Blog

03/05/2019

A Thanksgiving Service for Nuclear Deterrence??

This week in our blog Brian Quail reflects on the service of thanksgiving for nuclear weapons at Westminster Abbey on 3rd May 2019.

On May 3rd at Westminster Abbey there will be a service commemorating 50 years of CASD – Continuous At-Sea Deterrence. The great and the good will thank God that for half a century in His loving kindness he has granted us the ability to slaughter millions of His children, our brothers and sisters, at a moment’s notice - that He has given us the power to enact instant global extinction; to undo his work of Genesis.

But whatever prayers are said in Westminster Abbey, a landmark statement made on Nov. 10, 2018 will hang over the service. In that statement, Pope Francis categorically condemned not only the use but also the very possession of nuclear weapons.

The Pope’s statement rejects the compromising distinction between mere possession and actual use, destroying the moral basis for the UK government’s nuclear policies, and those of the official opposition. Possession means to have these weapons ready for use, devastating all moral limits.

It is a blessed relief to hear that Pope Francis vindicates the position the peace movement has always taken. It is for this that we should be thanking God.

Pope Francis told participants in a high-profile Vatican conference on nuclear disarmament, including the UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, NATO’s deputy secretary general, and eleven Nobel Peace Prize laureates:

“…humanity cannot fail to be genuinely concerned by the catastrophic humanitarian and environmental effects of any employment of nuclear devices”.

He concluded: “If we also take into account the risk of an accidental detonation as a result of error of any kind, the threat of their use, as well as their very possession, is to be firmly condemned.”

But now, in my opinion, on May 3rd at Westminster Abbey a pantomime will be performed in the name of Jesus, who said we should love our enemies, do good to those that hate us, and pray for those who persecute us. His revolutionary nonviolence will once again be buried in a shroud of platitudes and religiosity.

Despite our scientific advances, the truth is that our position is really primitive. We are right back where we started. “I call heaven and earth to witness this day, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. Choose therefore life, that both you and your children may live” (Deut. 30 19).

But we have chosen death.

According to peace activist Bruce Kent, these words were spoken at the launch of Resolution, the first Polaris submarine:

“Go forth into the world in peace; be of good courage; hold fast that which is good; render no man evil for evil…love and serve the Lord, rejoicing in the power of the Holy Spirit.”

Beat that! Reality has replaced satire, and the laughter has died.

Deterrence is – in the lovely Americanism of the US Pax Christi statement – “a sin situation”. We should be begging God’s forgiveness for this ongoing sin, not celebrating it in Westminster Abbey.

We can only thank God that we have survived long enough to repent of our nuclear idolatry.

see the full article here https://bellacaledonia.org.uk/2019/04/02/thanking-god-for-nuclear-weapons/

26/04/2019

Easter in Managua - A crucified people is always resurrected

This week, in our blog, a Scottish development worker returns to Nicaragua on the first anniversary of the self convened Civic Insurrection"

When I left Nicaragua in April last year, the killings had already started, but I had no idea the extent of the human suffering that the Ortega-Murillo dictatorship would inflict on its own people.

In a year that Nicaraguans refer to as the “eternal April”, an estimated 500 peaceful, unarmed protesters, including 20 children and adolescents, have been murdered by police and paramilitary forces loyal to a government that ironically proclaims to foster “Socialism, Solidarity and Christianity”. Thousands more have been injured, around 800 political prisoners are held in squalid jails and up to 60,000 Nicaraguans have fled, mostly to neighbouring Costa Rica.

Human rights groups, women’s organisations and independent media outlets have been ransacked and stripped of their legal status. Several priests and bishops have been attacked, vilified and their lives threatened. Bishop Silvio Baez of Managua, a fearless ally of the people’s right to protest and to demand freedom, justice and democracy, has been transferred to Rome by petition of the Pope, out of fear for his safety.

One year later, I am back in Nicaragua for the first anniversary of the self-convened civic insurrection that poignantly coincides with Holy Week. On Palm Sunday, in Masaya, the annual Procession of the Captives is led by children in chains dressed in blue uniforms – a harrowing allusion to the plight of the hundreds of political prisoners that continue to be held in degrading conditions, where they are subject to physical and psychological torture and sexual violence.

