attempting abandonment

Snowpeople vs climate change: the uprising.

2009-02-03T02:56:00.006+13:00

So it has been the longest time since I posted. This is because I have been seriously busy having snowball wars on the streets of London with complete strangers and aiding the local snowpeople in their protest against climate change.

Climate Change Rally in Hanover Sq, Mayfair.

Apparently it's is a global mobilisation:

(United States, Source: Earth Space)

(Copenhagen, Source: Very Credible and Serious Global Politics Site)

(Poznan, Source: Freedom4um)

Also, I will be shifting my blogging committments to the all new and improved, post-global economic collapse, 100% value Match Factory! In collaboration with think site, The Rubicon, the Match Factory will be providing you with ideas for getting involved in social action, How to guides and weekly blogging love.

Tis the season ....

2008-12-07T07:32:00.003+13:00

5 reasons for me to be jolly:

Today's climate change march... thousands of people joyfully dancing through the streets of London to the sound of drums and chanting.
Wednesday's Fair Christmas Fayre. One Lord Mayor. 2 singing beauties. 8 brass bands men. 50 friends. 550 Fair Trade cupcakes. 1000 strangers. 10,000 fair trade gifts. 16,000 free chocolate bars. Brilliant.
This article in New Scientist- Happiness spreads through social networks to such an extent that a friend of a friend can effect your happiness by up to 6%!!! It is a social responsibility to smile!
Going to NZ on Monday... for 6 weeks.... the sun! The sea! Weddings! Friends! Family! 24 hours sitting down and actually doing nothing!
Google tells me that Word Aids Day was the most googled thing this week.... humankind does care.

The Marinade

2008-12-01T13:46:00.002+13:00

The Marinade Advent blog is back for 2008. With 3 new contributors on top of the 5 others the Marinade collective will be throwing up some thought provoking advent musings in the lead up to Christmas 08.
Keep in touch at www.marinateme.wordpress.com

More than one bar of fair trade chocolate in the stocking . . .

2008-11-11T11:33:00.003+13:00

Free Christmas! is a movement of people who want to do Christmas differently.

We love Christmas and think it should be much more than simply an act of consumption. We want it to be a creative display of love- not just for our friends and family but for people across the globe and for the earth.

At the moment Christmas has some pretty nasty side effects; tonnes of waste, millions of unwanted presents, huge amounts of debt and stress. We believe we can change this! We want our gifts to help poorer people across the globe (see our ethical pressie guide) or to be about time not money or to be made of recycled stuff to bring some healing to the planet.

We think that if enough people promise to celebrate differently in these ways Christmas really will be a joy to the world. (You will have to excuse any cheeseyness or Christmas carol puns along the way… it is far too hard to resist.)

So on Free Christmas! you will find help with presents, resources to inspire others and a whole crowd of people trying to do the same thing as you. Check all this stuff out but most importantly join the movement: pledge- along with your family if possible- to Free Christmas!

Solid as Barack

2008-11-07T10:53:00.003+13:00

I am pretty sleepy but want to put this down. Yesterday we celebrated Parihaka with some Kiwi's in London. Parihaka is an amazing and beautiful piece of NZ history, of the worlds first modern movement of peaceful resistance. It occurred long before those we now associate with non-violence came along but last night as we lit our sparklers we couldn't help but follow the thread from this small group of people on the coast of New Zealand in 1881 and the momentous election of the first black President of the US. It is a simple track; Parihaka inspired Ghandi- his family have since visited in recognition of this- and Ghandi greatly inspired Martin Luther King, and of course if it wasn't for MLK and the civil liberties movement the dream of a black president would hardly even be a dream let alone reality. Little did the tribe of Ngati Te Whiti know when they laid down their lives back then, peacefully in the face of their oppressors, that they would lay a part of the foundation for Barack Obama! The ripples...

Amazing really.

It is incredible news. Not so much for the policies he is gonna implement- this is politics; he may be a bit of a radical but I predict nothing too crazy is going to happen. Everyone wants to go for the second term, eh? But for the potent symbolism! And for the fact that this act can single handedly liberate the dreams of a whole generation of young black people. Truly huge.

Power to the People

2008-10-30T02:19:00.002+13:00

I went to the Climate Rush on parliament the other week, it was planned on the anniversary of the suffragettes rush on parliament. I was monumentally hit by the absolute urgency of us reducing our emissions. It is literally a case of now or never.

There was a great little article on the BBC website yesterday about the importance of communities in the fight against climate change. Check it out here.

How can we harness this huge potential?

I am sure there is more we can do then giving worms to every household. On that point the worms have stopped migrating and are now happily producing fertiliser. They rock.

Oh and you must check out:

This! A a great little interactive tool to finding out ways of reducing emissions in your house. And you can order Freebies like stickers to help you remeber to only fill the kettle for as many cups as you need. lets hear it for Freebies! Whoop Whoop!

Got Worms

2008-10-17T00:59:00.003+13:00

2000 of them, in our laundry room. They are our pets, they all have names beginning with W (but we don't know them all yet.)

It is our latest experiment in urban low carbon living.

It is pretty gross. They are new- they arrived through Royal Mail yesterday- and seem to be in their escaping stage (I had to google it after we arrived downstairs this morning to find one wandering around our candy floss machine.)

They eat our tea bags and other waste. And turn it into goodness for our herbs.

But it is still pretty gross. I couldn't go to sleep last night because my brain was telling me their were worms in my hair, socks and ears.

Will keep you updated on the slimey little carbon heros.

Songs that bring hope

2008-10-06T04:11:00.004+13:00

We went to the End Child Poverty: Keep the Promise march and rally through London yesterday. It was massive, at least 10,000 people turned up to hold the government to the promise they made 10 years ago to end child poverty by 2020. Still a third of UK children are living in poverty.

It was awesome. I love a good march, it restores my faith in change for two reasons. As I look about I see that not only do this many people care about an issue but also that this many people believe that turning up with a banner and a shout can make a difference.

Today I was listening to an old Delirious song and as I belted it out I thought of the thousands of different people who came yesterday, representing possibly just as many beliefs, faith positions, philosophies. Yet I think I felt the darkness tremble and I think that yesterday, altogether, was a song that bought hope.

Did you feel the darkness tremble?
When all the saints join in one song
And all the streams flow as one river
To wash away our brokeness

Open up the doors and let the music play
Let the streets resound with singing
Songs that bring your hope
Songs that bring your joy
Dancers who dance upon injustice

Christmas comes to soon...

2008-09-29T23:55:00.003+13:00

BHS on Oxford St has already got it's first Christmas window.... waah.

However, I canny talk. I have been investing a lot of time on Christmas already. See, every year I despair that Christmas is such an extravaganza of materialism, stress and consumerism, it is truly season of worshiping mammon. So this year I am mobilising early to compete with this!

The first thing is Fair Christmas Fayre- an ethical/alternative Christmas fayre held in the church next door. Already we have some awesome people signed up to come. I am going to be investing some blogging energies into www.fairchristmasfayre.wordpress.com from now on. Please list it!
The second, even more exciting, thing is that as a result of Dream Date on Friday night (a dream/discussion/action night on social injustice) we are building a new Christmas movement! (Can you build a movement?) There is a team of us... we are going to produce a web resource for individuals and church groups on how to do Christmas differently- there is lots of good stuff already, hopefully we can add to it- and we are also going to host weekly shopping free zones on Oxford St where people can come and talk, make presents etc. Wanna join us?

peace one day

2008-09-19T07:56:00.008+12:00

This Sunday is International Day of Peace. A few weeks ago a young women from my youth group suggested that we should do something - so we have commandeered the Sunday afternoon church service for the sole purpose of promoting peace; personal, local and global peace.
As the UK (see below) ad campaign asks:

"What will you do to make peace?"

Check out these stats from New Internationalist:
In recorded history since 3600 BC, over 14,500 major wars have killed close to four billion people - two-thirds of the current world population.

In armed conflicts since 1945, 90 per cent of casualties have been civilians compared to 50 per cent in the second World War and 10 per cent in the first.
Around 85 countries have undergone some sort of disarmament since the end of the Cold War in 1989, but 69 nations have been increasing their stock of weapons - mostly low income countries buying from the richer ones.
The United States is the world’s biggest arms exporter - supplying around 40 per cent of the developing world’s arms.
The U.S military budget is as large as the next ten, top-spending, countries combined.
Britain is the world’s second-largest arms exporter with a 25 per cent share of the legal global market.
Between 1990 and 1994 Britain supplied 13 per cent of total arms exports to sub-Saharan Africa - while at war from 1987 to 1994, Angola received $7.3 billion worth of British arms.
There are at least 250,000 child soldiers fighting in armed conflict.
Most countries consider young soldiers ‘volunteers’. But often coercion is involved - in Uganda around 8,000 children have been abducted for use as soldiers or prostitutes.

Here is a video on the idea and origins of Peace One Day. I love it; it paints a picture of a man with a dream to change the world, obsessed by it, making it happen, growing the dream-almost-reality until it is big.. really big....

Lend me some sugar...

2008-09-09T12:32:00.002+12:00

On Saturday we ventured to Tearfund's Whose My Neighbour? Conference... it was grand. Archbishop Desmond Tutu amazed with the most simple of messages with regard to global poverty; a reminder that every last person is made in the image of God... is a God bearer and that we must treat them so. He pressed home God's bias toward the weakest and the idea that when we serve people, in particular those who are vulnerable, we must do so as if it was the Creator of the Universe. He is the most fun yet most convincing person I think I have heard speak ever. Go him. (Like he needs my cheer leading!)

This is one of my favourite gems as he speaks to that place we go to when faced with hard calls, safety.
"If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality."

dreams are free

2008-09-04T01:30:00.002+12:00

So the thesis is all finished, bound and handed in. Phew. That was a job. If anyone wants to read 9,919 words on the relationship between global citizenship and global inequality, just let me know.
;)

On that note I am currently thiiiiinking about developing the social action calendar into a fully blown web resource for 2009, with the idea of inspiring action and fostering global civil society. (The Rubicon's Match Factory is currently closest to what it would look like- a guide to how to get active on some key dates for social change, the latest low down on September- October is now live.) This is pretty exciting and I am looking for reps who would be interested in maintaining a guide to their national social action scene (email if you fancy more info on this... or look out in your inbox for an email from me- cause for another winks really, eh).

And, lastly, because we don't devote enough time to d r e a m i n g, any locals are invited to Dream Date. Created with the sole purpose of imagining possible responses to local and global injustice. . .

just a spoonful of hope

2008-08-25T21:15:00.002+12:00

I have been thinking about hope. It seems in the last week there has been an incident or a story almost everyday that has given me hope and restored my faith in people and God. I reckon it is vital that we make a thing of these things... otherwise the stealthy ink of despondence can just seep on in.
For me, someone that almost makes my heart burst with hope and the potential of the world to be transformed is Foy Vance and songs such as 'Gabriel and the vagabond', from the aptly named album Hope. Props to Mel W who pointed me in this fullas direction- he pretty much provides the soundtrack to the life of our house at the moment! Truly beautiful.
Here is a performance of Gabriel and the Vagabond:

it's a freebie too...

2008-08-19T03:13:00.002+12:00

Archbishop Desmond Tutu is talking at a global poverty conference here in London on 6th September, wowzers.... Book your place here.

