By Richard Chirombo
Mussa Paulo, DPP, nearly banged into an on-coming lorry ON august 27, 2007, as he attempted to duck Dyson Misomali, a United Democratic Front (UDF) director of youth for Blantyre- Kabula constituency.
Paulo, also from Kabula, is no stranger to politics, or politicians. Not merely because he currently serves as Democratic progressive Party constituency governor for youth; he has over the years been bodyguard to a myriad of notable politicians who, from an observer's point of view, have little in common other than the common string that is politics, and being Malawian.
Talk about Malawi Congress Party (MCP) President John Tembo, New Republican Party (NRP) president Gwanda Chakuamba, Stanley Masauli of the resuscitated Republican Party, and Steve Ching'ang'a, among other notable politicians- he has served them all as bodyguard- either as a single individual or part of a security detail.
"The reason I nearly got run over was political; many Malawians have a long-held view that people who belong to other political parties, other than their own, are their sworn in rivals, that there should be no interaction whatsoever. I might have shared in this misconception, but now I know (what politics is all about). Politics, in the developed world, means campaigning in the run-up to federal or national elections, and then holding hands for the sake of national development thereafter. Not in Malawi," says Paulo.
He defends his case by adding that a majority of Malawians have taken politics beyond its traditional meaning, perhaps because of its Chichewa translation of Ndale which, literally translated into English, comes to mean 'slashing one's legs at one go' (as in cutting of grass)-a martial arts technique that sees someone falling over himself from the sudden effect of a slash-like movement of the legs.
Yet, in his own words, he also reveals that on so many occasions, in his other life as bodyguard, he came to learn about the behind-the-podium-life of politicians. He saw his (former) bosses screech to resounding halts whenever they saw their perceived political 'enemies' embroiled in the delay-tentacles of an auto-mobile break-down.
After which, he says, they would agree on where they would meet for one-too-many, or beer, sessions. 'Why can't we learn from this, as we approach the May (19, 2009) general elections, that the polls may be peaceful, that in the end we will all agree to concentrate on development until one's term of office expires? There is a lot to be done to transform our lives, and all these things depend on purpose of unity".
Politicians do it at night.
A lot, it seems, needs to be done, and the signs were bounty recently at Namatete Primary School, in Blantyre, where constituency-level politicians drawn from various political parties met to discuss unity as we approach the May 19, 2009 general elections, equally expected by many a politician and political analysts to be the most challenging Malawi has ever braced since the advent of the Third Republic.
The primary school lies at a distance of 900 metres, East of Chirimba bus stage as one goes towards Blantyre City Centre. There, at Namatete, is a wall two-metres tall, that swallows linear-constructed, but dilapidated all the same, blocks christened classes. These walls also serve as classrooms. In fact, over six chalkboards cover every ten metres of this wall (sorry, classroom!) and, every school day, pupils sit down on stones facing this brown wall.
Every school day, teachers bid their homes bye saying 'we are going to school', yet it is a wall they mean. All they do, and know at this school, ironically constructed in one of Malawi's highly esteemed cities, Blantyre, is stand in front of the wall- the pupils, some can hardly afford soap, watch both the teacher and the wall. Of course they listen to the teacher and not the wall, but environments can also talk. The wall cries for help, in form of classrooms, enough teachers and quality education, on behalf of the pupils.
But, according to UDF's Misomali and Ephraim Pofera, MCP constituency secretary for Kabula, the school remains in such state because people are pre-occupied with politics: the opposition always against, the ruling party always dictating. People are the ones who suffer.
"They (innocent people) are denied their right to development. The problem affects children hard; in this case, pupils have to brace the rain, sometimes so heavy, wind, and the October sun. It's unfair, really. Tit-for-tat politicking, on every side, both the opposition and the ruling party, is retarding social-economic development," says Misomali.
This has largely been detrimental, he enthuses, as some people go about removing other parties' flags and political insignia. Where has sanity gone, when Malawi was supposed to be a boat? One boat.
In fact, in the words of Pofera, what has gone haywire with multiparty politics in Malawi, that it now means enemies to the point of shedding innocent blood? Multiparty politics were supposed to be at the individual person's discretion, whether to join this party or that, just as it happens with churches. He rightly points out that some are catholics, presbyterians, protestants, restorationists, muslims, hindus, among other religious affiliations. But they don't stone each other for their beliefs, they live in peace.
"After all, after all", exclaims Pofera, as if powered by the virtuoso of a newfound revelation, " were we not all members of one political party during the late Dr. Hastings Kamuzu Banda's regime. Were we not all MCP? The institution of a multiparty politics' system simply meant we now had a choice, and making one's choice doesn't mean violence or muzzling of other views. No, that is anathema to democracy," explains the MCP constituency secretary.
But all the three grassroots' political officials agree that the key to peaceful 2009 elections is not success on the voting day. Rather, the key rests in the processes initiated in the run-up to the same, and that this means political involvement of communities and their leaders. They say, at the moment, politicians only use people at the grassroot to propagate their political ambitions, mostly using violence against perceived political enemies. This is exacerbated by deep-rooted poverty, high illiteracy levels, lack of clearly spelt out ideologies and ignorance about world political systems among rural and peri-urban dwellers.
The future, however, is bright, the way MCP campaign director for the constituency Duncain Hora sees it. Hora says the first solution to any political impasse lies in the realisation that before politics and whatever it means, there was kinsmanship among all and sundry in Malawi; that brothers, sisters, cousins, uncles, aunts, grandmothers and fathers, even good neighborliness first lived before politics.
So, as we approach the 2009 elections, people should put these considerations first before thinking of politics. That way, Malawians will come to take politics and elections as only a process through which people who love each other tell those who have failed to impress and have failed electorates' expectations that "well, you will do better than this next time, from the experience you have, let us help the one we now want to fill in your weaknesses. Anyone who chooses someone, or allows themselves to be elected to fill the gaps in other people's weaknesses, is a friend in deed," says Hora.
Edward Chaka, executive director for Peoples' Federation for National Peace and Development (Pefenap), an organisation that has been holding discussions on civil and political rights in the districts of Blantyre and Thyolo, with much emphasis on freedom of assembly and association, says imparting knowledge on grassroots leaders and community members is one plausible approach to solving the probable problem of political violence during the 2009 general elections, among the country's political players.
Lack of knowledge is one weakness that has, for a long time, been exploited by politicians to use villagers as tools of political discourse. But with the requisite knowledge that comes from realizing that every citizen has a constitutionally-enshrined right to form or join a political grouping of their choice; that this right goes with the freedom to assemble as a means of achieving political ends, may be the genesis of much needed political tolerance necessary to achieve sustainable social-economic development.
"In the end, resolving political issues at national level should be a process that begins at community level; it is a local responsibility. It is at this level that people are exploited and engaged to be castigating political opponents," according to Chaka.
Subscribe To
Posts
All Comments
Friday, July 30, 2010
Kalero (flash-back: Chinese company to increase domestic cotton production, consumption
BY RICHARD CHIROMBO
A chinese company, Integrated Cotton and Textile Manufacturers, has already started ground work aimed at improving proceeds farmers earn on cotton products in Balaka, a development that will help increase domestic consumption of Malawian products.
Industry and Trade Minister, Henry Mussa, said in an interview the company was one of the many that recently visited the country to explore investment opportunities, in line with government's goal to improve the number of industries.
Mussa said the coming in of foreign direct investors spelled the beginning of good prospects for Malawi, as most people would now get employed, apart from increasing the number of textile and garment products manufactured in the country.
"Right now, officials from the Chinese textile and garments company are on the ground in Balaka district, and it is hoped that by the end of this year they will have brought all the equipment necessary to scale up their activities and bring tremendous improvements as far as the cotton industry is concerned,"said Mussa.
The minister lamented current trends, where the country exports raw products- a development that translates into low returns for the local grower while those who add value on the products elsewhere reap more profits.
"That is why we need more industries like this, inorder to transform the economy and bring about change. The good thing is that we have held a lot of fora on the issue of investment with foreign investors from Chana (Mainland), Britain, and even those from Asia. The idea is to transform this country by scaling up industrialisation," he said.
While the coming in of Chinese companies may be good for Malawi, other countries have complained about the influx of Chinese products as
Garment companies working in China are, for instance, making their own thread now, which they are exporting, thus increasing global competition.
Even the regional giant, South Africa, has not been spared, as the country's employment opportunities in the textile industry dropped from 70, 000 in 2003 to about 50, 000 in 2007. This came against increased cheap imports from Asia.
Yarn imports rose from 77, 000 in 2001 to over 100, 000 tonnes last year, though the truly alarming increase that fretted South African textile makers was the 600 per cent rise in imported textiles- up from about 5000 tonnes in 2001, to about 30, 000 tonnes in 2007.
This comes at a time when China's impact on the region's inputs is being felt, though local manufacturers like Mapeto DWSM offer outlets for locally produced materials.
Regional textile trade is facilitated by the Southern African Development community (SADC) Free Trade Agreement, whose goal is to create a unified 'borderless' trading bloc for member states.
Malawi's neighbour, Mozambique, with its reviving economy at the north-eastern part of Maputo Corridor, has been putting in place initiatives aimed at garnering a share of the region's textile business. One big encumbrance, though, is that cotton production last year yielded only a forth of raw materials required by the country's ginning mills, a development that saw cotton being sourced from South Africa and Malawi, among others.
Cotton yields were 90, 000 tonnes in 2007, down from a record 122, 000 tonnes in 2006. Bad weather- droughty conditions in some growing areas but too much rainfall in other places- was blamed for the drop. Mozambican ginning mills require 400, 000 tonnes of cotton for their operations, a trend that necessitates measures to address the influx of cheap products from Asia if the region is to make any in roads into the textile market.
This has prompted South Africa to start addressing the influx of Chinese textiles through the introduction of a quota system. A China Restraint Agreement was introduced by government in January last year. It also covers such areas as firefighter gear and specialised sporting gear.
However, while conditions get tougher opportunities exist for fabrics for industrial applications globally, a market that has a growth rate of approximately 3 to 4 per cent per annum- which is far above the 1.5 per cent annual growth for conventional fabrics.
Malawi, however, is in dire need of industries, following the closing shop of most industrial players over the past ten years, a development trade experts blame on unfavourable policies and privatisation during the previous administration. However, David Whitehead and Sons Malawi Limited, a textile and garments manufacturer, has proved these assertions wrong as it continues to do better on the market, years after being privatised.
.
A chinese company, Integrated Cotton and Textile Manufacturers, has already started ground work aimed at improving proceeds farmers earn on cotton products in Balaka, a development that will help increase domestic consumption of Malawian products.
Industry and Trade Minister, Henry Mussa, said in an interview the company was one of the many that recently visited the country to explore investment opportunities, in line with government's goal to improve the number of industries.
Mussa said the coming in of foreign direct investors spelled the beginning of good prospects for Malawi, as most people would now get employed, apart from increasing the number of textile and garment products manufactured in the country.
"Right now, officials from the Chinese textile and garments company are on the ground in Balaka district, and it is hoped that by the end of this year they will have brought all the equipment necessary to scale up their activities and bring tremendous improvements as far as the cotton industry is concerned,"said Mussa.
The minister lamented current trends, where the country exports raw products- a development that translates into low returns for the local grower while those who add value on the products elsewhere reap more profits.
"That is why we need more industries like this, inorder to transform the economy and bring about change. The good thing is that we have held a lot of fora on the issue of investment with foreign investors from Chana (Mainland), Britain, and even those from Asia. The idea is to transform this country by scaling up industrialisation," he said.
While the coming in of Chinese companies may be good for Malawi, other countries have complained about the influx of Chinese products as
Garment companies working in China are, for instance, making their own thread now, which they are exporting, thus increasing global competition.
Even the regional giant, South Africa, has not been spared, as the country's employment opportunities in the textile industry dropped from 70, 000 in 2003 to about 50, 000 in 2007. This came against increased cheap imports from Asia.
Yarn imports rose from 77, 000 in 2001 to over 100, 000 tonnes last year, though the truly alarming increase that fretted South African textile makers was the 600 per cent rise in imported textiles- up from about 5000 tonnes in 2001, to about 30, 000 tonnes in 2007.
This comes at a time when China's impact on the region's inputs is being felt, though local manufacturers like Mapeto DWSM offer outlets for locally produced materials.
Regional textile trade is facilitated by the Southern African Development community (SADC) Free Trade Agreement, whose goal is to create a unified 'borderless' trading bloc for member states.
Malawi's neighbour, Mozambique, with its reviving economy at the north-eastern part of Maputo Corridor, has been putting in place initiatives aimed at garnering a share of the region's textile business. One big encumbrance, though, is that cotton production last year yielded only a forth of raw materials required by the country's ginning mills, a development that saw cotton being sourced from South Africa and Malawi, among others.
Cotton yields were 90, 000 tonnes in 2007, down from a record 122, 000 tonnes in 2006. Bad weather- droughty conditions in some growing areas but too much rainfall in other places- was blamed for the drop. Mozambican ginning mills require 400, 000 tonnes of cotton for their operations, a trend that necessitates measures to address the influx of cheap products from Asia if the region is to make any in roads into the textile market.
This has prompted South Africa to start addressing the influx of Chinese textiles through the introduction of a quota system. A China Restraint Agreement was introduced by government in January last year. It also covers such areas as firefighter gear and specialised sporting gear.
However, while conditions get tougher opportunities exist for fabrics for industrial applications globally, a market that has a growth rate of approximately 3 to 4 per cent per annum- which is far above the 1.5 per cent annual growth for conventional fabrics.
Malawi, however, is in dire need of industries, following the closing shop of most industrial players over the past ten years, a development trade experts blame on unfavourable policies and privatisation during the previous administration. However, David Whitehead and Sons Malawi Limited, a textile and garments manufacturer, has proved these assertions wrong as it continues to do better on the market, years after being privatised.
.
Flash-back 2009: Culture threatens women representation- DC
There can not be sustainable women empowerment in development and politics if women lobby groups live out culture in their campaigns, says Chikwawa District Commissioner Lawford Palani.
Palani was speaking on Saturday at the beginning of a four-day training for Association of Progressive Women (APW) community and district facilitators in preparation for the May 19, 2009 general elections.
He said most organizations lobbying for greater women representation were forgetting culture as a crucial component in the quest to achieve the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) 30 per cent women participation goal set in Blantyre in 1997.
“Culture is one of the biggest challenges thwarting efforts aimed at making sure that women play an active role in the development of Chikwawa, and any efforts aimed at ensuring their greater representation in decision making and politics should be targeted at dispelling prevalent cultural stereotypes. For instance, many people still believe that women should be confined to the kitchen, all because women lobby groups concentrate on urban-based meetings instead of tackling the cultural aspects with cultural custodians,” said Palani.
Palani also warned civil society organizations fighting for more women representation in the district against being partisan, saying women promotion did not entail openly campaigning for an aspiring woman Member of Parliament belonging to one political party at the expense of men competing for other parties as it would wrongly be translated as playing partisan politics.
He said organizations accredited to carry out voter civic education, while at the same time carrying out mobilization campaigns for women empowerment, needed to adhere to all principles of neutrality such as avoiding wearing party colours and being free from any political influence- aspects he said could tarnish the credibility of the electoral process.
He warned that organizations and individuals who flouted these principals risked being prosecuted, according to the electoral laws governing Malawi.
APW Programmes Officer Noel Msiska advised the facilitators, whose main duty will be to carry out civic voter education and mobilizing voters to vote for women, to heed the DCs call by avoiding behaviour that may discredit the electoral process.
He said while there was confusion lingering over the neutrality of women lobby groups in the civic voter education process, as they are largely viewed as being against men, the truth was that they were not campaigning for individual women aspirants but general women representation.
“People who accuse women lobby groups of being partisan in areas where their parties are featuring men surprise us because they are in the forefront congratulating us in constituencies where they feature women. This means that it is not a big issue to campaign for women, so long as organizations take a non-partisan stance,” said Msiska.
The training was funded by Norad, through NGO Gender Coordination Network- where APW heads the permanent committee for women in politics.
Palani was speaking on Saturday at the beginning of a four-day training for Association of Progressive Women (APW) community and district facilitators in preparation for the May 19, 2009 general elections.
He said most organizations lobbying for greater women representation were forgetting culture as a crucial component in the quest to achieve the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) 30 per cent women participation goal set in Blantyre in 1997.
“Culture is one of the biggest challenges thwarting efforts aimed at making sure that women play an active role in the development of Chikwawa, and any efforts aimed at ensuring their greater representation in decision making and politics should be targeted at dispelling prevalent cultural stereotypes. For instance, many people still believe that women should be confined to the kitchen, all because women lobby groups concentrate on urban-based meetings instead of tackling the cultural aspects with cultural custodians,” said Palani.
Palani also warned civil society organizations fighting for more women representation in the district against being partisan, saying women promotion did not entail openly campaigning for an aspiring woman Member of Parliament belonging to one political party at the expense of men competing for other parties as it would wrongly be translated as playing partisan politics.
He said organizations accredited to carry out voter civic education, while at the same time carrying out mobilization campaigns for women empowerment, needed to adhere to all principles of neutrality such as avoiding wearing party colours and being free from any political influence- aspects he said could tarnish the credibility of the electoral process.
He warned that organizations and individuals who flouted these principals risked being prosecuted, according to the electoral laws governing Malawi.
APW Programmes Officer Noel Msiska advised the facilitators, whose main duty will be to carry out civic voter education and mobilizing voters to vote for women, to heed the DCs call by avoiding behaviour that may discredit the electoral process.
He said while there was confusion lingering over the neutrality of women lobby groups in the civic voter education process, as they are largely viewed as being against men, the truth was that they were not campaigning for individual women aspirants but general women representation.
“People who accuse women lobby groups of being partisan in areas where their parties are featuring men surprise us because they are in the forefront congratulating us in constituencies where they feature women. This means that it is not a big issue to campaign for women, so long as organizations take a non-partisan stance,” said Msiska.
The training was funded by Norad, through NGO Gender Coordination Network- where APW heads the permanent committee for women in politics.
Make yours a meat-free Monday
What a difference a day makes
London - 22 July 2010
If everyone in Britain stopped eating meat for just one day a week, it would reduce greenhouse gases by the equivalent of taking five million cars off the road. Wow!
I just discovered this fab Animal Aid video, with great music by Moby, which explains how.
Watch and enjoy:
http://www.animalaid.org.uk/h/f/CAMPAIGNS/blog//4//?be_id=242
Make yours a meat-free Monday.
Why?
According to the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO), the farming and slaughtering of animals rates as one of the top three causes of all the major environmental problems confronting the world.
These include land degradation, climate change, air pollution and water shortages. According to a landmark 2006 UN FAO report, animal farming is responsible for 18 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions, which is more than the entire transport sector combined.
The message of Animal Aid's film is that if everyone in the UK gave up eating meat for just one day a week, this would result in greenhouse gas emission reductions equivalent to taking more than five million cars off the road.
More information about meat-free Mondays and how you can make a difference, see here:
http://www.animalaid.org.uk/h/n/CAMPAIGNS/vegetarianism//2156//
London - 22 July 2010
If everyone in Britain stopped eating meat for just one day a week, it would reduce greenhouse gases by the equivalent of taking five million cars off the road. Wow!
I just discovered this fab Animal Aid video, with great music by Moby, which explains how.
Watch and enjoy:
http://www.animalaid.org.uk/h/f/CAMPAIGNS/blog//4//?be_id=242
Make yours a meat-free Monday.
Why?
According to the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO), the farming and slaughtering of animals rates as one of the top three causes of all the major environmental problems confronting the world.
These include land degradation, climate change, air pollution and water shortages. According to a landmark 2006 UN FAO report, animal farming is responsible for 18 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions, which is more than the entire transport sector combined.
The message of Animal Aid's film is that if everyone in the UK gave up eating meat for just one day a week, this would result in greenhouse gas emission reductions equivalent to taking more than five million cars off the road.
More information about meat-free Mondays and how you can make a difference, see here:
http://www.animalaid.org.uk/h/n/CAMPAIGNS/vegetarianism//2156//
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Bingu wa Mutharika you are a ahero
Pesident Bingu wa Mutharika: I followed what you said yesterday during the press briefing- just wanna say 'YOu are a hero'. Sure.
