Why Lockdowns Don't Necessarily Infringe On Freedom

Why Lockdowns Don't Necessarily Infringe On Freedom (Image by Tumisu)

Europe is dealing with its “second wave” of COVID-19. And governments seem powerless to stem the tide. Dutch political leaders find it difficult to convince their citizens to wear face masks. A large majority of French voters think that Emmanuel Macron’s government has handled the pandemic badly. And Boris Johnson, Britain’s prime minister, is facing anger from all sides about the circumstances that led to a new English lockdown.

According to these leaders, the arrival of a second wave has nothing to do with their own policy failures, or poor communication. No, the numbers are rising because Europeans are freedom-loving people and it’s hard to make them follow rules. “It is very difficult to ask the British population, uniformly, to obey guidelines in the way that is necessary,” said Johnson for example, in response to criticism of his government’s testing policy. Similarly, in the Netherlands some were quick to attribute soaring infection rates to the fact that the Dutch are famously averse to being “patronised”.

The same explanation is often invoked to account for why Europe is doing significantly worse than countries in East Asia, where the disease seems more under control. According to some commentators, the authoritarian, top-down political culture of countries like China and Singapore makes it far easier to implement strict measures than in liberal Europe.

Singapore’s “effective crisis management”, for instance, was supposedly made possible by the fact that its government “has always wielded absolute control over the state, with an iron fist and a whip in it.” Conversely, many believe that a devotion to “individual liberty” doomed the west to its ongoing crisis.

A coronavirus screening centre in Singapore. (EPA-EFE)

Is this true? Is a poorly functioning government indeed the price that must be paid for freedom? If that is the case, then perhaps we had better give up on liberty. After all, anyone who is dead or seriously ill does not benefit much from being free.

Collective freedom

Fortunately, that’s a conclusion we needn’t draw. As history shows, freedom is quite compatible with effective government. Western political thinkers ranging from Herodotus to Algernon Sidney did not think that a free society is a society without rules, but that those rules should be decided collectively. In their view, freedom was a public good rather than a purely individual condition. A free people, Sidney wrote for instance, was a people living “under laws of their own making”.

Even philosophers such as John Locke, it is worth noting, agreed with this view. Locke is often portrayed as a thinker who believed that freedom coincided with individual rights, rights that should be protected at all costs against state interference. But Locke explicitly denied that freedom was harmed by government regulation – as long as those rules were made “with the consent of society”.

“Freedom then is not … a liberty for every one to do what he lists, to live as he pleases, and not to be tied by any law,” he wrote in his famous Second Treatise. “But freedom of men under government, is, to have a standing rule to live by, common to every one of that society, and made by the legislative power erected in it.”

It was only in the early 19th century that some began to reject this collective ideal in favour of a more individualistic conception of liberty.

A new liberty

In the wake of the French Revolution, democracy slowly expanded across Europe. But this was not universally welcomed. The extension of the right to vote, many feared, would give political power to the poor and uneducated, who would no doubt use it to make dumb decisions or to redistribute wealth. 

Storming of The Bastile, Jean-Pierre Houël, 1789. (Wikimedia Commons)

Hence, liberal elites embarked on a campaign against democracy – and they did so in the name of freedom. Democracy, liberal thinkers ranging from Benjamin Constant to Herbert Spencer argued, was not the mainstay of liberty but a potential threat to freedom properly understood – the private enjoyment of one’s life and goods.

Throughout the 19th century, this liberal, individualistic conception of freedom continued to be contested by radical democrats and socialists alike. Suffragettes such as Emmeline Pankhurst profoundly disagreed with Spencer’s view that the best way to protect liberty was to limit the sphere of government as much as possible. At the same time, socialist politicians such as Jean Jaurès claimed that they, and not the liberals, were the party of freedom, since socialism’s goal was “to organise the sovereignty of all in both the economic and political spheres”.

The ‘free’ West

Only after 1945 did the liberal concept of freedom prevail over the older, collective conception of freedom. In the context of cold war rivalry between the “free West” and the Soviet Union, distrust of state power grew - even democratic state power. In 1958, liberal philosopher Isaiah Berlin, in a one-sided reading of the history of European political thought, stated that “Western” freedom was a purely “negative” concept. Every law, Berlin stated bluntly, had to be seen as an encroachment on freedom.

The cold war is of course since long over. Now that we are entering the third decade of the 21st century, we might want to dust off the older, collective concept of freedom. If the coronavirus crisis has made one thing clear, it is that collective threats such as a pandemic demand decisive, effective action from government.

This does not mean giving up our freedom in exchange for the protection of a nanny state. As Sidney and Locke remind us, as long as even the strictest lockdown can count on broad democratic support, and the rules remain subject to scrutiny by our representatives and the press, they do not infringe on our freedom.

About Today's Contributor:

Annelien de Dijn, Professor of History, Utrecht University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license.

[Blog Tour] 'The Brittle Sea' (The Brittle Saga Trilogy Book 1) By Tom Kane #HistoricalFiction

Blog Tour: 'The Brittle Sea (The Brittle Saga Trilogy Book 1)' By Tom Kane

The Book:

The Brittle Sea

(The Brittle Saga Trilogy Book 1) 
By Tom Kane 

• Publication Date: 19th June 2020 
• Publisher: TigerBites 
• Print Length: 295 pages 
• Genre: Historical Fiction 

The Blurb:

The Titanic disaster is the catalyst that sparks a bloody feud between two families in early 20th century America. 

