Um...did these people never see "Space 1999"?

Check out this article on Space.com.

And on a totally unrelated note....

I've wondered how some of the cultural treasures that have been threatened by this summer's innudations have been faring. This was passed on through a conservation list I belong to:

Below are two recent reports on flood damage in the Czech Republic
and Slovakia, from David Carsky, Vice-Chancellor of the Academy of
Fine Art and Design in Bratislava.

August 15, 2002

Indeed, the amount of water coming from Austria is worrying.
Soldiers are filling sandbags and trying to protect the city,
however, it looks like some damage is inevitable. In Bratislava,
the water level of the Danube is supposed to culminate tomorrow
(Friday) morning. The damage it has caused in Austria is
enormous. And it's virtually breaking my heart when I hear of
Prague, my beloved historical center, the Kampa, Mala Strana,
and other parts. Mentioning Kampa, just recently they've
reconstructed a wonderful historical building right on the bank
of Vltava river, it is called "Sovovy mlyny". The Chancellor and
I went to its opening abut a month ago. It was showing a
collection of distinguished modern artist (Czech and Slovak).

The whole project was sponsored by the collector, Mrs. Meda
Mladek from Washington, D.C. who owns one of the most remarkable
collections of works by Frantisek Kupka. Anyway, that
newly-renovated building is now under water (a significant part
of it) but I believe they were able to take the paintings away
on time. I've heard the same about the Klementinum Library and
other institutions. They were warned ahead of time and took
precautions, however, nobody has anticipated such enormous
floods.

August 16, 2002

By now we can say according to the authorities) that the worst
is over, at least for Bratislava. The Danube is now receding
(finally) and we were "lucky" because it didn't significantly
flow out of its banks in the Old City. Still, the Slovak
National Gallery has in advance evacuated the deposit of modern
art (4,000 paintings), which is located in the basement. Since
our downtown building is relatively close to the river, we have
prepared some sandbags, these were still in the driveway this
morning.

As you may have heard in the news, the Vltava river is receding
as well. The damage in Prague's historical district is enormous.
Yesterday, Italian conservators from Florence have offered help.
I can imagine that any help of experts will be appreciated. I'm
a bit worried though that all the attention is concentrating on
Prague, other Czech cities with virtually historical "jewels",
which were heavily affected (e.g. Cesky Krumlov), are not
getting so much international publicity. I'm sure help would be
appreciated there as well. I've also heard of the Northern
Bohemian town of Terezin, the site of a former
nazi-concentration camp, which is now a holocaust museum. Their
valuable archives might have been damaged since they were not
able to save everything in time.

I haven't found any funds set up to help the people or the cities recover, but I'll post them here once I do.


-----------------------------------
Speaking of disasters, I give you the following to ponder (passed on through Friends of Bosnia:

Tenth Anniversary of the Assault on the National and University Library,
Sarajevo, August 25-26, 1992

Dear friends,

The time is at hand to mark an important anniversary: the tenth since the attack on the National and University Library of Bosnia and Hercegovina in Sarajevo on August 25-26, 1992. It was not the first great outrage of that war of aggression; the collections of Sarajevo's Oriental Institute had been utterly destroyed in May and concentration camps such as Omarska and Keraterm were taking their place among other twentieth century sites of evil memory such as Auschwitz and Kolyma. However, the assault on the Vijecnica, the splendid Moorish-revival building that had been founded under Austrian dispensation as the seat of government and transformed into the National Library after WWII, deserves special attention.