I respect you, a lot; for what you said.
But give The Nation Newspaper adverts.
I respect you, a lot; for what you said.
But give The Nation Newspaper adverts.
The out-going Chinese Ambassador to Malawi, His Excellency Lin Songtia has been awarded the Distinguished Media Relations Award (DMRA). The Bwaila Press Club (BMC) said Songtian's contribution to media development in the country deserved such high recognition.
During a farewell party hosted in honour of the ambassador who lives Malawi next August, the club emphasized that for the past two years the ambassador has been in the country, there was an enhanced and open-door media policy between China and the Malawian media.
"About 30 of our media colleagues have been to China on scholarships. About 20 more are expected before the end of the year. We see this plus the readiness to accept and respond to the local media's working strides as a great step in the promotion of the media in Malawi," said M'theto Lungu, BMC chairperson.
The DMRA, added Lungu at the function mainly made up of the country's media personnel based in the capital city, Lilongwe, is an annual recognition for eminent and other outstanding Malawians who have cultivated a professional and friendly media relations with Malawi's journalism.
"As we also aim at promoting transparency and accountability within our media circles, we wish to use the award as a measure for outstanding and excellence between ourselves and our audience. Grassroots people who also endear their socio-economic ventures will form part of beneficiaries of the DMRA," he explained.
Songtian himself said he was grateful for the recognition and that it shall go a long way in reminding him of the important role the Malawi media has played in opening up his country's policy and development endevours in Malawi, Africa and the world at large.
"Mostly, both China and Africa are reported in the negative in the western press. The cordial relations that exist between my embassy and my country with the Malawi media has helped to show the world that China is an equal and important friend in development.
“We humbly contribute to the global economy and come in to assist our friends in Africa and beyond. We may have different approaches but both Malawi's traditional and new friends are important. We all need to come in and assist, learn and contribute to the development of all our friends. It is no competition," he told the journalists.
The DMRA was presented to Songtian by the Media Council of Malawi's (MCM) executive director, Baldwin Chiyamwaka, who gave a vote of thanks on behalf of the BMC.
"We are grateful for China's contribution to the development of the media in Malawi. With this award, we want to wish you a great end to your mission in Malawi and also to make it a constant reminder to your Excellency that we embrace and enjoyed the relationship that you cultivated with us.
"Your door was always open to journalists and you made it a worthwhile to contribute to train some of our colleagues in your country. Indeed, you will remain a good friend in deed," said Chiyamwaka.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
During a farewell party hosted in honour of the ambassador who lives Malawi next August, the club emphasized that for the past two years the ambassador has been in the country, there was an enhanced and open-door media policy between China and the Malawian media.
"About 30 of our media colleagues have been to China on scholarships. About 20 more are expected before the end of the year. We see this plus the readiness to accept and respond to the local media's working strides as a great step in the promotion of the media in Malawi," said M'theto Lungu, BMC chairperson.
The DMRA, added Lungu at the function mainly made up of the country's media personnel based in the capital city, Lilongwe, is an annual recognition for eminent and other outstanding Malawians who have cultivated a professional and friendly media relations with Malawi's journalism.
"As we also aim at promoting transparency and accountability within our media circles, we wish to use the award as a measure for outstanding and excellence between ourselves and our audience. Grassroots people who also endear their socio-economic ventures will form part of beneficiaries of the DMRA," he explained.
Songtian himself said he was grateful for the recognition and that it shall go a long way in reminding him of the important role the Malawi media has played in opening up his country's policy and development endevours in Malawi, Africa and the world at large.
"Mostly, both China and Africa are reported in the negative in the western press. The cordial relations that exist between my embassy and my country with the Malawi media has helped to show the world that China is an equal and important friend in development.
“We humbly contribute to the global economy and come in to assist our friends in Africa and beyond. We may have different approaches but both Malawi's traditional and new friends are important. We all need to come in and assist, learn and contribute to the development of all our friends. It is no competition," he told the journalists.
The DMRA was presented to Songtian by the Media Council of Malawi's (MCM) executive director, Baldwin Chiyamwaka, who gave a vote of thanks on behalf of the BMC.
"We are grateful for China's contribution to the development of the media in Malawi. With this award, we want to wish you a great end to your mission in Malawi and also to make it a constant reminder to your Excellency that we embrace and enjoyed the relationship that you cultivated with us.
"Your door was always open to journalists and you made it a worthwhile to contribute to train some of our colleagues in your country. Indeed, you will remain a good friend in deed," said Chiyamwaka.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Someone bumped into Peter someday
BNP leader runs away when challenged
Refuses to apologise for BNP's anti-Semitism, homophobia & attacks on Muslims
London - 22 July 2010
The far right BNP leader Nick Griffin was ambushed at his press conference and photo call at Millbank Studios in London this afternoon by human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell.
See BBC footage of the ambush and a full transcript here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-10729194
Mr Tatchell sneaked between the photographers pack and strode right up to Mr Griffin as he was showing off his Buckingham Palace Garden Party invitation, which was withdrawn by the Queen earlier today.
"As soon as he saw me he had a look of horror on his face," said Mr Tatchell.
"I asked Griffin: 'Isn't it about time you apologised to the British people for your party's long history of anti-Semitism, homophobia and attacks on the Muslim community?'"
"Griffin looked sheepish. He seemed stumped for an answer. I asked him again. Then he just ran off. What a coward.
"Griffin's minders shoved me down the stairs. It's proof that the BNP doesn't believe in free speech or in the public asking their leader awkward questions. It shows the kind of autocratic society the BNP would impose if they ever won power.
"For many years, the BNP has preached a totalitarian ideology of anti-Jewish, anti-black, anti-gay and anti-Muslim hatred. The party has a long and strident hatred of non-white immigrants and asylum seekers. It's racist views are an affront to democratic values.
"Behind Nick Griffin's silky words and smiles lurk his party's neo-fascist roots. The BNP is a threat to human rights and social solidarity," said Mr Tatchell.
Refuses to apologise for BNP's anti-Semitism, homophobia & attacks on Muslims
London - 22 July 2010
The far right BNP leader Nick Griffin was ambushed at his press conference and photo call at Millbank Studios in London this afternoon by human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell.
See BBC footage of the ambush and a full transcript here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-10729194
Mr Tatchell sneaked between the photographers pack and strode right up to Mr Griffin as he was showing off his Buckingham Palace Garden Party invitation, which was withdrawn by the Queen earlier today.
"As soon as he saw me he had a look of horror on his face," said Mr Tatchell.
"I asked Griffin: 'Isn't it about time you apologised to the British people for your party's long history of anti-Semitism, homophobia and attacks on the Muslim community?'"
"Griffin looked sheepish. He seemed stumped for an answer. I asked him again. Then he just ran off. What a coward.
"Griffin's minders shoved me down the stairs. It's proof that the BNP doesn't believe in free speech or in the public asking their leader awkward questions. It shows the kind of autocratic society the BNP would impose if they ever won power.
"For many years, the BNP has preached a totalitarian ideology of anti-Jewish, anti-black, anti-gay and anti-Muslim hatred. The party has a long and strident hatred of non-white immigrants and asylum seekers. It's racist views are an affront to democratic values.
"Behind Nick Griffin's silky words and smiles lurk his party's neo-fascist roots. The BNP is a threat to human rights and social solidarity," said Mr Tatchell.
THE MUSLIM MOSQUE: A STATE WITHIN A STATE
by Vijay Kumar
THE KABAH IN MECCA WAS NOT BUILT AS AN ISLAMIC MOSQUE. It was an ancient temple that had been shared by polytheists, Christians, Jews, and Hindus, honoring 360 different deities. In 630 A.D. the Kabah was captured by Islam in its military invasion and conquest of Mecca.
On the day of its capture, Mohammed delivered an address at the Kabah in military dress and helmet, according to Ayatullah Ja’far Subhani in his book, “The Message”:
“Bear in mind that every claim of privilege, whether that of blood or property is abolished . . . I reject all claims relating to life and property and all imaginary honors of the past, and declare them to be baseless . . . A Muslim is the brother of another Muslim and all the Muslims are brothers of one another and constitute one hand as against the non-Muslims. The blood of every one of them is equal to that of others and even the smallest among them can make a promise on behalf of others.” —Mohammed
Mohammed’s address at the Kabah overthrew the Meccan government and declared all of Islam, anywhere in the world, to be a political and military state against all non-Muslims, regardless of the non-Muslims’ political, geographical, or national origins.
“If anyone desires a religion other than Islam (submission to Allah), never will it be accepted of him.” —Koran 3:85
Although the rightful owners of the Kabah are the many religions that shared it before the Islamic military conquest of Mecca, according to Subhani the Kabah today is under the control of a hereditary regime going back to Mohammed: “currently the 12th Imam from the direct descent of the Prophet of Islam is the real protector, its custodian and guardian.”
All Islamic mosques everywhere in the world are required to have a clear visible indication pointing in the direction of Mecca and the Kabah, where the international political and military state of Islam was founded. In most mosques there is a niche in the wall—the mihrab—that points toward the seat of Islamic power. Each mosque, like the Kabah, is governed by an Imam in compliance with the political documents of Islam.
Mosques and the Political Documents of Islam
The Koran is the supreme political document of Islam—its political manifesto and political constitution. It is the only constitution of the nation-state Saudi Arabia, which is the home of Mecca and the Kabah, where all mosques point, and is the birthplace of Islam.
The Koran is a totalitarian constitution. It demands submission by anyone within its jurisdiction. The Koran governs all mosques everywhere in the world.
As a political document, the Koran asserts that everyone in the world is within its jurisdiction. So far, Islam has not been able to enforce that totalitarian claim on the entire world, but has managed to do so through threat, infiltration, violence, terrorism, and coercion on roughly 20% of the world. It is engaged in a 1400-year-long Universal Jihad to dominate the rest of the world. All mosques are its outpost headquarters.
Central to the Koran’s political mandates is prohibition of religious freedom and religious tolerance, along with denouncements of religions such as Christianity and Judaism.
“O ye who believe! take not the Jews and the Christians for your friends and protectors: They are but friends and protectors to each other. And he amongst you that turns to them (for friendship) is of them.” —Koran 5:51
“Fight and slay the Pagans wherever ye find them, and seize them, beleaguer them, and lie in wait for them in every stratagem (of war)” —Koran 9:5
All mosque leaders must be loyal to and supportive of these political and militaristic mandates.
The Koran as a political document also forbids separation of church and state. That is why every Islamic nation, where Islamic leaders have managed to gain power, is a theocracy, ruled by the Koran and Islamic Sharia law.
The Hadith (reported sayings and acts of Mohammed) and the Sira (the official biographies of Mohammed) are the other political documents that, along with the Koran, constitute the basis for Islam’s Sharia law.
“There is only one law which ought to be followed, and that is the Sharia.” —Syed Qutb
Sharia law is administered by Islamic Imams who interpret the law and hand down rulings in their sole discretion. Sharia law does not allow trial by jury. Sharia law also mandates a double standard of laws for Muslims (believers) and infidels (non-believers). Sharia law mandates a discriminatory tax, called jizya, on non-Islamic religions and nations:
“Fight those who believe not in Allah...until they pay the jizya with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued.” —Koran 9:29
Sharia law also mandates discrimination toward women, and forbids any criticism of Islam or its founder, stifling freedom of speech.
Sharia law also mandates that all men are slaves with no right to freedom of religion:
“Allah’s right on His slaves is that they should worship Him (Alone) and should not worship any besides Him.” —Mohammed, Sahih Bukhari 4:52:108, Narrated Mu’adh
Sharia law does not allow for separation of church and state. Sharia regards church and state as one inseparable entity governing every aspect of individual and social life, both spiritual and secular. That is why all Islamic nations are theocracies.
In short, Sharia law stands in direct opposition to the American Constitution and Bill of Rights. The implementation of Sharia law demands the overthrow of the American Constitution and our form of government and system of laws. Mosque leaders, in every nation in the world, are loyal to the Koran, the Hadith, the Sira, and consider them divine law, and therefore supreme over all manmade laws.
Other political and military documents of Islam include treaties of Mohammed, which are held in reverence by Islam as models of conduct in relations between nations.
“Ye have indeed in the Messenger of Allah [Mohammed] a beautiful pattern (of conduct) for anyone whose hope is in Allah.” —Koran 33:21
“War is deceit.” —Mohammed, Sahih Bukhari 4:52:268, Narrated Abu Hurarira
In one treaty proposal, to Jaifer and Abd, Mohammed wrote:
“If you two accept Islam, your country will, as usual, remain with you. But if you refuse or object, it is a perishable thing.” —Mohammed
In another, to the Chiefs of Aqaba, he wrote:
“It is better for you either to accept Islam or agree to pay Jizya and consent to remain obedient to Allah . . . If you do not accept these terms . . . I shall have to wage war (to bring peace and security).” —Mohammed
These same patterns and political mandates have been used over and over by Muslims since 610 A.D. to invade and conquer many civilizations and nations throughout the world, and to eradicate human rights and freedoms in those lands. Iran once was called Persia and was Zorastrian. Egypt was Christian. What was once a Hindu civilization was conquered and made into Pakistan, which is now part of the Axis of Jihad, along with Iran and Saudi Arabia. Afghanistan was Buddhist for thousands of years. Now its chief exports are heroin and Islamic terrorism.
“When We decide to destroy a population, We (first) send a definite order to those among them who are given the good things of this life and yet transgress; so that the word is proved true against them: then (it is) We destroy them utterly.” —Koran 17:16
In every instance where Islam has conquered and “destroyed utterly” a nation or civilization, the key to the conquest was the establishment of mosques, which are political and military command and control centers for Islam, and which all point toward the seat of Islamic power: the Kabah.
Mosques and the Fallacy of the “Moderate Muslim”
The majority of Germans during World War II were not active members of the Nazi party, were not waging war, and were not involved in the holocaust. The leaders, though, were active members of the Nazi party, were waging war, and were involved in the holocaust.
The majority of Russians and eastern Europeans under the rule of the U.S.S.R. were not trying to spread Communism throughout the world, and were not threatening and waging war and revolution, but were going about their daily lives trying to survive. The leaders, though, were doing everything they could to spread Communism throughout the world, and were threatening and waging war and revolution.
Throughout history, since 610 A.D., the leaders of Islam have been waging Universal Jihad around the world for the purpose of Islamic totalitarian domination of the world. It has never mattered what percentage of the Muslim population was “peaceful” or “moderate.” Peace and moderation are not relevant to the totalitarian mandates of Islam’s political documents, and Islam’s leaders always follow the totalitarian mandates of Universal Jihad contained in them.
There are post-Nazi democracies. There are post-Communist democracies. There are no post-Islamic democracies. Literal Islam, as contained in its political documents, is the consummate totalitarianism. Neither Nazism or Communism had a metaphysical factor, as does Islam. Islam uses its metaphysics as a wedge to drive in its totalitarian political doctrines.
Once Islam has established itself sufficiently in any nation, it seeks to overthrow any existing regime or constitution or law, and replace it with Islamic theocracy. Even the most “moderate” Muslim is bound to obey Islamic law, and so is bound to fight if ordered to fight:
“When you are called (by the Muslim ruler) for fighting, go forth immediately.” —Hadith Sahih Bukhari 4:52:79:Narrated Ibn ‘Abbas
All Islamic mosques have Islamic leaders (rulers) who can call Muslims for fighting, and as such are satellite headquarters for spreading Literal Islam’s political doctrine of world domination and totalitarianism—no matter how many “moderate Muslims” they serve.
Mosques and the Worldwide Islamic State
Islam is a de facto political state wherever it exists anywhere in the world. The Koran is its constitution. The Kabah is its seat of power, still in the control of the regime that occupied it in 630 A.D. All Muslims in the world, regardless of nationality, are required to travel to the Kabah at least once in their lifetime and pay homage to it.
The fact that nations and international political institutions in the world do not recognize Islam as a de jure state is irrelevant. Mohammed himself declared it as a state, and Islam’s own political documents declare it to be a state, and, ipso facto, it always is a state-within-a-state, governed by the Koran and Sharia law internally, anywhere that it has not yet gained full power and control.
“The Believers are but a single brotherhood.” —Koran 49:10
“A Muslim has no nationality except his belief.” —Syed Qutb
“Islam wishes to destroy all states and governments anywhere on the face of the earth which are opposed to the ideology and program of Islam regardless of the country or the nation which rules it. The purpose of Islam is to set up a State on the basis of its own ideology and program.” — Syed Abul A’ala Maududi
Just as our Constitution of the United States binds and identifies us as a single political and legal union of non-contiguous states, territories, political groups, and people, so the Koran binds and identifies all Islamic nations and all Muslims as a single political and legal union of non-contiguous nations, territories, political groups and people, regardless of geographic boundaries, whose seat of power is the occupied Kabah. All Islamic Imams, in every mosque everywhere in the world, are bound to the Koran as supreme law.
As we have seen, Islamic law gives Islamic Imams the power to order Muslims to fighting. The German Max Weber, who had considerable influence on international law and politics, defined “state” as that entity that has a “monopoly on the legitimate use of physical force within a given territory.”
Islam declares that the Koran and Sharia law are divine, and, as such, are the only “legitimate” law in the world. In that way, Islam “self-legitimizes” its right to use physical force anywhere in the world, and the right of every Imam in every mosque in the world to call for physical force and violence at any time. This makes every Imam in every mosque a military leader.
Islam is a state by every definition and theory, and is a state hostile to and at war with the United States of America and its Constitution.
Mosques and Treason and Sedition Against the U.S.
Islam’s political documents and law call for the overthrow of our Constitution and our man-made laws, and therefore for the overthrow of our government, which by definition constitutes sedition and treason. The Islamic documents call for the overthrow of our government—a protector of religious freedom and human rights—through violence:
“I was ordered to fight all men until they say ‘there is no god but Allah.’” —Mohammed’s farewell address, 632
“I have been ordered to fight with the people till they say, ‘None has the right to be worshipped but Allah.’” —Hadith Sahih Bukhari 4:52:196 Narrated Abu Huraira
“He who fights so that Allah’s Word (Islam) should be superior, then he fights in Allah’s cause.” —Hadith Sahih Bukhari 1:3:125 Narrated Abu Musa
“I asked the Prophet [Mohammed], ‘What is the best deed?’ He replied, ‘To believe in Allah and to fight for His Cause.’” —Hadith Sahih Bukhari 3:46:694 Narrated Abu Dhar
“And fight them till there is no more affliction (i.e. no more worshiping of others along with Allah)”. —Hadith Sahih Bukhari 6:60:40 Narrated Nafi’
“Soon shall We cast terror into the hearts of the Unbelievers.” —Koran 3.151
“I am with you: give firmness to the Believers: I will instill terror into the hearts of the Unbelievers: smite ye above their necks and smite all their finger-tips off them.” —Koran 8:12
“Against them make ready your strength to the utmost of your power, including steeds of war, to strike terror into (the hearts of) the enemies, of Allah and your enemies, and others besides, whom ye may not know, but whom Allah doth know.” —Koran 8:60
The Koran, as the constitution of Islam and Muslims, is diametrically opposite to the United States Constitution and Bill of Rights. According to Islam and Muslims, the Koran is divine law, uncorrupted and incorruptible, whereas the United States Constitution is man-made and is not infallible, and therefore is corrupt. The U.S. Constitution is the antithesis of the Koran; therefore Muslims have no obligation to obey it.
A mosque in the United States is a command and control center of a foreign political and military state that seeks the overthrow of our government, and an Imam in a mosque is a political and military representative of a foreign state that calls for the overthrow of the United States.
The laws of the United States provide specific criminal penalties for sedition and treason. These laws are not only applicable to those advocating and calling for the overthrow of our Constitution and our government; they are applicable to anyone who gives “aid or comfort” to such declared enemies of the United States, or who “organizes or helps or attempts to organize any society, group, or assembly of persons” so engaged. The terms “organizes” and “organize” extend to “the recruiting of new members, the forming of new units, and the regrouping or expansion of existing clubs, classes, and other units of such society, group, or assembly of persons.”
Mosques are just such units.
