By the way - tomorrow at 19:30 Middle european Time the first of this years' downhill races in Lake Louise takes place. Watch it - maybe they also show views of the lake, unfortunately this time without me inside ! :-)

Ohhhhh noooooo! Five months after my first, well, sort of newspaper appearance I made it into TV. On Tuesday. And I missed it and learned about it only today!

The background is a quite tragic and frightening one. Actually I always felt very safe here, but especially since autumn I've heard about a number of homicides (Toetungsdelikte). First it was some gang relating shootings in the bad areas downtown. Then at Halloween three young men (19, 21, 27) were shot in a downtown club. This weekend saw 3 stabbings within 30 minutes which caused two deaths (article). One victim was a 17 year old boy killed at his own birthday party (and of course those were the most moving reports, seeing the whole school grief-stricken). The other one was a 23 year old father to be who died in Whyte Avenue just in front of the bar Eric works in. By now the number of homicides this year has reached 34 which is about the same as the number as last year (which I was told had set an all time record). Edmonton is the leader in this sad statistic in all of Canada and if I'm right more people were killed in homicides in this city than in traffic accidents. Most of the involved are men in their twenties.

What I find so shocking is the way these things happen. Now it's not about gangs, about bad areas, or about robbery. The five most recent victims were all going out, having a good time, when they by bad luck bump into somebody who it seems was drunk, in a bad mood, looking for trouble. You know, it looks like it's not that there are so many criminals around but that normal people randomly turn into killers at random places. And that I find very, very frightening.

So these days it's the question what could be done. Tuesday noontime (when I was on Whyte Avenue to go to Elephant and Castle for the Barcelona match) a TV team approached me. At first I didn't understand what she was talking about but after she repeated her question I replied, yes, I do go out a lot on Whyte Avenue. She continued whether I feel safe and I answered: "Well I felt pretty safe here but after the last weekend I'm not so sure anymore and I don't know what's going on with all those random stabbings." Finally she asked what the city of Edmonton should do and I was a bit puzzled and spontaneously just said: "I have no clue. I don't think anything can really be done against random stabbings." That was it - and I was quite convinced they wouldn't show it because I mean it was not really a productive statement. (Nevertheless I did watch the news that evening. And now I'm puzzled because I did not see me but someone told me today that my statements were broadcast.)

If I had thought a moment longer I might have added that I don't believe in quick and easy solutions (more police, harsher sentences, ban alcohol). Something like this. But that's what's happening now. First there will be more police on Whyte Avenue (which as a start my be quite good), secondly they think of fixing cameras at key points - and thirdly, and in my opinion, pointlessly, they think about forcing liquor stores to close at 11pm. What is that going to change? Well, then people will buy more before that time or get drunk in bars and pubs instead. In general I think all of this remains a bit on the surface and doesn't touch the root causes - whatever they may be. A professor of criminology suggested this week that the homicides are the dark side of the region's economic boom which brings "young, unattached males with money to spend" into the town (source).

However, despite all of this I think in general Edmonton is still a rather safe city. I won't lock myself at home. But I will be observing extra carefully who is on the street and will try to avoid coming too close to anyone who looks like drunk and trouble, and if unavoidable I will stay as calm and friendly as possible. (After the Halloween shooting I read quite a good article in the university newspaper Gateway which pursued a similar line. article) And now I'm going on and later on out for having a good time. My two choices: A) having fun, senseless small talk and cheap beer with the internationals at a house birthday party or B) having fun, serious conversations and expensive beer at a meeting of the UofA history graduates in O'Byrnes. Hmm.. I'll see.

Wisst ihr was ich aufs Blut nicht ausstehen kann? Selbstgerechte Heuchelei.

