The The Unitarian Church in NSW PO Box 355, Darlinghurst NSW 1300 15 Francis Street, East Sydney (near Museum Station) Tel: (02) 9360 2038

www.sydneyunitarianchurch.org SUN

Sydney Unitarian News Editor: M.R. McPhee

October/November 2018

VALE, KOFI ANNAN

As another United Nations Day (24 October) comes around, it’s sad to have a commemorative topic so ready to hand – the unfortunate passing of Kofi Annan on 18 August 2018. He was the seventh Secretary-General of the UN, serving from 1997 to 2006, and the first to have a prior history of working for that organisation. He served two terms and continued to work for peace after he retired. He was also one of the only two Secretary- Generals to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

Kofi Annan (the surname rhymes with ‘cannon’) and his twin sister, Efua, were born on 08 April 1938 to an aristocratic family in Kumasi, the second city in what was then the British colony of Gold Coast. In 1958, a year after Ghana became independent, he commenced an economics degree at Kumasi College of Science and Technology, which a Ford Foundation grant enabled him to complete at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota, in 1961. He then undertook a post-graduate diploma in international relations at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva.

Annan worked as a budget officer in the World Health Organisation from 1962 to 1971 (presumably at its headquarters in Geneva), after which he obtained a master’s degree in management from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1972. After working as a manager in the state-owned Ghana Tourist Development Company, he returned to Geneva in 1980 as head of personnel in the UN High Commission for Refugees. In 1983, he became the director of administrative management services for the UN Secretariat in New York; by 1987, he was an Assistant Secretary-General for Human Resources Management; and, in 1990, he moved to Assistant Secretary-General for Program Planning, Budget and Finance, and Control.

At the beginning of 1992, Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt (pictured at left) became Secretary-General, the first African to hold that position. One of his first actions was to establish the Department of Peacekeeping Operations, headed by Under-Secretary-General Marrack Goulding of the UK with Annan as his Deputy. The new department soon found itself directing the UN Protective Force (UNPROFOR) when the Bosnian War broke out and, less than a year later, the second UN Operation in Somalia.

Goulding moved to a new department in March 1993 and was succeeded by Annan, who became involved in the worst phase of the Bosnian War. While NATO had come in with aircraft and heavy land equipment that the UN forces lacked, it took another two years before Serbia and Croatia abandoned their efforts to partition Bosnia-Herzegovina at the expense of its sizeable Muslim population. 1 Order was not restored until the end of 1995, by which time Annan had been appointed as a Special Repre- sentative of the Secretary-General to the former Yugoslavia. The military operations in Bosnia had been out of Annan’s hands and the same was true of the ill-fated UN Assistance Mission in Rwanda in 1994, which largely failed to prevent the genocide that took place there.

Boutros-Ghali ran unopposed for a second term as Secretary-General and every other member of the Security Council supported him. However, the US blamed him for the failure of the UN Operation in Somalia and it used its veto power against him. Annan was then chosen by the Council over Amara Essy of Tunisia and, after confirmation by the General Assembly, he took office on 01 January 1997. He would be re-elected unopposed to a second term, commencing at the beginning of 2002.

During his tenure, Annan made many changes to the structure and operations of the UN, though not all of his recommendations were adopted. His two reports in 1997 called for streamlining the UN bureaucracy, the form- ation of a cabinet-style body to assist him and the grouping of the UN’s activities around four core missions. In 2000, mindful of failures such as in Rwanda and Somalia, he formed the Panel on UN Peace Operations under the chairmanship of Lakhdar Brahimi of Algeria, which reported that such missions must be adequately financed and resourced, and have clear, credible and achievable mandates.

In the same year, Annan convened a Millennium Summit of 150 world leaders at the UN headquarters in New York. That three-day meeting endorsed the Millennium Development Goals which, among other things, were to eradicate extreme poverty, achieve universal primary education, combat HIV/AIDS and forge a global partnership for development. An important feature of this initiative was the Global Compact, a unique engage- ment with private corporations to commit to sustainable and socially responsible policies in the developing world, such as fair wages for employees, safe working conditions and the abolition of child labour.

