What Has Been And What Can Be

Martin Luther King linked democratic development at home and abroad in his Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance Speech. Thanks to Chris Commons article "Obama Dismisses King: Justifies War" I discovered his Nobel Lecture: "The Quest for Peace" in which he said:

"The present upsurge of the Negro people of the United States grows out of a deep and passionate determination to make freedom and equality a reality "here" and "now". In one sense the civil rights movement in the United States is a special American phenomenon which must be understood in the light of American history and dealt with in terms of the American situation. But on another and more important level, what is happening in the United States today is a relatively small part of a world development."

I intend to continue exploring this link!

On a practical level, a convincing example of how democratic development at home and abroad are closely linked is Mary Joyce, who was New Media Operations Manager at Barack Obama’s presidential campaign. Her contribution to that operation has strangely been totally ignored by mainstream media. In my view her experience in digital activism through new media in Morocco and Chile gave the Obama campaign a strategic advantage.

The impact of Colored Opinions in 2009:

Through linking and sustained collaboration journalists like for example Stephen Kinzer no longer hold the monopoly on information concerning the great lakes region. Thanks to Ann Garrison and "this incredible linking and collaboration platform" Rick Warren's homophobic statements in Uganda didn't go unnoticed. Former MONUC commander Patrick Cammaert's statements concerning the FDLR security threat (he disagrees with Paul Kagame) to Rwanda on Dutch tv were picked up through Colored Opinions and transmitted to a larger audience by (globalvoicesonline's) Elia Varela Serra.

Institutionalized media is going through a deep crisis and reinventing journalism seems inevitable. In that context the political impact of migrants through new media resembles the distribution of illegal newspapers in the Netherlands during the second world war. Those newspapers didn't make money and results were hard to measure. The friendship among the resistance was probably an important factor to continue. However we know that Dutch illegal newspapers became big and profitable just after the war. Do you believe, with Jeff Jarvis, the future for entrepreneurial journalism to be just as bright? Migrants in Europe have been ignored by mainstream media and politics for decades, will the opportunities new media offer level the playing field?

Rwandan Green Party fear oppression from the undemocratic Rwandan government as mysterious "leaked" report appears

 Africa scholar, and friend David Barouski posted this analysis of news we'd both received from Frank Habineza, Interim Chair of the Democratic Green Party of Rwanda, which continues its struggle to register and participate in Rwanda's August 2010 elections:

"Last week, the Rwandan newspaper Umuseso published a story with the names of 2 senior people alleged to be behind the Rwandan Democratic Green Party: Patrick Mazimpaka (former Deputy Chairperson of the African Union's African Commission, and former Special political Advisor to President Kagame) and Col. Joesph Karemera (former Rwandan Minster of Health and Minister of Education). This information reportedly came from a "leaked" intelligence report submitted to Rwandan President Paul Kagame.

Last weekend, the Rwandan newspaper Umuvugizipublished more details and names. Below is the original article Umuvugizi and its translation from Kinyarwandan and the 256 News article. WNJ did not translate the document and therefore cannot take responsiblity for any errors contained therein. There is also another article below that originated from Uganda's 256 News Agency carrying the same information.

This is potentialy very bad news for the Greens because RPF party and RDF army officials are on the list. Many of these individuals have had a falling out with the RPF/RDF and some are considered dissidents and have been illegally detained in the past. According to Green Party sources, none of the names listed are members/supporters and they never have been. They fear the state will use this information as a political weapon to stigmatize them through the fallacy of assocation with RPF supporters who consider those listed as dissidents and also members of the general public who do not support the RPF. Green Party members also fear arbitrary detentions, torture, and oppression of their right to peacful assembly, as well as freedom of speech and press as they have experienced in the past during their peaceful assemblies.

The Green Party plans to hold its National Committee meeting on December 24th to discuss how to respond to these false allegations. They plan to hold a press conference and provide a press release before the end of the week to refute these allegations."

