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Religious unity: The Charter for Compassion

Juliana Rincón Parra · 16:39 · South Asia , Western Europe

lingua → zhs · zht

As children we may all have heard the Golden Rule expressed in many different ways, but the basic idea is: Treat others as you would like to be treated. This is Karen Armstrong's TED wish, to create a platform in which the different Abrahamic faiths could focus on what was common to all, the moral backbone of all their faiths towards a greater unity and better communication among people of different faiths. The Charter of Compassion is requesting stories of unity and compassion to be uploaded on their site, written or in video form, and that together, people may write this Charter of Compassion a document where this new image will be established, signed by sages and religious leaders. Different sections of the charter are opened on different dates, so feel free to stop by the site and write your perspective on the issue.

Karen Armstrong is a British born former Catholic nun who has written many books on Muslim faith and has taught in the Leo Baeck rabbinic college: this inter-faith knowledge led her on the path towards bringing this project into fruition. Her acceptance speech video is on YouTube, and in it she speaks about this desire of hers to work for the unity of the different faiths, to make religion work towards universal harmony:

The Charter for Compassion's YouTube channel already has some inspirational videos by people in Pakistan. Samia Shoaib shares her own personal compassion story of how we are all interconnected and what happens to our neighbor or someone down the street does concern us:

Arshad Mahmood also speaks from his Muslim faith, in how people should concern themselves about the fate of others, and how discrimination against those of a different faith should not take place:

The Charter for Compassion has opened the call for submissions where people can also tell their stories of compassion and change the image of religion as a harborer of intolerance, showing the world that compassion is and will be the cornerstone of religion, and the way towards change. You can participate by offering information in different languages so the message can get to more people, and by making a video with a story where compassion is featured, or writing your opinion or perspective on the Charter itself.

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Japan: Revision of the Nationality Law

Scilla Alecci · 09:20, November 21st, 2008 · East Asia

lingua → fr · it · es · zht · zhs

On the 4th of June, on the occasion of cases filed in 2003 [en] and in 2005 whose protagonists were 10 children born out of wedlock to Japanese fathers and Filipino mothers, the Supreme Court declared unconstitutional an article of the Nationality Law[en] because it infringes on Article 14 of the Constitution [en], which grants the right to equality. According to the article, while a child born in wedlock to a Japanese father and a foreign mother is in every respect recognized as a Japanese citizen, before the June 4th decision children born out of wedlock were only recognized as Japanese citizens if paternity had been confirmed before the child's birth.

Figure of Japan's Nationality Law
id:Inflorescencia at her blog describes, through the use of pictures, details of the Nationality Law and the process that brought about its revision.

On the 18th of November, after this historical ruling by the Supreme Court, a bill [jp] was passed by the House of Representatives to amend Article 3 of the Nationality Law. However, while the enactment of the bill by the House of Councilors is expected by the 30th of November, many voices have been raised in opposition to it.

Responding to these protests, Hideo Ogura at la_causette posted an entry titled: “Opposing to the revision of the Nationality Law, Clause 1, Article 3 is a waste of energy” (国籍法３条１項の改正に反対することはエネルギーの無駄である). In it he refers to the nationalist movement born on the Internet which opposes the decision of the the Supreme Court [en] and the subsequent amendment of the Law.

　最高裁判所の違憲判決を受けて行われている国籍法改正について，相変わらずの人たちによる反対運動がネットを中心に熱心に行われているようです。
　ただ，なんだか無駄なエネルギーを使っているようにしか私には見えません。というのも，上記国籍法改正を阻止できたところで，彼らが望んでいる社会にはならないからです

As often happens, a movement has been gaining ground recently, especially on the Internet, which opposes revision of the Nationality Law proposed following the ruling of the Supreme Court.
To me this is nothing but a waste of energy. Because even if they managed to block the mentioned revision, it wouldn't bring about the society that these people are hope for.

