Month: September 2022

One of history’s most famous composers, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, has a Ukrainian connection. His son lived in Lviv for three decades. So Ukrainian musicians, with a bit of help from the caretakers of Mozart’s legacy, put together a very special tribute. Omelyan Oshchudlyak has the story. Camera: Yuriy Dankevych       
…

A multimedia exhibition of African American culture in the Western US state of Colorado includes works by an artist who found new direction during the coronavirus pandemic. VOA’s Scott Stearns has the story from Denver.
…

Cambodian Americans in California are coming together at a traditional night market, showcasing Khmer culture and sharing in recovery from past trauma inflicted by the Khmer Rouge. For VOA, Genia Dulot takes us there.

Camera and produced by: Genia Dulot
…

Watching the powerful historical testament to the horrors of war and the depths of human cruelty in “The Kiev Trial” at the Venice Film Festival, it can seem that little has changed.

The out-of-competition documentary by Ukrainian director Sergei Loznitsa uses archival footage of a now-forgotten war crimes trial of 15 Germans held in Kyiv in 1946.  

But the atrocities that witnesses recount in the black-and-white film has echoes of war crimes that Ukraine accuses Russia of having committed on its soil in recent months.

The International Criminal Court is currently investigating war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide in Ukraine.

“History repeats itself when we do not learn from history. When we don’t study and don’t want to know,” warned Loznitsa, speaking to journalists Sunday.   

This year, when Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began in February, “we all realized we were (back) 80 years ago,” he said.

“We just started to repeat the same things. And it means we did not learn after the war.”

The trial was held in January 1946, just as the Allies’ groundbreaking Nuremberg Trials against Nazi war criminals were beginning  

Stalin sought to use the trials in Kyiv for his own propaganda purposes, Loznitsa said.

The Ukranian director relied on about three hours of footage shot by the Soviets to document the trial, including the arraignment, witness testimony, defense statements and verdict — and finally, the public hanging of the 15 defendants.

The atrocities occurred on different dates and in different places throughout Ukraine, including Babyn Yar, where nearly 34,000 Jews were shot to death in massive pits.

Babyn Yar was the subject of a documentary by Loznitsa last year that played at the Cannes Film Festival in May.

Buried alive

In “The Kiev Trial,” witnesses describe the countless horrors inflicted on the local population by the Germans — children shot in their mothers’ arms, the elderly ordered to lie down in pits and shot by drunken firing squads, old men set upon by dogs, people thrown down a mine shaft, patients in a psychiatric hospital shot, and more.

The prosecutor asks one defendant why he felt it necessary to shoot the children in a town that his troops were razing to the ground.  

“Because they were all running around the village,” he replies.

A woman testifies how she played dead after the mass shooting at Babyn Yar. After being buried alive in a pit with the dead and wounded, she managed to crawl out and escaped.   

All 15 defendants are found guilty and given a sentence of death by hanging.  

Gallows are set up in a huge square and a massive crowd assembles to watch the public execution — including the film’s viewers, spectators to the footage.  

“It’s very, very tough but it’s important to watch it,” Loznitsa said.

 Loznitsa said one of the reasons that Russian forces were committing war crimes against Ukrainians today was because Russia itself was never held accountable for its past actions through the Soviet era, as Germany was.  

“Because this kind of trial did not happen, like the Nuremberg Trial, you have this country in such circumstances, how it is now,” he said.  

Ilya Khrzhanovskiy, a Russian director who is one of the producers of the film, agreed.   

“It’s happening because nothing has changed in Russia, in fact,” said Khrzhanovskiy, who is artistic director of the Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial Center.  

“The head of the country is a KGB guy. Can you imagine that after the Second World War the head of Germany is somebody from the Gestapo?”  
…

The little-known story of a teenage scientist who passed U.S. nuclear secrets to the Soviet Union is the subject of a new documentary that premiered at the Venice Film Festival this week.

A Compassionate Spy, by celebrated U.S. filmmaker Steve James, hopes to reignite debate about nuclear weapons at a time of rising geopolitical tensions.

“Climate change and other issues have taken our attention away from that threat, but it’s always been there and it’s coming back,” James told AFP in Venice.

Ted Hall was just 19 when he was recruited to work on the top-secret Manhattan Project during World War II that led to the creation of the world’s first nuclear weapon.