 

Read more at http://africannewsanalysis.blogspot.com/2009/12/rwandan-green-party-members-fear.html

Dutch media "copy paste" Nebahat Albayrak's press release on abuse of free movement

When Nebahat Albayrak published a statement that could very well be interpreted as proof of Dutch unwillingness to comply with EU law and jurisprudence, as I have argued, all the Dutch media did is pass the statement on to the general public. The slanderous, but most of all shallow media coverage, by Trouw (the PKN, the largest Dutch protestant Church, mouthpiece that supports Balkenende, because otherwise they would supposedly lose subscribers), Elsevier (a weekly that for the last decade has systematically written negative about immigrants living in the Netherlands) and NOS (main and supposedly unbiased Dutch news source) alleged a connection between the use of European rights to free movement within the UE by Dutch citizens and fake relationships to obtain residence permits. De Telegraaf, a conservative newspaper, quickly removed their own story on this, they probably doubted wether they had the facts rights (Telegraaf is scoring some points there: better not write then copy paste some biased press release by the government's spindoctors). One vigilant observers filed a complaint. This resulted in the NOS changing one sentence:

"De Immigratie- en Naturalisatiedienst controleert sinds dit jaar strenger op dit soort schijnrelaties."

("The Dutch immigration services check more thorougly on this type of fake relationships")
to:

"De Immigratie- en Naturalisatiedienst controleert sinds dit jaar strenger op dit soort constructies. Inmiddels worden verblijfsaanvragen op grond van deze Europese regels vaker afgewezen."

("Since this year the Dutch immigration do a more thorough check on these constructions. More of these requests based on these European rules have been turned down since")

Why would someone want to follow the news through channels that uncritically follow government interpretation, systematically disrespect immigrants living in the Netherlands or are just plain ignorant on the topic? These "news sources" have been very active in spreading the gospel of immigrants not integrating in society, I would appreciate it when they would croll back behind their desks and start studying the EU jurisprudence that has been growing over the last two decades with just as much zeal. Go to work you bums!!! Start "collaborating through this incredible linking platform" as Jeff Jarvis recently wrote in his "entrepreneurial journalism class report"

Nebahat Albayrak: "Dutch policy is effectively impeding free movement"

Nebahat Albayrak, deputy minister of immigration in the Dutch Balkenende IV government has released a statement yesterday that cynically states that Government Policy against "misuse of free movement for family reunification" is a success.

It is clear from the statement that the Dutch Government considers very quickly that a Dutch citizen is misusing his or her right in order to circumvent the harsh Dutch immigration policies against family reunification. This interpretation of "misuse" runs against a long history of European jurisprudence concerning the stimulation of free movement. From this jurisprudence it is clear that the court very quickly assumes that a relationship with European free movement is established when a European citizen has left his country to reside in another member state. Let me just give a quote of EU ruling in the 1992 Surinder Singh case:

"A national of a Member State might be deterred from leaving his country of origin in order to pursue an activity as an employed or self-employed person as envisaged by the Treaty in the territory of another Member State if, on returning to the Member State of which he is a national in order to pursue an activity there as an employed or self-employed person, the conditions of his entry and residence were not at least equivalent to those which he would enjoy under the Treaty or secondary law in the territory of another Member State."

This ruling and it's implications have been upheld in all EU rulings since 1992, including the Akrich case concerning a former illegal alien in the UK who returned to the UK after having lived in Northern Ireland (with his UK wife).

Since Jan Peter Balkenende has come to power however he has consistently tried to influence the European politics on this issue(and EU Court in Luxemburg through the Dutch Advocat General Geelhoed). However subsequent rulings of the EU court in Luxemburg have all been against Dutch and Danish government interpretation of EU law and jurisprudence concering family reunification and free movement.

