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Home > Vol 16, No 2 (2018) > Bifulco
Urban Welfare and Social Innovation in Italy
Lavinia Bifulco, University of Milano Bicocca
In recent years the combined effects of the crisis and austerity measures have strongly affected the institutional infrastructure of European welfare systems and continue to do so. This concerns primarily the local scale. Generally speaking, due to a long phase of territorialization of policies, changes involving sub-national levels have strengthened the relationship between rights and territory, creating new forms of citizenship. Local governance arenas, in particular, are incubators for innovation in citizenship encouraged both by the dynamics of territorial reorganization and by the spread of territory-based policies. But this scenario is fraught with contradictions. First of all, there is a rise in the number of individuals, mainly migrant workers, who lack rights or are classifiable as "denizens". Secondly, due to the politics of austerity, national and supranational powers of control have increased, giving rise to mechanisms of recentralization that are particularly restrictive in some countries.
Growing constraints and diminishing resources consequently affect local/urban welfare. But the latter is a two-faced reality and, despite the problems it has to deal with, a certain number of initiatives have confirmed its innovatory value as an arena for new forms of social inclusion, or, in other words, as a laboratory of Social Innovation (Gerometta et al. 2005; Evers et al., Eds. 2014)
This article focuses on Social Innovation at the urban/local level in Italy, aiming to clarify the ambiguities, problems and opportunities involved in the current reorganizations of welfare. As we shall see, the theme is rather vague. This makes it malleable and adaptable to different points of view - its success lies precisely here - and at the same time elusive and ambiguous (Barbera and Parisi forthcoming). Social Innovation is rather like a meatloaf or "like tofu: tasteless, it goes well with everything: sweet and savory. A certain definition does not exist: it is like the search for the Holy Grail" (Ciccarelli, 2016, cit. in Barbera and Parisi, forthcoming, p. 12).
In the first part I briefly outline the Italian context focusing on the urban/local welfare. I then point to the main characteristics of Social Innovation at the theoretical and empirical level. Leading to an overview of Italian experiences, the final part highlights some factors and conditions of inclusive social innovation.
2 The Italian context
Normally included among the Mediterranean models, the Italian welfare system is historically characterized by fragmentation, familism, uncertainty of rights, discretionary interventions, prevalence of monetary transfers over services, territorial inequality.
It is difficult to outline an organic picture of its current characteristics, following the crisis and European austerity politics. The reforms adopted in recent years by national government affect a wide range of fields - pensions, work, poverty - in response to requests for modernization from European decision-makers. As Moini (2015) points out, they are the expression of a process of neoliberalization that takes place not as the implementation of an explicit and organic political program but according to variegated, mimetic, hybridized, incremental logics, oscillating between temperate forms and radical forms of neoliberal reorganization of public action.
As for social spending, Italy allocates 30% of its gross domestic product to social protection, i.e. more than the average for European countries (29% of GDP in the EU-28). The point is that the structure of this expenditure is unbalanced: Italy is in first place among the 34 OECD countries with regard to monetary transfers, but is amongst the last for social and health services, together with Portugal, Eastern European countries and Turkey (ISTAT 2017). Another interesting piece of data is the increase in local government spending on welfare - even though modest, less than 1% since 2014. In any case, the differences between the territorial areas remain extremely high. In the South, SI21 euros per inhabitant against a maximum of 508 euros in the North (ibidem). The distribution of resources among the categories of beneficiaries is also significant. Spending for families with children and more generally on childcare services has increased, as well as the weight of resources allocated to disability – from 20.4 % in 2005 to 25.4% in 2015. Yet services and economic support to poverty and homelessness have been reduced - from 7.4% in 2005 to 7% in 2015 (ibidem). It should be emphasized that the increase in expenditure is mainly linked to a cash increase (e.g. through vouchers: Barbera et al., eds. 2016). Another figure to be underlined is the increase in 2016 of funding provided by private foundations with an overall growth of 10% compared to 2015, after six years of uninterrupted contraction (Acri 2016).
As for the social problems the Italian welfare system has to deal with, growing poverty should be stressed in particular. In 2016, 30% of Italians were at risk of poverty and social exclusion, compared to the 23.1% of the eurozone (Eurostat, 2018). Italians in a state of absolute poverty are on the increase. In 2017 the phenomenon affected about 5 million individuals, 8.3% of the resident population, an increase compared to the 7.9% in 2016 and 3.9% in 2008 (ISTAT 2018). The risk of falling into a condition of poverty affects both individuals and families. The territorial areas most exposed to the phenomenon are those in the South of the country.
Among the most vulnerable social groups we find young people in particular. This is partly due to the problem of unemployment. In one month, between January and February of this year, youth unemployment (young people under 25) increased from 32.5% to 32.8% (Eurostat 2018). This means an increase of two thousand units in a single month. Overall, at the national level, the unemployment rate fell but mostly to the benefit of adults (from 11.1% to 10.9).
The reforms that have been adopted by national government in recent years to face these problems emerge in the form of a patchwork that combines heterogeneous elements and fragments.
The following are particularly worth mentioning:
· the Jobs Act, approved in 2015 and based on the abrogation of the previous rules on layoffs and flexibility, aimed to overcome the fragmentation of contractual forms through a mechanism of increasing safeguards and new measures to protect workers (extension of maternity allowance and parental leave, creation of a standard unemployment benefit).
· the national law on Income for Inclusion, approved in 2017, is the first standard national instrument to combat poverty and social exclusion, subject to a means test. The inclusion income consists of two parts: a monthly allowance, with a variable amount according to the size of the family and other variables, and a personalized project of social and work reintegration. The access conditions have been changed recently. Until 30 June 2018, beneficiaries have to have specific conditions of need. From 1 July 2018 the measure will instead address all citizens regardless of their family status.
· the reform of the Third Sector, launched in 2016 and still underway, includes a new regulation of social enterprises abolishing the prohibition on distributing profits and introducing for the first time in Italy the possibility of low-profit social enterprises.
Consistency is not the main attribute of this patchwork. In a welfare system traditionally poor in terms of rights, significant doses of market and business-oriented strategies have been grafted into different fields, whilst at the same time strengthening arrangements and devices that, at least in theory, focus on the community, on solidarity networks, and on their generative capacities. The very few measures introduced according to the logic of universalism clash with the scarcity of resources and the persistence of a particularist, category-based and familistic approach. Moreover, despite the increased importance given to it by political and policy discourse, the Social Investment approach has been allowed only limited space, as evidenced by the national spending on family policy, education and active labor market policy (lower than the OECD average: Kazepov and Ranci, 2017).
3 Urban/local welfare
Starting from the 90s the process of rescaling in Italy has simultaneously involved politics, state structure and policies. The role played by politics concerns above all the "new mayors", whose powers have increased decidedly since the changes made to the electoral system and the mechanisms of local representation. As regards state architecture, the de-centralization process has been of great importance, leading to a constitutional reform in 2001 undertaken in the name of devolution. This reform changed the forms of sub-national government and empowered the Regions to legislate on certain matters, including social services and territorial policies.
Much has been written on subsidiarity, both vertical and horizontal, as a principle of reorganization of local welfare in Italy (Kazepov 2008, Bifulco 2017). It has strengthened two very important dynamics: the rescaling of institutional and political powers; the inclusion of a plurality of public and private actors in the local governance of social policies, in particular of the third sector. One of the main implications was a redefinition of the role of public institutions and of their relationship with social and economic actors, particularly at the local level. Consequently, social citizenship - its boundaries, the powers that respond to it and the entitlements that are included - has also been redefined: in a country with historically weak social rights such as Italy, the local scale seems a fairly promising catalyst of innovation.