Sympathetic to the Communist cause and fearing a future in which only the U.S. had the bomb, Hall decided to pass designs to Moscow.

The story has been largely forgotten, even though Hall came clean in the last years of his life in the 1990s.

“Many people will no doubt conclude that he should not have done it, that his fears of the U.S. becoming fascist or the U.S. pre-emptively striking the Soviet Union were not grounded,” said James, who is known especially for his landmark 1994 documentary Hoop Dreams.

“But there’s no question he did it for the right reasons — he didn’t do it for profit or fame, he did it because he had a genuine fear of what the U.S. is capable of.

“And ultimately, we’re the only ones who have dropped a nuclear bomb, so it’s not an unreasonable fear.”

Although the FBI long suspected Hall of espionage, it was never able to find conclusive evidence.

But the tension for him and his family was almost unbearable, especially when two other spies, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, were executed in the U.S. in 1953.

The film makes clear the vastly different attitudes towards Russians in 1944, when the Soviet Union was a wartime ally, seen as heroically standing up to Nazism.

Hall later said he would not have done it had he known about the crimes of Joseph Stalin at the time.

“Maybe he was willfully naive,” said James. “But we have to remember, he was so young.”
…

The Washington, D.C., area is multicultural, with embassies, international businesses and a host of ethnic restaurants.

People from Ethiopia, El Salvador, the Caribbean and more live in the city and the surrounding Maryland and Virginia suburbs.

To showcase the food, artisans and traditional dance of these many cultures, the Around the World Cultural Food Festival recently took place for the 6th year. The event is the largest outdoor cultural food festival in the Washington area.

With flags flying, 40 nations were represented at a park in historic Alexandria, Virginia. The event featured African countries, such as Nigeria, Kenya, Rwanda and Ethiopia. Thailand, Lebanon, Jamaica and El Salvador were also included.

Corina Serbanescu, the event manager, said the festival provides the opportunity to learn about various cultures.

“Although the Washington area is multinational,” she said, “people don’t necessarily know about one another’s cultures, including the food.”

Feride Ozkan, owner of Istanbul Kitchen in McLean, Virginia, was giving visitors a taste of Turkish cuisine including chicken borek, made with vegetables and mozzarella cheese, and simit, a Turkish bagel.

“Turkish cuisine consists of a melting pot of cultures brought together over the centuries,” she said. “I’m serving food that I learned to cook from my mom that she learned from her mother.”

As Devin Holum from Washington took a bite of borek made with beef, he said, “I had a good time going to Turkey on vacation a few years ago … and I’m enjoying the food and feeling like I’m back in the country again.”

With a long line at another booth, Sus Grondin-Butler was serving Indonesian chicken satay. Considered a national dish of Indonesia, satay is made from skewered and grilled marinated meat.

“What makes Indonesian food unique is that each of the islands has their own style of cuisine. Some is sweeter, while other food is spicier,” she said. “Since Indonesia has the largest Muslim population in the world, there is also that influence.”

Visitors were also given a taste of cultures through traditional dance performances.

As dancers shimmied and moved their hips, the Raqs El Hob dance company performed Egyptian belly dancing.

Adriane Whalen, artistic director of the Washington-based troupe, said, “There’s the beauty of the dance and the costumes, of course, but I also love that it celebrates women coming together. Some of the moves today can be seen in hip hop and jazz dancing.”

Shortly after, the colorfully clad Armonias Peruanas — which means Peruvian Harmony — kicked up their heels.

Lourdes Curay, the troupe’s director, said, “We have hundreds of dances that are unique from different regions of Peru, and we wanted the audience to see the richness of our country.”

Ricardo Martinez, who grew up in El Salvador, danced to the music.

“You can’t help but get on your feet because the music and dancing are so exciting.”

Another popular performance featured Indian dancers from the Kalavaridhi Center for the Performing Arts in Herndon, Virginia.

Kalavaridhi Center founder Sheela Ramanath was born in India.

“Traditional Indian dancing tells stories about right and wrong and draws a lot from Indian mythology,” she said. “The dances are also connected to nature, where every living creature is respected.”

Besides dance, vendors were showing off their artistic sides.

Henna artist Kavita Dutia immigrated from India to the United States 15 years ago.

“The art of applying henna on hands and feet is a very old custom,” she explained as she painted the design of a leaf on a young woman’s hand with a brown paste. “Henna brings happiness and joy to life.”