It's crystal clear from the statement that the Dutch government has not learned from i'ts previous lost cases and is in clear violation of EU law and jurisprudence. The Dutch policy sets up illegal stumbling stones and roadblocks for European citizens to freely enjoy their fundamental rights (article 8 European Treaty of Liberties and Fundamental Rights). In the light of jurisprudence this also means a significant impedement of free movement as an important tool for achieving European integration.

In fact the Dutch immigration paradox can be characterized as xenophobic, anti-islamic and nationalist sentiments in politics and media having consistently translated into harsher measures for family reunification for family of Dutch citizens. While European citizens living in the Netherlands are protected by EU directives, the Dutch Government has consistently misused it's right to discriminate against it's own citizens and has quite boldly chosen to misuse it's disgression and work hard to turn it's own citizens into second or even third class citizens.

Allthough prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende claims to stand on the shoulders of the famous prime minister Abraham Kuyper, this great Dutchman would probably turn around in his tomb. Abraham Kuyper has been justly called the bellringer of the "kleyne luyden" (poor and badly organized reformed christians who throughout the 19th century were not represented in Dutch politics and thus denied their full rights as citizens). Kuyper's project led them to the center of power. I don't see how Balkenende can reconcile his current policy of turning Dutch citizens into third class citizens with the founding principles that can be deducted from Abraham Kuyper's succesfull (antirevolutionary) struggle.

The European court in Luxembourg, in the light of consistent EU rulings, is slowly but surely limiting the Dutch political space on this fundamental subject. In the meantime the trapped cat is still hitting and scratching wildly around. Not a pretty sight.

Rev. Rick Warren sinking on his own flagship, HIV/AIDS

 The Evangelical Emperor wears no clothes. 

The promotion of Absinence-Only-till-Heterosexual-Married-Monogamy as the only acceptable HIV/AIDS prevention strategy isn't half of U.S. Evangelical Pastor Rick Warren's HIV/AIDS ministry fraud. He's never said a word about systematic rape, including male on male rape, and thus, HIV, used as weapons of war in D.R. Congo, by the armies of Uganda and Rwanda, which he claims as  "purpose driven nations," in keeping with his evangelical global bestseller "The Purpose Driven Life."

The Evangelical Emperor wears no clothes.

 

I sent a link to this photograph of evangelical Pastor Rick Warren, with this caption, to gug, the anonymous author of Gay Uganda, the blog I turn to first for updates on Uganda's "Hang-the-Gays" Bill," more formally known as the Anti-Homosexuality Act of 2009., or, the Bahati Bill, for its sponsor, Ugandan Member of Parliament David Bahati.

Gug responded: "I will volunteer to play the child... the one asking about those vestments, or the absence thereof..."

On 11.13.2009, a KPFA Radio News reporter called me about the Anti-Homosexuality Act of 2009, and I later posted the broadcast result to the Youtube, with video:

Rwanda, like Uganda, proposes to incarcerate same sex lovers, and friends who won't fink on them

Rwandan lesbians, Murenzi (left) and Mado (right), came out publicly last month slamming the anti-gay legislation being considered in Rwanda's Parliament.

(That, however, is my rewrite of the Rwanda News Agency (RNA) caption, which reads: "Our rights: Murenzi (left) was born in South Africa, and Mado, 27, is divorced. The two women came out publicly last month slamming the anti-gay legislation due in Parliament.")

The RNA caption seemed to have been written, a bit oddly, to discredit Murenzi as a foreigner, and Mado as a divorced woman.

Uganda has softened its anti-gay legislation, removing the death penalty, due to international outcry, and even Reverend Rick Warren, also under pressure, has come out against it, but not until after it was no longer an issue,

But, none of the international press seem to have noted that similarly harsh anti-gay legislation is now proposed in Uganda's neighbor, Rwanda, which, was Reverend Rick Warren's first purpose-driven nation, before Uganda became his second.

Last summer a study of men who have sex with men, in Rwanda, found, surprise surprise, that they have higher rates of HIV infection; the LGBTI community welcomed that news because at least it acknowledged that they exist in Rwanda. But, Dr. Richard Sezibera, quoted below, said that this study "showed that gays are 'very few.'"