Actually, during the territorialization phase, room was made for responding to a demand for the state to open up and for citizen involvement in policy-making. The result is a flourishing of experiments in participative decision-making processes, especially local ones, and the spread of new forms of "democratic experimentalism" based on decentralization and mutual learning among actors (Sabel and Dorf 2006). But these dynamics are partial and controversial. Participation practices find it difficult to stabilize. The autonomy acquired by sub-national levels can favour institutional and social innovations but can also increase territorial inequalities. Furthermore, experimentation is fragile and closely dependent on local political initiative.
However, starting from the second half of the 70s and up to the early 2000s, an expanding cycle of local welfare came about, in a fairly bi-partisan way considered (by many) an engine for the modernization of the national social protection system and (by some) an engine for democracy, too.
The changes in the national political cycles and subsequently the crisis and austerity, have led to a reversal of the trend. Spending is not the only significant variable. As we have seen, the last four years have recorded - on average - a modest increase in the social expenditure of the municipalities but after years of uninterrupted decline. Moreover, a twofold constraint is to be considered: the social problems which burden local administrations (in particular poverty, in its various forms) increase, while the autonomy of local authorities decreases because of the tendency towards re-centralization mentioned above. In other words, more responsibility with less autonomy.
It is in this framework that we need to place and interpret three more trends regarding local /urban welfare: the territorial differentiation persists, despite re-centralization (as shown by the data on social spending); the scope and the weight of market actors and logics in the public-private mix grow, in line with the guidelines taken up by national governments; initiatives for Social Innovation are also growing.
Before examining this picture in depth, the theme of Social Innovation needs further clarification.
4 Social Innovation: normative vagueness….
Although it cannot claim exclusivity, the EU context certainly has a lot to do with the roots and propagation of Social Innovation. Since it was launched almost twenty years ago, this theme has found its legitimacy, but also its most powerful source of vagueness, in the European policy framing it as a strategy of intervention. Some basic coordinates are however traceable. In the basic European sense of the term, social innovation refers to innovation and the ways in which it responds to the social needs of a community, by means of new products, services, organizational structures or activities. It is used to indicate: "innovations that are social both as to their ends and their means and in particular those which relate to the development and implementation of new ideas (concerning products, services and models), that simultaneously meet social needs and create new social relationships or collaborations, thereby benefiting society and boosting its capacity to act" (EU Regulation No 1296/2013 on a European Union Programme for Employment and Social Innovation).
Defined in this way, Social Innovation refers to the inclusive qualification of growth, urban development and new technologies, as well as to the social economy and collaborative forms of providing services. It may intervene in a very wide range of sectors. In the Europe 2020 strategy, social innovation plays a key role in social policies, giving impetus to cooperative models of production and provision of services. In addition, it is the basis of numerous programs, including EaSI - Employment and Social Innovation - the program launched by the Union with the aim of supporting social innovation in the specific field of the fight against poverty and social exclusion. The relationship with the city is important, too, thanks to the perspective, highly accredited in the Union, which sees in the city both the space where the crisis is most keenly felt and a decisive reservoir of resources for the experimentation of innovative growth strategies and policies for inclusion. Social Innovation Europe (SIE), a platform that came into being in 2011 for initiatives relating to the General Division for Growth, is investing a good deal in spreading ideas and experiences of social innovation in cities - "a great landscape for social innovation". It is important to remember that the boundaries with other key themes are undefined. In particular, we witness a very broad overlap with Social Investment, which is also strongly oriented towards emphasizing the capacity for self-organization and social entrepreneurship.
This vagueness is linked to the fact that the concept in itself has a double soul: a reformist one, which emphasizes co-production and co-distribution of goods and services without questioning the social organization; and a radical one, that aims at a structural change (Barbera, and Parisi 2017).
For this reason, too, the theme tends to polarize the debate between supporters and critics. In general, supporters stress the relationship between Social Innovation and local/urban development (Vicari Haddock and Moulaert 2009), the reorganization of welfare systems (Evers et al, 2014; Brandsen et al., 2016; Ascoli and Pavolini 2017), the experimentation of forms of sharing economy (Polizzi and Bassoli 2016). Critical analyses focus instead on the neoliberal matrix of European social innovation discourse and its implications regarding the legitimization of public spending cuts, reduction of public responsibilities and more generally de-politicization dynamics (Swingedouw 2005, Fougère et al. 2017).
5 ... and empirical variety
On the empirical level, vagueness can be a resource because it brings greater autonomy and widens the spectrum of possible actions. This is evident precisely at the local / urban scale. The variety of agendas and local initiatives is remarkable but seems to converge on some common threads. The Singocom research (MacCallum et al., Eds. 2009; Moulaert et al., Eds. 2010), which analyzes some of the social innovations set in motion in nine European cities, sheds light on three main frames. Where social inclusion is mainly associated with the involvement of individuals and groups in decision-making processes, both as a requirement of the political system to open channels for citizen participation, and as a request formulated by local communities, interventions are based on the creation of spaces open to citizens. Economic development is the main objective of approaches that favor the creation of employment opportunities, often through the promotion of social markets. A third frame has culture as a nucleus and enhances the idea of the city as a space to produce and consume culture by improving the aesthetic quality of places, the construction of new infrastructures, the care of the artistic and architectural heritage of the city, the support of local artistic communities (Bifulco 2017).
Within the Wilco research, focusing on the welfare systems of 20 European cities, Evers et al. (2014) identify five types of recurrent social innovation approaches and tools: innovations in services and the ways in which they interact with users; innovations in regulations and rights; innovations in governance; innovations in terms of work and financing; innovations regarding the extent of local welfare systems.
This local variety implies several problems for analysis. In any case, it is almost unanimously recognized that, although the local scale is their main breeding ground, local innovative experiences are fragile, fragmentary and have an uncertain future if they do not cross paths with wider scales, resources and powers (Cassiers and Kesteloot 2012). The need for an institutional infrastructure that supports upscaling processes - through regulations, policies, rights - is consequently one of the main indications emerging from the research on the topic (Vicari Haddock and Moulaert 2009; Oosterlynck et al. 2013; Mingione and Vicari Haddock 2015; Brandsen et al. 2016).
More generally, regardless of the positions taken on the "top-down" or "bottom-up" logic of innovation, many scholars recognize the importance of institutions for the development and consolidation of innovations. As pointed out by Brandsen et al. (2016, p. 310) after discussing the results of their research into twenty European cities: "[...] it would be foolish to argue that new common rules and large-scale regulations are not needed. Social innovations [...] need a different kind of state intervention".
Therefore, the institutions are fully included among the factors that help to understand why and how innovation practices vary and which different contexts of conditions are able to hinder or support their development (Oosterlynck et al. 2013; 2015). At the meso and micro level, the relationships between the institutional and non-institutional actors, where governance models take shape, are crucial. At the macro level, welfare regimes are crucial (Oosterlynck et al. 2013). In fact, the potential for innovation seems high both in the universalistic welfare regimes of Northern Europe, and in the corporate ones of Central Europe, as well as the liberal ones of the Anglo-Saxon contexts (less in Mediterranean ones) but the former show greater solidity and stability of experience (ibidem) thanks to a higher level of stateness that combines the capacity for upscaling with robust social protection.
