Extra

It hardly seems possible that until seven or so months ago, before the new website was installed, the city’s involvement with its sister cities—all 17 of them at the time—was mere. Occasional visits by informal delegations or building volunteers sent hither might make it to the inner pages of local papers, but a more overt recognition at events, festivals or other civic doings, in a city with a global affect far beyond its size, was hard to find. Their once stalwart promoters had vanished. Sisters Cities International did not admit to having Berkeley as a member!

They have since had a noticeable if brief return from the backwaters of public attention. Those who use our new city website will find them displayed with some prominence under ‘Your Government’, in the form of a dry asterisked roster.

Those asterisks stand for recently dismissed ‘sisters’—the two in Russia. On June 28, the Council unanimously passed (on consent) Resolution 70,437 in reaction to the on-going—now stalled—invasion of Ukraine. Apparently, severing ties however tenuous with a Moscow suburb (Dmitrov) and a major hub near Lake Baikal (Ulan-Ude) backs some assertion that cities create foreign policy and conduct wars, or are directly approving and complicit.

Anticipating such, the SCI Political Suspension/Cancellation Policy states: “ ... the suspension of a sister city relationship due to disagreement over a government policy or practice can be counterproductive and contrary to the stated mission of sister city relationships promoting “peace through mutual respect, understanding, and cooperation—one individual, one community at a time.” Suspending sister city relationships closes a channel of communication through which meaningful dialogue may be held.” 

In a wholly different response, Portland Oregon has maintained an active relationship with its far-eastern sister Khabarovsk, which has been taken to task for its vociferous anti-Putin stands. 

Why does Berkeley maintain this sentimental and toothless farce to the point of elevation to prominence on the new website? Before Ukraine kicks out Russia and the two banished sisters are sheepishly extended offers of resumption, the condition and future of all these essentially dormant relationships should be considered by the appropriate civic bodies, with input from the whole town as well as the existing original promoters. If active symbiosis is once again set aside, then drop the entire pretense. 

I for one do not wish to see our sister-city (or sister-tribe, -district, -people) accords vanquished or forgotten. Thinking globally is a municipal given. Berkeley is not an island; we strive to connect. Our first sister—Sakai, Japan (1966)—was a city of a wartime enemy. Since, we have embraced the causes of beset communities in South Africa, Palestine, Latin America, Oceania, even California—almost anywhere you look. (The two Russian cities are not exactly ‘beset’.) 

With the makeover of Civic Center Park and surrounding architecture at hand, such re-invigorated relationships could be permanently commemorated, perhaps in the form of a brass compass rose which would show name, direction and distance of each and all (re)welcomed sisters. 

The future of our sister-city accords, due in part to a grim invasion and a park makeover, deserves a fresh appraisal. 

Phil Allen 

D-1 resident 

It hardly seems possible that until seven or so months ago, before the new website was installed, the city’s involvement with its sister cities—all 17 of them at the time—was mere. Occasional visits by informal delegations or building volunteers sent hither might make it to the inner pages of local papers, but a more overt recognition at events, festivals or other civic doings, in a city with a global affect far beyond its size, was hard to find. Their once stalwart promoters had vanished. Sisters Cities International did not admit to having Berkeley as a member! 

They have since had a noticeable if brief return from the backwaters of public attention. Those who use our new city website will find them displayed with some prominence under ‘Your Government’, in the form of a dry asterisked roster. 

Those asterisks stand for recently dismissed ‘sisters’—the two in Russia. On June 28, the Council unanimously passed (on consent) Resolution 70,437 in reaction to the on-going—now stalled—invasion of Ukraine. Apparently, severing ties however tenuous with a Moscow suburb (Dmitrov) and a major hub near Lake Baikal (Ulan-Ude) backs some assertion that cities create foreign policy and conduct wars, or are directly approving and complicit. 

Anticipating such, the SCI Political Suspension/Cancellation Policy states: “ ... the suspension of a sister city relationship due to disagreement over a government policy or practice can be counterproductive and contrary to the stated mission of sister city relationships promoting “peace through mutual respect, understanding, and cooperation—one individual, one community at a time.” Suspending sister city relationships closes a channel of communication through which meaningful dialogue may be held.” 

In a wholly different response, Portland Oregon has maintained an active relationship with its far-eastern sister Khabarovsk, which has been taken to task for its vociferous anti-Putin stands. 

Why does Berkeley maintain this sentimental and toothless farce to the point of elevation to prominence on the new website? Before Ukraine kicks out Russia and the two banished sisters are sheepishly extended offers of resumption, the condition and future of all these essentially dormant relationships should be considered by the appropriate civic bodies, with input from the whole town as well as the existing original promoters. If active symbiosis is once again set aside, then drop the entire pretense. 

I for one do not wish to see our sister-city (or sister-tribe, -district, -people) accords vanquished or forgotten. Thinking globally is a municipal given. Berkeley is not an island; we strive to connect. Our first sister—Sakai, Japan (1966)—was a city of a wartime enemy. Since, we have embraced the causes of beset communities in South Africa, Palestine, Latin America, Oceania, even California—almost anywhere you look. (The two Russian cities are not exactly ‘beset’.) 

With the makeover of Civic Center Park and surrounding architecture at hand, such re-invigorated relationships could be permanently commemorated, perhaps in the form of a brass compass rose which would show name, direction and distance of each and all (re)welcomed sisters. 

The future of our sister-city accords, due in part to a grim invasion and a park makeover, deserves a fresh appraisal.