Thought for the Day

[MrFanti]

Ghana: towards the creation of a reparations fund for slavery
https://www.africanews.com/2023/11/1...d-for-slavery/

[Stavros]

Ghana: towards the creation of a reparations fund for slavery
https://www.africanews.com/2023/11/1...d-for-slavery/

Mr Fanti, do you agree with me that Capitalism is a form of slavery, which means that Slavery still exists, and that we are all Slaves?

And Mr Fanti, why should I give as much as a dime to the corrupt regimes in Africa and the Caribbean which treat their own citizens like dirt, in which same sex relations are illegal, and violence, often fatal, the most common reaction to a transgendered person?

I understand Reparations as an intellectual act that presents the history of slavery with the aim of concluding it was morally wrong then, and remains morally wrong today, but it is a movement of the Present, not the Past, because we cannot today be held responsible for what happened in the past if the aim is to find a mechanism that will right that wrong, be it financial or political.

After the First World War, the British occupied and through the League of Nations created the Mandated Territory of Palestine, denying its population the right to rule themselves and choose their own government, and we see how the consequences of those decisions have evolved since 1917- but can we use the facts of the Past to change the Present?

The Guardian explored Reparations as part of its examination of the links between Manchester and its Cotton Industry and Slavery, though the article on Reparations by Olivette Otele is a useful primer in why so much of the 'debate' on Reparations is insulting garbage, you can find it here-
Cotton Capital | The Guardian

Should the Black population descended from African slaves undo their history, and reclaim their heritage by returning to Africa? What do you say to your fellow Americans who think you should 'go back to Africa'?

The financial computation of slavery for its victims is beyond mathematics, what we have is a shameless exercise by corrupt individuals to transfer large sums of money from Europe and America so a few fat cats can build themselves more villas and hire more servants to do their laundry, buy more fancy goods, send their children to exclusive schools -in Europe and America of course- and park as much of their Reparations cash as they can in offshore bank accounts.

At this level, Reparations really are just a scam. What people want is an equality of opportunity and an equality of outcome, to share in the proceeds of their labour now, and that applies to the Govt of Jamaica and Angola as anywhere else. What can Reparations today possibly mean for the population of Haiti, where surviving from day to day is top of the agenda? The shocking history of Haiti is surely an object lesson in how not to treat human beings -by the owners of the Slaves and the Plantations, by Napoleon and the French, by the inheritors of the State. Reparations as finance cannot make Haiti a place worth living in.

List of 66 countries where homosexuality is illegal (76crimes.com)

Being LGBTI in Jamaica [Final].pdf (undp.org)

2022 Corruption Perceptions Index: Explore the… - Transparency.org

[MrFanti]

ISRAEL IS A BEACON FOR GAY RIGHTS IN THE MIDDLE EAST
https://israelforever.org/blog/israe...e_middle_east/

[Stavros]

ISRAEL IS A BEACON FOR GAY RIGHTS IN THE MIDDLE EAST
https://israelforever.org/blog/israe...e_middle_east/

Be honest, Mr Fanti, did you read the article you have linked? While few would deny that half of Israel has no problem with same sex relationships, the other half think it is an abomination. But, aside from the title of the website you have linked, this statement in its opening paragraph stands as a mockery of all it says, suggesting you are either ignorant, or just a troll. And to what end?

"While no democracy is perfect, Israel is the embodiment of what all those who believe in basic human rights want the Middle East to be."

[Stavros]

Some Christian Nationalists headed down to Mar-a-Lago to see the atheist they so admire (Speaker Johnson was also there). One of them justified his belief the USA should be a Christian Theocracy, thus

"“We don’t just ‘preach Jesus.’ We preach what Jesus preached. He preached the Kingdom … What’s the King over? Everything. Everything. Including the governmental and political realm.”
Christian Nationalists Laugh About Their Influence at Mar-a-Lago (rollingstone.com)

And yet, and yet....this is what Jesus has been quoted as saying, in response to questions posed to him by Pontius Pilate

My kingdom is not of this world (The Gospel According to John, 18:36). Oops!