“I thought it would be fun to do this,” said Cara Shawly, a college student. “It’s pretty and like getting a tattoo but one you know won’t last forever.”

Items from around the world were being sold at the festival.

Monica Mensah from Ghana was selling traditional clothing and baskets. Her business is called Back to the Roots.

“I am here to showcase Ghana,” she said. “I want everyone to know that Ghana has a beautiful culture with peaceful, friendly and welcoming people.” 
…

A cap designed for Black swimmers’ natural hair that was banned from the Tokyo Olympics has been approved for competitive races.

Swimming governing body FINA said on Friday the Soul Cap was on its list of approved equipment.

 

“Promoting diversity and inclusivity is at the heart of FINA’s work,” executive director Brent Nowicki said in a statement, “and it is very important that all aquatic athletes have access to the appropriate swimwear.”

The London-based Soul Cap brand was designed larger than existing styles to contain and protect dreadlocks, weaves, hair extensions, braids, and thick and curly hair.

Last year, British swimmer Alice Dearing was refused permission to wear a Soul Cap in the 10-kilometer marathon swim in Tokyo, with FINA suggesting the size could create an advantage.

The furor at that decision prompted an apology from the governing body and a promise to review the application.

Soul Cap welcomed the approval that has come more than one year later as “a huge step in the right direction” in a sport that historically has had few Black athletes.

“For a long time, conventional swim caps have been an obstacle for swimmers with thick, curly, or volume-blessed hair,” the company said. “They can’t always find a cap that fits their hair type, and that often means that swimmers from some backgrounds end up avoiding competitions or giving up the sport entirely.

“We’re excited to see the future of a sport that’s becoming more inclusive for the next generation of young swimmers.”
…

Jane Fonda said on social media Friday that she has cancer.

“So, my dear friends, I have something personal I want to share. I’ve been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and have started chemo treatments,” the 84-year-old actor wrote in an Instagram post.

“This is a very treatable cancer,” she added, “so I feel very lucky.”

Non-Hodgkin lymphoma is a cancer that begins in the white blood cells and affects parts of the body’s immune system.

Fonda acknowledged that unlike many, she is privileged to have insurance, and access to the best doctors and care.

“Almost every family in America has had to deal with cancer at one time or another and far too many don’t have access to the quality health care I am receiving and this is not right,” she said.

Fonda said she has begun a six-month course of chemotherapy, is handling the treatments well, and will not let it interfere with her climate activism.

Fonda has dealt with cancer before. She had a tumor removed from her breast in 2010 and has also had skin cancer.

Part of a legendary Hollywood family, Fonda gained fame for both her acting and her activism starting in the late 1960s.

She won Oscars for her performances in 1971′s Klute and 1978′s Coming Home.

She has also starred in the films Barbarella and 9 to 5, and in the Netflix series Grace and Frankie.
…

Serena Williams was eliminated from the U.S. Open on Friday in what may be the last match of her illustrious career but the impact she had on the game she dominated for over two decades will be felt for generations to come.

Williams, who made her professional debut in 1995 a year after her older sister Venus, has been one of the game’s most marketable stars. She has a slew of corporate partners and in 2019 became the first athlete to land on Forbes’ list of America’s richest self-made women.

Williams, 40, who also lost in the U.S. Open doubles competition alongside sister Venus, said in a Vogue article last month that she was “evolving away from tennis” and added in an Instagram post that “the countdown has begun.”

While Williams has not stated precisely when her last tournament is, U.S. Open organizers feted her with an elaborate farewell ceremony after her first-round match on Monday.

Williams revolutionized women’s tennis with a lethal mix of powerful serves, groundstrokes and superb athleticism and became the most successful player in the Open Era by collecting 23 Grand Slam titles, the most recent coming in 2017.

That success also inspired a generation of tennis players, including Naomi Osaka, who beat Williams in the 2018 U.S. Open final to claim the first of her four majors and remembers watching her childhood idol.

“When I was younger, the family event would be watching Serena and Venus,” said Osaka, who has Japanese and Haitian parents.

“So when I was watching that, that pushed me a lot. I never got to watch them play live, in a match, but I’ve gotten to watch their practices. Seeing that, seeing people that look like me, it’s definitely inspiring.”

Women’s rights

Throughout her career, Williams has been outspoken about the culture of racism that she and her family, including Venus, were subjected to within a predominantly white sport.

