by IdiotSavant
Sun Nov 29th, 2009 at 05:07:10 PM EST
From No Right Turn - New Zealand's liberal blog:
Switzerland has voted in a referendum to ban minarets. I am simply appalled. This is an outright attack on freedom of religion, specifically the freedom of Muslims to build religious buildings, and if it was reversed and applied to e.g. church spires, people would instantly recognise this.
The good news is that Switzerland is a party to the European Convention on Human Rights, which affirms freedom of religion. The Convention is legally binding and enforceable on its members through the European Court of Human Rights, and it is difficult to see how the ban could survive a legal challenge. OTOH, the Court has previously upheld a Turkish law banning headscarves, so they may simply decide that allowing Christians but not Muslims to express their faith in architecture is within the "margin of appreciation" granted to states, and effectively piss on the document they are supposed to be enforcing.
This is also a perfect example of how citizens initiated referenda can be used by a majority to victimise and oppress a minority, and a strong argument for building human rights safeguards into any system of binding referenda.
by IdiotSavant
Thu Oct 29th, 2009 at 07:47:22 PM EST
From No Right Turn - New Zealand's liberal blog:
Earlier in the month the Irish agreed in a referendum to EU expansion - prompting a wave of stories in the UK media about how of course this meant that war-criminal Tony Blair would be the EU's first president. Now it looks like Europe isn't so keen:
Tony Blair's hopes of becoming Europe's first sitting president were receding fast tonight as Britain admitted his chances of success were "fading" after the continent's centre-right leaders made it clear one of their own must have the post.
Hours after Gordon Brown delivered his strongest statement of support for Blair - disclosing that he had spoken to him earlier this week - British sources indicated that the former prime minister was unlikely to assume the high-profile job.
"It would be right to describe Tony's chances as fading," one British source said. "Nicolas Sarkozy and Angela Merkel are not terribly enthusiastic. Silvio Berlusconi remains his strongest backer."
"One of their own" means someone from the European People's Party grouping, the EU-wide group of national-level centre-right parties, currently dominant in Germany, France, and the European Parliament. But reading on, they make it clear that the European left doesn't want Blair either. In fact, the only people who seem to want Blair are... the UK. Who for some reason - a legacy of Imperialism? - seem to believe that the rest of Europe will just naturally conform to their whim. Fortunately, Europe doesn't work like that.
So, Blair seems to have been stopped. Is it too early to celebrate? Or do we have to wait until the stake is finally hammered into his chest?
by IdiotSavant
Mon Oct 19th, 2009 at 09:38:15 PM EST
From No Right Turn - New Zealand's liberal blog:
Not content with wanting to give massive subsidies to the nuclear industry, the UK government also wants to insulate them from the true costs of their activities by weakening standards around the disposal and storage of nuclear waste. The highlight? Letting them dump nuclear waste in local landfills.
This is simply insanity. At a time when western countries are shitting themselves over the risk of a "dirty bomb" (to the extent that in 2004 they robbed Iraq of all its medical radiation sources, leaving Iraqis to die of cancer), the UK is now proposing that the materials required to create one be left lying around with the trash. But its not just about terrorism - we've already seen the consequences of this sort of dumping in the third world and the former Soviet Union. Dumping this stuff in landfills means it will be found, scavenged, played with, and people will be contaminated and die as a result. But I guess the UK government doesn't care about that as much as it cares about the profits of the nuclear industry.
by IdiotSavant
Sat Oct 10th, 2009 at 10:20:29 AM EST
Today, October 10, is the world day against the death penalty. Europe is almost entirely free of the death penalty - Belarus is the only European country which still retains it - but executions still happen around the world. Today is the day we work to change that, and end the abomination of judicial murder for good.
This year the focus is on teaching abolition [PDF]. The children of today will be the citizens of tomorrow. Encouraging them to debate the death penalty will help them to understand why it must be abolished. In addition, there is a push to end child executions, outlawed under the (universally accepted) Convention on the Rights of the Child, but still practiced in Iran, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Sudan. There is a petition calling on these countries to end their practice of executing children; you can sign it here.
