The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui

The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui (German: Der aufhaltsame Aufstieg des Arturo Ui), subtitled "A parable play", is a 1941 play by the German playwright Bertolt Brecht. It chronicles the rise of Arturo Ui, a fictional 1930s Chicago mobster and his attempts to control the cauliflower racket by ruthlessly disposing of the opposition. The play is a satirical allegory of the rise of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party in Germany prior to World War II.

History and description

Fearing persecution and blacklisted from publication and production, Brecht – who in his poetry referred to Adolf Hitler as der Anstreicher ("the housepainter")– left Germany in February 1933, shortly after the appointment of Hitler as Chancellor by President Paul von Hindenburg on the instigation of former Chancellor Franz von Papen. After moving around – Prague, Zürich, Paris – Brecht ended up in Denmark for six years. While there, c. 1934, he worked on the antecedent to The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, a satire on Hitler called Ui, written in the style of a Renaissance historian. The result was a story about "Giacomo Ui", a machine politician in Padua, a work which Brecht never completed. It was later published with his collected short stories.

Arturo

Arturo is variant on the name Arthur.

People

Fictional characters

Arturo (polar bear)

Arturo is a polar bear living in Mendoza Zoological Park in Mendoza, Argentina, making him the only polar bear living in the country. The living conditions of the cage Arturo resides in have proven controversial, as temperatures can reach up to 104 degrees Fahrenheit and the pool in Arturo's cage is only 20 inches deep. Animal rights activists have, in response, dubbed Arturo the "world's saddest animal" and promoted a petition to have him moved to Assiniboine Park Zoo, a zoo in Winnipeg, Canada. The petition was created by Laura Morales of Hamilton, Ontario. It gained considerable attention after the hashtag #Freearturo began trending on Twitter. Supporters of the petition have also noted that a polar bear died in Buenos Aires in December 2012 due to excessive heat, and have argued that Arturo exhibits symptoms of depression and other mental health problems.

As of July 19, 2014, the petition has over 400,000 signatures, and has been endorsed by Newt Gingrich and Cher. Assiniboine Park Zoo has responded that while they would gladly accept Arturo there, they do not have the authority to do so unless Argentina agrees to transfer him there and that the Mendoza zoo could not supply the necessary medical records to make such a trip possible. On July 24, the director of the Mendoza Zoo, Gustavo Pronotto, told the Associated Press that Arturo was too old to be moved to Canada. There are people advocating for Arturo to be moved to Canada on the internet, using the Facebook and Twitter hashtag #FreeArturo.

White Rose Movement

White Rose Movement were a post-punk/electro band from London, England. The band is named after the German anti-Nazi resistance movement White Rose. They mix the post-punk style and attitude of early bands of the genre such as Joy Division, The Sound, Killing Joke, and The Chameleons with a more New Romantic image reminiscent of bands like Duran Duran, Depeche Mode, and A Flock of Seagulls, as well as

History

White Rose Movement, not to be confused with the New England Pop-Punk Band White Rose, was formed from an earlier unsuccessful band named Arturo. Vine, Milton, Dyke and Harper were childhood friends who grew up together in a hippy commune in a small village in Norfolk. Erica MacArthur (known as "Taxxi") joined the band when Owen Dyke went throughout the London club Trash asking every girl whether they played keyboards. The band once ran a club in London named The Dazzle!, which was situated in a venue used as a disco by the national front. Their first album Kick was released 17 April 2006, after a long period of media hype and critical acclaim from the British indie music press. Its defining single ‘Love is a Number’, hailed by many as the soundtrack of the year (including Conor McNicholas editor of the NME and Kele from Bloc Party who described it as ‘the song I wished I’d written’) - an eclectic fusion of electronics and bass driven guitars, divided the critics, both impressing and confusing them. Kick was produced by British producer Paul Epworth. The band toured with The Rakes across January and February 2006, supported The Strokes at Hammersmith Apollo on 17 February, and embarked on a headline tour of their own in March.