Displaying items by tag: Politics

When IS took over a Dominican convent in the Nineveh plains, Sister Ban Madleen fled to Erbil and set up kindergartens for the refugees’ children there. She has a sister living in the UK who has now become sick. To visit her, she needs a Home Office entry visa. However, immigration officials refused the visa because she had not provided confirmation that the Dominican sisters would fund her visit, and they were not satisfied that she is ‘genuinely seeking entry for a permissible purpose’. Rather than allowing her to provide the necessary evidence, they said, ‘There is no right of appeal or right to administrative review’. They acknowledged the importance of family visits, and agreed that when she last visited the UK (in 2011) she complied with visa terms. However, they also noted that she had not visited since then, failing to recognise that there might be valid reasons for this.

The deadline for registering to vote in this year’s local elections is 17 April, and many young people who could not vote in the last election are now eligible to do so. There are young adults in our churches, families and towns who do not yet understand the times we are living in. They do not realise the potential for change that can be achieved through understanding local issues, or how their votes can influence the lives of many.

The ‘March of Return’ in the Gaza Strip began on Good Friday. 30,000 Gazans overwhelmed the border security fence, and the resultant clashes with Israeli forces resulted in 18 dead and 1,400 injured. Israel has been accused of using disproportionate force against what became a vast violent march. Hamas has called for mass demonstrations to continue for seven weeks. There are fears that this could turn into war on several fronts. Hamas is indebted to Iran. If major conflicts erupt in Gaza, Iran might order Hezbollah in Lebanon and in Syria to attack the Jewish State. The march goes beyond resistance. A situation is erupting, and political issues in the region have resurfaced. Violent Israel-Gaza border activity was described locally as ‘peaceful protests being infiltrated by terrorists’ and ‘Israel exercising its right to defend its sovereignty and protect citizens from terrorism’.

Proposals for dialogue between North Korean and American national leaders in the midst of increasing tensions, conflicts, and fear of war have inspired International Prayer Connections (IPC) to call on Christians to pray for a just and peaceful resolution. Pray for wisdom for political, diplomatic and military leaders as they work through differences toward a goal of peace, security and freedom. Ask God to bless the efforts of citizens who seek to bridge the vast differences between these countries. Pray that, however profound the differences between their governments, Americans and North Koreans will not view each other as enemies, but on the contrary desire only the best for each other. May the decades of business, humanitarian and education contact between the two countries now bear fruit by putting a human face on those who are characterised as enemies.

Historically, Saudi Arabia has a hatred for Israel and Jews. No Jew may live in the kingdom, which has never opened diplomatic relations with Israel. For 70 years no Israeli passenger planes have been allowed over Saudi airspace. But there are now signs that this hostile stance may be cautiously changing. The Saudis have a ‘peace plan’ related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and recently there have been rumours of secret communications between the two countries. When President Trump made his maiden trip abroad last May, his first stop was in Saudi Arabia. From there his plane made one of the few flights ever allowed from Arabia to Israel. Netanyahu recently spoke of Israeli relations with the Arab world (including Saudi Arabia) as ‘best ever.’ As of April 2018, flights from India over the Arabian Peninsula will take place three times a week.

Christians are to stop putting politics ahead of the Gospel as they advance racial reconciliation, according to comments at an event held in memory of Martin Luther King Jr. While focusing on racial tension in the USA, the dean for intercultural student development at Calvin College Michigan said there had been ‘significant consequences’ of Donald Trump’s win. ‘For those of us who wept as a result of it, we didn't weep because we're big fans of the Democrats. We wept because we knew not just the national but the global witness of the Church was at stake’, she said. A senior pastor from Austin, Texas called on churches to focus on ‘the politics of heaven’ over ‘the politics of this earth.’

Claims from a Cambridge Analytica (CA) whistle-blower that the Leave campaign won by ‘cheating’ has some people calling for a second vote and others hoping the result can be overturned by Parliament. Our electoral system is under scrutiny, as new evidence shows that both remainers and leavers appear to have done what they could financially to maximise their vote. Researchers now believe it is probable that both sides were up to similar tricks. The controversy over the Brexit vote has drawn British involvement with CA to the attention of Transparency International. If Brexit campaigns end up on the wrong side of the law, pray that they will face the subsequent consequences. But, however we reached Brexit, the referendum result has three likely guarantors: the Conservative backbench, the Labour frontbench, and public opinion. See also article 4 in the World section, about CA.

The overwhelmingly Catholic Republic of Ireland will hold a referendum on 25 May on whether or not to alter its constitution to legalise abortion. The move follows the recent Irish Senate vote in favour of holding the poll by a wide margin. Last year prime minister Leo Varadkar won leadership of the governing centre-right Fine Gael party after campaigning on same-sex marriage and liberalising abortion laws.

Recent revelations about Cambridge Analytica (CA) tactics to influence elections using data from Facebook accounts and its role in UK and US election votes are the tip of an iceberg. CA has been linked to elections in Czech Republic, India, Italy, Kenya, Mexico, Malaysia, Nigeria, and Ukraine. This is a truly worldwide phenomenon. New technologies can be a double-edged sword. Social media has transformed how the public call out the corrupt and demand change. But what happens when the data these tools generate about their users is used as part of a murky process to influence elections? Is this corruption? The now-suspended CEO of CA has said that some emails between the company and its clients automatically self-destruct, leaving no electronic paper trail for investigators looking for election fraud allegations. Also identities of companies working on elections were hidden, presumably through shell companies. ‘No one even knew they were there,’ said another CA executive of an operation in Eastern Europe. See also

China’s Xi Jinping is now ‘president for life’, which many believe will cause NZ prime minister Jacinda Ardern’s government to change its Asian foreign policy and identify potential new paths. President Trump has been inconsistent in Asia as he aims to meet US interests. Ardern’s government identifies nuclear disarmament and climate change as key areas for international engagement. Australia does not support nuclear disarmament in the same way NZ does, and its action on climate change domestically is comparatively modest. Maintaining the rules-based order in the region will depend on partnerships with the US, Japan‚ and (increasingly) India. Many believe established traditions will be tested, but not abandoned altogether. This dynamic is not exclusive to NZ, with the current geopolitical changes in the new era.