And, the report below says that the Rwandan Health Ministry is stating that "because Rwandan society is not open to homosexuality, gays were going underground – which could complicate the fight against the HIV/AIDS spread." This, however, like the claim that same sex lovers do not exist, in Rwanda, is nothing new.

In a 2005 Global Gayz interview, http://www.globalgayz.com/country/Rwanda/view/RWA/gay-rwanda-2005, Alan Malege said: "With HIV/AIDS in Rwanda, it's terrible. . . it's difficult to say a word on AIDS to these boys because the baseline for the information is not open."

When Global Gays asked Alan Malege, also in 2005, about lesbians in Rwanda, he responded: "Lesbians in Rwanda I may say are 150% underground. You will never know these girls, but the small information I have is that most of them deal with European women."

Last month, four years later, Rwandan lesbians Murenzi and Mado, came out openly, "slamming the anti-gay legislation being considered."

Here's a report from the state run Rwanda News Agency, http://www.rnanews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2518&Itemid=1, forwarded by Interim Rwanda Green Party Chairman Frank Habineza. Keep in mind that the RNA is state run, though its writers often manifest conflicting impulses. Stories that appear on the RNA for short periods of time often vanish under what Frank Habineza describes as "big pressure":

Debate on homosexuality not very crucial – government
By RNA Reporter
Friday, 11 December 2009

Kigali: Discussion on homosexuality was hastily thrown out of the just concluded 7th National Dialogue following opposition from several senior officials including the Minister of Health – and the issue did not appear in the final communiqué, RNA reports.

In his intervention on the short debate that arose on homosexuality, Dr. Richard Sezibera said a study that was done on prevalence of homosexuality in relation to HVI/AIDS, showed that gays are “very few”.

“Your Excellency, I think this meeting should not dwell so much on this issue because it is not widespread,” he said. “They are just very few people.”

The debate arose after somebody sent an SMS to the National Dialogue - asking the summit to say something on homosexuality. There is also a bill in parliament which could outlaw homosexuality with lengthy prison sentences. The legislation has not come to debate yet.

Though President Paul Kagame was present, he did not say anything on the issue as the practice had been with the other issues all through the marathon two-day session. He could be seen consulting with the Speaker of the Lower Chamber Rose Mukantabana. Homosexuality was not mentioned anywhere among the 20-plus resolutions read at the end of the summit.

A lawmaker who has attended numerous forums on rights of homosexuals caused laughter when he accused gays of abandoning Rwandan culture.

“I informed them [in those previous meetings] that such a phenomenon should wait and probably be raised after ten or fifteen years,” he said amid loud laughter.

The intervention by the Health Minister prompted the Local Government ministry Permanent Secretary Mr. Eugene Barikana, who is also presiding over the ongoing summit, to describe homosexuals as “few people who have been misled”.

A study released recently by the Health Ministry suggested that because Rwandan society is not open to homosexuality, gays were going underground – which could complicate the fight against the HIV/AIDS spread.

However, Health Minister Sezibera said the “single study” may not be sufficient basis to make conclusions.

For the first time, two women identifying themselves as lesbians found themselves in a media spotlight last month after they came out appearing at a civil society forum discussing the gay situation. Despite pleading with state TV not to be shown, their images were televised. Their interviews demanding for their rights were also aired on several local radio stations.

Rwanda is also under fire from campaign groups – with Amnesty International branding the country as “hostile” to gays in a report released in May.

In March, two female LGBT activists were apparently accused of forging documents and detained for two weeks after attending a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) conference in Mozambique. They were subsequently released two weeks later after prosecution withdrew the case citing lack of evidence.

It was the first time that this information had surfaced as Rwandan society has not seen common occurrence of homosexuality. The names of the allegedly detained lesbians are not public yet.

Underground gay groups such as ‘Little Sisters of Rwanda’ describe the country as “rudely homophobic."

