China may be changing but not for the better in Tibet. This video shows a Tibetan nun burning herself alive in protest.
Archive for the 'Politics' Category
05
Jan
12
Here comes another credit crunch
ECB deposit
The graph shows usage of the European Central Bank (ECB) overnight deposit facility. This is where banks have been stashing their cash because they are scared of putting it anywhere else. The amount has now increased to €446 billion, just shy of the all time record of €452 billion. The implication, according to BBC2 Newsnight, is that a credit crunch is weeks away.
Yachts
05
Jan
12
Thank God for Diane Abbott
Only an idiot would consider her a racist
Having followed the career of Diane Abbott MP for some years I consider her to be a great benefit to the House of Commons. While she is not as technically learned as some, she has a common sense approach that slices through bullshit like a knife through butter and, most of all, I believe that her heart is in the right place.
Now we hear that she has tweeted that “white people love to play divide and rule” and she is being lambasted as a racist. What are we to think?
Personally, I’m getting a feeling of Déjà vu. Back in March last year TV producer Brian True-May was suspended after being accused of racist comments relating to the ITV series Midsummer Murders. When speaking in an informal situation, he was asked if his Ms Marple style/chocolate box program should have ethnic minorities. He answered no and added that “..it wouldn’t be the English village with them”. A friend of mine told me that suspension was not enough and that Mr. True-May should be imprisoned!
The comments of Mr. True-May and Dianne Abbot do nothing to show racism. If we held ourselves to the same standard as we hold other people we would all be behind bars. On the face of it both comments ARE racist but only an idiot would depend on these words in isolation to judge a persons character and the calls for the resignation of Ms. Abbott are merely political opportunism.
As a white man, I understand Dianne’s comments while welcoming her clarification. In truth the baying mobs who chant RACIST have more in common with real racist than do the, usually innocent, people who stumble into these mine fields laid by the mean spirited and the lame witted.
This is not to say that all who utter remarks such as these are not racist, just that the judging of people by a handful of isolated remarks shows a bigotry and prejudice more in keeping with the likes of the BNP. The accusations come from a “them and us” mentality. They are supported by the simplistic idea that racism is a simple yes/no analysis. That anyone whose commitment to anti-racism is called into question must be immediately rejected as evil. Often, I suspect, this attitude is propelled by the fear of the finger of racism being pointed at anyone who dares defend such people.
This week real racism was in the news in the form of the conviction of Gary Dobson and David Norris for the murder of Stephen Larwence. When confronted with events such as this, we may be forgiven for wondering whether hypocrisy in the racism debate really matters? While Brian True-May might have lost a few weeks pay and Dianne Abbot a few voters this is nothing when compared to the horrendous suffering by many black people in this country as demonstrated by the murder of Stephen Lawrence..
I believe that hypocrisy in the racism debate does matter. While not knowing anything about Brian True-May I am not willing to brand him as racist for the handful of comments I have been fed during a media frenzy. Similarly nobody with any intelligence or sincerity who follows politics can seriously consider Dianne Abbott a racist.
If we continue to turn on each other every time one of us is accused of racism then we will all learn to disguise our opinions and this will not be a good thing. I am told by English friends who work in America that it is almost impossible to have an intelligent conversation at work. Nobody even tries as they are all afraid of tripping up over racism, sexism, agism or any other bloody ism. Yet do we consider America to be the least racist of countries? The election of President Obama would suggest that they are yet the disgraceful attacks on Mr. Obama indicate otherwise.
The debate on racism has become stilted and the two extremes monopolise debate. The outright racists at one end and the bigoted anti-racist at the other. Each side can be recognised by their obsession with hate. Their insistance on dividing humanity into absolute good and absolute bad. This leaves the rest of us walking on eggshells.
The intermittent witch hunts betray a society desperate to prove it’s anti-racist credentials while neglecting some very real forms of racism which exist in the world today. For example the monopolising of racist victimhood by Israel allows it to settle fundamentalist Jews on Palestinian land while simultaneously throwing the accusation of racist at anyone who dares to criticise. While the Israelis carry out ethnic cleansing Newt Gingrich refers to families who may have lived in Palestine for longer than America has existed as “so-called Palestinians”.
Dianne Abbot has done us all a favour by showing that ANYONE can be caught out saying something stupid which, when one is too lazy to pay attention, can be branded as racist. We should all, therefore, calm down and stop flinging accusation of racism about in such an indiscriminate manner.
The words of Rudyard Kipling may be worth considering:
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build’em up with worn-out tools;
…..Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!
………daughter…I mean man..woman……..person….human…oh bollocks!
Poppies
01
Jan
12
The madness of the Republicans
The Economist had an article in their December 31st issue where they listed the necessary attributes of a Republican party presidential candidate if they are to fullfil the demands of the Republican “base”. In the opinion of The Economist a candidate must believe not just some but all of the following things:
- that abortion should be illegal in all cases
- that gay marriage must be banned even in states that want it
- that the 12m illegal immigrants, even those who have lived in America for decades, must all be sent home
- that the 46m people who lack health insurance have only themselves to blame
- that global warming is a conspiracy
- that any form of gun control is unconstitutional
- that any form of tax increase must be vetoed, even if the increase is only the cancelling of an expensive and market-distorting perk
- that Israel can do no wrong
- that the “so-called Palestinians” ( to use Mr Gingrich’s term) can do no right
- that the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Education and others whose names you do not have to remember should be abolished
St Malo Beach
16
Dec
11
Christopher Hitchens dies
Opinionated, contrary, independent, insightful, brave, intelligent, iconoclastic. It is absurd for me to even attempt to summarise the life of Christopher Hitchens who died yesterday of oesophageal cancer. He was 62.
