Life and Opinions of an Artist ; "A Time For Dreamers"

2014/ 2018  Parigi Ero seduta in una caffetteria nel estate di 2017 e stavo ascoltando la mia canzone preferita di "The Style Council". Sembrava un'ossessione perché l'avevo ascoltata molto durante i miei anni universitari a Firenze e poi a Teheran mentre mi occupavo di mia madre. Era così romantica e ispirava nostalgia. Guardavo fuori della vetrina mentre sorseggiavo il caffè, compiaciuta di poter osservare la strada affollata da una confortevole poltroncina.... In quel giorno così piovoso, non solo ero a Parigi, ma il sogno era diventato realtà...... Avevo passato dei mesi a dormire sulle panchine e come altri refugiati non sapevo cosa fare. Avevo anche la mia gatta Bunny con me. Avevo portato due gatti con me dalla mia casa in Spagna. L'uomo che lavorava nel  chiosco dove prendevo il cafe era gentile e come altre persone che mi vedevano con lei ... la coccolavano.  Era l'estate e la vita era bella , Ma qualche volta pioveva tantissimo e mi rifugi...

There was my favorite song by The Style Council  on at the caffe,  it was haunting because i had listened to it a lot during my years at university, in Florence, and i listened to it in Tehran while i was looking after my mother.  It was so romantic and expressed  nostalgic  feelings.   I looked out of the window while sipping at my coffee and indulged in looking out onto the busy street from the comfort of my armchair .... on this rainy day i was in Paris and a dream i had had come true......  " Empty hours Spent combing the street In daytime showers They've become my beat; As I walk from cafe to bar I wish I knew where you are; Because you've clouded my mind And now I'm all out of time  Empty skies say try to forget Better advice is to have no regrets; As I tread the boulevard floor Will I see once more; Because you've clouded my mind 'Till then I'm biding my time I'm only sad in a natural way And I enjoy sometimes feeling this way...

This is a suggestion for changing the rules if residency and  for a rational solution to immigration in Europe .  Recently i was in germany where i found the laws of immigration where incredibly different from other countries in europe (where i had spent all my youth).  Infact i have always thought that i should go to the European court and make my case heard .... but disinformation and populism are a sort of conspiracy which has paved the way all along , not only for me but for other people who have similar stories and experiences.  In 2004 i met Teresita;  a woman from Colombia who had lived in Florence for 50 years and she had no recognition from the state and her italian friend Rino asked Silvia who is a catholic  to look after her when she finally fell ill at the age of seventy.  She couldnt recieve any health care or any sort of help from public institutions , she had always worked and had been paid under the counter like a lot of others .... ...

The long read How a Slovakian neo-Nazi got elected   Illustration: Guardian Design/Reuters In 2013, the far-right politician Marian Kotleba won a shock victory in regional elections. Four years later, he was voted out in a landslide. But now he’s running for president. By  Shaun Walker More from this series:  The new populism

The Guardian picture essay Afghanistan‘s Generation Z – a photo essay   Sultan Qasim Sayeedi, 18, in Kabul. Afghanistan’s Generation Z has grown up in a 17-year window overshadowed by war and a heavy international presence and now faces an uncertain future and the possibility of stark change by Mohammad Ismail / Reuters Mon 11 Feb 2019  07.00 GMT Last modified on Mon 11 Feb 2019  11.36 GMT Shares 175 T he start of 2019 has brought for Afghanistan a tantalising hope of peace, as the Taliban sat down for talks first with Americans in Qatar and with senior members of the Afghan elite in Moscow. Donald Trump has told Americans his administration had accelerated talks for a political settlement in  Afghanistan  and would be able to reduce US troops there as negotiations advance to end America’s longest war. No one knows what form a new government may take or how much control the Taliban ...

Facebook Twitter Oliver Wainwright   Borders/Inclusivity by Farshid Moussavi Architectur and Zineb Sedira at the exhibition Is This Tomorrow? Photograph: Jeff Spicer/PA ‘I s This Tomorrow?” asks a new exhibition at the  Whitechapel Gallery . One rather hopes not, if this car crash of forced collaboration, muddled thinking and hasty installation art is anything to go by. The show takes as its premise the idea that a hugely influential, agenda-setting exhibition staged 63 years ago might be re-created for the present day with just as much impact. The original spectacle, titled  This Is Tomorrow , opened at the Whitechapel in 1956, then a gritty outpost in London’s wild  East End . It was a landmark event, helping to launch the careers of its thirtysomething participants, from  pop artists Richard Hamilton  and  Eduardo Paolozzi , to architects  Alison and Peter Smithson  and  James Stirling . It has since b...