BELGIAN PARATROOPERS TO CRUSH RISING CONGO REBELLION?

Independent investigative journalist and human rights investigator Keith Harmon Snow has made repeated trips to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and other parts of Africa.

I spent most of Sunday, 12.06.2009, studying this report by Africa and human rights investigator/reporter Keith Harmon Snow---so as to suggest edits that might make it more comprehensible to Americans unfamiliar with this part of the world, which is most Americans.  I suggested, first of all, maps identifying D.R. Congo, a.k.a., Congo-Kinshasa, in Africa, D.R. Congo's Equateur and Kivu Provinces, the nine nations bordering D.R. Congo, and the Obangui and Congo Rivers so important to this story.

The international corporate press is blocking this story out, or, as ever, publishing vague racist reports of African tribal savagery.  Keith Snow, writing in conscious being, describes instead a serious Congolese rebellion against elites controlling Congo's resources in the interest of foreign powers, and details:  

1) Mai Mai militia from South Kivu Province, on Congo's Eastern border with Rwanda, collaborating with rebels based in the city of Dongo, in Equateur Province, on Congo's border with the Republic of Congo, a.k.a., Congo-Brazzavile; 
2) Rwandan President Paul Kagame's Rwandan Democratic Front (RDF) forces flown across the country, from the East, to Equateur, 
3) Rwandans who went into exile after the Kagame/RPF takeover of 1994 crossing the border from Congo-Brazzaville into Congo-Kinshasa's Equateur Provice to join the Dongo rebellion; and, 
4)  Many Congolese, including defectors from the Congolese Army (FARDC) joining the Dongo and Mai Mai rebels, and,
5) MONUC (UN "Peacekeepers"), AFRICOM (the U.S. Africa Command), forces from the neighboring Central African Republic, and Belgian and/or Belgian trained paratroopers moving into Equateur to put down the rebellion.


 

BELGIAN PARATROOPERS TO CRUSH RISING CONGO REBELLION?

Rwandan Defense Forces Flown into Western Congo Defeated; Kabila Regime Under Siege on Multiple Fronts

With the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) engulfed in bloodshed and terrorism due to the secretive occupation and expansion by the Rwandan regime of Paul Kagame, Congo's President Joseph Kabila has reportedly requested an immediate emergency military intervention from Belgium to crush a growing rebellion sparked by resistance forces in the far western Congo.

Full text at conscious being, http://www.consciousbeingalliance.com/2009/12/belgian-paratroopers-to-crush-rising-congo-rebellion/.

Rwanda Green Party abandons Nyarugenge district

Frank Habineza, interim Chairman of the Democratic Green Party of Rwanda sent this update on the party's attempt to register and convene, so as to participate in Rwanda's August 2010 election.   From the Rwanda News Agency:

 
Green Party abandons Nyarugenge district          
By RNA Reporter      

Friday, 06 November 2009

Kigali: They have not been able to hold their founding congress for four times in Nyarugenge district. The Green Party seems to have decided to shift altogether out of town to neighbouring Gasabo district, as a US Greens' activist visits, RNA reports.

Gasabo district officials confirmed Friday that the troubled Democratic Green Party of Rwanda (DGPR) wrote to the district November 05 seeking permission to hold the founding conference on November 20.

Friday last week marked the turning point to efforts of the party to hold a meeting, as police order its halt citing insecurity. That was after chaos had erupted leading to several injuries and arrests.

On October 02, the Nyarugenge district mayor Mr. Origène Rutayisire also abruptly sent in a letter halting the meeting in session. He cited miscommunication with party officials, but denied his decision had anything to do with government policy.

Though Mr. Rutayisire has resigned his post over “personal reasons”, the Green Party head Frank Habineza said he has “had enough” in Nyarugenge.

“We want to try Gasabo because Nyarugenge seems to have a lot of forces operating behind the decisions they make,” he said when contacted.