6 Social Innovation in Italy: the case of Milan
As for Italy, what should be remembered first and foremost is that social innovation does not involve only the domain of social policies. The second report on Social Innovation in Italy (Caroli 2015) identified 462 experiences and five main areas: the sharing economy, social assistance, social integration, the environment, vocational training, professional integration. The first three cover more than 50% of the initiatives.
The actors of Social Innovation are mainly associations, cooperatives, companies, innovative start-ups, but there are also many local public administrations and private foundations. The growing importance of the banking Foundations as sources of funding and decision makers in some urban areas is to be underlined (de Leonardis et al. 2016). The largest number of initiatives involving them are to be found in the North but there is no lack of experiences in the South, too. In general, non-profit organizations emerge as the central actors of social innovation, both in the promotion and in the implementation of initiatives. Besides, relations between third-sector organizations and economic actors intensify especially in the social market areas, which entail greater convergence between social and economic goals (energy, the environment, new technologies, and culture). However, in 71% of cases the initiatives are in the hands of a subject with institutional weight, which supports the legitimacy of the initiative (Barbera and Parisi, forthcoming).
One significant factor is the role that finance and financialization play in this area. Starting from 2017, some local welfare contexts are experimenting with tools of intervention that combine social objectives with business logic and financial intermediation: i.e. social impact bonds, launched as instruments of both social innovation and social investment. The debate that these tools have triggered in their main context of development - see in particular the English cases – highlights a number of risks and problems regarding in particular public accountability and inclusiveness (McHugh et al. 2013).
A specific case may help to gain a better understanding both of the configurations of the relationship between the actors involved in Social Innovation and of their effects with regard to inclusion / exclusion. The case in question is Milan, the economic and financial engine of Italy, whose welfare system is traditionally centred on (active) labour market policies, market-oriented approaches and a fairly important role by Catholic charitable associations. According to the National Association of Italian Municipalities, this city is a pioneer in the field of social innovation in Italy (Bifulco and Dodaro, forthcoming). The role of the local political institutions is crucial. The current city government - in continuity with the political administration set up in 2011- has actively encouraged Social Innovation and has created a special councilorship for "inclusive innovation". The central idea is that Social Innovation consists in policy strategies and tools for supporting social and economic development, This implies, for example, supporting business incubators and start-ups or promoting collaborative work spaces (ibidem). It should not be forgotten that, in several social domains, such as the fight against exclusion, care for children and the elderly, services for families, a significant role is played by Cariplo, a banking foundation that in recent years has launched and financed programs for social housing, community welfare and the suburbs. As a consequence, while the Municipality does mobilise many resources in order to increase the inclusive effects of market-oriented initiatives, it is a private actor that invests - and decides - to a considerable extent on interventions regarding social protection.
Thus, the soul of social innovation in this city addresses economic/ entrepreneurial logics. But there is another – secondary – soul, oriented towards developing participation, aggregation and social integration. We can find it, for example, in the promotion of Social Streets, Facebook groups that bring together the inhabitants of neighbourhoods according to a logic of solidarity; and of Participatory Budgeting, with the financing of urban renewal projects (ibidem). To some degree these practices have made it possible to mobilize actors who are new to the Milanese decision-making scenario: individual citizens, as well as formal and informal organizations, gain new opportunities for participation.
This coexistence between the main economic feature and the secondary social feature of Social Innovation is the fruit of the encounter between two factors regarding the urban government and governance context: the solidity of the local reformist tradition, which incorporates a strong political propensity for pragmatism, the aggregation and negotiation of interests and pluralism; and the pervasiveness of economic competitiveness as a reference for urban development models. In the current phase, this entails a tendency to govern through a compromise among the economic interests, social demands and requests to participate that confront each other in the city. From this point of view, Social Innovation is a powerful reservoir of legitimation on which the local government draws abundantly to consolidate otherwise unstable coalitions and aggregations.
The main point, with respect to the issue of the social dimension of inclusion, is that these initiatives and these policies risk being irrelevant to the growing economic and social polarization - overshadowed by the latest electoral results. In fact, innovation, interpreted mainly in economic terms, seems to confirm the advantages enjoyed by certain central areas of the city, and of their inhabitants.
Social Innovation is fragile. Even more so in Italy, given the previously outlined characteristics of the more general context. An overview of the experiences reveals a variable geography facing two possible and opposing scenarios: a) social innovation as an expansion of the areas of market profitability and finance; b) social innovation as the experimentation of inclusion and aggregation strategies, also - partially - capable of triggering reconfigurations of the relationship between economy and society (in a Polanyan sense).
Obviously, between these two scenarios there is a wide empirical variety of practices and situations Among the variables that should be kept in mind in this regard, four are particularly important specifically in the way they combine at the local level:
1. the welfare and governance regime;
2. the sources of funding and the role financing has in the decision-making arenas;
3. the tools of intervention put in place, in particular those that convey hybridization between the social domain and the economic/financial domain;
4. the role of local State - in the very general sense of intervention by the public authority.
The case of Milano highlights some relevant issues regarding in particular the fourth variable. Social Innovation appeals to the ability for self-organisation but does not equate with self-organisation. The literature has shown that initiatives stem from different origins (Moulaert, Martinelli and González 2007; Bifulco 2017). They may arise spontaneously or be the fruit of intentional planning by the political-administrative actors or, again, they may coincide with variable mixes of social self-organisation and institutional investments. In any case, even the most formalised initiatives, recognised as part of a strict institutional context, exist thanks to a local capacity for action and mobilisation. In this sense, overcoming the increasing inequalities and social problems affecting cities depends on the local capacity to put them high on the local government agenda as well as to discuss methods and instruments for addressing them.
Institutions matter, therefore, as they can foster innovations and contribute to consolidating them and increasing their incisiveness and impact, supporting the spread of similar experiences. As many scholars point out, innovation requires enabling policies and institutions. Another type of State intervention, as we said before. But the concept of enabling does not escape the vagueness typical of all the key issues regarding changing public action over the last thirty years. Coined in opposition to the traditional state model, it limits itself to emphasizing the ability to mobilize social/economic interests /subjects by creating the conditions favorable for their activation. To clarify a little further, it can be added that what is at stake is the ability of the State to cope with the fragility of innovations. Fragility is part of their very nature, since attempting innovation means, by definition, exposing oneself to a high degree of uncertainty and to the risk of failure. Mazzucato (2011) reminds us of this, with regard to economic innovation, arguing that it is for this reason that the State plays a central role in growth. Indeed, the State, more than the private actor – only interested in risk because it is remunerable under the most favorable conditions - is able to bear the burden of uncertainty deriving from attempting innovation and of assuming the burden of the risk of failure.
We might therefore assume that what is valid in the economic field also applies in the social field, that is, an innovative State is needed, capable of taking on the risks and uncertainties involved in innovation. This is a precise confirmation that Social Innovation means not less State but different intervention by the State.
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Author's Address:
Lavinia Bifulco, Prof.
Department of Sociology and Social Research
Lavinia.Bifulco@unimib.it