　[…] すなわち，上記国籍法改正を阻止してみたところで，法務局を困らせることにしか繋がらないのであって，仮にこの反対運動並び右派国会議員等からの圧力に屈してこの種の国籍取得届に対して国籍取得を認めない旨の通知を発する法務局が現れたところで，子供の親と法務局と裁判所に訴訟のための無駄な費用と労力をかけさせるだけに終わるのです（最高裁の大法廷で下された合憲限定解釈に敢えて逆らおうとする下級審というのもあまりいないように思いますし。）。
　ある種のゼノフォビアのために，国に無駄な仕事をさせようとする人々を，「愛国者」と呼ぶことに，私は大いなる躊躇を感じます。

That is to say, even if they block the mentioned amendment to the Nationality Law, they would just cause problems at the Legal Affairs Bureau. And if, hypothetically speaking, the opposition movement together with all the members of the rightist national assembly, putting pressure, managed to get the Legal Affairs Bureau to refuse Japanese citizenship to such children [under the conditions newly established by the Supreme Court's ruling], the new lawsuit would be a waste of money and labor for the child and his parents as well as for the Legal Affairs Bureau and Court of Justice (Besides, it would seem quite unlikely that the lower court would dare to go against the interpretation of the constitution [合憲限定解釈] [ja] set down by the Grand Bench of the Supreme Court.)
Plus this bunch of people who are trying to pile useless work on the State just for the sake of xenophobia, who pretend to be called “patriots”, perplex me very much indeed.

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Macau: Say No to Article 23 and White Terror

Oiwan Lam · 07:58 · East Asia

Macau SAR government issued a draft bill enacting Article 23 of the Macau Basic Law in October. The Law is very sensitive and it would affect every citizen's freedom and rights. Now it is supposed to be the public consultation period, but it seems that the government has been giving pressure to independent social groups, organizations and universities to prevent them from having open discussion. However, in spite of all the pressure, activists urge to rally on 23 of Nov (this weekend) against the legislation.

Public forum canceled

Chong from inmediahk.net was supposed to attend a public forum organized by a group of Macau University student this weekend on 22 of November, however he got an email this morning saying that the forum has been canceled because they couldn't find a venue.

According to Chong's report at inmediahk.net:

這個活動原來是由一群熱心同學舉辦的，即『關你廿三事』活動籌備小組，但他們想有學生會的名義，辦起事來比較方便，所以把幾個學生團體找來，包括澳大學生會、澳門科技大學學生會、澳門高等校際學院同學會、澳門理工學院公共行政高等學校學生。可是，現在澳大學生臨時「縮沙」，令活動胎死腹中。

This activity is originally initiated by a group of students, a preparatory committee on “To you Article 23 Concern”. Since they want to organize it with under the student unions' umbrellas, they invited several student organizations to co-host, including: The Student Union of Macau University, The Student Union of Macau UST, The Alumni Organization of Macau Higher Education, students from the School of Public Administration at Macau Polytechnic University. Suddenly the SU of Macau University decided to withdraw from the organization team and the forum has to be canceled.

很難令人相信，取消的原因跟場地有任何關係。我後來從小道消息處得知，十一月二十日，澳大校方有人打電話給澳大學生會，要求它取消這個活動，若有不從，後果如何，我未能得知。而澳大學生會中人則害怕會遭受校方處分，昨夜臨時找了籌備小組的人開會，決定不搞了，而且還於當晚即時發公告取消。

It is hard to believe that the venue be the reason for canceling the event. Then sources told me that on 20 of Nov, the university contacted the student union demanding them to cancel it. However, he doesn't know what exactly will be the consequence if they rejected the school's demand. The students were intimidated by the university officials, they called up the preparatory committee last night to discuss about the issue and decided not to host the forum. A notice on the cancellation was put up immediately.