Or, my Kingdom is not the United States of America.

[filghy2]

They also missed a few other things that Jesus preached:

"You shall love your neighbour as yourself"
"The meek shall inherit the earth"
"Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you"
"It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of needle that for a rich man to enter God's kingdom"

If Jesus returned would these people deride him as "woke"?

[Stavros]

They also missed a few other things that Jesus preached:

"You shall love your neighbour as yourself"
"The meek shall inherit the earth"
"Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you"
"It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of needle that for a rich man to enter God's kingdom"

If Jesus returned would these people deride him as "woke"?

I don't know about 'woke', but my guess is he would not last long before being assassinated, or bumped off by the Church, be it the Catholic, the Anglican or the myriad churches of America, all addicted to money and fancy clothes and fabulous homes -following a man who owned no property, seems to have disliked money and its impact on people, and dressed simply. What, I wonder would he make of 'his priests' parading around in silk hats, embroidered robes, velver slippers and no, he doesn't want private jet or a giant tv set.

They would never be able to tolerate his humility, his simplicity -as for loving your enemies....isn't that the hardest thing to do?

[Stavros]

It looks like Geert Wilders may be the next Prime Minister in the Netherlands, as his party has the largest share of seats in the Dutch Parliament. He has failed to win more than 30% of the vote, I believe his share is around 24%. Also, because he can only form a Govt as part of a Coalition, it is not clear on what he is going to compromise. He has toned down some of the anti-Islam rhetoric he has used in the past, and even if he succeeds in getting Parliament to agree to a referendum on the Netherlands membership of the EU it is unlikely to succeed. That said, as part of the Schengen Zone, if the Dutch are really that bothered by immigration, and other parties in the EU of a similar view dominate the Parliament after next June's elections, immigration may be the hottest topic.

How this translates into policy I don't know. The failure of the UK on leaving the EU to 'take back control' in the sense that immigration from India and other non-EU countries is three times what the Conservative Govt said it should be in 2019, suggests that there is actually a need for immigrant labour, and as Capitalism rules, so I don't see much real action across Europe to change it dramatically.

That said, yet again the Left in Europe is not attracting voters, which does rather beg the question why 'the Left' is being blamed for so many problems.

Geert Wilders’ win in Dutch election is a boon for Europe’s far right (ft.com)

Dutch election: Anti-Islam populist Geert Wilders wins dramatic victory - BBC News

[MrFanti]

Cheap labor: Are tech giants exploiting Ugandans?
https://www.dw.com/en/cheap-labor-ar...ans/a-67529209

[Stavros]

Cheap labor: Are tech giants exploiting Ugandans?
https://www.dw.com/en/cheap-labor-ar...ans/a-67529209

Yes of course, because that is how Capitalism works. You can either take an amoral view as the means by which capital investment makes a profit by exploiting human labour, or you could take the view once posed in an exam question for a Politics degree: Marxism is a form of moral indignation. Discuss.

Then there is the other angle, why Americans have been so interested in Uganda -or more particularly, those so-called 'Evangelical Christians' of the kind that went into Eastern Nigeria when the Biafra Secession failed, and the 'new Russia' after the end of the USSR, always looking for more recruits for the End Times, exploiting people who have come close to it.

In Uganda, they have so influenced the Govt that same sex relations are now a capital offence, and at least one man has been arrested for the offence, though not yet executed, which would be an odd position for a Christian to take, but probably not the American/Ugandan kind.

Maybe have a word or two with your African brothers?

Uganda's anti-LGBT laws: Man faces death penalty for 'aggravated homosexuality' - BBC News

Uganda’s Controversial “Anti-Homosexuality Act” Includes Possibility of Death Sentence | Death Penalty Information Center