This is a struggle we are winning. Last year two more countries - Burundi and Togo - abolished capital punishment, and the number of countries performing executions has fallen. By keeping up the pressure, we can end the death penalty globally, and consign it to the history books forever.
Promoted by afew
by IdiotSavant
Thu Oct 8th, 2009 at 06:07:02 AM EST
From No Right Turn - New Zealand's liberal blog:
There's an interesting piece on Crooked Timber on the twilight of the European left. From near-total hegemony back in 2000, social democratic parties are now in opposition in most of Europe (and that map is pre-German elections). Rather than blaming it on the natural electoral cycle (which seems to be moving into phase in much of Europe, just as it did a few years ago in South America), Daniel Davies instead blames Blairism:
promoted by nanne
by IdiotSavant
Tue Sep 29th, 2009 at 08:14:22 PM EST
From No Right Turn - New Zealand's liberal blog:
Gordon Brown gave his keynote address to the UK Labour conference today, and with the party now coming third in the polls, he retreated into New Labour's favoured ground: authoritarianism. If Labour wins, he promises a crackdown on anti-social behaviour (again) and compulsory internment of teenage mothers (yes, really). Plus the usual array of soundbite policy props, all so he could fight the election for the "squeezed middle classes". Pardon me, but I didn't think the middle classes (which most UKanians don't identify themselves as anyway) were who a labour party was supposed to fight for.
The good news is that this conference will almost certainly be Brown's last as Prime Minister. And hopefully the wretched New Labour project of authoritarianism, triangulation, and abandoning their base will go with him.
by IdiotSavant
Tue Sep 22nd, 2009 at 08:20:48 PM EST
From No Right Turn - New Zealand's liberal blog:
The biggest "justification" for excessive executive pay is that the fat cats earn it. Without these Randian super-heroes, businesses would decline, share-values would tank, and "ordinary share-holders" would lose out.
Bullshit:
Executive pay has defied a fall in company performance, according to a new study published today, which calls on investors to wield their power by exercising their right to vote on remuneration reports.
The report, which studies the impact of the "say on pay" power handed to investors at annual meetings since 2002, shows an inverse correlation between the cash paid to executives and the performance of the FTSE All-Share index.
Or, to put that in English, the worse companies do, the more their managers are paid. It's a scam, nothing more.
The report argues that "ordinary shareholders" should use their votes to curb this greed. The problem is that most shareholders aren't ordinary; hell, most aren't even people. Instead, most shares are owned and voted by corporations and pension funds, and the decisions on how they vote are made by... corporate executives. Who have no interest whatsoever in upsetting their own gravy train. And so the scam goes on and on...
by IdiotSavant
Tue Sep 15th, 2009 at 09:31:24 PM EST
From No Right Turn - New Zealand's liberal blog:
Norwegians went to the polls yesterday in parliamentary elections - and appear to have re-elected their centre-left government by the narrowest of margins. The Labour / Socialist Left / Centre coalition won 86 seats in the 169 member Storting, a majority of a single seat. Which sounds bad - but it is the first time Norwegians have re-elected a government in 16 years.
by IdiotSavant
Tue Sep 1st, 2009 at 11:31:46 PM EST
From No Right Turn - New Zealand's liberal blog:
Slovakia has passed a law restricting the use of minority languages. Using any language other than Slovak in official business, in schools or hospitals will be punished by a fine of up to 5,000 Euros - around a year's income for the average Slovakian. The law directly contravenes the obligations of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages which requires that parties, at minimum,
undertake to eliminate, if they have not yet done so, any unjustified distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference relating to the use of a regional or minority language and intended to discourage or endanger the maintenance or development of it.
(The Charter actually requires parties such as Slovakia to promote and encourage the use of minority languages as an expression of cultural wealth. Eliminating linguistic discrimination is simply the first step)
Slovakia has a substantial Hungarian minority, numbering about 10% of the total population. And they feel specifically targeted by the law, viewing it as an effort to eliminate their language - and them - from public life. It's not a recipe for good ethnic relations - or good international relations, at that. The law has already caused substantial tension between Hungary and Slovakia, which both countries recognise is now getting out of control.
