Pope Francis died this morning. If you must have religious leaders, he seems to have been a good one. And maybe even those of us who are not particularly religious still need there to be religious leaders in the world, in some cases to shock us with how bad they can be and in others, like Francis, to give an example to the world of how life should be lived. I suppose we could see them as philosophers. And Pope Francis kept going right to the end, allowing the American Vice-President to have an audience, and carrying out papal duties from his wheelchair. Maybe it’s somehow fitting he died at a significant time on the Christian calendar.
MP Zarah Sultana had this to say:
“Pope Francis used his final public address to call for a ceasefire in Gaza: “Unarmed civilians are subjected to bombings and shootings. It is terrorism.”
Even in hospital, he checked in daily on Gaza’s Christian community.
The world has lost a brave voice for peace and justice.”
And MP Jeremy Corbyn said this:
“Pope Francis dedicated his life to the marginalised, displaced and dispossessed.
A rare voice for humanity, he spent his final days on this earth calling for peace.
Let his enduring legacy — of empathy, courage and kindness — inspire us to build a more humane world for all.”
Meanwhile, the world seems to get more intolerant and narrow-minded. Germany is reported to be deporting foreign students who take part in pro-Palestine activities. I read this morning about two German girls on a sort of round them world trip who were arrested when the arrived in Hawaii, because of some problem regarding how long they planned to stay. In what seems to have become typical US immigration in the treatment of “suspicious” tourists with no prior convictions they were handcuffed, strip searched, locked up and eventually deported back to Germany. We are no better here in the UK. Here’s a link to an article about a British-Palestinian academic arrested at Heathrow airport - no, not arrested but “detained”, which meant he didn’t have access to a lawyer and was legally obliged to give the authorities the passwords for his various electronic devices. You can almost feel the walls moving inwards!
And here’s something from Michael Rosen, reminding us that the bad stuff has been going on for quite a while -
“Just in case anyone forgets or loses sight of what kind of ambition the Israel ambassador to the UK had more than 10 years ago, I'm posting this from wiki. For some reason, journalists and politicians don't seem to want to understand or know that whatever the Israeli govt says now about why they are doing what they are doing, there was and is an underlying purpose. Here it is:
In 2013, Hotovely rejected Palestinian statehood aspirations, supporting a Greater Israel spanning over the entire land of current Israel, along with the Palestinian territories. She later reiterated her position in a speech to Israeli diplomats on 22 May 2015, rejecting criticism from the international community regarding the West Bank settlement policies and saying that Israel has tried too hard to appease the world, and must stand up for itself. She said: “We need to return to the basic truth of our rights to this country.” She added: “This land is ours. All of it is ours. We did not come here to apologise for that.” She has also stated that she will make every effort to achieve global recognition of the West Bank settlements, as well as asserting that Israel owes no apologies for its policies in the Holy Land towards the Palestinians. She justified her position as she referenced religious tests to back her belief that the Israeli-occupied West Bank belongs to the Jewish people.”
Tzipura "Tzipi" Hotovely, by the way is an Israeli diplomat and former politician who serves as the current Ambassador of Israel to the United Kingdom. She served as Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of Diaspora Affairs, Minister of Settlement Affairs, and as a member of the Knesset for the Likud party.
There you go!
Life goes on, stay safe and well, everyone!
No comments:
Post a Comment