[BRIEF NOTE] The Many Kurdistans

Global Politician carries an interesting article by one Antero Leitzinger, questioning the nature of Kurdish identity:

Western thinking leads us to figure out nations on the basis of a common language or religion. According to the principle of nation-state, each nation must have a homeland. But are the Kurds one united nation, or rather a heterogeneous group of various nations in the same way as, for instance, the Scandinavians [Swedes, Danes, Norwegians, Icelanders] or the Baltic Finns [Finns, Estonians, Karelians, Ingrians, Veps, Livonians]?

The Kurds speak several languages and confess even more religions. Equally big differences prevail between Kurdish languages as between them and Persian. If Gurani and Luri are just dialects of one and same language, then are not also Sorani and Kurmandji dialects of Persian? If the Kurds still need a state separate from other Iranic nations, would there next be a liberation movement of Zazakistan within independent Kurdistan?

There are several Kurdistans, "lands of the Kurds", in the world – not only because the traditional territory inhabited by Kurds is divided between at least six states, but also because each Kurdish party has their own idea of the borders, governance and future of their ideal state. The Kurds have dozens of nationalist parties, and besides, many Kurds support cross-country parties that exceed ethnic boundaries in those countries where free party activity is legal at all.

Leitzinger goes on to argue that although Kurds do share a common identity, they may not yet constitute a nation. The article is worth closer reading.

[NON BLOG] Music

Owing to time and monetary constraints, I think that I'll suspend my participation in the Rainbow Voices of Toronto chorus for the time being. I'll enquire as to whether I can pay in installments shortly. Perhaps as importantly, I'll try to find out whether my signing voice s tenor or baritone. For the time being, though, I can't make the commitment.

In recent weeks I've been thinking about how, before my teenage years, I was interested in being an active producer of music, not only a critical if passive consumer. I sang in choir in elementary school, featuring as a soloist; I played violin under Grade 6, winning a couple of provincial awards; I even filled a couple of composition books with songs. Something gave before I entered junior high, though, and I don't think it was only puberty.

[BRIEF NOTE] More on Amber Frey

Back on the 4th, I posted a bitter complaint about how Scott Peterson's ex-girlfriend--the one he killed his eight-months-pregnant wife for, apparently--managed to produce a book that earned her a fair degree of prominence in the bookselling market. Bryan Curtis at Slate provides a useful rejoinder to my spleen. A sample:

Frey's salacious confessions—unlike, say, Monica Lewinsky's or Jessica Hahn's—serve a noble purpose. Other Women rarely convict cheating husbands of anything more than sexual harassment or soliciting a prostitute. Yet Frey was the star witness in a capital murder trial and, by almost every account, a dazzling one: Prosecutors say her excellent testimony was crucial to Peterson's conviction. She carries none of the religio-political baggage of Lewinsky, Hahn, or Donna Rice. And whatever its scant value as literature, Witness is the best chronicle we'll ever read of Peterson's gruesome manner.

And re-reading Frey's book, I have to agree with Curtis. Perhaps the problem lies with the people who consume works of literature indistinguishable from and actually interchangeable with real-life sordid murders, not with its individual members. (Then again, perhaps we need a new humanity. In which case, sigh.)