STRASBOURG/ROME – THE European Court of Human Rights ruled on Tuesday that Italian schools should remove crucifixes from classrooms, sparking uproar in Italy, where such icons are embedded in the national psyche.

‘This is an abhorrent ruling,’ said Rocco Buttiglione, a former culture minister who helped write papal encyclicals. ‘It must be rejected with firmness. Italy has its culture, its traditions and its history. Those who come among us must understand and accept this culture and this history,’ he said.

The court ruling, which Italy said it would appeal, said crucifixes on school walls, a common sight that is part of every Italian’s life, could disturb children who were not Christians.

Italy has been in the throes of national debate on how to deal with a growing population of immigrants, mostly Muslims, and the court sentence is likely to become another battle cry for the centre-right government’s policy to restrict newcomers.

The Vatican spokesman said he would not comment until he knew more about the ruling but Italy’s powerful bishops’ conference said the ruling ‘evokes sadness and bewilderment’.

Members of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s government bristled, weighing in with words such as ’shameful”, ‘offensive”, ‘absurd,’ “unacceptable,’ and ‘pagan’. — REUTERS

But I can already see the “foreigners-shouldn’t-meddle-in-Singapore-politics” arguments coming in. And I know at least a handful of Singaporeans who dislike Chee because he seems determined to “paint a bad picture of Singapore to foreigners”.

Perhaps it is not our culture to wash dirty linen in public. Or really? Explain Stomp, that disgusting governement-controlled web portal, the pinnacle of public linen-washing. Then again, who else will listen? Definitely not our own government, who last week revealed that they will only engage citizens on existing government platforms i.e. REACH (who is doing such a hopeless job in engaging citizens, you wonder if they really want you to be involved, or merely put up a show that they want you to be involved).

A government’s role is to serve the people. Well, apparently not this government. How else do you explain the power inequality between the government and us “mere mortals“? I am sick of having to bow down and beg for what should be a given in the first place. If for nothing else, that is a good reason to celebrate Chee’s success — again — in reaching the international media.

SINGAPORE (AFP) — The leader of a Singapore opposition party, jailed numerous times for defying local protest laws and for other offences, has posted a video message asking for US President Barack Obama’s support.

Chee Soon Juan, secretary general of the Singapore Democratic Party, posted his “message to President Obama” on the video sharing website YouTube, where he called Obama’s Tuesday inauguration “an occasion of great moment.”

Chee expressed hope that the United States “will pay more attention to the human rights abuses of the Singapore government and take positive steps to help Singapore join the community of democracies.”

Chee, dressed in a dark suit and a tie, sat at a desk to deliver the message lasting more than five minutes.

He said his party was especially encouraged by what Obama, the first black president of the United States, has said about human rights.

“Under your leadership I look forward to a world that is freer, more democratic and more just,” said Chee.

He is one of the few Singaporeans who have publicly spoken against Singapore’s People’s Action Party, which has ruled since 1959.

Since independence in 1965, Singapore has grown from a Third World country to an Asian economic powerhouse. But critics say this has come at a price, in the form of restrictions on freedom of speech and political activity.

The ruling party has all but two of the 84 elected seats in parliament, and the opposition’s complaints include a lack of access to mainstream media in the country.

Except for a park that serves as a designated area for limited free speech, it is illegal to hold a public gathering of five or more people in Singapore without a police permit.

Singapore’s leaders say tough laws against dissent and other political activity are necessary to ensure the stability which has helped the city-state achieve economic success.

The government has said allegations that Singapore fails to meet international standards for political and human rights are without substance.

2008 marks the year JBJ passed on. A true Singaporean hero who fought every step of the way for democracy. “Come, walk with me!” he said.

The lighting was terrible; the audio system left much to be desired. But for the small group of less than 100 gathered at Speakers’ Corner in Singapore, there cannot be a more fulfilling way to welcome the new year.

Don’t miss the video at the end of this post!

Dr Chee Soon Juan and Chee Siok Chin serving up Democracy Dogs and Freedom Fries.

Many believe that opening a line of dialogue between the various communities and policy-makers could play a big role in conservation efforts. Buthaina Mizyed, from the IUCN REWARD Programme in Palestine, believes modern institutions can learn from and be “inspired” by traditional methods of water management, especially with the “increasing water demand and the shortage of current water supply to meet demands.”

Driven by necessity, traditional communities have been found to be innovative in their management of natural resources. For example, Mizyed traces the roots of the modern-day cistern back to traditional communities in Palestine and Jordan, where these were used to help in agricultural irrigation and the watering of livestock.

“How can ‘modern’ or ‘western’ science both respectfully embrace traditional knowledge systems and also strengthen them?” Ashish Kothari, Founder of India-based environment action group Kalpavriksh, asked the audience on Monday. And in their deep reverence for nature, traditional communities might hold the upper-hand over modern societies.

In a study of the indigenous Khasis community in India, Patricia Mary Mukhim, from the Indigenous Women’s Resource Centre, said that the effects of climate change have worsened because “globalisation exerts pressure” and “subverts the canon of nature”.

Kenyinke Sena, from the Indigenous Peoples of Africa Coordinating Committee, believes that government policies also contribute to the ruin of nature. The nomadic Ogiek and Maasai tribes in Kenya, for example, had strict “taboos against interfering with the environment” and “adapted their lives to the natural environment, not the other way round”. But when the government pressured these tribes to settle down, the tribes’ long-standing eco-friendly system was destroyed, leading to inadvertent damage to the environment.

“New knowledge does not seem to have models of conservation that indigenous communities have practised,” Mukhim said. “We need to revisit and re-empower indigenous communities to take on stewardship roles with greater responsibility.”

At the same time, unlike modern institutions not all indigenous communities have the relevant knowledge when it comes to conservation and climate change.

Yohanis Goram, a member of the indigenous Papua community in Indonesia, describes an increasing awareness of the effects of climate change as a result of the exploitation of natural resources by the Papuan people, where unprecedented floods in traditional dry seasons have affected the livelihoods of the locals. Now, signs have been put up in the area, declaring: “Do not destroy the forest. Healthy forest, healthy bodies!”

While agitating for the voice of the traditional communities to be heard and not be left out of policy-making processes, there is a sense that it is the free exchange of ideas that will be most effective. “By attaching modern concepts like carbon credits, for example, to traditional methods of conservation, more can be done to help save the sacred groves in India,” said Mukhim.

For Warren Canendo, a Ngadjon traditional owner in the highlands of Queensland, Australia, whose community has seen some 97 per cent of their rainforests destroyed to make way for modernisation and the mining of minerals in the region, “a lack of consultation” with indigenous peoples by the government ranks high on the list of things that could be changed with assemblies such as the IUCN World Conservation Congress.

“If governments will not listen to the indigenous people, and don’t do anything about climate change, then what are we here for today?” he asked.

(TerraViva)