Update: Kill homophobia not gays

This is an update I had on my email from a previous post:

Eamonn -

Good news -- Barclays and Citibank have responded tothe petition which you signed calling on them to condemn Uganda's "Kill the Gays" Bill. 

Barclays said: "Barclays is aware of the proposed legislation relating to homosexuality in Uganda and we are engaging at appropriate levels of the Ugandan Government to express our views."

Frank Mugisha, a gay rights activist from Uganda told me that the statement from Barclays is "a landmark" and the first time a multinational company has responded to the legislation. 

Unfortunately Citibank refused to condemn or directly address the bill. In fact their statement is pretty dismissive*. 

It is significant that Barclays has spoken for the first time about the Bill. Citibank now need to do the same. And we need to keep up the pressure on both banks to make sure they use their influence this week as the Bill is set to be debated in Parliament. 

So I'm asking you to please take a moment to share this petition on Facebook,Twitter or by forwarding the email below to your friends. 

These statements are progress but for companies that support diversity in the UK and the US it is disappointing that they are not yet willing to condemn persecution of LGBT people in Uganda. 

The Bill could pass any day now so our continued pressure is vital.

Thank you for your support,
Patrick

PS - You can read Barclays & Citibank's statements in full at the bottom of the petition page.

---------- Email to forward to a friend ------------ 

In a matter of days Uganda's parliament is set to pass the so-called "Kill the Gays" bill, which could enshrine in law the death penalty for LGBT people. 

Activists in Uganda say that one way to stop this is by putting pressure on banks with large resources in the country to condemn the bill. Barclays and Citibank both have millions of pounds invested in Uganda and wield a huge influence on the government. 

Please join me and sign this petition on Change.org asking Barclays and Citibank to condemn the "Kill the Gays" bill. 

Thank you,

Stephen Lawrence's mother honoured for her ‘shining example’

I had the honour of hearing Doreen Lawrence and her ex-husband Neville speak in Manchester many years ago. This is a woman who has challenged and changed the face of policing in this country (for the better) through her tireless campaigning. I salute her and am absolutely delighted that she has been honoured!

Stephen Lawrence's mother honoured for her ‘shining example’

Mark Blunden

29 November 2012

Tireless campaigner: Doreen Lawrence (Picture: Murray Sanders)

The mother of murdered London teenager Stephen Lawrence today received an honorary doctorate for her services to education — and her campaign for reforms to the criminal justice system.

Doreen Lawrence was awarded the honour by the University of East London in a ceremony at the O2 Arena. The university said she had “shone attention on institutional racism in the police service”.

Mrs Lawrence’s campaign followed the racist murder of her 18-year-old son in 1993 in Eltham. Her ex-husband, Neville, is also an honorary UEL graduate.

Five years after Stephen’s murder, his parents founded the Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust, so that “future generations of young people would enjoy the opportunities that were denied to Stephen”, an A-level student and aspiring architect.

UEL vice-chancellor Professor Patrick McGhee said: “As a university, we have enjoyed a long and fruitful relationship with the Stephen Lawrence Charitable Centre, which has helped benefit the lives of many of our students.

“Doreen Lawrence’s tireless efforts to deliver sweeping reforms to the Metropolitan Police Service and criminal justice system in the face of great adversity — and in the wake of her own personal grief — are a shining example to us all.”

In September, Mrs Lawrence was given an honorary fellowship by Goldsmiths, University of London, in recognition of her campaign for justice.

Gary Dobson, 36, and David Norris, 35, were jailed for life at the Old Bailey in January for the racist murder of Stephen. In August their application for permission to appeal against the convictions was rejected. They have the right to renew their applications before the Court of Appeal.

link: http://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/stephen-lawrences-mother-honoured-for-her-shining-example-8367649.html?origin=internalSearch

Doreen Lawrence carries the Olympic flag at the opening ceremony in London

Here is an article from todays Guardian Newspaper that I found quite thought provoking and thought that I would share it with readers of this blog.