"Das Bundesverwaltungsgericht in Leipzig hat heute entschieden, dass die Aufnahme des Tierschutzes als Staatsziel in das Grundgesetz es nicht ausschließt, einem muslimischen Metzger eine Ausnahmegenehmigung zum betäubungslosen Schlachten (Schächten) von Rindern und Schafen zu erteilen, um seine Kunden entsprechend ihrer Glaubensüberzeugung mit Fleisch zu versorgen."
(Pressemitteilung des Verwaltungsgerichtshofs, 23. November 2006)

Es ist schon klar, dass Religionsfreiheit irgendwo an ihre Grenzen stoesst und es mitunter unterschiedliche Meinungen gibt, wo und wie diese Grenzen zu ziehen sind.

Aber mich packt der Zorn, wenn ich Kommentare wie jene auf Side Effects (wo ich auf die Entscheidung aufmerksam wurde) lese: Islamisten. Barbaren. Mitteralterliche Kultur (maartjes). Tierquaeler. Werdet Veganer! Es ist ja so einfach, wegen einer Ausnahmegenehmigung fuer einen Muslimen auf die Barrikaden zu steigen, die Fahne des Tierschutzes hochzuhalten und gegen die boesen Muslime zu wettern. Wir sind ja der humane, tierliebende Westen. Der humane, tierliebende Westen mit alltaeglichem tagtaeglichem millionen- und milliardenfachen Leid in Tiertransporten, Tierfabriken und Tierlabors! Dazu kann ich nur eines sagen:

"Warum siehst du den Splitter im Auge deines Bruders, aber den Balken in deinem eigenen Auge bemerkst du nicht? Wie kannst du zu deinem Bruder sagen: Bruder, lass mich den Splitter aus deinem Auge herausziehen!, während du den Balken in deinem eigenen Auge nicht siehst? Du Heuchler! Zieh zuerst den Balken aus deinem Auge; dann kannst du versuchen, den Splitter aus dem Auge deines Bruders herauszuziehen." (Lukas 6, 41-42)

When you as a foreigner meet Canadians here it's inevitable that the Canadian winter is one of the most likely topics to talk about. And you know what's so funny? 10 people, 10 different pictures. For everyone snowfall starts at a different time and ends at a different time of the year. I was a bit puzzled in the beginning but I've come to think that it really depends on the memory of the respective person or what they want to stress - because the winter experience can vary vastly from year to year. When I arrived here everybody was telling me about the exceptionally mild winter they had. Now I fully understand. Yesterday in the news they mentioned that the same day last year they had 18 degrees PLUS; this year we have 17 degrees MINUS! A difference of 35 degrees, that's quite something.

About one and a half weeks ago we received a letter from the member of parliament who is representing our area - which I found quite amusing. He stressed that he is constantly flying back and forth between Ottawa and Edmonton and repeatedly used "we in Edmonton" to convey the idea that he is Edmontonian and working for us and not some aloof guy sitting somewhere in the capital. Yet, his letter started with a sentence like "Now, as the autumn leaves fall, and the cold season is slowly arriving in Edmonton.." - Well - we're having snow already since end of October, so I wonder, when you really had been here for the last time..

[Edit 27.11.2006, 10:26] The exact quote is: "As autumn leaves begin to fall and the change in season is upon us here in Edmonton"... (Rahim Jaffer, M.P. Your Voice in government. Fall Update)

The Battle of Alberta is won! Brief summary: In the initial phase of the game we offered the Flames an early Christmas present which they happily accepted. Fortunately we equalised 30 seconds before the end of the first period. The second one was quite boring and actually the whole game - as far as I can judge it - was more a fight than a technically good game. The happy end followed about 8 minutes before the end of the third period: Sykora (from the Czech Republic) scored his second goal of the night, like the first one after assist from Hemsky (who's Czech too so it's a pity that Premek missed that triumph) to set the 2:1 final score.