The Olympics are fun...

2008-08-13T01:34:00.002+12:00

I really just got into the mixed badminton doubles, punching the air woot woot, thinking it was the finals. Really it was just a little heat (and Badminton??). But thrilling it was.

So the Olympics are fun and all that, but lest we forget...

You can follow the Gadfly project at this blog- a voice for the persecuted of China.

and you can follow the Darfur Olympics here.

addicted to oil

2008-08-10T07:48:00.002+12:00

This is a fab little video from Good mag.

You know, I really dislike glad wrap/ cling film. I really do think our grandchildren one day will look at us in disbelief and say "You used up the oil to wrap up your sandwiches????"

As Good magazine say "if we're addicted to oil, our twelve-step program should begin with admitting that we have a problem."

It's been a while...

2008-08-09T00:17:00.002+12:00

Been doing some thinking on holiness... and have found some scrawlings I did when I was in an awesome theological library back in NZ. What about this one from a chap called Barton:
Holiness as separation is displaced by holiness as solidarity...

That is surely what Jesus did eh, turned it from being an inward dilemma of purity to being about full engagement with the world in all its messiness.

So, life is good. I am job hunting at the moment (a pretty arduous thing) but it is giving me time to spend on some more creative stuff. In order to support my jobless state I am currently doing a couple of commissions for people so if you know anyone that is looking for some original art for their home or office, flick me an email and I'll send you the link to my online 'folio. (Sorry, abused my blog for marketing purposes there.)

Keep radical!

I don't normally get party political on this blog...

2008-07-26T20:20:00.002+12:00

but I can't help it. This week leader of the opposition locked his bike up while he went to the shop and came out and it had been pinched. Not really that interesting except that he locked it up to a short post, meaning the thief just had to lift the bike up and off.

For over a year the press has hounded Gordon Brown, making his every move looking like a bumbling mistake- turning minor incidences into major "How- is- this- fool- running- our- country" dilemmas. (For what it is worth I think Brown is passionate, stoic and pretty wise, if not an oil painting which I fear is the press's main concern.) Yet when it comes to the shadow PM doing something so ludicrous as bothering to chain his bike up to a small bollard, not a word is mentioned about it. Not even the smallest ribbing. London, the place where 22,0000 bikes are stolen every year and the hopeful next leader of the country can't seem to work out the logistics of how bikes can be lifted clear of a short post. Crazy, I tell you, crazy.

(Obviously, if the press had gone nuts about the stupidity of this I probably would have posted saying "Come, on- its sweet that he had such faith in humankind") (Actually, na, probably wouldnt have. It is just thick.)

a worthy coup

2008-07-25T05:10:00.002+12:00

A great article in the Independent today, about a take over of an arms manufacturer. Love it.

Summer read?

2008-07-23T02:11:00.002+12:00

Ah, have returned from a splendid tour of the sunny pastures of Swizerland and France where we swam almost everyday, gorged on the fruit we picked, helped at our friends farm, spent 20 hours lost in paris on our bikes, canoed down the Dordogne, snorkeled our heads off on the border of Spain and took in the beauty of the alps and the pyrenees. Fabulous. And now we are back in the fun crazyness of 9 Princes St and I am tangoing with my thesis.

I just wanted to point out This book, produced by Oxfam and written by Duncan Green, From Poverty to Power. It is downloadable for free and is a pretty comprehensive look at current inequality and the solutions (Active citizens: you and me, people.) There is a little bit on the importance of faith in which Oscar Romero even gets props.

Hope you are well and radical as ever...

bit of an update

2008-06-20T06:48:00.004+12:00

Phewza (Bit of a new word, a phew mixed with wowza, making it a high energy sigh.)
The exams are over, 5 of the bad boys, and I am pretty stoked with how they went.
I had a day off yesterday and then got stuck into my dissertation today, a huge meaty topic which I question choosing but am really interested in, it goes something like: Does the concept of global citizenship hold potential to impact on global inequality?
Yeah. I know.
Anyway, Some cool stuff has been happening.

We (the flatmates and I) did a thing at the church next door for International Childrens Day, it was an interactive look and pray at children in the world. It went really well.
We are having a house warming on Saturday, if anyone's around? There's a circus theme going on. That'll be fun.
We are trying to go to France next week, for a break. We really, really want to go swimming.
We have an amazing group of friends who come over every couple of weeks for discussion, we are using Ched Myers Sabbath Economics stuff. It is heavy lifestyle/social justice stuff. Tuesday was environmental and was very cool.
We prayer walk around the neighbourhood on a Friday at 6:30 and then normally come back here for beans on toast if anyone fancies coming? It is a cool time to just reflect on the happenings of the area, which you don't normally tend to do when just going to the market for vege's for tea.
Shelley and Tim did a photo shoot around Soho to show at church the other week, its pretty nice. Here it is:

I guess it makes me a realist

2008-06-16T22:10:00.002+12:00

"Be realistic - demand the impossible!”
Anonymous graffiti, Paris, 1968

I just don't know how else life can be change for the 26,000 children dying everyday from poverty, if we refuse to think big.

A way to wile away the hours (that isn't facebook)

2008-06-12T19:22:00.003+12:00

This little gadget allows you to select countries and compare progress on Gross Domestic Product (purely financial) with how it fares on the Human Development Index (a much more accurate picture of well being, health, education etc etc). It throws in another country for you to check out too.
(It is actually really interesting, not geeky.) (I hope.) (Otherwise I am way too obsessed with my studies and am far to easily enthralled with things that aren't actually fun, just more fun than my books. Wah.)

For a little laugh. . .

2008-06-08T09:21:00.002+12:00

A fantastic piece of political satire in the Guide this week discussing the disconnect between the publics interest in some serious global issues and their apathy. It concludes...

"For all these reasons, people have become disillusioned with parliamentary politics (which probably suits parliament very nicely), and have found better ways to express their political views than through the imprecise oversimplification of voting; they go on protest marches, write blogs, or buy slightly more expensive bananas. So we comedians may try to hold up a mirror to society, but in doing so, we risk society grabbing the mirror, smearing cosmetics all over its own head, and telling itself it looks lovely. And then smashing the mirror on its bonce."

Off to get beheaded

2008-06-06T21:32:00.002+12:00

Well, I have got my first exam in a couple of hours. ooh the trepidation. I feel like Anne Boleyn.

I've got 4 more in the next 10 days. On the 17th of June, when they are all over, regardless of whether I feel like I whizzed through or flunked, I will be one seriously free and happy soul.

Anyway, Saw this quote today courtesy of the Sojourners crew. Tis beauty.

Moral courage is a rarer commodity than bravery in battle or great intelligence. Yet it is the one essential, vital quality of those who seek to change a world which yields most painfully to change.

- Robert F. Kennedy, in a speech in Capetown, South Africa, June 6, 1966. (Today is the 40th anniversary of his assassination.)

A canon for each moment

2008-06-04T05:24:00.006+12:00

Apparently Tolstoy once said:
"I sit on a man's back, choking him and making him carry me, and yet assure myself and others that I am very sorry for him and wish to ease his lot by all possible means - except by getting off his back." It strikes me that this is like us every day! We join a march for climate change and and talk for all the world about the poor state of those in poverty, but we are not willing to do some of the most obvious things that could bring real reprieve. There was an article in the Guardian on the weekend about Plane Stupid. I admire them so much because they are willing to put their life on the line for justice. Where as many of us just can't seem to do the most simple things, that require sacrifice only of pleasure.

Loathe to use up two of my favorite quotes... Gandhi once said: "I will give you a talisman. Whenever you are in doubt, or when the self becomes too much with you, apply the following test. Recall the face of the poorest and the weakest man whom you may have seen, and ask yourself, if the step you contemplate is going to be of any use to him. Will he gain anything by it? Will it restore him to a control over his own life and destiny? In other words, will it lead to swaraj (freedom) for the hungry and spiritually starving millions? Then you will find your doubts and your self melt away."

For those serious about poverty... oppression.. injustice... we do need some kind of mechanism like this, don't we. Sad as it is. (Particularly for people of faith- we have such a strong Biblical mandate for encapsulating local and global love in each moment, yet it doesn't seem to be having much impact.) It seems just impossible for people to connect their strong leanings of head and heart towards radical action for social justice with simple, everyday activity. We need this talisman, a reminder, a measure for when we are faced with decisions.

Shall we fly to Switzerland for 2 weeks by the lake?

Two things that rocked my socks

2008-05-29T21:44:00.004+12:00

I checked out the street art tunnel that was given a make over by Banksy and co. It is amazing, and if you are ever by Waterloo you should fully check it out.
On Sunday I went to a church to hear Jim Wallis speak. I really dig this man, the first book of his I read, Gods Politics, was probably the first book I read that articulated all the things I was quietly leaning towards. He is doing other talks in the UK in a couple of days, see here. And is also doing the whole world I think.I love this picture, its from the Banksy tunnel. I don't know what it's intention was, probably not how I took it. But I took it to be like, here is this little Godly being, so clearly mysterious and connected with something Big, stamping out a denial of what so obviously created him. It is like what we do when we fail to be all about love. (Hehe, sorry, is that a bit of a big leap?!)

At the Jim Wallis talk, Steve Chalke also spoke and he just commented on the new atheism movement (E.g, the God Delusion by Dawkins) and pointed out that the place that Nietzsche and new atheism leads you to is that there is only one absolute- the survival of the fittest. Understandably this is the absolute opposite to the Jesus thing- laying down your life for others! So, instrumentally following Jesus would lead society into a healthy, well, cohesive space.

So I thought this was a good perspective, unfortunately history doesn't attest to this does it really. Which is pretty sad. But it's not unredeemable, its not too late for followers of Jesus to begin loving to the point of laying down your life for people so that the "God is Dead" idea and what it leads to not only becomes a horrible option, but an impossible one.

If you're chatting to God anytime, or if you're free on Fridays...

2008-05-25T01:36:00.006+12:00

Beautiful Things

2008-05-19T03:39:00.002+12:00

There are some awesome DVDs called Nooma's, with a guy speaking about various stuff. We watched one today called YOU. In it he says:
"These first Christians believed that Jesus resurrection had implications for the entire universe. Their tradition had taught them that the world is broken and desperately in need of repair and that at some point in the future, God was going to put it all back together. For them, this future restoration had nothing to do with leaving this world; it was all about the restoration, the renewing and the reclaiming of this world."

We also had to day in church, the kids choir singing a funky little song with the words "Do something beautiful, go do something Jesus would"...

And that is where Jesus, his life and words make sense, eh? In places where people are doing beautiful things, right here and now. Not looking to the ol' pie in the sky thing.

On that beautiful things note, a powerful 5 minute film and song by Stop the Traffick, a crowd of people and organisations passionately trying to bring about change in one of the worlds most evil scenes, is here.

A new home

2008-05-07T20:46:00.003+12:00

This week we are moving in, along with two friends, to Nine- a flat at the back of our church. We have spent the best part of a year turning this derelict dump into livable lodgings, putting up new walls, pouring paint everywhere and ferreting around the streets and skips of london for household goods (We got some awesome carpet that way.) Finally we are ready to move in! We are pretty excited. Our hope is that it will be a loving home of:
hospitality
prayer
creativity
simple living
responsible living
generous living
radical living...