Magda Asparov is travelling from her home in the Ukraine to be the chosen bride of American businessman Matthew Turner III. But the ill-fated voyage of the unsinkable ship has far reaching consequences for her and her savior. 

Magda has lost her memory and a new personality, Maggie, has taken hold. The Captain of her rescue ship, Richard Blackmore, has fallen for Maggie. 

A mental illness, betrayal, murder, and corruption destroy Blackmore's life until all that remains is for him to seek revenge. 

Buy Links: Amazon (Kindle) • Amazon (Paperback) 

'The Brittle Sea' - front cover

The Brittle Sea – Excerpt :

Copyright © Tom Kane 2020

Magda’s Journey – April 1912

She was born Magda and her name became synonymous with early 20th Century American history. But in ways that nobody understood, Magda will be lost, and Maggie will replace her. But, for now, in this brief fraction of time that is being played out before us, we will call her by her given name, Magda.

In the here and now of her young life, Magda, with almost a girlish inquisitiveness, stole a sneak view of the mighty ship, though in reality all she could see was the side of the immense black hull through the gap between a row of buildings. She stood, looking through the window of the White Star Line’s ticket office, dockside in Southampton. The view between the rows of buildings was small, as was the view of the ship’s funnels, showing just above the same buildings.

“I’m not sure I can do this, Miss, not without proper authority.”

The girl in Magda soon dissolved and her face turned a grim shade of distaste as a small sneer crept up onto her lip. She turned and gave the ticket clerk full vent of her fury.

“I don’t care about what you think,” she shouted, the words echoing about the large but empty office.

The ticket clerk was taken aback and literally stood back at the force of the beautiful young woman’s angry outburst.

Magda didn’t wait for an answer and opened her daytime bag, retrieved her purse, opened it, and pulled out a large five-pound note. Magda slapped the money on the desk between her and the clerk. “This will pay for the changes I want,” she said in a much lower and sweeter tone.

Her anger turned to sweetness so quickly the clerk was confused, but he quickly laid his trembling hand on the large white fiver and slipped the money across the desk and into his pocket. It took a few minutes to issue new tickets, but in the end Miss Magda Asparov became Mrs Magda Turner. In just two days’ time she would be boarding the magnificent new ship on her maiden voyage across the Atlantic to New York, and this name change signified a new start to Magda. No more would she be a common peasant girl in Ukraine. Now she was a woman of substance, a woman with a place in society and a first-class cabin on the most magnificent Ocean-going liner of the day.

As Magda left the office, she breathed in the crisp sea air, ignoring the smell of oil and other unknown smells. She would soon be boarding, and the day felt superb… indeed the day felt the same as the name of the ship, Titanic.

The great day had arrived, and Magda was agog at the sheer mass of people, horses, and carts massing on the quayside. Even automobiles, unheard of where she came from in the Ukraine, a form of transport that didn’t need a horse or ox to pull it. It was something she had only heard tell of and never seen up close, a miracle of the modern world she now found herself immersed in. It was overwhelming.

Many people were forming orderly queues, awaiting their turn to embark. They were in the same situation as Magda, wide eyed and awed by the sight of the mighty ship. At the other end of the scale, and literally at the other end of the great ship, were the rich, the famous and some from Britain’s landed gentry, who were boarding with their families. Their staff and other servants embarked with the riffraff further down the quayside.

When Magda boarded, she followed a steward down the corridors to her cabin, all the time admiring the elegance of the surroundings. Placing Magda’s luggage in the room, the steward stood back, close to the open door, and coughed, once, very discretely. “Will there be anything else, Miss?”

Magda turned and looked the steward in the eyes. “No. You may go.”

The steward looked surprised but said nothing and closed the heavy door behind him as he left.

Magda had no intention of tipping anyone, not because her funds were low, which they were, but because she saw no reason to help anyone along the way if they were doing a job they were paid for. It would be several hours before the great ship was due to set sail, so Magda took the chance to go up onto the promenade deck for a stroll. On the way up she was passed by multiple stewards carrying large cases and more trunks of clothing than Magda had ever seen. The stewards all smiled at her, not quite out of politeness, more out of lust, being young men with mostly hot Irish blood flowing through their veins.

“Can I help you, miss?”

The man’s voice was rich and had a lovely lilt to it. Magda turned to see a handsome young officer, looking concerned. “No, I’m fine, she said. Thank you.”

“I can tell by your accent you’re from the south,” he said with a beaming smile.

“South?” Magda’s brow furrowed.

“Cork, at a guess.”

Suddenly Magda realised he thought she was Irish. “No,” she said with a small laugh, “I’m from a small village in Ukraine.”

“But your accent…”

“It was my father’s wish that I should not sound like a peasant when I was taught English. This really is the first opportunity I have had to test my language skills out. I must say, I am disappointed. I thought my accent was neutral.”

The officer’s smile broadened. “I think it’s a lovely accent, Miss. Now how can I be of service?”

“Can you point me towards the promenade deck, I wish to look over this lovely liner of yours.”

“Of course,” he said, turning. “Just follow me, Miss.”