As early as 1998, Annan had been personally involved in Nigeria’s transition from military to civilian rule. In the following year, he supported East Timor’s efforts to regain its independence from Indonesia, sending a Transitional Administration to Dili after the Australian-led intervention. In 2000, he was responsible for certi- fying Israel’s withdrawal from southern Lebanon. In 2001, he shared the Nobel Peace Prize with the UN itself, which the second Secretary-General, Dag Hammarskjöld, had been awarded posthumously in 1961.

In his second term, he strove unsuccessfully to prevent the US and UK from invading Iraq in 2003, declaring that such an action was illegal without the UN’s approval. In 2006, he led talks in New York between the presidents of Nigeria and Cameroon that resolved a long-standing border dispute. In that last year of his tenure, he started the process of sending a joint UN-African Union mission to stabilise Darfur in Sudan.

(Continued on p. 12.)

SERVICE DIARY

Meetings every Sunday from 10.30 – 11.30 a.m. (followed by coffee, tea and food)

Date Presenter Topic 7th October Bill Markham Antipodean Adventures* 14th October Peter Crawford Spirituality in the Face of Death 21st October Mike McPhee Continental Europe Revisited (Part 2)* 28th October Peter Crawford Leadership in the Mid-Twentieth Century 4th November Patrick Bernard Maxim Gorky: Russian Writer 11th November Peter Crawford Visit to ANZAC Memorial 18th November Kaine Hayward for Male Vocal Trio** 25th November Paul Schuback Three Historical Architecture Styles*

* These will be video presentations.

** This will be a Music Service.

[Please check the church website (www.sydneyunitarianchurch.org) for updates. The program for December will be available from the beginning of November.] 2

Pimeydessä voi loistaa monia valoja. Jotkin Many lights may shine in the darkness. Some johtavat harhapoluille ja jättävät kulkijan yhä lead astray and leave the wanderer ever deeper synkempään pimeyteen sammuessaan. in the dark when they go out. May this light Johtakoon tämä valo, jonka sytytämme yhdessä, that we light together lead us to our right, own meidät oikeille, omille teillemme yhteydessä ways in connection with each other and every- toisiimme ja kaikkiin ympärillämme. Pysyköön one around us. May this flame stay and spread tämä liekki ja levitköön heijastuksena around us as a reflection of our compassion until myötätunnostamme, kunnes näemme saman we see the same light of tolerance and sensibility suvaitsevaisuuden ja rakkauden järjen valon within love mirrored in the world as in our maailmassa kuten sydämissämme. hearts.

Submitted by the Unitarian Church in Finland; Finnish and (presumably) English words written by its leader, Päivi Helena Kesti.

We light this chalice remembering the special gifts from the African continent. Its natural beauty, its deep humanity and its spontaneous joy. We light this chalice to remind ourselves that we are all children of Africa – the cradle of humankind. We light this chalice to share the light of Liberty in Africa, for the children of the world to see Africa beyond the colonial scars and admire her beauty in the people, the land and all inhabitants of Africa. We light this chalice in celebration of our efforts, trying to find ways and means for a suitable U/U vision that reflects African realities. We light this chalice for Africa and all her people. May they have health, peace and prosperity. May their future and the future of the world be as bright as this light. We light this chalice to think of our Unitarian brothers and sisters who are still finding their way. May this flame light their orientation and dedication. We light this chalice in remembrance of all that are suffering around the world that they may find comfort, hope, and renewal in their faith. We light the chalice for solidarity in our global human family that we may work together to protect those who are most vulnerable and most in need. We light this chalice for everlasting love justice compassion acceptance and everlasting interaction between us and nature. We light this chalice to affirm our original roots, our beliefs, our faiths, and from there to connect to the world community to make this earth a better place for us and generations to come.

Submitted by the Unitarian/Universalist Pan African Cooperative Leadership Team: Françioise Niragira and Jean Bosco Ndihokabwayo (Burundi); Justine Magara and Emma Wanjiru (Kenya); Adeyinka Matimoju (Nigeria); Jean Maurice Ndagijimana and Clement Uwayisaba (Rwanda); Malan Roux and Gur Mouanga (South Africa).

[These are the Chalice Lightings for the months of August and September.]

The Unitarian Church in Finland is a relatively new group, formed in Helsinki and modelled on the Tran- sylvanian Church. It is not to be confused with the UU Society of Finland, which was established some time after 2000 and grew from a single Fellowship in Helsinki to have smaller groups in two other cities. Sadly, that body appears to have become inactive and, presumably, the UCF has taken its place in the ICUU.

