A new home

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.

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...

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

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

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...

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

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!

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

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

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!

“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

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

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

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

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

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

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?

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:

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

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!