Author: R J Adams

It’s a source of constant amazement how Western nations, desperate to sow democracy throughout the world, happily trample that aim underfoot when dollar bills rear their ugly heads. Democracy, it seems, is far less important than Capitalism.

You didn’t really think they were one and the same, did you? Silly!

Take the latest atrocity perpetrated by that staunch ally and market trader with the West – Saudi Arabia.

From the BBC:

Saudi Arabia has beheaded a Sri Lankan domestic worker for killing a baby in her care in 2005 in a case that has been widely condemned by rights groups.

The maid, Rizana Nafeek, had denied killing the four-month-old boy.

Her supporters say she was only 17 at the time of the killing. They say her execution is a breach of international child rights.

The Sri Lankan government condemned the execution, which it said took place despite numerous clemency pleas.

The Saudi interior ministry said on Wednesday that Ms Nafeek was executed for smothering the infant after an argument with the child’s mother in the town of al-Dwadmi.^[1]

The argument here is not whether this girl committed the crime, though that is undoubtedly in dispute. She confessed under duress (read:torture) and was unable to understand the language sufficiently to know what she was confessing to.

The crux is a) that she was executed, and b) the execution was performed in an utterly barbaric manner.

Western nations, with the odd notable exception, have evolved beyond the archaic idea of, “an eye for an eye, etc.”. Even Texas draws the line at beheading.

This teenage girl, in a foreign country with a strange language, and without access to a lawyer, was committed to prison for five years never knowing if she was to live or die. Unhappily, it proved to be the latter.

BBC:

Human rights groups including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch (HRW) have criticised the Saudi authorities for their handling of the case, as have campaigners in Sri Lanka, who argue that there were also serious translation problems at the time she confessed to the crime.

They argue that her reported execution breaches the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child which Saudi Arabia has ratified.

“Saudi Arabia is one of just three countries that executes people for crimes they committed as children,” said senior HRW women’s rights researcher Nisha Varia,

“Rizana Nafeek is yet another victim of the deep flaws in Saudi Arabia’s judicial system.”

Is it too much to expect those nations with a supposedly deeper respect for humanity and justice than the likes of Saudi Arabia – a dictatorship masquerading as a monarchy – to take economic measures against these despotic regimes, to dissuade them from acting in such a barbaric fashion?

Apparently, it is.

Abdullah holds the key to Arabian oil wells. Saudi has recently placed an order with Britain for fighter aircraft worth billions of pounds. There’s been little mention of the sad fate of the Sri Lankan girl, Rizana Nafeek, in the Western press, and none in the American press. [Google: “Rizana Nafeek” and note how many US media websites carry the story. I found none in the first three pages.]

The doctrine of Capitalism, as we’re all learning, contains no regard whatever for human life – except, of course, when there’s a profit to be had.

^{[1] “Sri Lankan maid Rizana Nafeek beheaded in Saudi Arabia” BBC, January 9th 2013}

On this eve of the New Year, America should turn its attentions outward, for a change, towards that part of the United Kingdom known as Scotland. A land of rather good whiskey, weird men in skirts with a barely understandable brogue, and a habit of dancing around swords crisscrossed on the floor for the delight of tourists, is how this land is viewed by many in the United States.

As US politicians bicker and squabble over whether the rich should get wealthier as quickly as America’s poor lose their homes, they might spare a moment to learn how a government is supposed to govern. Scotland is an old country. America is still wet behind the ears, not yet ready to appreciate the benefits of learning from its elders. Perhaps now is a suitable time to begin the process.

From the BBC:

Legislation which aims to effectively end homelessness in Scotland has come into force.

The change entitles anyone finding themselves homeless through no fault of their own to settled accommodation.

Previously, only those classed as being in priority need – often families with children – had that right.

It meets Scotland’s historic 2012 homelessness commitment, first set 10 years ago by the Labour/Lib Dem government.