Magda did as the officer bid and trailed in his footsteps, all the while marvelling at the magnificence of the Titanic. Once the officer had led her to the promenade deck he bowed slightly, raised his hat, and bid her a safe journey. As it turned out, Magda enjoyed her walk and in the coming days would spend as much time as possible on this deck, until in the early hours of one morning, fate took a hand in Magda’s life.

Tom Kane

Author Bio: 

As a child, Tom Kane's family always insisted he was born in the corner of the living room, behind the TV. That strange assertion, true or false, seems to have set the tone for the rest of his life. Kane's mother inspired him to write. Doctor Who and Isaac Asimov inspired his love of science fiction. Monty Python inspired him to be silly and he continues to blame Billy Connolly for his infrequent bursts of bad language In the corner or behind the TV, what is officially known about Tom Kane's birth is that it took place in England many moons ago.

• Connect with Tom: Website • Twitter • Facebook • Instagram 

'The Brittle Sea' - Blog Tour Schedule

[Blog Tour] Guest Post by Anas Hamshari & Caroline Snodgress Authors of 'Anke: The Beginning' #HistoricalFiction

[Blog Tour] 'Anke: The Beginning' by Anas Hamshari & Caroline Snodgress

Guest Post

By Anas Hamshari and Caroline Snodgress

The seventeenth century was an interesting time for Northern and Western Europe. It is known to some historians as the “General Crisis”—a name that emphasizes the widespread turmoil, conflict, and instability of the period. Even if one considers this name to be an exaggeration, or perhaps an oversimplification, it is impossible to dispute the fact that the century was marked with violence, and contained events which would have a huge impact on the years to come.

Perhaps the most notable aspect of the century is that of its situation in a post-Reformation world. Before Luther’s Ninety-five Theses in 1517, there were no Protestant nations in Europe. In fact, there was essentially no Protestantism in existence for the people to follow. However, with Luther’s ideas of justification by faith alone, free will, and the condemnation of papal indulgences, the movement quickly began to spread. In 1525, the Duchy of Prussia was the first to formally adopt this Evangelical or Lutheran faith. Within a few decades, the Catholics were retaliating with the Counter-Reformation, and the religious conflicts of Central Europe were in full swing.

Almost exactly one hundred years after Luther supposedly nailed his Theses to the door of the Wittenberg Castle Church, the Bohemian Revolt broke out. Though religious conflict between Catholics and Protestants had technically been settled before the end of the sixteenth century, tensions were still high. Eventually, the Protestant Bohemian estates became dissatisfied with the rule of the Catholic Habsburgs, and in 1618 they revolted against Ferdinand II, offering the crown to the Calvinist Frederick of the Palatinate instead. Though Frederick’s rule would not last for very long, this revolt served as a spark for the Thirty Years’ War. And, perhaps equally important, it also got countries in Western Europe involved in the conflict, namely: the Dutch Republic, and Habsburg Spain.

The Dutch Republic had its roots in the Reformation and growing anti-Habsburg sentiment of the mid-sixteenth century as well. The Dutch Revolt, essentially the first part of the Eighty Years’ War or War for Dutch Independence, began when Philip II of Spain came to the throne. He was a much more strict ruler than his father had been, and, before long, some of the nobility began to oppose him. This rebellion, combined with the clashes between Dutch Calvinists and Habsburg Catholics, hunger, and economic troubles, soon led to a full-fledged revolt. The Seventeen Provinces began to fight for their independence from the Holy Roman Empire’s House of Habsburg.

Though the revolt began in 1566, it was not until the Union of Utrecht in 1579 that the northern provinces of the Netherlands were unified—essentially serving as the foundation for the seven United Provinces, or Dutch Republic, which would arise at the end of the century, and be formally recognized by Spain at the beginning of the next. At first, Antwerp, the largest city in the Low Countries, served as the provinces’ capital, but in 1585, it fell once more to the Spanish. The population plummeted—a result of violence, and of Protestants fleeing to the north. The Netherlands was split into the independent north and the Spanish south.

The feud between the Netherlands and Spain, between Protestants and Catholics, and between the people and their Habsburg rulers, however, was not concluded by the end of the sixteenth century. All of this tension erupted within the seventeenth. The Bohemian Revolt in the century’s early years gave way to the Thirty Years’ War, which also incorporated the Eighty Years’ War in the Netherlands, the ongoing Habsburg-Bourbon conflict, and a handful of other interconnected wars across Europe. The entire continent was engulfed in violence, and, at the war’s end in 1648, it was a markedly different land. Within the Habsburg Monarchy, Protestantism was mostly eradicated, but Habsburg power as a whole had declined. The religious wars in Europe had essentially come to an end. Meanwhile, Dutch independence, in the north at least, was officially recognized, and Spain ceded all control to the land.

Seven years after the end of the Thirty Years’ War, we find Anke living in Mechelin, a city just south of the once-powerful Antwerp, in the Spanish Netherlands. While Anke herself is fictional, the dynamics which shape her life are not. Like the real people of the Spanish Netherlands at this time, she lives in a land still ruled by the power of the Habsburgs—or, as they are more likely known to her, the House of Austria—and by the Catholic Church. She was born into the war, fifty-one years after the Fall of Antwerp, and has seen the provinces to the north gain independence while her own lands remain a part of the empire. With the river Scheldt closed to navigation by the Dutch in the north, the population of Antwerp decimated, and the prosperity of the Netherlands gone to Amsterdam, Anke lives a life of relative poverty, and without many possibilities.