The Chalice Lighting from Africa was probably written at the Pan African Leadership Retreat that was organised by the ICUU and held in Nairobi, Kenya, over three days in late July. The ICUU Executive Director, Rev. Sara Ascher, reported on that event as follows:

“We gathered this summer in order to craft a collective African Unitarian/Universalist identity. The leaders from Burundi, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, and South Africa spent several days discussing how their respective cultures influence their religious perspectives and beliefs.

In order to help strengthen existing U/U communities in Africa as well as spread the word, the leaders decided to create an African Unitarian/Universalist Manifesto, in which they will express the diversity and power of the African U/U faith. Once the Manifesto is finalized and approved by the local African U/U communities, it will then be shared more widely and used to promote Unitarianism/Universalism in Africa.”

3 THE SPIRIT OF LIFE AND POLITICS

By Peter Crawford

The great and often malevolent religious revolutionary and political leader of Iran, the Ayatollah Khomeini, once said that “Islam is politics or it is nothing”. By this, he did not mean that Islam lacked a reverential and contemplative side, but rather that one essential element of Islam is political activism. It is often observed that, in countries where Islam is the state religion, the concept of ‘separation of mosque and state’ is all but meaningless, given that the religion overarches all civil life, including the functions of government.

Similarly, Bertrand Russell said in his little masterpiece, The Practice and Theory of Bolshevism (1920), that Marxism is a sort of secular religion focused on worldly power. He compared it to Islam yet he distinguished both from Christianity and Buddhism, which he viewed as essentially contemplative religions. (However, he surely knew about the secular power that was wielded by established Christian churches in pre-democratic times and he lived long enough to see the rise of the highly politicised Religious Right in the US.)

A guest speaker at out church once said that it was wrong to see the congregations of Catholic churches as solid phalanxes of true believers, taking on board all the doctrines of the Church. Rather, Catholics comprise a broad spectrum of religiosity. Some believe in Hell; others do not. Some believe that religiously recalcitrant children should be berated; others believe it is all a matter of choice. Some believe in the essential efficacy of Catholic schools; some believe in the primacy of state education. So, while people think of the Church of Rome as a great Procrustean organisation which moves as one, they are not right in so thinking.

This does not mean that there is no loyalty to Catholic leadership or identity, but rather that there is not the coherent adherence to a belief system that we would imagine. This was shown dramatically in the US presi- dential election of 2016, when a majority of white Catholics, both male and female, voted for Donald Trump despite his clash with the Pope over ‘walls and bridges’. (Traditionally, more than 50% of them had voted for the Democrats, so this was quite unusual.)

Unitarians, tiny as we are by contrast, have no such problem with ‘true belief’. We all state that we are heretics, at least in the religious sense. But probably, the absence of any pretensions to ‘true belief’ is a major cause of absence of people at our services. People love certainty or, at least, the pretence of certainty. A leading American former Unitarian theological professor who converted to the Orthodox Church said that he did so because creedless churches have no ‘staying power’.

Well, Unitarianism generally has always had a very active role in politics and political action is the key to much Unitarian practice. We only have to look at the roles that Unitarians played in the abolition of slavery and in various civil and human rights movements, up to and including same-sex marriage, to see this. Working for the benefit of humankind, especially for reforms that give justice to those who are disadvantaged and dis- criminated against, is how Unitarians express their faith – however amorphous that faith may be.

It is not difficult to observe that Unitarians generally have political opinions and that many Unitarians take action on those opinions. It is also obvious that many Unitarian churches ‘are political or they are nothing’. But there is a striking difference between Unitarian politics and that of Marxism or Islam, and that is the non- creedal nature of Unitarianism. While most Unitarians are left-of-centre or liberal politically, there is no com- pulsion to be so. There is no Communist Manifesto or Sharia Law in Unitarianism.