It is based up in Soho so engaging with the community will be exciting but pretty challenging. We'll be taking it pretty slowly and seeing what happens.

We are inspired by:
New Monasticism
Boiler Rooms
614
and all the other little homes around the world that are carving out alternative ways of living in their community.

A wholly new chapter begins...

Spies, terrorists and ploughshares.

2008-05-02T09:51:00.003+12:00

Check out some kiwi Jesus loving activists bursting their local war mongering bubble here, a little bit of news worth a watch. They are doing nice things with Isaiah 2- the chapter in the Bible that speaks about how God inspires people to turn their swords in to ploughshares. Nice work.

I read somewhere yesterday a crazy statistic about how 86% of the global arms trade comes out the only 5 permanent members of the UN security council. There is some proper nasty hypocrisy spinning around when it comes to arms and war. We desperately need some of these leading countries to get serious out peacemaking eh?
(Beautiful Picture pinched with huge thanks from this blog!)

I wrote this as I was revising for my Child rights Exam.. I don't think it's quite the ticket...

2008-05-01T00:46:00.002+12:00

A match is on. In the blue corner we have the Transnational Corporations who make up over half of the 100 worlds largest economies. In the red corner we have the children of the world... 2.2 billion of them, one in two of which are in poverty. It is a David and Goliath match. Both are fighting for their rights.. the children for their right to life, an adequate standard of living and the right to an education. The Corporations; for the right to make as much profit as possible.

In the crowd, a noisy bunch fill one side; governments with banners waving the words "We are your fans! We will lower our taxes and subsidise you if you come to our country!", Neo liberal economists screaming "Go unbridled capitalism: Economic growth is good for all!" and small factory owners gushing "We love you! We will keep our wages so very low and conditions sparse to maximise efficiency and help your profits!"...

On the other side an equally fierce crowd made up activists chanting "Freedom from poverty for all!", Nuns yelling "Children are more important than business!!" and academics yeilding flags with the message "Child Rights over Profit!"

The children take a deep breath as the Corporations eye them up, a frightening gleam in their eyes remincent of that evil guy with the net in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

The bell rings...

(PS If you haven't see the Corporation, it's a must)

Talking about poverty

2008-04-20T23:13:00.002+12:00

I realise that a list of quotes sucks out any impact they may have on their own... but here's a random juke box selection anyway. I have been revising poverty for school today and have been stirred...

"Poverty is the principle cause of human rights violations in the world" Office of the High commission of human rights, 1999

"'Tis my maxim that there is no scandal like rags, nor any crime so shameful as poverty"
George Faquhar, 1707

Impoverished young people in Brazil are "losing the right to dream" President Lula
(da Silva, 2003)

"The worst thing about living in poverty is the way it gives others permission to treat you- as if you don't matter" Statement from Low income parents to the APPGP, 2002

"The need to lend a voice to suffering is a condition of all truth"
Adorno, 1973

and from my Head of Department, bit long but a pretty powerful:

If the term "poverty" carries with it the implication and moral imperative that something should be done about it, then the study of poverty is only ultimately justifiable if it influences individual and social attitudes and actions. This must be borne in mind constantly if discussion on the definition of poverty us to avoid becoming an academic debate worthy of Nero- a semantic ans statistical squabble that is parasitic, voyeuristic and utterly unconstructive and which treats "the poor" as passive objects of attention, whether benign or malevolent- a discussion that is part of the problem rather than part of the solution"
Piacaud, 1987

Oxfam gets animated

2008-04-18T21:28:00.001+12:00

This is a video produced for the Swap It parties- www.oxfam.org.uk/swapit by Frater. They have done an amazing job. Let Mr Whistle inspire you to find your ethical rhythm! Warning, you'll be whistling this tune all day...

This is Oxfams new TV ad which I think is rather beautiful, too.

the children, the children...

2008-04-13T06:28:00.003+12:00

I have been in the library today working on a paper for my Child Rights, Poverty and Development course. I have been exploring what the realisation of Articles 26 and 27 of the Convention on The Rights of the Child would mean for children in poverty. It basically requires that all children are given access to social security- essentially it is a childs right to be free from poverty. All countries in the world have ratified this treaty apart from, get this, Somalia and, yes, America.

Anyway, my readings today have been so powerful. I have been reading Child Poverty in the Developing world a report by Gorden et al (2003) that measures 8 deprivation indicators - deprivation of sanitation, education, food, information, water, access to basic services, shelter and health. This report found that one third of children in developing nations are in absolute poverty deprived totally of two or more of these things , and a half are severely deprived with no access to one or more of these. In sub sahara Africa the percentages reach 65% and 80% respectively. That is HUGE. I was quite overwhelmed visualizing these statistics.

How are we in this state? Economic growth across the globe has been momentous, yet millions and millions of beautiful children are left entirely behind.

What are we to do?

The Olympic Flame in Paris

2008-04-08T09:23:00.003+12:00

Allo allo- those French know how to protest! Amazing amazing footage and powerful report here.
And San Fran already getting their banners out on the bridge. CCOME ON!
San Francisco will bring it. I watch in anticipation as people across the world speak out for our "One Dream"- of human rights for all.PS- And also, it was weird today as Tim and I had a few conversations with people being "disappointed" with the 'violent protests' of yesterday, and the way the press has portrayed it- it is as if we were igniting cars. I feel so sad about that- is a "peaceful protest" one that simply stays behind the barricades? Yesterday no one was threatened, assaulted, no property damaged, nothing thrown.... It was confrontational and it crossed boundaries but it was far from violent. (Apart from the coppas picking us up and flicking us off like flies!) To be sure, I can imagine admirable saints of old having a grand old stomp and shout about oppression and injustice.

Olympic Flame in London: yeah but, sport and politics don't mix!

2008-04-07T08:05:00.008+12:00

We spent the day charging round London following the Olympic flame. It was the most powerful protest I have ever been a part of, with thousands of people enraged with Chinas human rights abuses and enraged at the Olympic committees tolerance of 7 years of broken promise. People were there on behalf of Tibet, on behalf of Darfur, Burma, even Zimbabwe (Chinese government has given billions to continue Mugabe's tyranny) and of course violations within China.

Some of todays sights and conversations will never leave me; standing with flags held high, a young guys stereo pouring out a Tibetan lament as rank upon rank of police gather to protect the flame, a middle aged women in a suit scrambling over the barrier as passion engulfed her, teenagers, grey haired guys and my husband running for miles alongside the flame on the Stratford leg calling Shame, Shame, Shame. For me 'shame' summed up today, and not just because it rhymes so nicely with 'flame'. Shame on the Chinese government for oppressing their people and the people of other nations, shame on Brown for turning a blind eye, shame on the International Olympic Committee for not holding China to account and Shame on the Olympics Association in the UK for gagging our athletes.
Yet still, today I felt a renewed faith in human kind as we raised our voices together to scream ourselves hoarse in the name of justice.

Interesting things that don;t exactly fit anywhere in this post:

A BBC article on the origins of the flame- Hitlers desire for a symbol of unity.
Excerpts from the Olympic Charter Articles one and two:"Olympism seeks to create a way of life based on... respect for universal fundamental ethical principles." "The goal of Olympism is ... promoting a peaceful society concerned with the preservation of human dignity."
Info on China's role in Sudan, Chinas domestic human rights record

An overview of the day by Angry Chinese blogger
A clarification: Anti- China protests? No, mate. China has some great stuff going on, first climate neutral city, great basic public education and health services, and Chinese people are for the most part I imagine, although I only know a small number, wonderful. This was an Anti-Human Rights Abuse protest and nothing else.

A couple of decades ago crowds of brave Kiwis stood up to the tour of the South African rugby team during Apartheid. The message was so strong that it became a part of a global pressure on that diabolical racist regime. Who said sports and politics shouldn't mix?Our SHAME sign (blood splatted A)

Thousands gather to meet the flame at the 02
The last leg: the protection was 4 people deep.

Signature

2008-04-05T10:44:00.002+13:00

Today I saw a video from Amnesty. It is a beautiful imagination captor! Just the inspiration we need if we ever begin to doubt the effect of our action (or inaction) on people across the world.

Happy Political Easter

2008-03-24T04:14:00.002+13:00

People in England love to think of Jesus as apolitical. This is understandable when we have an awful far right American rhetoric claiming Jesus bats on their team, but also sad. As while Jesus wasn't a socialist or a capitalist, communist or neoliberalist, he was deeply political. He didn't play party politics but his message has volumes to say regarding power and policy. To deny that is to follow a sort of neutered Jesus. (Yes, I have nailed my colours to this mast before!)
This weekend for me has been a fabulous celebration of Gods free for all love, path displaying light and soul bouncing life. 3 things that if we allow them to have much to say for society and politics.
The Guardian Newspaper ran a cool comment yesterday called "A funny kind of Easter" -its opening paragraph likens a nowaday version of Jesus' torture to the kind of torture current governments are using. It continues to discuss the absolute disconnect between the Christian faith modeled by those in world leadership and the founder of that faith. It is very brief, a bit controversial but quite beautiful and sums up a lot of how I feel about the implications of Jesus, the cross and Easter... here's a bit:

"Easter is not all about going to heaven. Still less some nasty evangelical death cult where a blood sacrifice must be paid to appease an angry God. The crucifixion reveals human death-dealing at its worst. In contrast, the resurrection offers a new start, the foundation of a very different sort of community that refuses the logic of scapegoating. The kingdom is a place of shocking, almost amoral, inclusion. All are welcome, especially the rejected. At least, that's the theory. Unfortunately, very few of us Christians are any good at it."

The last sentence seems to despair, but rather it is a well needed confession. This Easter I'm pledging to a life that more deeply reflects Jesus' outrageous kingdom of welcome and love for people constantly turned away.

and not a drop to drink!

2008-03-23T10:31:00.005+13:00

“Water is Life. Yet this precious resource is widely mismanaged. Unless we change our ways of managing water we will face serious crises in the near future”. Ismail Serageldin, Chairman of the World Water Commission and Vice President of the World BankWorld Water Day it is. Tim and I are half way through our water fast. It is going okay, primarily because we haven't done any laundry and because we are attempting to time our loo breaks with other peoples so the flush doesn't count on ours. (That is so cheating, but if we were to flush even once it would use up our entire daily allowance!!!)
There is an interesting resource on how much water everything uses here. The chart really shows that mine and Tims attempt is basically a farce as our lives are set up to pour water down the drain. In revolt of this wasteful system The Simple Way have made a little guide to the "Grey Water flushing system"- reusing water as a flush. (Yeah, what most of the world has to do.)
Despite the fact that a UN report in '99 stated that more then 200 scientists from across the world have declared water shortage as one of the two most worrying problems of this century (alongside global warming) it gets little airtime. When we have such beautiful free flowing pure water on tap (forgetting for a minute that the Thames water we drink has already been through bucket loads of other Londoners!) its easy to forget that wars are being fought over this resource (Bolivian "Water War.")
Check out this BBC news article that goes into the intensity of the worlds water state from a different angle to the lack of access to sanitized water for those in poverty. Also, The Salvation Army has a great resource page here well worth checking out. A place where you can also find Mel Wiggins song, Watershed... (or just check out her Myspace) which has some potent words in it...
"Its time that we changed the noise... to rivers that rage and overflow... a well spring of justice and an ocean of unity to show that our dreams of this be turned to noble action..."

water, water everywhere

2008-03-19T23:19:00.002+13:00

World Water Day this Saturday. The average European goes through 200 litres of water per day. (For Americans its 400) The average amount in the developing world is 10 litres. As a little thing of solidarity and to try and get to grips with this I am going to go Friday- Monday, the whole of the Easter weekend, using 10 litres each day. I'll let you know how it goes! Feel free to join me in this little challenge!!

