The Jewel of Medina, Freedom Of Speech

I nearly forgot about this story, but it would be remiss of me not to mention the story of the book that nearly never was .....

The Jewel of Medina

"The Jewel of Medina" is a novel supposedly based loosely upon the life of the 'child bride' of Muhammad, A'isha. 

Charity Worker killed for being "Christian"

Finally, a short acknowledgement of the murder by Muslims of a 'Christian' (in every sense of the word) woman in Afghanistan. She was an aid worker trying to alleviate poverty for disabled people in a Muslim land (Muslims charities often seem to just build more Saudi sponsored Mosques), and her crime was "being a Christian".

What a sad way to end a largely blameless and selfless life, Gayle Williams, 34, was living in a nasty place, doing work that Muslims often won't do, and yet the Taliban felt was the enemy of Islam, and should die ... She asked to be buried in Kabul even though she is aware that the graves will be despoiled when the UK and US (aka NATO) leaves.

Sooner or later, someone in the Western Governments is going to get it, and realise that we are feeding, clothing and arming the mortal enemies of everything we consider 'civilised' ....

Riches to Rags US Style

In the run up to the US Presidential Elections, we hear nothing but the various visions of the American Dream, how hard work can take a man from "Rags to Riches" in a land of opportunity.

However there is a downside to this dream, an 'American Nightmare' if you will, that the two candidates will never allude to, except maybe in passing references to helping the poor (aka black), Americans rise up and grasp the chances afforded by US society. So it was with some interest to read a story about this downside, and how the ride from Riches to Rags can be spectacularly fast in a society, that has little by way of social safety nets.

The story concerns Bruce Richall an I.T. consultant who was based in the affluent Connecticut suburb of Westport and had the 'American Dream'. He had been a IT contractor (much like this blogger), but had decided that it was too unstable a lifestyle, and who had therefore taken a 'permanent' job with a bank.

However this years bank collapses have suddenly catapulted him into a spiral of poverty which has left him sleeping in his car and eating at soup kitchens. This story illustrates how quickly the dream can sour for even the white middle class exponents of it who are meant to flourish in it.

One part of this story did jar as odd though, I myself have been in I.T. as a contractor, and I am aware that if you are prepared to travel and live out of a suitcase (in B&Bs), there is always I.T. work, even if its not as well paid as it might be in an upturn. So its not clear why this man, who had been a contractor and presumably as aware of this as I, had apparently decided to just sit around until he lost his home.

The comments by BBC US readers, suggest that you can't just move around the US taking employment that's available, and that there are protectionist laws in the various states, and that you need "out of state papers" to work in each state, but I am not entirely clear on this point, if that's true then living in the 'land of the free', ain't all that free!

That oddity aside though, the story shows how quickly things can go to hell in a basket in the US.

However we should be careful not to be too smug in the 'Peoples Republic of Britain', because even in a welfare state such as the UK, I know of a single man who has been made redundant last month, and who can get no help with his housing costs, or any welfare benefits, despite getting no redundancy payments, or having any major savings .... he is getting the run around, and will likely lose his flat (apartment) unless he finds work soon.

I suspect that the common theme of these two stories are the words "Single", "White" and "Male" ..... so no help available.

Africans, the World and Democracy

In another of those little coincidences, the BBC also ran a story on whether Africans and Democracy could ever work ..... now for personal reasons, I pay some interest in African politics (especially South Africa), so I have discussed whether democracy can ever work in Africa. This debate made me think about non African black states, and whether 'democracy' had ever taken anywhere where black peoples were the majority:

• Haiti, the first black independent nation in the Caribbean, the first post-colonial independent black-led nation in the world, and the only nation whose independence was gained as part of a successful slave rebellion. It has never managed to install a democratic government since 1804, and is almost a template for 'black independence', followed by complete social collapse.
• Ethiopia, is one of the worlds oldest nations, and has largely remained independent of European or Arab rule. It was ruled by an Emperor until recently, and has had a succession of dictatorships since. It is currently nominally a democratic state, which has been described as a "Hybrid", situated somewhere between a "flawed democracy" and an "authoritarian regime".

Its position at number 106, out of 167 in league table of democratic states, suggests that there are at least 105 more democratic states. In fact, a look at this "Democratic Index" suggests that ....

World Democracy Index Map

 ...... most of the world has problem getting democracy to stick ... In this illustration the states marked in black the least, and those in light colours the most democratic. So the states to aspire to are Canada, Scandinavia and the Antipodeans .... the rest of us fail to reach the full standards of democracy to one degree or another. 

So whilst its true to say that Black states and democracy are not successful, neither are many other races.

• South Americans have a mixed and patchy record of democracy.
• Only Japan and South Korea have managed to install democracy in the Asian area.
• The Arabs have failed to install any form of democracy (in fact that's true of virtually all Muslim states).
• Only India has installed democracy in the subcontinent.

Three quarters of the world has never really taken democracy to its soul, and it makes you wonder if its a peculiarly 'White European' construct that can only be maintained in states based upon white majority populations, or in those post colonial constructs such as India, where its the only practicable way of ruling what was formerly several dozen states. In Japan and South Korea it was imposed and maintained by US military might following occupation.

Even Russia has not been able to establish democracy, despite its European roots.  Its current 'czar', is prime minister Putin, who took the presidential powers with him while he serves a term as prime minister, before resuming as president (with full powers) again ..... its likely that he will then amend the constitution to retain his roll as president.

US Presidential 'Race' issues

Last week I picked up on the dormant "race" issue in the US Presidential Elections ..... as far as I know, I may have been the first to publicly note that a high ranking black Republican, who was a 'life long friend' of the white Republican candidate, was nevertheless going to vote for the black Democrat candidate.

His reasons were transparently weak .... 'the Republican VP candidate Sarah Palin didn't have the experience to be a possible President' .... well neither does Mr Obama, who shares a very similar political record with Mrs Palin.

I noticed on Friday that the BBC had picked up on this theme (modesty forbids that I claim a secret reader!), and was running a story on Democrats who would not be voting, or even voting Republican, for 'race' reasons.

As I have previously suggested in a blog on Obama, "the secrecy of the ballot box allows for many a private opinion to be exercised" and we may still see a wave of voters using Mr Powell's apparent decision to choose race over party as the excuse for them to do the same, with unpredictable results.