On Good Friday, thousands of Catholics take part in the Way of the Cross Procession in Managua led by Cardenal Brenes, many carrying black crosses bearing the names of those massacred during the 2018 protests. Others wave blue and white Nicaraguan and Vatican flags and pray for the immediate liberation of all political prisoners and an end to State violence. As the procession ends, a group of mostly young people hold a spontaneous protest. Still inside the Cathedral grounds, police attack with tear gas and rubber bullets. Arbitrary detentions and further police repression are deterred by the intervention of the Papal Nuncio and leaders of the Civic Alliance.

Nicaragua is under siege, kidnapped by a morally corrupt government that has lost all respect for the rule of law and human rights. All recent citizens’ attempts to hold protests (outlawed since last year) are quashed by repressive policing. During Holy Week, around 150 people were arrested; many were beaten before being released. Their crimes? Waving the Nicaraguan flag, releasing blue and white balloons, singing the national anthem, demanding freedom for political prisoners and calling for free and fair elections as soon as possible.

At the end of March, under intense internal and international pressure, the Nicaraguan Government signed agreements with the Civic Alliance to liberate all political prisoners, restore constitutional rights, including the right to public protest, freedom of expression and an end to the police repression. Only 200 prisoners have been released under house arrest and the unrelenting repression continues and intensifies. The population feels duped, as frustration, anger and an insatiable thirst for justice grow. It feels like a pressure cooker…

Before leaving for Rome, Bishop Silvio Baez said, “A crucified people is always resurrected. The only thing I ask of you is not to let anyone take away your hope. Nicaragua must be resurrected, just as the one crucified on Calvary rose again. Live your faith in Christ intimately, deeply, with all the seriousness it demands, without ever letting yourself be drawn into violence, without letting sadness darken your heart, without bargaining with the liberty and dignity of human beings, without being ambitious or being an idolater of anything or anybody.”

19/04/2019

Bridge Hotel, - A Calais update

Alex Holmes updates us once again on the situation on the ground in Calais in this week's blog.

I was in Calais and it was registering minus four degrees. There was a roundabout under the motorway ironically known as “Bridge Hotel”. It is where the Eritrean refugee community had sheltered since 2017. But mid-morning, word came through that the police had cleared the Eritreans from under the bridges. We observed workmen in white protective suits and facemasks pile sleeping bags and blankets into a truck.

“The police wouldn’t even allow me to get my medication from under the bridge,” Merhawi told us. He’s recovering from a broken leg after falling from a lorry.

His friend Fikru shrugged his shoulders and smiled. “No problem, when you have God, everything is ok.”

But nearby, tempers frayed. Two young guys either side of a big bundle of salvaged bedding faced each other off in a fierce argument. Across the road, more security barriers were rising. A three-metre high reinforced concrete wall was nearing completion around “Belgium Parking”. This added to the razor wire, moat and metal fencing already “protecting” the site from refugee access to the lorries that park there.

At “Belgium Parking” in early December, a young Eritrean, Semere, was helped into a small trailer attached to a van. He hoped to reach the UK, but the van went east, and he disappeared. Silence. Six weeks later he was tracked to a hospital in Lille. Police reported that he was found in a coma beside the road and his injuries didn’t equate with jumping from a vehicle. A criminal investigation has begun.

Roger Salengro Hospital in Lille, where Semere is being treated, is a vast complex of buildings. Mebratu came with us to identify his friend.

“He slept behind me under the bridge,” he explained.

In the neurology department on the first floor, we donned thin blue gowns and were led along corridors to Semere’s room. Still in a coma, his blinking eyes darted here and there. It was impossible to know if his brain was registering anything. He had movement in his left hand, but his right arm lay motionless on the bed. Oxygen was fed through his nose, liquid food through a hole in his throat. Mebratu confirmed it was Semere and gave hospital staff more information.

Visibly shocked, he wiped away a tear. We stayed a while, prayed, held Semere’s hand, and left, heartened by the news that each day there was a slight improvement in his condition.

The road from Lille back into Calais circles the “Bridge Hotel”. Two white vans filled with CRS* officers were parked on the verge. There would be no return there for the refugees. Across from the roundabout, the Calais town sign is emblazoned with four scarlet flowers; Calais, ville fleurie, it boasts, a town in bloom. As the light faded, a huddle of five young Eritreans stood around the sign watching the passing vehicles, some with UK plates. I prayed.

*CRS, Compagnies Républicaines de Sécurité, the French Riot Police

Page 42 of 87

First Previous 37 38 39 40 41 [42] 43 44 45 46 Next Last