1.1 billion people in the world do not have access to safe water, this is roughly one sixth of the world's population.

2.6 billion people in the world do not have access to adequate sanitation, this is roughly two fifths of the world's population.

1.8 million children die every year as a result of diseases caused by unclean water and poor sanitation. This amounts to around 5000 deaths a day.
Water-related disease is the second biggest killer of children worldwide, after acute respiratory infections like tuberculosis.

p r o c r a s t i n a t i o n

2008-03-13T23:10:00.003+13:00

The project I have been developing for for Oxfam has just gone live: www.oxfam.org.uk/swapit
We are encouraging people across the country to hold parties for poverty on April 25th. Its all about swapping stuff in an attempt to model a more creative and less damaging way to consume AND to create a space for a conversation to take place about ethical consumerism. Check it out and sign up!!!

Tomorrow is my last day of classes- can you believe it?! The next 3 months are dedicated to essay writing (4), exams (5) and dissertation (1). Studying at LSE has been the most incredible experience. I don't think there are many other masters programmes in the world when you are sitting there being taught by a world authority on poverty when a fellow student puts up her hand and says "Sir, I have to disagree. When I was with the World Bank in Kenya...." OR where you come across Goldie Hawn in the corridor because she is meeting with one of your teachers about Happiness! (He also advising Mr Brown on the same topic) hehe.
I have always tended to read alot of books at the same time, but the last few month have been beyond a joke. At the moment by my bed I have:

Making globalisation work for the poor by Stiglitz
Development as Freedom by Sen (big time recommend)
The Bottom Billion by Collier
The Shock Doctrine by Klein
Global Citizenship by Schattle
World Poverty by Townsend
Global Social Policy by Deacon
and
Punk Monk by Freeman
The Trumpet Major by Hardy

Serious- I am at various stages with all of them. Craziness.

Anyway this is just to say that due to the onset of much essay writing and reading requirements I will probably be blogging everyday.

a paw and a claw

2008-03-04T00:33:00.002+13:00

are inhibiting my typing skills. I broke a finger on each hand at a youth weekend two weeks ago. One break is sitting in a little plastic splint and is doing sweet as, the other was a bad one and needed surgery and screws and is now wrapped in one humoungous cast. I feel like a big grizzly swiping at honey. So blogging is not easy but still i wanted to point out three things:
1- thumbs are great.
2- Fairtrade fornight is going swimmingly despite a ludicrous report from the Adam Smith Institute. (the name comes from the father of capitalism and says alot) It has been one of the main focuses of the press and basically says FT is a hoax- this is a real shame as all cynics need is some silly piece of evidence and they run away with it. See the FT foundation's response here.
3- It is international womens day this weekend- 8th march. so far as poverty goes i think this is a fairly critical calender date- so long as gender discrimination exists poverty will never be eradicated*. I was drawn to something put out by Amnesty in the guardian on saturday, it made me so sad. It spoke of the choice women are having to make in Darfur about traveling to get water for their families and risk being raped or not getting water and having their families perish. Rape is regularly used as a weapon of war out there. We can write letters to the UNAMID about this here-please do.

*

70 per cent of the 1.2 billion people living in extreme poverty are female.
There are twice as many women as men among the world’s 900 million illiterates.
On average, women are paid 30-40 per cent less than men for comparable work.
Above 80 percent of farmers in Africa are women.
A woman living in sub-Saharan Africa has a 1-in-16 chance of dying in pregnancy. This compares with a 1-in-3,700 risk for a woman from North America.
Every minute, a woman somewhere dies in pregnancy or childbirth. This adds up to 1,400 women dying each day, an estimated 529,000 each year from pregnancy-related causes.

Check out what is going on in your local region for womens day here.

Dear America

2008-02-23T11:59:00.002+13:00

While studying this year I have become increasingly aware of Americas power in the world. I wasn't ever completely naive but just didnt know the extent to which the US impacts on the world's experience of social justice and human rights.
I seem to constantly be coming across sentences in readings that speak of Americas noncooperation with ideas/ other leaders that could lead to a better world. For example, they are the only state in the world save Somalia that hasn't signed the Child Rights Convention, they havent signed the Kyoto agreement(and they were the ones that threw the spanner in the works of last Decembers climate change deal), they have vetoed several ideas that would redistribute the worlds wealth such as a carbon/ currency tax and regularly veto trade agreements that would protect the global poor. Phew and wowzers. I am not meaning to be scathing, just expressing how some of the decisions the US leadership make have incredibly serious and damaging consequences. I also realise that many Americans are just as depressed about this as me, so am Bush bashing rather then America bashing. (And you are free to Blair bash! Just not Gordon Brown, I do think he is a little bit great.) (Plus I love America for: The Simpsons, Martin Luther King, Jazz, Donuts, pizza.) (Just kidding about that last one, okay)

However, times are a changing. I am really excited about this, just a little sorry I dont get a vote! But there are two things I can do-
one (this is a biggy) I can pray! I am so lifting up American voters, that somehow God would breathe into the global justice sphere through their decision, and will continue to sustain the newly elected leader. The thing is I just don't think I will ever have the ground to whinge about bad policy if I don't commit to this in the next few months!!
two - I can sign the Fabians letter to America!
It begins...
"Dear America,

As you choose your next President, the world will watch as the most powerful job in the world peacefully changes hands. In 2008, you will choose the man or woman who has the best vision of America's future and of your role in the world.

All of us, in every country, will be affected by the choice you make."

For some really good thoughts on the whole proceedings check out the Gods politics blog. It has regular reflections on the whole scene.

7 jumbo jets of kids a day

2008-02-19T11:23:00.003+13:00

I was challenged on the weekend about Malaria- its the worlds single biggest killer, killing 3000 kids a day. This is an appalling fact when you think that it has been eradicated in several places including the U.S and most recently- in the sixties- the Netherlands. Surely the only reason we havent got rid of this easily preventable and easily treatable disease is because it is a poor peoples thing. Why would the developed world invest in something that doesn't effect them? (Just think about the impossible to cure HIV AIDS: it impacts people across the globe, so that becomes a priority research and action issue.)

I have just come across this website- a charity totally run by volunteers as it depends on your everyday people fund raising and putting on events in order to buy nets. Its all about nets. (Read The Economist if you think not.)
I think I might do a Coldplay/Angelina Jolie/Madonna and make this my one thing. (As well as the several other things that really get my goat too. Hehe.)

Fair Trade me please

2008-02-18T08:30:00.004+13:00

Fair trade fortnight begins on Sunday. As promised here is something you can print off and slap on some non-fairtrade vending machines. (Send a pic if you get one good!) Please do send a letter as well though, letters generally get a good result.Tearfund have compiled a fantastic letter which you can copy and paste and adapt here.
Also EASTER is coming up, you can order Fair Trade mini eggs, normal easter eggs, baskets of chocolate easter yummies all here. Do Easter ethically!
And, lastly, if you are not busy on Sunday afternoon the young people at my church, The Rink, are doing a Fair Trade service, including brownies and a fair trade chocolate cake auction whoop whoop!

Genocide Olympics?

2008-02-14T11:22:00.004+13:00

On Sunday I was completely appalled to hear that the British Olympics Association was asking all athletes going to the Olympics to, well, basically keep hush hush about the big, oppressive, human rights violating elephant in the room. Keep Quiet about Chinas business when in China or get on the plane home. I simply couldn't believe it, when all along the hope has been for some that at least having the Olympics in Beijing will get some of the issues raised and dialogued about. Well, not if everyone has been gagged. Shameful to be British.However, I just heard on the news that a little letter of encouragement I (and the thousands others) wrote a couple of months ago has paid off. Mr Steven Spielberg has resigned in his role of director for the Olympics. While he has been urging China to change policy and behavior towards Darfur, I like to think the public encouragement helped him realise that his pull out would be significant.
He says "...I find that my conscience will not allow me to continue with business as usual. At this point, my time and energy must be spent not on Olympic ceremonies, but on doing all I can to help bring an end to the unspeakable crimes against humanity that continue to be committed in Darfur.... China’s economic, military and diplomatic ties to the government of Sudan continue to provide it with the opportunity and obligation to press for change. The situation has never been more precarious..."
So, I just hope that more people, sponsors, athletes will have the courage to boycott the games too. I know it is complicated but working with China is essentially supporting their relationship with Darfur.A great website on all this stuff is www.miafarrow.org

Lessons in getting the British Public united on an issue:

2008-02-09T06:42:00.001+13:00

suggest an exploration of Sharia Law in the context of Britain.
Which is just what the Archbishop Rowan Williams did last night. There has been an Almighty Outcry- the Sun and the Guardian, right wing and left wing, Christian and Atheist have all come together under the banner of "Ludicrous!" (Actually they have been a fair bit more aggressive and derogatory in their criticism.) The public, the press, the politicians- all are furious.

You might have guessed already from this blog and my mentioning of the AB and his writings that I do think he is a rather fab fellow, so, this may not be that surprising: I think it was a courageous and salient suggestion. We already have places where religion and law blur- the Jewish Beth Dihn- and he made it clear he wasn't advocating the violent part of Islamic justice and it was a c o m m e n t about a conversation that needs to happen- not a proposed bill. So, the brooha is unjustified but anyway i just want to make these points:

*The head of the Church of England was inviting a conversation about our multi faith society and the increasing significance of Islam in our society- this is a beautiful thing, both spiritually and for peace and cohesion in society.
*Why does every mention of Islam have to be so controversial? (An insight of our inherent racism/fears?)
*While the whole incidence has probably been awful for the AB, it has at least got the conversation going- which is what he hoped.

So, good on him I say, he continues to be a wise, insightful, adventurous visionary.

