3 posts tagged “politics”

Prayer_2007_1t

More money will soon be approved for spending on housing in an illegal occupation of a disputed area in Jerusalem. All the while, a cease fire continues to evade residents in the disputed areas.

This is according to a report in the New York Times published this Christmas Eve and written by Isabel Kershner entitled Israeli Housing Plan Casts Pall Over Peace Talks.

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Image Source: JAI

i would expect this posting could be classified as "hate speech" in less democratic nations. Frankly speaking, i couldn't care less if it is. let me say only that i don't hate anyone, i just don't support some people's choices, and i reserve the right to say so. if and when those choices begin to affect my own life and the life of my family, then my voice will become louder. the right to speak out and to do what i can to establish a community in line with my values, is non-negotiable. if it is not too much to ask for, let those who agree with me also be heard. of course, we have a long way to go before people begin to speak without fear. but let us make a start. open the can of worms so to speak.

Nigeria's Anglican congregation, is second in size only to Britain's. That is news to me. News.24.com carried a report in 2003 in which the typical African opinion was expressed concerning people who choose to engage in homosexual practices:

The primate of Nigeria, the Most Reverend Peter Akinola, has described the appointment of gay bishops and the blessing of same-sex marriage as "a Satanic attack" on the church.

More recently, (News.24 URL http://www.news24.com/News24/Africa/News/0,,2-11-1447_2162306,00.html)

Abuja - Eighteen men face charges of sodomy in a Nigerian Islamic court after authorities arrested them as they prepared to take part in a gay marriage, state media reported.

On Tuesday (August 21st, 2007), Ugandan's staged a protest calling for tougher measures by police against people who choose to engage in this particular sexual deviance, actions which are banned in the conservative Christian country. The protest seems in part to have been triggered, by a press conference held by sexual deviants (known as smug) a few days before. The protesters also took the opportunity to object to a report made by the US intern Katherine Roubos in the Daily Monitor, in which she dealt with the experiences of people who choose the homosexual lifestyle in Uganda. The newspaper is owned by Aga Khan, currently visiting East Africa. The Daily Monitor intern has denied campaiging for people who choose a gay lifestyle, saying she was simply doing her job:

I was assigned a story by the editor and I did it objectively. My job is to report on events, not my personal opinions

Notwithstanding the conservative views of Africans, some religious leaders, seeking to impress upon the world  their allegiance to an idea of modernity perhaps at best,  or to satan at worst, continue to insult Africans. In South Africa, conservative religious views are also ignored by the church leadership who is increasingly out of step with political, moral, and generally most social and economic realities in Azania and Africa at large. A major part of this scenario is coloured perhaps by an ingrained racism, even self hatred, which disregards Africans as backward, seeing them as needing to be led, cajoled, and if need be, whipped into a world of modernity.

In a letter to Southern Africa's Anglican Archbishop Ndungane, Archbishop Akinola of Nigeria said:
http://www.afrol.com/articles/10519

What you cited as top priorities are in this context clearly misplaced. I ask, are the issues of peace, hunger, shari'a, and HIV/AIDS, serious and prevalent, as they are, more important to the Church than faithfulness to the plain truth of Scripture?

Ugandans are rightly making some much needed noise on this issue, but they may be missing the point just a bit. Far more damage is being done by media outlets across the continent and no doubt inside Uganda as well. It may be easier to attack the Daily Monitor and it's staff, yet the real culprits are left smiling. The Daily Monitor report may just be the straw that breaks the camels back, yet i would venture to say, the camel needs a back breaking.

Aga Khan's visit is more significant however. He will officiate at the inauguration of the Bujagali hydro-power dam, a multi-national project supported by the World Bank. The Bujagali project will bring many opportunities to Uganda (Mail & Guardian, Azania), and it also symbolises in itself, new alliances and prospects for development. My strange personality smells a rat once again. Our progress as Africans is often hampered by outside influences, who see benefits in sowing division. The Daily Monitor is carrying other significant stories at the moment, yet this one report has become the cause perhaps, of many Ugandans setting the newspaper aside as an unreliable tabloid.

After reading Roubos' report, the mention of so called abuse and oppression and referring to people who choose this lifestyle with the term "gay and lesbian" seems to suggest that the reporter was perhaps out of step with African sentiments. Being American, such errors are to be expected. In Africa, (the topic being taboo from Nigeria and Ghana to Uganda and Azanian) most of us do not consider this to be abuse or oppression at all. Neither do we consider that such people are a natural category of humans, as is the popular belief in some western societies. The term criminal would suffice instead of "gay and lesbian". Roubos should have worded her report differently, and perhaps spoken more in terms of preventing inhuman treatment of those who choose to violate Ugandan law.

Those interested in reading more about the Anglican communion in particular, may wish to visit a blog entitled BOLIVIANBEAT : Building bridges, engaging Truth

p.s.

I would have liked to post this article in the "Gay group" at vox, unfortunately i have been banned from the group for some reason. My hope is that the post reaches the audience it is intended for. The view that this issue is a closed one, is unfounded. Let it be known there are many voices in places where there exist no restrictions on the expression of opposition to this issue as is the case in less democratic western societies where certain views are seen as hate speech.

Expressing these views puts one at risk of losing some alliances and some friends in the process, yet it is any person or community's God-given right to decide it's own course of action, according to it's own values. The fact i am an African, fundamentalist Christian, Catholic, Muslim, or any other number of labels shouldn't make my view any less valid.

_42377044_nasrallah_afp416

"We are ready for a settlement internally," said Nasrallah.

Reiterating a call for a national unity government to help resolve Lebanon's months-long political deadlock, Nasrallah said "Lebanon can only overcome its crisis with cooperation and unity."

"Lebanon cannot be divided, both practically and objectively. And we do not seek to control the government, or control the state," he said in a speech broadcast on huge screens before thousands of people in the eastern city of Baalbek.

"We are looking for a united and unified country which will protect Lebanon at a time ... the American administration is seeking to plant discords."

"The American policy in Lebanon is pushing a Lebanese party to monopolize powers...and what is the result? More crises," he said.

Nasrallah said "Our campaign is peaceful, civilian and civilized."

"Weapons destroy the country and burn everybody. We have the power but using force inside the country is not in Lebanon's interest. These arms are for the defense of Lebanon, and not to destroy Lebanon."

Nasrallah noted that the arms of the Resistance were not militia weapons to be used against other Lebanese factions.

Concerning America's arms sales to Arab countries and Zionist reigme, Nasrallah said "America is bringing billions of dollars worth of arms to ignite wars in this region."

"The American administration is working on instigating sectarian strife and civil wars in Palestine, Iraq, the (Persian) Gulf and _ between the countries of this region."

Nasrallah also noted that the Zionist regime failed in the operational and intelligence aspects during the Second Lebanon War.

"During the July war, Baalbek turned into a front due to the landing of troops by the Zionist regime's army. There were places in which large forces landed, and we do not deny this, but those landings failed. "They (the Zionists) thought that those actio ns would stop Hezbollah's secretary-general and the organization's senior officials," Nasrallah added.