Joseph Kony

If this video doesn’t touch your heart, then you don't have one.

 Africa’s invisible children are your children too.

In this increasing globalised society, where there are more people on Facebook than were on the planet 200 years ago, we have to power to change the world with our voice.

Speak up.

We set the agenda. How and where we spend our money determines what the market offers us more of. Well now we have Facebook. We can speak out for free and demand using our voices instead of just our spending power. We can get together with people across the globe for a common cause and fight for people who don't have a voice – the invisible children.

The social network phenomenon has taken the world by surprise. There are revolutions happening and beginning across the world.

In Africa today the LRA (rebel fighters) are being led by Joseph Kony for no other reason than simply to maintain his tyranny. He is not abducting children and forcing them to kill for any other reason than to make sure he is feared.

His crimes are beyond horrendous. And people live in fear of him every day.

Watch the video to find out how you can help.

Because you CAN help. Using your globalised socially networked VOICE.

Speak out.

It matters because those children are yours. What happens in Africa and across the world affects YOU.

One day you might need someone to speak up for you.

The world is going through changes. Move it in the right direction. Towards peace, away from suffering.

My Tram Experience

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i47HoiM0Au8

By the power of YouTube this video has become an overnight sensation, even provoking video responses from people, both in support of the intoxicated slurring mother, and condemning her attitude. To be honest, I found the first response I clicked on more offensive than the original sensation. I don't think I made it more than one minute through that video before being compelled to turn it off. The reason being that the considerably younger lad speaking to the camera had obviously planned out his response; it was not an impulsive act like the rant on the tram.

Most responses to this tram footage have called for the woman to be punished or to have her child taken away from her. What she was saying was horrendous, but freedom of speech is integral to democracy, and if you’re calling for her right to rant to be taken away from her, don’t be too surprised if your right is taken from you too. The law should not be responsible for condemning racist behaviour – society should be. It’s up to you to breed attitudes of tolerance and understanding. Though really, this can go beyond tolerance and understanding, and more towards education. So maybe the institution of education should take some responsibility as well.

I do feel the slightest bit sorry for this woman. It is barely dinner time and she is drunk, or stoned. This may be short sighted of me, but only someone who is unhappy would be in such a state at that time of day whilst being responsible for a small child. Moreover, her opinions speak to a lack of knowledge and education regarding “her Britain”.

It was “her Britain” who colonised the countries of Africa that she failed to correctly identify, and exploited the people who lived there. I am sure that they would have been screaming “go back to where you came from” on YouTube if such technology existed for them to be heard. And I am sure that the colonising British (and other nations) did far worse to those people than their ancestors are now doing to us in Britain. But when we are taught about Great Britain at school, the focus is not on the exploitation the colonised experienced in the hands of our ancestors.

Presuming she isn’t a fan of Hitler, it is also obvious that she wasn’t taught how the people of those colonised countries fought on the side of the British against the Nazis. If she was taught this, maybe she would be more accepting of people with different colour skin to her own.

There are many instances in history that, if taught, could lead to greater acceptance and lesser racism.

Another institution that could be held responsible for this woman’s attitudes, and the attitudes of many others like her, is the rightwing press. (Notice how I am careful not to lump ALL media institutions together here. There are plenty of publications that don't spout racist hatred.) Does she not sound a bit like a voice from the Daily Mail or the Sun? “Sort out your own countries [...] Britain is nothing now [...] My Britain is fuck all now.” The irony here is her minimal grasp of her own language. But that aside, most discussions about immigration in the rightwing press involve racist rants and strange statistics that don’t really illustrate anything helpful. The responsibility of the press, and whether or not their conduct is in the public interest, is currently being investigated and debated. This video is a timely example of how the opinions of the most popular newspapers in Britain breed negative, uninformed hatred. It is the responsibility of these tabloids to ensure they provide correct information, and that their bias is negated far more than is currently the case.

This woman should not be arrested for racist ranting, and nor should her child be taken into care for her bad attitude. She is a product of her environment: if you are constantly being told that immigration is a bad thing by national institutions, you cannot be held solely responsible for your bad attitude. However, ignorance is ultimately not an excuse. But be aware, that if her democratic rights are taken away from her, yours will be next.