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text:
import sys
import logging
import json
import urllib2
import traceback

from django.db import connection
from django.http import HttpResponse

from .decorators import jrpc
from .errors import (
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)
from .jsontype import JSONType
from .encoders import RobustEncoder

logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)

class JSONRPCServiceMeta(type):
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    def __new__(mcs, name, bases, dct):
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        """
        dct['rpc_methods'] = {}
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            # so that designers of service classes may use natural inheritance.
            try:
                dct['rpc_methods'].update(base.rpc_methods)
            except AttributeError:  # Some mixin or ``object`` was encountered.
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        for member in dct.itervalues():
            if hasattr(member, 'rpc_method_name'):
                # Add, or update this key on the rpc methods dict.
                dct['rpc_methods'][member.rpc_method_name] = member

        return type.__new__(mcs, name, bases, dct)

class JSONRPCService(object):
    """
    A base class for creating JSON-RPC 2.0 APIs, instances of which act like
    Django views.
    """
    __metaclass__ = JSONRPCServiceMeta  # Adds ``rpc_methods`` to class.

    # Whether or not to provide the Django request object as the first argument
    # of each RPC method (after ``self``)
    provide_request = True

    # This probably won't ever need to chanage
    jsonrpc_version = u'2.0'

    # Override this to provide "application/json", etc, if desired.
    content_type = u'text/plain; encoding=utf-8'

    service_sdversion = u'1.0'  # Service description version (always "1.0").
    service_name = None  # Name for service (e.g. "Search API").
    service_id = None  # Unique URI (http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc3986).
    service_version = None  # Version of this service.
    service_summary = None  # Summarizes the purpose of this service.
    service_help = None  # URL to documentation for this service.
    service_address = None  # Endpoint for this service (ie, URL).

    # Allowed JSON-P padding names. Override in sub-classes to allow less/more.
    padding_names = ('callback', 'jsoncallback')

    def __init__(self, debug=False, get=False, http_errors=True, **kwargs):
        """
        When debug is ``True`` JSON output is formatted using indentation,
        and extra debug information, such as database queries, tracebacks, etc.
        are provided. When ``get`` is ``True`` all methods are available via
        the GET HTTP method.

        :param debug: Whether or not provide debug info (tracebacks, SQL, etc.)
        :type debug: bool
        :param get: Whether or not to allow HTTP GET access to RPC methods
        :type get: bool
        :param http_status: Whether or not to return HTTP errors (400, 500,
            etc.) - helpful for JSONP requests, which can't handle HTTP errors
        :type http_status: bool

        """
        self.debug = debug
        self.get = get
        self.http_errors = http_errors

        # Optional "pretty" kwarg, used to determine whether or not to format
        #
        self.pretty = kwargs.pop('pretty', self.debug)

    def __call__(self, request):
        """
        Calling a service requires an HTTP request object, and returns an HTTP
        response object, unless an unanticipated exception is encountered, and
        ``settings.DEBUG`` is set to ``True``, at which point the exception is
        raised to allow Django's built-in exception handling to take over.
        """
        # Get the IP address of the client for logging, etc.
        remote_addr = request.META['REMOTE_ADDR']

        # Get JSON-P padding from the request (if applicable).
        padding = self._json_padding_or_none(request)

        try:
            # Get the deserialized request JSON.
            json_req = self._get_json_req(request)
            # Get the ID.
            rid = self._valid_jsonrpc_id(json_req)
        except JSONRPCError, ex:
            return self._response(ex=ex, padding=padding)

        try:
            # Check the "jsonrpc" argument.
            self._validate_jsonrpc_verion(json_req)
        except JSONRPCError, ex:
            return self._response(ex=ex, rid=rid, padding=padding)

        try:
            # Get the method (we'll validate it later).
            method = self._valid_jsonrpc_method(json_req)
            # Get the parameters from the JSON object.
            params = self._valid_jsonrpc_params(json_req)
            # Call extra validation hook
            self._validate_extra(request, json_req)
            logger.debug(u'{i} calling method `{m}` on `{c}`'.format(
                i=remote_addr, m=method, c=type(self).__name__))
            # Attempt to dispatch the requested method.
            result = self._dispatch(request, method, params)
        except Exception, ex:
            if isinstance(ex, JSONRPCError):
                logger.debug(u'Error from {i}: {m}'.format(
                    i=remote_addr, m=ex.details))
            else:
                logger.exception(u'Error from {i}'.format(i=remote_addr))

            # If in debug mode and the request isn't an AJAX request and the
            # error is not a ``JSONRPCError``, we'll re-raise to allow Django's
            # default error handling take over
            if self.debug and not request.is_ajax():
                if not isinstance(ex, JSONRPCError):
                    raise

            # Return an error response
            return self._response(ex=ex, rid=rid, padding=padding)
        else:
            # Return successful response back to client.
            return self._response(result=result, rid=rid, padding=padding)

    @property
    def proc_descriptions(self):
        """
        Returns a list with procedure descriptions for each procedure.
        """
        return [m.description for m in self.methods.itervalues() if m.describe]

