Room XX – The Ceiling
Laurent Nkunda was born in Rutshuru in 1967 near the Park of Virunga which is to be called Park Albert in colonial days. A very nice place. That is where LIONS, ELEPHANTS, LEOPARDS roamed in there natural habitat. It was during MOBUTU’s time
More to follow……
I was going to put pen to paper and go on a first hand account of the horrors of the ongoing conflict in the eastern Congo, the full article is still in my head and will follow up but I would just like to point out that Nkunda is not waiting much longer for dialogue with Kabilla, the UN has now got into a relatively safe mode but Nkunda is of course not a politician he is a well trained commander of bush fighters.
I urge the UN to take heed, Nkunda will be striking sooner than they think and Goma and Bukavu are not a safe haven, its his stomping ground and wants the area because of the strategic location, but that can wait as the UN was at a party in Geneva, there is a defined comparison to the roof over some peoples heads.
Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero has just unveiled Spain’s latest contribution to fostering global peace and security. No, his government will not be sending more troops to help rebuild Afghanistan. And no, Spain will not be providing more vaccines to help needy children in Africa. Instead, the Zapatero government is the proud sponsor of a lavish decorative ceiling at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva.
Miquel Barceló, one of the world’s most highly paid abstract artists, was commissioned by Spain to redecorate “Room XX” and its ellipsoidal dome at the Palais des Nations. He used more than 100 tons of paint to turn the negotiating room into a cave dripping with thousands of 50-kilo multicolored artificial stalactites. 
This is the caves at Sorek, in Israel I think it would have been cheaper to move Room XX to one of the caves here. However “The cave is a metaphor for the Agora, the first meeting place of humans, the big African tree under which to sit to talk, and the only possible future: dialogue, human rights,” says Barceló. Using postmodern rhetoric which closely mimics that employed by Zapatero, Barceló describes his new work as “reaching towards the infinite, bringing a multiplicity of points of view.”
The 1.500m2 (15.000ft2) ceiling, which was co-unveiled on November 18 by King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia of Spain in the presence of UN Secretary General Ki-moon, is being hailed by the Spanish government as one of the UN’s most important works of art. Some are even comparing Barceló’s new “symbol of multilateralism” with Michelangelo’s work at the Sistine Chapel.
As Spaniards debate the artistic value of Barceló’s ceiling, however, excitement has turned into anger as Spanish taxpayers learn that they will be the ones footing the bill. The 13-month redecoration project has cost more than 20 million euros, all of which is being paid for by Spain. Some 60 percent of the money is coming from a group of Spanish companies that presumably have been pressured into joining a special NGO set up by the Spanish foreign ministry to “promote dialogue through the use of Spanish art.” The remaining 40 percent is being paid for by the Spanish government, including 500,000 euros that were taken from Spain’s overseas development aid fund. Barceló, who insists that the money was not “stolen from the poor,” will walk away with 6 million euros for his “long, hard, fun and ultimately orgiastic” efforts. Although the money was not stolen it was however re distributed and obviously by the state of this families house in a Goma refugee camp their ceiling doesn’t adorn expensive stalactites. This money cold have provided allot more, Maybe even a tent!