Remember I was even more looking forward to the Flames game and its atmosphere after I watched that pre-season game? I made a good choice picking Calgary and it was definitely worth the money. Yet, it was still a bit different than expected. So here are some of my observations and thoughts about fan culture. Actually I think it would be quite a good topic for a sport interested ethnologist to compare European and North American fan culture and behaviour - but the differences are so obvious that I guess a lot has been done on it already. Going to Rexall Place is a bit like going to the Innsbrucker Tivoli without a Nordtribüne. Meaning the whole stadium is seated, no standing area and usually it's the latter where the hard core supporters are gathering, where the real action is going on. The clapping, the shouting, the singing, the chanting. I mean, at the beginning of the hockey game they even announced that people should remain seated all the time and not stand up in order not to block the view for others. In a soccer match: if the people in front of you stand up, well than you have to stand up as well, so what?

Matthias remarked that going to a hockey game is a bit like going to the opera. Eric agreed and argued that tickets are so expensive that it's the opera kind of people who go to games. But I disagree. Sure it's 50 bucks, but as far as I know the English Premier League is ridiculously expensive as well - yet, that experience (which I unfortunately haven't got yet) would be quite a different one.

It's just something missing here. People are generally quiet. They are sitting, watching. (Florian, you would love it! :-) Cheering only at goals or remarkable situations. Chants? Nothing creative. The best they come up with is "Leeets gooo Oooilers" and "Go Flames go" on the other side. And even for that they have support: I guess it's too small to see it properly on that picture but the red board at the top of the scoring board (which already shows 2:1 for the Oilers) reads "I can't hear you" while the big screen and the blue boards left to it demand "Louder!". Well, then people do clap and chant and whistle for some seconds, and then it's done. Nothing permanent. Mission accomplished and back to the usual. Mocking and insulting the opponent is virtually missing. Even in such an intense rivalry as Edmonton and Calgary, which I found quite surprising. Once or twice there were "Calgary sucks" chants but that was it. Compare that to any Austrian (and I guess any European) soccer stadium where the opposing team, city and individual players are constantly subject to mockery and insult. "Salzburger - Arschloecher" and the like, just to mention a harmless example - which, I think, still wouldn't be considered appropriate here.

So what makes the difference? Well, I don't know precisely about the cultural difference. What in my opinion is definitely an important factor is the ticket and seating policy. In Europe we have clear sides, a clear separation: The home team has the stadium and the guests their own sector within it. In Canada it's one stadium watching two teams. There are no sectors assigned to supporters of one or the other team. You buy a seat and don't know who's sitting next to you. Before and left to me were for example 10, 15 passionate (and drunk) Calgary supporters apart from some Oilers supporters in between. And that makes the difference. It's basically a stadium full of individual people. Would you chant on your on, knowing that the person before you, left to you, are opponents? Would you chant if nobody else is joining? In Europe you are in the mass, you get carried away by the mass, you are the mass. Which I guess is also the reason for more hooliganism. The lines are clearly defined. We are we and we have our territory - and opposite, far away on the other side, there is the enemy, not an individual but an impersonal block. Here you sit next to each other, everything is mixed, you meet the supporters of the opponent team personally, you possibly talk to them.

Yet I'm actually quite surprised that this system here works. I mean in Europe supporters of one team - usually home team - are leaving right after the match and the ones of other - usually guest team - have to wait for 15 minutes or so. So supporters are separated again, they don't meet immediately after the final whistle when emotions are highest. Here in comparison at the end of the game everybody is leaving just as everybody is sitting next to each other during the game. Imagine, people are frustrated because their team has just lost and then people from the other team are celebrating and maybe some stupid guys are mocking them. Actually exactly this happened yesterday. Just when we were leaving people started fighting three rows in front of us. The typical thing. People drink, then they provoke and then they fight. And they really started to fight. Violent boxing, two or three other people joined, one fell on the seats - which looked quite terrible - and had a bloody face. Others were about to join but finally the security arrived, it took them surprisingly long - or maybe it just felt long because it was that close and a bit scary. They got four guys but I'm not sure whether they didn't catch two who actually were not involved at all. So given how easy it is to start a fight I'm really surprised that there were not more situations like this.

In total I'd say that as with all things the coin of fan attitude has two sides. On the one hand you'll have much more atmosphere in Europe, on the other hand you very likely have more violence as well (or at least you have to do more to prevent it).