The Story of Stuff

2008-02-05T08:36:00.000+13:00

If you have only 20 minutes to spare this entire week I recommend you sit down and watch The Story of Stuff. If you only have 3 minutes to spare each day then watch it in chapters on you tube. However you do it, watch it. It is an absolute masterpiece.
It is the most poignant and captivating portrayal of the consumer epidemic I have seen- perhaps so because of its beautiful simplicity and accuracy. (You can hold screenings and stuff which would be excellent material for youth/ home groups.) If you only have 6 minutes in your entire 2008 then watch this chapter:

As Annie points out it is suggested that our current unquenchable thirst for consuming crap stems from the post second world war period as great minds worked out a new framework for society. This quote from enormously important post war retail analyst, Victor Le Bow encapsulates the theory with this scary and non-satirical quote; "Our enormously productive economy demands that we make consumption our way of life, that we convert the buying and use of goods into rituals, that we seek our spiritual satisfaction and our ego satisfaction in consumption. We need things consumed, burned up, worn out, replaced and discarded at an ever-increasing rate."
While I would argue our need to consume runs even deeper and further back then the middle of last century, the fact that people have collaborated to make us increasingly dependent on buying stuff is frightening, though not hard to believe. (In fact, Gillette created the concept of hairless, smooth female legs simply so they could capture a new market for their razor. Revolting. The advent of that knowledge was my descent into the world of the non-shaven woman where I still abide.)
There is a shop down the road from us that has a bit of a funny quote in the window "Why is there so much month left at the end of the money?" For some this is true because they literally do not have enough income to meet their most basic of needs, and it is a desperate truth. For most, i suspect, it is because our consumption has got a hold of us- our calender is re-worked around the arrival of the pay-check. Consumption seems to form the framework for living for most developed world citizens, and in turn our consumption re-defines relationships, desires, values and purpose.
Anyway, see the Story of Stuff, it's a must!

a healthy bit of sabotage

2008-01-31T09:53:00.000+13:00

I was at a conference at the Salvation Armys Training College yesterday about living incarnationally. It was really good, great actually. But I'm not blogging about that (maybe another time). I'm blogging about what I saw in the canteen: 3 drink dispensers and not one Fair Trade coffee available! (Crikey you cry, is she still banging on about That?) These are the same hot drink dispensers that were around when I lived there 15 years ago (I remember them well cos we would grab the cup before the water went in so we could eat orange flavoured powder/ college kid sherbert.) It has been 3 years since the Salvation Army in the UK implemented a Fair Trade policy, why the fig do we still have Maxwell House machines in the training institution?! Is there anyone out there who can tell me?
But, you know, don't get mad get even and all that. So FAIR TRADE FORTNIGHT IS COMING UP ON THE 25TH FEBRUARY. Normally I advocate some tender letter writing and that is all good, but alongside that why not get the message across in some creative ways. What about this for a deal: In a week or so I'll put up here some resources that you can print off; a letter to your canteen/management/fave cafe but also some signs that say "Fair Trade Me". All you have to do is spend a couple of weeks scoping out all the non-fair trade machines around and decide who to write your letter to.
That way when Fair Trade Fortnight comes along we can all go armed with some signs, some of that fluro WARNING tape and some bluetack and attack the non-fair trade machines.
Are there any volunteers living around the college hood who will pimp those Maxwell Housers?!

Shop for Jesus

2008-01-17T09:18:00.000+13:00

Argh. Sales. They have made the streets of London even more desperately crowded this month. Sitting on the bus on Oxford Street watching the masses sway and shove from shop to shop has burdened my little heart. "I shop therefore I am" seems to be a pretty common paradigm for people, which poses concerns on loads of levels- spiritually/well being of individual, society/ impact on global poverty/ impact on environment.

BUT, I am not ranting today, I am just going to point out a few little cool sites to do with consumerism, here they are- the cream of todays crop!

The Compact are a bunch of friends who decided to get out of the consumerism grid for a year, buying pretty much nothing for 12 months.

Buylesscrap- Is bit of a mockery of Bono’s RED concept (but also gives you the opportunity to donate directly to the RED charities.) I love Bono, he is radical, but I have always felt pretty dubious about the whole RED thing (you know buy a RED tee shirt from Gap and a few cents goes to charity) You simply can not shop your way to a better world!

Green my Apple is an exciting wee venture from Greenpeace- if you like Apple visit that site and get them doing the right thing.

Here are two truths:

We can impact big business through our ethical choices: that vote in your wallet matters!

To consume ethically we must consume less. It doesn't get much more simple than that!

Social Action Calendar 2008

2008-01-11T03:35:00.000+13:00

I hate feeling like the year is gliding by on skates, last year I had too many "Shivers-can't-believe-I-missed-that-significant-chance-for-action" moments.
So in an effort to curb that from happening this year I have scoured websites and have tried to put together a pretty exhaustive list of International Dates around justice, peace, development. Some are a bit wacky, others are major, but all provide a chance for action. Here is the Social Action Calendar 2008.

The gate of the year

2008-01-06T07:01:00.001+13:00

We have had a grand old week of adventures gallivanting around the south of England visiting- yes you guessed it- castles. (Plus a few other fabulous antiquities like Stone Henge, which is incredible) I think we came across 5 altogether including the currently lived in Windsor and the earthworks of Old Salem. One castle for each day we were away! In Windsor by the tomb of George the Sixth, I found this little quote:
I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year "Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown" and he replied "Go out into the darkness and put your hand in the hand of God. That shall be better to you than a light and safer than a known way."
What a true word. So as I stand here looking at 2008 I hope I can have the pure, simple faith to step out into whatever darkness, knowing that my hand in Gods is well enough. That is the key to an adventure, eh?

the damage

2007-12-31T07:56:00.000+13:00

So, another Christmas come and gone eh! We had a lovely time- lots of food, laughter and remote control helicopter flying. I hope you had a lovely one.
Just to add a negative spin on any Christmas cheer still bubbling around, think on these facts:
In the UK alone-

19 million people shopped on Christmas Eve, spending £89 million an hour as the day's shopping bill reached £2.14 billion

£10 billion is the average amount borrowed across Britain at Christmas to foot the bill

Some 79 per cent of Brits will receive presents they do not like or want

Food wasted in the UK increases by a massive 80% during the Christmas period

and

3 million tonnes of waste are dumped in the UK over Christmas

Eek, these are some ugly figures! The socio-economic and environmental consequences of the way we do Christmas are devastating! It is such a shame that we can live all year in relatively ethical ways and then we hit Christmas and our imagination/passion dries up completely. We talk about a more loving, just, peaceful Christmas but then still let that consumerist monster rip when crunch time comes. Glyn Harries has done an awesome poem over on his blog- 23rd Dec- that really portrays well our passion for goodness but our all consuming desire for plastic crap too.

So the challenge is- how do we do Christmas better in 2008? While it is all still in our minds. Feel free to share an idea. These are three inspiring things from this year:

This year my friend got hold of some recycled material and sewed stockings for all her friends, one friend wrapped all her pressies in junk mail and Tim brought home our Christmas tree from outside of a school at the end of the term. (He had to get out his pocket knife and just saw off 2 metres off the top as it was a whopper. Heehee.)

More Peace please

2007-12-22T05:14:00.000+13:00

Peace on earth, a nice Christmas Card Greeting, typically with a dove and some holly scattered around the embossed words. Is it possible? Sometimes I despair with Bono when I hear him sing:

Jesus can you take the time
To throw a drowning man a line
Peace on earth

To tell the ones who hear no sound
Whose sons are living in the ground
Peace on earth

Jesus in the song you wrote
The words are sticking in my throat
Peace on earth

Hear it every Christmas time
But hope and history wont rhyme
So whats it worth...

Peace on Earth.

If we scan the earth at this moment in time, all is not peaceful. In fact, I heard yesterday that there has already been more wars this century then in the last. Yet we still bandy "peace on earth" slogans about. In this intense article Ron Snider blows all Christian Just War ideas out of the water and articulates why he thinks Christian pacifists can bring peace about. I love his vision of 10000 trained and praying Peace Makers entering conflict zones.

Anyway, rant, rant. I'm praying this Christmas for Peace on Earth, in the hearts and minds of victims and perpetrators, in our local spaces and across the globe. I'm praying that Ron's vision will get given legs, so that Bono's desperate lyrics become history.

Peace.

Nestle Kills Babies

2007-12-15T03:40:00.000+13:00

was the title of a pamphlet put out in the seventies when knowledge about the aggressive marketing of baby formula milk by companies such as Nestle was forcing a decline in breast feeding, with an impact of upping the infant mortality rate by 3 times. The horrendous things is that these companies are still doing exactly the same thing, with even more dire results. A report from this year by Save the Children suggests that 3,800 babies die A DAY because they are bottle fed and not breast fed. There is a good Guardian article here, about the impact of this figure on the worlds goal to reduce infant mortality by half by 2015. Not gonna happen unless Nestle and co buck up.
I feel so blessed today. It is my last day of term at LSE, and I am just pulling my essays together. One is on the above topic- the impact of transnational corporations on child rights- and another is on gender equality. How amazing is it, that this is the stuff I am passionate about, and I get to do it?
In a lecture this morning we were reminded about a quote from one of LSE's founders, George Bernard Shaw. Its a goodie:
"Some see things as they are and ask "Why?" others dream things as they never were and ask "Why not?" "
It is too easy to be one of the first, but I pray we will be the dreamers.

there IS something wrong with it...

2007-12-09T07:01:00.000+13:00

There are lots of words in bold today. That is a sure sign of an angry post. Please don't read on if you were wanting to feel happy and nice and burden free.

The Guardian today, in an article entitled "if I had a little money..." reported the new £35,000 cocktail available from nightclub Movida. Yep, that is the right amount of 0's. Yep, that is more than double the salary recieved by somone on the UK's minium wage. Yep that is enough to build a school, provide equipment and teachers for several villages for several years in a developing nation. My heart is thumping with rage. It is revolting that people have such a ludicrous amount of money that they could spend that much on one glass of alchohol.
The UK has been quite alright on poverty issues over the last decade, policy papers have been spewed out at a rate of knots and globally poverty is being taken quite seriously- in theory at least if not in practice- what with the MDG's being so high profile and all. But it is as if we are so poor focused that we have left the super wealthy to just go full steam ahead, as if it doesn't impact society at all, as if everyone has succumbed to a trickle down theory. Well, it doesn't trickle down and it does impact society! Evidence clearly shows that it is the gap that matters, not how poor the poor are or how rich the rich are even, but how wide the chasm between them is. The bigger the gap the great the consequences- education, health, crime, cohesion and inclusion all suffer when inequality is left to fester.
Share The Worlds Resources- put it well: "greater inequality fuels crime, corrodes democracy, divides our cities, prices people out of housing, skews the economy, is an engine of social apartheid, heightens ethnic tensions, is a barrier to opportunity and stifles social mobility"
It is not okay that the greedy (I don't even want to call them the rich any more. They are not rich in anything but greed) sit and pour life-saving resources down their fake tanned crystal glad necks while a third of this countrys children have limited access to health care, nutrition, clothing and shelter. It is not okay that the greedy earn money on interest while they sleep when 2 roads down a homeless woman can't sleep for fear of being knifed. It is not okay that in the world of the greedy money rushes down the drain like water when in the same world one child dies every 7 seconds because they do not have clean water.
I have no vision today, no solutions, just a mind filled with madness and a stomach full of rage. It is not okay and there is something wrong with it.

A little snuggle...

2007-12-06T05:38:00.000+13:00

I am often heard, several times a month, expounding the benefits of hugging. 7 a day is the ticket, apparently, for maximum sense of well-being. So bring on the hug, friends and family come hither! That is, those of us who have people to hug... too many people literally go years without someone to touch them, let alone hug them. Therefore, I love to hug.
Unbenownst to me was this chap who, lonely, burdened with trouble and empathy for others who were feeling this way, pulled out a marker and a bit of cardboard and scrawled "Free Hugs." He says for a while the whole street ignored him but then someone "stopped, tapped me on the shoulder and told me how her dog had just died that morning. How that morning had been the one year anniversary of her only daughter dying in a car accident. How what she needed now, when she felt most alone in the world, was a hug." And there was he and thus began his Free Hugs Campaign.
(I know, I know, too many videos. A sure indicator of a laaazzy blogger. Wa, wa, waahhhh. But I love this one! So fabulous!)
On hugs for the lonely...Red Cross in Sweden have just launced their "Hugs for the Lonely" campaign, a pre- Christmas depression weapon. It sounds nice.. but the hugs cost! Yep, hard cash. Hmm... It sounds like the perfect "Social Enterprise" model... something I'm not completley convinced about (I think thats just my cyncial mind.) I could be convinced though. What are your thoughts on market based philanthropy?