Bradley Manning: a tale of liberty lost in America

The US does nothing to punish those guilty of war crimes or Wall Street fraud, yet demonises the whistleblower

• • Glenn Greenwald
  • The Guardian, Friday 30 November 2012 21.15 GMT

'The repressive treatment of Bradley Manning is one of the disgraces of Obama’s first term.' Photograph: Mark Wilson/Getty Images

Over the past two and a half years, all of which he has spent in a military prison, much has been said about Bradley Manning, but nothing has been heard from him. That changed on Thursday, when the 23-year-old US army private accused of leaking classified documents to WikiLeaks testified at his court martial proceeding about the conditions of his detention.

The oppressive, borderline-torturous measures to which he was subjected, including prolonged solitary confinement and forced nudity, have been known for some time. A formal UN investigation denounced those conditions as "cruel and inhuman". President Obama's state department spokesman, retired air force colonel PJ Crowley, resigned after publicly condemning Manning's treatment. A prison psychologist testified this week that Manning's conditions were more damaging than those found on death row, or at Guantánamo Bay.

Still, hearing the accused whistleblower's description of this abuse in his own words viscerally conveyed its horror. Reporting from the hearing, the Guardian's Ed Pilkington quoted Manning: "If I needed toilet paper I would stand to attention and shout: 'Detainee Manning requests toilet paper!'" And: "I was authorised to have 20 minutes sunshine, in chains, every 24 hours." Early in his detention, Manning recalled, "I had pretty much given up. I thought I was going to die in this eight by eight animal cage."

The repressive treatment of Bradley Manning is one of the disgraces of Obama's first term, and highlights many of the dynamics shaping his presidency. The president not only defended Manning's treatment but also, as commander-in-chief of the court martial judges, improperly decreed Manning's guilt when he asserted in an interview that he "broke the law".

Worse, Manning is charged not only with disclosing classified information, but also the capital offence of "aiding the enemy", for which the death penalty can be imposed (military prosecutors are requesting "only" life in prison). The government's radical theory is that, although Manning had no intent to do so, the leaked information could have helped al-Qaida, a theory that essentially equates any disclosure of classified information – by any whistleblower, or a newspaper – with treason.

Whatever one thinks of Manning's alleged acts, he appears the classic whistleblower. This information could have been sold for substantial sums to a foreign government or a terror group. Instead he apparently knowingly risked his liberty to show them to the world because – he said when he believed he was speaking in private – he wanted to trigger "worldwide discussion, debates, and reforms".

Compare this aggressive prosecution of Manning to the Obama administration's vigorous efforts to shield Bush-era war crimes and massive Wall Street fraud from all forms of legal accountability. Not a single perpetrator of those genuine crimes has faced court under Obama, a comparison that reflects the priorities and values of US justice.

Then there's the behaviour of Obama's loyalists. Ever since I first reported the conditions of Manning's detention in December 2010, many of them not only cheered that abuse but grotesquely ridiculed concerns about it. Joy-Ann Reid, a former Obama press aide and now a contributor on the progressive network MSNBC, spouted sadistic mockery in response to the report: "Bradley Manning has no pillow?????" With that, she echoed one of the most extreme rightwing websites, RedState, which identically mocked the report: "Give Bradley Manning his pillow and blankie back."

As usual, the US establishment journalists have enabled the government every step of the way. Despite holding themselves out as adversarial watchdogs, nothing provokes their animosity more than someone who effectively challenges government actions.

Typifying this mentality was a CNN interview on Thursday night with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange conducted by Erin Burnett. It was to focus on newly released documents revealing secret efforts by US officials to pressure financial institutions to block WikiLeaks' funding after the group published classified documents allegedly leaked by Manning, a form of extra-legal punishment that should concern everyone, particularly journalists.

But the CNN host was completely uninterested in the dangerous acts of her own government. Instead she repeatedly tried to get Assange to condemn the press policies of Ecuador, a tiny country that – quite unlike the US – exerts no influence beyond its borders. To the mavens of the US watchdog press, Assange and Manning are enemies to be scorned because they did the job that the US press corps refuses to do: namely, bringing transparency to the bad acts of the US government and its allies around the world.