Meanwhile, a senior official from the International Committee of the Green Party of the United States Mr. Bob Marsh is in the country to meet with Mr. Habineza and other party members. Mr. Marsh meets them on Friday afternoon.
Last Updated ( Friday, 06 November 2009 )

Huckabee's Evangelical "Friends"

Huckabee's former staffer during the Iowa primaries and Evangelical blogger, Joe Carter, wrote the column "limits of compassion" in which he accuses Huckabee of having confused his role as pastor with his role as Governor of Arkansas while giving clemencies. With such Evangelical friends, you don't need ennemies.

The argument has off course been echoed in blogposts, articles and columns across the US these last days. Some opportunists, like Frank Schaeffer, have jumped on this bandwagon.

I am not impressed, while I have followed those primaries closely. Huckabee was not supported by the conservative Republican elite last year. Huckabee was not even supported by the Evangelical establishment during those primaries and clearly he is not supported by these same people today. Marvin Olasky, known for "compassionate conservatism" openly attacked Mike Huckabee during the primaries several times in for instance the article "Uniting Christians and Libertarians": "He needs to show that Christian conservative views and small government views logically go together." Just recently Lynn Vincent, a reporter for worldmag and close friend of Marvin Olasky, has written Sarah Palin's bestseller "Going Rogue". And Marvin Olasky off course continues to write-off Huckabee.

Governor Huckabee has swiftly countered these baseless accusations stating:

Religion had nothing to do with the commutation. It’s been erroneously expressed that my own personal faith or the claims of faith of the inmate factored into my decision. That is simply not true and nothing in the record even suggests it. The reasons were straightforward -- a unanimous recommendation from the board, support from a trial judge and no objections from officials in a case that involved a 16 year old sentenced to a term that was exponentially longer than similar cases and certainly longer than had he been white, upper middle class, and represented by effective counsel who would have clearly objected to the sentencing.

This response will have many conservative talkshow hosts and Evangelical leaders grind their teeth. But it's the realiy in the US and it should be fixed.

Furthermore, it's convincing, while it's consistent with his political message during the primaries. I still admire Mike's "victory speech" on Supertuesday which started with the words:

"Tonight, we are making sure America understands that sometimes one small smooth stone is even more effective than a whole lot of armor...."

Or his headon attack in his essay in Foreign Affairs, blasting "the Bush administration's arrogant bunker mentality."

Condolences, Sincerely, President Barack Obama

How thoughtful of President Obama to personally sign all letters of condolence to the families of U.S. soldiers sacrificed for oil and gas, pipeline competition, military geostrategy, military industrial profit, and the will to kill.  He didn't say he'd do the same for families in Afghanistan and Pakistan, but I doubt they'd welcome the sight of President Obama's signature.

More at Examiner.com, http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-8257-SF-Energy-Policy-Examiner~y2009m12d3-Condolences-SincerelyPresident-Obama.

Uganda's gay death penalty proposal shocks the liberal West

Ms Gunilla Carlsson, Sweden’s development assistance minister says that Sweden will cut development aid to Uganda if it's harsh anti-gay legislation, including the gay death penalty, passes. 

Sweden and any other nation claiming to respect human rights should have cut aid and ties to Uganda long ago, for its domestic human rights abuses and invasions of D.R. Congo, to plunder Congo's mineral wealth--invasions sponsored by the UK, US, and allies.  The gay death penalty now proposed in Uganda has finally inspired Sweden's threat, to cut all aid to Uganda, if it passes, because it shocks the West, and the internationally organized LGBT community, within its liberal framework.  Let's hope that Sweden and other nations may sustain their objections to Uganda's human rights violations, even if the gay death penalty should be defeated, and, as Uganda's 2011 elections approach.

From the Christian Science Monitor:

Sweden to cut aid to Uganda over anti-gay law

Rodney Muhumuza
Kampala

Sweden has joined the growing list of countries heaping pressure on Uganda to discard a proposed law that would severely punish homosexuality.

