Displaying items by tag: Politics

Justin Welby recently said, ‘We need profound change so that our economy works for everyone. The UK has plenty to be proud about. But work no longer keeps some people from poverty. Young people are struggling. We have deep regional divides. We want everyone to flourish in a cohesive, strong and resilient society. As a Christian, I’m speaking about economic justice today, because Jesus calls us to work for the common good and seek the welfare of everyone in society, especially the most vulnerable.’ On 5 September a report which was co-written by the Archbishop stated that Britain's economy is broken and radical action is needed to reduce 'damaging wealth inequality'. He wants to rake in an extra £9 billion a year by shaking up inheritance tax and making multinationals like Starbucks and Amazon pay more tax on their profits, as well as other innovative proposals to fund a higher minimum wage and pay handouts to help the young buy homes.

Eritrea could be on the verge of major change. For 20+ years, it has battled with Ethiopia and Somalia. President Afewerki’s regime conscripts citizens indefinitely into fighting its wars, and represses opposition. Much of Eritrea’s money has gone to defence against enemies, resulting in it being one of the poorest countries, with a mass exodus of Eritreans to Europe part of the biggest global migration crisis since World War II. However, Ethiopia now has a new prime minister, Abiy Ahmed. He has already made a number of significant changes to government policy, including freeing thousands of political prisoners and amending a harsh anti-terrorism law. He has extended a hand of peace to Eritrea and agreed to a peace deal. Thousands of people celebrated, the border is open, embassies will open, and the countries will work together to strengthen ports, resume air flights, open telephone lines, and more. Afewerki’s regime has made Christians suffer as the 6th worst persecuted in the world, but Abiy has recently released 35 Christians from prison. Pray for Islamic extremists in the region to lose their power due to his influence.

On 1 September, the North African desert country Mauritania will have an election for its national assembly. 146 members will be elected for one- or four-year terms. Most of its population is nomadic, but a third of Mauritanians are registered voters. It is one of the world's poorest nations, and one of the most religiously restricted. Sunni Islam and Sharia law have ruled them over a thousand years. The government prohibits conversion to Christianity. Those who do so face the death penalty, and must not enter non-Muslim households. A caste system grants privileges to certain groups. They marginalise darker-skinned Mauritanians or anyone who holds a worldview other than Islam. The Islamic terror group AQIM (Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb) operates in Mauritania.

Five Saudi activists face possible execution for ‘participating in protests’, ‘chanting slogans hostile to the regime’, and ‘filming protests and publishing on social media’. The five, including women’s rights campaigner Israa al-Ghomgham, have spent over two years in prison. Now their deaths are demanded. Their plight reveals the emptiness of claims that Saudi Arabia is ‘liberalising’ after the death of King Abdullah and that the heir apparent, Prince Muhammad bin Salman, is a driving force behind ‘modernisation’. Over the past year, dozens of activists, clerics, journalists and intellectuals have been detained in a pattern of widespread and systematic arbitrary arrests and detention. Under current ‘reforming’ 146 people were executed in 2017, many for political dissent, which the Saudi authorities rebrand as ‘terrorism’. The regime permits women to drive, but executes them for speaking out of turn. Christians are treated as second-class citizens and persecution is an ongoing and serious problem. Apostasy is punishable by death for Christian converts who refuse to recant. See also

When MPs return from their summer recess, parliamentary battles on the road to Brexit will be held on the following key dates:20 September: EU leaders discuss Brexit, possibly at a full summit. 17-18 October: EU summit deadline for agreement setting out the ‘divorce’ terms of the withdrawal agreement.A political declaration on the future relationship between the UK and the EU is also expected at this point. November: there is speculation that an emergency EU summit on Brexit might be held if a withdrawal agreement is not reached in October. 13-14 December: EU summit. If a deal has not been done by October, this is the fall-back option if the two sides still want to reach an agreement. 2019: withdrawal agreement approved by UK and the EU.

Donald Trump's former personal attorney and ‘fixer’ pleaded guilty to eight felony counts, including two that implicate President Trump and Paul Manafort, President Trump's former campaign chairman who was found guilty on eight counts in a separate case. Meanwhile Trump is tweeting repeatedly that the campaign finance regulations Michael Cohen pleaded guilty to are not crimes. We can pray for America’s president and all who hold positions of authority and influence in government to be men and women who walk in righteousness, integrity, wisdom and truth. May any who are dishonest or irrational be removed from their positions of power. See

Facebook has identified and banned groups and pages engaged in misleading political behaviour and removed 652 pages, groups, and accounts linked to Russia and Iran, for ‘coordinated inauthentic behaviour’ that included the sharing of political material. Facebook significantly stepped up policing its platform after acknowledging that Russian agents successfully ran political influence operations on its platform aimed at influencing the 2016 US presidential election. Other social media networks have done likewise, and continue to turn up fresh evidence of political disinformation campaigns.

On 24 August, after a bitter row that has thrust the country's political landscape into turmoil, Australia’s Liberal party named finance minister Scott Morrison as the country's new leader, after he emerged victorious from a three-way race with former home affairs minister Peter Dutton and foreign minister Julie Bishop. The ugly fight for power comes just nine months before a May 2019 deadline for a new general election, and continues a torrid period of instability for Australian leadership - Mr Morrison will be the country's sixth prime minister in less than ten years. Mr Turnbull, who called the leadership vote after losing the majority support of the party, opted not to contest it. The crisis for the Liberal party is far from over, however. Mr Turnbull intends to resign from parliament, leaving the new government facing a by-election for his Sydney seat that could see it lose its one-seat majority. It is reported that Ms Bishop, having been defeated in the leadership ballot, would likely also resign from politics.

Tens of thousands of demonstrators gathered in Bucharest the day after 450+ people were hurt and about 30 arrested in a huge anti-corruption protest on 10 August. Police had used water cannon and tear gas to disperse protesters calling for the left-wing government to resign. Many protesters needed treatment after inhaling pepper spray and tear gas; others suffered blows. Floarea Toader, 64, said, ‘My children work in Spain and they would like to come back. But for now that's not possible as the politicians are only interested in themselves and do nothing for anyone else.’ Four million people have left Romania in the last fifteen years, seeking a better life. Romania's average monthly wage is £465. Austrian chancellor Sebastian Kurz, whose country currently holds the EU rotating presidency, criticised the violence, in which an Austrian public broadcaster cameraman was hurt.

In the elections on 9 September, the anti-immigration Eurosceptic party Sweden Democrats hopes to become the country’s largest political party. It has accused the ruling centre-left coalition of allowing ‘no-go zones’ to emerge in deprived areas with large migrant populations. On 13 August gangs of masked youths dressed in black firebombed at least 100 cars in several cities. Violent crime is high on the political agenda after a spate of shootings and grenade attacks. Prime minister Stefan Lofven said that the perpetrators threatened to ‘destroy’ neighbourhoods and asked them, ‘What the hell are you doing?’ Pray for Mr Lofven and his law enforcement to bring peace and calm to challenging areas ahead of the elections. Operation World states, ‘Politicians (often without any clear faith in Jesus) are frequently chosen to sit on parish councils.’