Meridians

Paris: Liberal Mayor

For the first time since the Paris Commune, i.e. since 1871, the capital of France has a socialist mayor. Bertrand Delanoe (50) won a convincing victory in the local elections that took place last weekend in France. Socialists also won power in Lyon and several other major cities, but the conservatives of President Jacques Chirac, who was mayor of Paris for more than 20 years before becoming president in 1995, consolidated power in Toulouse, Strasbourg, Rouen and Aix in Provence. Many analysts agree that the Socialist Delanoe won not because of his charisma but because of the disillusionment of Parisians with the previous conservative city authorities who are accused of numerous financial scandals. In addition, President Chirac failed to convince current mayor Jean Tiberius to withdraw from the campaign and not to interfere with the conservative candidate Philippe Seguen in the election game against the Socialists. Thus, Tiberi and Seguen spent more time in the election campaign accusing each other, which only made it easier for Delano and the socialist city councilors to win. But increasingly loud accusations against the outgoing city government for financial malfeasance were enough of a trump card for the victory of the socialists. Parisians, in fact, do not want to see how high city taxes (Paris is one of the most expensive capitals in Europe) are used for malfeasance, and not for the improvement of city life. Delanoe promised the Parisians that he would fight against the great pollution caused by heavy city traffic, as well as to take care of the most vulnerable residents and the homeless.

The new mayor has a rich and solid political career behind him, but he became known to the wider public only in 1999, when he publicly declared himself a homosexual on television. He is one of the few French and European politicians in general who openly declares himself a homosexual, and who bravely decided not to make unnecessary and humiliating concessions for the sake of a political career.

Medina: After the kidnapping

Saudi Arabia's special anti-terrorist units freed more than a hundred passengers and crew members from the Russian "Tupelyev" type aircraft, ending the hostage drama that lasted for more than 18 hours. Chechen hijackers, armed with knives and axes, hijacked a Russian plane that took off from Istanbul to Moscow with over 140 passengers, after which the plane made an emergency landing at the airport in Medina, Saudi Arabia. After painstaking negotiations with the hijackers, which did not bear fruit, and the threat of the hijackers to blow up the plane, special units set out to free the hostages, freed the passengers and arrested the terrorists. One of the hijackers stabbed to death a flight attendant who tried to open the door for the commandos. One kidnapper was killed in the action, as well as a Turkish citizen who was among the passengers. The traumatized passengers are recovering in a hotel in Medina and in a hospital. In the extreme heat, the passengers almost began to suffocate due to lack of oxygen, and the plane ran out of water and food. It seems that the hijackers did not have a bomb with which they threatened to blow up the plane, and their demands are rather vague. It seems to be more of a desperate attempt by some Chechen faction to draw the world's attention to the situation in Chechnya after Russia tried to suppress the secessionist movement.

Karašok: The Assembly of Sama

Until recently, the Sami, the descendants of the aborigines of the far north of Norway, led their lives according to their own customs. But recently they gathered in the Norwegian city of Karashok, about 300 kilometers north of the Arctic Circle, only twenty kilometers from the border with Finland and 150 kilometers from Russia and Sweden, to establish their own assembly that should protect the autochthonousness of their ancient culture. and the status of a national minority. They themselves highlighted their symbols at the assembly – the carpet and the silver-plated larch tree. During the entire session the sun did not move from the point just above the horizon, where it remains for six hours in the winter months, casting a pale light on the landscape. Dressed in warm, brightly colored clothes, the Sami have established a body that for the time being should only have an advisory role in the Norwegian Parliament on matters related to the life and customs of the Sami, such as education in the mother tongue or, for example, reindeer herding, which is their livelihood at least ten percent of the Norwegian Sami. The first president of the Sama Parliament is Ule Henrik Maga (54). By the way, the Sami have long been known as Lapps or Lapps in Norway, but the Sami consider this name derogatory. There are an estimated 80.000 Sami living in Norway, Sweden and Finland, with another 2000 living on the Kola Peninsula in Russia. The Sami are an extremely peaceful people who never in their history went on conquest campaigns, but only fled from the repression of incoming rulers, from the Vikings to more modern colonizers. "We don't even have a word for war in our language," says one of the members of the Parliament.