    @property
    def methods(self):
        """
        Returns the dictionary of methods attached to a ``JSONRPCService``
        during class creation (ones decorated by ``decorators.jrpc``).
        """
        return self.rpc_methods

    def _get_json_req(self, request):
        """
        Returns a JSON request object (as defined in JSON-RPC 2.0 spec), or
        raises a ``JSONRPCError``, if there is a problem with the request.
        """
        if request.method == 'GET':
            try:
                urlencoded_json = request.GET['json']
            except KeyError:
                raise InvalidRequestError(
                    details=u'In a GET request, JSON must be provided in a '
                    'URL argument named "json"')
            else:
                if not urlencoded_json:
                    raise InvalidRequestError(
                        u'The "json" URL argument cannot be empty')
            try:
                json_req = json.loads(urllib2.unquote(urlencoded_json))
                if not isinstance(json_req, dict):
                    raise InvalidRequestError(
                        details=u'The JSON provided must be an object')
                return json_req
            except ValueError:
                raise ParseError
        elif request.method == 'POST':
            try:
                json_req = json.loads(request.body)
            except ValueError:
                raise ParseError
            else:
                if not isinstance(json_req, dict):
                    raise InvalidRequestError(
                        details=u'The JSON provided must be an object')
                return json_req
        else:
            # This was a PUT or HEAD request.
            raise InvalidRequestError(
                details=u'Invalid request method. Method must be GET or POST, '
                'not {m}'.format(m=request.method))

    def _valid_jsonrpc_id(self, json_req):
        """
        Returns a valid ``int`` or ``str`` id from a JSON request object, or
        raises a ``JSONRPCError``, if the id is missing or of invalid type.
        """
        try:
            rid = json_req['id']
        except KeyError:
            raise InvalidRequestError(details=u'A request `id` is required')
        if not isinstance(rid, (int, basestring)):
            json_type = JSONType.by_python_type(type(rid))
            raise InvalidRequestError(
                details=u'Request `id` must be a `str` or `int` (string or '
                'integer), not `{t}`'.format(t=json_type))
        if isinstance(rid, basestring) and not len(rid) > 0:
            raise InvalidRequestError(
                details=u'The request `id` cannot be an empty string')
        return rid

    def _valid_jsonrpc_params(self, json_req):
        """
        Accepts a JSON request object and returns the params, or raises a
        ``JSONRCPRError``, if the params are missing or are of invalid type.
        """
        try:
            params = json_req['params']
        except KeyError:
            raise InvalidRequestError(
                details=u'`params` argument required, even when a method '
                'doesn\'t require any params')
        if not isinstance(params, (dict, list)):
            raise InvalidParamsError(
                details=u'`params` argument must be an array or an object')
        return params

    def _valid_jsonrpc_method(self, json_req):
        """
        Accepts a JSON request object and returns the method, or raises a
        ``JSONRCPRError``, if the method is missing or is of invalid type.
        """
        try:
            method = json_req['method']
        except KeyError:
            raise InvalidRequestError(details=u'`method` argument required')
        if not isinstance(method, (unicode, str)):
            raise InvalidRequestError(
                details=u'The `method` argument must be a string')
        return method

    def _validate_jsonrpc_verion(self, json_req):
        """
        Accepts a JSON request object and does nothing, or raises a
        ``JSONRPCError``, if the jsonrpc argument != self.jsonrpc_version.
        """
        try:
            version = json_req['jsonrpc']
        except KeyError:
            raise InvalidRequestError(details=u'`jsonrpc` argument required')
        if not version == self.jsonrpc_version:
            raise InvalidRequestError(
                details=u'`jsonrpc` argument must be exactly "{0}"'.format(
                    self.jsonrpc_version))

    def _json_padding_or_none(self, request):
        """
        Returns the padding string for JSON-P requests, if provided. If
        multiple allowed JSON-P padding strings are provided, the first will be
        returned. If none are provided, ``None`` is returned.
        """
        if request.method == 'GET':
            for name in self.padding_names:
                padding = request.GET.get(name, None)
                if padding is not None:
                    return padding
        return None

    def _validate_extra(self, request, json_req):
        """
        Everyone likes a hook... except for fish. This is a pre-method-call
        hook for providing custom validation. This should raise ``ServerError``
        when the desired conditions are not met.
        """
        pass

    def _response(self, ex=None, result=None, rid=None, padding=None):
        """
        Takes an ``Exception`` instance or a hashable result from a service
        method, an ID (if available), and JSON-P padding (if applicable).
        Returns an ``HTTPResponse`` instance. If no result or exception is
        provided, a general server error will be returned.
        """
        response = {
            'id': rid,
            'jsonrpc': self.jsonrpc_version,
        }
        if ex is not None:
            response['error'] = self._error_dict(ex)
            if self.http_errors:
                status = getattr(ex, 'http_status', 500)
            else:
                # This breaks the specification in an attempt to make errors
                # easily recoverable for AJAX clients by always returning 200.
                status = 200
        else:
            response['result'] = result
            status = 200

        if self.debug:
            # Add a ``debug`` object with DB queries to the response.
            response['debug'] = {
                'queries': {
                    'count': len(connection.queries),
                    'data': connection.queries
                }
            }

        if self.pretty:
            # Turn on pretty JSON formatting with indentation.
            json_output = json.dumps(response, indent=4, cls=RobustEncoder)
        else:
            # Turn off pretty JSON formatting and remove indentation.
            json_output = json.dumps(
                response, separators=(',', ':'), cls=RobustEncoder)

        if padding is not None:  # Add the JSON-P padding to response.
            response = u'{p}({j})'.format(p=padding, j=json_output)
        else:
            response = json_output
        return HttpResponse(response, status=status,
                            content_type=self.content_type)

    @staticmethod
    def _valid_params(method, params):
        """
        Validates type, and number of params. Raises ``ParamsError`` when a
        missmatch is found.
        """
        # ``list`` (JavaScript Array) based "params"
        if isinstance(params, list):
            params_list = []
            for idx, defined in enumerate(method.rpc_params):
                try:
                    provided = params[idx]
                except IndexError:
                    # JSON-RPC 1.1 spec states that parameters should be
                    # replaced with a "nil" object, but instead let's raise an
                    # exception, unless the param is marked optional with "?".
                    if defined['optional']:
                        provided = None  # Set value to "nil" (None)
                    else:
                        raise InvalidParamsError(
                            details=u'Parameter `{0}` is required, but was '
                            'not provided'.format(defined['name']))
                if not type(provided) == JSONType(defined['type']):
                    if defined['optional'] and provided is None:
                        pass  # Optional params are allowed to be "nil"
                    else:
                        raise InvalidParamsError(
                            details=u'`{0}` param should be of type '
                            '{1}'.format(defined['name'], defined['type']))
                params_list.append(provided)
            return params_list
        # ``dict`` (JavaScript object) based "params"
        elif isinstance(params, dict):
            params_dict = {}
            for defined in method.rpc_params:
                name = defined['name']
                try:
                    provided = params[name]
                except KeyError:
                    if defined['optional']:
                        provided = None  # Set value to "nil" (None)
                    else:
                        raise InvalidParamsError(
                            details=u'Parameter `{0}` is required, but was '
                            'not provided'.format(defined['name']))
                if not type(provided) == JSONType(defined['type']):
                    if defined['optional'] and provided is None:
                        pass  # Optional params are allowed to be "nil"
                    else:
                        raise InvalidParamsError(
                            details=u'`{0}` param should be of type '
                            '{1}'.format(defined['name'], defined['type']))
                params_dict[name] = provided
            return params_dict
        else:
            raise InvalidParamsError(
                details=u'The `params` argument must be an array or object')

