Poke the truth - Samstag 14.5.2011

EVOLUTION WAITS FOR THE APPLE TO FALL

REVOLUTION MAKES THE APPLE FALL

OLDENBURG IS THE BIG APPLE (of Lower Saxony)

In 1953, injustice and inhumanity witnessed on a visit to Guatemala’s “United Fruit Factory” transformed a young doctor into a humanitarian ‘guerilla’, who Time Magazine deemed “One of the Most Influential Figures of the 20th Century”. Of his struggle against oppression and his promise to fight for a better world for the forgotten voices of humanity, Che Guevara once used the analogy of an APPLE to explain his philosophy:

“The revolution is not an apple that falls when it is ripe. You have to make it fall.”

One could ask: How many seeds are in an Apple? or: How many Apples are in a seed?

And from the other point of view: How much revolution is in Oldenburg? Or: how much Oldenburg is in revolution?

We think it is about time to let the world know what Oldenburg really is and how deeply connected to Che’s truly philosophical quote this reality is. Also, if you have ever wondered about the whereabouts of Oldenburg’s nickname… …Why is Oldenburg called THE BIG APPLE?

A travel report from 1898 by Martin Edward is quoted as the first source to connect Oldenburg as the Big Apple. Here is an excerpt from “Der Fußreisende in Oldenburg” („The Wayfarer in Oldenburg“, Leinekamp, 1898, First Edition, Hannover):

“But at home, Hannover is apt to see in Oldenburg a greedy city, wrapped up in itself, incredulous of Western wisdom, inhospitable to "broad Lower Saxonian ideas," perched almost on the shore of the North Sea, and careless of the great land behind it- except as a vast productive area from which it draws endless wealth. Oldenburg is merely one of the fruits of that great tree whose roots go down in the Leine Valley, and whose branches spread from the ocean to the alps, but the tree has no great degree of affection for its fruit. It inclines to think that “the big apple” gets a disproportionate share of the national sap. It is disturbed by the enormous drawing power of a metropolis which constantly attracts to itself wealth and its possessors from all the lesser centers of the land.”

Or does anybody know another Big Apple of any significance?

Anyway, in the revolutionary spirit of ‘national sap’, we refer back to Che’s final words:

“Above all, always be capable of feeling deeply any injustice committed against anyone, anywhere in the world. This is the most beautiful quality in a revolutionary”.