Bradley Manning has bestowed the world with multiple vital benefits. But as his court martial finally reaches its conclusion, one likely to result in the imposition of a long prison term, it appears his greatest gift is this window into America's political soul.

link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/nov/30/bradley-manning-liberty-lost-america

Art from War: The Throne of Weapons

I caught this in the London Evening Standard the other night and thought that it would be worth sharing with you. Having seen it in the British Museum on a few occasions, it never ceases to touch me.

link: http://www.standard.co.uk/arts/visual-arts/london--a-world-city-in-20-objects-no-10-throne-of-weapons-8367642.html

London - A world city in 20 objects: No. 10 Throne of Weapons

Our weekly series examines an artefact from the British Museum with origins in one of the capital’s many diverse cultures

From 1977 until 1992, Mozambique, in south-east Africa, fought a  civil war which was fuelled by the Cold War. During this period millions of guns were poured into the country via the international arms trade.

Many weapons remained buried or hidden after the war, representing a threat to peace and stability. In 1995, Bishop Dom Dinis Sengulane of the Christian Council of Mozambique set up the Transforming Arms into Tools project, which offered farming equipment and other materials in exchange for guns.

Mozambican artists turned these weapons into sculptures that reflect the collective creativity of the people of Mozambique and their refusal to submit to a culture of violence.

The civil war claimed almost a million lives and left five million people displaced. The Throne of Weapons represents both the tragedy of that war and the human triumph of those who achieved a lasting peace. Its anthropomorphic qualities — it has arms, legs, a back and most importantly a face (actually two faces) — link it to the arts of Africa, in which non-figurative objects such as chairs, stools, weapons, pots etc are seen and described as human beings.

Although made of guns, the Throne of Weapons harks back to older wooden African stools and thrones used by leaders that showed their prestige but also their willingness and ability to talk to their fellow men and to the ancestors. The Throne is also a contemporary work of art with a global significance, linking the arts of Africa with the Western arts scene, and Mozambique with the global arms trade. None of the guns used were made in Mozambique, or even in Africa, thus it becomes a sculpture in which we are all, one way or another, complicit.

The Throne is a war memorial but it celebrates another kind of courage and another kind of victory. Museums are more and more concerned with portraying intangible as well as tangible heritage as a way of building an emotional bridge with a past inhabited by people rather than by the objects they created, especially when charged with describing traumatic histories of warfare, slavery and the abuse of human rights. The Throne of Weapons allows us to cross that bridge.

Christopher Spring, British Museum Curator, African Collections

On display in the Sainsbury African galleries, room 25, British Museum, WC1 (020 7323 8299, britishmuseum.org). Open Sat-Thurs, 10am-5.30pm; Fri 10am-8.30pm, admission free.

Police and a Kind gesture! (Who would believe it)?

It was meant to be a private gesture, but the New York policeman who bought a homeless man a \$100 (£62) pair of boots has won international and official praise.

Officer Larry DePrimo appeared before throngs of reporters and cameras on Thursday after being awarded a pair of cufflinks by his boss, NYPD Commisioner Ray Kelly.

The 25-year-old explained that he had been inspired by his grandfather to buy the anonymous barefoot man a pair of shoes, after encountering him during his beat near Times Square on a cold evening in early November.   

"He told me when I was much younger, 'If you are going to do something, do it 100%. And do it, or don't do it at all,'" Officer DePrimo said.

"I didn't really think anything of it at the time," he added. "What sticks out in my mind is he was such a kind gentleman that I had to help him. I wanted to."

Larry DePrimo's family home in Suffolk County, where the officer lives in a basement apartment, was also besieged by satellite trucks and journalists.    

And both he and the tourist who secretly snapped the photo - a civilian police worker from Arizona - were doing the rounds of US breakfast TV shows on Friday.

Jennifer Foster posted the image to the NYPD's Facebook Page and kicked off the internet phenomenon which has seen millions viewing the story and thousands of 'likes' and positive comments.

But amid all the praise, there has been inevitable cynicism and some concern for the unidentified man at the centre of the modern-day fairytale of New York. 

"I walked by this man in Union Square Wednesday, November 21," wrote Melissa Gallaher-Smith. "And he was again barefoot. I remember very clearly because his pants were also hiked up and his feet were very large."

Several others reported seeing the same man - always without shoes. One told how she had bought a pair for him on a previous occasion, leading to speculation among others that he may be working some kind of scam.

Homeless charities also waded in, praising Officer DePrimo's actions but pointing out it is not in line with the NYPD's usual treatment of vagrants.