    def _error_dict(self, ex):
        """
        Returns a ``dict`` in the format of an JSON-RPC error object, with
        extra "data", including a full traceback when in development.
        """
        error = {}
        if isinstance(ex, JSONRPCError):
            error['code'] = ex.code
            error['message'] = ex.message
        else:
            ex = InternalError(details=u'An internal error has occurred')
            error['code'] = ex.code
            error['message'] = ex.message
        error['data'] = {
            'details': getattr(ex, 'details', None)
        }
        if self.debug:
            # Add traceback and exception type to the error dict for debugging
            # even ``JSONRPCError`` exceptions.
            error['data']['traceback'] = traceback.format_list(
                traceback.extract_tb(sys.exc_info()[2]))
        return error

    def _dispatch(self, request, method_name, params):
        """
        Returns the result of calling the method via it's name from
        ``self.methods`` with the provided arguments.
        """
        try:
            method = self.methods[method_name]
        except KeyError:
            raise MethodNotFoundError(
                details=u'Method `{0}` not found'.format(method_name))
        if request.method == 'GET' and not self.get:
            raise MethodNotFoundError(
                details=u'Method `{0}` was either not found, or is not '
                'available via GET requests'.format(method_name))

        # Validate the parameters before calling the method, and remove extra
        # parameters (per JSON-RPC 1.1 specification).
        params = self._valid_params(method, params)

        # Call method with params provided as a **kwargs
        if isinstance(params, dict):
            if self.provide_request:
                # Include the request as the first argument
                return method(self, request, **params)
            # Don't include the request
            return method(self, **params)

        # Call the method with params provided as *args
        if self.provide_request:
            # Include the request as the first argument
            return method(self, request, *params)
        # Don't include the request
        return method(self, *params)

    @jrpc('system.describe() -> <obj>')
    def describe(self, request):
        """
        Describes the system per the specification (from JSON-RPC 1.1) at
        http://json-rpc.org/wd/JSON-RPC-1-1-WD-20060807.html, with a few minor
        differences (additions).
        """
        return {
            'sdversion': self.service_sdversion,
            'name': self.service_name,
            'id': self.service_id,
            'version': self.service_version,
            'summary': self.service_summary,
            'help': self.service_help,
            'address': self.service_address,
            'procs': self.proc_descriptions
        }

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
A Case of Mistaken Identity
Photosmudger | October 21, 2007 | behind the scenes, personality goes a long way | No Comments
Ben Miller (left) and Alexander Armstrong.
Back in June I had another "pint glass" shoot, just like the one with Dara O'Briain, but this time with the comedians Alexander Armstrong and Ben Miller in a pub in Primrose Hill.
Same drill as before, as far as the questions go, and both lads were very intelligent and entertaining – quick to laugh and very friendly. The interest in this shoot arose from the behaviour of some other photographers, and for matters of professional interest I shall expound upon them herein!
On arriving at the pub myself and the journalist were greeted by the landlord, who was very pleased to see us, and very happy to have us shoot in, and thereby promote his drinking establishment. However, he pointed out to us that a small gang (is that the correct collective noun?) of paparazzi were drinking in one corner. He promised that as soon as they got out of hand he'd kick them out. I began setting up my lights, much to the interest of the paps, whom I treated to one of my "special" stares.
Ben playing with his invisible ball. It kept him occupied for hours.
A slight digression at this point if you'll permit me. I don't look down on paparazzi, although from my experience they can often be relatively unpleasant people. Their job will always be essential as long as a large portion of society has an insatiable demand for pictures of complete nobodies getting out of cars, buying milk, going to the zoo and so on. Without this huge market demand there would be no paps, it's as simple as that, so please stop buying the Scun, and Heat magazine, and all the rest before you accuse them of anything. And don't even start me on the whole princess Di thing!
Sorry, back to the story.
5 minutes before they were expected, our 2 boys rocked up. The paps leapt into action – shooting them from within the pub. Both Alex and Ben didn't bat an eyelid, and the landlord promptly threw the paps out, where they continued to shoot through the windows for a few minutes before he fetched a broom. Then they retreated to a safer distance. About half an hour passed, and then Alexander announced he had to nip round the corner to put some more money in the parking meter. And then things started to get interesting.
Alexander steals the ball, and won't let Ben have it back.
A few minutes later he returned, almost bent double with laughter and barely able to contain his mirth. Eventually he was able to tell us what had happened. On leaving the pub one of the paps had started snapping away with a telephoto, and Alexander had thought nothing of it. Then, as he rounded a corner one of them started running alongside him holding a camcorder and shouting: "Paul, Paul, how does it feel Paul? Isn't it ironic 10 years after her death that you're still making money out of her? How do you feel about her children Paul?" and so on. Alexander was very confused indeed until it dawned on him that the idiot, sorry, Pap, had mistaken him for ex-royal butler Paul Burrel. Since Ben Miller bears a faint resemblance to Rob Brydon, we spent the rest of the interview concocting various evil schemes that the 2 of them would have been hatching if they'd been working together.
As with Dara, not a lot of business info to pass on here, but a reminder that the job can bring some very amusing moments, even if it is at the expense of other photographers!

