Category Archives: freedom & peace

Bertrand Russell’s 1959 interview

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In 1959 Bertrand Russell was interviewed by John Freeman for his programme Face to Face on BBC. Lord Russell was almost 87 years old then but still in great shape. As the presenter remarks,

“But far from being a frail old gentleman, he appeared before the camera as spry, mischievous and articulate as the public had ever known him throughout a long career as a campaigner for various causes at odds with the establishment.”

The interview is in 3 parts on YouTube but I have combined them together in a playlist for easy viewing. It is a very entertaining interview and Lord Russell is a treat to watch and listen to. But the part that stays with you is right at the end – his last words. The interviewer asks him for some parting words addressed to a future generation and this is what he says,

“I should like to say two things, one intellectual and one moral. The intellectual thing I should want to say to them is this: When you are studying any matter, or considering any philosophy, ask yourself only “What are the facts? And what is the truth that the facts bear out?” Never let yourself be diverted either by what you wish to believe or by what you think could have beneficent social effects if it were believed. But look only and solely at what are the facts. That is the intellectual thing that I should wish to say.

The moral thing I should wish to say to them is very simple. I should say: Love is wise, hatred is foolish. In this world which is getting more and more closely inter-connected we have to learn to tolerate each other, we have to learn to put up with the fact that some people say things that we don’t like. We can only live together in that way and if we are to live together and not die together we must learn a kind of charity and a kind of tolerance which is absolutely vital to the continuation of human life on this planet.”

Prophetic words these! Unfortunately we have still not learnt this simple lesson.

Do they know it’s Christmas?

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Demonstration Forces Bogor Congregation to Hold Christmas Service on Sidewalk

As might be evident from my ramblings, I do not subscribe to any faith other than the faith in the human spirit of free inquiry and skepticism. But I understand the importance of this one day of the year in the lives of a large number of my fellow human beings, amongst whose ranks my wife and her family count themselves. But then there are my other fellow human beings who, by virtue of being members of a different cult, have completely desensitized themselves to the needs of others which are not that much different from their own. I am not taking sides here and I do not believe nor am I suggesting that one is in any way better than the other, but I believe in the rights of human beings to delude themselves in any manner they please as long as that delusion does not harm or hinder another who doesn’t subscribe to the same delusion as them. In other words, I am drawn once more to these immortal words of Voltaire,

“I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to death your right to say it.”

I guess Indonesia might as well make it all official now – throw away the Pancasila, throw away Bhinneka Tunggal Ika, ban all religions except Islam, proclaim Shariah and finalize the degeneration of a great and diverse nation to an Islamic state.

Where are all the “moderate Muslims” when you need them?

The cage

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Few people who are heterosexual can fully understand what it means to be gay and why homophobia exercises us so much.

To be gay is to grow up and live in a cage made of people’s put-downs, ignorant labels, derisive jokes, outright ranting and explicit laws. We see exclusions everywhere we look – in family traditions, employee benefits, in army service, in job promotion. We see hate scrawled everywhere – on posting boards, religious sermons, even in parents’ letters to far-off sons and daughters.

We hear silence when the censors have flicked the switch. Silence again when, even when our parents know we’re gay, they don’t have a good word to say about it. And more silence when we see so many others in our city who are clearly homosexual gag themselves for fear of exposure. But worst of all, we too often hear silence from our own lips, surrendering away our very own dignity.

The cage often looks inescapable. And we wonder sometimes if it may be wiser to just bear it all to our dying day, and take our fears, frustrations and futile hopes with us to our graves.

But some of us can’t do that. I can’t. If I did, all my parents’ and teachers’ efforts would have been in vain. I can do them no greater honour than to keep speaking about humanity over hypocrisy, honesty over hype.

image

I have discovered an exceptionally well-written blog today. He deals with multiple issues though – not just LGBT matters.

Dictatorship of the Majority – II [UPDATED]

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Sitting in the shade of a tree in an empty lot, the congregants raised their hymn books and, in response, the police, lined up in a ragged cordon, raised their riot shields. Sunday service was starting for the local Batak Christian Protestant Church… Across the barricade, enraged young Muslim men in white skullcaps surged forward as the first song in praise of Jesus Christ chimed out. Using their own speakers, they tried to drown out the hymn with their own Arabic chant, “la ilaha ilallah” — there is no god but Allah.