According to comments attributed to Gunilla Carlsson, Sweden’s development assistance minister, the Swedish government says it would cut aid to Uganda over an anti-gay law they find “appalling”.

“My number two at the ministry, who has direct contact with the Ugandan government, has brought it up,” Ms Carlsson recently told Swedish Radio News. “We’ve talked about it in Uganda, and I’ve also tried to speak to the kind of organisations in Uganda that are the target of the legislation.”  Uganda receives about $50 million in development aid from Sweden annually.

Swedish Radio News reported online, in a November 30 article, that the Scandinavian country would consider discontinuing development aid to Uganda if the law was introduced.

“I’m doubly disappointed, partly because Uganda is a country with which we have had long-term relations and where I thought and hoped we had started to share common values and understanding,” the minister is quoted as saying.

“The law is wretched, but it’s also offensive to see how Ugandans choose to look at how we see things, and the kind of reception we get when we bring up these issues.”

Ndorwa West MP David Bahati, who brought the Anti-Homosexuality Bill (2009), has denied accusations that he is in a hate campaign, insisting he is defending the heterosexual family. Mr Bahati has the tacit support of President Museveni, who has made strong anti-gay statements in recent times. If passed in its current form, the law would create a felony called “aggravated homosexuality”.

Death penalty
Offenders would face death for having sex with a minor or a disabled person, or for infecting their partners with HIV. It would also punish attempted homosexuality as well as the failure of a third party to report homosexual relationships.

Critics of the proposed law say it is not needed, as the Penal Code Act already punishes homosexuality, and that it is based on unproven claims that European gays are clandestinely recruiting in Uganda.

In Canada, Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s conservative government called the proposed law “vile and hateful”, while Britain’s Gordon Brown raised the issue with President Museveni during the recent Commonwealth summit in Trinidad and Tobago.  Ms Carlsson said the law would make it “much more difficult” for Sweden to continue helping Uganda. 

Roel Kuiper kiest voor Balkenende's Nederland

De direkteur van het wetenschappelijk bureau heeft gesproken en de ChristenUnie lijkt ineens om. De softe aanpak, te lief zijn voor migranten moet afgelopen zijn, zo stelt Roel Kuiper onlangs in navolging van Gert Jan Segers in de eerste kamer. De instroom van kanslozen immigranten uit vooral Turkije en Marokko moet drastisch beperkt worden. Daartoe overweegt hij een motie in te dienen.

Dit hing al enige tijd in de lucht. Onder leiding van Peter Blokhuis, voormalig voorzitter van de Stichting Reformatorische Wijsbegeerte, heeft het partijbestuur van de ChristenUnie er doelbewust voor gezorgd dat de Werkgroep Multicultureel vakkundig werd "kalt gestelt". De door het ledencongres aangenomen moties aangaande participatie van migranten werden "vergeten". Hoewel Peter Blokhuis na de gemeenteraadsverkiezingen 2006 stelde dat de "ChristenUnie niet aanslaat bij migranten", werd evaluatie van die gemeenteraadsverkiezingen in het licht van de moties aangaande vertegenwoordiging en participatie door migranten stelselmatig genegeerd door het partijkader.

Het wetenschappelijk instituut van de ChristenUnie, de Groen van Prinsterer Stichting, heeft in eerdere publicaties echter altijd de nuance gezocht in het debat over immigratie en integratie, zie bijvoorbeeld de uitgave "Burger in beeld" van Rienk Janssens of het boek van Roel Kuiper zelf, "Dienstbare Overheid", waarin hij aan het slot de vraag opwerpt hoe representatief het Nederlandse parlement nog is nu burgers communiceren over grenzen heen.

Vanuit diverse richtingen binnen de partij werd bij aanvang van de kabinetsdeelname al hardop getwijfeld in hoeverre de ChristenUnie zichzelf zou blijven. Op allerlei dossiers, vooral ethische, werd daarover twijfel geuit.