Just as Unitarians hold a great range of personal theologies, from theism to atheism, a Unitarian may be a reasonably conservative individual or, equally, quite a left-wing radical. A Unitarian may be someone who simply has a sense of doing ‘good things’, helping others in trouble, or s/he may be a person that sees the future in terms of radical social change. What unites them is a set of general principles affecting how people should treat one another, both as individuals and as a society

The very strength of Unitarianism is also its weakness. Our religion – and it is a religion – probably represents the actual liberal spiritual views of the overwhelming majority of Australians. It is even possibly the viewpoint of most people in the Western world. Yet our actual congregations are but fragments of the community and we seem to be unable to attract significant numbers of members for our denomination to grow. Yet more worri- some is the absence of young families in most of our congregations – in , only one group has a children’s religious education program. 4 If we are a creedless religion of heretics, then what does that make us, in practice? Are we residual Christians? Are we humanists or atheists, or Coleridgean conservatives, or socialists? I think the best answer to this question was volunteered by our erstwhile minister, Douglas Webster (1991–99), when he said that ‘personal theology’ was the essence of our congregational direction. But that’s the beauty of it! – these general ethical principles can be defended from any theological position, even atheism.

Unitarians have a variety of philosophical and political viewpoints, but we all see reason, freedom and toler- ance as central to our beliefs, if not our creed. Furthermore, our congregations are underpinned by a spirit of amity and goodwill. While Unitarianism can be regarded as a sort of spiritual club, it is a belief system that encourages people to think, to learn and to exchange ideas.

We are a religion which appreciates the contributions of science to our lives and to our understanding of our place in the universe. Even our least theistic members revere the universe, the great unknown, the wonder of it all. Some people may call a universe without end, and the splendour of life on Earth, a pantheistic or a pan- entheistic conception, while others may just have a sense of wonder.

But one belief which holds us together is, as Albert Schweitzer called it, a reverence for life, all life! We are a religion which venerates nature, the animals, the birds, the oceans and the skies. For this reason, it will be found that most, if not all, Unitarians are environmentalists of some description, even if some are more active in that area than others. We all support the preservation of natural areas anywhere in the world where en- dangered species can live and biodiversity can be maintained.

Quality of life for humans the world over is certainly a concern of Unitarians, as well. We have always been strong supporters of world peace and the work of the United Nations, and our groups have contributed gener- ously to causes as various as famine and disaster relief, the resettlement of refugees, and development in the Third World in general. This brings us back to politics, as we frequently press our governments to increase foreign aid and do more to alleviate the suffering from war, natural disasters and endemic poverty.

While we consider ourselves more outward-looking than most religions, we are also mindful of quality of life and the need for healthy human environments in our own countries and communities. That, too, requires political involvement on our own part at all levels of government and collaboration with other like-minded national, state and community organisations. There are many issues, such as overdevelopment, disruptive and unnecessary infrastructure projects, and the sale of parks and other public land that need to be addressed.

It is time to give meaning to our religion by looking not only to our personal lives, our health, our psycho- logical peace of mind, our gardens and libraries, but also to our communities and the planning which underpins them. Then we could say we are meaningfully committed to the words of the anthem we sing each Sunday, ‘Spirit of Life’.

CHRISTMAS PARTY

SUNDAY, 16 DECEMBER 2018

EVERYBODY, COME!

Our annual party after the last service of the year will take place on 16 December and, as always, members and guests are cordially invited to join us for those festivities. The service will feature our Music Director, Kaine Hayward, and his colleagues from the Conservatorium, who will also entertain us after the lunch with an impressive repertoire of Christmas carols.

There will be the usual sumptuous range of food and drinks provided by our versatile catering team. To assist with our catering, please confirm your attendance and any guests you are bringing either to the Committee at the church or ring Michael Spicer on 0423 393 364 before 30 November.

We look forward to a good roll-up on this important day, so please don’t miss out. 5 MERRY MINUET

They’re rioting in Africa They’re starving in Spain There’s hurricanes in Florida And Texas needs rain

The whole world is festering with unhappy souls The French hate the Germans, the Germans hate the Poles Italians hate Yugoslavs, South Africans hate the Dutch And I don’t like anybody very much!

But we can be tranquil and thankful and proud For man’s been endowed with a mushroom-shaped cloud And we know for certain that some lovely day Someone will set the spark off And we will all be blown away!

They’re rioting in Africa There’s strife in Iran What nature doesn’t do to us Will be done by our fellow man

Sheldon M. Harnick (1958)

Sorry if this seems a perverse item to go with the feature article but nothing else came to mind. Most of our readers will be old enough to remember when this song was recorded by the Kinston Trio in 1959 on their third album, . The Trio were and , from , and from San Diego, who met the others while they were all university students in in 1954.