Below is a poster for the forum:

Protect University's autonomous space

Chong makes some suggestions to follow up the issue:

1. 澳大學生及老師應該要去質問澳大學生會，是否受到校方的壓力，才作出如此倉卒決定？亦該質問校方，是否在暗地裡壓制學生及學生團體的言論自由及活動自由！

2. 澳門公民團體也應該加入，向澳門政府質詢，是否政府有向校方施壓，禁止公開討論廿三條，並要求政府保證大學自主，以及澳門的言論自由！

3. 澳門公民身體力行，繼續公開討論廿三條立法的各種問題。

1. Macau university students and teachers should ask the student union if they had been pressured by the university officials for making such a sudden decision. They should also question the university for repressing students and students organizations' free speech and activities.

2. Civic groups from Macau should post questions to the government and check out if the government has been involved in giving pressure to the university for repressing the discussion on article 23. They need to demand the government to ensure the autonomous space in university and freedom of speech in Hong Kong.

3. Macau citizens should continue to discuss the problems of article 23 in the public.

He also points out that what he has encountered is not an isolated incident:

澳門的「國家安全」還未到，白色恐怖已到來！連公開討論的權利也遭壓制，這是個怎樣的社會？在此前，我也收到消息，澳門天主教教友協進會屬下的《澳門觀察報》曾於十五日辦了一個討論會，原來打算邀請香港的天主教正義和平委員會（簡稱正委）代表，大家份屬天主教，是很正常的選擇。可是，在討論會前幾天，正委突然收到訊息「不要來了」。究竟讓正委來澳出席區區一個論壇，有何大不了？實在不得而知，只是據聞，這是來自澳門天主教上層人士的意思，而澳門天主教高層也跟北京政府及特區政府很「要好」。

“National security” hasn't arrived at Macau yet, but we can already see the white terror! What kind of society it is to repress public discussion? Before this happened, I have heard that the publication “Macau Observe” under Catholic Lay Association of Macau planned to organize a discussion in Nov 15 and they had invited representative from the committee of justice and peace from the Catholic Church in Hong Kong. As both organizations belong to the same church, such meeting is considered very ordinary. However, a few days before the meeting, the Hong Kong counterpart received a message to ask them not to go to Macau. What's the big deal for letting JP for attending the Macau Catholic forum? Sources said that the instruction was delivered by the higher rank Catholic Church in Macau and that Macau Catholic Church's relation with Beijing and Macau SAR government has been very close.

What's the rush?

Bobo, also from inmediahk.net, wrote a citizen report in early November with some statistical information about the public knowledge of this bill:

澳門街坊總會日前向一千多名居民調查，只有六成受訪者知道政府推出《維護國家安全法》草案，對草案有所瞭解的受訪者不足五成。而建設澳門聯盟亦發現絕大多數澳門巿民對澳門基本法廿三條認識不足，調查結果顯示，對基本法23條的認識「幾少」、「好少」、「完全唔認識」合共 85.4%；「完全認識」、「好多」、「幾多」合共僅佔9.1%，這說明這草案需要更多民間的討論。

The neigborhood organization in Macau conducted a survey and collected more than 1000 questionnaires. The survey result shows that only 60% of the interviewees actually knows that the government has drafted the “National security” bill. Less than 50% of the interviewees knows about the content of the bill. Macau Union for the construction of Macau pointed out that most of the Macau citizens don't have enough knowledge about article 23. Their survey shows that 85.4% respondents has little to no knowledge of the law. And only 9.1% of the respondents have adequate to full understanding of the law. It shows that a lot more public discussion is needed.

Since Hong Kong government has decided to defer the enacting of Article 23 until there is public consensus, China briefing wondered why Macau has to go ahead of Hong Kong to implement the bill:

Given no signs of an epidemic terrorism or separatism wave sweeping Macau, one is left to wonder the urgency a security bill as intrusive as Article 23 is needed for. Then of course, gamblers are highly suspect people with a record of government overthrow and sabotage…

Rally on 23 of November!