Patrick Markee, from the Coalition for the Homeless told the LA Times that successive New York mayors had sought to clean the city's streets of rough sleepers.

"It was a really moving photo and a moving story," he said, "and a stark contrast to a mayor who has largely ignored the homeless crisis that has spiralled out of control on his watch."

Whatever the truth of the situation, others argue, it does not detract from the young officer's caring and inspirational gesture.

Thank you

Thanks to all the readers that have checked out my previous post. This is an issue that has been ongoing for the last few years. Fundamentalism from Christian or Muslim or any other sect is wrong when it denies the rights of the individual. I do not advocate anything but the right for consenting adults to be able to behave in a private situation and their privacy be upheld. What happens in a bedroom between consenting adults should be up to them, not a death sentence as is being proposed by the Government of Uganda (again). LGB (Lesbian gay and Transgender) rights should be upheld throughout society and we should cherish the fact that our beliefs support the individual . Be we straight gay or indeterminate in our sexuality, by our conscience we we have an imperative to support the people that live around us.

I am a gay man.

I make no apology for the fact. This is how I was born.

I am a Catholic Christian.

I trained to be a priest.

What I do in society is what i am judged by, not my religion or my orientation.

Because I am open about my orientation, and I live in England, I am not subject to execution as are those individuals in Uganda.

But for those that have an issue, here is  my face:

Too old to be bothered! Bring it on!!!

Petition to condemn Uganda's "Kill the Gays" Bill

I have just had this sent to me by a friend on Facebook and thought it worth posting it here. Check out and sign this worthy petition if you can, by following this link:

http://www.change.org/petitions/barclays-barclaysonline-and-citibank-citibank-condemn-uganda-s-kill-the-gays-bill?utm_campaign=friend_inviter_modal&utm_medium=facebook&utm_source=share_petition&utm_term=2911934

In a matter of days Uganda is set to pass the so-called “Kill the Gays” bill. The Bill could enshrine in law the death penalty for LGBT people. Activists in Uganda say that one way to stop this is by putting pressure on powerful international banks in the country to condemn the bill. 

Barclays and Citibank - two of the largest banks in the world - both have millions of pounds invested in Uganda and wield a huge influence on the government. Citibank has nearly $300 million in assets invested Uganda, and is a major leader in a U.S. Chamber of Commerce based in Kampala, Uganda’s capital. Barclays is Uganda’s third largest bank, with more than 1,000 employees in the country.

A public statement from Barclays speaking out against the "Kill the Gays" bill might be the best chance to stop it and save gay people from being executed.

Both banks have supported human rights for LGBT people in the Europe and the US. Barclays is one of the UK's top employers for LGBT people and prides itself on its work championing gay equality in Britain. But they cannot help us in the UK while helping to prop up a regime that kills LGBT people in Uganda.

With the “Kill the Gays” bill looming in Uganda’s parliament, Citibank and Barclays could help stop this bill in its tracks. Their presence in Uganda is significant, and their voices in opposition to the Anti-Homosexuality Bill could keep LGBT people in Uganda safe.

Ask Barclays and Citibank to publicly condemn Uganda’s “Kill the Gays” bill, and send a message to Ugandan legislators that criminalising homosexuality with lifetime prison sentences and the death penalty will not be supported by major international businesses.

This is a global campaign. Collin Burton a Citibank customer in the US started a petition there and as a UK Barclays customer I've started this linked petition targeting the banks here in the UK as well.  The counter on this petition reflects the cumulative efforts of both of these petitions. 

To: 

Head of Corporate Communications, Barclays (Stephen Doherty)
Head of Brand, Reputation and Citizenship at Barclays Group (David Wheldon)
Citi Executive Vice President for Global Public Affairs (Edward Skylar) 

As one of the largest banks in the world, I know you have major operations and many employees in Uganda.

You're also well known for supporting your LGBT employees and protecting employees and customers from anti-gay discrimination.

With the “Kill the Gays” moving quickly in Uganda’s parliament, you have unique and necessary voice that could help stop this bill in its tracks. Your presence in Uganda is significant, and your voice in opposition to the Anti-Homosexuality Bill could have a profound impact in keeping LGBT people safe in Uganda.