After performing both as a trio and in larger groups in the Bay Area while they were still students, the group took its present name in 1957 (a reference to Kingston, Jamaica, to reflect their calypso-style songs at the time). They played in nightclubs around the country but also produced albums, which brought them great acclaim and enabled them to play in mass concerts. By 1961, they had produced 11 albums, some of which ‘topped the charts’, and they won two Grammy awards.

Dave Guard left the Trio in 1962 and was replaced by , who had already written two songs for them. That group did well enough but it dissolved in 1967, after which Bob Shane formed ‘The New Kingston Trio’ in 1969 with the permission of his former colleagues..

Sheldon Meyer Harnick was born to Jewish parents in Chicago in 1924. He started composing songs in high school and later did a Bachelor of Music degree at the Northwestern University. He worked with various orchestras in Chicago before moving to New York, where he wrote the libretti for many musicals and revues. In about 1956, he met the composer, Jerry Brock, with whom he produced The Body Beautiful (1958), Fiorello! (1959) and, most famously, Fiddler on the Roof (1964). His later works were Coyote Tales (1998), Dragons (2003) and The Phantom Tollbooth (2007).

You can hear the original song on YouTube (www.youtube.com) just by searching the title. Sheldon Harnick is still alive at 94 and Bob Shane is 84. Dave Guard died from cancer at 56 in 1991, followed by John Stewart in 2008 and Nick Reynolds and in 2011.

We’ll close with a French children’s song to go with the following article:

Petit escargot, The Little Snail Porte sur son dos, Carries on his back Sa maisonnette. His little house. Mais voilà qu'il pleut As soon as it rains Il se sent heureux He feels happy Et sort la tête. And puts out his head.

6 PRAYER POEM TO THE NAMES OF GOD

How shall we address thee who art the One of a thousand names yet ever nameless?

O Vishnu, Maya, Kali, Ishtar, Athene, Isis... Great Mother of Creation, womb of the universe, The Feminine Divine…. Blessed art thou who hast given life to all And receiveth us at the end, forever thine...

Jupiter, Zeus, Apollo, Dionysius... Lord of creation, the masculine divine, In quest of the golden apples of Hesperides, God of ecstasy and wine, and reason sublime...

Amen, Horus, Aten, Ra... God of beginnings and endings, the soul, the ka, Soaring like a bird To the life-giving, light-giving power of the sun, All life is one...

Shiva-Shakti, Yin and Yang... The dance of life and death from hand to hand, In perfect balance the movement of forces, As the earth turns ‘neath the stars in their courses...

Rama, Krishna, Varuna, Brahma... God of the Upanishads and Rig Veda, mystic priests and the Bhagavadgita, Om Shanti, the lotus, a holy vow, Creating our own karma and reincarnation, here and now, And the ever present realization, that art Thou...

Buddha, Nirvana, the Enlightened One... Liberation sought and won, in daily life begun, Under a tree, in the sun, To a state of being indescribable, comparable to none...

Allah-Akbar and Ahura Mazda... There is no god but God, the All, Ah! the One, The Righteous One, purity of Fire. Goodness and Truth to inspire, Fight fire with fire, quench the evil desire, Let the call ring forth from minaret to spire...

El Shaddai, Adonai, Yahweh, Elohim… The God of Peace be with you, Shalom Haveyreem Ten Commandments and the Law for Gentile and Jew The birth of conscience and a Day of Atonement To confess, to forgive, to begin anew...

Abba, Spiritus, Logos-Son... God in Three Persons, God in One, God in all persons: prophets, teachers, daughters and sons, The Kingdom of Heaven is within us, O let thy Kingdom come… How shall we address thee who art Alpha and Omega, The stars in their courses from Deneb and Altair to Sirius and Vega?

Thou of a thousand names and yet ever nameless, Let us confess the mystery of thy holiness, Let us proclaim the wonder of One without a name, Let the silence praise thee, And the nine billion stars of thy namelessness.

Rev. Richard M. Fewkes

[This poem by an American UU minister might suit Peter Crawford’s article – more on p.12.]