Diamonds from Sierra Leone

2007-12-04T20:52:00.000+13:00

So, a bit old, and a bit gangster, but Kanye Wests video about conflict diamonds is a pretty potent watch.

See, a part of me sayin' keep shinin',
How? when I know of the blood diamonds
Though it's thousands of miles away
Sierra Leone connect to what we go through today
Over here, its a drug trade, we die from drugs
Over there, they die from what we buy from drugs
The diamonds, the chains, the bracelets, the charmses
I thought my Jesus Piece was so harmless'til I seen a picture of a shorty armless
And here's the conflict
It's in a black person's soul to rock that gold
Spend ya whole life tryna get that iceOn a polo rugby it look so nice
How could somethin' so wrong make me feel so right, right?

Talk is cheap...

2007-12-03T04:22:00.000+13:00

but will cost the earth if that is all that is done.
Potentially the next few days could be host to some of the most important conversations had regarding world poverty this year. For tomorrow begins the UN conference on Climate Change where world leaders are coming together in Bali to put legs on the Kyoto agreement. We all know that there has been a lot of talk re. the climate, but hopefully in the next two weeks we'll see some action. If so, we can begin to imagine a future where those in the developing world are able to live peacefully, work effectively and not (literally) die by the thousands because of the effects of climate change. For, for them, at the moment the prospects- and the present- is bleak indeed.
I say some of the most important conversations, because just as important as the leaders dialogue are the conversations held in the home about how to recycle more, consume less, cycle to work, just as important as the decision made in the staff meeting to go easy on the AC and printing, just as important as children being taught to appreciate home made gifts rather that plastic tack.
Presidents and Prime MInisters can make all the calls they want to hinder the coming climate catastrophe but unless a huge amount of the public make personal changes we are not going to get anywhere.
So for the UN conference I pray that God will give wisdom, courage and insight to the leaders their. That a space will be created their for all nations speakers to participate- not just the swanky 8. That the lobbying groups and parties will have a profound impact. And that this will be a momentous turn for the better in the globes history.
I also pray that at the same time "normal" people will be challenged to make change, will have the courage to make some hard calls, that we will all be made more passionate about the climate challenge before us, for the sake of Gods people in poverty and Gods beautiful earth.

World Aids Day 1st December

2007-11-30T21:03:00.000+13:00

It is ravaging some of the worlds poorest nations and leaving millions vulnerable. Thank God for the amazing groups and organisations working hard to alleviate the suffering of those with HIV/AIDS. There are ways we can get involved- see here.
This video of Archbishop Rowan Williams has some challenges for the Church..."The body of Christ is HIV positive."

The Marinade is back

2007-11-29T23:54:00.000+13:00

beginning this Saturday 1st December. An experiment in anticipation, a reclaiming of advent, 2 minutes each day to dwell on what it is to w a i t.

Find us at: http://www.marinateme2.blogspot.com/

Not that I think John Howard is racist, ignorant and, well, just a little bit awful or anything

2007-11-25T08:06:00.000+13:00

but I am soooo pleased Australia has voted him out. He has probably been the worst thing to happen to the marginalised of that big country for the last 11 years. Go on, on yer bike.
New Prime Minister, Mr Rudd has this to say; "I say to all of those who have voted for us today - I will be a prime minister for all Australians; a prime minister for Indigenous Australians; Australians who have been born here and Australians who have come here from afar and contributed to this country's great diversity. "
Beautiful words that Mr Howard wouldn't have considered uttering seeing as he has only shown contempt for immigrants, refugees and the indigenous of the country. And new PM's first act is to sign the Kyoto agreement. Whoop Whoop!
Hopefully we will begin to see a more just Australian society.

In honour of Buy Nothing Day 2007

2007-11-25T07:42:00.000+13:00

from AsboJesus whose work continues to make me laugh, grit my teeth and think. (You should definately have a squizz)

Buy Nothing Day 23rd November 2007

2007-11-20T01:55:00.000+13:00

I love the idea of Buy Nothing Day. It is next weekend and a fab opportunity to combat consumerism! You can participate by not participating (in the shopping that is) or by doing some Jamming.
It is a good motivation to start thinking more creatively about Christmas too- not only in our presents (we all know about goats and condoms for developing nations instead of tacky crap for greedy Westerners) but even in our wrapping and waste- we throw away, in the UK, 27,000 tonnes more over Christmas.
if you want more info on Buy Nothing Day events and ideas check out this link. There is a Give or Take day happening (a grand idea) where you bring stuff and take stuff all for freeeee. See Giveortake.org
And finally, have a peek at the pig:

let me take you by the hand and lead you through the streets of London

2007-10-27T10:57:00.000+13:00

I had very black snot today. Apparently thats an outcome of Londons underground tubular network and I have been spending a lot of time on that lately. I have been putting together a few Social Justice Tours of London for a group of Salvation Army officers over here in the UK for a while. It has been challenging, as it is really not an area that has been too comprehesively explored, but really exciting seeing the weave of social reform and action shine through this ancient city's history.

We will cover the obvious- Londons role in the slave trade- and the obscure- Maggie Blakes Cause and the impact of one passionate community activist bringing about access for the poverty stricken locals to the Thames. Some sites such as the Magna Carta and the founding of democracy are proper vintage ...others are modern social justice initiatives - visiting the Icount crew and hearing about their fight against climate change.

It has endeared London more to me, I have been captured by events and people that I imagine at the time were quite insignificant but have been an integral part of this citys fabric of change. Ah. To dwell on real places and real people that have bought about justice and freedom is a beautiful and inspiring thing!!! (I recommend it, if you have some spare time!!)

a lot of people.

2007-10-20T01:08:00.001+13:00

On Wednesday 17th october 38.7 million people across 110 countries stood up against poverty and for the Millenium Development Goals as part of the S t a n d U p movement.
Fantastic.
(See more here.)

Black Gold

2007-10-09T20:14:00.000+13:00

Stand up

2007-10-09T19:54:00.000+13:00

empty boots

2007-10-03T19:47:00.000+13:00

Bo Brekke, leader of the Salvation Army, was killed last week. His premature death will be felt intensely by his family and friends, and also from the global community. Brekke had a passion for those on the margins and this was reflected massively in his work from his establishing of the Salvation Army Fair Trade gift chain, Sally Ann, to his writing. If you have the time give his article, We are the Poor, a read.

Joe Mitty was the man who set up the first Oxfam Charity shop and who has played a critical role in fighting global poverty ever since has passed away at 88. Although his death was not such a shock, he too will leave holes in the fabric of the fight for justice. A few years ago Mitty was describing his inexperience for such a role but went on to say "But I had two words - Rage, and Passion. Rage because of the inequality and injustice in the world, and a Passion to do something about it.”

I admire and honour these two guys. I am praying for those who are mourning and also that people will stand up with their passion and rage and fill these two pairs of now empty boots.

Just a heads up...

2007-10-03T07:37:00.000+13:00

that the international day for the eradication of poverty is on the 17th October. Get your White Band ready and your people mobilised to Stand Up and Speak out against poverty!

All in London are welcome to come along to the Rink, Oxford St, at 7pm for a reflection on global poverty and prayer for our global neighbours.

Sheep without a Shepherd

2007-09-28T21:17:00.000+12:00

It's a David and Goliath story- peaceful monks vs armed and violent soldiers. It tugs at our heart and mind- it is the old appeal of the weak standing up to the strong and we want desperately for the weak to win. The courage of the protesters is astounding, doing the very thing that had 3000 people massacred not so long ago. Their bravery is magnetic, this week whenever I have walked past a newspaper stand I have found it impossible not to pause and scan the photos and the headlines.

But the protests should compel us for reasons deeper than this. What the protesters are asking for is profoundly right. What the protesters want is what Jesus wants. "How can you say this?!" some of you more conservative types might cry, "Hath the Lord speaketh in your ear?!" (Okay I know fundamentalists don't speak in King James language but it suited the moment)

Well, Jesus might as well have as it is written right there in the Bible- in both words and actions we can see that Jesus stands strongly for the ideals of equality, democracy and social justice and strongly opposed to political, emotional and religious oppression.

In Karl Barth's fantastic sermon on Jesus and and the social justice movement, where he basically states that Jesus and social democracy have the same purpose, he says "In answer to the question "Which commandment is first of them all?" Jesus named two "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart" and "you shall love your neighbour as your self". From this awareness of the collective, solidary, communal, social God the rule of coresponding action follows of itself" "Whatever you wish that men would do to you, do so to them".

If I was a peaceful protester in Burma I would hope that people all around the world would stand in solidarity with me and that people, organisations who stand in Christs name would speak out against my oppressors.

The Salvation Army have been working in Burma for a while, with a lot of impact. This blog post (from the School of Prophets Blogand seems kind of prophetic seeing as it was written at the very beginning of these protests!) describes the hard and 'gutsy' work of the SA there. My old Boss Campbell Roberts does a talk based on Micah, that being a christian is a triangle of mercy, justice and personal spirituality, each being as criticial as the other. He argues that the Army is all about mercy and personal spirituality at a cost of social justice. In Burma for sure we are doing two of these things, but does the events of this week highlight the missing third?

If the International Salvation Army spoke out in support of the protesters would it be sacrificing this amazing mercy work going on? If it is supposed that that would happen are we then forsaking social justice for mercy? They are hard questions, but I beleive that even mercy can only happen to a certain extent within a socially just framework and soon, if we fail to support the cries of the people, that even the Armys acts of mercy will be made redundant.

What are your thoughts?

PS to sign the petition heading for the UN this week click here.

If any of you are wanting to join a protest there are a couple here: (Taken from the Stand with Burmese Protester Facebook group- Come and joing if you are a FBer!)

Londoners: Protest every day from 12-1 outside the Burmese Embassy. Joing a big march from Trafalger Square this Sunday from 11:30.

Kiwis: Protest at Aotea Square this Saturday: http://unityaotearoa.blogspot.com/2007/09/democracy-for-burma-now.html for more information

Roddick-ised

2007-09-13T22:22:00.000+12:00

I spent yesterday celebrating with food and fun, my quarter of a century burpday. I recieved some awesome pressies- Tim got all of his gifts from the 2nd hand shop (he knows me well that one) and Jo and Steve got me a.... Greenhouse. I was so stoked all day that I didn't open eyes to the world around me, so read only this morning, would you beleive, that Anita Roddick has passed away.
I was rather shocked and a fair bit sad. Although the recent sell out to Loreal threatens to cast a shadow on her green and fair pioneering life, it musn't. This Guardian article talks about us all, to some extent, being "Roddick-ised", meaning, we have become more ethical consumers due to her efforts. Its a big call but I can't agree more. When The Body Shop was founded the term Fair Trade didn't even exist, let alone micro-enterprise, yet both were central philosophies of the endeavour. The Body Shop were the ones who first made me aware of animal cruelty and the environmental damage of plastic bags (a decade and a half before it dawned on Anya Hindmarch.)
So, here's to a life lived out of love for others, an adventure carved out of a dream for a sustainable and beautiful earth, a trail blazed in hope of a fairer and more peaceful world.