Christopher Hitchens
12
Dec
11
EU Veto, No triumph, no tragedy
Club Euro
It’s amazing the way the narrative of the European Union has changed over the last few days. For months economists have correctly predicted each successive domino which will fall if the leaders do not take decisive action and each time European leaders have failed. Greece, then Italy an now catastrophe is knocking at the door of France.
Yet, since the EU meeting where David Cameron vetoed changes to the EU treaty, the media is reporting that Britain is now locked out of EU decisions making as if the leaders of the EU have shown themselves capable of making decisions. As if the Euro area problems had been solved and the Euro become a beacon of stability.
The agreement by the leaders of the Euro areas last week intends to limit budget deficits by imposing penalties on governments which break the rules. Yet, to quote the Financial Times on the 6th December 2011:
“..which two countries first broke the rule that deficits should not go above 3 per cent of GDP? It was France and Germany, back in 2003. What’s more, the two then united to make sure that they wouldn’t face sanctions for doing so – effectively destroying the rules (known as the “growth and stability pact”) altogether.”
It is not surprising that sanctions were not imposed and will not be imposed in future when you consider the circumstances in which a country runs an excessive deficit. When a country is short of money they are unlikely to cough up more money in fines to the EU.
Last week the Euro area stood on a precipice waiting to drag the world into oblivion. This week the UK has supposedly been snubbed by the best club in the world and the Euro crisis has evaporated into thin air.
The reality is that the press love hyperbole. It is unlikely that the Euro crisis will be the end of civilisation. Probably the saga will just drag on and on for a few years until something else becomes more important. Equally it is unlikely that Europe will power ahead leaving the British behind.
It may not make such great headlines but gloomy mundanity is a more likely prediction for the immediate future.
Artwork of Nigel Chaloner at Fine Art America
09
Dec
11
In, Out, In, Out, Oy!, Oy!, Oy!
The Hokey Cokey
The headlines are screaming that Britain is isolated and the Labour opposition are blaming the Prime Minister David Cameron. The leader of the opposition, Ed Miliband has tweeted that Cameron vetoing the EU treaty change was a sign of “weakness” – Yawn.
This whole furore is ridiculous. Like all EU countries Britain will act in it’s own interests. Britain is not in the Euro area and so her interests are dissimilar from Euro-zone countries. The root of this is that Britain is not a member of the Euro zone and that was a decision taken under Labour so blaming Cameron is absurd.
Does Mr. Miliband really believe that he would have handled the situation any better? If Britain had a Labour government Mr. Miliband would have found that it was he who had to walk the line between the rival mobs of pro and anti European Brits. He would have had to make the best judgement call he could.
Britain has always been half hearted about Europe. We don’t want a two speed Europe because we don’t want a diminution of Britain’s power in Europe but, at the same time, we are not in favour of the greater integration which is the goal of many other countries.
Britain is a problem for Europe but now that push, has come to shove, Britain has been forced to decide: in or out of the central core. Cameron has chosen out and, given the current state of the Euro, I doubt that Mr. Milliband would have decided differently.
The hysteria of Mr. Milliband’s comments are indicative of Labour’s continuing media focused leadership. Just last week he was pontificating on the comments of Jeremy Clarkson on a TV chat show. We should get this in perspective. Mr. Clarkson is the presenter of a car program. Like him or loath him CLARKSON DOES NOT MATTER. I do not elect and pay politicians to commentate on popular TV shows.
New Labour’s current performance are evidence that they still have not understood that 13 years of spin was a failure. They need to get serious and start identifying solid policy differences between themselves and the Conservatives. And a dose of sincerity would not go amiss.
Star House
Photography
travel photography – Objectifying the subject
Tags: Andaman Islands, Art, cameras, developing world, flickr, human safaris, India, Jarawa, Jarawa people, photographer, photography, The Guardian, The Long Way Home, Tourism, tourists, Travel, Uganda
The Long Way Home
Recently The Guardian ran an article reporting that India is to crackdown on what are termed “human safaris” where comparatively rich tourists visit the Jarawa tribe people of the Andaman Islands in the Bay of Bengal.
The Jarawa people have long been isolated from the rest of the world and are now being affected by a major road built across their land by the Indian government. A video accompanied the report showing Indian tourists getting the tribes people to dance for food.
Of course we sympathise with the Jarawar and abhor the idea that tourists casually throw them food in order to capture a few second of video footage.
But are we so very different? As a keen photographer I keep an eye on Flickr and, today, I came across this picture which appealed to me. The picture shows a couple of Ugandan children walking down a dirt road carrying baggage on their heads. The girl also carries a large container probably for water. It’s a nice shot. The colours are subtly beautiful and the girl’s expression is interesting.
But take a step back here. How would we feel if tourists wandered around poor areas of America with expensive cameras, capturing images of people struggling with bags and then drove back to their hotels in the evening to eat and drink too much?
I am in no way condemning the photographer of this shot. I have taken similar pictures and have to defend photography as an art form and state that, while the streets of western countries are fantastic subjects for photography the scale is less and less human. The beauty of pictures such as The Long Way Home may be related to their simplicity and humanity.
I guess there have always been disparities in wealth and power between the haves and have nots but these days cheap air travel seems to allow we who live in the rich world to objectify people from the “developing world” without a thought.
Vietnamese Girls