As Fi Bows to Peer Pressure

For my sins, my current addictions are Christina Aguilera (…you can stop laughing now) and Tim Hughes.

But seriously . . .

It’s with my love of music and international development that I’m promoting a new album. CompassionArt is, as they say, “a charity which join the dots between art and poverty” and they’ve just produced an *AMAZING* album with 12 Christian songwriters creating a fantastic collection of songs. Best of all, the twelve writers nominated a charity to which 1/24th of CompassionArt royalties will go to. The remaining 50 per cent of the funds raised will be distributed among projects that CompassionArt wants to give extra support – such as the Watoto community in Uganda. There, orphaned children are given food, shelter, education and a loving, caring home as they rebuild their lives. CompassionArt will provide funding for a series of music and arts centres that support the world-famous Watoto Children’s Choir, as well as offering essential training for those wanting to pursue a future in the arts.

By buying this album, you’re helping to change lives. It’s not about 1/2 the profits going to recreate a rainforest (although that’s very noble), it’s 100% of all the money made. Every single $. It’s not often you can say that.

It’s out in WH Smith and via Play.com in the UK, and information on where to get for loads of other places worldwide is on the website. It’s not out in NZ yet as far as I can tell but I’m sure it will be soon - keep your eyes out guys, it’s a gorgeous album and so worthy of support.

You know what - I think these guys explain it much better than I do.

“Over the past year some media reporting have left much to be desired and some reports have been careless, irresponsible and some in fact have been inciteful and destabilizing, posing a threat to national security and stability,” Bainimarama said.

They were intent on “sowing discontent and discord in name of media freedom”. He demanded that media abide by a code of ethics and stop their “confrontational and negative” reporting.

The website of the top circulation daily, The Fiji Times, reports police and immigration officials have taken their publisher, Australian citizen Evan Hannah, from his home in the Suva suburb of Tamavua.

This is our backyard and it’s falling apart. I’ll explain more later and discuss some of the other problems but this just makes me outraged that the whole thing is continuing.

I remember this “death certificate” hitting me quite hard when I first read it back in October.  As I study for my complex emergencies exam, I am again reminded of why I am so fascinated, appalled, shocked and motivated by this area of existence . . .

“Died: September 18, 1985, Luíza Alvez da Conceição, female, brown, aged thirty-three, unmarried
Cause of Death: Dehydration, acute malnutrition
Observations: The deceased left behind no living children and no possessions. She was illiterate. She did not vote.”

What kind of life did she live for thirty-three years?

And there’s more . . .

“You gringos,” a Salvadorian peasant told an American visitor, “ are always worried about violence done with machine guns and machetes. But there is another kind of violence that you should be away of, too. I used to work on a hacienda. My job was to take care of the dueño’s dogs. I gave them meat and bowls of milk, food that I couldn’t give my own family. When the dogs were sick, I took them to the veterinarian. When my children were sick, the dueño gave me his sympathy, but no medicine as they died”

“A child died today in the favela. He was two months old. If he had lived he would have gone hungry anyway.” Carolina Maria de Jesus (1962: 108)

Hat tip: Nancy Scheper-Hughes. 1992. Death Without Weeping: The Violence of Everyday Life in Brazil, Berkeley: University of California Press

Nothing like an inflammatory title to attract attention. Archbishop Desmond Tutu has told Africa’s Anglicans to end an “obsession” with gay priests and same-sex unions. My respect for this man grows on an almost daily basis.

I could be totally wrong about this but the New Zealand Christian community (I am in no way singling out Anglicans on this, coming from Anglican churches currently myself) seems to have become inflammed over the issue of smacking children. It’s a debate I refuse to wade into because I’ve missed almost all of it but I was wondering whether this press release could be edited just a small amount to include an ‘obsession’ with Section 59, when there are so many bigger issues. I do realise that Zimbabwe, Darfur, DRC aren’t New Zealand’s neighbours but for goodness sake people, while smacking is part of homelife and therefore in everyone’s minds, methinks there are somewhat bigger issues. Why can the mass Christian public get this involved over New Zealand’s piffling aid budget, the kids that aren’t getting food every day (New Zealand has chronic child poverty), the situation in Fiji, even Darfur? What is it going to take to get Christians united and passionate about others’ rights?

Archbishop Desmond Tutu has called on Africa’s Anglican church to overcome its “obsession” with the issue of gay priests and same-sex marriages.

He said they should spend time on more pressing issues in the region.

Speaking to the BBC World Service, the South African bishop said Zimbabwe, HIV/Aids and the crisis in Darfur were not getting sufficient attention.

Zimbabwe’s Anglican church also lacked courage to stand up to President Robert Mugabe’s regime, he said.

‘So many issues’

This was the 76-year-old Nobel peace laureate touching raw nerves for the Anglican church in Africa on very sensitive subjects.

In his usual forthright manner, Archbishop Tutu told the BBC that the Anglican communion was spending too much of its time and energy on debating differences over gay priests and same sex marriages - a subject, he said, that had now become “an extraordinary obsession”.