7 THE CHILDREN OF THE GODS (Part 3)

By Patrick Bernard

Feeling in a particularly intemperate mood on a spring evening of 1970, Maurice and Claudine went to the aforementioned bistro, the ‘Au Chien Qui Fume’,1 which is still located at 33 Rue du Pont Neuf.2 It was not a ‘wine and dine’ sort of place but it would have been more fairly described as an ‘eat and drink’ joint, which was all its clientele wanted although for most of them food was merely an option, if not a distraction. This notorious establishment was a rough-and-tumble tavern patronised by traders, wholesalers, butchers, greengrocers, truck drivers, artists in search of ideas that soon evaporated into an ethylic mist, or lost souls drowning their real or imagined sorrows surrounded by familiar strangers who respected their need to be alone.

Restaurant ‘Au Chien Qui Fume’ at the Les Halles markets in Paris, 1970

The ‘Au Chien Qui Fume’ was, and still is, one of the oldest bistros in France, if not the world, having oper- ated continually since it first opened its doors in 1740; but it is now a heritage listed treasure of French culture, which is the kiss of death to the authenticity of any site. As a consequence of this unfortunate official blessing, the ‘Au Chien Qui Fume’ lost its traditional clientele to become another tourist trap. Having gone through many stages in its long history, it has since deteriorated upward into another one of those predictable brasseries serving overpriced unimaginative food to misguided foreign visitors and to incurable nostalgics in search of a Paris that does not exist anymore. But for Maurice and Claudine, back then in 1970, the ‘Au Chien Qui Fume’ was still a rugged drinking hole catering to locals who appreciated its unrefined authenticity.

Elbowing their way through the turbulent crowd, Maurice and Claudine managed to find a vacant table and promptly ordered a hearty ‘Soupe à l’Oignon’,3 which was the provincial potage one had to have when venturing into ‘Les Halles’ markets at night. Having embarked on a trajectory of unrestrained excess, as many do at their age, they further indulged their ravenous appetites by devouring a dozen escargots4 each, soaking every last drop of garlic butter with an endless supply of bread and quenching their thirst with copious amounts of cheap house red wine of unknown provenance. Quality and prestige did not matter. Like many young lovers, Maurice and Claudine were so thrilled to be together that any cheap plonk would have tasted as good as a priceless Château Margaux.

1 The Dog Who Smokes (or The Smoking Dog) 2 New Bridge Street 3 onion soup 4 snails 8

Soupe à l’Oignon Burgundy Escargots

The upper crust liked to venture into this unruly part of town, fraternising with lowlifes and rough types for a few hours, interacting with prostitutes on the make and criminals on the run, consuming legal and illegal substances in anonymity, misbehaving with impunity before sneaking back to the safety of their leafy Arron- dissements, where they could resume their daytime masquerades of respectability.

In the cafés, bars and restaurants of the ‘Les Halles’ district, which remained open twenty-four hours a day, the smell of sawdust, bleach, sweat, urine, cheap wines, rough tobacco and God-knows-what-else blended well with the fragrance of exclusive perfumes and the delicate smoke of expensive imported cigarettes that surrounded these well-to-do visitors like a mystical haze of otherworldliness. In spite of all appearances, their presence did not signal an egalitarian rapprochement between classes at opposite ends of the socio-economic spectrum. Instead, for the bourgeoisie, these expeditions into the great unknown were no more than a kinky voyeurism, which has been described by various commentators as ‘the aesthetics of squalor’ or ‘the exoticism of poverty’.

These intrepid explorers from ‘the big end of town’ were indeed like sahibs venturing into the outer fringes of their colonial empire. The photo here, taken at the ‘Au Chien Qui Fume’, is a fine example of such visit- ations. A stylish young lady wearing a French high-fashion cocktail dress poses for an elegant man in tuxedo who seems to appreciate her display from a cool distance. Meanwhile, patrons shuffle over the intricate floor tiles, pretending indifference. A client who has noticed the photographer hides his face with one hand to preserve his anonymity. An assortment of plebeian looking consumers stand at the counter imbibing various intoxicating beverages, contrasting with the incongruous couple per- forming their seduction routine in the foreground.