______________________
Vijay Kumar is a Republican candidate for U.S. Congress from Tennessee's 5th District. A native of Hyderabad, India, Mr. Kumar lived in Iran during the 1979 Islamic Revolution, when he came to the United States. A naturalized American citizen, Mr. Kumar has lived in Nashville, Tennessee for 24 years. He has been married to his wife, Robin, a native of Bowling Green, Kentucky, for 27 years, and they have three children, two of whom are adopted.
THE KABAH IN MECCA WAS NOT BUILT AS AN ISLAMIC MOSQUE. It was an ancient temple that had been shared by polytheists, Christians, Jews, and Hindus, honoring 360 different deities. In 630 A.D. the Kabah was captured by Islam in its military invasion and conquest of Mecca.
On the day of its capture, Mohammed delivered an address at the Kabah in military dress and helmet, according to Ayatullah Ja’far Subhani in his book, “The Message”:
“Bear in mind that every claim of privilege, whether that of blood or property is abolished . . . I reject all claims relating to life and property and all imaginary honors of the past, and declare them to be baseless . . . A Muslim is the brother of another Muslim and all the Muslims are brothers of one another and constitute one hand as against the non-Muslims. The blood of every one of them is equal to that of others and even the smallest among them can make a promise on behalf of others.” —Mohammed
Mohammed’s address at the Kabah overthrew the Meccan government and declared all of Islam, anywhere in the world, to be a political and military state against all non-Muslims, regardless of the non-Muslims’ political, geographical, or national origins.
“If anyone desires a religion other than Islam (submission to Allah), never will it be accepted of him.” —Koran 3:85
Although the rightful owners of the Kabah are the many religions that shared it before the Islamic military conquest of Mecca, according to Subhani the Kabah today is under the control of a hereditary regime going back to Mohammed: “currently the 12th Imam from the direct descent of the Prophet of Islam is the real protector, its custodian and guardian.”
All Islamic mosques everywhere in the world are required to have a clear visible indication pointing in the direction of Mecca and the Kabah, where the international political and military state of Islam was founded. In most mosques there is a niche in the wall—the mihrab—that points toward the seat of Islamic power. Each mosque, like the Kabah, is governed by an Imam in compliance with the political documents of Islam.
Mosques and the Political Documents of Islam
The Koran is the supreme political document of Islam—its political manifesto and political constitution. It is the only constitution of the nation-state Saudi Arabia, which is the home of Mecca and the Kabah, where all mosques point, and is the birthplace of Islam.
The Koran is a totalitarian constitution. It demands submission by anyone within its jurisdiction. The Koran governs all mosques everywhere in the world.
As a political document, the Koran asserts that everyone in the world is within its jurisdiction. So far, Islam has not been able to enforce that totalitarian claim on the entire world, but has managed to do so through threat, infiltration, violence, terrorism, and coercion on roughly 20% of the world. It is engaged in a 1400-year-long Universal Jihad to dominate the rest of the world. All mosques are its outpost headquarters.
Central to the Koran’s political mandates is prohibition of religious freedom and religious tolerance, along with denouncements of religions such as Christianity and Judaism.
“O ye who believe! take not the Jews and the Christians for your friends and protectors: They are but friends and protectors to each other. And he amongst you that turns to them (for friendship) is of them.” —Koran 5:51
“Fight and slay the Pagans wherever ye find them, and seize them, beleaguer them, and lie in wait for them in every stratagem (of war)” —Koran 9:5
All mosque leaders must be loyal to and supportive of these political and militaristic mandates.
The Koran as a political document also forbids separation of church and state. That is why every Islamic nation, where Islamic leaders have managed to gain power, is a theocracy, ruled by the Koran and Islamic Sharia law.
The Hadith (reported sayings and acts of Mohammed) and the Sira (the official biographies of Mohammed) are the other political documents that, along with the Koran, constitute the basis for Islam’s Sharia law.
“There is only one law which ought to be followed, and that is the Sharia.” —Syed Qutb
Sharia law is administered by Islamic Imams who interpret the law and hand down rulings in their sole discretion. Sharia law does not allow trial by jury. Sharia law also mandates a double standard of laws for Muslims (believers) and infidels (non-believers). Sharia law mandates a discriminatory tax, called jizya, on non-Islamic religions and nations:
“Fight those who believe not in Allah...until they pay the jizya with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued.” —Koran 9:29
Sharia law also mandates discrimination toward women, and forbids any criticism of Islam or its founder, stifling freedom of speech.
Sharia law also mandates that all men are slaves with no right to freedom of religion:
“Allah’s right on His slaves is that they should worship Him (Alone) and should not worship any besides Him.” —Mohammed, Sahih Bukhari 4:52:108, Narrated Mu’adh
Sharia law does not allow for separation of church and state. Sharia regards church and state as one inseparable entity governing every aspect of individual and social life, both spiritual and secular. That is why all Islamic nations are theocracies.
In short, Sharia law stands in direct opposition to the American Constitution and Bill of Rights. The implementation of Sharia law demands the overthrow of the American Constitution and our form of government and system of laws. Mosque leaders, in every nation in the world, are loyal to the Koran, the Hadith, the Sira, and consider them divine law, and therefore supreme over all manmade laws.
Other political and military documents of Islam include treaties of Mohammed, which are held in reverence by Islam as models of conduct in relations between nations.
“Ye have indeed in the Messenger of Allah [Mohammed] a beautiful pattern (of conduct) for anyone whose hope is in Allah.” —Koran 33:21
“War is deceit.” —Mohammed, Sahih Bukhari 4:52:268, Narrated Abu Hurarira
In one treaty proposal, to Jaifer and Abd, Mohammed wrote:
“If you two accept Islam, your country will, as usual, remain with you. But if you refuse or object, it is a perishable thing.” —Mohammed
In another, to the Chiefs of Aqaba, he wrote:
“It is better for you either to accept Islam or agree to pay Jizya and consent to remain obedient to Allah . . . If you do not accept these terms . . . I shall have to wage war (to bring peace and security).” —Mohammed
These same patterns and political mandates have been used over and over by Muslims since 610 A.D. to invade and conquer many civilizations and nations throughout the world, and to eradicate human rights and freedoms in those lands. Iran once was called Persia and was Zorastrian. Egypt was Christian. What was once a Hindu civilization was conquered and made into Pakistan, which is now part of the Axis of Jihad, along with Iran and Saudi Arabia. Afghanistan was Buddhist for thousands of years. Now its chief exports are heroin and Islamic terrorism.
“When We decide to destroy a population, We (first) send a definite order to those among them who are given the good things of this life and yet transgress; so that the word is proved true against them: then (it is) We destroy them utterly.” —Koran 17:16
In every instance where Islam has conquered and “destroyed utterly” a nation or civilization, the key to the conquest was the establishment of mosques, which are political and military command and control centers for Islam, and which all point toward the seat of Islamic power: the Kabah.
Mosques and the Fallacy of the “Moderate Muslim”
The majority of Germans during World War II were not active members of the Nazi party, were not waging war, and were not involved in the holocaust. The leaders, though, were active members of the Nazi party, were waging war, and were involved in the holocaust.
The majority of Russians and eastern Europeans under the rule of the U.S.S.R. were not trying to spread Communism throughout the world, and were not threatening and waging war and revolution, but were going about their daily lives trying to survive. The leaders, though, were doing everything they could to spread Communism throughout the world, and were threatening and waging war and revolution.
Throughout history, since 610 A.D., the leaders of Islam have been waging Universal Jihad around the world for the purpose of Islamic totalitarian domination of the world. It has never mattered what percentage of the Muslim population was “peaceful” or “moderate.” Peace and moderation are not relevant to the totalitarian mandates of Islam’s political documents, and Islam’s leaders always follow the totalitarian mandates of Universal Jihad contained in them.
There are post-Nazi democracies. There are post-Communist democracies. There are no post-Islamic democracies. Literal Islam, as contained in its political documents, is the consummate totalitarianism. Neither Nazism or Communism had a metaphysical factor, as does Islam. Islam uses its metaphysics as a wedge to drive in its totalitarian political doctrines.
Once Islam has established itself sufficiently in any nation, it seeks to overthrow any existing regime or constitution or law, and replace it with Islamic theocracy. Even the most “moderate” Muslim is bound to obey Islamic law, and so is bound to fight if ordered to fight:
“When you are called (by the Muslim ruler) for fighting, go forth immediately.” —Hadith Sahih Bukhari 4:52:79:Narrated Ibn ‘Abbas
All Islamic mosques have Islamic leaders (rulers) who can call Muslims for fighting, and as such are satellite headquarters for spreading Literal Islam’s political doctrine of world domination and totalitarianism—no matter how many “moderate Muslims” they serve.
Mosques and the Worldwide Islamic State
Islam is a de facto political state wherever it exists anywhere in the world. The Koran is its constitution. The Kabah is its seat of power, still in the control of the regime that occupied it in 630 A.D. All Muslims in the world, regardless of nationality, are required to travel to the Kabah at least once in their lifetime and pay homage to it.
The fact that nations and international political institutions in the world do not recognize Islam as a de jure state is irrelevant. Mohammed himself declared it as a state, and Islam’s own political documents declare it to be a state, and, ipso facto, it always is a state-within-a-state, governed by the Koran and Sharia law internally, anywhere that it has not yet gained full power and control.
“The Believers are but a single brotherhood.” —Koran 49:10
“A Muslim has no nationality except his belief.” —Syed Qutb
“Islam wishes to destroy all states and governments anywhere on the face of the earth which are opposed to the ideology and program of Islam regardless of the country or the nation which rules it. The purpose of Islam is to set up a State on the basis of its own ideology and program.” — Syed Abul A’ala Maududi
Just as our Constitution of the United States binds and identifies us as a single political and legal union of non-contiguous states, territories, political groups, and people, so the Koran binds and identifies all Islamic nations and all Muslims as a single political and legal union of non-contiguous nations, territories, political groups and people, regardless of geographic boundaries, whose seat of power is the occupied Kabah. All Islamic Imams, in every mosque everywhere in the world, are bound to the Koran as supreme law.
As we have seen, Islamic law gives Islamic Imams the power to order Muslims to fighting. The German Max Weber, who had considerable influence on international law and politics, defined “state” as that entity that has a “monopoly on the legitimate use of physical force within a given territory.”
Islam declares that the Koran and Sharia law are divine, and, as such, are the only “legitimate” law in the world. In that way, Islam “self-legitimizes” its right to use physical force anywhere in the world, and the right of every Imam in every mosque in the world to call for physical force and violence at any time. This makes every Imam in every mosque a military leader.
Islam is a state by every definition and theory, and is a state hostile to and at war with the United States of America and its Constitution.
Mosques and Treason and Sedition Against the U.S.
Islam’s political documents and law call for the overthrow of our Constitution and our man-made laws, and therefore for the overthrow of our government, which by definition constitutes sedition and treason. The Islamic documents call for the overthrow of our government—a protector of religious freedom and human rights—through violence:
“I was ordered to fight all men until they say ‘there is no god but Allah.’” —Mohammed’s farewell address, 632
“I have been ordered to fight with the people till they say, ‘None has the right to be worshipped but Allah.’” —Hadith Sahih Bukhari 4:52:196 Narrated Abu Huraira
“He who fights so that Allah’s Word (Islam) should be superior, then he fights in Allah’s cause.” —Hadith Sahih Bukhari 1:3:125 Narrated Abu Musa
“I asked the Prophet [Mohammed], ‘What is the best deed?’ He replied, ‘To believe in Allah and to fight for His Cause.’” —Hadith Sahih Bukhari 3:46:694 Narrated Abu Dhar
“And fight them till there is no more affliction (i.e. no more worshiping of others along with Allah)”. —Hadith Sahih Bukhari 6:60:40 Narrated Nafi’
“Soon shall We cast terror into the hearts of the Unbelievers.” —Koran 3.151
“I am with you: give firmness to the Believers: I will instill terror into the hearts of the Unbelievers: smite ye above their necks and smite all their finger-tips off them.” —Koran 8:12
“Against them make ready your strength to the utmost of your power, including steeds of war, to strike terror into (the hearts of) the enemies, of Allah and your enemies, and others besides, whom ye may not know, but whom Allah doth know.” —Koran 8:60
The Koran, as the constitution of Islam and Muslims, is diametrically opposite to the United States Constitution and Bill of Rights. According to Islam and Muslims, the Koran is divine law, uncorrupted and incorruptible, whereas the United States Constitution is man-made and is not infallible, and therefore is corrupt. The U.S. Constitution is the antithesis of the Koran; therefore Muslims have no obligation to obey it.
A mosque in the United States is a command and control center of a foreign political and military state that seeks the overthrow of our government, and an Imam in a mosque is a political and military representative of a foreign state that calls for the overthrow of the United States.
The laws of the United States provide specific criminal penalties for sedition and treason. These laws are not only applicable to those advocating and calling for the overthrow of our Constitution and our government; they are applicable to anyone who gives “aid or comfort” to such declared enemies of the United States, or who “organizes or helps or attempts to organize any society, group, or assembly of persons” so engaged. The terms “organizes” and “organize” extend to “the recruiting of new members, the forming of new units, and the regrouping or expansion of existing clubs, classes, and other units of such society, group, or assembly of persons.”
Mosques are just such units.
______________________
Vijay Kumar is a Republican candidate for U.S. Congress from Tennessee's 5th District. A native of Hyderabad, India, Mr. Kumar lived in Iran during the 1979 Islamic Revolution, when he came to the United States. A naturalized American citizen, Mr. Kumar has lived in Nashville, Tennessee for 24 years. He has been married to his wife, Robin, a native of Bowling Green, Kentucky, for 27 years, and they have three children, two of whom are adopted.
Tatchell acceptance speech for Honorary Doctorate
Dedicated to the people of Iran fighting for democracy and freedom
Sussex University award for 43 years of human rights activism
23 July 2010 - Brighton
Full text of Peter Tatchell's acceptance speech, on receipt of his Honorary Doctorate of Letters, conferred by Sussex University and presented by the university's Chancellor, Sanjeev Bhaskar, in a ceremony at Brighton Dome on 23 July 2010.
Peter Tatchell said:
Chancellor, Vice-Chancellor, members of faculty, family and friends, and fellow graduands, to whom I offer my congratulations. Congratulations on your hard work - and success.
My gratitude to Prof Morely for her most generous oration, and to the University of Sussex for conferring on me such a high award.
I was hesitant about accepting this honour. After all, my doctorate has not been earned by academic study, and my contribution to human rights is very modest. Many others are much more deserving than me.
Nevertheless, after so many years of demonisation by the tabloid press, right-wingers, homophobes and even by some people on the left and in the LGBT community, this recognition is much appreciated.
In accepting this award, I pay tribute to the heroic, inspirational activists I have worked alongside, including activists in Uganda, Somaliland, Russia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Baluchistan, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Western Sahara, Iraq, Palestine and West Papua.
The greatest honour I've had in my life is the privilege to know and support so many amazing, courageous human rights defenders around the world. I walk in their shadow, humbled by their bravery and sacrifice.
I dedicate my acceptance of this honorary doctorate to the people of Iran who are struggling against clerical dictatorship, for democracy and freedom.
In particular, Mansour Osanloo, the jailed Iranian trade union leader, and Sakineh Ashtiani, who has been sentenced to be stoned to death, along with more than 20 other Iranians.
I express my solidarity with Iran's persecuted Sunni Muslims and its oppressed national minorities: including the Arab, Kurdish and Baluch peoples.
I'm not special or unique. I do my bit for social justice, but so do many others. Together, through our collective efforts, we are slowly, but surely, helping make a better world - a world more just and free.
My key political inspirations are Mohandas Gandhi, Sylvia Pankhurst, Martin Luther King and, to some extent, Malcolm X and Rosa Luxemburg. I've adapted many of their ideas and methods to the contemporary struggle for human rights - and invented a few of my own.
I began campaigning in my home town of Melbourne, Australia, in 1967, aged 15.
My first human rights campaign was against the death penalty, followed by campaigns in support of Aboriginal rights and in opposition to conscription and the Australian and US war against the people of Vietnam.
In 1969, on realising that I was gay, the struggle for queer freedom became an increasing focus of my activism.
After moving to London in 1971, I became an activist in the Gay Liberation Front; organising sit-ins at pubs that refused to serve queers, and organising protests against police harassment and the medical classification of homosexuality as an illness.
I was roughed up and forcibly ejected when I challenged the world famous psychologist, Professor Hans Eysenck, during a lecture in 1972, where he advocated electric shock aversion therapy to supposedly 'cure' homosexuality.
The following year, in East Berlin, I was arrested and interrogated by the secret police - the Stasi - after staging the first gay rights protest in a communist country.
I have continued in the same vein for four decades, with many controversial protests: such as taking over the pulpit and condemning the Archbishop of Canterbury on Easer Sunday 1998, two attempted citizen's arrests of President Mugabe of Zimbabwe, confronting Mike Tyson over his homophobia, and outing 10 Church of England Bishops in 1994.
The bishops were outed, not because they were gay but because they were hypocrites. They colluded with the church's anti-gay stance in public but were gay in private. They were outed because of their homophobia and hypocrisy, not because of their homosexuality.
I was widely criticised at the time. Critics said I had no real evidence that the bishops were gay. Not true. I had the evidence. I was gratified some years later when a doctor approached me to confirm that he knew one of the bishops was definitely gay. He told me that the unnamed bishop was a patient and once came to his surgery with a rectal problem. The doctor asked the bishop to show him where the problem was. Dropping his trousers and pointing to his bottom the bishop said: "It's here, just by the entrance." To which the doctor replied: "Excuse me bishop, most us call it the exit."
Looking back on my 43 years of human rights campaigning, my advice, for what it's worth, is this:
Be sceptical, question authority, be a rebel. Do not conform and don't be ordinary.
Remember, all human progress is the result of far-sighted people challenging orthodoxy, tradition and rich, powerful, vested interests.
Be daring, show imagination, take risks.
Fight against the greatest human rights violation of all: free market capitalism, which has created a world divided into rich and poor, where hundreds of millions of people are malnourished, homeless, without clean drinking water and dying from hunger and preventable diseases.
Don't accept the world as it is. Dream about what the world could be - then help make it happen.
In whatever field of endeavour you work, be a change-maker for the upliftment of humanity.
To quote my fellow sodomite and socialist Oscar Wilde:
"We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars."
Sussex University award for 43 years of human rights activism
23 July 2010 - Brighton
Full text of Peter Tatchell's acceptance speech, on receipt of his Honorary Doctorate of Letters, conferred by Sussex University and presented by the university's Chancellor, Sanjeev Bhaskar, in a ceremony at Brighton Dome on 23 July 2010.
Peter Tatchell said:
Chancellor, Vice-Chancellor, members of faculty, family and friends, and fellow graduands, to whom I offer my congratulations. Congratulations on your hard work - and success.
My gratitude to Prof Morely for her most generous oration, and to the University of Sussex for conferring on me such a high award.
I was hesitant about accepting this honour. After all, my doctorate has not been earned by academic study, and my contribution to human rights is very modest. Many others are much more deserving than me.
Nevertheless, after so many years of demonisation by the tabloid press, right-wingers, homophobes and even by some people on the left and in the LGBT community, this recognition is much appreciated.
In accepting this award, I pay tribute to the heroic, inspirational activists I have worked alongside, including activists in Uganda, Somaliland, Russia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Baluchistan, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Western Sahara, Iraq, Palestine and West Papua.
The greatest honour I've had in my life is the privilege to know and support so many amazing, courageous human rights defenders around the world. I walk in their shadow, humbled by their bravery and sacrifice.
I dedicate my acceptance of this honorary doctorate to the people of Iran who are struggling against clerical dictatorship, for democracy and freedom.
In particular, Mansour Osanloo, the jailed Iranian trade union leader, and Sakineh Ashtiani, who has been sentenced to be stoned to death, along with more than 20 other Iranians.
I express my solidarity with Iran's persecuted Sunni Muslims and its oppressed national minorities: including the Arab, Kurdish and Baluch peoples.
I'm not special or unique. I do my bit for social justice, but so do many others. Together, through our collective efforts, we are slowly, but surely, helping make a better world - a world more just and free.
My key political inspirations are Mohandas Gandhi, Sylvia Pankhurst, Martin Luther King and, to some extent, Malcolm X and Rosa Luxemburg. I've adapted many of their ideas and methods to the contemporary struggle for human rights - and invented a few of my own.
I began campaigning in my home town of Melbourne, Australia, in 1967, aged 15.