However, she is not without hope.

While religious tension was growing in Central Europe, around the world the Age of Discovery was flourishing. From about the beginning of the fifteenth century, to Anke’s lifetime in the mid-seventeenth century, European nations such as Portugal began to venture out across the water and set foot in lands previously unknown to them. The conquest and colonization that followed brought great profit and great prestige to many European nations, while simultaneously bringing destruction to the indigenous populations of places such as the Americas, so-called Ceylon, and Siberia. Opinions on the legacy of colonization still vary to this day, but even disregarding the question of morality, one can see that this Age of Discovery was a period which, for better or worse, changed the world as we know it. Religious conflicts gave way to battles over territory, as colonies changed hands, and new cities sprung up in lands across the Atlantic. When Anke lands in New Amsterdam in the autumn of 1655, there is less than a decade left before it will be taken over by the British. Before long, America will begin thinking about a revolution of its own—perhaps taking some of its inspiration from the Netherlands.

The seventeenth century was, without a doubt, a turbulent and bloody time. But it was also a time of change, of people fighting for their beliefs and making a difference in the world around them. It was a time of exploration, of new nations, and, in Anke’s case, of new beginnings.

'Anke: The Beginning' - eBook front cover

The Book:

Anke: The Beginning

By Anas Hamshari and Caroline Snodgress

• Publication Date: September 16th 2020
• Publisher: Exotic Reads
• Page Length: 111 eBook / 170 paperback
• Genre: Historical Fiction

The Blurb:

Living in the city of Mechelen, just south of once-prosperous Antwerp, in the aftermath of the Thirty Years’ War, Anke Verhaegen, an ambitious nineteen-year-old, is determined to make the most of her life.

When her brother Johan suggests crossing the Atlantic to New Netherland, Anke knows this is her destiny. Together, the two set about attempting to secure passage across the sea. Before long, their plans are in motion, and hopes are high. Yet, with vengeful enemies, secrecy, and danger on the high sea waiting to be faced, will Anke really be able to secure a better life for herself?

Buy Links:

• Amazon + other places

Authors Bio:

Anas Hamshari

Anas Hamshari

Anas Hamshari is an established businessman residing in the State of Kuwait, and an author of one personal growth book and two historical fiction novels. Anas has been a lifelong writer and first began creating medieval fiction tales and short stories when he was seven years old. In June 2020, Anas formed Exotic Reads, a historical fiction self-publishing division in one of his main businesses, Exotic Flavor. Exotic Reads will be self-publishing a variety of historical fiction novels in the weeks, months, and years to come.

• Twitter

Caroline Snodgress

Caroline Snodgress

Caroline Snodgress is a first-time author but a long-time writer and ghostwriter. As an Echols Scholar at the University of Virginia, she is planning to double major in English and History, and is thoroughly enjoying taking as many fiction writing classes as she can fit into her schedule. When not in Charlottesville, she lives with her family just outside of Richmond, reading eighteenth- and nineteenth-century literature and watching plenty of period dramas in her spare time.

• Website • Twitter • Instagram • Facebook •

Blog Tour Schedule:

Blog Tour Schedule for Anke: The Beginning'

'Starsky and Hutch' Actor David Soul Releases New Short Film/Documentary 'America' [Video Included]

'Starsky and Hutch' Actor David Soul Releases New Short Film/Documentary 'America' (screengrab)

Actor/director and musician David Soul, co-star of the iconic 1970s television series, Starsky and Hutch, has created and directed a short film/documentary called America, based on a song of the same name.

• The song, written by Jack Murphy and recorded by David Soul 40 years ago, was never released - until now.

David's not-for-profit film, produced by Me and Thee Productions and available free across all social media, reveals America's story as illustrated in the song's lyrics; from her slave-trading beginnings in 1619, through the years of the Civil Rights struggles, to the inspirational, global, and long-overdue Black Lives Matter movement.

'Starsky and Hutch' Actor David Soul Releases New Short Film/Documentary 'America' (screengrab)

America, the film, is a reminder that our uniqueness as a country (often concealed in superficial patriotic bravado and self-congratulation) actually lies in our immeasurable compassion and love, as well as in our undaunting willingness to learn from our past and rise above our differences.

• The film, at moments graphic and challenging, is not always easy to watch, but in fact, it serves to embrace the collective heart and soul of our nation's diversity.

We are reminded by David Soul's America that we must unite together on "the Yellow Brick Road" in our continuing journey to form "a more perfect union;" in essence, to ensure that the promises of equality and justice for all Americans, enshrined within the United States Constitution, are finally realized.

'America' By David Soul - The Video:

• To learn more about 'America', visit StickTogether.us.

SOURCE: Me and Thee Productions

Sean Connery: 'Bond, James Bond', But So Much More

Sean Connery: the first Bond, and for many people, the best. (PA/PA Archive/PA Images)

Coverage of the passing of Sir Sean Connery has inevitably been dominated by his legacy as the screen’s first – and best – James Bond. Connery’s “Bond, James Bond” moment near the beginning of Dr. No (1962) is one of the iconic moments of cinema history and has spawned countless imitations and parodies.