A few independent voices can be found on the internet against the legislation and drafted bill. Funny sister gives a summary of the bill and concluded that:

總括黎講…佢廿三條立法之後就連言論自由都冇!我地就冇曬可以表達ga自由,連去遊行都唔可以亂講野!如果唔係又俾佢話我地呢d星豆市民反政府!!!!

In a nutshell… with the article 23 bill passed, we don't even have freedom of speech! We don't even enjoy freedom of expression, can't demonstrate and our slogans would be monitored! All these can be viewed as anti-government activities!

Tennedy posts two ads on his blog, one is urging Macau citizen to stand up against the legislation, the other one is about the rally on 23 of Nov:

icon for the rally on 23 of nov

人權、自由是人類生存的基本權利，
共產黨式的封閉主義已經沒落，
請各澳門朋友們發起大遊行，
要求澳門政府停止23條立法，
澳門人也是人，澳門人站起來，
齊來保障自己的人權!!!!!

讓國際傳媒知道，澳門市民是不支持這條惡法!!

Human rights and freedom is the basic rights of people,
The isolation practice of communist party is over,
Please organize rally, my Macau fellows,
Macau people are also human being, Macau people have to stand up,
Let's protect our human rights!

Let the international media knows about this, that Macau people don't support this evil law!

Netizen survey: more than 70% opposes legislation

While the Macau government said that 65% of the citizens supported the legislation, grhvonkqyk from cyberctm forum invites internet users to vote on the bill, and more than 74% (3pm 21 of Nov) has voted against the bill.

In the discussion thread, SIOCF pointed out that

如果這是一個真正開放ge國家我無所謂
但是我們所身處的是一個假開放國家假民主ge社會
事問聲如果我們不反對的話
可想而知,我們沒有未來可言

If this is a real open country, I am ok with it
But we are in a fake open and fake democratic society,
If I don't oppose,
I won't have a future.

Tang Nan zeng said that:

我认为，目前为某条立法的时机未到，实现普选之后再立未迟。

In my opinion, this is not the time for legislation, let's wait until we have universal suffrage.

1 shot 2 kills worried about the execution of the law:

23條立法唔係問題
點樣去執法先係問題…
甚麼煽動、顛覆、國家機密
好似得你講冇我講~你話係就係
分分鐘自己衰乜都唔就話要拉要鎖

係咁o既環境之下~你叫人點會唔憂慮
不過澳門d權貴、擦鞋仔話要立
我o地d小蟻民邊有討價能力~
要立就立~結果都係一樣
o係度扮晒o野假咨詢o米仲核突~

Article 23 is not a problem.
The problem lies with exercise of the law.
What is sedition, subversion and national secret?
It relies on your definition, not mine.
People may get arrested without knowing what exactly they have done.
Under such situation, how can people not worried?
However, the powerful and the ass-wiping guys in Macau keep saying that legislation is necessary.
How can ant-like citizen have a say?
Just do it, the result will be the same.
Now the fake consultation really sucks.

Hong Kong Journalists Association's statement

The Hong Kong Journalists Association has made a public statement on the Macau article 23:

To ensure adequate and continued freedom of expression and freedom of the press as well as continued protection of Macau correspondents of Hong Kong’s news media and Hong Kong reporters who may go to Macau for reporting purposes, it is our view that some revisions are necessary to the draft newly-released for public consultation by the Macau Government. For instance we believe there is a need to be more specific in Article 6 of the draft (theft of state secrets) by adding “national and public interest” as “reasonable excuse” or “reasonable immunity” to ensure a proper balance between the needs of national security and freedom of expression as well as freedom of the press.

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Bolivia: Recent Lynchings Cause Concerns

Eduardo Avila · 02:09, November 21st, 2008 · Americas

lingua → fr · mg · es · zht · zhs

A string of lynchings and attempted lynchings around Bolivia has caused a bit of concern around the country. The latest and most high-profile case [es] took place in the Altiplano town of Achacachi. Reports say that 11 men and women, who were allegedly accused of robbery were captured by local residents and were set ablaze. Two of the accused died, and the other 9 were badly burnt, but were saved when soldiers and the town's mayor pleaded that the lynching should stop.