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Posts tagged as "airplanes"
Teenage Pilot Attempts to Fly Around the World
NFK Editors - October 14, 2021
Zara Rutherford is flying around the world by herself in a small plane. When she finishes her trip, which will take over two months, she'll become the youngest woman to fly all the way around the globe by herself. She's just 19 years old.
News Roundup: Belarus Plane, Mali Coup 2, & Snoozing Pilot
In today's news roundup, Belarus forces a plane to land in order to arrest a reporter, soldiers in Mali remove government leaders for the second time in nine months, and an airplane pilot in Australia falls asleep for 40 minutes while flying.
News Roundup: Captain Tom, Biofuel Rocket, & Cactus Smuggling
NFK Editors - February 5, 2021
In today's news roundup, Captain Tom, who inspired Britain, has passed away at the age of 100, a company called bluShift has launched a rocket powered by biofuel, and a woman is caught trying to sneak cactuses into New Zealand - by wearing them.
New Flying Inventions Take Off
NFK Editors - October 2, 2020
The coronavirus may have slowed down a lot of normal airplane traffic, but it hasn't stopped some new flying inventions from taking off. Today NFK looks at a hydrogen-powered plane and a jet suit for medical emergencies.
Airlines Get Creative to Keep Money Coming In
The coronavirus pandemic has been hard on most businesses, but airlines have been hit harder than most. Many airlines have been forced to shut down. Those that remain in business are having to get creative.
News Roundup: Russian Protests, Somalia's PM, & a Flying Kangaroo
NFK Editors - July 26, 2020
In today's news roundup, more huge protests are held in the Russian city of Khabarovsk, Somalia's prime minister has been removed by parliament, and Qantas Airlines's last 747 draws a kangaroo in the sky as it leaves the country.
For Real? Flying Exits, Chatty Chess, & Corona Typewriters
NFK Editors - April 25, 2020
Among the more unusual news stories recently…a French businessman pulls an eject handle that sends him flying from a speeding jet, a 16-year-old chess whiz beats the world champion, and Tom Hanks cheers up a boy named Corona.
Polluting Companies Plan to Take on Climate Crisis
NFK Editors - February 19, 2020
As countries around the world work to lower their pollution in order to take on the climate crisis, some unusual groups are joining the effort - the same companies that are causing the most pollution.
Electric Planes Start to Take Off
A company called Harbor Air in Vancouver, Canada has made a test flight of the world's first all-electric airplane meant for carrying passengers. The 15-minute flight was an important step toward the future of electric planes.
Pilots Strike, British Airways Cancels All Flights
NFK Editors - September 10, 2019
On Monday, British Airways cancelled almost all of its flights for two days as the result of a strike by a large group of its pilots. The strike affected the travel plans of close to 200,000 people.
News Roundup: Robert Mugabe, Emergency Landings, and Other News
In today's news roundup, Bangladesh moves to limit cell service for Rohingya people, Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe died, a student learning to fly makes an emergency landing, and the pope gets stuck in an elevator.


But the holidays are also a great time to make small changes that could have big impacts on conservation. Instead of the Twelve Days of Christmas or the Eight Days of Chanukkah, this week, VCE is focusing on Five Days of Simple Conservation Tips. It's easy to take steps to help save wildlife and their habitats this December!
Day 1: Like most of us, December means that your mailbox will no longer be large enough to accommodate all of the catalogs and fliers that seem to magically find their way to your house. That's a lot of unwanted paper- and a lot of unnecessary trees cut down. For most vendors, it only takes two minutes to call and ask to be removed from their print mailing list. Some websites, like Catalog Choice, or the Do Not Mail list, can also serve as one-stop shopping (or, well, anti-shopping) to avoid unwanted mailings.
Day 2: Planning some holiday shopping? Many of us bring reusable bags to the grocery store, but why not bring a couple of cloth bags when you hit the other stores, too? It's a little gift for the environment this holiday season!
Day 4: Cleaning out your closet to make room for those Christmas gifts? Why not donate some clothes, books, or toys to a local homeless shelter? Reduce, Reuse, Recycle- and help children and adults in need.
Of course, there are many other small changes you can make to make a difference for conservation. What small changes are you making to protect wildlife and their habitats?


1. Is it safe to eat edible gold and silver leaf?
Yes. Both the United States and the European Union authorise the gold and silver leaf as an edible metal under the code E175.
2. What the difference between all the gold leafs?
All the products on our website are edible, the only difference is the size. If you are new to using gold leaf then perhaps it is better for you to buy the smallest size. The largest gold leaf 93x93mm are perfect for large cakes or a dessert, which will speed up decorating.
3. Where can you use this gold leaf?
Edible Gold Leaf can be used on all types of food. Perfect for cake icing and topping decoration, on sushi, on coffee latte, cappuccino and so on.
4. Do I get a receipt for gold leaf?
Yes. Our online system will generate a receipt of purchase which then sent to your email address.
6. What method of payment do you accept?
PayPal: is an online secure payment system that allow people all over the world to buy on line. It's totally safe and fast, in fact its instant, and does not disclose your credit card details to anyone.
Online banking: you can also make a direct credit to our bank account.
7. Do you offer a refund?
No, we do not offer any refund. We can not guarantee that the returned gold leafs are the original once we sent you. Therefore, we do not offer any refund.


Thank You to Our Bridal Styles Boutique Customers!
As 2010 drew to a close, all of us at Bridal Styles Boutique reflected on what a great year it was. Of course, we have our extraordinary customers to thank for that.
So, a BIG, heartfelt thank you to all of our customers for your business, the incredible pictures you send, and each amazing review you've taken the time to write. It's been such an honor to be a part of your weddings, and we wish the best to you all!
We can't wait to see what the new year holds and are looking forward to all the wonderful weddings in 2011.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 4th, 2011 at 10:00 am	and is filed under Announcements. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.


When I started this podcast journey, I set a goal for myself: to release 100 episodes in 100 days. I knew it would be quite an accomplishment, but what I didn't realize was how much of a learning experience it would be!
To commemorate achieving 100 episodes in 100 days, I want to celebrate with you – my amazing listeners and subscribers. In this episode, I share all of the lessons of my podcasting journey, what inspired me to create 100 episodes in 100 days, and the tools and people that have helped me turn this dream into a successful reality.


text:
Batu Kacang is een bestuurslaag in het regentschap Lingga van de provincie Riouwarchipel, Indonesië. Batu Kacang telt 1477 inwoners (volkstelling 2010).