Perhaps the most persistent myth about Connery, who was 90, is that he was an “unknown” actor who was plucked from obscurity by Bond producers Albert “Cubby” Broccoli and Harry Saltzman, who reportedly cast him against the wishes of author Ian Fleming and distributor United Artists. But this is to ignore the fact that Connery had already established himself as a television actor, drawing critical plaudits for lead roles in a 1957 BBC production of Requiem for a Heavyweight and in the 1961 TV production of Anna Karenina, but also appearing in a number of meaty co-starring roles in Hollywood films, including opposite Lana Turner in Another Time, Another Place (1958).

It was reportedly his appearance in Disney’s fantasy Darby O’Gill and the Little People (1959) that drew Connery to the notice of Broccoli’s wife, Dana, while the British crime drama The Frightened City (1961), in which Connery as an underworld enforcer steals the picture from its nominal star John Gregson, was also evidence of a star in the making.

Nevertheless Connery was inspired casting as James Bond. Connery made the role his own to such an extent that it is now impossible to imagine any of the other actors said to have been considered – including Cary Grant, David Niven, Patrick McGoohan and even Roger Moore – stepping into the shoes of “the gentleman agent with the licence to kill” in 1962.

In this context an important point to remember about Bond is that Fleming’s character was not an Old Etonian establishment figure: he is even described in Moonraker as being “alien and unEnglish”. Connery’s working-class Scottish roots – he was born and grew up in Edinburgh, where his early jobs had included milkman, bricklayer and coffin-polisher – imbued his Bond with that sense of “otherness”. 

To this extent Connery’s Bond has as much in common with the outsider protagonists of the British new wave – Laurence Harvey, Albert Finney, Richard Harris – as the tradition of British screen heroism incarnated by stars of the 1950s such as Richard Todd and Kenneth More.

Sean Connery and co-star Honor Blackman in a publicity shot for the film Goldfinger (1964). (PA/PA Archive/PA Images)

Connery’s performance in Dr No is edgy and brusque: he really settled into the part in From Russia With Love (1963) and Goldfinger (1964) where he commands the screen with that indefinable quality of star “presence” that means all he has to do to dominate a scene is to be in it.

Beyond Bond

Bond brought Connery fame and fortune. He was paid a mere £6,000 for Dr No, four times that amount for From Russia With Love and a then-record US$1.25 million for his first Bond “comeback” in 1971’s Diamonds Are Forever (George Lazenby had taken the role for On Her Majesty’s Secret Service in 1969).

The lucrative remuneration meant that Connery was able to pick and choose his roles outside the Bond pictures. Indeed his non-Bond roles demonstrate just how versatile an actor Connery was. Alfred Hitchcock cast him against type as Tippi Hedren’s conflicted husband in Marnie (1964), and he excelled in two films for Sidney Lumet, as the rebel-with-a-cause in the hard-hitting military prison drama The Hill (1965) and as a vengeful policeman in the much underrated The Offence (1973).

Connery was particularly good at playing characters older than himself, including the potentate standing up to Teddy Roosevelt in The Wind and the Lion (1975) and an ageing Robin Hood reflecting on his own myth in the beautifully elegiac Robin and Marian (1976). He paired with Michael Caine as soldiers of fortune in 19th-century Afghanistan in The Man Who Would Be King (1975) and was one of the all-star cast of suspects in Sidney Lumet’s lavish adaptation of Murder on the Orient Express (1974).

Screen gods: Sean Connery and Michael Caine in The Man Who Would Be King (1975). (PA/PA Archive/PA Images)

There was, inevitably, the occasional left-field choice, but even the science-fiction oddity Zardoz (1973) now has something of a cult status. Connery famously said that he would “never” play Bond again after Diamonds Are Forever: hence the ironic title of his second Bond “comeback” Never Say Never Again (1983), a rival production outside the Eon Production series mounted by independent producer Kevin McClory.

Connery won his only Academy Award, a popular choice as Best Supporting Actor for his “Irish” street-cop in The Untouchables (1987), after which his career enjoyed a second wind as the world’s most bankable sexagenarian film star in a sequence of superior adventure and caper movies including The Hunt for Red October (1990), The Rock (1996) and Entrapment (1999).

By this time Connery’s refusal to disguise his accent had become something of a trademark, whatever the part. When Steven Spielberg cast him as Harrison Ford’s father in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), it captured the idea that Connery’s Bond was the symbolic “father” of a later generation screen hero.

Feet of clay

Most stars turn out to have feet of clay: Connery was no exception. He attracted controversy for a remark made in an interview with Playboy in 1965 that legitimised hitting a woman (“An open-handed slap is justified if all other alternatives fail”). His Bond did this on screen in From Russia With Love and Diamonds Are Forever.

He also had a public falling-out with Broccoli, suing the producer and MGM for alleged non-payment of profit shares in the Bond films. Against this should be set Connery’s charitable work: he used his fee for Diamonds Are Forever to found the Scottish International Education Trust to provide financial assistance for Scots from disadvantaged backgrounds to attend university and college.

Proud ‘Scottish peasant’

Connery, who since the 1970s lived in Spain and the Bahamas as a tax exile, was proud of his Scottish roots. Ian Fleming warmed to Connery to the extent that he introduced a Scottish heritage for Bond into the later stories. Bond’s “I am a Scottish peasant and I will always feel at home being a Scottish peasant” – from The Man With the Golden Gun – might have been written with Connery in mind, although Bond was actually played by his successor, Roger Moore, in that film.

Unlike Bond, Connery did accept a knighthood, for services to film drama, in 2000. It is widely believed that his public support for the Scottish National Party had delayed his knighthood.