Kelly Slater isn't God of the waves

2007-09-11T02:58:00.000+12:00

Todays Guardian has a rad story on the UK Christian Surfers- yep, kiwis there is swell here...
Christian Surfer in NZ is a massive movement and it is cool to see that it does awesome stuff here too- and getting coverage in the national paper. I like this bit- "Surfers tend to be a group who don't necessarily connect with a dusty old building like a church. But God is not about a building. He is about a community."

A beacon of hope

2007-09-03T19:48:00.000+12:00

We went and saw the new Nelson Mandela statue in Parliament Square last week, which the man himself came to unveil. The bronze sculpture is full of passion- in contrast to most of the others around the square with their elegant stature. It was really moving standing in front of the imploring figure, arms open, face appealing and knowing what Mandela has acheived. At the unveling he said "Though this statue is of one man, it should in actual fact symbolise all of those who have resisted oppression, especially in my country." Good old Gordon Brown finished up the ceremony with some truth when he said “This statue is a beacon of hope. It sends around the world the most powerful of messages: that no injustice can last for ever, that suffering in the cause of freedom will never be in vain.”

Spanners

2007-08-21T04:09:00.000+12:00

I think it was Rob Bell in Velvet Elvis who said if someone was to create a religion as opposite as possible to the thing Jesus set out to do it would look remarkably like the pop christianity most nations have got going on at the moment. It's scarily true. The words and antics of Jesus in the Bible mess with the Sundayish, soundbitey, rigid religion most people see in the Church.... (This is the latest from Jon Birches cartoon blog, Asbo Jesus, and I think he does a cool job getting these anomolies across!)

G R E E N B E L T

2007-08-17T22:29:00.000+12:00

We are looking for a ride there, can you help us?!

bringing home the bacon and breaking up the bike

2007-08-16T23:04:00.000+12:00

This week I started a new job at Oxfam GB co-ordinating their Outreach programme, part of the mobilising-youth-to-act-on-global-poverty strand of the organisation. I love it. It is, however, in Oxford. A 4 hour a day commute. I could knock it down to 3 hours with a bike, so yesterday we invested in a 30 year old green folder which is rather retrotastic and goes like the wind (or at least a breezey whisper.)
So don't ask me why at this very moment Tim is out the back taking it apart with his pocket knife and a teaspoon under the guise of "adding new inner tubes".

and more on that...

2007-08-08T09:52:00.000+12:00

crazy, was just abroowsing and came across a rad article by Geoff Ryan on church and buildings too... on the rubicon.

brring brring

2007-08-08T09:30:00.000+12:00

We were down in the gardens a couple of weeks ago hanging with my grandparents when one of their friends from church came along and told a story about the antics of his grandson that afternoon. All the family had been standing around in the driveway chatting when the little 7 year old lad came round the corner on his bike, ringing his bell and yelling on the top of his voice "Watch Out! Holy Spirit coming through!"
I Love It!
The wee chap has grasped something the rest of us just want to keep forgetting.
There are so many places to go with this, but I am going to delve quickly into bricks and mortar with Shane Clairborne....
"There is something precious about corporate worship, but corporate is whenever two or three of us gather with God. We must resist the ancient temptation to centralise worship, especially at the expense of justice for the poor. The human made temples will be split open, and no stone will be left on another, jesus says. Acts 17.24 reminds us that God "does not live in temples built by hands." The scriptures remind us that we are God's temples, that the spirit lives in us. And in a very special way, as Jesus says in Matthew 25:40, in the least of these we find Jesus in disguise. Perhaps we are just as likely to encounter God over the dinner table or in the slums or in the streets as in a giant auditorium."

Lost Identity

2007-07-27T10:53:00.000+12:00

I don't know how it happened. I just forgot I was a blogger. Totally forgot till today. So thats why I havene blogged for a wee while. Really weird. In blogging theres definatley a period where things of the day are divided into "bloggable" and "notbloggable" but then that passes and you become more harmoniously comfortable with your blogging status. And then it seems that after that you one day wake up and are not a blogger as such any more. You simply forget you own a blog and should feed it. (Like what usually happens with my plants but hopefully not my future womb fruit.) And here I have arrived at this third stage.
So.... maybe this signifies my blogging end. Or maybe not the end just yet but more a.... retirement. A graceful meander towards the nursing home.

life through the little things

2007-07-19T08:11:00.000+12:00

I am reading Miroslav Volf's "Free of charge"(not just because of his name or the fact that he doesn't give God a gender although both of those things are very cool.)
This is a rad bit. He has just been talking about Gods life flowing through us through "sacred" things (singing/praying/stufflikethat)....
"Notice what happens to the flow of God's life if we think of it as limited to such sacred events. It is streaming into us, but for the most part it is not flowing through us on to others.... It is as we serve our neighbours- our family, friends and acquaintances- that the damn holding the flow of gifts is lifted and the life of God continues its intended flow. Every word and every deed, every thought and every gesture, even the simplest act of paying attention can be a gift and therefore an echo of Gods life in us.
You sit on your couch, beer or soda in hand and junk food by your side watching t.v for hours- that's ordinary. You work around the clock not because you have to feed your family, but for no other reason than to park a better car in your garage than your neighbours have- thats ordinary. You get up from the couch to play with your kids or give your time and energy to help educate a prisoner or lend an ear to an elderley person- thats extraordinary. Why? Because you are giving. Every gift breaks the barrier between the sacred and the mundane and floods the mundane with the sacred. When a gift is given life becomes extraordinary because Gods own gift of giving flows through the giver."
Awesome eh.

a challenge from Archbishop Desmond Tutu

2007-07-17T02:29:00.000+12:00

"Freedom and liberty lose out by default because good people are not vigilant"
from Hope and Suffering: Sermons and Speeches. (1984)
it is sad that this is so true. That evil can continue because the caring and compassionate people are forgetful, distracted and lazy in the fight for justice.

agricultural update

2007-07-17T02:17:00.001+12:00

only one tomato plant has died in the whole 2 weeks of owning them! what a wonderful success. 5 of the other plants all now have little bubbles of green nutrition ready to grow big and red any time soon.
I planted some lettuce seeds not realising that each seed became a whole lettuce so put a scattering of 20-40 seeds in each whole (you get millions in a packet) so now have a big trayful of HUNDREDS of lettuce sprouts which will all be ready to eat at the same time. Hmm. So again, let me know if you like salad ;)
We visited our family in Weymouth last week and had an awesome time looking at pirates graves and neolithic land bumps. My fabulous cousin sarah works in the quaintest bean and tea shop in the world (baskets piled high with lentils and strange stuff) and one day brought me home 4 aubergine plants and 3 pepper plants which made it back to London safe and sound. This veggie garden thing is well and truly gathering momentum. Hurray!

aviation hesitation

2007-07-09T07:33:00.000+12:00

There has been some debate over here lately about the Live Earth Concerts - gigs to create awareness of climate change. You know, how does flying crowds of stars around the planet justify the awareness raised? etc etc. And fair enough too. I remember being rather disillusioned at the U2 concert standing before so many crates worth of equipment with Bono perched on top casting a vision of poverty eradication knowing full well the impact of his tour on climate change, and knowing full well that climate change hits the words poor the hardest and the first.
I thought it so sucked. And then I jumped on a plane across the world with several short hauls imbetween!
It is like, we are prepared to do the easy (sorting through our rubbish) and even the fasionable (the Anna Hindmarch bag, the bike with a basket (man, I want one))but not the things that are really hard.

Video from Plane Stupid a group and site worth checking out.

dreaming of freedom

2007-07-04T23:09:00.000+12:00

Wonderful news! British journalist Alan Johnson set free after 114 days of captivity! "I am immensely grateful. It's just the most fantastic thing to be free."

Now, I don't mean to highjack the good news. A positive headline is such a rare thing. But, perhaps just because of the emotional intensity of the situation, his freedom is so starkly highlighting to me the millions in unjust captivity around the world. People who have such a faint, faint, hardly there faint glimmer of hope for freedom.

600,000 women slaves trafficked around the globe
1.2 million child slaves trafficked around the globe
12.3 million men, women and children currently in forced labour around the globe
23 million men, women and children in forced labour AND other forms of enslavement around the globe

Alan Johnson said this morning, "I literally dreamt many times of being free, and always woke up back in that room. And now it really is over, and it really is indescribably good."

God for those who dream of freedom around the world, make it a reality. And I pray WE will be prepared to work for the freedom of others. Some ideas are here but I am sure there is SO much more we can do to bring freedom for the those in captivity.

Greeenfingers

2007-07-02T03:50:00.000+12:00

Last year I tried to grow two plants. It wasn't too great a success (see post I Kill Things)However I am giving it another crack and can proudly say I have owned 5 wonderful herbs for over 4 days now and they are all still alive.
I also ordered 5 tomato plants from ebay which when they turned up were a bit too tiny to expect anything on my plate any time soon (like 2 cm tall, I was gutted) so I asked Tim to pick me up a couple of bigger ones from the garden centre yesterday. He bought home another 6. So, er, now I have 11 tomato plants. (Give me a ring if you are making a salad in a month or so...)
And I just put some garlic in some soil to see what happens.
I have plans for an adventurous roof top garden with all sorts of edible delights and I have been dreaming about beds of potatos and stawberries and juicy carrots and designing greenhouses from recycled materials. I was greatly encouraged in my scheme when I wandered past a flash block of flats down the road the other day that had 5 ginourmous posh pots outside with nothing in that came to belong to my tomato plants (I asked a builder.)
So, I will let you know from time to time how the second furrow into botanics goes, and of course, do let me know a hot tip if you have one as I don't want to kill things this time.

6 wonderful little things in posh pot from down the road

Number 10

2007-06-29T21:57:00.000+12:00

Well, Gordon Brown is officially in. A refreshing perspective on the UK's new leader is offered here by Jim Wallis, renowned politically involved evangelical. (Props to the Illuminate Blog for highlighting it.) Wallis replaces the common description of "dour" with "passionate" and believes Brown could be the man needed to help in the fight for global economic justice.
It's easy to swing from skeptical to excited and I don't think we have enough to go on to have our hopes fly to high, but it is a relief that there is one very on to it person out there who has faith in Mr Brown, eh?!!
Here is a bit of a Gordon speech, quoted in Jims article:
Because we all want to address the roots of injustice, I can tell you today that we will strengthen and enhance the work of the department of international development and align aid, debt relief and trade policies to wage an unremitting battle against the poverty, illiteracy, disease and environmental degradation that it has fallen to our generation to eradicate.
That is a ripper promise, and lets pray he's not just talk.

To drink or not to drink

2007-06-27T21:00:00.000+12:00

Bummer, that last question of that last post was meant to stir debate between the Starbucks Moccachino lovers and the staunch "Starbucks still sucks completly because such a tiny percentage of their coffee is Fair Trade and they take away from organic community life" crowd (thats me.)
I think our family has decided that we will have one Starbucks coffee in order to celebrate and encourage them in this step towards justice, but then after that continue to boycott them on the premise that they can do a whole lot more (or maybe just shouldn't exist!) Hehe.
More on Coffee and Injustice: Last year Blackgold was released in NZ. It is an awesome film and I implored every kiwi to see it! Well, it has finally been released here in the UK. It is not just about fair trade but about the whole coffee industry so interests a wide variety of people. See here for screenings.

