Raqs Media Collective

Them (the police) throw me in ah van and tek me dow ah station, them insult me intelligence when them question me, ah treat me like ah animal ah call me monkey, them want me sign statement which wasn't written by me, but me nuh rob people fi get my money, so hey officer address me properly, cau me nuh born big me nuh drop out ah tree, I am more intelligent than you'll ever be, cos ah street life educate me, ah hard life educate me.

(Lezlee Lyrix, Put Back You Truncheon, 1985)

A friend who studied in the UK told us this:

In a UK medical education you begin with anatomy. 18 year old kids arrive at university, and are assigned a dead body to work on. They work on this body for six months before it is taken away and cremated. These bodies are either those of people who have donated their bodies to science or of people who cannot be identified. The relationship that forms between these young people and "their" body is very intense. The bodies are given names and become a dominant force in the students' lives. During this time the students smell perpetually of the chemicals used to preserve the body. Nearly all medical students have regular emotional breakdowns during this period, triggered especially by things they discover about the life of the person concerned. All personal markings etc are supposed to be removed, but certain signs remain. One body had a tattoo and pink nail polish. One student was traumatised to find shit in the colon of her body, because it signified life.

At the end of the period of study, the body is released for burial or cremation. Students attend these events and often give speeches about what the body has meant to them, especially if the body has been donated to science. Families also attend, if the identity of the body is known, and students ask endless questions about the life of the person concerned. They are usually no less emotional at the cremation than the families.

A few weeks (months!) ago, we decided to share some 'knowledge' of interesting places and people that our work and travelling have given us the privilege to have. Sometimes we may not even have met/been the people/places but think that their work needs to be looked at and talked about. We posted it on some lists then, including reader-list.

Here is the text.

Recently in London, I was visiting someone who lived in a fairly upscale building in a lovely apartment. Tea and conversation done, i waited for ages for the lift to come and take me down.

Since it seemed to have gone on a luddite-strike, there was little choice but to find the steps and take the old-fashioned route down. Its always surprising how the underbelly of a building reveals itself when this is done.

Not only was this charming chair on a landing, but i espied a woman smoking rolled-up cigarettes with her head almost entirely out of a small back window. Endearingly, the sill was covered with the remnants of her earlier sessions.

Looking both at the chair, what she was smoking and how she was smoking it, one could deduce that smoking and class issues have definitely become overlaid in this tall and narrow part of London...

21:45 local time, Seoul, South Korea
Hotel Soekyo, Room 417

In a triple bedded room, even though i am alone, with a view of H.I Buffet
Club, i watch the large screen LG Tv. I expected it to be Samsung - i've
been told that Samsung is responsible for a fourth of S.Korea's economy.
Nevertheless, LG seems to be everywhere too...

Besides the expected channels - CNN, Animal Planet, many korean channels
some new channels that seem specific to here (Cineon) - is the Pentagon
channel (http://pentagonchannel.mil/)

Called AFN Prime (Pacific), its a channel for US soldiers based in Korea.
Many references to 'home'. The channel shows US tv shows and movies intercut
with advice to soldiers about not gambling, about getting proper training,
recounts old korea field stories (e.g. the 'tree trimming' adventure many
years ago which turned into tree chopping, 2 soldiers get killed and
everyone thinks might lead to war with the north), messages from generals
and promotionals that talk about how important it is to be good to local culture
and how US soldiers and Eyeraqis are together building a new iraq
and soldiers speak about joining army so that they could help a third world
country...

There are also soldier family support info, US news esp about Bush
statements and Baghdad. The tinge is more about how these news affect the
army, and how the Military Police for example are working away in Iraq and
helping the local police and military. This is in the news!

Sometimes there are features with soldiers, sometimes plugs for the
military chaplain...

and references to www.usfk.mil...