The change, passed unanimously last month under the Homelessness (Abolition of Priority Need Test) (Scotland) Order 2012, will give an estimated 3,000 more people a year the right to settled accommodation.

As the changes came into force, the deputy first minister also announced £300,000 would be spent over the next two years to help councils with their efforts to prevent homelessness.

Nicola Sturgeon [Deputy First Minister of Scotland] said: “This is a landmark day in the fight against homelessness.

“I know the heartache and trauma of homelessness from working closely with households faced with the prospect of losing the roof over their head.

“Meeting our 2012 commitment guarantees that those who lose their home from no fault of their own will be guaranteed settled accommodation.

“It is absolutely right to offer this guarantee in a time of crisis for people. It sends the signal that we are there to help, there is hope and that the state will do what it can.”

Official figures from February 2012 suggested the number of homeless people in Scotland is at its lowest for a decade.

Graeme Brown, director of the housing and homelessness charity ‘Shelter Scotland’, said: “Scotland can be very proud that it is making history by meeting the 2012 commitment – which is internationally regarded as the cutting edge of progressive homelessness reform.

“I congratulate all the local authorities who have made widespread changes in order to meet their new responsibilities to homeless people.”^[1]

This from, “The Hill”. It’s what US politicians are prepared to own up to:

[In America…] The odds for a person in the general population of experiencing homelessness in the course of a year are 1 in 194. For an individual living doubled up, [forced to live with relatives or friends] the odds are 1 in 12. For a released prisoner they are 1 in 13. For a young adult who has aged out of foster care, they are 1 in 11.”^[2]

In a year when more and more middle class American families have lost their homes to unscrupulous money men peddling worthless mortgages, many with no choice but live in their cars, isn’t the beginning of 2013 a good time for the corrupt, degenerate, narcissistic, politicians in Washington to turn towards Scotland for advice on how to properly govern a nation?

The ‘Fiscal Cliff’ is of little concern to the homeless. My guess is, as US politicians head home to their fancy houses and mansions to celebrate New Year’s Eve, the homeless are of little concern to them.

^{[1] “New rights for the homeless come into force” BBC, December 31st 2012}

^{[2] “Homeless in America: 636,017; Homeless veterans: 67,495 The Hill, February 1st 2012}

Despite the vivid imaginings of thousands, the Mayan calendar failed to predict the end of the world on December 21st. Hopefully, I can now safely wish all friends and readers of Sparrow Chat a very merry Christmas.

Whether Muslim or Jew, Christian or Atheist, Hindu or Buddhist, or none of those things, may you revel in the sentiments of the season, even as we languish in the vain hope that all may be more tolerant of each other in 2013, than they were in 2012.

And, let’s not forget, though the world failed to extinguish itself on the 21st, it could still happen sometime in the (not too distant?) future…

T’was the night before Christmas, and all round the earth
Terrorists plotted for all they were worth.
Obama sat musing which drone strike to pick,
A wedding? A market? Whose ass should he kick?

Muslims seethed hatred for all that was Christian,
Jews in Israel eyed Hamas with suspicion.
Syrian rebels joined force ‘gainst Assad,
They’ll soon fight each other – the whole world’s gone mad.

The Arctic was melting, the earth growing warm,
Droughts, floods, tornadoes, becoming the norm.
Nobody took notice, “It’s not us!” they cried
As New York washed away on a rather high tide.

High in the Heavens Mohammed and Jesus
Mithras, Athena, and Zeus with his aegis,
Looked down on the world they had brought into being
And couldn’t believe what the hell they were seeing.

They spoke not a word, but went straight to their work,
Called all the angels, then turned with a jerk,
And blasting the earth with a fire from their noses
Consumed it all up, despite firemen’s hoses.

Then summoning chariots of fire with a whistle
They flew off to heaven like the down of a thistle.
Only one of them spoke – the one they called Mithras,
Muttered, “Bloody little shits! They just don’t deserve Christmas.”

(With apologies to Clement Clarke Moore)

MERRY CHRISTMAS!