Connery’s last screen appearance was as Allan Quatermain in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003), in which he leads a Victorian superhero team to save the British Empire. He confirmed his retirement when he was presented with the American Film Institute’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2006.

He died in his sleep at his home in Nassau, and is survived by his second wife Micheline and son (by first wife Diane Cilento) Jason Connery.

About Today's Contributor:

James Chapman, Professor of Film Studies, University of Leicester

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license.

Design Competition for Canada's LGBTQ2+ National Monument Launches

Design Competition for Canada's LGBTQ2+ National Monument Launches (Photo by Andre Furtado from Pexels)

A major step has been taken toward creating a national monument remembering the historic discrimination against LGBTQ2+ people in Canada, including those who suffered and continue to suffer due to the LGBT Purge between the 1950s and the 1990s.

Teams of professional artists, landscape architects, architects and other urban design professionals are invited to submit their credentials and examples of work for consideration as part of the Request for Qualifications for the LGBTQ2+ National Monument. The deadline is January 5, 2021. The Honourable Steven Guilbeault, Minister of Canadian Heritage, the Honourable Bardish Chagger, Minister of Diversity and Inclusion and Youth, and the LGBT Purge Fund—the project proponent—issued the request in cooperation with the National Capital Commission.

The monument site will be located at the northeast side of Wellington Street near the ­Portage Bridge, next to the Ottawa River, close to the Judicial Precinct. The LGBT Purge Fund selected the site after consultations with LGBTQ2+ communities. The NCC approved the choice of site in January 2020.

The Monument will memorialize the profound impact of the discrimination experienced by Canada's LGBTQ2+ communities and will celebrate the achievements of those who fought for equality. It will also help educate visitors and inspire hope as well as change for the future

• .The site will have the capacity to host gatherings of as many as 2,000 people and balance public visibility and space for contemplation.

The design competition jury will include experts in the fields of visual arts, landscape architecture, architecture, urban design as well as LGBT Purge survivors, representatives from key stakeholder groups, and subject-matter specialists. The jury will review the submissions and select up to five teams, who will then be invited to prepare design proposals for the monument. 

The jury is comprised of the following members:

• Aaron Betsky, architect
• Maya Desai, architect and urban designer
• Michelle Douglas, Executive Director, LGBT Purge Fund, and LGBT Purge survivor
• Grant Fahlgren, landscape architect
• Reverend Dr. Brent Hawkes, C.M., O.N.B, subject-matter expert
• Bernard Lamarche, art historian and curator
• Ann-Marie Macdonald, O.C., author, actor, playwright, affected community member
• Courtnay McFarlane, visual artist, poet and curator
• Martine Roy, Chair of the Board of Directors, LGBT Purge Fund, and LGBT Purge survivor
• Megan Torza, architect and urban designer

The LGBT Purge refers to the period when LGBT members of the Canadian Armed Forces, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and the Canadian federal public service faced systematic discrimination, harassment and often firings due to their sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression as a matter of policy and sanctioned practice.

Over time, survivors and their allies worked hard to secure apologies, gain recognition, win compensation, and change Canadian law. A ground-breaking settlement was reached in 2018. Canada was the first country in the world to provide substantial compensation for the harm inflicted on its own people through decades of state-sponsored discrimination.

Quotes:

"I am confident Canada's design community can create a fitting memorial telling the story of those who were persecuted, dismissed and marginalized. Thousands of lives were devastated during the Purge. Careers were ruined and families were torn apart. I thank the LGBT Purge Fund for its vision of a monument that will inspire us to strive for a future that is free of LGBTQ2+ discrimination." — The Honourable Steven Guilbeault, Minister of Canadian Heritage

"The Purge was a disgraceful period in Canadian history. It had an effect not only on those who faced discrimination, but all members of LGBTQ2+ communities across the country. Unless we learn from our history, we are bound to repeat it. This monument will remind us that we must challenge normative values that perpetuate oppression in our society." — The Honourable Bardish Chagger, Minister of Diversity and Inclusion and Youth

"The LGBTQ2+ National Monument will be an enduring and important marker to commemorate the deep, state-sanctioned discrimination experienced by LGBTQ2+ people in Canada for many decades. The LGBT Purge Fund is proud to provide the funding for this project and to ensure that that the voices of the LGBTQ2+ community are extensively consulted on the vision for this project." — Michelle Douglas, Executive Director, LGBT Purge Fund

Quick Facts:

This first phase of the design competition will evaluate qualifications and select up to five teams to continue to the Request for Proposals phase in 2021, when the finalists will be invited to develop their design concepts.

Members of LGBTQ2+ communities and the public will be invited to review the finalists' proposals before a design is chosen.

• The monument is scheduled to be completed by 2025.

Associated Links:

• Request for Qualifications
• Upcoming Projects: The LGBTQ2+ National Monument
• LGBT Purge Fund on the LGBTQ2+ National Monument

About The LGBT Purge Fund:

The LGBT Purge Fund is a not-for-profit corporation established in 2018 to manage memorialization and reconciliation projects mandated by the settlement. They are responsible for building an LGBTQ2+ National Monument that will "memorialize the historical discrimination against LGBTQ2+ people in Canada, including with respect to the LGBT Purge." 