Plaats in Riau-archipel (provincie)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
The Avid Listener
Cutting It Up with Dickie Goodman: Communism, Castro and the Wall
By: Tim Smolko (Athens, Georgia) //
American record producer Dickie Goodman made a career out of writing novelty songs. From the mid-1950s to the 1980s, his songs poked fun at current events, politicians, dance crazes, films, and especially the Russians. He is best known for creating and popularizing the "break-in," a technique of inserting brief portions of popular songs into a ludicrous narrative to comically respond to, and comment on, current events. This practice began with his first recording, "The Flying Saucer" in 1956. Using razor blades, adhesive tape, a steady hand, and a hefty dose of patience, Goodman spliced together various portions of reel-to-reel tapes to make these songs. Taking advantage of the spate of alleged UFO sightings in the 1950s, "The Flying Saucer" used hits by Chuck Berry, Elvis Presley, and others to comment on an alien spacecraft landing on Earth.
Goodman created several songs with Cold War themes, his first being the 1959 instrumental "Stroganoff Cha Cha." It is an unlikely mishmash of Russian and Cuban music. This song shows that even a cheesy instrumental novelty song without lyrics can be meaningful and even prophetic. This Russian/Cuban alliance in sound was released in February 1959, not only before the Bay of Pigs Invasion and the Cuban Missile Crisis, but before Nikita Khrushchev had even met Fidel Castro.
"Stroganoff Cha Cha" features the melody of the traditional Russian work song "Song of the Volga Boatmen" ("Ey, ukhnem!") played on a raunchy saxophone. Even Goodman's title makes the Russian/Cuban connection explicit. Beef Stroganoff has been among the most popular Russian dishes in the United States since it was introduced in the nineteenth century. The cha-cha-chá, a dance of Cuban origin created in the late 1940s by composer, violinist, and bandleader Enrique Jorrín, has been an emblem in America of Cuban music and dance since the mid-1950s. Since few Americans would have had direct contact with the cultures of these two communist countries, the dish and the dance are American imaginaries of the exotic. "Song of the Volga Boatmen" is one of the most well-known Russian folk songs and has come to symbolize in the American imagination the toil of Russian peasants under the oppression of czars or communist dictators. The combination of a slow and heavy Russian work song with a light and frisky Cuban dance must have sounded odd in early 1959, since there was little connection at the time between the cultures of the two countries. A brief history of the two countries' alliance will provide a deeper appreciation for "Stroganoff Cha Cha."
Fidel Castro came into power in early January 1959 and soon began to steer Cuba in a communist direction by severing the capitalist connection between the United States and ousting president/dictator Fulgencio Batista. Khrushchev, who was always on the lookout for communist allies, took little notice of Castro at the time. But when Khrushchev heard that Castro had been snubbed by President Eisenhower, he became interested. Soon Castro had Khrushchev in his good graces and in August 1962, American U-2 spy planes supplied indisputable photographic evidence of Soviet nuclear missile bases in Cuba. Suddenly the Soviet Union, its nuclear weapons, and communism were at America's doorstep.
Goodman created "Stroganoff Cha Cha" with the help of his close friend Mickey Shorr, a Detroit disc jockey. When they made the song, there was no way Goodman and Shorr could have known that Khrushchev and Castro would join forces and form a Russian/Cuban alliance, or that this alliance would dictate geopolitics in the Western hemisphere for decades. When it was released in February 1959, Castro had been in power for just one month and Khrushchev knew little about him. Just as politics can make strange bedfellows (Khrushchev and Castro), so can a Cold War novelty song (Russian work song and Cuban cha-cha-chá). It is unexpectedly meaningful and uncannily prophetic.
"Stroganoff Cha Cha" by Spencer and Spencer (a pseudonym for Goodman and Mickey Shorr)
Two additional Goodman songs deserve exploration because of their comically exaggerated impressions of Soviet media control. The first, "Russian Bandstand," is among the most sinister and tasteless of all the Cold War songs. Released two months after "Stroganoff Cha Cha," it uses the instrumental track of that song as its foundation. A parody of American Bandstand, the song imagines what the show might be like if Nikita Khrushchev were the host instead of Dick Clark. It begins with the host, Nikita Clarkchev, introducing himself in a mock Russian accent and observing that almost everyone in Russia watches the show. After the sound of machine gun fire, he announces with a sneer, "Now everybody watches 'Russian Bandstand,' " implying that he has just shot the last person in the country who was not watching it. He then announces the number one song in Russia (Chuck Berry's "Maybellene" played backwards) and shoots anyone who says they don't like the song. After another tape-reversed snippet (by Nikita Presleychev) and another shooting, the song ends with the secret police shooting the host. Although the song is a hyperbolic parody of Soviet media control, it reflects real fears in 1950s–1960s America of state-monopolized radio and television. While the technologies of radio and television were "born free" in the United States—though of course shaped by market forces—all forms of Soviet media were under strict government control, and this was often emphasized in America during the Cold War.
"Russian Bandstand" by Spencer and Spencer
Two years later, in 1961, Goodman made his next Cold War song, "Berlin Top Ten," again a commentary on government-policed radio. The song begins with disc jockey Happy Hans Kaput playing a snippet of the supposed number one song in East Berlin, "Don't Fence Me In." This is undoubtedly a commentary on the Berlin Wall, which had just begun to "fence in" East Berlin when the song was released. (The Berlin Wall actually surrounded West Berlin.) Happy Hans is then machine-gunned by the "secret police" and replaced by Boris the Spinner, "the people's disc jockey." After a few more news announcements and song snippets, the sound of marching soldiers and machine guns are heard once again. This time it is Boris's turn to face the secret police and he signs off with a snippet of "I'll Never Smile Again" by the Platters.
"Berlin Top Ten" by Dickie Goodman
The secret police mentioned twice in the song is either the KGB, the Soviet intelligence agency/military police, or the Stasi, the East Berlin equivalent. Both are considered to be among the most repressive and invasive state agencies in modern history. The song comically portrays how East Berlin radio was controlled by these two organizations. Dickie Goodman grew up listening to American radio during its "Golden Age" (1920s–1950s), before the ascendancy of television. He knew and worked with many American disc jockeys and radio personalities, and garnered airplay for his songs by hawking them around to radio stations. Thus it is fitting that he would create a song like "Berlin Top Ten," which, although comical, shows the plight of radio disc jockeys in countries where broadcast freedom is denied.
The song is also remarkable for its pertinence to the construction of the Berlin Wall. The border between West Berlin and East Berlin was closed on the night of August 12, 1961, by means of a barbed-wire fence. A few days later, cement blocks began to be put into place. Goodman conceived the song, recorded it, and released it a little over two months later on October 23, 1961. At the time, Goodman could not have known the pervasive impact the Wall would have on world politics for the next almost thirty years. Nor could he have known how prescient his song was. Although it wasn't a hit, only reaching number 116 on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart, the song's use of "Don't Fence Me In" helped to establish it as an emblematic commentary on the Berlin Wall.
These three novelty songs show how popular music can capture historical moments and comment on them as they are unfolding. The farfetched scenarios in the last two songs ("secret police" gunning down disc jockeys on the air) show that Goodman understood that the United States was prone to exaggerate the extent to which Soviet media was controlled. Yet at the same time, these songs clearly contributed to U.S. fears of communist countries during the Cold War.
How do Goodman's song snippets add atmosphere and setting to these songs?
How do these songs function like editorial cartoons?
From Atomic Tunes: The Cold War in American and British Popular Music by Tim and Joanna Smolko. Copyright © 2018, Tim and Joanna Smolko. Reprinted with permission of Indiana University Press.
Posted on July 27, 2020 by avidlistenerblogPosted in ArchiveTagged bay of bigs, Cold War, communism, cuban missile crisis, dickie goodman, tim smolko, ussr.
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