My first human rights campaign was against the death penalty, followed by campaigns in support of Aboriginal rights and in opposition to conscription and the Australian and US war against the people of Vietnam.
In 1969, on realising that I was gay, the struggle for queer freedom became an increasing focus of my activism.
After moving to London in 1971, I became an activist in the Gay Liberation Front; organising sit-ins at pubs that refused to serve queers, and organising protests against police harassment and the medical classification of homosexuality as an illness.
I was roughed up and forcibly ejected when I challenged the world famous psychologist, Professor Hans Eysenck, during a lecture in 1972, where he advocated electric shock aversion therapy to supposedly 'cure' homosexuality.
The following year, in East Berlin, I was arrested and interrogated by the secret police - the Stasi - after staging the first gay rights protest in a communist country.
I have continued in the same vein for four decades, with many controversial protests: such as taking over the pulpit and condemning the Archbishop of Canterbury on Easer Sunday 1998, two attempted citizen's arrests of President Mugabe of Zimbabwe, confronting Mike Tyson over his homophobia, and outing 10 Church of England Bishops in 1994.
The bishops were outed, not because they were gay but because they were hypocrites. They colluded with the church's anti-gay stance in public but were gay in private. They were outed because of their homophobia and hypocrisy, not because of their homosexuality.
I was widely criticised at the time. Critics said I had no real evidence that the bishops were gay. Not true. I had the evidence. I was gratified some years later when a doctor approached me to confirm that he knew one of the bishops was definitely gay. He told me that the unnamed bishop was a patient and once came to his surgery with a rectal problem. The doctor asked the bishop to show him where the problem was. Dropping his trousers and pointing to his bottom the bishop said: "It's here, just by the entrance." To which the doctor replied: "Excuse me bishop, most us call it the exit."
Looking back on my 43 years of human rights campaigning, my advice, for what it's worth, is this:
Be sceptical, question authority, be a rebel. Do not conform and don't be ordinary.
Remember, all human progress is the result of far-sighted people challenging orthodoxy, tradition and rich, powerful, vested interests.
Be daring, show imagination, take risks.
Fight against the greatest human rights violation of all: free market capitalism, which has created a world divided into rich and poor, where hundreds of millions of people are malnourished, homeless, without clean drinking water and dying from hunger and preventable diseases.
Don't accept the world as it is. Dream about what the world could be - then help make it happen.
In whatever field of endeavour you work, be a change-maker for the upliftment of humanity.
To quote my fellow sodomite and socialist Oscar Wilde:
"We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars."
Review gay marriage ban, government urged
Call for public consultation, appeal to Equalities Minister
61% of the public support same-sex civil marriage
London - 28 July 2010
Equalities Minister, Lynne Featherstone MP, has been urged to initiate a government review and public consultation on the ban on gay civil marriage.
The call came from human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell during a meeting with Ms Featherstone and other lesbian and gay rights campaigners, which took place at the House of Commons on Tuesday 27 July 2010.
The meeting was convened by Ms Featherstone to take soundings from gay campaigners on allowing civil partnerships to have a religious content, which is currently prohibited, and on the option of extending civil marriages to same-sex couples.
"The coalition government should undertake a public consultation to determine whether the ban on gay marriage ought to be lifted. It should invite representations from individuals and organisations and, on the basis of the submissions received, decide if the ban should stay or go," said human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell.
"Maintaining the ban without considering public opinion is unreasonable and unjustified," he said.
Ms Featherstone responded by saying that the government needed to take one step at a time, beginning with giving religious bodies the option to hold civil partnerships, if they wished, in accordance with Lord Alli's successful amendment to the Equality Bill earlier this year.
Mr Tatchell replied:
"Action on improving civil partnerships and reviewing the ban on gay marriage are not mutually exclusive. They could run together in tandem.
"This is an issue of equality. In a democratic society, we are all supposed to be equal under the law. The bans on same-sex civil marriage and on heterosexual civil partnerships are not equality. They are discrimination. It's anti-democratic.
"The government is out of step with popular opinion. Without any major campaign or wider debate, nearly two-thirds of the British public now say that the law on civil marriage should not discriminate.
"A Populus poll for the Times newspaper in June 2009 found that 61% of the public believe that: 'Gay couples should have an equal right to get married, not just to have civil partnerships.' Only 33% disagreed.
See The Times:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article6586450.ece
and Populus:
http://www.populuslimited.com/the-times-the-times-gay-britain-poll-100609.html
"Marriage is the gold standard. Civil partnerships are second best. They are not equality. A separate law is not an equal law.
"We would not accept the government telling Jewish people that they were prohibited from getting married, and offering them instead a separate Jews-only civil partnership system. We'd say it was anti-Semitic and not the kind of law we would expect to find in democratic Britain. Well, that's the way I feel about civil partnerships. They are institutional homophobia.
"Civil partnerships create a two-tier system of partnership recognition: one law for heterosexuals, civil marriage, and another law for same-sex couples, civil partnerships.
"This perpetuates and extends discrimination. The homophobia of the ban on same-sex civil marriage is now compounded by the heterophobia of the ban on opposite-sex civil partnerships.
"Just as a gay couple cannot have a civil marriage, a straight couple cannot have a civil partnership. Two wrongs don't make a right.
"The official policies of Liberal Democrat, Conservative, and Labour parties do not support same-sex civil marriage. They oppose it. They support discrimination.
"The Green Party is, so far, the only party officially committed to giving same-sex partners the right to civil marriage - and to giving heterosexual couples the right to civil partnerships," said Mr Tatchell.
61% of the public support same-sex civil marriage
London - 28 July 2010
Equalities Minister, Lynne Featherstone MP, has been urged to initiate a government review and public consultation on the ban on gay civil marriage.
The call came from human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell during a meeting with Ms Featherstone and other lesbian and gay rights campaigners, which took place at the House of Commons on Tuesday 27 July 2010.
The meeting was convened by Ms Featherstone to take soundings from gay campaigners on allowing civil partnerships to have a religious content, which is currently prohibited, and on the option of extending civil marriages to same-sex couples.
"The coalition government should undertake a public consultation to determine whether the ban on gay marriage ought to be lifted. It should invite representations from individuals and organisations and, on the basis of the submissions received, decide if the ban should stay or go," said human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell.
"Maintaining the ban without considering public opinion is unreasonable and unjustified," he said.
Ms Featherstone responded by saying that the government needed to take one step at a time, beginning with giving religious bodies the option to hold civil partnerships, if they wished, in accordance with Lord Alli's successful amendment to the Equality Bill earlier this year.
Mr Tatchell replied:
"Action on improving civil partnerships and reviewing the ban on gay marriage are not mutually exclusive. They could run together in tandem.
"This is an issue of equality. In a democratic society, we are all supposed to be equal under the law. The bans on same-sex civil marriage and on heterosexual civil partnerships are not equality. They are discrimination. It's anti-democratic.
"The government is out of step with popular opinion. Without any major campaign or wider debate, nearly two-thirds of the British public now say that the law on civil marriage should not discriminate.
"A Populus poll for the Times newspaper in June 2009 found that 61% of the public believe that: 'Gay couples should have an equal right to get married, not just to have civil partnerships.' Only 33% disagreed.
See The Times:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article6586450.ece
and Populus:
http://www.populuslimited.com/the-times-the-times-gay-britain-poll-100609.html
"Marriage is the gold standard. Civil partnerships are second best. They are not equality. A separate law is not an equal law.
"We would not accept the government telling Jewish people that they were prohibited from getting married, and offering them instead a separate Jews-only civil partnership system. We'd say it was anti-Semitic and not the kind of law we would expect to find in democratic Britain. Well, that's the way I feel about civil partnerships. They are institutional homophobia.
"Civil partnerships create a two-tier system of partnership recognition: one law for heterosexuals, civil marriage, and another law for same-sex couples, civil partnerships.
"This perpetuates and extends discrimination. The homophobia of the ban on same-sex civil marriage is now compounded by the heterophobia of the ban on opposite-sex civil partnerships.
"Just as a gay couple cannot have a civil marriage, a straight couple cannot have a civil partnership. Two wrongs don't make a right.
"The official policies of Liberal Democrat, Conservative, and Labour parties do not support same-sex civil marriage. They oppose it. They support discrimination.
"The Green Party is, so far, the only party officially committed to giving same-sex partners the right to civil marriage - and to giving heterosexual couples the right to civil partnerships," said Mr Tatchell.
Stop the execution of Sakineh Ashtiani in Iran
Press conference of the International Committee Against Stoning
11am - Friday 30 July 2010,
Conway Hall,
Red Lion Square,
London
WC1R 4RL
New information on the threatened execution of 43 year old Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, and others who have been also sentenced to death by stoning in Iran, will be revealed at a London press conference this Friday by Mina Ahadi, Coordinator of the International Committee Against Executions and the International Committee Against Stoning.
Other press conference speakers include Maryam Namazie, Iran Solidarity spokesperson, and human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell.
The press conference will take place this Friday, 30 July, in the Brockway Room, Conway Hall, 25 Red Lion Square, Holborn, London WC1R 4RL, from 11am to 12 noon.
The meeting is open to the media and the public. All opponents of the death penalty and supporters of international human rights are welcome to attend.
"In response to the international outcry, some Iranian officials report that Sakineh's execution has been put on hold," said Peter Tatchell.
"Other reports suggest that the stoning sentence has been revoked and that she will be hanged instead.
"All these reports remain unconfirmed by the Iranian judiciary, which has the final say.
"Sakineh is still under threat of execution.
"The government of Iran has banned the country's media from reporting Sakineh's case, which suggests they know most Iranians do not support the barbarity of stoning.
"To deflect international condemnation, the Iranian authorities have falsely claimed that Sakineh was sentenced to death for committing murder, when court documents clearly show that she was condemned to be stoned for having sex outside of marriage.
"The Tehran regime has issued an arrest warrant for Sakineh's lawyer, Mohammad Mostafaei. It has arrested his wife and brother-in-law, neither of whom have committed any crime. They are being detained in an apparent bid to force Mostafaei to hand himself over the police.
"The death sentence passed on Sakine Mohammadi Ashtiani for committing adultery is disproportionate, excessive and a violation of human rights.
"Stoning a person to death is particularly barbaric. It has no legitimate place in any legal system in the twenty-first century; especially for a non-violent act of adultery between consenting adults.
"Even if the sentence has been changed from stoning to hanging, any execution is immoral.
"The real crimes are the cruel, barbaric and inhuman acts of stoning and other forms of execution. The death penalty should be abolished - in Iran, China, Saudi Arabia, the US and worldwide." added Mr Tatchell.
Please sign the Avaaz petition to save Sakineh's life:
http://www.avaaz.org/en/stop_stoning/?cl=651962225&v=6766
For more information about the press conference and campaign, contact:
Maryam Namazie
iransolidaritynow@gmail.com
07719 166 731
International Committee Against Executions: http://notonemoreexecution.org
International Committee Against Stoning: http://stopstonningnow.com
Iran Solidarity: www.iransolidarity.org.uk
11am - Friday 30 July 2010,
Conway Hall,
Red Lion Square,
London
WC1R 4RL
New information on the threatened execution of 43 year old Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, and others who have been also sentenced to death by stoning in Iran, will be revealed at a London press conference this Friday by Mina Ahadi, Coordinator of the International Committee Against Executions and the International Committee Against Stoning.
Other press conference speakers include Maryam Namazie, Iran Solidarity spokesperson, and human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell.
The press conference will take place this Friday, 30 July, in the Brockway Room, Conway Hall, 25 Red Lion Square, Holborn, London WC1R 4RL, from 11am to 12 noon.
The meeting is open to the media and the public. All opponents of the death penalty and supporters of international human rights are welcome to attend.
"In response to the international outcry, some Iranian officials report that Sakineh's execution has been put on hold," said Peter Tatchell.
"Other reports suggest that the stoning sentence has been revoked and that she will be hanged instead.
"All these reports remain unconfirmed by the Iranian judiciary, which has the final say.
"Sakineh is still under threat of execution.
"The government of Iran has banned the country's media from reporting Sakineh's case, which suggests they know most Iranians do not support the barbarity of stoning.
"To deflect international condemnation, the Iranian authorities have falsely claimed that Sakineh was sentenced to death for committing murder, when court documents clearly show that she was condemned to be stoned for having sex outside of marriage.
"The Tehran regime has issued an arrest warrant for Sakineh's lawyer, Mohammad Mostafaei. It has arrested his wife and brother-in-law, neither of whom have committed any crime. They are being detained in an apparent bid to force Mostafaei to hand himself over the police.
"The death sentence passed on Sakine Mohammadi Ashtiani for committing adultery is disproportionate, excessive and a violation of human rights.
"Stoning a person to death is particularly barbaric. It has no legitimate place in any legal system in the twenty-first century; especially for a non-violent act of adultery between consenting adults.
"Even if the sentence has been changed from stoning to hanging, any execution is immoral.
"The real crimes are the cruel, barbaric and inhuman acts of stoning and other forms of execution. The death penalty should be abolished - in Iran, China, Saudi Arabia, the US and worldwide." added Mr Tatchell.
Please sign the Avaaz petition to save Sakineh's life:
http://www.avaaz.org/en/stop_stoning/?cl=651962225&v=6766
For more information about the press conference and campaign, contact:
Maryam Namazie
iransolidaritynow@gmail.com
07719 166 731
International Committee Against Executions: http://notonemoreexecution.org
International Committee Against Stoning: http://stopstonningnow.com
Iran Solidarity: www.iransolidarity.org.uk
Swazi prince says journalists who ‘write bad things about the country will die’
The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns death threats and outrageous claims made last week by a member of Swaziland’s royal family against local journalists over their critical coverage of the country's leadership.
During a July 21 public forum called the Smart Partnership National Dialogue in the central commercial city of Manzini, Prince Mahlaba, brother of Swaziland’s absolute ruler King Mswati III, was quoted by local media as saying: “I want to warn the media to bury things that have the potential of undermining the country rather than publish all and everything even when such reports are harmful to the country's international image. Journalists who continue to write bad things about the country will die.” The prince also accused the media of peddling lies, saying: “It’s a fact that journalists earn their living by writing lies and if they do not write the lies then their source of livelihood is threatened and this is fact and beyond debate.”
The senior prince was responding to a question at the forum from the queen about why the media was portraying the country negatively, local journalists told CPJ.
Mbogani Mbingo, managing editor of the independent Times of Swaziland, told CPJ the threats were “dangerous” and could not be taken lightly since the prince was a member of a highly influential royal advisory council, the Swazi National Council Standing Committee (SNC).” The SNC advises the king on public policy, including media matters.
“The government of Swaziland must immediately reject the death threats against journalists by a leading member of the ruling family,” said CPJ Africa Advocacy Coordinator Mohamed Keita. “We call on the government to issue a clear and unequivocal statement condemning this murderous outburst and ensuring the international community that Swaziland is committed to the protection of all journalists.”
Comfort Mabuza, the National Director of the local chapter of the Media Institute of Southern Africa condemned the threats and feared they could incite the public against the journalists. “We are in big trouble because his view may be representing that of SNC, which advises the king,” Mabuza told CPJ. “The council is yet to call him to order and we are really concerned about their continued silence.”
In Swaziland, Africa’s last absolute monarchy, the government persists in intimidating journalists who write about the monarchy, leading to censorship and self-censorship, according to CPJ research.
During a July 21 public forum called the Smart Partnership National Dialogue in the central commercial city of Manzini, Prince Mahlaba, brother of Swaziland’s absolute ruler King Mswati III, was quoted by local media as saying: “I want to warn the media to bury things that have the potential of undermining the country rather than publish all and everything even when such reports are harmful to the country's international image. Journalists who continue to write bad things about the country will die.” The prince also accused the media of peddling lies, saying: “It’s a fact that journalists earn their living by writing lies and if they do not write the lies then their source of livelihood is threatened and this is fact and beyond debate.”
The senior prince was responding to a question at the forum from the queen about why the media was portraying the country negatively, local journalists told CPJ.
Mbogani Mbingo, managing editor of the independent Times of Swaziland, told CPJ the threats were “dangerous” and could not be taken lightly since the prince was a member of a highly influential royal advisory council, the Swazi National Council Standing Committee (SNC).” The SNC advises the king on public policy, including media matters.
“The government of Swaziland must immediately reject the death threats against journalists by a leading member of the ruling family,” said CPJ Africa Advocacy Coordinator Mohamed Keita. “We call on the government to issue a clear and unequivocal statement condemning this murderous outburst and ensuring the international community that Swaziland is committed to the protection of all journalists.”
Comfort Mabuza, the National Director of the local chapter of the Media Institute of Southern Africa condemned the threats and feared they could incite the public against the journalists. “We are in big trouble because his view may be representing that of SNC, which advises the king,” Mabuza told CPJ. “The council is yet to call him to order and we are really concerned about their continued silence.”
In Swaziland, Africa’s last absolute monarchy, the government persists in intimidating journalists who write about the monarchy, leading to censorship and self-censorship, according to CPJ research.
Bulletin of Christian Persecution
July 1- July 26, 2010
July 1, 2010
Morocco
Moroccan authorities expelled eight more foreign Christians from the country last weekend, bringing the total of deported Christians since March to 128.
July 3, 2010
Indonesia (Hat tip to JihadWatch)
A banner with a picture of a young, bespectacled Christian man is draped in front of a mosque, a fiery noose around his neck and the words, "This man deserves the death penalty!" More HERE. http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Radical-Muslims-threaten-to-kill-Christian-man-in-Bekasi-18839.html
July 4, 2010
India
Two Muslims were arrested for cutting off the hand of a Christian college teacher because he had an exam question that allegedly insulted Muslims.
July 8, 2010
Pakistan
The local government has forbidden poor Christians from taking advantage of a soup kitchen because of their faith.
July 8, 2010
Pakistan (Hat tip to Atlas Shrugs)
Muslim mob murdered the wife and four children of a Christian last month, but local authorities are too afraid of the local Muslim leader to file charges.
July 9, 2010
Pakistan
A Christian family had to flee their home to escape a mob of local Muslims.
July 10, 2010
Pakistan
Christian students in Pakistan are victims of violence and discrimination.
July 12, 2010
Kashmir
A Catholic missionary is forced to leave his two schools in Kashmir because they are "too good."
July 13, 2010
Iran
(Hat tip to JihadWatch)
An Iranian pastor faces execution after two judges agreed to make him "liable to capital punishment," as part of a crackdown on the growing Protestant church movement in the Islamic nation.
July 14, 2010
Egypt
What happens when Islamic totalitarianism meets Christian freedom.
Turkey (Hat tip to JihadWatch)
Police have started an investigation after the façade of the 1,700-year-old Mor Jacob Syriac Orthodox Church in Nusaybin, was defaced with pro-Islamic slogans.
July 16, 2010
Pakistan
A large number of Christians has fled the outskirts of Faisalabad, fearing violence, after Muslims launched a protest action that started at a local mosque after Friday prayers.
Russia (Hat tip to JihadWatch)
A minister died who was shot while leaving church in an attempt to intimidate Christian converts from Islam.
July 17, 2010
Nigeria
A Christian priest and three others were murdered and their church burned down.
Nigeria (Hat tip to InfidelsAreCool)
At least eight people have been hacked to death in a predominantly Christian village in central Nigeria.
July 19, 2010
Pakistan
A Christian herbal medicine doctor has been deprived of his house and only daughter because he had refused to convert to Islam.
Pakistan
Gunmen have killed two Christian brothers who had been accused of blasphemy against Islam. More HERE. Update HERE.
July 21, 2010
Indonesia (Hat tip to InfidelsAreCool)
A group of 500 Islamic extremists blocked Christians from a Protestant Church in a field where the Sunday service was taking place.
July 23, 2010
Indonesia (Hat tip to JihadWatch)
A group called the Forum of the Muslim Brotherhood of Limusnunggal went to the police and had a Christian church pulled down.
July 26, 2010
Indonesia (Hat tip to JihadWatch)
Attacks on Christian churches are up in Indonesia.
July 1, 2010
Morocco
Moroccan authorities expelled eight more foreign Christians from the country last weekend, bringing the total of deported Christians since March to 128.