Campaigning does work!

2007-06-26T21:02:00.000+12:00

Do you remember last year me ranting and raving about Starbucks screwing over Ethiopia? Well, Starbucks have finally come to the party, here's the official blurb: "Starbucks and Ethiopia have finally signed a licensing agreement securing Ethiopia's ownership over its speciality coffee names Sidamo, Harar and Yirgacheffe. This comes after about 8 months of campaigning, more than 96,000 people across the globe calling on Starbucks - through emails, faxes, phone calls, postcards, and in-store visits - to honour their committment to Ethiopian farmers." Awesome eh? Justice bought about through the humble actions of passionate individuals and the brave voice of organisations like the Salvation Army.
So do we start drinking Starbucks?!

bit late but never mind...

2007-06-25T07:03:00.000+12:00

World Refugee Week has just finished! This time last year when I was blogging about refugee week I was just begining my journey of friendship with a wonderful refugee family from Myanmar who I helped settle into New Zealand life. It was such a privilege to become part of their life and I them and was so hard to say bye when we left Aotearoa. Since then they have had a gorgeus new addition to the family, little Daniel, and have just got a car and a license and their English is improving everyday. Praise the Lord.
I have just been reading about refugees here in the UK - there are 2 and half thousand unaccompanied refugee children in London alone, and an estimated 200 asylum seekers arriving every week through my local bus station. It is heart breaking to imagine how hard it is for them, and even sadder to think of the unwelcoming response they recieve from locals- "They sponge of the government"- that is common here in UK and NZ.
If you don't already, I encourage you to make a place in your life for the refugees and migrants in your neighbourhood. (Maybe you want to explore doing this through volunteering with an organisation. This is what I and a few friends have done. One fabulous friend told me last week that she went to visit her family and they had broken down a massive branch from their neighbours tree and it was stuck in their fire place and protruded out across the whole lounge- trying to keep warm in the frosty kiwi winter!! Anyway, if you are interested in that, kiwis check out RMS and those in UK check out Refugee Council)
So, anyway will finish this post with some of the one and only Dave Dobbyns poetry from the song "Welcome Home" which proved to be a powerful statement in New Zealand at a time when a few people were being very vocal about the influx of people from outside the borders....
tonight I am feeling for you
under the state of a strange land
you have sacrificed much to be here
‘there but for grace…’ as I offer my hand
welcome home, i bid you welcome, i bid you welcome
welcome home from the bottom of my heart
out here on the edge
the empire is fading by the day
and the world is so weary in war
maybe we’ll find that new way

so welcome home, see i made a space for you now
welcome home from the bottom of our hearts

there’s a woman with her hands trembling - haere mai
and she sings with a mountain’s memory - haere mai

there’s a cloud the full length of these isles
just playing chase with the sun
and it’s black and it’s white and it’s wild
all the colours are one

Salut again

2007-06-25T03:29:00.000+12:00

Have been in France for 10 days with the whanau. Absolutley gorgeous, up in the Alps, swimming and croissants everyday: wonderful! I read a host of books while over there, mostly fantastical novels (ooh espionage is thrilling) with a couple of serious ones thrown in to help keep my mind anchored to reality. One of which was Irrestible Revolution by Shane Clairborne of the Simple Way. It was wicked eh, especially the second half. A bundle of great stories and quotes to articulate the thoughts of an increasing bunch of people. Thoughts about Jesus, church, love, political and social involvement. There are Christians in America who beleive that following Jesus involves activism other than outside abortion clinics, hurray for that. Well worth a read. Ask Steve if you can borrow his and Jo's copy. Or if you see it on someones bookshelf do try and pinch it.
I should maybe quote a bit but I think I am a bit lazy at the moment and anyway I feel a blogging spree coming on so some excerpts might fuel that a bit.

little kites and death (!)

2007-06-12T10:14:00.000+12:00

I love kites. Up in the Lakes we wiled time away by soaring, diving and spinning Steves stunt kite. One time I climbed up a hill and watched the others play in the stormy weather. The little kite dashing about seemed like a rip or a tear in the fabric of the landscape- a dash of daring red. A kite up there high in the sky can be a picture for heaps of stuff I guess, but I love the thought that it is like the triumph over death that is ours because of Jesus. Who would think that a frail whisp of silk could dance about on the hinges of a massive weather diaster? Surely the wind would conquer it. But however mad the wind is the kite can always soar (if you have good kiting skills that is, otherwise you just get in a tangle.) Good for us that we don't have to have death fighting skills- that the victory over death is already won. Thank God, eh.

Winnifred Read

2007-06-07T23:03:00.000+12:00

Early on Tuesday morning my Grandma passed away. Winnifred Read was one of the most beautiful, graceful, strong, prayerful, funny and vibrant people I knew (know?) As I was going to bed that night thinking of a world without my Grandma Nelson Mandella's words from the momentous occasion when he became president of South Africa were tripping through my mind-
The sun never set on so glorious a human achievement. A bit out of context I know but I couldn't shake the phrase. For that was Grandmas life- a glorious achievement in light, life and love. Grandma was a walking extravagance in loving God and loving others. I miss her like mad already and I know my Grandad, Dad and Aunty will be missing her even more, as well as the thousands others she has shone upon all around the world. It is that tangle of feelings- sadness and shock and peace and happiness that we know absolutley that right now she is hanging with her Creator and all the other Saints. The Salvation Army has a curious phrase for dieing - "promoted to glory". It is used so often that I forget it's meaning, but there is no better phrase for people like Grandma. I thank God for my beautiful Grandma and her new residence.

G8 stuff

2007-06-05T09:44:00.001+12:00

So on Wednesday the worlds most powerful people are meeting up to do some serious talking. Although this exlusive rich Group of 8 shouldn't be ruling the world the fact is is that they pretty much do and can make decisions that impact millions for better or worse. So, if you are someone who talks to God how about talking to God about these talks?
Micah Challenge have a calender of prayers for the days surrounding these events.
If you want to keep a tab as things unfold in Germany, Oxfam are doing a live from the g8 blog special.
Let us believe that God can bring more than aid and debt relief; true freedom and empowerment for the developing nations. Would God do it through the G8? Shivers, who knows, but at least we can pray that they won't get in the way eh...

Until justice rolls like a river...

2007-06-04T03:21:00.000+12:00

Yesterday we joined 10,000 others on the banks of the Thames in order to encourage Mister Blair to hold the G8 to their promises. (7 years ago the Millenium Development Goals were set- with the promise to have the accomplished by 2015. We are halfway there and the goals are no where near on track.)
(Here are some more photos of the day.)
It was a beautiful sunny day with all sorts of antics going on- pants to poverty stripped off to do a human sculpture on Parliament Sq, Micah Challenge held a cool prayer service-and it was rad to see so many (and such a variety) of people mobilised.
At the Micah Challenge service they showed this awesome video-
and although it is too late to come to the June 2nd Rally, it isn't too late to do the other actions. It takes 3 easy seconds to email your MP and the German chancellor.
On some of the signs it was written "We will not be satisfied untill justice rolls like a river." Amen to that one alright...

Concrete Hope

2007-06-01T20:40:00.000+12:00

I am not just blogging slack....We have been away for the last week camping in the fabulous lake district with my bro-in-law and sister -very delicious, and then I have had Oxfam campaigning training in Birmingham of all place, which has been lots of laughs with a fantastic crowd.
While we were waiting for our train last night we were grazing a Brummy bookstore and I flicked through Rebbecca Solnits "Hope in the Dark: the untold story of people power" and liked this:
"Hope is not like a lottery ticket you can sit on the sofa and clutch, feeling lucky. I say it because hope is an ax you can break down doors with in an emergency; because hope should shove you out the door..."
I think God clearly paints a a concrete hope in a world where those in slavery are free, where people without shelter have homes, where hungry people have food, where grief is turned to gladness. And in opposition to the doubt that cripples us, hope makes us spring to our feet- mobilised!
If you are in London and hope is shoving you out the door allow your feet to carry you to the banks of the river thames tommorrow, where thousands will be gathered to tell Tony to take a message of hope in promises to the G8. See the click of the week on the right there for more info.

world peace

2007-05-25T07:45:00.001+12:00

My delicious little nephew Hudson has a bib that says "Give Peas a chance". It's awesome. I love peas, particuarly if they have Hellmans mayonaise on them. Anyway, I think about peace a lot at the moment. Here are some random thoughts.
My main point of reference for peace is that inner sense of "it's all good", it is not a tangible thing.
That sort of inner peace is one of those things that you don't think much about until it is not there.
For millions of people in the world, peace or the lack of it, is a very tangible, loud, visual, solid thing. People in Iraq, Darfur, and a hundred other places ripped apart by conflict that don't make it to the headlines, I suspect would have peace as one of their highest hopes yet it constantly eludes them.
My dad did a series on the Beatitudes in Luke and one of his points in the "Blessed are the peace makers" bit was that it is "peacemakers" not "peaceful" or "peacelovers" but creators of peace.
An ancient Nun I used to visit last year said that global peace starts with peace in your own personal life. I don't know what i think about that. What do you think about that?
At the Parihaka peace festival (a big secular music weekend in NZ) on the wall where all the timetable was pinned up someone had scrawled a yellow post-it note saying "Jesus: Prince of Peace" and for the first time that name for God stunned me.
I think peace might be the consequence of social justice. Or are they both ends in them self?
One day I would like to own a battered old army helmet and I will plant a beautiful tree in it as a statment.

routine violence

2007-05-18T22:10:00.000+12:00

“I see a man of around 50, coming back from his work in the City of London.It’s a soft summer’s evening, so there’s no need to put the car in the garage.
He can hear the sound of his children’s voices coming from the garden, and he feels an acute sense of wellbeing as he walks around the side of the house, only pausing to smell the exquisite scent of the white roses he planted last year. Earlier that day, the man, a senior accountant at one of Britain’s leading oil corporations, had presented the final spreadsheets in the report which determined that a coastal area the size of Scotland in southern Nigeria would soon be developed. He cannot connect this fragrant evening in leafy north London with his work earlier that day. He cannot, or perhaps will not allow himself to, connect his life in London with the lives of those in Nigeria about to be devastated by his tapping at a keyboard.
Who was the senior accountant who looked at the spreadsheets for this project?
Who at the merchant bank dealt with the finance capital?
Who authorised the project to go ahead?
Who decided that they wouldn’t negotiate with the Ogoni villagers?
Who telephoned the Nigerian Government to ask for the mobile police force to be sent?
How are we to show the violence of a spreadsheet?
How are we to show the violence of a set of minutes?
How are we to show the violence of an idea?"
From the performance of Killing Us Softly
I like this... although it is intended to speak specifically to Oil and bureaucracy etc, I think it also portrays the power of an individual to impact the world for good or bad (in extremes, sometimes) as well as highlighting the potential violence of some very mundane, everyday procedures (Buying that latte from Starbucks from example!)

Come on and celebrate clap clap

2007-05-18T21:53:00.000+12:00

So New Zealand has just finished a succesful Fair Trade Fortnight, hurrah. AND... drumroll... the Auckland council has decided to make Auckland a Fair Trade city, on track for being NZ's first. Yahoo!(You may remember our chinwags with the mayor from last year on this mission)