“He no longer belongs to us. He belongs to the ages” – US President Barack Obama
Madiba is gone. He will be missed and remembered forever.
As I have explained a number of times already, I must confess that before going to England to study theology, my impression of Mandela,rooted in the common prejudices of American inspired conservative evangelicalism, was that is a mere ‘rotten communist’ and nothing more. All his fight to freedom from apartheid did not have much value for me. He was a leftist and ended the conversation for me.
Then, in England, I realised that the socialist movement was not created by atheist communists, but about Christians who tried to temper the violent excesses of wild capitalism, in order to help bring a better life for the poor and marginalised that the utter selfishness and greed at the core of capitalism left behind. Continue reading “Madiba, Rest in Peace! Your Memory Will Live Forever!”
Watch this if you want to understand the impossible conundrum of the two state solution in Israel/Palestine, which is made impossible by the existence of the Israeli settlements.
Jeff Halper, Coordinating Director of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions speaks in Ma’alea Adumim about the role of the Israeli Settlements in Judaization process of Occupied Palestinian Territories. He also goes on about the reality on the ground in Israel/Palestine and about the future of the conflict.
Today, in honour of the departed Nelson Mandela – may God rest him in peace, I will keep this on the front of my blog.
May God bless South Africa!
Senzeni Na? (Zulu/Xhosa) What Have We Done? (English)
Senzenina What have we done?
Sono sethu ubumnyama Our sin is our blackness
Sono sethu yinyaniso Our sin is the truth
Sibulawayo They are killing us
Mayibuye i Africa. Let Africa return.
(Source, On Being) Continue reading “Senzenina? – The Rallying Song of the Fight Against Apartheid”
Krista Tippett is a well known radio host from American Public Radio. Her website, called Being, presents a wealth of materials around the themes of the interviews that she does for public radio.
Only those who have never been in Palestine or do not care to search for the facts are unaware of the catastrophic situation of water in Palestine. Here are some bare facts:
Repeatedly during the Church of Scotland’s General Assembly, reference was made to South Africa – to the significant role churches and Christians played in supporting the apartheid regime there and the equally significant role churches and Christians played in finally ending it.
On Wednesday 25 May, the Assembly discussed today’s apartheid regime – a regime that privileges Jewish ethnicity as the Afrikaners privileged whiteness, a regime that treats the native Arabs of Palestine as second-class citizens if they live in Israel proper, as third-class non-citizens if they live in the territories illegally occupied by Israel for over 40 years, and as fourth-class non-persons if they are the millions of Palestinians, or the children or grandchildren of Palestinians, who have been exiled from their land, while Israel steadfastly refuses their right, enshrined in international law and recognised in UN resolutions, to return home. Continue reading “What Do South Africa and Israel Have in Common?”
Former Methodist Bishop Peter Storey, our guide
Yesterday 35 participants engaging a common reconciliation journey during the Lausanne Cape Town Congress experienced a moving day of pilgrimage into the city. Glimpses and words:
“It’s not a tour. It’s a pilgrimage” Me to the group, when our bus didn’t appear until just in time
“A pilgrimage is a sacred journey through valleys of suffering into the heart of God” Lisa Loden of Israel during a devotion from Psalm 84 Continue reading “Pilgrimage Into Apartheid’s Legacy”
This Lausanne Congress 2010 in Cape Town gathered in a land which 16 years ago stood in the grip of one of the greatest evils of our time—apartheid.
We regret that this was not named or confessed at the opening of the Congress.
As participants at the Congress we gathered for dialogue sessions and biblical reflection on peacemaking and reconciliation with careful listening to the stories of Christian involvement and resistance to apartheid. We were also encouraged by stories of hope for the future taking place through local reconciliation ministry. Continue reading “Statement of Lament for Evangelicals and the Legacy of Apartheid”
Today we did not have meetings at the Lausanne Congress. Participants used this opportunity for tourism or for visiting different projects.
I was involved in a pilgrimage that explored the South African experience of reconciliation after apartheid. We had a very moving experience and I have taken lots of notes. I am, however, way too tired to transcribe them tonight and I plan, anyway, to put them here some time soon into Romanian, because of their relevance for the Romanian post-communist context. Until then, HERE is a summary of this event, from the blog of Chris Rice.
Talking about the devil, I have also found out that the cyber attack against the congress IT system came from China. No surprise with that. There is only one kind of good communists. You know which.
Many immature Christians, especially of those coming from more fundamentalism backgrounds, have the impression that as long as they read the Bible, they cannot be wrong. Little do they know that hell is full of people who read their Bibles and prayed every day.
What these people are not aware of is that we all read our Bibles with certain presuppositions. The more unaware we are of the hermeneutical glasses we use in reading our Bibles, the more chances we have to be wrong in our interpretations. Continue reading “Reading the Bible in South Africa”
Persona 