July 3, 2010
Indonesia (Hat tip to JihadWatch)
A banner with a picture of a young, bespectacled Christian man is draped in front of a mosque, a fiery noose around his neck and the words, "This man deserves the death penalty!" More HERE. http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Radical-Muslims-threaten-to-kill-Christian-man-in-Bekasi-18839.html
July 4, 2010
India
Two Muslims were arrested for cutting off the hand of a Christian college teacher because he had an exam question that allegedly insulted Muslims.
July 8, 2010
Pakistan
The local government has forbidden poor Christians from taking advantage of a soup kitchen because of their faith.
July 8, 2010
Pakistan (Hat tip to Atlas Shrugs)
Muslim mob murdered the wife and four children of a Christian last month, but local authorities are too afraid of the local Muslim leader to file charges.
July 9, 2010
Pakistan
A Christian family had to flee their home to escape a mob of local Muslims.
July 10, 2010
Pakistan
Christian students in Pakistan are victims of violence and discrimination.
July 12, 2010
Kashmir
A Catholic missionary is forced to leave his two schools in Kashmir because they are "too good."
July 13, 2010
Iran
(Hat tip to JihadWatch)
An Iranian pastor faces execution after two judges agreed to make him "liable to capital punishment," as part of a crackdown on the growing Protestant church movement in the Islamic nation.
July 14, 2010
Egypt
What happens when Islamic totalitarianism meets Christian freedom.
Turkey (Hat tip to JihadWatch)
Police have started an investigation after the façade of the 1,700-year-old Mor Jacob Syriac Orthodox Church in Nusaybin, was defaced with pro-Islamic slogans.
July 16, 2010
Pakistan
A large number of Christians has fled the outskirts of Faisalabad, fearing violence, after Muslims launched a protest action that started at a local mosque after Friday prayers.
Russia (Hat tip to JihadWatch)
A minister died who was shot while leaving church in an attempt to intimidate Christian converts from Islam.
July 17, 2010
Nigeria
A Christian priest and three others were murdered and their church burned down.
Nigeria (Hat tip to InfidelsAreCool)
At least eight people have been hacked to death in a predominantly Christian village in central Nigeria.
July 19, 2010
Pakistan
A Christian herbal medicine doctor has been deprived of his house and only daughter because he had refused to convert to Islam.
Pakistan
Gunmen have killed two Christian brothers who had been accused of blasphemy against Islam. More HERE. Update HERE.
July 21, 2010
Indonesia (Hat tip to InfidelsAreCool)
A group of 500 Islamic extremists blocked Christians from a Protestant Church in a field where the Sunday service was taking place.
July 23, 2010
Indonesia (Hat tip to JihadWatch)
A group called the Forum of the Muslim Brotherhood of Limusnunggal went to the police and had a Christian church pulled down.
July 26, 2010
Indonesia (Hat tip to JihadWatch)
Attacks on Christian churches are up in Indonesia.
Congolese journalist under arrest; stations forced off air
New York, July 28, 2010—Authorities arrested a journalist on Tuesday on criminal defamation charges in Kinshasa, in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Hours earlier, in an unrelated incident, armed men briefly forced the city’s three main opposition broadcasters off the air, according to local journalists and news reports.
Pascal Mulunda, editor of weekly Le Monitor, has been held in Kinshasa's Penitentiary and Reeducation Center since police officers picked him on Tuesday with an arrest warrant, defense lawyer Joel Awnze Kaloume told CPJ. No date had been set for trial and the defense was requesting Mulunda’s release on bail, Kaloume said.
The arrest was based on a June 26 defamation complaint filed by Baudouin Iheta, an official with the Mining Ministry agency Saesscam, against Le Monitor and weekly Le Baromètre after the newspapers published a June 23 story implicating Iheta in overbilling in the agency’s purchase of four vehicles, he said. Le Baromètre Editor Jeff Saïle, who has gone into hiding, told CPJ he had received anonymous phone threats.
“Congolese officials must stop trying to hide behind antiquated criminal defamation laws,” said Africa Advocacy Coordinator Mohamed Keita. “We call on authorities to free Pascal Mulunda immediately, and decriminalize defamation so that the press can fulfill its role of holding public officials to account.”
Earlier on Tuesday, Canal Congo Télévision (CCTV), Canal Kin Télévision (CKTV) and Radio Liberté Kinshasa (RALIK)—stations owned by exiled opposition leader Jean-Pierre Bemba—were briefly forced off the air after five armed men in plainclothes stormed Télé Consult, a private Italian telecom company and government contractor, reported local press freedom group Journaliste En Danger (JED). The premises house the broadcast equipment of all television and radio stations in Kinshasa. The men held staffers and guards at gunpoint in Kinshasa’s residential neighborhood of Binza Pigeon and forced them to cut the stations’ signal, according to JED.
Speaking to CPJ today, Congolese Communications Minister Lambert Mendé Omalanga said police were responsible for the security of the site and that the government was investigating the incident. He told Agence France-Presse there had not been any government involvement.
The attack may have been linked to a news item on Monday evening that raised questions about the government’s management of the Congolese Office of Post and Telecommunications after workers went on strike this month over more than two years of unpaid salaries, said Stéphane Kitutu O'Léontwa, the general manager of CCTV and RALIK. Kitutu told CPJ the signal of the networks’ 11 TV and 24 radio stations was restored this afternoon.
Pascal Mulunda, editor of weekly Le Monitor, has been held in Kinshasa's Penitentiary and Reeducation Center since police officers picked him on Tuesday with an arrest warrant, defense lawyer Joel Awnze Kaloume told CPJ. No date had been set for trial and the defense was requesting Mulunda’s release on bail, Kaloume said.
The arrest was based on a June 26 defamation complaint filed by Baudouin Iheta, an official with the Mining Ministry agency Saesscam, against Le Monitor and weekly Le Baromètre after the newspapers published a June 23 story implicating Iheta in overbilling in the agency’s purchase of four vehicles, he said. Le Baromètre Editor Jeff Saïle, who has gone into hiding, told CPJ he had received anonymous phone threats.
“Congolese officials must stop trying to hide behind antiquated criminal defamation laws,” said Africa Advocacy Coordinator Mohamed Keita. “We call on authorities to free Pascal Mulunda immediately, and decriminalize defamation so that the press can fulfill its role of holding public officials to account.”
Earlier on Tuesday, Canal Congo Télévision (CCTV), Canal Kin Télévision (CKTV) and Radio Liberté Kinshasa (RALIK)—stations owned by exiled opposition leader Jean-Pierre Bemba—were briefly forced off the air after five armed men in plainclothes stormed Télé Consult, a private Italian telecom company and government contractor, reported local press freedom group Journaliste En Danger (JED). The premises house the broadcast equipment of all television and radio stations in Kinshasa. The men held staffers and guards at gunpoint in Kinshasa’s residential neighborhood of Binza Pigeon and forced them to cut the stations’ signal, according to JED.
Speaking to CPJ today, Congolese Communications Minister Lambert Mendé Omalanga said police were responsible for the security of the site and that the government was investigating the incident. He told Agence France-Presse there had not been any government involvement.
The attack may have been linked to a news item on Monday evening that raised questions about the government’s management of the Congolese Office of Post and Telecommunications after workers went on strike this month over more than two years of unpaid salaries, said Stéphane Kitutu O'Léontwa, the general manager of CCTV and RALIK. Kitutu told CPJ the signal of the networks’ 11 TV and 24 radio stations was restored this afternoon.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Rich minds, empty pockets: A tale of Malawi's veteran musicians
BY RICHARD CHIROMBO
Their music still holds the stage today, a sure sign of the nation’s
satisfaction with their unconventional minds and mastery in phrasing.
Some of them arrived onto the music scene at a time the national bar
line had regimented Western music into a stable series of some two,
three or five beats to measure, some of which were being fused into
Malawian music.
To a large extent, both colonialism and mono-partism never injured the
traditional local beat.
The beauty about Malawi’s veteran musicians like the late Allan
Namoko, Stonard Lungu, Michael Yekha, Daniel Kachamba, Robert
Fumulani, among others, is that they knew how to ignore the bar line.
The effect was breath-taking: Western music never impeded the flow of
local music but was merely a convenience, not a mathematical division
or equation for success.
Take, for instance, the late Kachamba or Fumulani. They might never
have graced the walls of music schools as a first call towards the
journey we call music, yet one notes the rich harmony in their music
and resourcefulness.
That is why we still dance to Khunju Reggae, Bambo a Tereza,
Mbambande, Mlendo ndimame Luo, Baba Mika, Chisoni, Ulendo Wanga,
Ndikakwatira kuMangoni, and yearn for more. It is the powerful
effects, suspended dissonant notes and orthodox arrangement that
strike the chord of sweet memories in us.
Theirs was probably the pioneering generation of local music, diving
in unnavigated waters and, yet, leaving prints on our
entertainment-tuned minds. A generation that could arrange a series of
suspensions in different voices, each of whose resolutions intensified
the emotional effect of the whole, while lending nobility, authority
and unmistakable force to the rhythm at a time of simple technologies.
Well before computers took over the natural sound of the banjo,
guitar, and visekese. Of course, some music experts have questioned
the music of the likes of Namoko, arguing that the legendary
musician’s instruments sound more Afro-jazz than Tchopish (as in
Tchopa) to be Malawian.
When the computers took over, rendering guitar wizardly a pastime, it
was as if most veteran musicians knew what was coming and never wanted
to see ‘real’ music die. Most died before getting a full dose of the
corruption that is called local music. Off they went, their music
uncorrupted.
However, the most remarkable thing about them is how they died in,
mostly, a state that never befitted their status in society. In life,
it was their talent that stood out, with the likes of Kachamba being
bestowed the coveted Doctorate of music accolade. In death, it is
their abject poverty that strikes us.
Should we say the voice of conscience is never loud in our nation? If
not, why does history keep on repeating itself? Music scholars agree
that in the keyboard, for instance, you have everything to do with the
perfection of harmony. Why is it that those who play the keyboard are
starved of real life harmony? Why don’t they live the life of a
keyboard?
When Namoko died in abject poverty, people thought it was the end of
neglect over music greats. But, until recently, his grave lay
unattended to. At least until Zodiac Broadcasting Station remembered
the ‘Lameck’ star.
Other concerned citizens, the likes of human rights activist Undule
Mwakasungula and lawyer Ralph Kasambala have also taken to the
sympathetic road, remembering national anthem composer Michael Sauka.
A well-paved path now marks the road once an abode of unkempt grass
and mice.
The truth is that it is all too late; the dead never take a walk up
their graves to appreciate how impressive the sorroundings are.
The world will judge us by the way we take care of our living greats
while, at the same time, appreciating how we honour the living-dead.
Because their music still lives, and they live in us (our hearts), the
Namokos, Kachambas, Yekhas are the living dead.
And, then, we have the living-living. Those who still live, and their
music lives in us, too.
These include the likes of Guides Chalamanda of the Line fame, Maurice
Maulidi of Ulendo Wanga, Batson Kapalamula, George Khombe, Herbert
Makuluni and Lommie Mafunga.
For his old age and music prowess, financial constraints stood in the
way between Chalamanda and the studio for his debut album. Thanks to
Edgar ndi Davis, the acoustic-guitar addict has shed off the tag that
for decades stood more galling than the sound of his single playing on
radio.
For Maulidi, society continues to treat him unfairly through
non-payment of loyalties. Having played with the Songani Strings Band
and dedicated more of his 67 years to music, the veteran musician
feels it is not worth it to be a musician in Malawi.
Like Chalamanda, he looks forward to the day when he will double as a
living-living and living-dead when the time comes. This comes through
album production.
“Money is the biggest problem,” Maulidi sums up what, to most
musicians, is an everyday reality.
Memories are often sweet. It’s the present that mostly pains.
“The way Malawians pretend everything is okay with old-time musicians,
yet poverty has become a way of life; it pains,” chips in Lommie
Mafunga, one of the surviving musicians.
Mafunga, of the Baba Mika fame, a song that once took Malawi
Broadcasting Corporation’s (MBC) airwaves by storm between the late
1980s and early 1990s, is no stranger to Malawi music.
He considers himself lucky to have brushed shoulders against the likes
of Allan Namoko. Brushing shoulders is one thing; it is beating the
greats at their own game every musician dreams of.
Mafunga and his Tinyade Sounds did just that on April 12, 1992 during
a festival of local acoustic bands. The pint-sized musician scooped
first position, beating the likes of Namoko. As a result, four of his
songs captivated a British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) crew it took
them to London.
The songs are: Kumwalira Kwababa, Chiwerewere, Miseche, Munthu Sakondwera.
It did not end there for the Nchalo, Chikwawa-born musician who looks
younger than a product of June 27, 1968. On October 15, 1994, while
working for SUCOMA’s Nchalo factory, an entourage of music production
experts from London came looking for him and his Tinyade Sounds. They
wanted him to become part of a Malawi video film on travel, alongside
Namoko and Chivu River Jazz Band, Fumbi Jazz Band, Ndingo Brothers
Band.
The crew, led by George Clever, captured the Ndingo Brothers in
Ndirande Township, used children pushing bicycle rims as background
for Namoko’s music. So impressed were members of the crew they
promised to source band equipment for Mafunga in the United Kingdom.
“I thank the then District Commissioner for Chikwawa (Chikhwawa)
district, Mr. Dakamao and the then culture and sports organizer for
the district, Charles Chibwana. They did a commendable job in trying
to truck me down. This was a life-time chance and my music even played
on BBC radio,” said Mafunga.
For that, he received 85 British Pounds which translated into K4, 095,
according to Mafunga.
At this point, his smile disappears as fast as it came. He dives
straight into present realities.
“It will take time for Malawians to appreciate old-time musicians;
people who shaped the face of current music. We have lost respect for
our music veterans and now look up to Western musicians for
inspiration. Very bad,” said Mafunga.
He has caught the veteran musicians’ bag, too; the bag of poverty.
Like Chalamanda before 2009, and Maulidi now, Mafunga has no music
album to call his own. A patch of singles here and there is all he
calls a measure of greatness. What is more?
“I am not even married. A wife needs food to eat, clothes to wear, and
may even get bored with a routine meal of sun-dried fish. Children, on
the other hand, need uniforms to wear to school, school fees, and
clothes. I can’t afford all these because I need band equipment for
myself. Life is tough,” said Mafunga.
He added: “For the past three years, I have been surviving on Chimtuwi
for lunch.”
His hope in releasing an album seems to have been realized last year,
when he recorded Bwato Ndimoyo album. It has 10 songs including Munthu
Sakondwera, a rendition of Baba Mika, Zikomo Makolo, Safunsa,
Mebzyala, Tichezera, Mwana Wamasiye, Dziko, and Serena.
While the album- whose title truck warns Lower Shire people to move
upland from their flood-prone habitats- was released last year,
Mafunga has been failing to source K5, 000 for covers. He has failed
to utilize an opportunity O.G. Issa offered to sell his music. Most
musicians struggle to reach this.
K5, 000 stands between him and the future; the old song for veteran musicians.
“The fear of dying poor keeps me going,” he said.
To the other veteran musicians, it is the hope that ‘tomorrow will be
fine’ that pushes them forward.
Their music still holds the stage today, a sure sign of the nation’s
satisfaction with their unconventional minds and mastery in phrasing.
Some of them arrived onto the music scene at a time the national bar
line had regimented Western music into a stable series of some two,
three or five beats to measure, some of which were being fused into
Malawian music.
To a large extent, both colonialism and mono-partism never injured the
traditional local beat.
The beauty about Malawi’s veteran musicians like the late Allan
Namoko, Stonard Lungu, Michael Yekha, Daniel Kachamba, Robert
Fumulani, among others, is that they knew how to ignore the bar line.
The effect was breath-taking: Western music never impeded the flow of
local music but was merely a convenience, not a mathematical division
or equation for success.
Take, for instance, the late Kachamba or Fumulani. They might never
have graced the walls of music schools as a first call towards the
journey we call music, yet one notes the rich harmony in their music
and resourcefulness.
That is why we still dance to Khunju Reggae, Bambo a Tereza,
Mbambande, Mlendo ndimame Luo, Baba Mika, Chisoni, Ulendo Wanga,
Ndikakwatira kuMangoni, and yearn for more. It is the powerful
effects, suspended dissonant notes and orthodox arrangement that
strike the chord of sweet memories in us.
Theirs was probably the pioneering generation of local music, diving
in unnavigated waters and, yet, leaving prints on our
entertainment-tuned minds. A generation that could arrange a series of
suspensions in different voices, each of whose resolutions intensified
the emotional effect of the whole, while lending nobility, authority
and unmistakable force to the rhythm at a time of simple technologies.
Well before computers took over the natural sound of the banjo,
guitar, and visekese. Of course, some music experts have questioned
the music of the likes of Namoko, arguing that the legendary
musician’s instruments sound more Afro-jazz than Tchopish (as in
Tchopa) to be Malawian.
When the computers took over, rendering guitar wizardly a pastime, it
was as if most veteran musicians knew what was coming and never wanted
to see ‘real’ music die. Most died before getting a full dose of the
corruption that is called local music. Off they went, their music
uncorrupted.
However, the most remarkable thing about them is how they died in,
mostly, a state that never befitted their status in society. In life,
it was their talent that stood out, with the likes of Kachamba being
bestowed the coveted Doctorate of music accolade. In death, it is
their abject poverty that strikes us.
Should we say the voice of conscience is never loud in our nation? If
not, why does history keep on repeating itself? Music scholars agree
that in the keyboard, for instance, you have everything to do with the
perfection of harmony. Why is it that those who play the keyboard are
starved of real life harmony? Why don’t they live the life of a
keyboard?
When Namoko died in abject poverty, people thought it was the end of
neglect over music greats. But, until recently, his grave lay
unattended to. At least until Zodiac Broadcasting Station remembered
the ‘Lameck’ star.
Other concerned citizens, the likes of human rights activist Undule
Mwakasungula and lawyer Ralph Kasambala have also taken to the
sympathetic road, remembering national anthem composer Michael Sauka.
A well-paved path now marks the road once an abode of unkempt grass
and mice.
The truth is that it is all too late; the dead never take a walk up
their graves to appreciate how impressive the sorroundings are.
The world will judge us by the way we take care of our living greats
while, at the same time, appreciating how we honour the living-dead.
Because their music still lives, and they live in us (our hearts), the
Namokos, Kachambas, Yekhas are the living dead.
And, then, we have the living-living. Those who still live, and their
music lives in us, too.
These include the likes of Guides Chalamanda of the Line fame, Maurice
Maulidi of Ulendo Wanga, Batson Kapalamula, George Khombe, Herbert
Makuluni and Lommie Mafunga.
For his old age and music prowess, financial constraints stood in the
way between Chalamanda and the studio for his debut album. Thanks to
Edgar ndi Davis, the acoustic-guitar addict has shed off the tag that
for decades stood more galling than the sound of his single playing on
radio.
For Maulidi, society continues to treat him unfairly through
non-payment of loyalties. Having played with the Songani Strings Band
and dedicated more of his 67 years to music, the veteran musician
feels it is not worth it to be a musician in Malawi.
Like Chalamanda, he looks forward to the day when he will double as a
living-living and living-dead when the time comes. This comes through
album production.
“Money is the biggest problem,” Maulidi sums up what, to most
musicians, is an everyday reality.
Memories are often sweet. It’s the present that mostly pains.
“The way Malawians pretend everything is okay with old-time musicians,
yet poverty has become a way of life; it pains,” chips in Lommie
Mafunga, one of the surviving musicians.
Mafunga, of the Baba Mika fame, a song that once took Malawi
Broadcasting Corporation’s (MBC) airwaves by storm between the late
1980s and early 1990s, is no stranger to Malawi music.
He considers himself lucky to have brushed shoulders against the likes
of Allan Namoko. Brushing shoulders is one thing; it is beating the
greats at their own game every musician dreams of.
Mafunga and his Tinyade Sounds did just that on April 12, 1992 during
a festival of local acoustic bands. The pint-sized musician scooped
first position, beating the likes of Namoko. As a result, four of his
songs captivated a British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) crew it took
them to London.
The songs are: Kumwalira Kwababa, Chiwerewere, Miseche, Munthu Sakondwera.