A rather kitsch image of a dog smoking appears in the background on a wall near the entrance, thus confirming that this was indeed the bistro called ‘The Smoking Dog’. Exhibited in various strategic locations around the bar or in the dining room were several other such naïve paintings of real or imaginary breeds of dogs, also depicted in the im- probable act of smoking. These implausible images made perfect sense in the city where Surrealism had blossomed in the 1920s under the un- Photo by Frank Horvat at the ‘Au compromising leadership of André Breton.5 Chien Qui Fume’ in 1957

The somnolent man slouched next to Maurice and Claudine appeared to have succumbed to an excessive consumption of alcohol and was resting his heavy head on his arms, which were crossed and folded over the small round white marble-top table before him, making it look as if he was hugging the Moon herself. Worried that this poor soul may have been seriously unwell, Maurice and Claudine were tempted to raise their concerns with the publican but, since no one else at the ‘Au Chien Qui Fume’ seemed concerned, they concluded that he must have been an habitual drunk that everyone knew and therefore there was nothing to worry about.

5 André Breton: poet, art theorist and leader of the Surrealist movement in Paris in the 1920s. 9 Indeed, eventually the man stirred from his slumber, slowly raised his weary head and stared at the empty wineglass before him as if meditating over the gravestone of a long lost friend. He may also have been contemplating the wreckage of his own life but, more likely, he was not thinking about anything at all. Finding bliss in nothingness is a mental state many men achieve effortlessly. Even the most unsophisticated brutes seem able to enjoy a condition approaching ‘nirvana’ in the most unlikely places and at the most awkward times. In such moments, they find the question “What are you thinking about now?” rather unsettling. They then worry that they might be guilty of something they are not aware of and struggle to find an answer to this intrusive interrogation when there is none, thus leaving their interlocutors with the impression that they are either hiding something or that they are brain-dead imbeciles.

Although elated to be in each other’s company, Maurice and Claudine found it impossible to ignore this wretched character sitting next to them. What was his story? What had brought him down to this pitiful state? Maurice was sure that he had seen him somewhere before. In spite of the devastating effects of age and the obvious consequences of intemperance, his face looked familiar. Then it dawned on him that this man was the spitting image of Pierre Brasseur, a legendary French film and theatre star of the 1940s and 1950s, but Maurice quickly became convinced that this was no more than a remote resemblance. This ragged looking individual could not possibly have been the dashing actor who had played Frédérick Lemaître in the 1945 cinematic masterpiece, Les Enfants du Paradis, which is still considered by many critics, historians and cinephiles to be, arguably, the greatest French film ever made and one of the ten best films ever made anywhere in the world. Claudine had no doubt that this was indeed Pierre Brasseur.

1945 Poster for the film, Les Enfants du Paradis

Unable to control their curiosity, they continued to glance intermittently at this intriguing neighbour, who had become aware of their ill-mannered gaze. Slurring and grumbling, he asked: “What are you looking at?” Maurice answered first: “I am sorry, sir, but we mistook you for someone else.” “And who might that be?” “We are fascinated because you look so much like the actor, Pierre Brasseur. I am sure this must happen to you all the time…and this must be very annoying for you.” Waking up from his lethargy, he responded with a wry smile: “Well, aren’t you smart!” and, after a lengthy pause to catch his breath, he scrutinised these impudent youths and added defiantly: “Because I AM Pierre Brasseur, you clowns!”

Most of us lie every day for a variety of good and bad reasons, but only frauds, runaways or lunatics feel compelled to impersonate someone else. At first, Maurice thought that the man was just a sad impostor and politely dismissed him: “With all due respect, sir, I would have thought that the real Pierre Brasseur could certainly afford to sit in a better place than this dive and in better company.” “You may not have a very high opinion of yourself, young man, but what you just said was not very flattering towards your lady-friend here. Was it? What’s wrong with her company?” And, amicably attempting to get Claudine on side, he whispered to her with a complicit wink: “I wouldn’t take his snide remark, if I were you!” Maurice tried to extricate himself from this faux pas by digging a deeper hole for himself, as he often did in such situations: “What I meant is that here the food is crap, the wine is nasty and the customers are not exactly the ‘crème-de-la- crème’….”

10 The fake Pierre Brasseur seemed disappointed by Maurice’s condescending comment towards the bistro’s clientele and he responded in their defence: “Who are these people you think are the ‘crème-de-la- crème’? For me, they are the scum of the earth! I much prefer the mob here. There is far less bullshit with them!” Maurice basically agreed with this view but, being aware that he had a tendency to say the wrong thing at the wrong time, he chose to keep quiet. The man then added “Anyway, you two are here now, so it couldn’t be that bad and, if it’s OK for you, why not for me?” Claudine answered in her matter-of-fact manner: “Well that’s all we can afford!” “Fair enough but be honest: Would you rather be in one of those pompous upmarket restaurants where everyone pretends to be what they are not and nothing is what it seems? Here no one cares; no one tries to impress you; and that’s what I like!”

