Ulster says....give us a few weeks

Momentous times. who would have thought 10, 20 years ago Big Ian would be sitting down with Gerry, ready to go into government, and especially with Martin McGuinness as his deputy first minister. In true point scoring style of course it couldn't happen immediately and they have to wait a few weeks. The announcement prompted what will no doubt be the first of a number of resignations from both parties as the extremists show their unhappiness. I wonder sometimes do we realise just what has been achieved here, and how much the world looks on at a country that has spent most of the latter half of the 20th century ripping itself apart. Do we realise that we are being held up as a model of post-conflict society? Yes it is far from perfect and the divisions and attitudes are still there. The cost has been massive, and we must recognise that. For those who have lost family members, to see some of those responsible sitting in suits in Stormont must be stomach churning. We must address the fact that often to have peace means setting justice aside, that it requires drawing a line and moving on. Those are easy words for me to say I realise. I'm excited about May 8th and hope the politicians repay the trust and faith the public has placed in them as they get on with the task of governing. We all know how disastrous direct rule has been, at last again we have local people clued into (we hope) local issues. We have the first chinese (HK) born political representative in Europe. There are things to celebrate. We mustn't however forget the work put in to get us to this place. Paisley and Adams are taking the plaudits but the real work was done by David Trimble and John Hume - mean of incredible courage, sadly maligned and cast aside. The Alliance party, the only middle ground party with members from both sides of the divide led with integrity by Lord Alderdice also deserves a mention.Perhaps in the coming years their contribution will be recognised properly, and the hard yards put in by the middle ground parties to bring the extremes together will pay off (Although obviously the ulster unionists need to shed the grey old men in suits image and have some good policies). As we look to the future I wonder how the next election will pan out, when the only thing on the table will be the day to day issues. Will we then see a balancing out of our political landscape?

supersizing and pineapples

An Australian problem rather than an American one. It seems all is not well down under. Too much Fosters and too many many barbies (of the food not doll variety), means the Australians now need supersize ambulances and reinforced stretchers.

In Burma the military dictatorship decided a year or two again a fit of craziness to move the capital, well actually build a new one called the 'Seat of Kings'. While they build new palaces for themselves the people suffer... The British government in its wisdom has economic sanctions against Burma - bizarrely only on the issue of pineapple juice, not oil or gas (where the dictatorship makes most of its money). Now I'm not too up on all this, and do have questions about making sure sanctions don't hurt the poorest, so am wiling to be corrected here...

Africa, the Irish and the EU at 50

Its been a week of hearing about Africa from two well known sons of Ireland. The first much more famous being Bob Geldof. Bob was doing a 'lecture' at Queens on Wednesday - his speaking style, choice of language and illustrations probably weren't to the Vice-Chancellor's taste who appeared to be hiding his face behind his hand a lot. I almost got dizzy as he walked up and down - not really looking at us as he waffled about 'making a difference'. What was interesting was how he concentrated on the need for commitment - something our generation with our low attention spans aren't very good at. He did improve when fielding questions, especially when talking about the EU and its responsibility to mark it's 50 years by wielding the considerable influence it has in ways that Britain and America can't - especially on Darfur. Darfur was also a topic that came up at Fergal Keane's Ulster Museum on the Road lecture on Thursday night. As regards public speaking, Fergal blew Bob out of the water. For those of you unfamiliar with Fergal, he's a BBC correspondent who covered the Rwandan genocide, and has reported from the Balkans, Northern Ireland, and Iraq. He's also an accomplished writer. His experience and analysis of living in an age of anger and fear was breathtaking, his stories of suffering and hope in Africa left very few dry eyes. After the Holocaust Europe said 'never again', then Rwanda happened as the world watched on. Keane's book 'Letter to Daniel' contains his reflections on reporting the Rwandan genocide in 1994. Its well worth a read. Again we heard 'never again', but yet thousands have and are dying in Darfur while the world watches. China keeps blocking UN resolutions because it gets oil from Sudan so doesn't want to endanger that, Russia is wrapped up in oil interests and with the banning of one of the opposition parties is slipping towards a police state, Britain and America are enmeshed in Afghanistan and Iraq. Maybe its time for the EU to get involved - it has been successful in other places and has more sway than it realises. I didn't realise that almost all the world's peacekeeping and policing forces outside Iraq are staffed or funded primarily by Europeans. I've always written to my MP on these issues - maybe its time to start lobbying our MEP's? As Geldof said - it would be a better way to celebrate 50 years than a concert with a few washed out pop stars.

For more information on Darfur check out the BBC in depth report.

stopping the traffik

As you'll be well aware this is the 200th anniversary of the ending of the transatlantic slave trade. Amazing Grace has hit the cinema screens, Peter Hain has even been apologising on behalf of Ireland (check out the slugger thread here) for its part (once again not ingratiating himself by not having been too up on his history, and Ireland's part in resisting the trade...). Stephen Tomkins in the Guardian reminds us
"The history of Christianity boasts no greater achievement than the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade. Crusaders, conquistadors and inquisitors have given the church plenty to atone for. The abolition goes some way towards balancing the books."

Today is freedom day so I thought it appropriate to finally voice some thoughts on the ending of slavery and the slavery still continuing today. As regards apologies, I feel it is important that we acknowledge our part in a cruel trade, but at the same time it is difficult to with any integrity apologise for something in which we have no personal involvement. Perhaps more appropriate for the British Governemnt would be a real commitment and investment in ending the slavery that continues today. It's easy to think as slavery as something horrific from the past but as this BBC article shows its alive in the UK today.

