Russia, Eurovision and LGBT rights

I was planning a post on Trans Visibility and Eurovision. But this has sadly been pre-empted by the response of Moscow police to a protest by Queer/LGBT activists in Moscow, with almost immediate arrests being made and a deliberate show of force against human rights, whilst another, nationalist march, was allowed to continue on the other side of the city.

How deep the roots of injustice?

It was somewhat inevitable I might get around to writing something about the world post-April 1st. It has taken a little getting used to, with the sudden swathe of differing activities and events, campaigns and legal cases, and the sudden fascination of Evening Standard with police not displaying their numbers.

The Camera Revolution World wide

Spare a quick thought for this team of intrepid camera-folks, not filming in the City of London, but rather on the streets of Burma 18 months ago. For all the importance of pushing cameras around during protests in this country, I feel the gravity of working on the streets of Rangoon and elsewhere in that country, and the work done in Tibet months later, were both far more commendable.

Olympic Torch protests too successful?

The BBC reported some time ago that the Olympic Torch procession around the world that occurred before the Athens and Beijing Olympics will not be repeated, mostly because of security issues, i.e. because the protests last year were too much to handle.

“It’s Friday, but Sundays coming…”

Last week and this week, my church in York has been doing a visual exhibition around the streets of York entitled “Via Luminosa”. It presents the Easter story in a set of 15 artworks, mostly with the help of video projectors. But on Good Friday, the day myself and 3 friends followed the walk, the resurrection video loop was replaced with another one which simply displayed:

“Its Friday… But Sundays coming… Watch-this-space…”

Pick n Mix Week 2

And so for another, shorter, instalment of news stories that caught my eye a while ago and which I wish to post. Its Somali Pirates, Penitent Police and Transgender Genetics today!

Pick n Mix Week 1

Decided to have a Pick n Mix week, as I’ve currently got 74 BBC news stories saved on my RSS feeder, and at least this way that number could come down swiftly. Today, Wednesday and Friday, I’ll be picking on a number of stories to relate which probably won’t have much common theme running between them, but we’ll see.

Notes on Thailand

Nope, I haven’t been jetting off for a Christmas break, or even a later autumn tour of activist hot spots. But I thought it fit to comment on three aspects of the recent surge in activism that toppled a government in Thailand: the reasons, the tactical ability and those damned “Clappers”.

War: Making the Complex Simple

War is a tool for many things, but I find myself wondering about the way in which the situation in Israel is being somewhat simplified through the extreme divisions that the latest violence have inevitably created. If I was aware of complexity in Israeli/Palestinian society before I visited the area, I suppose the sheer depth of that complexity was what I learnt most about…

5 Years Ago Today…

President George Bush, presiding over a war we heard about every single day on the news, a war that was supposed to be over, visited Britain, and Stop the War Coalition held the biggest weekday demonstration in UK history. Thinking about this, I’ve realised just how much things have changed in those 5 years.