At the peak of her career, Williams began what amounted to a 14-year boycott of a marquee tennis tournament in Indian Wells, California, after suffering racist jeers there in 2001, an incident which she said left her crying in the locker room for hours.

In 2018, she accused officials of allowing a culture of sexism to run rampant in the sport, with women players being penalized for things that her male counterparts would never be punished for.

After being handed a series of code violations during the U.S. Open final defeat by Osaka, Williams was particularly upset when she was docked a game for verbal abuse after telling the umpire he was “a thief” for taking a point off her for a previous infringement.

“I’m here fighting for women’s rights and for women’s equality…. he’s never taken a game from a man because they said ‘thief,'” Williams said at the time.

Tennis pioneer Billie Jean King was among many who praised her for exposing the “double standard” that disadvantages female players.

“In this society, women are not taught or expected to be that future leader or future CEO,” Williams told British Vogue in 2020. “The narrative has to change. And maybe it doesn’t get better in time for me, but someone in my position can show women and people of color that we have a voice because Lord knows I use mine.

“I love sticking up for people and supporting women. Being the voice that millions of people don’t have.”

Williams also pushed the boundaries of fashion on the tennis court, perhaps most notably at the 2018 French Open when she took the court wearing a skin-tight black catsuit with a red waistband – which she said helped her to cope with blood clots that threatened her life when she gave birth to her daughter just months earlier.

The thought of women players turning up in such unconventional tennis attire, however, ruffled the Roland Garros establishment, who then banned such outfits from the Paris major.

Author Howard Bryant, who wrote The Heritage: Black Athletes, a Divided America, and the Politics of Patriotism, said in a report on tennis.com that Williams’ career will be seen as a dividing line when it comes to how women and Black athletes are talked about.

“With her standing, and her empire, she’s created a counter-voice and a new perspective,” Bryant said in the report.

“It’s changed how we scrutinize behavior. You can’t just gang up on her or make off-handed comments about her body. She has the stature of any great male athlete.

“In 100 years, if we ask, when did that shift happen, we’ll come back to Serena.”
…

A defiant Serena Williams bid an emotional goodbye to the U.S. Open with a third-round loss to Ajla Tomljanovic on Friday, in what may have been the last singles match of her glittering career.

Defeat has always been hard to swallow for the fiercely competitive Williams and no doubt the 7-5 6-7 (4) 6-1 loss to the 46th ranked Australian stung her to her core.

But after a joyous run into the third round there was no shame in a loss to the gritty Tomljanovic, allowing the 23-time Grand Slam winner to exit with dignity intact and head held high.

Her three matches, highlighted by a second-round win over world number two Anett Kontaveit, were a gift to her fans, the relentless never surrender attitude that made her tennis’ dominant player for over two decades on display right until the very final point.

Always up for a fight, the 40-year-old came out swinging, forcing Tomljanovic to go the distance. The Australian needed six match points to deliver the knockout punch and bring an end to an engrossing three-plus-hour slugfest.

Williams had signaled her intention to retire last month, saying she was “evolving away from tennis” but never confirming the U.S. Open as her final event.
…

Imagine if they could bottle a potion called “Just Serena.”

That was Serena Williams’ succinct, smiling explanation for how she’d managed — at nearly 41, and match-rusty — to defeat the world’s second-ranked player and advance Wednesday to the third round of a U.S. Open that so far, doesn’t feel much like a farewell. “I’m just Serena,” she said to roaring fans.

Clearly there’s only one Serena. But as superhuman as many found her achievement, some older fans in particular — middle-aged, or beyond — said they saw in Williams’ latest run a very human and relatable takeaway, too. Namely the idea that they, also, could perform better and longer than they once thought possible — through fitness, practice and grit.

“It makes me feel good about what I’m doing still at my age,” said Bess Brodsky Goldstein, 63, a lifelong tennis enthusiast who was attending the Open on Thursday, the day after Williams’ triumph over 26-year-old Anett Kontaveit.

Yet Goldstein, like any athlete, suffers her share of aches and injuries, like a recent knee issue that set her back a few weeks. Watching Williams, she said, shows ordinary folks that injuries — or, in Williams’ case, a life-threatening childbirth experience five years ago — can be overcome. “She gives you inspiration that you can achieve your best, even in your early 60s,” said Goldstein, who also had high praise for Venus Williams, Serena’s older sister, competing this year at 42.