Unfortunately, this is becoming a common scene, which widely shows up on the television news, as Renzo Colanzi writes [es]:

En Bolivia los linchamientos y la toma de la justicia por propia mano, son hechos comunes que se dan en los noticieros a cualquier hora, sin proteger al televidente de la violencia de las imágenes, sin importarle de la sensibilidad de los más pequeños que puedan presenciarlas. Pareciera que todos hemos creado una cierta barrera que nos permite mirar y permanecer impasibles ante estos hechos terribles. Los policías de Cochabamba se quedaron bien muertos y el caso sin culpables. Lo mismo que en Montero y así podemos encontrar situaciones similares en casi cualquier región del país.

In Bolivia, lynching and taking justice into one's own hands, are common events that can be seen on the news at all hours of the day. The television viewer is not protected from seeing the violent images, and even the smallest child is not protected from watching them. It would appear that we all have created a certain barrier that allows us to watch and remain passive regarding these terrible events. The police in Cochabamba remain dead and the case still has no suspects. It is the same in Montero and we can see similar situations in all regions of the country.

Whether or not lynchings are considered “community justice” is still being debated, and the government has officially condemned the action in Achacachi. They state that taking another life is not part of the indigenous tradition of “community justice.” However, local residents claim that they have little faith in the “ordinary justice” and must take matters into their own hands or the crime will continue. There is also widespread concern because the new draft Constitution, which will be voted upon at a January 25 Referendum, stipulates that “community justice” will be a legal and recognized part of the Bolivian judicial system, that lynchings could continue or even increase and used under the defense of “community justice.”

Erika Pinto places the blame on the government [es] for the lynchings.

Por que el presidente morales, tolera la barbarie, se estaba por quemar a una mujer embarazada, emboscaron y llevaron al stadium a un bus a los 11 supuestos ladrones, se veian gente de escasos recursos, muchas mujeres y gente bastante mayor a juzgar por las imagenes.

Es que acaso esto tambien nos da el derecho de cuando los ponchos rojos hagan las barbaridades que hacen poder matarlos a ellos?

O es que acaso la “nueva ley” funciona en un solo sentido?

Se supone que este gobierno era el que nos iba a llevar a un nuevo siglo de progreso pero solo nos esta llevando a la mas atrasada barbarie posible.

Because President Morales tolerates savagery, they were about to burn a pregnant woman, they ambushed them and took the 11 alleged thieves to the stadium. One could see low-income people, many women, and elderly people judging from the images.

Does this also give us the right when the “ponchos rojos” (members of a paramilitary group of Achacachi) make their savage acts to kill them too?

Or does the “new law” only work in one direction?

It was assumed that this government was going to take us towards a new century of progress, but it is only taking us to most backward savagery possible.

Mario Durán writes about a journalist who reminds people that the accused were not without guilt. [es]

Sin embargo, como lo decia la periodista Amalia Pando en Erbol, no eran unos angelitos, pues las personas que fueron capturadas en Achacachi poseian un frondoso prontuario policial… desde robo hasta robo agravado seguido de muerte.

Sin embargo, al igual que se condena la justicia por mano propia se debe condenar al sistema economico que origina la delincuencia.

Nevertheless, as the journalist Amalia Pando of Erbol says, that these people were no angels, those who were captured in Achacachi had a long police record… from robbery to aggravated robbery and even murder.

Nevertheless, as justice by one's own hands is condemened, so should the ecnomic system where delinquency originates should also be condemned.

Many indigenous groups are attempting to protect the reputation of “community justice.” Via the blog El Alto Noticias [es], blogger Nelson Vilca [es]interviews a member of the Guarayo indigenous group , who states that “community justice” does not mean “taking another life.”