As the proponent of the project, the LGBT Purge Fund is providing $8 million for the project and is working with Canadian Heritage and the NCC to ensure the monument meets the objectives of the settlement agreement and embodies the vision developed with Purge survivors and Canada's wider LGBTQ2+ community.

SOURCE: Canadian Heritage

Everard Goes Back to the Future on Oct. 14 with 1960s Space Age Cars and Sculptural Art from Estate of John Bucci

Concept car designer/fabricator John Bucci (Italian/American, 1935-2019) at the 1964 New York World's Fair, where his 1962 fiberglass car 'La Shabbla,' thrilled millions of visitors at the Cavalcade of Cars exhibition. (Archival photo from the Estate of John Bucci.)

On October 14, Savannah's Everard Auctions will go back to the future with an online-only auction of wildly imaginative cars and sculptural art from the Estate of John Bucci (1935-2019).

A visionary artist whose work was decades ahead of its time, Bucci crafted fiberglass fantasies that drew widespread media recognition and praise from the highest echelons of the custom-car world. 

Two of his Space Age vehicles are featured in the auction: 

• The 1962 car known as "La Shabbla," which was the rage of the 1964 New York World's Fair
• "La Trieste," which created mob scenes and was pulled over by curious Polizia when Bucci drove it around Italy in 1967.

Even today, more than half a century after they were fabricated, Bucci's unconventional automotive prototypes look futuristic enough to be parked in the Jetsons' garage. They are attracting bidder interest from new and long-time fans of avant-garde and automotive art.

John Bucci was a dreamer even in his youth. He grew up in a region of Italy that became part of Yugoslavia after World War II. After immigrating to Chicago in 1959, he worked at Radio Flyer, Zenith and Sun Electric. But his true gift was being able to visualize the fantastical and create it out of fiberglass. He gained renown for his spectacular replicas of Trevi Fountain, which he supplied to trade shows and Italian festivals around the country.

Around 1962, Bucci found himself without sufficient funds to buy a car, so he did what came naturally – he made one, a car of the future that he named "La Shabbla," or "Sword." Its futuristic fiberglass body sits on a Fiat chassis with an Arbath 750 engine. It features retractable headlights, a working steering wheel, electrically powered hood cover, oscilloscope, and blue woven leather seats. 

John Bucci, La Shabbla, 1964 World's Fair Concept Car (image via liveauctioneers.com)

• The car was displayed at the Calvacade of Custom Cars at the 1964 NY World's Fair, where it was mobbed by fairgoers and even caught the eye of singer Paul Anka, who hopped inside for a photo opportunity.

In as-is condition, La Shabbla is a show car that can run off AC/DC current when in static display mode. On AC current, it can perform limited operations including opening the hood, and extending/retracting the steering wheel and passenger windscreen. The engine turns freely when rotated by hand. 

• Auction estimate: $50,000-$75,000.

John Bucci, The Trieste, Fiberglass Concept Car (image via liveauctioneers.com)

La Trieste is believed to have been constructed around a Porsche 356 floor pan and is powered by a Porsche 4-cylinder (1600cc super) engine capable of hitting a top speed of 160mph. Bucci created it with a five-layer fiberglass body that received five coats of paint. Its windshield and side windows are made of polycarbonate, and the door-locking mechanism appears to be electromagnetic. 

• In 1967, Bucci took it on an extensive tour of Italy, then exhibited it around America's Midwest. 

In 1967, John Bucci (Italian/American, 1935-2019) drove around Italy in his concept car 'La Trieste,' attracting mobs of curious, car-crazy citizens. Italian Polizia even pulled him over just to get a closer look at the futuristic vehicle, which was 100% street legal. (Archival photo from the Estate of John Bucci.)

A May 1972 article in the Chicago Sun-Times Business News section described La Trieste as resembling "a land-bound missile" and said "…even if it didn't run – which it does very well – it would have to be considered somewhat of a milestone in auto styling." 

• Currently in fair condition, La Trieste has an $8,000-$12,000 estimate.

Bucci's design oeuvre also included functional, avant-garde sculptural furniture made from plexiglass, steel, found objects and wood. A selection is entered in the auction with estimates ranging from $120-$1,500.

SOURCE: Everard Auctions

9/11 Augmented Reality Video Reveals "Hidden History" at Ground Zero [Video Included]

9/11 Augmented Reality Video Reveals "Hidden History" at Ground Zero (Screengrab)

An online video that uniquely memorializes imagery from 9/11 was filmed in lower Manhattan using an augmented reality (AR) app that overlays scenes from past events on the present-day locations right where they happened. The result is a haunting sequence of clips in which the New Yorkers of September 11, 2001 intermingle with the New Yorkers of today, neither aware that they will have ever crossed paths.

• The project is part of ReplayAR's "AR Time Capsule" series which uses patented locational AR technology to explore the hidden history that surrounds us in everyday life. 

The video series has previously featured historical tours of other New York City neighborhoods, as well as some west coast locations like Santa Barbara and the Cinerama Dome in Los Angeles.

Augmented reality tech reveals people passing by a Beekman Street parking garage as they flee lower Manhattan through smoke and ash on September 11, 2001.

"As this year's 9/11 anniversary approaches, we again find ourselves moved by the tremendous sacrifices of our first responders and frontline workers facing unimaginable challenges, just as they did 19 years ago in the heart of ground zero," said Hell's Kitchen resident Jay Huddy, who invented the free app as a means to preserve historical events and personal memories.