Evelyn David was also watching tennis at the Open on Thursday, And she, too, was thinking about the night before.

“Everybody is going, ‘WHOA!’” said David, who smilingly gave her age as “older than my 60s” and is the site director for New York Junior Tennis Learning, which works with children and teens. She cited the physicality of Williams’ play, and the role of fitness in today’s tennis. “The rigorous training that athletes go through now is different,” David said. “She’s going, ‘I’m not falling over. I can get to the ball.’”

“A total inspiration,” David termed Williams’ performance — and she had some prominent company.

“Can I put something in perspective here?” former champion and ESPN commentator Chris Evert said during Wednesday’s broadcast. “This is a 40-year-old mother. It is blowing me away.”

Evert retired at age 34 in 1989, well before fitness and nutrition were the prominent factors in tennis they are now. They were even less so when pioneering player Billie Jean King, now 78, was in her heyday.

“For us older ones, it gives us hope and it’s fun,” King said Thursday in an interview about Williams. “Puts a pep in your step. Gives you energy.” She noted how fitness on the tour has changed since the 1960s and 1970s.

“We didn’t have the information and we didn’t have the money,” King said. “When people win a tournament now, they say, ‘Thank you to my team.’ They’re so lucky to have all those people. We didn’t even have a coach.”

Jessica Pegula, the No. 8 seed who won  Thursday, is at 28 a half-century younger than King. She knows well the difference fitness has made.

“It’s been a huge part of it,” she said. “Athletes, how they take care of their bodies, sports nutrition, the science behind training and nutrition — (it) has changed so much.

“Back in the day, you saw a player drinking a Coke on the sideline or they had a beer after their match. Now … health has been the No. 1 priority, whether it’s physical or mental.” She said she remembered thinking Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Williams were all going to retire, but “they kept pushing the boundaries.”

Federer, 41, hasn’t played since Wimbledon last year because of operations to his right knee, but has said he’ll try to play Wimbledon next year, shortly before his 42nd birthday. And Nadal, 36, known for his intense devotion to fitness, has won two Grand Slam titles this year to raise his total to a men’s-record 22. Nobody would be surprised if he won another major. In contrast, Jimmy Connors’ famous run to the 1991 semis of the U.S. Open when he was 39 was considered an event for the history books.

Of course, fitness is only one building block to greatness — in any sport. Denver Broncos safety Justin Simmons, who like Pegula is 28, noted that even though it’s inspiring to see Williams keep an athletic advantage partly through preparation, “not everybody is Serena and Venus Williams. Maybe there’s some genes in there that not everybody else is blessed enough to have, but it’s still cool to know that, hey, even though she is genetically gifted, there are some things that she’s done that have helped her in a tremendous way prolong her career.”

Dr. Michael J. Joyner, who studies human performance at the Mayo Clinic, said Williams shares many traits with other superstar athletes (from baseball’s Ted Williams to golfer Gary Player and star quarterback Tom Brady, 45 and famously un-retired) who have enjoyed long careers.

“What you see with all of these people is they stay motivated, they’ve avoided catastrophic injury … or they’ve been able to come back because they’ve recovered,” he said. Also key: They live in “the modern era of sports medicine.”

The question, he asked, is can Williams perform at the same level every other day to win a whole tournament? He hopes so.

Williams fan Jamie Martin, who has worked in physical therapy since 1985 and owns a chain of clinics in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, said she’s seeing many women playing vigorous, competitive sports into middle age and beyond. Some return to their sport, or take up a new one, after years of focusing on work or family.

Williams’ pursuit of another U.S. Open title at 40 is a reminder that women can not only remain competitive longer, but can compete now for the joy of it, she notes.

“She’s really enjoying playing,” said Martin, 59. “That’s what’s fun to watch about it now.”

Brooklyn teacher Mwezi Pugh says both Williams sisters are great examples of living life on their own terms – which includes deciding how long they want to play.

“They are still following their own playbook,” said Pugh, 51. “‘Are you ready to retire yet, Serena?’ ‘I don’t like that word. I would rather say evolution.’ ‘Are you ready to retire, Venus?’ ‘Not today.’”

“The older you are, the more you should be able to set up your life in the way you like, and what works best for you,” Pugh said. “That’s what the sisters are doing, and they are teaching all of us a lesson.”
…