I ask you to publicly condemn Uganda’s “Kill the Gays” bill, and send a loud message to Ugandan legislators that criminalising homosexuality with lifetime prison sentences and the death penalty won’t be supported by major international businesses.

Sincerely,
[Your name]

Can anyone crack the pigeon's wartime code?

Here is an article from Yahoo news that may be of interest to readers!

Can anyone crack the pigeon's wartime code?

By Dasha Afanasieva | Reuters – 23 hours ago

• Email
• Print

• 
  Yahoo! News - The remains of a WW2 carrier pigeon and its red message cannister

LONDON (Reuters) - A World War Two code found strapped to the leg of a dead pigeon stuck in a chimney for the last 70 years may never be broken, a British intelligence agency said on Friday.

The bird was found by a man in Surrey, southern England while he was cleaning out a disused fireplace at his home earlier this month.

The message, a series of 27 groups of five letters each, was inside a red canister attached to the pigeon's leg bone and has stumped code-breakers from Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), Britain's main electronic intelligence-gathering agency.

"Without access to the relevant codebooks and details of any additional encryption used, it will remain impossible to decrypt," a GCHQ spokesman said.

The message is consistent with the use of code books to translate messages which were then encrypted, according to GCHQ, one of Britain's three intelligence agencies.

However without knowing who the sender, "Sjt W Stot", is or the intended destination, given as "X02", it is extremely difficult to decipher the code, GCHQ said.

The top secret message - but what does it mean? (SWNS)

Although the code books and encryption systems used should have been destroyed, there is a small chance that one exists somewhere.

A spokesman for GCHQ said it was "disappointing" that the message brought back by a "brave" carrier pigeon cannot be read.

He added: "It is a tribute to the skills of the wartime code-makers that, despite working under severe pressure, they devised a code that was undecipherable both then and now."

The Curator of the Pigeon Museum at Bletchley Park, north of London, Britain's main code-breaking centre during World War Two, is also trying to trace the identity numbers of the pigeon found in the message, according to GCHQ.

Pigeons were used extensively in the war to carry vital information to Britain from mainland Europe. Flying at speeds of up to 80 km per hour, they can travel distances of up to 1,000 km but were vulnerable to hungry hawks and bored soldiers who used to take pot-shots at them as they flew overhead.

For a Reuters video on the pigeon's discovery: http://uk.reuters.com/video/2012/11/02/wwii-carrier-pigeon-remains-found-in-uk?videoId=238829953

(Reporting By Dasha Afanasieva, editing by Paul Casciato)

@YahooNewsUK on Twitter, become a fan on Facebook 

Mahatma Gandhi : Film : MAHATMA - Life of Gandhi, 1869-1948 (5hrs 10min)

I have just found this video on YouTube and thought that a documentary on the life and philosophy Mohondas K Gandhi, one of my great pacifist heroes, might inspire you over the weekend. It is a bit of an epic at over 5 hours, but perhaps you can watch it in more manageable chunks. I will keep it on the blog, so that it can be viewed over a long period if necessary.

All Quiet on the Western Front (Full Video)

As I have visitors arriving this evening for the weekend, I am not sure how much time I will have to blog before next week, so to keep readers entertained, here is one of my favorite antiwar films, All Quiet on the Western Front downloaded from YouTube. 

Enjoy!

N.B. There is a long video at the beginning that I could not get rid of, so if you want to go straight to the film, it starts at 3.58 mins

Filipina 'comfort women' await Tokyo apology - Asia-Pacific - Al Jazeera English

Filipina 'comfort women' await Tokyo apology - Asia-Pacific - Al Jazeera English

Here is the second of the posts on Comfort Women that I have shared from Al Jazeera website, the link is at:

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia-pacific/2012/08/201281835643311972.html

Regular readers will know of my support for the cause of the Comfort Women, and my on going campaign to publicize their campaign. Please feel free to share any posting on this site with your friends and colleagues, and particularly those that relate to these courageous women.

Here is the accompanying text to the video:

It has been 67 years since the end of World War II, but its shadows still haunt those who survived it. 
 
Dozens of Philippine women say they were used as sex slaves by Japanese soldiers.  
 
Al Jazeera first reported the story of the "comfort women" five years ago.
 
As part of the "What Happened Next" series, Marga Ortigas revisited some of the women who are still waiting for justice in Manila.