The 9/11 video was shot using ReplayAR (pronounced "replayer") on an iPhone 11 in and around the Financial District by Brandon Martin, Huddy's neighbor and collaborator.

From Rockefeller Center's "Top of the Rock" observation deck, augmented reality reveals a bird's eye view of yesteryear as the World Trade Center's twin towers stand tall in the setting sun.

"I showed the footage to a friend of mine who was actually there on 9/11 when it happened. He mentioned how the audio reminded him of that day when in fact, we didn't do any sound design at all," Martin said. "It turns out that in this age of the COVID-19 pandemic, the natural sound of the city now echoes the same eerie stillness and quietude heard in the aftermath of 9/11."

This is not Huddy's first digital creation born from the tragic events of 9/11. In 2003, he created a controversial video game based on the real-life timeline of events leading up to and following the attacks called "Blood of Bin Laden" which was discussed in MIT Technology Review and From Sun Tzu to Xbox, a book by former Village Voice writer Ed Halter.

Unlike a video game, ReplayAR is an AR creation tool that offers anyone with a cellphone the ability to easily make their own augmented reality content, as well as preserve their memories in the form of locational AR photography. 

Huddy hopes to see the technology adopted by museums, walking tours and cultural landmarks focused on historical preservation.

"It's all about contextualizing these photographs in their original surroundings to provide a deeper understanding of the temporal reality they depict," Huddy said. "We hope that by using locational AR visualizations to remember the past, we can honor and preserve the stories of those who came before us, and truly never forget."

The Video:

About ReplayAR:

ReplayAR, Inc. is an augmented reality software company. Its mission is "to pioneer innovative technologies that preserve and protect historical truth while connecting and inspiring a global community through the shared continuum of our human experience."

ReplayAR Related Videos:

• ReplayAR's 9/11 augmented reality reel and other videos in the "AR Time Capsule" series are available to watch on YouTube and at ReplayAR.com. 

• The ReplayAR augmented reality app is available for free on the App Store for iOS and Play Store for Android.

SOURCE: ReplayAR Inc.

"The One and Only Jewish Miss America" - The Inspiring Story of Bess Myerson [Trailer Included]

"The One and Only Jewish Miss America" documentary tells the story of Bess Myerson, beauty queen from the Bronx, NYC, who overcame antisemitism to win the 1945 Miss America pageant.

On September 8, 1945, just months after Germany's surrender and the liberation of Nazi death camps ending the Holocaust, an unlikely and unexpected winner was crowned Miss America in Atlantic City, NJ. It was Bess Myerson, tall, talented, beautiful – and Jewish. In spite of antisemitism and threatening calls to pageant judges warning them against selecting a Jew, Bess took the title home to her family's tiny apartment in the Shalom Aleichem housing project in the Bronx, NY.

A concert pianist, Bess Myerson tied for first in the talent contest, won first place in the swimsuit competition, impressed the judges in personal interviews, and, as the only college graduate among 42 contestants, represented a new kind of post-war poise, intelligence, and feminism. It was a victory not just for Bess, the middle daughter of struggling immigrants from Russia, but also an all-American validation for Jewish-Americans and immigrants all over the country.

New York's Museum of Jewish Heritage is premiering "The One and Only Jewish Miss America" on September 8, 2020, 75 years after Bess Myerson's historic win – and 99 years to the day after the pageant was founded as a bathing beauty contest. 

David Arond, award-winning filmmaker, directed and produced "The One and Only Jewish Miss America" documentary to celebrate the 75th anniversary of Bess Myerson winning the pageant in 1945.

At 7:00 p.m. EDT, filmmaker David Arond will conduct an online panel discussion with those featured in the film: Barra Grant, Bess Myerson's daughter and an accomplished actor and screenwriter, and two international authorities on antisemitism: Abraham Foxman, a friend of Bess's and director emeritus of the Anti-Defamation League, and Brian Levin, director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism and criminal justice professor, California State University, San Bernardino.

"The documentary follows Bess's life from childhood, when she thought she was ugly and gangly," says Arond, "through her entry into the Miss New York City pageant, which her older sister arranged without her knowledge." 

The story continues after the Miss America pageant, when sponsors withdrew their support of a Jewish winner. Bess Myerson never received the promised $5,000 scholarship (which she hoped to use at the Julliard School for a master's degree in music) and the new car from Ford Motor Co. Her Miss America pageant tour also ended in disappointment, when she faced antisemitism and restricted hotels and concert venues that prohibited Jews from entering. Instead of giving up, she started a new tour, with the support of the Anti-Defamation League: a 15-city educational tour to promote respect for all people, regardless of race or religion. 

"Bess Myerson symbolizes the spirit of standing up to prejudice of all kinds," Arond adds. "Her tour of tolerance led to her work in media, politics and social justice."

The Trailer:

The 51-minute documentary has won more than two dozen best documentary feature awards and will be screened at film festivals around the world. 

• To learn more, click on www.jewishmissamerica.com. 


• To view the film and register for the online September 8 panel discussion, visit the Museum of Jewish Heritage at www.mjhnyc.org

Documentary Premiere and Online Panel Discussion
September 8, 2020, 7:00 p.m., EDT
Museum of Jewish Heritage, New York City

SOURCE: Museum of Jewish Heritage, NYC