios, the writers who are growing up with a different perspective, and the influx of international  money into the marketplace, but several people interviewed by Deadline noted a marked change in the past year.