He was of course correct and, in truth, at that precise point in time, there was nowhere else on Earth where either Maurice or Claudine would have rather been. After some thought, he added: “Even the whores here are more honourable! At least with them you get a far more honest transaction than you would with the women in your part of town, with their pantomime of respectability.” On reflection, he apologised to Claudine, fearing he may have offended her, but she chuckled and gave her implicit approval to his comments. Having grown up in army barracks on the edges of various military towns and in bleak colonial outposts as the daughter of a lower ranked army officer, she did not feel targeted by those remarks.

Maurice was tempted to ask how this man had guessed which ‘part of town’ he came from, but he refrained from doing so as he already knew the answer. In most European countries, as in many parts of the world, one’s linguistic skills along with one’s accent, manners and sartorial tastes instantly reveal much about a person’s background, no matter how hard one tries to hide it.

This interlude was followed by a friendly banter on the man’s real name and eventually, unable to convince Maurice that he was indeed Pierre Brasseur, he extracted from his wallet his identity card and slammed it on their table. This official document, with its attached passport-size photograph, declared that the holder was in fact a Pierre-Albert Espinasse, which appeared at first glance to vindicate Maurice’s scepticism, but then the line below stated unequivocally that this Monsieur Espinasse was also better known by the stage name of Pierre Brasseur.

Pierre Brasseur

The three revellers burst out laughing, although Maurice’s hilarity barely disguised his embarrassment and, to apologise for his impertinence, he bought another bottle of mediocre wine which they all heartily enjoyed. All was forgiven and this fortuitous encounter with Monsieur Pierre Brasseur turned out to be one of the most enrapturing experiences either Maurice or Claudine would ever have, although many details have sub- sequently faded into a blur as a consequence of the extraordinary amount of alcohol they consumed as this Parisian night unfolded.

Pierre-Albert Espinasse had decided to rebrand himself as Pierre Brasseur because he thought that his mother’s maiden name would be more alluring for the stage, rather than the somewhat quaint but also provincial ‘Espinasse’. Whether he was called Espinasse or Brasseur was of no consequence to Maurice and Claudine: all that would matter in the end was that Monsieur Pierre proved to be one of the finest human beings they would ever meet, a star that would continue to shine brightest in their night sky. 11 (Kofi Annan, cont’d.)

Annan left office at the end of 2006 and was succeeded by Ban Ki-Moon of South Korea (pictured at top right on p. 1). He moved to Geneva the next year and worked in a leading capacity on various humanitarian endeavours, including his Kofi Annan Foundation that promoted peace and security, sustainable development, and human rights and the rule of law. In 2007, he led the African Union’s panel of eminent African personalities on a mission to defuse post-election violence in Kenya. In 2012, he went to Syria as an envoy of the UN and the Arab League and developed a six-point plan for ending the civil war there, but he resigned after five months due to the warring parties’ lack of interest and the absence of support from the deadlocked Security Council.

In 2017, Annan was asked to lead the Myanmar government’s Advisory Commission on Rakhine State, which was intended to create peace between the Rohingyas and the Buddhists there. Sadly, the Commission’s report was rejected by both sides and the situation became much worse. Annan was unable to get the UN to do anything and he died a week before the anniversary of that report. His body was flown from Geneva to Ghana, where he was buried after a state funeral in Accra.

Kofi Annan will be remembered for a life of dedicated service and for being, in the words of current Secretary- General António Guterres, “a champion of peace and a guiding force for good”. Part of his lasting legacy will be his book, Interventions: A Life in War and Peace, co-authored by his former advisor and speechwriter, Nader Mousavizadeh.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Regular readers will not need to be told that Patrick Bernard’s article is yet another instalment of his work-in- progress, Perennity. Parts 1 and 2 of that chapter were printed in the last two issues.

However, I have not been able to find out a great deal about Rev. Richard M. Fewkes (p. 7), except that he became a minister at the First Unitarian Society of Middleboro in Massachusetts in 1964. He then served at the First Unitarian Parish in Norwell, also in that state, from 1969 to 2000, becoming its Minister Emeritus. He was still making guest appearances as recently as January 2018 and it appears that he has written other poetic and liturgical works.

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