Most people would say it is wrong, but once again Christians should continue to be at the forefront of this fight, not just because its a good thing to do, but because the God we serve is on who frees slaves. Its most obvious in the Old Testament - parting of the Red Sea and all that as Yahweh freed his people. Interestingly the Ten Commandments are given in the context of God having freed his people, and the law involved reminding the people that just as God set them free they weren't to enslave others - that's a big part of the whole Sabbath commandment - everyone was to get a day off - slaves, servants, animals, land. Following on from that Jesus quoting Isaiah 61 declares his mandate:

"The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord's favour."

It is easy for some people to claim that this is just spiritual freedom - and yes that's what the death and resurrection is about - setting us free and giving us new life, but as we look at the life of Jesus his was a holistic approach, not a partial one. As people set free, following Jesus who had a ministry of liberation, and his Father - the liberator surely we should be at the forefront of the fight against slavery, since Jesus sends us as his Father sent him...




So yeah, let's sign up to support 'Stop the Traffik' but don't leave it at just signing a petition - get informed and get active.

Sarah McLachlan - World On Fire

I've always thought this an awesomely provocative video. A year ago I did a talk on money, and how as followers of Jesus we should think about money. As I was preparing it I realised that often my reaction to the inequalities in the world is that I should spend less, and not be so wasteful. But then I realised that all I was actually doing was being tight, not generous. God is generous and if you have a look at parts of the bible like Leviticus 19 and Deuteronomy 15 you'll discover that he wants people who claim to follow him to mirror that generosity.

On a side issue, too often people think Old Testament and flinch, or think OT law - irrelevant. But if you take the time to check out what God was saying you may be surprised. God was trying to give his people some good stuff - he was saying this way that I am giving you to live isn't a drag but is the best way there is, full of powerful visual reminders of who he is. If the Jews had ever lived out the important bits of the law they would have had a revolutionary society and economic system in which there would have been no long term poverty, immigrants, widows, orphans, the disenfranchised would all have been provided for and taken care of. The only place we see this working out is in Ruth where Boaz follows the instructions in the law to be generous and provide for the poor, not to be greedy by not harvesting every grain of whatever it was he grew from his fields.

So back to Leviticus 19 - where the whole 'love your neighbour' thing comes from - it is essentially talking about what it means to be holy - God's definition is vastly different from one lots of Christians have today. Yeah there are several culturally contextual things but justice and generosity come out, and holiness isn't about sitting on your own exuding peaceful thoughts - holiness is public and social. God knows the temptation to greed in all of us and when we are greedy we mistreat others - the roots of oppression and slavery (more on that to come later).

So coming back to my original point I realised if I am to live generously that means living more simply, but the money or excess I save is to be given away to those who need it. Hardly revolutionary I know but its easy to kid ourselves by spending less when the goal of spending less on stuff we don't need is to be more generous to those who are in need...

Waiting impatiently

Voting day is one of the few days I realise what a privilege it is to live in a democracy. The feeling of walking into the polling station (dodging the slightly dodgy looking youth and nice old woman wanting to give me more bits of election bumf) and numbering your ballot paper really is a marvellously empowering feeling. At least for me anyway. I do think we're a bit lazy here in Northern Ireland though. What's all this not starting to count until 9am the next day. I want to be glued to the TV right now seeing the election results come in, drinking in the turnout stats and latest permutations of seats and percentage votes. The BBC text updates just aren't quite the same. You can't tune into the TV when you're at work. Another thing while i'm on my soapbox. It seemed to me that the parties weren't really trying to hard to get my vote. Eventually getting the publicity two days before and not one knock on the door. Is this the same for everyone else?

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Things to do at lunch

There is no end to the ways you can waste your time online. The latest way to jump on the celebrity bandwagon is to see who you look like thanks to the people at myheritage.

Alarmingly some of my friends appear to have been right when they said I'm a bit of a girl! It's quite amusing to see the diversity when you put in different photos and get wildly different people. Passes the time....

My cool celebrity look-alike collage from MyHeritage.com. Get one for yourself.

So you want my vote do you?

Can't beat the pre-election nitpicking on the politics show. For an election campaign that seemed to be more about the real issues, getting the politicians together seems to simply result in the usual old arguments. The Belfast Telegraph figure of 47% of the electorate undecided is hardly surprising. It seems to me that most parties are saying similar things, of course they are all opposing unpopular water charges. None of them seem to have a recognisable message. They all seem to be lacking the 'stickiness factor', and the personality to sell them.

Listening to the politicians go on about what people are saying 'on the doorstep' rings hollow. None have been looking to chat on my doorstep (except the policeman looking the owner of an abandoned car at 6.20am on a Saturday morning!) Maybe they've been too busy getting in the pies. I was gutted to see one party canvassing simply dropping in leaflets not knocking doors - more because i was looking forward to giving them a grilling. We've only had leaflets from 3 parties through our door. You'd think if politicians wanted my vote they would make an effort for it. Seems not. Or maybe parties aren't interested in people living on the edge of the 'been'.

I'd love to see Sinn Fein and the DUP given a rude wake-up call by lots of people giving smaller parties who don't have the same baggage a vote. I'll be interested to see what the 'Cameron effect' will be on the Conservative vote, will the greens get their first seat and will there be a 'new dawn' for the PUP?