Het lijkt er in dit geval op dat conservatieve krachten binnen de ChristenUnie de kabinetsdeelname aan Balkenende 4 aangrijpen om af te rekenen met de verachte softe en genuanceerde aanpak zoals bijvoorbeeld Kars Veling die uitdroeg in zijn verkiezingscampagne.

De dreigende taal (in het laatste artikel van Roel Kuiper en Gert Jan Segers) richting Ad de Bruijne spreekt in dat opzicht boekdelen:

"Hij suggereert dat christelijke politiek zich daarom moet instellen op het compromis, moet afzien van grootse idealen, geen algemeen beroep moet doen op Gods geboden en scheppingsstructuren"

"wij vragen ons wel af of hier niet iets binnensluipt van een onderscheid tussen 'natuur (wereld) en 'genade' (kerk)."

Formuleringen die doelbewust inspelen op onderbuik gevoelens die leven in vooral vrijgemaakte kring, zoals je die aantreft op bijvoorbeeld de website eeninwaarheid. Tegelijkertijd wordt in dat artikel geappeleerd aan conservatieve en nationalistische sentimenten die vooral op de veluwe en in SGP kringen goed aanslaan:

"Onze politiek, ons publieke leven en onze cultuur zijn daarnaast doortrokken van het christendom. Inderdaad verlaten mensen de kerk, maar juist in deze tijd wordt een christelijke inzet in het publieke leven opnieuw voluit serieus genomen."

Tot nu toe lijkt het door mij ook toen al voorspelde doemscenario bewaarheid toen Kars Veling het veld moest ruimen (c.q. aan de dijk gezet werd nadat in het elfde uur de conservatieve `old boys` Knevel, van Middelkoop en Ouweneel hem een mes in de rug staken): Rouvoet c.s. laten hun ware gezicht zien: Christelijke politiek gaat over moraal. Denk maar aan het artikel van Rouvoet getiteld: "Tegen het relativisme de waarheid". Of het boek van Roel Kuiper "moreel kapitaal". Deze heren zijn er op uit om van de ChristenUnie vooral een evangelical conservatief machtsblok met theocratische trekjes te maken.

De reformatorische wijsbegeerte pretendeert steeds het bindweefsel te zijn van de christelijke politiek. In werkelijkheid is de relatie tussen Christelijke politiek en reformatorische wijsbegeerte er vooral één van netwerken van mannen in pakken die het met elkaar eens zijn, een soort ´oldboys network´, de relatie met antirevolutionaire uitgangspunten is al lang achter de horizon verdwenen. De gereformeerde theologie en prediking geloven ze wel, ze zijn op zoek naar iets nieuws, de "evangelische utopisten" zijn op zoek naar "diepere spirituele verbondenheid". En kom vooral niet aan hun `buddy` Balkenende.

An Open Letter to Michael Moore on Obama & Afghanistan

Food for Obama's wars: troops, oil, natural gas, pipelines, and dollars

After months of endless "reports are that he will increase troops. . . " reports, Barack Obama has finally officially announced that he will send another 30,000 U.S. troops to Afghanistan, as reported by the Associated Press, the New York Times, and CNN.

The American anti-war movement, such as it is at this point, is, needless to say, alarmed, although Obama repeated, throughout his campaign, that we shouldn't have gone into Iraq, not because it was wrong, but, because we "hadn't finished the job in Afghanistan."

Obama has officially announced that 30,000 more troops will go to Afghanistan, (minus the mercenaries), but, in mid-October, he had already ordered 13,000 more U.S. troops, unofficially, and "unannounced," as reported in the Washington Post.

Why?  Heroin.   Oil.  Natural gas.  Pipelines and transport corridors for more oil and natural gas, and, no doubt, heroin.   More U.S. dollars, borrowed from the Chinese, to secure more oil and gas, and perpetuate the military industrial complex, which needs lots of dollars, and oil and gas, to keep fighting, and manufacturing, for war.