The Greastest Force for Good in the History of the World

"But the fact is, America is the greatest force for good in the history of the world. My friends, we have gone to all four corners of the Earth and shed American blood in the defence, usually, of someone else's freedom and our own." - Senator John McCain in the Second Presidential Debate in Nashville on 7 OCtober.

Ironic, anyone? (Also, wasn't this the man who sang Bomb Iran to the tune of the Beach Boy's Barbara Ann?)

When going right is wrong

It was fantastic to see Kevin Rudd replace John Howard as the Prime Minister of Australia at the end of last year. His apology to Australia's indigenous peoples was brave and right. The end of George Bush's reign in a few months is great news for the world (although it's unfortunate that Ralph Nader doesn't stand any chance of replacing him.) Great African traditions of fostering tolerance and opposing prejudice, colonialism, and racism will hopefully be reinforced by the (fragile) power-sharing agreement in Zimbabwe and South Africa's peaceful transition of executive power from Mbeki to Motlanthe.

In light of these promising changes in the world it is worrying to see much of Europe (often seen as a leading light in the world) shifting to the right and embracing intolerance. Today's Guardian reported that, "Austria was shaken by a political earthquake yesterday when the neo-fascist right emerged from a general election as a contender to be the strongest political force in the country for the first time." On 1 May this year a thousand neo-Nazis marched through Hamburg in order to launch their "national deployment". Cologne recently had the dubious honour of hosting a large Anti-Islam rally. Anti-foreigner sentiment is rife across Europe and on the increase (Economist, 22 November 2007) . European politics is peppered with alarming popular extremist right-wing parties.

So what should be done to halt the rise of the extreme right across Europe? How best should tolerance be encouraged? Unfortunately, opposition to this rise often takes the form of destructive (and sometimes violent) protest. That said, the world can ill afford for Europe to slip back into its old jingoistic, intolerant, and racist past. Something needs to be done.

What a way to run the world

The G8 countries are meeting today in Toyako, Japan for the 34th G8 summit (7 - 9 July).

This week's Economist contains an excellent briefing on the need to reform institutions (that often reflect the balance of power in 1945 rather than the world today.) Interesting reading.

Spammed!

cypersquatterspam!

Ben's book

Ben, my legendary traveling companion from Cape Town to Cairo and a budding and bounding bodhivista, has been working flat out on a book about our 110-day meandering trip across Africa. It brilliantly captures the spirit of independent travel, the gritty but endlessly promising reality of Africa, and Ben's indomitable spirit and caring, happy-go-lucky approach to life. It's a great story (no bias on my part, of course!)

Ben's trying his best to get it published at the moment, so if you have any publishing contacts, are interested in his story, or simply want to give him some support, drop him an email at bensanders10(at)gmail.com.

European values

So should European farmers do an honest day's work or should they be coddled and protected by their governments and subsidised by their fellow citizens?

A critical leader in this week's Economist rightly condemns Europe's common agricultural policy (CAP) which, through a complex web of tariffs, quotas, and subsidies, protects European farmers from competition, results in agricultural overproduction, and causes real and severe human suffering in the poor world (especially in Africa). This a real and pressing human rights issue, which sadly too few people in Europe seem either aware of or concerned about.

Just take a look at the three points below, which serve to emphasise the grotesque amounts being spent to support EU countries'- and other rich countries'- bloated and distorted agricultural systems:

• The agricultural subsidies paid to farmers by the thirty OECD countries are greater than Africa's total GDP. (Wikipedia)
• The EU spends €55 billion every year on agricultural subsidies. (farmsubsidy.org)
• The average dairy cow in the EU receives an annual subsidy ($913) that is almost twice the average annual per-capita income in Sub-Saharan Africa ($490) and more than a hundred times more than the average African receives in aid from the EU ($8). (UNDP's Human Development Report 2003)

Africa doesn't need aid. Africa doesn't need starry-eyed do-gooders. Africa doesn't need more lectures. Africa needs an end to the rich world's unfair and destructive agricultural protectionism.

My bicycle (Part 1)

On Sunday, I decided to collect my bike from my old apartment in Erikastraße. The days are getting longer and the weather better. It was time to dust the old two-wheeler off.

Perhaps I could have chosen a worse day, but I doubt it. Just before I arrived in Erikastraße it began to rain. A nonstop, plopping, soaking rain. Also, to call my my bike characterful is to be generous. Rusty, with suspect brakes, a cracked front mudguard (which maliciously jams itself into the front wheel when least expected), and a chainguard held in place by two twigs; someone less diplomatic might, rather unkindly but honestly, call it a good-for-nothing-piece-of-useless-crap.

After oiling the (slightly) rusted chain I set off for home - a ride of six or seven kilometres. I'd made it about a kilometre when, without provocation, the gear changing lever popped off; pieces of plastic, screws and springs flying in different directions. After scrounging around to collect the bits and pieces I could find (and perhaps some that had been previously unacquainted with my bike), I managed something resembling a temporary fix. Then, I pushed my bike as far as a small cafe on the western edge of Stadtpark, where the driving rain forced me inside in search of a stiff curative.

Upon leaving, suitably fortified but still soaked, I noticed that the chain had decided that a separation from the rest of my bike was in order. (Let me tell you, there's nothing like putting a freshly-oiled chain back on in the pouring rain. Really there isn't.) Eventually, freshly-oiled myself, I managed to return the chain to its proper place and headed into muddy Stadtpark.

Stadtpark is a glorious park for cycling and, in spite of the dismal weather, I enjoyed squeaking and grating and grinding my way through it. At least until an irregular seesawing motion alerted me to the fact that something might be amiss. Something was: my back tyre had been punctured.

Unable to do anything, and finally defeated, I pushed my bike the rest of the way home, miserably wondering if anything could be learnt from all this. The best I could come up with was that bikes dislike being out in inclement weather, but I imagine this depends very much on the bike in question.

Finally, I made it home, securely locked my bike up, and we haven't been out together since. Some things take time..

(Called Part 1 in anticipation of a sequel starring my newly fixed and dazzling bike whizzing along Hamburg's streets; me gamely hanging on. Watch this space.)