This is not the sort of law I would have expected to see in a modern democracy, let alone one which is part of modern, multicultural Europe. Which language people choose to speak is ont just a matter of personal choice, but also of cultural identity. And it is simply not the state's business to try and change that.
by IdiotSavant
Sun Aug 9th, 2009 at 10:11:46 PM EST
From No Right Turn - New Zealand's liberal blog:
According to the Guardian 120 UK Labour MPs - a third of their caucus - are expected to quit at the next election. 63 have already said they're going. And that's in addition to the unknown number who will be forcibly de-elected by their angry constituents.
The primary reason is apparently a crack-down on secondary employment, which will "prevent them realising their earning potential". And naturally, they're timing their departures to take advantage of the UK Parliament's generous severance package.
Good riddance is all I can say. UK Labour has been sick for a very long time, and the attitudes on display here are simply further evidence of it. And with these self-serving parasites gone, perhaps Labour can regain its position as a party of the left, rather than a continuation of Thatcher.
by IdiotSavant
Fri Jul 17th, 2009 at 12:59:10 AM EST
From No Right Turn - New Zealand's liberal blog:
First, we take Wellington. Then we take London:
Laws dating from the Star Chamber that can see people jailed for speaking out are to be abolished after a campaign by writers and actors, lawyers and politicians.
Lord Bach, the Justice Minister, has bowed to the weight of criticism and agreed that the offences of sedition and criminal libel are "outdated" and should be abolished. "Sedition and defamatory libel are arcane offences from a bygone era when freedom of expression wasn't seen as the right it is today," he said.
But it was not just a case of removing some redundant offences. The laws may not have been used much lately in Britain, but their significance was the legitimacy they provided to other countries to suppress public criticism.
As Lord Bach acknowledged: "The retention of these obsolete offences has been cited by other countries as justification for the retention of similar laws that have been used to restrict press freedom."
This is an excellent move, and long past due. The UK Law Commission recommended the abolition of sedition in 1977, but it has hung around on the books like a bad smell for a further 30 years. Meanwhile, this bit illustrates perfectly why sedition has to go
The offences date from the time of the Star Chamber and were used in 1792 against Thomas Paine on the ground that the Rights of Man brought into hatred and contempt the present sovereign, Parliament, kingdom, constitution, laws and government.
Paine's "crime"? He advocated democracy. There's no better example of how sedition has been used by bad governments in an effort to suppress good ideas.
by IdiotSavant
Thu Jul 9th, 2009 at 10:16:38 PM EST
From No Right Turn - New Zealand's liberal blog:
Last year, the UK abolished the archaic offence of blasphemous libel, and New Zealand will almost certainly follow suit if anybody has the courage to actually bring a bill on it. Meanwhile, Ireland is moving in the opposite direction, with the Dail passing a new defamation bill which included the following:
36. Publication or utterance of blasphemous matter.
(1) A person who publishes or utters blasphemous matter shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable upon conviction on indictment to a fine not exceeding €100,000. [This has now been amended to €25,000 - I/S]
(2) For the purposes of this section, a person publishes or utters blasphemous matter if (a) he or she publishes or utters matter that is grossly abusive or insulting in relation to matters held sacred by any religion, thereby causing outrage among a substantial number of the adherents of that religion, and (b) he or she intends, by the publication or utterance of the matter concerned, to cause such outrage.
(3) It shall be a defence to proceedings for an offence under this section for the defendant to prove that a reasonable person would find genuine literary, artistic, political, scientific, or academic value in the matter to which the offence relates
So, in Ireland, the easily outraged religious now get a veto on free speech. Say that "god doesn't exist", make a great TV comedy mocking the Catholic church, tell those people worshipping the latest slightly Virgin Mary-shaped object that they're credulous fools, and get a whopping fine. Because their right not to be offended apparently outweighs your right to express the blatantly obvious.