For those in need of reminding, Serb nationalist forces commenced firing incendiary phosphorus shells at the Vijecnica on the evening of the 25th. The grand and elegant stained-glass skylight over the atrium made a perfect target. The ensuing conflagration was unstoppable in spite of desperate efforts on the part of Sarajevo's firemen, shot at throughout their efforts to put the fire out, leaving hoses sprouting leaks everywhere. Although a significant number of rare manuscripts and books were salvaged by the staff under daunting conditions (and collections of tertiary value, stored off site, were spared), some ninety percent of the library's contents were consumed, including numerous special collections, the greatest collection of Bosnian periodical literature since its beginnings in the nineteenth century, and the archives of the various ethnic and cultural societies that had been consolidated there at the time of the library's establishment. The Vijecnica itself survived as a shell, its fine marble revetments burnt to lime, its lovely rooms laid waste.

This was not only arguably the worst single case of deliberate book burning in history in absolute terms, with the loss of well over a million volumes; it was also a blow to the heart of a whole nation, an incalculable loss whose magnitude is beyond the imagination of most people to encompass. The library's collections enshrined the strivings of generations, the products of that hopefulness which is at the foundation of all knowledge, all progress and those liberal values that invigorate our civilization. In toto, those collections put the lie to the exclusionary arguments of the nationalist extremists for they demonstrated that multi-ethnic, multi-confessional Bosnia had thrived under centuries of Ottoman rule and then decades of Austrian and Yugoslav rule, its inhabitants of whatever background able not simply to live next to but also with each other. To create facts suited to their narrow ideological program, the extremists had to create a new present by erasing the past.

The National and University Library has faced daunting odds in rehabilitating itself. It has been provided one wing of the Austrian-era, latterly-named Marshall Tito Barracks, along with its stables. Funds from Soros, UNESCO, USAID and the World Bank have enabled the restoration of the barracks in a manner suitable for a library. A German donor provided the stacks. Although the collections are much diminished, despite new growth, the current library provides only thirty-five percent of the space available in the old library. Sadly, funds from major donors only addressed the requirements of the physical space and many other needs are not yet met, despite efforts of the Director, Dr. Enes Kujundzic, and, independently, of the Bosnia Library Project to seek sources of support. Even worse, the National Library has been dealt a terrific blow recently: its budget has been cut by a catastrophic 60%. The devolution of government and the lack of a Minister of Culture in the national government (what there is of it), means that there is no natural constituency amongst people of influence for this institution so long as the national identity is undermined at every turn. Evidently, the IMF told the Bosnian government that it had to get its house in order and it preferred to gut the budget for the National Library than cut services it deemed more basic. What is to be done about this and whether it can be ameliorated, I do not know at this point.

In my childhood, Nazi Germany provided the very image of evil in the world for me. This condition was exemplified by certain iconic features of that regime: the swastika, goose-stepping, Gestapo torture chambers, collective punishment, death camps, and book burning. Book burning came to seem the very sign of intolerance, despotism and unenlightened thinking, wherever one might find it. It is no accident then that the megalomaniacal autocrat who rules contemporary Turkmenistan, who has dubbed himself "Turkmenbasi" (Father of the Turkmen) and who has recently renamed the month of January after himself, has closed the national library of that unhappy country. He perceived it as a hotbed of independent thought and so, declaring that all true Turkmen required was Turkmen literature, he simply shut the library down.

Although doubtless an adventitious connection, I have thought there to be something profound in the identity of two basic Latin words: Liber for book (as in library) and liber for free (as in liberty and liberality). It is literature and scholarship, freely available to all who wish access, especially in the form of books, often enshrined in libraries, that makes us truly free by affording us the understanding to support free institutions and humane values where they exist and desire them where they do not.

The Bosnia Library Project has been dedicated to assisting in the renewal of Bosnia's libraries. We can never hope to regain what is lost, but we can aspire to develop useful collections that, by giving today's students some of what they need to understand the world and find their place in it, will help to provide a viable future for Bosnia and its citizens. To read more about what the BLP has been up to please see the appeal at the following url. Thanks to three generous donors, its immediate goals were reached; however, its future will rely on further support.
http://www.applicom.com/twibih/appeal.html

Yours truly,
Jeff Spurr
Coordinator, Bosnia Library Project