The Wave

On Saturday I decided to do something which I had never done before, I went on a protest.

Currently there is a UN Summit taking place which some are deeming ‘the biggest environmental meeting in history’. Decisions made here are inevitably going to have an affect on us (all of humankind) and the world we live in, they will indeed affect all creation.

Saturday then was The Wave.  The biggest environmental meeting was matched by ‘the biggest ever climate change march’. 50,000 people, spanning all walks of life and organisations, walked the streets of London and encircled Parliament.

Now my protesting experience is limited, so I kept a low profile. I stayed near the back, I kept my voice down, I didn’t wave a banner or placard and I certainly didn’t blow a whistle (if I learnt anything from the day it was that whistles should be restricted to one person, and one person only, during a sporting event or in a very open space.)

The reason I was there is because I feel these issues are important and I think political pressure (such as protest) is a valuable way of raising such issues with the governing bodies. Climate change isn’t simply an issue of environment but it goes hand in hand with the fight against poverty. It also cuts right through the heart of our capitalist ethos.  It’s important stuff.

Having said this I think I learnt a lot whilst on my little jaunt around London, and I have to be careful because I’m going to be exceedingly hypocritical and judgemental but, most notably that protest must be met with individual action. Integrity is everything. Can we shout at the government to make the right global decisions when we don’t make the right lifestyle decisions? Can we hold up a placard denouncing capitalism with a £500 digital SLR round our neck and a £100 Northface Jacket on? (told you I was going to be judgemental)

Now I know at protests you get some very very devout people and I respect these people but I also realise that a protest is a rally and it rallies people who know little about the subject or have little personal concern for it. Is this a bad thing you may ask. Who is to say?

I think there is a place for protest and I think there is a place for ‘being the change you want to see in the world’. When these two things come together we have a powerful and legitimate tool.

I’m not claiming to have this balance, in fact I’m not that clued-up on the facts and I’m not making all the right life-style choices. But, these were precisely the reasons I kept a low profile (rather than waving my placard at drivers stuck in traffic as if I’d never stepped in a car before.)

This leads to the inevitable question of, surely if we waited for everyone to be sorted then we wouldn’t have protests? Perhaps this is right, perhaps we have to protest through our weakness. But I think the fact remains that it is a lot easier to rally 50,000 people to walk for a few hours about an issue than it is to encourage 50,000 to make sacrifices in their personal lives to combat that issue.

And I would say that until we get people (including me) protesting with their lives we will not take vital steps to slowly climate change and eradicating poverty.

British National Persecution

I along with 8million others and a studio audience of 1000 watched BNP party leader, Nick Griffin, on Question Time – or as it has been said ‘The Nick Griffin Show’. Personally, it was less the Nick Griffin Show and a lot more like he was in the stocks.

I’m going to try and keep this short. I am not siding with BNP politics but I couldn’t help feel sorry for Mr Griffin. In the last week he has been hot topic amongst the media and has been rapidly become one of the most, if not the most, hated man in Britain. He has been deemed a devil and a rat and is often caricatured as Hitler (lets just remember that Hitler, one of the most hated men of all time, was a mass-murder). Again I’m not agreeing with his politics but I feel that the BNP’s ‘campaign of hate’ should not be met, addressed or overcome by hate – and this seems precisely the way politics, the media and society at large are dealing with it.

On Question Time, Nick Griffin was ‘jeered and ridiculed’ (Daily Mail headline), he was constantly talked about as if he wasn’t in the room, was laughed at and shouted at by the audience, one of which, who was offered to voice his opinion, did nothing more than lay into Mr Griffin. He was often cut off and people seemed little interested in listening to him, instead they were quick to ‘read between the lines’ and cut him off.

I can understand that people are angry toward him but is it right to fight fire we fire? Do we have the right to lynch those who lynched our ancestors, friends and family? Can hate be overcome by more hate?

“If you want rid of griffin and his sad brood ballots are not the answer bullets are” say one on the facebook group ‘1,000,000 united against the BNP.

The message of yesterdays Question Time for me was clear, we will not tolerate racial prejudice and discrimination, but we will happy persecute and alienate those with differing ideologies. Is this fair in a land of democracy and freedom of speak?

Dehumanized: Is Nick Griffin nothing more than a sewer rat?

Browning on the little man

Just a quick April post…Today the 20 most influential leaders from around the world met and proposed plans worth £681 Billion to try and save the (western?) world’s economy. 4 years ago at the 31st G8 Summit progress towards ‘Millennium Development Goals’ (including such things as reducing extreme poverty and child mortality rates and fighting disease epidemics such as aids) was hindered because of budget procedures, that is funding.  In other words, it seems to me, that we are much more concerned with bailing out car manufacturers than bailing people out of unnecessary death.

(Admittedly I’m not an economist and I don’t know all about these things, and I’m sure saving the worlds economy will mean a lot of people don’t slip into lives of (relative) poverty and all that, but at the same time there still seems to be a unhealthy bias somewhere…)

America Picks a New Messiah

Our president, who art in the white house

Hallowed be thy name

Thy government come,

Thy will be done around the world, as in America

Give us this year our annual salary

And excuse our history

As we excuse those who have wronged us.

And lead us not into temptation,

But deliver us from our enemies.

For Thine is the white house,

the power and the glory

forever and ever.

 

Ok, so I guess the above prayer is a little extreme but no one can ignore the massive commotion that has struck the world, and most of all America (obviously) with the results of the presidential elections.