For Indonesian Christians, Gatherings Bring Tension, The New York Times

© Kemal Jufri for The International Herald Tribune

The root of the problem is the fact that in Indonesia, by the Joint Ministerial Decree 1/2006 of the Ministry of Religion, to build any place of worship in a particular area, it is necessary to have a minimum of 90 members and to obtain the support of 60 local residents who are non-members. Now how easy is that in a nearly 90% Muslim majority nation? So minority groups gather in private homes or hotels or shops etc. to conduct their business and are open to allegations of violating the law and in some cases attack from Muslim vigilante groups.

[UPDATE: Church Elder Stabbed in Bekasi Attack
The controversy keeps snow-balling and it might not be surprising if this turns into a major clash. But SBY and his administration is in snooze-mode with a dismal lack of urgency. If only he would show some of the urgency and concern that he did when he wrote to President Obama about the proposed Quran burning by a church in Florida.]

[Dictatorship of the Majority - I is here.]

Sadako

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It has been sixty-five years since the Allies dropped atomic bombs on the unsuspecting populace of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. A couple of weeks back the world remembered the thousands and thousands of people who lost their lives, either on that day or for years afterwards from diseases caused by their exposure to radiation – people whose only fault was being born into one country and not another. No one asked for their opinion when their country went to war – they did not matter. And yet it was they who paid for it. With their lives.

And all the children who died… Imagine the magnitude of human potential lost in Hiroshima and Nagasaki (or for that matter, in the gas chambers of Germany, or on the bloodied roads of Nanking). One such child was Sadako Sasaki.

Sadako was only two years old at the time of the first bomb and about 1.7 km away from ground zero. She survived. Only to die ten years later from leukaemia – the atom bomb disease. The story goes that when Sadako was slowly wasting away in the hospital she was paid a visit by her best friend, who made an origami paper crane for her and told her about the Japanese saying that one is granted a wish if one folds a thousand paper cranes. Inspired by this, Sadako started making paper cranes – her wish, to live. There are two versions of whether Sadako managed to finish a thousand. According to one she completed 644, and according to another she completed a thousand and kept folding more. But she died any way, on the morning of October 25, 1955, at the age of 12.

The Children’s Peace Monument in the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park has immortalized Sadako where she is placed on top, holding a crane. The base of the monument reads,

“This is our cry. This is our prayer. Peace on Earth”

Sixty-five years have passed and the prayer has yet to be answered.

Childrens Memorial
Further reading:

  1. Wikipedia – Sadako Sasaki
  2. Virtual Museum on Sadako with photos etc.
  3. Come Back to Me Again, Sadako (A Letter from Sadako’s Mother)

Ladies in White

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Political prisoners’ wives harassed in Havana – BBC

“On leaving the church they were surrounded by an angry mob and shoved off the street and into a park. They were surrounded for about seven hours, with pro-government supporters shouting insults. The women responded by staying on their feet, silently staring their opponents in the face.”

The Damas de Blanco (Ladies in White) of Havana, Cuba go to mass every Sunday wearing white dresses and then silently walk through the streets. This is their silent protest, not for or against any government or ideology or ruler, but simply to express their desire to be reunited with their husbands, sons, fathers, brothers, who were arrested and summarily tried and sentenced in 2003 by the Cuban government for their work with the Varela Project, a grassroots initiative to institute constitutional reforms and promote human rights in Cuba.

Varela Project organizer Oswaldo Paya:

None of those convicted in April 2003 was charged with using or having weapons, inciting violence or disorder, espionage, or any other crime. They were convicted for expressing their opinion, exercising free journalism, and promoting civic initiatives.

Cuba’s Black Spring and the Ladies in White – The Huffington Post

Their strategy and method of protest appear to be adopted from the famous Madres de Plaza de Mayo in Argentina who were demanding information on their missing sons from the military dictatorship that ruled the country. They have been immortalized in popular culture through songs such as Sting’s They Dance Alone and U2′s Mothers of the Disappeared.

Right to Draw

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You’ve probably seen this if you’ve been following the news. The creators of the popular animated show South Park were threatened by a US based Islamic group called Revolution Muslim for depicting Mohammed in a bear suit in their 200th episode.

