I just read an interesting article that I found on Google News, about so-called 'crypto-Jews' in Portugal. I have heard a lot about this interesting group of people before, especially as I have strong connections with Portugal. Crypto-Jews are Jews of the Iberian Peninsula (both Spain & Portugal) who, in the 15th & 16th centuries were forced by the Royal families of the respective countries to convert to Catholicism. This happened in Spain primarily, which led to thousands of Jews fleeing to refuge in Portugal. For years, they were allowed to practice Judaism freely in Portugal, but later, when the then Portuguese King Manuel I wanted to merge his family with the ruling Spanish royal family, he forced Jews in Portugal to also convert.

Being forced to convert to Catholicism meant that the Jews could not publicly practice their true religion, thus forcing them to conceal their rites and rituals. This practice, of concealing their true religion of Judaism whilst masquerading as Catholics, resulted in the group being dubbed ‘crypto-Jews’. Crypto-Jews held meetings in secret, where they held their Jewish rituals.

The article I read tells how a Priest in the northern city of Porto, in which I lived for a year, discovered a false wall in the back of a house he purchased to convert to an old people’s home. According to the article, the house was found in the exact same part of Porto in which I lived, the old town, and more specifically Cordoaria.

It’s a very interesting article, and if you’re interested in history or architecture I highly recommend it:

http://www.cjp.org/content_display.html?ArticleID=169094

Or do you just want to swap the old status-quo for a new one, just as damaging & stifling?

Do we share the same values and hopes? Or are you better than me?

Will we build a new future together? Or instead, will I live in the future that you create?

We all need to ask ourselves questions like this sometimes. Perceived success has a way of going to the beholder's head sometimes, and if we are going to change the world, we need to be humble, open and brutally self-reflective.

I just put WSIS into the popular online image sharing site, Flickr, and 146 pages of results were returned. That's 2925 photos. Amazing when you consider that WSIS is a sport reserved for some of the craziest people on earth (Government reps, business people and Civil Society nuts).

There are some really cool photos (as well as a lot of repetition):

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/wsis/