 

What hit me was how much people ‘worshipped’ Obama, as they welcomed him into the white house. I use the word worship here because that’s how I saw it – America had chosen a new president, one who would save them from the evil of the world – financial crisis, terrorism, racism. A new saviour was born.

 

During Roman occupation it was Caesar who was seen as the King of Kings, the bringer of peace, as the saviour and as you can imagine Jesus stood in direct conflict with all of this – no wonder he got himself killed. In fact the Lord’s Prayer was a prayer that could get you killed. It rebelled against the powers of the time and you only said it out loud if you truly meant it and would take the consequences. (A similar prayer was said to Caesar)

 

 

Caesar ruled from the top. Jesus taught from the bottom.

 

Caesar controlled and manipulated. Jesus loved and welcomed.

 

Caesar changed laws and legislation. Jesus changed hearts and lives.

 

Caesar rode victorious on horseback. Jesus rode solemnly on a donkey.

 

Caesar ruled with a mighty army. Jesus led by service.

 

Caesar tried to Romanise the world. Jesus would embrace the world.

 

 

 

But Obama is surely in a different place to Caesar.  I expect (I don’t want to assume) that he is a ‘bible believing American’ and that he will try to make the world more like God intended. He will seek to bring about God’s Kingdom… only time can tell I guess

 

 

But I think there are inherit dangers in thinking that the president of America (or prime minister of… or king of… or dictator of…) is our political saviour. For one thing, too many people rely on them to solve their problems and blame them otherwise instead of helping themselves.

 

But if the president is supposed to be my political saviour then what place does that leave Jesus – my spiritual saviour?

 

In Jesus’ time there wasn’t a separation of religion and politics. Caesar was, in so many words, God on earth, to do God’s work, his role was both political and religious. In the same way that Jesus wasn’t simply a religious teacher but a profoundly political figure, who stood right in the face of the systems of the day.

 

I often look at the governments, or kingdoms, of today and can’t help but think that if Jesus came today he would be standing in direct conflict with them as well.

 

Bush ruled from the top. Jesus taught from the bottom.

 

Bush controlled and manipulated. Jesus loved and welcomed.

 

Bush changed laws and legislation. Jesus changed hearts and lives.

 

Bush rode victorious in a limousine. Jesus rode solemnly on a donkey

 

Bush ruled with a mighty army. Jesus led by service.

 

Bush tried to Americanise the world. Jesus would embrace the world.

 

At the end of the day I’m making massive generalisations without going into huge detail and probably not making much sense. I’m also painting a bad picture of Bush and a good picture of Jesus, which isn’t always necessarily true –I’m sure Bush did change lives. Things aren’t this simple. There is a lot of politics involved.

 

But Jesus taught a topsy-turvy Kingdom which often doesn’t make sense and hasn’t been embraced by our governments.

 

And having witnessed the events of the presidential Election I saw emotional people who seemed convinced (even if they didn’t articulate it) that Obama would save the world – these same people most likely believe that Jesus has already saved the world.

 

As a BBC reporter put it ‘There is a huge expectation [on Obama] to deliver miracles’

 

Is there a conflict there?

 

 

 

Blame Brown

I’m not very good with politics and all, so I’ve probably screwed this one up. I’m sure it’s not very politically correct.

England to me is good on scapegoats, especially in sport. It doesn’t take long for the media, and country, to blame one single person for losing the football world cup. It’s good because we can hide behind it.

I think we also like to hide behind our spokes people, our politicians. They make excellent scapegoats. If the NHS has problems, then it’s the prime ministers fault. If the economy is collapsing then they aren’t doing their Job properly. Ok, granted they have some power, but at the end of the day it’s easy to point the finger.

I’ve never been that good on voting, in fact I’ve never really voted, saying that if I did vote I’d probably register a no vote – partly perhaps from a lack of political knowledge (both my own fault and perhaps deceptive parties), and the fact it’s hard to ‘judge’ a man who you have never really met (it’s all games) but also from the fact that of the three, arguable two, parties which could have power you could pick any random subjects and I’d agree with each party on one subject. Isn’t it the job of the opposing party to oppose, what does that mean?

Never the less I don’t really need to justify my own decision to you, in fact why should you care. The thing is I’m not really into voting, ballot boxes and politics and all but I am into voting a different way. Not voting once in a blue moon when a party can cease the right moment but voting everyday, by how I live, what I buy and who/which companies I pledge allegiance too.

Leonardo DiCaprio in a recent interview in the London metro said this on environmentalism:

‘Not only do we have to vote at the booth, but we have to be very conscious about what we buy. We’re voting every time we pay for something because we’re supporting the way that company does business and whether they’re good to the environment. It would be wonderful to live in a world where we wouldn’t have to think about these things, but it’s a market-driven society and it all boils down to economics. If people want to buy green and be environmentally conscious, our corporations will supply us with those products and eventually there’ll be a transformation.’

( for the full interview see the following link, you may be pleasantly surprised: http://www.metro.co.uk/fame/interviews/article.html?in_article_id=99155&in_page_id=11 )

I think there is a lot of truth in that, DiCaprio is talking sense and it doesn’t just apply to the environment, or finance for that matter. I could learn so much from that. He may have been way of the mark with the Titanic, but might have actually hit a cord with Blood Diamond, if you catch my drift.

All in all I think we need to be careful about what we do, where we shop, who we vote for, what we invest in, who we support and how we live.

Just as J.F. Kennedy says, I think more and more we should ‘ask not what our country can do for us, but ask what you can do for your country’