South Park creators warned over Mohammed depiction – BBC

The threatening post in question on the website of the group has a photo of Theo van Gogh lying dead on the pavement, after he was murdered for making a film which criticized the treatment of women in Islamic societies. But the post insists that this was not a threat but a ‘warning of the reality of what will likely happen to them’!

As a result of this threat, Comedy Central, the channel that runs South Park, decided to heavily censor the 201st episode which had more references to Mohammed.

‘South Park’ Episode Altered After Muslim Group’s Warning – The New York Times

Jon Stewart, whose ‘The Daily Show’ also runs on Comedy Central, uses humour to talk about this issue in his own way (Video below). But his anger is evident in these words,

“This group, residing in the shadows, or should I say, former shadows of the World Trade Center are allowed to praise Osama Bin Laden, celebrate the anniversary of 9/11, and try to intimidate the creators of South Park, all while enjoying our lovely theatre district, our many diverse restaurants, including some of the best Jewish delis you can find… And these numbnuts get to enjoy it, all because we, in this country, value and protect even their freedom of expression.”

This controversy has even led to a Facebook event called Everybody Draw Mohammed Day!

By the way, according to this archive, Mohammed has been depicted in images throughout history by Muslims and non-Muslims alike.

Dictatorship of the Majority

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Majority Pressure

(Photo © Jakarta Globe)

The Constitutional Court of Indonesia, an independent body which reviews existing and new laws passed by the Indonesian government and is supposed to uphold the principles of the Indonesian constitution has dealt a second blow in the space of a month to Indonesia’s pluralism and human rights – the basic tenets of the nation.

Around a month ago came the first strike when it upheld the controversial Anti-pornography bill, which by its vague, archaic, uncertain and misleading definitions and pronouncements opens up a Pandora’s box of misinterpretations and abuse that could threaten women’s rights and minority rights.

Anti-Porn Statute to Remain Law of the Land in Indonesia – Jakarta Globe
Constitutional Court upholds divisive pornography law – The Jakarta Post

And now the second blow by refusing to revise or scrap the 1965 Blasphemy Law which forbids non-mainstream interpretations of the six officially recognised religions. The Law has been routinely used to harass and intimidate minority Islamic sects as well as critics of Islamic hard-liners. The appeal for review of the law was filed by none other than the late former President Abdurrahman “Gus Dur” Wahid amongst others(including several human rights organizations and progressive Islamic scholar Siti Musdah Mulia).

Constitutional Court Keeps Faith With Indonesia’s Controversial Blasphemy Law – Jakarta Globe
Court upholds Blasphemy Law – The Jakarta Post

The decision though unjust, is hardly surprising as it in line with the wishes of the Muslim majority. There were vigorous demonstrations and attacks on the petitioners by hard-line Muslim groups, including the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI). As Poengky Indarti of Imparsial, The Indonesian Human Rights Monitor remarked, “The dictatorship of the majority has contributed [to the decision].”

Another factor could well be the composition itself of the panel of judges of the Constitutional Court. Eyebrows were raised when the replacements of two judges in the Court were announced in January – the replacements were both from strong Islamic backgrounds, one a former deputy head of the Religious High Court in Yogyakarta and the other the deputy head of the Islamic Crescent Star Party (PBB). This was controversial and insensitive as one of the judges being replaced was the only Protestant Christian in the panel.

Critic Questions Selection of Constitutional Court Judges – Jakarta Globe

The lone remaining non-Muslim judge in the nine member panel also happens to be a woman, thus truly making her the only voice of the non-majority in the panel. And not surprisingly she was the only dissenting judge in the panel for both of the controversial judgements above. Dr. Maria Farida Indrati is a former Professor of Law from the University of Indonesia and a Catholic.

Maria Farida Indrati: Feminine voice of reason – The Jakarta Post

Dr. Maria Farida Indrati

(Photo © The Jakarta Post)

Sharia police arrested for ‘rape’

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Sharia police arrested for ‘rape’

The woman was gang-raped by the three Sharia policeman during her interrogation… the issue began when Sharia police officers were conducting patrol on the night of Jan. 8, and found a couple on the side of the PTPN-1 Langsa ring road. The police brought the pair to the Sharia police office in Langsa. The suspects then questioned the couple in relation to violating the 2003 Sharia Public Indecency Bylaw.

She is a university student.

It had to happen sooner or later innit?! What happens next? Let’s wait and watch…