This is a medieval law. And by passing it, the Dail have marked Ireland as a medieval country, on a par with Afghanistan, Iran and similar backwards places.
by IdiotSavant
Mon Jun 22nd, 2009 at 09:36:39 PM EST
From No Right Turn - New Zealand's liberal blog.
The UK House of Commons has elected Conservative MP John Bercow as its new Speaker. The election was caused by the resignation of Michael Martin, who was irrevocably tainted by his mishandling of the Parliamentary expenses scandal and his shameless response to it.
So, at a time when the UK Parliament's mana is at rock bottom after systematic corruption and abuse of the expenses system, who did they elect? An MP who used his expenses to commit tax fraud, enriching himself by stealing from the public. And UK MPs wonder why the public regard them as rotten to the core...
Looking at the Guardian's spreadsheet of candidate's expenses, it seems that none of the top candidates were clean, while those who had not abused their expenses were the first eliminated. I think that tells us very clearly where the Parliament's sentiments lie - and it is not towards honesty or transparency. This is a corrupt House, and it needs to go - and the sooner, the better.
by IdiotSavant
Thu Jun 18th, 2009 at 08:24:24 PM EST
From No Right Turn - New Zealand's liberal blog
UK MPs finally released their expenses in response to a court order yesterday - but with crucial details blacked out. The upshot: if we'd been forced to rely on this, and never had the leaked version, we would never have learned about the worst of the scandal - the property flipping, the tax evasion, the outright fraud. As Julian Glover puts it in the Guardian, this is a two-fingered salute to voters, from an arrogant and unaccountable political class which has not learned. And they call this "restoring faith in democracy". Showing that we can have none in them, more like it.
Meanwhile, another Minister has been forced to resign in the last few days after she was revealed to have flipped her place of residence to avoid capital gains tax. And the police are reportedly planning a criminal investigation. I don't expect much from them - the UK police have always been reliable servants of the establishment, willing to overlook wrongdoing from those in positions of power (especially themselves) - but it shows how serious the allegations MPs sought to hide are.
They all need to go. Every last one of them. The entire House of Commons needs to be bulldozed into the Thames, with its occupants inside it. The politicians elected to replace them will no doubt be petty and venal and possibly even corrupt - but at least they won't be these fuckers.
by IdiotSavant
Sun Jun 7th, 2009 at 10:54:30 PM EST
From No Right Turn - New Zealand's liberal blog:
I've been crunching some numbers on the UK's European Parliament election results. And despite the system they use supposedly being "proportional", they show significant disproportionalities. Here's the results sans Scotland, which won't be out till tomorrow:
by IdiotSavant
Sat Mar 28th, 2009 at 08:50:20 PM EST
From No Right Turn - New Zealand's liberal blog:
When the Bush Administration adopted a policy of torture and harsh treatment towards suspected terrorists, they acted as if they had total impunity. They thought they could order their captives to be beaten, starved, frozen, subjected to "stress positions" and waterboarded, and that there would be no penalty for doing so.
They were wrong.
A Spanish judge - Baltasar Garzón, the man who went after Pinochet - has just passed a case to the prosecutor's office. That case cites six top Bush Administration officials for creating the legal framework to justify torture and circumvent the Geneva Conventions. The officials include former Justice Department lawyers John Yoo and Jay Bybee, plus former White House General Counsel (and later Attorney-General) Alberto Gonzales, former DOD general counsel William Haynes, former under secretary of defence for policy Douglas Feith, and former Vice-presidential chief of staff David Addington. Yoo and Bybee wrote legal opinions purporting to justify torture; the others received and implemented them. There is a clear parallel with the Nuremberg "judge's trial", where Nazi jurists and lawyers responsible for developing and implementing legal policies which led to human rights abuses on a mass scale were held accountable for them. The same will hopefully happen to Bush's torturers.