He said: “We’ve, it seems to me, been fiddling whilst as it were our Rome was burning. At a time when our continent has been groaning under the burden of HIV/Aids, of corruption.

The church had “kow-towed” to Mr Mugabe’s regime, he said

“There are so many issues crying out for concern and application by the church of its resources, and here we are, I mean, with this kind of extraordinary obsession.”

For Archbishop Tutu, the crisis in Zimbabwe was one such issue that had been eclipsed by the sexuality debate.

He said he was saddened by the muted response other African governments had shown to the Mugabe regime.

Growing tensions

But he also said that leaders of his own Anglican Church in Zimbabwe had failed to show more courage in dealing with the Zimbabwean president.

“One seems to have to say they have kow-towed to President Mugabe. Certainly there’s not been anything like the same kind of standing up to the evil and exercising the prophetic ministry that one would have expected from the church, and that has been very distressing.”

There are growing tensions within the worldwide Anglican communion - pitching liberals against conservatives - mainly over the issue of sexuality.

But as Archbishop Tutu recognised, there are other points of contention that need to be resolved and other issues that the church, especially in Africa, needs to turn its attention to.

Hat tip: BBC

Vote on whether New Zealand gives enough foreign aid at United Future’s website.

While online opinion polls are generally bad due to self-selection bias (yes, I am completing a social research methods exam right now), they are vaguely interesting for the party so please go ahead and vote.

If you’re interested in my reasons for saying that NZ does not give anywhere near enough foreign aid, you’ll find them here.

This reminded a friend of a lecture we had by my supervisor . . . just for those who don’t know, the Onion does not report factually accurate news. Well worth a read, click on the link to get the full article (silly blog.com is having formatting issues for this).

Rebels Immediately Regret Seizing Power In Zambia

LUSAKA, ZAMBIA—None of the blood that filled our streets nor the carnage that choked our cities could have prepared us for these pathetic annual GDP figures,” said former rebel and new head of state Uwimana Kowry.

United Nations Day happens every October 24, and is a chance to reflect on what has been achieved and what still needs to be achieved. So here’s how things are going, according to Kofi Annan (you can see his whole speech here). These quotes are taken from the UN press release.

“Citing progress made since he assumed office 10 years ago, Mr. Annan noted that aid and debt relief has increased, the world is scaling up its response to HIV/AIDS, there are fewer wars between States than there used to be, many civil wars have ended, and more Governments are elected by, and accountable to, the people whom they govern.

“And all States have acknowledged, at least in words, their responsibility to protect people from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity,” he said. “But there is so much that still needs doing,” he added, citing the growing gap between rich and poor.

He stressed that very few countries are on track to reach all eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which seek to slash a host of social ills such as extreme poverty, hunger, maternal and infant mortality, and a lack of access to education by 2015.

Many people still face atrocities, repression, and brutal conflicts, the nuclear non-proliferation regime requires urgent attention, and terrorism and the reaction to it are spreading fear and suspicion, he added.

“It seems we don’t even agree which threats are most important,” Mr. Annan declared. “Those who live in small islands may see global warming as the biggest danger. Those who live in a city that has suffered terrorist attacks – like New York, or Mumbai, or Istanbul – may feel that confronting terrorism is more urgent. Others again may cite poverty, disease, or genocide.

“The truth is, these are all global threats. All of us should be concerned about all of them. Otherwise, we may not succeed in dealing with any of them.” “

This sounds awesome so I’m passing the details onto you all, since I have no chance of making it please go for me!

On November 11, join an all-star cast of Wellington musicians as they
turn music into medicine to aid the people of Indonesia’s Mentawai
Islands. Last year’s concert, the Sunday Session, was a massive success,
assisting the New Zealand Red Cross and SurfAid International in their
response to the Indian Ocean Tsunami. This year, the organisers of the
SuperSession have an impressive line-up dedicated to saving lives in the
Mentawai Islands by supporting the work of SurfAid International. Join
Warren Maxwell - ex Trinity Roots - as he unleashes the sound of The
Little Bushmen, and Twin Set, Open Souls, OdESSA, the Ukulele orchestra,
and The Phoenix Foundation. Accompanying these will be the awesome
audiovisuals of the SuperVisors. The concert will take place on November
11, Wellington Town Hall. Tickets available from 11th October through
Ticketek and Real Groovy, Wellington.

So let’s go over that again:

What: SurfAid International are raising money to help save lives in the Mentawai Islands of Indonesia

Who: The Phoenix Fundation, the Ukelele orchestra (are you paying attention Katie?), OdESSA, Open Souls, Twin Set, and a man who was formerly part of Trinity Roots will be playing . . . and of course you will be going.

When: Saturday 11 November

Where: Wellington Town Hall

Why: It’s for a good cause, and they’re good Wellington bands . . . why not?

How: Get tickets from Ticketek and Real Groovy, Wellington, now.