Gary Speed and Mental Health

http://www.papyrus-uk.org/

Following the announcement of Gary Speed’s death on Sunday, an entire community of sports fans began mourning the loss. Twitter and Facebook were flooded with messages of shock and grief. An overwhelming sense that no one expected to wake up to this news, and a collective inability to process what had happened was prevalent throughout the media coverage.

A debate that was noticeably published was whether or not the media would leave the Speed family alone to mourn their loss in private. In light of the current Leveson inquiry and the ongoing discussions about media responsibility, this was not surprising.

However, what is lacking from the conversation surrounding the loss of Gary Speed is the issue of mental health. Although we do not know the particular reasons surrounding his death, the circumstances should still instigate wider conversation about mental health.

This is a topic that is consistently avoided in society due to the negative stigma surrounding it. As a whole, I think we find it difficult to understand mental health issues because of the uncertainty of the mind/body philosophy: are our thoughts simply chemical reactions in our brain, or do we have something separate from biology that we could refer to as our mind? Without a collective agreement on the answer to this question, the issue of mental health is difficult to discuss. But that should not deter us from discussing it.

Thoughts are very private things. Science has not yet brought us a concrete way of ‘reading’ someone else’s thoughts; an ethically contestable area in itself. I certainly do not revel in the idea of having someone else exploring the contents of my mind. So, without tangible evidence, how do you determine the mentally unwell from those of sound mind?

Moreover, what constitutes someone of ‘sound mind’? Surely it is all relative, isn’t it?

All of these questions, and more, lead to the avoidance of conversations about mental health.

The point is that we need to talk about mental health. We need to work at removing the stigma surrounding it. This is important. It is important because there are people out there, possibly in your own home, who need support and cannot find it. It is society that is responsible for helping these people, that includes you. One day, you might wake up to the news of the loss of a loved one. Or you might wake up wondering how you’re going to carry on through life. It might be you who develops a mental health condition.

As those of you who know me will be aware, I am not the biggest fan of football. But the news of Gary Speed’s death touched me for reasons that many of you will be able to relate to, and for the reason that the below John Donne verse illustrates.

Make the effort to reduce the stigma surrounding mental health.

'No Man Is An Island'

No man is an island entire of itself; [...]
any man's death diminishes me,
because I am involved in mankind.
And therefore never send to know for whom
the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.

John Donne

Anarchy

Disclaimer: I think I was a little bit upset when I wrote this in November. I do not condone violent protests.

We live in an extremely unstable world. 2010 is a year of huge political unrest and financial catastrophe. As Brits we are faced with a government that the majority of people did not vote for, and as a result of this and many other factors, we are left dealing with extreme budget cuts that do not seem favourable on any side.

As students, we put our faith in a man who promised us our futures; who claimed that he understood our concerns and would do all that he could to remedy them, if only we would give him the power. So we did. We cast our votes and as a result of this he became our deputy prime minister; and since gaining this power he has relinquished all the things he stood for, and sided with a Tory. With this in mind, the riots should not come as too much of a surprise. As we are an increasingly politicised generation, did anyone actually expect us to take this absolute abandonment quietly? Our future, our Britain, has been taken from us and is now being cut, left right and centre, until there is nothing remaining for us to pass on to our children. Not only are our job prospects and financial situation worse than in previous generations, now our arts budget is being cut so that our culture is being sacrificed. Our creative industries are diminishing due to Tory priority spending. With no creative industry, we have no legacy; we stand for nothing more than a forgotten generation who got left behind and stepped on while the Thatcherites were busy climbing the property ladder. Instead of apologising for this, they decide to reduce our opportunities by cutting funding that benefits us.

We feel underestimated; as though the government do not take our opinions seriously. We are the internet generation, and in a world where knowledge is power, we have access to a lot of information. So why do you patronise us and expect us to sit quietly and accept things that we do not agree with? This is not Victorian Britain; children will be heard.

Comparatively Uncontroversial...