It did not end there for the Nchalo, Chikwawa-born musician who looks
younger than a product of June 27, 1968. On October 15, 1994, while
working for SUCOMA’s Nchalo factory, an entourage of music production
experts from London came looking for him and his Tinyade Sounds. They
wanted him to become part of a Malawi video film on travel, alongside
Namoko and Chivu River Jazz Band, Fumbi Jazz Band, Ndingo Brothers
Band.
The crew, led by George Clever, captured the Ndingo Brothers in
Ndirande Township, used children pushing bicycle rims as background
for Namoko’s music. So impressed were members of the crew they
promised to source band equipment for Mafunga in the United Kingdom.
“I thank the then District Commissioner for Chikwawa (Chikhwawa)
district, Mr. Dakamao and the then culture and sports organizer for
the district, Charles Chibwana. They did a commendable job in trying
to truck me down. This was a life-time chance and my music even played
on BBC radio,” said Mafunga.
For that, he received 85 British Pounds which translated into K4, 095,
according to Mafunga.
At this point, his smile disappears as fast as it came. He dives
straight into present realities.
“It will take time for Malawians to appreciate old-time musicians;
people who shaped the face of current music. We have lost respect for
our music veterans and now look up to Western musicians for
inspiration. Very bad,” said Mafunga.
He has caught the veteran musicians’ bag, too; the bag of poverty.
Like Chalamanda before 2009, and Maulidi now, Mafunga has no music
album to call his own. A patch of singles here and there is all he
calls a measure of greatness. What is more?
“I am not even married. A wife needs food to eat, clothes to wear, and
may even get bored with a routine meal of sun-dried fish. Children, on
the other hand, need uniforms to wear to school, school fees, and
clothes. I can’t afford all these because I need band equipment for
myself. Life is tough,” said Mafunga.
He added: “For the past three years, I have been surviving on Chimtuwi
for lunch.”
His hope in releasing an album seems to have been realized last year,
when he recorded Bwato Ndimoyo album. It has 10 songs including Munthu
Sakondwera, a rendition of Baba Mika, Zikomo Makolo, Safunsa,
Mebzyala, Tichezera, Mwana Wamasiye, Dziko, and Serena.
While the album- whose title truck warns Lower Shire people to move
upland from their flood-prone habitats- was released last year,
Mafunga has been failing to source K5, 000 for covers. He has failed
to utilize an opportunity O.G. Issa offered to sell his music. Most
musicians struggle to reach this.
K5, 000 stands between him and the future; the old song for veteran musicians.
“The fear of dying poor keeps me going,” he said.
To the other veteran musicians, it is the hope that ‘tomorrow will be
fine’ that pushes them forward.
Beating death to the speed
RICHARD CHIROMBO
Death, the robber of daily breath, has slower days, too; days so slow
a bicycle travels faster.
Clever minds merely attach carts to such bicycles during death’s
slower days, load the sick before conditions worsen, and rush to the
nearest health facility. Chances are that the sick will more likely be
embraced by hospital wards than the jaws of death- beating death to
the speed.
Sounds strange? This knowledge has been widespread in Malawi, spanning
from the days of the ox-cart, when pregnant women, the seriously ill,
among others, depended on community goodwill and human-animal
(donkeys/cattle) relationship to tame death.
At least until the beef cattle owner realized that, beaten more often
at the back, the beef animal develops thick skin and fetches little in
kilos at the market. You beat the cow and you squeeze some meet ‘into’
the animal, hitting oneself in the pocket.
Cattle are also scarce these days, apart from earning hefty head
prices- and so the bicycle took over. The Centre for Reproductive
Heath (CRH), a department at the College of Medicine (a constituent
college of the University of Malawi) in Blantyre was among the
institutions to buy into the idea.
A pilot project on bicycle ambulances was born in Makanjira and Nkumba
areas in Mangochi. This was time, in early 2000s, when well-founded
fears about high mortality and morbidity rates animated the nation.
There was a decree- silent decree confirmed by the Demographic Heath
Survey of 1998- that, out of 100, 000 births, some 894 Malawian
citizens had to die. Just like that.
“This is too high a rate”, complained the then CRH executive director
Dr. Agnes Chimbiri “It is too high a rate we cannot attain
sustainable, social-economic development. The woman, more than men,
contributes a lot to national development.”
While the Malawian father is still very much the patriarch, it is the
woman who controls the home, crop fields, and life.
Hers were sentiments made with logic and a modicum of documented
evidence Traditional Authority Makanjira had no more task than to
concur:
“We can only achieve real well-being by investing in the health-needs
of our women. It is good that Mangochi is among the districts
exploring the use of bicycle ambulances,” Makanjira said at the time.
Today, women continue to die. What does not continue, however, is Dr.
Chimbiri at CRH; She now is at the United Nations Development
Programme (Malawi office), taking the message home, perhaps, that for
development to live by its name, is must wear the ordinary woman’s
face.
This development begins at the maternity wing.
What has changed, also, is that new innovations on how to utilize
bicycle ambulances are emerging- this time around from strange
destinations, Take, for instance, The Netherlands. Anything Malawian
about the Netherlands?
“Very well so,” quips Roel Barkhof, chairperson for a Dutch foundation
called Transport4Transport. This is a foundation that promotes
innovative transport technologies in a bid to speed up the time it
takes one, in this case pregnant women, to reach health centres and
get their lives back.
“He who cares for you, and your health, is a friend in deed; it goes
beyond blood. It is something that has to do with the inner
connection. In that respect, there are so many things Malawian about
Holland, and many thing Holland about being Malawian. We are all
striving for good life. Well-being.”
Transport4Transport foundation is an arm of Wagenborg, a profit-making
organization registered in the Netherlands. The later uses part of its
financial resources and staff (who work for the foundation as
volunteers) to help improve healthcare delivery systems in such
countries as Malawi.
“Malawi is the only country we are working in. We want to help improve
people’s lives, and this includes those with physical challenges. So
far, we have funded the production of over 400 carts for bicycle
ambulances and spend 280 Euro (about K54, 320) on each,” said Be Vam
der Weide, foundation treasurer.
The two were in Malawi to gauge progress on activities they bankroll
and, among other charity organizations, visited Stephanos, Liebemzell
and Maikhanda- marking their third visit to Malawi since 2007, when
they set their heart on Malawi and never want to pluck it back.
Barkhof and Weide came so silently, physically. But their actions, as
good actions do, spoke louder than words and reached the ears of Reen
Kachere- Minister responsible for the Elderly and People with
Disabilities- at Capital Hill.
Kachere quickly asked for a meeting on Friday, July 9, 2010.
Among others, the minister said she wanted to exploit the possibility
of using Transport4Transport’s kind financial hand to produce carts
for physically challenged people wishing- not to reach the hospital
faster this time around, but- to venture into small scale businesses!
“Mobility has always been a challenge for most people with
disabilities, and this is because most of them lack amenities such as
wheelchairs. Those with wheelchairs also face more challenges in terms
of transport: they fail to carry bulky goods. We feel like these
people could help us in that regard,” said Kachere.
Kachere said, given such opportunities, the physically challenged can
operate door-to-door businesses- in the process uplifting their
social-economic status.
As it stands now, most of them sit in the country’s streets looking
for ‘today’, daily bread. Kachere says this is not the best way to
live one’s life.
“It is my hope that, once these carts become available to these
people, they will begin to live productive lives. Productive life is
characterized by progress; there is no progress in looking for arms.
It’s opportunities like business that offer the possibility of human
progress,” said Kachere.
She envisages a time when every wheelchair shall have a cart attached
to it; in the cart, goods and other materials that add value to life-
supporting the one in front of the cart.
This is hope. Yet, it all started with a dream, then vision, of one
Peter Meijer. In February 2009, he decided to come to Malawi with his
family and venture into bicycle-carts’ production.
He opened shop on the fringes of Chemussa and termed his business
‘Sakaramento’. The locals set up bicycle taxis and call them
‘Sacramento. It all means bicycle transport.
Meijer then came across Barkhof and Weide through the internet, and so
begun the process of hope for many.
Said Meijer: “We produce two kinds of carts: CareCar (bicycle
ambulance) and TengaCar (transport cart). The Care Car is a bicycle
adapted to transport patients and pregnant women to healthcare
facilities in rural settings. It has sun and rain protectors to
safeguard the life of the patient.”
It is the TengaCar that Kachere is interested in because, as a push
and bicycle cart, the physically challenged and elderly can carry
goods in high volumes. What with a recommended maximum load of 150
kilograms- the equivalent of three 50 kg bags of maize, rice, or
beans.
Sakaramenta is also doing a social service. It encourages its workers
to go for further education, both secondary and technical, offsetting
80 per cent of the costs. That is why the organization closes at 4
O’clock during weekdays to give people the chance to go to school.
Blessings Kachepa of Matimati Village, T/A Njema, Mulanje dropped out
of Muloza Community Secondary School’s Form 2 class due to lack of
funds. He now has the future back, having secured the opportunity to
attend Form 3 at Chirimba Night School.
“I have been given the world again; school means everything to me,” he said.
Sentiments shared by Hassan Isaac, 27. Though he has no Malawi School
Certificate of Education certificate, he now pursues a Refrigeration
and Air-conditioning course.
In November, he will be sitting for Malawi Trade Test examinations.
It is change happening. It has happened for the hands behind the
carts; will it not happen for those using the carts?
“It will (work.), surely,” Kachere can be hopefully stubborn.
Death, the robber of daily breath, has slower days, too; days so slow
a bicycle travels faster.
Clever minds merely attach carts to such bicycles during death’s
slower days, load the sick before conditions worsen, and rush to the
nearest health facility. Chances are that the sick will more likely be
embraced by hospital wards than the jaws of death- beating death to
the speed.
Sounds strange? This knowledge has been widespread in Malawi, spanning
from the days of the ox-cart, when pregnant women, the seriously ill,
among others, depended on community goodwill and human-animal
(donkeys/cattle) relationship to tame death.
At least until the beef cattle owner realized that, beaten more often
at the back, the beef animal develops thick skin and fetches little in
kilos at the market. You beat the cow and you squeeze some meet ‘into’
the animal, hitting oneself in the pocket.
Cattle are also scarce these days, apart from earning hefty head
prices- and so the bicycle took over. The Centre for Reproductive
Heath (CRH), a department at the College of Medicine (a constituent
college of the University of Malawi) in Blantyre was among the
institutions to buy into the idea.
A pilot project on bicycle ambulances was born in Makanjira and Nkumba
areas in Mangochi. This was time, in early 2000s, when well-founded
fears about high mortality and morbidity rates animated the nation.
There was a decree- silent decree confirmed by the Demographic Heath
Survey of 1998- that, out of 100, 000 births, some 894 Malawian
citizens had to die. Just like that.
“This is too high a rate”, complained the then CRH executive director
Dr. Agnes Chimbiri “It is too high a rate we cannot attain
sustainable, social-economic development. The woman, more than men,
contributes a lot to national development.”
While the Malawian father is still very much the patriarch, it is the
woman who controls the home, crop fields, and life.
Hers were sentiments made with logic and a modicum of documented
evidence Traditional Authority Makanjira had no more task than to
concur:
“We can only achieve real well-being by investing in the health-needs
of our women. It is good that Mangochi is among the districts
exploring the use of bicycle ambulances,” Makanjira said at the time.
Today, women continue to die. What does not continue, however, is Dr.
Chimbiri at CRH; She now is at the United Nations Development
Programme (Malawi office), taking the message home, perhaps, that for
development to live by its name, is must wear the ordinary woman’s
face.
This development begins at the maternity wing.
What has changed, also, is that new innovations on how to utilize
bicycle ambulances are emerging- this time around from strange
destinations, Take, for instance, The Netherlands. Anything Malawian
about the Netherlands?
“Very well so,” quips Roel Barkhof, chairperson for a Dutch foundation
called Transport4Transport. This is a foundation that promotes
innovative transport technologies in a bid to speed up the time it
takes one, in this case pregnant women, to reach health centres and
get their lives back.
“He who cares for you, and your health, is a friend in deed; it goes
beyond blood. It is something that has to do with the inner
connection. In that respect, there are so many things Malawian about
Holland, and many thing Holland about being Malawian. We are all
striving for good life. Well-being.”
Transport4Transport foundation is an arm of Wagenborg, a profit-making
organization registered in the Netherlands. The later uses part of its
financial resources and staff (who work for the foundation as
volunteers) to help improve healthcare delivery systems in such
countries as Malawi.
“Malawi is the only country we are working in. We want to help improve
people’s lives, and this includes those with physical challenges. So
far, we have funded the production of over 400 carts for bicycle
ambulances and spend 280 Euro (about K54, 320) on each,” said Be Vam
der Weide, foundation treasurer.
The two were in Malawi to gauge progress on activities they bankroll
and, among other charity organizations, visited Stephanos, Liebemzell
and Maikhanda- marking their third visit to Malawi since 2007, when
they set their heart on Malawi and never want to pluck it back.
Barkhof and Weide came so silently, physically. But their actions, as
good actions do, spoke louder than words and reached the ears of Reen
Kachere- Minister responsible for the Elderly and People with
Disabilities- at Capital Hill.
Kachere quickly asked for a meeting on Friday, July 9, 2010.
Among others, the minister said she wanted to exploit the possibility
of using Transport4Transport’s kind financial hand to produce carts
for physically challenged people wishing- not to reach the hospital
faster this time around, but- to venture into small scale businesses!
“Mobility has always been a challenge for most people with
disabilities, and this is because most of them lack amenities such as
wheelchairs. Those with wheelchairs also face more challenges in terms
of transport: they fail to carry bulky goods. We feel like these
people could help us in that regard,” said Kachere.
Kachere said, given such opportunities, the physically challenged can
operate door-to-door businesses- in the process uplifting their
social-economic status.
As it stands now, most of them sit in the country’s streets looking
for ‘today’, daily bread. Kachere says this is not the best way to
live one’s life.
“It is my hope that, once these carts become available to these
people, they will begin to live productive lives. Productive life is
characterized by progress; there is no progress in looking for arms.
It’s opportunities like business that offer the possibility of human
progress,” said Kachere.
She envisages a time when every wheelchair shall have a cart attached
to it; in the cart, goods and other materials that add value to life-
supporting the one in front of the cart.
This is hope. Yet, it all started with a dream, then vision, of one
Peter Meijer. In February 2009, he decided to come to Malawi with his
family and venture into bicycle-carts’ production.
He opened shop on the fringes of Chemussa and termed his business
‘Sakaramento’. The locals set up bicycle taxis and call them
‘Sacramento. It all means bicycle transport.
Meijer then came across Barkhof and Weide through the internet, and so
begun the process of hope for many.
Said Meijer: “We produce two kinds of carts: CareCar (bicycle
ambulance) and TengaCar (transport cart). The Care Car is a bicycle
adapted to transport patients and pregnant women to healthcare
facilities in rural settings. It has sun and rain protectors to
safeguard the life of the patient.”
It is the TengaCar that Kachere is interested in because, as a push
and bicycle cart, the physically challenged and elderly can carry
goods in high volumes. What with a recommended maximum load of 150
kilograms- the equivalent of three 50 kg bags of maize, rice, or
beans.
Sakaramenta is also doing a social service. It encourages its workers
to go for further education, both secondary and technical, offsetting
80 per cent of the costs. That is why the organization closes at 4
O’clock during weekdays to give people the chance to go to school.
Blessings Kachepa of Matimati Village, T/A Njema, Mulanje dropped out
of Muloza Community Secondary School’s Form 2 class due to lack of
funds. He now has the future back, having secured the opportunity to
attend Form 3 at Chirimba Night School.
“I have been given the world again; school means everything to me,” he said.
Sentiments shared by Hassan Isaac, 27. Though he has no Malawi School
Certificate of Education certificate, he now pursues a Refrigeration
and Air-conditioning course.
In November, he will be sitting for Malawi Trade Test examinations.
It is change happening. It has happened for the hands behind the
carts; will it not happen for those using the carts?
“It will (work.), surely,” Kachere can be hopefully stubborn.
Njinga zangolo zingachepetse umphawi
WOLEMBA RICHARD CHIROMBO
Nduna yoona zaanthu okalamba ndiolumala, aReen Kachere, adati njinga
zomwe amayendera anthu olumala zingakhale njira imodzi yochepetsera
umphawi ngati anthuwo angamakoke ngolo, m’mene zimakhalira
ndiambulansi zanjinga, ndikumanyamulira katundu wamalonda
osiyanasiyana.
AKachere adati kwanthawi yaitali anthu olumala akhala akungogwiritsa
ntchito njiza zawo poyendera, osadziwa kuti njingazo zingathandize
pochepetsa umphawi ndikupangitsa kuti ambiri mwaanthu olumala omwe
amapemphapempha thandizo m’miseu adzidziimira paokha.
Ndunayi idalankhula izi sabata latha mumzinda waBlantyre itakumana
ndiakuluakulu abungwe lam’dziko laNetherlands lotchedwa
Transport4Transport, lomwe limathandiza maiko osiyanasiyana ndingolo
zomwe zimagwiritsidwa ntchito ngati ambulansi zanjinga, chinthu chomwe
chathandiza kuchepetsa infa zaamayi apakati m’maiko okwera kumene.
“Unduna wanga wakambirana ndiakuluakuluwa zokuti apereke thandizo
lazachuma komanso ngolo zomwe anthu olumala angamagwiritse ntchito
ponyamulira katundu wamalonda ngati njira imodzi yothetsera umphawi,”
adatero aKachere.
Iwo adati anthu okalamba, omwe kawirikawiri amakumananso ndimavuto
akayendedwe chifukwa chofooka m’thupi, angapindulenso ndingolozi
popeza kuti angamanyamule katundu wambiri ndiolemera mosavuta.
“Bungwe limeneli lakhala likuthandiza mabungwe ena dziko laMalawi
kuyambira chaka cha2007, koma lakhala likulimbikira pantchito
yochepetsa infa zaamayi apakati pomapereka ndalama zopangira ambulansi
zanjinga. Panopo tangolipempha kuti liyambenso kuthandiza olumala
ndiokalamba pomapereka ngolo zanjinga,” idatero ndunayi.
Nawo aRoel Barkhof, womwe ndiwapampando wabungwe
laTransport4Transport- lomwe silopanga phindu koma limapeza ndalama
zake kuchokera kukampani ina yam’dziko laNetherlands yotchedwa
Wagenborg- adati ali okonzeka kuyamba kuthandiza dziko laMalawi
ndingolo kuti olumala ndiokalamba adzinyamulira katundu.
“Ife takhala tikubwera ndikuthandiza mabungwe oposa atatu kuno
kuMalawi kuyambira m’chaka cha2007, ndipo tili okonzeka kuyamba
kuthandiza mwanjira iliyonse kuti miyoyo yaAmalawi itukuke.
Timagwiritsa ntchito ndalama zokwana K53, 000 pangolo iliyonse, ndipo
tathandiza kale kupanga ngolo zanjinga zaambulansi zokwana 400,”
adatero aBarkhof.
Iwo adati bungwe lawo lili lokonzeka kuyamba ntchitoyi nthawi
iliyonse, ndipo lidzagwira ntchito yopanga ngolozi kudzera kukampani
yotchedwa ‘Sakaramenta’, yomwe ndiyakuMalawi kom’kuno ndipo ili
kwaChemussa m’boma laBlantyre.
Mkulu waSakaramenta, aPeter Meijer, adati ali okonzeka kuyamba
ntchitoyi popeza kuti akhala akugwira kale ntchitoyi ndibungwe
lakuNetherlands’li kwazaka zoposa zitatu tsopano.
“Ife tili okonzeka kuyamba ntchitoyi. Tikufuna kuthandiza boma
laMalawi potukula miyoyo yaanthu ovutika. Chosangalatsa n’chakuti
kampani yathu idayambanso kale kuthandiza Amalawi popeza timalipilira
ogwira ntchito athu sukulu, chinthu chomwe chidasangalatsa anthu
akuNetherlands’wa ndikuapangitsa kumathandiza mabungwe m’dziko muno,”
adatero aMeijer.
Nduna yoona zaanthu okalamba ndiolumala, aReen Kachere, adati njinga
zomwe amayendera anthu olumala zingakhale njira imodzi yochepetsera
umphawi ngati anthuwo angamakoke ngolo, m’mene zimakhalira
ndiambulansi zanjinga, ndikumanyamulira katundu wamalonda
osiyanasiyana.