The case is expected to proceed and result in arrest warrants being issued. No-one expects the US government to extradite (Cthulhu forefend any US politician being held accountable for their actions, particularly by foreigners), but the existence of the warrants will be a significant limit on the freedom of these torturers. Like Kissinger, they won't be setting foot outside the US ever again. Beyond that, there's always the hope that opinion in the US will change. The struggle for international justice is long, and we've seen cases where people have woken up one morning and learned with horror that they will no longer be protected and that they will have to answer for their crimes. And hopefully that will happen to Gonzales, Yoo, et al.
by IdiotSavant
Tue Feb 24th, 2009 at 07:16:52 PM EST
From No Right Turn - New Zealand's liberal blog:
Last month the UK Information Tribunal ordered the release of Cabinet minutes relating the decision to invade Iraq. The ruling was hailed as a victory for freedom of information and as proof that the UK's Freedom of Information Act was working properly in enabling the government to be held to account by the public. But now, Justice Secretary Jack Straw has vetoed release, claiming that it would not be in the public interest.
by IdiotSavant
Fri Oct 31st, 2008 at 08:13:48 AM EST
From No Right Turn - New Zealand's liberal blog:
Binyam Mohamed is a UK resident currently detained in the US gulag in Guantanamo Bay. In 2002 he was arrested in Pakistan, beaten, threatened with execution, then disappeared and rendered to Morocco by the CIA, where he was systematically tortured by having his chest and genitals sliced with a scalpel. In August, a UK court found that MI5 had colluded in and facilitated that torture. And now, they may be facing prosecution for it:
Jacqui Smith, the home secretary, has asked the attorney general to investigate possible "criminal wrongdoing" by the MI5 and the CIA over its treatment of a British resident held in Guantanamo Bay, it was revealed tonight.
The dramatic development over allegations of collusion in torture and inhuman treatment follows a high court judgment which found that an MI5 officer participated in the unlawful interrogation of Binyam Mohamed. The MI5 officer interrogated Mohamed while he was being held in Pakistan in 2002.
This is good news - torturers must be brought to justice, no matter which government they work for. And it may have a deterrent effect on other MI5 agents cooperating with the US in illegal interrogations. But while I'm glad to see justice done, at the end of the day Mohamed is still in Guantanamo. And there will be no real justice in his case until he is released.
by IdiotSavant
Tue Oct 14th, 2008 at 03:45:23 AM EST
From No Right Turn - New Zealand's liberal blog:
The British government has abandoned its plans to detain suspected terrorists without trial for 42 days, after a masssive defeat in the House of Lords. The bill had barely scraped through the Commons after Gordon Brown had bought the votes of the Democratic Unionist Party; today the Lords finally killed it, voting 309 to 118 to keep the existing 28 day limit. While the government could theoretically use the Parliament Act to eventually force the bill through, that would require a prolonged period of "ping-pong" with the Lords. It would also require them to win multiple votes on the issue in the Commons - and they can't keep bribing Northern Irish MPs forever.
But while this is a victory for justice and human rights (not to mention sanity), its only a small one. The UK still has the longest period of detention without trial of any democracy, allowing random Muslims suspected terrorists to be detained for 42 28 days before being charged. And the government is keeping a version of the bill on the table so they can ram it through in the event of another bombing. Which speaks for itself about the cynical authoritarianism of the UK's leaders in the "war on terror".
promoted by Jérôme
by IdiotSavant
Wed Sep 17th, 2008 at 10:42:04 PM EST
From No Right Turn - New Zealand's liberal blog:
The Guardian reports on a study by the European Council on Foreign Relations on the EU's declining influence at the UN on human rights issues, and bemoans the loss of European leadership:
The west's efforts to use the United Nations to promote its values and shape the global agenda are failing, according to a detailed study published yesterday.
A sea change in the balance of power in favour of China, India, Russia and other emerging states is wrecking European and US efforts to entrench human rights, liberties and multilateralism. Western policies in crisis regions as diverse as Georgia, Zimbabwe, Burma or the Balkans are suffering serial defeats in what the study identifies as a protracted trend.
[...]
"The EU is suffering a slow-motion crisis at the UN," says the report, noting that the west is now being regularly outwitted in global diplomatic poker by the Chinese and Russians. "The problem is fading power to set the rules. The UN is increasingly being shaped by China, Russia and their allies ... The west is in disarray. The EU's rifts with the US on many human rights issues at the UN in the Bush era have weakened both."