I was having a dream this morning that I was the wife of some hot-shot in the 19th century. I therefore spent my time doing whatever I wanted - which of course was making pizza; amazing pizza, ripping off someone else's recipes by accident (honest mistake) & handing them out to halls full of people who were apparently watching a play or something. My pizza drew so much attention that the authorities got involved, and me and my controversial friends (at this point we became controversial writers, not pizza makers) were subject to attempted assassination by undercover agents with various sets of explosives, which were later to be blamed on terrorists. Three of us managed to get away courtesy of my sense of fight & adventure. Just as I was smashing a window with an old school child's bicycle (used for display purposes - presumably I was in a museum) I was rudely awoken by people walking past my bedroom door talking; waking me up from my perfect life with a severe bump back to the reality of my insignificant, and comparatively uncontroversial student existence. Consequently I am fighting against being miserable today, and trying to find the motivation to write about the representation of the American Dream in Miller and Williams.

Turkey and the EU

Turkey wants to be part of the EU; nothing new to report there. The news is that David Cameron thinks this is a great idea! Considering his fantastic judgement so far, this does not come as too much of a shock.

Turkey’s geographical position wedges it between Europe and the so-called ‘Middle East’. Cameron’s stance seems to be that due to Turkey’s involvement with other Western European organisations, such as NATO, and its largely Muslim population, it would serve to unite Europe and the ‘Middle East’ and encourage peace and harmony between the two groups. Fantastic! I am definitely all for peace and harmony and uniting people across the globe. However, widen your gaze slightly and attempt to take in the bigger picture.

Primarily, Turkey has some serious issues with Greece. The fact that the UN had to put the Green Line in place in Cyprus to stop northern “Turkish Cypriots”, and the southern “Greek Cypriots” from damn near killing each other off, indicates to me that Turkey and Greece are not the best of friends. Greece is already a member of the EU and has been since 1981. For the EU to accept an application from a country that is actively in dispute with one of its current members does not show great loyalty, and somewhat defeats its founding purposes. Huge problem that you shouldn’t really ignore there, Cameron!

As much as it makes sense to be attempting to build bridges through Turkey to Iran and Iraq, I do think the issues in Cyprus need to be addressed first. You’re heart may be in the right place Dave, but your head is not taking all factors into account.

So, Iran is now developing nuclear weapons. Excuse me for being a little sceptical whenever this threat raises its ugly head. Havn’t we been fed this before? Is the world really coming to an end again, Dave? Are those awful people the other side of Turkey going to make the planet implode again, Dave? Do me a favour.

And as for antagonising France and Germany over this, well, that’s going to do us a lot of good isn’t it. Although their reasons for opposing Turkey’s application to the EU seem to be money and religion respectively, at least I agree with them over something! Turkey cannot become part of the EU just now. There are some pressing issues occurring in Cyprus that the EU should be dealing with, and as a member of the EU Britain should be concerning itself with that; not backing Turkey’s application.

Nuclear war seems pretty ridiculous to me Cameron. If it happened you wouldn’t know too much about it anyway. So I wouldn’t concern yourself with that presently.


References:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/aug/03/cyprus-problem-fuelling-racism [Accessed 27/08/2010]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/jul/27/david-cameron-turkey-double-standards [Accessed 27/08/2010]

http://www.cyprus-mail.com/cyprus/sudanese-girl-beaten-vicious-racist-attack [Accessed 27/08/2010]

Hartley, E., 2006. ’50 Facts You Need To Know: Europe.’ Icon Books Ltd.

Love

Love is a reductive word for a whole melting pot of emotions and feeling.
It’s no wonder people do not understand love. Those four letters are
supposed to encompass an incomprehensible range of emotive connection within infinitely differing kinds of relationships. You love your
mother; you love your sister; you love your cat; you love your
friends; you love your ex-lovers (if you're lucky enough not to hate
them); you love your current lover; you love the colour yellow; you
love the smell of freshly cut grass; you love summer rain; you love
French movies; you love a good bargain; you love risotto; you love
your new car; you love having money in the bank; you love your job...
You can see where the confusion occurs. Those four letters have so
much to answer to and so much weight on their metaphorical shoulders.
You undoubtedly do not feel the same way about your mother and your
job, yet we use that one tiny weighty word to describe our feelings
for both. The English language is so restrictive.