AKachere adati kwanthawi yaitali anthu olumala akhala akungogwiritsa
ntchito njiza zawo poyendera, osadziwa kuti njingazo zingathandize
pochepetsa umphawi ndikupangitsa kuti ambiri mwaanthu olumala omwe
amapemphapempha thandizo m’miseu adzidziimira paokha.
Ndunayi idalankhula izi sabata latha mumzinda waBlantyre itakumana
ndiakuluakulu abungwe lam’dziko laNetherlands lotchedwa
Transport4Transport, lomwe limathandiza maiko osiyanasiyana ndingolo
zomwe zimagwiritsidwa ntchito ngati ambulansi zanjinga, chinthu chomwe
chathandiza kuchepetsa infa zaamayi apakati m’maiko okwera kumene.
“Unduna wanga wakambirana ndiakuluakuluwa zokuti apereke thandizo
lazachuma komanso ngolo zomwe anthu olumala angamagwiritse ntchito
ponyamulira katundu wamalonda ngati njira imodzi yothetsera umphawi,”
adatero aKachere.
Iwo adati anthu okalamba, omwe kawirikawiri amakumananso ndimavuto
akayendedwe chifukwa chofooka m’thupi, angapindulenso ndingolozi
popeza kuti angamanyamule katundu wambiri ndiolemera mosavuta.
“Bungwe limeneli lakhala likuthandiza mabungwe ena dziko laMalawi
kuyambira chaka cha2007, koma lakhala likulimbikira pantchito
yochepetsa infa zaamayi apakati pomapereka ndalama zopangira ambulansi
zanjinga. Panopo tangolipempha kuti liyambenso kuthandiza olumala
ndiokalamba pomapereka ngolo zanjinga,” idatero ndunayi.
Nawo aRoel Barkhof, womwe ndiwapampando wabungwe
laTransport4Transport- lomwe silopanga phindu koma limapeza ndalama
zake kuchokera kukampani ina yam’dziko laNetherlands yotchedwa
Wagenborg- adati ali okonzeka kuyamba kuthandiza dziko laMalawi
ndingolo kuti olumala ndiokalamba adzinyamulira katundu.
“Ife takhala tikubwera ndikuthandiza mabungwe oposa atatu kuno
kuMalawi kuyambira m’chaka cha2007, ndipo tili okonzeka kuyamba
kuthandiza mwanjira iliyonse kuti miyoyo yaAmalawi itukuke.
Timagwiritsa ntchito ndalama zokwana K53, 000 pangolo iliyonse, ndipo
tathandiza kale kupanga ngolo zanjinga zaambulansi zokwana 400,”
adatero aBarkhof.
Iwo adati bungwe lawo lili lokonzeka kuyamba ntchitoyi nthawi
iliyonse, ndipo lidzagwira ntchito yopanga ngolozi kudzera kukampani
yotchedwa ‘Sakaramenta’, yomwe ndiyakuMalawi kom’kuno ndipo ili
kwaChemussa m’boma laBlantyre.
Mkulu waSakaramenta, aPeter Meijer, adati ali okonzeka kuyamba
ntchitoyi popeza kuti akhala akugwira kale ntchitoyi ndibungwe
lakuNetherlands’li kwazaka zoposa zitatu tsopano.
“Ife tili okonzeka kuyamba ntchitoyi. Tikufuna kuthandiza boma
laMalawi potukula miyoyo yaanthu ovutika. Chosangalatsa n’chakuti
kampani yathu idayambanso kale kuthandiza Amalawi popeza timalipilira
ogwira ntchito athu sukulu, chinthu chomwe chidasangalatsa anthu
akuNetherlands’wa ndikuapangitsa kumathandiza mabungwe m’dziko muno,”
adatero aMeijer.
Ntasa Times' comments on lies that some chiefs are against Bingu's allocation of land for university construction
Posted with permission from Thom Chiumia:
Chambulamasokumutukowachambulamutukumasokowa says:
July 20, 2010 at 5:53 am
Dziko lino anthu okanika kwambiri ndi aphungu chifukwa ambiri ali ndi mantha kwambiri! Akuipopa kwambiri Ngwazi palibe amene amaiudza za nzero! Onse basi amafuna kuti akhulupirike koma chonsecho mukuononga dziko la Malawi! Kodi zokamanga ku farm ya munthu zadza ndi ndani! Bwanji osafuna malo ena opanda bvuto lilonse! Dziko lapita ku pompho ili!
Reply to this Comment
ntafu says:
July 20, 2010 at 6:25 am
Koma nkhani iyi ndiye mbolanso. Full of contradictions. if at all it is true all that has been written in this article, am not surprised because those chiefs are illiterate. so they don’t see the benefit of having a university in their locality. Koma abale kutsaphunzira ndi matendanso ena apadera.
Reply to this Comment
akumudzi says:
July 20, 2010 at 7:21 am
the title and the story does not tarry .Good title would have been that one you are thinking of university not apriority chiefs
Reply to this Comment
bikiloni difikoti says:
July 20, 2010 at 7:49 am
manje awa a president saziwa kuti wana wa univesite akakwiya amakhala violent. Sono nyumba yake iyo izakhala target. Iwo a president azakwanitsa kuthamanga ni kwendo yotchoka. Wasiyeni awo malo azawalira weka
Reply to this Comment
Navingod'o says:
July 20, 2010 at 8:33 am
Mafumu opusa inu kwabasi, you think its wealthy to cultivate that land than to construct a University??? Mlomwe ndi Mlomwe basi alibe ulemu/kuthokoza. M’malo moti muzinyadila kuti mukhala ndi University pafupi koma now u r complaining ndi nkhani zanu zopusazo.
Reply to this Comment
wakukaya says:
July 20, 2010 at 11:56 am
This is WALOMWE prezident sono muthana notha we see nothing here in the north so ur varsity kumakanganso .Today chilichonse ndi MTL M=Mulanje,T=Thyolo, Limited,any development start from there eve pa TV news is MTL sono vinu ivo
Reply to this Comment
kasaukani says:
July 20, 2010 at 11:58 am
bravo Bingu. These Thyolo people they don’t deserve that land for cultivation. Don’t give them room for we can loose the cheap labour in our fodya estates in the central region.
Reply to this Comment
Kazitape says:
July 20, 2010 at 12:10 pm
Why not upgrade the then Amalika Training Base to a University, Mr. President, instead of using part of your Ndata Farm???
Reply to this Comment
mpumulo ndatopa says:
July 20, 2010 at 12:13 pm
univesite osamanga ku blantyre bwanji? amalawi basi mukufuna muzizati univesite ndi yanu..mmene ankapangila ngwazi ndi KA?
Reply to this Comment
Masida says:
July 20, 2010 at 12:51 pm
I appreciet the idea of government constructing new universities. But I do not support the university being constructed in the vicinety of the president retirement resident. Lets watch out this, Why build a poly inside Sanjika or Chanco inside Zomba state house, for what. Yake kapena chani. Zibwana zachabechabe izi.
On the other hand, I also do not support what these chiefs are saying. There is a program called Kuzigulira malo, that targeted Mulanje and Thyolo for the good reasons the chief is saying, but thyolo was eventually removed as the people of Thyolo were selling the land government buys for them and going back to their old squashed up places.
Obviously government will not buy the chiefs talkes but also klet them find another location for the University, not Ndata.
Chambulamasokumutukowachambulamutukumasokowa says:
July 20, 2010 at 5:53 am
Dziko lino anthu okanika kwambiri ndi aphungu chifukwa ambiri ali ndi mantha kwambiri! Akuipopa kwambiri Ngwazi palibe amene amaiudza za nzero! Onse basi amafuna kuti akhulupirike koma chonsecho mukuononga dziko la Malawi! Kodi zokamanga ku farm ya munthu zadza ndi ndani! Bwanji osafuna malo ena opanda bvuto lilonse! Dziko lapita ku pompho ili!
Reply to this Comment
ntafu says:
July 20, 2010 at 6:25 am
Koma nkhani iyi ndiye mbolanso. Full of contradictions. if at all it is true all that has been written in this article, am not surprised because those chiefs are illiterate. so they don’t see the benefit of having a university in their locality. Koma abale kutsaphunzira ndi matendanso ena apadera.
Reply to this Comment
akumudzi says:
July 20, 2010 at 7:21 am
the title and the story does not tarry .Good title would have been that one you are thinking of university not apriority chiefs
Reply to this Comment
bikiloni difikoti says:
July 20, 2010 at 7:49 am
manje awa a president saziwa kuti wana wa univesite akakwiya amakhala violent. Sono nyumba yake iyo izakhala target. Iwo a president azakwanitsa kuthamanga ni kwendo yotchoka. Wasiyeni awo malo azawalira weka
Reply to this Comment
Navingod'o says:
July 20, 2010 at 8:33 am
Mafumu opusa inu kwabasi, you think its wealthy to cultivate that land than to construct a University??? Mlomwe ndi Mlomwe basi alibe ulemu/kuthokoza. M’malo moti muzinyadila kuti mukhala ndi University pafupi koma now u r complaining ndi nkhani zanu zopusazo.
Reply to this Comment
wakukaya says:
July 20, 2010 at 11:56 am
This is WALOMWE prezident sono muthana notha we see nothing here in the north so ur varsity kumakanganso .Today chilichonse ndi MTL M=Mulanje,T=Thyolo, Limited,any development start from there eve pa TV news is MTL sono vinu ivo
Reply to this Comment
kasaukani says:
July 20, 2010 at 11:58 am
bravo Bingu. These Thyolo people they don’t deserve that land for cultivation. Don’t give them room for we can loose the cheap labour in our fodya estates in the central region.
Reply to this Comment
Kazitape says:
July 20, 2010 at 12:10 pm
Why not upgrade the then Amalika Training Base to a University, Mr. President, instead of using part of your Ndata Farm???
Reply to this Comment
mpumulo ndatopa says:
July 20, 2010 at 12:13 pm
univesite osamanga ku blantyre bwanji? amalawi basi mukufuna muzizati univesite ndi yanu..mmene ankapangila ngwazi ndi KA?
Reply to this Comment
Masida says:
July 20, 2010 at 12:51 pm
I appreciet the idea of government constructing new universities. But I do not support the university being constructed in the vicinety of the president retirement resident. Lets watch out this, Why build a poly inside Sanjika or Chanco inside Zomba state house, for what. Yake kapena chani. Zibwana zachabechabe izi.
On the other hand, I also do not support what these chiefs are saying. There is a program called Kuzigulira malo, that targeted Mulanje and Thyolo for the good reasons the chief is saying, but thyolo was eventually removed as the people of Thyolo were selling the land government buys for them and going back to their old squashed up places.
Obviously government will not buy the chiefs talkes but also klet them find another location for the University, not Ndata.
Sharia Law for Non-Muslims
Chapter 5—The Kafir
Until now we have looked at the big picture of Sharia and then the position of women in Sharia. We now come to a new subject--the unbeliever or non-Muslim. The word "non-Muslim" is used in the translation of Sharia law, but the actual Arabic word used is "Kafir". But the word Kafir means far more than non-Muslim. The original meaning of the word was "concealer", one who conceals the truth of Islam.
The Koran says that the Kafir may be deceived, plotted against, hated, enslaved, mocked, tortured and worse. The word is usually translated as "unbeliever" but this translation is wrong. The word "unbeliever" is logically and emotionally neutral, whereas, Kafir is the most abusive, prejudiced and hateful word in any language.
There are many religious names for Kafirs: polytheists, idolaters, People of the Book (Christians and Jews), Buddhists, atheists, agnostics, and pagans. Kafir covers them all, because no matter what the religious name is, they can all be treated the same. What Mohammed said and did to polytheists can be done to any other category of Kafir.
Islam devotes a great amount of energy to the Kafir. The majority (64%) of the Koran is devoted to the Kafir, and nearly all of the Sira (81%) deals with Mohammed's struggle with them. The Hadith (Traditions) devotes 32% of the text to Kafirs1. Overall, the Trilogy devotes 60% of its content to the Kafir.
Hadith 37%
Sira 81%
Koran 64%
Total 60%
Amount of Text Devoted to the Kafir
The Sharia does not devote nearly that much to the Kafir since Sharia law is primarily for Muslims. Besides, the Kafir has few rights, so there is little to expound on.
Religious Islam is what Muslims do to go to Paradise and avoid Hell. What Mohammed did to Kafirs was not religious, but political. Political Islam is what is of concern to Kafirs, not the religion. Who cares how a Muslim worships, but every one of us is concerned as to what they do to us and say about us. Political Islam should be of concern to every Kafir.
Here are two Sharia references about Kafirs:
w59.2 [...] And this clari?es the Koranic verses and hadiths about hatred for the sake of Allah and love for the sake of Allah, Al Walaa wa al Baraa, being unyielding towards the Kafirs, hard against them, and detesting them, while accepting the destiny of Allah Most High insofar as it is the decree of Allah Mighty and Majestic.
Hatred for the sake of Allah and love for the sake of Allah is called Al Walaa wa al Baraa, a fundamental principle of Islamic ethics and Sharia. A Muslim is to hate what Allah hates and love what Allah loves. Allah hates the Kafir, therefore, a Muslim is to act accordingly.
40:35 They [Kafirs] who dispute the signs [Koran verses] of Allah without authority having reached them are greatly hated by Allah and the believers [Muslims]. So Allah seals up every arrogant, disdainful heart.
h8.24 It is not permissible to give zakat [charity] to a Kafir, or to someone whom one is obliged to support such as a wife or family member.
Here are a few of the Koran references: A Kafir can be mocked--
83:34 On that day the faithful will mock the Kafirs, while they sit on bridal couches and watch them. Should not the Kafirs be paid back for what they did?
A Kafir can be beheaded--
47:4 When you encounter the Kafirs on the battle?eld, cut off their heads until you have thoroughly defeated them and then take the prisoners and tie them up firmly.
A Kafir can be plotted against--
86:15 They plot and scheme against you [Mohammed], and I plot and scheme against them. Therefore, deal calmly with the Kafirs and leave them alone for a while.
A Kafir can be terrorized--
8:12 Then your Lord spoke to His angels and said, "I will be with you. Give strength to the believers. I will send terror into the Kafirs' hearts, cut off their heads and even the tips of their fingers!"
A Muslim is not the friend of a Kafir--
3:28 Believers should not take Kafirs as friends in preference to other believers. Those who do this will have none of Allah's protection and will only have themselves as guards. Allah warns you to fear Him for all will return to Him.
A Kafir is evil--
23:97 And say: Oh my Lord! I seek refuge with You from the suggestions of the evil ones [Kafirs]. And I seek refuge with you, my Lord, from their presence.
A Kafir is disgraced--
37:18 Tell them, "Yes! And you [Kafirs] will be disgraced."
A Kafir is cursed--
33:60 They [Kafirs] will be cursed, and wherever they are found, they will be seized and murdered. It was Allah's same practice with those who came before them, and you will ?nd no change in Allah's ways.
KAFIRS AND THE PEOPLE OF THE BOOK
Muslims tell Christians and Jews that they are special. They are "People of the Book" and are brothers in the Abrahamic faith. But in Islam you are a Christian, if and only if, you believe that Christ was a man who was a prophet of Allah; there is no Trinity; Jesus was not crucified nor resurrected and that He will return to establish Sharia law. To be a true Jew you must believe that Mohammed is the last in the line of Jewish prophets.
This verse is positive:
5:77 Say: Oh, People of the Book, do not step out of the bounds of truth in your religion, and do not follow the desires of those who have gone wrong and led many astray. They have themselves gone astray from the even way.
Islamic doctrine is dualistic, so there is an opposite view as well. Here is the last verse written about the People of the Book (A later verse abrogates or nullifies an earlier verse.). This is the final word. It calls for Muslims to make war on the People of the Book who do not believe in the religion of truth, Islam.
9:29 Make war on those who have received the Scriptures [Jews and Christians] but do not believe in Allah or in the Last Day. They do not forbid what Allah and His Messenger have forbidden. The Christians and Jews do not follow the religion of truth until they submit and pay the poll tax [jizya] and they are humiliated.
The sentence "They do not forbid..." means that they do not accept Sharia law; "until they submit" means to submit to Sharia law. Christians and Jews who do not accept Mohammed as the ?nal prophet are Kafirs.
Muslims pray five times a day and the opening prayer always includes:
Koran 1: 7 Not the path of those who anger You [the Jews] nor the path of those who go astray [the Christians].
LANGUAGE
Since the original Arabic word for unbelievers was Kafir and that is the actual word used in the Koran and Sharia law, that is the word used here for accuracy and precision.
It is very simple: if you don't believe Mohammed and his Koran, you are a Kafir.
Until now we have looked at the big picture of Sharia and then the position of women in Sharia. We now come to a new subject--the unbeliever or non-Muslim. The word "non-Muslim" is used in the translation of Sharia law, but the actual Arabic word used is "Kafir". But the word Kafir means far more than non-Muslim. The original meaning of the word was "concealer", one who conceals the truth of Islam.
The Koran says that the Kafir may be deceived, plotted against, hated, enslaved, mocked, tortured and worse. The word is usually translated as "unbeliever" but this translation is wrong. The word "unbeliever" is logically and emotionally neutral, whereas, Kafir is the most abusive, prejudiced and hateful word in any language.
There are many religious names for Kafirs: polytheists, idolaters, People of the Book (Christians and Jews), Buddhists, atheists, agnostics, and pagans. Kafir covers them all, because no matter what the religious name is, they can all be treated the same. What Mohammed said and did to polytheists can be done to any other category of Kafir.
Islam devotes a great amount of energy to the Kafir. The majority (64%) of the Koran is devoted to the Kafir, and nearly all of the Sira (81%) deals with Mohammed's struggle with them. The Hadith (Traditions) devotes 32% of the text to Kafirs1. Overall, the Trilogy devotes 60% of its content to the Kafir.
Hadith 37%
Sira 81%
Koran 64%
Total 60%
Amount of Text Devoted to the Kafir
The Sharia does not devote nearly that much to the Kafir since Sharia law is primarily for Muslims. Besides, the Kafir has few rights, so there is little to expound on.
Religious Islam is what Muslims do to go to Paradise and avoid Hell. What Mohammed did to Kafirs was not religious, but political. Political Islam is what is of concern to Kafirs, not the religion. Who cares how a Muslim worships, but every one of us is concerned as to what they do to us and say about us. Political Islam should be of concern to every Kafir.
Here are two Sharia references about Kafirs:
w59.2 [...] And this clari?es the Koranic verses and hadiths about hatred for the sake of Allah and love for the sake of Allah, Al Walaa wa al Baraa, being unyielding towards the Kafirs, hard against them, and detesting them, while accepting the destiny of Allah Most High insofar as it is the decree of Allah Mighty and Majestic.
Hatred for the sake of Allah and love for the sake of Allah is called Al Walaa wa al Baraa, a fundamental principle of Islamic ethics and Sharia. A Muslim is to hate what Allah hates and love what Allah loves. Allah hates the Kafir, therefore, a Muslim is to act accordingly.
40:35 They [Kafirs] who dispute the signs [Koran verses] of Allah without authority having reached them are greatly hated by Allah and the believers [Muslims]. So Allah seals up every arrogant, disdainful heart.
h8.24 It is not permissible to give zakat [charity] to a Kafir, or to someone whom one is obliged to support such as a wife or family member.
Here are a few of the Koran references: A Kafir can be mocked--
83:34 On that day the faithful will mock the Kafirs, while they sit on bridal couches and watch them. Should not the Kafirs be paid back for what they did?
A Kafir can be beheaded--
47:4 When you encounter the Kafirs on the battle?eld, cut off their heads until you have thoroughly defeated them and then take the prisoners and tie them up firmly.
A Kafir can be plotted against--
86:15 They plot and scheme against you [Mohammed], and I plot and scheme against them. Therefore, deal calmly with the Kafirs and leave them alone for a while.
A Kafir can be terrorized--
8:12 Then your Lord spoke to His angels and said, "I will be with you. Give strength to the believers. I will send terror into the Kafirs' hearts, cut off their heads and even the tips of their fingers!"
A Muslim is not the friend of a Kafir--
3:28 Believers should not take Kafirs as friends in preference to other believers. Those who do this will have none of Allah's protection and will only have themselves as guards. Allah warns you to fear Him for all will return to Him.
A Kafir is evil--
23:97 And say: Oh my Lord! I seek refuge with You from the suggestions of the evil ones [Kafirs]. And I seek refuge with you, my Lord, from their presence.
A Kafir is disgraced--
37:18 Tell them, "Yes! And you [Kafirs] will be disgraced."
A Kafir is cursed--
33:60 They [Kafirs] will be cursed, and wherever they are found, they will be seized and murdered. It was Allah's same practice with those who came before them, and you will ?nd no change in Allah's ways.
KAFIRS AND THE PEOPLE OF THE BOOK
Muslims tell Christians and Jews that they are special. They are "People of the Book" and are brothers in the Abrahamic faith. But in Islam you are a Christian, if and only if, you believe that Christ was a man who was a prophet of Allah; there is no Trinity; Jesus was not crucified nor resurrected and that He will return to establish Sharia law. To be a true Jew you must believe that Mohammed is the last in the line of Jewish prophets.
This verse is positive:
5:77 Say: Oh, People of the Book, do not step out of the bounds of truth in your religion, and do not follow the desires of those who have gone wrong and led many astray. They have themselves gone astray from the even way.
Islamic doctrine is dualistic, so there is an opposite view as well. Here is the last verse written about the People of the Book (A later verse abrogates or nullifies an earlier verse.). This is the final word. It calls for Muslims to make war on the People of the Book who do not believe in the religion of truth, Islam.
9:29 Make war on those who have received the Scriptures [Jews and Christians] but do not believe in Allah or in the Last Day. They do not forbid what Allah and His Messenger have forbidden. The Christians and Jews do not follow the religion of truth until they submit and pay the poll tax [jizya] and they are humiliated.
The sentence "They do not forbid..." means that they do not accept Sharia law; "until they submit" means to submit to Sharia law. Christians and Jews who do not accept Mohammed as the ?nal prophet are Kafirs.
Muslims pray five times a day and the opening prayer always includes:
Koran 1: 7 Not the path of those who anger You [the Jews] nor the path of those who go astray [the Christians].
LANGUAGE
Since the original Arabic word for unbelievers was Kafir and that is the actual word used in the Koran and Sharia law, that is the word used here for accuracy and precision.
It is very simple: if you don't believe Mohammed and his Koran, you are a Kafir.
Burundian online journalist faces life in prison on treason charge
New York, July 19, 2010—Burundian authorities’ arrest on Saturday of journalist Jean-Claude Kavumbagu on treason charges over commentary critical of the country’s security forces is alarming, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. He is being held in Mpimba prison in the capital, Bujumbura.
Kavumbagu, editor of the private online daily Net Press, could face life in prison if convicted over a July 12 story reporting on the deadly July 11 terrorist attacks in neighboring Uganda, defense lawyer Gabriel Sinarinzi told CPJ. The Somali insurgent group Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for the blasts and threatened more attacks against Uganda and Burundi unless they withdrew peacekeeping forces deployed in Somalia, according to news reports. Net Press’ story questioned the ability of Burundian security forces to prevent a potential attack in the country, and accused the forces of looting and killing in Burundi, according to CPJ research.
It’s not clear why Kavumbagu was charged with treason, a war-time offense, and not under Burundi’s press law, according to Sinarinzi. The defense had requested the journalist’s release on bail pending trial, he added. Kavumbagu’s detention violates the Burundian criminal procedure code, which allows pre-trial detention of suspects under limited conditions that do not apply to the journalist’s case, Sinarinzi said.
“The treason charge against Jean Claude Kavumbagu is an extreme form of intimidation,” CPJ East Africa consultant Tom Rhodes said. “The authorities must follow the national press law and release Kavumbagu on bail.”
Police Officer David Nikiza arrested Kavumbagu at his office on Saturday and took him to the office of Magistrate Tabu Renovat, where he was interrogated for two hours, charged with treason, and transferred to Mpimba prison, the journalist’s brother, Jean-Marie Vianney Kavumbagu, told CPJ. The same day, 15 radio stations in Bujumbura broadcasted a simultaneous message calling for Kavumbagu’s release, he said.
Kavumbagu is already battling a government appeal of a March 2009 dismissal of criminal defamation charges over an article that claimed President Pierre Nkurunziza spent an exorbitant amount during his trip to the 2008 summer Olympics in China, according to Sinarinzi.
Tensions in Burundi were high last month during presidential elections in which all opposition candidates withdrew over fears the outcome would be rigged—the incumbent remained as the only choice on the ballot, The Associated Press reported. And authorities expelled Human Rights Watch researcher Neela Ghoshal from Burundi in May after the publication of a report documenting pre-election violence.
URL > http://cpj.org/2010/07/burundian-online-journalist-faces-life-in-jail-on.php
Kavumbagu, editor of the private online daily Net Press, could face life in prison if convicted over a July 12 story reporting on the deadly July 11 terrorist attacks in neighboring Uganda, defense lawyer Gabriel Sinarinzi told CPJ. The Somali insurgent group Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for the blasts and threatened more attacks against Uganda and Burundi unless they withdrew peacekeeping forces deployed in Somalia, according to news reports. Net Press’ story questioned the ability of Burundian security forces to prevent a potential attack in the country, and accused the forces of looting and killing in Burundi, according to CPJ research.
It’s not clear why Kavumbagu was charged with treason, a war-time offense, and not under Burundi’s press law, according to Sinarinzi. The defense had requested the journalist’s release on bail pending trial, he added. Kavumbagu’s detention violates the Burundian criminal procedure code, which allows pre-trial detention of suspects under limited conditions that do not apply to the journalist’s case, Sinarinzi said.
“The treason charge against Jean Claude Kavumbagu is an extreme form of intimidation,” CPJ East Africa consultant Tom Rhodes said. “The authorities must follow the national press law and release Kavumbagu on bail.”
Police Officer David Nikiza arrested Kavumbagu at his office on Saturday and took him to the office of Magistrate Tabu Renovat, where he was interrogated for two hours, charged with treason, and transferred to Mpimba prison, the journalist’s brother, Jean-Marie Vianney Kavumbagu, told CPJ. The same day, 15 radio stations in Bujumbura broadcasted a simultaneous message calling for Kavumbagu’s release, he said.
Kavumbagu is already battling a government appeal of a March 2009 dismissal of criminal defamation charges over an article that claimed President Pierre Nkurunziza spent an exorbitant amount during his trip to the 2008 summer Olympics in China, according to Sinarinzi.
Tensions in Burundi were high last month during presidential elections in which all opposition candidates withdrew over fears the outcome would be rigged—the incumbent remained as the only choice on the ballot, The Associated Press reported. And authorities expelled Human Rights Watch researcher Neela Ghoshal from Burundi in May after the publication of a report documenting pre-election violence.
URL > http://cpj.org/2010/07/burundian-online-journalist-faces-life-in-jail-on.php
Monday, July 12, 2010
I am happy at last, says Steven Monjeza
Steven Monjeza, pardoned alongside Tiwonge Chimbalanga for staging Malawi's first ever gay engagement ceremony, says he is now happy that the media and Malawians have left him free.
Monjeza said it was good Malawians had head his plea to leave him alone, adding he was now happy with his wife.
"So far, people we meet are being supportive; it's as if nothing really happened. I thank Malawians for their support and ask them to continue praying for me," said Monjeza.
Monjeza said it was good Malawians had head his plea to leave him alone, adding he was now happy with his wife.
"So far, people we meet are being supportive; it's as if nothing really happened. I thank Malawians for their support and ask them to continue praying for me," said Monjeza.
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Dutch citizens in bicycle ambulance project
Two Dutch citizens, Roel Barkhof and Be Vam der Weide, are in Malawi to appraise work on a bicycle ambulance project they have been bankrolling since 2007.
Barkhof and Weide, who run the Netherlands-based foundation, Transport4Transport.nl, said they started funding the project, which is run by Blantyre-based Dutch citizen Peter Meijer’s Sakaramenta workshop, after noting that pregnant women were dying from preventable causes.
These causes include late arrival to healthcare facilities and poor transport modes, include the traditional oxcart or community members carrying patients using the back, a situation that contributed greatly towards Malawi’s high mortality and morbidity rates.
Barkhof, who chairs Transport4Transport, and Weide, the organisation’s treasurer, have so attracted media attention in Malawi they are on high demand, especially at state-run media- Malawi Broadcasting Corporation (radio) and its television arm (FORMERLY Malawi Television).
The two formerly separate institutions have since merged under a new government arrangement envisaged to cut costs and improve efficiency.
“We have been working with various NGOs, including Liebemzell, Stephanos and Maikhanda. In fact, this is the third time to be in Malawi and we are happy to contribute towards sustainable social-economic development,” said Barkhof.
Barkhof, a former Netherlands’ radio presenter and newspaper editor, said they would love to compliments efforts of the Malawi government in improving healthcare service delivery, adding bicycle ambulances have proved to be part of the solution.
Under the arrangement, Meijer produces bicycle carts, specifically designed to get attached to any bicycle.
“We produce two kinds of carts: CareCar, or bicycle ambulance, and TengaCar. This means transport cart. Thse can be used for any transport tasks and may help small scale business people come around the problem of poverty and improve their lives,” said Meijer.
The CareCar is a bicycle ambulance adapted to transport patients and pregnant women to healthcare facilities, and is ideal for rural areas where transport remains a major challenge and contributing factor towards preventable deaths.
The TengaCar, on the other hand, is a push and bicycle cart designed to carry large volumes of goods.
“The good thing about these innovations is that people will reduce transport costs while, at the same time, preventing unnecessary deaths,” said Meijer.
Minister for the Elderly and People with Diasabilities, Reen Kachere, who accompanied the dutch today, said the innovation could also help people with disabilities and the elderly.
"These two groups become so vulnerable when sick, or pregnant (in terms of women); the bicycle ambulances can thus go a long way in preventing avoidable deaths. I have discussed with them the possibility of cartering for these groups as well," said Kachere.
She people using wheelchairs could also utilise the bicycles by carrying large volumes of goods, apart from using the same to run small and medium scale enterprises.
"This government really wants to help, and would love to work closely with these people," Kachere said.
Barkhof and Weide, who run the Netherlands-based foundation, Transport4Transport.nl, said they started funding the project, which is run by Blantyre-based Dutch citizen Peter Meijer’s Sakaramenta workshop, after noting that pregnant women were dying from preventable causes.
These causes include late arrival to healthcare facilities and poor transport modes, include the traditional oxcart or community members carrying patients using the back, a situation that contributed greatly towards Malawi’s high mortality and morbidity rates.
Barkhof, who chairs Transport4Transport, and Weide, the organisation’s treasurer, have so attracted media attention in Malawi they are on high demand, especially at state-run media- Malawi Broadcasting Corporation (radio) and its television arm (FORMERLY Malawi Television).
The two formerly separate institutions have since merged under a new government arrangement envisaged to cut costs and improve efficiency.
“We have been working with various NGOs, including Liebemzell, Stephanos and Maikhanda. In fact, this is the third time to be in Malawi and we are happy to contribute towards sustainable social-economic development,” said Barkhof.
Barkhof, a former Netherlands’ radio presenter and newspaper editor, said they would love to compliments efforts of the Malawi government in improving healthcare service delivery, adding bicycle ambulances have proved to be part of the solution.
Under the arrangement, Meijer produces bicycle carts, specifically designed to get attached to any bicycle.
“We produce two kinds of carts: CareCar, or bicycle ambulance, and TengaCar. This means transport cart. Thse can be used for any transport tasks and may help small scale business people come around the problem of poverty and improve their lives,” said Meijer.
The CareCar is a bicycle ambulance adapted to transport patients and pregnant women to healthcare facilities, and is ideal for rural areas where transport remains a major challenge and contributing factor towards preventable deaths.
The TengaCar, on the other hand, is a push and bicycle cart designed to carry large volumes of goods.
“The good thing about these innovations is that people will reduce transport costs while, at the same time, preventing unnecessary deaths,” said Meijer.
Minister for the Elderly and People with Diasabilities, Reen Kachere, who accompanied the dutch today, said the innovation could also help people with disabilities and the elderly.
"These two groups become so vulnerable when sick, or pregnant (in terms of women); the bicycle ambulances can thus go a long way in preventing avoidable deaths. I have discussed with them the possibility of cartering for these groups as well," said Kachere.
She people using wheelchairs could also utilise the bicycles by carrying large volumes of goods, apart from using the same to run small and medium scale enterprises.
"This government really wants to help, and would love to work closely with these people," Kachere said.
No comment
ISLAMIC SCHOLARS CLAIM: The perfect Islamic family law is sacred law since it is based upon the words of Allah in the glorious Koran and the Sunna of Mohammed. All other laws are man-made and must submit to the will of Allah; therefore, only Sharia law is suitable for Muslims. For Muslims to be ruled by Kafir laws is an abomination.
THE SHARIA:
m3.13 Guardians are of two types, those who may compel their female charges to marry someone, and those who may not.
m6.10 It is unlawful for a free man to marry more than four women.
m8.2 A guardian may not marry his prepubescent daughter to someone for less than the amount typically received as marriage payment by similar brides
ADULTERY
[Bukhari 3,38,508] Mohammed said, “Unais, confront this man’s wife and if she admits committing adultery have her stoned to death.”
[Bukhari 8,82,803] Ali had a woman stoned to death on a Friday and said, “I have punished her as Mohammed would have.”
ml0.4 The husband may forbid his wife to leave the home. But if one of her relatives dies, it is preferable to let her leave to visit them.
m5.0 conjugal rights, the wife’s marital obligations
m5.1 It is obligatory for a woman to let her husband have sex with her immediately when:
(a) he asks her
(b) at home
(c) and she can physically endure it
[Abu Dawud 11, 2138; 2139] Muawiyah said: Apostle of Allah, how should we approach our wives and how should we leave them? He replied: Approach your tilth (tilth is a plowed field, a term for the vagina) when or how you will, ...
The most important thing that a woman brings to the marriage is her vagina.
[Bukhari 7,62,81] Mohammed said, “The marriage vow most rightly expected to be obeyed is the husband’s right to enjoy the wife’s vagina.”
Allah curses the woman who resists sex.
[Bukhari 7,62,121] Mohammed: “If a woman refuses her husband’s request for sex, the angels will curse her through the night.”
From the Sira, we have some more about a husband’s rights:
Ishaq 957 Mohammed sent Muadh to Yemen to proselytize. While he was there he was asked what rights a husband has over the wife. He replied to the woman who asked, “If you went home and found your husband’s nose running with pus and blood and you sucked it until it was cleaned, you still would not have fulfilled your husband’s rights.”
CHILD BRIDES
Mohammed, age 51, proposed marriage to Aisha when she was six years old. Marriage to a child is Sunna.
[Bukhari 7,62,18] When Mohammed asked Abu Bakr for Aisha’s hand in marriage, Abu replied, “But I am your brother.” Mohammed said, “You are only my brother in Allah’s religion and His Book, so it is lawful for me to marry her.”
THE SHARIA:
m3.13 Guardians are of two types, those who may compel their female charges to marry someone, and those who may not.
m6.10 It is unlawful for a free man to marry more than four women.
m8.2 A guardian may not marry his prepubescent daughter to someone for less than the amount typically received as marriage payment by similar brides
ADULTERY
[Bukhari 3,38,508] Mohammed said, “Unais, confront this man’s wife and if she admits committing adultery have her stoned to death.”
[Bukhari 8,82,803] Ali had a woman stoned to death on a Friday and said, “I have punished her as Mohammed would have.”
ml0.4 The husband may forbid his wife to leave the home. But if one of her relatives dies, it is preferable to let her leave to visit them.
m5.0 conjugal rights, the wife’s marital obligations
m5.1 It is obligatory for a woman to let her husband have sex with her immediately when:
(a) he asks her
(b) at home
(c) and she can physically endure it
[Abu Dawud 11, 2138; 2139] Muawiyah said: Apostle of Allah, how should we approach our wives and how should we leave them? He replied: Approach your tilth (tilth is a plowed field, a term for the vagina) when or how you will, ...
The most important thing that a woman brings to the marriage is her vagina.
[Bukhari 7,62,81] Mohammed said, “The marriage vow most rightly expected to be obeyed is the husband’s right to enjoy the wife’s vagina.”
Allah curses the woman who resists sex.
[Bukhari 7,62,121] Mohammed: “If a woman refuses her husband’s request for sex, the angels will curse her through the night.”
From the Sira, we have some more about a husband’s rights:
Ishaq 957 Mohammed sent Muadh to Yemen to proselytize. While he was there he was asked what rights a husband has over the wife. He replied to the woman who asked, “If you went home and found your husband’s nose running with pus and blood and you sucked it until it was cleaned, you still would not have fulfilled your husband’s rights.”
CHILD BRIDES
Mohammed, age 51, proposed marriage to Aisha when she was six years old. Marriage to a child is Sunna.
[Bukhari 7,62,18] When Mohammed asked Abu Bakr for Aisha’s hand in marriage, Abu replied, “But I am your brother.” Mohammed said, “You are only my brother in Allah’s religion and His Book, so it is lawful for me to marry her.”
Monday, July 5, 2010
Three teachers caught having sex with students
Three teachers from a private secondary school in Ndirande were caught Friday having sex with their own students after a graduation ceremony.
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Traffic police officers are not above the law
I am very angry right now; my heart has still not settled.
Some Blantyre Traffic Police officers wanted to hit me with their Toyota Hilux vehicle.
It was deliberate. The guys were coming from Blantyre Market and took the left lane that takes motorists to Blantyre Magistrates’ Court. Suddenly, they changed their mind and turned right, violating traffic laws of the land.
I am not ashamed to say these were three ignorant people, as seen through their lips heavily black with cigarette smoke.
Oh, yes.
And they thought they were above the law.
I stopped abruptly, surprised that we have some ignorant people in the Malawi Police Service. Or Else, people who deliberately violate the law because they are police officers.
So the guys tried to intimidate me, asking whether I didn’t see the vehicle.
I told them they are the ones who were in the wrong; taking the wrong turn.
I told them they could not intimidate me, upon which they threatened to bundle me into their car.
But here I am, and it is my turn. If those three misfits see this, they should know that they are fools.
I stand here, on the high mountain, undisturbed. I don’t fear them.
Being a traffic police officer should not mean hitting people on our roads deliberately. The guys with black lips due to heavy cigarette smoke are in the wrong professions.
No wonder, Police Chief Peter Mukhito often warned that the Service will fire police officers who abuse their office, and connive with criminals.
I support him.
Let him know, also, that there are police misfits like the three I met.
The three are foolish officers.
And I am angry.
Right now, I am going out to look for them.
Fools who wanted to hit me deliberately and flouted the country’s rules. Misfits in society.
Some Blantyre Traffic Police officers wanted to hit me with their Toyota Hilux vehicle.
It was deliberate. The guys were coming from Blantyre Market and took the left lane that takes motorists to Blantyre Magistrates’ Court. Suddenly, they changed their mind and turned right, violating traffic laws of the land.
I am not ashamed to say these were three ignorant people, as seen through their lips heavily black with cigarette smoke.
Oh, yes.
And they thought they were above the law.
I stopped abruptly, surprised that we have some ignorant people in the Malawi Police Service. Or Else, people who deliberately violate the law because they are police officers.
So the guys tried to intimidate me, asking whether I didn’t see the vehicle.
I told them they are the ones who were in the wrong; taking the wrong turn.
I told them they could not intimidate me, upon which they threatened to bundle me into their car.
But here I am, and it is my turn. If those three misfits see this, they should know that they are fools.
I stand here, on the high mountain, undisturbed. I don’t fear them.
Being a traffic police officer should not mean hitting people on our roads deliberately. The guys with black lips due to heavy cigarette smoke are in the wrong professions.
No wonder, Police Chief Peter Mukhito often warned that the Service will fire police officers who abuse their office, and connive with criminals.
I support him.
Let him know, also, that there are police misfits like the three I met.
The three are foolish officers.
And I am angry.
Right now, I am going out to look for them.
Fools who wanted to hit me deliberately and flouted the country’s rules. Misfits in society.
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Lady with right-handed heart fine
Well, the Malawian womam with the heart to the left side is doing fine in South Africa, after undergoing an operation, according to Malawi Tevision.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)